With the Kids - the Basics of Shopping/Budget

Well, it's school holidays and I thought in aim of saving fuel (since we don't have to go to school and back twice a day) we would walk as many places as we could.

So we sat down and worked out the meal planner for the week using mostly what was in the fridge/freezer/patry. The few things we had to buy for dinner we wrote down on a list, plus any bread/milk/fruit etc. Then we estimated how much each thing would cost, and added it up (this was Brooke doing the list making and adding up). Then I said to Brooke well, we have $40, how much does the list come to? She worked it out, '$44 Mum'. Okay so where can we take a little off here and there to bring it under $40? So we did that, completed the list, made sure we had everything, wrote up the meal planner for the week... Put the list aside.

Late in the afternoon, about 4pm, we set off for the shop (about 4-5km return). We took turns Brooke and I piggy-backing Zeke, each took turns pulling the little trolley box (although Brooke did most of it), chatting about the clouds and traffic and whatever else. We got to cross the bridge over the highway, press several 'pedestrian crossing' buttons and all the rest. Road rules, road sense, checking driveways for reversing cars, any push bikes behind us etc

We got to the shop, found a trolley for Zeke and the trolley box, and started on our list. Brooke and Jake filled the calico bags with the fruit, and weighed it to see how much it would cost, added a little more or took some out depending on how much we had allocated for the item. We wrote down the actual price next to our estimated price so we could see if we had saved any. When it came to a few items that cost more than we had estimated, we could see if we had 40c here or 60c there from an item we saved on, to cover the extra. We checked out quantity vs price (which we often do anyway). As usual, the kids helped unload and reload the trolley. We used just the box and the calico/jute bags.
The few items we couldn't get at the supermarket, we went down to the grocer to get (passing by and checking out the fish in the aquarium on the way). And we were done!

So we packed the shopping into the little trolley box we had, and divided the rest up between the calico/jute bags, and started home. Brooke wanted to pull the trolley box most of the way, but we did take turns alternating between the trolley box, piggy backing Zeke (to cross the roads, he walked most of the way). We left at 4pm and got home at a quarter to six. We got all the groceries inside, and treated ourselves to a cold drink! The kids thought it was great... although that may or may not change if we had to do it every day!