Tonight is going to be a long night… We are under a tornado warning until 10:00 p.m., and a watch until 1:00 a.m. We’ve been over at our awesome neighbors house, to hang out in the basement just in case bad weather strikes. I’m hoping that the weather will stay calm this evening, and those tornadoes stay away! Spring-time in the Midwest, never a dull moment 😉
Category Archives: Locals
Busy Days, Sleepless Nights
It all started last weekend, I couldn’t sleep Saturday night, and this trend has continued through today. Last night I was up at 3:00 a.m., half tempted to just get up, but decided to try to go back to sleep. I was up past 5:00 a.m., and I finally got a little rest. Dylan was up before 7:00 a.m., but Thade is still snoozing.
Yesterday we went to purchase a T-Ball Glove for Thade, our local Wal-Mart had completely sold out, so we had to shop out of town. With the gas prices at $3.59, I wasn’t looking forward to the trip. I made the most of it though, and stopped off at Aldi to stockpile the pantry, and I picked up Arby’s for lunch. I even treated myself to a Grande Cafe Vanilla Frappuccino at Starbucks 🙂 My frugal mind said no do not buy the $4.02 coffee, but Nico’s love of Starbucks took over and I enjoyed every delicious sip of my coffee. All in all it was a fun trip, but a bit pricey in the old gas tank…
We had Thade’s first T-Ball practice last night, and he could not wait to go. Both boy’s were up before 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning, and all day Thade asked when T-ball practice was, I kept telling him it was at 7:15 p.m. Mr. 20 Questions (Thade’s new nickname) continued asking all day, by 6:00 p.m., he couldn’t wait to go, so Dad took him outside to practice catching in the back-yard.
When 7:15 p.m. finally made it Thade was happy/grumpy/anxious/exhausted. He finally got to go and play, but after the 12 hour wait, it took him a little bit of time to get used to the Baseball environment and the new team. He loved the baseball field though, and running the bases too. I got a little nervous when he got to Bat first, this was Thade’s first time even holding a Bat. He did well, and hit the ball right off of the Tee 🙂
His coach is really nice, and the team looks great 🙂 I think that it is going to be a fun T-Ball season, and games start very soon. I think the kiddos have one more practice, and then the games begin. I’m bringing snacks and drinks to the first game, so I should probably find out just when that game is happening 😉
Today I’ll be catching up around the house, and making a few phone calls. I’ve been trying to get a hold of the Lawnmower repair guy for about 5 days now. Our mower is in the shop, and this dude is not returning my calls… Grrr! The lawn is in desperate need of a mow, so I’m hoping to hear from him today.
I hope that your morning is going well, and that your day isn’t too busy 🙂
Nico in the Pursuit of Savings, All Shopped Out
Thanks again to everyone for reading along with me on my savings adventure. It has been an interesting journey, that has taught me a lot about shopping and saving locally. I was really surprised to see how much prices can vary from store to store, even if I didn’t have to drive that far.
Just for fun, I made a chart of my fifteen items and all of the places that I shopped. You can really see the price difference when you view them side by side.
| Items |
Wal-Mart |
Walgreens |
Dollar General |
IGA |
Woods
|
| Cat Food |
$3.84 |
$4.49 |
$2.25 |
$1.79 |
$1.99 |
| Kitty Litter |
$1.68 |
$2.29 |
$1.00 |
$2.99 |
$1.79 |
| Kleenexes |
$1.24 |
$1.00 |
$1.00 |
$1.25 |
$1.00 |
| Toilet Paper |
$1.32 |
$1.00 |
$1.10 |
$1.65 |
$1.00 |
| Diapers |
$10.67 |
$9.00 |
$8.00 |
$10.89 |
$9.97 |
| Baby Food 2pk |
$0.98 |
$1.39 |
|
$1.19 |
$0.99 |
| Baby Food Jar |
$0.72 |
$0.89 |
|
$0.85 |
$0.75 |
| Gerber Puffs |
$1.92 |
$2.49 |
|
$2.29 |
$2.09 |
| Saltines |
$0.96 |
$2.00 |
$0.85 |
$1.35 |
$0.99 |
| Coca-Cola |
$3.98 |
$3.00 |
$1.99 (6ct) |
$3.50 |
$3.33 |
| Bread |
$0.96 |
$2.19 |
$2.40 |
$1.09 |
$1.00 |
| Eggs |
$1.70 |
$1.50 |
$2.25 |
$1.50 |
$1.50 |
| Milk 1 Gallon |
$3.40 |
$3.49 |
$3.90 |
$3.19 |
$3.69 |
| Flour 5lbs |
$1.58 |
$2.99 |
$1.25 |
$1.79 |
$1.99 |
| Sugar 4 lbs |
$1.98 |
$2.79 |
$1.65 |
$1.69 |
$1.69 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
$36.93 |
$40.51 |
$27.64 |
$37.01 |
$33.77 |
I was surprised to see Walgreens on the high side of the prices and Wood’s on the low end, although the week that I shopped at Wood’s, many of the Baby Items were on sale.
Wal-Mart still seems to be the best bet for One Stop shopping, and with my two busy boys in the cart that is usually what I have to do. Walgreens is still one of my favorite places to shop, their pharmacy is great, and overall they had the best Customer Service. Dollar General is the best place to shop locally for Baking Supplies, and Cat Litter, they also had great Customer Service too. Wood’s and IGA both run fantastic sales, and incentive buys to save on fuel costs. Those might come in handy as the price of gas continues to rise.
Shopping all around town has also taught me a lot about our community, and sadly a few places that we really need. I think that our little town would greatly benefit from an Aldi, and a Bakery Outlet store. Both stores would really help out with the rising cost of groceries, and maybe get the existing shops to lower their prices, just a bit.
For the most part I’ll stay shopping local, unless gas prices magically drop and I can shop at Dillons and Aldi along with the local shops;) I’ll also be checking those sale ads weekly to see where I can save even more.
I’ll still keep my fingers crossed that maybe one day we’ll get an Aldi or a Dolly Madison Outlet 😉 A girl can dream, and this girl is dreaming about lower grocery prices…
Poor Tulips
I was hoping that the freezing weather wouldn’t happen, but last night we had a hard freeze. I’m glad that I snapped a few pics of the Tulips before the freezing weather got to them. I hope that we will see some warmer weather soon, it would sure help out with the Gas Bill 😉
Our little Robin has been very busy in her nest, and we also have a little Sparrow living in the back-yard too. Thade still enjoys watching the busy bird, and everyday he asks about the eggs. I don’t know if there are any little eggs in the nest just yet, so we’ll keep watching.
Grocery Day and Other Stuff
I have to go grocery shopping today, and I’m just not in the mood to go. I dread going and seeing another price hike, anybody else feel like this? We are also under a freeze warning, and it might snow today too, so the dreary weather is adding to my blah mood. I hope Spring gets here in a hurry!
On a happier note…I’ve been rediscovering one of my favorite hobbies, and I’m taking a little bit of time daily to Cross-Stitch. I love to Cross-Stitch. My Mother and my Grandmother taught me how to Stitch when I was a little girl, and it is one hobby that has stuck with me through the years. After I had Thade, it was hard to find the time to get back into sewing. Now I sneak in 15-20 minutes when Dylan is taking a nap, and Thade is happily playing. It seems to cheer me up, and it is fun to stitch those little projects. Yesterday I finished a Feng Shui piece for my Mom, it was a lot of fun to stitch. It took me a little over a week to get it finally finished.
Locally we have a food drive today, and Thade helped out finding some Food items to donate. I hope that the weather improves for everybody that will be out helping out with the Food Drive today, it is bitterly cold at the moment.