And it was all downhill from there...

As the saying goes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". After proclaiming, a tightening of the purse strings, a "concerted" effort I believe were the words, to buckle down for the last stretch and bring my balance back closer to $12 a day, I lost my way and down the slippery slope I went.

After a good little stretch where I spent only $5 and $0, I came home after a very long day, starving and suggested we go out to dinner as a family. Now mind you I don't believe we had dined out at any other time this month and we did go buffet, which was reasonable, but still – we went out. Bam, $25 right there and then it literally was all downhill.

For some crazy reason, I can only attribute to a delayed reaction to my perceived restraint, I started obsessing about certain food items, not unlike when one goes on a diet and then all you can think about is food. I began indulging cravings. First, it was $16 on ingredients to recreate a nostalgic and exotic dish, then a compulsion to stock up on sale items but at the organic grocer!! and then a general replenishing of a number of comfort foods we had simply gotten low on.

I will say, I did stop buying organic milk after discovering Canada does ban growth hormones in dairy. Not quite ready to completely abandon my social agenda, I did purchase it from a local small dairy but at a $1 difference as opposed to $5.

So basically, what I'm trying to say is, I ate my words – literally. Instead of triumphantly finishing the month proving to myself I could live on $12 a day, I lost my resolve and started shopping with not quite abandon but new found gusto. 

What I will say is $12 means forgoing, compromising and strategizing in order to keep costs down. This last week's hurrah means I leave February almost $100 over and with a $15 daily average.

Friday Spent: $27.60 ($25 dinner out with family, $2.60 transit)
Saturday Spent: $10.90 ($7.70 groceries, $3.20 transit)
Sunday Spent: $26 (more food indulgences)
Monday Spent: $26 (yup, groceries)
Tuesday Spent: $34 (still more groceries)
Wednesday Spent: $6 (sensing a pattern: food)

Food Insecurity

I don't do big weekly grocery shops. I don't clip coupons (although perhaps I should). I kind of admire people who 'stock up' when there are sales but that's just not me. My pantry is rarely full but I can cobble together a meal most days. I watch for deals but I don't go out of my way for them. Then one day my shopping habits changed. Yes, I started a blog and tried to live on $12 a day but that's not it.

One day, I was at my local supermarket standing in a long line with a few items behind a woman with a grocery cart absolutely filled to the brim. When she got to the cashier, she pulled out a stack of flyers, flyers from other stores and was wordlessly pointing to various items on various pages. She had multiples of each item and it was clear English was not her first language. Then I realized what she was doing – she was pointing out all the sales at the other stores and having the cashier match them – item by item in her massive shopping cart. Not one generally known for patience in these kind of situations, I surprised myself. Instead of feeling frustration (not at the shopper but by the lack of clerks and long lines), I felt a sense of awe and respect for what I was witnessing – extreme shopping smarts. I noted on the wall beyond the registers a huge sign stating the store's "lowest price" policy. I'd seen it many times but it never registered before then. They actually mean it!

Hibernating is cheap

With a long weekend upon us and the beginning of my Spring Break, we found ourselves with no plans to head south, to a spa or a ski hill instead we opted to stick close to home and just relax. Other than one grocery shop and a couple little excursions, we managed to be entertained and entertain rather simply. The result – a really fun and restorative weekend that didn't cost much. And to top it off, we barely got out of our pjs!  

Food continues to eat up the bulk of my spending and since this experiment grew rather quickly and organically without a proper plan of action or budget in place I thought I'd start actually trying to find ways to whittle down my food costs a bit more. I like to bake and since the beginning of this month my supplies had been dwindling to the point I actually ran out of all the staples: flour, sugar, baking powder, etc. I had been avoiding making extra purchases until I finally ran out and decided I would make a trip to the bulk store and stock up in a spend thrift manner. I figured I would document the additional savings to be had by buying in bulk and present a cost comparison here. Well, I'm glad I did because the results were actually surprising to me.

Paying it Forward

As I pass the midway mark on this month's $12 a day experiment, I realize a couple things. One, although my average spending has been hovering between $13-14 a day (a tad over $12) I have been operating in a deficit since Day 3 and the 'debt' continues to grow unchecked. Two, I haven't felt like I'm missing much.

The biggest compromise I have made so far along this journey was to not attend a special yoga workshop last weekend by a visiting instructor whose practice I enjoy immensely and was looking forward to for quite awhile. When it came down to it, the cost for the one hour class was $35 and right up until that weekend, in the back of my mind, I was planning to go...then I actually started to question the expense and my commitment to this experiment and decided it wouldn't be right. And, so I didn't.

Taking Stock

A classmate of mine, who is new to this country and our Valentine traditions, asked me a good question today, "How do I explain to my 3 year old what Valentine's Day is about?"

Not having quick knowledge of all the historical facts surrounding St. Valentine and pagan fertility festivals and quite sure it might be lost on a 3 year old, I said she could simply say today is a day we are reminded to appreciate those we love (whether we should be prompted to or not is another debate entirely). Wanting to show my family a little love and not get sucked into the commercial consumption that amounts to a reported $15 billion dollars annually (the average Valentine shopper spends $126/per person!) I hit the 'net in search for a truffle recipe that was both easy and for which I already had the ingredients. Success! I found "So Easy Homemade Truffles". The name was truthful and understated. They were both so easy and so delicious – dangerously so. And even after splashing out on decorative tins I had spent nowhere near $126.00 because as we all know money can't buy you love so why bother.

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!

– Lucy Van Pelt (from Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz)

Monday Spent: $13.00 (mostly groceries and a couple dollar store heart shaped tins)
Tuesday Spent: $10.80 ($5.20 transit, $5.60 lunch)