Mundane Tasks

Grocery Shopping.

It is a task I dearly love to hate.

I love wandering the aisles. Seeing if there are new items that have come out. Seeing if there is anything I or my family might be willing to try. But the actual task of putting items in my cart and paying for them and then having to come home to unload the car and then actually put the items up… I hate all of that.

I know it is a privilege to be able to go and shop and for the most part (not completely willy nilly throwing everything in the cart) be able to pay for my purchases. I still try to shop smart because that credit card just is not budging as quickly as I would like to see.

Just another reason why I write. Even if it is about something as mundane as shopping because this chick has realized that I received a payment after submission 5 and submission 10, so you know I have to know if there is a bonus for 15! Working on this credit card debt one story at a time!

May just be a great idea for a corny superhero story. Credit Card Gal! Coming to a store near you. She could be the one to come and snatch that credit card out of your hand after you realize you just placed way too many items in your cart and are now trying to check out knowing good and well you just blew your budget.

Anyways, back to my shopping story.

I know I am blessed. Therefore, I do not want to come off as a complainer. But as the one who handles a great deal of the food budget, it is extremely discouraging to me to see the waste we go through as a family. I still think it is highway robbery that we must pay for toilet paper that literally just goes down the drain… 😉

But back to why I am writing, there is truly waste of food in my home.

Is it so much to ask that if my crowd loves bananas, that they continue to love bananas when I bring home a bunch? Or if we love grapes and just have to have them, that we keep loving them long enough for the ones I purchased to be eaten?

I am seriously thinking of making smaller trips to the store just so I can make sure to only have one banana on the counter in the actual case that someone may decide they just must have one or they will die of hunger. Or just a few grapes. Like a handful.

As it is, I went through the cabinets again yesterday after unloading groceries, and of course, there in the back corner is a group of cuties gradually shrinking and becoming gross. Better yet was when my son came out of his room and asked if I had bought more cuties because he went for one earlier and realized they had gone bad and PUT IT BACK IN THE CABINET.

In his defense he is 8 and he did tell dad… who was home because he had to work this past weekend. Dad did nothing either. So mom throws away the gross cuties and apologizes for not buying a new pack… but why am I apologizing when they were all home and at least dad knew I was going to the grocery store after work to get groceries?

See. My husband may make a better wife than me sometimes, but other times I still rule! Instead of getting mad, I almost feel like this makes up for when I walk past the full dryer that just turned off or the full laundry basket and do not even notice. But you better believe I notice the gross food in the fridge or cabinets!

I have tried making a weekly trip to the store instead of an every two weeks trip. That has helped a little. I know ultimately I need to meal plan with the whole family. That feels like I am pulling teeth though so maybe I can slowly make some changes towards letting us vote for meals and snacks and then from there I will know exactly what I need to buy. Also, I think when school gets back in I will have a better idea of what each of us is getting for lunch and snacks and I will have a better plan from that aspect too.

All this planning and overthinking is truly because I know I am making a life change soon with going back to school myself. I think if I plan every area of my LIFE then maybe somehow it will make this new transition easier. Instead, sometimes I just give myself more anxiety. Oh well.