Groceries -- Yikes

Well, I've totally blown my budget for this month. I knew I was going to with Thanksgiving and all, but still.

Here are the numbers:
Aldi = $31.51
Walmart = $39.98
Whole Foods = 64.98

Sub Total = 136.47
Total from Last Week = $92.32

Monthly Total so Far = $228.79

Can I keep under budget? Ha! I don't think so. I am going to try another lean week next week, since we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with our families, I don't have to make a whole meal, just a casserole and a cheese ball. Maybe I can swipe some leftovers, too. :) I think soup will also be on the menu for the rest of the month.

And here are my excuses...
For starters, at church this weekend they passed out baskets for their donation program to give families in need a real thanksgiving meal with a list of what to buy. So I spent $28.97 on that. I've still got to buy milk and eggs for it, so it should total around $32.

I also stocked up on flour, cocoa, white sugar, brown sugar, and food dye for the impending holiday baking. And... I wasn't organized or motivated enough to hunt for deals or coupons. So, on stocking up I spent $46.93. While that isn't a ridiculous amount to spend on stocking up, still... my grocery budget says "Ouch." To make up for it, I hooked up our printer today so now I don't have an excuse not to be printing coupons from online. Hurray.

And then, our normal groceries for this week came to $56.07. Partially because I really wanted to try some ginger root and partially because I bought bacon (I can't help it, lol). And I bought a jar of turmeric because I've been wanting some to experiment with.

So, what can we learn from all this?
I say to myself: STICK TO THE LIST. And, DON'T BE LAZY. I should have found a flour sale before just buying 3 bags of flour at regular price. I should have skipped both the ginger and turmeric because I don't really need it. I could have gone without the food dye because, again, you don't need food dye. It makes things more fun, but man, was it expensive! (I bought food dye that is made from vegetables and not red #40 or yellow #5 so it came to $16.99 just for a basic red, yellow, blue kit, but I think it will last me a while so..).