Day 10

We had a fabulous day. We rotated toys and I brought in all sorts of toys they hadn't played with for a couple weeks. That kept them busy for about an hour while I did a shopping list and dishes. We went to the park. It was a beautiful day. One of my nice neighbors has a great garden and he has been giving me arugula. Today he told me that if I wanted the little garden on one side of the house I could have it with the kids. So sweet.

Eric got home right at five tonight, it is so nice. I made dinner for them and left for Costco, Food 4 Less and Trader Joe's. My little piece of sanity. As I was leaving and told the kids bye and Enzo got so sad. He told me "Okay you go by yourself and I come with you". He wanted to join me so bad. It is so hard sometimes to leave that guy....But I did. Instead of "Calgon take me away" it is more like "Grocery shopping take me away" I need that time to price evaluate things, have just background noise, and meander aimlessly if I want. I did all of that and loved every one of the 120 minutes it took, I was efficient but not fast, on purpose.

I got home to the kids yelling "Momma!!!" and running toward me. I was refreshed, it was bedtime and here I am.
I shopped for groceries for the rest of the month and had some household items too
I budgeted $144 with estimate costs of everything. Went with cash in hand and no straying from the path. Stay on target! Stay on target!

Spending:
Costco $73.41
Food 4 Less $49.95
Trader Joe's $11.96
Total $135.32

I spent $8.68 less than planned. I even got a couple things not on my list.

I get our sun butter and rice noodles at Traders, luckily it is right next to Food 4 Less.
$22.13 went to trash bags, detergent and draino, which I taking back because Eric just cleaned the drain. It was bad, not from me thank goodness. I love that he is willing to do that.

Leaving $113.19 for food.

Total Grocery for the month $182.06
I am not planning on buying any more groceries for the rest of the month. I even planned for my trip. The kids and I are taking the train down on Tuesday the 23rd to Orange County. I am working for someone at the restaurant Friday and Saturday. We are planning on going to Disneyland that Thursday before our annual passes expire. My Uncle Matt might join us and the kids just adore him. So in my planning for my trip I bought Eric specific food while I am gone. I going to make Enchiladas for the Guys for our Tuesday night meal even though I will be gone. I am going to make everything else for Eric ahead of time so that he won't have to think about it. But I got him two frozen pizzas. Only because it was cheap and it will be a treat for him while I am gone.

Menu:

Breakfast:
Cereal and Vanilla soymilk

Snack: Fruit Smoothies
I forgot I had everything to make them.

Lunch:
Turkey Roll-ups and the rest of the smoothies
Arroz Con Pollo Leftover for me

Snack:
raisins
almonds
juice

Dinner:
Yellow and white eggs and tortillas
Yellow and white is our name for poached eggs. Kira came up with it and it stuck.

There is the day. And as I was reading Owlhaven blog about this she stated something that stuck. She was commenting on her title of 30 days of Nothing and noticed that they were not going without nothing and far from it. But more so 30 day of less. So do not be hard on yourself if you are trying this out and feel like you are failing. It is just an exercise in control and appreciation.

I appreciate that we have money to go to the store and buy food. I am so thankful I have a roof over my head. I am thankful I know where my children are. I am thankful I know where my husband is. I am so thankful for the way God PROVIDES everything for myself and our family. We are fortunate to live where we live, drink clean water and do not have to walk miles to get it. The list can go on and on, but I must go to bed and be thankful for it and not sleeping on the floor with bugs and such.
May you be blessed by this and thank God for what you have instead of complaining what we do not have. I type that to remind myself too.