Grocery shopping

How many of you moms take your children with you to the grocery store? Honestly, I usually don't take our girls because we are trying to keep them out of "germs" way, especially during the winter months. However, that means that I am going out at night after my husband returns home from work and typically by the time I return home, it's close to bedtime for the girls. It gets tiring going out at night, so today the three of us ventured out to do a big shop for the month. It was interesting!

We had a great time and I learned that they can be excellent helpers when they put their minds and hearts to doing so. My oldest daughter held the coupons and pulled each one for me once the item was in the cart. My youngest loves loading up the cart, so she pulled stuff from the shelf. Both of them bagged all the groceries for me while I was checking out. We did three stores in 3 1/2 hours, which I thought was pretty good.

They learned today why it takes Mom so long to do the shopping. For that reason and that reason alone it was a good experience (not the only thing of course, but a good reason!). They understand now why I plan meals, clip coupons, and check the sale prices at three or four different stores (ours are all within 5 or so minutes from each other). They understand that just because you have a coupon for an item, it has to be the right brand, size, and type of item in order for the coupon to be valid. I am thankful that they saw a bit more into "my world" and hopefully understand a bit better now why I'm gone for a few evening hours now and then to do grocery shopping.

I learned something new today too. You know the "catalina" coupons that print out as you check out at stores like Meijer and Kroger? Those are technically manufacturer's coupons and should be accepted at any store, not just the store that issues them. However, I learned today that Kroger will not accept these coupons that were printed at Meijer. However, Meijer will accept them from any other store. Guess where I'll be using those? One advantage to Kroger (other than sale items) is that they do give you credit for each reusable bag you bring into the store. I think it's 3 cents or something. Hey, money is money.

Not sure of my exact point for writing this tonight other than to express my thankfulness for my daughters and the productive day we had together learning more about each other. Lots of hugs too!