Food

I decided to do a better job of keeping track of food this month. Also, I'm trying to curb eating out and do better at planning my grocery shopping. So far it's been alright. Definitely been eating more at home. Lunch time is the hardest because peer pressure dictates I go out and grab some fast food with my co-workers. Not that I don't enjoy the lunch time socialization; it just cost money and now I'm froogle (froogle sounds so much nicer than cheap doesn't it?).

Eating out is bad for the budget. Even when I do eat out I try to save though. Yesterday I spent $3.24 on a Subway sandwich. It was only a 6" and it was ham, the cheapest they have besides a veggie. I didn't get chips or a drink. I keep soda's at the shop, I pick up a case when I'm at the grocery store and they're on sale. Last time I bought a twelve pack of soda it was $2.71 after tax. Each soda cost roughly $0.23, making my lunch a whopping $3.47. Granted I can easily go through a few soda's a day including the one I drink with my lunch. But even if I drink three, eating and drinking during my work day comes to under $4.00.

I'm pretty anal about keeping track of things like where I spend my money, or how much electricity is being used. Things like food I'm a little short sighted on. It takes a bit of effort to determine how much that sandwich I just made cost. Soda's are pretty easy to divide by twelve, but those chips and dip? How many cents is each chip worth? How the hell do you calculate that dip? More importantly, why do I run out of chips and still have halve the dip left...it's a vicious cycle that keeps chips and dip on alternating shopping lists. Speaking of things to keep track of, how do you account for things going bad? I can't go through a half a gallon of milk before it goes bad.