Snap Out of It- Lazy Time is Over!

This week I am really going to make a bigger effort to get back to my old deal shopping habits. I have been feeling much better, especially that I am pretty much out of my first trimester so that excuse cannot be used anymore.

So, depending on what deals there are, I will be starting back up with my drugstore shopping. I will also stick to my grocery budget which totally won't be any fun but you gotta do what you gotta do I guess.

While it was nice to take a break from caring about budgets and coupons I need to get back to the real world. I even went through my coupons last week and threw away all of the expired ones- kind of embarrassing considering I had coupons that expired in February.

Just call me... trying to reform my lazy ways.

Now Where Did I Put Those Silly Coupons...

What angels- that is until they start pummelling each other over a toy that no one wanted until the other one started playing with it.

It is no secret that being pregnant and still in my first trimester I have been very tired. My little energy has been going towards takings care of the kids and trying to keep the house from turning in to a total shite hole. I'm not complaining because tired means that I'm still pregnant and that the baby is still growing and sucking away all of my energy. It has also been nice because deal hunting has been really low on my radar and when I say low I mean nowhere. It feels so freeing to worry about deals and deal scenarios and coupons. I have even gone to Target without coupons- crazy, I know.

This week I really need to go to Rite Aid though because I have some expiring +Up Rewards. Now, please don't ask me where they are or what their value is because I have no idea so I guess the first part of my battle is finding them in the mess of coupon stuff that I have accumulated in the past month. I should also try to find my CVS Extra Care Bucks because those may be expiring too. Now to just get the motivation to go on a drug store rewards search and rescue mission.

Rite Aid Burn Out

Lately I have been feeling like shopping at Rite Aid has become a chore. Every week I have +Up Rewards that are expiring and I have to go ans roll them. Every week there are awesome deals but you know what? I don't always actually need the stuff I get. Yeah, it's free or a money maker but if it weren't I wouldn't be buying it in the first place. Free and paid to buy stuff is great but you also have to look at the time you put into putting the deals together and actually going to the store. If the store is out of what you need then you need to try going back and if you go back and the things you need still aren't there and your rewards are expiring you have to use them up on other things.

I don't want to be a slave to the deals and I hate feeling forced (by myself) to have to keep going back to Rite Aid to roll my rewards and get the hot deals. Maybe this week I'll use up what is left of my rewards and take a break or maybe I'll chicken out and keep on keeping on at Rite Aid.

Kiss My Butt Beefaroni...

I am sitting here and thinking "what is up with me?".

I was really gung ho about using coupons and getting tons of stuff or cheap/free but I am just getting plain sick of having to cut things out of my grocery shopping that we need because I don;t want to spend too much.

When I first started to super coupon the deals were awesome. I was able to buy organic and all natural food when my son was a baby for a budget of $50 a week (this was when I was brainwashed into thinking organic was worth it). I bought organic milk every week along with organic veggies and barely any processed stuff. Now there is no way on God's green earth that I could do that. My budget is $65 a week and I am majorly struggling with it.

I have two kids who I want to be healthy eaters. They really like fruit, string cheese, milk, bread, yogurt and crackers. Produce is expensive and I am not one to just buy what is in season. If I find strawberries in January that look good I will buy them no matter what the price- same goes for blueberries and any other fruit that my kids love. My son loves watermelon and let me tell you, if I could find watermelon that didn't look awful I would buy it for him. I will not relegate my kids to eating bananas and apples all winter because I don't want to cough up the extra money to give them a varied diet. I only buy bread that is whole wheat and doesn't have high fructose corn syrup which means no 99 cent loaves for me- a good price for a loaf of bread is $2.50 (I don't freeze bread because it skeeves me out- I am a picky person, I know this). I try to buy my kids yogurt that doesn't have tons of weird ingredients in it, though today I bought my son regular Go Gurt because that is all the ghetto Stop and Shop I went to had and they don't sell Stoneyfield yogurt tubes. My daughter gets the Stoneyfield Yo Toddler yogurt because it doesn't have extra junk in it and it is made with whole milk.

My husband has stuff he really likes and one of them is Starbucks Frappuchino drinks. They are expensive (BJ's sells a 12 pack for $13.99) but he drinks one every day and jeez, he is the main bread winner for the family so how can I begrudge him his coffee drinks? If he makes a special request (like today when he wanted Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes and Progresso Italion Wedding Soup) I buy it.

I guess what I am saying is that I need a budget that works for my family. I want to have healthy food options available and don't want to be stressed about not having a $50 budget for a family of four. Healthier food costs more and not wanting to spend tons of time chasing deals costs more. Those are costs I am willing to incur.

I know that if I spend a small amount on food each week that we could put the rest of our money towards our debt but it is much more important to me to instill good eating values in my children that will maybe follow them through life then to have kids who eat cheap processed food because it is all I can get on a small grocery budget and with not a lot of time to shop (what I mean is that I value time with my kids more than running out to Shaws multiple times in a week to snag catalina for free Hamburger Helper). Feeding my kids Chefboyardee Beefaroni may be a quick and cheap meal now but I don't want them getting a taste for that stuff (I love that stuff because I ate it growing up- I still eat it sometimes when the kids are in bed because bad habits are hard to break; I actually want some right now and wish I had some in the pantry- MMM, beefaroni).

So kiss my butt $65 budget- my new budget will be $75 a week. If I end up being constantly under then I will readjust it because I am not one to just go to the store and spend all of my budget just because I have it. I buy what we need and a few extras that we want.

I Have Had It With You, Silly Deals!

I wonder if I am feeling a bit burnt out by deal shopping and using coupons?

I have been sitting here on the couch for at least an hour with the Shaws flier on my lap and my notebook by my side that has my chicken scratch General Mill Catalina scenarios. I have some pretty decent ones that will be moneymakers but they include a bunch of stuff I don't want or use. Should I buy stuff I don't need to get the stuff I need for free? It does make sense to do so, and if this were two years ago when I only had one child I would say heck yeah!

But now, with a three year old son who everyday seems to equally fill my heart with joy and push my patience to the limit and a 16 month old daughter who is just so sweet but is little miss I want to do what I want to do, I can't be running to the store twelve times in one week to get a truck load of stuff we really don't need. I know that I would technically be "making money" but my time and energy has a price also- oh yes, and my sanity too.

There are a lot of foods included in the sale that I do not like to bring into my house because once they are in they become integrated into our eating habits. I like us to eat somewhat healthy but I can be pretty lazy sometimes so if the easy option is there I will use it which is why I try to keep a minimum amount of processed foods in the house (I'm talking to you, Hamburger Helper! You are so yummy but you have been banished!).

So, I am still sitting here wondering if I should buy the darn Hamburger Helper so that my out of pocket will be lower or should I just go with what we eat. Or maybe I should just say who cares and not even participate... I guess I really may have had it with coupons and deals right now.

Stay tuned to see what my neurotic self buys at Shaws this week...