Keeping track of my receipts has been very helpful for this first month of trying to stay within our $500 food budget. And boy do I have some great stories this week of God’s faithfulness!
Let me give you some background details. Of course like all of you, coming off of Christmas has hit us pretty hard. But we had some extras last month on top of Christmas. We had to buy class A uniforms for Mike as he was getting ready to head to police academy ($400) and I had some doctor bills to the tune of another $400. So needless to say I was ready for January to come to stop the bleeding! 🙂
Well, January is here and we decided to send our teen girls to winter camp and then the alternator on my excursion was going out. ARG!! Can we ever get ahead. Of course, I was questioning God because we have been trying to cinch things up with our spending but it was going out as fast as we were cinching.
I met a very dear friend for coffee one morning. Her and her family have been going through a lot of pretty heavy trials (physically, financially, spiritually) but all through her stories she just kept saying God had our backs the whole time. She continually gave God the praise and glory which He deserves.
That day…she showed up to our coffee appointment with a meal and fresh fruit for my family. Wow…God you are still watching out for us! You are hearing my frustrations…I said to Him. That was a quick reminder to me that He cares and He is faithful!
The next day, my dear friend shows up to my apartment while I was running errands and gave my daughter a card to give to me. I opened it only to find a hundred dollar gift card to a local grocery store with a little note……
Tears welled up in my eyes, because I know their lack and yet they just wanted to bless. Truly, my Father used my friend to whisper into my heart His loving faithfulness and a reminder to me…”daughter, I’ve got your back…stay faithful!”
So here is a run down of what I have spent this week:
Costco: Low carb tortillas (2), Sprouted bread, Frank’s Hot sauce, salsa, Gorilla Munch (organic cereal) Spent: $38.33
Trading Company: English Muffins (2), 10# potatoes, ground turkey, lunch meat
Spent: $10.60
Super 1: Avacados (2), sour cream, oatmeal, salad dressing, cheese, bananas, cottage cheese (2), diced chilies (4), coconut milk (4), refried beans, Frank’s, half & half, cucumber
Spent: $32.69
Total Spent this trip: 81.82 (My actual out of pocket thanks to God’s Blessing… $49.13)
January Total Spending: $254.78
January Balance: $245.22