I set a goal to spend no more than a certain amount of money this month on groceries, as well as a certain amount on dining out/Starbucks combined. I averaged what we spent on groceries over the past four months, as well as what we spent on dining out and Starbucks combined. I subtracted 10% from each of those averages and set those as my goals for May. After grocery shopping today, I have about $49 left for groceries for the rest of the month. As far as dining out goes, we have about $11 left. Wow. Seeing it broken down like that is illuminating. I do have a stash of cereal now, as well as tortillas and bread in the freezer, and some cheese, so we have certain staples covered. And, $10 of my bill today was on glucosamine chondroitin for our dog. Maybe technically we have $59 left for groceries, if you count that as pet care and not groceries.

What I need to do now is go through the pantry, frig and freezer and plan out some meals, or at least make a list of what we have, so that (a) food doesn't spoil before we have a chance to eat it, and (b) we don't fall into the trap of thinking of eating out because we don't feel like making dinner, or don't want to think about it. Maybe if I get a list together of potential dinners and go over it with DH, he can agree to do dinner a few times too. That would be nice.