Month: February 2026
Categories
Rising Costs
You all know that so many things have gone up in price since the pandemic besides groceries. I took a good look at what we are now paying because of increases. It really adds up.
I put the information on my natural gas and electric usage on here every month. This last bill that I received last week went up $ 59.24 over the same period last year. It was $ 371.08. My kwh’s were less and so were my ccf’s of gas but the bill still increased that much. UGH! So I looked at what the total increase has been over the past year. This past year we paid $2906.82. The prior year we paid $ 2306.24. That is an increase of $600.58 for just about the same usage. I never thought that I would see the day that we would be paying over $3000. for this. But I expect that will happen in the next couple of months.
Last week we got both our auto and home insurance that is due soon for the year. Our auto insurance went up $ 177. We are now paying over $1400. for 1 car which is a 2013 and the two of us as drivers and no accidents. Our home insurance went up $120. and we are paying almost $1100.
This past month our cable, landline phone, and internet went up $ 23.40 a month or $280.80 a year. We now pay $ 268. per month. This is outrageous so I will be calling them to negotiate.
The online newspaper that we subscribe to has gone up to $42. a month. I think we are being gouged bigtime on this one but Hubby loves it so I grin and bear it.
Our property and school taxes have increased since the pandemic by $800.
Our water bills have increased year over year by about $200.
Our pest control service has gone up $60. per quarter over the past couple of years.
All items you buy which are not food have increased. Appliances are ourageous now. Tires are so expensive.
Our medical insurance has increased by $998.80 for this. My dental practice increased all of their rates for this year.
Social Security increased in January by 2.8% but Medicare ate that up.
NYS never saw a tax that they didn’t want to add to everything. The latest is a $25. fee added onto the cost of your driver’s license renewal for upstate people. The renewal now costs us $ 94.50 for our enhanced license so it will go up to $119.50 the next time we renew or $239. for the both of us.
I am sure all of you have had increases like this. It is getting ridiculous.
For those of you who are new here, we are a retired couple. We will be retired 25 years in a couple of months. Inflation has done a job on all of us over those years. From the first day we got married we have saved money. We have continued to save since we retired. All of these constant increases and inflation is why. If you haven’t, start now. It is never too late. Even if you have a low income you can save. Cut costs where you can.
If you are living on just Social Security, you can still save something. It is all about the choices you make. Not only do prices increase regularly but you have to have an emergency fund for those unseen expenses that come up.
Tomorrow, I will remind you of past posts that will help you in your money saving journey.
I can’t be the only here who is seeing these kind of increases, am I?
Categories
Cutting Costs
When we moved here almost 16 years ago, we had energy saving fabric pleated shades installed on the majority of our windows in our home. They are warranteed for life. The shades have held up well with the exception of the pulls that slip onto the bottom of the shades. They are cheap plastic and break every few years. It has been happening again recently. Hubby called the company again and asked them to send us more pulls for the shades. The company sends them everytime we call and knows what colors we need to match the shades because they keep the original order. This has been a company who has stood by their warranty. If we ever move, we would do business with them again.
I finally got out to do some errands. The first few days this week it just kept snowing and I just did not want to deal with it. Spring can’t come fast enough this year. I am so done with the snow and cold. I returned two more bags of bottles for the deposits. I received $ 3.25 which I used to defray a few things that I picked up while I was there. I purchased a package of coleslaw mix that was on sale for $ 2.50 and 5 Royal Zero Sugar Gelatin that were on sale for $1.00 each. So after the bottle deposit slip, I paid $ 4.25 OOP. Next I went to Aldi’s and purchased 3 French Baguettes for $1.85 each and a Corned Beef Point Cut on sale for $ 3.49 a lb. that cost me $12.11. My total was $ 17.66. I don’t know if I will see the corned beef any cheaper because of how high beef prices are. But if I do I will purchase 2 more. At least I have 1 for St. Patrick’s day and for some reubens. Two of the baguettes I put in the freezer for meals in the future.
Hubby used the Eco snow shovel to clear our walk and porch yesterday. This little shovel has worked well for us. The snowplow guy was here to clear the driveway at about 4:30am yesterday also.
Yesterday we had homemade muffins for breakfast and some yogurt. Dinner last night was chicken with some leftover broccoli. I am thinking I will roast a turkey this weekend so I will be thawing the $.50 a lb. one that I purchased after the holidays. Tonight we will have hamburgers and fries. I have fresh mushrooms that need to be used up so they will top my burger along with some swiss cheese. Hubby will carmelize some onions to top his.
My son, who lives in the Adirondacks, called us yesterday so we had a nice chat. His business is flourishing right now which is a great thing and we are happy for him. He got his internet company to cut his bill by just giving them a quick call. That has reminded me to do the same thing. So that is on my agenda for this week.
Today will be my laundry day this week. As usual it will be cold water wash and hang to dry.
Tomorrow, I will post about all of my bills that are increasing. UGH!
Did you do anything to save money that you could share? We can all learn from each other.
Categories
A Little of This and a Little of That
We have a set of green pans. I have had them for a few years. All of a sudden, everything is sticking in them. Hubby asked me to buy new ones. I researched and found that they have gotten really expensive. I don’t need an entire set. Just the three frypans. I have a set of capahlon and a set of stainless steel that we are not using. Hubby agreed with me that the new pans are very expensive. So I am going to dig out my stainless steel pans. I also have a Lodge iron fry pan that we can use.
Dinner on Thursday night was Chef salads using up romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, and various meats and cheeses in the fridge. I made the other half of the baguette from Aldi’s to make more garlic bread to eat with it.
Friday and Saturday night’s dinner was Texas chili(only meat- no beans). We eat it on rice. Hubby makes his Dad’s recipe all the time. It is so good.
Brunches have been scrambled eggs with carmelized onions, sausage, and some sourdough toast.
My son sent me a message late Friday night that West is still sick so he can’t come to visit. But my son came out Saturday morning to visit us for a while. I made us a breakfast of scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, and protein yogurt. He stayed for about 5 hours which was really nice so that we could chat and catch up.
I was considering throwing out a bath mat that we have in our guest bathtub. It is one that has the round indentations in it and they get very dirty. I have taken the time for years to clean them by hand which is a lengthy process. As I was looking at it, I thought there is no reason that I can’t try to wash it with some laundry detergent and oxi clean in the washing machine. So after my son left, I did just that and used the delicate cycle. It came out sparkling clean and dried on the shower rod. I don’t know why I never thought of that before. But it saved me from all that work by hand or buying a new one.
Today is Sunday. I made these homemade banana butter pecan muffins for breakfasts this week. We enjoyed one while watching the USA( we won) vs. Canada men’s ice hockey game for the gold metal this morning. My kitchen smells so good.
Hubby is making breaded pork ribeye chops for dinner. I will throw some crinkle cuts fries in the air fryer oven. We will also have broccoli.
I am tired. Hubby got up with Eloise about 3:20am. But I was never able to get back to sleep so I got up at 5am. It will be early to bed tonight because I have errands to run in the morning. I hope you all have a good evening!
Categories
Grocery Haul and Other Things
I ran quite a few errands yesterday. Besides going to a dental appointment, I went to Aldi’s and Runnings. Runnings had 100 count extra large kitchen garbage bags on sale for $ 9.99 each and a gallon jug of glass cleaner for $5.99. I got 2 boxes of bags and 1 jug of cleaner since it was the best prices that I have seen in a long time. I will need the glass cleaner to wash my windows in a few weeks when spring gets here. They are so dirty.
I rarely go to Aldi’s but I decided to go and see what all the hype is about them being cheaper than anyone else. I only purchased the items that were cheaper than anywhere else in my area. I was out of yogurt so got a whole milk greek one for $3.49. I eat this for brunch once in a while with bluberries or tomatoes added to it. Also, many people are saying this sauce is delicious and had clean ingredients like Raos. So I purchased two to try at $ 3.59 each.
Hubby has been wanting antipasto for dinner. So I got two different salamis- one at $4.39 and one at $8.49. I also purchased 2 packages of prosciutto at $3.59 each. He added ham, olives, and cheese that we already we had in the fridge and some Italian dressing.
Since we are fasting overnight, I have been using heavy whipping cream in my coffee. That was $ 4.99. Hubby also wanted to try their English muffins which were $ 1.59. He tried them with my homemade peach preserves and said they were better than Thomases. I also bought penne rigate($.98), zero carb wraps($2.69), organic chicken breasts($7.82), Irish butter($3.99), and 2 packages of Truffle English cheddar($4.49 each). I tried some of this cheese for a snack and it was delicious.
Lastly, I picked up white bread($1.39) to make French toast for West when he visits, some soudough bread for sandwiches($3.29), a French baguette($1.85) to make garlic bread for dinner tonight( I freeze all bread so that it doesn’t go bad), cranberry white cheddar cheese($2.79), and aged white cheddar cheese($2.49). I eat cheese for snacks so we like to have an assortment in our home. Then my son told us about this dark chocolate. So I picked up two bars at $3.29 each. We will eat one square a week so they will last a while. My total for Aldi’s was $ 77.16.
I went to Top’s and returned the rest of the bottles and got the cash. I got $20.05 back(from yesterday and the other day) and used it to defray the cost of my Aldi groceries.
I made chicken parmesan for dinner last night. I liked the chicken. Hubby did not. I really liked the sauce and he did not. He said it was too acid. About the only thing he seemed to love was the garlic bread. So I will be buying Raos instead of this sauce and will not buy the organic chicken there again. He started to lose his taste buds a few years back so a lot of things he will not eat that he used to love. We had one serving of leftovers from dinner, so I froze it for a brunch in the future for me. Most of the time, I make easy dinners(meat and veggie or salad) because he seems to like that.
I needed to go to B.J.’s yesterday after the dentist but we were expecting freezing rain and the temps down in that town were dropping rapidly so I came home. Later I did shopping in my own town because we had no freezing rain here.
With all of the errands, I was exhausted when I got home so I took a 2 hour nap. For entertainment, Hubby and I watched the USA ice hockey team win their game at the Olympics.
I did do some organizing in the pantry and refrigerator yesterday too. I also entered the prices from Aldi into my price book.
I think we will make Chef’s salads tonight to use up some veggies and some of the meats I bought.
Do any of you shop at Aldi’s regularly and what do you just love from there?
As I age I do not have the energy I used to have when I was young. Lately it is getting harder and harder to get things done. So starting today, I have put myself on a new schedule. I will spend one hour a day cleaning or organizing and one hour a day cutting costs. This does not include doing dishes or laundry. If I have more stamina on a particular day, I will up that to two hours. When I have appointments or errands to run, I will limit that to two and a half hours one day a week. Meals will only take 30 minutes per day hands on time. Laundry will be done once a week.
Hubby got up with Eloise at 2:30am this morning and I was able to sleep until 6:30am which gave me 8 hours. What a difference when I can get good sleep.
After making my coffee, I immediately started making my homemade fajita mix. I used my last two packets when I made a double meal of fajitas on Saturday night. I have made homemade before and will make it permanently from now on. It is so much cheaper than buying the packets. I had all the spices I needed to do it. Most of my spices I buy at Aldi’s, Walmart, or B/J.s. They have the cheapest prices for me. I used this recipe: https://therecipecritic.com/fajita-seasoning/ . I made 6 times this recipe. I skipped the sugar in my seasoning. I filled my spice jar and put the rest in storage for the next time it needs to be filled. When I use it, if it is too thin, I will use a little arrowroot powder to thicken it.
I made my brunch and dinner plans for today. I took two containers of homemade turkey soup out of the freezer to thaw for brunch. Dinner will be an egg roll each and 1/2 of this Tai Pei Spicy General Tso’s chicken for each of us. If I decide that it is not enough food for us, I will make some scrambled eggs too. I am trying to use up any meals in the freezer whether they be homemade or store bought convenience foods.
This morning as I checked my e-mails, I got reminded by my electric and gas company that they will read our meters on 2/18/2026. Oh I can’t wait to see how much they charge me for the data centers this month to help the billionaires. BTW, I found out that 25% of the delivery charges on my bill in NYS goes to the state to help pay for HEAP and EAP for low income people. They should actually show what it pays for instead of trying to bury it in the delivery charges. You should all find out if your state does this too.
I have all of our blankets and sheets in the washer and dryer right now. I did not have enough energy to do them yesterday. Hubby is going to flip and turn our mattresses in a bit and then the beds will get made when all of the bedding is dry.
Only winter clothes that fit me are in my closet now after putting the spring and outgrown clothes in a separate closet. Medical supplies that I keep in shoe boxes on the shelves have been sorted and put in by date to use the oldest first.
I dropped my hairbrush today on the tile floor in our master bath and it broke in two. A replacement like it is hard to find. So Hubby has super glued the handle. We will let it set overnight and then see how long it lasts.
The beds are now all put together. I will start dinner around 4-4:30pm. My sister will be calling me tonight. So that’s it for today.
Categories
Saving Money Wherever We Can
The soda cans have been piling up in our garage all winter. I was tempted to put them in the recyclable can this week. It has been so cold that neither of us has been wanting to return them for the deposits. But I decided I was not going to throw that money down the drain. So I took 7 bags to Top’s when I went there and got a slip to redeem for $9.70. I was going to cash it in when I purchased the groceries. But I got chatting with the cashier and forgot. So the next time I go shopping which won’t be soon, I will return the rest of the bottles and use both deposit slips for groceries.
The Top’s and the Aldi’s ads for next week came with my mail yesterday. I quickly determined that they were unremarkable for sales. So there will be no shopping next week.
I picked up 2 prescriptions for a total of $ 4.47 at Walmart. While I was there I perused the store for markdowns. The only thing I got that was worth spending my money on was a package of 8 small sub rolls marked down to $1.28. They were expiring that day so I froze them in packs of 2 for future meals. We can use them to make brunch or dinner with our “deli meat” that we slice on our meat slicer.
Hubby did not feel well the night we were going to dinner at the Big Ditch Brewery so we went Wednesday night instead. There was no cost cutting there but it was our Valentine’s gift to each other. We even brought home a slice of turtle pie and a slice of strawberry cheesecake to share that they made special for Valentine’s dinners this week. We spent $100. including a $21. tip but it was worth every penny because we had a great leisurely dinner, a couple of beers, and good conversation.
My son and West will not be coming out today because West is ill and my son would never bring him near us for fear we would catch it. So instead of the large breakfast I usually cook when they come we are eating granola cereal to use up an open bag. Perhaps we will have some apple pieces with it. This will be a cheap brunch that is from our stockpile. Lately we have been eating scrambled eggs and a canned ham from our stockpile that needed to be used up because it was expiring. I just fry up slices of the ham. It reminds me of when we were first married and broke and ate a lot of canned ham because it was cheap. It is a good stockpile item because it lasts for a very long time.
When I was cleaning and organizing our vanity cupboards and drawers in the master bath, I found 4 bottles of foundation with just a bit in each so they will get used up this week and next. I only put on makeup when I am going out.
I also have a huge bag of books to donate to our library so that will get done this coming week also.
I have been so tired lately that Hubby did a load of wash. He asked me to tell him what settings I use. So he has learned that I mostly use cold water, minimal detergent, and the Eco setting. He did use the Eco setting to dry it also. He even folded it and put it away. I was able to take a nap while he was doing it. I was very grateful. Today if I feel up to it, I will change our sheets on our beds and wash all of the bedding.
Dinner one night was NY strip steaks, baked potatoes, and salad. Another night we had homemade pizza slices that I froze last time I made it. Last night I made fajitas with chicken, multi colored peppers, onions, seasoning, and low carb wraps. We have plenty for another dinner tonight.
All receipts have been scanned into Fetch including our restaurant meal.
How have you been pinching pennies the last few days? Please share.
Categories
Frugal Things The Past Few Days
Let me start off by telling you that we had extra income in the month of January of $1160. I was thrilled because I was going to put it towards the $3000. that we thought we were going to have to spend from our emergency fund. However, it turned out that what broke was under warranty so I got it replaced for free because of that. I just had a nominal charge of $99. I was very relieved! That additional income has now been put into investments.
I have been trying to catch up laundry lately. My back has been giving me issues so I had three loads that needed to be done. Because I am organizing and cleaning the house, there has been extra things to wash like blankets, a shower curtain(guest bathroom), and various throw rugs besides the weekly sheets and our clothing. I washed it all on the Eco wash using cold water. But I used our dryer for most of it because it is too hard to hang to dry. I did use the Eco cycle with my wool balls. Only the clothing got hung to dry.
Two rebates totaling $20. were mailed. I have also been scanning receipts into Fetch. I bought some household cleaners online from Walmart that gave me $6.00 in cash back.
Hubby paid the company who does our lawn fertilizing for this coming season early. He did that because they gave us 3% off the total cost.
Our alarm monitoring company also offered us 3% off if we paid the bill 1 year in advance so Hubby paid that also.
Hubby and West drink Zero Sugar Fanta Orange soda. I have now gotten ten 12 packs for about $4.16 each on a B2G3 sale. That should last them quite a while.
I got another dozen of Xtra large eggs at Niagara Produce for $.99 yesterday on the way home from an appointment. This is the last week of the sale. I just wanted to make sure that my 5 dozen container of eggs was full. They also have had butter on sale for $ 2.99. I had bought all of our butter for the year at Thanksgiving time for $ 3.49 each. But I am replacing what I am using up at this new low price. So each time I go there I will pick up one pound.
I have our two extra bedrooms heat registers closed and the doors shut. There is a cloth snake in front of each door. There are also two other snakes in front of our two basement doors. A large rolled up towel is in front of our main door into the house. We have only been using the garage door to leave the house. With this cold weather and the wind chills at -30 here last Saturday, we have not been going out except when we have appointments and can run errands at the same time.
We have been making meals at home. Brunch has been salmon, bacon, ham, or sausage with scrambled eggs. Dinner has been egg rolls, chicken pattie sandwiches, hamburgers, Chef’s salads, rib eye pork chops, and soup. When I am busy organizing and cleaning, I do easy meals. The homemade soup is in portions in the freezer so it is easy to just thaw and microwave. However this week or next(when it warms up outside), we will be going out to the brewery for a meal. We have not been there since my son was visiting at Thanksgiving and we love their food and beer.
We filled up our car with gasoline using Top’s points that gave us $.30 off per gallon. The car was almost empty and I don’t like it when that happens in the winter.
I did our Federal and State taxes early this year and received a nice refund from the Feds because of the extra $12,000. deduction for seniors. That gave us back about $1,000. more than we would have gotten.
What frugal things have you been doing? Please share with all of us.
Disclaimer: You know I hate outstanding credit. I have spoken about it many times. However today I will talk about something that you should know.
The banks and credit unions have been cutting way back on lending due to the economy. Too many people are filing for bankruptcy. Too many people are only paying the minimum balances. Interest rates on credit cards have skyrocketed. The banks have been limiting the amount you can borrow on your cards and in some cases they have cut the cards off entirely. The days of no interest for so many months is just about non-existent.
I see all over You Tube and elswehere online that people are buying their food with these cards. Why are they not using the food banks if money is so tight that they can’t buy food? I am even seeing people buy food with Buy Now Pay Later or taking a Payday loan. They are the worst loans ever. It is almost umpossible to get out from under them.
Do I like the fact that these people have put themselves in this position? No, I don’t but neither do I want to see their families starve! Parents are just eating one meal a day so that they can feed their children.
Credit cards became too easy to get and so many people have a wallet full of them. I can’t tell you how many times I have been at the grocery store and had someone in line in front of me have many cards declined. They just keep trying each card until one of them works or they have to leave without their food. If they are capable of working, why aren’t they getting a second part time job? I have paid for seniors who are in their 70’s and 80’s and have had this happen. I will pay if their bill is under $50. and they are buying basic food. I will not pay for junk. I have relatives who live on Social Security and I know how hard it is to do. It is a shame that so many seniors are in this position. Why are they in this position? I guess they didn’t save any money or they were in such a low paying job that they could only pay their basic expenses or they spent their money before they got it so lived on credit their entire lives so they were never able to get ahead. But I do not want them to go hungry.
It is a shame in this country that so many people are stealing their food(one of the many reasons food costs are going up) or going hungry. But it is not going to get any better any time soon. I have told you before that during the Carter administration when we had such high inflation that it took almost 10 years for the prices to come down and the prices never came down to what they were. I had small chidren when this happened. We lived on one income. Food was expensive. I made our $80. a month budget work to pay for food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and toilet paper. I bought all scratch food with the exception of baby food. I would buy a few jars but then my FIL started filling up a closet full of baby food for us. He owned a business up the road from us and he would stop on the way home with those gifts. I never asked him to but he would even come in if I wasn’t home(he had a key) and put the food away in the closet. Then I would come home and find more baby food. This is why I pay it forward even today. I would stretch meat in everything and do some meatless meals each week. Every penny was stretched on everything. I washed diapers and hung them to dry. I only purchased disposables to use when we went out and I purchased them cheap at a warehouse club called GEX. We were frugal from day one of our marriage. I always have paid cash for food unless I order online and that bill is paid when it comes each month.
So I think most people could afford their food if they just stuck to the basics and did everything they can to make it stretch. Don’t put food on credit cards. Buy what you can afford or go to the food banks. And then stretch that food farther than you ever thought it could stretch.
Sorry I’ve rambled but people need to know that their credit cards may get cut off. Then you will have a real emergency. The banks can’t keep losing money or they will go belly up. So start putting a few dollars away for that emergency.
Do what you can to stay afloat but stop using credit. Get yourself out of debt even if you can only pay a few extra dollars above the minimum each month. Remember every dollar counts! Don’t wait until the banks force you into having no credit. You will ruin your credit rating also and that will affect buying a home or even getting a car loan.
I know I am probably talking to the choir but I do have some new people on here that may need to hear this. Also feel free to link this blogpost to someone who may need a wakeup call on this.
Categories
A Little Of This And A Little Of That
This a small haul that I purchased at Top’s yesterday. I have been waiting for a sale on the Softsoap. I buy my liquid soap in bulk refill containers. But the Softsoap containers that I pour it into stop working after a while. Mine are at that point so I purchased these to replace them on sale at 8/$10. yesterday. I have 4 sinks in my home so the other 4 will go into my stockpile for the next time I need them. The mayonaise was $ 3.79 after using a $2.00 Top’s super coupon. Mayonaise is so expensive that I only buy it with a coupon. I also purchased B2G3F 12 packs of Zero Sugar Fanta Orange. I like to have this stocked but I left the 5 of them in the garage so they will get super cold out there. They cost $20.98 for all 5 which was $4.196 a 12 pack. At Walmart I would have paid $ 8.92 a 12 pack. So my bill before tax and bottle deposits was $34.77. They took 6% off for the Senior Discount which was $2.09. The total was then $ 32.68. Tax was $2.48(8%) on the soda and soap and the total bottle deposit was $ 3.00 ($.05 each) which I will get back when I return the cans. Food is not taxed in NY. So my actual total was $ 38.16. I am tracking all of the taxes I pay in NY this year along with every other penny. I am actually considering stopping at Top’s again tomorrow to get more soda because I have a doctor’s appointment one block from there. I don’t believe I will ever see soda this cheap again.
Today will be a laundry and reorganizing the kitchen day. Two loads will go in the washing machine using cold water and minimal soap( about 2 Tbsps.) for each load. One load will be put in the dryer with my wool balls and one load will be hung to dry. I just don’t have the space to hang 2 loads.
Brunch will be Chef’s salad and dinner will be take out Chinese. I was too tired last night to go get the take out so we had chicken and mac and cheese instead.
I wish it would warm up. We have so much salt and dirty snow on the garage floor that has fallen in chunks off the car. But it is too cold to work out there to remove it. I will squeege it out if it gets a little warmer. I also need to get the car washed but our roads are so slushy and dirty right now it would be senseless.
I am off to start my work for the day. I need to take some breaks in between so I am starting an important post about credit which I will write when I take the breaks. It will get posted sometime tommorow.