It is the end of October and I want to be clear about one thing:
I Hate Halloween and I Miss Vampires
Maybe I should say that I LOATHE IT. In fact, I opted to be the alternate in a Zombie Side hustle twice because I just couldn’t do and I was fine with losing the money. Some things just aren’t for everyone. The second time I was supposed to be a zombie was during the Zombie Crawl in Denver. There were probably 80,000 ghoulish souls out there either as Zombie task squad people (my preference) or as zombies. The worst ones were the KIDS. Little freaky a@@ kids dressed as zombies, making scary zombie noises. I had to get out of there and have made a note to myself to NEVER do any brand ambassador events associated with Halloween again. I miss vampires. At least they are usually hot. Zombies-Yuck.
Side Hustle Madness-$731
I actually made $300 less than scheduled because I couldn’t do the Zombie side hustle more than once. Refer to the above paragraph as to why.
Hire Me
I am currently looking for more writing jobs and virtual assistant work. Please email me at: jackson.l.michelle@gmail.com I would love to help support your small business/blog/or non-profit organization.
October Link Love
You must check out the Beans’ Halloween outfits at Budget Blonde. So freaking cute!
Tonya from Budget and the Beach talks about the Game of Inches. I truly get this post and am trying to practice patience and focus for the things I’m working on in my own life.
MIchelle from Budget Bloggess asks: How Many Times A Day Do You Think About Shopping? I think the second part of that question should be: How many times a day are we bombarded by marketing messages?
Alexa from Single Mom’s Income talks about Random Acts of Kindness.
Maria’s Grandmother Didn’t Worry About Retirement. Check out this very thought provoking read over at The Money Principle.
Deb from Debt Debs had an interesting interaction and reaction from advice that she gave a reader and new blogger. Please read the comments in this post which is a Spotlight on Adversity.
I have been working on saving money in many parts of my life. Groceries is a huge area that I’m focusing on. Catherine from Plunged In Debt asks about a couple who is spending around $1000 a month on groceries. Check out the comments in this post as well. What do you think?
Holiday Survival Guide: Frugal, Festive and Fabulous! Check out this post from the Debt Free Divas that also accompanies our Google+ Chat.
Posts That I Wrote For Other Awesome Blogs!
Easy Tricks to Eat Cheaply During the Week-Moneypropeller Also, check out Anne’s other blog: Unique Gifter as you prepare to buy gifts for the Holiday Season.
Remodel Your Condo: Try Remodeling A Condo With These DIY Tips Budget Blonde.
That Time I Went To Las Vegas By Greyhound Budget Blonde.
Online Banking Rocks My World Budget and the Beach.
Money, Life, and More-Google HangOut!
I am collaborating with Toni from Debt Free Divas and Jessi from The Budget Mama on a new project. We will be filming a series of Google Hangouts addressing different personal finance topics. This is our first one so we learned a lot. Join us on December 2, 2014 for our next one! I will provide more information in the upcoming weeks.
The Shop My Closet Project Around the Web
Kassandra from More than Just Money has a had a phenomenal October! She kindly shared my post: No More Maids in the Jackson Family or How I Feel About Paying for Help.
Crystal from Sophisticated Spender also shared my post concerning paying for help. And she also shared my post concerning food waste.
Michelle from Budget Bloggess shared my post discussing The Art of Intentional Usage.
I got a shout out from Australia! Nell from The Million Dollar Diva shows us that there are a lot of ways to make money in her Ba-dunk-A-dunk post. Check it out for yourself!
DId you know that I’m an Accidental Hipster? Everybody Loves Your Money shares that post!
Tonya from Budget and the Beach shared my Art of Intentional Usage Post as well. I wonder what she’s going to dress up as for Halloween this year?
Mr. 1500 from 1500Days does some troubling experimentation on himself and I contributed a helpful tweak to the homemade Soylent recipe that he is using.
Pauline from Make Money Your Way continues to share side hustle ideas in a fantastic series of posts. If you are at a loss on how to make extra money, please check these posts out!
The Art of Intentional Usage-
$40 on Groceries this month! And the food was good 🙂
So, I spent the month of October using focused intention to save money on groceries! I am convinced that I’m not using my food stockpile in a way that saves me money. It’s not enough just to have tons of food in the house-you actually have to use your food wisely and cut down on food waste. In fact, this experiment went so well I will be changing how I approach food consumption in the future.
My idea is to do a $10 a week monthly challenge every other month. I am in the process of scheduling the months now so that I can just knock them out!
- Think about it this way: 6 months a year I spend $40 a month on groceries=$240 dollars.
- Then, the other 6 months I spend my typical $240 a month=$1440.
- Yearly grocery total under this plan: $1680
- According to the USDA’s August 2014 report the “Thrifty” amount per week for people in my demographic is $38.50 which equals $154 a month. Total for the year: $1848. However, if I use my groceries in a much more focused way I am still able to eat well and drop my overall food expenditures. There are 3 levels to the USDA’s food spending breakdown: Thrifty/Moderate/Liberal (ironic-no?)
- The USDA’s Liberal Plan is $76.30 a week or $305.20 a month=$3662.40. That’s a lot of food and a lot of money.
- On my plan I would be $168 below the “Thrifty” plan. Still eating organic food and not denying myself what I want. Nice.
- I should also mention that I very, very rarely go out to eat unless it’s a 4 or 5 course meal experience-those are usually in the summer and around $65-$85 for the dinner. I might get a lunch 2 times a month and will spend around $13 on those days (includes getting coffee because those days I have no food at all)
- If you don’t know how to cook well, I think it would be very difficult to make deep enough cuts in your grocery budget because you will have to embrace different cooking techniques and styles of food in order to stretch your food.
What Did I Eat? (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Dessert)
- Vegan Chocolate cake with leftover cocoa nibs and coconut flakes
- Greek Yogurt
- Rice noodle bowls with dried shrimp/green onion/kimchi (yes, I have kimchi)
- I juiced one day: Carrot/Ginger/Oranges/Apple/and Grapefruit
- Muesli
- Smoothie with frozen mango/flax seeds/oats/almond milk
- Eggs and Toast with butter and jam
- Tuna cakes and salad
- Tilapia and veggies
- Cod and veggies
- Lentil cakes with veggies
- Homemade hummus and crackers
- Salami and crackers
- Homemade Chicken pot pie in a cast iron skillet
- Green apple/cucumber/red pepper flakes/parsley salad
- Chicken and tomatillo soup
- Macro Bowl: brown rice/avocado/sweet potato/parsley/onion and a savory drizzle that I made.
- Pasta with bread crumbs toasted in olive oil/garlic/red pepper flakes/and anchovy. With parsley and lemon juice
Do you have a challenge planned for November?
What type? Share!
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My plan for November is to keep trying to get our groceries to actually match the budget. I have to say your diet looks extremely healthy. I can always tell a healthy diet when I don’t recognize just about anything on it! Oh wait, eggs, toast, butter and jam. That’s familiar! 😛 Anyway, maybe that’s the answer. Learning a new way to eat. Now to get the boys on board! 🙂
I’m convinced that managing grocery costs is the key to everything! It’s so easy to spiral out of control and double the expenditure when you’re not paying attention. Yeah, I’m pretty healthy! I usually have at least 1 lamb steak/chicken but I’m not so excited about meat right now.
My challenge in November is just to stay on budget. That’s every month’s challenges. We struggle with groceries constantly.
I hope you get more writing/virtual assisting jobs! I’ll let you know if I hear of anyone who needs some help!
You can stay on budget! Have fun in Europe. Thanks very much for the support, I appreciate your help 🙂
I’m not into Halloween either. Congrats on your side hustle income this month. I’ll be joining Tonya’s fitness challenge in November and I completed Luke1428’s 31 days of writing challenge in October. You did so well on the grocery bill this month! Have a beautiful week-end Michelle 🙂
Thanks Kassandra! I am also joining Tonya’s challenge too. I think that I might do the writing challenge sometime this spring! I am amazed that I was able to stick with the challenge 🙂 Have a great weekend too.
I have been managing my grocery expenses at about $120/month (except in September when I did the Paleo challenge). Wow only $40 for groceries! That’s crazy!! I have been eating some out of my stockpile, but even then I’m still spending the full $120/month on groceries. Granted, I do feed my dad and brother lunch a few times/week and my brother eats for like 3 people…
It took a lot of focus and thinking on my part. I also do not go to the grocery store during the week anymore. I just thought about what cheap, inexpensive meals that I could make that will keep me full and satisfied-without sacrificing quality. I do think Americans eat too much. So, I also focused on making slightly smaller meals (am trying to lose weight) Happily I survived.
Do I have a challenge? hee!! Man I wish there was a zombie side gig around here (that I knew about), I’d totally do it in a heartbeat!!! I know Halloween isn’t for everyone though. I don’t get spooked easily though. I’m like Tom Cruise in Cocktail. Anyway, nice job on all the cool things you got going!
I can’t stand Halloween! Blah! Even though I would dress up as Effie from The Hunger Games (butterfly costume specifically). I get spooked so easily.
Girl, you have been rocking and rolling. Super impressed with October. I’m cracking up at the Zombie Hustle though. LOL! Yeah, don’t think I can hang with that stuff anymore either. I’m more of the Super hero/Cute Disney character mold if I do anything at all. We went as ourselves to Trunk or Treat this year….so much easier.
Thanks for the link love. I sure do appreciate it! Looking forward to working with you more – the bathing hipster! 🙂
Toni, I just am not excited about scary things. Isn’t life scary enough? I’m all about being a zombie eradicator or in the Matrix. Something where I need to look cool and fierce.
Thanks for the mention Michelle! I am impressed with the $10 a week for food. I used to have so much food piled up that’s what I have been spending over the past few months while I ate all the frozen and long shelf time stuff but every other month I don’t know if I’d manage to make it work.
I’m going to see how it goes. I am pretty good at stockpiling so the month before would be “normal” and I would take into account the next month’s spending challenge. I’ve eaten really well and am clear about what I don’t want to have in my pantry anymore. Emphasis is on good proteins and good quality frozen items. Will keep you posted!
Wow! $40 for the month on groceries, that’s pretty awesome. I had to restock last month and ended up spending just over my $250 budget. I’ve got no more Costco for 6 months so I stockpiled, LOL!
Thanks for the link love!
Restocking is tricky because it’s always going to a bit pricey depending on what you’re stocking up. I’m really focused on saving money in this area of spending because I’m convinced that I’m eating to much and not using things efficiently. I love having a good stockpile, then I just eat through it and top it off with fresh veggies. Summer is the best time because I can grow things in my garden.
My plan for November is to stay on budget for our trip. It will be a hard one.
You can do it Michelle!! Just go to farmer’s markets for delicious, high quality foods.