Monday, December 29, 2008

These are the Days

It has been a particularly looooooooooooong day here at casa de phillips, beginning with a little boy charging into the bathroom at 5am this morning to inform me he had some "cough-coughs."

I was getting dressed for the gym at the time and was completely startled by someone else being awake. My tendency to panic when startled caused me to become all tripped up in my yoga pants I was putting on. It was quite the spectacle in our bathroom before the sun even rose this morning.

I remember the days of being a young child and of waking early, wondering the house before anyone else was up. The days of hating taking naps the year I was five, regardless of the fact my mother was dealing with a preemie newborn who rarely slept.

It is on these long Mommy days that I know my own dear mother is secretly smiling as I complain to her over the phone, knowing that I am indeed paying for my own childhood.

For example, I used to eat breakfast before the others in my family because I was always awake so early. Being a typical 197o's family, we owned the gold and avocado green Correll dishes that were apparently handed out with newborn babies at hospitals during that time (you either had these dishes or knew someone who did). Rumor was circulated around our little house at that time that those people who dined off the avocado green plates where stupid (I won't mention names as to who started such a vicious rumor)....and it somehow seemed that most mornings my breakfast was served on the green plates as opposed to the cool gold designed plates. Such an occurrence would cause me to become quite distraught, thus leading my mom to have to discipline me before I woke the entire house with my crying.

Well...this morning Evelyn was served yogurt in a bowl not to her liking, causing her to toss said bowl over the side of her high chair in anger.

Sigh.

She wasn't the slightest bit concerned when I attempted to tell her how expensive organic, whole milk yogurt is and how I was going to scoop it off the floor for somebody to eat as to not waste good food. She was slightly concerned when she had to do some time in time-out for throwing food. She was really concerned when she discovered there would be no more yogurt for her this morning.

There are many more tales from today, but I will spare you an invitation to my pity party. However, I do have a bit of a random question for the blog world:

"How much do you spend on average each week for groceries and how many people are you feeding?"

Coming up in January, I am going to do a little series here at savethephillipsfamily and I always appreciate some insight for such writings. Obviously this series has to do with grocery shopping, money, and food. Because being open about financial things can be a bit tricky, I am going to allow anonymous comments for this post for those who do not want to completely disclose such details.

Please share....and if your amount is really low and your family eats at home on a regular basis, I am going to be knocking at your door to get all of your money saving secrets!

6 comments:

Shelley said...

For your grocery segment... We have a grocery budget of $200 every two weeks. We usually go over but usually only by $20 or so. I make a trip to HEB every two weeks and then we just restock the milk, bread, and eggs as needed. It feeds five of us :)

Jennifer Schroeder said...

My amount is really low, but obviously that is partly because it is for one person. I have become very diligent about cooking at home, and since I don't tend to eat my meat, the base of most of my meals is beans (which are super cheap). Also, I have begun making my own bread, pizza crust, pancakes, etc. because I can generally do so much cheaper than buying storebought, and I know exactly what is in them. I have moved away from buying much that is prepackaged. However, the things that I spend the most on and will only buy organic are milk (my favorite is Promise Land), eggs, butter, and canned tomatoes. Also, we have a little farmers market over in my area that is open every Saturday morning, and I will usually go pick up a little fruit each week. My average grocery bill is $25 every two weeks. I am also coupon obsessed, so most household items I either use a coupon for or make myself.

Jennifer said...

We eat out mostly at home but I am not the best about keeping up with what we spend on groceries. Like you, I purchase mostly organic products and try to do more produce and such instead of processed foods. I do know that it's frustrating when I go in and get a few things and I still spend $100. I was hoping that since gas prices have lowered that we would see the prices of food go down as well but I have not noticed that change. Over the next week or so, I'll try to keep track of what I spend on groceries and then let you know. I do use coupons when I can (either those found in the newspaper or those from websites/companies of the products I buy) and that helps a little bit!

Jennifer said...

sorry....I meant to say "we eat mostly at home" instead of "eating out at home."

Jennifer Schroeder said...

Also, FYI, here is a real easy way to make your own yogurt. I have used some of her other stuff, and it has been great, but I haven't tried the yogurt (although I think I will shortly).

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html

Heather said...

For the past few months, we've been spending between $280 and $300 per month for two. However, that has included buying non-food, household items. We eat mostly at home, eating out only a couple times a week. I usually buy store-brand items, but there are some things that I just can't do that with (detergent, soap, shampoo, etc.). I'll be happy to share whatever you would like to know!