Sugared Harpy

We’ve been in this house for a month and I’ve already gone domestic. I’m trying to meal plan. I have no idea what I’m doing yet but I’m hoping to figure this out better. I’m attempting to stop pouring money out of my wallet. Scott can spend all the money he wants but I need him to fund my retirement and my love of fine, fine things. I currently have enough in my retirement fund to retire for one whole month, grumblegrumbleparttimerforthekidslovemyjobetcgrumble.

I’m the one doing this because I’m the primary cook in the house. I’m home hours before he is, so I’m the one cooking dinner. Ergo, I have most control of this area. We now share a checking account for household expenses, but past that we each also have our own checking accounts. My grandmother told me to NEVER share all your money with a man. She was right, I’ve learned. She’s eighty years old and she still says, right in front of my Papa who she’s been married to for 40+ years, “He knows I have money, but he DOESN’T know where. You know who knows now? Your mother. That’s it.”

So then, I’m saving household money and my own personal money. I need that for mah fancy student loans. Meh.

Here’s my fabulous money saving plan:

1) Eat all the crap in our pantry that followed us from both our houses.

Our pantry is not big, and it’s CRAMMED full right now. Crammed. We don’t know what’s in there. I made two, two year + cans of Manwich yesterday. Neither of us care for sloppy joes all that much, so why did we each have a can of it from our previous houses? Turns out, we both thought it was something you should have on hand because it’s easy. It was pretty greasy in the end. And no easier than most of the things we make. Won’t be buying up more of that. In fact, I’m buying NOTHING more for the pantry until it’s way clearer. Interesting dinner combinations are on the way.

2) Budget.

Then blow the budgeted amount for food and household in about a week and a half and reconsider how much I spend and how much we need. These first few months are going to be about experimenting. I keep reading that people are making (MAKING!) money by “buying” stuff at Walgreens, because of that little rebatey thing plus coupons giving them an overage. I see people feeding their families of our size on WAY less than I just spent last week. I also will need to budget in the occasional fancier dinners we like (also: Saleem’s on Delmar, FOR WHY ARE YOU CLOSED? Ah! I just read the phone is disconnected. COME BACK!)…ahem. And Melting Pot desserts.

I figure if we eat out less, that is one gigantic money saver. Add that to shopping deliberately, cooking at home, planning and using coupons when applicable (a lot of junk with coupons are things I don’t buy anyway, mostly I don’t buy many convenience foods besides mac n’ cheese). I have noticed that people get toothpaste and shampoo free all the time. FREE. I need some of that.

3) That brings us to meal planning. If I plan meals, I can shop deliberately and waste less.

I mentioned this to my friend who plans meals and she asked me this, “So are you doing this on a monthly rotation? Bi-monthly? Yearly? Are you batch cooking yet?”

And I was all, “ffffppphhhhsaegboiufgnyfwentqi8yhb????”