It was a beautiful day ☺

It was a beautiful day, so I took my kids for a hike with my best friend who was in town with her kids. We took a one mile loop with a ton of small waterfalls. The kids had a blast, and I got a workout. It was short, but I also carried my two year old pretty much the whole time. Wednesday has turned into my day to spend some time out in nature. Living in the city, I often forget to go outside. Luckily, I have a great backyard with a bunch of trees and flowers, so I can sit out there when I don’t have time to truly immerse myself in the outdoors.

I came to the realization today that I am still purchasing food as if I had the income I used to when I was not married. Everything has been organic and fresh and super healthy for so long. Unfortunately, my budget is much more limited than I would like, so until I get things really rolling I need to make some changes. I can’t do the super coupon thing because I don’t have time for that and I really don’t eat the majority of the food that you can super coupon because it is usually also super processed. I already menu plan, which cuts down on some expense. I took my monthly spending from about $900 to about $650 (not including special occasions). I want to challenge myself to get it down between $400-500 per month for the four of us. I realize that by switching to non-organic and shopping at a few stores, I should be able to prepare some tasty, fresh meals without compromising my standards too much. I am also a big fan of rice and beans, so I think I will bulk cook those on the weekends and eat the same thing for the majority of the days. My kids will eat things every day if I let them.

So I think by shopping sales and repeating meals, I can put a good dent in my spending. I will keep you guys posted on how it works out, don’t be surprised if my meals start repeating more often. Health is extremely important, but so is living within my means. I know it is all temporary until I get in a better financial position and then I will be back to buying the best foods I can afford. I can’t believe I didn’t start doing this sooner!

Breakfast: two eggs with toast, half a bagel with cream cheese

Snack: Apple

Lunch: Leftover pulled pork sandwich, beans, coleslaw

Snack: skipped because I had a late lunch

Dinner: Tofu with spinach and green onions, salad

Sleep: I finished cleaning up from my daughter’s birthday party around midnight and slept until about 8. The kids go back to school tomorrow, so I better set an alarm in case I over-sleep

Water: 1 – 600 ml bottle, 4 glasses

Exercise: 7 ½ min yoga (kids were climbing all over and it was late) 1 mile hike

Photo by @vampiretta