I started this week with $92.48 left of my $300 monthly budget including food, household items and toiletries. Each week I crunch the numbers to see where I stand. Today marks the end of week two. You can read about week one here.
I think it’s official – I need to make my own yogurt.
Yogurt used to be a staple in our house when Girl was a wee babe learning how to eat food. There wasn’t a need to buy much – partially because she couldn’t eat much, but mostly because the majority of the yogurt ended up on her face or on my clothes. Yogurt was not a “dent” in our finances at the time. Now that she’s bigger, she consumes more and she ends up with only a slight yogurt mustache.
Yogurt on the face and clothes? Not cute.
Yogurt mustache? Totally adorable!
Yogurt was on my very first stop of the month (Costco), and then again later that week (Savemart). Lo and behold, I bought more this week. This must be a record for our family.
She’s not the only culprit though – I found an AMAZING recipe for blue cheese dressing and I just can’t help but make more and more… which requires yogurt.
So until I get a chance to find a recipe that I like (heating pad vs. crock pot vs. cooler) you’ll be seeing a few more yogurts around these parts. I’m hoping to wedge an hour in there sometime soon though otherwise this yogurt business is gonna put me over the top!
Doing some quick math, I’ve paid $11.87 for roughly 98 ounces of yogurt. At this rate, making my own would cost one-third less ($5.99 for 128 ounces) – YIKES!
Savemart – $12.44
gevalia coffee – 4.97
torani Syrup – 5.99
red onion x2 – 1.48
Sorry guys, no picture here. This was an “oh no, I forgot to pick up the onion” moment as I was chopping broccoli.
While at the store looking for the flavored syrup, I spotted the coffee on “close out.” We really enjoyed this brand the last time we had it and any bag of coffee for $5 or less is a winner in my book. The syrup is for Mr. Crumb’s Italian sodas and the red onions are for the broccoli salad.
Trader Joe’s – $25.71
organic gallon milk – 5.99
spaghetti noodles – .99
extra virgin olive oil 1L – 5.49
organic plain yogurt – 2.99
string cheese – 3.99
romaine hearts – 1.99
spinach – 1.99
bananas – 2.28
Once again, TJ offers a great price for organic milk. Spaghetti noodles are replenishing our stock because after months (or possibly years) of being stocked from coupon deals, we literally ate our last box (of spirals) last week. Mr. Crumbs was slightly disappointed when all we had left were spirals. His words: “I kinda like to have spaghetti noodles when I’m eating spaghetti.” Aw… isn’t he cute? 
Believe it or not, the price of olive oil at TJ’s beats the price at Coscto. Plus I can buy one liter at a time and experience the luxury of not worrying about spilling oil everywhere when pouring oil from a 3 liter jug.
There’s the yogurt, of course, and string cheese as a treat for the kids. Romaine and spinach for salads and smoothies; bananas for smoothies and snacks.
I had my eye on some kale while I was there. It was strategically placed next to the spinach. Perhaps the fact that there was only one bag left is what got my attention. I’ve never tried it before, but I’m curious how it would taste in a smoothie? Has anyone tried it and willing to share their experience?
Now onto the exciting news (because let’s be honest, the trips this week were a total snoozer, even for me).
I’m starting a new series called Friday Finances!
If the name hasn’t given it away, it’ll happen every other Friday and the topic is finances. Since most of my shopping trips happen at the beginning of the month, it feels a little like punishment dragging you guys through all these little “routine” trips for the remaining three weeks. There will still be weekly accountability (mostly for my benefit, so thank you in advance for gritting and bearing), but every two weeks we’ll go into detail on a more interesting financial topic that we all have to deal with.
We’ll discuss finances in all sorts of arenas: food (of course), utilities, personal holidays (like birthdays and Mother’s Day), THE holidays (*cough*Christmas*cough*), small shopping (earrings), medium shopping (shoes), large shopping (luggage), super large shopping (cars)… the list is a mile long!
Mr. Crumbs and I have had to do some extreme things in order to get our finances in order (like cutting our spending by 50%, or simply creating a budget in the first place) and we’ve learned lots of tips along the way.
These simple tips and ideas are at the heart of doing more (and doing it better) with less and I’m looking forward to sharing these with you guys! The first Friday Finances airs in two weeks and even though my list is long, it’s by no means closed. If there’s any particular financial area you’d like to read more about, let me know in the comments!
I keep buying a starter yogurt to have in the fridge for making my own yogurt. Before that can happen I almost always end up eating the starter yogurt. Hopefully this week will be the week I actually make it.
LOL – I wouldn’t be surprised if we had that problem too. I read to scoop some out into a separate container so that it’s set aside for making a batch (and not contaminated by dipping spoons). That tiny 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt in a tiny container may be my saving grace!
We used to buy lots of yogurt. We prefer the Safeway brand (Lucerne). We’d buy it when the 6 oz cartons were less than 50 cents each. You know, like the 10 for 10 price! :=) I know it’s healthy for us, but we don’t have the craving we used to.
On spaghetti “noodles” Wayne and Mr. Crumb don’t agree. Wayne doesn’t care for that type of noodle. We have rigatoni, elbows, spirals, etc. in our house. Most of them are Dreamfield noodles. Simply delicious and no difference in taste than the ones filled with carbs. amazon.com usually has a great deal on them.
BTW – recently we purchased some Jasmine rice and Thai noodles.
Leona (I’m still human! do I constantly have to confirm that fact?)
LOL – you have to confirm it every time Leona. It’s so spammers don’t leave a bunch of random comments, and if they do, they’re not automatically posted.
I used to prefer the smaller noodles when the kids were younger, but now that they can eat actual spaghetti-type noodles, a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan on top makes every noodle taste good!
Hi, I suppose I’m human. I’ve lived on earth 43.9 years, does that count? ;0) Anyways, Cultures for health has a new yogurt starter that you don’t have to heat. I’ve read others blog about it but have not tried it…perhaps that would be easier to get into? (might be more expensive…unsure since haven’t bought it). Also, I’ve used kale in the smoothies before, it’s not noticeable as long as you have a sweet banana in it (not a green one)…and you probably wouldn’t put as much in as you would a milder green like spinach. That broccoli salad you make…if it is the one with the cheese, raisons, bacon and sunflower seeds, here is a “secret”…I made it with KALE one year because I had tons in the garden and no broccoli and it was for a potluck and it was totally the rave of the place…everyone adored it and I took home and empty bowl. It’s easier to chop up, too! I suppose it is not a secret anymore. ;0) thanks for your blog!
Absolutely counts! Thank you for the tip on kale in smoothies, and in the broccoli salad too?! That is astounding! That could be a really easy way to introduce the vegetable to my family – a spoonful of bacon makes everything taste better, lol!
Looking forward to the Friday posts! I love cooking with yogurt—I’m not a big sour cream fan and yogurt is a great replacement for it in recipes.
I must say we do put kale in smoothies and it works well! And that much more nutritious!!! Go for it!!