I decided to put Charcoal and Wood Chunks in with my Utilities in my Budget Plan

[bbqgeekess]

I don't want to feel guilty buying charcoal and wood chunks. So I am lumping it in with Utilities expenses for the year. Because the wood and charcoal saves on the gas/electric bill. It's a necessary energy expenditure for the type of food we need to cook and can't get indoors otherwise.

So not a Hobby or Discretionary expense for me anymore with respect to budgeting!

I've been doing a tight budget lately since prices are going up on everything. Trying to save as much as possible.. buying used items for cheap etc..

I can actually save a lot of money by smoking bacon outside with charcoal and wood chunks. $1.48/lb buckboard bacon vs. store bought $6/lb bacon (and the store bought has sprayed on liquid smoke).

EDIT: Also added a propane category under utilities, which I use with 100K BTU propane burner for both stir fry and to start Weber chimney.

 

[Porcine Perfection]

If you need to justify that is as good of a reason as any. I agree with smoking your own bacon and have done it for years. Crappy commercial bacon at outrageous prices made me a quick learner there.

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[bbqgeekess]

I want to try and not spend a single penny in discretionary spending for a 90 day period. This means no hobby expenses, no dining/fast food / convencience store items.. means cooking everything at home. No expenses for entertainment, movies, music, etc. No home upgrades or landscaping. No unneeded household items. No streaming subscriptons and other subscriptions. (I have an HD Antenna and DVR on my Mac Mini M1 -- I use plex for the dvr and have lifetime subscription.) (Actually, just having internet access gives me all the entertainment I need ---- forums, youtube videos, facebook etc. -- and I dont watch TV much at all, so I won't miss it really.)

So I needed to move the wood chunks and charcoal out of my "bbq hobby" which is under discretionary expenses in my software lol. It seems fair since I bought the wood chunks to smoke the bacon, which saves money. Seems appropriate in utilities, lumped along with other energy expendatures.

 

[Learning to BBQ]

I like the way you think........and live, Sister!