We May Just Starve

As a mom who has chosen to stay at home in order to teach her children, I try to save as much money as possible. I watch the sales. I clip mounds of coupons. I buy off brand whenever I can. I also plan all of our menus & go grocery shopping once a month.

Well, I was a lot better at this before Logan came along! Since then, I'm just happy if we have something that is half way edible & more than one roll of toilet paper!

So here lately I've really been trying to get back into cheapskate frugal mom mode. I was planning my trip to the grocery store this afternoon. I was finally cutting out the coupons from last week. I made my shopping list. No menus yet, so I was winging it - hopefully next month. I gathered the kids up & headed out the door.

While we were at Walmart, I let Makenzie walk through the toys for ideas on what she wants for her birthday. Yeah, well, she wants
e v e r y t h i n g! 

So, on to the grocery department....
HOLY COW - I FORGOT MY COUPONS! GGGRRRRRR! Now, I'm looking at this list & trying to think about what I absolutely have to have in the next few days & what I might have a coupon for at home. And I'm trying to think while Austin & Makenzie are running up & down the aisles, asking for this or that, & begging to go to the bathroom. (What is the excitement of public bathrooms? My kids ALWAYS have to go anytime we go anywhere!) Oh & of course Logan is screaming because he is hungry.

After ending up with a buggy full of stuff that I can't remember if we need or not, I gave up & went to check out.

I'm trying to manage enough sanity for putting all the groceries up on the belt & then the bags in the buggy while telling Makenzie for the 15th time to get out of the floor because she is playing with all of those evil toys that they place in the check out lines just for the sake of driving parents crazy & while asking Austin yet again why he is not helping me & begging Logan to quit crying - when (God Bless her heart) this little elderly lady in line behind me starts cooing at Logan & telling me what beautiful children I have. ..... (WOW that was a long run on sentence) ..... Thank God for grandmother types because Logan immediately stopped crying & started laughing & smiling at this angel in disguise.

We finally make it to the car, only for me to realize that Justin's fire gear is in the back. Now my Suburban has more than adequate trunk space, but that gear bag, a stroller, two lawn chairs, a couple of stadium chairs, Austin's football pads & helmet take up A LOT of room. Where am I going to put all of these groceries?

On my way home I made a promise to myself.......we may very well starve before I take all the kids back grocery shopping again.