Playing the Game

Lest you think that I only make goals for my children, I will let you know that my challenge since the New Year has been to reduce expenses. Something about the paycheck (even though it was very part-time) officially ending, and the adoption expenses kicking into high gear, and the economy being so awful, and so many jobs being lost, etc. I decided it was time to put the brakes on the spending big time. Yes, it is in my nature to be frugal, and by that I mean that even though I can spend with the best of them, it always makes me feel guilty unless I am buying for someone else (yes, kids probably count as someone else). I'm telling you, something is set in my brain to feel massive amounts of guilt if I even look at, for instance, a pair of jeans that cost over $30. Yes, my brain is also stuck in 80s prices. So I guess I would say that I'm NOT frugal, but I do rake myself over the coals for not being frugal.

One thing I've been doing has been asking myself every time I go to purchase something "Do I really, really need this right now?" And that has cut down on impulse Target purchases like Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day decorations. Even though they were on super-discount sale and so cute, and I'm sure my house is empty without them!

The other thing is that I started a thing called The Grocery Game. I had heard it mentioned very favorably from a number of other mothers in the area. I was reluctant, because you do have to pay to play, and you have to do some extra planning. Groceries and planning do not mesh well for me. I finally had settled into a Sunday shop routine, and had started using coupons a lot. I'd been saving about 10-12% of my bill, including Kroger card savings and coupons. That was a big improvement over the days when I was working and would occasionally clip coupons but would never, ever, ever...ever... remember to actually give them to the cashier.

The Grocery Game provides a list of the best prices, when combined with coupons, and they tell you where to find the coupons and basically when to use them. They say there is about a 12-week cycle of things going on sale, and so if you buy everything at just the right time and stockpile enough to last 12 weeks, you'll save huge amounts. Stockpiling - also not a strength of mine. I've never, ever had the urge to buy an extra freezer or even buy anything more than what I need for one week.

I signed up for a free one-month trial, and so far it's going....okay. I am still very disorganized - always flipping through pages of lists and trying to decode the list to see where to find the right coupon, and going to more stores than I ever have before to get the best deals. One particularly harrowing day last week, I had Natalie with me (did I mention harrowing?) and I kept having to backtrack through aisles to find things I'd forgotten, and the coupons were all over the place, and Natalie was in and out of that little car-cart about 200 times because she couldn't decide whether she wanted to ride or walk...ride or walk...ride or walk. I was so fed up and stressed out by the whole experience that I was swearing to myself that I would quit this silly game and just clip coupons the normal way. I got to the checkout and it rang up $108. Yikes! This was my second shop of the week, and I didn't think it would be that big, although I did have numerous "stock-up" items. I was gritting my teeth at that point.

Then the cashier scanned my loyalty card and took my coupons, and ka-ching, ka-ching, the new total was $52! The cashier looked at me and nodded her head in approval, and said "Wow. That's good." And yes. It was. It was good. Kind of like sinking a beautiful putt in an otherwise lousy golf game. Just enough to make me continue, even though it gave me a pounding headache and the urge to pull out all my hair.

No, don't even ask if my dear husband is on board. The man who actually prefers for me to purchase things willy-nilly because it would then lessen his own guilt. He just thinks it's all craziness.