Month: January 2024

Brrr! It was 28 degrees when I got up at 6:15am. I quickly grabbed my coffee to start my day. I am leaving the curtains and shades closed again today unless the sun is shining and I don’t think that will be a possibility.

After checking my planner, I took my navy shower and got dressed for the day. I decided to go out and run my errands and took a second cup of coffee with me in my travel cup. I like to go out early to avoid the crowds.

My first stop was at Top’s gas station since I only had 49 miles in the tank. The gasoline price on the pump was $3.499 per gallon. I had $ .90 off per gallon using reward points. So I paid $2.599 per gallon for a total of $36.00.

My next stop was in the Top’s grocery store. I went to the pharmacy and got 2 bottles of fish oil and 2 bottles of Vitamin D3 on sale for B1G1F. I also had a digital coupon for $ 1.00 off one of the fish oils and I got $ 2.99 off because it is 6% off Senior Discount Day. So my total was $ 45.79. Vitamins are expensive. I try to buy them on the January sales.

Then I got my groceries. I got 1 package of Sugardale thick sliced bacon using a Super Coupon for $ 3.99. On sale I got 1 package of Top’s soft tortillas for $ 2.00. Then I went looking for the vine tomatoes that were on sale for $ 1.99 a lb. and the new Kinder single bar that was Free with a digital coupon. I could not find either. I ran into the store manager and asked him why things were not stocked when they knew it was senior discount day. There were boxes all over the aisles. He asked what I was looking for and I told him. He found out that the Kinder bars had not come in. Then we went to produce for the tomatoes.There was no vine tomatoes just like I told him. He said to me that they had sent grape tomatoes instead of vine tomatoes. I thanked him and said I will go to Walmart and look for a tomato since I need it for BLT’s for dinner tonight. He asked why I would do that since they had nice slicing tomatoes. I told him they were $ 2.79 a lb. and I was not paying that price. So he took the one tomato that I wanted and repriced it to $ 1.99 a lb. That is the label you see on it. My total at Top’s for these groceries was $ 6.59 after the 6% discount of $ .55.

The reason I did two separate orders at Top’s is because the groceries come out of our grocery budget and the vitamins and supplements come our of our OTC pharmacy budget. I forgot to give you that amount in my budget. I will update that sometime today or tomorrow.

Also in the Top’s picture is a bag of frozen pepper stir fry that I always purchase at Dollar Tree for $ 1.25. It is cheaper there than any other store in my area.

I stopped at Aldi’s to get their on sale Bagel Skinny’s for $ 2.49. These cost me between $4. and $ 6. at my other stores. Hubby loves these for breakfast with my homemade peach jam. He was almost out of them.

I also stopped at Walgreen’s and found these Christmas cards on sale at 50% off. I had none left this year. So I ended up with 56 nice cards for a total of $ 13.98 + $ 1.12 in sales tax.

At Walmart I picked up things that were on sale at Top’s but cheaper here than the sale prices at Top’s. I got 6 packages of taco Seasoning for $ .57 each. One jar of salsa for $ 1.77, 1 loaf of bread for $ 1.32, and 2 packages of extra sharp cheddar cheese for $ 2.00 each. My total was $10.51. The cheese is cheaper by a penny each at Aldi but we do not like their bar cheese. It tastes like there is a coating on each surface and it is disgusting. We needed the bread because we are having BLT’s for dinner and making a loaf of bread was not on my schedule today.

You will also see in this picture that I picked up a 100 stamp roll of Forever stamps at the Post Office. Stamps today are still $ .66 each. On January 21st they go up to $ .68 each. Today, I paid $ 66.00.

All of this took me over 2 and 3/4 hours even though I organized my route driving. The stores were much more crowded than I thought they would be and the post office was jammed. So it was a lot of waiting in line.

When I got home, Hubby was up. I made us each a sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin for brunch.

Oops, I also forgot to tell you that my property tax bill had come so I went to Town Hall and paid that too. It was about $ 60. less than last year’s even though our assessment went up by $30,000. I was very happy with that. It was just a few dollars under $ 4,800. I will update that category too when I get to it.

Well, the rest of the day, we will watch TV, eat dinner, and I will read a little bit more in The Tightwad Gazette.

What did you do to save money today?

Happy New Year to all of you! May you be Blessed all year long. I decided not to waste this first day of January just resting. So these are the things I have done today:

We have only had just one light on today. It is dark, dreary, and cold. When I got up this morning it was 22 degrees and as I write this it only 30. I think the cold front is here. We also got about 2 inches of snow overnight. So I kept the blinds and shades down all day to try to keep the warmth in the house.

I did some cleaning today. Last year, I purchased three inexpensive house dresses to wear in the house when I clean. They are comfortable and silky and feel so good that it helps me get the chores done. By wearing these I am not getting my good clothes dirty and they will last much longer.

This morning I washed the sheets from two guest bedrooms in cold water, a small amount of detergent that I buy cheaply at Walmart, and dried them in the dryer using the wool balls. While I was folding the laundry, I left the dryer door open to let the hot air come out into the room. Every little bit helps.

I finished getting my 2024 Planner ready for this year. Then I did my Net Worth statement today in my Money Planner. I always do it on January 1st and then compare it to the last day of the year. So next comparison will be December 31, 2024. I also made sure that my budget is all set in this planner. I put a small notebook in my purse so that I can write down each purchase in the car when I am out running errands. This way I can track every dollar when I get home and keep the budget updated. I have a lot of errands to run tomorrow.

One of my goals this year is to read one money book a month. I found the Tightwad Complete Gazette in my cabinet that I keep all of my books in. Hopefully I can read it in 31 days. If not I will finish it in February. I plan on reading books all year that I already own. I will not be buying any new ones. If I need to read something fictional, I will go to the library or online to read it.

Washing my hands today with bar soap after cleaning. We have bar soap at every sink and I use it in the shower. Hubby still has some Old Spice Liquid Bath soap that he is using up. Bar soap is so much cheaper than buying the liquid stuff which has gotten very expensive.

For breakfast this morning, I sauteed some onions and put them in our eggs. Then I added some cheese. I cooked 3 slices of bacon for each of us in my microwave using the bacon tray.

This afternoon we each had a Keto snack from our stockings that our son gave us for Christmas. We won’t run out of these Keto snacks for months.

I asked Hubby this morning if he wanted me to cook an elaborate dinner for New Year’s today. His response was “We have leftovers from a couple of meals in the refrigerator. Let’s eat them.” I had enough of two leftovers. So I let him pick what he wanted to eat. We had leftover taco meat so he made a taco bowl. I ate leftover tuna noodle casserole. We toasted to the New Year with a glass of red wine. No food goes to waste around here!

Entertainment for Hubby today was watching college football games. I watched a couple of You Tube videos in the little bit of spare time I had. Tonight we will watch the Alabama vs. Michigan college football. We will watch with no light. The TV is enough light for us.

I washed a few dishes in the sink that I don’t put in the dishwasher. I filled one sink up with a few inches of water to wash and the other sink with a little warm water to rinse. We try not to waste water around here.

Lastly, I changed the air filter in the furnace.

Did you do anything to save money today?