First update

I told you it would probably be awhile before I got back :P Okay, so where am I at with my "Clean Eating" plan. Well, I'm not going to lie. The first two weeks were easy because I still have a ton of processed food in my fridge and freezer. But lets look at what I bought:

 From the farmers market on campus: total $6.65

 From Walmart. The thing in the back is my new compost bucket. I'm very excited about it :) This is my first experience with Greek yogurt, it's not bad. I have to sweeten my smoothies with honey but it's okay. In the front, bread from a new German bakery in town. So yummy! Total: $18.56 (for food only)

Last Sunday I went to the Cambridge Farmers Market and picked up a few items. Local honey for $5, mushrooms-$3, bananas-$1.27 and the items wrapped in brown paper: honey ham lunch meat-$.98, feta-$3, havarti-$2.50. The other items were from Vincenzos, a local high quality grocery store. Beans-$1.64, roma tomatoes-$.70, basil and rosemary-$1.39 each. Total: $20.87

Not pictured is the $12.76 I spent at Longo's on salad fixings. In some ways this doesn't count because I did it so I wouldn't have to go out to eat which would have been a lot more than that. I'll count it though because I still have some of that food.

I also spent $4 this last week at the campus farmers market. That's a total of $62.84 in two weeks. Not horrible but I think I can make do with less. I've been eating well though :)

April will be different because I'm not in class. Being home means I'll have more time to prepare food which should be good. It may also mean that I eat more though. We'll see :)

Real food, whole food, slow food, clean eating, etc.

I know I haven't used this blog in over two years, and in that time my life circumstances have changed a lot. I quit my well paying job, moved across the country and took on the life of a student along with a part time job. Unfortunately my spending habits (which weren't great to begin with) didn't quite follow suite and now I am finding myself scrambling on the financial side.

This combined with my recent discovery of this blog: 100 Days of Real Food has prompted me to revisit this abandoned blog. The first series of posts that I read on the Real Food blog was "100 Days on a Budget". If she can afford to feed her family of four on $125/week WITHOUT buying processed food, then I'm pretty sure I can live on a lot less, and still eat "real food". I haven't decided what "less" will be. Definitely not $7.13 a day although that is only $50 a week. The other key to this is that I need to eat what is is in my cupboard. I have a really bad habit of stock piling food and I need to break that. Case in point. In the last four weeks or so, I have spent the following:

Walmart: $22.99 (assorted grocery items)
Farmers Market: $11 (fresh veggies and bagels)
Milk: $4.47

$38.46 in just short of four weeks and my cupboards are still full. Granted I am out of eggs and I'm running low on veggies but as far as dry/frozen foods, I'm gold. So, my challenge for this summer is to eat through what is in my cupboards (again) and ONLY buy "real food". That means that I'll eat the processed food/white rice/pasta/etc that I have on hand, but my goal is to substantially increase my "real food" consumption over the next few months. Plus, I'm planning on moving to Georgia in January 2013 for one semester of school so I want to get my food stock down to just perishables by then. From past experience (ie, when I moved from BC) it takes at least that long.

So call it real food, whole food, slow food, clean eating, low/no sugar/flour, student budget, whatever you want - this is what I am aiming for. I'm not going to commit to posting regularly either. For all I know it could be May before I get back here, or it could be tomorrow. I don't know that anyone follows this blog anyway, but if you do, wish me luck! And welcome to my journey.

Days 30-33

Day 30 – Friday, October 30th

Hung out with Meredith and watched tv at the house she was staying at over the weekend.

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $44.41

Day 31 - Saturday, October 31st

Kelly called in the morning and invited me to go the States to go dress shopping with her. She treated me to lunch while we were there. That evening I went to a Halloween party but my costume came out of my closet and the few snacks I brought came out of my food budget.

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $37.28

Day 32 - Sunday, November 1st

Church, lunch at Mom & Dad’s and then table top gaming with friends. No purchases!

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $30.15

Day 33 – Monday, November 2nd

The last few weeks of Square Dance have been free because we’ve had beginners starting. Tonight we started paying again.

Purchases: $6.00
Final for the day Under by $1.13
To date Over by $29.02

Days 23-29

Yikes! I didn’t realize I was so behind! I've been tracking on my excel spreadsheet but I haven't posted the narrative that goes with my purchases.

Day 23 – Friday, October 23rd

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Under by $29.70

Day 24 - Saturday, October 24th

Birthday Gift $15.00
Dinner at Greek Islands $18.79

Purchases: $33.79
Final for the day Over by $26.66
To date Under by $3.04

Day 25 - Sunday, October 25th

Dinner at Greek Islands, yes again, two days in a row. This is what destroys my budget!

Purchases: $16.66
Final for the day Over by $9.53
To date Over by $6.49

Day 26 – Monday, October 26th

My new size CM pages arrived but I realized I still need some old size ones. Luckily I could still get them. (total is approximate. I don’t have the receipt with me but I want to get this posted)

McDonalds for lunch: $5.12
Creative Memories: $64.92

Purchases: $70.04
Final for the day Over by $62.91
To date Over by $69.40

Day 27 - Tuesday, October 27th

Unfortunately there’s no magic mileage cheque to offset this purchase.

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $62.27

Day 28 - Wednesday, October 28th

Back to Starbucks after church. We’re all counting down until the egg nog lattes are available (next Tuesday!)

Purchases: $3.53
Final for the day Under by $3.60
To date Over by $58.67

Day 29 - Thursday, October 29th

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $51.54

Days 19-22

Day 19 – Monday, October 19th

When I do up these entries I use my bank balances, from my chequing and Visa accounts along with the receipts in my wallet. Because I posted last on Monday the charges that I made online on Sunday weren’t reflected in any of those places yet.

So what did I buy Sunday? I ordered pictures and scrapbook pages. I haven’t scrapbooked in awhile because I ran out of both and Sunday I decided I couldn’t handle it anymore!

Purchases: $141.12
Final for the day Over by $133.99
To date Over by $203.38

Day 20 - Tuesday, October 20th

Okay, before you freak out because I’m so far over, note what happened on Tuesday. I got my mileage cheque from driving to Vernon.

I also joined the local Genealogical Society which is a $20 fee for the year. Peanuts compared to the benefits of being a part of the group.

Mileage Cheque +422.38
Society Membership -20

Purchases: $-402.38
Final for the day Under by $409.51
To date Under by $206.13

Day 21 - Wednesday, October 21st

Tim Hortons instead of Starbucks. So much cheaper!

Purchases: $1.19
Final for the day Under by $5.94
To date Under by $212.07

Day 22 - Thursday, October 22nd

Murphy heard I had money. Actually, I shouldn’t blame it on him. I knew this was coming, I just put it off.

Lunch with Mere - $6.83
New Battery (including labour) - $189.8

Purchases: $196.63
Final for the day Over by $189.50
To date Under by $22.57

Days 16-18

Day 16 – Friday, October 16th

I bought a VCR. Read about it here.

Purchases: $22.47
Final for the day Over by $15.34
To date Over by $78.10

Day 17 - Saturday, October 17th

Purchases, nada. I went to a wedding but I was cheap and didn't get a gift. I probably shouldn't admit that...

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $70.97

Day 18 - Sunday, October 18th

Embriodery floss from Michaels. How can you have (access to via my mom) four boxes of floss and still be missing four colours?!?! and when did floss go up to 49 cents a skein?!?!

Purchases: $5.55
Final for the day Under by 1.58
To date Over by $69.39

Days 8 - 15

Day 8 – Thursday, October 8th
I went for a walk with friends and then bought ice cream. Counter productive. I know :P

Purchases: $5.99
Final for the day Under by $1.14
To date Under by $4.89

Day 9 - Friday, October 9th
Mom, Dad, Aaron and I drove to Alberta.

Breakfast from Tim Hortons: $7.34
Lunch and snacks from Smitty’s: $18.35

Purchases: $25.69
Final for the day Over by $18.56
To date Over by $13.67

Day 10 - Saturday, October 10th
I went grocery shopping with Mom and Aunty Candace and then we drove up to Red Deer for my Uncle’s 60th birthday party.

CandyLand Game: $11.40
Tim Hortons: $1.67
George’s Pizza & Steak
House: $30.51

Purchases: $45.38
Final for the day Over by $36.45
To date Over by $50.12

Day 11 - Sunday, October 11th
One of my goals for this trip was to buy a winter coat. In BC I can get away without having one. In New York and Ontario I’ll need one. I’m not including the purchase of the coat in my daily limit because it was budgeted for separately. I will include the rest of my purchases that day though. The whole family went to the new mall in Balzac and entered via the Bass Pro Shop…Dad’s new Mecca LOL

Yogen Fruz (treated Brittany and Candace as a thank you for helping me find my
coat: $13.17
Starbucks: $3.20
Fudge from the Bass Pro Shop: $5.98

Purchases: $22.35
Final for the day Over by $15.22
To date Over by $65.34

Day 12 - Monday, October 12th
Monday we celebrated Thanksgiving and I didn’t realize until writing this that I never left the house!

Purchases: $0.00
Final for the day Under by $7.13
To date Over by $58.21

Day 13 - Tuesday, October 13th
Driving home.

Lunch at ABC: $10.00
Drink for the road: $3.25

Purchases: $13.25
Final for the day Over by $6.12
To date Over by $64.33

Day 7 - Wednesday, October 7th
Typical Wednesday, Starbucks after church.

Purchases: $3.15
Final for the day Under by $3.98
To date Over by $60.35

Day 8 - Thursday, October 8th
Met Mere for lunch

Purchases: $9.54
Final for the day Over by $2.41
To date Over by $62.76