Isn’t God’s timing cool? Last night our devotion with the kiddos was about the parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew 25. For those who don’t know, basically the parable is about 5 wise girls and 5 foolish girls. The wise girls had brought extra oil for their lamps so they would be ready when the bridegroom came. The foolish girls did not, and ended up missing out on the wedding feast. We were drawing out the practical application of being prepared, here on earth, as well as, the application of having our hearts prepared to meet the Lord when he returns.
So, today was grocery day, and as Providence would have it, we did exceptionally well at the grocery store today and were able to stock up. But, I am getting ahead of myself. This is my pantry…
It is located in my utility room, which is just outside my kitchen door. A little unconventional, but you know me, I am all about working with what I have!
See how nice and stocked it is? It wasn’t like that last night, in fact it was getting rather bare. I had just commented to Mr. OverKill that I hadn’t seen as many of the good “stock up sales” lately. But, the Lord provided and now we are stocked up, hopefully until the next sale.
Now, I don’t shop like my Mom (sorry Mom!) When I was growing up, Mom would make a list of what meals she wanted for the week and make a list of what we were lacking to make those meals happen and that was her grocery list. Now, that’s a nice way to operate, but in lean times, with 4 bottomless pits running around the house, I can’t shop that way. If you were to look at what comes home with me from the grocery store, you might wonder just what kind of concoction I am planning to feed my family that week.
Typically, what I do is shop the sales. And when the sales are good I stock up. I even have my 4 kiddos trained to the look for the “Buy One Get One Free” signs. They are really learning too! Today Bubba said, “But Mom, the doughnuts are Buy One Get One Free” this week, can’t we get them?” I was tempted, but No! Doughnuts are evil and must not be allowed in my home ;)
For the most part, I don’t buy something if it’s not on sale, unless I am desperate. It does take a bit of time to build up a pantry so that you can shop this way. But I’ve been doing it for years now and it seems almost second nature. I also have 2 extra freezers that come in handy when I find super sales on meat and fish, like turkeys after Thanksgiving and Christmas, 29 cents a pound. Or for buying beef in bulk, etc.
This week at Publix they are having their big Italian sale. It’s one of my favorites, not to mention Juicy Juice being on sale BOGO too!
They even had Olive Oil, BOGO. Best price I have seen since going to a warehouse/club store.
This week I also started using The Coupon Mom’s Strategy for applying the coupons when items are on sale, to get the lowest price. I LOVE doing that, I just didn’t have the time to figure out the whole coupon/sale coordination thing. But if you visit her site, The Coupon Mom does all the hard work for you!
Sugar Belle has become my chief coupon cutter, and she was shocked at how much we saved today!
Drum roll please……..
And no, I didn’t spend $300, I only spent $40 more than usual, $190.68. Not too shabby!!! And now our pantry is restocked.
Sugar Bell even said, “Hey Mommy, now we are prepared!”
Love those sales! Every time we go grocery shopping Stubborn Nefew insists on looking at the receipt so he can see how much we saved. It’s amazing how they get involved in that.