Groceries, my Dad and Relay for Life

It's been one of those weekends where it feels like 500 things have happened and it's only just after lunch on Sunday. And the best part is, it's a long weekend. I'm spending tomorrow pool side at my brothers. God bless family with pools.

So I did grocery shopping yesterday. Not exciting to read about, I know, but I have to share the valuable lessons I've learned. We've covered how I try to shop on a budget. I always go with a list, I always stick to that list and I preplan all meals so that I'm not shopping mid week for dinners. Those are my cost saving strategies. I go to great lengths to avoid the grocery store if it's not shopping day (to the point that I buy three 4 litre bags of milk to get us through the week)
Anyhow, last week, during a discussion about grocery bills someone mentioned to me that she always price matches when she shops. Now, price matchers are a pet peeve of mine. I swear they wait until it's the busiest time of day to stand at the cash and price match 45 items, flipping through flyers and holding up the line. If you want to price match, do it when the store is not busy. PLEASE!!! And for God sake, be organized about it!
Again, getting away from my story. So I thought I'd see if there was anything to this. If I can save $10 in a shopping trip, that's $10 I can use somewhere else. So, I waited until naptime and made my shopping list. Then I scoured the flyers. Because there are two things I had already decided on. I wasn't looking at flyers until the list was made so as not to be drawn by sale prices to add to the list items that I wouldn't have otherwise bought. And because I am in a dinner rut and thought that maybe something in there would look like a good enough to fit into this weeks rotation.
So I meticulously scanned those flyers, marking on my list the items I would price match and which flyer they were in. First thing Saturday morning I took my list, my bags and my flyers and headed to WalMart
Now here is where the real learning too place.
We all know I'm a grocery snob. Certain items will not be substituted while others are okay to be. It's Heinz Ketchup for this family (but generic mustard is fine) It's Maxwell House coffee but store brand bread.
So, here's my for instance. I got 3 packs of Red Hots hot dogs (our usual brand) for $5. That's a deal! But, the cereal, though I could have price matched a 330g box for $2.49, we go through at least twice that in a week. So it worked out to be cheaper to just buy my usual big box for $6
In the end, though I'd had about 15 items marked on my list for price matching, I only ended up getting the hot dogs, some yogurt and cheese with it. The rest of the items weren't really a good deal, and cheaper to buy my size or brand. And now I think to myself, I saved maybe $6 on those items but at what cost? I spent an hour with those stupid flyers, an hour I'll never get back.
Lesson learned. Price matching isn't really worth the flyers its printed on.


We buried my Dad's ashes yesterday. It was hard. I find myself missing him more and more as time goes on. It's a little strange I guess because in my (almost) 36 years I've only ever lived away from him for about 2 years. And even though my Dad wasn't one to sit around and chit chat he was still a presence. And that presence isn't here anymore. It's silly that I miss things like him coming upstairs and talking to Connor in his high chair. Or driving into the driveway and seeing him standing in the garage. We never really talked a lot but that was okay. He was there. For years I couldn't sleep if I didn't hear my dad awake. Just knowing he was awake in the other room made me feel safe. I miss that feeling. I miss him.

I am happy to report though that after only 6 days our team in the 2010 Relay for Life "Papa's Pride" has reached it's goal of $500. And I thought I was setting the bar high. Clearly we are blessed with a lot of loving family and friends. So the next chance I get, I'm going to increase our goal to $1000 because I know we can reach that one too!
And though I am not normally a shameless nag or beggar, I will continue to be one until next June because every dollar raised helps and I would love nothing more than to know that cancer will never take someone I love again.
So if you haven't done so already, please, please, please, click the link on the side of the page and pledge our team. Let's find a cure.