Money I Spent: $139. This was $5 at Dollar Tree for 5 laundry washing items, plus $134 at Smiths for groceries. This is way over our typical weekly fiscal fast grocery budget, but we were out of a lot of things AND I was doing some low-key stocking up on essentials in case we end up in a Covid-19 quarantine situation. I don’t want to be one of those people buying all the toilet paper in the store, but I also don’t want to be one of those “too cool to prepare” kind of people who end up eating old beans for a month if quarantined. I also had a list but not a PLAN (no coupons, deals, etc.), which means I went into the store to get what we needed with no thought toward how much it would cost. I went off-script in the produce department because everything looked so good! Which tells me I am probably deficient in something or another. So, not a big win financially at the grocery store, but I didn’t buy anything ridiculous or overpriced. I’ll just make a plan and use coupons and do better this weekend!
Money I Avoided Spending: Kiddo had a choir concert in town this evening, which usually means a meal out right before or right afterward. However, I had just bought a package of all Angus beef hot dogs at the grocery store, so we grilled those up for dinner before the choir thing, along with some grilled romaine salad for the adults and a cup of mac & cheese for the kid. Great dinner! Oh and kid had hot dog buns (whole pack of 8 was $0.89), and adults skipped the bread to keep it keto. I think the hot dogs themselves were $3.00 and <1 carb each, so a great choice for keto.
Extra Money I Found or Made: eBay: sold one t-shirt for $10. I need to get to listing stuff again now that we are back in town. eBay sales take a nose dive when you aren’t listing new items regularly.
eBay Expenses: $3 for tissue paper at Dollar Tree (to wrap items for shipping).
Use-it-Up Challenge: I used up the last of a tube of lip balm! How often does that happen? I usually lose or launder my lip balm way before I finish one off.
Decluttering Challenge: Nothing today, but I have a list of spots to tackle next.
Thoughts: I was happy to see that our Smiths had plenty of bottled water and toilet paper on the shelves. I bought one case of water, but no TP as we already have plenty. I didn’t see any hand sanitizer, but I wasn’t looking for it. We already have several containers because I already had some. I always have it in my car to sanitize after looking around estate sales or thrift stores, and I have the bigger pump bottles at home to use for removing Sharpie marks from certain materials (eBay items). I think we are plenty prepared to deal with a short quarantine if it happens. I think the only thing we would be lacking after a week or 10 days would be fresh vegetables. I will pick up a few cans or bags of frozen veggies next time I’m at a grocery store.
Fiscal Fasters 