So John and I randomly decided to live differently. Instead of spending money at a ridiculous pace, we decided to live off of just $20 a week. Now this doesn’t include food – we’re not crazy. On Sundays, we head to the grocery store together to gather food for lunch, dinner and snacks. Neither one of us are that great with eating breakfast but I picked up some fruit in case I needed a little morning treat. So the goal is to not have to go out for lunch or dinner (I cook a few times during the week anyway for the blog and my column) and have $20 for incidentals…or “just in case” money. Sounds hard but I convinced John and off we went. After we agreed to it, I realized that I wasn’t exactly sure what I’ve gotten myself into and I’m already thinking twice. Anyway, I’m not one to just give up so, here’s how my first week went…

Sunday // prep day

I menu plan what I’ll cook for the week. John figures out what he’ll cook for the week and off to the store we go. In my mind, I’m thinking: this is going to be so fun! I get $20 cash back from the store and I’m all set for the week.

Monday // day #1 // $20

Off to work with my snacks and lunch (a sandwich and chips). So far so good. I did go to Target on my lunch break to purchase a birthday card; we have a birthday party to attend later. I spent $4 on the card. The card was PERFECT so I couldn’t say no, right? For dinner tonight, John made chicken fried rice, similar to this salmon fried rice I made. Now that we’ve had dinner, we’re ready to head to the birthday party, which is taking place at a local restaurant – The Feed Table & Tavern.

Tuesday // day #2 // $6

Yep, day two and I’m down to $6 already. I got a cocktail at the restaurant and left a tip. I’ve already realized how difficult this is when you want to be social. I have another sandwich and chips for lunch. I cooked tonight and to celebrate the last day of summer, I have a cocktail…at home.

my at home cocktail.

Wednesday // day #3 // $6

Still holding on to my six bucks. I forgot I bought bananas so I decide to have breakfast: a banana and coffee at work. For lunch, I have leftovers from the night before. In the middle of the day, I get a text from a friend regarding girls night on Thursday. I say yes, immediately, without even thinking twice. Whoops. Huh? How will this work. My sweet husband offers to give me his $9.44. I laugh and decline. I got myself into this mess, I’ll get myself out. Pride is a horrible thing. For dinner, I make these, which I’ll share on my column next month.

Thursday // day #4 // $6

John makes his own dinner at home tonight because I’m off to girls night at The Meeting Place. I go to girls night and order a cocktail – it’s happy hour so it’s only $5. I don’t order food at girls night – we all just get a bunch of happy hour appetizers (I order fries). I get home and a few hours go by and I realize I might be hungry. Sweet John heads out, at 11pm, to get McDonald’s for me. I’m sad and my stomach will definitely be sad after consuming McDonalds. Ugh.

Friday // day #5 // -$16

Yep. It’s Friday and I’m in the hole -$16. Sheesh. I have another sandwich for lunch, which is getting really boring, by the way. Once home, John and I realize that we didn’t really plan for the weekend. Usually, we don’t do a lot of cooking over the weekend because it’s fun time and that’s how I went into this experiment – NOT SMART. We end up going to our favorite taco joint and getting tacos to go. Boo.

another sandwich

Saturday // day #5 // -$32

I pay for tacos since John got me McDonald’s the other night. By Saturday morning, I’m thinking that we have to plan waaaaaaaaaaaay better if we plan on being successful this week. John goes off to work and I make coffee at home, eat some snacks and you guessed it: I ate a sandwich later for lunch.

What I’ve learned so far:

Planning and variety is key. If I’m going to survive, I have to change up my lunch options a bit. It does feel good being more thoughtful in how we’re spending our money but I’ve also realized that when you can, it’s OK to ‘treat yo’ self”. As long as you’re treating yourself within your means, it’s totally fine. I’m going into this current week with a little bit more knowledge and a little more confidence.

Stay tuned for another update next week!