Money I Spent: $300 at Target! I hadn’t been to Target during pandemic times. It wasn’t bad. It felt clean, and most people wore masks and maintained their distance. I have moved into more of a “stock up” state of mind, and am trying to build a small stockpile of non-perishables and semi-perishables (like eggs and milk, which are good for over a month typically). This trip to Target also included a giant pack of the elusive toilet paper (Charmin! Fancy!), dog food, a jug of Tide (Fancy! my family was shocked by the name brand laundry soap), other misc groceries (our favorite keto chocolate chips 3 @ $6.50/bag, pickles, mac & cheese, etc.), and other misc toiletries (razors, conditioner, band-aids, medicines, etc.). It was a whole lot of stuff. On Wednesday, I’ll go to Smiths for produce and meat and some other things.
Money I Avoided Spending: n/a, except where possible I went for the cheaper option ($2.99 conditioner instead of $5.99 conditioner, etc.).
Extra Money I Found or Made: eBay – sold 5 forks for $20, a book for $75 (author signed movie tie-in version of The Basketball Diaries), a heart trinket dish for $10, and a lapel pin for $15.
Use-it-Up: I put the new conditioner away in the cabinet in order to use up 100% of what’s already in the shower. This is kind of a big deal because I love new conditioner. I also took the last dregs of kiddo’s old shampoo/conditioner and gave her new ones. I’ll use the last bits of hers also before I open my new one.
Don’t Go Into a Store: Obviously fail on this one! Streak broken. But I took all required precautions. It is surprising to see that cleaning supplies are still MIA.
Exercise Every Day: Fail. Had to also go into work today. So after work and then Target, and then the event of cleaning every item purchased before taking it into the house, I was done for the day.
Work Outside Every Day: Fail, see above answer regarding exercise.
Thoughts: I figure with our dining out budget at nearly zero and our gas budget nearly zero, it’s ok for our grocery budget to skyrocket right now. Especially in order to stock up on some things for safety’s sake. If there is a second wave as experts are predicting, it could be worse than this first wave. I just want to be prepared for any possibility. I need to stock up on some batteries and cooking/baking supplies, sodas, tuna/spam (spam is so good, I don’t care what anyone says), pasta sauce, ramen, and a ton of canned vegetables. The challenge will be finding storage space for all of it!
Fiscal Fasters 