Category: Every Day

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Every Day

Utility Bills

My gas and electric bill dated June 22 was actually online yesterday before they took the site down for maintenance.

The total for 30 days ending on June 18th was $169.99. We used 430 kwh of electricity and 11 ccf’s of natural gas. The gas was a bit high because we had the heat on a bit of the month. We had the A/C on for about 7 days. Then we turned it off and it is still off. It is a comfortable 69 in here.

We have also been cooking some of our meals on the grill which saves on both. We are trying to use as little power as possible. I have been streaming shows on my laptop instead of using the TV.

For comparison our bill for the same period last year was $148.72 for 30 days. We used 387 kwh of electricity and 19 ccf’s of natural gas.

This year’s bill was $21.27 higher than last year. It seems that no matter how much we try to save, the bill just keeps increasing.

Unless we get a new Governor next year, it is hopeless. She just keeps putting in more and more solar and useless wind turbines. It is costing us a fortune. Between her policies and the AI data centers they are building, we will have to start living like people did in the 1800’s.

Hubby still has some chicken parm for dinner and that is what he wants even though it is Father’s Day. I think I will have some soup. Brunch this morning was eggs for me and cereal for Hubby.

I am off to hunt down the deal on the NY strip steaks and a couple of necessities that we need.

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Every Day

One Closet Done and Other Things

Have you ever had such a mess than this? Ugh. Small appliances that don’t fit in my cupboards, paper towels that I kept forgetting to take to the basement, canning jars that I have emptied recently and just threw in there temporarily, extra pillows, extra blankets, my cooling racks for baked goods that I hadn’t been able to find and just other clutter. I also keep my winter clothes and all of the clothes that are like new that I wore when I lost 60 lbs. After gaining most of the weight back, they don’t fit. However I am trying to lose it again and I am down 25 lbs. So hopefully this year I will fit back into them. I also had two fans in this closet. We only need one for company. I can use one in the kitchen when it is extremely hot. Hubby is going to have a fan installed in the ceiling there after all our ceilings are painted.

I wanted to get this mess cleaned up and I did. I knew that my family would come one day this weekend and while West was here I wanted him to put some bags in the basement for me along with anything that is here that could be stored down there. I also had two 70 lb. boxes of litter that I was storing in this bedroom. It was just too heavy for Hubby and I to store in the basement. So he stacked them in the laundry room where I keep Eloise’s box. Be aware that when you are almost 80 you do not have the strength to do the things you did at 70. I could have lifted these just 3 years ago. I could have run six errands a day just three years ago. Now it tires me out just thinking about it.

Now it is neater. A lot of things are in the car to be donated and some items got thrown away. Just my foodsaver on the shelf because I don’t like leaving it on the kitchen counter, two large pots for cooking large quantities for canning, and a big bowl to make salads that we bring to parties and cookouts.

The clothes got all squished together to leave room for company to hang their clothes.

We have a lot of art work that was expensive that we are not using in this house. Some day I will take the time to sell it. Storing it in the basement would ruin it.

I keep some canning jars in there so that I don’t always have to run to the basement to get a case. They have been organized and ready to go soon.

Lastly my canner and a basket of extra plates are on the floor. There is enough room for company to keep a pair of shoes or slippers in there.

Today, I hope to work on the dresser and end table in this room.

My son called on Thursday night to tell us that they were coming out yesterday to visit Hubby for Father’s Day. My son had the day off and my grandson is finished with school except for two more Regents exams next week.

I cooked sausage for Hubby and West, salmon for my son and I, French toast, and eggs for us for breakfast. By the time, I did all the cooking and dishes I was exhausted. My back was not holding up well. They stayed a few hours to chat. West drove out here and back. It is amazing to me that he is old enough to drive. It is a 60 mile trip each way. He does well on the thruway. He was born a month after we moved back to NY from AZ. He is so grown up now and will be in college in 2 years. Time flies!

After they left, we watched the USA vs. Australia soccer game. I was glad that they won.

Hubby wanted chicken parmigiana for dinner. By the time I made it and some linguine, I was really beat. Fortunately, we have enough leftover for dinner tonight. Hubby still has steak leftover from dinner the other night so he will make a sandwich for brunch. I will have some eggs and steak-umms. After dinner we will have no leftovers in the fridge which is a good thing.

I have been really watching the beef prices. I believe that beef is in such a shortage that it is just going to get more and more expensive. So that is what I am concentrating on buying. I got that 8 lbs. of organic ground beef on a sale at Aldi’s last week. I have found a sale on NY strips steaks starting next week. Since we don’t have many in the freezer, I will be getting those. Since we have been eating mostly from our stockpile, I have a lot of leftover money in our 2026 budget to stock on beef when I see a good sale.

I want to wish everyone’s Hubby a Happy Father’s Day tomorrow. I hope you all have a great day!

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

While I drink my second cup of homemade cinnnamon roll coffee, it is time to chat with you.

It has been a fun week. We went with our neighbors to the Hilltop Restaurant on Tuesday for dinner. It is a nice place with good food. We had never been there before. Our waitress was phenominal. She was so attentive but not overbearing. We had a great time.

Last week, our neighbors had us over to dinner again. They smoked burgers which were delicious. We now need to have them here. My back isn’t quite up to it yet. We will invite them soon.

Our other meals this week have been chicken salad and chicken on a Caesar salad. I was trying to use up cooked chicken that was in the freezer. Hubby grilled strips steak outside last night. I mixed up a salad from a kit to go with them. We always have some steak leftover so this morning, I heated up some slices with butter and garlic. I ate 3 eggs over easy with it. Hubby wasn’t hungry but later he ate a steak sandwich. He will eat his leftover Cuban sandwich for dinner from our dinner out. I will either have a cheeseburger or a cup of soup. We are trying really hard to make sure all of the leftovers get eaten. Waste not want not.

The only grocery shopping this week was at Niagara Produce. I bought 1 dozen extra large eggs for $ .99 and 6 tomatoes on the vine at $1.99 a lb.

I do have a coupon for $3.00 off Bubba Burgers at B.J.’s. I have a doctor’s appointment next week and I can stop there on the way home. But that will be it unless I see a great deal on beef. Fingers crossed. We have decided that except for beef or an absolute necessity, we are not buying food.

I washed and hung a load of laundry yesterday. My electric and gas bill will be here on June 20th. The company sent us an e-mail to let us know that we had a huge spike in electricity usage. We laughed because of course we did. We turned our A/C on for a about 5 days. The night that they sent the e-mail, we turned it off again. It has been cool again with hardly any humidity except when it rains. If we keep the windows closed the humidity inside is not bad. Do you think they will send an e-mail to let me know my usage is down? I doubt it!

Eloise has been letting me sleep past 5AM almost every morning now. This morning when I got up at 5:30AM(slept 9 hours and 38 minutes) she was wedged against our door. We evidently had a bad storm last night with lots of wind and rain. She was terrified. I couldn’t get her to move from that spot even though I was going to feed her. She finally ate and then sat in my or Hubby’s lap for 2 hours. The sun is out right now but we may get more rain later. But I haven’t been this rested in 2 years. The past week I am able to get some things done because I have the energy.

While Hubby is watching the World Cup soccer games today, I am going to go through the rest of my rooms and get rid of anything that we don’t want, haven’t used, or needs to be thrown out. Anything that is still good will be donated. I also need to update my pantry inventory. It has gotten away from me while my back is acting up. The only way I can do anything is by using a back pain patch and downing some Advil.

I ordered 2 boxes of 72 Delectables from Chewy for Eloise. She was on her last box. I had a $30. gift card that they gave me on a prior deal. So that helped with the cost.

We have a lot of company coming this summer and in the fall. So I will be doing the dressers and closets in those guest rooms first. I will take some pictures of the before and after so that you can see what I am doing. I will either add to this post today or start a new one tommorow.

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

I could not believe my eyes when I looked at the clock this morning when Eloise got me up. It was 5:30AM. I got 8 hours of sleep last night. Today has been productive because I am well rested. I hope this continues.

While drinking my coffee this morning, I got a lot of paperwork done. They were all things that I had been procrastinating about. They are all done now.

Amazon delivered me a package at 7:45AM. this morning. I ordered it last night. There is a warehouse which is not too far from me. Hubby said he needed to replace a solar light in our back garden that was broken. He had me order a 4 pack because evidently you need more lights in the garden. They do light up part of our backyard. I used $ 15.70 in rewards so that helped to defray the cost.

I put some laundry away that I had hung to dry. I picked up the things that I needed to make homemade laundry detergent yesterday when I picked up a prescription for Hubby. I will be making an Amish recipe that they have been making for years. It is safe for my HE washer. Here is the recipe: Stop Buying Laundry Detergent — The Amish $0 Recipe That Lasts a Full Year

With the laundry detergent prices so high, this will be a great money saver. I will be mixing some up and putting it in one of my canning jars. I ignore the $0 recipe on the video. Of course, it will cost you the ingredients but it should last for a very long time.

I vacummed the hallway and laundry room which is where Eloise mostly tracks her litter. Then I cleaned a spare bedroom.

Then it was time for brunch. I cooked up some fresh broccoli, 3 pieces of Canadian bacon, and 3 eggs over easy. I ate all of this. It may seem to be a lot of food for some people but it keeps me satiated so that I don’t eat anything again until dinner. It is carnivore with a little broccoli added that makes it Keto.

Hubby cooked his food. He had canned corned beef which he loves. He ate half of it and will eat the leftovers tomorrow. We rarely eat the same breakfast.

The rest of the day I worked in my food pantry.

Has anyone here ever cooked these? Hopefully you can read the directions. I purchased these a couple of years ago when I was stockpiling. I got them for so cheap that I bought 15 boxes. That was mistake #1. I should have bought one and tried it first. But the price was so good, I was afraid they would be gone fast. I cooked one a year or so ago and it was awful. I followed the directions perfectly and the potatoes did not get soft. Do you have any thoughts on what I can do to make them softer? Should I soak the potatoes first? The potatoes are dehydrated. I hate to throw them out because I don’t like waste. They are in mylar so they should still be okay to eat. But if I can’t figure out how to make them taste better, I will have to toss them. Lesson learned!

It is time to go make dinner. I am roasting a housin marinated pork tenderloin. I will have broccoli for a side and Hubby will have a salad.

Hubby got some pictures of the two baby foxes in our yard today. As soon as he gets them online, I will show you them.

I hope you all have a very nice evening.

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Every Day

Things We Will No Longer Purchase

With prices constantly rising for food, personal care, and household goods, these are the things that we will no longer be purchasing.

Chicken legs: The one meal serving that we have left, I am throwing out. I know most people can get them for $.99 a lb. and under. However, there is barely any meat on them and the last package I bought the skin would not crisp up even in the air fryer. It makes me wonder what they are washing them with or injecting into them. So for our safety, I am tossing them.

Bread: I have a bread maker. I will use up the bread that I bought this week for French toast for family and that is it. Bread has gotten really expensive and the quality has gone down. Have you noticed that both hamburger and hot dog rolls and sesame rolls fall apart when you eat them with your meat? I have also noticed that any kind of bread except fresh from the bakery lasts for weeks. No mold! Why is that? I have found recipes for making hamburg and hot dog rolls so I will make my own.

Personal Care Products: Conditioner, toothpaste and floss( I get plenty of samples from the dentist.), nail polish, and body wash. My hair gets oily when I use conditioner. I use bar soap in the shower and bathtub. It is cheaper and lasts a lot longer. I find Ivory soap and Dove soap to be the best.

Magazines and Books: I can read current magazines at the library. I can borrow books and read them online through my library.

Fast Food: We go out to local restaurants with friends once a month. We can get a meal for just a little bit more than we would pay for fast food and the quality is much better. The fast food restaurants are not going to survive between their high prices, poor quality food, and expecting a tip now. When we are not out with friends we cook at home except for our anniversary and birthdays. The only exception is getting take out Chinese once in a while from our local restaurant.

Energy Drinks: They have gotten so expensive and I have decided they are not that healthy for us.

Some Laundry Products: I haven’t bought dryer sheets in years. We rarely use our dryer. I only buy laundry detergent and Oxyclean. I put a tablespoon of the Oxyclean in each load along with my liquid detergent. Any stains easily come out.

Candles: I always bought scented but I can’t tolerate the smells anymore. We also don’t want Eloise around them.

Movie Tickets: The last time I bought tickets was when Alexa was little and wanted to see a Disney movie. She is 19 now so that was many years ago. There are so many streaming services now that I get free through Spectrum that we don’t need to go out ever for a movie.

Wrapping Paper: I have a huge roll of brown paper that I use that for wrapping gifts.

Cleaning supplies: I still have some left but when they run out I will make my own.

We have quit buying seasoning packets and gravies. We make our own taco and fajita seasonings. Just search online and you can find recipes for almost any that you would buy.

We used to use a lot of paper towels. I replaced them with microfiber cloths. I use about 1-2 rolls a year just to drain bacon.

We have a bidet so we only use about a roll and a half of toilet paper a month. I was thinking about getting a bidet for the guest bathroom but we don’t have enough company during the year to make it worth the price.

That’s enough for today. I have a lot of work to do around here that got neglected while my back was hurting.

What are you no longer buying?

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That

I went to Niagara Produce this week to get 4 dozen eggs to fill up my 5 dozen container in the refrigerator. They were still on sale for $.99 each. I also purchased fresh broccoli crowns( $1.49 a lb.) for $ 1.59 to cook as a side for a couple of dinners this week. I always check for marked down meat. While I was looking, I saw this package of on sale cheese and parsley Italian sausage. It was $3.99 a lb. so it cost $ 7.14. This will give us two homemade meals: a pasta one and a pizza one. My total was $ 12.69.

Then I went to Aldi’s to get sliced mushrooms for $ 1.29 for burgers this week and peppers($2.55) to make fajitas last night for dinner. I also got the flour tortillas for $ 1.95 for the fajitas. The organic ketchup was $2.15. The cantaloupe was $ 2.49 and the brioche buns were $3.99. I picked up 2 more butter at $2.89 lb. to add to my freezer stash. The frozen California Medley vegetables were $ 1.15. My total was $21.65.

I stopped at Panera Bread and purchased the dozen bagels Tuesday deal for $9.99 using my Panera giftcard that I purchased 3 to 4 years ago on the Top’s deal at Christmas. They give you 13 bagels so I got 7 asiago cheese and 6 cinnamon crunch. I froze most of them for future meals.

Top’s was my second to last stop. We rarely buy cereal but we do use Rice Chex in our party mix so I picked up 2 boxes on sale for $3.00 a box. The Kraft salad dressings were on sale for $ 3.00 each. We eat a lot of salads in the spring and summer so I am now stockpiled on dressings. The Skinny Pop was a treat for me. It cost $ 3.50. I got 2 Peter Pan peanut butter on sale B1G1F so it was $3.69 for 2 of them. We love this for a snack with celery. The Smithfield pork tenderloins were on B1G1F for $ 9.99 for both. We will cook these on the grill for a couple of meals this summer. The leftovers will get used in pork fried rice. The grapes were on sale for $1.88 a lb. so I paid $ 3.42 for $ 1.82 lbs. They will be used in chicken salad and for snacking. The bread was on sale for $ 2.99. I use this for French toast for my grandson and Hubby on Sundays when we are all together for breakfast. The cheddar cheese block was $ 1.88. My total for all was $ 37.47 minus my 6% senior discount of $ 2.25. So OOP was $35.22.

My last stop was at Consumer Beverage where I returned bottles for $6.00 which I used to defray the cost of a 24 pack of Yuengling Lager that cost $22.99 plus bottle deposits of $1.20 – $6.00 plus $ 1.84 in tax totaled $20.03. I am also submitting an $ 8.00 rebate. This is Hubby’s treat after he is done mowing the lawn.

We needed food so I finally had to go shopping. The only way I could get through it was to use a lidocaine patch. But I was totally exhausted when I got home.

I submitted a $6.00 rebate for 3 bottles of Kendall Jackson wine.

We have not turned on the A/C yet even though we have had a couple of 80+ days. Our home has high ceilings so we stay pretty cool in here. We also have ceiling fans in 2 bedrooms, a portable fan in the 3rd bedroom, and ceiling fans in the breakfast room, which is where we eat all of our meals, the great room, and the office. We have only had to use select fans a couple of days.

Our landscaper replaced the tree that died since he planted it last fall. It was under a year warranty. It is a nice red maple and is a bit bigger than the one that died. I pray that this one survives.

What have you been doing to save a few dollars?

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Every Day

This is the First Day

This is the first day that I have been feeling well in quite a while. I apologize for the lack of posts but I had to rest and try to get some sleep so that I would feel better. My body needed it. Every once in a while my back issues pop up and that does not let me sit for long periods of time.

I will see how I feel later and possibly put up a post. I have caught up my comment to you Patti. I apologize to you and to Chris for not responding to your e-mail. I hope to do that later Chris.

Till then……………

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That To Save a Bit of Money

We have had so much rain since we had the sprinkler system opened for the season that we have not had to water the lawn even once. This is a huge savings if this keeps up every few days. We have forecasts of rain for this entire holiday weekend. We don’t mind since we have no plans to go anywhere or do anything outside.

Last year we spent $40. a piece for two hanging baskets for our front porch. Yesterday I found two beautiful ones at Niagara Produce that were very full for $ 24.99 each. I had made up my mind that I would not spend $40. each this year so I was happy to find these.

While I was at N.P., I picked up 2 dozen extra large eggs at $.99 a dozen. They had very few left which leaves me wondering if this deal is going away. I also got two on sale strip steaks($10.99) a lb.

I had to go to the bank first and then I went to B.J.’s where I bought a package of strip steaks($30.41 for 3), Canadian bacon($9.99), a large package of 85/15 ground beef($26.87) 6 beefsteak tomatoes($6.99), a roasted chicken($4.99), and 4 port wine cheese($4.99 each) that Hubby loves. The strip steaks were more money a lb. here but they looked so much better than N.P.’s.

Wegman’s parking lot was full so I did not go there. I had planned on getting gasoline but every station must have pushed their prices up because of this holiday weekend. I will see if they come down this week and then fill up.

Our cherry tree has fruit ripening but they aren’t very big this year. I am hoping to pick them before the birds eat them all like they did last year.

Hubby cleaned and serviced our riding lawn mower including sharpening the blades. It is too expensive to have the John Deere place do it. I also had him pick up extra oil for the lawnmower because finding it is becoming an issue.

I have stopped buying oil sprays for baking. I am saving my butter wrappers to use instead to grease the baking pans.

Hubby wants meatloaf tonight. I had a container with a few onions in it so I threw them in and added bread crumbs, spices, an egg, and a small can of tomato sauce. It is topped with 5 slices of bacon. It is in the oven now. He will have tater tots with it. I am going to have a few slices of tomato with mine. This meatloaf should make us 2 meals and perhaps a lunch for him.

Today I scanned all of my recent receipts into Fetch. I am saving for giftcards to use for Christmas presents.

I made out a Kendall-Jackson rebate form for $8.00 for wine I purchased as a gift and to have on hand for company .

My pain patches for my back when it acts up so that I can get through my day were in low supply. I have always purchased them from Walmart. Someone told me that they were cheaper at Amazon. I checked prices both places. Walmart had the best price if you bought in bulk. I ordered 120 patches for $28.00. That is dirt cheap! They will get used because Hubby uses them sometimes too.

I am researching Mystery Shopping for my area. I used to do a lot of shops for a large company when I lived in Arizona. I am going to try to get into doing it again here.

I just threw a load of wash in. I put our brushes in a produce bag that I use for this purpose only. I tie it up nice and tight so the hair does not get into my machine. The washing machine does a great job of cleaning them and I can clean the hair out of the bag afterward.

Dinner is almost ready so it is time to eat.

I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend.

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Every Day

Electric and Gas Bill Update

We got our bill yesterday that covered the period from April 22 – May 19th. I was shocked because it was only $ 214.12. My last bill was $296.77.

This period we used 397 KWH’s. It is the lowest usage we have had in months. Our natural gas usage was 54 ccf’s.

The same period last year the bill was $225.23. So we are down just a little bit.

But that is not the news of the day. I know we have all grown to hate our energy providers. But here is a couple of recent examples of why I hate mine:

NYS sets temporary rate increase for NYSEG | News 4 Buffalo

Now that the good weather is here and they won’t rake in enough money for their profits, they have gotten this temporary increase in rates. It is ridiculous. It is just the beginning. It means they will probably get more in a permanent increase in a few months.

So with this new “temporary increase”, our summer bills will significantly go up if we use our A/C. You can bet I will do everything in my power to keep our A/C turned off and do most of our cooking outside to keep the heat out whether that be using small appliances or cooking on our grill. I have to wonder what they have in store for next fall and winter.

Then there is this: NYSEG correcting customer bills after temperature data error found | wgrz.com

Was this deliberate and they hoped no one would notice? Well thank you to the TV station for noticing and following up on this. Why wasn’t the Public Service Commission questioning this?

Our energy provider is owned by a company in Spain which is ridiculous. There is no real oversight.

This is just another example of a company parting you from the money in your wallet. There seems to be a lot of this going around on everything.

Are you getting these kinds of rate hikes from your energy provider?

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Every Day

Living on Less to Save Some Dollars

Are you sick and tired of all of these price increases on everything? I know that I certainly am. It is time to really start ramping up our frugality even more than we do now.

Finally, we were able to turn the heat off. We have gone from winter to summer this weekend. Right now(5AM) it is 77 in my home. It is comfortable. That is because we kept the windows closed and the shades and blinds drawn on the windows where the sun was coming in yesterday. It was 89 and humid and the overnight temperature is only going down to 67. Today the high is supposed to be around 84 but much more humid However, we have not turned on the A/C. I would like to see how many days we can go without it. We used our ceiling fans to stay comfortable while we watched our hockey game last night and the ceiling fan is on overnight in our bedroom. We will use them in any room we spend time in today.

The results of me tracking when we turn things on that use electricity is showing me that the worst offender is the dryer. I used it the other day to dry some sheets and towels and that is what is spiking my kwh’s. It is incredible how much it uses. Fortunately, I hang a lot to dry. I wish I had a place to hang these big things but I don’t.

Did you hit your Memorial Day Sales this week? I went on Sunday and bought 6 lbs. of ground beef for $ 4.29 a lb. which I will be taking back today because the meat is bad, 3 lbs. of Sahlen’s hot dogs for $10.99 only to find out that Niagara Produce has them on sale for $9.99. I will be going there and stocking on a few more packages to get us through the summer. I also purchased a 6 lb. package of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 a lb., a 30 oz. jar of Hellmann’s mayonnaise using a digital coupon for $ 3.79, and 3 32. oz. bottles of Heinz Ketchup for $3.99 each.

I have been taking inventory of the food in our home and I will be trying to fill in the necessary gaps this week. We have used quite a bit of our pantry foods since January. But we still have a lot to go through. We are carefully rotating the items we are using by date- the oldest gets eaten first.

So sometime this week, I will fill in those gaps. I have a trip planned to BJ’s in another town to get produce, 2 of their roasted chickens at $ 4.99 each, and stock on a cheese spread they have that Hubby loves to put on wheat thins or triscuits. One of the roasting chickens will be kept on warm in the crockpot for dinner that night. The other will go in the fridge. I will cut up all of the meat except for our dinner that night into portions for future meals and freeze them. The bones and skin will be put into the crockpot to simmer in water in the garage all night. Then I will have my bone broth for soup. On the way down I will quickly stop at N.P. to see what their produce looks like and how much it costs there on the fresh things that we need. I will buy 2 more dozen extra large eggs for $.99 each. I will also pick up the Sahlen’s hot dogs. I will then compare their produce prices with B.J.’s and buy whatever looks healthy and costs less at each of those stores. I can quickly run back in again on my way home to N.P. if need be.

I will also stop into Wegman’s and Trader Joe’s to look at their meat and produce and gather some prices for my price book.

Last stop will be to get gas to fill up the car. My cash station is $ 4.39 a gallon. BJ’s is $ 4.37. However, Top’s is $4.49 a gallon. I will have to check and see how many gas points I have. It is rare for these three stations to be this close together on price.

After those trips, I will not be buying much. I am getting really tired of making the billionaire corporations richer and richer and then listening to them whine about how people aren’t spending much these days and when they do they are buying store brands. Here is my tip for the big guys. Lower your prices and perhaps more people will come in and shop! I know all the reasons everyone is giving for all of the price increases but I still think they are somewhat gouging us also because they can use those excuses. BTW, Walmart announced that they are removing all of the self checkouts because of all of the theft in their stores. They say it is millions of dollars a month. They also said they are laying off 1000 executive people because not as many people are shopping or buying as much as they used to.

Since it is so hot here, I will be bringing my Yeti cooler with me. I don’t want anything I buy to go bad. My travel mug will be filled with ice and water to keep me cool and hydrated. I also always keep protein bars in the car in case I get hungry while I am out.

We will be eating what we have in our home. Prices are getting so high on food that I won’t pay for most things. If I do any shopping it will only be for a great meat deal (on any beef) or something that is a necessity like produce. If produce prices skyrocket this summer, we will go without except for an occasional tomato to make BLT’s with. Many times the frozen fruits and vegetables cost less than the fresh. I will be comparing prices. I am hoping that when our local crops come in season that there are some better prices than what we are seeing now on shipped in items.

We are also rationing our food by eating the proper portions.

We are trying to get our electricity bill down. We will keep the A/C off as much as we can. We will cook outside on the grill when we can. Crockpots and other small appliances can be used outside or in the garage. That will keep the heat out of the house. I have also stopped using the blow dryer to dry my hair. That also spikes the kwh’s. The same goes for the curling iron. I just brush it and let it dry by itself. We will have our new bill on May 21st. I will let you know about it soon.

Our cellphone company is offering internet now. Hubby is researching it. So far it looks like it would save us $49. a month unless our cable company ups our bill when we cancel it. We will still keep the home phone and cable TV. To me that is a bundle but they may up the price.

I am off to cook 3 lbs. of bacon. I will undercook it so that I can freeze it in portions and then reheat it in the microwave. Some will be kept in the fridge to reheat with our eggs this week.