Food Waste Friday

I post about food that has gone bad over the last seven days on Fridays, as inspired by The Frugal Girl.  I don’t usually link my food waste (or anything else), but to shame myself into doing better, I will link this week...

This week was so ugly I couldn’t fit it all into a picture…  I vow to do better!

• Two packs of organic lettuce (partially liquefied)
• Pieces of 2 eggplants (pictured)
• 3 bananas (too black even for baking)
• 1 package of mushrooms (moldy)
• A piece of green pepper
• Two slices of pineapple – they tasted fizzy

ARRRRGH!!  I WILL do better.

July – No Spend Month

As inspired by the many bloggers who have written about this (I first read about it on Living Well On Less, who was inspired by Rachel at Small Notebook), I am going to have a no-spend month in July.  My version will not be as hard-core as many of my fellow bloggers, but I think small steps are better than sitting on the couch.  The plan is as follows:

1.       No spending except on necessities

• Mortgage, student loan payments, utilities, phones, etc.
• Groceries (and eating out if we must) $600 for the month
• Health and safety (this mostly relates to Baby S, who seems to need a doctor's visit a week!)

2.       Exceptions

• My haircut this weekend (scheduled before I decided to do this, and desperately)
• Whatever cash is in my wallet (I think about $8…)
• Printing photos for the scrapbook I’m making for my Mom. (a VERY BELATED birthday gift)
• Gift cards and credits we already have
• Commuting costs (with record temperatures above 100 degrees, I will not be waiting outside for public transportation with my infant.)

The first test will be this weekend’s monthly Costco trip.  Can I do Costco under $300, so that I can spend $50 a week on fresh stuff?  I will go armed with my calculator and a strict list.

Let the games begin!