Baby Steps

I feel like I am making some progress, with both the external struggles I have already discussed and other internal struggles that have not been mentioned.  A while back I began "couponing".  Some of you might be familiar with this as it is a hot new trend.  Ever been at a supermarket and got in line behind a nice young mom and notice she has a three-ring binder with her along with a grocery cart filled with many items that all seem to be the same thing?  If not, and you ever come across this scenario, I will let you know you need to turn and run the other way.. fast.  If you do not heed my advice, you could be stuck in that line for a very long time.  I was this young mom for a short period of time, and while I am not disregarding this lifestyle totally, I am not embracing it as I once did, er... well... tried to do.  I will say it was saving me some money, and there were some GREAT deals, but as I have altered my way of thinking I am revisiting the whole idea behind it.

Today I was at Albertsons when I saw a phenomenal deal.  Yesterday at Bridgets after-basketball season party, some of the moms were discussing this awesome find.  Apparently, when paired with the right coupons and right doubler coupons, you could get Betty Crocker fruit snacks and fruit roll-ups for .30!  Even without the coupons, which I had none of since I have not been buying newspapers lately, they were still only $1 a box.  Now 4 months ago, I would have scoured for the coupons and headed down and stocked up on the sugary little morsels.  So today, as I was grabbing my green beans and a bag of potatoes to go with tonights baked fish dinner, I grabbed 4 boxes and put them in my cart.  The lines were loooong, and I hopped up to the self-checkout (you know since I'm such a pro-bagger), and started checking out.  Just as I finished scanning my items I came for, I thought and contemplated.. and then I left the boxes of high fructose corn syrup little globs at the store.

What was I thinking? Well here is what went through my mind.  The words of Michael Pollan were ringing through my ears.  As Americans, we are paying less and less for foods, but paying a high price later in life on medical care.  Yes I really did think this in my head.  But what I also thought was.. "Ok, these are a great deal!  Gavin looooves these things.. wait.. why do I need them, he eats them for a snack, but they don't fill him up, they are not good for his teeth or body, sure they are only a buck a piece.. but that is $4 I did not intend on spending when I came into the store today.. 4 dollars I can use for something else later", so I put them back and left the store. I think that even if I did have the right coupon combos, I still would have put them back.

I'm proud of myself.  I saved some money, I made a good choice, and we had a great dinner.  I ate green beans for the first time in my life.  I made fried potatoes and they turned out great! Mom if you are reading this, I believe that overcrowding WAS the problem.  And we had some delicious fish that my husband caught himself and it was good.  I still clip coupons and look for good deals on shampoo, toothpaste and other goods, but I have found that the majority of coupons and sales are on highly processed junk food. One would probably laugh if they could see my pantry today.  It does seem a little bare, but we always manage to find good things to eat.  As insignificant as this all seems.. its baby steps.  Its hard to leap in feet first, but with many tiny steps we can go a long way towards our goal.