Day 7: All Done!

#3 did it!  Tomorrow he gets to buy candy and whatever else he has money for.  He had a pizza party at school today and ended up sharing some of his Spaghettios because he was still kind of full.  He wants to have a movie night tomorrow with the whole family. 

Today our family also reached a financial goal.  We wanted to be debt free and have a certain amount in savings by May.  Today was payday and we were able to do it.  It really seemed quite impossible, but we managed to do it with a combination of hard work, self-denial, and also with some help from a wonderful, generous relative or friend who anonymously sent us some money as a congratulations on becoming debt free.  What a huge blessing that was!  I opened the card that I thought was maybe a wedding announcement and I started crying.

Now to work up the courage to apply for a home loan.  We're not sure how much the bank will want us to have in our savings to get a VA Loan, but we hope it's enough. 

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 7: Lessons Learned

#1 will have cereal and fruit for breakfast tomorrow and after he has lunch at school, his challenge will be over.  He said if he had to do this week over, he would have stuck to just the orange chicken and spaghetti because it went a lot further for one person than he thought it would.  If he hadn't purchased hot dogs or buns, he would have had at least another couple dollars to spend.  He would have had even more though if he had traded hot dogs for orange chicken, but I think it was worth it to him.  We still have leftover spaghetti.

I asked him, "Was it a hard week for you?"  He said, "No, not really.  It was pretty nice."  I guess he liked being in control of what he was eating. 

It sounds like a hassle, but I'm really excited to start the next challenge tomorrow!