I have 10 coffee mugs at home, which is really more than I need. It was hard to skip this one, just look at that little face.
It was 6 euros on Vinted, 8.59 total when you account for commission and shipping.
2. This sexy looking pot pad and oven mitt.
I do need this item, but I am sure a family member will gift one to me this Christmas, so I need to pass. I will keep you updated on the probably flowerish design of the new oven mitt – after Dec 25.
This is 3 euros on Vinted, with commission it’s 3.85+1.59=5.44 euros saved by not spending.
3. These ugly slippers.
These are some nasty slippers and I love them.
I just want to have a pair of these shoes that scream I am a self-centered impatient basic womanchild. They look so comfy and elevated and I love the color.
I do need a new pair of slippers because the current ones were severely chewed on for the better portion of this year, I just choose to still wear them – holes and all.
I will instead casually mention to my mother that I could use new house slippers and hope for the best. I am a little bit scared as she buys cheap clothing items while shopping for groceries.
These were new from the store, so I saved 19.99 euros.
4. This vacuuming sealing device.
Just seems neat to have my frozen veggies and meat organized this way.
But it’s not like it’s essential… right?
For now I saved 16.99 euros by not buying this.
I’ll probably check Amazon later to see if I can get this at an even better price.
5. Over the weekend I joined somebody else’s Christmas shopping so I could list another 15 things here. But the most desired one was a vlogging kit for my “never going to happen” youtube channel. Saved 39.68 euros by being too shy for this.
The total would be 90.69 euros saved this week by not indulging.
First of all, I passed this challenge! No need to drag this.
But did I encounter some issues during this grocery trip? I sure did.
Before leaving my apartment, I turned on a time tracking app. I forgot to check my steps before the trip but I usually have around 1000 steps before morning coffee as I need to walk the pup. I was ready to go.
Walk to the first store was brief, it took only 10 minutes. Carrots were on sale only until yesterday so figured I’ll grab a couple in the other store. I grabbed one item (minced meat) and wanted to go to the self check out. Unfortunately, Lidl only accepts cash at their humanly operated registers so I carefully counted the coins to match the exact price of 5.39 euros and stood in line. One very nice person suggested I could go in front of them but then I showed them the handful of coins. They withdrew the polite suggestion.
Walking to the second store took another 5 minutes. From the moment I entered, everything was not according to my plan. Cabbage was more expensive in the store than it was online (3.69 vs 3.49), same as yogurt (3.09 vs 2.89). Carrots were 0.89 per kilo! Everything started to collapse. I still had to get these items, so I decided to save money elsewhere. Thankfully, vanilla sugar was still 0.39.
Walking up to this isle was a sad experience.
The desired muscovado was not available! And the other muscovado was too expensive, especially now that I learned the prices were higher in the store! I felt betrayed and decided against buying any sugar.
BUT the thought of pronouncing this challenge a fail felt so discouraging to me… after debating with myself in front of the store for a while, and recounting my coins, I decided to go back inside and ADAPT. I bought this sugar instead and I don’t think it will ruin my cookies.
The shopping experience here was a little bit better. It was actually exciting. This store has self checkout which, unlike Lidl, accepts coins. It was fun feeding the machine coins and looking at the till getting down to 0.00.
I left the store with 0.43 euros in my pouch. I learned that I can get carrots for 0.49 cents per kilogram but I had to go the third store! Oh well. I must keep adapting to pass this one.
So I walked another 10 minutes and bought 40 cents worth of carrots. The guy at the register looked at me like I was an idiot when I asked for the receipt. It’s okay, he doesn’t know about the challenge.
My pet bird went absolutely nuts for the carroty snack.
I spent a total of 1 hour and 7 minutes grocery shopping on foot, and by the time I was done I had 5 901 steps. So this trip took probably just under 5 000 steps.
It’s clear that even with careful trimming (like skipping paper towels and tortilla wraps), I ended up at 14.96 euros, almost exactly the budget. From the beginning, I was left with no room for unpredictable things. This makes the challenge quite fragile if anything changes.
I learned it is quite hard to keep to your grocery budget when it’s so tight (lol Einstein over here), but I managed to adapt because I had to.
This challenge definitely made me rethink what I need and what steps I must take to get what I need. If you don’t have money to spend, you must spend more time to meet your needs…
I rate it 10/10 for building character and teaching me to be mindful with my money – will do it again.
Bonus picture of the chocolate chip cookies (yes, I ruined my diet):
I collect all spare change in one little pouch and use that for car washing service (the one where you self wash operates using coins). This time I am a bit strapped for money in my bank account so I decided to do a challenge where I’m going to use the spare change for groceries.
Let’s see how much this little thing holds.
I counted 14.98 euros in this pouch. Not bad at all.
I have some decent amount of protein, carbs and frozen/canned veggies at home so this will not be a case of having sleep for dinner. So I am going to use this best I can so that I don’t feel empty inside this week.
Shopping wish list consists of:
ground meat 1 kg (this challenge is already over)
cabbage leafs
muscovado sugar
vanilla sugar
paper towels
tortilla wraps
sweet potato
butternut squash
carrots
Greek style yogurt
rinse aid
Let’s see if I can buy all of this with my spare change!
Lidl is usually my best bet when I want to save some money on groceries so I decided to check this week’s catalogue.
Currently, they have fresh ground meat (pork and beef) for 5.39/kg! This is insanely good! At least the price is, I really hope the meat isn’t too bad.
Lidl also has a great deal on carrot (0.55 euros per kilo) so I will have to grab those as well.
For cabbage and muscovado sugar I must visit Konzum since Lidl doesn’t have these items, and Konzum is also where I can find the best deal on everything else.
Usually, I’d buy tortilla wraps for 0.99 euros (mind you, only store brand is acceptable when it comes to tortilla wraps), but I take this challenge as an opportunity to finally make them at home. It shouldn’t be hard, and it is probably healthier. And this will leave more rooms for whatever else I might need to get.
This was the first Google result so naturally I’m letting SEO decide my fate. If you’re curious how it turned out, well I’m curious, too, because I won’t be making them right now.
Muscovado I usually buy costs 3.25 per bag (500 g). I need this for my homemade chocolate chip cookies. The one that is currently on sale in Konzum costs only 2.79 per bag (500 g)! This is the sweetest deal this week.
Cabbage leaves (1 kg) costs 3.49, Greek yogurt (900 g) is 2.89 but I get 35% cashback. The price stays the same but I will get 1.01 euro out of this purchase.
Butternut squash is 1.49 per kilo (a squash is approx. 1.5 kg) and this is double the price what I’d usually pay. No deals on that this week. I might not buy it after all.
Sweet potatoes are 1.99 per kilo. Again, when it’s on deal it’s 1.39 per kilo so I will not buy it this week. I might substitute with regular potatoes instead.
Vanilla sugar (5×10 g) is only 0.39 in Konzum so surely I’ll be able to afford it. Right?
For the sake of this challenge I will omit the paper towels. They are very useful in the kitchen, but let’s be frugal about it and use regular kitchen cloths instead.
Konzum doesn’t have store brand rinse aid and I do not intend to pay for name brand so I will have to check Lidl’s price for that as well.
LET’S ADD THESE PRICES TOGETHER
What we currently know is that this grocery trip (minced meat, cabbage, yogurt, vanilla sugar, carrots, muscovado) might cost me 15.50 euros. I don’t have enough money?! This is ridiculous. I haven’t even left the house yet and I’m already broke.
You know those “5 pound dinners” videos that are popular on social media? In Croatia you’d be able to buy some bread and cheese and that’s it.
LET’S REVISE
Upon revisiting this list, I decided to get only 500 g of carrots and noticed I get additional 15% off of Muscovado if I use store card so it’s 2.37 instead of 2.79.
I need to declutter my living space and digital space.
I decided to start by clearing out the largest drawer of my possessions in the apartment. It holds whatever I think is valuable. This is the beforepicture.
Yes, the items in this picture are the most valuable ones I have. Trying to rob me would be a great waste of pick-locking masters’ time.
WHAT I FOUND
Bonnets: I found buried these two hair bonnets that I thought I lost (where would I lose them anyway, it’s not like I would ever go outside wearing this?).
I find these to be very useful when cooking, so my hair doesn’t acquire the cooking smells.
2. Hair fan: I remembered I had this bad boy – a hair fan for travelling. This was useful before I dedicated my life to becoming a house cat. I decided to put this on Vinted for 10 euros.
I kind of wanted to keep it because I think my current fan is going to drop dead as soon as this one leaves the building. I must not hoard, tho.
3. Supplements: I remember buying these magnesium and B6 vitamin bags for the same travelling purposes. Good thing about these supplements is that you just pour them in your mouth, no water needed. I decided this needs to be used before it expires so I immediately took one bag. I feel the same to be honest.
4. Books: this was cute to read, but you read it once and then what do you need it for? I decided I am putting this on Vinted for 2 euros. I can’t sleep either way.
5. CARE PRODUCTS: deodorant I abandoned in the summer because it’s too weak to cover my tracks in high temperatures but will be perfectly fine in December.
6. CARE PRODUCTS: nail filer and toe separator in a cute bag. Never used. Might gift this to my sister. What, I never used it!
7. CARE PRODUCTS: body wash. This was also never used and just bought it because it was on a huge discount and went from like 10 euros to 1.60. I wanted to feel special and luxurious. Might gift it to my sister because I have too much body wash already and I’m suppose to declutter.
8. CARE PRODUCTS: moisturizers. I abandoned these two for unknown reasons. I guess I got bored of them. Putting them back in my night routine. No throwing away perfectly fine things (pray they are still safe to use).
9. CARE PRODUCTS: blotting paper. Unopened. I have one that is opened and I plan on using it probably never. This is like baking sheets, just very small. I am giving this to my sister.
10. CARE PRODUCTS: various random testers I got for free. I must use these. I don’t know when, tho.
11. CARE PRODUCTS: this face roller. I got this as a gift and I have a suspicion the person who gave me this also didn’t want it. What am I supposed to do with it? And I can’t gift it because there are no tags, there’s no box, etc. And I can’t put it on Vinted because I can’t prove it was never used. Ugh. I’ll see what I do with it. I guess I’ll have to… roll with it.
12. EARPLUGS: I dislike using these as they make me hear my own bloodstream. But I still have them, unopened. Maybe Vinted.
13. This lucky number got RUBBISH. This ended up in the paper recycling bin.
AND FINALLY…. the after picture.
You expected a big change, didn’t you?
Well, it doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be done.
FITISH 