Living Paycheck to Paycheck

I’m loving what I call my Pantry Diet.  In the last 2 1/2 weeks I’ve probably only lost a pound or so, but that’s not the real goal anyway.  The goal is to use up everything usable in my pantry / refridgerator.  I’m still doing well.

I signed up for the May Grocery Challenge at Give Me Back My Five Bucks and made my goal $100.  Since I usually spend MUCH more than that, I figured that it was a good goal.  Also, when I run out of food, I’m going to have to go to the grocery store and stock up on everything I’m missing which I’m guessing will be around the middle of May.  And since I’m still letting myself buy milk, eggs, and vegetable oil, I’ll definitely  have to shop before the week is out.

I considered myself to be “out of food” two and a half weeks ago when I decided to go on the Pantry Diet, but I still have plenty to last me.  How often do we let things sit around because we’re not in the mood to eat it, and then go drop $150 at the grocery store getting more appetizing things that are gone before we know it?

I have one bag of potato chips (given to me by my parents / left over from my party) and one or two bags of kettle corn left as ready made snack food.  Everything else in my pantry is stuff that needs to be cooked or baked or something else that takes more steps than just opening a bag.  I’m not eating as much because I’m often too lazy to cook something.  Yesterday, I baked some gingersnaps with a box mix I had (also from my parents) and ate a few (delicious).  I didn’t feel like cooking a real meal, so I had ramen noodles.  This morning before work I cooked up spaghetti, half of which I brought to work with me and the other half I refridgerated for tonight or tomorrow’s lunch.  And I have TONS more spaghetti where that came from.  I’m counting on being well under my $100 goal, and I hope to keep it under that limit for the foreseeable future as well.

I’m still doing the whole “no buying groceries” thing.  I’ve had spaghetti for lunch and dinner everyday…well…for lunch, anyway.  Last night I took a nap that led me to sleep from 6:45 to 10:15pm when my boyfriend called and woke me.  This frustrated me because I didn’t want to miss The Office or Scrubs and had actually set my alarm for 7:30 so I’d have time to fix dinner and watch TV.  Then I got to read as my best friend and I gchatted that she couldn’t BELIEVE that I’d missed it, that it was THE BEST EVER!!!  MAJOR PLOT DEVELOPMENTS!  MAY-JOR!  Sigh.

Anyway, I slept through dinner, but I forced myself to bake some biscuits to add to my lunch for today so that I wouldn’t get hungry because I knew that I wouldn’t buy anything no matter how hungry I might be.  I can’t decide yet if this whole thing is healthy for me.  I was afraid that sticking to the pantry foods would cause me to gain weight, but I actually feel thinner (this MIGHT be from missing dinner two nights in a row, but who knows?).  I haven’t weighed myself yet, but it would be awesome if this financial goal was helping a weight goal, too.  I want to weigh between 130-35, and when I weighed myself last week I was at about 140.  I’m quite tall, so on graphs that show how much a person should weigh given his/her height, I should weigh between 125-145.  The last time I was at 125 I was WAY too thin, though, and it took forever to gain weight back, so I definitely do not want to go that low again; I just want to fit into my old work clothes that are sitting in my closet.

In other news, I signed up for the ING Direct Orange Savings Account.  I received $25 just for depositing $250.  For each referral I give, I get $10.  So far I’ve been credited with an extra $20.  If anyone would like a referral for the savings account or the checking account, just e-mail me at livingpaychecktopaycheck at gmail dot com.  Just tell which account you want; the same rules apply to get the $25.

My weekend starts in less than an hour now!  Yay!