May Money Challenge

My brother is getting married out of state next month.  We have turned the trip into our yearly vacation and have been saving money for the trip.  We are always looking for more ways to cut our cost.  My friend has been posting her no spending ideas on facebook the last couple of weeks.  Her posts have encouraged me to take the plunge.  Trevor and I talked it over with the kids.  May will be a no spending month.  Originally I thought we would cut out all extra spending.  I then looked at the calendar.  It's May, which means, teacher appreciation, Mothers Day, graduation and a niece is getting married.  Those events all require spending.  We decided to just deal with food.  We will not be eating out all month and we will be eating out of the stock pile of food we have at home.  We will have $25 a week to spend on perishables and necessities that won't last all month. 

We have done this many times before.  In the past it has been to pay for an unexpected bill.  This time it will be to help fund vacation.  There are a couple of exceptions to the no spending money on food.  If someone invites us to go out to dinner with them, we will go.  We already have a couple of field trips planned this month that require eating lunch out.   Those days Trevor will be able to go out to lunch as well. 

Since we will be eating out of the pantry my weekly meal plans may start to look a little strange by the end of the month.  You will also quickly learn that I may have a problem with hoarding food.

The way our pay cycle falls, I have already bought groceries for this week.  The only extra food I will be allowed to buy this week is milk. 

Here is our dinner meal plan for the week:

SUNDAY:  Popcorn

MONDAY:  Hamburgers, mac & cheese, corn

TUESDAY:  Teriyaki chicken and rice

WEDNEDSDAY:  Pork Tenderloin, mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy

THURSDAY:  Hamburger Stroganoff

FRIDAY: Homemade Pizza

SATURDAY:  Kaurin's Fundraiser

I'll be updating you each week on how we are doing.  I'll even try to let you know exactly what we are spending each week on food.