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With all the prices rising faster than you can catch a paycheck, shopping is becoming a nightmare. I am willing to bet that you have the same problem. You walk into the same store you visited a few days ago. The prices on several of those “have to have” items are now higher, blowing any shot of you keeping to your budget this month. I had that same problem just a few days ago. The worst part is that those were the items that had not changed prices in many months.
The truth is that most of the rules about shopping are going out the window. Price hikes are frequent and sometimes debilitating to the budget. Regardless of what you previously knew about shopping, it is now time to click into survival mode. Most of the time your budget will be trashed until you can get a handle on all this. It worked that way with us and we were practically doing all that anyway. Those little extras have to wait or have to go bye bye.
The reality is that you have to save where you can, pinch the pennies just as hard as they can be pinched, get the best deals in the closest places to save gas. For years, we have gone 50 miles north to a store that had much better prices for the things we bought. In fact, they have a number of items we cannot get anywhere else. If we can still afford it, we will still go there. It will be a stretch. I do not intend to give that up easily. If you have such a store, calculate the cost of the gas into your budget and decide if it costs too much to do that. If so, then you will have to find a good store closer to your home. We do not have that option at this time. We are hopeful that the company will build one of their stores near us.
We have found that it is very important to limit trips anywhere. We now do all of our shopping along with doctor trips, visits to family and so on. I know that some people didn’t see the need for that before. Since we live in a rural area, everything is a long way away, several miles in fact. We stay at home a whole lot now, only venturing out when necessary. Yes, shopping is turning into a nightmare but you and I can survive if we simply do those things that will compact everything into a few trips instead of a trip at a time. That saves gas too.
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6 Comments
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I’ve noticed my grocery bill climbing higher and higher. To save money, I’ve tried to plan ahead for my trips and make lists so I only get what I need. I’ve also been avoiding the mall!
Absolutely avoiding the mall is, I suspect, a financial life saver. Yes, the bills are going higher and higher. And not just the groceries. That was what I focused on since we usually buy more of that than anything. However, with school going back in session in the next month, I have noticed prices on that stuff going up too. ACK! It costs a LOT to put a kid back in school. The teachers all want so many binders and folders as well as the dividers. I can find cheap versions of all that except the dividers. My goodness, those things are so expensive. You can only get 5 to 6 at a time. They cost like $5 a package and you need enough for 5 classes. That’s usually 8-12 per class. You could go broke just buying dividers.
Anyway, thanks for visiting and commenting!
I read in the paper today a suggestion that you turn your car off if you’re waiting for anyone longer than six seconds. Amazing — running the car for more than six seconds wastes more gas than turning it off and then on again. I’m going to try it — gas is just too expensive to waste.
feefifotos last blog post..Am I Starting To Have One Of Those Days?
I did not know that. Seemed like restarting the car after only a few seconds that it would take more to start than to run for a couple of minutes. I’m thinking of those annoying lines at the bank drive up or at the pharmacy drive up window. You sit for a couple of minutes, turn the thing off and then they want to move. Sigh. Probably the best idea is to turn it off and sit until needed to move. Yes, that might work and save money.
Thanks for the suggestion and comment!!!
But I like shopping,I can see some beautiful things.
You can also see your bank account taking a dive. Beautiful things translate into big bucks. BIG BUCKS.
Thanks for your comment.