Food...

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So here I am. I have a husband, three kids and a dog who all have to eat.

I am trying to spend as little as possible but while saving money is a big deal, time is also a big deal.

I see the awesome deals every week at all of the stores but my reality is that I just cannot run around to get the best prices. In my town I have a Walmart, 2 Dave's Marketplace, 2 Stop and Shops, a CVS and 2 Rite Aids. My beloved Target is 20 minutes away (an honestly, the closest one is terrible compared to the one we used to live near) and my closest Whole Foods is 30 minutes away (insert super sad face here). Online shopping for clothing and random household stuff has definitely been my savior, especially Christmas shopping.

Each week I shop at Stop and Shop (despise it but they have the best sales). I go to Dave's Marketplace when they are having a great sale and Walmart once every few weeks when I need food and the other stores aren't having any great sales. Target is a luxury stop that I only do once every couple of months and BJ's (a warehouse store) is somewhere I go every four or five months because it is so inconvenient to go to.

Rite Aid and CVS are super close to me but I have only been shopping at CVS as I just cannot get out of the house enough to chase drugstore deals at two stores. Even CVS runs are only every few weeks.

Even with cutting coupons I am still spending $100 a week on groceries and household stuff (paper towels, toilet paper, toiletries, etc). I suppose that is really good for where I live but I still feel like a failure sometimes. I honestly go the the supermarket and have a list but always add other things as I am walking through the store. It's never junk food, just stuff that I realize we need because the original list I made is tiny.

The worst part is that lately I have found myself making choices based on price instead of nutrition. How terrible is that? Now, I don't buy chips and junk food but on regular foods I'll take the cheaper option instead of the more expensive healthier option. It's like I am using the fact that I have three kids and no time to excuse the fact that I am buying less healthy stuff.

You know what? I am done with this. We have debt to pay off, rent to pay on our townhouse and a big car payment on our SUV but I am sick of making judgement call on our food. I am sick of buying chicken breast from the grocery store that I cook and don't end up eating because it tastes like crap. I am sick of buying stuff because it is cheaper than something else. From now on nutrition is king. Screw the supermarket meat- it is terrible. I will only be buying meat from Whole Foods- not because I am a snob but because it tastes better (way, way better) and the animals are raised humanely. This means that I will choose food bases on the nutrition factor over the price factor. My kids love certain fruits so those fruits will be bought, even if they cost more.

I am not a snobby food person. I am just a mom who wants to feed her family as healthy as possible. If that means my grocery spending goes up, then so be it. It is my job to teach my kids how to eat healthy so if I have to put off paying off debt longer than so be it.

If I'm going to blow my grocery budget every week (I originally wanted to just spend $75 a week for a family of 5) then I might as well buy the good stuff!

Finally Filed My Darn Coupons...

Last night I finally accomplished something that I haven't done since at least February... I filed all of my coupons. Not very excited to some people but to me it is because finally when I go to the store I will have my coupons with me instead of them being in a box at home.

Now, I need to cut all of my recent inserts and the insert that my mom gave me last week and file all of those coupons. Maybe today I will take time to do it because if I wait until tonight I will most likely end up going to bed early and not getting anything done (which is what has been happening for the past few months).

Now hopefully the other pieces of my frugalness will fall into place, such as sticking to a budget and not buying stuff that I don't really need. I do know that this week I am going to try and stick to the bare minimum at the store because I have gone seriously over budget lately and also because my son's birthday party is this weekend and I know I am going to spending a small fortune on it (you don't even want to know what I spent at Walmart last night on a Spiderman pinata, tablecloths, napkins, plates, cutlery, etc.- you would literally crap your pants).

And just a tad bit in my defense I do want to say that the sales this year have been just plain awful at the grocery stores. Shaws was once my haven for stocking up because of all of their Catalina sales but those have all but dried up. While I had tons of free ketsup and almost free Hebrew National Hot Dogs last year around this time, this year I have had to pay for those things. It really makes it hard to stretch your budget when the stores just aren't cooperating anymore. End of whining/complaining.