Thursday, April 10, 2008

what my days consist of...

fighting over toys...


tired, cranky babies...


and super cute little kids that I can't get enough of...ok, I lie, maybe I do get enough of sometimes...As usual, things here are OUT OF CONTROL! I've been having a little health thing and not feeling quite like myself, Logan had a ruptured ear drum from and ear infection, and all kinds of uninteresting other things. But I do have a question for you.

The other day I was surfing the news sites and came across this article about grocery bills.

$900 in groceries for a family of 4? I’m pretty sure that’s what we used to pay, but we are a family of 5 with 2 in diapers. Rising prices have DEFINITELY changed the way we shop for groceries. Now we have menus, detailed grocery lists, and try to stay around $150 each week. Sometimes it’s hard, especially when you figure in diapers and that typically puts us over budget when we get them, but we try to factor that in as best we can. We’ve started shopping the ads and check prices online between the 2 major chains here. (Safeway and Giant) One thing that I think would help us even more is if we would shop at the Commissary. Since Jason is in the AF Reserves we have that option. 2 big problems with that is that it is about 30 minutes away and I lost my id card a long time ago and so I can’t go by myself.

Also, gas is CRAZY expensive. We stay home a lot. And I know it doesn’t help that I have a gas guzzling V8 pickup truck, but it was virtually a birthday present, I love it, and I am NOT willing to get rid of it.

And those of you that know me well, know that I’m a Starbuck’s junkie. But I have been cutting that back too. One, because it’s expensive and two, because it’s about a 10 mile round trip, give or take. That’s almost a gallon of gas! Oh, and three because I’m trying to cut back on calories and that’s a boatload of calories in a cup.

I can’t wait to move to California. I know gas will be more, but it seems that most other things aren’t as much as the DC area. That and we have an awesome produce store that is super CHEAP! Well, at least it was when we were there 2 years ago. Maybe I’ll have to resort to growing our vegatables. That is such a scary thought to me the horribly un-green thumb.

So, tell me how has rising prices affected your shopping, etc?

2 comments:

Des said...

It's insanity!!! I have totally noticed the raising cost of groceries. My budget is SHOT. I do freezer meals with some girlfriends and that has saved our lives. I can buy in bulk. We don't eat out anymore because I always have a yummy meal around. I don't waste food like I used to because I use the WHOLE bag of carrots in my recipes instead of 10 and then letting them go bad. I was just resolving tonight to stop spending so much on etsy and on fabric and netflix and magazines and the list goes on. Now, I've depressed myself. I will go get some chocolate now to console myself.

Emily Simpson said...

We have a very detailed shopping list, and we also plan out our meals for the week. In some ways it's made life easier. I'm forced to be organized! It's good to see you guys, and I'm excited for you to come back to California! Take care!