Finding Grocery Savings

This past Friday, I spent half the morning preparing my taxes for 2013.  I finished them on Saturday morning and e-filed them.  SUCCESS, I thought!  Then, it dawned on me that for 2014 to be a successful year for my family, I needed to work on a project from Dave Ramsey that I vowed I would do this year.  I wanted to see how much of our money was going to groceries, as well as dining out at restaurants and frequenting fast food drive-thru's.


Public Domain image courtesy of Junior Libby

For this project I took all of our bank statements from last year and would need to highlight each expenditure listed and categorize it so I could see where our money was/is going.  Because Dave Ramsey is a proponent of children being involved in budgetary issues, and because I could see this could easily take me several days if I did it myself, I gave each of my kids a different colored highlighter and a specific category.  I then handed them each half of the statements, and we all got to work.

I have to say that it was quite the eye-opening experience.  We had our successes, like cutting our "eating out" expenses in half, but we also discovered a money-gobbler:  grocery store expenses.  Over $13,000 worth of grocery store expenses.  And yes, we did do a little bit of clothing and Christmas shopping at Walmart and Target, but only to the tune of $138 for 2013 (yes, I keep every single receipt for a period of time).

I haven't figured out yet whether the huge increase in grocery expenses has been because of the increase in the price of groceries, or if I'm having to buy more food because my kids have gotten older and are starting to eat a lot more as they begin growth spurts.  One thing is for sure, it is time to try and cut that expense.  The only problem with this idea is that I'm already shopping at Walmart and Sam's Club, so I'm getting some pretty good prices and am out of ideas.

I need some fresh ideas on what you, or someone you know, does to save money.  I used to live debt-free before I got married and after 24+ years of marriage, I'm sick of owing people money.  Being in debt restricts my ability to do things for my family and for other people, and that drives me batty.  Not to mention the strangle-hold it feels like it places on me when my children want to participate in a sport or activity.

As a first step, we have decided to build our own vegetable garden this year in an effort to save money on the produce aisle.  We eat a lot of vegetables and my kids like to garden, so I'm hoping to make this a win-win proposition.  My debt snowball will hopefully get reduced while my children learn about growing their own food and being self-sufficient.

While this is a good start, we need to find additional ways to save money.  So, if you have a way you grocery shop which helps save your family money, even if it's just how you organize or meal plan, I'd be thrilled if you'd share your successes with me.  If you have a favorite grocery store that you've found has great prices, or if you have a great way to get grocery coupons or bargains, please share.  Thank you in advance to everyone who shares their advice, tips, bargain places, and any other information which will be of help!

Written by:  Christie Bielss

The Sink Stinks

We bought an older home (built in 1978) back in the mid 1990's which had a few cosmetic issues.  We thought those cosmetic issues were just your typical P/W/C (paint/wallpaper/carpet).  We were in for a bit of a rude awakening.

The first morning we lived in the house, both my husband (Mike) and I had to get up and go to work before dawn.  I was the first one dressed (who says men are the faster dressers?!) and headed into the kitchen.  I flipped on the light and to my great horror, the floor was a solid mass of the most dreaded of all kitchen bugs:  the cockroach.

Being a red-blooded American female, I did what all females do when they encounter such a sight:  I let out a blood-curdling scream and ran for my life!  My husband came at a full run thinking I'd been attacked by the boogie-man.  I jumped in his big protecting arms and was able to squeak out the horror I'd just witnessed: "BUGS!!!!!  They're everywhere!!!".  That big oaf actually started laughing. 

As my nerves calmed down I said "Oh, you think that's funny?  They covered the entire surface of the kitchen floor like a cockroach carpet!".  With a sarcastic "Yeah, ok Mrs. Drama. How many were there?  1 or 2?", and walked into the kitchen.  By the time he reached the doorway, the floor was completely bug free.  They'd all crawled back into the icky gicky void they must've come out from.  I walked to the doorway and could feel them staring at me.  I knew they were there, lurking in their dark, dank hideaway planning their next invasion.

Later that same day we were having a new dishwasher installed.  The installer noted that the cabinet bottom under the kitchen sink was very damp and rotted from where the old dishwasher had leaked for a very long time.  He advised us to replace the sink bottom ASAP.  A little later that day we also had an urgent, same day pest control treatment (I do NOT do bugs).  Since we were pulling out that cabinet bottom, the technician left us some chemicals to treat that area directly.

The next morning I took an extraordinarily long time getting ready so that my husband was first to turn on the kitchen light. He's a 6'1" broad-shouldered, barrel-chested ex-football player.  He's not afraid of any stinkin' bugs.  As he walked into the family room, I peeked around the corner to see his reaction.  He flicked on the kitchen light and jumped back several feet. The bugs were out in full force.  "You're not laughing....." I said as I peeked from behind the safety of my corner.  He watched as the bugs scattered and ran for cover.  He decided right then and there that his first order of business as soon as he got home from work was to rip out that rotten cabinet bottom. 

True to his word, he walked in the door from work and immediately jumped into action.  He laid all of his tools  within arm's reach of the sink area and even had the pest control chemicals primed and ready - just in case there were any bugs that tried to protest this repair.  He gave me the heads up that he was ready and that I might should find a safe spot to perch myself. 

Having a sense of what was going to come out of that cabinet when he started banging around, I grabbed our dog and headed out to the backyard.  I figured with his manly attitude of  "I'm not afraid of any bugs", this had the potential to become quite entertaining.  I positioned myself outside our kitchen's big bay window, which allowed me the perfect sight line to where he was going to be working, and waited for the show to begin. 

My husband started hammering, and the cabinet bottom started disintegrating on the second downward stroke.  He reached into the cabinet and pulled out the first large piece of rotten cabinet bottom.  He held it up for me to see while mouthing "Ewwww!  NASTY!". 

He sat back down in front of the cabinet and with great force, he hit the cabinet bottom again.  And then it happened.  Time literally stood still.  In what seemed like a scene from a horror movie, my husband started to pull that piece of cabinet bottom out only to discover it was the bugs' home..... and they did not like invaders! 

The bugs immediately went on the offensive and launched an all out invasion.  Before he could even take a breath, bugs were everywhere.  Freeze-frame here:  you know in the first "Home Alone" movie where the little boy grabs the tarantula and plops it on the burglar's face and the burglar emits the loudest, most high-pitched scream imaginable?  Hold onto that thought and let's resume.  All of the sudden, those cockroaches were going after him.   

He started frantically slapping and swiping at his legs and feet.  He wasn't making much headway against this coordinated offensive, so he grabbed the hammer and started smashing everything that moved with it.  As he was flailing around his legs and feet, he didn't notice the bugs had started crawling up his arms towards his face!  All of the sudden, he noticed a movement on his arm and discovered the nasty spawns of satan were nearly to his shoulder.  Before I had time to even blink, he emitted the "Home Alone" blood-curdling, completely horrified scream. 

He started hopping around in a complete frenzy trying to free himself from the bugs.  Standing in the backyard, I couldn't contain myself any longer and started laughing hysterically.  The more he jumped around, swatted and screamed, the harder I laughed.  I was laughing so hard I couldn't catch a breath, my legs literally gave way and I fell to the ground.  I couldn't take my eyes off the scene before me and through tears of laughter, I watched as he finally noticed the pest control chemicals.  He grabbed the chemical sprayer and started spraying wildly while screaming "DIE!!!!  DIE!!!!!!!".  Those giant bugs didn't have a chance against that chemical and died on contact. 

After several minutes passed, he regained control of the situation and looked out the bay window for the first time since having to fight against this invasion of thousands of miscreants.  He started to smile at me and give me the thumbs up when he noticed me laying in the grass laughing hysterically.  His smile froze and slowly faded into a pointed frown.  For some reason, he did not see the humor in the situation one tiny bit.  I guess I was lucky that his "thumbs up" didn't flip around and become a "you're #1"........

by: Christie Bielss