Frugal Grocery Shopping List

March 2009 - Job offer from NPS?

OK - what you see below, now it is different. I received a job offer from Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This is a GS 05 level (one level higher than the Texas job.) They were able to get me the paperwork sooner and so I took their job offer. They also have a spot for us at the park - they have RV spots available for rangers and for volunteers. Sasha may be able to work as a volunteer, thereby the site would be free, but even if that was not the case, the site only costs $160 a month - can't find rent for that low!

I would be working at the lighthouse, visitor center, and doing programs. I can't wait! What is taking a while is the background check - it seems to take a long time for that to happen.

While we have been waiting, I went down to Richmond to visit my sister and her family. My parents came over and we worked on setting up her Square Foot Garden, using the boxes that we had made last year in Winchester. My sister is going to use two of them, and my parents are going to take one home, and use that in their garden.

Here are a few pictures of the making of the Square Foot Garden for my sister.

OK - Unbelievable as this is, it took the NPS only a week to get the paperwork to go through! I will start on April 6th! The Chief of Interpretation called me on March 27th and stated that everything went through, so when could I start. I needed to begin on a Monday, so March 30th was definitely out, but April 6th was not a problem. This way I can get packed up and ready to go.

Since Sasha had surgery on his wrist (he had a mole taken off and they had to go in a bit), on March 27th, I had to do most of the packing and lifting myself. Thankfully, nothing was really all that heavy, but I am a strong woman and can do most of it myself. If it was too heavy, I would just take some things out of the box, and put them back in after I moved it.

So we decided to leave the apartment on March 31st. I did not want to pay for a couple of days after and the weather on Friday April 3rd was rain. But on March 31st, it was supposed to be sunny, so a perfect day to move.

So on Saturday and Sunday, I got the camper cleaned up and ready to have stuff put in it. I started loading stuff on Sunday. Thing was, we could not keep the camper there overnight, HOA rules, so we had to bring it back over to Sasha's work in the evenings. Stupid rule.

We brought the trailer over on Sunday so that we could get all of that stuff in, and I could get all of the storage boxes in, plus everything else.

On Tuesday, I brought over the camper to the house, and started loading in our clothes and everything else that needed to be in there, and then Sasha came over and we brought the bed in. He then had to leave to go back to work, and I finished the job. 

March - Possible Job Offer from NPS?

YES! I received a job offer from Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area. Two different parks but I would be a Ranger in both of them. We would have a spot in Lake Meredith - no hookups, but no restrictions for length of time camping there. (Most National Parks you can only have a spot for 2 weeks a year.) How this will work will be interesting, because there are no hook-ups, but we have our solar panel, and we will get a couple of generators. We also have a blue tank to remove the yucky stuff, so that we can haul it to the dump, and large water containers to fill up the water. This means conserving water and conserving energy. Two things that are very important anyway, and will be more so, there.

We went to the movies on Saturday night, now that really is a February charge, but since it was at the cusp of the month, I am counting it as March. Saw two movies, used a great coupon to get $4 off each ticket, and then proceeded to use that money for snacks, popcorn and candy. So sad, but true. Even though we had gone out to eat, we still were hungry for popcorn and candy afterwards.

Also, check out our store, we are adding new products every day, got hemp t-shirts, Bamboo hoodies, dry wick away shirts for active people, plus organic cotton t-shirts. A organic cotton bag and a mouse pad round out the list so far.

Below is the little table for the price list, I have been updating it even more, with a bunch more products in there. It has come in handy especially for things that change, like toothpaste and tuna and other things as well. It seems like every day, the prices or the sizes are changing. I just read in the Washington Post on Sunday, March 2nd, that Heinz and Colgate products have had bigger profits because they increased their prices! Same thing with Hershey. Scary but true. And most people will pay more for food and would rather cut their cable or not go out to eat than buy a cheaper toothpaste. Interesting, huh!

Expenses: Hopefully not as bad as February. Ug, not as bad, but still high.

Well, the reason it is high is because while we were getting ourselves healthy, we were getting our vehicles ready for the road. We did serious amounts of maintenance on the truck, car, and motorcycle. Boy, I can not wait to get rid of the car, one less thing to deal with. It is still a good car, not much maintenance is necessary (the amount was for the truck but I lumped it together.) We also paid for insurance for all of the vehicles, that will go down once we sell the car.

So the grocery list looks high, but that was because we gave a bunch of food to Sasha - all prepared foods that we normally do not eat. And I did go out and get provisions, happens every time I go to Aldi. This time I went a little overboard to get dried fruits - bought over $50 of dried blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cherries, and apricots. We will not have to worry about berries this spring and hopefully by May, I will be picking fruit to dry around North Carolina.

We also ate out too much - we paid more for eating out than groceries. But again, that situation should change with the next month. I will have a kitchen again, and will eat better foods.

Gas prices were not too bad, we would go in together most often, and then I would take the car and do whatever needed to be done that day. But I did notice the prices have started to go up. Thankfully, next month I will be walking to work, and Sasha will be doing the motorcycle, so it will not be as bad.

This is the last month for rent in an apartment, they increased it an extra $50. Don't really know why, they said because of water, but we were not there that often this month, taking showers at the club, but OH Well, it is over and so no big deal.

We bought some stuff for the camper, water filters and water hose, so that is the Camper Services.

Our communication this month was high, as I was on the phone for interviews in the beginning of the month and went through 450 minutes like within a week. But those interviews got me the job, so $45 is an OK price to pay for a job. We also sent some stuff out, as Sasha sold some books through Amazon, so that was good.

Regarding Health - we joined a health club for a month (love the month to month plans!) I tried it out first, and loved it, and then I went back and joined up. It helped a bunch towards the end of the month March 31st and into April when we were living in the camper.

We did go to the movies again, so that was our fun stuff - took in two movies in one shot! Popcorn for dinner, having some fun. Plus got a newspaper one Sunday, so we had fun reading that.

March 18th was Daniel Miles birthday, so gift and card was important, and Sasha gave money to a baby shower. I don't think he went to the shower, but got some good snacks afterwards.

Check out April, our first month in a national park and on the beach!