Ever since the financial crisis hit us, which I first mentioned in this post: Tough Times at the Accountability Household, things still haven't eased up. Mr. A's business is bringing in enough to cover business expenses, and pay some extra toward the business credit card, but not enough to take a draw for our household. This is quite frustrating for me, but there's not too much I can do about it. And to add more frustration, his cell phone is getting horrible reception and we think it's not just the phone, but our T-mobile provider. He's really itching to go to Verizon and indeed seems to get better reception with Verizon (one of his associates that he subs for periodically has given Mr. A one of his Verizon phones and he never hits dead zones with that phone), so it looks like he's going to be doubling the cost of phone service. Business expense, yes, but less money toward the credit card debt for the company, and money we could push toward our household… but if you aren't getting phone calls for business, then you're losing business.

It's not looking any better for May.  In response to this lowered income, I've started to do been doing some some bargain shopping.

I've started to visit American Discount Foods again, usually once a week even though it's out of my way.  But I calculated the amount of gas it's costing me to deviate off my normal path and back, and I'm still saving money.

I also have gotten the vegetable box several times.  It is a lot of work processing the vegetables and fruit, but it is well worth the savings.

I also recently accidentally passed by a vegetable market that I knew about, but had totally forgotten about.  A couple of weeks ago I was amazed to find these kinds of prices on vegetables…

Zucchini $0.15 a pound. Yes, FIFTEEN CENTS a pound. I haven't seen prices like that, well, in at least two decades.

Iceberg lettuce, 3 heads for a dollar. Not to shabby.

Asparagus, $0.69 a pound. That is unheard of.

Broccoli crowns, 3 pounds for a dollar.  Funny enough, the regular broccoli, with the tough stems, was going for $0.69 a pound.

This place is called Superstition Ranch Market. It's located in Mesa, Arizona at 4755 East Main Street.

It does seem like prices on vegetables have gone down, since we recently found zucchini squash at a regular supermarket for $0.38 a pound, which is a very good price.

We have always shopped the sales, and rarely buy meat at full price, actually you could say we never buy meat at full price.  Usually we buy what's on sale, and stock up when the cost is about $2 a pound.

I've also been doing some Costco shopping, and so happy that I can get some organic produce and frozen vegetables which are similarly priced to regular vegetables.  The avocados have skyrocketed… they used to be $5.99 for a bag of five, but now they are $7.99.  I did find pork loin for $2.29 a pound there, and it had a nice texture. You know how sometimes pork has an odd texture?

I'm also still buying my gas at Costco and this past week I saved fifteen cents a gallon by going there, instead of just going by the nearest gas station. I do have to go about two miles out of my way home to get gas at Costco, and it does take about twenty minutes extra, but that's a pretty good savings when you consider I usually put 16 gallons into my tank.  That's $2.40 savings.

But I've been thinking, gosh darn it, why haven't we been shopping this way all along?  I mean, our meat shopping is the same, but I stopped shopping at American Discount Foods for months, and hadn't taken advantage of the Superstition Ranch Market (although that one is significantly out of the way).

So we continue plodding along.  Usually things pick up in the summer, and that is right around the corner, so I'm hoping for the best.

How is your financial picture looking lately?