Tag Archive | grocery bill wreckers

grocery bill wreckers, pt. 7

May3

Another grocery bill wrecker has been identified, so it’s time to name number 7.

Let’s just look back at the last 6 (and yes, the list is cobbled together from previous posts).

1. My eyes (contacts, drops, medications…)

2. My cat (food, food, litter, special food he likes as a treat, food..)

3. My [not so] shameful tea addiction (50 varieties last time I counted..)

4. Impulse buys (would you walk away from chocolate malted milk ball cookies? I don’t think so).

5. The seasonal/limited edition flavor item. This is usually worst in the fall going into Christmas…but some companies have turned the limited edition into an art form.

6. My need for variety/options. Variety packs almost always cost more (as does buying a second flavor of any product), and yet I can’t help myself.

And now, joining them is another product born out of another of my quirks: the need to add flavor to my water.

Drinking more water is one of those perpetual “dumb” resolutions I have (I call it dumb because how hard is it to drink more water? Apparently it’s very difficult. That and putting lotion on my dry hands [bet they wouldn't be so dry if I drank more] are crazy/impossible for me…). (It’s also interesting to consider the fact that I buy into all those statements that drinking tons of water will do amazing things for my looks, my well-being, and so on.) And the thing is, I really don’t drink much of anything else (aside from tea). I’m not really into drinking my calories and didn’t want to spend money or drink a lot of diet products with aspartame or artificial sweeteners…so I decided I’d drink more water. Problem was, I would get a glass of water…and just not drink it, or anything else.

So, I compromised a bit:

zero calorie vitamin water

I actually don’t drink this straight from the bottle…I find it too sweet. But, I find it flavors water nicely (and, let’s face it, it’s less expensive to water it down…). I have a much better chance at drinking water if it’s got a nice fruity flavor to it. Only thing is that I think these are $1.40 apiece at my local stop and shop…sometimes they go on sale for $1.25, but even better, sometimes they go on sale for $1.00. That’s when I pounce (and they seem to be on sale pretty frequently). If I buy 5 when they’re a dollar each, I get one more bottle than if I buy them at $1.25…it’s like a free bottle (except it isn’t…).

Then there are the powders…oooh, the powders…sounds a little sinister, right? That’s why I keep them in this tin:

the girl at the register where I bought this called it a "death metal kitty"

[But really, I got it because it resembles someone we all know and love:]

what?

Anyway, back to the powders. When you open death metal kitty up, this is what you see

lemons and limes, sort of

These are a bit old. The True Lemon and True Lime (and I’ve also had True Orange) are just crystallized lemon, lime…you get the picture. So, it’s flavor, but not sweetness. These are okay in that they impart some flavor (but I do like my sweetness). The Crystal Light is, of course, more sweet than flavor. They’re not bad price-wise…about $2.70-3.20 for a box with around 20 servings…(I think..it has been a while since I bought these).

The fact is though, I drink more water when there’s flavor. And I’m using tap/work water cooler water…I’m not buying bottles of water as well.

Verdict: My need for flavored water is perhaps an unnecessary expense, but doesn’t drive up my bill too much [and once I start drinking more water, I'll be fabulous, right?]

what?

Do you drink mostly water or something else? Where do you fall on the “flavored water” spectrum? What do you think of the resemblance between strivingcynic cat and death metal kitty?

grocery bill wreckers, pt. 6

Feb23

The time has come to name yet another grocery bill wrecker. We’re at the 6th installment of this series that investigates why my grocery bills are always higher than I expect them to be.

Let’s just look back at the last 5 (and yes, the 1-4 statements are taken directly from  my pt. 5 post.).

1. My eyes (contacts, drops, medications…)

2. My cat (food, food, litter, special food he likes as a treat, food..)

3. My [not so] shameful tea addiction (50 varieties last time I counted..)

4. Impulse buys (would you walk away from chocolate malted milk ball cookies? I don’t think so).

5. The seasonal/limited edition flavor item. This is usually worst in the fall going into Christmas…but some companies have turned the limited edition into an art form.

And now, after some more grocery shopping, I’ve thought of number 6…which is not so much born of necessity, but of my own weakness.

My need for variety/options.

It used to be that I only needed one box of cereal, one type of dessert in my home. As years have passed, I’ve discovered that even when I have some perfectly yummy cookies in the house, well, what if I get bored? much better to have a second type for a little variety.

How does this manifest itself? There are two ways I can think of in particular. The first is the aforementioned, I already have this, but why not have another type of this. The other day, I mentioned the fabulous Trader Joe’s Pinacchio (pistachio and white chocolate) cookies. But, do not think they came to a cookie-free house. Oh no…there are also some Trader Joe’s European bistro biscuits waiting to be eaten. And these are also yummy cookies that do very well when dipped into tea. But it wasn’t enough for me.

This also isn’t a matter of the different preferences of people in our household, which might excuse some level of variety (I like Vanilla soymilk for example, the other strivingcynics prefer plain cow’s milk). This is the result of me seeing an item in the store, licking my lips and saying..well, it would be nice to have that too. As a result, we have three types of cereal, two types of crackers, two types of ice cream, two types of cookies, and we’ve already discussed my tea dependency.

three types of nut butter, two types of cookies, two types of salsa . . .

The second opportunity for variety-style grocery bill wrecking is the “sampler pack.” As an incredibly indecisive person, I cannot resist the lure of the sampler…it means I can try everything, it means I don’t have to choose…but it often means that I’m paying more money for less of a product than if I just paid for a box of same. For example, sometimes we’ve bought the “fancy cracker sampler” (where the funky graham cracker-like one gets left untouched). Even sc kitty’s beloved Whiskas is a variety pack (he can’t have the same old seafood flavor all the time after all).

At the moment, the biggest manifestation of this is when I purchase K cups for my Keurig. You see, there are so many flavors out there…and they all sound so good. And I discovered on Amazon that there are places that sell “variety” boxes (although according to the reviews, sometimes they’re heavy on one flavor). So, I keep ordering them so I can try as many as possible. I’ve also bought variety packs of granola bars, and teas (I know). And of course, it always ends up that one flavor gets a little left behind.

a bouquet of coffee flavors

Verdict: Although I think it’s somewhat harmless and natural…my need for variety is definitely a grocery bill wrecker! But, at least I have choices!

Do you like to keep a variety of a particular item around the house? What are your “variety weaknesses?”

grocery bill wreckers: pt. 5

Nov29

After several trips to the supermarkets this weekend, I realized it was time to revisit a topic that has languished of late on striving cynic: Grocery Bill Wreckers. You remember (or if you’re new here, you don’t), this is where I examine what the heck drives my grocery bill up so much (I go in thinking it’s gonna be $20; I come out having spent $70). Before I get to this fifth and latest addition, let me remind you of what the last four were.

1. My eyes (contacts, drops, medications…)

2. My cat (food, food, litter, special food he likes as a treat, food..)

3. My [not so] shameful tea addiction (50 varieties last time I counted..)

4. Impulse buys (would you walk away from chocolate malted milk ball cookies? I don’t think so).

And introducing the next grocery bill wrecker to join the list………………[and on another note, looking back, it annoys me that I wasn't consistent with abbreviating or not abbreviating "part" for the previous titles...]

The seasonal/limited edition flavor item.

From October on, we get assaulted with special flavors in our coffees, teas, ice creams, soy milks, candies, you name it. And I am a sucker for almost all of it. Example 1:

gotta have my holiday-flavored hot beverages!

what's on the right

a closer look at the left

Just a sampling of what’s out there. One pumpkin coffee; one gingerbread coffee [I loved Trader Joe's pumpkin coffee and made the mistake of not buying 10 cans immediately...and that's it till next year according to them]; one gingerbread tea; one cranberry pomegranate tea [stash markets it as seasonal, not sure if I see it that way]; a “Christmas Eve” flavor tea; a “Holiday Chai” flavor tea; a pumpkin spice tea; and a “Candy Cane Lane” tea. And I can tell you, that I’ve held back. There are other varieties of Christmas tea out there (eggnog flavor, sugar plum flavor, sugar cookie flavor..it goes on and on), that I’ve resisted buying…for now.

Last year my family became addicted to a gingersnap flavor ice cream by Turkey Hill. I have walked past the freezer case and looked for it longingly, but it hasn’t showed up yet. But, I have seen a peppermint ice cream and had a pumpkin ice cream back in October.

candy cane flavor? not fair!

I went to Trader Joe’s on Sunday and decided to buy gingerbread mix rather than the pumpkin bread mix that I have bought my previous trips (no doubt, I’ll be buying both again). Once again, I got majorly sucked into a Trader Joe’s display….and as my eyes widened and my heart started beating faster I knew I had to have a box of Joe-Joe’s.

For heaven’s sake, how am I supposed to resist “chocolate sandwich cookies” with peppermint bits in the cream? How? How? It’s beyond me. Needless to say, they didn’t stay in their unopened state for very long. So, first of all, yum! Second, I love the pale pink cream. Third, yum!

What other seasonal treats await? Chances are, I’ll find out.

Verdict. An addiction to the flavors of the season (whatever season it is) can be an absolute grocery bill wrecker!

In other words, I’ll do it again, and again…

Are you addicted to any “seasonal” flavors? What “holiday flavor” treats are currently lurking in your house?

grocery bill wreckers, pt. 4

May23

It’s been too long since I last discussed these things that make me say “what did I spend all this money on?” when I go shopping. So, far, I’ve unstintingly examined the effects that my eyes, my cat, and my not-so-secret tea addiction, have on my grocery bill.

Part 4 brings us to another weakness (although, one the grocery store powers-that-be know about and, if you ask me, totally exploit)–the impulse buy! I went to Target and Trader Joe’s. on Saturday..and ended up impulse buying items at both places. In fact, I ended up picking up similar items in both places!

for some reason, crispy/crunchy fruit appealed to me!

Freeze-dried strawberry slices (Target), vacuum fried (???) pineapple chips (Trader Joe’s), and freeze-dried banana slices (Target). I figure they’d be good to snack on and since I like my yogurt to have “crunch,” it could be a good add-in!

Trader Joe’s was the scene of more impulse buying (well, to be fair…there were two things I bought that I’d heard of or seen before). Of course, you have to get close enough to be able to see stuff to get the impulse (our TJ’s has perennial crowd issues). So, my two… “ooh..other people have mentioned this and I want to try it” products were…

guacamole AND hummus....sign me up!

could be good…could be…not good (please be good!). Time (and my opening and eating the contents) will tell.

a nut (well, seed) butter...I've never tried before

I love the sunflower picture!

Now, on to the dessert category. I had some assistance on this one!

.

chocolate. candy-coated. sunflower. seeds and malted. milk ball. cookies!

Not sure what’s going on with the label, but since we tore into those cookies pretty quickly…it was definitely us!

Sooo…mr. strivingcynic was with me for the Trader Joe’s leg of shopping. The store did something really unfair…they had the malted milk ball cookies at a big end-of-the-aisle display. We couldn’t tear our eyes away….we did manage to walk away…but I had already made up my mind that I had to try these and was going to go back. While I was looking for something (perhaps in the fried pineapple aisle!) mr. sc excused himself . . .and when he came back, that beautiful bright-pink-labeled package was placed in our cart. The sunflower seeds were actually picked up while waiting on line at the check-out stand. A classic impulse buy! (Ahem) I thought they might pair nicely with ice cream. I can tell you that both of those got opened last night…and all my thoughts and expectations….were completely correct!!

[Oh...and I bought a couple of Luna Bars on impulse as well...].

So, my verdict on impulse buys? They are definitely a grocery bill wrecker, but one that brings new possibilities into my life…and it’s important to expand my horizons. Isn’t it? Of course, if it turns out that I don’t like something I impulse bought…I’ll be annoyed (at any rate, there may be some reviews here in the near future).

By the way, as far as my kitty grocery bill wrecker goes, I bought Whiskas for strivingcynic kitty at Target, where they’re 80 cents less a box than at Stop and Shop. Of course, they only had one box of the seafood flavor!

On another note: I ran my (very first) 5k yesterday! Had a great time and got to see a lot of cute doggies! I’ll be posting about it soon!

How are you with impulse buys? Any successes that made it into your regular repertoire? Any absolute failures? Have you tried crispy/crunchy fruit?

the eternal question

Apr18

Explain how this happens.

As I mentioned, mr. strivingcynic and I go shopping pretty much every week. And more often than not, our shopping consists of Super Stop and Shop and Trader Joe’s. These shopping trips have inspired my “Grocery Bill Wreckers” series Parts 1, 2, and 3).

part 1. the eyes

part 2. the cat

part 3. my tea habit

Saturday, the weather was looking bleak and set to get even worse, so we went to Trader Joe’s (and again, 70 dollars was spent!). We came back, happy with our purchases (but, sigh, yes, planning to stop off for additionals at Stop and Shop). Actually, no, I’m lying. Mr sc specifically wanted to pick up some TJ’s wine chicken country salad…and when we got there, they were out!!! It always hurts when TJ’s disappoints like that, but we happened to pass by yesterday and he was able to pick some up

We had some nice TJ’s roasted red pepper and tomato soup with our lunch….but when dinner rolled around, I really wanted Chinese food. Takeout Chinese food. But there was something of a monsoon going on outside and I knew I wouldn’t want to go out in it, so I wasn’t about to ask mr. sc to. But, how is it you can go out and buy a ton of food and then not want to eat any of it?

It’s partly because neither of us are really cooks…partly because we’d had TJ pizza the night before (I promise I am not affiliated with Trader Joe’s…just a fan like a lot of people). Ultimately, I had a salad and we made veggie burgers and fries. When I joked to mr. sc about writing a post about secretly wanting Chinese food when the weather is to miserable for anyone to go out, he told me he would have gone if I had asked. I feel like I shouldn’t send anyone else out in weather I wouldn’t go out in myself. Maybe if he had suggested it and offered, but I wasn’t going to ask him to.

But, going back to my central question….is the “I don’t want to eat anything we have at home” phenomenon similar to when I look at my clothes and declare I have nothing to wear?  Is it just failure of imagination? I try pretty hard to not waste food (we had leftover Italian bread from a pasta dinner the other night…I was thrilled when I realized that I could toast it up to have with our soup lunch) and I know it’s a “lucky” problem to have. But I know that if the weather had been a little bit better, I wouldn’t have hesitated to mention Chinese food.

Have you found yourself wanting a different food from what you have in the house, even if you just bought food? Are you willing to head out (or send someone else out) in bad weather when you crave a particular food? What’s your policy for leftovers?

grocery bill wreckers, part 3 (cabinet of shame edition)

Apr6

Once again, the weather is playing games with my heart! We took a blanket off our bed one night…only to put it back the next. And then, there’s been rain.

pretty gloomy

Bad weather is in part responsible for the item featured in today’s post. You see, the particular grocery bill wrecker I will investigate today differs from the previous two (my eyes and my cat), in that this particular item I spend too much money on is something that I could buy a lot less of. Except I can’t…because a) I’m addicted and b) I’m always looking for new ones to try! and c) it’s a good cold/yucky weather item.

So, what is it that I have in my cabinet(s) that I just can’t stop buying…..well…..

a cute miniature tea set hints at my addiction (photo by mr. strivingcynic)

Yep….it’s tea. More specifically flavored tea. In the evening, I like herbal teas (chamomiles, herbal chais) and flavored rooibos teas….during the day, I drink a lot of decaf green tea (well, it IS supposed to be good for you….). I actually don’t drink that much black tea, but when I do, I usually add milk (the same goes with some of the herbals and the rooibos’s..the greens I drink straight…in fact that’s one reason why they’re my work drink…easier to not have to deal with finding milk).

Now, in the morning, I’m a coffee girl. I am your classic “Please don’t speak to me (HA! Like I say “please” then) because I can’t think without my coffee.” But for the rest of the day and into the evening….I’m all about the tea. My evening relaxation ritual centers around tea.

How much tea? Well, here’s a quick tour of the home stash(es).

there are boxes of tea *behind* the boxes of tea

Okay. . . one of those is an “international” coffee.

my loose tea collection for when I feel "fancy"

another cabinet is taken over!

The blue basket on the left also contains tea. Mr. sc needed to make room so he took the time to cut the label out of some boxes and put that and the teabags in plastic bags. He’s my enabler.

So….how many varieties of tea are there? I’m going to count AND time how long the count takes.

Wow. It took me two minutes and I have…..50 different types of tea (and another 5 at work!). 50….holy crap! I didn’t even know the extent of it!

Now..in my defense…Stop and Shop ran a sale of Celestial Seasonings, so I stocked up. I got a bunch of Bigelow on sale. There are some “souvenir” teas from England and Canada. Some of them are free samples that came with teas I ordered. I got some as gifts (because people are somehow under the impression that I like tea)!

So, the cheapest of the teas was probably a dollar for a box…but they certainly weren’t all a dollar. I bought one variety of tea for about $14 for two ounces. So, even if I’d gotten all these teas at $2 a box…that’s $100 right there. Of course, tea also lasts quite a while so some of these have been with me for a little while (I am so justifying my addiction now…).

Verdict: Okay…so it isn’t so much that tea is a grocery bill wrecker…but my addiction to it clearly costs me some $$$$$$

Probability that I’ll stop buying it: Doubtful!

that's right, a pumpkin theme miniature tea set! (photo by mr. sc)

Do you like tea? What type do you drink and when? What do you buy waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too much of?

 

grocery bill wreckers, part 2

Mar16

As promised, I’m continuing my hard-hitting series on why my grocery bill is always so much freaking higher than I expect it to be. Last time, we examined how much money my eyes cost me….now we’ll turn to a different culprit.

a certain little guy known around these parts as "strivingcynic cat"

Yep…good ol’ strivingcynic cat. Good ol’ finicky “I like what I like so don’t try to feed me anything else” sc cat.

Now, I’ve had cats most of my life…so I know that there’s money involved and I don’t begrudge him (I can’t resist that face). And to be fair, he’s pretty cheap to keep entertained.

the sunlight entertains

cameras are worth investigating too

But, as I said, the food situation is something else:

the many varieties of strivingcynic cat eats

sc cat has five staple foods in his diet. First, his hard food…a mix of Fancy Feast with Ocean Fish and Salmon hard food, and Purina One [not pictured], salmon flavor. What else? Well, he loves his Whiskas (wet food)….choice cuts, seafood if you please (sc cat has a bit of a delicate tummy…the store was out of seafood so I bought poultry the other week…umm..it didn’t sit well). Then the canister treats. There are “Pounce-y” treats and “Trader Joe treats” (he is insane for the latter…if you shake the canister, he will come running).

I love seeing how excited his whiskas and treats make him….I don’t so much love how much it all costs (sigh, especially at Stop and Shop). The whiskas is usually $5.50 a box (it’s on sale for $4.50 currently…I’ve been buying up boxes…it was sort of on sale at Target for $4.00 a box for several weeks…apparently the seafood flavor is most popular since they were out of it…I asked about getting a rain check and was told it wasn’t really “on sale”…it was a “price reduction” [apparently the latter category means no rain check]). Food is cheaper at PetSmart…but I always end up buying some other pet thing (and donating money to the local shelters PetSmart charities…not that I mind but in pure financial terms, it’s a wash). Kitty litter also adds on to the bill. Without a doubt, at least 5-10 dollars of every grocery bill can be attributed to him and his needs!

But, he is the best grocery bill wrecker around. And without all the food, he would never have gone from this:

the day I met strivingcynic cat

 

to this:

strivingcynic cat being sweet

Verdict: Cat food and kitty litter are grocery bill wreckers, but sc cat is worth every penny!

 

Does anyone else have a finicky nonhuman companion who likes to run up their grocery bills? What does your pet like to eat and does he or she have any funny food habits?

grocery bill wreckers, pt. 1

Mar7

I often go to the grocery store thinking I’m going to spend 20 dollars…maybe 30. I almost always come back totally bewildered at having spent at least 70. This has been going on for years…part of it is getting sucked into sales…a larger part of it is that I am a more high-maintenance person than I like to think I am. Okay, that’s not entirely fair…vanity goes into some of it, necessity is part of it (and then sales and coupons). With this projected v. actual disparity in mind, I decided to start a series of posts (to be added to as I feel like) called “What the hell am I spending all this money on at the grocery store when I think it’s gonna be 20 bucks and it turns out to be [at least] 70!?” or in short “grocery bill wreckers.”

Let me explain a little…mr. strivingcynic and I tend to split up our grocery shopping since we mainly hit the Stop and Shop that’s local (I like to call where I live the “Stop and Shop stranglehold”…there are 3 S&S’s within 1-10 minutes from me…drives me crazy because some of S&S’s stuff is way overpriced and I just get angry when I see how cheap it is elsewhere*). So, once a week we hit S&S and we like to hit Trader Joe’s (15 minutes away)…but that’s more every other week (so my 70 is like half our total weekly bill). There’s a Wegman’s and a Whole Foods about 15 minutes away (and a Target about 7 minutes away), but with one S&S literally a minute down the road…they get a lot of my money.

So, here is the first thing I spend a lot of money on–drug aisle category. My eyes.

I’ve worn contact lenses since I was 12 (so more than 25 years). Contact lenses have improved a lot over the years, but unfortunately, my eyes and my prescription have not (I have “special eyes,” like the dude in the commercial). I’m  incredibly nearsighted, different left and right prescription, with an astigmatism. I wear my lenses at least 6 days a week. So, first there’s the lens solution…usually 8 dollars a bottle.

I had a 4 dollar off coupon for a twinpack!

Then there’s the other fun part….turns out as you age, your eyes start getting dryer. Last year I turned up at the eye doctor’s twice with what turned out to be a scratched cornea (I didn’t know when I did it, but I started to know soon enough when I thought…wow, that light hurts….wow, the air coming through the vent in my car hurts…I think I’ll just keep my right eye closed from here on out). At first the doctor recommended over-the-counter dry eye drops…the second time she told me if she saw me again with a scratch, I’d have to start using a prescription medication (dry eyes increase the likelihood of scratches). For the third time in a year I turned up with my eye bothering me…which she determined was not a scratch, but was superirritated. So for the third time in a year I was “grounded” from my lenses, and put on an eyedrop/antibiotic steroid. In  addition to the regular dry eye drops (which I can carry around with me), the doc recommended preservative-free drops (which come in little vials and are use and dispose…or put in fridge), and wrote me a prescription for Restasis.

my preservative-free drops, my with-preservatives drops, and a supply of left eye lenses

and my restasis

All of these things are not cheap (although I don’t have to buy them each time I go, I invariably need one or the other and my bill goes up). The Restasis is covered by my prescription plan so I only pay 10 for it (and I have to admit, since I started it, I haven’t had an eye issue). But, when I have to buy any one of my eye items, it’s an immediate extra 10 dollars on my grocery bill.

And even though I buy all this eye stuff, I actually wear my glasses more than I used to because the doctor said I probably shouldn’t be wearing the lenses 12-16 hours a day. I work out in the morning wearing my glasses, putting the lenses in after I come home and shower, and pretty much take my lenses out when I get home in the evening. My glasses are, of course, also expensive…and I’ve been thinking about getting a second pair for “just in case” and for variety since I wear them more often.

People have also asked a) why don’t I just wear my glasses? and b) what about vision correcting surgery? To a) I say, well, don’t hate wearing my glasses as much as I used to, but after a while, they bother my ear and nose, and I feel like I’m in my pajamas (ie, they’re usually “home” attire). For b) the idea surgery on my eyes freaks me out, I don’t want to be the 1 in whatever that has a problem,…and it’s just part of my life….I feel like part of my bedtime routine is that I’m no longer able to see properly…I think if I had perfect vision after so many years…I’d stare at everything and never close my eyes!

Verdict: Eye care items are a grocery bill wrecker, but one I’m willing to live with.

[* Case in point about Stop and Shop being expensive....last year, I wanted to bake these ginger snaps and needed to buy ground cloves. A little thing of McCormick's ground cloves (there was no store brand) at S&S.....$8.49. I just refused....I went to Target later that day and checked thinking they wouldn't have ground cloves....the same exact small "jar" of McCormick's ground cloves....$2.99. Needless to say, I bought it...The next time I went to S&S I checked to see if maybe I'd somehow gotten it wrong...and the same jar was $8.99. I can't think of anything that justifies that level of disparity.]

potential grocery bill wrecker

What are your “grocery bill wreckers?” Does anyone else have a “cloves” story? Does anyone want to tell me about a cheap source of eyeglasses, lenses, and medications?