Price Per Unit

Sweet #2 wanted to buy me a treat at the store tonight.  He counted up his change and had a little over $3 and was hoping to buy me a small thing of ice cream.  There were some tiny ones on sale that fit his budget, but there were also bigger ones on sale.  So I showed him how to look at the price per unit on the tags.  The small ones were over $2 per pint.  The larger ice cream on sale was $1 per pint.  I told him I would make up the difference.  I was also very proud of him because when I gave him money for his field trip to eat at Dairy Queen, he only got a burger and a mini blizzard instead of a full meal.  He asked, "Didn't I budget well?"

On Valentine's Day, I gave him a coupon good for a night of doing a puzzle with me and we finally got around to shopping for a puzzle tonight.  Months ago we did a large and confusing 550 piece puzzle that we didn't especially enjoy looking at.  He chose a cute deer one that's 300 pieces.  So we'll watch a movie while we work on it.  During Christmas break, we stayed up until 3am working on a puzzle!  It was crazy.  I don't plan on staying up that late tonight.

We also bought 16 oz. boxes of penne for $1 each, so that was a great deal.  A large container of strawberries was $1.98 and I thought that was for the one pound container.  Although we technically have money right now, I am forcing myself to budget on just my husband's pay and see if we can stick everything I make in savings. 

#2 Wants a New Violin

#2 spent most of last year begging for a violin because he was starting orchestra.  We weren't sure if he would really love it or not and we ended up checking out a student violin from the district for a maintenance fee. 

He loves the violin.  Before orchestra started, he watched his instructional DVD and was soon explaining to me the proper way to care for and position the violin and bow.  It was definitely challenging in the beginning, but he didn't give up.  One day he told me amusingly, "I am never quitting, so you will keep buying me violins!"  He needed a 3/4 size, but they only had half size.  That's getting a little uncomfortable for him, so next year he will grow into a full size one.  I think the rentals were $25 per month and the guy at the music store said we should spend about $700 to get anything decent, so we could rent to own.  That would take at least two years to pay off.  Of course, he strongly cautioned me against buying anything used because it might have some defects we aren't aware of, but I think we could manage to find a good one with some help.

#2 has to return his violin after orchestra ends and he really wants to have something to play over the summer.  That presents quite a budgeting challenge for us because we are trying to buy a house.  How to get a house and a violin?

Our farmers market allows people to do some busking with their permission.  He's very excited about this idea and is already telling everyone about his plans and has an offer to make some money washing a car.

After the Challenge

As I figured, #1 and #2 were eager to eat with the family again after the challenge.  #3 thought he would get to exchange his dinner for oatmeal, but he was expected to eat this baked ravioli, broccoli, and garlic herb bread (not from one of those foil sacks).  He said, "I don't really like lasagna anymore."  No!  He has such a short list of stuff he eats with us without complaining, how dare he unlike anything! 

We went shopping earlier that day and he got to spend his $12.11.  He wanted to buy a movie, but quickly figured out he didn't have enough.  Turns out he had some movies on hold at the library.  He wanted to have a family movie night and share his candy.  Isn't that sweet?  He bought a tub of redvines, rolos, some suckers, and saved the rest.  Sadly, our movie night didn't happen yet because I was playing for a voice recital. 

Our daughter had $2 from Grandma, so it was a good time to teach her what money can buy.  That huge package of Twizzlers didn't stop her from asking for more candy, but it was $1.99.

We also found some pretty nice deals.  Fred Meyer had a coupon for ground turkey for $2.99.  It was cheaper than ground beef, so I used it in my meat sauce instead.  Milk was 10 for $10 for a half gallon.  Usually the cheapest gallon is $2.49, so that was only $2 a gallon.  I think the eggs were also 99 cents.  I would need those later to make something delicious for a family gathering.  Post coming soon.

We had to get gas.  #2 observed, "That's like two weeks worth of food for one person!" 

I love their growing awareness of how much things cost!  We have many budgeting challenges ahead.  #2 will need a full size violin next year and we're talking about how to accomplish that.  He wants to have one to play over the summer because he has to return the one he's using.

Day 7: Begging and Negotiating

#2 is getting tired of his leftovers and as I figured, he is dying to eat the things I'm making.  He asked, "Can I contribute to a meal again?  I'll give you some of my cauliflower."  He also asked to borrow some of my cheese for his spaghetti, but #1 was denied that option, so no.  He had a pretty sweet deal this week getting to eat duck pasta and trading some food when he ate pizza at a friend's house, so he'll just have to suck it up on his last day of the challenge.

After I told him, "Look happy about your meal."  Doesn't he look happy?

Last night we watched Gulliver's Travels and had some candy and popcorn.  This week he got to have ice cream and cake with us, which was more than what #1 had, so no, he couldn't have any.  I told him he could buy candy on Monday night after his challenge is complete.

This was a funny admission.  "My milk normally would have been gone by Thursday, but I had to go easy on it."  He laughed because he knew he was admitting feeling like he could have as much milk as he wanted before.  Tomorrow he will have a bowl of cereal, have lunch at school, and he'll be done! 

I asked him, "What have you learned from this challenge?"

He said, "Budgeting is really hard. Hahahaha!  Budgeting is really easy!  Meat is really expensive."  OK, he thinks it was medium hard, but I bet if he had to eat like this for a month, he would be really frustrated with the lack of variety.  He also says, "Every week the sales change and the broccoli got really expensive." 

#3 is still very sick, so we'll start his challenge as soon as he is feeling better.  I might find an alternate experiment until then.

Day 6: Making French Toast

#2's french toast was delayed for a bit this morning because I had to bring #3 to the doctor with croup, which he has never had before.  Strange that he's 8 years old and getting it for the first time.  I had to go to the pharmacy next and wait 30 minutes until his prescription was ready, after which the pharmacist told me it can cause nausea.  I told the doctor he was throwing-up this morning!  He woke up with the most terrifying cough last night and said it was hard to breathe.  He did better in the cold air and in the shower.  He couldn't talk either, so I gave him a cowbell to use to get my attention.  My brother gave that to my kids for Christmas to be a stinker.  #3 slept in the living room with the window open and was able to breathe OK, but he hardly got any sleep. 

Because he had to take his medicine with food, sweet #2 decided to share some french toast with him. 

It didn't go well.  I'll spare you the details.  But #2 sure was happy with the french toast!  Chances are, #3 will have to delay his challenge.  I hope he is feeling well by Monday and that no one else gets it. 

Day 5: An Unexpected Twist

#2 was invited to a friend's house to play and will be there for dinner.  I said it was OK, but only let him drink water and he can have a late snack using his food when he gets home.  #1 isn't home to witness this negotiation.  Shhhhhhhh!

As far as our budget goes, this is the most challenging time of the month for us and I have made it even tighter by putting more money in savings.  We got out of debt on Leap Day and now the goal is to have $3,000 in savings by next month.  We can do the VA loan and I'm hoping that will be enough to satisfy the bank.  If not, we will have to rent a house.  Either way, we will need at least that much.  We have been living in the same two bedroom apartment for almost ten years and we have had our financial ups and downs.  We thought we were going to live here for six months and then move.  I just realized the other day that this is the longest I have lived at any residence my entire life.  I grew up in one neighborhood as a child, but we lived in a few different houses.  My husband moved a lot because his dad was in the Air Force, so it's strange for both of us that this apartment has been our home for so long.

Today was payday, but it's also the day I pay all of our bills.  I was pretty dang pleased that our electric bill was $52 lower than last month and relieved once again that we don't have to make that credit card payment, but then I remembered the water/sewer/garbage bill that our landlord recently added to our expenses along with our rent increase, so that left us in a little better position than we would have been.  With gas at $4.25 per gallon though, that wasn't going to leave us with a lot for groceries, so I took an inventory of what we have and made a meal plan for the next two weeks.

I bought a ginormous block of cheese from Cash and Carry for about $12 (five pounds).  Well be eating a lot of grilled cheese.  I have onion, potatoes, eggs, and bacon.  I'll make those into a breakfast casserole.  We have tortillas and refried beans to make burritos, three bags of pasta, at least a few jars of pasta sauce, lots of mozzarella cheese, a little bit of chicken I can use in jambalaya (I'll just need to buy more onion and smoked sausage and that will feed us for a couple days), and a huge pork roast from Cash and Carry will feed us for four days.  I think we're going to do OK and I already set aside #3's thirty-three dollars so I don't accidentally spend it.  The boys' budget challenge is making me even more conscientious about what I'm spending and using!

Day 4: Let the Spaghetti Leftovers Begin

#2 has a lot of leftover spaghetti.  I helped him get his cauliflower started and ran to teach four piano lessons.  He said he was still hungry, so he had a sandwich too.  So far he seems to have a bigger appetite than #1 even though he's about three years younger.

The rest of us had grilled cheese sandwiches which I have started making in larger amounts under the broiler.  Our frying pan only cooks three at a time.  I can do six on our large cookie sheet.  I butter the bread, put it under the broiler until it's brown, flip it over, add cheese, put it back under the broiler for a couple minutes until it's melted, and it's done.  I wish I had thought of this years ago.  Oh yes, this is also a good method of making mass amounts of toast instead of two slices at a time in your toaster.  In fact, I'm considering getting rid of our toaster oven.  Maybe I'll want another one when our kids are grown and moved out of the house.

Speaking of grilled cheese, one day when I was craving mozzarella sticks, I made grilled cheese with mozzarella instead of cheddar and dipped it in some marinara sauce.  Add a little garlic powder to the butter if you want, but don't if you're feeling lazy like I am tonight.  Tomorrow's dinner might be slightly more exciting like bacon and eggs.

Day 3: #2 Makes Hamburgers

Thanks to a chef on YouTube, #2 learned how to cook some delicious burgers tonight!  We made them all at once and decided to freeze the rest.  He was a little grossed out by the meat, but he said it was the best burger he has ever had.  He also insisted I eat one and yes, it was delicious!  I didn't even miss the cheese.  Lately cheese is what makes dried out beef patties tolerable.



Rather than use wine like the chef did, I added a little milk to the mixture along with some finely diced onion, minced garlic, salt, and a little dried oregano (my son's choice).  It poofed up a lot when we cooked it, so next time we will flatten it more, but we are definitely converted to making fresh beef patties.  These were some of the chef's tips.

1.  Use 80/20 beef.  "Fat is flavor."
2.  Use only cold ingredients.
3.  Don't mix it up with your hands.  It warms up the fat and dries it out.  Only touch it to form it into a ball.
4.  After it's formed into a ball, put it between two sheets of wax paper and then use a plate to flatten it into a patty.  Fix the edges a bit with your fingers, but don't worry too much about the shape.
5.  Don't press the burgers with the spatula.  You're just squeezing out the juices and making them dry.  I am positive this is true.

He put it on the grill.  I couldn't grill tonight, so I just put my oven rack on the highest setting and broiled the patties.  Seriously good, but I still don't want to touch ground beef!  :-D

#2 ate sliced tomato and sauteed onion on top of his burger.  Later he asked if he could have some of our salad and it pained me to say no.  #1 would have flipped because he didn't eat anything except what he bought, but I told him we would celebrate with a large salad when his challenge is over.  He loves my salad, especially my homemade dressing.  At times he has actually asked to have salad instead of dessert! 

The rest of the family had "Magic Chicken" with salad and baked potatoes (well, baked in the microwaved).  You take some chicken thighs, salt and pepper them, and put them skin side down under the broiler for 15 minutes.  Flip them over, add about half an inch of boiling water, salt and pepper them again, then bake at 450 for 45 minutes.  I got the recipe from my sister and I think she got it from her sister-in-law.  The skin gets nice and crispy!  All of my kids like it and there are few things all of them like.

#2 Goes Shopping

His money is dreamy.  And yes, I posed him in front of the flowers too.

Tonight went a little more quickly than last week and we got off to an earlier start.  We had leftovers for dinner and #2 had a snack since his dinner would be rather late.  We talked quite a bit about his list.  He wanted to have hamburgers, orange chicken, Eggo's with whipped cream and strawberries, Spaghetti, and more.  He can't eat breakfast at school two days a week because he has orchestra, so he had to plan four breakfasts.

Smelling the flowers.  This picture is so serene.

He thought he would buy some frozen hamburger patties, but that would be at least $8 and the chicken would be at least $7.  Sure enough, when we went shopping the hamburger patties were just too much, so I told him we could buy a pound of ground beef for less than half as much and make our own patties.  We'll probably look up a YouTube video on how to do it, mostly because I don't actually want to handle the meat.  I'm going to make him do it!  Bwah hahahahahaaaaa!!!!  I can't even stand molding ground beef with gloves on because the sound also disgusts me.  I've built a tolerance to touching steaks, roasts, chickens, etc., but just thinking about forming ground beef patties last night made me feel a little nauseated.  The thought of making an entire meatloaf was practically enough to induce vomiting.

I'm going to stop thinking about that now.

It was decided that he would have to do without orange chicken and eat more leftovers.  He should be able to make four large hamburgers and he wants tomatoes and onion on them. 

Broccoli was no longer on sale for 68 cents a pound.  That was pretty disappointing, so he bought cauliflower for 99 cents a pound.  One head should feed him for at least four nights.

Tomorrow is his dad's birthday, so he's contributing a baguette bread which he bought for $1.50.  I gave him the choice between making his own meal or joining us for ours.  I'm making "Duck Pasta".  Years ago my husband had a pasta dish with duck at a restaurant and he loved it.  Last year I made Spicy Duck Ragu which he liked, but it was different and rather spicy.  I found another one he might like better.  You cook some bacon and sautee sweet onion, garlic, portabello mushrooms, and the duck, which I will have to bone.  I couldn't find duck breasts for sale, so I'll just cook the whole duck.  You can find them at Cash and Carry for $2.33 a pound.  You can also buy a 3 pound package of bacon ends and pieces for a little over $4, which is a little more than a 1 pound package of regular bacon.  If you need pieces instead of bacon strips, it works out great!

#2 is commenting on how much spaghetti a pound makes now that it's done cooking.  He says it doesn't look like enough to feed even one person before you cook it.  #1 still had some tonight and I made him eat it so it wouldn't go to waste.  He didn't mind.

We talked about Eggo's at the store, but here he was buying a whole loaf of bread and only had a couple sandwiches planned.  I told him he could make french toast with strawberries and whipped cream.  We're going to slice up the strawberries and freeze them.  We also found half a pint of whipping cream for 99 cents.  We looked at the Eggo's and they had some for about $2 and you do think how it's really not that much money, but it's amazing how everything adds up.  He agreed to make french toast. 

He bought his own peanut butter and I told him he could use the blackberry jam I bought, but he wanted strawberry so he bought that too.  They also didn't have the 99 cent ketchup anymore, so he bought the Fred Meyer brand.  He doesn't like that one, but he said it was worth it to save money.

He also opted not to buy any juice.  He'll just have water and milk this week.  It will be interesting to see how fast his milk goes.  #1 still had a little left, but he also had two juices that he used up.  The strawberries were $3, so I guess that's the one thing he got to splurge on. 

His total came to $30.01 and the cashier didn't make him pay the penny.  He has $3 left!  I was very impressed when he said he wants to put it in the bank.  He also decided he wasn't going to eat sugar cereal.  He would have Cheerios with sliced banana. 

Here goes another week of adventure!