Grocery shopping has come and gone for another week. This morning I also needed gas, so I checked out Gas Buddy, and found that gas was 3.26 at Sam's Club, and 3.43 at Kroger. Hubby uses the "gas points" from Kroger, since he drives a truck, and he had already used up our April points. I have a small sedan, better gas milage, so I get leftover points, if there are any, or I go elsewhere. I saved 17¢ per gallon on nearly 10 gallons today (and not out of the way at all, with my morning errands.)
On the way back home, I swung into Kroger (who wants to acquire another grocery giant to "imprison" us even more with all of their schemes and "offerings.") I really wish we still had a small town IGA nearby!
Anyway, I had scoured the sales flyer and downloaded any applicable electronic coupons, and got what was on my list for this week. I felt like I had a smaller list this week, only one small meat purchase, and I shopped for bargains, but the self check-out ended up with a shocking total of $150 and some change. WHAT? How can this be?! Well, I did buy some flea and tick treatment for our dog, and even though I buy the store brand, it's still a bit pricy, and I bought some chocolates for our table guests at a fundraising gala this evening for The Chesterton Academy of St. Joseph, in Dayton Ohio (of which one on my s-i-l's is the headmaster. Chocolate is getting very expensive, but, as the table host, I like to have some extra sweets for my guests. And beans were on sale. I'm still eating a lot of beans for continued health improvement, so I stocked up. I bought bread, and crackers, and some cheese and the cheapest shampoo I could find, and still, $150? Yikes, we need help with the out-of-control inflation in this country, and our president is too busy writing off student loans. My girls paid off their student loans, so don't blame me!
And, of course, it's not just food. Clothing, energy costs, property tax…oh my gosh did that ever go up this year! Luckily my husband found some information in an AARP magazine, about how seniors could lower their property taxes, and he succeeded in doing that. Clothing? My husband and I (especially my husband!) wear the same articles of clothing year after year! I sometimes add a new shirt or sweater from the thrift store (only when such items are on sale!). But hubby is all proud of himself for his patchwork repair of one of his favorite pair of pants (for which he used various colors of iron-on patches that I had purchased. It was the smallest patch assortment that I could find, and had several colors that I would never use. Now, he's a kind of an "Old Testament" Joseph, with the technicolor dreamcoat, but he's got dreampants instead, and all of the colors are inside (and the patches didn't go to waste!) Ha, ha!
And, our reluctance to buy new clothes also means that we are careful about what we eat, and how much we eat. There's nothing like digging out the seasonal clothes and finding out that they still all fit me! Now, with my Intermittent fasting habit well-ingrained after a few months, I seem to be dropping pounds without even trying, so I'm definitely sticking with that plan for good health, (and also the spiritual gifts of fasting!).
At any rate, we're all doing whatever we can to pinch our pennies, just hoping and praying that our economy strengthens before too much longer, That costly wars and rioting doesn't push world economies to the brink, so that we can continue to afford the necessities of life, without having to dip into our retirement savings prematurely!
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