Okay. We stand on the brink of $4 per gallon gasoline - with no relief in sight. It’s been coming. First, all the news stories about $4 per gallon gas by summer. A self-fulfilling prophecy. Yesterday on the news, I heard that prices are not expected to drop after the Memorial Day holiday - unlike in past years. In fact, the increase in prices may continue. Add to that the fact that in southeastern Wisconsin, gas prices are as much as 15 cents per gallon higher than in other parts of the state. While conserving gas is a good idea at any time, it becomes especially important now.

As a result, I’ve made a few changes in my shopping habits. Back in the days of cheaper gasoline, I would peruse all the sale flyers - and most likely drive from store to store to STORE, cherry picking the loss leaders. Now…well, actually, with one of the grocery store chains leaving the state, there’s one less store to choose from now. So this made it a bit easier.

Of the ”major players” that remain, I shop mainly from three grocery chains. One chain has a store less than a mile from where I work. I can walk to the store and shop the sales at lunch. I may be making more trips, since I’m limited to what I can reasonably expect to carry one mile. Sometimes it gets heavy. But I figure between the extra walking and the extra weight carrying - I’m going to be buff by summer! The nice thing about having this store close by is that I can usually - USUALLY - avoid driving to this chain. Between that and losing a chain of grocery stores, I’m able to do some of my shopping without using any gasoline at all.

The second chain of grocery stores - well, let’s just say that I’ve become way more selective about what constitutes a bargain - specifically, what makes it worth my while to drive to the store. The same criteria is now applied to my favorite high-end grocery store. Sigh. I love that store. I REALLY love that store. Used to be, I’d chance it and make the trip even if there weren’t great loss leaders listed in the paper, because the markdown produce table probably would make up for it. Well, ”probably” isn’t good enough any more. There either have to be enough good sales to justify the drive, or we have to be in the neighborhood. (It helps that this store is on the way to my mother-in-law’s house.)

Yard saling has taken a hit as well. This may be a good thing, at least until I get the clutter under control. Regardless, gone are the days of cruising from sale to sale - looking for more sales. If I truly need something that I think I can find at a yardsale, these days I try to look for subdivision-wide sales. That way, I can park at one location and walk from sale to sale. Otherwise, I might try a church sale - bigger selection - or one that I happen to see in my neighborhood.

Yes, these days, I don’t shop around the way I used to. But I may actually be buying less, and therefore saving money in a different way.