October 2024 – Frugal Things Every Day

I went to Top’s yesterday to get some loss leader items. Three of them that were in the sale flyer on Sunday were out of stock. I asked if they had any in the back. They said no. I was not surprised because when I got to the market, there were no empty parking spaces. I rode around for a minute or so and somebody pulled out and I grabbed that spot. When I got inside it was packed. It was 6% senior discount day but it has never been this packed. Looking at people’s carts, they were overflowing. Many holes on the shelves were beginning to develop.

The Margaritaville shrimp were on sale and Hubby had asked me to get 4 of the coconut shrimp. They had none. Since all the Margaritaville were on sale for B1G1F, I decided to try the Buffalo Shrimp ones but I only got 2 in case Hubby doesn’t like them. They were $5.00 for both.

Celery was $ 1.28 with a Super Coupon. The pork tenderloins were B1G1F so they cost $ 5.00 for both. The cooked frozen shrimp was on B1G1F so $ 7.00 for both. The SteakUms were also on sale for B1G1F and cost $ 5.79 for both. The Folgers coffee was on sale for $ 8.49.

When you bought 7 cans of diced tomatoes, you paid $ .77 each for a total of $ 5.39. I got 8 cans of Dole mandarin oranges for $ 2.39 each or $ 19.12 total because Hubby does not like the Top’s brand at all which were on sale. He had just opened the last can we had. These are a treat for him once in a while instead of junk food so they were worth the cost.

The last thing I want to run out of is litter for Eloise so I purchased some more. I don’t need to use multi-cat litter but this is lightweight and easy for me to lift and carry. So we will see if she likes it. It was on sale for $ 15.29 and I had a $2.00 off manufacturer’s coupon for a total of $13.29+ tax.

I already have 16 lbs. of kitten chow for her. If I run out, I will make food for her. I don’t like to buy too much kitten chow ahead because it goes rancid.

So I spent a total of $ 67.20 after the 6% discount plus tax. The oranges were the only thing not on sale and they were the last 8 cans on the shelf. I also earned $ .10 off per gallon of gasoline.

Hubby cooked cheeseburgers on the grill last night and we just put toppings on them like fresh tomato, lettuce, and crispy onions.

For brunch we split a 10 piece chicken nugget from McDonald’s that cost $4.99+ tax. I was starving while I was out shopping. Plus I had to go there to try to get the Halloween coupon booklets. They were all out of them. UGH!

Next time that I am running errands and it is almost 1PM, I will eat before I go or pack a sandwich. I hate spending money on fast food.

What I noticed now that this Top’s is a company store and not private is that they don’t mark the B1G1F items up really high. They are using the regular prices. I was not buying these items while the store was private because the owner was gouging us. These today were a great deal!

I have to go pick up some prescriptions that Rite Aid filled last night for us. With the longshoreman strike, scripts are going to be in short supply even worse than they have been. So if you have any due for refill, get them while you can.

Did you get any good deals this week?

We were only able to save $ 4127.46 this month. It was a month of spending on some fast food and three restaurant meals for us and family.

We also had higher bills for our utilities: electric, natural gas and a water bill we paid for the entire summer. Our medical bills were higher than they have been all year due to the fact that we try to group our appointments and tests over the spring, summer, and fall. We don’t do winter appointments if we can avoid them. We have two dentist appointments between today and the first week in November. They are very expensive especially since we lost our dental plan. We also have 2 doctor appointments this month. Most of Hubby’s prescriptions have been zero except for one $60. one. Mine are usually $60. each even though I don’t take many drugs. They add up.

We also had maintenance bills for the furnace. This month we have a tree being taken out and the sprinkler lines being blown out. They will be hefty bills. Life is expensive when you have a home and property.

It seems like costs are going up everyday. Now that the longshoremen are on strike along the entire east coast and west to Houston, costs are going to get even worse. Inflation will be horrible in a few weeks if they don’t go back to work. They were offered a 50% raise in pay amongst other things and they didn’t take it. I think most people would love to get a 50% raise. Biden says he is not going to interfere which is ridiculous. He can but he won’t.

If they are out for any length of time, people will starve. Food banks are already not doing well so they are not going to be much help. I just pray that people have stocked up knowing this was coming. If not do it now. It will take a week or so for the prices to go up unless the grocery stores raised then overnight to gouge us. Soon you will see shortages like you have never seen before. It only takes 3 days to strip a grocery store. Economists are saying it will take months to get the supply chain back to normal especially if they are out for a long period of time.

I will be keeping my eye on prices and you should too. I plan on buying nothing except what I need on sale. They can’t so anything about this week’s sale ads that are already printed and out. Get the sales now!

Take care of your needs and your families. I am praying that this strike does not last long.