"Allow a friend to buy you lunch or dinner" Hooray! Although tomorrow I will be eating at the Community Chest fundraiser in Fort Frances, so I'm going to break the rules and use this challenge tomorrow.
I opened a second challenge:
It is my neice's birthday and I have to purchase her a gift.
... but I only have $0.15. If this were to really happen to me I would feel terrible. The only thing I can think to do would be to spend the day with her, but if I were to take her out, that would cost money. So I would ask her parents if they could bring her to my place with some of her favourite movies and and games so that we could spend the day doing some of her favourite things. It would have been really nice if I could afford a cake mix and ingredients for icing and decorations. It would have made for a fun day and good memory. I would find it upsetting that I couldn't even afford to buy something for us to do together.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Supper #2
Normally I don't mind eating leftovers. In fact, I often enjoy it. They are quick and easy to prepare. Which I am very thankful of today because I am really, really hungry.
Leftovers this week are going to be torturous... 7 days of the same meal!!
***
It's 9 pm and I'm hungry. Luckily, I planned for snacks. Well, the same snack: pineapple and cottage cheese. So pineapple, cottage cheese and a glass of water it is!
Leftovers this week are going to be torturous... 7 days of the same meal!!
***
It's 9 pm and I'm hungry. Luckily, I planned for snacks. Well, the same snack: pineapple and cottage cheese. So pineapple, cottage cheese and a glass of water it is!
Today's Challenge
Today's challenge is that I have a cut on my hand that is oozing and I need to purchase something to stop the infection. I have $0.15 left of the $52. The only thing I can think of doing is to ask a neighbour or go to the emergency (even though this isn't really an emergency and I wouldn't have transportation to the emergency anyway).
I opted to borrow from a neighbour, even though this isn't keeping with the challenge. There was no way that I could have afforded to even get into the city, nevermind buy anything to sterilize my hand.
I opted to borrow from a neighbour, even though this isn't keeping with the challenge. There was no way that I could have afforded to even get into the city, nevermind buy anything to sterilize my hand.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Work....
Breakfast this morning consists of yogurt, toast, jam, an orange and juice. Really quick and easy.
I have to travel to Ignace today for a meeting with the Mary Berglund Health Centre. I couldn't afford make up, hair styling products or transportation in my budget. With my job, make up and hair products ware an absolute necessity. I priced out the least expensive eye shadow, eye liner and mascara, and it came to about $12. For my hair, I use a volumizing powder that costs about $13 and hair spray that I picked up at Zellers on sale a while ago for $1... but add in my blow dryer and my total hair and make up would have cost me a whopping $66!! Even assuming that I already owned the blow dryer, spending $26 on hair and make up is half my week's budget!! There is no way that I could afford what I consider to be employment requirements if I was living on social assistance. It really made me think about how difficult it is to live on social assistance and to have the money to eat healthy enough to have the energy to work, to get to/from work and grocery shopping (without any public transportation) and to have the money to look professional and get a job. With all of these costs, I didn't factor in the cost of work attire. For my job, I need dress pants, shoes and shirts/sweaters. Sometimes I even need suit jackets. All of these items are completely unaffordable when buying them new, and living in a small place, the Salvation Army can't reasonably carry all of these items and sizes. Thinking back to when I was living on my own in my last year of high school, I worked at a fast food restaurant where I was required to buy my uniform-- the chain's shirt, pants and black runners of my choosing. These are costs a person needs to have money for before even getting the job.
I know that I'll be gone all day so I am making my lunch to bring with me. My lunch consists of a peanut butter and jam sandwich and an orange. I am bringing water in my bottle with me.
I caved and made some coffee for the road, even though I couldn't afford to buy any coffee/tea this week. I feel guilty for having a coffee, but I really needed some this morning.
I have to travel to Ignace today for a meeting with the Mary Berglund Health Centre. I couldn't afford make up, hair styling products or transportation in my budget. With my job, make up and hair products ware an absolute necessity. I priced out the least expensive eye shadow, eye liner and mascara, and it came to about $12. For my hair, I use a volumizing powder that costs about $13 and hair spray that I picked up at Zellers on sale a while ago for $1... but add in my blow dryer and my total hair and make up would have cost me a whopping $66!! Even assuming that I already owned the blow dryer, spending $26 on hair and make up is half my week's budget!! There is no way that I could afford what I consider to be employment requirements if I was living on social assistance. It really made me think about how difficult it is to live on social assistance and to have the money to eat healthy enough to have the energy to work, to get to/from work and grocery shopping (without any public transportation) and to have the money to look professional and get a job. With all of these costs, I didn't factor in the cost of work attire. For my job, I need dress pants, shoes and shirts/sweaters. Sometimes I even need suit jackets. All of these items are completely unaffordable when buying them new, and living in a small place, the Salvation Army can't reasonably carry all of these items and sizes. Thinking back to when I was living on my own in my last year of high school, I worked at a fast food restaurant where I was required to buy my uniform-- the chain's shirt, pants and black runners of my choosing. These are costs a person needs to have money for before even getting the job.
I know that I'll be gone all day so I am making my lunch to bring with me. My lunch consists of a peanut butter and jam sandwich and an orange. I am bringing water in my bottle with me.
I caved and made some coffee for the road, even though I couldn't afford to buy any coffee/tea this week. I feel guilty for having a coffee, but I really needed some this morning.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
SUPPER!!!!
Finally! Supper is made!
I made the Mexican Casserole, cut it into 8 pieces and froze 5 individually so that they will last all week. I boiled some of the frozen veggies. I know I have to ration milk, so I am restricting myself to 1/2 glass.
I made the Mexican Casserole, cut it into 8 pieces and froze 5 individually so that they will last all week. I boiled some of the frozen veggies. I know I have to ration milk, so I am restricting myself to 1/2 glass.
The Sport of Shopping...
... It is that challenging.
My daily challenge for the first day was that I had a chocolate craving and had to give in! I was very lucky and found that a package of 4 chocolate pudding cups is on sale at IGA for $1 (if this was any other week I wouldn't be so lucky!!). I was able to incorporate this cost into my budget, but nothing else.
At Wal-Mart: wow. I didn't realize that the price of food was so high. It seems like everything is about $0.50 more expensive than I figured. So it looks like the meatloaf is out of the question and 7 nights of Mexican Casserole it is. I'm shuddering at the thought. Oh, and surprise! I can't believe I can't afford to buy tea! It is 'only' $2 for 20 bags but my personal items- deodorant, toilet paper-yikes! shampoo and body soap are so expensive! Add in the toothbrush and paste and it came to a grand total of $11.49. One of my food weaknesses is Yop. I really, really wanted to buy it and it was only $0.97 but I didn't have enough money.
To IGA: They are having their Dollar Days sales on. Thank goodness!
Woo hoo! It looks like I can buy a fresh pineapple because it is on sale for $1.99! This makes me really excited because the only other fresh fruits and vegetables I could afford is a bag of frozen mixed veggies and a bag of oranges (I splurged, spent the $3.99). Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy any more fruit and veggies for snacks as I had planned.
Although I spent a lot of time looking at grocery store flyers to plan my meals, I found it very difficult to purchase the ingredients I needed to eat for the week. Toilet paper was really expensive, and so I "split the cost" and package with a friend. Bar soap was also really expensive! Normally I try to buy some of these items in large quantities to save on the per unit cost and so I found it to be very alarming to see how expensive the smallest package costs are, regardless of brand. Even store brands are quite expensive at over $2.50 for 3 bars of soap.
I live in the country and with there not being any public transit where I live, I had to take my vehicle (that I would not be able to afford if I was living on social assistance). The problem is that the total cost of my groceries and personal items came to $51.85, leaving me without any money for transportation, makeup, or future challenges... as it is I think the monotony of eating the same thing all week long will be a real challenge.
Here's what $51.85 got me:
650g strawberry yogurt
brown bread
1L Oasis mango juice
bag of oranges
small peanut butter
strawberry jam
2L milk
1 kg frozen mixed vegetables
about 3 oz of cheddar cheese
2 boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix (I'm relying on a friend to pick this up for me)
13 oz of salsa
2 lbs regular ground beef
1 small bag of onions
1 can cream corn
500ml of cottage cheese
4 pack of chocolate pudding
pineapple
deodorant
toilet paper (split cost & package with a friend)
shampoo
toothbrush
toothpaste
body soap (split cost & package with a friend)
My daily challenge for the first day was that I had a chocolate craving and had to give in! I was very lucky and found that a package of 4 chocolate pudding cups is on sale at IGA for $1 (if this was any other week I wouldn't be so lucky!!). I was able to incorporate this cost into my budget, but nothing else.
At Wal-Mart: wow. I didn't realize that the price of food was so high. It seems like everything is about $0.50 more expensive than I figured. So it looks like the meatloaf is out of the question and 7 nights of Mexican Casserole it is. I'm shuddering at the thought. Oh, and surprise! I can't believe I can't afford to buy tea! It is 'only' $2 for 20 bags but my personal items- deodorant, toilet paper-yikes! shampoo and body soap are so expensive! Add in the toothbrush and paste and it came to a grand total of $11.49. One of my food weaknesses is Yop. I really, really wanted to buy it and it was only $0.97 but I didn't have enough money.
To IGA: They are having their Dollar Days sales on. Thank goodness!
Woo hoo! It looks like I can buy a fresh pineapple because it is on sale for $1.99! This makes me really excited because the only other fresh fruits and vegetables I could afford is a bag of frozen mixed veggies and a bag of oranges (I splurged, spent the $3.99). Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy any more fruit and veggies for snacks as I had planned.
Although I spent a lot of time looking at grocery store flyers to plan my meals, I found it very difficult to purchase the ingredients I needed to eat for the week. Toilet paper was really expensive, and so I "split the cost" and package with a friend. Bar soap was also really expensive! Normally I try to buy some of these items in large quantities to save on the per unit cost and so I found it to be very alarming to see how expensive the smallest package costs are, regardless of brand. Even store brands are quite expensive at over $2.50 for 3 bars of soap.
I live in the country and with there not being any public transit where I live, I had to take my vehicle (that I would not be able to afford if I was living on social assistance). The problem is that the total cost of my groceries and personal items came to $51.85, leaving me without any money for transportation, makeup, or future challenges... as it is I think the monotony of eating the same thing all week long will be a real challenge.
Here's what $51.85 got me:
650g strawberry yogurt
brown bread
1L Oasis mango juice
bag of oranges
small peanut butter
strawberry jam
2L milk
1 kg frozen mixed vegetables
about 3 oz of cheddar cheese
2 boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix (I'm relying on a friend to pick this up for me)
13 oz of salsa
2 lbs regular ground beef
1 small bag of onions
1 can cream corn
500ml of cottage cheese
4 pack of chocolate pudding
pineapple
deodorant
toilet paper (split cost & package with a friend)
shampoo
toothbrush
toothpaste
body soap (split cost & package with a friend)
Plan, plan, plan
OK, I knew this was going to be a challenge, but didn't realize just how tight it was going to be. I remember eating relatively inexpensively when I was in university, so I thought that I would have a somewhat easier time with the budgeting... yeah right! In order to budget you actually need a reasonable amount of money! Last night when I got back to Dryden from an intensive 4 day trip up north, I went home to plan my meals for the next week. I was exhausted from the trip and really hungry. I had to hurry to come up with a meal plan so that I could go out and pick up groceries.
The plan: I knew I'd probably have to rely on eating sandwiches for my lunches and planned on eating yogurt, toast and some fruit for breakfast. Suppers were definitely the most difficult part to plan for... so I decided to make a Mexican Casserole and eat it for supper for 5 days and make a meatloaf and salad for the other two.
I spent a considerable amount of time looking at online flyers for grocery stores and trying to cost out a lot of ingredients. Not everything that I needed to eat for the week was on sale, and so I would have to wait until I got to the grocery store before I could price out the remaining ingredients.
I recognize that without having access to a vehicle, a person living on social assistance would not have the luxury of shopping around from grocery store to grocery store in search of the best prices. But there was absolutely no other way that I could afford to eat relatively nutritious food otherwise.
The plan: I knew I'd probably have to rely on eating sandwiches for my lunches and planned on eating yogurt, toast and some fruit for breakfast. Suppers were definitely the most difficult part to plan for... so I decided to make a Mexican Casserole and eat it for supper for 5 days and make a meatloaf and salad for the other two.
I spent a considerable amount of time looking at online flyers for grocery stores and trying to cost out a lot of ingredients. Not everything that I needed to eat for the week was on sale, and so I would have to wait until I got to the grocery store before I could price out the remaining ingredients.
I recognize that without having access to a vehicle, a person living on social assistance would not have the luxury of shopping around from grocery store to grocery store in search of the best prices. But there was absolutely no other way that I could afford to eat relatively nutritious food otherwise.
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