Category: Every Day

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Every Day

Frugal Things March 30

These are the things we have done frugally today:

– Since I am an early riser, I made this first thing this morning for our snacks this week. It is sugar free raspberry jello which is easy. This is 2 packages and it will last us quite a few days. We put sugar free Cool Whip on it or not depending on our mood.

– I wanted to show you how we froze the chili last night. I have a stack of these reusable freezer to microwave covered bowls that I put leftovers in. It may be meat like the chili or leftovers that make a meal for one of us. The chili bowls have enough for a meal for two of us. So this will be two meals worth of chili. If we have a little meat, potatoes, rice, or steamed veggies leftover then I will make a frozen type dinner. When I have a few of them, we will pull two out for dinner depending on what each of us wants to eat that night. We waste nothing in this household. If you wonder what you can freeze for a meal, take a look in the freezer cases when you shop. If they can freeze it, you can freeze it.

– I had forgotten to enter my grocery delivery order on Fetch so I did that before it was too late. 

– We had no cooked bacon so I cooked a package in the oven. We don’t buy cooked bacon because it is so easy to do it yourself. We under cook it all because we put it in the fridge to heat up for breakfasts. That way when we heat it in the microwave each morning we can each cook it to the crispiness we like without overcooking it. I use foil instead of parchment paper because it keeps the pan cleaner and when the grease congeals, I can just roll up the foil and throw it out. Then the pan easily cleans up with some soap and water. 

– Our mail today brought us a nice package of coupons from Frito Lay. Last week Hubby opened a package of Poppables and they looked very dark and tasted awful. I called Frito Lay to ask what it was and they said they were burnt. They apologized and sent two Free coupons for any product and 2 coupons for $ 1.00 off a product. 

– I did both the treadmill and the bike today for 30 minutes each. I am so glad that we quit the YMCA because it is so convenient to do this at home. It has saved us $48. a month.

– I washed two loads of laundry today using laundry sanitizer in the wash and the dryer balls in the dryer.

– Dinner tonight was hot dogs with Hubby’s homemade chili. Hubby likes his on buns with some melted cheese on top. I like mine bunless with some brussel sprouts on the side. 

– Entertainment tonight will be a movie on showtime.

That’s it for frugality today. Please share with us what you did frugally today.

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Every Day

Frugal Doings March 29

The things we have done frugally today:

– Hubby made a huge crock pot of chili on Saturday which is why we needed the onions that our neighbor got us when they shopped. I have not eaten rice in over 13 months. Hubby made a pot of it in the pressure cooker and I decided I would have some. I just put a thin layer under my chili. It really did not taste that good to me. So last night I had and will tonight have riced cauliflower under it. Yummy! We will freeze most of the leftovers for future meals after dinner tonight. I will leave a small container of chili in the fridge to put on hot dogs one night. I had had a can of chili on my grocery delivery order but it was out of stock. Hubby’s chili on the hot dogs will be so delicious. 

– Hubby was craving something sweet so I made a cinnamon coffee cake today. He was so happy to have some for breakfast with his coffee. I had 1/2 an avocado and some scrambled eggs.

-I washed a load of towels in hot water using laundry sanitizer. This is something I have been doing every day. At the end of each day, I collect them from all of the bathrooms and the kitchen.

– I cleaned all of our kitchen counters, cabinet knobs,  bathrooms, light switches, door handles, alarm panels, door locks, computer keyboards and telephones with disinfectant. I do this daily.

– Since I have so much time on my hands these days, I have been using some of it to update my price book so that when this crisis is over I have accurate prices to know when something is a good deal or not. I have been doing this by using our ads every Sunday. This price book fits nicely in my handbag, so when I shop I always have it with me.

– Hubby has been binge watching movies, mainly the Species series. These kind of movies give me nightmares so I don’t watch them. I have been doing some reading and watching some You Tube videos. 

– We have not used the SUV in about 2 weeks. So we still have almost a full tank. Staying home is a huge savings in gasoline and not spending except for food is too. 

– Our town assessor has been busy though reassessing us all again. This time they only raised us $ 17,000. However they have raised us $ 67,500. since 2015. So this year we are considering fighting the new assessment. I may be calling some realtors to come out and give us the price that we could sell this house for so that I have some comparisons. 

– I have been doing my daily exercising in the house because it is so important to stay as fit as I can during this virus outbreak. Here I am fast walking on my treadmill on my way to those 30 minutes. I have to learn to take a video instead of a photo so that it isn’t blurry. We have also been taking all of our daily vitamins and supplements. 

– I finally sat down mid afternoon with Hubby and watched the movie “Total Recall”. Spectrum who is our cable provider gave it’s customers free Showtime and Epix for a month during this virus. We are taking full advantage of it.

– It is in the 60’s here today so as soon as we eat dinner, we are going to sit out in the yard for a bit.

I hope you all are having a nice frugal day. What did you do frugally today? I would love to know. 

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Every Day

With So Much Stress Going On In The World Right Now, I Just Could Not Leave My Readers In Limbo

I will continue posting and we will see how the comments go. If you enjoy this blog feel free to read it. If not instead of leaving a nasty comment, go somewhere else. I have always had a community of readers whose welfare was my main goal. The others I could care less about.

That said, I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Hubby and I have self quarantined for a couple of weeks now. It is so strange staying indoors except for going out in the yard for a few minutes each day that the weather permits.

Because we have a bit of food in the house, we see no need to go to the grocery store. I have gotten grocery delivery once to get some milk and fresh produce. I forgot onions but my wonderful young neighbors picked them up for me when they did their weekly shopping. They have told me they will be happy when they shop to get what we need. What a blessing! Other items we needed I got in an order from Target.

Being in the risk group for the coronavirus, we have been very careful not to go out around people. We stocked up on about 3 months worth of prescriptions so that we don’t have to go out for them.

Hubby and I had a trip planned to visit my granddaughter, son, and DIL in eastern NY two weeks ago but we cancelled. It broke my heart to have to do that but we could not take any chances of having to use public restrooms on the thruway. We did Skype with them today and we keep in touch online. I can’t wait until this virus is gone so that we can be with them. We so miss them.


My other son and his family are staying at home. They don’t want to take the chance of carrying the virus to us. I am thankful for that. My son does call and check on us almost every day. My grandson now has his own You Tube Channel so we can see him that way. They also plan on Skyping soon. I can’t wait until we can see them again.

It is a blessing that both of my sons and their wives are working from home. I pray for all of you who have been laid off from your jobs. It is a very tough time for so many.


I will be posting every day the frugal things that we  are doing. Not much else going on around here these days.


Please feel free to comment and let me know how it is going for you. Are you still working or working from home? Are you staying home every day? What are you doing for food? Using delivery or pickup? Are you supporting your local restaurants by ordering food for take out? Please stay healthy and safe.    

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Every Day

I’ve Been Really Busy

These past few days I have been very busy trying to take inventory and fill in the gaps in the pantry. So that is what I have been up to. I had a few appointments and then didn’t get out much later in the week because of the snowstorm.

I spent a total of $172.00 on all of this but it is all things that will eventually get used up. So it will never be a waste of money. It is just a matter of spending money now rather than later. This was all done after my regular grocery shopping had been done last week.

Preparation is key! The inventory took a long time but I wanted it to be very accurate.

Other than this project, there is really nothing new or that moves me to write.

Many of our stores’ shelves have been stripped of certain items. The only thing I could not get was tall kitchen garbage bags so I ordered them online.  

Are you guys stocking your supplies?

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Every Day

Are You Living Paycheck to Paycheck?

The most recent figures show that 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That figure should scare everyone.

How did most Americans get into this bind? There is only one answer that I can think of and that is debt! Too much debt and not enough equity.

Why do people think that they have to have everything now? What happened to saving for the things you want or need?

Let’s say you have just graduated from college and got your first job. So you moved out of Mom and Dad’s house and got an apartment. You need furniture. So you use a credit card to buy what you need. You figure you will just pay it off over time. What happened to getting the basic necessities of a bed, something to sit on, and a small table to eat at until you can afford to buy the suite of furniture? What happened to going to garage sales to look for these things or using relatives hand me downs? Why do you need to buy a suite of new furniture that you can’t afford to pay for? I know, you want everything that you have gotten used to while living at home and you want it now. You forget that your parents have been married for years and saved for things. 

Lest I get told in comments that many young people’s parents were in debt up to their eyeballs and they had lousy role models, I know that. Because your parents were irresponsible is not an excuse for you doing the same thing. Learn about money so that you won’t become your parents. There is so much more information out there today than when I was a young adult. The internet is a valuable resource. Or you can go to the library and take out books to read to educate yourselves like I did. We didn’t have the internet way back when.

So many people are digging themselves into a hole that they either have no intention of getting out of or will be in debt for the rest of their lives making those payments to the bank every month. They don’t give the future a minute’s thought. It sends shivers down my spine.


They live their lives charging debt like there is no tomorrow. They are indentured servants to the credit card companies. They get in a bind and borrow money from their parents to get out of that bind. But you know what, the majority never do because they just charge those credit cards right back up. Then they owe both their parents and the credit card companies.
 
Next stop is the bank to consolidate those credit cards and the loan to their parents into one loan that they think will give them a lower payment to pay it all off. You will probably get a lower interest rate than the credit card interest rate.  Do they cut up the credit cards? No! 

So they use the credit cards again and again because they deserve things. Now they owe the consolidation loan and a credit card balance that is mounting. They are making minimum payments(again) on those credit cards. Now what to do? 

Oh, you have a home. Well perhaps you have some equity in that home. Let’s go to the bank and consolidate the first consolidation loan and the all of the credit cards into a home equity loan. While we are at it, let’s take that loan for lots more years. That will lower your payments!

Do you see the vicious cycle here? Building debt is the worst thing you can do. Eventually you will lose everything! Unless you pay off that debt, you are in big trouble. You could end up in bankruptcy or worse yet lose your home. The bank has nothing to lose because they will just take your home, sell it, and pay off your debt with the equity.

So now you have been evicted from your home. No problem, we will just get an apartment. But where will you get the money for the deposits? Since you now may have ruined your credit rating or owe too much money, what landlord will rent to you?

This entire post is meant to get you thinking. It is not to scold you. Do you really want to be this person I talk about? Then do something about it. Will it be easy? Will it take a long time to pay off your debt? Yes, but you didn’t get into this mess overnight.

You have another choice though. You can continue getting deeper and deeper in debt, end up with nothing in your old age and live a very poor existence.

I want you to live a life of wealth so get a plan written down or make a chart to track all of your money on your computer. Then faithfully follow that plan to make your life better.  Don’t stay in that 78%! This is one place where you do not want to follow the crowd!

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Every Day

Grocery Shopping Haul

This is the only grocery shopping I did this week which I did at Aldi’s. I am shopping there more and more. Their prices are so good compared to my local grocery stores and Walmart. But the best part is that if I buy on sale, we can get grass fed meat for a lot cheaper than anywhere else. We have found their grass fed organic meat to be delicious!

I really never wanted to spend so much money on grass fed meat. But I have found that by cutting the junk food out of our diet, I am able to buy grass fed a lot more often. Junk food was costing us a fortune and it has no nutritional value. We are spending no more on groceries than we were before we started buying grass fed meat. 

To keep Hubby happy on this diet, I buy these Parmesan Crisps for snacks for him. They are 100% Parmesan cheese. 

This week I have continued cleaning and organizing. Most everything on our main living floor is in pretty good shape because I keep on top of it. 

So this week, I donated some items out of our gift closet that I knew we would never use. Then I reorganized and cleaned it. 

But the biggest organization I did was under the sink. It was a mess. Every time one of us used a cleaner, we stuck it under there. UGH! So I pulled everything out and only put back what we would actually use in the kitchen. It cleaned up very nicely. The white wastebasket is our recycle can. When it is full, we take it to the recycle bin in the garage. I keep a few glass jars behind it for grease disposal. The stackable bins hold dishwasher tablets in one and sponges and magic erasers in the other. The other container holds Comet(which I clean the sink with) stainless steel cleaner for my appliances, cleaner for the gas range, steel wool pads and a toothbrush for cleaning in cracks and crevices. 

I have no need to have dish liquid, hand soap, or all purpose cleaner under there because I keep them on a tray next to the sink. Extras are always in my basement storage.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.      

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Every Day

Frugal Things We Did This Past Week

These are the things we did frugally this past week:

– I cooked all meals from scratch. Dinners were salad with sliced chicken, fajitas with chicken, onions, and peppers, lamb chops cooked in the air fryer, beef and veggie kabobs, spaghetti and meatballs for Hubby and meatballs on zucchini noodles( 2 nights) for me, and breakfast for dinner.  We did not go out to a restaurant or get fast food.

– I scanned my receipts into Fetch for points.

– Hubby used discounted Home Depot gift cards to purchase items to do the basement pantry. 

– I dry cleaned some wool items in my dryer.

– I hung all of my washable clothing to dry.

– Company got BBQ sauce on a dining room chair ulpholstered seat. I have not been able to remove it. Hubby removed the material and I am soaking it in a bucket of water and oxy clean. If it doesn’t come out, I will take it to the dry cleaners. If they can’t get it out, I will recover all of the seats.

– I picked up Dinosaur Fruit Bites for West with a Free Coupon from Top’s.  

– I exercised for 30 minutes a day on the treadmill and 30 minutes a day on the recumbent bike in my own home.

– We paid for our lawn fertilizing and all of our monthly yard work that the company does for all of 2020. We get a great discount by doing this in February.

-Hubby had to have a crown put on a tooth. We got the emergency visit free and 20% off the crown with our discount plan. This dental plan has way more than paid for the cost this year.

– We got a $11.21 check in the mail that we were not expecting.

– We received our tax return and invested it. 

What did you do this past week to live frugally?  

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Every Day

What I Have Been Up To

For the past couple of weeks, I have been cleaning and organizing the basement which is 2112 ft. just like the house. It has a full basement under all of it. It turned into a major project. I had great ambitions of getting it done in two or three days. Sure Precious, you are not as young as you used to be! I finally finished it yesterday. 98% of it I did by myself!  

Besides dealing with the mess, I also had to vacuum the concrete floor which was a total disaster because our pest service had sprayed down there in October and killed all of the bugs. They don’t spray the pantry because I will not let them.

The only thing I did not do was clean up the top of Hubby’s workbench. He will do that so that he can find his tools when he needs them. I have no idea his organizational system. 

Nor did I touch Hubby’s dresser project which he is in the middle of but hasn’t touched in a while. The white piece of furniture which has a glass top is going out with the garbage this week. We have not used it since our home in Arizona. If someone wants it, they can take it from near the road. Many pieces of furniture have disappeared the night before the garbage man comes. So it would not be unusual. 

After everything was clean except the pantry, I emptied most of the pantry into another section of the basement which is above. That took a long time.

Then I cleaned the entire floor in the pantry so that Hubby has pretty much a clean slate to put down the carpet tiles. Those couple of shelving units will be easy to move when he gets to that area. He actually went to Home Depot today to get some crack filler and other things he needs. It was nice that I was able to get $ 100. worth of Home Depot gift cards for $80. on a Top’s deal last year. 

The hardest thing we have to do is move the freezer which is pretty full. So we are figuring out how to do that so Hubby can lay the carpet tiles under it. Then we can move it back. We may have to ask a neighbor to help us do that.

This was the first area I tackled. 

And this was the last which is the area that our furnace, humidifier, dehumidifier, water softener and sump is in. 

Besides working on all of this, I had dentists appointments to keep, errands to run, the normal every day things, and I did not want to stop exercising one hour a day. That was very important to me!

I have convinced Hubby to hire a local contractor to do the sheet rocking. I feel it is just to much for him. So I have called and left a message for him to call me back. Hopefully we will hear from him when spring break is over. 

Over the weekend, I cooked bison burgers for us because they were easy while I finished the basement. We used to buy bison all of the time when we lived in Arizona. I finally found it at Aldi. Not knowing how good it would be, I only purchased one package. It was so tender and delicious that you can bet when it goes on sale again, I will purchase it and stock the freezer.

Yesterday, I cooked up a big batch of chicken. So tonight, Hubby and I will have salads with chicken on it.

So have any of you been working on organizing your home recently?

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Every Day

A Very Large Grocery Haul

We needed food for us and for company coming. So I did all of my errands and grocery shopping in about 3 hours. I first went to the library to donate some more books and then to Fast Cash to bring back two bags of Hubby’s cans and bottles.

Then I did the grocery shopping. First shop was Aldi’s pictured above. Here is the receipt. 

 

Next was a trip to Top’s. Here is that receipt.

 
The last stop was at Niagara Produce.

 The total was $ 117.10. It is the most I have spent on groceries in a long time. Hubby and I love grass fed loin lamb chops from Australia. Top’s had them on sale for $ 6.99 a lb. $26.01 was spent on those. That is such a terrific deal. I may go back and get more since they had a limit of three on them.


Niagara Produce had chicken tenders on sale for $1.99 a lb. Their chicken is so tender and these will be handy for quick buffalo chicken or bunless fajitas. When I am in need of quick cold cuts, they have the freshest in town and the cheapest.  I was also happy to see this bag of lemons on sale because my supply of frozen lemon slices was just about gone. I always use them in my water. 


I am off to hopefully finish the basement today. I have a few more things to move and some vacuuming to do and the pantry will be empty and ready for Hubby to finish it. It has been a major job. Many nights I just fell into bed exhausted.


Did you get anything on sale when you grocery shopped this week? Won’t you share it with us?

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Every Day

Frugal Things We Have Done

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

Dinners were all cooked and eaten at home. They were filet mignon and Brussel sprouts, sea scallops with a side salad, shrimp cocktails, cheeseburgers on a lettuce wrap or bun(Mine with an avocado slice.), taco salads and chicken wings with a side salad. Breakfasts are usually eggs with either bacon, sausage or ham and 1/2 avocado. We rarely eat lunch but if we do it is a small salad. I continue to meal plan from our stockpile.

I mailed a package to my granddaughter via UPS and got 5% off the cost of shipping using my AAA card.

I purchased Valentine gifts for my grandchildren taking advantage of a B1G1F deal.

You know you need a new winter coat when the office staff at the dentist tells you your coat is way too big for you. Shucks and I was trying to get away with it for the rest of the winter. So I put the coat aside to give away and went through my garment bags looking for other coats that were too big to add to the donation pile. Surprise! I found a black winter pea coat that I had not worn since well before we moved to Arizona. It is a little big but not as big as the one I was wearing. So it should last me the rest of the winter. Then I will buy a coat in the Fall when I am at my goal weight. 

I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the bike every day this past week. The muscles in my legs are becoming well formed.

I did all of my errands in one day doing a 7 mile circle from my home.

I cut up a bunch of avocados that I got for $ .59 each and froze them to use when I can’t get a good deal on avocados.

We did the monthly household maintenance which encompasses putting a special drain cleaner down the kitchen sink that we purchased a year supply of from Roto Rooter. We are hoping to keep the sewer line clog free. I also changed the furnace filter.

The only retail shopping I did was to purchase some cheap replacement vacuum cleaner bags for the vacuum that I use for the basement floor.

The bathroom sink that I use in the Master Bath had become loose( hot water tap). Hubby fixed it pretty quickly. 

We played lots of the card game “Cover Your Assets” with my grandson and son. We love this game. It is so much fun.

I cooked another pound of bacon in the oven for our Sunday family breakfast. I can’t believe that I didn’t start doing it this way sooner. It is so much easier than standing over a pan to cook it.

Now that I am feeling better, I have been doing some more cleaning and organizing in the basement. I have 3/4’s of the basement done. Yesterday, Hubby and my son moved a bookcase from my pantry into the other part of the basement. I moved part of my stockpile to it. Then I moved two shelving units that have wheels over next to it. I continued to move the stockpile. Then Hubby and I moved two more shelving units. I will continue down there today. It will make it so much easier on Hubby when he puts the walls up and the carpeting down to have it cleaned out. After that is done, I will have a clean slate to work with and rearrange the way I want things. 

What did you do frugally this past week?