Supposed To Be... (Day 7)

It was supposed to be a productive day. I had a list in my head of household chores to do, baking to start, laundry to do, and errands to run. None of it got done, save for one (essential) errand, and one (essential) load of laundry. Liam had his own plans for the day, and they did not include doing household chores, baking, or running errands. They did include sleeping as much as possible on Mama, and fussing every time he was put down. Since the poor babe has a fever of at least 101, this Mama just had to let the list go--again.

So instead of all the amazing baking I was going to tell you about today, I talked my sister into taking a car trip down to BJ's. (Truth be told, there was no "talking her into" anything...she's always up for an adventure.) The hope was that Liam would augment his morning nap with a few winks in the car, and I could get myself some yummy, cheap, organic greens. This part of the day actually did go as planned. Liam napped (yaay!), and we were able to get ourselves a pound of organic greens for just $4.99. They were a dollar more than I remembered, but still an excellent deal, leaving me with $3.25 left for the week.

It was supposed to be a quick, easy trip for some cheap greens, and it was. But it was not easy to resist enticing deals face-to-face with the products. Normally, when I enter BJ's, I have a list of things I need, and then I find 2 or 3 good deals along the way. Great overall, but not when there is $8.24 left in the budget for the week. I found it very difficult to resist the 86 oz. jug of almond milk (I mainly drink almond milk instead of cow's milk) for just $3.69. That is the SAME price as a half gallon container of the exact same product at Hannaford's, and $.30 less than a half gallon container at the co-op. BUT it was $.44 over my budget for the week, so I did resist today...with some help from my sister (although there may be another trip in the near future!)

So, although it has gotten pretty easy to resist the daily emails that promise to save me money, when it comes to facing lots of things to buy in the store, it is still difficult to resist. So many things that I normally would have found useful and necessary, I had to pass by for my one tub of salad greens. Hard? Yes. Satisfying? Well...it will be when I write out checks for my bills!

There is no recipe for tonight, because I only made a small contribution to a larger meal, which was delicious and fun. I HIGHLY recommend Burrito Night with the neighbors (who are also wonderful friends), especially if you're in the middle of an austerity month!