West Newton Trader Joe’s

The parking situation there is getting out of hand. No matter when I go, no matter what time of day, parking is an absolute nightmare. It’s worse and worse each time I go. Today I wound up parking down the block on Washington Street and walking through two puddles of dirty slush. All because I wanted Trader Joe’s frozen breaded chicken! (they’re delightful on top of Trader Joe’s spring mix salad)

At first when I saw how bad parking was there, I contemplated driving to the Mem Drive location, because if I went there I could buy some wine and/or beer.

It’s not so bad during the other 3 seasons of the year, because this Trader Joe’s location is only about 9 blocks away from my home, so when the weather is good, I walk…but during slush or ice or unshoveled sidewalks, I’d much rather take the car then run the risk of breaking eggs.

The West Newton Trader Joe’s should either move to a bigger location (replace that mediocre Auburndale Star!) or they need to open another one in the area. The West Newton one serves most of Newton, Watertown, Waltham, and Wellesley, and their parking lot probably fits less than 20 cars, although some people run the risk of being towed and park in the spots for the offices that are above Trader Joe’s.

Anyway, I got my chicken, my spring mix, and also some Hansen’s diet root beer, baby carrots, lasagna, and crustless quiches with chorizo. But my snow boots failed me and my feet are wet.

Cheep cheep cheep

Am I getting even more cheap or is EVERYTHING getting more expensive? I went clothes shopping the other day and everything was so expensive that I could hardly bear to buy anything. Even at places like Marshall’s! I had noticed that food had gone up significantly in price (WHY are my pears so expensive?) but now it seems like clothes is more expensive too.

Unless I’m just getting more cheap, which is also a possibility.

A three-hour tour on a kid-friendly isle…

From WBZTV re: changes to Stop and Shop –

These changes include scanning items as you shop, weighing and pricing produce yourself and creating kid-friendly isles that are free of candy and tabloid magazines.

What talented editor missed that one?

Discount Shopping!

Matt and I are big fans of the discount rack at Star Market. We’re like savages when we come across those shelves. Today, I got Dove deodorant for $1, Matt got Axe deodorant for $1, we got a bunch of cans of Campbell’s soup, Matt got coffee, and we got a twelve pack of hot dog buns that was missing one bun so it was only a buck. It was quite exciting. This is the best we’ve ever fared in the discount rack.

Another Costco Post

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about how I think Costco is the epitome of cool, and I doubt it will be the last.

Yesterday at work I packed tuna for lunch, but as the clock crawled to 12:30, I lost my interest in eating the tuna. I thought about what I could have has a cheap lunch. I then remembered: COSTCO!!!

And so I went to Costco! I had a slice of pizza and a Diet Coke…it was filling and the total came to….$2.71!!!! AND before returning to work, I refilled my Diet Coke and enjoyed sipping it for the rest of the afternoon.

Oh Costco, you warm my frugal heart.

I don’t think I like Whole Foods that much anymore

When I was a kid growing up in Jersey, I used to go with my mom to this little health food store. We’d get things like Puffins Cereal and EdenSoy chocolate soy milk. On the way out they sold these little mint chocolate bars that came with an animal trading card. We also used to buy our shampoos and conditioner there, and my first deodorant was an all-natural apricot-scented roll-on that really didn’t help my adolescent B.O.

The days of the little health food store seem to be long gone. At first I enjoyed Whole Foods…I liked that it was like a health food SUPERMARKET. I defended Whole Foods’ prices and when people called it “Whole Paycheck” I would get mildly irritated because I felt like the higher prices were justified by superior product.

I like their 365 brands of shampoos and conditioners, so I stopped by Whole Foods yesterday to get some. I noticed the prices went up (by about 50 cents) for them, but I know that prices are going up for everything, so I grabbed them anyway.

I wandered around, thinking I’d buy some granola bars while I was at it. I’m a fan of the Cascadian Farms Chocolate Chip Granola Bars…I was about to grab a box until I saw the price. It was a whole extra dollar than it was for the same exact thing at Star Market!!! (AND I’ve gotten big boxes of them at Costco which, of course, is an even better value!)

And when I saw that, my love for Whole Foods began to wane. With Stop and Shop and Star/Shaw’s expanding their organic sections and carrying the same things at lower prices, why frequent Whole Foods? And after my recent discovery of the pre-made mac and cheese at my love, Russo’s, which is just as tasty as the Whole Foods mac and cheese but at less than half the cost, I think my Whole Foods trips will be few and far between in the near future.

I do still enjoy certain things at Whole Foods, but between Trader Joe’s, Russo’s, farmer’s markets, and the ever-growing organic sections of mainstream supermarkets, my love for Whole Foods is fizzling out.

Frankenkrissy

Sometimes I think that I am not actually the biological daughter of my parents, but that I was put together by Dr. Frankenstein. I think I was made of different bits and pieces of other people’s bodies.

The evidence:

• I am 5′1″
• My shoe size is an 8.5-9. Most people my height have a size 6 or 7 foot…my feet are abnormally large for my height!! I’m like a clown!!!
• On the other hand (no pun intended), my hands are small and my ring size is between a 4.5 and 5. When we went to buy our wedding bands, they told me that the smallest ring size they carry is 5, but I could get it refitted if it was too loose. It seems to be OK, but it is a little loose in the winter.
• For tops, I am a size small, or even an extra small if I go to the Gap Outlet.
• My waist size is 27, which according to my research, translates to a size 2-4 in jeans.
• My hip size is 39 (!!!!!), which according to my research, translates to a size 10 in jeans. Whoa!! That’s quite a disparity!!!! No wonder pants are seldom comfortable on me!!
• When I look at pictures of myself, I’ve noticed that I have an inordinately large head for my height. Not unlike a bobble head.
• I have big ankles, too. I think the kids are calling them “cankles” these days…when the calf goes right into large ankles. My ankles can hardly accommodate anklets. I have one that I’m wearing now that barely makes it around my ankles. But it’s so cute and it has a Chinese dragon on it so I can’t resist!

And there you have it! I am the result of an experiment gone mad!! It certainly doesn’t make shopping easy!

Watch out!

Adventures in Clothes Shopping

After realizing that many of my spring and summer clothes are in bad condition, I trucked on down to the Arsenal Mall to buy a few articles of clothing. I made out like a bandit at the Gap Outlet, and I noticed they opened up a Wet Seal next door.

I used to shop at Wet Seal as a teenager, back when the location I went to was still called Contempo Casuals. I feel a little like an old lady when I go in there, but, man, they’ve got some good bargains! $5 t-shirts! At first I was going to buy the t-shirts without trying them on — that would have been a huge mistake!

When I buy shirts at the Gap Outlet, I always need a size small, or sometimes even an extra small. But when I tried on the size small t-shirts from West Seal I couldn’t even get the shirt over my head! It was awful! The head-holes weren’t big enough to accommodate my big ol’ head.

I DO have a big head, but I don’t think it’s that big. I would have needed to get my head shrunken like those skulls at Ripley’s Believe it or Not to fit into these shirts!

I think I’m also losing a little bit of love for Filene’s Basement. Nothing I liked came in my size. SIGH! And Marshall’s was a disorganized mess, as usual.

And thus continues my love affair with Russo’s…

25 bags of Yerba Mate tea for $2.98. That’s $3 less than at Trader Joe’s, and $5 less than at Shaw’s organic department.

I had to cut down on my Yerba Mate habit because it was getting pricey, but after finding this bargain at Russo’s, I can resume my habit!! Mmmm, Yerba Mate!!!!!!

Another why I love Costco post…

Almost two and a half years ago, I blogged about why I love Costco. After today’s trip, I feel the need to write more.

- I saw a little old man trying to return cookies.

- Three words: Free food samples. I tried sun-dried tomatoes, chocolate, chicken, and salmon. The salmon was actually really good. I should have bought some.

- I found some really cute clothes there! Black pants, a purple sweater, a pink tunic-style top, a red cardigan, and a grey sweater with three-quarters sleeves. All that for about $70 — and mostly name brands, too!

- Socks, socks, and more socks!!!

And they had this bed, which I thought was amazingly cool:

I’ve never seen the Pirates movies, but the bed sure is cool.