I have an addiction...

This is not your "run of the mill" type addiction either. It's a big problem though. Are you ready? Here it goes....I am addicted to the grocery store. There I said, I feel better, well almost.

See, most people who know me, know I am very frugal. But, at the grocery store, I lose all self control. I really do try to stick to my list and buy only what I need, but I fail, and I fail often. In my mind I justify things that are "healthy", "on sale", or "a fascinating must try" (did I just use the word fascinating in regard to groceries?!?).

You'll see me stressing about about spending twenty dollars on necessary items not related to food, but I have no problems throwing down from forty to eighty dollars a trip (or more) at the grocery store-two to three times a week!! Last week I had to run in for just a "few things" (baking powder & eggs) and found myself perusing the aisles and filling up my cart with copious amounts of odds and ends that certainly were not needed.

And let's not even get started with Costco. When every employee knows you and your kids by name, you start to figure you should own stock in the joint. And seriously, when I don't have my kids with me, they ask where they are and how they are doing! I have tried to convince myself that I am not buying anything that won't be used or isn't nutritious in some way, but do I really need it? That is the question I must answer.

Even as I write this, I am thinking about the raspberry thumbprint cookies Nicole told me she made yesterday. Well, what I am really thinking is "I need to run to the store, I don't have almond paste and I can't make them without it". You know what would really happen though, I'd walk out with a minimum of forty dollars in those plastic bags.

So what can be done? Is there a twelve step program for grocerholics? Do I dare send Randy with a list; I'm afraid I'd wind up with several calls from the store "avocados-firm, but give gently to pressure?; you want me to smell to cantaloupe?; jelly 100% fruit-read the label?" Ok, maybe that won't work. If anyone has any advice to offer in an effort to control my "problem" I would welcome it. Thanks :-)