Thursday, September 13, 2007

$21 challenge tracking

Hey there everybody!
So since I go overboard on tracking Everything, why should this $21 challenge be any exception? :-)
Since this is only a 13 week trial for me, I'm keeping a little bit more detail than I would otherwise. Why? Just for the fun of it! And, surprise surprise, it's in the form of... A Spreadsheet!! Honestly, how many of you didn't see that coming?

What it tracks:
Individual grocery items purchased along with quantity and total prices. I'm of course in the Chicago metro area, so you can see how the price per qty compares to other areas.
It also prorates your cost per meal/week if, like me, you prefer to have a couple of meals outside of the $21 dollar challenge for whatever reason.

It's a live updated document so it will stay current as the challenge progresses. If you want to check it out feel free:
spreadsheet
Or, if you want a copy so you too can track your food in exquisite detail, let me know!

Other notes about the challenge:
I've realized that for the next several weeks I'll be living almost entirely off of food already in my pantry. So, this challenge will take awhile to become real for me. I figure that by week 5 or so the money will be a fairly accurate number. But I have ~4 pounds of pasta, ~5 pounds of rice, ~3 pounds of beans, lots of potatoes thanks to Sara, and a ton of little things like spices, cooking oil, salt, flour, sugar, etc... that I use in everything. So, I'll keep tracking and watch the number climb till it stabilizes.
Of course the other good thing about this is that by the time I'm ready to leave for Europe in December my pantry will be at a minimum. :-)

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