Hi guys -- been incommunicado because I was traveling a lot and so really lost track of everything in November-December. I am pretty sure we were in the $600-700 range both months (higher in November, lower in December, but that's because our vacation spend goes on the vacation budget and so there was a lot more eating out).
I've also just sort of lost interest. My behavior has demonstrated that I am willing to make the changes to get the spend down from its original
@$1200 to the $600 +/- mark, but I am not willing to go below that. I am also finding that next year I want to focus on the quality of what I eat (cholesterol/weight), and mentally my desire to be cheap gets in the way of that.* For example, there are a couple of services that do delicious portioned meals with balanced nutrition and such, but I have refused to buy them because they are like $10/meal. I have decided to try some of those in January to see if we can have some better "I don't want to cook" options on hand, and hang the expense. In addition, I have tried a new produce service that uses produce that would otherwise be thrown away; the prices are ok, but not ALDI level, and there's a $5 delivery fee -- but I like what they are trying to do to minimize waste and get some additional cash to the farmers, and so I have decided to keep doing that.
So, in any event, this challenge has been very enlightening over the past two years, so thanks for starting it and for all of the encouragement folks here have provided (and the vindaloo recipe!!).
*Yes, I know it is entirely possible to eat much better than I currently do for much less money, but I am dealing with my own psychology and habits here. And my habit is to set big goals, like "I'm going to learn to make delicious things with lentils!" -- and then never getting around to it. And so when I am in the store, the $1 mac and cheese ends up more tempting than the $5.99 ground turkey, because I fret that the healthier option will hit the budget harder. So I sort of need to give myself express permission to spend more money on the healthier option.