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What happened at the grocer's
Grocery ShoppingYesterday, we went to Aldi’s. As with everywhere else- I noticed that they have raised their prices. It is a good thing I estimate when figuring my grocery cost before shopping and that I add a $5 “allowance” for overage. But still . . . . I went over. Sigh. For Shame.
I purchased:
*1 grapefruit .59
*Bag of
Plain English Muffins .79
Wheat Bread .99
*Inst. Choc. Pudding .29
*Chocolate Chips .99
*Devil’s food cake mix .75
Shred. Ched. Cheese 3.49 (4 cups)
Thin Sliced Beef 2 @ .39
Tater Tots 1.29
Chicken Nuggets 2 @ 3.69
Froz. Grnd Turkey 3 @ .99
Chunk Pineapple 2 @ .69
*2% Milk- gallon 2.99
Coffee Creamer 1.95 (32 oz)
Lw fat Cottage Cheese 2.29 (24 oz)
Canned Corn 3 @ .39
Elbow Macaroni 1.29 (32 oz box)
*Box Mac-n-cheese 2 @ .33
Can chicken breast 3 @ 1.69
Applesauce .89 (25 oz)
Whip Salad Dressing 1.29 (like Miracle Whip- 32 oz)
*Dill Pickle Spears 1.29
*Bread-n-butter pickles 1.19
Steak Sauce .99
Chocolate Syrup .99
Mustard (14 oz) .59
Ketchup (32 oz) 1.09
*Cr. Chicken soup .47
*Cr. Mshrm soup .47
Cookies .99 (like Oreos)
Total: $49.35
I estimated I would spend $40.
The items on my list totaled $37.67 which would have brought me in under budget. The * items were not on my list and totaled $11.68.
Reminder to self: The little things add up- with the exception of the milk and oranges- all of these items were around $1 or less.
And here is where I justify those extra purchases- ahem.
Well, the pickles were per request of the kidlets as we’ve pretty much emptied Mr. Steady’s homemade ones (additional $2.48). Note to self- it would have been cheaper to purchase the gi-normous Jar-O-Pickles from Walmart. The Milk was a good deal and I had realized this morning that the extra gallon I had pushed to the back of the fridge was actually the half gone gallon we had on the table at breakfast. I had already checked the grocer ads for this week and knew that no one else has milk on sale- so this was a good buy. The fruit- the grapefruit was actually purchased by the kidlets for their Daddy as they know how much he loves them (paid back from their spending banks upon arriving at home) and the oranges- its cold and flu season and I’ve been keeping our home well stocked with oranges (also a very healthy snack)- I remembered while at the store that we were down to 3 oranges and the price was right- so into the cart they went. As for the cake mix, chocolate chips, pudding, soups and mac-n-cheese . . . . sigh, all I’ve got are excuses- the cake mix, chips and pudding are the vital ingredients for my triple fudge brownies and I like to have enough on hand for 2 batches- very quick and yummy dessert to take to gatherings. The soups are 2 of my 3 staple soups in my pantry and I usually try to pick up one of each when I’m at Aldi’s so that I don’t run out. The mac-n-cheese, I remembered we were down to 2 boxes in the pantry- another fall back/stand-by I like to keep on hand.
In all actuality and with wonderful hindsight- I shouldn’t have purchased the pickles, brownie ingredients, soups and mac-n-cheese- which would have taken $6.11 off my total, therefore bringing the total down to $43.24 which would have kept me within my estimated range ($40 estimate plus $5 allowance= $45). I ended up having to take $4 from the gas/oil envelope (which had a surplus thanks to the oil change I had done on Monday costing $6 less than I had budgeted- but that money was supposed to stay in that envelope!).
I wouldn’t have had to borrow from the gas/oil envelope at all if I hadn’t used the surplus grocery budget from the last 2 weeks to pay off a small debt. It was important to me to use that “extra” money to pay the debt off pronto.
So now what? Well, pay day is only 2 days away and so my weekly grocery budget of $40 will be back in the grocery envelope. I’ll take $6 and put it back in the gas/oil envelope. I will only have minimal grocery shopping to do next week (perishables- estimated cost: $10) so my grocery envelope cushion (for purchasing on sale meats etc.) will be back. I hated the thought of “borrowing from Peter to pay Paul” today- I won’t forget the calculator next time and I won’t fall into the trap of extra purchases because “they’re only a dollar or less”.
Nope. No, Sir. I won’t.
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5:14 PM, 2008-Jan-17 .. Posted by KittyOh I know, all those fifty cents do add up. I went to the store this morning with a $4 list and walked out with over $50 worth of stuff. I hate when I do that......Kitty
you did better than I did!
8:22 PM, 2008-Jan-17 .. Posted by kjprice616I am sooooo over the grocery budget this month. I always say that I only need produce and I walk out with all kinds of stuff. I need to go back to the envelope method because I do spend less that way!
Kris
Untitled Comment
3:04 PM, 2008-Jan-19 .. Posted by Laura @ the Peanut PatchI went grocery shopping this week, too, and was shocked at how much prices had gone up! I just did our major shopping trip at the beginning of January, and many things (eggs, bread, frozen veggies) had gone up 50 cents or more. That really hurt our food budget... but I'm determined to stay within it this payday. We are stocked up aside from fresh produce that we'll need to replenish. But what to do about next payday, because I know prices will be the same then?
God always provides... He'll make sure we are fed. :-)
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