The Economy and My Budget

I am no expert on the economy but I feel like there is a little hole in my budget that has been trying to get bigger these past few months. I felt like I was really on my game with our budget and that I had it wrapped up all nice and tight. However, it seems lately when I go to the grocery store I am spending quite a bit more money for the same things.

Maybe its me and I have lost a little of my fervor for the sometimes labor intensive work of bargain shopping, but it also seems that good coupons are scarcer, and really good deals like the free stuff I was getting at CVS is also scant. I went several months without even having to pay for diapers and this month I dropped over $40.oo on diapers alone. As if this was not bad enough (this month I went $100.00 over our grocery budget and I was not splurging) I read this:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1818761,00.html

I thought the box of Cheerios that I picked up at Publix last week looked a little anorexic!! Now I know why its smaller! And I thought I was getting an okay deal. So now I have to pay attention to size too? Is it not enough that in my mom memory bank I have to remember what is a good price per pound for chicken breast, the cost of milk at different stores and discern if it is worth it to drive to Wal-Mart for cheaper prices with the cost of the extra gas to get there? Now I also have to pay attention to this trickery of size!!?!!?