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| tell me you forgot baking powder or soda without telling me |
Gah.
This past week was SPENDY, and I was in a funk, so I thought buying stuff would make me feel better, but actually? I just felt worse because I also felt guilty about buying so much trash. (MOAR Sol de Janeiro for D -- twice in one week-- two different scents--and a Touchland for M for no reason, plus one of those heatless curler things, expensive shampoo, hair ties-- basically we just stopped at Ulta randomly twice last week because we were grumpy. Also new leotards and a ballet sweater. A random $40 water bottle for D (will save for V-day, I think), Nike Tech pants for Coop because I got tired of seeing him in the same 2 pairs and thought another one would make me feel better... the list goes on and on. Also! Dinner out for me because I was too lazy to pack, dinner out for the girls for a similar reason-- just crap upon crap. I even went out for coffee twice, something I haven't been doing at all. 2 new pairs of pretty pointless (but also pretty, pointy) high heels. And Ben and Coop were gone for the weekend. And groceries flirted with $600 this week because I just bought weird pricey stuff from 3 different stores. But not new leggings for myself or anything, like, worthwhile, you know???? GAH.
In terms of food waste, I made a few positive strides. We had spaghetti and meatballs and used the leftovers for both meatball sandwiches and pizza bread. We made a bunch of grilled chicken and baked potatoes and ate them for many lunches. I ate a giant 16 oz clamshell of spinach basically BY MYSELF last week.
But then! When I cleaned out the fridge in advance of Kroger and Costco deliveries, I tossed out 2 expired Two Good yogurts and 2 Yoplaits, 1/3 of a bag of desiccated baby carrots, some elderly sour cream, apple cider that was clearly alcoholic by now, jalapeno hummus that had barely been dipped in, blueberry bagels and strawberry cream cheese leftover from when Harry was home, some chicken broth just past its prime.
This week, we are going to me even more strategic about how we eat our fresh food, I swear.
We had sour cream go bad this weekend, Jake went to use it and it had expired Jan 27. Whoops! My excuse is I never use it so I don't know what state it's in. I mean, how bad can sour cream go? He wasn't totally ready to push it though.
ReplyDeleteRIGHT?! It's already SOUR!
DeleteUse old yogurt and sour cream in place of milk in baked goods! As long as it's not moldy, it bakes up great. It's really good in chocolate cake and muffins. A week or so past the best buy date will be fine.
DeleteI have a sugar cookie recipe from my grandma that specifically lists "spoiled milk" in the recipe.
DeleteI have not purchased makeup or skincare in months beyond the occasional purchase of lotion, so I just spent about $350 at Sephora/Ulta over the weekend and have no regrets because I needed new everything - primer, mascara, foundation, regular shampoo/conditioner, purple shampoo/conditioner, ALL THE THINGS. So, if it makes you feel better, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
ReplyDeleteoooh yesss-- I love when the stars align like that and you need everything at once. Mine are on a rotating empty cycle, so she shopping is never as satisfying.
DeleteI have not entered an Ulta store in so long, and I'm not sure why - except maybe it's because now that I know what hair stuff Curly needs (crazy specific and crazy pricey but I don't think Ulta carries it, see: Curly) I just reorder it as needed on Amazon. I always felt like I spent more than I needed to when I physically entered that store. That was probably in part because I was always trying new curly hair products. So happy to finally know what her hair needs. (even though it's so pricey).
ReplyDeleteThe food going bad stinks. It's hard. Stuff gets buried in the fridge, and I hate that. What were the baked goods that were missing the baking soda? Cookies? Cupcakes?
cupcakes to use up my leftover custard. sigh.
DeleteLove me some Monday money posts! Last time I went to Ulta was back in October to purchase a fall lipstick. Got Nars Too Hot to Hold, maple-red. I like it but I could have gone without.
ReplyDeleteI need a spring lip color!
DeleteI was good at groceries in January, but Vantines candy has weakened my defenses. I needed some for treat bags for a class- two types seemed puny- I wound up with ten. I console myself that at least the 5th graders will be happy. Some weeks, it's enough just to take as an object lesson, and move forward to better days.
ReplyDeleteonward and upward!
DeleteGirl, I so relate to spending money as a means to get out of a funk. Why doesn't it work as planned?!
ReplyDeleteMy fancy hairdryer decided to call it quits, so I now need to decide if I can live without it (I have a regular old fashioned hair dryer, but it takes 30 minutes and I die of heat stroke every time I use it) or if I can bear to part with however much $$$$ it will cost to replace it. Because part of the equation is, of course, whether I should replace it with itself or spend that extra $$ to buy an even fancier version. I don't even know where to begin.
I want one of those bioprogramming hair treatment devices (they are like $700 but supposed to be AWESOME) https://www.beautytechdistribution.com/products/7d-repronizer
DeleteI also forgot the Super Bowl snacks spendiness. This is a safe space, right Sarah? because I feel so awful about this total waste of money. There is a fancy gourmet place I have been meaning to try, especially for their crab cakes, so I finally went and voila! they had crabcakes. But I didn't stop there, because they had mini short rib pastres and mini BBQ pork pastries that I thought my husband would love AND they had pigs in a blanket which was on my regular grocery list, although the regular grocery store only has bagel dogs and TJ's only has flavored ones that my husband/kid don't like, so I thought, why not?! But the goodies did not have price tags and the place was super crowded and I had never been there before and the staff was all harried, so I just handed over my little appetizers thinking they would be, what? $15 a pop? Sarah. The total was $119. I am still dying. And they were fine but not worth anywhere near $30 a package.
ReplyDeleteOuch, been there done that. Glad to have a safe space to confess, and I'm sorry that they weren't worth the spendiness!
DeleteLOL-- Whole Foods has pretty good everything bagel dogs in the frozen section for next time.
DeleteI recently spent $117 on hair conditioner, because I love the brand (Formula 18) and I buy the huge container directly from them which saves me a bit of money, but obviously not a ton because $117. Also I bought booze on Friday - bourbon, gin, and wine. That wasn't as much as the conditioner, but I did splurge and buy a $30 bottle of wine because I wanted to and it's my money. And I donated some money to a couple of Girl Scout troops and thankfully do not have any cookies to show for it. Plus I went to the grocery store pretty much every day last week, so whatever I bought there. I have made croutons out of the oldish bread, and they're delicious, so thank you for your food waste post!
ReplyDeleteI also buy nice wine because it's already terrible for me, so I might as well not also have more chemicals, is my thought process.
DeleteGive yourself some grace - I mean, some weeks we can be good with the money and other weeks we book a cruise for spring break. OOPSIE!
ReplyDelete