Sometimes Life Happens...

If you are reading this blog, you probably are frugal or trying to be.  Many things around our households are driven by the desire to be frugal.  However, sometimes life happens and you have to grocery shop without coupons (gasp!).  In the last 48 hours, my husband was in a three car accident, spent time in the ER, our fish died and members of our household have been vomiting.  Thankfully, none of these things are life threatening (except for Luke Skywalker, the fish) but they can throw the "schedule" off.  That is why I went to Meijer this weekend and just walked around the store getting what I needed, even if it wasn't on sale!  The point being that if you can't always shop with coupons or get the best deals, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. 
All of that being said, the longer you have maintained a lifestyle of being conscious about your money choices, the easier it is to not spend an outrageous amount on an unplanned shopping trip.

• Shop from your pantry, for example, last week we did a post about the amazing deals at Kroger.  You'll notice the twelve boxes of pasta that I bought.  These and other meal staples are always good to keep on hand, especially if you can get them for FREE! 
• Shop from your freezer, for example, when frozen pizza goes on sale I always try to buy a couple extra to keep in the freezer for an "emergency".  That way I am not tempted to just say, "Forget it, we are ordering pizza."   Even two DiGiorno pizzas (or whatever is on sale, paired with coupons) are cheaper than take out.  If you don't like the idea of pre-made pizzas, keep a couple balls of dough (homemade, if you like) in the freezer to pull out if needed.  All you need to add is some sauce, cheese and whatever toppings you have on hand, and you've got a meal. 
• Another way to shop from your freezer is to freeze meals.  This can be on a grand scale of an entire day of cooking that goes straight into the freezer (there will be a post that will detail that at a later date) or as simply freezing a little bit of some of your meals.  An example of this is that when I make chili in the crock pot, there is always more than we can eat, even with leftovers.  So, I purposely will pull about 3 servings out and freeze them in individual portions.  This way they can be easily used for lunches or a quick dinner. 

As I said earlier, life happens, and with a tiny bit of planning, you can make it happen for a little less money!