The big trip to the grocery store to get ready for vacation was a bit of a stressful time for Linnea. She had a list and a budget, but she doesn't yet have a sense of how much things cost so she wasn't prepared for the prices of some items. She is planning on dinner out the night before we leave, and has set aside money for that as well. There were also complaints from the siblings today about a lack of lunch food and she felt bad about leaving them in the lurch.
Suddenly, her shopping needs got greater than her budget, and when I added a few items to the cart, Linnea started her muttering.
"I won't have enough money."
"Maybe I shouldn't buy so much food."
"What if people are hungry?"
"People are hungry, I need to give them more for lunch."
"I won't have enough money."
"Canola oil?? Why am I buying oil??"
"Ooohh! 2 for $6, it's a chip deal!"
"I'm not going to have enough money for dinner tomorrow."
"Mom, will you front me money if I need it?"
I went to three stores with her, and I am exhausted!
One new skill came out of this ordeal. When we finished at Cub Foods and were bagging the groceries, Linnea suddenly realized she had forgotten to give the cashier her one coupon for $1 off Chex cereal. Not surprisingly, she had a small freak out! It turns out that if you take your receipt and your forgotten coupons to customer service -- conveniently located on the way out the door -- the customer service guy will give you cash back for your coupons right there. Who knew?
It doesn't seem like a dollar would be a big deal, but every dollar counts when you are on a budget. Between that dollar and the money I gave her for the things I needed, she is all set for dinner tomorrow. Which is a relief to me, I must say. I really don't want to add cleaning up from dinner to the list of things to do before we leave!
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