I'm ready to begin the challenge tomorrow. As planned, I have purchased enough cat food, olive and coconut oil, sugar, vinegar and sanitary pads to see us through the next 3 months. Actually, I found most of these on special, so stocking up was a good savings too. More on bulk purchasing for best prices later - how and when to do it, and how to make it possible when you're living paycheck to paycheck. 

I remembered two more items of importance to us that I chose to stock up on too - refills for the automated insect sprays, and frozen tumeric root. 

I actually loathe the sprays, for many reasons. But living on a small property surrounded by chickens, ducks and sheep, flies are an inescapable fact of summer life. We've tried everything else to prevent them becoming unbearable in the house, except investing in flyscreens, and these odourless, sensitive, automated sprays are the only thing that work. And frankly, much as I hate them, I loathe the masses of flies in the house even more. And my husband feels even more strongly about them. So for now, the sprays it is. I really, really want to get fly screens instead - will work on making that a possibility before next summer. Currently we're still renovating, and have several windows we're planning to replace. Not much point spending money on fitted screens which will be obsolete shortly. On the plus side, I found the sprays in a two pack on special - saving $4 or so on what I normally pay on each individual refill. So that's an $8/month saving. 

The tumeric is a valuable anti-inflammatory and gut healer, and part of my efforts to calm the inflammation in my body which triggers my auto-immunity. I buy packs of frozen tumeric root from an Asian market for $2.35/pack - each pack contains enough root to use it every day for about 3 weeks. Recipe in tomorrow's post. 

Thank you to those who commented on my last post or Facebook page - it's wonderful to see your enthusiasm and support. I'm sure many of you will have great ideas and thrifty tips of your own - please do share them in the comments either here or on Facebook. If you're a new reader and want to make sure you are notified of each post, please do Like our Facebook page. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed using the link on the right, though it won't send you notifications - you'll have to check your feed in I.E or similar browser. Also, keep in mind that each blog page on this website has it's own RSS feed, so subscribing to one will not give you every post from this website in the feed, but if you like the FB page, you will see notifications of each post in your news feed.

So, I'm looking forward to the adventure of the next however-many weeks! A little apprehensive too - what will run out first? Will I be able to make do, or make an alternative? 

My husband is on board - he has solemnly promised that today is the last day this year when he will buy any unhealthy food. Haha. 

Happy New Year everyone! May 2018 be filled with much joy and many blessings, and may you increase in thrift and wisdom.

Just before Christmas, I bought a lot of groceries, as you do, contemplating feeding visitors and sundry extras throughout the week. As I was finding places to stash them all, I said to my husband, "You know, after Christmas, we should plan NOT to buy groceries for a while, and eat out of the garden, pantry and freezers." He didn't seem completely against that idea, so I gave it more thought......

As I reflected on our grocery spending and related habits over the past year or so, I realised that:

• All the kids have left home in the last 2 years (some very recently), but life has gotten even busier, and sometimes it's easy to default to the "easy option" rather than cook what could be a more frugal meal, especially on days when one is particularly tired or feeling unwell or stressed. 
• The "easy option" might look like a home-made but not very balanced meal, or it might be takeaways. Sometimes the easy option is simply buying more steak or chicken, when we already have venison, duck and goat in the freezer, because I can't be bothered to make the effort to decide what to do with it, and do it. 
• Adjusting to cooking meals for only 1 or 2 people when one is used to cooking for 7+ takes time and effort. Back when the kids were all at home, if events occurred to take everyone but me away for an evening, I would consider it a well-deserved but rare night off. That mindset can easily become a habit, and suddenly when it's often just me, or just the two of us, one can subconsiously not see much point in cooking.
• A lack of motivation to attend to being as frugal as possible sometimes spills over into not picking produce in the garden before it's past it's peak, or not making use of what is available in season, which is wasteful. 
• Not making the effort to properly plan and prepare meals results in a less balanced and nutritious diet...which in turn leads to a less healthy body and mind..which in turn leads to being less well and less mentally and physically energised, which in turn leads to being less motivated or able...which in turn leads to not feeling up to the effort of planning etc.... A vicious circle!
• Multiple food intolerances and allergies, underlined by my autoimmune condition, mean that a lot of our food options are more expensive. Most "cheap" foods are simply not things I can eat. Non-dairy milks are more expensive than cows milk, for example. Gluten free products are massively more expensive (even though, typically, made from cheap ingredients). Most available products contain multiple ingredients I react to, so I often have to be very selective, and can't chose things by price alone. But a lot of these things I could make cheaper, and better, at home (or do without).
• We have been consistently overspending on groceries etc for a long time; this needs to change! While we have managed to make ends meet anyway, I want to do better than that - I would rather have money left over to reduce our mortgage faster, or maybe save for a holiday, or both. I don't want to enter retirement age with a mortgage, and if that's not to be, we must start acting now!
• I have long had a preference for homemade and frugal options in food, cleaners, household products etc. At different times, I have made many things "from scratch" one way or another. I currently have on hand quite a lot of the ingredients necessary to make a number of household products, but again, I have picked the easy option too often, and purchased laundry powder, dishwashing liquid, dishwasher tablets, spray cleaners, moisturiser, shampoo, deodorant and so on and so forth, even though other options are potentially available, with a bit of effort and experimenting.

Now, I am well aware that the fact I can contemplate choosing not to shop for a while means that I am blessed with an abundance than many families do not have. I don't take that privilege lightly! I know what it is to stare at a can of tomatoes, a wizened carrot, one celery stick and half an onion, when that is ALL there is, and wonder how to feed a large family until there will be more. If you, reader, are in very different circumstances, please don't feel bad. If you care to follow this little journey, you can laugh at my foolishness all you like (I won't be offended), and perhaps you'll even find some ideas that will be a help to you right where you are. 

I am also of the belief that having some food etc stored up against hard times, if possible, is a good thing - one never knows when financial hardship or health problems or natural disasters will prevent food or money from being readily available for a time. So my aim is not to empty our supplies to the point of non-existence. 

However, there are a few things I want to accomplish, and hence the reason for this personal challenge:

Well, I think that's about it! I can't wait to see how this little adventure turns out! 

Why am I blogging about it? I know myself well enough to know that if I want to achieve something, it works best if I set a goal, and make it public, with updates. Like the year I started my garden with the aim to grow 1000kg of produce in 12 months. :-) So, knowing you are reading this will help keep me motivated. And hopefully, reading it will provide you with some encouragement and ideas too.