An Experiment...

With the new year upon us, and with us now one month into our debt payoff plan, the time has come to free up some extra dollars to throw towards the mortgage. To that end, we're going to undertake a 40-day experiment. We invite any of you who are so inclined to come along for the ride.

What is the experiment, you ask? Here you can see our pantry -- I dare say ours is not much different-looking than yours: all manner of boxed, bagged, and canned goods you've bought up to keep for a rainy day, then neglected to eat. Our freezer looks much the same way -- frozen dinners, chicken, cheese, and whatnot, all just sitting there waiting for us. Despite having all that sitting there just waiting for us, we still go to the grocery store once a week and plunk down $50, $70, $100 dollars for new food.

So here's the experiment -- starting on the 1st of January, and lasting through until February 10 (the end of our credit card statement), we will eat almost exclusively out of our pantry and freezer. We do plan on buying a very few things at the grocery each week:

• Bread -- One loaf a week for our lunches, no more than $1.
• Yogurt -- Four mornings a week, my wife eats a yogurt while I drive her to school -- nothing else sits well with her that early in the morning, so no scrimping there.  No more than $3 or $4 a week.
• Fresh vegetables -- Mostly green pepper, about $1.69 a week.
• Fruit -- for in our lunches; again, no more than $3 or $4 for the week.
• Milk -- we have no cow, so we'll shell out the $1.50 or $2.00 per week.

So, our hope is to get by with no more than $10 per week at the grocery.  Everything else we eat will come from either our pantry or freezer.  No restaurant meals, no other groceries.  A total of $50 on groceries for the length of the experiment, no more.  Not only should this free up some extra money for debt reduction, but it will clean out our pantry, prevent much of our canned and frozen goods from spoiling, and just generally be fun.  More than that, so much of frugality and financial solvency is attitude -- making due with what you have instead of constantly buying new.  What better way to help us get in that mindset than by making due with the food we already have on hand instead of constantly buying new?

Anyone else out there want to come along on the journey?  Post so in the comments section, and welcome!