Saturday, September 5, 2009

Grocery Planning


After perusing the local grocery store ads, I've concluded that the bulk of our grocery shopping will take place at Ralphs this week. With $80 to spend for a week's allotment of groceries, this will be a challenging trip.

My first focus is finding the best values on meat. I already have frozen chicken tenders and sirloin patties, so I'm looking to round things out with some pork. Ralphs has pork roast on sale for $1.99 per pound and smoked sausage for $2.00 each. The next focus is on produce. The following deals on produce will round out the essentials:
  • Green grapes - $.49
  • personal watermelon - $1.47 each
  • peeled carrots - $.79
  • peaches/nectarines - $.79
  • Mushrooms - $1.79
  • Russet Potatoes - 2 lbs/$1.00
  • Broccoli - $.99
I'll add in some dairy, bread products and paper goods, plus crackers, flour, lunch meat and jello paired with coupons that will double and I think I may have a few bucks leftover to bargain hunt for some extras like chips, granola bars and other miscellaneous goodies.

Eighty bucks should be plenty.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Not Forgotten

I haven't forgotten about my blog. I've just been a little too busy to write. Well, actually I've been pretty darn distracted with the life circumstances I find myself in right now. My husband's job loss has caused a lot of changes in our household. There have been shifts in responsibilities and roles. Laundry is no longer a concern of mine - yay! But menus, grocery shopping, meal prep and clean up still mine to manage. House cleaning is up for grabs, which means it usually doesn't happen - ugh! Taxi Dad has replaced Taxi Mom. Plus, there is the slow drain of energy that comes from pondering all the what-ifs of the unemployed life.

Add to that the increase of hours in my work schedule and I'm finding myself struggling to stay awake much past 8:00 some evenings. Our company website will soon launch and hopefully the stress associated with that project will diminish significantly. At least I can hope.

In the last week there was an ending of a long-standing commitment that will allow me to attend services regularly at my church, which I haven't done in many years. I'm so looking forward to that and hoping that the release from that commitment will allow me more time to blog.

It is my desire to establish more of a routine with Thankful Kim. As things settle down this fall I would like to think that I will regain focus. For now, my primary objective is making it through the next week with groceries in the house and a happy spirit. I'm hopeful that the coming week will bring more blessings than frustrations. I'm prayerful that an upcoming job interview for my husband will bring employment. I'm a feeling a tiny bit melancholy because my baby girl is going to start her senior year at high school. I'm encouraged because my son's first weeks at college have been full of good experiences. Life is so full. There is so much for which to be thankful. It's funny how easy it is to forget that.