The Toaster Strudel of the Day

Raging hormones have hit me. I managed to surpass most of them so far throughout this pregnancy. However, as the third trimester hits and I close in on a due date, I periodically go psycho.  I temporarily lose my mind. There is no tornado watch or warning, it just hits. One moment I'm eating a breakfast pastry, the next moment my hands are shaking and all of a sudden I am highly frustrated and angry with something. What I'm frustrated or angry about no one knows, but the cream cheese frosting on my pastry is now all over my black shirt.

 I'm in the grocery store looking for brownies. They don't have the brownies I want. I came for something else, but don't know what. Oh, yeah. Lunch. What do you want for lunch, my husband asks me. I don't know. What did you come in here for? Brownies, bread and something for lunch. We circle the entire grocery store aimlessly, while I become quite flustered that they don't have the brownies. What do you want to eat? I don't know what I  want to eat. What about this? What about that? No, no, no! I don't know what I want to eat; I just know I don't want that. And why don't they have the brownies? I begin to become highly anxious about eating lunch. I'm on the verge of tears. Now, I'm searching for bread. Why is it so expensive? That's twice what I would pay somewhere else. Now, I'm not getting brownies or bread. Jamie, what are we going to get for lunch? He asks again. I don't know. Will you please stop asking me what I want to eat for lunch? He walks out of the store. I follow. In the car I start to sob. Amidst my anguished tears I am moaning that I don't know why I'm crying. I don't know why I'm so upset. I have no idea what I want to eat. The thought of deciding makes me hysterical. Please don't ask me again. Just make a decision for me. What is wrong with me? Why am I so upset? I feel like a pyscho and a loser. His response: It's your "Toaster Strudel of trhe Day" moment. Huh? What are you talking about? You have these once a day now. It's just because you're pregnant. You are not psycho or a loser. I have these once a day? Really? Yes, he says while laughing.

And thus begins the new phase of my life-"Toaster Strudel of the Day Moments."

How I Became the CVS Bandit

Any pregnant woman knows that you can only take certain medications for the safety of your unborn child.  So, when you are sick, it’s extra important to make sure you buy the right kind. That’s why, when I ran out of Robitussin today, I carried my old bottle with me into the store. Just as I reached the cold medicine aisle of CVS, an announcement for security to scan all aisles was made. I thought to myself “Hmm…I wonder what they are taking and if it’s some teenager since school is closed?” I stare for a while at the six different Robitussin bottles on the shelf, looking back and forth between my Target-brand bottle and theirs, trying to find the same kind. I finally find the right one and realize it is $10.79 for the CVS brand!

Just then, I look up at the pharmacy and realize the pharmacist is staring at me. In my innocent naivete, I think “He’s probably wondering if I need help because I keep staring at the bottle in my hand versus theirs.” I debate for a few seconds whether I want instant cold relief at the abuse of my wallet or delayed cough suppression at the relief of my wallet. Like any sane, poor person, I decide I can wait.

 As I leave the store and get in my car, I realize a CVS employee has followed me out of the store and is staring at me in my car. I sit for a second and think “Is the person that stole something nearby?" I look around the parking lot and realize I am the only person there. So, I look back at her and realize she’s still staring at me. I think, “Does she think I stole something?” I sit in my car, waiting to see if she is going to walk over and address me. The whole time I’m thinking “How is she going to feel when she realizes all I have is my Up & Up brand of empty cough syrup?” Finally, after realizing she’s not moving, just staring, I decide “Maybe she isn’t looking at me. After all, I didn’t steal anything and I walked in the store with the bottle in hand, clearly out in the open. I’m just being paranoid.” As I reverse the car and turn out of the parking lot, I catch her writing down my license number!! I think to myself, “Does she seriously think I stole something?”

I can just read the “Wanted” headlines now: “Pregnant, Sick Woman Flees Store, Coughing with Stolen Robitussin!” I mean, “Really? You’re selling store brand Robitussin for $10.79 a bottle when Target has it for $4.04!! Who’s really getting robbed here?”

Journeying with Jamie: The Living Frugal Edition

Grocery Tips for Frugal Living

1. Create a meal plan. My number one recommendation for anyone living on a budget is to create a meal plan. Don’t go to the grocery store unless you know what you are going to buy and all of those items on the list can make a healthy dinner. Yes, it is time consuming at first, but if you make a list of meals in advance you don’t spend countless hours walking up and down the aisles trying to decide what looks good for dinner, make several trips to and from the store in one week because you don’t have all the ingredients or worse, eat out because you have nothing to make! I promise you will save time and money! lNeed new recipe ideas? Ask a friend or visit my favorite recipe site Allrecipes.com!

2. Aldi. Everyone needs to know where their local Aldi is; and I pray you have one! Not only do they offer great products at the best value, but because options are limited you won’t spend hours in the grocery store trying to decide which of the ten different tomato paste brands to buy. Tomato paste is tomato paste people; why pay an extra 50 cents for a cuter can??

3. Realistic Recipes. Earlier I mentioned my favorite recipe site, Allrecipes.com. Everyone loves to try new dishes, but many of us make the mistake of adding unrealistic recipes to our cooking repertoire. If the goal is to make more meals at home and save money, then we need to choose recipes that we actually have the time to make and the ingredients on hand. Try to select recipes with ingredients that you know are staples in your household. Then you aren’t spending time and money on meals that your family may or may not enjoy.

4. Price List. This tip comes from a fellow frugalista at my church. Take a trip through your most frequented grocery stores and make a price comparison list (on absolutely everything you might by.) Then, you will honestly know where to get the best deals!

5. Use What You Have! How many of us are guilty of looking in the refrigerator and saying we have nothing to make for dinner, even though our cabinets are overflowing from previous grocery purchases? Stop shopping until your refrigerator drawers and cabinet shelves really are empty! Get creative and throw together some meals with the ingredients you have. Many online recipe sites will give you the option of listing the ingredients you want to use and they will compile a list of delicious dinner options for you!

6. Coupons. You don’t have to go coupon crazy to value the dollars saved. Clip coupons and check out online coupon sites to save a few extra dollars. Many stores now have coupon kiosks that will print new coupons every few days. Scan your card and start to save. (Stay tuned for a later post on how to value the coupon without having to become a guest star on a reality coupon TV. show.)

7. Don’t fall for the “Sale!” signs. Now, I love a good sale as much as anyone, especially on clothes or anything in my local Target, but most of the time the “sale” is just a ruse to get you to buy something you weren’t planning on buying anyway! If you really were going to buy 10 boxes of Hamburger Helper, then by all means, hit up that 10 for $10 sale, but if it wasn’t on your list to begin with don’t buy it!

8. Don’t Craving Shop! All of us do it. You’re driving home from work and your craving homemade lasagna or a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Don’t do it. Don’t pull in to the grocery store parking lot and buy that craving, even if it is a dinner craving as opposed to a snack craving. Neither are on the meal plan, both are temporary and both, alas, cost you extra money that won’t be well spent!

9. Limit the snacks. Make a list of the snacks you and your family enjoy and limit which ones you are planning on buying. You don’t have to buy every snack you like, save some for the next trip. You spend and spoil less!

10. That Old Adage. Everyone knows it, but we still all do it. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry. By the end of the trip you will have bought every item in sight, won’t want to eat a single one of them by the time you get home because you will be so tired and hungry that you stopped at old faithful on the way home anyway: Mickey D’s!