The grocery trip ...

With some very careful planning, I executed my first grocery run on a budget yesterday. 

First, I made a list of large meals that would last for a few days. (Pasta salad, meatloaf, tacos, etc.) 

Secondly, I made a careful list of all the ingredients I would need for these, and forced myself to only purchase things already on the list. (Ok, I bought a frozen pizza. Sue me. It was on sale for $2.78.) 

And last of all, I shopped at the cheapest grocery stores imaginable. And yes, I said stores. I went to two different places and bought food according to where I could get it cheaper.

The grand total, you may ask? $44.45.

That seems like a large chunk of my weekly budget, but let's factor in some other cash flow:

1. Last week, I was $18.94 under budget. I decided to roll this amount over into this week, because I knew grocery shopping was looming in the near future. (That gives me a total spending limit of $88.94 this week.)

2. Factoring in the extra eighteen dollars, my grocery trip was really only $25.51 from my weekly budget. ($15.51 over my daily budget.)

3. A co-worker mentioned she needed a bike lock yesterday. Because of my own stupidity, and a long story, I recently bought a new lock I didn't end up needing. Today, she gave me $15 for it. (Don't worry, Deborah. I won't cash that check until payday.)

And that's what you call almost breaking even, my friends.

Let's see the rundown for yesterday and today:

Mon 5/14/12: $45.49 for groceries and a soda at lunch. (-$26.55 including rollover money)

Tues 5/15/12: $3.92 for Red Bulls (+$21.08 including bike lock money)

All things considered, and all my whacky math aside, I have $54.53 to spend for the rest of the week without going over budget.