SAVING A BUNDLE ON FOOD

[JustDee]

For the past 25 years, although I have always worked outside of my home, my main job has been to raise my daughters and run my home. I have not always been happy to be called a housewife or even a homemaker, but nowadays, a part of me wishes I could go back to those days with the knowledge and experience I now have.

I think I would appreciate my daughters so much more. I would appreciate every hug, every kiss. I would look forward to 4 pm when they got off the bus and we had to start the long tedious process of homework, dinner and baths. I might even appreciate the constant sparring..well.. maybe not that...but everything else... would feel like such a blessing to me.

What in the world does that have to do with saving a bundle on food? Nothing, except that I started to write this blog to brag about how I saved $100 grocery shopping and I started to think about how I only have to shop for the 3 of us right now and I really miss shopping for a family of six... I probably could have saved $200 if I had to buy twice the food..LOL.

Seriously though, I went food shopping last week and I purchased $280 worth of food, but I only had to pay $177 for it. It only took me maybe 5 or 6 hours spread over a couple of days to gather all of the the information I needed, like what the store I shopped at had on sale that week and what coupons did I have for those things and what meals could I make from the things that I could buy.. you know, stuff like that.

This is what I discovered, first of all, the store I shop at has this sale sponsored by P&G products, if you buy 4 you save $4. So you basically get $1 of of each product and the products change each week, P&G usually also has coupons available for these same products, sometimes up to $1 off, so this past week they had an 8 pack of bounty, usually 6.99 for 5.99 and I had a $1 off coupon so I got 8 rolls of BOUNTY for 4.99, that is a little more the .60 a roll. They also had PUFFS on sale for 1.69 with a $1 off so they came to .69 and I had a coupon for .50 off of one.. so that came to .19 for a box of PUFFS.
Anyway, I know this is boring, but I thought that instead of complaining about my life for a change, I would blog about something that we could all use, PRACTICAL ADVISE...

Since this is kind of a dry subject and most people won't want to be bothered reading it, if you want more ideas or info on how I saved over $100 dollars while grocery shopping.. drop me a line and I will be happy to share all of my new found knowledge with you...lol

HA,,, my new life as a self help guru..

[SydTheSkeptic]

Holy bejeezus...we not only become our parents...but we become our grandparents, too.



;op

[JustDee]

LOL... I know...its scary isn't it?

[JustDee]

@Christine- depression is a difficult fact of my life. I try not to let it beat me, but as I get older, it hits harder and for longer bouts of time. This last time, I pretty much laid in bed for almost a month. I mean, I got up when I absolutely had to or when my husband forced me to, but as little as possible. I always get to a point where I say, I have had enough, pull your ass up and move on...LOL. I'm afraid I am not very organised, just determined to contribute something to my family and since I'm not working right now, well, the least I can do is try to save money. thanks for the comments

[NatureJunkie]

I think your budgeting techniques are similar to ones my parents used to use. My younger brother was the cook and shopper in his household. He told me he did all his meal planning based on one simple guideline: each meal had to cost three dollars per person or less to prepare. Then he did his meal planning based on foods that were on sale so that they would fit his cost guidelines. Like you, he liked doting on his family in the evenings.

[JustDee]

In my case it is brought on by genetics and situations. I start with situational depression, but if I don't catch myself, I can fall into a full blown case of depression.. in any case...I am really fine. LOL.. I just feel sorry for myself sometimes...but yeah..its no fun when you are in the thick of it.