Hunger Challenge Day 7 - Finale!!

It's over, Kind of..

Catch up by reading: Getting Started, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The girls enjoying their $3 splurge today.
(Thanks to the missions team at New Life Church
for the yummy looking cupcakes!)

Today is the final day of the Challenge and the day I was the most worried about. It is the day of the Annual Princeton Business Expo. As Business owners we have a booth and spend most of the day on our feet talking to current and prospective clients, making balloon animals, as well as chasing our kids through the exhibit hall and networking with other business owners.

Obviously restaurants are businesses and they all set up shop in the School Cafeteria to sell their wares. There is also a Pancake Breakfast fundraiser. I know that this is going to be a budget buster. How do I have 2 preschoolers at this event for 6 hours and not allow them ANY treat?

Chicken Salad Sandwiches.
They were such a hit, I didn't get one!
I got some left overs at home.

In anticipation, I made sandwiches and packed snacks and refillable water bottles. Since we eliminated the kids $27.35 from our original budget, I am NOT going to beat myself up if I go over budget to treat my kids while supporting local businesses/charities.

Today is a great day to look back at the week. There are a few changes I would make if I were to do it over. I would have gotten 1 less chicken, 1 more dozen eggs, 4lb bag of sugar, no popcorn, and made instead of bought bread. This would have allowed for a little more variety and loosened the budget up enough to pick up more kinds of fruit. I hadn't realized just how much I rely on the fruit preserves in my pantry as well as my freezer. Other than the amount of time I've spend blogging, for the most part this week hasn't been significantly different for us. Saving and living on an extremely tight budget prevents us from the travel and entertainment that our friends are able to enjoy, but we don't spend hours everyday commuting, we have paid off lots of debt, and we get to spend lots of time with our kids.