Happy Halloween!

I am completing Week 1 on the new spending plan. I think I have done alright. I was already aware of how much I spend on food and I am really aware now. I really noticed all the times I wanted to go buy food and chose not to. Nearly very day! Whether it's a snack from the vending machine, stopping at the grocery store because I don't want what's at home, or wanting to try a new recipe. Ugh! I ended up spending $25 on food this week. I've got a $150/mo budget. I spent $10 on frozen pizza and a bottle of wine. Then I spent $15 on ingredients for making vegetarian chili. The chili made six servings and turned out mediocre, so now I have to suffer through the rest of it. I hate when that happens. I froze one serving, and I've eaten two servings, so I only have three more to suffer through. I didn't officially start my new budget until after I bought groceries last weekend. I've got $20 in that envelope until next Friday. I'll need to get creative at the grocery store this week.

Today I worked on the yard. I aerated my lawn with my little Lawn Butler which was a nice workout. I wanted to topdress with my own compost, but I'm not sure it has decomposed enough. My coworkers gave me a gift card to Portland Nursery to get a memorial tree for my dad, so I went to scope out some options. At first I thought I wanted something small to pot. But then I realize that all trees start small and grow really really slowly. So I could get a regular tree really small and pot it. Then later plant it when I end up in a house I think I'll be in for more than a few years. That is the plan anyway. I'm still not ready to commit to anything. But I did get some plants for a winter container on my porch. It's been sitting on the porch empty since I smothered and killed my Portland Marathon tree with snapdragons and marigolds over the summer. I spent $13. I'm calling that entertainment since that envelope has money and the home maintenance and repairs envelope doesn't. My budget for entertainment is $160/mo. I plan to spend $9 at the Women's Show tomorrow and then I have dinner plans next Thursday. The dinner plans I think technically comes out of the food envelope but I might take it out of entertainment. I think my food allowance might be too tight. This is hard.