Pantry Challenge - End of January

I meant to post this last week.  The last week in January I spent $19.91 which brought my total for the month to $160.58.  I overspent by $10.58 as my budget was $150.00.  My DS told me "you posted the week before that you could easily stay on budget."  Well, that was true until I came upon a sale on bar soap.  I was able to get 8 bars of Dial soap for $2.50 and since we were down to 2 bars in the house, I purchased a few packages.  Then I was able to purchase a couple boxes of Electrasol Gel pacs (20 count) for only 99 cents after using a coupon.  Sometimes you have to over spend a little to save money in the future. 

I am so pleased with the amount of money I saved in January.  By really cutting back and watching the grocery budget we didn't feel the pinch as much when we faced some extra expenses in our budget.  Not once did we feel deprived in what we ate.  I feel I was able to stay on task by not really viewing my grocery money as a budget but as a challenge.

So instead of being on a grocery budget, I am on a grocery challenge.  Sometimes it is all in the wording.