Wardrobe Challenge

I was really inspired by a recent guest post on MoneySavingMom's blog about simplifying your life. Although I am pretty good at getting rid of things, I still feel like I have too much stuff - especially when it comes to clothes. Part of this is left over from when I didn't have a washer and dryer and only did laundry once every few weeks. Back then I had to have enough clothes to get me through a few weeks. Plus, my job had a strict dress code so I had to be very dressed up everyday. As a result I ended up accumulating quite a large clothes collection. I've been good at getting rid of things here and there but when it comes to really giving my wardrobe a makeover, I really don't know where to start.

So, I've decided to see how I do with a limited wardrobe for the next 2 weeks. This is what I chose:

I have:
3 pairs of pants - 1 khaki, 1 black, and 1 jeans
2 cardigans - 1 purple, 1 brown
2 sweaters - 1 pink, 1 tan and black
2 button down shirts
1 long sleeved t-shirt
1 short sleeved t-shirt
This does not count workout clothes, pjs, etc.

So, this doesn't seem like very much but lets look at the combinations.

Pink sweater x (jeans, khaki, black)
White shirt & pink sweater x (jeans, khaki, black)
Tan/Black sweater x (jeans, khaki, black)
White shirt x (jeans, khaki, black)
White/blue shirt x (jeans, khaki)
White/blue shirt, purple sweater x (jeans, khaki)
White shirt, purple sweater x (jeans, khaki, black)
White shirt, brown sweater x (jeans, khaki)

For more casual:
White t-shirt x (jeans, khaki, black)
purple t-shirt x (jeans, khaki, black)
White and purple shirts x (jeans, khaki, black)
purple shirt, purple sweater x (jeans, khaki, black)

So all in all, with this combination of clothing items I can put together 33 potential combinations. THAT IS MORE THAN I NEED IN 1 MONTH!

Plus that doesn't count accessories. I don't have much but I do have a handful of necklaces that I can rotate in and out to change things up a little bit.

So I am going to see how this goes. I am actually pretty excited about it. I tend to wear the same things over and over again anyway so this won't be much of a stretch for me. I am thinking I will move everything in my closet that is not part of the challenge over to one side of my closet so it is clear what clothing items I have to choose from.

I think it going to make getting ready in the morning A LOT easier too! One caveat - I am allowing myself some leeway based on the weather. Since it has been a bit variable here recently I may need to swap in some warmer options. :)

February Grocery Budget Challenge

Crystal has been talking recently about how to maximize your grocery spending and ultimately how to reduce your grocery budget. She recommended starting with $20/person/week and this got a lot of people talking about how this was an unreasonably low amount and how it was impossible to eat healthfully while still maintaining this budget.

Well, that got me thinking. Could I do it? There is only 1 person in my household so this would be a total budget of $80 for the month. That is less than I currently spend.

Obviously I have some items in my pantry so I wouldn't have to purchase every single item that I eat, but I also don't want to survive on pasta and peanut butter sandwiches either (this is not a great way to Fight the Fat).

So here is what I am thinking. My goal is to not only limit myself to $80 for the month but also to eat healthfully throughout the entire month. This mean - plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, limited processed foods, and overall good choices.

Is it possible? Do you think I can eat healthy meals all month for only $80? We are going to see! And to prove that I'm not eating junk - here is a picture of my lunch:



Doesn't it looks great on that blue plate?!? How pretty (and tasty!).

So, I'm off. As added incentive, I've put aside $80 in cash as my grocery money and put the extra (that I typically spend in a month) aside for my home improvement fund. If I need it, I'll take it back but I am hoping that not having it in front of me will encourage me to stick with my goals!

January Eating from the Pantry Challenge - Week 1

I did pretty well this week on groceries. At Kroger I spent ~ $13 (lost receipt - whoops!) on the following staples. I needed milk and bread. The Diet Coke is a guilty pleasure but it is cheaper than buying it in the vending machine which I am prone to do.

The large box of Corn Chex was marked down to $1.75 and I have no idea why. The puddings were holiday themed and were also marked down - to $0.50 each.

I bought 2 shampoos at Target this week because I am on the verge of being out of shampoo. Target was having a decent sale and I had a coupon so it worked out. I got both of these for $2.59 but paid using a gift card so these were FREE.


On a second trip to Kroger I picked up some other items that I am almost out of (Veggie Oil, paper towels, etc) for a total of $6.41.

And I did have a splurge trip that I just couldn't pass up. Harris Teeter has boneless chicken breast on sale for Buy 1 Get 2 Free which is a fantastic deal. So I got 5.6 lbs of chicken for just over $9.

Given that I am trying to eat from the pantry this month, this seems like quite a bit to spend. However, now that I've stocked up on some staples that I was missing following the holidays, I should be in a good position to minimize spending for the rest of the month!

Total for the week: $28.79
Total for the month: $28.79

January Eating from the Pantry Challenge!

FishMama over at Life As Mom is hosting a Pantry Challenge this month. The point of the challenge is to make the most of what you have, either by stocking your pantry, using items in your pantry, or whatever else you might need.

For me, this means clearing out some food from the freezer and pantry before they go bad. So, for the month of January I am going to limit myself to 50% of my grocery budget. Grocery money can be used for necessary items, produce, meat, and perishables. Any extra money left over at the end of the month will go into the home improvement fund!

I will keep you updated on my progress!

October Eating From the Pantry Challenge!

Welcome to October!! Where did September go? No, seriously - where did it go? Anyway, I have somehow accumulated A LOT of items in my freezer. So I've decided to spend some time cleaning out the stockpile this month.

My goal for this month will be to minimize grocery spending as much as possible. Purchasing perishables, milk, eggs, and necessities is allowed. Any leftover grocery money will go towards making an extra principal payment.

YAY! I will update you all at the end of the month.

Pantry Challenge Update

So the Pantry challenge is coming to an end and I've done pretty well with everything so far. I haven't starved and I've maintained a reasonable diversity in my diet, although a lot of this is due to the extensive eating out I've been doing (kind of anti-challenge but whatever). A few days ago I picked up carrots and chicken at Target for a total of $3.49 bringing my total for the month to $20.86.

Today I decided to break my challenge goal of sticking to only perishables because I saw some pretty decent deals at Harris Teeter and figured I'd take a lot of this down to NC with me for some easy eating.

Anyway - I spent $10.04 on the following:
2 1 lb boxes of Cheerios (note, these are HUGE and probably will hold me for a few months)
4 boxes of mac and cheese
2 loaves of arnold grains and more bread
3 broccoli florets
3 bananas

Total Savings: $15.42. WOO!

I think I am finished with my grocery shopping for the month so I feel confident giving my final numbers.


Total Challenge Grocery Spending: $30.90! Not bad for a whole month!

Impromptu Dinner Party: Challenge Style

A few friends and I decided to get together randomly last night for dinner and games. We decided to do a pot-luck type dinner and since it was basically my idea, I wanted to bring a main entree. This posed my greatest challenge thus far with completing my pantry challenge. I'm perfectly content to eat sandwiches, etc but I wanted to have something a little more substantial to share.

The other problems was that I didn't have enough time to run to the store so I reallyhad to make do with what is in my pantry and freezer - and that meant no meat.

So thanks to a recent by suggestion (you know who you are), I decided to modify a Bisquik Chicken Pot Pie recipe.

Here is what I had on hand - some broccoli (about 1/2 cup chopped), 1 can corn, 2 carrots, and lot of misc. bell peppers (green, red, yellow, and orange).

So here is my Veggie Pot Pie experiment:

The recipe calls for Cream of Chicken soup but I had only Cream of Celery or Cream of Potato - so I went with the Potato. Here is everything all mixed together. I was worried about the peppers - they just seemed a little random with the other veggies.


Here is the finished product with the topping. I have to say, it turned out really good. The whole thing was gone (6 adults) so I take that as a good sign. I was impressed by how it turned out given that I basically improvised most of it. The peppers worked and gave it a nice flavor. I will probably keep this recipe handy for a quick and easy dinner that can be made without much planning.

Eating from the Pantry Challenge: Update

It has been another week of eating from the pantry and overall things are going really well...at least in terms of purchasing groceries. I've been spending more money than average on eating out but since I am trying to see people before I move to NC, I consider this time well spent! :)

I went to Trader Joe's today for some produce. I am trying to combat the constant eating out with salads and fruit!



3lbs of apples, a bag of salad greens, and some bananas for $7.22. That brings my total spending for the month up to $17.37! I've more or less stuck to the produce, dairy, and meat plan except for when I had to buy easy mac when I forgot my lunch and due to the extreme fatigue association with putting my condo on the market, I bought a 6-pack of diet coke. Absolutely essential!!

Eating from the pantry Challenge: Strawberry Scones

Back when strawberries were in season I picked up a bunch of them and chopped and froze the ones I couldn't eat in time. I ended up with a decent sized stash of frozen berries.



Unfortunately, frozen berries don't travel well for a move so when I stumbled upon this post from LifeasMom's Good (&Cheap) Eats blog, I was thrilled. Strawberry chocolate chip scones? Yes please!

There were 2 problems which led me to somewhat modify the recipe. 1. I don't really like chunks of fruit in my baked goods. 2. When you thaw frozen strawberries, they end up sort of soggy.

So I modified her recipe by taking out the heavy cream (which I didn't have anyway) and adding in 3/4 cup of pureed strawberries. The end result was a not-too-sweet scone with a hint of strawberry. To be honest it probably could have used a little more strawberry to give it a good berry flavor but that would have upset the balance with dry ingredients so I left it alone.

I'd probably make these again. Either way - now I have a frugal dessert to eat this week made from ingredients from the freezer/pantry!

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Eating from the pantry Challenge: Freezer Quesadillas

Week 1 of my Eating from the Pantry Challenge is underway and I am happy to report that things have been going well so far. I've spent $1.51 for fruit this week (though I will need to buy some more) and because I forgot my wonderfully prepared lunch on the counter yesterday, I also spent $1.42 for a container of easy mac and a roll (thank goodness I have a grocery store downstairs otherwise I would have spent much more!) So that is a grand total of $2.93 so far.

My big success so far is "Freezer Quesadillas." All of the ingredients are things I currently have in my freezer. This can be varied to suit tastes and ingredients on hand.

My quesadillas:
Some pre-cooked/pre-seasoned ground chicken (cooked it last week)
Bell peppers (got a phenomenal deal when they were in season and I still have tons!)
Mozarella cheese (wouldn't have been my preference but that's what I had)
Flour tortillas (I've had some frozen for a while. I was worried about how they'd thaw but it worked fine)
Extra taco seasoning (to make the mozarella cheese less strange)

In a pan I heated up the taco meat and chopped peppers. PS - I am LOVING my new pan:


After the meat was thawed and the peppers cooked through (actually it was nice - they took up some of the taco flavor), I put a tortilla on the pan and let it thaw a bit. Then I covered it with cheese (mixed with taco seasoning) and the meat/pepper mixture and then more cheese.


Once the cheese was melted and things were more or less sticking together, I just sliced it up, paired it with some broccoli (random, but I love broccoli) and a glass of milk and I was good to go!
All in all I'd call this a success. It was a creative use of ingredients I had on hand and it was actually pretty tasty. Plus, because I had pre-cooked the meat it took only a few minutes to prepare!

Pantry Challenge

I've decided to participate in MoneySavingMom's January 2010 Eating From the Pantry Challenge. We'll see how this goes. I am primarily doing this to prepare for the 'big move' coming up at the end of the month. I don't want to have to pack all my misc. pantry supplies so I am going to try to eat a lot of them before moving. I cannot live off of what is in my pantry alone though - I have plenty of pasta and rice and peanut butter but I definitely do not have enough meat and produce to last the entire month. So I'll have to pick up some fresh goodies throughout the month but I am going to try to minimize that as much as possible.

We'll see what happens. Hopefully by the end of January I will have a lot less stuff to move!

August Grocery Challenge!

Over the past few months I've been able to generate a pretty decent stockpile of food, toiletries, and other products. In an effort to use what I have and also to put a little extra money towards savings this month, I am challenging myself to spend no more than $100 this month on groceries, household needs, and toiletries. I usually budget a little more than this in order to build up my stockpile but that isn't necessary spending so I think I should be able to meet this goal.

My rules:
1. No cheating. When $100 is spent, there are no further funds, unless it is an emergency.
2. This does not count eating out which comes from a different part of my budget. So I can still eat out if I have room in my "fun budget" to accommodate it.
3. I will not eat only cereal and peanut butter sandiwches all month. The plan is to eat healthfully and normally all month. In order to prove that I can do this, I will periodically update with menu plans, successful meals (and likely some not so successful ones as I try to creatively use what I already have...), and pictures.

That's it! Today was a weird food day for me so I am not sure it counts in the whole "eating normally" all month. I helped my sister paint her new house and we got caught up in our work and didn't eat anything other than banana bread until about 4pm when we shared a pizza from Dominos. Then since I am going to a baby shower in MD tomorrow morning, I am staying at my parents house tonight. They aren't really around much this week so it is slim pickings in the food department here. So I had Rice Krispies for dinner. I'd say we are not off to a great start on this month but things should be back to normal once I head home tomorrow. :)