Those extreme couponing shows drive me bonkers. I don't know why they don't name the show, "Hoarders: the clean kind." The people think they're being savvy and efficient, but to me it seems wasteful. One woman had 50 packages of diapers and she didn't even have kids! On only one of the episodes have I seen anyone donating their so-called "haul."
But because I've recently taken advantage of a few cyber-deals, I decided to keep a record of what I spent this month at the grocery store. You know, for fun. *I thought* I had a general idea. I go to the store about once a week and spend about $100 each time, give or take $20. *I thought.* And that was still too much in my mind and I was pondering how I could shave a little off, but decided to start with tracking the actual numbers.
In the month of November I spent $719 in five trips to the grocery store. This does not count a trip to Costco and Target where a few grocery-ish items were bought in bulk. This does not count diapers. This does count pet food.
This.Is.Staggering.
Now, we had houseguests for a long weekend and there was a holiday where I bought a small load of things that weren't normal. But in truth, almost every month of the year includes houseguests for us and some sort of "not normal" occasion (friends over to watch a football game, etc.). So I can't use those as an excuse for the spending.
I can't blame anything, really. This was all at my local chain grocery store, not a fancy Whole Foods. The only alcohol was a single bottle of wine. There was nothing else that seemed to be a splurge or that stood out to me as expensive. This was my normal grocery shopping, and it topped off at more than $700. For a family of 2.5. This rounds out to roughly $24/day or $9.60pp/day. This is way too high for at-home meals. I need to reassess how we eat.
If you've never done this, I suggest you try it. It's eye-opening.
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For your weekend reading pleasure:
Are you going to get the obligatory mall Santa picture this year? Here's a clever way to get a picture of your child with Santa without waiting in line with 104 other screaming children, weary parents, and hot pretzel aroma. (Improve Photo by Emilie)
Speaking of toddlers, several posts by Jason Good made me laugh out loud at the screen this week, including Self-Help Advice from a 2-year-old and Approximately 3 Minutes Inside the Head of My 2-Year-Old. Such good stuff. (Jason Good 365)
Writers write and all that. This post from Sarah Markley spoke to me most this week.
(I stole the two links above from my friend Megan, who either sent them to me or tweeted them. I just felt like I had to be honest about that. She deserves all kinds of credit, especially since she turned in her book manuscript this week. Huge, right?)
I've been using Evernote for awhile, but I've only recently consolidated ALL of my major lists to it. It saves my scatter-brained self tons of time because it syncs wirelessly between my computer, my phone, and my iPad. I almost always have at least one of those devices close by. If you're unfamiliar with it, here's a good explanation of Evernote. Did I mention it's free? (The Sits Girls)
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I hope you have wonderful plans for the weekend! My sister is here visiting and I'm definitely due for some solid girl time.
Happy Weekend, HH readers!
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