Hi guys... this topic is pretty much what the subject says. I'm interested in holding myself to a very tight budget this month (and hopefully for the next few months) and honestly, I'm not sure where to begin.

First of all the background: I just read this blog this morning  http://hungryforamonth.blogspot.com/, and in some weird way it was inspiring to me, especially when it came to the end results.  So while sitting around at work waiting for stuff to update, I went into my bank account and totalled up all my grocery store and dining out expenses and was shocked by what I discovered. Essentially, these past two months, I spent close to $1500. on eating. 

I'm trying to get some money together for home renovations, and though I know food is essential, this was ridiculous to me. I don't even eat that much!

Cutting out on restaurant living is fine. I mostly dined out when I was either too lazy or didn't have enough time to cook, and sometimes it was just nice being out of the house.  However, I'm also currently trying to eat better, by essentially detoxing myself out of refined sugar, caffeine and alcohol.  I'm also trying as much as I can to eat organic foods (this is a little hard for me. I'm picky about fruit, and have weird 'issues' with spots on peels, and alot of organic fruit doesn't look as perfect as their well-oiled counterparts.  i know i know, i need to get over this)  I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian, but that doesn't mean I seek out eggs or milk products. I only drink soy milk, I will eat cheese and eggs, but if I can avoid it I will.

Anyway, this is my first day back to work after the holidays and I already spent $12 (Canadian) on a container full of raw veggie sticks and antipasti olives, and 2 boxes of decaf tea (green and chai) I have a feeling I'm not going to do well. I thought about $400 was reasonable to spend on food for a month for one person (sometimes two when my boyfriend visits on weekends), i just never could have imagined that kind of tally. Even in December, where I wasn't dining out as much and I had a lot of vegetarian food made by my family for holiday dinners, I spent close to $600.  This month, I want to see if I can drastically pare that down to about $200. Not sure if I can do it, but I reeeaaaaaaaally need to fix my leaky bathtub. 

If anyone has any advice, especially on how to store and keep foods, or want to share any experiences, I'd love to hear it! thanks!

<3 pamela