20 EUROS for 20 days-Part 1
Here we go again! You probably wonder why I challenge myself this way. Good question!
In order to attain my goals in other areas, I have to work with the resources that I have. This time, my goal is to save most of my December grocery money until Dec.18th when our kids, Anita and Neil and grandchildren, Elijah and Ana come to see us. Jerusha will fly in on Dec. 21st. It’s a blessing to have our family with us during the holy-days, so I want all my resources saved for that!
Here are some facts:
My grocery allowance for each month is $400 USD. Now, here is where it can get dodgy; I have to convert that into Euros. Each month the exchange rate is different and I’m happy to say that even though it is not yet (did you hear the hope?) at parity, it’s improving. We’ll exchange at 1.26 this month which means I’ll have 317,46€ for my grocery money for the month of December. To put things in perspective, that same $400 USD over the summer was worth 243,90 €, so I’m feeling very pleased to get 317,46€!
I’ll budget 20€ of those Euros for the next 20 days leaving 297,46€ to spend when the family comes. In our house, we just can’t have it all. We save in one area in order to have enough in other budget areas. It’s a reflection of our priorities.
Now, to clarify… we are NOT going to eat on 20€! I am planning on using that 20€ where needed to complete what I already have. If you scroll down a bit on the blog, you’ll see that I have found some good deals on chicken, turkey, garbanzo bean flour, canned tomatoes as well as all the fruits I have canned. In other words, I’m going to try to have 20 days without spending! This is not a sacrifice for me, rather an adjustment to accomplish the greater goal of more treats for my family.
So NOW I begin… I have separated 1- 20€ bill for spending!
Here’s my plan for the 1st 10 days- PART 1:
November 28th (today)- Cream of Green soup (left over broccoli from yesterday, cabbage, spinach, onions & leeks), leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, sliced tomatoes & pumpkin pie
November 29th- Cream of tomato soup (last week I bought a big bag of tomatoes for only .99 per kilo), pan fried German sausages, mashed potato patties, carrots
November 30th- Navy Bean soup, fried chicken, french fries, sliced tomatoes
December 1st- leftover cream of tomato soup, macaroni & cheese with ham, salad
December 2nd- Cream of broccoli soup, fried potatoes & onions with leftover German sausage & eggs & toast
December 3rd- leftover turkey soup, meatloaf, **baked potatoes, broccoli
December 4th-potato & corn chowder, turkey tacos, re-fried beans, salad
December 5th- navy bean soup, *meatloaf sandwiches, sliced tomatoes
December 6th-Split pea & ham soup, turkey rice casserole, salad
December 7th-Turkey soup and *toasted ham and cheese sandwiches after church
* on homemade bread
** I bought a 50 lb sack of potatoes on sale in early November
Breakfasts:
- oatmeal
- grits & eggs
- pancakes
- muffins
Suppers:
- Leftovers
- soups
- sandwiches
- spanish tortilla
- salad
Our little 6lb. turkey ready to go in the oven (it fit into my 8×8 pan!), & 6 jars of cinnamon spice apples which I served instead of the cranberries sauce. People here just don’t know what cranberries are and use the word “arandano” which is a blueberry. I bought the apples on sale for .99 akilo last week. It’s a good thing I did because this week, they are 1,79€ a kilo. All was very yummy, but it would have tasted better with kids and “grands” sitting around the table!
Madrid
72°
Anita says:
So, I got a huge bag of potatoes, maybe 10 kilos for about 1.50 euro at lidl the other day. A great deal! I haven’t been as good about cutting it WAY back lately, we have had alot of events and things I needed to participate in.
.
. Very unlike me, but it worked. 
This week we are having a new family for dinner and I am also going to a luncheon, but I can take whatever I want, so I am thinking potato salad.
Today for lunch I pulled an ‘american’ and made a casserole out of leftovers
pearsonsprogress says:
(from Bobbie DeVos)This week we hope to put up a tree. We are going to cut one from the yard…we really see no reason to buy one, and we need to clear the back anyway, so we figured we would just do it that way this year.
I am also using comics from the newspaper for wrap for the kids this year! I’ve also been able to get some great grocery deals for stocking stuffers. The Lord is providing for us and helping me to wisely handle the funds we have…
Well, I am off for now. I love reading your blog posts, and I look forward to seeing how the 20 day challenge goes! Keep up the good work.
Love BL
Anita says:
Ok here is my menu this week, the night we ‘eat meat’ int he lasagne we are having guests over for dinner and one other night we are having lamb because i have some in the freezer i need to use. otherwise, alot of beans and potatoes, veggis etc. we only have dessert when we have people over (unless I make oatmeal cookies or something). We will have fruit for dessert.
Menu
Monday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: clam chowder
Tuesday:
lunch: salads with soup
dinner: lasagne, salad, apple pie
olives and chips for apperitif
Wednesday:
lunch: leftovers
dinner: salad au chevre chaud (warm goat cheese on toasts)
Thursday:
lunch: potato something for a ladies luncheon (warm potatoe salad?)
dinner: leftovers or salmon salad sandwiches
Friday:
lunch: lamb and cous cous
dinner: salads
Saturday:
lunch: indian chickpeas and rice
dinner: baked potato bar
pearsonsprogress says:
Anita, good work on the potato deal! You can make a tortilla espanola!
BL- fantastic to cut your own tree!! wonderful! We have a plastic one because we would have to buy a live tree here in Spain. It’s against the law to cut them for Christmas.
Anita says:
OH ANOTHER WAY TO SAVE MONEY!
Refill your own ink cartriges!!! We have been doing it it works great.
Jesseka says:
We are on a similar December plan, mom- trying to minimize our spending in order to spend over Christmas and new Years on the things that we will really enjoy. We’ll have dinner with the DeVos’ and Jakemans at our house on the 26th and I desperately wanted to get a filet mignon for that dinner but ended up deciding on the ham since we could do so much with it afterward. I also finished getting my stocking stuffers and things for a box for Nathanial with a 30% off coupon at CVS. This means, for those that are participating in sending this box, I can charge them at 100% and make a profit, which goes straight back to my grocery fund. Pretty good, huh? Don’t tell anyone…
We also rec’d a gift from our insurance vendor last week that was a box of Christmas gift wrapping, tape,tags etc… everything needed for wrapping gifts. I was so excited!! Just the day before I had put back a roll of paper at Costco because I didn’t want to spend the money. I felt very blessed with that gift.