stocking up

This past week I printed and clipped a huge stack of on-line coupons before heading out to the commissary. The bulky items such as toilet paper, nappies, and coffee filled the cart halfway through the store so I had to send Maggie out and fetch another one. She is pretty good at pushing the cart for the first aisle or so because then the packages inside block her view. Needless to say it was a comedic sight with 3 small children racing around in circles while I was throwing rolls of paper towels over my shoulder and steering both carts. Luckily Julia Ellen didn't even wake up until we got back into the van. I learned many years ago to give babies a good feed right before going to the grocery to prevent unpleasant episodes.

Usually the 90 minutes that Will and Mary spend at piano is enough time to shop, drop off the perishables at home, and still have time to return before they spill out the front door of their teacher's house, but this time we were almost 20 minutes late due to the cashier examining each coupon with microscopic intensity in an effort to reject them, but despite his efforts, (since I am honest to a fault) I managed to save over $40 off my bill.

Kraft, owner of the Maxwell House coffee brands, raised retail prices on its Colombian blend by almost 19 per cent last month due to the rising prices of Colombian coffee beans. Nestlé declined to comment on whether it has been raising prices on Nescafé.

Separately, sugar prices in New York and London rose last week to their highest in almost three years. White sugar prices rose above $450 a tonne, a 52 per cent gain from mid-December, as traders bet that India, the world’s largest consumer, will require hefty imports to compensate for the failure of the local crop.