So I Was Shopping The Other Day...

Since school is out and I have all three kids 24/7, that includes when I go to the grocery store.  Oh so lovely let me tell you*cough, cough*  I haven't been to the regular grocery store in I swear almost a month.  We have been surviving off of Costco shopping.  Now if you have ever shopped at Costco, you know you spend at least a hundred bones every time ya go in the place, and half of the time when I get home from that place, I look at what I have and I think, "What the heck!!  I only have this much after spending that much!! I so should have done my coupon website!!" It's quite depressing to see how much more money I spend when I don't plan out my meals and follow the budget.  Then I remind myself I just need to get myself together and get back on a menu plan and back to doing my couponing.

I have been such a lazy butt when it comes to planning out the menu's and being frugal with our spending in our food budget area. Just taking one look at how much we spent in food last month just about gave me a heart attack!!  But I will tell you, I think I am sick of the same ole same ole food.  I just don't even want to cook sometimes.  I just need new staples...

Well, yesterday I made a commitment to myself to get back on it and to plan some new meals!! So I dreadingly loaded the kids up and after my hour of scourging the ads and doing my dealstomeals.com website and we headed to the store.  I chose Smith's today, because they had most of everything I was in need of for my meal planning this week, and I didn't really feel like dealing with the price matching at Walmart with all the kiddies. 

So, we enter the store and I am thanking my lucky stars there is one of those carts that looks like a go cart with two driving wheels left so at least Bubba and Sissy can entertain themselves behind the wheels.  Now all I have to worry about is the White Tornado(another name for the oldest).  So throughout the trip inevitably there are a few extra items added to our cart from the little hands(Sissy's).  Those car carts are at just the right level for all the little items she can reach.  It is always interesting to see what we end up with by the end of the shopping trip.  Bubba knows better so he regularly calls out, "Sissy grabbed another food mom!"  I just don't have the energy to take it away and deal with a tantrum this round, so I just let her grab and I do my best to keep her out of reach of anything in the isles.

So, like I said, I already knew there would be items in the cart I wasn't planning on buying, thanks to Lila.  My plan was to just hand the items over to the cashier as we were checking out.  So at least if she throws a fit when I take the goods away from her, we are close to being done and that much closer to ending our shopping trip, therefore avoiding an embarrassing long and drawn out tantrum throughout the store. 

Spencer, is very helpful when it comes to loading the items onto the checkout table.  As he is helping me, he grabs some of the items Sissy had grabbed. She doesn't notice, luckily.  Immediately I say, "Oh buddy, don't put that up there, we aren't going to buy that."  He then says, loud and clear for the cashier and the ladies behind me to hear him, "Oh are we going to steal this stuff Mom?"  I about dropped my drawers!  I was so embarrassed.  I immediately snapped at him, "Of course we aren't going to steal it, we are putting it back!" I felt kind of bad afterwards for snapping at him, but I was seriously so embarrassed and didn't know what to say.  Who knows what all of those ladies were thinking I teach my kids( I know I really shouldn't care what those people think, but I was embarrassed).  After we got home, we had ourselves a little discussion about that.  We definitely don't steal.  Spencer did say, "Well Mom, you said we weren't going to buy it, so I thought you were going to steal it."  Well son, I'm glad you think so highly of your mother! But now you know, if we aren't buying it, we are putting it back! ;)