Grocery Shopping

Grocery Shopping is not one of those tasks that I enjoy. I do it because I have to. Now, I could wander around the grocery store for hours (especially in those specialty stores) and just look and take in all the new and strange items. I find it relaxing to just roam the store and dream of all the new recipes I could concoct with such great finds. Am I the only one that finds this fun? Please tell me that others find this therapeutic too!!!

I must make a list of meals that I am planning to prepare before I can make my grocery list. That way I know what items to put on my list. I have found that if I just go shopping without a list I come home with tons of groceries, but never seem to have all the ingredients to prepare an entire meal. How is it that with my pantry stocked to the gills that I can be missing an essential element to any recipe? I still don't understand how that happens. Well, it does.

Another problem with shopping is that I seem to back track in the store. As I double check my list before heading to the check out line I always find a few items that I forgot. I end up returning to parts of the store that I had just seen minutes before. Thankfully, I had them on my list though.

Well, I have found an answer to both those problems (thanks to my MIL, Bev). She told me about another professional organizers website. I found an excellent form for meal planning and my grocery list all in one place. I print out a bunch of these at one time so that I always have some on hand. They break down my list by types of foods/areas of the store. Now when I am in the produce section of the store I look at the produce section of my list. I rarely miss things on my list anymore. Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you.

One benefit to menu planning and shopping using this list is that I don't purchase as many impulse items. Knowing that I have a specific meal plan gives me a sense of peace knowing that we will eat well and that I don't have to try and fill that void by picking up junk. In turn this saves us money.

You can find it under the Personal section of free forms. It is called Grocery List/Menu Planner

Savings

I'm sure most of you are looking for deals, just as I am. A friend blogged about Cellfire earlier this year. I have to admit, I only used this service one time, but I was amazed at how easy it was to use. I need to try and use it more often.

Cellfire is a free service that allows you to load coupons, for local stores, directly onto your store savings card. All you do is access cellfire from your computer or mobile device. You can then save grocery coupons onto your savings card or non grocery coupons onto your mobile device. There is no longer a need for printing the coupons. When you buy those items at the grocery store the coupons are automatically deducted from your total or for non grocery items just show the coupon (on your mobile device) to the cashier. How simple is that? You can also print out a list of all the items you have added to your grocery savings card so that you remember what you added.

Let me know if you are already using this service and how it works for you.

Free Photobook

Shutterfly is offering a free 8×8 photobook (plus the cost of shipping $7.99) when you purchase the book and then type in code: PHOTOBOOKS at checkout.

This offer is good until March 10th, 2009

Thanks to Amie for the heads up.

My Goals for 2009

I'm not one to make New Years Resolutions, but I have set a few goals for myself this year. I like to set goals, but don't beat myself up if I don't attain them either. I am posting this so that I am putting a few of my goals into writing so that they are something my readers can keep me accountable for. Otherwise I know that it would be very easy to slack on them. Please feel free to ask me, occasionally, how they are going.

1) I am trying to live more frugally. I am searching for ways to cut back on our budget. I am always looking for great deals. I've started using coupons in hopes of saving a few dollars. I will also be making our bread instead of buying it from the store. I am loving the way the bread makes our house smell! Do you have any bread recipes you want to share with me? There are other ways I will be trying to save money, but I will try to share more later.

2) We are going to work really hard at creating a budget and staying on track. We have made so many budgets over the years, but that is as far as we get. We are terrible at sticking to them. I don't know why we even bother wasting our time creating them when we don't even look at them again. We are also toying around with the idea of going to a cash only system. It is so easy to spend money when we are using our debit card or credit cards. I think we will stop and think before handing over cash (at least that is the idea). We would really like to do a better job at paying off our debt and putting more into savings, retirement and saving for our children's educations.

There are more things that I would love to work on, but I know that I need to be realistic if I plan on doing any of them. Please hold me accountable to these things!

Frugal Living

My friend Amie has started a new website with great tips and info on frugal living. She is posting all kinds of useful information on saving money, using coupons, finding great deals. She just posted an amazing deal on Entertainment Books. You can get your entertainment book for only $2.25 (after rebates). You can find all the details here.