Category: Every Day

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

This past week has been busy. I am getting ready for all of my family to come for Easter dinner. Those ribeye roasts that I purchased will be the main course. I think I will roast both of them in my turkey roaster since there will be so many of us. I have planned mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, broccoli, corn, and gravy for sides. I will also have fresh strawberries with whipped cream for dessert. I have to keep the Keto people happy. We have not been together in a long time so I am so looking forward to a great time. My son who lives across the state in the Adirondacks is coming tomorrow night. I haven’t seen him since Thanksgiving .So we will enjoy having him here for a few days. I am hoping to fly out to see him this summer. I just have to drive an hour+ to get to an airport that has a direct flight. Or maybe I can hitch a ride with my son when they go to visit his wife’s parents in NH. He can drop me a few miles away where my son can pick me up.

We are also having new friends for dinner next weekend. We can’t wait. It has been a long winter and we are all starting to be able to get out in the nice weather and meet people.

Just yesterday, Hubby’s sister let me know that she is flying out to visit us in August. She lives in Houston. Hubby is very excited about that. We haven’t seen her in two years. So this wlll be a busy spring and summer.

I haven’t seen my baby sister in a long time(7 or 8 years) . Her Hubby isn’t well enough to come and visit. My sister does not drive except to go to medical appointments. I told her she could take the bus and we would pick her up here in Buffalo. I even offered to pay for her bus tickets. She finally told me that she is not coming because she is afraid to leave her Hubby home alone. Neither Hubby not I want to drive such a long trip anymore. So I will just have to take the bus and surprise her one day this year.

Well enough about family.

We have done a few things to save money this week. I went to the bank this week and got our cash that we use for various things. I deposited two checks into a different account than the one I take the cash from.

We have been eating easy things this past week while I get everything ready for the weekend. We have had homemade pizza, roast beef sandwiches, soup, salads, etc. I am actually using paper plates from my stockpile to have less dishes to wash.

I am still washing laundry in cold water and hanging most of it to dry. We are mindful of how much electric and natural gas we are using.

I can’t believe that it is April already. Our landscaping people will be here this month to do our spring clean up. We also have a few bushes to remove that have gotten too big. We will have them replace them with somethiing else. Our sprinkler system people will be here to open our system and make sure that everything is running smoothly for the spring and summer. I have hired an ECO friendly carpet cleaning service to come next week. They will clean carpeting and my fabric furniture. ECO is important to me because of Eloise. All of that will cost a ton of money but that is why we saved for years so that we can easily afford to do these things. Hubby has always cleaned our carpets with our own machine. I have decided it is too much for him any longer so that is why I hired this company.

We had a good March. We did not spend all of our grocery money but we did spend more than we did in January and February. That is because I stocked so much beef on loss leader sales and some other loss leaders. We did have extra income this month of $ 1128.75. Not as much as other months this year but we didn’t spend as much as in the past two months either. So we continue to build our net worth.

That’s it for today. I have last minute cleaning to do since my family starts arriving tomorrow.

I hope you all have a nice Easter.

Categories
Every Day

Our New Grocery Plan

So sorry this is so late today. I fell asleep for hours today after going shopping at Aldi’s. Eloise is still getting me up between 2am & 3am. After a while I have to catch up because I am so exhausted.

I went to Aldi’s today to get 2(limit) of their ribeye roasts at $8.99 a lb. I purchased them for $123.17. I also bought some naan( $3.55) to make 2 pizzas. One roast will be used for Easter in case I can’t find a leg of lamb. They had spiral sliced hams on sale for $1.49 a lb. I am going to wait until after Easter to see if they get marked down at Aldi’s or Walmart. We still have ham slices in the freezer from Christmas.

If you have noticed we are eating down our pantries and now buying only loss leaders. Yes, we have processed food to go through but I refuse to throw it out and waste the money I paid for it. We have eaten processed foods our entire life and it hasn’t killed us yet. But after all of the information that has come out about the chemicals in most of the food supply in our country, we will be buying very little of it anymore.

So we are basically buying from the perimeter of the stores which house produce, fish, meat, and dairy, etc. Now that Top’s is marking a lot of these things down that are soon to expire, I am finding some great deals.

We will can most of our vegetables and fruits in season this spring, summer, and fall. Otherwise, I will buy frozen that has only one ingredient.

We will buy baking supplies because we bake desserts, muffins, and breads regularly. I buy them in bulk. We also make pancakes and waffle with them. We only buy 100% Pure Maple Syrup to put on them which is in season in NY right now. We have a diabetic in the family but I have deemed that the SF crap is far worse than the maple syrup because of all the petroleum products in it.

We also buy flour, sugar, rice, dry beans, pasta, oatmeal, etc. in bulk when the price is right. We have an Amish store near us. I can make my own pasta because I have a machine. When my pasta is gone, I will make it again.

That’s our plan, buy ingredients and cook from scratch. Prepare some of the foods to put in our freezer to make easy meals. I freeze onions, potatoes, and carrots immediately so they don’t go bad. We also freeze berries when they are in season. With prices as high as they are, I refuse to waste food.

Tomorrow, I will make some banana bread for a new neighbor using up 3 bananas that are in our freezer. We have bananas that are getting really ripe so Hubby will make a banana salad to go with dinner tomorrow night.

Making it simple will be a theme also. Hubby is doing some of the cooking because after almost 59 years, it is his turn.

Categories
Every Day

A Large Grocery Haul At Top’s

There were finally some good deals at Top’s yesterday. But it was a struggle to do all I had to do there. They open at 6:00am. However, the bottle return room does not open until 7:00am. So I went up when it got light here because I don’t drive in the dark. That was about 7:10am. The bottle return room has 3 machines. One needed to be emptied so it was not working. Another took glass only and I had no glass. The last one which was working but it was being used. I waited. Finally, I went into the store to go to customer service to get my $ 1.49 overcharge back from the reduced price produce that I purchased last week. Guess what? They weren’t open yet. They don’t open until 8:00am. So I went and did my shopping and then went there last. NY Strip steaks were on sale so I went to get them. They only had 1 package of 4 in the case. So I spied both the store manager and butcher shop manager having a chit chat in the aisle behind me. I went over and asked if someone could get me another package. More waiting while they cut them up! UGH! My day was not starting well. Top’s needs to get it’s act together. Either you are open or you are not open. Three different times is ridiculous and a waste of my energy. When you have to plan these things out, it is ludicrous! I like to go early so that I have less contact with sick people.

Flour was on sale for $ 2.29 for a 5 lb. bag. Since we are making our own bread products, I have been stocking up when I see a great deal! The 2 lbs. of carrots was $2.49 and I used a digital coupon for $.50 making them $1.99. I got a 3 lb. bag of seedless mandarins $ 4.99 minus a $ 2.00 digital coupon = $ 2.99.

Large eggs were on sale for $. 99. I paid that price for 2 of them. However, I had a blockbuster coupon for 1 dozen eggs from a new game that Top’s has. It has replaced the Monopoly game that they used to have. So I paid $ .49 for the third dozen.

I found this package of reduced price Italian sausage for $ 2.54 instead of $3.91. It expires today but I quickly froze it yesterday.

Sour cream was on sale for 2/$5.00. We were low so I purchased 2. The butter was on sale for the lowest price that I have seen here in almost 3 years. I got 8 lbs. for $ 2.50 each. They also gave me a coupon for $ .50 off one so I got all 8 for $ 19.50. They have been added to my stash in the freezer. I got another package of reduced for quick sale Italian sausage for $ 2.45. The 2 lb. container of fresh strawberries was $ 6.99 minus $ 1.00 digital coupon = $ 5.99. They have been cleaned and cut up for dessert and snacks this week.

The NY strip steaks were on sale for $ 11.99 a lb. so I paid $73.14 for them. I ended up with 8 steaks which I have repackaged into food saver bags. We grill 2 when we want them and it gives us a dinner and a brunch. We will be using leftover macaroni bacon goulash for dinner again tonight. But we will grill 2 steaks tomorrow night so that we can see if they are tender or not. You never know! If they are tender, I will be going back to buy a few more packages. I have a lot of money in my grocery budget leftover from the lst couple of months because I have been trying to eat from our pantry as much as possible and buying mostly loss leaders that we needed. That way we can afford beef when it is on loss leader. My total for everything today was $ 117.15 after they deducted my $ 2.35 bottle return slip.

I have shopped loss leaders for almost 59 years. I am really concentrating hard on them now. Prices are just too darn high to buy anything at full price. We eat what we have stocked at the best prices. We live in NY and food prices are high because we live in the Buffalo area. Buffalo is the second largest city in NY after NYC. Food is not cheap here. But you plan and work with what you know to be a good deal for you.

Perhaps you can guess what my topic will be tomorrow after this post today. See you then.

Did you get any great deals this week?

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

I will be eating the last reuben sandwich for brunch today. They have been so delicious. We did take a break for Friday and got two fish fries at Chiavetta’s for dinner. They now give a 3% discount for cash but you have to ask for it.

I think I will make bacon macaroni goulash for dinner tonight. We will eat the leftovers tomorrow night. We have not made this in a very long time. So when I get done here, I will grab a lb. of bacon and a baguette to make garlic bread from the basement freezer and a box of macaroni from that pantry. We have fresh onions and some Rao’s spaghetti sauce in my kitchen pantry. I will prep the bacon and cut up the onions so I can cook faster at dinner time. I will dice up a half pound of the bacon. That will be enough for two meals. The other half pound will get eaten with eggs for brunches this week.

I was surprised when I got my February-March gas and electric bill yesterday. It was for 29 days and was billed on March 19th. I was expecting a $400. bill. However it was $ 300.58. We used 503 kwhs of electric and 5 therms of natural gas. Last year’s bill for the same period was $270.84 for 490 kwhs and 4 therms of gas. So this bill was $ 29.74 higher. Not as much of an increase year over year as my prior bills. But still too darn high. Hopefully we will eventually get some nice weather again. It has been cold and dreary.

Well the light that came on in the car may have been a warning that our battery was low. Hubby went to go to his haircut appointment one morning this week and the car was dead in our garage. He tried to jump it and it wouldn’t work. So he called AAA to get it towed. Hillman’s which is our repair shop sent their truck out to us after they got notified by AAA. The tow is 100% covered by AAA with the plan we have. The guy tried to jump it and he got nothing either. So he towed it. We told them to let us know what was wrong and to put a new battery in also because this one was old. We knew we would probably not hear from them until the next day because most of their guys were training on a new machine the day it was towed. Turned out that the battery was dead, no juice at all. Hubby was picked up by their courtesy ride van midday the day after and was home in just a few minutes. The cost of the labor and the battery was $224. Hubby has always put new batteries in all of our cars himself which saves the labor charges. But this time was the first we had a computer on a car so we really didn’t know what was going on with that light. We do now for next time. However that said, this is only the second battery in 13 years and we have never had a repair except for recalls. We just make sure the maintence is always done on it. We only have 54,000. miles on the car so it is good for a very long time. I am just glad that I didn’t get stuck out on a road somewhere. I was going to run 10 errands that day but only did 6 or 7 when my brain said go home. The rest can be done later. Someone was definitely watching over me.

When we got the car back, I made a quick trip to Top’s for a couple of things and picked up Hubby’s script that was ready at Walmart. At Top’s I found an organic coleslaw mix that was $4.99 reduced since it was expiring that day for $2.50. When I got home, I looked at my receipt and they charged me $3.99 instead of $2.50. So tomorrow when I shop for the week, I will get my $1.49 overcharge back. I just need to take the label to customer service. Hubby will make up his waldorf coleslaw salad with it today. I also so got a bunch of bananas for $.44 a lb. totaling $ 1.04. So once I get my money back I will have spent $ 3.54.

All the laundry got caught up yesterday and the sheets were all washed and the beds made up with new ones. I hung most of the laundry but did use the dryer for some especially the sheets.

So my plan today besides making dinner is to spruce up my basement pantry and make sure everything is in the front of the shelves that needs to get used first. Then I may watch the Buffalo Sabres Ice Hockey game and some March Madness games with Hubby.

What have you been doing to keep costs down?

Categories
Every Day

A Little Of This And A Little of That

It has been a very busy week. I got pretty much all of my organizing done this past week. I just need to tidy up the basement pantry a bit. So much clutter went out of this house. It will be so much easier to keep things neat and tidy.

The weather had gotten a bit warmer but now overnight we have about 4 inches of snow and it is still snowing. Hopefully it will melt soon. I am so over snow. My plans today were to go to Aldi’s and Top’s but because of the snow, I will not be going. I will wait until the roads are clear, possibly tommorow or Thursday.

There has been no shopping since mid week last week. When I went out with the car, a red light momentarily went on and off that I had never seen before. Hubby checked the car when I got home and the manual said the parking brake was engaged. He saw the same light go on and off when he started the car. We had never seen this light in 16 years. So Hubby took it to our favorite auto repair people yesterday. They took the parking brake on and off a few times and said there was nothing wrong and didn’t charge us. So we will trust them. Why we have never seen that light in 16 years is now a mystery.

While I was out last week, I took the car into the car wash and had the works done which included the undercarriage wash. I needed to get the road salt off everything. It was so dirty and I was not expecting more snow so that is one of the reasons, I will not go out in the car until it is gone again. Yesterday when it was 67 outside, I spent some time cleaning up the inside of the car. I now have 4 carwash slips that they give you when you buy a wash. When you get 5, then you get a free wash.

I cooked a turkey last week. We got 3 meals out of it and then had 2 nights of homemade turkey soup. I also have 6 containers of soup portions that I put in the freezer for future meals.

I plan today to cook a corned beef in the crockpot since it is St. Patrick’s Day. We will have it with boiled cabbage tonight. Then we will eat reubens the rest of the week until it is gone. When I was out this past week, I planned on getting another corned beef to keep in the freezer for future reubens but alas Aldi’s had sold out of the cheaper ones. The prices elsewhere were ridiculous so I did not get one. However if I see any clearanced after today, I will get one or two more. Now I will be on the hunt for a good deal on a leg of lamb for Easter.

We did use up all of the rest of the Applebee’s Giftcards last week for appetizers. Those gave us a few meals. Now I need to work on the Panera ones. Amazon had a deal last week for a Subway $50. giftcard for $ 42.50. So I ordered one. We do get subs there once in a while using coupons so it was a no brainer when I can save another $ 7.50.

Yesterday’s mail brought another class action suit check against Rite Aid. It was for $39.73 so that was a nice surprise. I need to go to another town and deposit a bunch of checks at the bank and stop at B.J.’s for a few things so perhaps next week I will do that.

I am expecting my electric and gas bill in a couple of days. With the warmer weather, I was thinking that it might be cheaper than last month. But then oil went up way over $100. a barrel because of the war so I think it will be more expensive. Oil affects those prices. So I will not be surprised if it is over $400. for a month. I will let you know when I get it.

That is it for now. How are you saving a few dollars these days?

Categories
Every Day

Cutting Costs Again

Our mail brought us notifications that both Hubby and I are part of a class action suit because our doctors got hacked a couple of years ago. They have already decided how much money we will receive. We will each get $60. Wow! We have been part of these suits before and we were lucky to get $10. Believe me we are not complaining.

I took bottles back to Top’s today so I had $4.00 to go towards 5-12 packs of Zero Sugar Fanta that were on sale at B2G3F. Now all of my bottles are caught up from the winter. I was going to get a ham for $1.29 a lb. but they were all gone. It would have been nice if they had set aside some for the seniors to get since it was 6% senior discount day but they didn’t. So I will be on the hunt for a good price on hams the next couple of weeks. Anyhow, I got 5 of the sodas for $20.98 + $ 3.00 for the bottle deposits which I will get back and 5 Top’s chicken stock that were $.99 each when you purchased 5. I am getting low on stock since I haven’t canned chicken lately. My total was $25.93 minus $4.00 deposit return slip and $ 1.56(6% discount)= $20.37 OOP. I am no longer counting tax on my grocery bill. I am keeping track of that separately because I want to know how much I am paying in taxes this year.

While I was out running errands, I went to Niagara Produce and got 2 dozen Xtra Large eggs for $1.49 each and a 3 ct. package of Romaine Hearts for $2.99. My total OOP was $ 5.97.

The cash station was $2.839 for gasoline today. Prices have gone up because of the Iran situation. I had 181 miles left in my tank but I decided to fill my tank up because the prices will go up even higher. I got 6.67 gallons so it cost $ 18.94.

I have now decluttered our master bedroom and bathroom, the coat closet, the laundry room, and now I am working in the kitchen. I am getting rid of so many things in case we move again. It feels freeing because it is less to take care of.

Now that February is in the books, we had $2611.+ extra income this month. We get extra income from tax returns, interest, rebates, etc.

Dinner the last few nights was pizza at home and filet mignon. We finished Hubby’s coleslaw salad that he makes as a side with the filets. Dinner will be appetizers from Applebees that I will order on take out. I still have a lot of their giftcards that I got on a deal through Top’s a couple of years ago. They will pay for the entire order. I have heard through a good source that they may be going belly up so I want to make sure we use up these giftcards.

What have you saved recently?

Categories
Every Day

Some Old Posts To Help You on Your Money Saving Journey

How We Are Handling Inflation
How We are Handling Inflation( continued)
Little Things That Save Money
Are You Broke?
The Little Things Count!
What To Do If Your Hubby Loses His Job
Categories
Every Day

Rising Costs

You all know that so many things have gone up in price since the pandemic besides groceries. I took a good look at what we are now paying because of increases. It really adds up.

I put the information on my natural gas and electric usage on here every month. This last bill that I received last week went up $ 59.24 over the same period last year. It was $ 371.08. My kwh’s were less and so were my ccf’s of gas but the bill still increased that much. UGH! So I looked at what the total increase has been over the past year. This past year we paid $2906.82. The prior year we paid $ 2306.24. That is an increase of $600.58 for just about the same usage. I never thought that I would see the day that we would be paying over $3000. for this. But I expect that will happen in the next couple of months.

Last week we got both our auto and home insurance that is due soon for the year. Our auto insurance went up $ 177. We are now paying over $1400. for 1 car which is a 2013 and the two of us as drivers and no accidents. Our home insurance went up $120. and we are paying almost $1100.

This past month our cable, landline phone, and internet went up $ 23.40 a month or $280.80 a year. We now pay $ 268. per month. This is outrageous so I will be calling them to negotiate.

The online newspaper that we subscribe to has gone up to $42. a month. I think we are being gouged bigtime on this one but Hubby loves it so I grin and bear it.

Our property and school taxes have increased since the pandemic by $800.

Our water bills have increased year over year by about $200.

Our pest control service has gone up $60. per quarter over the past couple of years.

All items you buy which are not food have increased. Appliances are ourageous now. Tires are so expensive.

Our medical insurance has increased by $998.80 for this. My dental practice increased all of their rates for this year.

Social Security increased in January by 2.8% but Medicare ate that up.

NYS never saw a tax that they didn’t want to add to everything. The latest is a $25. fee added onto the cost of your driver’s license renewal for upstate people. The renewal now costs us $ 94.50 for our enhanced license so it will go up to $119.50 the next time we renew or $239. for the both of us.

I am sure all of you have had increases like this. It is getting ridiculous.

For those of you who are new here, we are a retired couple. We will be retired 25 years in a couple of months. Inflation has done a job on all of us over those years. From the first day we got married we have saved money. We have continued to save since we retired. All of these constant increases and inflation is why. If you haven’t, start now. It is never too late. Even if you have a low income you can save. Cut costs where you can.

If you are living on just Social Security, you can still save something. It is all about the choices you make. Not only do prices increase regularly but you have to have an emergency fund for those unseen expenses that come up.

Tomorrow, I will remind you of past posts that will help you in your money saving journey.

I can’t be the only here who is seeing these kind of increases, am I?

Categories
Every Day

Cutting Costs

When we moved here almost 16 years ago, we had energy saving fabric pleated shades installed on the majority of our windows in our home. They are warranteed for life. The shades have held up well with the exception of the pulls that slip onto the bottom of the shades. They are cheap plastic and break every few years. It has been happening again recently. Hubby called the company again and asked them to send us more pulls for the shades. The company sends them everytime we call and knows what colors we need to match the shades because they keep the original order. This has been a company who has stood by their warranty. If we ever move, we would do business with them again.

I finally got out to do some errands. The first few days this week it just kept snowing and I just did not want to deal with it. Spring can’t come fast enough this year. I am so done with the snow and cold. I returned two more bags of bottles for the deposits. I received $ 3.25 which I used to defray a few things that I picked up while I was there. I purchased a package of coleslaw mix that was on sale for $ 2.50 and 5 Royal Zero Sugar Gelatin that were on sale for $1.00 each. So after the bottle deposit slip, I paid $ 4.25 OOP. Next I went to Aldi’s and purchased 3 French Baguettes for $1.85 each and a Corned Beef Point Cut on sale for $ 3.49 a lb. that cost me $12.11. My total was $ 17.66. I don’t know if I will see the corned beef any cheaper because of how high beef prices are. But if I do I will purchase 2 more. At least I have 1 for St. Patrick’s day and for some reubens. Two of the baguettes I put in the freezer for meals in the future.

Hubby used the Eco snow shovel to clear our walk and porch yesterday. This little shovel has worked well for us. The snowplow guy was here to clear the driveway at about 4:30am yesterday also.

Yesterday we had homemade muffins for breakfast and some yogurt. Dinner last night was chicken with some leftover broccoli. I am thinking I will roast a turkey this weekend so I will be thawing the $.50 a lb. one that I purchased after the holidays. Tonight we will have hamburgers and fries. I have fresh mushrooms that need to be used up so they will top my burger along with some swiss cheese. Hubby will carmelize some onions to top his.

My son, who lives in the Adirondacks, called us yesterday so we had a nice chat. His business is flourishing right now which is a great thing and we are happy for him. He got his internet company to cut his bill by just giving them a quick call. That has reminded me to do the same thing. So that is on my agenda for this week.

Today will be my laundry day this week. As usual it will be cold water wash and hang to dry.

Tomorrow, I will post about all of my bills that are increasing. UGH!

Did you do anything to save money that you could share? We can all learn from each other.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

We have a set of green pans. I have had them for a few years. All of a sudden, everything is sticking in them. Hubby asked me to buy new ones. I researched and found that they have gotten really expensive. I don’t need an entire set. Just the three frypans. I have a set of capahlon and a set of stainless steel that we are not using. Hubby agreed with me that the new pans are very expensive. So I am going to dig out my stainless steel pans. I also have a Lodge iron fry pan that we can use.

Dinner on Thursday night was Chef salads using up romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, and various meats and cheeses in the fridge. I made the other half of the baguette from Aldi’s to make more garlic bread to eat with it.

Friday and Saturday night’s dinner was Texas chili(only meat- no beans). We eat it on rice. Hubby makes his Dad’s recipe all the time. It is so good.

Brunches have been scrambled eggs with carmelized onions, sausage, and some sourdough toast.

My son sent me a message late Friday night that West is still sick so he can’t come to visit. But my son came out Saturday morning to visit us for a while. I made us a breakfast of scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, and protein yogurt. He stayed for about 5 hours which was really nice so that we could chat and catch up.

I was considering throwing out a bath mat that we have in our guest bathtub. It is one that has the round indentations in it and they get very dirty. I have taken the time for years to clean them by hand which is a lengthy process. As I was looking at it, I thought there is no reason that I can’t try to wash it with some laundry detergent and oxi clean in the washing machine. So after my son left, I did just that and used the delicate cycle. It came out sparkling clean and dried on the shower rod. I don’t know why I never thought of that before. But it saved me from all that work by hand or buying a new one.

Today is Sunday. I made these homemade banana butter pecan muffins for breakfasts this week. We enjoyed one while watching the USA( we won) vs. Canada men’s ice hockey game for the gold metal this morning. My kitchen smells so good.

Hubby is making breaded pork ribeye chops for dinner. I will throw some crinkle cuts fries in the air fryer oven. We will also have broccoli.

I am tired. Hubby got up with Eloise about 3:20am. But I was never able to get back to sleep so I got up at 5am. It will be early to bed tonight because I have errands to run in the morning. I hope you all have a good evening!