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 A blog of no uncertain musings. What goes on in my mind is often a source of wonder to me. |
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My mind and my life are wonderous things ... as are yours, I'm sure. I have more slips of paper and pages of notebooks with musings and thoughts than I really know what to do with. Someone, actually several someones, have suggested I start a blog ... or a journal as a means of focusing some of this mental energy. To be honest, I don't even know what the difference between a 'journal' and 'blog' is--or if there even is a difference. Read on, my friends, and you can judge for yourself whether it even matters. And so....  I'm JACE. Yep ... that's me! And somewhere in all my writings my last name may be posted. But I'll just leave it at Jace for right now. I'm 70 years old and heading full tilt to 71. It's strange that while I'm going through some rather serious medical issues, I still consider myself to be in the prime of my life--pretty good shape physically AND mentally, though I don't run for competition anymore  . I love to ... dang, if I put this stuff here, I won't have anything for my blog.Guess you just have to be patient until such stuff leaks out.  Perhaps 2025, having embraced my retirement, will see more participation in my journaling efforts. Well, one can hope.... |
| While there are several grocery stores in our town, we tend to use the Wal-Mart Supercenter for our groceries. I suppose like so many folks, it's convenient. We'd spend more money in gas driving all over town just to save a few pennies here and there. And, like many families who grocery shop, we are subject to a bit of impulse buying while in the store. We do prepare a list of the things we absolutely need during this trip. But we always seem to find things "we just can't do without." Ever feel that way when YOU shop? In late August, Jeanette said she wanted to try Wal-Mart Plus service, whereby you list the items you want to buy on the Plus app specifying exactly what you want and whether you would accept substitutions or not for the items selected. Insert credit card info, pay, and the store employee is on his/her way to fulfill your order. They even deliver to our house, and we live out of town about ten miles away. The service costs $98.00 per year. I thought this was a lot to pay for someone else doing our shopping. Ok, I'm cheap. And sometimes those impulse buys were needed. (Yeah, I keep telling myself that.) We've now used the service for two months. Today, my wife asked me to do a quick and dirty study of our expenses during these two months and the previous two months before using the service. My first thought after totaling the Plus-related months was 'Dang, we sure spend a lot on food for just the two of us.' We spent $855.50 in two months. Of course, not all is food, and we have a rather well-stocked pantry, so I surmised that was part of that expense. Then I calculated the amount we spent during the two months we spent before signing up for the service. Holy crap! We spent $1246.50. Granted, we did have family visit during that period for a week. But that's a 46% increase over the period using Wal-Mart's service. Even allowing that a 20% impulse buy cost of the $855.50 is $171.10, which is well over the cost of the service, the Plus service is a bargain. And this includes tipping for the delivery service. I'd be naïve to think that over four months the cost of groceries has not gone up some. I can't do much about the staple items--bread, milk, vegetables, etc. But maybe it's time to rein in the other items, like chips, cookies and candy. Easier said, than done. |
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We save a few pesos, get free delivery, and use it once a week for snack food for Thursday Night Football. Given the driving habits around here, it's more like Health Insurance. 
