Here we were again at Monday. It is inevitable. It comes after every Sunday. I am grateful for Monday’s actually. It is just a busy day, that’s all.
Monday is grocery shopping day and it can be time consuming. I spent the morning making my list and pulling coupons. I also sorted some more coupons. I said I would have them all sorted a couple of weeks ago, but that did not happen. I still don’t have them all sorted, but I am closer than I was. I did throw away all the ones that were expired though. I even sorted out coupons that I am going to give away. All coupons to date are cut. I plan on organizing a little bit each day and getting them all sorted and ready to go. That’s the goal anyway. We’ll see if I actually get it done. *sigh*
Lance spent most of the afternoon napping. He still isn’t feeling well. He is now complaining that his throat hurts. Since he’s been on antibiotics, I am hoping that it is nothing more than excess drainage. Andrew is complaining that his throat hurts as well. *sigh* Lance is being really good about taking his medicine even if it does taste nasty. He is taking a chewable amoxicillin, but the doctor said that he could swallow it instead. It is way easier one everyone since he can swallow pills with very little trouble. Getting him to swallow pills was the best thing we ever did. The pills are rather large, but it was what the pharmacist could come up with that matched the prescription dosage. Getting his medicine was a challenge by itself. We ended up with chewable tablets were he has to take two of them, two times a day. Fortunately, the pharmacist said since they are chewable, I could break them in half and have him swallow the pieces. That is exactly what he is doing. He does it without complaining. Well, he does mention that it tastes bad after he’s taken all 4 pieces. Aside from that, however, he’s taking it like a champ. Medicine should always be this easy to administer in my opinion.
I went to the grocery store while Andrew and Kyle were at karate. I managed to get one store done anyway. I really hate that Randall’s only has a single line open at that time of day. I mean, it is 6pm so not super late. They aren’t incredibly busy, but the only line that they have open is the express lane. Very rarely do I have a cart that falls into the “express lane” count. *laugh* That leads to other people getting irritated and pissed off. I am sorry people, I don’t care if it is inconvenient for you. Don’t make comments about me, you complain to the store. It is their fault after all that there isn’t a line open. The cashier was having to explain that I didn’t have to feel the need to rush, that it was the only line and they would just have to wait. He did call someone else up to help and was sending those without produce to customer service. Still, if you have this problem week after week…which they do, since I am in there almost every single week…you think they would learn! It just irks me that people can be so stinking rude about it. At least I take the satisfaction of not spending a fortune on groceries home with me and it makes it all tolerable.
Tonight was a good night. It was a stock up night on some items. Nothing major. Since I hadn’t seriously gone to the store in a couple of weeks (just grabbing items here and there as needed or was convenient for me to get the store), I didn’t do bad at all. I ended up hitting Wal-mart, Randall’s, and Kroger tonight.
I hit Wal-mart before I took the boys to karate tonight. I needed get a laptop cooling pad for Ben as the other one had broken. Alas, I didn’t get the best deal on that but we’ll live through it as his laptop does run hot when he’s working like he’s been working.
While I was there, I also grabbed his favorite Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges. The children have taken a liking for these things as well, so I try to get them when I can get a good price. That is Wal-mart at the every day low price, but it can be cheaper at Kroger or Randall’s when they are on sale, however it is rarely on sale. Sad but true. There are not coupons very often either. This time I had coupons! So I grabbed 4 of them with the coupons. I have more coupons and they are good until the end of the month so I’ll grab some more next week. We’ll just get a good stock of them going.
We were virtually out of frozen vegetables as well. Well, not out, but close. The favorites weren’t in the freezer stock. The great deals often mean that you don’t get the kind that I like when they are on sale and there are coupons. They are cheapest at Wal-mart at their every day low price. So I figured that I would grab some while I was there. The Bird’s Eye brand has gone up in price about 28¢ since I last bought them there. *sigh* That is alright. Wal-mart now has their own brand in the “steamer bags” so I grabbed those. The Green Giant brand is now cheaper than the Bird’s Eye so I grabbed broccoli in that brand as it was the only brand that had any. Not including the laptop cooling pad, I spent just under $20 on groceries at Wal-mart.
I was a little worried that it would cut into the rest of the list that I had created. It would be close to budget but slightly over it. Of course, I should know better than to worry too much as there is usually plenty of wiggle room in the list. Tonight was no exception.
I have to say that it is nice that milk is back down under $2 per gallon. Kroger’s every day low price on milk is $1.99 per gallon. Since we go through 6 gallons of milk per week (usually), it adds up quickly. Randall’s every day low price now is $2.49 which is what the average price has been at all the grocery stores around here (including Wal-mart). So you can probably see why I am happy to see that 52¢ decrease per gallon. Of course, I was at the register at Wal-mart when I remembered I should have gotten it (as they would price match Kroger). The cashier was happy to tell me that they have it for $1.98 per gallon. OK, so I ended up spending 6¢ more tonight for milk because I was really in a hurry and needed to leave instead of walking back across the store to get it.
I discovered some 50¢ coupons on 24 packs of water today when sorting coupons. Got to love those surprises. Since we’re going into summer and ultimately hurricane season, having extra water on hand is always a good thing. The boys put a bottle in their lunch every day as well. So we go through it fairly quickly. When I was at Randall’s I saw that it was $3.99 per case. If I split the coupons across 3 transactions, I would get them for $2.99 per case thanks to double coupons. Score! Alright, I confess that it is not as good of a deal as the one I got for free last week, but it was the best I could do on short order. I think there are coupons on the side of the cases so I can do it again the next time they are on sale.
I went back out after karate to do Kroger. Sometimes it is more peaceful to do it that late at night. Since they are remodeling our Kroger, it isn’t so quiet. It isn’t as crowded, but they are busy working. Of course, it also means that they have likely moved things around again. Tonight was no different. I can’t wait until they are done (sometime in June) as it will be really nice. Some of the great deals were already gone. *sigh* Oh well, they weren’t super essential to our survival. I just stocked up more on other items like yogurt, ground beef, and mac and cheese.
All in all it was a good trip. I have $23 and change to spare in my grocery budget. Go me! There I was thinking that I’d go over budget and I still came in under.
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