January: Resolutions in Review

January was an eye-opener as we began to live our resolutions. The first struggle that became evident was that Andrew would often forget our resolutions, especially when it came to dining out. Another thing that I realized, since it is primarily my responsibility, is that I have not been very good about managing our budget. After moving in with the in-laws I got out of the habit of budgeting because we really didn't need to, but we probably could have saved a lot more money while living with them if I had been more diligent.

As the budget goes I need to set some limits otherwise this whole resolution/experiment of buying local won't work. I want to show that it IS affordable to do it, and that it does not take that much work. I ran into a snag however when trying to decide how much to allocate in the budget for groceries such as which items to include; just food, or also personal care products, etc.? Another question was how much the average American family of our size spends. Through Google I discovered that the amount varies widely but tends to be between 5-15% sometimes 20% of the annual income. Here is the budget that I ended up figuring out, but I am definitely still open for input if you think it is too much or too little.

• $200/month for groceries including personal care and household items.
• $20/month for food storage
  
• $10/month for clothes for Ravenna (Andrew and I each have a monthly allowance which we use if we want to buy clothing or whatever our hearts desire).
  
• $30/month for eating at local restaurants and participating in Borough events
• $495/season for our CSA share; our grocery budget will be $100/month from late May-mid October.
• $250 to start our garden which includes supplies, buying a composter, seeds etc.
  

Obviously our household budget is more expanded than this but this covers what we will mainly focus on for our resolutions. As far as our garden goes, the large amount needed to start the garden is only a one-time expenditure. As soon as we get our composting going, the only thing we will need to purchase for our garden every year is mulch and seeds.

We didn't do great this month with buying local and I blame it on my Costco exemption. I LOVE Costco and I did a bit of impulse buying this month. We bought a paper shredder because we have needed one for a while but the rest was food expenditure. If I were to calculate the amount I spent on food this month, it would probably be about $250 including food storage items.

Here is where I need your help, dear reader:

-What do you think of my budget? What can be changed/modified and suggestions on how to do it?
-Recommendations of a composting bin. I would like one that spins.
-Ways that you save money on your groceries keeping in mind that we buy mostly organic produce and rarely buy processed food.
-Share your recipes for low-cost meals (especially helpful if they are dairy/gluten free).

The whole reason that I am writing this on my blog is for accountability and ideas, so PLEASE help me. Also, if you want to ask questions, do that too, that way we can all help each other.