club The Frugal Adventurers Club

[TrashcanCarla]

8 hours ago, Sepherina said:

I have been mulling the “Save a dollar a week and then double it” but instead of saving it, I will sock it to the credit card.  Doing this would pay off $1378 on the card.  Because I would not enjoy putting nearly $400 on it around Christmas, I am leaning towards putting $26.50 a week on it instead(1378/52 weeks). $30ish dollars doesn’t sound like too much of a hit to our tight budget. This will be in addition to the payment we are already making.

I love this plan! I am inspired. ?

 

+++

 

I myself am currently debating how to split out savings each month into the different buckets (supplementary savings accounts with Alliant). I think I'll put $125 a month into our holidays fund (Thanksgiving and Christmas) as we tend to spend big in November an December. $125 a month into household repairs fund. The rest can go into regular savings with some draws for a vacation fund. I very much would like for us to go somewhere this year. We haven't been on a real trip in years.

 

I hope very much that we get a decent tax refund this year. California paid us back lots last year, which was awesome. We can put some of it toward vacation, some of it toward a car down payment. Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot to mention that we must take on more debt this year. ? I wish it wasn't necessary, but there's no avoiding buying a used car. That last paragraph makes me feel not so frugal. Ugh. I'll have to pay down debt strategically over the next few years to make up for it.

 

This will be a long road.

[Sepherina]

2 hours ago, TrashcanCarla said:

This will be a long road.

It really is!  But that is why we are walking it together.  When one of us feels tired or demoralized by where we are, we are reminded that we have friends along with us.

 

 

[Heidi]

12 hours ago, Sepherina said:

It really is!  But that is why we are walking it together.  When one of us feels tired or demoralized by where we are, we are reminded that we have friends along with us.

 

 

Yes, the point is to journey and to struggle together. ❤️ 

Financial freedom isn’t a six-week journey, or even a year-long trudge (though there will be trudging, I’m certain); it’s a life-long way of being and of rebalancing our relationship with resources, with value, and with worth.

 

For what it’s worth, I think that taking on used-car debt mindfully and having a long-term payment solution is actually a win along this journey. 

[Sepherina]

7 minutes ago, Heidi said:

For what it’s worth, I think that taking on used-car debt mindfully and having a long-term payment solution is actually a win along this journey. 

I wholeheartedly agree.

[Darciana]

The Universe has provided for us in a small manner after giving us a few heart/anxiety attacks.

 

The boys officially signed a long term RV-spot lease this weekend (by long term, I mean it's a monthly thing, not a typical "come for a weekend trip" RV spot) and the trailer has been moved there as of Sunday (No HOA fees for us). They move in next weekend, officially. The good part about this: the RV is being purchased by the boys so there's about $4,000 set to come back to us, plus the $6,000 we already have from the rent they've paid thus far for living in this house (we planned to give back to them as rent deposits and such, but now it's to buy the RV outright). Also with the boys moving out, my grocery bill should drop slightly. They don't eat much and it's really only dinner, but that's our most expensive meal and having to buy 2 packages of something versus just one adds up over time. Halving that will help over time. Plus, the electricity they use, even if its only evenings and weekends adds up and it should help a little, especially in summer when that electricity bill is already awful. It's not much, but if I'm mindful about it, I can make that grow exponentially, especially in paying off debt.

[Jarric]

Got through week 1 of this challenge with no discretionary spending, which is good. WW and I did go out on Sunday, and she paid for parking and lunch. It's not sustainable to expect her to pay for everything, and it all comes out of our household funds anyway, so I feel like there's an asterisk against this week's result.

 

I know I've got to buy a thing for a work event next week, and I've got the event itself the following week, so I will have some spending days coming up. If I can restrict myself just to those though, it'll certainly help.

[TrashcanCarla]

I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of planned/necessary spending and the acceptance of it as part of my budget apart from unnecessary so-called "discretionary" spending. You know... Drawing the line between those two categories in my head so that I spend appropriately.

 

Example: I spent $108 yesterday on a planned expenditure - registration for a trail run in November. I bought now rather than later so that I could save a few bucks as registration fees increase closer to the event.

 

Even though I consciously have included this in our budget for the month, have justification for the purchase, I still feel guilty. Honestly this guilt reminds me of how I have felt when I've been on (ugh) diets in the past. Not great.

 

Could use some words of wisdom to help me reframe my thinking.

[Loveable_Bouncer]

On 1/2/2024 at 12:39 PM, Heidi said:

If you choose to go this route but have no clue what to do with your weekly produce, let me know. 
We'll form a local seasonal food cooking support group.  

Thank you Heidi! 

I think I have WAY too much going on this summer. But will definitely want to join to just play if I can play with Famer's Markets over the summer (or have an attempt at gardening if I figure that out). 

 

On 1/2/2024 at 12:56 PM, Heidi said:

I'm terrible at paper budgets. I mean, I'm great at creating them,  but then they seem to have no bearing whatsoever on my acutal money use.

I had to create separate bank accounts for separate funtions: monthly household bills; discretionary spending; and debts-saving payments.

I also am the same way. YNAB (You need a Budget) I realize is the only way I can automate things to "not see the checking account number". Still not perfect, but has be mindful enough to make the subscription fee worth it. 

[Sovalis]

33 minutes ago, TrashcanCarla said:

I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of planned/necessary spending and the acceptance of it as part of my budget apart from unnecessary so-called "discretionary" spending. You know... Drawing the line between those two categories in my head so that I spend appropriately.

 

Example: I spent $108 yesterday on a planned expenditure - registration for a trail run in November. I bought now rather than later so that I could save a few bucks as registration fees increase closer to the event.

 

Even though I consciously have included this in our budget for the month, have justification for the purchase, I still feel guilty. Honestly this guilt reminds me of how I have felt when I've been on (ugh) diets in the past. Not great.

 

Could use some words of wisdom to help me reframe my thinking.

When I was in grad school things were super tight. But event registration for conferences was critical so buying it at early bird prices was the way to go. Don't think of health/exercise stuff as discretionary spending, maybe? For me they are line items on my budget because health is one of my active priorities. That doesn't give me permission to overspend on health stuff, but to allocate resources towards it without guilt. 

 

---

 

A win and a draw, I think?

 

Win: I went to the next city for my regularly scheduled psych check in and didn't go into any shops, even to look around, so I wasn't tempted to buy stuff I didn't need. This felt good, not like deprivation. 

 

Draw: I forgot to suspend my meal kits last week, so four meals worth were just delivered and Dave is gone this week. This is a lot of food (and cooking!) for just me, plus the charge went on to my credit card which I've been not using. It's okay, just a good reminder to make sure those are paused unless we want them. 

 

Hope today is easy on the pocketbook!

[Jarric]

39 minutes ago, TrashcanCarla said:

I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of planned/necessary spending and the acceptance of it as part of my budget apart from unnecessary so-called "discretionary" spending. You know... Drawing the line between those two categories in my head so that I spend appropriately.

 

Example: I spent $108 yesterday on a planned expenditure - registration for a trail run in November. I bought now rather than later so that I could save a few bucks as registration fees increase closer to the event.

 

Even though I consciously have included this in our budget for the month, have justification for the purchase, I still feel guilty. Honestly this guilt reminds me of how I have felt when I've been on (ugh) diets in the past. Not great.

 

Could use some words of wisdom to help me reframe my thinking.

 

Here's how I think about it. There's nothing inherently 'good' about saving money, and nothing inherently 'bad' about spending it, so there's no reason to feel guilty for spending money. It's not a moral choice.

 

What there is is priorities. When you spend money on things you don't particularly need and don't really want, you deprive yourself of that money to do better things with. And that's fine too, it's still nothing to feel guilty about, it just isn't very helpful for reaching your larger financial goals.

 

On the other hand, when you spend money on stuff you really want, or stuff that is good for you, well that's exactly what your money is for. You work on being frugal precisely so that you can register for things like this trail run, which is both something that you want and something that is good for you.

 

Obviously, there are things that are going to be tough to decide on whether they're really things you want or whether they're not aligned with your financial goals, but this one doesn't feel like that kind of grey area.

[Sepherina]

8 hours ago, Darciana said:

The Universe has provided for us in a small manner after giving us a few heart/anxiety attacks.

 

The boys officially signed a long term RV-spot lease this weekend (by long term, I mean it's a monthly thing, not a typical "come for a weekend trip" RV spot) and the trailer has been moved there as of Sunday (No HOA fees for us). They move in next weekend, officially. The good part about this: the RV is being purchased by the boys so there's about $4,000 set to come back to us, plus the $6,000 we already have from the rent they've paid thus far for living in this house (we planned to give back to them as rent deposits and such, but now it's to buy the RV outright). Also with the boys moving out, my grocery bill should drop slightly. They don't eat much and it's really only dinner, but that's our most expensive meal and having to buy 2 packages of something versus just one adds up over time. Halving that will help over time. Plus, the electricity they use, even if its only evenings and weekends adds up and it should help a little, especially in summer when that electricity bill is already awful. It's not much, but if I'm mindful about it, I can make that grow exponentially, especially in paying off debt.

All of this sounds soo good!  I am happy that the Universe decided to help you out.

 

3 hours ago, Jarric said:

Got through week 1 of this challenge with no discretionary spending, which is good. WW and I did go out on Sunday, and she paid for parking and lunch. It's not sustainable to expect her to pay for everything, and it all comes out of our household funds anyway, so I feel like there's an asterisk against this week's result.

 

This is a big win!  Even if there is an asterisk on it.

 

2 hours ago, TrashcanCarla said:

Could use some words of wisdom to help me reframe my thinking.

Maybe instead of thinking of the run as discretionary, think of it as an investment in your health.  We don’t feel guilty for paying our medical bills or buying healthy food. So don’t feel guilty about paying for things that make us more healthy and hopefully provide us with more good days on this Earth.

 

2 hours ago, Sovalis said:

A win and a draw, I think?

 

Win: I went to the next city for my regularly scheduled psych check in and didn't go into any shops, even to look around, so I wasn't tempted to buy stuff I didn't need. This felt good, not like deprivation. 

 

Draw: I forgot to suspend my meal kits last week, so four meals worth were just delivered and Dave is gone this week. This is a lot of food (and cooking!) for just me, plus the charge went on to my credit card which I've been not using. It's okay, just a good reminder to make sure those are paused unless we want them.

Not too bad. If you think the food won’t get used maybe a friend or neighbor can take some of it off your hands before it goes bad?

 

 

 

 

Also a Win and a draw this week.  

Win: I managed to keep our grocery bill under $125 (including food for Maple) with a combination of some leftover gift card money and grocery rewards.  We also didn’t eat out as a family last week at all and all dinners were at home.

 

Draw: Our microwave also died….I moved money from our house remodel account to pay for a new one. It will be here Thursday, but send good thoughts as the minions and hubs may starve.  I swear 15 years ago my family never would have cared if we had a microwave and now that we don’t have one everyone has complained and has refused to use the stove/oven to warm stuff up… ?

 

 

[Heidi]

On 1/8/2024 at 3:55 PM, TrashcanCarla said:

Example: I spent $108 yesterday on a planned expenditure - registration for a trail run in November. I bought now rather than later so that I could save a few bucks as registration fees increase closer to the event.

 

Even though I consciously have included this in our budget for the month, have justification for the purchase, I still feel guilty. Honestly this guilt reminds me of how I have felt when I've been on (ugh) diets in the past. Not great.

Here's the truth: The system is rigged.

By buying now and saving a few bucks, you're on the benefit-side of the rigged system.

I can't remember where the journal article is, but it's like this: Wealthy people can afford to buy quality that overshadows the cost by *lots.*

If a wealthy person spends $100 on a pair of high-quality boots that she wears most every day for four years, that's $25 a year in shoe expenses and she likely has better foot-comfort.

Her poorer neighbor can't possibly afford $100 on shoes, so she buys a pair of $25 boots that she also wears most every day. They wear out in three months and aren't as great on her comfort, but she still feels like she got an affordable pair of shoes, and she likes them enough, so she buys another pair, knowing they will likely wear out in three months, and saves a coupon for another pair when she comes across it online. She then spends $20 on the third pair of boots, which last a little longer, and she feels frugal. Friends, she has spent $70 a year on footwear.

 

I bought a pair of high-quality hiking boots in 2016 for $200. I wore them most every day until I moved into my loft apartment in 2021, when I wore mostly slippers, becuase I never leave.

I put 2-15 miles on those boots a day. I still own them, and they are ready to go whenever I decide that the world is worth venturing out again. That's roughly $20 a year, and I still have the boots. Now, if I bought many pairs of shoes all the time and was going full on Imelda Marcos, we would have to have a talk about spending. But wisdom says "buy the best you can afford and let it be supportive of you for as long as possible."

 

The same is true for any mindful long-termpurchase: a reliable, quality used car mindfully found and sensibly financed through a bank for hypothetically $250/month over three years is loads better than a crap  used car financed through a high-risk on-site vendor for $200 at higher interest rates for six years. The first one likely gets better gas mileage and is in good repair in addition to being a lower interst and shorter term. The second one is likely more expensive to operate, and these high-risk onsite lenders are notorious for selling cars that are undriveable before the loans are paid off. The first example is wise spending. The universe loves it when we spend wisely; money is currency, which is there to circulate and flow in a supportive way.

 

About diets: starvation isn't the goal. Food is supposed to be wonderful and supportive and energizing. It's not a failure to eat; the challenge is to make midful choices of right-sized proportion that lift us into a life worth living.

[Heidi]

Total win this week: Credit card balances are zero courtesy of the debt consolidation loan. Automatic payments set up for the loan. Nothing else added to the discretionary spending list, and tuition will be manageable.

 

This is the year of investing in myself. When I bet on me, the house always wins.

Living in faith that the sky won't fall (financially) is always difficult (CPTSD is real). It wasn't too long ago that I was still living off dogsitting wages that I scrambled for each week.

The Universe loves me and wants me to be happy.

[TrashcanCarla]

2 hours ago, Heidi said:

Total win this week: Credit card balances are zero courtesy of the debt consolidation loan. Automatic payments set up for the loan. Nothing else added to the discretionary spending list, and tuition will be manageable.

 

This is the year of investing in myself. When I bet on me, the house always wins.

Living in faith that the sky won't fall (financially) is always difficult (CPTSD is real). It wasn't too long ago that I was still living off dogsitting wages that I scrambled for each week.

The Universe loves me and wants me to be happy.

Yes, Heidi, the Universe does love you.

 

Congrats on the debt consolation loan! ? That's awesome.

 

Thank you, by the way, for your extremely well written and thoughtful post earlier. Not only was it a fantastic response to my particular concerns, but it's wisdom that can apply to many a person's situations. Bravo!

[Sovalis]

Hi Friends!

 

I woke up to a message from Dave in Latvia saying something had gone unexpected with his getting his rental car and he didn’t have enough advance to deal with it so he had to wipe out our overdraft. 

 

?

 

Okay then. I already wasn’t thrilled to be so close to the overdraft, but to have to scramble to find money on the line of credit to put into the joint account so any auto payments don’t bounce for insufficient funds was enough to make me really cranky. We had what we needed in the line of credit, thankfully, but now that is basically maxed out again and the joint account still doesn’t have a positive balance, just the zero with the overdraft open for use. 

 

???

 

It’s going to feel like a long haul until the 15th…

 

I have all the food and essentials that I need in the house. I gassed the car yesterday before this happened. I *think* I have a few hundred open in credit on my credit card but I *REALLY* don’t want to go there if I can just knuckle down and tough this out. We will get that money back from the Army through their claim system, so it’s not a permanent loss, but something like this happens every time he goes away and it is always a scramble to figure out how to get him what he needs to function and then keep things from going pear shaped at home. I am pretty much out of fallback plans at this point. *sigh*

 

Anyway, just wanted to say it out loud here for the spirit of the thing. Thank you for listening. 

 

Heidi, you are so wise and I love you so much. ❤️ 

[TrashcanCarla]

@Sovalis That sucks so hard. I'm sorry. I believe that you can get through this and get some breathing room on the 15th without going to the credit card. That can be just in case of emergency.

 

+++

 

I'm finally making our lunches. This is my preliminary win, although it'll be a real win once we get through a full week without purchasing anything to eat outside of the house. We spend about $500 a month on outside lunches at work and that needs to cease immediately.

[Heidi]

space

15 hours ago, Sovalis said:

It’s going to feel like a long haul until the 15th…

I'm here to help with the white-knuckling countdown!

It's six full days, which is long and feels unweildy. 

It's 144 hours, which sound like many!!, but has the upside of being small chunks.

I believe in you, and am cheering you on.

Keep us posted -- this is the pits, for certain.

 

(also, not that I'm the best for solutioning here, but is it possible to get a credit card that is only for DavesDeploymentExpenses so that it doesn't interrupt the other household things? Maybe something smallish, like with a 500-1000 limit?)

1 hour ago, TrashcanCarla said:

We spend about $500 a month on outside lunches at work and that needs to cease immediately.

Eating out is such a firestorm! I had a new job group back in the early 00s and a big part of being on the team was going to lunch together. I had to pack my lunch becuase funds were so crippling tight, and I was blessed that they didn't care that I brought lunch but went with them to whatever restaurant. The best part was that they assumed I had dietary constraints. Never even occured to them that I was poor as dirt, and I loved them for that.

Imagine how fast you would pay off the car debt if you used "lunch money."

 

15 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Heidi, you are so wise and I love you so much. ❤️ 

I love you too.

 

 

I bought a kindle book for school, and it went on the credit card, so I changed my automatic payment to cover than and any fees that get applied between now and then.

I know that school has hidden and incidental expenses, but I need to shift my auto-purchase settings and also probably set up a specific account for educational expenses other than tuition.

[Sepherina]

On 1/9/2024 at 11:07 PM, Sovalis said:

 

It’s going to feel like a long haul until the 15th…

 

I can relate to this.  We ran our budget close this week with the whole microwave breaking and minion needing new pants.  But we can do it!

 

 

18 hours ago, TrashcanCarla said:

We spend about $500 a month on outside lunches at work and that needs to cease immediately.

Wow!  Hopefully you can recoup a bit of that to either savings or other needs.

 

 

I did put a small $50 charge last night on the credit card for some new kibble for Maple. We are going to try to offload some of the home cooked meals I have been providing with a sensitive tummy kibble for puppies.   We also went out to dinner (budgeted in) with the minions last night before they head off to college this weekend.  I do need to pay tuition bills….I wish that money was sticking around.

 

 

On the topic of frugality and values based spending, I came across this Ted Talk video this morning.  It covers the climate and human impact of the clothing supply chain world wide.  It was eye opening to me as a consumer who always looks for the “most affordable” deal and really drove home the point that maybe I should be asking why this item is cheap and if the money that I am spending truly reflects the values I have for myself and my family. (and should I really be paying more)

 

 

 

 

[Heidi]

2 hours ago, Sepherina said:

On the topic of frugality and values based spending, I came across this Ted Talk video this morning.  It covers the climate and human impact of the clothing supply chain world wide.  It was eye opening to me as a consumer who always looks for the “most affordable” deal and really drove home the point that maybe I should be asking why this item is cheap and if the money that I am spending truly reflects the values I have for myself and my family. (and should I really be paying more)

 

 

 

I adore everything about this, and went off on a bit of a long reflection in my personal thread.

 

I'll contain my comments here to our choices, and how I love looking at our small daily choices as a path toward health and wellness, for ourselves, our bodies, our budgets, and our climate. For Muse, the bottom of the equation became soil. For me, in 1993, it was water. We had the same conclusion though: our choices matter.

 

To @Sepherina's question: should I be paying more, I mean, yes, but we're all broke and capitalism is a crime against humanity, so how do we navigate those spaces and those decisions?

I go back to my boots example.

If we find a single solution -- one pair of boots that we wear most every day -- we are already on the "better" path. Everything that is produced has an ethical cost, so reduce and reuse is powerful. I mean, it's a huge boost to your budget, too, but the ethical power is literally world-changing.

 

When we do choose to make a purchase, making a mindful purchase about the production or the company is also powerful. When I have to buy a physical book online, I tend to buy physical books from the New York Public Library or independent bookshops (I have a favorite; if you want the link, let me know) because good companies need our money. I've been in a Wal-Mart fewer than five times in my life (only purchased something once), and in a Target twice. Don't go thinking I'm somehow righteous, because I'm not: Amazon is my BigBoxStore of choice, even though I've been working on the climate-labor-justice matrix for over three decades. 

 

Anyone who wants to talk more about budget-boosting through climate justice, hit me up. Happy to talk about this.

 

In other news, I spent an eye-popping amount on a gift for Vivian that I've been watching (at the New York Public Library) for nearly a year. It came back in stock, and I had the money in my discretionary fund, so I made the purchase, and I feel good about it, from a financial standpoint and from an ethical one. 

 

❤️ 

[Sepherina]

Oh I most definitely agree we should pay more. I guess the idea I was trying to convey is that sometimes frugality gets wrapped up with getting a good deal and that we should pause and reflect on why  we are getting is a deal. Like you stated with your boot example, paying more for quality that lasts or ethically created items is usually a win for everyone.   We too mindfully shop. Walmart is a once year trip at the most for 1 very specific item I can’t find anywhere locally and we try to buy most of our clothes from thrift or consignment among other things. (Shoes and undergarments are the exception). However Amazon is our downfall too. I would love to break this tie at some point in the future. 

[Sepherina]

So glad the minions are heading back to college and school this week.  The grocery bill was almost $250.  This includes some sale meat for future weeks as well as food for Maple, but still…I would really love to have a few weeks in a row where this number is significantly lower.

 

I have been using a 1 month free trial for the Copilot app.  The one thing I like about it is that it imported my prior year’s worth of transactions and then did some categorization (I had to fix about 20% of them though).  It averages that we spent almost $1300 a month in just groceries from 2023.  To be clear we are not eating steak or lobster every week (or at all).  I almost always buy meat on sale and we shop at Aldi for 80%  of our groceries. Special food items like ice cream and such are almost never bought (much to my husband’s disappointment).  I think some drastic intervention may be needed to help bring this down.  Or maybe this is just the season of life I am in with 4-5 adults living at home.

 

I don’t have any other major discretionary spend planned for this week.  We are shelling out over 7k for college tuition in the next few weeks for minions and that sticker shock alone will keep me from wanting to purchase needless things to clutter the house with.

[Jarric]

On 1/14/2024 at 12:38 AM, Sepherina said:

 

I have been using a 1 month free trial for the Copilot app.  The one thing I like about it is that it imported my prior year’s worth of transactions and then did some categorization (I had to fix about 20% of them though).  It averages that we spent almost $1300 a month in just groceries from 2023.  To be clear we are not eating steak or lobster every week (or at all).  I almost always buy meat on sale and we shop at Aldi for 80%  of our groceries. Special food items like ice cream and such are almost never bought (much to my husband’s disappointment).  I think some drastic intervention may be needed to help bring this down.  Or maybe this is just the season of life I am in with 4-5 adults living at home.

 

I was interested, so I checked my grocery spend, and in 2023 it averaged out at £466 per month. That's USD 593 per month, and there's only 2 of us in the house, so that's very similar to your spend with 4.5 adults. Of course, market prices are totally different in different parts of the world, but I thought it was interesting.

 

What I also thought was interesting was that there didn't seem to be much correlation between my grocery spending and my 'eating out' spending. You would think that they'd be inversely proportional, but it seems like if I'm spending more on earing out I'm still not spending less on groceries.

 

*    *    *

 

I had two bits of discretionary spending this week - £9.50 on shirts for my work's 'shit shirt friday' this week, and £15 on a short-term gym membership as I can't get to my normal gym and I'm not prepared to go without a gym for even a couple of days.

 

I now have £10 in my joint account. No way I make it 2 weeks to pay day without using my overdraft, but I can at least focus on using as little overdraft as possible.

[doctorake]

Joining in!

 

I started 2023 debt free with the exception of utilities/insurances. Plans changed and I was able to purchase the boat of my dreams without selling my current boat. I had to take a mortgage which was at the high rate of 7.25% Since then I have sold the old boat and put a large chunk of it towards my current boat mortgage. My goal this year is to pay $48k off on the mortgage. It will be tight and likely depend on any unforseen expenses.

 

Other goals to help with the primary goal are:

• Eat my whole freezer and pantry. Seriously I may have 2 months of good healthy foods minus fruits/veggies.
• Reduce subscriptions that I don't need. 
• Don't buy lunch at work.
• 100% cut of diet soda. We have free coffee at work and if I need the caffeine boost just drink that.

[Sepherina]

3 hours ago, doctorake said:

Joining in!

Welcome!

[Sepherina]

5 hours ago, Jarric said:

I was interested, so I checked my grocery spend, and in 2023 it averaged out at £466 per month. That's USD 593 per month, and there's only 2 of us in the house, so that's very similar to your spend with 4.5 adults. Of course, market prices are totally different in different parts of the world, but I thought it was interesting.

Yeah that is a good point. Maybe I am getting as close as I can get without starving us. I have considered adding in more soups that definitely stretch more. But one can only eat soup soo many times in a week.