Fallen off the face of the planet... sorry...

Sorry, I fell off the face of the planet, folks.  Life got busy, the holidays happened, and we had a family emergency that threw us all off kilter.  Things are better now, and I have time to sit and write again.

Rather than going item by item, I am going to do an overview of the remainder of the year.

September - $26.38 in un-budgeted expenses

After church one Sunday in September, the girls and I went to Centerton Inn.  It is a local breakfast/lunch place that we occasionally splurge at.  They know us, we live in a small town, and they let me substitute extra bacon in exchange for the hash browns.

Groceries for September - $570.49

$  96.83
$    5.96
$  58.84
$143.28
$  64.37
$201.21
$570.49

I thought that was a bit much, then I remembered that August's grocery total was pretty low, so I looked it back up, and it was $152.99, so a rebound amount that is a little large makes sense.

SNAP is $688.00 - $570.49 = $117.51 rollover for the month.  Added to the previous rollover amount from the rest of the year of $1076.43, and I have a rollover total of $1,193.94 to go into the holidays with.  YAY!

October - i have no idea anymore if I had un-budgeted expenses.  Sorry.  That is actually the case for the rest of the year.  I did not hold onto any receipts like I had been.

Groceries for October - $418.38

$210.15
$141.01
$  42.73
$    5.41
$  19.08
$418.38

SNAP  $688.00 - $418.38 = $269.62  added to the rollover amount from above:
$269.62 + $1,193.94 = $1,463.56

November - un-budgeted expenses not tracked again.  Sorry.

Groceries for November - $900.85

$   30.49
$ 207.93
$ 312.17
$ 214.19
$ 136.07
$ 900.85

The most expensive grocery trip included 6 turkeys and 7 hams for the deep freeze to be nibbled on during the rest of the year.  After Thanksgiving, they go on sale, and I try to grab a few every year to be eaten over the first few months of the following year, so 2014 has some treats in the deep freeze for it.  :-)

SNAP $688.00 - 900.85 = -$212.85 to be taken from total rollover.  $1463.56 - $212.85 = $1,250.71

December - no expenses.  Sorry.

Groceries for December - 

$   58.69
$ 342.69
$ 401.38

SNAP  $688.00 - $ 401.38 = $ 286.62 + $1250.71 = $1537.33 total rollover for the year.

In 2014, I am going to start focusing on increasing the amounts of meat from grass fed sources.  I am going to work on getting away from feedlot beef, and conventionally raised animals.  That will inevitably raise my monthly food bill, but I am still going to try to keep it under the SNAP allocation for a family of 4 in my home state of Arkansas.  That amount has gone down to $632.00 per month for 2014.

If $632.00 had been the amount for 2013, I would have had a rollover amount of only $865.33.

$688.00 - $632.00 = $56.00 per month difference x 12 months = $672 difference over the course of a year.  $672.00.  That is more than a whole month in benefit less.  I am blessed in the fact that I do not rely on the SNAP program.  If necessary, I could absolutely go over $688 or $632 every single month, I am not restricted to an amount governed by averages.

t