Grocery shopping

Truth be told, I suck at grocery shopping. I buy whatever the hell I feel like eating at that moment as well as what I think I might like to eat if I can get the guts to. Because of the first part, I end up with a lot of snacks (aka junk) and not a whole lot of meal-type food. And because of the second part, Alexey ends up with a lot of food he doesn't have to pay for.

My other problem is that I don't limit myself. My budget way overestimates how much I need for groceries. I do this because I know how I shop. I walk into the store and go up and down the aisles, grabbing whatever I feel like. I stop when I a) get tired of shopping or b) run out of space in my cart.

I also make a ton of small trips instead of one big one. I stop in for bread or milk or chips and I leave with at least 3-4 bags- every.single.time. I literally did a dance outside HyVee a couple trips ago because I only got the 3 things I went in for. That was seriously HUGE for me.

Yesterday I posted about how I haven't been to HyVee in over a month. This is good because I'm saving a crap ton of money by finishing every last thing I've bought. This is bad because all I have left are snacks. I believe I had popcorn for dinner 4 nights in a row until I ran out. Now cereal is all that I'm left with, and I think I only have enough for one more bowl. After that I'll be having Wheat Thins or chips and dip.

I should probably just go and restock everything, but I kind of like this. Back up...I like that I'm actually using all of the food I've bought instead of buying new food and throwing out everything that I haven't used. I don't like eating popcorn or Wheat Thins for dinner.

When I looked at my bank account yesterday and saw that it had been a whole month since I bought any groceries, I was ecstatic. Shopping for food is a huge weakness of mine and an area that I waste a lot of money. From now on, I'm going to:

a) Stop buying things to try them because that actually never even happens. They just get shoved to the back of the pantry until they expire.
b) Stop buying multiples of things. By time I get through the first pack of whatever it is, I'm so sick of it that I can hardly look at the second pack.
c) Buy more dinner food and less snack food.
d) Stop making small trips to the store to pick up a few things...alone. It can either wait until my next big trip, or I can go with Alexey so he can make me buy only what's on my list.
e) STOP SHOPPING HUNGRY! I need to start going when I'm so full that food nauseates me...maybe that will motivate me to stick to the list.