Be Aware!

Today we took the dog back to the vet to get the pin taken out of her leg, since it has been eight weeks since she was hit by a car and needed surgery to fix her broken femur. Unfortunately, when they took the pin out they saw that it was still not fully healed, so she will be coming home tomorrow with a splint on her leg. I'm hoping that soon she can be fully healed and back to using her hind leg. I'm nervous about how much it is costing though...

Since we drove out of town to take her to the vet and were melting in these temperatures without air conditioning in our van I decided to give the kids a treat and got each of them a kid's meal at McDonalds. Usually when we grab a quick bite to eat it is just a hamburger and fries to share, so getting your own kid's meal is a real treat! It has been over six months since they have had this treat. And I'm thinking that they raised their prices because for three kids meals and the cheapest value meal they have the total came to $14.39. Ouch! $20 in gas for the van and we are down to $495.33 for the rest of the month.

As the title of this post suggests, we always need to be aware of where our money is going. One very helpful hint is to always check your receipts. Just in the last two weeks I have noticed three mistakes on my receipts and they add up to close to $10 total. Unfortunately, these were all mistakes from out of town stores and I didn't notice them until we arrived home. Two of the mistakes I will forgive and forget but one is close to $5 alone. I already called Target about it and they said it is fine to bring the receipt in next time to get a refund.

The fact of the matter is, when I shop I like to get good deals. I love to shop the clearance sections and bargain bins but I wouldn't have bought these things for more than what I thought I would be buying them for. It isn't a good deal if it ends up costing more than advertised.

This happens much more than you think. Many auditors that go from store to store to check grocery store practices say that on almost every receipt their is a price discrepancy from the shelf prices. Whether it is an extra 10 cents for the store, or an extra dollar or two, we tend to loose a little bit of our hard earned cash at stores without even realizing.

The best way to control this is to make sure you know the prices of the products and to watch the screen as the cashier scans the items. Unfortunately, most of you reading this are mothers and I'm sure that the majority of the time that you are shopping you have little ones with you, who help distract you from the task at hand. The next best thing is to scan your receipt before leaving the store, so that you don't have to trek back into the store. Even at home it isn't too late. Many stores trust their customers and will make an adjustment the next time you are at the store.

Check those receipts with every shopping trip and I'm sure you will be saving $5 or more of lost money each month!