Weekly Food Shopping and SCE Refund

OK, so I have been spending the past few months figuring out where the cheapest place is to shop for grocery items. Usually, I would go to Vons and drop hundreds of dollars without really thinking but that activity has to stop now. I have been shopping at Walmart and Target for food and the prices are a lot more agreeable to my budget.

That was until I set foot in WinCo today for the first time. Despite being around a general hoopla when WinCo opened, stubborn as always, it took me 6 months to go check out the store and prices. Boy, was I EVER pleased when I realized I had probably saved $30-$40 over and above even Walmart's prices.

I was able to do most of the shopping for a family of 6 - sticking to a list and the recipes for home cooking for the week - for (insert trumpet fanfare here) under $100. I am amazed. To think that WinCo was down the street all the time to help me meet my budget limits. The store was clean, well stocked, the produce was excellent and the dry pasta and spice bins were a cook's delight. Very impressed indeed. Notably, I didn't run into one rude person the entire time I was in the store. Everyone I ran across was very low key - different from Walmart right there. Just entering our Walmart through the front entrance requires running the gamut of people who think that it's cool to stop and gab on the way in, thus preventing anyone else from entering. So sick of that.

Walmart has the best prices I've personally found for pet food. Also, when the chicken gets reduced the price is unbeatable.

The grocery budget will be allotted thus: 90% Winco, 10% split between Walmart and Target. If you haven't already checked out Winco and if you have a store near you, check it out. You might be just as impressed as me. Especially seeing as now it looks as though I'll be able to stick to my budget goal of $400 a month for 6 people after all.

Another GREAT piece of news is that I can expect a refund of $825 from Southern California Edison. I started keeping record of household utilities about a year ago when I transferred all paperwork online to save on paper trash ..... anyway, one benefit of being somewhat organized via my PC means that my utility bills have been paid on time for a year. A first for me! I had to pay a $675 deposit a year ago due to my disorganization and overall tardiness in paying bills and so, a year later, SCE are merely giving me my money back with interest. Awesome. I had totally forgotten that I had even paid a deposit. I will put that refund into my savings account when I receive it. The benefits of being organized!