Diaries I Read:
You know what is one of my favorite things to do with B?
No, not that! Jeez, get your mind out of the gutter.
One of my favorite things to do with B is to go grocery shopping together. No, really. Grocery shopping.
B is a very good grocery shopper. It�s probably partly due to his experience in the food and grocery industry � he knows how the stores are laid out, knows what�s a good price and what�s a rip-off, can spot high-quality products.
He�s a coupon shopper. When I first met him, this blew my mind. I�d never seen anyone shop with coupons like this before. I mean, he has it down to a science.
First of all, he saves all the coupon pages from the weekend newspapers. We have an entire kitchen drawer just for coupons. When a grocery shopping trip is coming up, he takes out all of his little coupon pages, puts them in a pile, and starts looking through them, carefully, one by one. When he sees a coupon he likes, he cuts it out neatly with scissors and places it in another pile.
He cuts out coupons even for things we don�t need at the moment. Like Windex. Or toothpaste. We may have five tubes of toothpaste in our bathroom, but if there�s a good coupon for toothpaste he�ll buy another one. His theory is that it doesn�t go bad and we�ll use it eventually.
After that, he checks the ads in the paper to see what�s on sale. If it�s on sale AND we have a coupon for it, then it�s a must-have.
Then, once all the coupons are cut out and the ads perused, we head to the store. But before we get out of the car, he sorts the coupons, dividing them into categories. He has a little system � they are categorized by produce, dry items, frozen items, etc. and put in order according to their location in the store. It actually works quite well.
When we get to the store, he gets a shopping cart and grabs the store�s advertisement paper that�s always by the front entrance (it�s like a little mini newspaper promoting all the specials). He glances through this to see if there are any good deals and if they jive with our coupons. Then he places the paper in the front of the shopping cart (where kids are supposed to sit). This serves as a little work area for him to sort his coupons as we shop � the paper keeps the coupons from falling through the slats in the basket. (Ingenious, I tell you.)
Then we start making our way through the store. In addition to our coupons, we also have a grocery list. I am the creator and keeper of the grocery list. I kind of leave the coupon shopping up to B. So I grab the things we need and B goes through his coupons and gets those items. Sometimes he sends me off with a coupon to try to match it up with the correct item. Once we find the coupon item and put it in the cart, the corresponding coupon is placed in a pile in the front basket. Sometimes we can�t find a coupon item, or we decide against getting it once we�re at the store; in that case, the coupon gets shoved in B�s pocket.
And that�s how we make our way through the store. It takes a long time, but we only do a big shopping trip like this about once every four to six weeks, so it�s not a big deal. And when we check out, we end up saving a lot of money with the coupons. What would be a $300 shopping trip usually ends up costing us less than $200. It�s always fun to see how long the receipt is, what with all of our purchases and then all of the coupons. It�s also fun to see how much we can save each time. It�s like you�re getting something for free.
Anyway, I know it probably doesn�t sound very exciting. And when I tell people about our coupon shopping, most say that they would never go through all that trouble. I have to admit, if it weren�t for B, I probably wouldn�t either. But it does seem to save a lot of money in the long run.
I don�t know why I love going to the grocery store with B. I don�t enjoy going by myself. We just have fun when we�re together. We walk through the store making decisions together, making plans together. This probably sounds silly, but it�s almost like a microcosm of our life together. Like, the produce aisle represents our short-term goals � should we get four or six bananas, are we both going to eat them or will they just go bad, are we going to have zucchini with dinner this week, do you feel like having butternut squash again, am I going to make soup this week? Then, there are the staple items, like bread, milk, and eggs. Those are everyday life, like good-morning kisses, walks with Dixie, kitchen cleanup, and Jay Leno as we fall asleep. And then there are your non-perishable items, like laundry detergent, toothbrushes, deodorant, and napkins. With those items, we look into the future. We�re not sure how much we need or how soon we�ll need them. We�re not sure how long they�ll last. But we�re planning ahead. Those are like lazy weekend days, European vacation plans, and babies.
Oh, I don�t know. All of this probably sounds really romanticized and pretty lame. But the truth is, when B and I go grocery shopping together, I feel like a family. I feel like a couple that works together, plans together, lives together. It might not seem like a big deal, but as we walk through the grocery aisles, filling up our cart with green beans and pita bread, we�re building our little world together, one piece at a time.
Working at home - Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004
Toronto - Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004
On the way to Toronto... - Tuesday, Nov. 09, 2004
A Good Day - Monday, Nov. 08, 2004
Another letter - Thursday, Nov. 04, 2004