Author: Precious

Since we had that bad blizzard on Christmas weekend and a State of Emergency in our counties, we could not go out on the roads to get to my son’s in Rochester. Plus it was too dangerous for any of us to go out. My DIL’s parents and her brother were supposed to be there too. But no one could get there. So we all spent Christmas Day alone. My son knowing how disappointed we all were said he would have Christmas there today.

So at 9am this morning, we drove to my son’s and DIL’s home. We just got home about 5pm. We had a wonderful time with them, West, her parents and her brother.

We all exchanged Christmas gifts and we were all very happy with what we received. They even kept the tree up!

Katie and Sean did their traditional fondue dinner. I love fondue and you have to love that it takes hours to cook and we had such good company to chat with. She had 3 pots- one with oil for the colossal shrimp, sea scallops, marinated tenderloins, plain tenderloins, chicken, and mushrooms. She made many different Keto dipping sauces for the meat and seafood. One pot with cheese fondue for broccoli, asparagus, and 2 different Keto breads she baked- plain and banana. Then for dessert she had chocolate fondue for bacon, Keto brownies, Keto cake, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. It was all scrumptious! I told Hubby we should have fondue more often for dinner. We own a fondue pot. It’s easy and fun.

So excuse me that we did no money saving today! It was a long day and I need to rest. I will be back tomorrow with a new post.

We had bacon and eggs for breakfast.

I have been trying to find out why an insurance claim for the Hospital ER back in July 2022 was denied. I got a denial of claim letter on Oct. 25, 2022. I called the insurance company on that day and was told by a representative that it was because they needed more information from the hospital. She told me to sit tight and I would hear soon. Well, I had gotten nothing as of yesterday. So I called the hospital and asked if it had been paid by my secondary insurance. She said no that they had sent two denials. She said Medicare paid their portion but my secondary was denying it. I asked how much was left of the bill. She said $190. I knew there would be a deductible that I would have to pay for the ER but not that high. So at 8am this morning, I called the insurance company to ask what the hospital had to do to get this paid. I also told the woman I talked with that I am very frustrated with this. Everybody is passing the buck and I am left in the middle. She said hold on while I look at the claim. After doing so, she told me that it should never have been denied. If Medicare pays, they pay. She said the computer is stupid and she really meant it. I also told her so is the girl who I talked to on October 25th who should have realized that it should have been paid. The woman I talked to today is reprocessing it and making sure it goes through this time. She says I should get the benefit statement in the mail within 20-25 days. She is also calling the billing office at the hospital today and advising them that it was denied in error. They will get their money within 20-25 days. Then they can bill me the co-pay. Moral of this story: Never give up even though it is very frustrating. You just need to get to the right person. The $190 was not coming out of my pocket. We pay for the best secondary plan every month so I was not giving up. I will follow up in 20-25 days and make sure that I get the statement and that the hospital is paid.

I spent some time organizing my food storage today. It had gotten out of hand with Hubby’s hospitalization and then mine. I will spend a little time each day until it is the way I want it..

We are also starting to take some items off of dressers and end tables in our bedroom to get ready for the carpet work to be done on Tuesday. We also have to remove the bed on Sunday. That should be easy because it is a sleep number bed and comes apart in pieces. That will go out with the garbage next week. We are paying the people who are doing the carpet work extra money to move 3 dressers, a recliner and 2 end tables out of their way. They are too heavy for us to do it.

I spent some time reading a book on my Kindle.

Just before dinner, I helped Hubby mount our big screen TV in the bedroom on the wall.

For dinner tonight, we will have porterhouse steak cooked in the air fryer. Hubby does all kinds of steaks perfectly in there in the winter. I will also make some salads to go with it.

We will catch up on Yellowstone some more today too.

Did you save any money today?

Today is the day the garbage and recyclables gets picked up. I had saved a few boxes to use around here and decided I had too many. So I broke down every one that we didn’t need and they are now out of the house.

All garbage was collected from all of the wastebaskets and our can in the kitchen. I had a very full bag but there was some that I couldn’t fit in. So I grabbed the thick plastic bag that they gave me at the hospital to bring my things home in to get rid of the rest. I even went down in the basement and emptied the wastebaskets near the work bench and a garbage can that we keep to put trash in. The old filter that I had changed for the furnace even fit in there. It was then full and I closed it with a saved twist tie. This saved me from using another trash bag. They have gotten so expensive that I am always thinking out of the box on how to save one. I hate spending money on things that we just throw away!

Today, I decided to cook up a lb. of bacon in the electric fry pan. We had homemade egg McMuffins with the bacon, eggs, and cheddar cheese for brunch. The leftover bacon will get used for meals over the next few days. I would never go get McDonald’s ones. Mine are better and I save the time and gasoline of going to get them. Not only that but I am hearing that their prices have skyrocketed.

I am now using bar soap in the kitchen to wash hands. As the last of the liquid soap containers empty in the bathrooms, I will be switching to bar soap there also.

This morning I previewed the Top’s ad that starts on Sunday. They have some good deals on chicken, pork tenderloins, 4 packs of soup, salsa, and ground beef. I need none of these things so I will not be shopping there next week. If anyone here shops Top’s and is interested in seeing this ad, it is https://www.couponsforyourfamily.com/tops-ad-scan-tops-weekly-ad-preview/

Hubby all of a sudden this morning asked me if we had any sheets for the new beds since they are being delivered next week. I told him that I had ordered two sets for each and they had just arrived on our porch. We still need blankets so I searched for them today and ordered 4 for the 2 beds. I got cotton thermal blankets. These prices have really gone up. I paid $45.00 a piece for Twin XL ones. But I had the $100. gift card to go toward them. Plus I will get Amazon points for the purchases. They arrive Tuesday just in time.

Instead of waiting for my son to come, Hubby and I managed to get the 4 wreath and candles boxes into the basement and up on the shelves.

I paid the property tax bill today. I also paid my son for my portion of the cellphone for all of 2023.

I tried not to overdue it today. So no nap was needed. Hubby and I watched recorded programs from this week both this afternoon and a couple tonight.

Dinner was the leftover chicken cordon bleu casserole. We have more in the fridge for lunches.

That’s it for today. I am off to bed.

Did you save any money today?

I will be taking it a bit easier today. I overdid it yesterday and I am hurting quite a bit more today. I took a nap and watched some You Tube this afternoon.

Hubby had some granola for breakfast before he went to a doctor’s appointment. While he was out, he stopped and picked up 2 prescriptions for us. They were on his route. I had an egg and some avocado for breakfast.

I had a Walmart delivery this morning. I am happy to tell you that they had eggs. They weren’t cheap but at least they weren’t out of stock.

I purchased 2-18 count brown eggs for $ 7.14 each. They were cheaper than the white eggs. We were needing shrimp for a recipe and it was on clearance for $ 5.72. The bacon was 24oz. and was $ 5.97. We were down to our last Half and Half so I got 3 for $ 2.78 each. The lime juice was $ .96. I got 2 chili powder, 2 garlic powder, and 2 garlic salt for $ 1.00 each. The total was $ 45.27 including the tip. These are basics in our house that we needed. Then I also filled in my gaps with the spices.

After my nap, I made dinner. I made https://www.ketofocus.com/recipes/chicken-cordon-bleu-casserole/

This was so delicious that we added it to our cookbook. For some reason the butter rose to the top. Perhaps we didn’t stir it in long enough. But it didn’t matter, anything with butter makes it taste better. She says in her recipe that this serves 6. But we believe it will serve us for 4 meals.

Hubby is doing what he can around here for me. He took apart the part of the Dyson vacuum that holds the dirt and cleaned it really well with soap and water a few minutes ago. He will leave it overnight to dry. He had already cleaned the roller when he put the new end cap on.This vacuum looks new and it is about 19 years old. The better we can maintain what we own, the less money we will need to spend on replacements.

That’s it for today. It’s all the energy I had to get things done. I have to learn to slow down a little but it is not easy because I have done so much every day all my life.

What did you do to save a bit of money today?

Breakfast this morning was an egg and an avocado before I went to a doctor appointment.

While I was out I decided to do many errands along my route so as to save as much gasoline as possible. I went to the hospital that I was recently in to pick up copies of my X-rays and CT scans to bring to my neurosurgeon next week. I stopped at the President’s office while I was at the hospital to deliver a letter about the wonderful care that I got from 2 nurses and 2 PCA’s. I also asked her to deliver the Thank You notes and $25. grocery store gift cards that I purchased for each of them to them. I had planned on giving them to the CEO but I was told his office is downtown Buffalo. I am not up to making that trip right now.

I stopped at our town hall to take the application that my doctor signed this morning for a disability parking permit. I never thought I would see the day I would need one but this back and nerve problem has changed that.

I picked up my $100. replacement gift card.

The last errand was to Top’s to grocery shop some of the loss leaders. It was Senior Discount Day so I got 6% off all of it. This is what I got at Top’s: 2 Porterhouse Steaks on B1G1 sale- $ 21.05 for both of them, 1 lb. bacon -$3.99 with Super Coupon, 5lb. of potatoes – $ 2.48 with Super Coupon, 3 large cantaloupe – 3/$10., 2 Monterey Jack Cheese – $ 5.98 for both, and 2 Shredded Swiss Cheese – $ 4.69 for both with a Super Coupon. Total after the 6% senior discount was $ 45.30.

We have been craving a steak but didn’t want to pay full price for one. This was the deal I had been hoping for. These will make a total of 4 meals for us. Whenever I can get bacon for $ 3.99, I buy it. The cheeses were the only things I was missing for a recipe I am making tomorrow night. You can’t have steak without a potato. These will be kept in a basket in my cool basement so they last the winter. These are the same cantaloupes that we were eating earlier this week. Hubby wanted some more. So I obliged.

We are having an eat what you want dinner. Hubby is fixing fish sticks and coleslaw. I am eating homemade fried chicken that was in our freezer. I will have a salad with it. The fish and chicken will get heated up in the air fryer. This meal will be easy because I overdid it today. I am very tired and going to bed after I talk to my sister on our weekly chat.

Did you save any money today?

Fed Ex picked up the blanket that I am returning to Walmart(free shipping) so that I will get my refund.

Hubby ordered an end cap at 15% off for our Dyson vacuum cleaner to repair it. It came today and he fixed it.

I got my property tax bill today and it was just under $4900. It increased by $753. in a year because of the increase in assessment. Between this bill and the school tax bill of $6111. last September, we are paying $11, 011 in taxes for a year which is a huge amount. Fortunately, I can pay it this week because we budget for our taxes all year so the money is set aside. I will have to up our 2023 budget to $12,500. for these taxes or about $ 1042. a month.

I ordered 2 sets of sheets for each of our new adjustable beds. Two of the sets were on clearance marked down from $30. to $ 14.80 each. I had reward points of a $1.00 at Walmart that I put toward that purchase. I went through Rakuten to get a 3% rebate. The other 2 sets I purchased at Amazon. They are cooling sheets that Hubby wanted to try. They were $ 30. each which I paid with an Amazon gift card. I will earn Amazon reward points for this purchase. I will also earn reward points by using my credit card for the Walmart purchase. These were necessities since we have no Twin XL sheets. Next I will have to look for a good deal on blankets.

We had leftover scrambled eggs and ham. I put cheese on them and quickly heated them in the microwave. Then I put them in a low carb wrap with sour cream and salsa, just like yesterday. It was a yummy breakfast!

Dinner will be bean soup which was absolutely delicious last night. I froze the leftover soup for a couple of other meals.

Entertainment tonight will be the Buffalo Bills vs. Bengals game. Go Bills! I never used to watch football but this year I have truly taken a liking to it. I even watched most of the college bowl games with Hubby this past week. Some of them were truly exciting!

I cleaned the garbage disposal drain today. I hate it when it starts to smell. I put baking soda down it and let it sit for a while. Then I add vinegar and run it for a minute or so. I also took the drain filter and the spray arm in the bottom of the dishwasher out and cleaned all of that up with soapy water. Maintaining appliances saves you money in the long run.

Lights have been off most of the day even though it is dreary here.

We caught up on Yellowstone today on the Paramount Network which is free for us.

I purchased a $100. gift card this Christmas. When I opened the strip on it, part of the gift card code was missing. I called the company who the card was for and they told me to take it to where I bought it for a replacement. The manager of the store said it is a 3rd party vendor card and they couldn’t do anything about it. But he took the card and said he would look into it. He called me today and told me that someone had activated the card and spent all of the money on it. I don’t know how they did this when there was a bad code and no one had scratched off what they needed to activate it. This gift card came sealed in cardboard. Unless it was done by someone at the company who put the $100. on it when it was activated through the store’s register where I bought it. I believe the manager knows more about how this happened than he was telling me. But they are going to make good on it. They have a new card to give to me. Luckily, I am not out $100. I will never buy a gift card again. In this economy, there are way too many people stealing. UGH!

Did you save any money today?