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Trying to Cut Costs

I realized that I was running out of Eloise’s kitten food today. I needed a 14 lb. bag of her Purina Healthy Development Kitten Chow. So I did some research and realized that I could get it for $18.59 minus $2.00 in rewards money at Petsmart for $ 16.59. This was the cheapest that I could get it here.

While I was out, I stopped at the Top’s gasoline station and filled our SUV up. I had $ .40 off per gallon with my gas reward points. So I paid $2.66 per gallon. I needed gas and my area seems to up the price of gasoline the weekend before Thanksgiving. So I wanted to fill up before that happened.

I had the beef stew and Hubby had the beef barley soup that I made earlier in the week for dinner. We had 1 portion of beef stew and 3 portions of soup leftover. So we froze them in those portions for future meals.

Chris reminded me today that I posted my taco seasoning recipe a long time ago. For those who would like it, here it is:

https://frugalthingseveryday.com/2019/06/21/making-my-own-taco-seasoning/ .

This cream of chicken soup recipe that I make is from The Tightwad Gazette book. I will be making some tonight.

2 cups of dry milk

1 and 1/4 cups of cornstarch

1/4 cup chicken bouillon powder

2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. basil

The thyme and basil are optional but I always use them. Mix all together and put in an airtight jar.

To use add 1/3 cup of mix to 1 and 1/4 cups of water. It replaces one can.

I was very conscious of electric usage today. It has been rainy and dreary all day so we used just one light in whatever room we were in. We heated our dinners up in the microwave. Hubby made French toast for breakfast using one pan on the stove burner. We had pure maple syrup and SF syrup to top it. We did no laundry and ran no dishwasher today.

Did you do anything to cut your costs today? Please share.

4 replies on “Trying to Cut Costs”

Yes, we do each and every day. In my area (So. California), we have time of use rates. I am always aware not to run any electrical appliances from 4-9pm (the most expensive time) and use the delay feature on the dishwasher or washer. We also have a hybrid car and only charge during the day time. Like you, we only use lights when we are in the room to keep the costs down as low as possible. I am thinking about doing an energy self-audit to see if I can lower some costs by unplugging phantom charging and some of our nightlights to see if this helps. This early darkness at this time of year does not help!

Hi smhuh,

I wish we had TOU rates here but we don’t. When we lived in AZ, we did and I saved so much money. I would be really curious to see if the phantom energy will save you. Let me know if you do it. We will be saving on Christmas tree lights this year. We are not putting up the tree because Eloise would be in it. I hate the dark coming so much earlier. You are right that it does not save on the bill. Thanks you for sharing. It was good to hear from you.

Hi Precious, thanks for posting the cream soup recipe. It looks easy to make. We stayed home with little granddaughter yesterday. The weather was cold and dreary. The wintery mix did stop long enough that she wanted to go outside and rode her scooter around the block. We had a good nap and had our usual pb&j for lunch.

Last evening Daughter invited me to go see “Wicked” and have drinks with some of her younger women friends that I know. We had a good time and I was touched that they included me. This morning Hubby and I are going to Meijer so he can pick out the ham and turkey breast for Thanksgiving. The free turkey SIL got at BJ’s is thawing in our fridge.

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