Now's A Good Time To Start Bulking Up If You Haven't Already

September is just days away, which means the holiday seasons will be quickly approaching sooner than we might like to think about. So now is as good a time as any to start catching those grocery sales and bulking up in the pantry.

This morning I was out shopping for more school supplies. Don't you just love it when each class has their own required supply list!?! I digress and will move on from that subject. *grin* Anyway, while out I recalled that a friend mentioned the opening of a new grocery store in the area that I happened to be in today. It's not a new store per sea, but a new location. I have frequented this particular small chain for sometime now, but the closest to us was about 45 minutes away. So that made my trips to it few and far between unless I was in the area or planned for a drive to it. Now with this new location, its about 20 minutes from the house. So yippee!!! I am doing the happy dance.

Now to make a long story semi-short, I stopped in, armed with my coupon book but with no real agenda in mind of buying anything. As it would happen, I found some great sales that I could have passed on but really didn't want to -- so I went back to the front and got a basket. My first item was an almost 6-lb. pork roast for just over $4.00! It's such a pretty piece of meat too. Then I thought, well, if I'm buying meat I might as well get my milk. So I picked up 4 gallons to add to my stash at home. (Remember you can freeze your milk and it thaws out just as tasty as when you bought it. But I do find that I have less chance of the containers expanding and cracking during freezing if I place them in the icebox freezer instead of the deep freeze.)

Next I went to the baking isle. There I found a good price (for our area) on cooking oil, $1.99 a bottle. Normally they are $2.49 on up depending on the brand you buy. So I picked up 10 bottles. We were low on salt so I went ahead and bought 12 more of them to have on hand. That really wasn't a big bargain, but for $0.33 a can it's about average.

Sugar, that's something we go through often so when I looked back at my price book and saw that the cheapest I have been buying for (save for sale times) was $1.79 and this store had it for $1.33 a bag, I loaded up. Now what's funny to me is this...you could buy a 4-lb. bag for $1.33 or an 8-lb. bag of the same brand for $3.19. What!!??!! I see this all time, regardless of the store I am at. Why on earth would I buy one larger bag for more than it would cost to simply buy 2 of the smaller bags (that equate out to the same weight as the larger.) It's amazing how many people get sucked into that marketing scheme.

I don't know about you, but I cook with can milk a lot, not just at holiday time. So when I checked out the price and saw that they were $0.28 a can cheaper than Kroger (who is is the cheapest in our on this same size can) I knew that was a deal. We're now 20 cans to good on that. And of course, there is the Wyler drink mix packets that Hubby so enjoys. When on sale you might catch it at 10/$1 or even 12/$1, and if your lucky, you might get Kool-Aid 10/$1. So when I saw that the drink mixes were 15/$1 I stocked up and got $3.00 worth of it. That's 45 packets! I haven't found it that cheap in a long time.

We have a pretty good stash of staples and with today's bonanza, we are really well stocked. Wen you catch things on sale that you know are a good price; if the budget allows...stock up on it. Don't let space limit you. If the pantry won't hold it, then be creative in your storage areas. I'm sure there might be some room in the closet, on the laundry room shelf, and even the garage (provided it's not something that needs to be kept climate controlled.)

Don't get caught this holiday season or possibly even on a short paycheck with your pocketbook down. Make your money work for you not against you. Just because today turned out to be a lucrative shopping and saving trip for me doesn't mean that I won't keep my eyes out for the weekly sales. Whenever our budget gives way for some extra grocery money to be added to the normal budget, I certainly don't want to waste it. Believe me, I am not one that is afraid to buy in bulk! In fact, most times when others look at my basket, they frequently ask if I am buying for a school or daycare. When I tell them that I am simply buying for our home they look shocked but after talking with me for a moment or two they soon start questioning me on how I do it and most importantly how I do it so frugally. That's when I know that as a Keeper of the Home I am doing my job to best that GOD has equipped me.

Deuteronomy 28:1-8 "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee."