Category: Every Day

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Every Day

Bare Bones: Make Every Penny Count

Remember to make every penny count! Those pennies become dollars. When you are living on a bare bones budget, it is important to scrutinize every expense. Don’t just look at it once, do it twice, or even three times to make sure that you are getting value for those pennies and dollars you are spending.

If your income has been drastically reduced, pay the basics to keep yourself afloat. Here is a video by Dave Ramsey who gives great advice on what to pay if your income has been reduced or you have been laid off from your job: Dave Ramsey


He has many more You Tube videos out there that you can google if you want to learn more.

My goal is to live Bare Bones so I can pay some large bills the rest of the year without touching savings and investments.


So I will show you what we are doing in a day to help with that goal. I need bread for Hubby and West this weekend. It was not on my grocery list this week because I can pay $1.00 to $4.00 for a loaf or I can pay about $.35 to $.50 to make a loaf. Bread is baking in the bread maker as I write this. 

It is daylight as I write this so no lights are turned on in this house.

Our A/C is now off because the temps have cooled off a bit. We are hoping to be able to keep it off until Tuesday. If I had a loss of income, I would turn it off and use a fan in the room or rooms we are in.

Here was my grocery list this week. As you can see, I crossed many, many things off. I have produce that needs to be used up so no produce purchased. The Tostito chips are to use with salsa we already have for a snack or lunch. We will need mayonnaise soon and Hubby will only eat Hellman’s. The mayo is necessary to make sandwiches. The ice cream is because West will be here this weekend and I promised him I would get his favorite kind which is cookies and cream. I purchased it at Walmart because it is a whole lot cheaper there than Top’s. These two stores are 1 block apart.  I shopped on Tuesday to take advantage of the 6% off senior discount at Top’s.

Hubby is installing wire shelves on the wall in the garage to house items that are on the floor and in a cabinet that we will sell to get them off the floor. He did a pick up order from Lowe’s and paid for $200. of the order with gift cards that I purchased almost two years ago at a discount. I got cash back for this order from Rakuten.

He is putting in enough shelves to house my very large appliances. I keep them on a roll around rack in the garage. Now I can use that rack in the basement for my stockpile. 

We had homemade cold cuts to use for dinner last night. I cooked a ham that I purchased at $.89 a lb. last Thanksgiving and we sliced it up on our meat slicer so that we could have ham sandwiches over the next few months. The homemade bread will be used for Hubby’s and mine will be in a lettuce wrap. 


When I drive I am still starting up from a light or stop sign under 2 x 1000 rpms to save on gasoline. No jack rabbit starts which eat gasoline. 

I washed our SUV in the driveway. I vacuumed it out with the handheld vacuum. I washed the windows with homemade “windex”. I rarely use the car wash unless it is the middle of winter. 


I have planned out our menu for this weekend while West is staying with us. He requested my homemade spaghetti and meatballs so I will take a precooked bag of it out of our freezer to thaw for dinner tonight. The bread I am baking today will be used to make parmesan garlic bread and sandwiches. I will keep it fresh in a reused bread bag.

Breakfasts will be homemade muffins, cereal and fruit, or scrambled eggs and bacon. Tomorrow night, I will use some frozen pizza which is in my freezer. His lunches will be cold cut sandwiches with cut up carrot sticks or PB&J which he loves. I also have some Annie’s mac and cheese if he prefers that. Snacks will be fruit or some of the ice cream. 

Entertainment this weekend will be walks, tablet time, playing some Pokemon Monopoly, etc. He also loves watching sports with his Grandpa.

 We did no impulse buying. The shelving was a planned purchase.

I managed to slice open a finger while I was helping with the shelving. It took a long time to stop bleeding but now it has a bandage on it and I didn’t have to go to Urgent Care. That was not the way I wanted to start my Friday. 


I hope you all have a safe and fun weekend.

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Every Day

Ten Things We No Longer Purchase

Here are ten things that we do not purchase anymore which save us money:

– 81 mg. aspirin – Our doctor is no longer recommending one aspirin a day for me due to the newest studies that have come out. Unless you have had a heart attack, the doctors are no longer recommending it. 

– Multivitamins – Most studies show that they do nothing for us so they are a waste of money. 

– Dryer sheets – We use our dryer balls when we use our dryer.

– Antibacterial Wipes – Spray cleaners do the job much cheaper.

– Juices or Juice Drinks – Most juices are nothing but pure sugar. The only exception to this rule is I buy V8 juice which is part of my diet.

– A Warehouse Club Membership – I can get equal or better deals at Walmart, Aldi’s, Save A Lot, and Amazon. 

-DVD’s or Books – The library has so many that I don’t need to buy them. We also get free ones that we put on our Kindles.  

– Packaging Boxes or Envelopes – We reuse the ones that we get with shipped items. 

– Individual Magazines – I read them in my doctor’s waiting room or at the hair salon.

– Disposable Razors – We buy refills for razors cheap online from Dorco.They will be for sale on Amazon soon.

Are there things that you used to buy that you no longer deem necessary to purchase? Please share with us.

Also I have a question? Do any of you have a Go Pro? Which model and do you find they are worth the money?

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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:

We had our driveway sealed. It had been three years since we had had it done. The man who does it for us has been doing driveways for almost 50 years. He is $50. cheaper than anyone else and does a fantastic job. Final cost to us was $97.20. He has usually done our driveway every 2 years for us. I guess we forgot to call him last year.

Top’s has been running 4 day only sales at the end of their sales week. This past week, they had Jennie O Turkey Breasts on sale for $.88 a pound – limit 2. I got 2.  It is rare that I can get meat at under $2.00 a lb. so when I do I get a couple.  They also had a head of iceberg lettuce on sale for $.88. I got one. I love turkey and it is especially good on my diet. So those went into the freezer to cook this fall before the large turkeys go on sale at rock bottom prices.

We are debating fixing a burner on our gas stove. The igniter is not working. Hubby watched some You Tube videos on how to do it. You can’t just buy the igniter; You have to buy the entire part that the igniter is in. It costs over $60. It also means turning off the gas while he is working on it and pulling the stove out from the wall. It will be a lot of work to install the part too. Hubby asked me what I thought. I told him it is the smallest burner on the stove so I rarely use it. We have three larger burners that I use a whole lot more than that one.  I use small appliances more than I use my stove top. When we have an extended family meal, I can always use the electric fry pan in lieu of the extra burner. The stove is over 9 years old and most likely will need replacing in another 5 or so. So I won’t miss that burner. We will see what Hubby decides to do. I am leaning towards doing nothing.

Hubby was told by his specialist to keep a bowl of snack size chocolate bars in his nightstand next to his bed. Hubby sometimes has low blood sugars during the night which wake him up. He then eats one or two Almond Joy snack size bars which bring his sugar up. These bags of bars rarely go on sale and are expensive for the little bit that comes in a bag. He is down to just 4 bars left. So I decided to see if I could buy them in bulk. I found I could get 3- 20oz. bags Jumbo bags at Amazon for about $8.78 a lb. which is way cheaper than what I pay now. There was no shipping even though it wasn’t Prime so this will save me the cost of gasoline to go out and purchase them too. I have logged this price into my price book but I will always be on the lookout for a better price. I can’t find these bars on a Holiday clearance. I have looked many, many years.


Somehow a screw came out of one of our downspouts on our gutters. Hubby found a screw to replace it and fixed it.

I have a shirt that I love that is too big for me that I have kept along with a couple of others to wear around the house especially when I am doing cleaning, cooking, and baking. The one I love developed a tiny hole so I repaired it. It’s comfy and I don’t want it to fall apart anytime soon.  

We joined our neighbors for an evening in front of their fire pit. I brought cheese and crackers and they provided the drinks.  

I read two free books that I downloaded to my Kindle from Amazon. This saved me driving to the library which saved gasoline. 

We also watched two free movies on Amazon Prime this week. I loved  “The Book Club”. I hated “Clue”.  We watch our movies for free. We don’t care if they are years old. We rarely go to a movie unless we are taking a grandchild.

Since we had some rain this week, we didn’t have to use the sprinkler system to water a few days.  

We have been cutting chives from our backyard for our scrambled eggs and whenever Hubby has mashed or baked potatoes.


We got two separate bills in 2 separate envelopes for an appointment with the same doctor. Hubby wrote one check for both of us and put all of the slips and check in the same envelope and mailed it. We saved a stamp.

When I went to the bank to get our monthly cash on August 1st, I combined the trip with doctor’s appointments. I cashed a rebate check that will also be used for our monthly cash.


Hubby and I went to our annual appointments with our primary doctor. Those visits are free to us. Our doctor actually has a sign on the front table near the receptionist that states: All annual wellness checkups are no cost to you.

Hubby has been putting up wire fencing around the bottom of our shed so that the wild animals can’t live under it this winter. He finished it today.

I took a survey for a test product.

I did my own manicure and pedicure using polish I had on hand. 

When we went to the family reunion, I had to go to an emergency orthopedic appointment in Albany. I received the bill this week and I was double billed for the X-rays, and the the doctor who read the X-rays. I called them and they are  sending me a corrected bill and reversing the extra charges to health insurance companies. Always check your bills when you get them because there is a lifetime cap on your medical insurance and you don’t want to be billed incorrectly. Nor do you ever want to pay more than you have to. 

At
a neighbors garage sale, I purchased a beautiful frame for just $2.00 to use in making a gift for someone. I also purchased a spare
hand mixer because mine is on it’s last leg. I like to have backups
ready when things break. Especially backups that cost just a couple of
dollars.  

We have our A/C on right now but it is set at 75 degrees so it doesn’t run a whole lot. We think we can turn it off tonight for a few days because cooler temps are on the way.


I have only had to run the dishwasher every 3 days by packing it full when I do run it. I use my homemade dishwasher detergent and vinegar as the rinse agent.

We have been getting estimates to have some concrete in our garage repaired and then have the floor sealed with an epoxy paint. We settled on a company who has been in business for 31 years and did not require a deposit. They also had a very reasonable price and honored a $100. discount coupon that had expired.  Weather permitting, it will be done the end of October.

Lastly, we caught the mouse who we think has been living in our garage. Just in case there is more than one, we are putting new sticky traps down.  

What have you been doing frugally this past week? Please feel free to share with all of us. We learn from each other.  


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Every Day

What We Ate and Grocery Shopping

We ate our usual breakfasts this past week. For dinner we had the following:

Steak with mushrooms and asparagus for me and steak with steak sauce and mac and cheese for Hubby – 1 night.

Cheeseburgers with Dill Pickles 2 nights- Hubby had sauteed onions on his and I had mushrooms on mine.


Roast chicken and gravy on rice for Hubby and I had mine on riced cauliflower – 1 meal.

Hubby made chicken salad and I had chicken with broccoli – 2 nights. 


I made homemade chicken soup with veggies for me and the same for Hubby but I added cooked rice to his soup. – 1 night. 


We had steak leftover from dinner so we made steak with eggs for one breakfast. Of course, I had my usual 1/2 an avocado with it.


We had leftover chicken that I froze for a future stir fry.

In an effort to eat from our freezer, I fixed Hubby a box of Stouffer’s mac and cheese that needed to be used up.


If we were hungry at lunchtime we would have pepperoni and a cheese stick. Most lunchtimes we were not hungry.


The grocery shopping we did last week was pretty bare bones. I picked up at:

Walmart:

1 large can of Tomato Sauce – $ 2.98

1 Riced Cauliflower – $ 2.48

1 bag of Onions – $ 1.94


1 bag of Tomatoes on the Vine – $ 2.78


1 SF Chocolate Pudding – $.50


1 SF Gelatin – $ .36

2 Kotex U Liners – After a $4.00 Q, I made $ 1.72 which was deducted from the rest of my order.

Total OOP was $ 9.32.

Top’s:

2 Turkey Breasts on sale for $.88 a lb. One was $6.81 and one was $ 6.18.

1 Head of Lettuce – $.88 


Total OOP was $ 13.87.

The tomato sauce was needed to make homemade spaghetti sauce. I use this recipe: Spaghetti Sauce 
It is delicious and frugal. I freeze it in meal size portions.  


I was pricing their SF puddings and SF jello and found that the Great Value brand is a lot cheaper at Walmart. The Top’s brand was $.79 each. Next time I go to Aldi’s, I will check their price. So from now on when my stockpile is depleted, I will buy it at Walmart unless Aldi’s is cheaper. 

The liners were a money maker so I will donate those.

We needed lettuce and this was cheaper than Romaine. The turkey breasts are great for many meals and sandwiches. 

Did you find any good deals at the grocery store this week? Did you cook anything you want to share? 

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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? 

Categories
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.