Was it only a few hours ago I was so confident I could make it all week on $25.

I left home with the BEST INTENTIONS...and I had a list in hand.

My first stop..gas...$60.95. I guestimated $60...so far so good.

Next stop, the dollar store. Found some chicken nuggets for the kiddos tonight $2, crackers $1....and these cute little cups with kookie straws (wont they just lover them...) $4 and a two liter of lemon lime soda $1...$8.05 total

Then, I headed to the store. I am familiar with Safeway...but I was passing a discount grocery store (one of the bag your own and dont look to closely at the floor type stores that stock lots of inexpensive brands) The fruit all looked great...grapes, cantaloup, watermelon, tomatoes, bananas. So far so good...then, there was Bandon Cheese on sale for $4.88-a good buy, not on the list, but I picked it up anyway. Then I went to get the milk and saw the chocolate milk...my son LOVES chocolate milk and I dont see him so often, wouldnt that be a great treat...$3...and I decided to get a mix for the pancakes in the morning to make fixing breakfast for four hungry kids easier... $3...and when I checked out, I was $11 over the food budget.

To my defense (wink) the store was crazy busy. It is the first and so there were tons of people vying for floor space for their carts...so I was making my selections as fast as I could so that I could get the heck out of there. (I now know I am spoiled to shop at Safeway) Not only was it busy, but people seemed oblivious to other shoppers. NOt something I will repeat, even to save money. - The prices werent that much cheaper on the things I was buying.

I am happy that I have fresh fruit chilling in the fridge but I definately could have done better sticking to the budget. My line of credit will cover the $11 until next Friday and I will pay it back out of the September food budget that comes out of Fridays paycheck so its not the end of the world...I just dont have any extra for the week...but I can and will do this!!!

I envy those who can go and stick to that list. I wont mention how many 'near hits' to my shopping cart there were lol. At least I demonstated a little restraint.