The new cheap, its not so easy…

I found myself in a mad dash to the grocery store today. I normally don’t do the weekly store run on Sunday afternoon. But, its been a busy weekend and since our fellowship group was not meeting tonight, I thought I’d get it done. No husband. No kids. Just me and the groceries.

Now, I am a planner. I have a menu for the week, I have a grocery list – I always peruse the weekly ad and I take coupons. I do not go to our neighborhood Publix for my grocery run without any pieces of this puzzle in place.

Except for today.

My excursion began to unravel when I realized my coupons were still at home. I was standing in front of the buy one get one bins, feeling a bit giddy with excitement because I had a coupon for one of these fabulous items. Not only was I going to get two for the price of one, my coupon would get me a discount on top of that. What a steal! Well it would have been a steal if I had remembered my coupons. ( I must have set them down on the counter instead of putting them in my purse…)

As I walked through the store I relived the glory days. Not long ago I could squeeze a whole week’s worth of groceries in under $75. Anything more and I was splurging on non-essentials. Today there was a sign near the goldfish (a staple at my house) labeled to try to trick me into thinking they were on sale. Two dollars and twenty nine cents! I remember when they were a dollar sixty nine. I was not fooled. That is not cheap! Anxiety began to rise in my chest. I had a sinking feeling that my grocery bill was going to be gargantuan. A budget buster and nothing less. For some reason as our economy changes and the prices of groceries rise, I am frustrated. Why can’t I buy my groceries for $75 anymore? I felt like pitching a fit and breaking out in uncontrollable sobbing all at once – right there in the freezer aisle.

Back in the seventy five dollar days – that’s when Michael and I made a huge life changing decision. We decided to be a one income family. I came home from working in the corporate world to be a housewife and a mom. It has been one of the best decisions we ever made and I wouldn’t take it back for anything! But, as anyone who has made this choice knows, there are sacrifices involved. One of those sacrifices is eating at home more. This is where my “budget – menu – coupon puzzle” comes into play. I take great pride in making sure all the pieces fit together just right so that we eat well while staying within the budget.

More often than not recently its become complicated. We need expensive items like formula and diapers and other things that can throw the balance out of whack. And I’m anxious over it. Why you ask? Well, I was asking myself the same thing in the check out line. The cart ahead of mine was full, so I had a moment of self examination.

I am anxious because it is out of my control. Even if I have all of the pieces of my puzzle in place I can’t make things be the price I need them to be to make my budget. I can’t make the milk stay at $3.19 a gallon and I can’t foresee if the price of ground beef is going to be 5.00 a pound this week. But as I think about it, there’s more.

I can’t control if my husband will get a raise. Really I can’t be absolutely sure that he will keep his job. With the state of our economy no amount of human financial planning can bring peace of mind. And here is where the rubber meets the road – (right as I’m beginning to load my groceries on the conveyor belt. ) – I’m anxious because I’m not able to control all the things that God has promised he’s going to take care of.

He told us not to worry over “stuff” in Matthew 6:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

I pushed the cart to my car and the groceries didn’t feel like lead anymore. The chance of groceries getting cheaper is pretty slim, But no matter how difficult it gets to make the pieces of my grocery shopping puzzle fit together – I know God’s still in control of providing my family’s needs. Maybe next week will be easier if I remember this before I go…

Now, where did I set those coupons? : )

md

(written November 23, 2009)

md