Growing up Frugal February - The Sixth Year

One week in to Frugal February #6!  All is well. We talked about raising our grocery budget this year, realizing we set the budget when we had two children instead of three, and the two we had had much smaller stomachs and pickier appetites than they do now. In the end, we decided to leave it at $400 and see how far it takes us. If I call you crying on February 20, you can NOT give me food! As we get more experienced in Frugal February, it is much easier to stretch a dollar and I think we can still get it done on $400. So ... here are the rules for FF #VI, for our family of 5.

*$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.
*Social budget for the teen of $20, taken from her own allowance.

A hurdle for us this year: no lemons. The extended freezing temps here in Northern California took their toll on our beloved lemon tree and we have maybe a handful that survived the frost, compared with 32 pounds two years ago. We won't be making gallons of lemonade for Valentines' parties this year or trading lemon cake for eggs. Maybe we should take up singing and dancing as barter material? On second thought, we'd surely starve.

Week 1 brought exactly $30.50 in grocery expenses, mostly fresh fruit, milk and bread. We've been eating a lot of random things that were in the freezer - ravioli and fish sticks, though also normal meals like spicy chicken with quinoa and tacos.  The tacos were made with 1/3 the normal seasoning because we're now totally out of chili powder but no one seemed to mind, and it made it easier to throw some spaghetti sauce on it the next night and put it over noodles with parmesan, pretending it was now Italian. I realize my family's flexibility has a lot to do with why Frugal February works for us and feel good about teaching my kids that sometimes 'just enough' is enough.


Home Made Taco Seasoning (recipe makes about 1 commercial package)

1 T chili powder
1-1/2 t cumin
1/2 t salt
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t dried oregano (or about 3/4 t fresh. Ours looks awful right now.)
1/8 t cayenne pepper

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