Category: Every Day

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Every Day

August 25: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

It is a beautiful windy day here. We are going to spend some time outside so that West can get his fresh air.

For breakfast this morning, I made pancakes with real maple syrup which West gobbled up. Here are the leftovers which he can have tomorrow morning. I ate some more cottage cheese. Hubby is out getting his haircut so I assume he will make something to eat when he gets home. 

Dinner last night was pasta salad. When my sons were growing up, it was one of their most requested meals. West wanted to try it. So not following the menu this week is becoming a theme.

My pasta salad is easy. It is cooked large shells, pepperoni, cheddar cheese, black olives and diced fresh tomato. I use Italian dressing that I make with the Good Seasons packet. West ate two big bowls. I guess he liked it. Here is a picture of my bowl.


I am sorry that I didn’t get this posted last night. I was exhausted and fell asleep before I posted it.

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Every Day

August 24: Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge and a Junk Grocery Haul

We had bacon and over easy eggs for breakfast this morning.

Today was a day of relaxing and playing games with West. Hubby mowed the lawn and I did some more laundry.

Dinner was ramen noodles for West and Hubby. I had some cottage cheese and tomatoes.

I did some grocery shopping yesterday. I think it will be last shop of the month for me.

I went to Top’s to do a few deals. One of which gave me a free rotisserie chicken because I purchased 10 boxes of on sale Pasta Roni for my basement stockpile.  West wanted peanut butter M&M’s. He says they are so much better than Reese’s pieces. Three cans of chicken breast because we love chicken salad for lunch sometimes so I rotate these through my stockpile.

Hubby likes vienna sausage so these are my first two cans in a very long time to put in my pantry.  I decided to try these flatout wraps since they are low calorie and low carb and they were B1G1F.  

The cookies and ice creams were all on sale with coupons available too. They will get eaten by Hubby and West. I found West’s hot dogs which are Ball Park Beef. I could not believe how expensive ($5.99) they were. The yogurts were all free with printable coupons and a digital Top’s coupon.

The bread was needed for grilled cheese sandwiches this week.The SteakUmms were on sale and make an easy meat with eggs in the morning. The bacon was on sale with a Top’s coupon and the eggs were $.99 a dozen.   

The total came to $ 59.09 which leaves me $ 11.12 left in
my grocery budget for the rest of the month. That will be used for milk or something else that I might need. 

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Every Day

Frugal Things The Past Week or So

These are the frugal things we have done the past week or so:

– Hubby needed replacement brush heads for his electric toothbrush. He had a $5.00 rebate form for buying them. I found that they cost the same amount on Amazon and Walmart. They never seem to go on sale. So I spent the $19.78 to have them delivered via my Amazon Prime. I mailed in the $ 5.00 rebate form today. When we need something, we always try to get a rebate on it. 


– For 11 days, I skipped the monthly grocery shopping. We had plenty of food to choose from our main pantries and refrigerator/freezer. 

– I ordered a Christmas gift for a person who will love it. I got it $10.00 off. It’s never too early to start looking for sales on Christmas gifts.


– I washed and dried our SUV in our driveway. I also cleaned the entire inside. Our car is like new with only 34,000. miles and it is over 13 years old.


– I washed our clothes and West’s clothes using cold water detergent and Lysol sanitizer. I hung most of them to dry. I used the wool dryer balls for the ones I dried in the dryer. Those balls cut many minutes off the dryer time plus you don’t use dryer sheets.


– Our electric and natural gas bill came for the past month. We used less KWH and the same natural gas but the bill was $4.00 higher than last year. I was curious to know why so I looked at both bills. It looks like there was a rate increase. I guess I am going to have to really concentrate on lowering these bills again.


– I cooked most meals from scratch. We did do take out from KFC.

– I picked up two more free frosting buckets for storage from Top’s.

– Both Hubby and West want ramen noodles for dinner tonight. I don’t understand why they like them so much. I will not be eating them. YUCK!

– I got a free rotisserie chicken at Top’s yesterday.

– I have spent a lot of time training West to turn the lights and TV off in his room. He is always leaving them on when he is not in there.


– We have spent many days playing board games. That is frugal entertainment and lots of fun. 


– Even with West here, I have been getting my exercise in on the treadmill. 

– The toothbrush heads arrived so I filled out the $5.00 rebate and mailed it in.

– We have been using the automatic timer on the sprinkler system to water the lawn all summer. No water wasted because we forget to turn it off.

What have you done frugally the past week or so?

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Every Day

August 23: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

This morning I made bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We had no lunch.  

This afternoon we played games of Sorry and Battleship. The Battleship game brought back memories of playing it with my sons. We also got outside for some fresh air.

My grandson mentioned yesterday that his favorite meal at school was chicken in gravy over mashed potatoes. So I changed my menu to that for tonight. I did it because I was able to get a Free Rotisserie Chicken at Top’s today. More on that shop tomorrow.

Here he is eating it for dinner. Excuse the sun. He told me that it was so much better than the one he buys at school.  


I hope you all have a good evening. TTY tomorrow.

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Every Day

August 22: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

I went out the door early this morning to go to Niagara Produce. They had their turkey cutlets on sale again for $2.99 a lb. Hubby loved this turkey recipe that I made a week or so ago so he wanted me to get some more cutlets.

I only had room for 5 packages in the freezer so that is what I purchased. Since we are having hot dogs for dinner tonight, I picked up hot dog rolls too. I have given up wasting precious space in the freezer for bread.

As I was driving back home, I remembered that West had mentioned that he would like donuts for breakfast one day. So I stopped at Tim Horton’s for a dozen donuts. They have gone up a $1.00 in price to $ 9.99. They were so good that there are only two left. 

I had $ 99.68 left in my monthly grocery budget. I spent $29.47 this morning. I have $ 70.21 left for the rest of August. 

Dinner tonight was easy hot dogs on buns. This was Hubby’s. West opted last minute not to eat hot dogs. He does not like Sahlen’s hot dogs because they have the skin on the outside that he does not like.  I always have meats and cheeses in the deli drawer so he had his choice of many different ones. He opted for sliced pepperoni and cheese. He ate a plate full and was very happy. He and Hubby had oreo cookies for dessert.

I haven’t heard from West’s parents this weekend but I imagine they are loving having a weekend to themselves. West texted them earlier and they were out in the car geocaching. I had no idea what that was but West explained it to me.

We are about to play a board game. I hope you all are having a great weekend.

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Every Day

August 21: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

Brunch this morning was scrambled eggs with cheese and some avocado for me. West had scrambled eggs and a biscuit. Hubby had a roast beef sandwich.

We had the same thing for dinner that we had last night;KFC chicken and sides.

Here is our menu for next week. I ran it by West and Hubby to make sure that we can follow it.

Saturday: Hot Dogs, chips and pickles

Sunday: Chicken, mashed potatoes, spinach

Monday: Chef’s salads; sandwich for West

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner: waffles & bacon

Wednesday: McDonald’s take out 

Thursday: Grilled Cheese and soup

Friday: Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb with sauce, baby potatoes, and a veggie ( My son and daughter-in-law will be joining us for dinner when they come to pick up West)

I hope you all have a great weekend. I plan on doing some meat shopping in the morning. West and I may wash the car too.   

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Every Day

August 20: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

Well, I was definitely looking forward to having a normal dinner tonight. I went and got takeout from KFC: the thirty dollar fill up of extra crispy chicken requested by West. We like regular chicken on the bone while West likes the chicken strips. So this worked for all of us. We have enough for two dinners and possibly a lunch or I may freeze the leftovers for future meals. I was just happy to be able to sink my teeth into the chicken. I even had some mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit which is a big no no on my diet. But I was celebrating being back to normal today.

It has not been the week I hoped for. Thank God, West is here and we have had so much fun that it has taken my mind off my problem that developed on Sunday right after dinner.

For the second time in under 7 months, my denture broke into 2 pieces. If you remember from a prior post, it broke the first time right after two months. They repaired it and it broke in the exact same place this time. UGH!

So I have not had it in my mouth again until mid morning today. That is why I have been eating soft foods all week; things that I could easily swallow.

This time the lab and my dentist have made sure that this new denture they made(at no additional cost to me) is as strong as it can be. It even fits better than the other one did. I paid for the premium material to be used to make it back when I first ordered it. My dentist after looking at it very closely this time is not sure that it was made from the material he ordered. Why he didn’t notice it when it broke the first time, I don’t know. I’ll blame the virus and the craziness that was going on at that time. The lab has not responded to him on his questioning that which should probably tell us something. 

But anyhow they have both made good on it. But I have to tell you it has been beyond frustrating. I am tired of going to the dentist.  


Plus I really didn’t want my grandson to see me without my teeth. But he told me, “Don’t worry Grandma, you look beautiful.” He is such a sweetheart. I am very blessed to have him and Alexa as my grandchildren. They are both so loving. 


So this morning, I had cottage cheese for breakfast. West and Hubby had sandwiches for brunch followed by ice cream for West.


West, Hubby, and I have played some games of Blokus this afternoon. We are hoping to play “Cover Your Assets” tonight.  


West and I are double checking my pantry inventory to make sure that I have an exact count of everything. He is so helpful counting all the items.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening.

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Every Day

August 19: Low Spend Grocery Month

Breakfast this morning was what ever anyone wanted. West had cereal. Hubby had a roast beef sandwich. I had some mushy mac and cheese.

We all watched “Hamilton” on the Disney Channel and we all loved it. Of course, West loves musicals so much that he has watched it 10 times with his parents permission of course.

Otherwise it has been a low key day. We did get another check in the mail today  for about $13.00. So when I go out tomorrow, I will take them to the bank.

Dinner tonight was leftovers. I cleaned the inside of the fridge while I watched “Hamilton” and noticed we had a lot of leftovers: pizza, garlic bread, and spaghetti and meatballs. The pizza and garlic bread was reheated in the air fryer.  The spaghetti and meatballs was heated up in the microwave. No pictures today.

West wants KFC extra crispy chicken so it will be takeout tomorrow night. 

Tonight we will be playing Blokus and possibly Stratego. 

I hope you all have a good evening.

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Every Day

August 18: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

Breakfast for West this morning was cocoa puffs with milk. Lunch for all of us was macaroni and cheese. I am sticking to eating soft foods. 

West and I played some games this morning. This afternoon he was playing a game via phone with his best friend. Hubby mowed the lawn and I got some laundry and paperwork done. I also was busy using my canning jars. More on that another day.

I have gotten three rebate checks in the mail totaling $ 14.28 this week. 

I filled the car up with gasoline this morning while I was out getting the pepperoni. I got $.30 off a gallon with Top’s gas points. I paid a $1.899 a gallon. 

Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread for the boys. I had some riced cauliflower with spaghetti sauce. As you can see we are trying to stick to the menu plan but switching the days up at the boy’s request.

I hope you all have a great evening.

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Every Day

There Is Another Shortage

If you use pepperoni all of the time like we do, shop for it while they have it. There is a shortage especially for pizza places. I went out this morning looking for it since we use it on an almost daily basis for snacks and for pepperoni pizzas. The first store I went to had none. The second store only had a few. I asked if they each had some in stock. They told me no that people that sell pizzas had been in last night buying in quantities. This is how it will affect us. The pizza parlors have to get it from somewhere. 

So I ended up going to three other stores so that I could leave some for others. I got what I hope will hold us until the shortage is over. The stick’s don’t expire until January of 2022 so they are in my meat drawer in the fridge. The rest is in the freezer. Pepperoni freezes very well. 

This all was paid for out of my stockpile budget not my monthly grocery budget.