It's a Team's Life

Learning to shop for less

By Linda Caffee
Posted Apr 5th 2018 5:52AM

With a family of four and living in a small town of less than 2500, we could save enough money by stocking up on supplies and sales when we were out of town to pay for the trip.  We would buy canned goods, paper goods, laundry soap, dish soap, and anything that would not perish quickly.  That habit became ingrained and is hard to kick.   I still have a habit of seeing something on sale that I need and wanting to buy at least two to save money.  In the long run, though, this often causes me to lose money. 

When the cabinets are too full to buy essentials, we have a problem.  I no longer have the room to store my sale items and I no longer need to stock up on supplies.   Our goal is to stop by a grocery store every week and while sometimes it might be a little more than a week we have not had a problem of going hungry.

I have found it beneficial to keep an extra roll of paper towels, paper plates, paper bowls, and something I really dislike running out of an extra can of coffee.  When I first got my Keurig I bought the pods, but I really disliked the price of the pods and then one day I found Perfect Pod EZ Cup Filters at Target and I have not bought a pod since. These little filters are very easy to use, do not make a mess, and easy to throw away after one use.  The only place I have them though is at Target.  The filters use a little reusable container that I leave in the Keurig at all times so I do not lose it.

I still keep staples in the truck if needed, soup, canned tomatoes, so that if needed I can make something quickly.  We eat a lot of fresh foods and over time I have found myself going less and less to my canned goods to complete a meal. 

Using a grocery list has always helped me to not buy a lot of stuff and have nothing to make!  When the girls were at home we got paid every two weeks and I make a meal list for two weeks and what I would need to buy, I still do that now but to a lot smaller scale.  This also keeps me from have a lot of stuff but nothing to complete a meal.  Even with my list I still want to buy just one more onion, lemon, or package of celery just in case. 

Another problem I am sure all of us run into is when creating a meal and the recipe calls for one teaspoon of something.  Do we skip that ingredient or buy much more than needed and figure out how to store it?  I have to many spices in the truck due to this and I am going to start learning to not buying that ingredient if the current recipe is the only recipe I will use it in. 

Over time I believe I will get to where I can control my purchases and just because there is an empty space in my cabinet I do not have to fill it.  I recognize I have a problem and that I am working to control my problem!

Bob & Linda Caffee

TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO

Expediters since January 2005

[email protected]

 

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