This is Day 17 of a month long food stamp challenge (on October 19th). If this is your first visit, please check out this link to see all of the posts and get a better understanding of what is going on.
After today’s calculations we can say that in 17 days we have consumed just under 26% of our budget for the month. That’s a low number and it proves that it is possible to live on an incredibly low food budget. Because I don’t want people to get the wrong impression about what we’re doing here, I felt that today it was important to go behind the scenes as well to give you a glimpse into what you don’t see.
What you don’t see is the time spent looking for sales, ad matching, finding, collecting and printing coupons. It doesn’t show the time spent putting together menu plans that will maximize the items we have on hand and minimize the need to purchase more. It doesn’t show the frustration and even paranoia that sets in when the only food you have set out for dinner doesn’t work out the way you intended and you’re worried that it may not be edible. Or when the bread dough doesn’t rise, bakes too long, or not long enough.
What you don’t see are the disagreements and even arguments that can ensue (and they do) when the stress of watching every last cent that goes out pushes everyone involved to their limits and beyond. It doesn’t show how much strain a challenge like this can put on even the strongest relationships and it doesn’t show how the biggest obstacles can bring you closer together.
What you don’t see is the simple joy of watching a batch of cookies bake through the tiny window of the oven instead of sitting in front of the TV with a snack cake. Or the giddiness of finding a “moneymaker” deal (where the store owes you money when you buy something).
What you don’t see is the sheer willpower that a challenge of this magnitude requires of two men who chose to do this because it is an important glimpse into the daily life and struggles of people who don’t have a choice. What you don’t see are the storage containers full of food items that we cleared from the pantry and moved into the chest freezer to remind us daily of how bare the cabinets are, or how painstaking and time consuming it is to break down the cost to the penny for each and everything we consume every day, down to the teaspoon of sugar in that cup of coffee.
What you don’t see are the tears we shed regularly because this challenge has given us a new appreciation for what we have, and what others do not. These 17 days have been some of the hardest we have faced and I don’t think a few blog posts can adequately portray that without it being said directly.
PURCHASES
| ITEM | SIZE | PRICE | UNIT | PRICE/ UNIT |
| cranberry sauce | can | 1.07 [C] | can | 1.07 |
| C: Coupon | P: Price Match | R: Reduced | D: Damaged |
MEALS
BREAKFAST: $1.00
coffee
sugar
creamer
peanut butter & jelly sandwich
banana
LUNCH: $0.72
turkey sandwich
chicken salad sandwich
banana
DINNER: $2.38
chicken & stuffing (leftover from Day 8)
green beans
whipped sweet potatoes
canned cranberry sauce
TOTALS
- Consumed Today: 3.25 [+5.75 for the day]
- Consumed To Date (week): 11.43 [+16.87 for the week]
- Consumed To Date (month): 71.89 [+81.11 for the month]
- Spent To Date: 198.09
- Remaining Balance: $81.09
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Michael-I love this post because many of the things you mention are precisely why, right now, I haven’t been a good coupon clipper. I don’t have time to deal with anything but going and buying food. I’m lucky that I can. Very lucky.
After reading your blog post about donating extra good deals, and after watching one extreme couponing show where the guy got 1,000 boxes of cereal to donate to the food pantry, I’m going to try to do as you are doing and start a donation bucket and collect things for it!
Thanks for the comment, Katie.
I think that moving forward, I’m going to start listing those “freebies” and “free with rewards” deals in the hope that more of our readers will do the same.
Glad you are hanging in there, Michael. This has been a very informative odyssey.
I’m sure most of us that have had to pinch pennies know how hard that situation can be on even the strongest relationships and alternately make you appreciate just how much you do have (love, family, faith, health, hope) even though many of those things are not tangible. I imagine since you are doing this by choice, there may be more of a strain than if this was your everyday situation. I am definitely a believer in ‘no matter how bad things are, they could always be worse.’
Sometimes it’s hard to count your blessings — I have a new grandson who was born yesterday — he is 1000 miles away and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to see him (read feeling sorry for myself). But then I know there are people that don’t have the joy of grandchildren or the hope of ever getting to see them(I’m hoping for Christmas).
You’re on the downhill slide of this challenge and I know we’ve all learned a lot from you two and each other over the last couple of weeks and will continue to do so! In spite of the personal costs to you and John, I hope you know how much you have helped others and that it is a worthwhile endeavor!!!
Thank you, Susan.
Ok, this is your best post yet, and it brought tears to my eyes. Yes, it is SO hard to have to live that way. Even though it seems to be putting a little strain on your relationship, can you imagine having to do the same thing ALONE? for years? decades? (i.e. alone meaning the only adult…but having the stress of trying to provide good nutrition for your kids on that budget). Try to imagine that, and it will probably bring tears to YOUR eyes!
I especially liked that you cleared your cupboards out to show what you’d actually have to work with. There’s your creative side coming in?
Thank you again for what you are doing.
Whoops! That wasn’t supposed to be a question mark…typing in the dark here, sorry. That was a compliment on your creativity!
It is hard. I used to do couponing and refunding when my kids were small to save money, and it was terribly time consuming. I did really well with it. The best I ever did was $100 worth of groceries (which was for a whole month back in the 70′s when I did this) for $27. I used the extra money to buy them clothes. It was worth it because they understood why I was doing it. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I couldn’t bake my own bread or cookies or stuff like that. I let them help me cut out coupons and get them in order, and they loved it. I think that the entire experience was good for all of us.
Well said.
hey, what’s happening guys? Two days with no new posts… :-(
hope you’re not sick again. a little vacation, maybe? fishing to supplement the food income??! ;-)
ok, now it’s been four days: Are you alright? Be well!
Ceecee, I think they are taking a break. According to their facebook page. John went to the hospital, Michael was in a small accident, they had a house guest over the weekend and John was supposed to be admitted to the hospital again(spine issues).
Molly, thanks for the update. I’ve been wondering what’s been going on.
Yes, thank you Molly. I did just read their challenge update, but i don’t have their facebook page, so i was really wondering what was going on, and kept checking this last page here to see if anyone said anything, so if they hadn’t added that page today at least i would have know what was going on thanks to you. Bless your heart!
Michael,
I do understand. Maybe that’s why I don’t see this budget as much of a challenge.It is really quite generous. We rarely use coupons (our rules are a bit restrictive in Canada) because it isn’t for food we normally buy.
It is just not people on FS who need to conserve their pennies and be on a budget. Many times, it the people who refuse to apply for them. Instead they want to pare down their expenditures first.
No one has mentioned dumpster diving. I haven’t done that, but I have purchased “pet food” at our thrift bakery, and we didn’t have any ‘pigs’.Still edible food.
We have 6 apple trees on one of our properties. Not great quality, more of a pet/livestock quality. We offer them to anyone who comes and gets them. They are always appreciative for them.