take back the food!

We came in a little over the budget I had set for us: usually $800/month and I halved it to $400/month.

But, among the many other things this challenge has taught me (and my family) is to be more realistic on how much we spend and how much we actually 'need'.

I'll now set our food budget to $125/week, instead of the October average of $100/week.

And I will not be a wuss when it comes to returning food to the store if it has something wrong with it, if we don't use it, even if we don't like it, etc. Most stores have excellent return policies and I used to shrug it off as another chore to coordinate. But in October I was more assertive and deliberate and in paying closer attention to those returned items, I was able to get us through the crunch times when our budgeted money was running out.