For about a month I've been working on returning to my former way of grocery shopping. Since about the time my oldest was born, I started clipping coupons as a rule for shopping. It pained me to ever pay full price for anything I purchased, especially at the grocery store.
Bargain shopping became a way of life. For example, my hubby would ask me what we were having for dinner to which I would respond "whatever was on sale this week!" This rule was particularly important with meats. Once I saw what was on sale in the meats department, I would try to plan the rest of my meal around it. Sure, pork loin might sound good, but if it was full price we'd be eating something else.
Over the last year or so our schedule had changed considerably and forced me into making smaller and less frugal shopping trips. I slipped into the routine of buying whatever sounded good and picking up items on a whim because I wasn't sure when I'd have time to get to the store again (or wa…