Frugal Framnett

When grocery shopping, that is.

I’ve always heard the theory that shopping the perimeter of the grocery store - buying the fresh foods and not the processed ones - is less expensive overall. Now that my spouse is following a specific meal plan, I’m buying almost exclusively fresh food, when I used to buy a mix of fresh, canned, frozen, and some processed food. And lo and behold, my first week shopping, I spent almost twice my normal grocery budget. Now, some of that was “start up” expenses, foods that I can buy in bulk and use over time, but a lot of it was things I will have to buy on a weekly basis (produce doesn’t last forever, after all). I expected this to be the case, but it begs the question - contrary to popular wisdom, is shopping the perimeter really more expensive?

Source: Why My Perimeter is More Expensive Than My Aisles – I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… (From financial imprisonment to financial independence, a penny at a time. This is one family’s story.)

In the comments section I already explained that she is inviting a question not begging it, but of course there is a larger thought here…

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Well Lorie and I believe we need to take care of those who take care of us. Usually this means a stop at Third Base for some barley pops and either a pizza or sandwichs.

Not this time.

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BTW, I consider YAPPie Place and similar derivations (e.g. Yappie’s Place) as my intellectual property. Read the rest of this entry »

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I go to three different stores because one is generally cheapest but does not have everything I need (Aldi), one is cheapest on the things that the first does not have (Walmart), and the last runs good sales and I get their flyer in the mail every week to check them out (Kroger).

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Getting close to the end of IV I noticed the following. I did not close out week III properly, I left out one record of the totals. Of course this means we spent more than I had originally thought. DOH!

This week, we seem to be ahead of the spending game by quite a bit. However, Sunday is our main grocery day so we can catch up, but we do not have a large shopping list this week. There is only one item Lorie and I can think of we need to purchase and there is no immediate need so if there is no coupon, perhaps we can skip the Sunday trip to the grocery store. However, we are starting to get low on tangerines and almonds, but I think we will be able to defer that to next week.

To date our grocery spending is amounting $76.37/week but like I said I will wait until we close this week to count on that number holding. I am hoping we can pull it down.

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Sometime ago I shared with you all about the project I was starting to develop an e-commerce site for a friend. Again, that friend was diagnosed with cancer so she needs to direct her energies to getting well.

However, we have identified another opportunity to develop another income stream.
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Being frugal is about more than just saving money. To me, being frugal is about using your resources wisely and being more efficient with everything you do. Unless you are independently wealthy, you probably have a limited amount of time, money, and other resources - and you probably need to find a way to make the most effective use of all of them. To me, doing this is being frugal.

So Says Patrick at Cash Money Life in a blog entitled Being Frugal

I have taken on this topic before:

In this category frugal is a good thing. It means avoiding waste mainly avoiding the wastage of wealth.

If I deem something frugal, then if appropriate for your situation you should buy or utilize it.

Patrick expands on the meaning of frugal and while I believe he is incorrect about the meaning of frugal, giving it a broader meaning beyond the word’s ability, he is correct the characteristics he describes are connected to being frugal.
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The other ad that actually constantly plays during the football games I’ve been watching on TV recently is for Free Credit Report dot com. First off, if you want a free credit report go to annualcreditreport.com not “free” credit report because the “free” site is not really free. You have to sign up for a free trial of a service and if you don’t cancel it, you pay. But, anyway. The commercial (and some of you have probably seen it) is a guy singing about how he married the love of his life, but her credit stinks and so they have to live in a parent’s basement instead of buying a house, and if he’d gone to the website, he’d have known and not married her and he’d be a happy bachelor. [emphasis in original]

source: I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… – Adventures in Lunacy

I am mostly in agreement with above…

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