Cleaned out the refrigerator and had to throw out a half a chicken, five pork chops, rice and left over Chinese chicken. I thought, how shameful. There's someone out there who could have used this food.
I told the fiancé that I will no longer buy and cook these meals. I generally buy the bulk of the groceries and cook, so that he has something but so much of it goes to waste.
My nephew's girlfriend works for a meal prep company and any left over she shares, at least twice a week. I often get these meals and this too goes to waste, because I've cooked and will pack what I cooked for lunch but no more. I'll be eating my free meals, and if the fiancé refuses, that's his choice. He can spend his money buying groceries.
Last budget period I think I spent only $4 on groceries because I stuck with buy, only what you need, and now I'm sticking with buy nothing since you're getting free meals.
Long story short, Dave Ramsey says while going through this process it's rice and beans, I get free meals that are delicious so it makes no sense to spend the money. Here are a few of the meals.
In financial news here's the first half of the month spending. Not so bad this pay past period.
Oops before I forget, I took the $35 budgeted for my contacts and paid on CC2, new balance $488.04. I'd budgeted $45 this week for my hair for the holiday, I don't think I'm going so I'll be throwing this amount at the CC2 as well. Can't wait for this card to be gone.
Mid month update
November 18th, 2017 at 01:52 pm
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November 19th, 2017 at 10:41 am 1511088093
LR great idea, I'll definitely start freezing. I thought about but just never did it. Shame on me
November 19th, 2017 at 12:00 pm 1511092835
Given your family dynamics, I think you have done an outstanding job of getting beyond those dynamics. Your father picked you to handle the estate because he knew you would do the best job. In your shoes, I would do what is necessary to get the best price for the house, starting with evicting your brother. Get it cleaned up and repaired as best you can and get it sold. Divide up the dollars as your father wanted, using your good judgement where you can apply it.
How much of your debt would you be able to pay with your share of the estate? Seems to me you could clean a lot of the debt up and have a lot less stress in your life. Moving forward with resolving the estate would probably be at the top of my to do list because of that.
As difficult as it is, I would be firm with relatives that engage in toxic behavior. These people are destructive to you. Do not tolerate the destructive behavior. Walk away, hang up the phone, whatever it takes.
Finally, having money and a fiance that can't handle money is not a good combination. In your shoes, if he cannot make the positive changes he needs to be successful, I would terminate the relationship and move on. If he does not change, he will be a parasitic drain on you and your resources as long as you are together. You deserve better.
November 19th, 2017 at 10:26 pm 1511130363
If you do go back to fixing meals and such, making a meal plan for the week really helps. I make a weekly menu and try to fix stuff that can go for more than one meal. For example, I may cook a whole chicken and we get at least two and sometimes three meals from it and I freeze the leftover broth to use for soups later on. If I roast a pan of vegetables, I use half for a meal and put the rest in the freezer. I keep a bag just for vegetables and when it is time to make vegetable soup, I pull out the bag of frozen leftover vegetables and some broth and have a great start to soup.