I’m talking about BUDGET, of course. (How many of you filth seekers counted the stars? Admit it…I know you are out there.)

We have never really had any formal type of budget. Since neither of us shop for sport and we have a decent income it has never really been an issue. We usually just keep an eye on the credit card tally through Quicken. Getting too high …we buy one less diamond encrusted codpiece that month. Pretty loosey-goosey. Now that we are losing about a new car, a decent new car at that, a month in our stocks, 401Ks, and wherever else it is possible to lose money, we are thinking of taking a slightly more organized approach.

Now…I already told you about the November house rules: no new stuff, no buying lunches, and the dreaded wine budget. Obviously the stuff spending freeze is temporary but it will hopefully give us a decent idea as to what we have been spending by comparing it to a month of no spending. Come December I will start to examine those areas of spending a little more closely but for now the stuff spending suspension will hopefully allow me to focus on our big issue.

I would like you to meet my Arch Nemesis:

Hi. My name is Organic Needle and I am a foodie. I have never met a $15 a lb cheese I didn’t like. Worse yet…we are a family of foodies. Even my 2 year old knows the difference between a 99 cent canned olive and a $12 a jarred olive and will voice his knowledge loudly at any given occasion. We spend a fortune on food…real food. Not pre-made or junk..but just good, usually organic, hormone free, ingredients. And our shopping is insanely diversified…the CSA, at least 6 different specialty markets, Trader Joe’s, Stop & Rob, and all the late night milk runs. Because of the scattered nature of the spending, I actually have no idea what we spend on food per week…but I’m sure it is gross. And yes…having grown up quite poor and on a very tight food budget, I am more than a little embarrassed that I have just taken the luxury of buying what I want completely for granted.

So for the month of November I am NOT actually going to cut back on anything in the food department. (That would require willpower and self-discipline.) I am simply going to figure out what I am spending & where. Once I figure that out, I will hopefully be able to see where some modifications can be made without sacrificing quality…or cheese. Wish me luck. This may actually require math with numbers higher than 10. Hey…those extra toes I’ve been growing might not be such a curse after all.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 8:16 am and is filed under CSA/ Local Food, Economics, family, product review, projects, recycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.