another funny kendall and grocery shopping

I knew I forgot to write something else funny that Kendall said recently in the below post.

A big no-no at our house is standing on the furniture. It's a huge safety issue, and Kendall has actually suffered natural consequences several times because she failed to obey. (She's also been disciplined repeatedly for it!) Kendall is also one of those kids who is very aware when others aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing, and we are forever correcting this issue as well. For example, when Christian is at our house on Monday evenings, Kendall is very quick to point out when he is throwing something or touching something that is off-limits. Kendall also likes to tell us who cries in the church nursery and why, and who gets put in time-out at school. She is a very, very typical "oldest girl" child.

So anyway, we were at the mall in Nashville with Heather a few weeks ago, and went in the Limited. All of the mannequins were standing on these platform boxes. Obviously speaking of the mannequins and not realizing they weren't real people, Kendall said, "She's standing up." I replied with, "Yes, she is standing up." Kendall says, "She needs to sit down." HA HA HA!!!



Now to the grocery shopping....

Most of you know that I am pretty organized with my meal planning and grocery shopping. I actually REALLY enjoy this part of being a wife and mother and feel like I'm so-so good at it. (There is ALWAYS room for improvement, right??)

However, for about a year, I have NOT been all that great at sticking with our budgeted amount of money. It wasn't that I was overspending terribly, it was just that neither Evan nor I were really paying that close attention. It had kind-of just become a given that we would go over in groceries, but not a big deal.

I knew, though, that there were PLENTY of ladies out there feeding their MUCH larger families for a lot less than what we'd been budgeting, not to mention what we were spending each month!!! The spending wasn't really a life-or-death situation with us, but I just KNEW I could do better.

Sooo...in November, I started taking out cash again. That way, I could really keep track of how much I was spending. (We budget a monthly amount, but since I do my shopping weekly, we divide the monthly amount into weeks.) Because of a Sam's trip in October, I was under budget in November, but was back over budget in December AND the first week of January. Uggh...I just knew there had to be a way to shop for less....

Sooo...I talked to a few of my friends (and the wife of a co-worker) who are big coupon people to get some tips. For the last three weeks, I picked up a Sunday paper, clipped coupons, and matched sales with the coupons. For the month of January I am (drumroll please....) about $50 under budget!!!

And actually, I think I could have been even more under budget, but Evan spent about $20 on random things and I used some of the grocery money when Kendall and I went to Nashville. I'm also having a Pampered Chef party on Friday and paid a little more for a few items that I wouldn't have normally bought. I'm okay with that, though...the money was there to do it.

I shopped mainly at Kroger this month, and with my Kroger Plus Card, will also save on gas. A Kroger with a gas station is conveniently placed between my work and Kendall's school, so it makes stopping for gas not such a pain. I also did a couple of trips to Wal-Greens, and got some great deals on items we use regularly.

I will be really anxious to see how February plays out, since it is a short month. I have a plan for the extra savings and would like to use it to pad our gifts envelope, since that is a category I always wish there was more money. (Although Evan said that if I am consistently WAY under budget, he might cut our grocery budget a little bit, but I told him if I am consistently under budget, I just wasn't going to tell him. HA!) BUT I am trying to decide if I should take the extra money from January and stock up on some freezer items. Any suggestions????