apparently I'm growing up...

So I discovered proof of something recently: I'm growing up.

How do I know?  Several things:

Joshua and I spent over an hour working on our budget this evening.  It was fun.

My goals for this weekend are: get the kitchen clean, and get the bathroom clean.

I'm looking forward to composing a grocery list and a detailed, two-week meal plan tomorrow.

I'd rather watch The Dick van Dyke show than any TV show made in the last 40 years.

A clean kitchen is a joy to my heart.

I would rather sleep than do a lot of other things.  (Although I realize this is also true for infants and the elderly, so maybe this isn't so much a sign of growing up as it is of simply being human.)

My bedtime is 10 pm.  Even on weekends.

On a similar note, sleeping in means sleeping till 9 am at the latest.  Bliss!

Junk food equals homemade pizza and brownies.  (Thank goodness.)

I would rather eat oatmeal with flax seed for breakfast than sugary cold cereal (yuck).


And yet, I'm still a 21-year-old college student.
But I'm also married, so maybe that's an explanation for why I feel so weirdly adult.

I realize, of course, that I still have a lot of growing up to do.  I haven't had much life experience in comparison to my grandparents, or even my parents.  There are so many things left for me to learn and experience.

But let me tell you, for someone whose peers are all still living on a college campus and whose biggest worries are test scores and what mystery food will be served in the cafeteria, it is weird to state all those truths I listed above.  I feel... unusual.  Isolated.  Often misunderstood.

That's why I'm so thankful for the few married, close-to-my-age friends that I do have.  Because they understand, and it's so good to have friends who understand.  Who get me, who can sympathize, and who know how exciting it is to have a grocery budget over $50 a week.  (Not kidding.  That's about what I feed us on, and I am so proud of myself.)

This Thursday, and every day, I am thankful for the life God has given me: the good and the bad, because I learn more from mistakes than I do from successes, and I trust God more in hard times than in easy.  I'm so very thankful for a husband who loves me even when I'm an idiot, for friends who accept me exactly as I am, for family who are always there when I need them.

Because there's one more reason I've realized that I'm growing up:

I have come to learn that the greatest blessings in life are those that can't be assigned a monetary value.  Not things that can be purchased.  Blessings that are tangible, but absolutely priceless: family.  Friends.  Faith.  Forgiveness.

No matter how grown-up I get, I hope to always remember that.

Linking up today (for the first time in so long...so grateful!):
black tag diaries, Jenni Mullinix, lovely little whimsy, kate says stuff, First Day of My Life, Passionate and Creative Homemaking

How I'm Frugal at the Grocery Store (8 Tips and Ideas)

Otherwise known as, "How To Save Money at the Grocery Store and Still Get Lots of Good Food."  :)

I'm not nearly a professional at this yet, having had only a little over a year of practice.  However, I have developed some tips and tricks for saving my family money at the grocery store.  I'd like to share my new routine with you in the hopes that it will prove helpful for you as well!

1) Divide items on grocery list by category. That way I don't make multiple trips across the store.

2) Check weekly store fliers. If a store has a sale on something that I'll be buying anyway, I'll get it at that store (but I only ever go to two or three).

3) Note on shopping list which stores have which items.  If milk is $2.50 at one store and $3 at another, I'll get it at the first.

4) Include rough estimate of what each item will cost, on grocery list. 

5) Round up costs on everything.  That way, if I accidentally round low on something (since I don’t know exactly how much everything is) it mostly evens out.  It helps me avoid going over-budget.

This week I have a bigger grocery budget than usual, thanks to a bigger-than-usual paycheck—God is good!  However, there are a few extra things I need that I don’t usually buy, like plastic sandwich bags, plastic wrap, a pork roast for when my family comes for dinner on Monday, and toilet paper.  Those are things I don’t often buy, however, so they don’t need to be regularly budgeted into my groceries.

6) Add up estimated costs on all items, including things not absolutely necessary.

What I like doing to myself is putting things on the list that I would like but don’t necessarily need, like more vinegar for cleaning (I still have over half a gallon), coffee, which is a would-like-very-much-but-don’t-absolutely-need, and ground beef, which is expensive and not the healthiest meat out there.

7) Cross off like-not-need things if total cost is over budget. I might end up being able to get them anyway, if I come under-budget with the necessary things..

This week, after adding up my grocery list, I came out about $50 over budget.  I’ll cross off things like lemonade ($5 for 5 cans), Reese’s Cups (which I was going to use in a dessert but don’t have to, $5), elbow macaroni and Velveeta (Velveeta is expensive, $6), and other things.  I ended up crossing off about $48 worth of items.

Now, most of my crossed-off items probably won’t be as much as I estimated, and the other things on my list probably won’t be as much as I expect.  So I might be able to get a few of the things that I crossed off anyway.  (Coffee is top priority!)

But, the thing is, they’re all non-essentials.  We’ll have plenty of food without them; most of the things I crossed off were “extras.”

8) Take a calculator to the grocery store.  For littler trips, I just add mentally. When I add, I'll round everything up to the nearest 50 cents or so. Then, when I have everything on my list, if I’m under budget at all, I can get some of the “extras”…

and, since I will have rounded up, I’ll still come out under-budget at the cash register!

Maybe I'm weird, but I find this sort of thing fun.  I hate spending money, so anything I can do to save money is great!

It's important to not make saving money all-important, of course.  What's my real reason for doing all this?  Am I honoring God and serving my family?

I think the answer to that is YES.  I'm doing my best to be frugal, to be a good steward of what God has given me, and still to provide good food for my family.

What are your ideas for saving money and time at the grocery store?  I'd love to have you share in the comments!