Surprises So Far #2

Here are a few more things that have been surprising to us:
Lori's Turn:
This far along in the challenge I had expected us to be counting our pennies and trying to decide the best value for every one of them.  I was not expecting to have as of this writing $96.40 left to spend and only 8 days left.  That works out to just over $6 per person per day.  Not a king's ransom by any means but still a lot especially considering I bought a ham today!

I never, ever, ever expected to buy a ham.  It is one of our favorites and it last a long time between ham steaks, sandwiches, omelets, ham bone soup, etc.  We will eat this ham long after the challenge is complete.  The full price of the ham was $30.37, but I paid only $18.37.  I have not even begun to try to calculate the number of meals we will get.  If we get 10, which in my estimation a very conservative figure, we'll pay less than $2. per meal.  I'd bet considering all of the options I just listed we could get 20 meals.  Those meals would be less than $1.

I'm sure it would be hard for a SNAP family to pony up nearly $20 for a ham.  It was for me.  I really gave it a lot of consideration before taking the plunge.  After all, I'd been averaging around $30 per week spending and this was nearly 2/3 of that.  Then I realized that I really didn't have that much else to get this week and it really would fit in the budget.  So, I did.  And I'm glad.

I didn't think that I'd be polling our readers as to if we should have some sort of indulgence at the end to 'spend' the rest of the money.  (Go to the right sidebar and vote now. -->)

I won't go so far to say this has been easy.  It has been a lot of work, particularly the record keeping.  The prep & cooking have been enjoyable and I love having my house smell so good during the day.  It makes it seem like a warm and inviting place.

I'm glad we did it.

John's Turn:

The biggest surprise for me is that I thought I'd lose more weight on a more basic diet.  I can't understand why I haven't as it seems as though I'm eating much less, though I haven't gone hungry.  I don't leave the table feeling stuffed and I don't go around as sluggish as when I could just pig out as I please.  So, I feel better even though the pounds didn't continue to fall off as they did at the beginning.

It's also surprising how much more I enjoy and appreciate some of the tasty "extras" I've enjoyed when eating at a church or school function.  I've learned just how spoiled and indulgent I've tended to be and it may be hard not to go back to those ways when this all ends.