Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Yogurt, Yogurt, Yogurt.

Okay, I've been going to a lot of blogs which are having yogurt giveaway entry opportunities.  The brands being given away are wonderful.  Yet, you may or may not have noticed I haven't entered any of these giveaway entry opportunities.  Why you may ask?  The answer is because of my hubby.
The last time we went to Sam's club he bought so much yogurt.  Actually one of the brands mentioned in most of the giveaways at various great blog/review sites.  However, he didn't check the expiration date.  They were pretty short.  Now this family is having to force feed themselves the yogurt before it expires on us and it's wasted money down the drain. 
I like Sam's club and the great values you can get, but one must remember to check the expiration dates and think can our family possibly use this all up by then or not.  We didn't do that.  I go shopping with a list and what we need to get, but I have a husband that adds to what we end up picking up in the store while we are in there.  I think we'll be leaving here and it will only cost such and such.  Then we hit the check-out and I view the added items in the cart.  I cringe, but there they are. 
I know, I know, complain, complain, complain.  Many of you out there would love to have a husband that would go and help you grocery shop.  That's all well and good, if it's actually help and they stick to the list, but if they go wandering off and you don't know where they are, start sticking items into the carts without telling you and don't compare brands with the coupons you have, it can actually undermine your attempts at keeping on track with the grocery budget.
I'm feeling a slight sense of dread come over me as we gear up to go major grocery shopping very soon once again.  I'm doing all the right things, cutting and organizing the coupons, planning out meals and what we'll need, but it can all come undone.  Yet, somehow I never let it.  I usually purposely shop under the price point the budget will allow just to make allowances for these types of things he does.  It's called a compromise, yet it's one he's not aware of.  I don't argue with him about the things I find in the grocery cart, I just tell him to let me have a minute so I can check and see if we have a coupon we can use along with that.  As I tabulate the subtotal with each item we get I do that at full price and not with the coupon subtracted.  That helps me to cover some of what he does.  When I'm tabulating in my head with each item and say my total is now $123.39, I just round it up in my head to $124 before I add the next item on to it.  That also seems to help cover some of what he throws in that I don't know about and also for some of the taxes there may be at the end on none grocery type items (cleaning supplies etc.). 
Have I ever gone over our allotted budget?  Yes, a few times, by $5 to maybe $25 dollars, but rarely because of the way I now do this.  So if any others out there that have a spouse that shops with you and  throws stuff in the basket, not on your shopping list, I suggest maybe you try the above system to help you stay within budget.
Here's to living in a tight economy.

3 comments:

  1. I have so done that before. LOL There was a sale once were I could get this specific type of kid's yogurt for like $10 per 6 pack. I bought a ton and then realized it was all about to expire and the kids had it at every meal every day.

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  2. I notice too that yogurt expires pretty quickly. Although plain yogurt usually lasts a few weeks.

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  3. Well, I think I convinced the hubster that we won't be doing this anymore. We're still eating on it. Hope we get it ate up in time. I'm so tired of it already.

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