Walmart on Monday

Had like a super good sleep last night (4 continuous hours! I credit the Baby Whisperer for some good tips)... so got a bright and early start to the day grocery shopping at Walmart.

So. Walmart. My normal pre-baby self would probably have some problems shopping here on a regular basis. Although they are making improvements, if you can afford it, there are very real advantages to grocery shopping at other places - places that offer a vast array of local offerings, that support local farmers, etc.. . But truth be told a lot of these groceries are expensive. I *love shopping at Fiesta Farms in Toronto but literally, my grocery bill would be at least double what it would be elsewhere. But bring on the criticism if you want to. I can take it!

Plus, and this goes to Downtown Mama Rule #2: Daily outings that are practical in nature should also be fun(ish) for mama. Keeping in mind "fun" is now a bit of a relative term, on the days that I have to go grocery shopping, I like going to Dufferin Mall in Toronto which is home to the closest Walmart.

If you live in Toronto and you know me, you may find this all a bit shocking but I'm telling you for a quick 2 hour jaunt close to home, Dufferin Mall, is really quite awesome. Before I start my grocery shopping, I can stop in at H&M orWinners or a couple other new stores. And I can grab a coffee before starting the trip around the mall (there is a Second Cup but instead of spending $4 on my pre-baby summer coffee - an Iced Vanilla Latte - I am now making a pit stop at McDonald's for their $1.67 Iced Vanilla Coffee). Again, feel free to tell me why geting a coffee at McDonald's is bad.

And sometimes Walmart has some cute stuff to look at too. Even in my pre-baby days, I lived by the motto, "No bad shops, just bad shoppers" so you can always find something cute and of course, doesn't hurt that at Walmart the price is right.

Check out the skirt I added to my groceries which I got on sale for $7. Tell me that this doesn't look a little like this skirt at Banana Republic http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=35288&vid=1&pid=638221&scid=638221002 which although onsale, is not $7.

I'll talk about Downtown Mama fashion tips in later posts but this is just to give you a taste of how I'm approaching things.

Anyway, we picked up all of groceries for the dinners for the week and it came to under $60. I had to pick up other items - lunch/breakfast items, cleaning supplies, a couple magazines (a habit I must stop asap and replace with subscriptions)... so the final bill was about double but still, pretty good (and remember I got a skirt!). I'll compare this trip with No Frills next week and we'll talk a little more about budgeting for the week in future posts.

In the meantime, have a beautiful day with you little one!