Weekly Goal: Buy No Food

In an effort to train myself to be more resourceful with the food I already have in my house and to stretch my money, this week I am taking on the challenge of spending no money on food. I should explain that I get paid weekly and that I bought a few groceries before this pay week started as well as ordered a $20 bag of local produce through a program at my work. I usually end up going to the grocery store every day and spend an average of $150 a week on groceries since I started my new diet. Often, I end up throwing out a lot of produce that I don't end up using before it goes bad. So it's time to get creative and discover ways to use everything I have and make it last through the week.
The produce I received this week includes:

Eggplant
Kale
Carrots
Onion
Rosemary and Thyme
Peppers
Green Beans
Tomatoes
Zucchini
Corn on the Cob




Last night I used most the tomatoes to make a pasta sauce. I froze the beans because I have no idea how I will use them yet. I may use the peppers with quinoa and some of the other veggies to make stuffed peppers and freeze the extras.




I also want to make a stew or soup that I can also freeze. I have beans, so vegan chili is always in the cards. The trick will be to not get sick of something.

I'm not sure how long I can stretch it, but it will be an interesting test. It's going to take some planning and prep. The hard part will be not buying any chocolate, something I usually end up getting almost every day. Luckily I do have lots of frozen bananas and can make a delicious banana ice cream (frozen bananas, almond milk, agave nectar in a food processor. So easy!).

 Or better yet, peanut butter banana ice cream! Yes please!!

Month 7 Career/Finance

I decided to switch this month to Career and Finance for a few reasons. For one, my friend from film school came to visit. She and I have always been 'doers' together. When we are around each other, we don't ask "should we", we just try new things and find out what happens. And that's more in line with the way I've always wanted to live. She's helped me realize that even though I'm stuck in a rut now, I don't have to stay there just because it's comfortable. I can go out and find my happiness and be OK even if I don't have the cool sounding Disney job. I can go anywhere I want, I could even live abroad if I worked hard enough to find the means. Secondly, because I'm thinking of drifting away from these 'roots', I need to tighten up the way I spend and cut the fat. My friend also helped me realize how loose I've been with money. She has been on a tight budget for years and opened my eyes to that perspective. My eating out all the time is so wasteful when I have all this produce in my fridge and it just takes some creative thinking to make something delicious out of it.
I've been playing with the idea of cutting out netflix and some other things. I even court the idea of trying the 100 possessions challenge. That's a huge change, but something I'd like to consider. I'm tired of feeling tied down in a place I don't really enjoy. I'm starting to believe that life's joy won't come from getting the perfect career but enjoy the experiences along the way to where ever I end up and connecting with the people I meet.  If I live for an unattainable goal and am always disappointed in not achieving it, I'll never be at peace.
I have a lot of thinking to do when it comes to the production company. In a way, it feels like just another thing tying me here. Though owning my own production company sounds like a dream come true, the way we are heading toward it now just seems so blind and premature.
To begin with, I'm shopping around for other phone service providers and I think I'll go ahead and turn off my Netflix for the month as a trial period. I will also work on a strict weekly budget that I must stick to. And I'll begin exploring all of my life/career options and expanding my view of where that could lead me.

Month 6 wrap-up

I had high hopes of replacing my entire wardrobe with new items, but clothes are expensive! I did sort through my closet and put aside all the shirts that have stains and holes. However, that left me very few to actually wear to work. I guess replacing the wardrobe is going to have to be doled out over several months. I did by a few nice pieces at H&M though. Black pin stripe pants, a gray business jacket, and two dresses.

Horrible picture, but you get the idea.

I used this as part of my Breakfast at Tiffany's Halloween costume.

It's a start.