Category: Every Day

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Every Day

In My Quest for Bare Bones

Over the weekend, I thought a lot about my quest to stay bare bones. I spent some more time updating my stockpile list with pantry items and refrigerator items. Hopefully, I will be done with that in a few days. I am only spending about an hour a day working on that. I already have the freezers’ list done.

In order to use up what we have already spent money on, this is an important inventory to keep. The last thing that I want to do is end up with freezer burned meat or expired food. It has also helped me make a list of canned goods that I want to purchase for the winter. So many canned goods are becoming scarce in our stores. When I can find what I need I will purchase them. The prices have already gone up and I think as things get more scarce, the prices will climb even higher. When and if they climb to a price that I will not pay, we will just go without them. There are always things we can substitute and do differently. 

We have a small seating area in the front of our home. It has always had 2 chairs and a small table. Hubby and I enjoy sitting out there when the weather permits. Many neighbors stop by but we have to scrounge up chairs if they want to stay and visit for a while. This happened on Friday night. So I grabbed a spare chair from our office and a chair from our dining set out on the patio. This wasn’t ideal but it worked. Hubby had saved two of the best chairs from our old dining set which were stacked in our locked shed. He decided on Saturday to put those in the seating area and to put the two that we had been using in a corner of the garage to be able to easily access them when company comes by. Those chairs are smaller to store. The seat cushions on the chairs he put in front are satisfactory and comfortable for now. But we will have to replace them in the next year or so. I will be on the lookout for a good deal on those.

Using the ads that came in the Sunday paper yesterday, I have made my bare bones grocery list for Senior Citizen’s discount (6% off) day tomorrow at Top’s. My son was looking my list over and said it looked good. He wanted to know why I crossed off so many items. I told him they were unnecessary items that I wanted but did not really need. There was a great price on the frozen pizza that Hubby likes but he also likes my homemade pizza just as much. So the pizzeria frozen one got crossed off. Shrimp was on sale but I have so much fish that needs to be eaten so shrimp was not really important. Pasta sauce is cheap with coupon but I can make a huge  homemade batch for just pennies using a large can of tomato sauce, some paste, and some spices.

I had put some fresh local veggies on my list but I still have some to use up in the fridge so we will eat those before we get more. 

I thought I needed Scotties but while counting my stockpile ones, I found I had 18 boxes so they are not necessary right now. So they got crossed off. If I run out before we get more, we both have handkerchiefs. 

Hubby has been working on a project on our shed. he bought shims because the shed needed to be jacked up in areas and the shims put under. From settling, there are areas that need this. He and my son tried to jack it up a little yesterday but the crowbar broke. Hubby can not find his car jack so my son will bring his next weekend. In past winters and springs we have had critters live under the shed. A groundhog did a bunch of damage to the lawn near the shed because he dug there. Hubby has repaired that but he is putting wire fencing between the ground and where the shed begins to keep them from living under there. He will be working on that today. 

My son and Hubby also told me yesterday that they think a mouse is living in a storage cabinet in the garage. I hate mice. Hubby said he would clean the nest out and clean up the mouse droppings. But I want to make sure it is gone for good. So when I put my thinking cap on, I realized that the sticky boards that I use to keep bugs out are for mice too. So we put sticky boards down in front of the cabinet in hopes of catching the mouse or mice. I will check those later this morning. 

I was going to wash a load of laundry this weekend but realized that it wasn’t quite a full load so I put it off til I have a full load.

My “jet dry” was gone in my dishwasher. The light came on to alert me so I filled it up with the usual vinegar as my “jet dry”.  

We have an on demand water heater. So I took a shower right after Hubby this weekend to use up the hot water that was still in the pipes before it cooled down. 

We are so happy that it is supposed to rain 3 days this week because we probably will not have to use the sprinkler system this week. We need rain badly.

I am off to make some phone calls. We got two bills in the mail this weekend and they are both incorrect.

I hope you all have a great day! 
 

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Every Day

What Do I Mean By Bare Bones?

Bare bones is ONLY essential expenses. I consider them to be mortgage payments or rent, utilities(water, electricity and natural gas), transportation( car payment, gasoline and maintenance), from scratch food made with actual ingredients(no processed food), basic health and paper items(like toilet paper) taxes, medications, and medical insurance if you can afford to keep it. In my estimation, car insurance, homeowners or renter’s insurance, and life insurance are also essential expenses. They are things either mandated by law or that would not be to your benefit to let lapse.

Take a look at all of your last three month’s of spending. If you haven’t tracked it, then look at your checkbook register or bank statements and credit card statements to see what you have been spending your money on.

All other spending except for those mentioned in the first paragraph are non essentials. Clothing is not essential unless you have nothing to wear. Eating fast food, going out to restaurants and stopping at Starbucks or anywhere else for coffee is definitely not essential unless you were gifted a gift card that will cover the total cost. Going on vacation is not an essential item nor is buying home decor or kitchen utensils for your home. Going to the movies, sports games and concerts is not essential.

Cable TV is not essential if you have had a loss in income. Nor is Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, etc. The first two you pay monthly and can cancel. If you have Amazon Prime, you can cancel at any time and they will refund your money for the months you have left on your membership. Magazine subscriptions, the daily newspaper,  warehouse store subscriptions, and gym memberships should be cancelled. Some kind of telephone, whether it be landline or cellphone, is essential. The most expensive plan is not. 

I am not giving up cable TV, Hulu or Amazon Prime because I have not had a loss in income. If you have, you should consider cancelling them. 

Question each and every purchase. Am I buying something that is really unnecessary? Can that money be used for something that is basic to your survival? Will it help keep the lights, heat or A/C on? Will it buy oil, flour, fruits and veggies, dairy products or some more meat? Do whatever you have to to make sure that you have all of the basic expenses paid. Look at each and every penny that is being spent and decide whether it is really important to do it.  

I will be scrutinizing our expenses until at least the end of 2019 to be able to get to our goal of not touching savings and investments to pay for upcoming expenses that are important to us. 

Come and join me. You don’t have to let anyone know that you are doing this. Just do it!   

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Every Day

Going Bare Bones

This is not going to be a savings on utility post today. Instead I want to tell you that we are cutting our budget to the bare bones for the next couple of months and why.

You all know that we are retired so we have a fixed amount of income every month. This amount comes from many years of savings and investments, a pension, and social security. So we know how much we have to spend and we try not to spend it every month so that we continue to invest and save. Many of our friends spend down their income each month now that they are retired. We still live as frugally as we always did. We don’t waste our money but rather we buy when we have a need and just a few wants. It is still a joy to watch our savings and investment income go up month after month. It is a joy to know that we have enough to live out our lives and be comfortable. It is a goal to leave our family an inheritance like we never had.

As I have told you before, I grew up poor. I didn’t know it at the time because there was always barely enough. But when we got married so young, I knew we had to make every dollar count. There are times when we tighten our belts and times when we loosen it. 

Right now it is a time to tighten it! Even though we have the money we need in savings and investments, we want to save the money we need over the next few months out of our monthly amount so that we don’t have to touch those savings and investments.


We already started building that up over the past couple of months but we have not gone bare bones. Now we will and I will tell you why.


You all know that we charge some expenses every month on two major credit cards to reap the rewards. One stipulation that we have for the use of credit cards is that we never pay interest. When we get our bill every month, we pay it in full when it is due.


The past couple of months, those credit card amounts have gone up because expenses have been higher. I needed a large clothing purchase because of my diet, we have some household projects and repairs in the works, we had some travel and associated costs with that, and we had about $3,000. in dental bills out of pocket. It would have been more if we hadn’t purchased a dental discount plan which was $1147. for a year. Last months credit card bills totaled over $2900. which were paid in full. This month’s credit card bills totaled over $4600. I have sent in the payment for the largest one which was over $3600. The other credit card will get paid when it is due in a few days. We continue to pay no interest.

We have school taxes due again in September. They will be just under $5,000. We save all year for those but I would like to be able to not withdraw from those savings to pay them if possible. Time will tell if we can do it.

We have dental appointments again this month. I do know that Hubby needs some major work so we will have more high bills. 

We want to save over a $1,000. for large rock bottom food purchases at Thanksgiving to restock our freezer. You all know that certain items go to rock bottom once a year and Thanksgiving gives us many of those prices.

We continue to eat from our freezer and pantry stockpiles so that we will have room to stock up on those sales. Since we have enough food to eat only from the stockpiles the next couple of months, I will not be buying much food. Matter of fact, every food purchase on my lists will be scrutinized and crossed off if I deem it unnecessary. 

In November, I want to stock up on turkeys because we love turkey, it is on my diet, and they are at the cheapest price all year. Plus you all know that it is a great time to stock on canned soups, stuffing, and lots of other items. Christmas will bring great prices on hams which I will also stock up on. My goal is to eat a lot of $.49 to $.99 a lb. turkey and under a $1.00 per lb. ham next year. That is the cheapest meat I can buy. I know some of you can stock on $.39 a lb. chicken quarters. We don’t get those prices here in the Northeast. 

We also have many birthdays in the Fall leading right up to Christmas. I want to build a large fund for those gifts. And we will have property taxes to pay in January of about $4700. We had an increase in our assessment for both property and school taxes. With new building in our housing development, those assessments will continue to go up. Our town reassesses every year or two. 

So I will keep you updated on the many things we are doing to keep our everyday costs low. I would like the credit card bills to be just bare bones the next couple of months. And I really mean I will cut them to the bone!

If you have goals that you are saving for whether it be for a house, college fund, retirement savings, Christmas gifts, charity giving, etc., join me in making a goal to do what needs to be done. If your income has been reduced or you have been laid off from a job, join me in going bare bones and doing what has to be done to stay afloat. 

What are some of your goals for the next few months?

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Every Day

Frugal Things We Have Done This Past Week

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

– I mailed a package at UPS with a few items to my granddaughter. I used my AAA membership to get a 5% off discount of $.56. Those pennies add up!

– Remember that switch that the A/C company didn’t have on the truck when they came to fix the A/C? Well, we got a quote in the mail Thursday informing us that it will cost $239. to replace it. That is after the guy coming out without a switch on his truck and charging us $139. What a rip off! Hubby looked up the cost to us for a switch and it is $5.39. He bought the switch we needed and will fix it himself. 

– Since I needed to fill up our car with gasoline at Top’s after all of our trips recently, I stopped into Top’s to pick up some items that I did not realize were on a great sale when I shopped a week ago Monday. I got three boxes of Angel Hair pasta for $.69 each and Folger’s coffee for $ 1.99. The Folgers coffee was limit 1. Hubby stopped at Top’s when he went by on his way to the barber and got another can of coffee.

– Since our A/C was off I cooked 2 turkey tenderloins along with two baked potatoes in our toaster oven in the kitchen. I love one pan meals. The turkey will give us 4-6 meals and the potatoes will accompany 2 of them for Hubby.

– Being an organized person and doing things in advance, I checked our stash of candy and gum for Halloween. I have determined that we have enough and I do not have to buy anymore. Everything was purchased either for free or at a deep discount.

– Someone thought it would be fun to put their empty Coke can in our mailbox. I laughed and added it to our bag of deposit cans and bottles.

– I took a full bag of bottles and cans to Fast Cash and received $ 1.05 in deposits back.

– In the same plaza as Fast Cash is Panera Bread. I stopped and purchased 6 bagels for Hubby. I used  one of my gift cards that I purchased at a discount two years ago to pay for them. I kept two bagels out for Hubby to eat the next couple of days. I froze the other 4 bagels in two’s using “used” Ziplocs. Yes, I wash them out and use them over and over again if they have not had meat in them.

– Rather than purchase flavored cream cheese, Hubby made some cinnamon flavored with a block of plain cream cheese that I had, some cinnamon, a little milk, and some Equal.


– I also had a free pastry on my Panera Bread account that was expiring tomorrow. I surprised Hubby with a vanilla roll bun for brunch. He loved it.

-One of our outside faucets broke. Hubby went to the hardware store and purchased the part for $ 2.50 and repaired it. 

– I washed just one load of sheets and towels and a full load of clothing last week. I hung everything except the towels to dry.


– I surveyed our produce drawers and noticed that I had red, yellow, and orange peppers left that needed to be used up very quickly. I used them to make a chicken stir fry for dinner that night. 

– Hubby needed to buy Shims for a project in our backyard. I used $ 9.53 in rewards at Amazon to get the bill down to $5.04.

– I got rebates in the amount of $ 6.00 this past week.

– I had enough points on one of my rewards credit cards to get a cash back credit of $100.

– We had some more stones come loose on the house. Hubby is doing the work to cement them back in place. This DIY saves us a couple of hundred dollars. 

– I made another bottle of lens cleaner using rubbing alcohol and water.  

– At one time, I had about 4 pair of reading glasses. All but three have broken over the years. Rather than buy expensive ones online, I went to Dollar Tree and found ones that were as good as I had. I purchased 3 of them for just $1.00 a piece.  

– I spent some time organizing shampoos, body washes, and deodorants that were down in the basement. I put them in locker boxes and brought them upstairs. They now have taken up residence on the shelves in my master closet. They are closer to the bathroom where we use them. I know that I have 12 bottles of shampoo, 14 body wash, and 15 deodorant for us. So it will be a long time before I will be purchasing any of these things unless they are free after coupons.

You will notice that most of my frugal things are little ones that happen all of the time and they add up to big bucks over a year or years.  That is because the big ones only come along once in a while. For example: When we switched auto and homeowners to a different company a year ago. Or if YOU have a mortgage and pay PMI and your house value has gone up enough to own 20% of your home, so you call and have it removed. 


So please share with us what you did to be frugal this past week.

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Every Day

What We Ate and Grocery Shopping

We are still sticking to simplicity with our summer meals. So this is what we ate this past week:

Salmon and Broccoli – 2 dinners ( Since Hubby does not like salmon, he had haddock.)

Cheeseburgers, Dill Pickle strips, applesauce – 1 dinner (Hubby had his with onions on a bun. The mushrooms are mine.)

Turkey Tenderloin with gravy, Baked Potatoes, and Broccoli – 2 dinners 

Shaved Rib Eye Steak sandwiches, sliced apples – 1 dinner.(I had mine as a lettuce wrap with mushrooms. Hubby had his on a Kummelwick roll with sauteed onions and provolone cheese.)

Chicken Stir Fry with peppers and onions- 1 dinner.( I had mine on cauliflower rice. Hubby had his on regular rice.)  


Breakfasts were a variety of eggs, bacon, and sausage. Hubby did have a pastry one morning.

Lunches were leftover turkey and shaved steak on a salad or a sandwich. We always finish leftovers so as to not waste them. We occasionally skip lunch to fast. 


Since someone asked, we drink ice water with our meals.


I grocery shopped at Aldi’s and Top’s this past week. It was junk food week for Hubby. He had hardly any snacks left and he is a snacker.

Aldi’s:

1 case of diced tomatoes – $ .35 a can = $ 4.20

1 large can of coffee – $ 4.69

1 frozen broccoli – $.95

1 Raisins – $ 2.85

1 bag of fresh spinach – $ 1.39 

1 bag of mini cucumbers – $ 1.39

1 bag of pork rinds – $.79

1 bag of Nacho chips – $ 1.29

1 bag of tortilla rounds – $ .89

Total was $18.44.

Top’s:

1 celery – $ .88

2 tortilla rounds – B1G1F – $ 3.49 for both

1 dozen eggs – $ .69

2 boxes of Very Berry Cheerios – $ 3.79 each = $7.58

2 Orville Redenbacher Micro Popcorn – $ 4.99 each = $9.98

2 Kummelwick Rolls – $ .75 each = $ 1.50

1 Loaded Blue Bunny Sundae – $ .49

2 Fritos Dips – $ 2.99 each = $ 5.98

1 Frigo String Cheese – $ 2.00

6 Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea – $ 2.50 each = $15.00

I used 3 Top’s $1.00 Doubler coupons.

Total was $ 43.59. 


Hopefully this junk food will last Hubby for a while. The pork rinds are my snack when I want something crunchy.  I surprised him with the sundae as dessert one night. He was delighted.


We didn’t need the Crystal Light yet and it is always on sale for $ 2.50 each. However by buying 6, I got 200 extra gas points. I am trying to build our gas points up for the next time we need gas. Our reunion trip ate up our gas points. 

I hate it when Hubby waits until last minute to let me know that he is out of Very Berry cereal because I end up paying full price for it. Next time I see it on sale, I will stock. 

I purchased the tortilla rounds on sale at Top’s before I went to Aldi’s. I will be buying them at Aldi’s from now on since they are cheaper.  

Are any of you seeing food shortages at your markets? I am hearing of empty shelves with shortages of canned green beans, corn, and other veggies because of the bad weather in the midwest. Eventually this could hit frozen veggies too. I am stocked on those but I am going to be picking up canned veggies when I see them. We have quite a bit of green beans but there are other things we can use like the tomatoes. I don’t know if tomatoes will be in demand but I got them when I saw them. Prices will rise when there are shortages also. So stock up while you can for the winter. Let me know what you are seeing in your area.

Did you get any great grocery deals this week or cook something special? 

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Every Day

The Three Ways To Save

This is an easy concept that I have always remembered from Amy Dacyczyn’s “Tightwad Gazette” newsletters. Yes, I was one of the first subscribers of her newsletters back in the 1990’s. I had always been frugal but her newsletter helped me to stay motivated especially when we were paying for our two sons to go to private schools and to college and planning on an early retirement. She then wrote 3 books. All of the newsletters were compiled into a book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette . Even though it was written back then, the concepts in it are timeless.

But one concept has stuck with me and I use it everyday. It’s the three ways to save:

1. Buy it cheaper.

2. Make it last longer.

3. Use it less.

It can be applied to almost every product that you use. One of the examples in her book that I use all the time is the one on coffee. Even though she was not a coffee drinker at the time, I love my coffee so I have tried to use this concept over the years.

1. Buy it cheaper: At first I was buying cans of sale coffee when I would see a sale. Usually I would buy 2 cans. In later years we purchased a Keurig. We were buying K cups. It didn’t take me long to realize how expensive they were. So I went back to buying ground coffee to use in a refillable cup in the Keurig. Then I went on the hunt for the best sale price on coffee that I could find. I tracked the lowest price I paid and when I would see a better price than that, I would stock on 5 cans or whatever I could fit into my budget. I built a stockpile of rock bottom priced coffee. If the coffee had a coupon that was so much better. I have to disclose that I am not brand loyal. By the time I use creamer and Stevia or flavored SF syrup, any coffee tastes wonderful.  

This past week, Top’s had a sale on Folger’s coffee. It was $1.99, limit 1. There was no coupon but there are rarely any coupons on food anymore. I haven’t seen a price that low in years. I would have loved to get lots but I was not about to waste expensive gasoline just to go buy one can of coffee. That would not be very cost effective. So whenever I or Hubby went near a Top’s this week, we would stop and get a can. I ended up getting 2 cans for my stockpile. I now have a total of  4 cans of coffee in my stockpile. Some of the coffee is in my freezer to keep it fresh.

I have to do a disclaimer. Hubby has to drink decaf coffee and he loves his Green Mountain Breakfast Decaf K cups so I still buy those for him. After 52 years of marriage, I know when to pick a fight and this is not one of them. But I buy them at the best price I can find, usually on subscribe and save on Amazon. Will I be able to get him to use the refillable cup in the future? Maybe, maybe not. 

2. Make it last longer. I do this by reusing the grinds in my refillable cup. I mix them with fresh grounds for another cup. It tastes just as good as the first one. Instead of throwing the grinds out, I will keep them to use one more time. I just put them in an empty baby food jar in the fridge. Then at dinner, I put half in the cup and mix in fresh for the rest. 

3.Use it less. This I have slacked on since my surgery. I have been drinking more coffee than I should. So last week, I have cut down to one cup in the morning and one after dinner. I consider my dinner coffee as dessert. This will make my coffee stockpile stretch even further.

Another example would be cheap turkey or chicken.

1. Buy it cheaper: Buy 2 or 3(whatever your freezer has room for) turkeys at Thanksgiving when the prices are at rock bottom and cook them during the next year. I have paid as little as $.39 a lb over the last few decades and purchased as many as 6 turkeys. If you don’t have room for whole turkeys, cook more than one up and package the cooked meat, freeze, and use it in future meals. I used this method when I only had a freezer in my fridge even if I could only cook and fit two turkeys. 

If you don’t like turkey that much, then buy roasting chickens at the rock bottom price. I bought these last year for $ .79 a lb. which is a great price for our area. 

Use this concept for all poultry, meats and fish. You will save a fortune.

2. Make it last longer: Turkeys, chickens and roasts can be stretched into many meals. I have gotten 10 – 15 meals from a huge turkey. I would get 5 – 6 meals from one of these chickens. When you think you have gotten all the meat off that you can, then make stock and use the bits that come off in the cooking process to make a pot of soup that could last you another 2-3 meals. Freeze the rest of the stock in reused jars to use throughout the year.

3. Use it less. When it comes to meat, fish or poultry, use the portions that the FDA recommends. I don’t need more than 3-4 ounces of it and Hubby eats about 5 ounces. Our bodies don’t need more than that although we have been guilty at times of eating more.  

My last example is buying clothing as I lose weight.

1. Buy it cheaper. All of the clothing I have purchased recently for my in between weight has been purchased on sale. Much of it has been bought at the Ann Taylor Factory Outlet with sale prices of up to 60% off and coupon codes.  When I am down more sizes, I will resell it to recoup some of my money.

2. Make it last longer. I have been hand washing and hanging all of this clothing because I don’t want it to shrink before I lose the rest of my weight. Doing this will also let me keep it newer looking and help me recoup more money. I will most likely always hand wash and hang my clothes even when I get down to the size I want, especially anything delicate. Take good care of your clothing and it will last.

3. Use it less. I alternate all of the clothing I bought so as to wear them evenly and not have one wear out faster than another. I will continue to use this concept when I have my forever wardrobe. 

These are just a few examples but you can apply these principles to anything you purchase whether it be food, household products (use less cleaners, less shampoo, less conditioner, less laundry soap, less dish soap, etc.), clothing, shoes, furniture, carpeting and the list goes on and on.


Just think about all three of these ways to save each time you purchase or do anything. It will pay off in $$$$$ in the long run.

Do you have any examples of how you apply these principles? Please share with all of us.

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Every Day

The Deal of The Year

I love salmon but I don’t love the price. But because it is so healthy for me and it tastes so darn good, I try to keep a supply in the freezer.

The very best price I usually get it at is when it is on sale at Top’s for $ 10.99 a pound. That is when I stock.

However, Wednesday night on our weekly chat, my sister told me that she got salmon at Aldi’s this week for $ 7.69 a pound. I told her I had purchased it there before on sale and it was delicious. Since I only had a few pieces left in my freezer, I decided to go on the hunt to Aldi’s to look for this salmon on Thursday morning.

I found 3 whole ones which are pictured above. However I noticed as I looked at them that they were expiring on July 26th which meant today.  All three of them had the same expiration date and they were the only three they had.


So I picked all three up and put them in my cart. I put them at the end of my order as the cashier checked me out. I asked her to call a manager and to not ring up the salmon until after I talked with her.

The manager came over and I said to her ” These salmon all expire on July 26th which is tomorrow. Would you reduce the price to a reasonable one? If you do, I will buy all three.” She said to me “How about 1/2 price on each?” I didn’t think twice about it and they came home with me and are in my freezer. Note the reduction for each on my receipt.

I got 7.78 lbs. for $29.90 or $ 3.84 a pound. I didn’t hesitate because they looked good and I know that they have a guarantee that I can get my money back if one of them is not good. The manager told me just to hang onto the receipt. Guess what we had for dinner last night? It was delicious! 

I also picked up the three pack of the above pictured organic ground beef. It came with three packages connected. I cut the three apart to fit them in my freezer. The three pack was on sale for $4.49 a pound or $17.96 for all three. The total of the 3 packages was 4 lbs. I tell you this because the cashier decided that since there were 3 packages attached she must have to scan it three times. When she gave me the total I said something is wrong. The manager was still standing there and she said to the cashier, the total price of all three of the ground beef is $17.96. As you can see on my receipt, they charged me for three and then credited me back two. That would have been awfully expensive ground beef. So watch your prices when they ring up. If I hadn’t been talking to the manager about the salmon while the cashier rang up the ground beef, I would have caught it before the order was totaled.

I buy this normally in a 1 lb. package on sale at Aldi’s for $4.49. The three of these packages that were connected were larger than my norm so they were a total of 4 lbs. This is hands down the best ground beef we have ever purchased since the 1960’s. The flavor and texture is outstanding. I will never go back to purchasing other ground beef. 

The salmon deal made my day, week and month! Do you remember a deal that made your day?  

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Every Day

Saving on Utilites By Using Your Toaster Oven

My toaster oven saves us so much money. We use it for most meals instead of our large oven. Granted we are a family of two but I make meals for 2 nights in it sometimes.

We have small pans that fit in it. It even accommodates small foil pans that I can prepare meals in advance in and then freeze. It is so easy to just pull them out of the freezer when needed and put them in the toaster oven.

Not only do we make casseroles, roast meat and veggies in it but when Hubby wants a pizza, it fits nicely on a small pizza pan and cooks  beautifully in it. I have also baked cakes, brownies and a few cookies at a time in it. I have made biscuits too.

The cost to operate it is so much less than heating up the large oven. If I choose to use it when the A/C is on, I can easily transport it to the patio or garage and plug it in there so that I am not heating up the air in the house that the A/C just cooled down. 

I bought an expensive Breville and it has served us well for a long time. If it died tomorrow, I would replace it without even thinking about it. That is how much I love it. But there are many less expensive toaster ovens that you can use that will do the same thing.

So the next time, you go to turn your oven on, see if you can’t cook your item in the toaster oven and save  yourself some money. 

Do you have a toaster oven What do you cook in it?

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Every Day

Frugal Things We Have Done This Past Couple of Weeks

These are the things we have done frugally the past couple of weeks.

I signed up for free samples on Amazon. We got our first one. The writing on the packaging was rather hilarious.

On our reunion trip, we purchased no meals or drinks during the trip to our destination or coming home from it. We just ate snacks and drinks that I had packed at home. I had packed an assortment of chips, granola bars, organic Honeycrisp apples, almonds, candy bars, Baby Bella cheeses, mozzarella sticks, turkey pepperoni, avocados, Slim Jims, Parmesan Crisps, bottles of water, and bottles of Diet Snapple Raspberry Iced Tea.

We purchased no food or drinks of any kind at the hotel. My son and DIL were nice enough to feed us breakfast on Sunday before we returned home.

The Hilton Hotel cost us $123. a night for two nights and $5.00 a day for parking. Plus all of the taxes and surcharges that New York state adds on. I purchased the hotel through Priceline using a $5.00 off coupon and used Rakuten to get cash back and by using my rewards card, I also got cash back.

I brought home from the hotel the leftover body wash, lotion, shampoo, 2 K cups, and 2 non dairy creamer.

I used up the last $.20 off a gallon of my gasoline reward points to fill up the tank for our trip out. We used our EZ pass for all the Thruway trips which gives us a discount on tolls.

At the Buffalo Zoo we were able to pay the senior admission for the two of us and children’s admission for my granddaughter. I thought they might question me because she is so tall but they didn’t. These discounts saved us $7.00. Parking was $5.00 and saved us from parking on the street and then walking a long way. We brought plenty of iced water and snacks with us from home so we purchased nothing there.

At Niagara Falls, parking would have been $10.00. But on certain days, if you are a NYS resident and over 65 years of age, you park for free. It was a Tuesday and it happened to be one of those days. We also brought plenty of water and snacks with us.

I purchased the newest Samsung 10.1 tablet for Hubby on Amazon Prime day. We saved $30. over what it would have cost us prior. I also used my almost $20. in rewards cash to help defray the cost further and I earned 6% back in rewards. I had also purchased a $25. gift card to use and got a $ 5.00 promotional credit.

I purchased some Queen vinyls for my granddaughter earning 6% back in rewards. 

In my quest to be more frugal and intentional, I have been working on cutting back what I spend on household products. We use a lot of liquid soap in this house. Not only is it expensive but it seems like I am always buying it whenever I go to Walmart where up to now I had found the cheapest price. So I have been researching a cheaper price to buy it in bulk. On Amazon, I found that I could purchase a good quality soap with good ratings in bulk. I ordered 4 gallons for just $.07 an ounce and it will give me back reward cash. It also will last a while. The only down side is that it won’t arrive for a month but I think I have enough to last me until then. We are also being more intentional about using less of it.

I bought 2 LED 3 way bulbs, that are warrantied for 22 years, for our reading lamps online at Amazon for $19.95. At our hardware store, it would have cost me that for one.

I drink V8 juice quite a bit for breakfast. I was on my last bottle so I was looking for a great deal. I purchased the above pack of 24 for $ 6.16 at Amazon which was a superb deal.

We went to Russell’s Steakhouse , our favorite restaurant, for dinner one night.  It was a celebration with Alexa of our anniversary one week late. We received a gift certificate for Christmas. It covered all of the bill except for $20.74 plus a $35.00 tip. Alexa loves going there as much as we do.

I have problems with my hands when I use my tablet. I noticed that Alexa had a gadget on her cellphone that goes on the back and lets you hold it between your fingers. She told me that they sell them for tablets too and are called Pop Sockets. I purchased one on a Prime Day to get 6% back in rewards.


I read the electric and natural gas meters and submitted them to the company so that I wouldn’t get an estimated bill. We only used 450 KWH’s and 3 CCF’s of natural gas in the past month. Our bill was the smallest ever for a July one: $ 81.50. Of course, we had no A/C for three days but we also didn’t run it when it wasn’t needed.


We know that there was a power surge while we were away at the reunion because all of our clocks were flashing when we came home. We have had a lot of them lately especially when we have a storm. The A/C repairman told us that it is feasible that it could have blown out the switch on our A/C. 


The cost of the repair for the A/C was  $ 139.32 just to come out. They did not have a switch on the truck so he took the bad switch out and twisted the two wires together which will keep the A/C running until they can put a new switch in. We don’t know what the switch will cost yet but it is the cheaper of all of the scenarios that could have been the problem. Bottom line is that we are very happy to have A/C again. Heat index the three days after it was fixed was 100. 

I have gotten very good at keeping the SUV under 2000rpms when I start up from a light or stop sign. This allows me to save on gasoline. No jack rabbit starts for me.

The only school supplies I purchased on the sales this year are these 4 notebooks at Office Max. They were $ .10 each. I use them for keeping track of various things here. I am well stocked on everything else we need. 


I returned two Sim cards that Hubby bought accidentally to Amazon. They are not charging me shipping to send them back. It was easy to get the code on my phone to have UPS scan it,  package them, and ship them back.

I ran all of my errands on Monday doing the 8 mile trip in a circle to save on gasoline.

I froze three bananas that were leftover. I will make banana bread when it is cooler in the Fall.

We were able to turn off the A/C on Monday evening. Temps at night have been in the sixties and daytime 70’s. It’s comfortable since it isn’t humid like it was.

I post my frugal things weekly when I don’t have company. I do it so that you all will sometimes glean a tip or think about things that you haven’t thought about. Some weeks they add up to quite a bit of money; others not so much. But I want you all to realize that the little things add up to big money over the period of 6 months to a year. Saving on these things in good times allows us to continue saving money in our investments so if there are bad times we can weather them easily.

I don’t get much feedback on these type of posts. I can easily change this Wednesday post to something that would be better for all of you. So let me know if you like this particular kind of post or would benefit from something else.

Feel free to share what you have done frugally the past couple of weeks. 

Categories
Every Day

What We Ate and Grocery Shopping

Just a quick list of what we ate last week.

Dinners:
 
Five Guys Hamburgers and FF’s

Chicken, Broccoli, and Air Fried Baked Potatoes

Dinner out at Russell’s: Filet Mignon for both Hubby and Me, Baked Potato for Hubby and a veggie, Stuffed Tomato and Asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto for me, Chicken Tenders and Fries for Alexa, Chocolate Covered Strawberries for dessert for Hubby and Alexa

Spaghetti and Meatballs with garlic bread for Hubby, Alexa and my DIL. Spaghetti and meatballs for me on zoodles

Chicken, Broccoli,and Baked Potatoes again

Pasta Bake for Hubby and Chicken and Broccoli for me

Shaved Rib Eye Steak sandwich for Hubby and  mine was done with a lettuce wrap

Lunches were sandwiches or late breakfasts with pastries, bread, eggs, bacon, sausages, cereal, apple cinnamon waffles, hash browns, cantaloupe balls, etc.  


Grocery shops were done at Aldi’s and Top’s.

Aldi’s:


Beef Shaved Steak – $5.79
Boneless Chicken Breasts at $1.49 a lb = $ 8.06
2 Dozen Large Eggs $.79 each
1 Hot Dog Buns – $ .65
1 lb. Strawberries – $ 1.39
1 Half and Half – $ 1.55

Total was $ 19.02.

Top’s:

1 Reusable Bag using Top’s Q – $ .69
4 Kummelwick Rolls –  $ .75 each = $3.00
1/2 gallon Milk using Top’s Q – $ .99
2 Top’s SF Raspberry Jello – $ .79 each = $ 1.58
1 lb. Bacon using Top’s Q – $ 2.99
2 containers of Fresh Mushrooms-$.99 each = $ 1.98
5 Brown and Serve Sausage – $ 1.00 each = $ 5.00
3 Top’s Black Olives for $5.00

Total was $ 21.29. 


Did you get any good deals at your markets this past week?