Stay Connected

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Shopping and Gas This Week: A Few Bargains at the Store

Nothing to do with shopping and gas this week. Just one of the joys in my life. This is one of the salad baskets that I planted in spring. However, I haven't picked from this one in a month. You want to know why? There are a couple of birds nesting in this basket! I am trying to leave them alone in their space. As the weather dries out, I may have to water the basket a bit. So far, it's been very rainy, so no need to water.

Shopping

I finally went grocery shopping. I went to Fred Meyer, in part because I needed potting soil, hair dye, and an incandescent lightbulb for reading (easier on my eyes than LED or CFL), but also for milk and bananas. Hair dye was a buy 5, save $1 off each. So I bought 5 boxes, enough to last many months. They were nearly sold out of potting soil at this Fred Meyer. I bought what I need to get through the summer and hopefully early fall (growing veggies indoors under lights in fall and winter).

In the food half of the store, I found half-gallons of skim milk marked down to 99 cent each. I bought 8 half-gallons, enough for the next 4 weeks. The sell-by date is the 23rd of June, so I'll be freezing most of this milk. I also bought 1 gallon of whole milk for making yogurt ($3.29). In the shelf-stable clearance section, I found a single, dented can of mushrooms for 49 cents. There was really nothing else of interest in this clearance area this day. In the packaged deli section, I found 14-oz packages of uncured hotdogs marked down to 99 cents. I bought 8 of these packages. I froze 7 of them. Bananas have gone up in price from 49 cents/lb to 59 cents/lb. That's still a pretty good bargain for fresh fruit, so I bought 2 bunches. In total, I spent $22.22 on food. I also picked up some items for Father's Day dinner. However, my two daughters paid me back for those items, as they cooked Father's Day dinner as their gift to their dad. 

Gas this week

Driving home I saw diesel for $6.19/gallon. That's pretty shocking. I remember a time when diesel was always cheaper than unleaded.

It was my other daughter's turn to pay for gas this time around. She shopped around a little. The station directly across the street from the pharmacy where she was picking up a prescription had unleaded for $5.44/gallon. The closest Costco has gas at $5.16 today, down 17 cents from the $5.33 price last week. The high price in my area is $5.99/gallon at the local Shell. The neighborhood 7-11 that I've followed for the last few weeks had lowest octane unleaded at $5.83/gallon this morning, no change from last week.

9 comments:

  1. Gas is cheaper here than you are seeing. If you shop around, you can get it for under $5/ gal. However, across the border into Virginia, the prices are similar to yours. I think state taxes are one of the main variables with the different prices of gas. That along with relative location to a refinery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Live and Learn,
      I agree that state taxes affect some of the differences in price per gallon that we're seeing across the country. My state (WA) has a 49 cent per gallon tax.
      If it interests anyone, here's a site that lists the different sates and their gas tax: https://igentax.com/gas-tax-state/#highest
      Even if my state suspended the state gas tax, we'd still be paying about double what we were paying 2 years ago. Sigh

      Delete
  2. Sounds like you got some pretty good deals! Also seeing big jumps in grocery pricing here. Trying to stay stocked on the staples and grow all we can. We "harvested" our meat chickens this past weekend, grown in conjunction with friends (whom we also purchase our beef and pork from). So it's nice to have those whole chickens in the freezer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      I was glad to get the deals that I did.
      Question -- did you help in the "harvesting" of the chickens? This would be sooo hard for me. My husband could maybe handle it better than I could. But my squeamishness aside, I'm so glad for you to have the whole chickens for your use now.

      Delete
  3. Our gas prices are hovering just below $5/gallon. It was interesting to see the different prices in our drive across 3 states over the weekend. At our beginning and ending points it was around $5/gallon but at one point we paid $5.89/gallon in Illinois.

    Do your nesting birds have a family? This seems late for chicks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      Ouch on that gas price in Illinois! While cleaning the other day, I came across our receipts from buying gas on our drive to AZ in early May. The most we paid was $4.69/gallon in a really remote area. Most of the time gas was about $4.50/gallon. Still, driving was less expensive than flying.
      I haven't heard any chicks. But I see an adult bird coming in with a worm in its beak every so often. You know, we had such a cold spring. I wonder if laying and hatching was delayed?

      Delete
  4. You got a couple good deals at Fred Meyer. There are still deals to be had, we just have to be in the right place at the right time I guess. My dd will be in idaho tomorrow so she’s going to Fred meyer in hopes of finding a few deals herself. I’m having her get me a chuck roast they have on sale for $2.99 a lb. That’s cheaper than anywhere here, although I can’t believe that’s what Chuck roasts cost now lol.
    I think gas is still $5 a gallon here, we’ll $4.999. I haven’t been anywhere all week, but I do have to venture out this morning. My younger dd is going to helena tomorrow and asked me if I wanted to go, so I’m going with her I guess. That used to be a $20 trip, and now it’s more like a $40 trip, so I figure I better go when the opportunity presents itself. We will go to winco and Costco for sure, not sure if she has other places she needs to go.

    Diane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Diane,
      I agree -- there are some deals out there. The key, I think, is to be flexible. The milk was skim, which is definitely not a favorite in my house. But we'll use it anyway. And I hadn't planned on buying hot dogs. In fact, I was planning on buying cheese for an extra or lunch protein item. Cheese was $3.50/ lb at the cheapest. So, for our lunches in the next couple of weeks, we'll use some of the hot dogs. We also have peanut butter and lots of dried beans, so we'll be fine. It's just we'll miss being able to have cheese.
      $2.99/lb for chuck roast sounds like a good price for right now. I'm glad your daughter can pick this up for you.I hope your shopping trip to Helena is fruitful! I need to get down to Winco again soon. I always find good prices there.

      Delete
  5. Grocery prices here are still startling. I am still trying to load up on loss leaders if we can use them timely. Gas prices are now 4.95 to 4.99. I filled up yesterday. Previous time it was 5.25. Sighed to myself about being happy to only..ha. pay 4.95. Garden is now producing lettuce, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, onions and sugar snap peas. That really helps. Plus it just tastes lots better than from the grocery. I will have just a few red raspberries and blueberries. Not going to be abundant. Blackberries and grapes look promising provided we get rain. Heat index above one hundred and no rain. Lots of watering these days.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for joining the discussion today. Here at creative savv, we strive to maintain a respectful community centered around frugal living. Creative savv would like to continue to be a welcoming and safe place for discussion, and as such reserves the right to remove comments that are inappropriate for the conversation.

FOLLOW CREATIVE SAVV ON BLOGLOVIN'

Follow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a voice that helps someone else on their frugal living journey

Are you interested in writing for creative savv?
What's your frugal story?

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe, special insight, DIY project, or tips that could make frugal living more do-able for someone else?

Creative savv is seeking new voices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

share this post