This week went by so fast we only made it to the grocery store 3 times! I planned my entire weekly menu around items we had on hand so I could use up some of the stockpile.
Total for the week
Shelf Price $46.00
Price Paid $27.00
Amount Saved $19.00
That is a savings of 41%
I was looking on a government website recently and came across this. Wild. I had seen a chart like this before but it got me really thinking about food prices and what the government thinks is an acceptable amount to spend for our family.
For our family it is perfectly acceptable for us to spend $611.60 on groceries each month. Actually this is the cheapest plan. Or as they like to put it… thrifty. That is more than we spend on groceries and personally more than I am willing to spend on groceries each month. To be quite honest with you, if I did spend that much on groceries each month, we would not have money left over for bills.
Just to put things into perspective, I calculated the “liberal” plan. It came to $1186.70. Could you imaigine! I mean really?? A family of 5 eating buying that much food in a month! That is more than our rent!
We are going to have to buckle down a little more when it comes to buying groceries. We, so far, have been very lucky that Chris still has a job in this economy. Grated, he just lost his promotion at the beginning of the month (along with the raise he received), but at least he still has a J.O.B. With his new, old position comes a decrease in pay to the tune of around $400 each month. Now to some people this is just a drop in the bucket, but to us, it HUGE. That is our monthly car payment, electric bill for the month and 2 weeks of gas, just to give you an idea.
We are praying that something comes along for him. I know he has a lot on his shoulders at the moment and I couldn’t be more proud of the way he is handling it. He is such a good man, an excellent father and a wonderful husband and I truely appreciate him for all he does.
6.29.2009
Is "good" customer service a thing of the past?
There is no easier way to get me fired up than for a customer service rep to talk to me like I am an idiot. Let me tell you this… I am FIRED up!
This started last night with a simple trip to the grocery store. Our destination: Winn Dixie for their Pampers special they have going on. We are enrolled in the Baby Club program there, and it has been nothing but a nightmare! They very rarely calculate the baby points correctly or actually give the reward for earning 200 points at the time they are supposed to.
Case in point. Yesterday I knew I had 185 baby points going in to the store. My goal was to pick up 2 packs of diapers to go over 200 points and then get my $10 reward to either be used on the diapers or the cart full of groceries I had.
I put the diapers up first thing. Nope, no baby points. No rewards. Nothing. Ugh.
When she finishes up my order I look on the receipt. No baby points whatsoever. None. The 185 I had from my last visit have just disappeared. I also noticed that my overall reward card savings have been reset down from around $4200 to $53. OK. No biggie. Maybe she scanned my card wrong. She didn’t. It was the right card number. Just something was screwy.
I went to the customer service center. Great. They can no longer help on the card issues. I have to call the 800# located at the top of the receipt. I thought nothing of it since I have called numerous times before and had no problems with anyone there.
Until…
TODAY!
I tend to be very well prepared when I call a customer service number. I hate calling them but I do try to be very nice when I call CSR’s. I know they get all kinds of crazies calling and I really do want them to remember at least one nice caller for the day. But once she had interrupted me 3 times, the gloves came off.
Note to CSRs… do NOT interrupt the customer. Let me say what I want to say to you even if it doesn’t matter. At least that way we can can say that we did notify you of the problem.
1st time : Interrupted me to tell me that the total saved that it says on the receipt is not the amount saved at my last trip. i.e. I didn’t save $4200 on my last shopping trip. Ya think?? I know I didn’t save that much on my last trip, but I do know that over a couple of years, I HAVE saved that much.
2ns time : Interrupted me to tell me that my baby must be over the age of 2. Ummm… no. She won’t be 2 until mid-August, thankyouverymuch.
3rd time: Interrupted me to tell me that she can not give out any information to me since my name is not Christian. Ummm… my hard working husband is at WORK. And what information is soooooo secretive about my grocery store savings card that you can’t tell me over the phone.
LET ME TALK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR
4th and final time : Interrupted me to tell me that the supervisor will tell me the same thing. LET ME TALK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR
Supervisor FINALLY picks up the phone. Proceeds to tell me that the CSR is correct in that she can’t give me any information. Whoa… did he just say the wrong thing.
“I don’t need you to give me any information. I just need you to do a little research and figure out where my baby points went! There is no information that you can give me that I don’t already know about this transaction other than the fact that you guys screwed up! What is so secretive about reward points anyway? I can call a Dr.’s office and get more information from them and that is important personal information. I can give you his SS#, his birth-date, his address, his phone number and even his first borns' name if you want. All you need to do it find out where my baby points went!!! ”
I think he got the point. He will be calling me back today. :)
This started last night with a simple trip to the grocery store. Our destination: Winn Dixie for their Pampers special they have going on. We are enrolled in the Baby Club program there, and it has been nothing but a nightmare! They very rarely calculate the baby points correctly or actually give the reward for earning 200 points at the time they are supposed to.
Case in point. Yesterday I knew I had 185 baby points going in to the store. My goal was to pick up 2 packs of diapers to go over 200 points and then get my $10 reward to either be used on the diapers or the cart full of groceries I had.
I put the diapers up first thing. Nope, no baby points. No rewards. Nothing. Ugh.
When she finishes up my order I look on the receipt. No baby points whatsoever. None. The 185 I had from my last visit have just disappeared. I also noticed that my overall reward card savings have been reset down from around $4200 to $53. OK. No biggie. Maybe she scanned my card wrong. She didn’t. It was the right card number. Just something was screwy.
I went to the customer service center. Great. They can no longer help on the card issues. I have to call the 800# located at the top of the receipt. I thought nothing of it since I have called numerous times before and had no problems with anyone there.
Until…
TODAY!
I tend to be very well prepared when I call a customer service number. I hate calling them but I do try to be very nice when I call CSR’s. I know they get all kinds of crazies calling and I really do want them to remember at least one nice caller for the day. But once she had interrupted me 3 times, the gloves came off.
Note to CSRs… do NOT interrupt the customer. Let me say what I want to say to you even if it doesn’t matter. At least that way we can can say that we did notify you of the problem.
1st time : Interrupted me to tell me that the total saved that it says on the receipt is not the amount saved at my last trip. i.e. I didn’t save $4200 on my last shopping trip. Ya think?? I know I didn’t save that much on my last trip, but I do know that over a couple of years, I HAVE saved that much.
2ns time : Interrupted me to tell me that my baby must be over the age of 2. Ummm… no. She won’t be 2 until mid-August, thankyouverymuch.
3rd time: Interrupted me to tell me that she can not give out any information to me since my name is not Christian. Ummm… my hard working husband is at WORK. And what information is soooooo secretive about my grocery store savings card that you can’t tell me over the phone.
LET ME TALK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR
4th and final time : Interrupted me to tell me that the supervisor will tell me the same thing. LET ME TALK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR
Supervisor FINALLY picks up the phone. Proceeds to tell me that the CSR is correct in that she can’t give me any information. Whoa… did he just say the wrong thing.
“I don’t need you to give me any information. I just need you to do a little research and figure out where my baby points went! There is no information that you can give me that I don’t already know about this transaction other than the fact that you guys screwed up! What is so secretive about reward points anyway? I can call a Dr.’s office and get more information from them and that is important personal information. I can give you his SS#, his birth-date, his address, his phone number and even his first borns' name if you want. All you need to do it find out where my baby points went!!! ”
I think he got the point. He will be calling me back today. :)
Menu Plan Monday
I was bound and determined to get my menu done by yesterday and I did it!! Monday’s are always pretty busy and I just was running out of time to make up a weeks worth of ideas. I hope to be able to eventually do 2 weeks at a time. That way when we go to the store, I get what we are going to fix for dinners, along with other essentials. But at least I’ll always have what I need on hand.
Here is what I came up with for this week’s menu plan. You can see more menu’s over at orgjunkie.com.
Monday – Pork chops with scalloped potatoes, green beans and bread
Tuesday – Grilled stuffed burritos with black beans and rice and a salad
Wednesday – Chicken & dumplings, peas and carrots and any leftover bread
Thursday – Baked fish, squash, broccoli and bread
Friday – Homemade pizza and a salad
Saturday – Hambugers and hot dogs on the grill, potato salad and grilled corn
Sunday – Tuna noodle casserole, green beans and any leftover bread
Here is what I came up with for this week’s menu plan. You can see more menu’s over at orgjunkie.com.
Monday – Pork chops with scalloped potatoes, green beans and bread
Tuesday – Grilled stuffed burritos with black beans and rice and a salad
Wednesday – Chicken & dumplings, peas and carrots and any leftover bread
Thursday – Baked fish, squash, broccoli and bread
Friday – Homemade pizza and a salad
Saturday – Hambugers and hot dogs on the grill, potato salad and grilled corn
Sunday – Tuna noodle casserole, green beans and any leftover bread
6.23.2009
What a difference a week makes
Last week I proclaimed that I hated suppertime. It was just too stressful. I have just recently started menu planning and since it’s easier for me to see exactly what needs to be done, I acutally do it! Imagine that!!
Last week went very smoothly. Yes, there were a few bumps in the road, but boy howdy was it much less stresful than the weeks leading up to it.
Last night was meatloaf night. I got an awesome deal on some ground beef that was marked down to $.99/lb and it was a 5lb package so I have plenty to work with. I used about 2.5 lbs last night on the meatloaf mixture. It made enough for 12 meatloaf cups and then I used the rest to make the meatballs for Wednesday’s dinner. So while the meatloaf cups baked, I rolled meatballs. Almost 40 of them!! Then popped them in the oven and they were done in mere minutes. I love getting things made ahead of time. Makes me feel a little organized.
I commented to Chris last night about how I don’t have headaches anymore. At least not as much. I am a firm believer that it was the MSG in the packaged food we used to buy. We haven’t bought anything with MSG in it for a little over 3 months now and NO headaches for me! :) I can’t believe all the things at the grocery store with MSG in it. Soups, bullion, ground beef helper meals and even some potato chips! If MSG is in there, we won’t buy it. I make my own cream soups now, as well as my own beef helper meals and stocks and broths. It’s tastier and much better for us.
Right after dinner last night, and after a HUGE thunderstorm, we noticed water dripping from the upstairs condo. I had heard their dog barking earlier during dinner so I thought they weren’t home. The first thing that went through my head was that their ceiling had either leaked or completely caved in and it was now coming in our house. (I know… I get a bit over-dramatical)
Chris rushed up the stairs to see if they were home. The husband was. He came downstairs and then right into our house. OMG… we had JUST finished eating dinner and dishes were everywhere and I didn’t have on a bra. I’m sure you know what boobs look like after 3 kids and no bra! I was trying desperately to hide behind the table. Not sure if it worked.
Turns out… the ceiling wasn’t leaking at all. His dog got spooked during the storm and knocked a tube out of his fish tank. Yup… stinky, dirty, poopy fish water was leaking into our dining room and down our living room wall. It stopped dripping after we chatted a while. Turns out they have been doing the Dave Ramsey plan. We chatted about that and about where they go to church. We may have to visit sometime.
So… organizing, cooking, fish water and boobs…. Now where else can you get that kinda of variety??
Last week went very smoothly. Yes, there were a few bumps in the road, but boy howdy was it much less stresful than the weeks leading up to it.
Last night was meatloaf night. I got an awesome deal on some ground beef that was marked down to $.99/lb and it was a 5lb package so I have plenty to work with. I used about 2.5 lbs last night on the meatloaf mixture. It made enough for 12 meatloaf cups and then I used the rest to make the meatballs for Wednesday’s dinner. So while the meatloaf cups baked, I rolled meatballs. Almost 40 of them!! Then popped them in the oven and they were done in mere minutes. I love getting things made ahead of time. Makes me feel a little organized.
I commented to Chris last night about how I don’t have headaches anymore. At least not as much. I am a firm believer that it was the MSG in the packaged food we used to buy. We haven’t bought anything with MSG in it for a little over 3 months now and NO headaches for me! :) I can’t believe all the things at the grocery store with MSG in it. Soups, bullion, ground beef helper meals and even some potato chips! If MSG is in there, we won’t buy it. I make my own cream soups now, as well as my own beef helper meals and stocks and broths. It’s tastier and much better for us.
Right after dinner last night, and after a HUGE thunderstorm, we noticed water dripping from the upstairs condo. I had heard their dog barking earlier during dinner so I thought they weren’t home. The first thing that went through my head was that their ceiling had either leaked or completely caved in and it was now coming in our house. (I know… I get a bit over-dramatical)
Chris rushed up the stairs to see if they were home. The husband was. He came downstairs and then right into our house. OMG… we had JUST finished eating dinner and dishes were everywhere and I didn’t have on a bra. I’m sure you know what boobs look like after 3 kids and no bra! I was trying desperately to hide behind the table. Not sure if it worked.
Turns out… the ceiling wasn’t leaking at all. His dog got spooked during the storm and knocked a tube out of his fish tank. Yup… stinky, dirty, poopy fish water was leaking into our dining room and down our living room wall. It stopped dripping after we chatted a while. Turns out they have been doing the Dave Ramsey plan. We chatted about that and about where they go to church. We may have to visit sometime.
So… organizing, cooking, fish water and boobs…. Now where else can you get that kinda of variety??
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