A Month of Spending

Part 1

I've decided to track my spending of groceries and other household products over the month to 1) give you an idea of how my shopping strategy works and 2) Track just how much Im spending now that Jason has moved out.

This month started out a little different that most simply because I had to cover the rent myself which caused a huge restriction on my budget. $1400/month is alright when there are two people paying it but taking it over myself with only two weeks notice was tough. So as a result, we were out of a lot of things when I made my grocery list this week, causing my approx. $100/week budget to expand quite a bit. I don't foresee next week's shopping to be anywhere near as high so hopefully it will balance out.

So here's what I bought:

Store A

Cat Litter $6.99
2L Coke $1.66
Miracle Whip $2.99 (Sale) *This wasn't needed but it's an item that doesn't go on sale often
Paper Towel $2.99
Salt $1.39
10lb Potatoes $6.00 (Sale)
5lb Onions $2.99
Apples $3.21 (Sale)
Bananas $2.35
Cool Quenchers x4 $3.96 *I had a different brand on my list but the store was out. After considering that the other brand requires 3 equal parts water and this one requires 6, this turned out to be a better deal anyway.
Tomato Paste $0.89
Halloween Candy $1.98 (Clearance)
Mushrooms $2.97 (Sale)
Dried Basil $1.89
Oregano $1.79
Sliced Turkey Breast $2.99 (Sale)



Store B
500g Cheddar Cheese $3.99 (Sale)
500g Mozzarella Cheese $3.99 (Sale)
Oatmeal Packets x2 boxes $5.00 (Sale)
Canned Corn $0.89 (Sale)
Canned Peas $0.89 (Sale)
Laundry Detergent x3 $9.00 (Sale)
Baking Soda $1.49
Cereal $5.49
McCain Cake $1.15
Juice Boxes $3.49
Hot Chocolate Mix $4.49
18 Cans Cola $3.99
2L Cranberry Ginger ale x2 $2.00 (Sale)
Bread x2 $4.00 (Sale)
Chicken Drumsticks x2pkgs $9.75 (Sale)
Lunch Mates x2 $4.00 (Sale) *This was to keep the kids happy and is not something I would normally buy
Blackberries $2.99 (Sale)
Pears $2.28
Cantaloupe $2.99 (Sale)
Caramel Apple Dip $1.98
Clementines $4.77 (Sale)

Store C

Assorted chocolate chips x4 $8.00 (Sale)

Store D

2L Milk x3 $10.32 (Sale)
1L Choc. Milk x2 $3.00 (Sale)
32 Individual Yogurt $9.98 (Sale)


Total: $169.40, including taxes and deposits*
Total Sale Items: 23 ($105.70, before taxes)
Total Non-Sale Items: 18 ($51.26, before taxes)

*We have a 13% tax in my province that covers most things other than basic grocery essentials. For example, white milk is not taxed but chocolate milk is.

It was a little frustrating to have to spend so much on non sale items this week. Had I bought more of last week's sale items, this wouldn't have been the case.

changes and peace

Well that's it, he's gone. Jason moved out last night after work. It was strange to spend the evening alone with the kids and to see his chair at the dinner table empty. I guess it'll just take some time to get used to being the sole parent around here again.

I gotta say though, the hardest part was when he kneeled down to say 'goodbye' to Owen. Obviously at 2 Owen has no idea what's going on but he understood enough to say "Im gonna miss you" in his sweet little voice. It just broke my heart! He's only asked for Daddy twice since then and it's been easy to distract him from the fact that he's not here. Hopefully it will continue to be this smooth.

As I wait for a loan to come through to buy a van, we're relying on walking wherever we need to go. We live in a sister city to the capital of our Province with only two bus routes. Both connect to the capital city so it's easy to get anywhere that we need to there, but not so easy to get around our own. Thankfully we live about a block away from a large shopping area with a grocery store, walmart, restaurants, hair salons, dollar store, drug store, pet store, candy store, banks, clothing stores and who knows what else. We can get everything we need there and there's also a corner store at the end of our street for those quick runs.

The harder part is school. Our new school is just under 2km from our house if we take a series of side streets and paths. If the littles and I walk the older two to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, we're looking at around 7km/day. Owen can go in a stroller but Jamie is just too little for so much walking. So my brother (who rents a room from me while attending university) has agreed to watch the littles while I walk bring the bigs to school and when possible, when I pick them up as well. What a blessing!

This morning was our first attempt and with snow on the ground, we were apprehensive. We were later leaving that I had wanted to be, but in the end it wasn't a problem. It was cold at first and our faces were numb by the time we were half way there. Even that turned out to be good though because then we couldn't feel the cold! If I hadn't pushed the kids to walk fast, they probably wouldn't have minded the walk either, but because I was worried about how long the walk would take, I rushed them a little. After crossing all of the streets, and getting within a block or so of their school I said 'goodbye' and let them walk the last leg on their own. My brother had to catch a bus at 9 and without a watch, I was worried I would make him miss it. There was no need to worry though as I arrived home about 15 minutes earlier than I had anticipated. Good news because it means that we wont have to rush tomorrow.

There's a lot of changes happening with our lives at the moment but I haven't been anxious like I normally would be. I participated in an alter call at church on Sunday morning and have felt a lot of peace since then. It was only my send time doing so and my first where I felt people lay hands on me. I had two pastors and a number of church members praying with me and through that power, I've been blessed to feel His presence during what could have been a very trying time for my family.

The Way I Shop

My grocery strategy

Part 1

For as long as I can remember, I've been obsessed with efficiency.

For years, I'd look at the grocery flyers, make a list and head out. I was always worried that I'd forgotten to write something down, so I'd go up and down every isle of the grocery store hoping to jog my memory. Too often I'd get home and realise that some important ingredient for a meal was missing; causing a return trip.

So not efficient. Or cost effective. Do you know how much money I was wasting by buying whatever it was we were out of each week plus the ingredients for whatever I planned to serve? Lots!

Image Source

But so many people shop this way. Little by little, I started to change my ways and now keep my grocery budget between $4-500 each month. Sounds a little high, doesn't it? This is supposed to be a post about saving time and money on groceries, after all.

Well that approx. $100/week for a family of 6 includes all household products (tissues, paper towels, cleaning products, laundry soap) and things like diapers as well. Jason was a big meat eater and so about 90% of our meals included either chicken, pork or beef. We also don't have a vegetable garden, so there's no savings there. And to top it all off, we live in Canada, on an island. Things aren't cheap.

To give you a perspective, my mother would spend around $200-$250 each week on groceries when I was growing up. This was for a family of 7.

So after such a long introduction, how do I keep my grocery budget so low?

It's not coupons (though I use those occasionally).

It's not by growing our own produce.

It's not by cutting back on meats and convenience items.

It's simply by watching the sales.

I started to notice a cycle effect on the sales that our local grocery stores would put out each week. Usually somewhere between every 4-8 weeks the same item would come on sale again and again.

So by watching my family's eating habits I was able to determine approximately how much of something we would consume every month or two (depending on the item) and I was able to buy each thing only when it came on sale.

A recent example will illustrate the possible savings with this strategy: A certain higher end brand of boxed chicken nuggets, fingers and burgers can be bought at a local grocery store for a regular price of around $11/box. By watching the sales, I was able to purchase these for $5/box. That's a savings of $6 for every box! That week I was able to stock up on such items buying 5 boxes at $25 (lasting probably 4-5 months, as we don't eat a lot of these) instead of the regular prices of $55.

Boxed chicken burgers may not be something that I would have bought 5 boxes of over those 4-5 months, but by using this strategy we get to vary our meals so no one gets bored. They make a great quick meal when the kids have swimming lessons and Im not tempted to run through a drive through for nuggets when I can feed my whole family for $2.50 (half a box), plus sides. That's not even the price of one happy meal. This week frozen pizzas are on sale and if I stock up on those, then we have two convenience meals that we can choose from.

This strategy works for so many items:

Meats:

Each season sees different meats on sale. During the summer, grilling steaks and pork chops were especially cheap. Those might be on sale now as well, but maybe a dollar per pound more than they were just a couple months ago, even though the store still calls it a sale. Grilling steaks don't work so well for us to stock up on because it's already almost at the freezing mark here. But pork chops work really well. I bought 7 or 8 packs of boneless pork chops at a buy one get one free sale at the end of summer. Those will last a good couple of months in the deep freeze and Im not forced to buy them at the (nearly double) regular price.

Fall is a good time to stock up on whole chickens and sometimes about a month before the holidays you can buy a cheaper, frozen turkey. It's all about knowing the cycles and watching the prices.

Produce:

All of our produce is determined by what's on sale. We may eat broccoli this week, spinach next and fresh corn after that. When something is in season, it tends to be a better deal than when it has to be shipped from further away. I make sure my kids get lots of fruits in their diet (not so much on the veggies simply because they don't eat them) and to do so on a budget can be tricky. By buying only what's on sale, I can get two or three different fruits for the week for only a little more than if I were buying a single not-on-sale favorite.

For the last couple of weeks, seedless grapes have been on sale for around $1.37/lb. Normally they would be around $3. If I buy them every week, the kids will get sick of them, but if I buy them only when they're on sale, they can go through a bag in an hour. I bought probably about 6lbs. Im also less likely to restrict their consumption when I know it didn't cost a lot.

I know that since I bought grapes two weeks ago on sale and they were also on sale last week, it will be another week or two before they're on sale again. By then, my kids will want them again. So not only does this strategy cut my grocery bill in half, it also allows for a greater variety of flavours.

Dairy:

Cheese is probably the most predictable of the dairy products. It goes on sale usually every month. The regular price for a 500g block of cheddar cheese is about $8. When it goes on sale it can be either $3.99 or $4.99. When I see it for $3.99, I stock up big time. It was this price two or three weeks ago and I bought five or six blocks. There's still two in the fridge and cheese should be on sale again next week, or possibly the week after. I never have to buy it at the outrageous price of $8, even though my family loves cheese.

Milk never goes on sale here. It's just one of those things. I think the grocery store price is $3.77 for 2L of milk (insane, I know!) but at a local convenience store, I can get it for $6.45/4L. Not a huge savings, so I don't go out of my way, but enough that I stop there whenever I think of it.

This strategy can be useful for almost every product. I can't think of anything at the moment (other than milk) that doesn't go on sale, at least occasionally. By keeping track of each item's cycle (even a general idea) you can cut your grocery bill in half, without the fuss of coupons or the time of growing your own produce.

Saying Goodbye

The bigs will be saying goodbye to their classmates tomorrow for the last time. On Monday they begin at a new school, one that's only 2km away instead of the next city over.

Understandably, they're upset, nervous, anxious, excited and nonchalant about the whole thing. It varies.

We moved to our current house over a year ago and have been driving about 35-40 minutes in both the morning and afternoon to get to/from school. Thankfully spaces have opened up for both boys in their grades and in the French Immersion programs at the closer school at a perfect time.

As of Monday, we wont have a vehicle so school would have been impossible otherwise.

So we're embracing the change and hoping for the best. To say goodbye and because their last day lands on the same day as their Halloween parties, we're sending these cute little pumpkin goodbyes.

The goodbye notes weren't printed when I took these pictures but I'll probably tie a ribbon to secure the notes to the suckers. Use your imagination.

The idea came from here, although I didn't use the same supplies. I didn't want to spend too much after having to already buy the suckers, so I used what was around the house.

First, to make the tissue paper stick and not rip off the suckers right away, I cut small pieces of tape and punctured holes for the sticks to slide through. The sticky part is on the outside.

Then I slid small circles of tissue paper up and over each sucker.

*I just caught my 2 year old on his way up the stairs with a package of hot dogs saying "I want mutturd!" *

Wrapped a small piece of tape around the top...

Followed by a piece if green tissue for the stem. I found it easier to roll a tiny piece of tape first and stick it to one end before wrapping to keep the stem in place. Then when it was wrapped, it had something to stick to.

The boys put faces on them...

And we ended up with these...

Pumpkinfest

It's been a busy week around here. My goal of posting three times a week is going to be seriously compromised if like this week, I don't get around to posting about the weekend until Wednesday.

With Jason moving out, the budget has taken a major hit. We're still alright, but I just really have to watch additional spending. This weekend though, there were events all over town and so I caved a bit and brought the three older kids to the local farm for Pumpkin Fest.

We live about 5 minutes from this farm so we visit it often, but once every fall they add all sorts of fun family activities.

This spider is around every year...creepy!


This is a new one and probably my fave

The witch

Noah at the 'Gourd Toss'

The view from our hay ride of the other group.
Reminds me of growing up in Ontario.

The province we now live in is nicknamed the 'Rock'

Scooby! The poor kids were freezing!

Eating lunch while waiting for the other passengers on the hay ride

This was inside a haunted maze.

I seriously couldn't even see the kids when I took this picture.
Just had to point the camera and hope for the best. Poor Micah is beyond froze.

It was cold and gray with light rain but I couldn't get a decent picture of this guy

Petting the pumpkin dinosaur

We had fun and our total for the day with admission, lunch, games, free hot chocolate and treats was only $21. And that Works for Me.

A Halloween "Boo"

Nothing has been decided regarding Micah's costume issue. Im still hoping he'll figure it out himself in the next week or so. Jamie however came home from Grandma's yesterday with three more costumes. He already had three (hand-me-down) to choose from! Maybe I should create a costume box in the little's room for year-round dress up?

Anyway.

Have you heard of a "Halloween Boo?"

Linda talked about it last year and I sooo wanted to do it, but for one reason or another it didn't happen. So when she posted last week about this years' boo, I went for it.

After school on Thursday, we stopped by the dollar store to pick up a few things. I found that spider web paper and printed the poem, instructions and 'boo' sign on it. Other things that were included: chocolate, candies, chips, sitckers, halloween mug with individual hot chocolate, decorations and a few spiders and bugs thrown in for good measure.

Then Micah and his friend Lucas (in the front)* waited for dark to deliver them. We specifically chose two families that have lots of children and that we don't know very well. The third went to our 10 year old neighbour who loves Halloween.

Our neighbour caught them but the other two houses probably have no idea who sent them their 'Boo's! I chose the houses I did in hopes that they would carry on the fun and deliver more 'Boo's to the rest of the street. Jason was skeptical. He doesn't think a lot of parents would go through the effort. I hope he's wrong.

This morning while driving the kids to school, I got my first indicator that this might actually work: All three houses had their 'Boo' signs taped to their doors! That's step one! I can only hope that they're planning the who and the what for their own night-time game.

*Why is Lucas in so many of our pictures? I've probably posted three or four of this kid so far on this blog!

Halloween...Thoughts?

I've always been aware of the differing attitudes towards Halloween.

Growing up, some of my friends didn't participate.

My family always did but in talking with my mom years later, she shared her desire to make the day about "fun" not "scary." As a child, I never noticed. That's how good she was.

If I had realised that she was keeping us away from something or not allowing us to do something, I would have totally caused a fuss! Looking back though, I cant remember a single instance of my mother not allowing me to do something for Halloween.

My own experience as a mother is turning out quite different. Micah who only recently turned 9, has decided that he would rather not go out for Halloween then buy a suitable costume. He wants to be "death" or some other creepy thing, which I will just not allow. I caved last year and let him wear a skeleton mask with his ninja costume, but that's the farthest I've allowed it.

I understand that he's getting older and wants the costumes that his friends will think are "cool" but I just don't want to invite those kinds of things into my home. I don't mind my children dressing up in fun costumes and going around collecting candy. To me, there's no harm in that. But when they start bringing in the decorations, costumes and even pranks that are designed just to scare people, well I don't like that.

So what do I do? I won't allow him to manipulate me with his refusal to participate, but I also don't want him to miss out when at the last minute he decides that he really does want to go out. I've thought about just buying him some costume that I think he'd like and putting it away in case he changes his mind. But is that the right choice? Am I encouraging the behaviour, or rescuing him from feeling the consequences? Advice?