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magicicadatoday was a shopping day and i took to my mission with determination. i don't spend considerable amounts of time shopping because i don't have huge hunks of disposable cash. however, when presented with a mandate, i can accomplish. my mission was to be, shall we say efficient with our resources. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
h_postmortemus has gone from being paid twice a month to every 2 weeks and that, along with the huge jump in med insurance has caused his paychecks to shrink considerably. luckily, i am now getting fairly nice paychecks for the next month or so. my paychecks come every 2 weeks as well, but on alternate weeks which has led to us week after week, making very precise raids on the grocery store and buying just exactly what we need and no more. i suppose it's a good exercise, but some of us *coujeffgh* get very frustrated, so sylvia and i have taken to foraging on our own.
mission 1: the grocery store
budget: $60
total bill: $60.02 (am i good or what?)
reality: well, ok, i didn't get the disposable diapers or organic milk because those are both cheaper and/or better at other grocery stores.
best deals: ground turkey for .87/lb, bread for .69/loaf (it's white bread, but for that price, i'll take the nutritional hit)
sale & coupon bonus: wheat thins, frozen lunches
had to buy oddity: broccoli slaw (thin strips of broccoli, carrots, & red cabbage. it's crunchy, so we've got a hope ms sylvia will like it.)
can't fool me award: the tomato soup was cheaper individually than in the shrinkwrapped 4 pack and i had a coupon :p
worst disappointment: there was some obviously spoiled meat in the prepackaged cold cut department leading me to avoid the entire section and some pretty good coupons
second worst disappointment: the price of seltzer water has gone through the roof. grrr. it's hard to stock up on because the six packs are heavy and take up a lot of space. i'm planning to get some kind of water filter so that i don't have to drink icky tap water when i run out of the bubbly stuff. i have suffered much mockery, but tap water tastes nasty which means i don't drink enough.
mission 2: clothing sylvia
this mission got off on a rough start, because i got going too late to hit the consignment store. oh well, i was looking for staples: onesies, sleepers etc and i've found better deals getting those new anyways. i headed off to target and found that once again, the retail industry deserves all of the pain and torment it receives. in late august/september when the local pool was still open, i had to undergo a massive searcj to find a bathing suit for sylvia. tomorrow, we are expecting an ice storm and there were 4 racks of swimsuits. secondly, the primary focus of the infant/toddler department today was valentine's day. it's a lovely holiday, but it is only ONE DAY. i am not going to buy more than maybe one small outfit for valentine's day, if any. i do not need vast seas of pink from which to make a selection. and in fact, i rarely buy pink for any reason. it is hard to predict what size a baby is going to be three months in advance and yet target had no long sleeved onesies in sight. the high tomorrow is predicted to be in the TWENTIES. for those in metric land that's PRETTY DAMNED COLD. we are talking about MINUS territory. s'ok, we've stocked up on jackets and i was mostly looking for onesies as wardrobe builders. however, the final problem, was really mine alone. sylvia is outgrowing sleepers. there were exceptions, but most of what i found were not sleepers, but *sniff* pj's. babies just don't wear pj's and i know sylvia is getting very close to the T word, but i have the occasional problem adjusting.
in the end i found:
2 sets of pj's (purple/in the sea theme)
2 pack of blanket sleepers (pink, yes, but on clearance and one has little princesses all over it, which will please jeff)
3 pack of thin/undergarment onesies (purple themed, one with flowers, again on clearance)
1 standard onesie (blue, flower with button, phrase 'cute as a button', yes, on sale)
1 pair of pants (purple with pink spots, a la baskin robbins) this is the only pair of pants i bought, as the selection was abominable. i went to target because last time i was there they had these huge bins of hanes warm up fleecy pants, now gone to neverneverland to make way for swimsuits.
1 pair of mukluks (aka booties, scandalously low priced and the last cheapy booties i bought are now too small. we are getting very close to real shoe time.)
total bill: $40, including a tin of chocolate mints for the driver
goal: $50
reality: while i did get the sleepers which were the main focus of the trip, i still need to get a few more pairs of pants and would like to get a cute outfit too. that'll push us over our goal, but i'll wait till next week when there will be another precious paycheck.
sizes: although i have assured relations that sylvia is firmly in the 12 mo size range, i bought everything from 9 mos for the onesies to 18 mos for the pj's. i'm not sure whether i'm figuring out the whole baby clothes thing or if my brain starting short circuiting at the very idea of sylvia wearing big girl pj's.
ya know, i think one of the nice things about all this is that was *my* paycheck i was decimating. it feels good to have money again. sigh, why can't it be tax season all the time (please don't hit me, i have a direct number for the IRS.)
h_postmortemus has gone from being paid twice a month to every 2 weeks and that, along with the huge jump in med insurance has caused his paychecks to shrink considerably. luckily, i am now getting fairly nice paychecks for the next month or so. my paychecks come every 2 weeks as well, but on alternate weeks which has led to us week after week, making very precise raids on the grocery store and buying just exactly what we need and no more. i suppose it's a good exercise, but some of us *coujeffgh* get very frustrated, so sylvia and i have taken to foraging on our own. mission 1: the grocery store
budget: $60
total bill: $60.02 (am i good or what?)
reality: well, ok, i didn't get the disposable diapers or organic milk because those are both cheaper and/or better at other grocery stores.
best deals: ground turkey for .87/lb, bread for .69/loaf (it's white bread, but for that price, i'll take the nutritional hit)
sale & coupon bonus: wheat thins, frozen lunches
had to buy oddity: broccoli slaw (thin strips of broccoli, carrots, & red cabbage. it's crunchy, so we've got a hope ms sylvia will like it.)
can't fool me award: the tomato soup was cheaper individually than in the shrinkwrapped 4 pack and i had a coupon :p
worst disappointment: there was some obviously spoiled meat in the prepackaged cold cut department leading me to avoid the entire section and some pretty good coupons
second worst disappointment: the price of seltzer water has gone through the roof. grrr. it's hard to stock up on because the six packs are heavy and take up a lot of space. i'm planning to get some kind of water filter so that i don't have to drink icky tap water when i run out of the bubbly stuff. i have suffered much mockery, but tap water tastes nasty which means i don't drink enough.
mission 2: clothing sylvia
this mission got off on a rough start, because i got going too late to hit the consignment store. oh well, i was looking for staples: onesies, sleepers etc and i've found better deals getting those new anyways. i headed off to target and found that once again, the retail industry deserves all of the pain and torment it receives. in late august/september when the local pool was still open, i had to undergo a massive searcj to find a bathing suit for sylvia. tomorrow, we are expecting an ice storm and there were 4 racks of swimsuits. secondly, the primary focus of the infant/toddler department today was valentine's day. it's a lovely holiday, but it is only ONE DAY. i am not going to buy more than maybe one small outfit for valentine's day, if any. i do not need vast seas of pink from which to make a selection. and in fact, i rarely buy pink for any reason. it is hard to predict what size a baby is going to be three months in advance and yet target had no long sleeved onesies in sight. the high tomorrow is predicted to be in the TWENTIES. for those in metric land that's PRETTY DAMNED COLD. we are talking about MINUS territory. s'ok, we've stocked up on jackets and i was mostly looking for onesies as wardrobe builders. however, the final problem, was really mine alone. sylvia is outgrowing sleepers. there were exceptions, but most of what i found were not sleepers, but *sniff* pj's. babies just don't wear pj's and i know sylvia is getting very close to the T word, but i have the occasional problem adjusting.
in the end i found:
2 sets of pj's (purple/in the sea theme)
2 pack of blanket sleepers (pink, yes, but on clearance and one has little princesses all over it, which will please jeff)
3 pack of thin/undergarment onesies (purple themed, one with flowers, again on clearance)
1 standard onesie (blue, flower with button, phrase 'cute as a button', yes, on sale)
1 pair of pants (purple with pink spots, a la baskin robbins) this is the only pair of pants i bought, as the selection was abominable. i went to target because last time i was there they had these huge bins of hanes warm up fleecy pants, now gone to neverneverland to make way for swimsuits.
1 pair of mukluks (aka booties, scandalously low priced and the last cheapy booties i bought are now too small. we are getting very close to real shoe time.)
total bill: $40, including a tin of chocolate mints for the driver
goal: $50
reality: while i did get the sleepers which were the main focus of the trip, i still need to get a few more pairs of pants and would like to get a cute outfit too. that'll push us over our goal, but i'll wait till next week when there will be another precious paycheck.
sizes: although i have assured relations that sylvia is firmly in the 12 mo size range, i bought everything from 9 mos for the onesies to 18 mos for the pj's. i'm not sure whether i'm figuring out the whole baby clothes thing or if my brain starting short circuiting at the very idea of sylvia wearing big girl pj's.
ya know, i think one of the nice things about all this is that was *my* paycheck i was decimating. it feels good to have money again. sigh, why can't it be tax season all the time (please don't hit me, i have a direct number for the IRS.)
