One month on Social Security

We stayed on budget for our first month on Cliff's Social Security, but I have tweaked it a little for the coming month.  
$280 for groceries for a month is plenty for us (we have beef in the freezer, remember, and milk from Bonnie... and we don't do convenience foods).  However, I'm used to having our budgeted funds divided into weekly periods, $70 per week.  So the first week I spent $70 just because that's what I always have to spend.  Second week, I didn't spend $70, so I used a portion of that money to eat out.  It was as though I simply had to spend that amount each week.  By last week, there wasn't much left in the envelope and I had to cut my grocery list to stay under budget.  
So now my goal is to see how much less than $70 I can spend each week, and hopefully we can have a little guilt-free fun with what's left on the last week of our pay period.  
I plan to get to know Aldi better.
I like getting our regular prescriptions at Walmart, but because our Medicare Plus wants us to buy our prescriptions online, they only let us purchase one month's pills at a time locally.  If we lived in town near Walmart or Target or any big drug chain, it wouldn't be a big deal.  Since we're fifteen miles from such places, it's pretty aggravating.  Next month when Cliff has his regular doctor visit, we'll have the doctor write new prescriptions, and we'll start getting them by mail, three months supply at once.  It's cheaper that way, anyhow.  I just always preferred to pick them up in person.  At some point before the end of the year, Lipitor goes generic, which will save us some bucks.  
I've allotted a litte more money for the "fun" envelope, and also for the "misc." envelope.  Let's face it, I had to use my stash of quarter rolls to go to the state fair.  I have no quarters left, and I do want to be able to do something fun once in awhile.  When Cliff was working, all these extras came out of his pocket.  Now his allowance isn't big enough to support the frivolous things in life.  What little he gets is his, and when I stay out of it, it seems to be plenty. 
My worst shock was the cost of fuel, which , it turns out, comes to over $400 a month.  It isn't that we travel a lot; it's the diesel and gasoline for the tractors that makes the bill so huge.  That should start to get better as mowing season ends, but meanwhile I was $100 low on my estimate of how much we'd be paying for fuel for all the vehicles.  
The budgeted amount for doctors and prescriptions, pets and critters, and clothing seems to be on target.  I won't have to mess with those envelopes at all (knock wood). 
I realize inflation is going to make this game harder down the road, but for now, I seem to have the pesky budget under control.  

Our grocery budget

Julia wondered how Cliff and I get by on $70 a week for groceries.  
Of course, this time of year we're eating a lot of stuff from the garden.  That helps immensely.  In winter we eat a lot of soups, stews and casseroles, using either the beef from the freezer or chicken.  I buy those ten-pound bags of chicken leg quarters and try not to think about how those chickens were treated before they were killed.  Don't even GO there.  I also have lots of bean-and-rice dishes that are good for the body and also filling and tasty.  
If only I hadn't just carried out my trash, I would list everything I bought today.  I did go sixty cents over my $70 budget today, but last week I got by for $50.  So I'm not feeling too bad about sixty cents.  
I do make a list and stick to it fairly well.  Things I remember that were on my list... and I think this pretty well covers it:  
2 pounds Eight O'clock Coffee (with a dollar-off coupon)
coffee creamer
big bag of Mini-spooners (cheap version of spoon-size shredded wheat)
Cheerios
1 dozen eggs
1 quart milk (my cow is dry)
1 quart buttermilk
3 pounds American cheese (I refuse to buy "cheese product")
4 bananas
5 apples (for Cliff, for the lunch he takes to work)
1 Secret deodorant 
1 loaf of bread
1 gallon of the cheap vanilla ice cream
a package of 3 balls for Iris ($2.50) 
cheap brand of Ranch dressing for me
Thousand Island dressing for Cliff
a zipper plastic case to keep my Damn-Ramsey envelopes in
1 bag animal crackers (I hate them, but Cliff likes them for a snack)
1 package of iced sugar cookies Walmart marked down to $1.60
1 64 oz container of antibacterial liquid soap, Equate brand
Walmart's version of Crystal Lite.
3 cans tuna:  1 Chicken-of-the-sea, 1 Bumble Bee, and one of Walmart's brand; the latter was 49 cents as opposed to 75 cents for the highest brand.  I'm going to see if we can tell a difference.


You don't see any vegetables there because we have tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, potatoes, onions, sweet corn, cabbage and okra from the (not-that-big) garden right now.  We're eating peaches from our tree, and strawberries from the freezer.  


And now, I have a confession to make:  Because Cliff carries a generous portion of his weekly earnings in his pocket, and because I have a weakness for certain things, we splurged after we were done shopping.  When he's retired, we won't be doing this often; but right now, I say "Eat, drink, and be merry!"  
So we spent $13 at Pizza Hut followed by $5 at McDonald's for two Mocha Frappes.  
If you haven't checked out the links on my sidebar, be sure and check out Five Dollar Dinners and Hillbilly Housewife.  Harvesters is a program for anyone, no matter what their income.  Once Cliff retires, we may be taking advantage of that program; for now, we donate to them every once in a while.