Ugh!

Day One by 9 am was already killing me and I hadn’t even left the house…Online IKEA 10% off sales,  Target online deals…DEALS DEALS DEALS!!! I am the deal queen! And can’t pass these up…BUT I DID! Phew…focus focus focus…play games with kids, ignore the emails!

In case you missed the first post in the series No Spend January,  we are working on stewarding our money this month on Faithful Steward Fridays so head on over and tag along with us!

I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying my holidays with the family and completed my meal plan for the week. ( Remember, along with the No Spend Month, we were also decreasing our grocery budget to $136.25 a week!) Here she is!

January Meal Plan – Week 1

Here’s a few of the recipes I used this week.

Veggie Chili

Enchiladas (Download Link)

Bbq Chicken Pizza– Naan Bread, BBQ sauce, cheese and shredded chicken (leftover from roast).

Homemade Muffins-basic blueberry recipe this week and chocolate muffin recipe

Homemade Pancakes (extra egg added for protein boost)

Smoothies (using whatever frozen fruit I have on hand, milk and hemp hearts purchases a few weeks ago)

Spaghetti and Meatballs ( Homemade Meatballs, spaghetti from bulk purchase last month) Update: This ended up being meat sauce instead…I forgot to thaw the meat in time!

Mac and Cheese ( boxed Annies from Costco)

Pizza Buns– (homemade 1 hour rolls, homemade pizza sauce and cheese)

Taco Night– Basic Taco Kit with ground beef.

Here is my overall Grocery List for the week, while also using what I already had in the cupboards (which took a bit of time, but saved me from buying something I already had and set me up to use what I had to create meals for the week):

Grocery List No Spend January Week 1

 

I had previously browsed the Superstore flyer online as I typically shop there…I have the PC Plus points card and have saved quite a bit of money…20,000 points equals $20 bucks off your next purchase price and if you get your gas there, you can rack up the points very quickly!

They also have printable coupons that you can use on top of getting points!

Superstore also price matches but I didn’t find many matches this week.

Update: I found an Extra Foods flyer online for one of their stores that is renovating and they were offering 15,000 PC Points for every $100 spent in store (monday and tuesday only)!  That’s $15 bucks for just shopping there! Since the store prices are exactly the same as Superstore and the store was closer to me, I decided to go their instead…plus I wasn’t tempted to browse the clothing and extra stuff in Superstore since Extra Foods selection is way smaller! Win Win!

Goal:136.25

Actual Total: 134.69!!!

Yay me! And I received almost $18 bucks in PC points with my grocery bill and $40 gas purchase (separate budget)!

And just as a reminder, I also had a pantry with items to use for the week.

 No Spend Week Overview

What did we do instead of spending you ask?

Actually, we just stuck it out at home and went between there and school. Sounds like it might have been boring but with all the new toys from christmas, baking to be done, cleaning to catch up on and kids coming over for playdates and heading back to school, we were busy and enjoyed the week a lot!

Birthday Week No Spend Style!

So it was also my birthday this week and although I did tell Daddy Brucks that he wasn’t to spend any money on me, he did manage to get me a free iPhone 5S for my birthday! (Ok, so my phone was due for a free upgrade and he took it upon himself to go get that done for me and do all the tech stuff needed to switch over my phone! Good enough for me!)

Daddy Brucks had also previously purchased tickets using the change we scrounged up around the house in December ( surprising how much change is lurking in random drawers) and paid for two tickets to see Star Wars at the IMAX theatre, we also got a 20% discount on the ticket prices because we had bought 1 year science centre passes a few months ago.

Friends of ours are going to babysit for us and instead of paying them, we will return the favour!

Week 1 Review

No Spending Star Rating:

*****

5 stars! Not a single extra penny spent!

 

What we can do differently:

We will need to plan some outdoor fun as we sat inside our house a bit too much this week ( one of our kids was sick though so that was also a hinderance).

What we did well:

1. Stayed home! We didn’t head into any shops just out of boredom.
2. Found friends to babysit for us and will return that favour!
3. Gifts that were free!
4. Made $18.00 just in PC Plus points by watching for family appreciation days and getting gas at superstore gas bar! I will now have extra cash for groceries next week!

Hope this helps to motivate you to try budgeting and meal planning for a less expensive way to live! Here’s to Week 2… wish us luck!

Happy Saving!

Mama Brucks