I saw this in a cartoon over the weekend and felt it fits me perfectly. The mom and dad had some "down time" with the kids all out of the house and the mom spent it running around cleaning, doing laundry etc. In other words, "up" on her feet. Today is one of my two days "off" from work but I think I will be glad to go back to work tomorrow so I can get some rest. It it 1:00 pm and I have already done the grocery shopping for the week and put all away, emptied the dishwasher, done three loads of laundry, walked the dog 1 mile, cleaned the yard (from the dogs), and changed the sheets on 5 beds plus all towels. I am not even close to being finished with all that I want/need/am supposed to get done today.

On a financial note, I feel like I did well at the grocery store today. I spent $82.88 for the weeks groceries but that includes a lot of stockpiled items that we will not use right away. Out of 60 items I bought, only 8 were not on sale. My before coupon/bonus buy total was $136.00. So, not too bad I feel. I even got DH two free deodorants (they were on sale for $1.01 each and I had $.75 coupons which they doubled up to the price, so, 2 for totally free. It would have been even nicer if they doubled them in full - then they would have been paying me to buy them. Oh well, you can't have everything.

I always thought I was a very frugal grocery shopper but I have become even more so lately. I read Mary Hunt's book "Live Your Life for Half the Price" (not sure if that is the exact title). She talks about needs shopping vs. shopping to "restock". She called it something else but I cannot remember what. Her point was that if you buy to restock only when things are on sale and buy enough to last you, you can spend way less on groceries or spend the same but get way more for your money. I used to think that I was doing this but after reading her book I see that I was not doing it as well as I could. I have started going thru the weekly flyer at my local favorite store, as well as at two others that I pass several times each week (so not really going out of my way). I also cut all coupons for stuff we would use (but not necessarily buy). You never know when something will be a great deal that you would not ordinarily buy but would use. For example, I had a coupon for a new brand of Panasonic batteries specifically for digital cameras. I would not ordinarily shop for batteries at the grocery store but I cut out the coupon cause it is something I would use if the right deal came along. I was very pleased today to see the same batteries on sale today, $2.99 for a 4 pack, down from 3.99 I think. Not such a great deal yet, but combined with my $2.00 off coupon, 4 high tech batteries for my digital camera for $.99 is a very good deal. Wish I had more coupons.

Okay, my "down" time at the computer is all up. Time to get rolling and mop all the doggy footprints off my floors.

By the way, thanks to everyone who commented on my first entry. I am not too down about our situation. I know that my DH will find a job soon, it just can't come soon enough for me. I guess it is teaching me patience and gratitude for what I do have. I am just impatient to get our financial train back on the right track (okay, so I still have to work on the patience thing!)