Shopping

I hate shopping. I see it as a necessity that needs to be done as quickly as possible. We go grocery shopping once a week, usually Friday evening or Saturday morning. We stop at two stores, sometimes three. I am the 'go in, grab what you need, and get out quickly' kind of shopper.

The key to keeping within the budget for me is to know how much everything costs. I use a price book that I compiled over a couple a weeks a while ago. The prices for most items I buy on a regular basis do not change dramatically. I make up my menu for the week, then write the shopping list and figure out how much money I will need. My household budget includes food, cat food and litter, toilettries and cleaning supplies and sometimes I sneak in a ball of yarn for my charity knitting or some other small items we need. I buy most of my groceries at Aldi which helps a lot because their prices are way below any other store's around here and we like the quality of their products. We still go to the big W store for things Aldi does not carry, mostly for cat food, flour and yeast and we use their pharmacy for Del's prescriptions. I usually buy shampoo, shower gel and soap at the dollar store, making sure the stuff is not made in China. I have nothing against the Chinese, but it seems the only things not made in China these days are the babies around here. Occasionally I order some things online because I can absolutely not find them anywhere around here, the soap I use for making laundry detergent for example and brewer's yeast for Miss K. We do not buy processed or prepared food or baked goods, I make those, including bread, myself. And we bring our own bags. All that helps to cut down on the garbage output.
The only kind of shopping I do enjoy from time to time is browsing the local thrift stores.