14 Days of Frugality- DAY ONE

Today was my first day living frugally and it was surprisingly harder than I thought it was going to be. First and foremost, I made Jeremy and myself some iced coffee before getting to the gritty stuff.

I started the day thinking about what kind of meals I wanted to make this week. I needed to make meals that wouldn't cost a lot and could easily eaten as leftovers. I would need to reuse ingredients from one dish to another so nothing is wasted. Obviously, some dishes are better suited than others for this. So, I turned to my personal recipe book of tried and true meals. I settled on making a few chicken dishes because I knew that I could get organic chicken for $5.99 a pound. I was also thinking of making a fish dish using whatever white fish was on sale at Whole Foods, but nothing was. I am planning to check the prices at Harbor Fish Market later in the week, but so far... just chicken.

For breakfast Jeremy and I fueled our bodies with slow cooked oatmeal. A breakfast that we SHOULD eat every single day, but never do. (Perhaps this experiment will result in more than just a few pennies saved.)

For lunch we had leftover homemade tacos from the weekend and for dinner I made a pasta dish with peas and chicken that has a creamy chicken sauce. It is really delicious and reheats well. Max also enjoyed it very much. Most of the ingredients for the dish I already had in the house and all I needed to buy was some chicken* and a bag of frozen peas, of which I used half.

*I bought an economy pack of chicken, enough for the whole week.

Tomorrow I will pick up my CSA farm share and use whatever I get to make yet another favorite chicken dish... chinese stir fry, using some spinach and snap peas from last week's share and maybe the other 1/2 of the frozen peas.

Something that I forgot to add to my list of things not allowed is prepared foods. When I was in Whole Foods today I was reminded of how many yummy prepared things there are.... muffins, salads, pastas, chicken, soups... none of this is allowed during the next 13 days. If I want a muffin, I need to make it and it is much too hot for baking, so I will go without. Walking through the store was hard. I wanted pretty much everything I saw. Cherries!! Ooh. But cherries are a luxury and definitely not a necessity. I need to stick with fruit on sale and fruit that will last more than just a few days without turning. As I walked through the aisles I realized that I never shop according to sales. I just buy what I want and don't care. I need to start caring. It feels strange to limit my menus to what is on sale, but I know it is the right thing to do if I really want to start saving money. The red peppers that I bought for the stir fry were on sale and so was the chicken. That's a start.

Later in the day I walked to Jet Video which is a video store, post office and ice cream shop (coolest business idea ever) to mail a package. As soon as I got to their door I immediately wanted an ice cream or at least something cold to drink. I had just walked 5 minutes!! I needed a way to cool off. But, that would be a no no. Even though I would be able to purchase an ice cold beverage for just 75 cents it was not allowed. I stayed strong, mailed my package and left.

When I think of this project on the very tip of the surface it seems easy and kinda dumb too. But, doing it is hard. Last night I dreamt that I was shopping at Target and woke up wanting to go there today. In just one day I am realizing how much impulse spending I do and think about doing. I hope that bringing attention to the problem is the right first step.

Here is an article that I found some inspiration in, First Person: What My Little Indulgences Really Cost.