Category: Every Day

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Every Day

Too Much Social Media! Is There Such A Thing?

I loved the simpler days when there was no social media. That being said, I do take advantage of of it now. This blog is important for me. If I ever get to the point where I believe that no one is learning anything from me, I will take it down pretty quickly. But as long as just a few people learn from it and I can save it for my family members, I will continue blogging.

Now are there drawbacks when you are a blogger. Yes, the morons who post threats and ridiculous stupid comments. I have had one person on here for months that continues to do it. Obviously that person is a reader or she or he wouldn’t come here. I have only seen one that was a threat to me from this person. Of course, he or she posts anonymously. 

Meanwhile, I have a reader who is helping me out sifting through the anonymous comments and weeding out all of the spam. I don’t even see them anymore because she deletes them. Thank you to Ann. 

I also frequent You Tube but only to learn from other people especially when it comes to fixing things around our home. If Hubby or I don’t know something, we will search for a solution and someone always seems to have put up a video about it. This has saved us many, many dollars.  

That being said, I have recently decided that Facebook is a huge time waster. I have never bothered with Twitter. So I have taken down all my posts on Facebook which were only a couple, deleted every one and have only kept immediate family for messenger, and I only go to two groups that help me out. One is a private planner group and one is my market couponing group.  

You know that Facebook and Twitter are time wasters when it gets to the point that you can’t get anything done in the morning until you look at it. That is not for me. I keep busy all day with things that need to be done around our home and things that help our financial situation. Instead of looking at social media when I get up, I get ready for my day and get all of the things in my planner done early so that I can run errands when they are done. I prep our dinner so it is easy to throw it together later. 


This is a page from my weekend. You can see that even though I don’t do as much on the weekends(days of rest), there are things that are scheduled and get done. This is how I keep my household very clean and running very smoothly. When these things are done, then it is time to watch football or movies or just read. 

So will I miss Facebook? I doubt it. I am too busy making our life better. 

All of this being said, 99.9% of my readers and commenters are wonderful people many of whom I have cemented friendships with over the 13 years that I have been blogging. They learn from me and I learn from them. I will continue to post for you for as long as I am able. I am planning out a wonderful year of blog posts for 2021. Hubby and I have been working on a major goal for our family the past few years and we will most likely reach our goal in 2021. So it will be a great year!   

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Every Day

Two Posts Today! The Thanksgiving Deal


I realize I already posted today. However, today is the last day of this deal so I wanted to make sure that you are all aware of it.

Go to your Ibotta app and look for the Thanksgiving Deal in conjunction with Walmart. You can get $ 9.98 off a Butterball turkey and a lot of other products for free. You pay for them up front but you get the money back through Ibotta.

I did it this morning. You all know that we love Butterball turkeys here. I could have gotten a smaller turkey closer to the $ 9.98 rebate but we love turkey. So I got a 22+ lb. one and will get rebated the $ 9.98. After the rebate, I ended up paying $ .57 a lb for the turkey. That is $.30 a lb. cheaper than I can buy one here.

The items shown in the picture are the only things that my Walmart had left. I think the ones I was missing was French’s Crispy Onions, frozen green beans, and a 2 liter Coke. I have plenty of those things in my stockpile anyhow.

Have any of you done the deal already?

So just in case any of you weren’t aware of this deal. I wanted to let you know so that you can shop for it today.

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Every Day

Last Week’s Aldi’s Haul

I am a little behind and trying to catch up so that I am up to date. This is the grocery haul I did at Aldi’s last week. 

I purchased my first turkey of the season. It was a 19.38 lb. Butterball which is our favorite brand of turkey. It was on sale for $ .87 a lb and totaled $16.86.

The avocados were on sale for $.69 each. I eat a half of one with my eggs for breakfast. The tissues were $ .99 a box. We go through a lot of tissues each winter so I have to continue to stock on these. My Dollar Tree was out of Scotties so I picked these up.

The antibacterial hand soap refill was $ 3.29. I pick up one of these almost every time that I go to Aldi. The price can’t be beat here.

The cauliflower rice was $ 1.99 and the ready to serve rice was $ 1.19. They get added to our winter stockpile.


The half and half was $ 1.55. Lastly I purchased 8 cans of pumpkin for $ .85 a can. I love making pumpkin bread from these. Each can makes two loaves.

The entire haul totaled $ 38.98.

I will be buying more turkeys. I am going to try to do the Thanksgiving Ibotta deal today if my store has anything left.

Have any of you purchased your turkeys yet? What price did you pay?

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Every Day

My “Resident Chef” Cooks Again


Hubby is the “Resident Chef” around our home lately. After 50 plus years of cooking, I am tired of it. So he cooked dinner on Thursday night. 

He made Seared Scallops with Pan Sauce that he found on epicurious.com. Sea scallops, lemon juice, dry white wine, butter, garlic, and ground pepper. When we have fresh chives we put them on after it is plated. Our fresh chives are gone for the season so we just went without those.

However, he did make us a green salad as a side. 


To go with of all of this, he made a recipe of Green Onion Rolls that was in our Parade Magazine that was in last Sunday’s newspaper. They also had parmesan cheese in them. They were so delicious served warm with butter.


This is Hubby’s plate.

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Every Day

My First Walmart Delivery


With winter upon us and knowing that the snow will be falling soon, it was time to make a plan for grocery shopping. We do have quite a stockpile but there are still fresh things that we will need and some things that our “Resident Chef” will need to make his recipes.

So I took a look at the Walmart + plan and decided to join it for one year. I was able to get a 30 day free trial and pay for one year the amount of $ 98. up front because it is much cheaper than paying monthly at $ 12.95. They tell you that you get a 15 day trial but when I signed up they asked three questions in a survey which gave me 15 more days. They also have discounted gasoline at certain gas stations none of which are around here. However since I can get discounted gas at Top’s or BJ’s, it was not important to me. They also will deliver other things besides groceries.  If I happen to shop in the store, I can just scan and go – no check out.

I needed the fresh mushrooms for a recipe this week and we got some more creamer because we are low.

Hubby loves onion rings so they are a treat for him. We love their chicken wings that we use for making Buffalo wings. They are meaty and delicious. I also picked up a few boxes of Kleenex and some quart size freezer bags.


I tried it out yesterday to stock up on some more things that we needed. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. They let me know in the morning what they were out of and the substitutions that they made. There were only 3 and I was happy with all of them. One was the pizza which is an I don’t want to cook tonight item.  They were out of the pepperoni but substituted the cheese. I have plenty of pepperoni here that I can throw on it before it goes in the oven. They substituted tomatoes on the vine for 1 other tomato that I had ordered. But I got 4 tomatoes instead of 1 for less money.  They substituted 2 other Knorr Asian sides for 2 that they were out of which were ones we do use.

I have been paying $ 1.99 to $ 2.49 on sale for SF Cool Whip at Top’s. I was so pleasantly surprised to be able to buy 4 for $ 1.00 each. It freezes well and we use it on SF Jello and SF puddings for desserts. Hubby was out of corn which is his favorite veggie and they were $1.00 each. Cucumbers were only $ .62 each and I eat them for snacks and in my salads.

I do not buy bread ahead. It does not keep well in my freezer. So I got the buns for a chili hot dog meal this week. The Knorr sides were cheap and are a stockpile item. Hubby loves them and now that I am eating carbs once in a while, I like them too because they are easy. We love these ice cream sandwiches occasionally for a quick ice cream craving. The Craves and the Doritos are a Hubby snack. I buy snacks ahead and I keep them in a huge Rubbermaid tub in the basement to keep bugs out. They keep a few months; much longer than the expiration dates.

99% of these items are cheaper than my regular grocery stores and taste better too. Yes, I do keep a price book so most of the prices I already knew. The SF Cool Whip was the big surprise. I also love that I can get most of my frozen veggies for $ 1.00. 

I know that this Walmart plan will not work for some people and there are some who like to shop. For us, it is perfect since I do not like driving in the snow and we are supposed to have more than plenty of it this winter. That said, I buy very little meat at Walmart so I will continue to stockpile meat elsewhere when I see a good sale. My Aldi’s is good for that when they have a sale. I just never pay full price at Aldi’s for meat. Their meat is delicious but I can buy it on sale at Top’s, Wegman’s, BJ’s, or Niagara Produce cheaper. When I buy I try to buy in bulk. I can just drive to those places when I need meat or see a great sale and it is not snowing.

This order cost me $ 68.46 and a tip for the driver. I was very happy with that. 

Have any of you used the Walmart plan or delivery? 

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Every Day

Getting The Freezer Ready

I just spent the morning defrosting my chest freezer. For some reason, the ice built up really fast this time. It was bad!

Before I do it. I gather my tools that I need. A bucket to put the ice in. Coolers to put the food in. My blow dryer to easily take the ice off the walls. A plastic scraper to get behind the ice to knock it off. Towels to dry the inside. Lastly, a plastic dust pan to scoop the ice up with. 

So after unplugging the freezer, I went at it. The blow dryer loosens the ice enough that I can use the plastic scraper to knock it to the bottom. Then I scoop it up and put it in the bucket. When the ice is all out, I dry the walls and bottom. Then I plug the freezer back in.

Next I went through all of the food to make sure it was all good and reorganized it before putting it back in. I only had to toss a loaf of bread that looked pretty sad and a half pound of ground pork that was freezer burned. 

I learned how to easily defrost a freezer when I was 19 years old and first married. We rented an apartment that had a refrigerator – freezer combo. The freezer was not frost free. So when we buy chest freezers to save energy, we always buy ones that are not frost free. That saves us even more energy!


But now I am ready to put those turkeys in that I buy this month when they are cheap. 

I have a 1/2 gallon of milk on the bottom which will come out to thaw later this week. I have one turkey left from last year that I will roast for Thanksgiving this year. Under the top containers are two reusable grocery bags. The one on the right has all of our frozen vegetables and French fries. The one on the left has all of our frozen fruit that I use for smoothies and muffins. I also put homemade frozen meals on the top of that one. 

The right hand container holds 16 pounds of butter that I purchased last year. I also have 5 pounds in my upstairs fridge. So I have determined that if I have that much left, I am not stocking on butter this month.  

The left hand container holds our grated cheeses that I purchase on sale.

You can also see on the left hand side that I have two large containers that stack. I keep meats in those. 


I also found that I had 10 lbs. of bacon in this freezer along with 3 pounds in the upstairs ones. Since I had bacon on my list to buy this week, I was thrilled to be able to take it off the list.

The meat that you can see is meat that we will be using the next couple of weeks. I will transfer it to my fridge freezers as we eat down the meat in those.

It is stacked on top of the containers that hold all the rest of the meat. One container is nothing but chicken and turkey. The other container holds ground beef, stew meat, steaks, pork chops, lamb chops, and all of our fish like haddock and salmon.  

Now I am ready to do my weekly shopping tomorrow. I noticed in the Aldi’s flyer that they have the Butterball turkeys that have been $ 1.29 a lb on sale this week for $ .87 a lb. I will pick up one or two tomorrow since they are our favorite brand.

We will go out to vote in the early morning tomorrow and then I will drop Hubby off at home. I have 4 stores to go to tomorrow. He hates shopping. I love that he hates shopping because I don’t have to worry about extra items that aren’t on my list going in the cart.

So I will be back with my grocery hauls later in the week. 

  

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Every Day

Frugal Things The Past Couple Of Weeks

 These are the things that we have done frugally the past few weeks:

– We have only gotten take out once which I got a dozen free shrimp with a meal and I also was able to use a $5.00 off coupon that I received for my birthday. All other meals have been cooked at home from our stockpile.

– I did some more Christmas shopping. I only have a couple of things left to purchase. I try every year to have my Christmas shopping done by the end of October.

– I received a $5.00 rebate in the mail.

– I believe I got the last 12 pack of Samuel Adams Octoberfest in town. My son drinks this. My beverage center has the best price too.

– Hubby set up his office so that Alexa could do her virtual schooling while she visited. This worked out very well. She was comfortable and had her privacy.

– She loves spaghetti and meatballs. So I made a huge crockpot full from scratch one night. Another night we had hamburgers and French fries. We kept the menu teenager friendly.  

– My son had business that was 2 hours and 30 minutes away round trip from where we lived. He was willing to drive it every day so that we could all spend time together. We were very thankful for that. The last day that they were here, we took Alexa to him there after her school day ended at 3PM. At least that saved him driving back here and then all the way across the state again. I filled up the car before our trip getting $ .60 off a gallon using Top’s gasoline points. 

– Hubby returned bottles and got $ 5.60 in deposits back. 

– We went to the dentist for our 3 month checkups and cleanings. We have paid for the insurance plan again this year so they were discounted. I also convinced my dentist that I do not need to go for cleanings every 3 months. He agreed to me coming every 6 months so that will save us a lot of money. 

– We have decided to change our cellphone plan. I have been paying my son $596. a year because I am on his plan. However we have found a plan that is satisfactory for us for $180. for a year. This will also give us a telephone number that is in our area code. My son’s is not.  

– Our monthly electric and natural gas bill came and it was $10.00 less than the same time last year. Since there has been a rate increase in that period, I think we did well keeping it under control.

– I have done minimal grocery shopping. I am still saving money to shop for Thanksgiving turkeys and other sale items.

– I mended a pair of pajamas and hemmed a pair of slacks.

– I continue to do my fall organizing and cleaning. It is getting done slowly. I should be done in a couple of weeks.

– I continue to use the HE washer and hang most everything to dry.

– I use whatever appliance is the cheapest energy wise to do our cooking. So the toaster oven, air fryer oven and pressure cooker get used a lot. I am going to hard boil a dozen eggs this morning. 

– I have been doing very well using up produce before it goes bad and using up all of our leftovers.

– Our son and granddaughter visiting was PRICELESS.

What have you been doing frugally? Please feel free to share with all of us in the comments.   

   

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Every Day

My 2021 Planner

 

For those of you who have been reading my blogs over the last 13 years, you know that I like to buy a planner every year. 

For many years, I purchased the Franklin Planner especially when I worked. I really liked that one and it worked for me all the years that I used it.

Over the last few years, I have tried a new planner every year. I thought I had found the “one” that would work for me last year. It didn’t work at all. First of all I purchased an 8 x11 and it was just too big and bulky.  It had a bunch of printed “to do” things on each daily page and most of them did not help me in any way. After a while, I stopped using it so it was a huge waste of money.

I am sure that a lot of you just keep your “to do” lists on your phones. But I am old school and really like writing in a planner.

So a month ago, I set out to find what I hope will be the perfect planner for 2021. I wanted something that I could put my daily routine in and check the items off when I complete them. I think I have found it. 


This planner has a weekly calendar check list of basically my morning and nightly routines that I have been doing for years. When I first found it online, I got very excited because I knew that I would no longer have to write that routine into my planner. It also has a place on each date to plan out my menu, track any money I spend that day, and room to add more items that I want to do that day.

It has checklists that I will use to make my life easier. There is a spring cleaning one, a yard and home maintenance one for each season of the year, one to get ready to have company, Christmas ones, and a weekly home project list. It has bill payment page where you can track your monthly bills.

It also has a page for a Dream Project List. I had been working on one this year that I was very excited about but things change and my project had to change. It has a page to list your financial goals for 2021 and pages for notes about that.


Each month has a tab and in the front of the month is the entire month’s calendar to be able to see appointments, etc.  That is followed by the weekly pages with the lists and a monthly budget tracker. It also has a really cute ruler to be able to keep your place, some planner stickers, and a pocket in the back which would be a great place to stash receipts of you are the type to take your planner wherever you go.

Because this planner is a normal classic size, I can keep it in my purse when I am away from home.  

If anyone is interested in this planner, here is the link to where you can purchase it: 

2021 Planner 

I am not a making any money for writing about this planner nor is the link earning me anything. I just wanted to let you know how excited I am about finally finding one that has my daily routine in it and that I believe will work for me.

I hope you all have a terrific weekend. My son and granddaughter will be visiting for a few days and I am very excited about that. 

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Every Day

Top’s Grocery Haul This Week and Other Things


I shopped at Top’s this week. I purchased white cheddar popcorn( $2.99) at Hubby’s request. I was getting low on eggs so picked up the 18 count with a Super Coupon for $1.69.

The celery was also a Super Coupon and cost $ .88. The yogurt were on sale for $1.00 each.

But the best deal that I got was 4 of the craft beer French fries. If you purchased 4, they were $ .99 each. 

My total out of pocket was  $ 9.52. 

I have been busy around here doing regular chores and finishing up organizing the kitchen which is one of the biggest rooms in the house and held so much stuff. I pared a lot of it down. If it hadn’t been used in a year, it got donated. It is so much easier to cook  and find utensils, dishes, and pots and pans now that it has been simplified. 

Now I am preparing for my son and granddaughter to visit for a few days. We are very excited that they are coming especially Hubby. He has not seen our son since last November. We have not seen our granddaughter since she was here in July. 

We have been getting ready for winter. It is upon us and it is predicted to be very snowy this year.

My son helped Hubby put all the patio furniture away about 10 days ago. I am so glad because the winds have been awful.

Our landscape crew were here for the last time this year and everything has been weeded and trimmed. The pest control people were here and the spiders seem to be non existent. Yeah, because I hate spiders. The company who blows out the lines in our sprinkler system came and did that and shut it down till Spring. The last thing that needs to be done is winter fertilizer and that will be done by the company in the next couple of weeks. 

Hubby changed the filter on the furnace yesterday. With the heat on, we do that once a month. 

How did you guys do with Amazon Prime Days? Did you think the deals were worth it? I was very good and was able to pick up a Christmas gift for my grandson. I had a $10.00 credit that helped lower the cost.

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Every Day

Planning Our Thanksgiving Shopping

Have you been planning your Thanksgiving stock up shopping yet? I realize it is only mid October but I always plan ahead for the Thanksgiving sales and make a list of what I need to look for that usually go on sale.

Not only have I been thinking about what to buy but I have also been stashing my grocery money so that I have plenty when the sales start.

Last week at Aldi’s, I saw that they have their turkeys in the store already. I don’t remember what brand they were but I believe they were $ 1.29 a lb. Since I keep track of the prices that I paid last year, that is quite a hike in price. 


Last year, I paid $ .48 a lb. for store brand turkeys at Top’s(which is pictured) and Wegman’s. I also paid $ .48 a lb. for a Shady Brook turkey. Butterball turkeys which are our favorite were $ .87 a lb. at Aldi’s.

So you can see that the price has risen as much $ .42 a lb. at Aldi’s for a name brand. I expect that the prices will be much higher this year on all turkeys. But even with them rising, it will be one of the cheapest meats that you can purchase and these kinds of prices on turkey only come around once a year.

How many I will buy this year will depend on how much freezer space I have. But I know that I can use turkey instead of chicken in many recipes so that will cut the cost of my meat for the year. 


Besides turkeys, I always stock up on butter. Last year I paid $ 1.99 a lb and bought about 30 lbs. I will have to count how many I have left in the freezer and determine how many to buy this year. It will be interesting to see if the per pound price is higher.


I also need canned pumpkin since I am getting low. I paid $.89 a can for the ones I have right now.


I already stocked on the rolls of sausage when Aldi’s had them on sale a few weeks back for $ 1.49. I use them for breakfasts and for sausage stuffing to stuff the turkeys with. But they will probably go on sale in November also. 


Also on my list is cream soups, herb dressing cubes, stove top stuffing, fresh cranberries, fresh potatoes, pickles and green olives, chicken broth and stock, fresh onions, celery, and frozen pies. I stocked on a few cranberry sauces too.


I use the cream soups in recipes all year. I get enough of the herb dressing cubes to stuff how ever many turkeys I buy. I freeze them until I use them. I stock on a few stove top stuffing because they will be cheap and I can use them to stuff chicken breasts and pork chops during the year.

We only use butter in this house for recipes and for some cooking and baking. Fresh cranberries go into the freezer to make quick breads and muffins.

Fresh potatoes are usually the cheapest price per pound in November. The pickles and olives, chicken broth and stock will be at rock bottom prices. 

The celery and onions will also go on sale. I usually buy extra onions and celery and dice it up and freeze it to use for soups, fajitas, and for other recipes over the next year.

If you bake your own pies, the canned pie fillings will go on sale. But so will the frozen pies. It is a good time to stock on these items because they will be at some of their best prices of the year. I will buy a couple to stash in the freezer. If SF Cool Whip goes on sale, I will get some to put in the freezer. We use this on the pies and on SF jellos and puddings.

Other grocery items that will go on sale are all of your baking items, like sugars, flours, cocoa, chocolate chips, evaporated milk and condensed milk and eggs. I have plenty so I will not be purchasing them this year with the exception of eggs which I purchase regularly.

You will also find turkey gravy and gravy mixes on sale if you use those things.  

Also be sure to remember to shop the beginning of November for marked down Halloween chocolate candies to bake with.

Lastly, the following items are usually on sale during the month also. They are clementines, cream cheese, nuts, bacon, and beef. Whether they will be good prices is yet to be seen. But I will be keeping my eyes open for these things too. 

Is there anything that is not on my list that you buy at Thanksgiving sales because the prices are rock bottom? Please share with us in the comments!