What We Spent, April 15 - 21

There's a lot going on behind the scenes here at Aunt B's these days and it's resulting in some big changes to our usual routine.  We are finding ourselves on the run - and on the road - a lot more than is usual for us.

All this coming and going is affecting our budget:  

My fella is taking up more and more of the slack in the kitchen and, because he's much more a carnivore than I, we are eating more meat.  At present, we're using stocks from our freezer but they will need to be replenished.  

We're eating at restaurants more than I think we ever have.  Some days we're just too tired to do much else and, when it comes down to it, spending time together at the end of the day has proved to be more important to us than eating a home cooked meal every single night.

Road time means driving time, and driving time means more fuel consumption, so our gasoline costs continue to be higher than usual.

We know that the situation in which we find ourselves right now is finite and, blessedly, there is some leeway for re-arrangement in our budget.  We've given up some things in order to pay for others.  For example, we've cut back on our cable service in order to allow for our restaurant meals (currently budgeted at $100/month) and we've completely eliminated clothing expenditures from our budget for the next couple of months.  

When things return to something more resembling our normal routine, we'll cut back our spending on food and restaurants, and start watching sales in order to restock the freezer.  For now, though, we'll live with the higher costs.

Here's what we spent last week:

Date	Item	Amount
April 15/13	Gas	$40.00
	4 litres skim milk	$4.63
	1 English cucumber	$1.27
	.74 kg/1.63 lbs broccoli	$2.43
	1.36 kg/3 lbs pears	$2.97
	4.54 kg/10 lbs navel oranges	$5.98
	.85 kg/1.87 lbs tomatoes	$1.83
	1 head romaine lettuce	$1.29
April 20/13	Gas	$49.75
	Restaurant meal, including taxes and tip	$26.28
	Total Coupons Redeemed	-$2.23
	TOTAL EXPENDITURES	$134.20