Grocery Shopping = Love

 I'm not really "normal" in the way most girls are about shopping. Shopping for clothes (for myself, mind you. I love finding clothes for other people) isn't something I overly enjoy. As my mom can attest, after about 30 minutes, I start to get a bit antsy, annoyed, and grumpy. When my friends want to go shopping, I will usually go, but I'm not jumping up and down about it. The one exception to this is shoe shopping; I love looking at shoes. I never buy any because I have no money, but I do enjoy looking at shoes. Pretty much,  I'm just not a fan of trying on clothes for hours at a time. Someday when I'm rich, I'll hire someone to do that for me. Then I'll be super fashionable (as if I'm not already! . . . cough), and I won't have to bored to tears.

However, I LOVE grocery shopping. When I was living at home, I would often ask my mom if she needed me to go to the store. There's just something that is somewhat relaxing about being in a grocery store.

Needless to say, when my cupboards begin to be a little bit sparse, and I have started living off corn tortillas, I anxiously await the time that I get paid and I can finally go grocery shopping. However, I have issues with knowing what to buy. I know how to cook, believe me. But I'm really bad at finding the best deals and planning meals before I make them. It doesn't help that most of the meals I enjoy making are for more than one person, and despite my recent efforts, I do not like leftovers. So when I go to the store, I often buy a lot of lean cuisines, pizza rolls, and a few random items for meals I think I might be able to make.

Recently I have tried to put in more of an effort. A few times I even wrote down a list in my phone (because, it can't get crinkled there, unlike most other lists I make) and tried to stick to it. However, I'm not very good at it.

Today I went grocery shopping. I was on a rather strict budget, and I was hoping to get enough food to last me at least two weeks. I have been putting a conscious effort into eating healthier foods and eliminate most frozen meals. I went into the store with that mindset today, and I came out with some great deals and items. I am proud to say that the only frozen items I bought were three bags of frozen vegetables that were a dollar each. As I left the store, spending less than I usually do but coming out with more items, I felt somewhat accomplished. I even made it out of the store without buying a bag of cadburry eggs, or even a candy bard, which was really temping, let me tell you. Instead, I got grapes that I have since put in the freezer. We'll see how long that holds me over.

But, I just wanted to say that it felt good to buy healthy things and somewhat get a lot of things on sale. It was actually kind of fun, trying to find the best deals in the store. I was somewhat disappointed when I got to work later, because as I was looking through today's Macey's ad, I found some even better deals on several items that I purchased. However, I wasn't as put out as I should have been, because I avoid Macey's as much as possible. I just really feel like I'm about to walk into a gang fight every time I walk into that store.

BUT today is the beginning of my goal to be more frugal when it comes to money and food. I really want to become one of those awesome people (like my sister, Kristalyn), who search out awesome deals and coupons. So, if any of you coupon queens (or kings?) out there have any killer hints, or awesome websites/blogs you read, let me know!

As for now, maybe I'll try and hire myself out as a grocery shopper. I mean, some people probably don't like grocery shopping, right?
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