This Past Weekend

We aren’t seeing much decline in our food bills because we’re eating more plant based meals at organic prices. We are, however, trying to keep food costs down by tapping into our stockpile. Many products are nearing their expirations dates so maybe it’s a good thing. The bad thing is we are NOT replacing many of the foods we are utilizing. Also, have you tried to buy canned cannelloni beans? I use them all the time in many of our recipes. So far Aldi has been out of them for months. Shop Rite has weeks whereby they can’t get them. I have dried cannelloni beans as a back up as well as other beans BUT in some of my recipes cannelloni beans are the only ones that meld well.
We got a delivery of propane last week. If we paid it in full in 10 days we saved $56.24 off the bill. I paid the bill with an interest free 6 month credit card loan so that I could keep an eye on our bottom budget line. Rather than pay the $876 in full, we’re paying it off in $146 increments. To be honest, once I lower the bill in full, we usually pay it off in 3 to 4 months. We also had to replenish our pellet wood stove supply. Hubby figured out that rather than buy enough for the winter season, it was cheaper to buy in needed supply only (10 bags rather than 40 bags) Prices are still the same regardless and we still qualified for a discount of $6.64 per bag vs $6.69. We saved $6. Every little bit helps PLUS it preserved our months budget plan intact. Despite buying all new kitchen Frigidaire eco appliances, as well as GE eco washer & dryer and regardless of our electricity budget billing of $122 a month getting a $76 rebate at the end of the year because each month we lowered our bill and came in under budget, our electricity company issued a new yearly budget bill set at $135 a month! I quickly called them, complained, explained we bought ALL new eco appliances, they lowered our budget billing to $120 a month. We saved $180 AND I am certain we will still get an end-of-year refund for less usage! Lastly, I purchased our dog’s spring/summer/fall much needed flea & tick Advantage II supply from Chewy on a six month subscription plan. By doing so, I saved $15 ($55 instead of $70). When the renewal time comes up, if I don’t need it, I just delay the subscription for another few months. I do this with all our vitamins, cleaning products or whatever else we constantly use from an Amazon subscription policy. We save at least 10% on ALL products. Again, if I don’t need it when the time is ready, I get an alert from Amazon. I just delay the subscription for another few months and continue to save money when ready.
My motto is ‘every single penny helps!! no matter how small”.
This week we’re changing our shower head to include a cut-off nozzle so that we can take navy showers and save on both electricity and water. Hubby is also finally installing an outside clothes hanger so that as the weather warms up, I can finally hang up those clothes outside. Less dryer use saves money. One other money saving option we are planning is to finally buy chickens (at least 4) Most of our neighbors raise their own chickens and will help my hubby build a chicken house and roaming area with left over wood, so zero costs (barter instead, hubby does their electric and car repairs). Neighbor will start us off with 4 chicks and a natural feeding routine. We will also eat the chickens once egg laying term has ended. Or if finances allow, save the chickens and keep them as pets. We’ll see. After Chick-fil-A announced they are no longer serving anti-biotic free chicken and what is going on with the Tyson Boycott (and the recent bird flu found in other animal/human foods) we think it’s most prudent to start raising our own chickens ASAP!
Lastly, despite me being tired from my chemo treatments, every three weeks the oncologist has me on steroids for three days (before, during and after infusion) This energizes me beyond belief. Many of the women state the extra energy helps them clean up their homes and catch up on much needed work. I started doing the same thing. Rather than pay a professional cleaner to come in and do the cleaning, sometimes for hundreds of dollars, I bought myself an all-in-one Swifter wood cleaning set up for $35 and it’s been working out fine for me. I have the energy needed to clean ALL our home wood & laminate flooring every three weeks, plus do dusting and furniture polishing without suffering any health problems! Hubby does all the rest of the easy cleaning, like laundry, some cooking and general kitchen clean up. I still do the bathroom. In any event, it’s working out fine and we only spent $35! I get supply Swiffer cleaning liquid and mop heads from Amazon every two months for about $10-$16 thanks to the subscription reduction pricing. Saving a lot of money! Hey! if the other ladies can do it, so can I!!!