Week 6 : Monday October 13th to Sunday October 18th
We are supposed to have $160 each week for groceries.  We overspent last week, so we were supposed to stick to the amount remaining, which was $82.

We were unable to do that, and ended up spending $166.

Here’s how we did:

I didn’t add any new categories to track this week.

I suggested to Mr. A that we forego buying groceries this week to catch up, but he did not like that idea.  He instead offered the $80 his mother gave him for his birthday to cover the deficit.

I think we need to sit down and discuss our grocery budget again.  I know there is one factor that is throwing a monkey wrench in for him. We usually buy hay for our dairy goats once every six months, but we have been unable to reach our guy that delivers the squeeze (64 bales).  While trying to figure out where the guy is at, or find someone new, he has been buying hay at a farm using cash.  Grocery cash.  This is making it difficult for him to keep track of how much money he has spent.  I normally pull out the grocery money (the only cash we usually have on hand) on Thursday to start over on the next Monday.  If I knew we weren’t going to buy hay in a squeeze, I would take out extra cash.  If I just take out extra cash willy-nilly, it inevitably gets spent.

Here are my other posts on the cash method saga. In case you’re new here, my husband does 99% of the grocery shopping so I don’t have a lot of control over what is purchased.  I mean, I can ask him to buy me anything I want, but it’s up to him to keep the kitchen stocked.

Trying the Cash Method Again – September 7th. In this post I give a brief rundown of what led to our trying cash method again. We’d tried the cash system in May 2008, but it was a flop.

Week 1 Cash System for Groceries – September 15th. In this post I recount the week, and found myself incorporating some frugal moves to stay within budget.

Week 2 Cash System for Groceries – September 22nd. We run out of money early and decide to borrow from next week’s grocery money.

Week 3 Cash System for Groceries – September 29th. We had less money to work with due to last week’s overspending, but we did it!

Week 4 Cash System for Groceries – October 6th. Another good week, even though I buy a $10 loaf of bread.

Week 5 Cash System for Groceries – October 13th. Mr. A blows the budget big time, overspending into the next week so that he is left with only $82.

Yours Truly,