Frustrations and Money Woes

Yesterday was a big shopping day. I had to get my prescriptions refilled, fill the gas tank, and get groceries and some other necessities. Came home broke and worn out. I kept to my list for the most part, only picking up a couple extra cans for a pizza-wich recipe I like and can be frozen, making many meals for me. But then, I forgot to buy eggs. I was almost done shopping and happened to think of them, but instead of heading to the far end of the aisles to pick up a dozen, I headed straight for the checkout and totally forgot them again. I behaved myself as far as leaving the sweet snacks alone, except for finding two small angel food loaves on the day-old rack for 60 cents each. Since I had some fresh strawberries I thought this would be a nice addition for making strawberry shortcake. And that means whipped cream! I prefer the Cool Whip brand as I think it tastes better, and holds up better than the cheaper store brands. But I had not tried the Great Value brand at Walmart, and it was about 60 cents cheaper than Cool Whip, so bought the GV brand and give it a try. I am happy with most GV products that I have tried. (And no, WM is not paying me to say this.) One of the loaves will go in the freezer.

After also getting vitamin supplements that I was running out of, and cat food plus a couple other needed items, I ended up spending $153.35. And I had already spent $16.68 at Fareway for fresh produce, and $40 for gas, and $38 for prescriptions, bringing me about $10 over my budget for the month! And I still have to buy eggs and will need to get some milk in the next 30 days as I only bought 1/2 gallon yesterday. So which budget item will I 'steal' from? If this keeps up, I will keep digging the hole deeper and deeper. So I guess I will have to give in and take more money out of my investments.

To add to my frustration, I discovered I had been overcharged by $3 at the drugstore, and all I bought were my prescriptions. I am sure it was an honest mistake and the clerk happened to hit the 7 key instead of the 4 key, and didn't notice it. So back to the store I go today. Thank goodness it is in town here and I don't have to drive to the next town where I shopped for the other things. What is really aggravating about this is that this is the third time in as many shopping trips where I have been overcharged! The first time it was by $4.10 and I got that back on the next shopping trip. The second time it was around $1 so I didn't bother with that one, and now this one for $3. All this is even more frustrating since I am trying to keep my expenses down and within my income. The one good thing is that gas had come down 20 cents since I last filled up, which I had not expected since the news media kept telling us it would be $5 by summer. Yesterday I paid $3.599 for super unleaded (10% ethanol).



I was out of all kinds of veggie staples - celery, carrots, romaine, potatoes, and added one bunch of green onions and a green pepper, plus a bunch of kale to make kale chips everyone has been bragging about. I filled my sink up with water and added a cup of white vinegar and put all the veggies in to soak a bit. This is a tip I found on Pinterest and it seems to work quite well to clean and keep fresher. After taking all those out to drain I put in the strawberries and muskmelon. I cut the butts off the romaine and celery before putting in the vinegar water, and so now have more to start growing! I am running out of space on my tray! At least I will get a meal or two more out of what normally goes in the garbage. I am hoping it will be more than that but since this is the first time I have tried this, I don''t know what the final results will be. I have heard that can be done with cabbage, too, but I forgot to put that on my list for this time. I better eat up what I now have on hand first.

And with that I think it is time to get on with the rest of my day by first getting dressed! It is now 9:11 am and the stores are open, so better go get my refund from the drug store and maybe I will stop at the small local grocery and get those eggs with the refund money.