A WEEK INTO THE BUDGET AND..........

Yes it has been a week into my September budget and I am slowly but surely slogging ahead.  I am happy with how well I am coping with sticking to it and hopefully this carries into the rest of the month.

My biggest challenge had been trying to stick to the food budget, but I guess this had been aided by the fact that I was not being realistic about the cost of food.  This month I budgeted £100 for the month spreading it to £25/week, I am happy over budgeting here especially taking into account my love for my 5 a day fruit and I will not apologise to say they have to be from Waitrose.  This is my logic and defence here, since I totally heart my fruits I rather the taste is what it says on the package and so far Waitrose has come up trumps on this.  I am happy paying for quality rather than pinch on this and end up throwing  food away or eating a bag of clemetines which on the package says "sweet and juicy" but on taste is totally opposite and you have to end up swallowing with a pinched face.

Anyway the short of it is my food budget   fell just under £20 and this means I can carry the difference to the following week(hippeee!!!!).

They say when times are tough every penny counts, I have also found out that doing a meal plan for the week docks any unnecessary spending and so far this worked a treat on the first trial and I am going to continue with this.  For this week I plan on having :

Monday:

• pasta bake and leafy salad (made the pasta this Saturday and froze 2 left over potions)

Tuesday:

• selection of cold meats and some potato salad (all from last week's shopping)

Wednesday:

• baked potato, baked beans and salad (potato from last wk's shopping, need to buy salad and baked beans)

Thursday:

• vegetable couscous and a roasted chicken thighs (chicken from freezer, buying the rest of the ingredients)

Friday:

• Last portion of the pasta bake with salad

I have at least one full meal a day which is usaully my lunch, in the morning I have some cereal or yoghurt, i have my fruit which are usually a pear, grapes, blue berries and a clementine spread throughout the day and every other day have a pot of biopot yoghurt.  In the evening if I am feeling perky its usually a toasted bagel with tea or a cob of sweet corn or snack or pop corn.

During the weekend it is all pot luck, might eat out, or at friends or fisnish off the left overs but I make sure it is within my budget