Eggs, Gas and Milk

When families start considering a part-time job to buy eggs, gas and milk, you know our economy is in a bad way. I don't know the particulars of what makes a recession a recession, I'm sure Babe does, but my wallet is getting a clearer idea.

When I have to reconfigure my usual grocery list and literally map out an airtight menu for the week I realize that America is, at the very least, close to a recession. What does your family do in lieu of $4/gallon milk and gas and $2/dozen eggs? We're doing what we can, but when things get tighter and prices go even higher, it'll take yet another round of tweaking where we go and what we eat. Maybe we, as Americans, should have done this a long time ago? But hindsight is what?

Babe bought me a perfect SAHM car and all we pay now is car insurance and gas. Gas? Yikes, gas. Yesterday it cost $52 to fill it up and that was using the lowest grade. Luckily I can leave that sucker in the garage full days at a time when I plan my week out right. As a SAHM I feel it is my duty to protect Babe's income and not be or become a financial burden. I use our money wisely and that means leaving my SAHM car in the garage as often as I can to conserve gas. A full tank lasts about 2 full weeks and as gas creeps up in price, I'll try to get even more days out of it.

We have 2 kids, 2 growing kids who need to eat right and in our case that means eggs and milk. We've tweaked this cost by making a batch of muffins (sometimes homemade, others boxed) on Sunday so the kids can have one alongside a bowl of milk for breakfast. Before I was making eggs way too often, considering the cholesterol, but it was an easy way to get Jay through the morning at school. Not anymore. Two eggs go into the muffin mix and we don't see scrambled eggs until Thursday at best!

And milk? We ration that too. My kids get enough calcium-rich foods through the day with yogurt and cheese but the days of milk going bad are O-V-E-R. I'll whip up something that requires milk before I pour a drop down the sink and the kids have learned, we don't waste. We don't waste water and we surely don't waste milk.

Unfortunately it took extreme prices on basic "necessities" for me to see ways to stretch our dollar in a time when it feels like we're just shredding money for fun, but the lessons I'm learning in these harder economic times are lessons I'll keep with me forever. It's time to buckle up because it is going to be a bumpy ride.