One Paycheck

Now that I’ve talked about paying bills, let’s discuss the torture of grocery shopping and keeping the children clothed. We try to buy organic, but the cost is two or three times that of regular groceries. So I try to watch for sales at our local natural food market and our grocery store (they carry some organic produce and organic brands). Organic frozen produce can also be a little bit less expensive than fresh produce, so I try to get frozen spinach or peas. If I am making soup, sometimes I’ll also use frozen carrots. I buy certain staple foods at Trader Joes, like organic milk, orange juice, bread, and cheese. (As they say in their advertisements, they “keep their costs low, cut out the middleman whenever possible, and pass the savings” on to us in the form of terrific everyday prices.) I try to buy family or value packs of anything—ground beef, cereal, pretzels—because they are less expensive than regular-sized packages.

But I have to draw a line somewhere. I’ve looked into buying groceries at superstores like Costco and B.J.’s, and I’ve realized that I simply don’t have the storage space to purchase in bulk. Even if I did, I’m not sure I would want a whole pallet of paper towels. Shopping in bulk also means buying more—but buying more doesn’t necessarily mean you will use what you buy. My mom shops at Costco and buys in bulk, but she rarely uses up what she gets. Most of it is given away. If she gets perishable goods, then they rot or are forgotten in her freezer for a year. And the superstores sell other items that are strictly impulse buys, not necessities. When I go grocery shopping, I want to concentrate on buying groceries, and that’s it. Maybe when my kids get a little older, I’ll change my mind, but for now, I’ll stick to buying one carload of groceries when I go shopping. (However, my neighbor did tell me that a fifty-inch Panasonic plasma television was selling at Costco for $1,500. Now, if I only can get in and out of that place without buying everything in sight PLUS that television…)