Day 4 Roundup

Yesterday was a pretty boring day - all meals I've had before: oatmeal and banana, peanut butter sandwiches, and rice and peas. I keep reminding myself that there are folks out there that would love to a consistent 2000 calories, so I shouldn't complain. As of next Monday, I get to eat what I want.

My meal costs:

Oatmeal and banana - 21.5 cents

Peanut butter sandwiches - 27 and 1/3 cents

Rice and blackeyed peas - 43 cents

Day 4 total: 91 and 5/6 cents

Challenge total: $2.54 - it's close, but Wendi has one more free meal left. And she also seems to be eating about 40 calories per day outside of her free meals. Half a banana and a half a diet soda? Seriously? I simply can't do that. I have to get my 1600+ calories in or I won't function.

One particularly bright spot of the past few days... I think I've learned how to make rice! Last night's rice and blackeyed peas were actually really good. Threw some assorted seasonings in there, plus my trusty Soul Food salt, drained the water off of the beans (thanks Mom!) and it even looks better. Plate not so pukey. Wow, that sounded depressing.

Why I Am Here.

I've been checking my mailbox daily, bailout check ain't come yet.

When the economy is as bad as it's been recently, it's hard not to pay closer attention to your finances, even if your paycheck hasn't actually been threatened (yet). It's as though we're tightening our collective belts as the reality of the recession sets in.

I've long kept pretty good track of what I spend, but I think it was more for bounced-check avoidance than for budgeting purposes. When rising gas prices more than doubled the amount I spent on fuel per month this past summer, I actually paused to compare my monthly totals of expenses. I was blown away to see how much I was spending on food each month. So ashamed, that I'm probably still 3 or 4 counseling sessions from exposing that figure on this blog.

I realized that if I just paid a bit more attention, I could easily cut my food bill in half. And once I had half my food bill in my hand, it'd be even easier to think of somewhere else I'd like to put that money. And then I thought - "I wonder how cheaply I could eat, anyway?"

So as I raided the family kitchen during Thanksgiving, bragging to my sister about how I was unlikely to spend a dime on food for a solid 10 meals into the future, Wendi's charming "anything you can do I can do better" bug revived itself from our adolescence... and here we are. And by the by Wendi, it's funny you should bring up my Rubik's cube hack as evidence of my propensity to pull a fast one, especially coming from the girl who used to give herself $460 change after buying Indiana Avenue for $140 with a $500 bill because "5 minus 1 is 4, Aaron!"