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Stockpile to Table – Month of May

My stockpile has gotten huge again so it is time to eat from it. I never want the food to expire and have to be thrown away. Wasting food is not an option in my household.

You have all heard the terms pantry challenge or eating from the stockpile. The newest one I have seen in the blogsphere is stockpile to table and I like it. 

So I discussed doing this with Hubby and we set our  rules for this May Challenge. You all know that I budget $ 75.00 per week for groceries for the two of us. This includes food, cleaning products, OTC medicines and HBA. Since I have a stockpile, there are many weeks that I only spend some of it and save the rest for big meat and seafood expenditures.

However for May’s Challenge, we are setting aside only $15.00 per week for groceries. I have so much food that we need to use up so for the two of us that $15.00 will cover milk, produce or the occasional grocery item that we can’t go without. So a total of $75.00 will be set aside this 5 week month.  

We are starting with this week which includes yesterday and today.  I did no shopping either day so I didn’t run out and shop to stock up on milk and produce. We have some avocados, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, onions and carrots on hand. We also have some apples and grapes.

In the refrigerator, we have 64 oz. of almond milk that I purchased last week. I love almond milk on my oatmeal or other cereals. We also have 1/2 of a container(64 oz.) of skim milk that Hubby uses for his cereal and to make SF puddings.

Our pantries and freezers are again well stocked. It is amazing how fast you can stock your supplies when the store has good deals that are free or almost free with couponing and the use of the couponing apps like Ibotta, Checkout 51, etc. 

While we are eating down our stockpile, I will still be picking up any free items that we can use especially HBA and cleaning items. Those items can be kept without too much worry about spoilage. 


This is a good month for us to do this challenge since we will be busy with spring cleaning and outside things. We have had a very long winter (snow on Saturday night) so things outside are still very wet. Hubby and I were walking around our property last week seeing how much damage was done over the winter. You really needed boots because you just sunk into the ground because it is so soggy and wet. Hopefully, things will dry up so that our landscaping company can come do our spring cleanup soon.

I can’t wait until it is warm enough to clean the garage of dirt and salt that has accumulated this winter. Plus our SUV needs a good cleaning inside and outside. Our basement can use some sprucing up too. I don’t clean as quickly as I used to since I tire easily. So I will break these projects up into manageable chunks.

Before someone asks, I will be saving the other $300.00 that I would normally spend this month for something special that we are saving for.

I will post everything that we make to eat all month long. To get you caught up, we had sausage, eggs, home fries, English muffins, and coffee for our large Sunday breakfast yesterday. Hubby snacked on some of the party mix that I made a while ago instead of having lunch. I ate no lunch or snack. For dinner we had a skillet fajita casserole which was chicken, rice, pepper strips, onions and fajita seasoning. We eat nothing after dinner.  

I will be trying to keep our meals simple so that we can get our projects done this month. I will try to remember to take some pictures. 

If anyone would like to join in on this challenge, feel free to tell us what you make to eat each and every day in comments.    

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Every Day

Amazon Prime?

It is nice to get back in the swing of things. We had a wonderful visit from our friend and caught up on everyone’s family. It was good to see her. But now it is time to get back to blogging.

How many of you were shocked to hear that Amazon Prime is raising it’s annual membership by 25%? I know I was. 

Prices go up all of the time but 25%? Are they kidding us. Especially since their profits have been huge. It seems on the surface to be pure greed.

One of the reasons they are doing this I am sure has to do with Toys R Us going out of business. Amazon is a huge supplier of toys, games, and books. Toys R Us was their biggest competition and now they have put them out of business. How many other businesses carry a huge supply of toys? Walmart has some and so does Target but a very small selection compared to Toys R Us. Now Amazon doesn’t really have competition in that market. Competition keeps prices down. How long will it be before they raise the prices on these items now that they have no competition?   


They also got a lot of pressure from their shareholders because of barely breaking even or even losing money sometimes on prime shipping.

My membership renews the end of June, one of the first ones to do so. But I am not sure that we will renew. Here in New York, we are charged sales tax on our membership. So that $20. costs 8% more in sales tax. Our membership of $ 119. will really cost us $ 128.52.

Hubby and I had a long discussion about this increase last night. Hubby brought up a good point. He asked me ” How many of the packages you sent in the past year needed to be at their destination in 2 days? Could they have easily taken 5 to 10 and not affected anything?  I am thinking long and hard on this these questions.

Since Amazon ships for free if you have an order of $35.00 or more, could we think ahead on buying birthday gifts, home supplies and OTC meds, etc. and make our orders $35.00?  

Could we use free to store shipping at other local stores like Walmart and Home Depot, etc. and save that way? On packages that have to be shipped for a birthday, are we willing to pay a little bit in shipping to get them there?

As my grandchildren get older, gift cards become the things that they want so that they can buy what they want. This could be a solution.

I have a Kindle but the books that are free have become almost non existent. Because of this some friends are now buying books off of Amazon. I could wait longer to receive these books if I can’t find them at the library or it’s book sale next weekend. I do like the feel of a book in my hand. My Kindle rarely gets used except when I travel. I know this has little to do with Amazon Prime but it is another example of how they try to hook you and then raise the prices.

Yes, my Amazon Prime membership includes other things like movies and music, but we rarely use these. Even though we no longer have Netflix, I haven’t watched one movie in ages on Amazon Prime. I am just not a TV watcher and Hubby just likes his sports. So are these extras that I didn’t ask for when I first joined really worth it to us? Not really! 

The other pet peeve that I have with them is that at least 15 packages that I got through Amazon Prime this year were late by 1-3 days. It got very annoying! It made me question what I was really paying for.  

The other thing that I am thinking about is how long will it be before Amazon puts all stores out of business and we have no real competition. That is a very scary thought! No competition means they can charge whatever they want. 


So as I ponder what I will do come June when it is renewal time, I am going to seriously look at my options including all of the ones I mentioned. I am also going to look at shopping locally and helping to keep some these long time stores in business.

I would love to know what any of my readers who are Amazon Prime members are going to do and what alternatives you see. Please leave your thoughts on this in comments.

Also I have a new challenge that I will post about on Monday that I am going to be doing for the month of May.    




  

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That

Because of bad weather we had no company last weekend, not even my son and grandson. So I spent some time baking. I like to bake enough to fill up my oven to save on energy.

So I baked two loaves of pumpkin bread and two loaves of cranberry orange bread from scratch. Remember that  large container of OJ that I purchased recently. I used some of that for the cranberry orange bread. This week I also got 12 oz. containers of orange juice. We no longer drink OJ so I have frozen the OJ in 1/2 cup portions for my future baking projects.

We have lots of frozen cranberries that I purchased the Thanksgiving before last. I also have many pecans frozen for breads.

Pictured above is one loaf of cranberry that I almost forgot to take a picture of for you before I froze it. The other loaf Hubby had already started eating before I realized I hadn’t taken a picture. He demolished it by the next morning.  

 Pictured above is my favorite pumpkin bread. One loaf went into the freezer to serve to company this week. Yes, I am having company arriving on Thursday. And we are very excited that she is coming.

When Hubby and I were young, our very best friends had three children. We got together on almost a daily basis. Our kids all got along together and Darla and Jim and Hubby and I spent so many enjoyable years together that I still remember vividly especially going out almost every weekend and almost always spending Saturday mornings together. We loved them like they were our brother and sister. The same is true for their children. Tragedy struck when Jim was 41. He died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. We were so devastated and we did our best to comfort Darla. As a few years went on, Darla and the kids remained our closest friends. One spring break vacation Darla took the two younger kids to California to visit their grandparents. We took her oldest daughter to the airport so that she could fly back to college in Boston.  We got a telephone call from a good priest friend of ours one morning informing us that Darla had died suddenly in California. She also died of some kind of brain abnormality. We were in shock. Darla was flown back to her hometown for burial and we did our best to get everything ready at her home for her family coming in. Their oldest daughter, Allison went back to college afterward. Their youngest daughter who was 8 and their son who was about 13 went to live with Darla’s sister and her family in Colorado. We kept in touch over the years with Allison who is happily married and has a son in college now. The last time I saw her was about 10 years ago. I was delighted when she told me that she was coming to visit us this week. Hubby and I are so looking forward to spending time with her. Hubby hasn’t seen her in 20 years. So I will be absent from this blog getting ready for her arrival and to spend wonderful time and memories with her.  We are also looking forward to catching up with her and hearing about her brother and sister’s families.

So I will post when I have time. But if I am absent, I know you will all understand.  

The other night, I sauteed some onions and Montreal steak sausage in butter for dinner. Meanwhile, Hubby cooked some French Fries in our air fryer.

Hubby loves using the air fryer to crisp frozen items. I find it useless for from scratch recipes. They never seem to turn out well. If I had known that we would not have purchased one. 

We have West this weekend so that his parents can enjoy celebrating Katie’s birthday. So I am planning on making hamburgers and French fries tonight rather than feeding him high caloric McDonald’s ones. We are supposed to finally get some sun and weather in the 50’s so perhaps he and I can get outside for a walk.

I made him a special treat for a snack that he can munch on while he is here. I saw a video on You Tube where a woman who has a large family made snack mix in a black garbage bag. Well, we didn’t need that much so I made some in this large kettle today. I am hoping that he will enjoy helping me put it in gallon size bags tonight. I will leave some out for him and freeze the rest for the future. It will freeze nicely and not take long to thaw when I need it. I think I will call it “Everything But The Kitchen Sink Mix”. 

As always feel free to leave a comment.

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Every Day

Monday’s Grocery Shopping Trip

I am sharing with you a small grocery shopping trip that I did on Monday. 

One of the most important things I went to get was a whole NY strip loin that was on sale for $ 6.99 a lb. With grilling season on the horizon(if it ever stops snowing here), we needed steaks. We had none left from last Summer and Fall. This price is a $ 1.00 more than last year’s price but beef prices do tend to fluctuate. I think it is probably the best price we will find here right now. I only bought one so that I can see what they put it on sale for later in the season. Plus I need room for the bacon that is coming from 
Zaycon Fresh next month.

I had the head butcher go back into the freezer and pick me out the best one. He is always willing to do this for me. He then cut it into 1 and 1/2 inch steaks which is how thick we like them. One steak is enough for the both of us at a meal. I ended up with 11 steaks.  

This is what I purchased:

Whole NY Strip Loin at $ 6.99 per lb.= $ 76.61( ignore the price on the wrapper- it rang up properly)

8 TicTac Gum – $ 1.00 – Used 4 insert coupons for $ .50 ea. that doubled and 4 printable coupons for $ .50 that doubled= All 8 were free.

2 Tropicana OJ on sale for $1.00 each minus $ 1./2 MQ that doubled = $ .50 each

1- 2 ltr. Pepsi – $ .29 with Monopoly token

2 Truvia Sweeteners – on sale for $ 1.99 each minus $2./1 Printable Q’s = made $.02

I also used a $ 2.00 OYNO Catalina so my OOP was $ 75.89 plus tax. Yes, this is over my $75.00 a week grocery budget but I don’t spend the entire amount every week and have accumulated quite a bit of money since the beginning of the year so it’s all good. One of the reasons that I don’t spend it all each week is so I can buy at the rock bottom prices on meat, chicken, and seafood when I see them. 


The first thing that I did when I got home was have Hubby food saver each individual steak. Then I put them in the downstairs freezer. I can’t wait until it stops snowing here and warms up so we can grill one.


Last night for dinner, I sauteed Montreal steak sausage with some Vidalia onions. Hubby cooked our French Fries in the air fryer. They were so crisp and yummy. 

Today I have my hair salon appointment so I already have a pot roast in the crockpot on low with assorted veggies that I chopped up. After my appointment, I want to stop at BonTon if they are still open and see if they have any of the jeans I wear. They fit me just the way I like them. With BonTon closing, I don’t know where I can find them. So I am going to stock on smaller sizes since I am dieting.

Have any of you gotten any good grocery prices this week on items that you stocked on? Please feel free to share with us in comments.

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Every Day

My Gasoline Challenge

Being retired we don’t spend money on gasoline to go to work every day. However we do a fair amount of driving on trips, running errands, going out to restaurants, going to doctor and dentist appointments, etc.  Because of this, I like to save money on the price of gasoline especially now that gas is so expensive.

This morning while I was pumping gasoline the price was $2.759. While I was doing this, the attendant came out and changed the price to $ 2.779, a $ .02 increase. Of course I was concerned that I was paying the higher price but the attendant said no that I was paying the $ 2.759. Unbeknowst to him, that was not what I was going to pay.

I had been earning gasoline points when I bought groceries over a period of time. I only bought things  within the gas deals that were free with coupons and that could go into my long term food storage. Things like Tic Tac gum, canned pineapple, canned diced tomatoes, Body Armour drinks, etc. I can’t remember all of the things from prior weeks. But they were things that we buy and use. We also earn points for 10 coupons being used in a transaction.


So this morning, I needed to fill the car up. I was down to very little gas and I have an appointment tomorrow and three next week.


So off I went with my key card with my gasoline points attached and filled up my car. This should give us 4-6 weeks of gasoline. By then gas point earning should start again and I plan on doing this again. It would be nice to never pay for gasoline again. But I know that might not happen. We will see.

The picture at the top is my fuel receipt minus my member # and the address of the gas station which I blocked out. Click on the picture to make it bigger. Sorry it is so messy. I didn’t realize that Hubby made a mess making his breakfast while I was out. I am cleaning that up now. As you can see I paid $ .00!

This picture is of the gasoline pump when I was done pumping. I couldn’t understand why they were charging me $.02. since I had more than enough gasoline points to cover this purchase. I went to the attendant and he told me, you owe nothing and here is your receipt. Evidently their gas pumps aren’t capable of showing the $ .00 price; hence it shows .01, .02 or .03 depending on how much you pump. 


I was so excited that I was able to do this. I will definitely be working to do this again when they offer these gas deals if they are for products we can use for our storage. 


Do any of you have gasoline deals? Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us.

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Every Day

One Hundred Frugal Things We Do ( continued)

I have some time today to finish the hundred things. Here they are: 

68. We use newspapers, pine cones from our own pines, and scrap wood from the contractors building homes to have nice fires in our outdoor fireplace.

69. The few veggies we grow in containers on the patio we start from seed.

70. I make my own window cleaner which I have just done. We will be doing windows here soon.

71. We make our own lens cleaner for our glasses.

72. If it is free after coupon and it is a product that we need and can stockpile, I will get it.

73. I buy security envelopes, some cosmetics, organizing bins, foil pans, and greeting cards exclusively at the Dollar Tree.

74. We pay cash for everything including our homes, automobiles, furniture, and any other large item we need. 

75. If we charge anything, we pay it in full when the bill is due.

76. We don’t like signing up for clubs or things that we have to pay for month after month. We just cancelled our Netflix because it wasn’t cost efficient.

77. I meal plan from my stockpile which saves us a lot of money each month.


78. I baked a ham for Easter dinner. Because my son was coming for a few days, I did not have time to make my usual bean soup. So I froze the ham bone along with some ham. I will make the soup later this week. That will give us at least 5 meals.


79. Prescriptions are very costly. So I have managed to become healthy enough to get off 4 drugs and I just had one cut in half. I will be happy when I can get off of them all. 


80. I wanted a treat while I was out running errands the other day. Instead of using cash to purchase something, I used a Free Coupon for an ice cream cone at Anderson’s.

81. I made red beans and rice from our stockpiled rice and dry beans for dinner one night. I just soaked the beans overnight before I cooked them. This is a very cheap meal and is delicious.

82. I browsed Goodwill while I was out the other day. I saw nothing that we needed. I do this every month or so.

83. I went to Aldi’s to get my produce and was I ever in for a surprise. Aldi’s is empty and they are jack hammering the entire parking lot. I have written Aldi’s to find out what is going on. Why did they leave? The next Aldi’s is miles and miles from me. So I purchased some lettuce and a cucumber from Super Walmart.


84. We have tried a few Pinterest sheet pan meals. Hubby loves them.


85. I have been putting together different spring outfits. This affirmed my decision to not buy any new clothes this season.

86. As soon as the heat can go off, I will change the air filter and get it ready for A/C season. While the heat or A/C is on, we change the filters when they need it. This saves energy.


87. I really want a solar oven. We get a lot of sunny days in this area. So this would be very cost effective. I am researching the best one and then will look for the best price.


88. I always get rainchecks when something is on sale and out of stock. That also gives me time to find more coupons.

89. I always run my errands in a circle to save on gas.

90. We rarely buy clothing that needs to be dry cleaned. Dry cleaning adds to the cost of the item.


91. I have already started planning our Christmas gifts. This gives us time to find items on sale.


92. I reuse plastic bags, ziplocs, brown paper bags, glass jars and 2 liter bottles. I store water in the 2 liter bottles. Even though I am not returning them for the bottle deposit of $.05, I am saving by not buying water.  


93. I buy clearanced meat when I can find it. Our stores do not mark down very often. 

94. We use every last bit out of toothpaste tubes, ketchup bottles, mustard bottles, lotions bottle etc. 


95. I save our soap bar scraps and boil them down to make liquid soap.

96. I save day old bread and all end crusts for bread crumbs.  


97. I save bits and pieces of leftover veggies, rice, pasta, and meat in a bag in my freezer to make soup.


98. We are experimenting with making our coffee using a resuable K-cup in our Keurig. I have been trying different grinds and amounts. I am fine tuning so that we know how to get that perfect cup. This will save us a fortune in K cups. 

99. I send for free samples whenever I see an offer online. 

100. Lastly, I am always looking at ways to make things cheaper and to save a little money here and there. Never stop learning!

Please feel free to let us know if you do any of these things or any others that you could share in comments. 

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

My son was visiting for 3 days. He had business in this area and stayed with us. We did go out to dinner one night but ate in the rest of the time. I enjoyed getting up in the morning to make him a nice hearty breakfast. We had lots of fun, laughter, and just generally a good time catching up on things.

Yesterday, my other son and grandson came for our usual Sunday breakfast. He brought a dozen donuts from Tim Horton’s which we all enjoyed immensely. I couldn’t even remember the last time I enjoyed a donut. We also got subs for lunch. This Mama was too tired to cook.

So today it is back to the usual money saving here. It is 8AM as I write this today. I already have a loaf of homemade banana bread in the oven. I had three very ripe bananas that needed to be used up.

I have made my grocery list for the week and plan on shopping later today. There are not a lot of things or deals that I need this week.  

Just a moment ago I cancelled Netflix. We weren’t watching it enough to pay the $ 10.99 per month. Some months we wouldn’t watch it at all. Plus I do not like some of their programming. So that is $131.88 annually that we will keep in our investments. We have Amazon Prime so there is plenty of movies, etc. to watch. Have you checked your viewing on Netflix to see if you are really getting your money’s worth?


I went and did my grocery shopping at Top’s and this is what I purchased this week: 


1/2 gal. milk – $ 2.39- Top’s Super Q which took off $.79= $1.60.  I bought the wrong milk. It would have been $ .88 if I had gotten Top’s milk. The cashier forced the coupon. It won’t be the first or last time mistake I make. It is not worth my gas to go back.


4 Arm and Hammer Baking Soda – $.99 ea. – $.50/2 MQ = $1.96 for all 4 or $ .49 each (Tip: Baking soda never expires.)

1- 128 oz. Tops Vinegar – $ 2.99 (clean with this and use it instead of Jet Dry in my dishwasher)

1 – 64 ct.  Pampers Wipes – $ 1.99 – $.50/1 MQ = $.99 (cheap cleaning wipes)

4- Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes – $ 1.49 each-
$1./1 MQ’s = $ .49 ea. or $ 1.96 for all. (We put these in our salads.)

1 – McCain Craft Beer Battered French Fries – $ 1.88 and I will get back $ 1.00 from Checkout 51.

2- Body Armour Drinks – $1.00 – $ .50/1 MQ’s = Both Free

1 – 59oz. Tropicana OJ – $ 1.49 with T Rex Monopoly ticket. (We don’t drink OJ so I will be making many, many loaves of cranberry orange bread this week.)


My total OOP was $ 12.95 including tax. I am getting $1.00 rebate from Checkout 51. My budget is $75.00 for the week so that leaves me $ 62.05 for the rest of the week.

We only have a little produce left in our fridge: grapes, apples, tangerines, some lettuce, carrots and peppers. So I will be going to the produce market soon to stock up. 

Besides all of this, I am washing 3 loads of clothes, sheets and towels etc. I am using the dryer since there are so many! 

BTW, I promised to tell you about the chicken that I purchased at Zaycon Fresh . I made stir fry with it the other night and the chicken is melt in your mouth like butter. It is so tender. I will be purchasing my boneless chicken breasts from them from now on. I am very happy! Yes, this is my referral link. I do not monetize my blog so anyone who is signing up new I would appreciate if you would consider using this referral link. No pressure meant! 


Feel free to leave a comment if you have saved any money this week.


I will be back soon to finish the 100 Frugal Things List.

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Every Day

One Hundred Frugal Things We Do (continued)

Wow!  The winds are howling this morning! It must be the warm front coming in.

I will continue my frugal things list:

35. Spectrum is giving a free cable box for an extra TV for one year to prior Time Warner Legacy customers. So we ordered it. We will see if it is truly free. Spectrum just went digital here and I have a feeling because of that the rates will go up.

36. We hang our laundry to dry as often as we can. I use dryer balls when we use the dryer to cut down the dry time.

37. I also wash our clothes using laundry eggs.

38. Our Dyson stick vacuum is on it’s last leg. Since it cost us $299. and it 8 years old, we are looking for a cheaper alternative. The one I have costs about $600. now. So Hubby has been researching which one to buy now.

39. We try to use our big oven as infrequently as possible. We use our toaster oven a lot. But when we do use the big oven, we use the convection which saves 1/3 of the power.

40. We make as many things from scratch as we can. When we eat meat, we stick to the 3-4 ounces per person. We do make at least one meatless meal during the week if not more.

41. I mend our clothing when it needs it as to not lose the garment. Those garments are always good to wear around the house.


42.  Hubby has a Coke or two a day. We each drink one cup of coffee in the morning. I drink water the rest of the day and Hubby does when he is not having a Coke. We drink no juice. I gave that and soda up a long time ago.

43. We reuse wrapping paper and bows or any other decorations that come on packages. I also use the Sunday comics to wrap the little one’s presents.

44. Hubby deep cleans the carpeting with our rug shampooer. We don’t pay for commercial cleaning. I have off white carpeting in the family room and it looks almost new even though it is 8 years old.

45. When the A/C is on, we cook outdoors on the grill or use our small appliances outside so as to not heat up the kitchen. Slow cookers, pressure cookers, skillets, etc. work well out there.

46. We eat a lot of fresh local produce once it is growing season here. We love summer salads as a main dish or a side in the nice weather. 

47. I bake our muffins or quick breads from scratch.

48. We conserve water as much as possible using the navy shower method, only putting as much water in a pot to boil something as necessary, never letting the water run in the sink whether we are brushing teeth or rinsing dishes. I reuse boiled water to feed our thirsty bushes and plants outside.

49. We rarely eat out but stay within our $100. per week “Other Budget” when we do. Since we like a very expensive restaurant, we save our money up until we can afford to go there. Otherwise when the no cooking bug bites me, we do cheap takeout with coupons. For example: Our Arby’s just renovated the inside of the restaurant. So they sent us a coupon for 5 roast beef at $ 1.99 each. We will use that coupon before it expires. We will buy nothing else. These sandwiches freeze really well.

50. We try to stay as healthy as we can so as to not have to pay expensive medical bills or drugs.

51. With the exception of winter, we wash and detail our own car. In the winter, we only get the SUV washed on the outside and undercarriage to get the salt off.

52. We rarely pay to go to the movies but when we do we get Senior discounts and never pay for food unless it is a special occasion like taking our grandchildren. We watch our movies when they come out on Netflix or Amazon Prime. We make our own popcorn.

53. We always take advantage of senior discounts at take out places, restaurants, our grocery store, etc. when shopping.

54. We don’t leave TV’s on for noise. Someone has to be watching it to have it on. 

55. We close our shades and blinds on the sunny side of the house during A/C season and open them on the sunny side of the house during heating season. This saves energy.

56. We always return the soda and beer cans and bottles for the $.05 NY deposits.

57. I buy rice and beans in 25 pound bulk purchases and store it in long term containers in our basement. I just fill a container to use upstairs.

58. Things like butter, whole turkeys, turkey breasts, hams, legs of lamb, corned beef, cranberries, and blueberries are purchased once a year when they are at rock bottom prices.

59. I also buy chocolate candy on after holiday sales to use in baking.    


60. I am not buying salad dressings unless they are free. We are using up our stockpile and will make our salad dressings when the stockpile stash is gone. 


61. We use about 1 purchased tall kitchen trash bag a week in the kitchen. All of our waste baskets are emptied into plastic bags that we get shopping.


62. We recycle everything that we can which saves on bags too.

63. For exercise, I have been walking a lot. Who needs to belong to an expensive gym? Not me!

64. I preview the Sunday coupons the week prior. If the coupons are good and they are for things we use, I will buy one extra paper besides our home delivered one. I do not buy an extra every week.

65. I added 4 more liters of tap water to our emergency stash.

66. We are doing a new to us jigsaw puzzle as entertainment.

67. We have a stash of paper and office supplies in our basement. I ran out of post it notes in my desk so I shopped there for more. Sure enough we had plenty.


68. We rarely use paper towels- only for draining bacon. We use microfiber towels for washing windows and cleaning.

That’s it for today. It is now snowing like a blizzard outside. UGH!  I will continue this list soon.

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Every Day

One Hundred Frugal Things We Do

We had company for the Easter weekend which kept us very busy. We had an Easter Egg Hunt for my grandson. We had to do it indoors because it was very cold and the lawn is pretty muddy this time of year. He enjoyed every minute of the searching. We enjoyed watching him.

Because I have been so busy, I have not had time to post. Our next company comes on this Thursday and will leave on Saturday. It’s a busy time for us this month with two more weeks of company visiting after that.

So today’s post will give you some things to ponder on if I am not on here regularly. 

These are the many things Hubby and I do frugally:

1. Cooked most of our Easter dinner from scratch at home. It was a ham which Hubby sliced for us. I made a 9X13 pan of the best picnic potatoes that we have ever had. We had pineapple slices that baked on the ham while it warmed through. I also cooked corn and baked rolls. The only thing that was not from scratch was the Carvel Ice Cream Bunny that I purchased on sale with a $ 4.00 off Click to Card Q.

2. I cooked the bacon for the potatoes in the morning while we were making breakfast. It called for half a pound. Everything is better with bacon.  

3. Within the past couple of weeks, I roasted a small turkey which gave us seven yummy meals. 

4. I placed another order with Zaycon Fresh for 36 lbs. of premium hickory smoked bacon. With a coupon code I paid $2.99 a lb. I rarely find bacon below that price except the Smithfield we bought last week which Hubby does not like. And this is Premium bacon.  So my sister in law is splitting the order with me. She can’t pick up orders in her area during the work day so I will do the pick up and just give it to my son the following Sunday. We eat bacon a lot especially for most of the Sunday breakfasts that I cook for my family. It will cost each of us $ 53.82. My cost will come out of my $ 75.00 per week grocery budget.

5. I stayed away from the 50% off Easter candy sale yesterday. I still have plenty for baking and the little ones left from Valentine’s Day.

6. My son helped Hubby put in the new wooden post that our new mailbox goes over. So we didn’t have to hire someone. Hubby put the mailbox together and installed it yesterday. He also put the new metallic numbers on it. A $50. giftcard helped defray the cost of all. 


7. We got our refund check from our old insurance company. We had renewed with another company and consolidated both the homeowner’s and auto insurance so we got 8 months premium back. It is a large check that I will deposit this week along with some other checks so that they earn us money.

8. We invested thousands of dollars today. It is definitely a buy time.

9. I am drinking up odd K-cups that came in a variety pack that no one was crazy about. But rather than waste them, I am using them. 

10. We sent a gift to my granddaughter that she will get this week. I  saved 33% off with a sale.

11. I cut up all of my old frayed dish towels into rags and put them in the rag bag in the garage.

12. I put two books on hold at the library for me. I also marked my calendar for their big book bag sale.


13. We are now using every ounce of our toothpaste. I have a key type thing that helps us get the product all the way to the top of the tube. Then I cut the tube to get the last remnants out. There is usually about 4 brushings worth left.

14. Not only have heat bills been high this winter because of supply and demand and the cold but we got notice that our company is raising the rates. So we will be very careful with our energy usage from now on. 

15. We paid for the fertilizing of our lawn for the entire year upfront. This gave us a 5% discount.

16. Hubby didn’t seem too keen on washing the outside of our 21 windows. I do the inside.  So I got some estimates from window washer people. When Hubby saw that they wanted $300. he changed his tune. We will be washing them a room at a time.

17. We shredded all of the paper from our files from last year that we didn’t need to keep.

18. My sister and I call each other almost every week. We take turns using our free long distance.

19. I grocery shopped on Monday. The Flips and Ehrmann’s Grand dessert were free after coupons. The turkey breast was $.99 a lb. with Top’s Super Coupon. The grapes were $ 1.48 a lb. and the tortilla wraps were $ 2.49. I don’t need anything else this week.  


20. Hubby found a great price on a router that he has been researching. Meanwhile we have used our old one that has been on it’s last leg for more than a year. My  wireless computer is always going down. It’s a real pain.


21. When I go to the bank, I will go to CVS to use my ECB’s and run some other errands down that way. This saves me on gasoline.


22. I am saving my gasoline points to use when I get very low on gasoline. So far I have accumulated enough points to get off $ 1.30 per gallon. I hope to have more by the time I need the gasoline.

23. I cleaned the inside of my dishwasher using $ .05 per pack lemonade Koolaid that I purchased years ago. First I took the arm and all the other removable parts off and cleaned them.

24. Hubby cleaned and polished the top of my gas range. We only use the degreaser pictured above. It works so well with a minimum of effort. Hubby sprays it on and them lets it sit 20 minutes. Then everything wipes clean. A little bit goes a long way.

25. I am researching a birthday gift for my DIL that will keep me within budget. We spend the same amount on every adult person in our family. 

26. I ordered a year’s worth of vitamins for us from Puritan Pride. I find they have the best sale prices.

27. We ate Hamburger Helper Taco one night for dinner. It was AWFUL!  I never buy this stuff except when it is free after coupon. I won’t even be doing that again.

28. I mailed in a $ 5.00 Beer Rebate.

29. I fixed a broken zipper on my favorite fleece jacket. 

30. We loved watching “Roseanne” last week. I used to watch it way back when she was on before. Hubby and I are looking forward to the show at 8PM EST tonight. It makes me laugh!! Everyone needs to laugh in this day and age. I watch very little network TV but this a show worth watching.

31. I froze some celery and carrots that were getting old to make future soup.

32. I still take my navy showers.

33. Every penny that we spend is scrutinized and tracked. If you watch your pennies, your dollars will grow.

34. We rarely buy anything unless it is food, clothing that is a necessity, or gifts.

My fingers are getting tired, so I will continue this topic the next time I post.

Meanwhile what do you do that is frugal? Join the conversation by leaving a comment.