All You Grocery Challenge! POST #1

So I'm starting this blog as a place to log my actions for the All You Grocery Challenge July 13-August 10, 2009. I hope to keep it up as a place to post savings and coupon matches when I'm done but until August 10, I assume it will be devoted to the challenge. I'm new to blogging so forgive my very gradually-inclined learning curve!

Here's how it all began... June 22, 2009 (Monday)

Check it out here and join in!! It's good for everyone to be challenged!!

I just learned of this contest (on 6/22/09). I got quite excited of course. Here was a contest to do what we already strive to do, plus challenge ourselves a little bit. I ran in to tell my husband I had a way to maintain our low budget, give ourselves a little challenge, and possibly earn a little reward. And that maybe, by doing this, we could earn a little towards a family vacation that we keep putting off for lack of money. Here’s how that interaction went with my analytical, pessimistic, financially minded hubby:

Me: “Honey, there’s a contest that we can win $1000 for groceries! We should enter and count any winning toward a vacation!”

Him: “What do I have to do?” (insert snarky pessimism here)

Me: “I will set aside some shelves and you have to eat/live/etc. off of them for one month”

Him: “Sounds hard. How many winners are there?”

Me: “Well we could use the stockpile but I think we should try to do this from scratch, just to prove we can. There’s one winner but I think it would be a good challenge anyway.”

Him: “One $1,000 winner? What are the odds you win? What’s the expected value?”

Me: “I didn’t see runner up prizes, but I think we can do this. The expected value (E(V)) is just an added challenge.”

Him: (pulling out calculator), “So even with 2000 entrants, that’s an E(V) of 50 cents. Hardly seems worth it.”

Me: “Yes, but it’s the challenge and a growing opportunity, we already basically do $400 a month grocery living anyway.”

Him: “You’re nuts, let’s make a list.” (So appropriately he began writing it on the Wall Street Journal)

(1) Cost Benefit analysis: $1000 for all those extra hours of work. You already spend so much time on your coupons (~ 1 hour per day).
(2) Odds that you win- - Expected Value (again, snarky smirking).
(3) Take $5 and buy a lotto ticket for super low $20million jackpot, E(V)= $0.51.
(4) You work 40-50 hours a week.
(5) You have to drive at least 6 hours a week just to work and therapies
(6) You’re a parent to two toddlers (3.5 and 2 years old).
(7) The 2 year old has 5-6 hours of therapy a week for his Cerebral Palsy, which you take care
of.
Math: 168 hours a week – 45 work – 6 therapy – 6 driving – 7 coupons – how much for shopping? 4? – Housework (1/day=7) – Kids (2/ week day=10) – Kids (12/ week end=24) the additional hour per day you’re likely to spend on this (7) = 50 hours left/7 = 7 hours per day left. For hopefully spending more time with the kids during the day, or all the other things you’re involved in or ME or HEAVEN forbid SLEEPING!

Me: “Anything else Danny Downer?”

Him: “You’re not seriously considering this are you?”

Me: “Yes. And I’ll put it in your math terms. I only sleep 4-5 hours a night anyway. We’ll drink less often and go out less often=money savers anyway and good for us. I’ll coupon and shop WITH the kids, you know they love the store and practicing their cutting. It would be great Occupational Therapy for Hunter to cut more paper or practice pushing the cart at the store. I might ask you to do a little more housework, is that an issue? And who needs TV, we were going to cancel it anyway. We have Barney on tape.” Math: 168 hours/week
– 6 therapy – 6 driving – 10 coupons/planning/journaling (I type fast) – 45 working –
Kids (2.5/week day=12.5) – Kids (12/week end= 24)- housework (1/day=7) – 4 shopping
= 94.5 hours left/7 = 13.5 hours left in a day. See, piece of cake.”

Him: “Sleep on it, you won’t be so gung ho in the morning.”

Me: “Hmph.”