Whatever Happened to a Grocery Budget?

As anyone who reads this blog can see, I have been spending way more on groceries this year than last year. I have been wondering why that is- am I just being lazy or are there other reasons?

Well, laziness does have a small part in it but maybe the lazy word is being a bit too harsh. At this moment in my life I have a four year old, a two year old and I am five months pregnant with our third child. My energy levels, while getting a little better, are not what they were pre-pregnancy. Add that to the fact that my two year old daughter is in a stage now where she is asserting her independence, meaning that she does not want to sit in a shopping cart at the store and wants to explore when we go shopping. I no longer have the energy to go to two different grocery stores, the drugstores and Target every week- nor do I want to because it just takes time away from my family.

Another reason I feel that I have been spending way more is just simply that we are eating more as a family. I have been eating a bit more because of my pregnancy and my kids are both at ages where they eat a lot- and eat a lot of food that is not cheap and that there are rarely coupons or awesome deals for. Fresh fruit, yogurt, string cheese and whole wheat bread (the good stuff) and milk add up to a lot each week. These are things that are necessary in my house and that we must have on hand at all times. I think we may drink about three gallons of milk each week between all of us (I have a cup with my Carnation Instant Breakfast every morning, my husband uses milk for his Autocrat coffee milk syrup every day instead of buying an iced coffee and my kids drink milk with their cereal every morning and have it with every meal) which alone is about $16 a week. I know we could cut down on milk but why- I mean it is good for us and I am not going to cut food out of our diet that is healthy to just save money. As a side note, I have tons of chicken in my freezer that I got really cheap but since I have been pregnant I have had an aversion to eating poultry so all of that cheap meat is a no go in our meals- this has raised my spending because I have had to buy more red meat.

Another big reason why I believe that I have been spending way more on food is that the awesome deals the stores used to have are just not there anymore. No more Catalina deals at Shaws where I used to be able to stock up on free cereal and yogurt- boy do I miss those! I used to be able to feed my family of $50 a week when my son was a baby and that was with buying a lot of organic food, including milk. Now, forget about $50- even the $75 budget I set seems to be hard to stick to lately (I no longer buy organic because I don't believe that it is worth the extra money- I stopped drinking the organic Kool-Aid).

So yeah, I suppose it was inevitable that our grocery bill has slowly gone up over the past year but it is not something that I really even feel bad about. We are not struggling to pay our bills so if more money has to go towards feeding ourselves good food that we enjoy then so be it. I used to be in competition to try and have the lowest possible grocery budget for my family but now it just as if putting a low ball number on how much I should spend is crazy. We have the money to spend to buy good food and gosh darn it that is what I am going to do. This doesn't mean that I am going to start to spend hundreds of dollars a week on lobster and filet mignon but it does mean that I am going to cut myself some slack and not feel bad for not being a total cheap ass. Plus geez, isn't a stay at home mom's sanity worth something in this world?

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.

Take Your Budget and Shove It...

At this moment I am staring at my shopping list and pondering the meaning of life.

My new grocery budget is $75 a week- to some it may seem like a lot and to others it may seems not not a lot. To me though, and I am the only one that really matters in this equation, it stinks and I hate it (yeah, I am reminding myself of a spoiled teenager right now).

I want to buy food that we eat and that is somewhat healthy. I want to try new recipes because I am sick of eating the same dinners week after week. I want my kids to be exposed to all different types of foods and for me to buy them even if they are not on sale instead of cutting them out of my list because my budget doesn't allow for it.

What kind of cockamamie world am I making for myself when I am deciding not to buy the asparagus or stock up on the cheap chicken breast because it will tip me over the edge? I have literally cut 99% of junk food (except for ice cream- which my husband will die without) off of my list, including the yummy Boston Market meals that are four for $4 this week at Shaws (though this is a good thing because those meals are full of stuff that does not mesh well with my new hobby of calorie counting).

Here is my pared down list for Shaws, at an estimate of about $75:

lettuce

onions

carrots

strawberries

pears

potatoes

1/2 lb shaws american cheese

1/2 lb shaws deli ham

boneless chicken breast

beef broth

Kens buffalo sauce (only $1 after coupon- need for new recipe this week)

tortilla wraps

 Frenchs mustard (free after coupon)

Chi Chis salsa singles

string cheese

Yokisoba noodles (free after coupon)

Flipz pretzels (free after coupon)

Yoplait yogurt

Snyders pretzels

Orville Redenbocker popcorn

Yo Toddler yogurt

Simply Go Gurt

3 Gallons Poland Spring Water (I refuse to drink tap water- it tastes and smells funny)

bread (I don't buy cheap bread with tons of added junk)

PF Changs meal (buy $20 get $10 back promo)

2 Breyers Ice Cream (buy $20 get $10 back promo)

2 Wishbone dressing (buy $20 get $10 back promo)

3 Del Monte tomatoes (buy $20 get $10 back promo)

How boring and extremely low on the deals.

I am in the mood to say screw the budget and to give my self a free week where I can go ape shit at the grocery store supermarket sweep style. My husband had a lot of overtime money in his check this week so I technically have a lot of wiggle room in our budget...

I suppose my blog title of Just Call Me Cheap should be revoked- perhaps a more appropriate name is Just Call Me Anti Frugal.