After seeing a $200+ grocery receipt the other day, my husband used the “B” word . After the shock wore off, I knew he was right. I need to pay more attention to. . . the budget.

I’m not extravagant by any means. I catch sales, and buy store brands where it makes sense. Sometimes I do spend more to get good quality food (especially bread and pasta), but there are a few brands that we like and one of them is usually on sale. The most impractical thing that I buy is the box of individually packaged chips. Chips are my trigger food. I can stop when the little bag is empty, but put that big bag in front of me and it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.  Still, I buy little packages of chips, and a few other things, in bulk from a warehouse type store. And in the spirit of economy I’ve stopped buying $4 coffee shop drinks in preference of having coffee at home with friends where we can actually talk and clean each other’s kitchens.

What precipitated the budget conversation was the mile long grocery receipt that I left on the table. It evidenced a woman gone wild. What happened? Things were on sale. Did we need 6 jars of peaches? Yes and no. I had a coupon for $1 off six jars. They were on sale 4/$9. I just had to take advantage of both incentives. It’s not like we won’t eat them; as a matter of fact, two are gone already.  (Why the expensive ones? Because they’re the only ones that aren’t made with high fructose corn syrup, it’s the quality thing). The same thing happened with salad dressing. I only needed one, but picked up two more because it was three for whatever.  I don’t know what inner demon was dragging me from sale tag to sale tag, but I probably shouldn’t watch the headline news about the prices of oil and housing before going shopping anymore.

The good news is that our pantry and freezer are now very well stocked. Next week’s shopping trip will most likely be a lot less expensive. But I should probably make a list of things that don’t need to be purchased for the next 10 years…