Spending Ramble

Today we were in need of laundry detergent (go figure; I run out of my stockpile right when I'm trying to spend next to nothing). I could have (probably should have) bought apple juice and milk but I only picked up the detergent. Luckily I had a $2 off coupon for it. I have some free meat coupons to use because I got a bad package of meat and called the company. I'll use those tomorrow and we can eat something like tacos or chili (my husband's two favorite meals). I picked up a super inexpensive pork loin and made stew (also quickly becoming a favorite of the hubby) over the weekend and it lasted for a few days. I'm going to keep a look out for another inexpensive cut of meat and make another batch. We have the carrots, potatoes, onion, and peas already and I make the stock from whatever meat I'm using. I'll just need a few more veggies and a head of garlic for that.

So far it looks like I'll be able to FINALLY hit my budgeted month's spending (for the first time this year). I mean I'm going to have to stick to my guns but I figured that with extra planning and determination I could do this. The two things that have been the biggest struggle these past few days are, A.) It finally warmed up and I have for years had this horrible ice cream addiction whenever the temps get anywhere above 75. For the past few days I've SOOOO wanted to drive over to the little ice cream shop and get a snickers flurry/ blizzard/ whatever it's called in your part of the world. I'm proud of myself for refraining but gosh the craving is awful. I'm now telling myself that I can get one in June. That's only a few days away. It's not like I'm avoiding ice cream or flurries for ever but right now that kind of treat is not in the budget. I could buy ice cream and make a flurry at home but that's not the same as soft serve from the ice cream shop and we try to not have ice cream in the house because we eat the whole carton so quickly anytime that we do. It'll just have to wait until June.

And B.) There is a toy that I really want to buy little Abe. I did almost buy it today but it's like $18 and he certainly doesn't need any more toys. It's just something that he wants and wouldn't you know that right when I'm buckling down and trying to spend less suddenly I feel this intense need to buy my son a new toy. You see that little devil, little angel me arguing back and forth on my shoulders?
"But it'd make him so happy."
"But you can get it for him later, he doesn't need it anyway."
"There's no point waiting, really, just pick it up now."
And so on and so forth. Ah, self control and restraint how I loathe thee!

So far so good.

Average daily spending for 2016: $18.72

$60.56 left in May's budget (8 days)