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Every Day

Cutting Costs Today

Since it’s easier for me to sit for short periods of time, I will post short blog posts each day about how we cut costs that day.

As you can see I taught myself to take pictures with my cellphone today. I never knew how to do it. So I did some research and I am learning. So I will not have to spend $250. for a new camera.

Pictured above is about 3/4’s of a butternut squash. I cooked it in the microwave which is much cheaper than baking it in the oven. There is enough here for me to enjoy it with 3 dinners. Hubby does not like it so I get it all. Actually the other 1/4 of it, I have cut into chunks to saute for dinner. While Hubby has spaghetti with Italian sausage for dinner, I will have the Italian sausage and sauce with the the squash as a side.

Hubby made another batch of homemade granola. We have tried many recipes and this one is the best by far. It gives us a little over 1/2 a container. https://cookieandkate.com/healthy-granola-recipe/

Hubby always makes it with pure maple syrup. This time he used dried blueberries and cranberries. It is so delicious. I have some once in a while on top of plain yogurt which I make in the Instant Pot. You can use raisins for a cheaper recipe. We use dried blueberries, cranberries, or cherries. It costs us less to make it than to buy a good box of granola.

I did a load of wash in cold water and hung all of my lingerie and good tops to dry. The rest was dried on the EcoDry cycle.

I ordered two different bottles of OTC drugs that we were very low on. They were cheaper at Walmart than on Amazon by a lot and they will be here tomorrow and the next day. This saves me on gasoline and time.

Since we no longer get a newspaper delivered, I printed some coupons that I wanted online. I also looked at the market flyers online and have made a very short list for Top’s and Aldi. I will be going on Tuesday since it is 6% Senior Discount Day. With prices so high, every little bit helps.

Hubby and I will be watching the Buffalo Bills on our television in a few minutes. I think you can see the game better and it sure saves on buying a ticket.

We had some croissants that I did not want to go bad, so I froze them.

I stopped myself from going to Walmart for 1/2 price Halloween candy. today. I thought about it but we have enough candy here for the grandchildren after Halloween. I know if I had gone I would have spent $40. – $50.

I think that will be it today. I am off to the game. What are you doing today to cut costs?

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Every Day

What We Are Doing To Keep Costs Down In These Inflationary Times

First, I have a little business to get out of the way. You haven’t seen me posting because I am dealing with a major back issue that makes it hard for me to sit down for any length of time. So my days are spent standing or laying down. I just got a special gel foam pad for my chair and it seems to help somewhat but I am sure that I will have to write this over a period of days and post it when it is finished. The other issue is that my camera is not being supported anymore so I will have to figure out what to do about that. So until then, there will be no pictures.

Now to the meat of the subject. If you haven’t noticed prices skyrocketing on everything including gasoline, you must be living in a different world than I am. To make matters worse, the media is now saying that natural gas, propane, oil and electricity prices will soar now that it is cold and winter is right around the corner.

So since we can’t control what is happening, we have to control what we do about it in our own homes. I have done a lot of thinking on this and then putting things into action so that we can spend as little as possible. I do believe that prices will go much higher and we could possibly see hyperinflation coming. I also believe this is going to happen right into 2023.

So first, I am going to tell you what we are doing about food. You all know that I grew lots of tomatoes this past summer. We ate them fresh but we had so many that I decided to can them. So we have many pints of crushed tomatoes that I cooked down. It sure was cheaper than buying them. They were expensive in my area this year. I can use the jars to make homemade spaghetti sauce or put them into soups and casseroles.

Then I decided to can meat. This was something that I had never done before so there was a learning curve for me but I did a ton of research. We now have many pints of raw packed chicken and many pints of beef chunks. Whenever chicken is on sale for $1.99 to $ 2.49, I get a few packages and can it right after I get home. Sirloin tip and eye round beef roasts have been on sale lately for $ 4.99 to $ 5.99. I cut them up to use in stews and casseroles and can them in pints. Pints are just about the right size for Hubby and I to usually get two meals out of. If we had a larger family, I would use quarts.

We only buy meat when it is on sale and I won’t buy much over $7. to $8. a pound. The lower the price the better. I am not freezing meat anymore because I am afraid of power outages this winter. I do not want to lose a freezer full of meat. So as I have time I am canning up what I have that is already frozen. I can it after I thaw it. It takes work but since standing is one of my things now, I am enjoying it.

Also we have been pretty good about eating the proper portions for a while now. But I make sure now that we always do whether that be meat, veggies, fish or fruit. We eat to live instead of living to eat.

We buy very little snacks anymore unless they are nuts or tortilla chips that we use with taco soup or salads. If we want a sweet, I make it.

We are making all of our own rolls, pizza crusts, and bread these days. We eat very little of these so most get frozen in portions after we bake them.

We only use milk in recipes or for baking, making desserts, or for making yogurt( which I do all of the time now instead of buying it) and I use shelf stable most of the time.

We love bacon but it is now about $10. a lb. here. I refuse to pay that especially since the quality is inferior to what it used to be. We use on sale sausage like I got that was reduced for quick sale at Niagara Produce. It was the very first time that I found reduced price meat in over a year.

I only buy my produce on sale at Aldi’s or N.P. in season and on a sale price. Recently I purchased a bunch of butternut squash at $ .69 lb. to can.

Our garage does not usually freeze in the winter. I have a thermometer out there to keep an eye on things. So I purchased a 1/2 bushel of Honeycrisp apples this past week and put them in a cooler in the garage. I also picked up a 10 lb. bag of local potatoes and a 10lb. bag of onions. They are all being stored in the garage in their own baskets.

We also eat meatless meals about twice a week. Lots of salads, hard boiled eggs, and meatless breakfasts for dinner.

We make everything that we can. For example: salad dressings, jams, mayonaise, BBQ sauce, etc. Hubby is now making granola once every few weeks.

Hubby and I are drinking mostly iced tea or water. He rarely drinks Coke unless I can get it on a super sale which is rare.

We rarely eat out. I would much rather spend that money on food that I can use at home. But when we do, we only go to family run restaurants so that they can stay in business.

We are using microfiber cloths not paper towels. The cloth napkins are always on the table.

We are spending as little as possible on everything. Hubby quit the newspaper so we are saving over $ 550. a year. I quit Amazon Prime. I still have Walmart Plus and have groceries delivered occasionally but will be using them all the time when the snow starts flying. I can get items delivered free from walmart.com with 2 day free shipping.

Hubby and I are only buying clothes as things wear out with one exception. I purchased extra blankets and outer gear for both of us in case the power goes out.

I am already planning a garden for next spring. We will again have tomatoes, peppers and I will try potatoes in a grow bag. I already have the seeds and seed potatoes and other items that we need.

I no longer buy books. I download them free for my Kindle and from our local library.

I have reduced my yearly hair salon bills by getting my hair cut every 6 weeks instead of every month. And I only get a color every 3 months. Because my hair is very light, I can go this long.

Lastly let’s talk about utilities. I am doing all of the things that we usually do to reduce these bills. However, we are being very careful not to leave lights on or use them when there is daylight. I only wash really full loads of clothes. I do the same with the dishwasher. I was using the heavy duty cycle on it but have switched to the regular cycle. I am making my own dishwasher detergent. I no longer make my own laundry detergent because Speed Queen warned against it.

We are lowering the heat by one degree at a time so see what is comfortable. We faithfully change the filters on our furnace on the 1st of the month.

We are cooking ONLY in the air fryer, Instant Pot, toaster oven (infrequently), and microwave. Small appliances take a lot less energy than the larger ones.

I waste no water. I put a bucket under the faucet while the water warms up. We have an on demand heater so it takes a while to warm up. We use that for drinking water, pasta water, and to flush toilets, or wash floors.

I will continue to let you know how we are saving as my health lets me.

Please feel free to add how you are saving money in these expensive times. I promise to check the comments regularly so that we can all learn from you.