One Set Back, Two Steps Forward

The week started out with a setback when our car started to make a not-so-nice sounding noise while driving. We took it into the shop and that quickly turned into a large bill for some needed repairs. Ouch!

On a positive note, this week we enjoyed the first harvests from our garden for the season. We were able to eat some radishes, arugula and cilantro straight out of our raised garden beds. Not only do these foods seem to taste extra delicious when we grow them ourselves, but it is also a huge budget saver! We often buy a whole bunch of cilantro or container of greens at the store and only use half of it before the rest wilts away. Now that our garden is growing we can take just what we need right from the yard. We have several other herbs growing as well: cucumbers, kale, tomatoes, peppers and peas. Our daughter is convinced that we are also growing mac n’ cheese in the garden so she may be in for a disappointment.

We also had great success in cutting down our grocery bill for the week by shopping at a less expensive store and sticking strictly to the shopping list. Going to a new store was definitely less convenient and it took twice as long to find where everything was located, but the extra effort paid off when the bill was almost cut in half from what we frequently spend on groceries for the week. Convenience feels important when we are short on time and trying to fit in all of the various activities that we want to do on the weekend, but it was easier than we thought to take a little extra time to plan for shopping, and it was well worth the payoff.