The economy seems to be a black hole surrounding every working family in America today. I have noticed a recent barrage of grocer ads on the television, online, in the paper and even in my mailbox, all promising the lowest, cheapest prices. Double coupons, frequent shopper points and in store savings.
The one thing that I have noticed as I have shopped, is that most of the local grocers have not only raised prices, but they have limited the quantities of items on the shelves. Now, I have taken into consideration the cost of gas and shipping, but really, does a box of Kraft mac and cheese have to cost $1.50? Aldi's sells mac and cheese that tastes just as goof for $.39 a box. You can buy 10 boxes for $3.90 there, cereal costs 1.49-1.89 for the store brand. Kroger brand (and not the extra value) starts at $2.99, let's face it folks frosted flakes are frosted flakes, pour a them in a bowl, add milk and you would not know the difference.
Frequent shopper points: Shop with us and receive a point for every dollar and you will be able to use these for..blah...blah...blah. Ok, stores do this to bring in loyalty, great hook, I'm in, I have those little plastic key tags for every local store. These have become the electronic equivalent of the green stamp, but instead of pasting squares to a card, the purchases are saved and usually logged at the end of the receipt. Now, depending on the store, it can be a LONG time before you ever have enough points to make the purchases worth while. Some stores use the accrued dollar amount, such as a $10.00 coupon for every $150.00 spent. A pain. One of the best stores for coupons is Justice. This is a girls clothing chain, I signed up for emails and have received 40% coupons on a regular basis. This includes the ENTIRE purchase and sale items!!!! My daughter loves the clothing and lets face it 40% off makes a HUGE difference at the end of the register bill.
I would love to hear your opinions on store deals, register cards, frequents shopper cards and coupons. Your favorites and not so favorites.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Mass Chaos...or as I like to call it the kids have gone back to school.
Mass Chaos.....or as I like to call it The kids have gone back to school.
A moment of silence and a hot coffee....ahhhh..... Why is this bliss you ask? Easy, my darling children (ok, my cabin fevered spawn) have returned to school after two weeks of holiday break. The last week of break was spent indoors due to the unpredictably of Midwest winter weather, plummeting the temperatures into the single and negative digits. This morning, the headed off to their respective buildings of learning, bundled like Eskimos, the only visible parts of their faces being their eyes. So I stuffed snow pants into the backpacks of my grade schoolers and my middle schooler actually left the house wearing his hat, gloves and scarf, (as he said his friends can be idiots and be cold, he'd rather be warm). We drove around the block, and yes I drove around the block, it was a balmy 9 degrees and I could not believe the number of children that were without hats, gloves, scarfs, boots and even heavy winter jackets!!! Parents were letting children out of their cars like this!!! WHAT????? Really, you would send your child to school dressed in a sweatshirt and no coat because you drove them to school? COME ON!!!
There are families in our school that have been the recipients of hat, coat and glove donations, but these are not the families that I am referring to.
Now over and over I have heard such excuses as well, she gets too hot, he just doesn't want to, he's picky about what he wears, we didn't have time to find everything this morning.
When did our generation stop parenting? When did we insist on being friends instead of moms and dads? When did we start to think that dressing cool was much more important that keeping our children healthy?
So my question of the day to any and all parents, grandparents and caregivers, how do you handle your child's request or demands of fashion? Are you a slave to the fashion industry? Does your child have to have the latest in shoes and jeans or is your families fashion more practical ruled by the family budget?
A moment of silence and a hot coffee....ahhhh..... Why is this bliss you ask? Easy, my darling children (ok, my cabin fevered spawn) have returned to school after two weeks of holiday break. The last week of break was spent indoors due to the unpredictably of Midwest winter weather, plummeting the temperatures into the single and negative digits. This morning, the headed off to their respective buildings of learning, bundled like Eskimos, the only visible parts of their faces being their eyes. So I stuffed snow pants into the backpacks of my grade schoolers and my middle schooler actually left the house wearing his hat, gloves and scarf, (as he said his friends can be idiots and be cold, he'd rather be warm). We drove around the block, and yes I drove around the block, it was a balmy 9 degrees and I could not believe the number of children that were without hats, gloves, scarfs, boots and even heavy winter jackets!!! Parents were letting children out of their cars like this!!! WHAT????? Really, you would send your child to school dressed in a sweatshirt and no coat because you drove them to school? COME ON!!!
There are families in our school that have been the recipients of hat, coat and glove donations, but these are not the families that I am referring to.
Now over and over I have heard such excuses as well, she gets too hot, he just doesn't want to, he's picky about what he wears, we didn't have time to find everything this morning.
When did our generation stop parenting? When did we insist on being friends instead of moms and dads? When did we start to think that dressing cool was much more important that keeping our children healthy?
So my question of the day to any and all parents, grandparents and caregivers, how do you handle your child's request or demands of fashion? Are you a slave to the fashion industry? Does your child have to have the latest in shoes and jeans or is your families fashion more practical ruled by the family budget?
Friday, January 1, 2010
Why am I still awake.....
Ahhh, the million dollar question of the evening seems to be "why am I still awake?"
Are there any other readers out there that suffer from what I have always referred to as the after effects of the holiday rush, the go, go, go and run, run, run. I have always wondered how many other moms out there suffer from the too much coffee, what can I do, too much to still syndrome. What I mean by this is we seem to dash like mad in an attempt to accomplish all of our holiday tasks. We shop, wrap, clean, cook, bake, drive to concerts, plays and school shop nights. We assist in class parties, bake sales, food drives and when the holidays end, we find ourselves exhausted and in desperate need for a weeks worth of sleep. Yet here I sit, with a case of laryngitis, wide awake and wondering why this is. My friends joke that it may be the several pots of coffee that I manage to consume on a daily basis, (ok, that may have something to do with it.) So my question of the evening (or early morning as it has now become) how many other moms or dads are still awake and are wondering why.
Are there any other readers out there that suffer from what I have always referred to as the after effects of the holiday rush, the go, go, go and run, run, run. I have always wondered how many other moms out there suffer from the too much coffee, what can I do, too much to still syndrome. What I mean by this is we seem to dash like mad in an attempt to accomplish all of our holiday tasks. We shop, wrap, clean, cook, bake, drive to concerts, plays and school shop nights. We assist in class parties, bake sales, food drives and when the holidays end, we find ourselves exhausted and in desperate need for a weeks worth of sleep. Yet here I sit, with a case of laryngitis, wide awake and wondering why this is. My friends joke that it may be the several pots of coffee that I manage to consume on a daily basis, (ok, that may have something to do with it.) So my question of the evening (or early morning as it has now become) how many other moms or dads are still awake and are wondering why.
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