the daily spend 5 -18 to 5 - 21

First off I'd like to say there is a whole Lowe's Hardware saga that involves 4 receipts and too many explanations so there will just be a total that comprises all of the receipts. Second yay us for the cool "not losing our heads with the car handling crisis of 2007". Seriously, yay. Onto the spending...

5/18/07
Publix:
Potato chips $2
Hamburger buns $1
(2) OJ $4
Heavy Whipping Cream $3 (we're making some ice cream!!!)
Cheddar cheese $2
Ground beef $4
total = $15.44

Lowe's:
total = $27.67
+ untold amounts of gas for 2 trips + blood, sweat & tears for what eventually amounted to nothing. blegh. At least we have 2 ramps for the pickup truck in case we ever actually need them. *sigh

Chevron:
Gas $20.01

5/19/07
Dairy Queen @ the mall:
Smoothie $4.25
Again for the Edemame but damn. If there is one thing this challenge is doing for me it's making "small" purchases extremely difficult for me. And that's a good thing. This was a purchase that could have been avoided if I had been more diligent about making sure that a grandparent outing did not go too long. Eating lunch at 2:30pm is fine for adults but not so nice for toddlers.

5/20/07
Publix: (is it any surprise that Edemame recognizes this logo??)
(2) Seltzer $1
Peanuts $2
Tomatoes $2
Garlic .30
Cucumbers $1
Milk $3.50
(2) Bread $6.60 (Damnit. This bread was supposed to be 2 for $5 and I missed it at the cash register. This is the kind of thing that pisses me off to no end. And the kind of thing I wouldn't have cared about last year because I wouldn't know due to never looking at my receipts. Gah.)
Broccoli $1.25
Zucchini $1.25
Corn $2
Chicken (whole) $5
(4) Publix brand soft drinks $1 (I thought I'd try them out!)
Ground beef $4.25
Eggs $2.25
total = $34.66

5/21/07
Costco:
Blueberries $5
Blackberries $6.50
Diapers $25
total = $38.44

Costco:
Gas $31.12 (only $2.91 per gallon!)

The Neighborhood Coffee Shop:
Steamed milk w/Vanilla $3

Ok, here's an oddity. I got the above drink for E when we stopped in to get espresso for the house. (Sorry Ronin they were out.) The reason this drink is one dollar more than the Caribou drink seen in a previous post? The tip. At an anonymous big chain store I am not likely to plunk down any money for tip. Frankly if they are pleasant to me at ALL I am just counting myself lucky and I don't feel obligated to give them 20% of my $2. Now that is not the case at my neighborhood place. They know me, they know Edemame. They call us by name when we go in there and we know their names too. I hesitated when I added the tip on for our $2 milk today. Not because I don't think they deserve it but because I'm focusing so hard on where every $1 goes. I try hard to patronize the locals because they are fighting so hard for existence but sometimes it is harder to part with that extra $1 or so. It's a tough call but one that I felt ok about today.