Thrifty Acres

When I went through the check out lane tonight at the grocery store, I ended up with the same cashier from the night before. Yes, I was at the store two nights in a row. But worse, she recognized me! "I've been seeing you a lot lately," she said. I told her that my cart was so full I didn't have room for everything so I had to come back. This was partially true. My cart was full, but I wasn't sure what pop I needed to get for a party this weekend, so I had to go back.

I got to thinking though, I was at the store on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. The same store everyday. A problem? Not if you don't like saving money.

My husband claims that half of his paycheck goes to the grocery store. I am begining to think that he is right.

I tried avoiding the grocery store...impossible, we need to eat.

I tried couponing...it didn't work out.

I tried buying just what I needed for meals...I couldn't do it. You see this option requires meal planning and well, perhaps that is the part that I couldn't do.

So, I still buy what I need for dinner (this is how I end up at the store everyday!) and I stock up on things on sale that I use regularly. This results in 20 boxes of cereal, 10 cans of diced tomatoes, 8 jars of salsa and a pantry and closet full of food. Which is great, if you are feeding the masses or know exactly what you are going to do with all of these treasures.

However, this can also lead to items you think you will use, and then don't. Case in point, the marble cake mix I threw away that expired 3 years ago. I think that I can still remember buying the mix, it had a purpose at the time. The purpose obviously failed, and the poor cake mix suffered the consequences.

In an ongoing effort to actually eat us out of house and home, I have inventoried, looked through recipes and tried to meal plan accordingly. I'm usually missing a couple of grocery items to finish off the plan, so I head to the store and the vicious cycle resumes.

Goal for the 30th year number 2: To eat through the pantry, meal plan and stick to a grocery budget.

I might have to try this in baby steps, good thing I have about 10 months to perfect it.