My mother liked to go grocery shopping. She looked forward to it, and she had a plan. At 85 years old, she misses it. Growing up in my hometown, we had three grocery stores, and she shopped at all three every week. Meat at Fareway. Produce at Hy-Vee. Household products at SuperValu. Or any combination thereof, depending on the coupon offers in the newspaper that week. I remember being a little guy and going with her, riding in the cart and knowing to never act up or to ask for anything in the checkout aisle.
Mom had a number of jobs outside the home through the years, but none that she took more seriously than the job of homemaker. She managed every aspect of our household, including how money was saved and spent. Every penny mattered in our home, and she made sure of it.
Some of her penny-pinching rubbed off on me, but I also see her cringe when she sees how Jolene and I spend some of our money on what she considers frivolous items. That’s when I remind her that we all have different interests — and I share my estimate on what she spent on cigarettes all the years she was smoking.
Meanwhile, I do think of Mom each time I go to a grocery store, which isn’t very often. I don’t enjoy shopping like she did. I don’t visit multiple stores. And I don’t have a plan. But I do have a goal: I want in and out of the store as quickly as I possibly can.
The Price Chopper store (formerly Dahl’s) in our neighborhood closed in recent years, and I miss the convenience of it. I appreciate the Fareway, Hy-Vee, Aldi and other stores in the area, but I don't appreciate the drive and the time it takes to get in and out of some of the behemoths. I also realize that I am not the primary customer those stores are marketing to, and that the little bit I spend can’t keep their doors open.
I guess we could order groceries online and pick them up, or we could have them delivered. I realize that many of you are doing this and enjoy the process. If online ordering was available in Mom’s younger years, she may have done it as well — as long as she knew that she could still get the best deals. Time is money, but those pennies still add up, and some habits are tough to break.
Have a thoughtful Thursday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
