The Mechanics of Shopping

Wow, it’s been awhile since I wrote a blog post! Hopefully, I can get into a good groove, but as you know- I already have my hands full with those three girls!

Today, I thought I would talk about grocery shopping. I’ll go more into detail about what I buy, where I buy things (grocery versus club store), and how I pay for things (coupons!) in another post.

For this post, I’ll focus on HOW I shop for groceries and necessities. Let me tell you, it’s not easy to go to the store with three kids under three! Hopefully, if you have small twins, some of these tips can help make your shopping trips easier!

I have been going to the store since the girls were itty bitty. It took a little bit of experimenting with different configurations, but I figured things out.

For places like Target or the supermarket, I was limited to the amount of merchandise I could fit into reusable bags hung from the handlebars of my Graco Quattro Tour double stroller. I often had Boo in one seat of the stroller, Alligator in her carseat in the other stroller seat and then I carried Snickers in the Baby Bjorn. Or I would have both babies in their carseats in the stroller, and Boo would walk. Boo likes to walk, but sometimes, when Boo was loose, she would grab things. We never broke any jars, but Boo infamously bit a sliced watermelon once!

BJ’s- our local wholesale club- required a bit of a different set up. The club store has a lot of bulky packaging, so I was not able to use my stroller solution that worked so well at Target, etc.

I had to place one of the babies in her carseat into the main part of the cart, and then I placed the other baby into the Bjorn. The carseat took up a lot of room and limited the amount of stuff that I could buy. Thankfully, I had the space under the cart and the seated part of the cart! (Many of our BJ’s trips took place when Boo was at preschool.)

Things have gotten much easier now that the girls can sit up. BJ’s has double-seated carts, so I can put Alligator and Snickers into the seats, and feed them breakfast before I shop! I have plenty of room to fill up the cart- no carseat to limit me!

I still have trouble with the supermarket. They don’t have double carts, and Alligator and Snickers are a little too small for the “fun” car cart and the cart with the extra seats.

This is why Stop and Shop is my favorite store. They have something called “Scan as you go”. I swipe my store card at the kiosk at the store entrance, and they give me a scanning gun. I scan the items as I put them into my saddlebags, and then at checkout, I scan a code above the self-checkout station and then scan my card again. All I have to do is pay, and everything is already bagged. It’s amazing! I can even use coupons! And best of all, they have special sales just for scan your own customers that change every week. Sometimes, these specials overlap with sale items, which save even more money.

Of course, if we go shopping in the evening or on the weekend and my husband is with us, Alligator and Snickers can both ride in a cart. This is a recent discovery; before that, one of us would push the stroller and the other one would push the cart. This was rather perilous, especially at a small store like Trader Joe’s!
Finally, I have a confession to make. Boo has taken to riding in the main part of the cart. Yes, we have become one of THOSE families. I think it started out as a punishment; she was being wild and running away, so she had to take a break. Well, she liked it so much that she asks to sit in the “big cart”. Don’t worry, she sits down and never stands or tries to get out.

Welcome to the Circus!

My children seem to attract a lot of attention wherever I go. People certainly aren’t interested in me; I look like a ragamuffin with sweatpants and a scrunchie in my hair.  No, everyone is interested in my double stroller and the sweet little baby girls snuggled up inside.

“Oh,” they say, “are they twins?”

I answer affirmatively, knowing that a follow-up question is coming.

“Are they both girls?”

Now, I don’t want to sound snarky.  After all, I want you to come back and read my stories.   But my girls are always dressed in pink fleecy suits.  I am not sure why there are any questions regarding gender.

Well, that’s not quite true.   We have fleece covers that fit over the carseats to keep the babies warm during the winter.  I had a choice between a blue cover and a pink cover.  I chose the blue covers because I thought that pink would clash with the red/brown carseats and stroller.

So I guess that’s why they think my babies are boys.

After that, almost everyone says the same six words to me:  You. Must. Have. Your. Hands. Full.

They say this to me even if we aren’t accompanied by my oldest daughter, who will be three this spring.     If Boo is with us, they most certainly insist that my hands must, indeed, be full.

I’m looking forward to sharing a little bit of my hectic life with you.