We got our electric and natural gas bill yesterday. I was shocked when I saw the total. It was $ 374.75 for 628 KWH of electricity and 6 therms of natural gas. The daily average used per day was 19KWH and the average temperature was 27F. This bill was for 33 days.
Last year’s bill for the same period was for 5 therms of natural gas and 615KWH for 32 days and the bill was $295.51. The average daily use per day and the average temperature were the same as my new bill. But they pushed the new bill out one day. I have to wonder if we were close to going to 6 therms and that is why. They have never pushed it out a day like that before. Weird!
Anyhow for almost the same # of ccf’s which they convert into therms and just 13 more KWH, my bill went up$ 78.29 for pretty much the same period as last year. I have been getting monthly increases of $50.+ but this increase was shocking.
For those who don’t know, the reason supply and demand charges are up is because all of these billionaires are building these data centers to enrich themselves. They use an extraordinary amount of power and a huge amount of local water wherever they build. We are paying much higher bills because of that demand. They should be paying their own way but no we are paying a good chunk of their utility bills in ours. The more people use A1, the more centers they will build.
If you live near where they have built a data center, I am sure your water bills have increased too. I am also seeing that the water pressure in those areas had gone way down also.
The City of Niagara Falls has received documents from a Canadian Developer (why are we not using US companies) who wants to change the zoning to build a data center there. It has not been fully approved yet and there should be public hearings. People need to turn out and stop this. They are enticing the city saying look at the tax revenue and jobs it will bring. And of course NYS is in favor because our Governor Hochul has never seen a tax she didn’t want. But will it create jobs? I don’t think it will be that many. These data centers are for A1 and A1 is causing millions of people to lose their jobs across this country. Wake up people!
I believe it is time to fight these data centers. They are causing our utility bills to increase. Our fragile grid infrastructure can’t handle all of these data centers. So guess who will end up losing the power? It won’t be the data centers. Here is a list of data centers and planned data centers in NY. Notice there is another one planned for Niagara, NY.
We don’t need our county flooded with these. I will fight any that come anywhere near us. I have let my county legislators know that I am against these and why. So take some time to research what data centers are going in in your state. Take a stand!
It has been brutally cold and snowy here. Hubby and I went out to pick up his prescriptions yesterday. The wind chill was -23. The temperature was 7.
We had wanted to go on Monday but it snowed. So Tuesday it was. The chill made me realize why I like grocery delivery.
I went with him because I decided to get something at Top’s. So I only made it 20 days without buying anything. However, I was not going to pass up 80/20 ground beef on sale for $3.99 a lb. with a super coupon. It was a large 6.55 lb. package and I paid $26.13. I have not seen that price in a long time. Hubby has been wanting to make chili and we did not have enough ground beef so he will this weekend.
I came home and used the food saver to portion it into a little over a pound packages. Two of those will make a big pot of chili and the rest will each make two meals for us. I had also wanted to go to Niagara Produce for a great sale there but it was just too darn cold and we just wanted to get home to the warmth in our home.
However it will be warmer today, so I will go for dozens of extra large eggs that are on sale for $.99 a dozen. We haven’t had that price in years.
Saturday, I made the little hotdogs wrapped in crescent dough. They made an easy dinner while we watched football. We did not win so our season is over. I am more upset over the owner firing our coach than losing the game. I don’t think there is another coach out there as good as him.
Sunday I made turkey soup. We ate it for two days and then I froze 3/4’s of a gallon in 2 portion containers. When I thawed this turkey to cook it, I thought I only had 3 left in the freezer. However, I updated my inventory of my chest freezer last weekend and realized I have 4 left. So they will all get roasted before winter or spring is over and portioned to use in place of chicken.
Yesterday, I made Philly steak sandwiches on Italian bread. I made caramelized onions to go on top and then melted provolone cheese on all. They were so good. Hubby says he wants these again. I hadn’t made them in years.
Tonight we are going to have homemade pizza loaded with mushrooms for me and pepperoni for Hubby. The leftovers will get frozen and used for a future meal.
All of our brunches have been eggs, avocado, and sausages.
Lastly, West turned 16 this week. He had not been born when we moved from Arizona to here. Those years have gone fast. I believe he got his driver’s permit yesterday. In NYS, you can’t schedule an appointment for your driver’s test until 6 months after you get your permit. So he should be driving this summer.
After I make breakfast and throw a load of wash in, I will head to NP. Have you gotten any good deals this week? Please share with us.
Everyone knows how expensive meat has gotten. Protein is important to your health. It should have been on top of the Food Pyramid for years. This is about how I keep my meat purchases lower.
First and I know that you have heard it before. Eat the proper portions of meat. That is 4-5 ounces each. No one needs any more than that.
Buy ONLY when it is on rock bottom loss leader. You have to track those prices so that you know when things are a great sale. I keep a price book written in pencil so that when prices change which they do often, I can erase and put my new prices points in. Everyone’s prices are different so you have to do this yourself. We have some of the highest prices here in NY. Your prices may be higher or lower. So you can’t go by what someone else is paying unless that someone is in your grocery shopping area.
Beef has gotten so expensive that I really have to wait for what I feel is a great loss leader. I will not pay exorbitant prices. We will just go without. I will not pay $7.-$10. per pound for ground beef. If I can’t find it for $3.99 a pound for regular or $ 5.87 for organic, we just don’t buy it. If I find roasts or even cheaper steaks on sale at a rock bottom price, I will purchase them. Then I cut them up and grind them into ground beef. The price I paid years ago for the grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer was worth every penny! Substitute other meats for ground beef. My Hubby hates ground turkey so I don’t buy that but I will buy loss leader sausage. I use it in casseroles and pasta dishes. I save what ground beef I do have to make chili or meatloaf. I do buy Bubba burgers only on a loss leader for our hamburgers because we love them. I am low on ground beef so I will be keeping my eye out for a good sale in February.
Find other places to get your beef besides grocery stores. We have many butcher shops within our driving area. This one in particular will be where I shop when my meat is almost gone. Their prices rarely can be beat in my area:
We also have https://www.niagaraproduce.com/weekly-specials and https://gfsstore.com/en-us/ . Research your area and you may find many places that carry better quality meat at great prices. I know many of you have Grocery Outlet. Unfortunately the one we had 2 hours from us has closed. They had the best prices on Bubba Burgers.
Many of these are a distance away but the prices when I buy in bulk are worth the extra gasoline. Yes, buy in bulk. We are empty nesters and we still buy in bulk. Single people can buy in bulk. If you have a stand alone freezer, this is a must. But even when we lived in a rented apartment and in our first home where we did not, we were able to fit more than one package in our fridge freezer especially if I flattened the meat into a Ziploc bag so the ground meat stacked well. You can cut up those huge chicken breasts into chunks and flatten the packages out and stack them. Get rid of that styrofoam packaging.. It takes up space. I have one stand alone chest freezer and 2 freezer drawers in our refrigerator. I don’t need any more space than these.
When chicken or pork goes on loss leader, buy enough packages to get you through until you feel there will be another great sale in your area. I know it is a guessing game but you get a feel for your sales after you have been shopping for a while. I know that I can get chicken breasts for $1.99 or under a pound a few times a year. I can get a whole pork loin for the same price. When I see these prices, I will buy at least 10 or 20 pounds at a time if I have the freezer space at that moment. Also do not let limits stop you, you can always ask the cashier if you can do two orders. They almost always say yes. If not, put your one order in the car and go back in the store for another. Or if you are going by that store every day, stop in just for the limited loss leader. If you have a membership for B.J.’s, Costco, or Sam’s Club, pick up their loss leader roasted chickens for $4.99 each. I can’t buy fresh and roast it for that price. I usually pick up one or two especially if I am down that way for a doctor’s appt. I just walk in and, get them, pay, and walk out even when I need nothing else.
When turkeys or hams are on sale during the holidays, stock up. I ended up buying 5 turkeys this year at under $1.00 a pound. We made one for Thanksgiving and we are roasting another one today. That is the cheapest meat you can buy. I usually buy more than one ham but this year our hams were $1.49 a pound so I only purchased one. Perhaps they will have a better deal for Easter.
I never buy deli meat unless I have company and I have none that I cut up in the freezer. That is a rare occurrence. The deli prices for a pound of sliced meat are ridiculous. Here most are $10. to $16. a pound. That is more than most pounds of meat cost today. Heck, I just purchased two whole tenderloins from Australia in December that were grass fed and grass finished for $12.99 a pound. I would rather have one of those on a sandwich than buy deli meat. Not worth it to me for them to do the work either. We will slice up turkey, roast beef, corned beef and ham on our meat slicer and freeze it in portions. That is what we use for an occasional sandwich. You would be better off to just make a chicken, turkey, or ham salad sandwich than spending that kind of money per pound if you don’t have a meat slicer.
I will be buying at least three corned beefs in March if the price is right. We love our reuben sandwiches a few times a year.
Breakfast sausages, bacon, and, ground sausage, and Italian sausages I also buy on loss leader. We always have about 10 pounds of bacon in the freezer. We eat a lot of eggs with meat for most brunches and especially for our Sunday breakfasts with our son and grandson. Eggs are a great source of protein and are cheaper than meat. Peanut butter is another great source. So you don’t have to eat meat all the time for that protein.
The one meat that I have not been able to find recently is lamb. We love lamb and Hubby is craving the leg of lamb recipe that I make. I have not seen a sale in probably 9 months or so nor have I even seen a leg of lamb. I am hoping they will have them for Easter on a loss leader sale. If they do, I will buy two or three.
Well, I think I have rambled enough. I hope this helps someone!
BTW, it has been snowing here all night and is still snowing. We are expecting at least 10 inches of snow. Needless to say I am not going anywhere today. It is a beautiful wonderland out here today though!
First let me say, it is not easy to stay out of the grocery store for a month. I am so used to looking at the ads and just buying the loss leaders. But I am 14 days in and we are doing it! It helps to throw the ads out without reading them. By the end of the month, that will be $600. saved to use for meat stock ups in the future. So I feel good about it. However, I do not think that we will continue this in February since it is frozen food month among other sales. So just giving you a heads up.
We have been trying to use up our produce first. We have been eating a lot of salads. Last night I made 2 different stir fries that will feed us again tonight. I do this because Hubby is adverse to most vegetables and mushrooms. I love them all. I cooked Hubby’s with chicken, onions, and red and orange peppers, and stir fry sauce. Mine had mushrooms, edamame, broccoli, red peppers and onions with the same sauce. We served it on Jasmine rice. I hate Jasmine rice but we are trying to use it up and I will not buy it again.
Any produce that will go bad soon is being used up first. I do food saver (take the air out) a lot of my produce in mason jars so that it lasts longer than it normally would. So things like lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, grapes, etc. go bad first and get used first. Sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, cabbage, onions, celery, mandarins, carrots, and apples last longer and get used last. Onions, carrots, and potatoes can be frozen. I cut up potatoes and parboil them and then freeze them. I dice or slice onions and carrots and freeze those before they go bad. The potatoes can then be used in soups, fried, or mashed. They make for quick meals. I use the carrots and onions in many recipes. I have frozen celery but I quickly realized it would disintegrate in soups so I quit doing that. I just chop it up fresh.
When the fresh stuff is gone, we will use the frozen veggies, then the canned ones.
We try to eat the meat or fish in our freezer first. We do eat it almost every night. I sprinkle in some canned meat every once in a while. I can a lot of beef, pork, turkey, and chicken. We also like canned chicken from the grocery store so we have a bit in storage. The chicken I can gets used in casseroles, soups or just by itself on our plates. It all depends on how much time I have that day.
Eggs get used almost every day. We love eggs, some kind of meat, and avocado for brunch. I am out of fresh avocadoes right now but I do have some in chunks in the freezer that I am using up. I serve bagels with cream cheese or just yogurt once in a while as an alternative. We do have some oatmeal which we put diced apples or blueberries in. I also do hard boiled eggs in my instant pot every week for snacks.
I used to drink about 4-5 cups a day of coffee but now I only drink 2. Hubby has given up coffee. So it will take me longer to go through our stockpile.
Ground meat and fish do not last as long in the freezer as do steaks and roasts so that gets used up regularly. I have very little fish right now. I am looking for a good source of wild caught salmon when my freezer gets down. I love salmon and make it for me when I make haddock for Hubby. Sometimes, I bake it to go with my eggs for brunch. I think I have found a great source: https://wildforsalmon.com/ . Has anyone here ordered from them? If so I would love to hear about it.
I also want you to know that I am trying to get photos back working but I just don’t seem to be able to do it. So I have to wait until my son comes out again which won’t be for at least 2-3 weeks to see if he can fix it for me. Meanwhile I will still try each day.
How are you using your food up? What is your plan?
My administrator has been cleaning up my site. He found 100,000 users registered from other countries like China and Russia. He thinks a bot was running in the registrations. They are now gone. My site is limited to the U.S. and Canada only now.
He purchased a new server for his home. The one he was using was getting very old and needed replacing. We run our computers on his server so that was important to us and we appreciate all that he does for us. The website we use has been up and running since yesterday afternoon.
Unfortunately he had to run a script to clean up the bot and the registrations and he thinks it wiped out all of my subscriber accounts not just the bogus ones. You will need to sign up again. I apologize for the inconvenience but he had no good way to clean up the database and it was causing problems. There are precautions now in place so that these bogus registrations do not happen again.
Everything is up and running perfectly this morning.
Hubby cooked a can of corned beef for his dinner the other night. He only ate 1/2 of it so he finished it for brunch one day. I made a salad to go with it and had chicken for my dinner.
I made us hash browns, eggs, and cooked that leftover filet sliced up with butter and garlic yesterday for breakfast. I am using up a container of freeze dried hash browns that was in my stockpile.
Last night Hubby ate a 1/2 of can of Jazzy Jambalaya soup. It is his favorite canned soup. I purchased a case of it a couple of years ago. So the ingredients were not GMO nor did it have artificial meat. If it does now, I will not buy it. He will probably eat the leftovers for brunch today. I usually make our soups homemade but in the spur of the moment when he is craving it, it works. I had the last piece of chicken.
I think I will take a turkey out to thaw so I can roast it on Sunday or Monday. I will use the quick thaw method. That turkey will give us a few meals and some leftovers to put in the freezer. I will make easy sides: stuffing with homemade gravy and green beans.
Hubby has asked me to again make the little hot dogs wrapped in crescent dough and baked in the oven. Since I have all of those ingredients here in my home, I will make them for him tonight. We will have some applesauce on the side.
It has not been a good week moneywise. I did pay our property taxes the other day. They were $4561. That hurt a little but not as much as it would have if we hadn’t budgeted for them.
We also got notification of our Medicare Advantage plan going up $57. a month which brings our cost up to $6159. for the year. We do have a great plan so it is worth it. And by now, I think all seniors realize their regular Medicare plan has gone up to $202.90 per person from $185. in 2025. That costs a total of $ 4869.60 for a year for 2 people. All of these totals do not take into account all of your deductibles for doctors, tests, ER visits and hospital stays.
We also have no dental or eyeglass plan so all of those expenses come out of our pockets.
The Social Security COLA went up by 2.8% for 2026. Many, many seniors will have less spendable money in their pockets because they have small social security checks so the Medicare premium will eat up the cola plus more. I get a very small Social Security check because I did not work many years during our marriage. I stayed home to raise my kids and then worked a few years to pay for private high school and college for my boys. I am not complaining. Being able to stay home and raise my own children was priceless. Seniors are living longer so their checks are affected by inflation every year. The money just pays for less and less. Also Social Security was never supposed to give you a living wage.
Most of you probably don’t care about any of this except when the Social Security and Medicare deductions hit your paychecks. But you should. I tell you this because I want you to realize it is not cheap to be a senior and retired. You need to save for those yearly premiums and deductibles. Every year they go up for seniors just as your premiums do for your family plans. We were retired 24 years last summer. Can you imagine where we would be if we had not budgeted and saved for these future expenses? We would be up ____ crick without a paddle!
And while I am teaching you, save for your retirement too. I know a lot of you have retirement vehicles that you put money into like 401K’s and IRA’s. Many may have pensions too. But unless you are maxing out your 401K’s every year, you may not have enough saved. Plus any pensions that you may have(which are totally taxable) will get eaten up by inflation over the years. And the risk is always there that the pension could go belly up! Many people over the years have lost their pensions or they have been reduced because governments and companies can’t afford to pay them anymore. So they are not really reliable! Save and protect yourselves. No one will do it for you!
Two last things, don’t borrow from your 401K’s. That is a really bad idea. Secondly, don’t take a lump sum in retirement unless you know that you are schooled enough to manage it on your own. These big companies like Merrill like their commissions more than they like making you money especially if you are a small investor. There are lower commission companies out there. Just do a google search for the best ones.
I have to run some errands that I didn’t get to the other day. So I must close now.
It has been so cold here that we have not gone out at all the past few days. Also Hubby has a nasty cold and his appetite just isn’t normal. I am hoping to get out today since it will be warmer. I need to pick up Hubby’s prescriptions if they are ready. Also I ordered a new watch to track my heart rate(mine died) and a large coffee grinder from Amazon in December. I have big cans of coffee beans that I need to grind. They finally arrived yesterday and I was really disappointed. The coffee grinder had a crack in the cover. The watch will not work with my cellphone. So I have to bring those 2 returns to UPS. What a pain! I will look locally for those items. Matter of fact, I am going to shop locally when we really need something. I am tired of boxing up items to return. The junk they are sending to us just doesn’t have quality anymore. The coffee grinder was inside styrofoam shaped to it. It could not have been damaged in shipment. I believe this was a return that got sent to me.
We also received our property tax bill on Saturday so I need to go to the town offices to pay it today. I will stop at Panera and pick up the dozen of bagels that are on special on Tuesdays for $ 9.99. I have a gift card to pay for them. Most will get frozen. We will keep a few out for this week.
I saw a couple of things that I could use in the grocery ads this week but I have decided they really aren’t necessary and I want to keep my NO SPEND goal this month for groceries.
I have been doing more organizing and cleaning this week. Hubby and I watched a Landman episode yesterday. We are still watching the first season. We also watched our Buffalo Bills beat the Jets on Sunday. It was kind of sad because it was the last game played in our stadium. The new one being built will be ready for next season.
Now for our meals. Hubby wanted spaghetti and meatballs a few nights ago. I used up a box of angel hair spaghetti, 3/4’s of a jar of spaghetti sauce that was in the fridge, mozzarella cheese to melt on top, and some meatballs that I purchased cheaply a few weeks ago using coupons and a B1G1F sale. The next night all Hubby wanted was some chicken ramen. I keep a case of it for my grandson when he stays here. He loves it. I was glad I had it when Hubby asked for it. I made myself a chicken sandwich.
Last night Hubby wanted some more spaghetti and meatballs so we heated up the leftovers for him. I told him I was going to grill a filet mignon for me. I am tired of eating so many carbs. I had two thawing but he had no appetite for it. So I grilled them both and ate one. The other will get used up with eggs for breakfast this week. Our breakfasts have been a combination of homemade banana bread, eggs, avocado, and fried ham so far this week.
So we are 6 days in the no spend. So far so good! For those of you doing a no spend, how are you doing?
It is so sad that so many people have started this New Year out with debt. I am seeing it all over social media. Some people are using cards to buy food. Many celebrated Christmas in a big way even though they couldn’t afford it. Their thought process was I work so I deserve it. I hate that line of thinking. No one deserves anything that they can’t pay cash for. All it does is get you into years of debt that you can’t get out from under.
I wonder how many people have kept track of how much interest they have paid on their debt over the years. I would bet the numbers are shocking. Can you imagine how much money you would have in investments if you didn’t use those cards? You would be so much better off.
I know it is hard right now with prices rising so rapidly but going into debt is not the answer. Living within your means is the answer!
If you are living paycheck to paycheck and don’t have enough to pay for food, don’t charge that food. There is no shame in going to a food bank for your food if you are in desperate times. But you also have to do something so that you make your situation better. If you don’t make enough money take on a second job or a side hustle like Door Dash. Use that money to get rid of your debt. Will it be easy? No but it will be worth it in the long run.
Learn to say NO! When friends want you to go out to a bar for the evening, go to a movie, go to the casino, or even out for fast food or dinner, say NO. Put that money on your debt.
Almost every item you thing you need to buy is most likely a want. Think long and hard about every purchase! Ask yourself, do I really need this? Will it make my life better or will it become just more stuff that I never use? Can I pay for this in full when my credit card comes due? If the answer is no, don’t buy it.
Go look in your closets now. How many of those clothes do you not even wear? I would bet that you could sell half of what you own and not even miss it. How many pairs of shoes are enough? And all those handbags, how often do each of them get used?
We pay cash for everything and I am in the process of getting rid of stuff I don’t use. As I am doing it, I am thinking to myself why did I buy it in the first place. Was it because I saw it on a You Tube video or it was trending? If the answer was yes, I am thinking about how stupid that was.
If you are in debt whether it be credit cards, car loans(many owe more than the car is worth), payments you are committed to because you were dumb enough to buy something on credit that gave you a year free(or whatever the deal was) and didn’t pay it off in time, or even home equity loans that you used to pay off your credit cards which is a really bad idea, make this the year you work really hard at getting rid of your debt.
But as you do that save at least $5,000. in an emergency fund. I know Dave Ramsay says you only need $1,000. but that won’t get you far today in a real emergency. Start selling all those things you bought that you really don’t need to build that emergency fund. I never had to do the Dave Ramsay plan because we didn’t do debt. But out of curiosity to see what it was all about, I read his books. Even though he is an old guy, his advice rings truer than most any advice out there. I was so impressed that I gifted his Baby Steps book and his Millionaire Baby Steps book to someone that I care about recently. When that person gets rid of the debt, then that person will need the Millionaire book to build their wealth. Yes it can be done. Dave did it and so can you!
If this advice sounds harsh, it wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to motivate you into getting rid of your debt and building a better life for yourself. It is never to late to do that no matter how old you are!
Let’s make this the year you finally do it! Then 2026 will be the best year ever!
Yesterday was a good day! I did not go to the grocery store or anywhere. However I did go on December 31st and got a very large package of the on sale NY boneless strip steaks that were on sale for $ 11.99 a lb., a 24 roll pack of toilet paper, a dozen eggs, and a couple of other needed items to get my bill up to $50. so I could use a $5./$50. coupon and get the eggs for free. Yes, I ventured out in the snow so that I could keep my goal to not go to the grocery store at all in January. While I was at Top’s, I cashed my winning lottery tickets that were in my stocking that my son gave me. I thought they were $ 45. in winnings which I was thrilled with. However, I missed the fact that one of them had a multiplier so I actually won $70. That more than paid for my groceries.
I will apologize up front for not posting pictures today. Microsoft has changed the photos to photo legacy and I can’t get it to work. As soon as I can, I will post pictures. UGH! I hate it when they change things.
On New Year’s Eve, I made homemade ham and bean soup in my crockpot. I used the ham bone which had a lot of meat on it. I added water, a lot of dry northern beans that I soaked overnight, garlic and onion powder, and ground mustard. After cooking it for about 5 hours, I took the bone out and put all the meat from it back into the pot. I also added a few more slices of ham that I diced up. Then I cooked it for another 3 hours. It was delicious. We tried to stay up to midnight to ring in the New Year but we only made it to 10pm. Champagne will have to wait until next year.
Not wanting to waste food, we had the soup again yesterday as our New Year’s day meal. It always tastes better the second day. We have enough left for a brunch meal. As a treat, we each had a scoop of ice cream for dessert.
For brunch yesterday, we had eggs over easy and some fresh avocado. We only eat 2 meals a day not because of the money but because as we age, we don’t eat as much as we used to. Everything we ate was from our stockpile.
I did some picking up of the house and some organizing. It was then time to make some homemade banana bread for breakfasts this week. I had unthawed the bananas that were in my freezer. This is the recipe:
I use monk fruit in place of sugar most of the time.
The rest of the day and evening we watched bowl games. Two were very boring and the Georgia vs. Ole Miss game last night was just crazy at the end. But it was free entertainment.
I wish you all a Happy and Blessed New Year! I hope you have a great money saving day. Use up what you already have in your home. Things are way too expensive to buy right now.
