Day 14: $8/day budget

First of all, I would like to say a BIG thank you to everyone for taking the time each day to read my blog.  I am baffled still as to how people have been reacting to this.   I appreciate all the kind words of encouragement and hope to have more reader involvement in the near future!

I also wanted to let you all know that I am currently in a situation to pay some kindness forward.  You see, I clean houses....this may not sound very glamorous, but I love to clean and I make my own hours...for me, it is the perfect job...for right now.  I recently read about a non-profit that provides maid service to women who are battling cancer.  Being a healthy mother, I can only imagine the daily struggle it must be to try and maintain your health/family/finances, and of course a clean house when you are sick with such an awful disease.  With all this said, I am currently searching for one deserving Mother who is either battling cancer herself, or who has a child who is sick with cancer to provide my service to.  If you know of anyone who may be a good candidate, PLEASE email me at katethecouponmom(at)yahoo(dot)com. 

Okay moving on....

DAY 14
After my terrible day yesterday, I am happy to report that I am back on track!  Today I was quite productive and there were no major meltdowns...praise God!  After dropping Jack at school, I stopped in at my parents for a cup of coffee....the folgers at my house is just not doing it for me and I know my mother only brews starbucks!  After a nice visit, Luke and I headed over to a friends to try and help her with her meal planning/budget for the next few weeks.  This wonderful friend of mine has 4 children 4 years of age and younger (bless her heart!) and struggles with her grocery budget each month.  I feel like we have been making a LOT of progress and she is finally getting the idea that you CAN'T just throw things in your grocery cart...you need to plan out your trip!  So, after a tutorial we stopped in at Sprouts (a "farmers market" style grocer) and practiced what I preached.  I showed her how I weigh out all my produce and try not to exceed what i have budgeted.  She did wonderfully, and I did better than wonderfully!  I budgeted $3 and spent exactly $2.99!!!  How's that for accuracy?!?!?  I purchased (1) Zucchini (1) yellow squash (1) onion (1) bag of pears and (1) bag of carrots!!

TOTAL SPENT OF FRESH PRODUCE: $2.99

After the shopping excursion, I picked up jack from school and for a brief second wondered if I could just drive through somewhere and pick up lunch..would anyone know???  Well I didn't and I am SO happy that I resisted the urge.  My kids don't ask for it, nor do they even enjoy fast food....I enjoy the convenience of it, ME, not them (although two weeks ago I would have said otherwise)!!!  I am slowly but surely breaking that habit.  We are healthier now both physically and financially because of it!  So awesome! 

We came home, and I decided that my pit of a car needed some TLC.  It was so discusting and I just couldn't take it anymore.  Usually I go down to the local "wash your own car" place, but when you are working with $8/day, you wash your own car!  I got out the ol' shop-vac and went to work.  I now have a nice and tidy automobile and didn't spend a penny :)
TOTAL FOR A CAR WASH: $0

TOTAL SPENT DAY 14: $2.99 (rollover $5.01, Total rollover $5.80)


Tip of the day: Now that the weather is warming up, get out the cleaning supplies and do a little scrub-a-dub-dub.  You will feel so much better once your house/car/office is in tip-top shape!  If you don't feel like cleaning, give me a call, I know a great cleaning lady :)  !!!!!