I live just far enough outside of a town outside of the OKC metropolitan area to be considered rural. It is lovely to have over an acre and a half yard when my children want to play outside, not so much when I have to mow it almost weekly 9-10 months a year J. A routine issue with living in the country is the presence of field mice attempting to get inside the house routinely around the change of the season. Steel wool, a kitten, plastic containers in the pantry and well positioned glue traps have almost eliminated the problem in my household. Almost. This previous Friday night I was walking through the dining room and heard a faint squeak. My first instinct was the kitten was trapped in the laundry room or garage. I looked and she was on the rug by the table staring at the pantry door. So, I started moving the items in the pantry to find the source. I quickly found the cause of the noise and addressed the issue. Now however I had a new issue. My dining room table was covered with a lot of food. As I started to consolidate boxes and bags of the same food and transition all of it to plastic storage I realized something. I have recently been making a huge personal finance mistake. I have been making weekly grocery shopping list without checking what is already on hand. Sometimes this is because I, or my wife, make the list while somewhere else and don’t always check at home before going to the store. I mean after all what is a couple of dollars for another bag of cereal. Well those few dollars here and there add up quickly, as does the cost when you wind up throwing out food because it goes back. So be smarter than I have been lately. Check what you already have before deciding what you need at the store next time!
Mr. Gragg 