this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

I've been trying really hard to stick really close to my budget numbers. It reminds me of when I was newly married and I'd see that I had $15 to spend for a week's worth of groceries because I had overspent in previous weeks. I'd look at it as a challenge and stretch that $15 as far as I could. Eventually I got to a point where the budget numbers were more of a guideline and not so much a rule.

This week's last shopping trip left me with $10.37 to spend (I had spent the rest at Costco earlier in the week). I was doing super great up until I hit the ketchup row. I could have kept it under $10.37, but the slightly larger and more economical (it was cheaper per ounce) bottle of ketchup was calling my name. In the end, I ended up fifty-three cents over budget - and it was all the ketchup's fault.

photo by Leonid Mamchenkov

Since I always swipe my plastic at the grocery store, it wasn't a big deal. The larger ketchup bottle makes sense, I mean we'll use it all in a timely manner and per ounce it was cheaper, so it was a justified fifty-three cents, right? But if I would have walked into that store with nothing else but $10.37, I couldn't have bought the larger ketchup bottle, or I would have had to give up something else on my list in exchange for the cost-effective ketchup.

How do you deal with trying to get the best deal while still staying within your budget?