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How We Are Dealing with Inflation and the Coming Stagflation(continued from yesterdays post)

Here is an example of how we are using our food for dinner tonight. I had two boxes of open pasta. One has a little rotini and the other has pennette. We had a small bag of homemade meatballs in our freezer. The meatballs will be heated up in the sauce in the microwave after I get done cooking the pasta in there. Lastly we will be melting mozzarella cheese on top. I have a small container of leftover mushrooms so they will get heated and put in my bowl. Hubby hates mushrooms. We have a few black olives left from our dinner salads last night so they will be put into the bowls too. I think we will have enough for tomorrow night also.

I try very hard not to waste any food especially since prices are so high. If I can’t use something up right away, I freeze it. When I find food that doesn’t get used before it spoils, I could kick myself.

Hubby and I have been saving money for two outside projects for a couple of years and finally reached our goal. We debated whether we should get them done now or put them off. One is two new garden projects, two new trees planted including a peach tree, a stone wall around our grilling patio to keep the wind from blowing the grill over, repair work on our patio and steps(after 12 years it has settled), cleaning of our stone patio and sealing it, a repair of our patio in our seating area out front, and repair of one of the garden walls. The other project is a total tear out of our asphalt driveway and have it totally redone- gravel basis and two coats of asphalt. These projects are costing us a fortune- many thousands of dollars. Things like this were always expensive but they are extremely expensive right now. We decided to contract it out to two different local companies because we feel prices will only continue to rise and will never go back to where they were. Next year it would cost us even more.

Other than those two projects, we are not spending on anything else except tires. We have plenty of clothing. Hubby needed new jeans this spring so I ordered them from LL Bean with a coupon code. Last winter we stocked on really warm clothing and blankets in case we have any power outages next winter. I am repairing clothing the old fashioned way when it needs it by sewing them.

We keep our SUV really clean and make sure to wash it all winter at the car wash( getting a free wash every 6th one), even the undercarriage, to get all of the salt off. For a 2013, it has no rust and is in excellent condition. It only has $40,000. miles now. We have gotten some items like windshield wipers and tire flat repair kits while we can still find them. Hubby is looking into new tires. We have a local garage that takes care of oil changes and everything else. We plan on keeping this car for many more years.

We are cleaning our own furniture and carpeting which will save us from paying someone else. We are doing our own spring cleaning and window washing little by little. It is time consuming and I tire more easily these days but it will get all done.

We still continue to try to lower our natural gas and electricity usage. We have been doing that every month and being very successful at it. Every day we think about how to cook things to use as little power as possible. Now that it is grilling season, we will cook outside a lot. Propane is expensive but not as bad as the inside power. We never turn lights on when the sun is shining. They do not go on until it is dark outside. We still have our heat on because the nights are cold here. However it looks like we may to be able to turn it off for good next Wednesday or Thursday. We don’t plan on using the A/C a lot this year except when it gets humid. Fans and open windows will work most of the time.

I continue to get gasoline with gas points or at the cheapest station. I was able to fill up last week using $.50 off a gallon in points. When I don’t have points, I fill it up at B.J.’s. They are so much cheaper. I only run errands once a week. If I have a medical appointment, I combine the errands with that. We don’t go driving just for a ride. We keep the tires inflated and don’t carry any unnecessary things in the car so that we get better mileage. Our car is averaging about 24 miles a gallon these days.

We are again paying the yearly premium for our dental insurance. It has not gone up in cost from last year and it has saved us so much money.

That is it for now. I need to start dinner soon. I will continue this post tomorrow.

I hope you all have a great evening!

2 replies on “How We Are Dealing with Inflation and the Coming Stagflation(continued from yesterdays post)”

Hi Precious. I think you are wise to get your projects done this year if you can and not wait. We are looking forward to grilling/smoking season also. I recently got several boxes of couscous at Trader Joe’s b/c it is something we like to eat in the summer. It is easy to dress up or down as a main dish or side. And you can eat hot or cold. Mostly I mix it with veggies and/or meat from the grill and add some Parmesan cheese.

Hi Chris,

That is what we thought. I remember all too well prices not coming down after the 1970’s Carter fiasco. This is worse. The couscous sounds delicious. YUM! I am so happy that grilling season is here.

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