Daily spending report: 10/27/2009

Garage door repair- $85.00

Groceries:

Gallon of milk- $5.49
Dozen eggs- $2.99
Sugar (bulk bins)- $3.49
1 lb. of sausage- $2.69
Apples- $3.33

Starbucks- $11.39

Post office- $4.31

Husband's lunch- $2.14

Daily total = $120.83

Notes:

1. Damn renters. And then when I went back this afternoon to meet the handyman the garage door broke again, so it looks like it's going to be yet another service call. Grrr.

2. The cost is for organic whole milk by the gallon. Eggs, sausage and apples are all local. I'm by no means a hardcore locavore but I do buy local when it's convenient and competitively priced. The only thing I'm absolutely insistent about is local eggs. I don't really give a hoot whether they're organic or not, but we've been spoiled by farm fresh eggs. Now that we're used to eggs straight from someone's small backyard flock of hens there's no going back to grocery store eggs. Even the fancy cage-free organic eggs at the grocery store are shit in comparison. One of these days I'm going to get myself a backyard coop and keep a few hens of my own...I just have to first have the money to put into building a coop and a safe enclosure. We have lots of raccoons and other critters that would love a tasty chicken dinner, so I wouldn't be able to let them be completely free-range.

3. Feel guilty about the Starbucks, I really want to cut the amount we eat out. But I had to haul the kids out of bed very early while they were still asleep and truck them across town to meet the garage door repair person. By then the kids were awake and cranky because they hadn't had breakfast yet, so muffins and chocolate milk were in order while we waited for the garage door repairman to finish his work. And coffee for me since I needed a pick-me-up after having just completed a night shift at work.

4. Had to mail some packages. They were small and lightweight so it really didn't cost much to mail them at all (2 packages in total: a Halloween costume for my sister's baby and some replacement breastpump parts for a friend in another state.)

5. The husband usually comes home for lunch, but today he was exceptionally busy at work getting ready for a speaking engagement tomorrow. Plus, we didn't have any leftovers from last night's dinner for him to eat (we usually eat leftovers) and no bread for a sandwich (I later found a loaf at the bottom of the deep freezer, but too late by then.) He ended up taking a short lunch and just picking up a fast-food burger.