Saving Money Challenge: My Overall Plan

I posted earlier here about a Saving Money Challenge I was going to participate in and well, today's Day #1! So I figured I better get my overall plan posted!

My overall goal is to see how little I can live on for how long but at the same time, still have great meals and a lot of fun. I'm not putting a timeframe on this because I'll just keep going until it either blows up in my face or becomes our new lifestyle. :) Either way, I tried.

I do have quite an extensive stockpile, as you can see, and that was taken almost a month ago. (And all my cereal got cut off. It's a narrow room, making pictures impossible.) At any rate, these are just my non-parishables and laundry cleaners. I keep our household and baby items elsewhere. And I do have an entire freezer full of tasty meals, meats, etc, along with our normal fridge/freezer. Quite honestly, I could probably live for 6 months just buying basics, like milk, bread, etc. It's actually almost to the point of ridiculous of how much food we have(and I've donated a bunch!)--so it's a great time to start this challenge!

I'd like to keep my purchases as close to FREE as possible but I set an amount of $1 for as much as I can. Obviously, there are many things that can't be bought for a buck, like baby formula and diapers--though, wouldn't that be cool if we could!--but for all other things, that's my goal.

Now obviously most perishables don't discount much or have coupons for, like milk, bread, meats etc. So I'll just get those for the best price possible, which I'll try to keep track of using a price book. (I'll explain those later next week!)

My goal was to use my SwagBucks earning for Christmas, but since we still buy for our nieces/nephews and get gifts for parties we are invited to, I may have to dip in for those items. As far as my blog earnings, which are minimal right now, I'll take any $ needed for bloggy expenses and the rest goes into a vacation fund for future use.

When I find ways to save $ or find great free and fun things to do, I'll post them to share.

Just as a note, we do have some previously purchased event tickets and presents but those won't be included in my totals since it's money past spent. But while we do attend those events, I will try to find frugal alternatives to expensive meals, snacks, etc.

And there is one thing I am not willing to bend on and that is the expense to send my brother care packages to Iraq. My Mom, Sisters and I agreed to alternate months so that he is constantly getting one. And let me tell you, shipping costs are not cheap! But some things in life, are worth EVERY penny, especially when you get to tell a loved one you care.

I did set a rule that each of us gets one special food over $1 to "splurge" on. We're still kind of deciding those. But I will let you know what they are before I do my first trip out.

I think this is going to be a very exciting, and yet hard, challenge! Hoping you do a version of your own. And have fun creating your own "rules" for it! In the end, just try to save when and where you can!