Last week I selected 12 items at Wal-Mart to take to Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's house. They were not things for the meal -- he always provides all of that -- too much, in fact. I brought things to snack on during card-playing, like pistachios, chips, etc. I also brought 2 pounds of gourmet coffee and some drinks. It was about $53.

Last night I bought 15 items. It made my job a little harder that I had to buy 3 packages of Activia to use my coupon, and 2 containers of CoQ10 to get one free. But I got everything on my list, except for Advil. I realized when I was at the store, that I have Aleve at home so why am I buying Advil? I use it for the same purpose.

When I got through my list I had room for one extra selection. I decided on a Stouffer's lasagna (one serving). I'll have that for lunch today. For next week, I have to get on the stick and prepare things for lunch.

My total this week was $65. The expensive items was the CoQ10, but I am told I need it if I am taking a statin.

What am I learning from this exercise? If I really examine what I need, it's much less than I think. Also, I realize that I have been succumbing to temptation a lot in the past. So many things I would have just thrown in my cart -- but I didn't!