The Fifth Frugal February

Happy Frugal February! We began our FF #5 with the same "rules" as last year:

*$400 for groceries, taken out in cash at the beginning of the month
*Regularly recurring bills get paid (mortgage, utilities, etc).
*One full tank of gas.
*Business/commute expenses are OK.
*Gifts are accepted with gratitude but must be unsolicited.
*If you're doing to miss a deadline, don't do anything stupid in the name of sticking with the rules (like fail to sign up for preschool or book your summer vacation.)
*Little amounts on random gift cards can be used, but no cheating by loading up a card just to 'discover' it in February. CVS bucks are fair game too.

We began the month with some Frugal Fail, or at least exceptions: I had not realized when I told my daughter she could go to the school play "next weekend" that Friday was February 1. So ... filing this under the Don't Do Anything Stupid rule (like break a promise to your quick-to-weep 12 year old over 5 bucks), we allowed her to spend her own $5 on the play. We are also off to the bi-monthly Friends of the Library book sale today, scraping up $1 from the change in the car and using our Friends postcard in order to get a grocery bag full of used books.

This year should be easier in some ways: hubby and I are both on healthy eating plans with virtually no sugar or alcohol, and one of us has given up coffee. (The other of us is quite happily caffeinated while she writes this blog entry.) Then again, it's the irony of this modern life that healthful foods are often more expensive.  Keeping it simple and from scratch, however, is not, and that's the plan. We have not shopped yet, though it's only Day 3. I am out of cumin, which has brought cooking in my kitchen to a near halt - no hummus, no taco seasoning, no tamale pie, no chili, no spicy chicken with honey on rice. Co-Op bulk aisle, here I come.

Wishing everyone enough this month!