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Every Day

A Little Of This And A Little Of That

It’s a mostly quiet day today. We did get a bit of snow but the sun has melted it.

We got our property tax bill. I knew it would cost us more for our garbage because we got a second can but that part of the bill was well worth it for $50.00 for the year. Our total bill was for $4664.+. Last year’s bill was $4788.+. So even with the $50.00 additional cost our bill decreased by $123.+. I am shocked because everything has just been going up and going up. It looks like our town and county leaders have done a good job with contracts, etc.

We both got our notices from Social Security showing our 2.5% increases. However, the Medicare payment for each month of 2025 which comes out of each of our checks went from $ 174. to $ 180. so the increase for our Social Security checks wasn’t much. But we both paid into SS and Medicare for years as everyone else does. At least we are getting a bit of money back over the years since we started getting it. I am hopeful that when President Trump is inaugurated that he and the Republicans will fix SS so that our children and grandchildren will be able to get it like we have.

A couple of weeks ago Nielsen sent me a survey and a $1.00 in cash to fill it out and send it back. It only took a minute or two and the return envelope was postage paid. They promised that if I did, they would send me an additional $ 5.00 in cash. That came today. $ 6.00 and a couple of minutes sure beats running all over inside of stores to ShopKick to cash out at $5.00 which I don’t do because it isn’t worth my time or gasoline. It would be nice if these surveys continue. But I am not counting on it.

I entered my last two weeks of receipts into Fetch today. I love getting the Walmart gift cards. They help defray the cost of my Walmart orders.

Brunch this morning was an apple fritter with our coffee. We had purchased a box of them recently. They are Hubby’s favorite. This year I am going to see if I can find a great recipe.

Dinner tonight will be canned Chunky soup and crackers. I am waiting for Hubby to get back from his orthopedic appointment before I pick out what we want from our pantry. The cortisone shot did not work so he is getting the gel injection to see if that works. I hope it works because I hate seeing him in so much pain. If it does he can get them every 6 months. If not the next step would be a knee replacement. Ugh! I am praying that he gets relief from this gel.

I ran the dishwasher last night. It had been three days since I ran it. I spent my hour cleaning yesterday and today in the kitchen. I am organizing at the same time and getting rid of things we don’t want.

What have you been doing to work on your goals for this year?

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Every Day

From Us To All Of You

I hope you all had a safe and fun evening last night. As per usual, we did not make it to the ball drop at midnight. So that champagne did not get drunk.

We did have our filet mignon though but we changed our sides. We had cheesy potatoes, salad, and applesauce with them. We each had 1/2 of our filet mignon leftover. For brunch we sliced them up and sauteed them with garlic in butter. We made some scrambled eggs to go with it. It was a yummy way to start off the New Year and a good use of leftovers.

Pork is a lucky dish to eat on New Year’s Day. So we had pork chops, fried fresh apples(they needed to be used up), and leftover cheesy potatoes for dinner tonight all from our pantry and freezer.

We ended the month of December with $ 6,512. toward our savings goal. Not too bad considering we had Christmas spending and an extra $1000. that we paid for our railing to be installed on the back steps. We had already paid $500. down when it was ordered to be custom made.

Now it is January 1st and I am so ready for 2025. I plan on continuing to try to get to our goal for our children and grandchildren.

We will not be going out at all today. It is cold and snowing. So no gasoline will be used. There will be some football games on the agenda for Hubby which always makes him happy.

I am starting a new habit today. I have always been constantly cleaning everyday. But as I am getting older, it is harder. If I really needed to, I can hire a cleaning service to do it for me. However over the years, we have hired people to clean and I always ended up firing them because they did not clean as well as I did. So to avoid this, I am going to spend just one hour a day cleaning in a room until I have done the entire house and then I will just repeat. I will time it and when that hour is up, I will stop. This does not include doing the dishes, making the beds, doing laundry, or cleaning bathrooms which I do every morning to keep up with them. The exception will be Eloise’s cage which she sleeps in. That and her litter boxes will be cleaned every day.

We are starting the month off expecting our property tax bill any day. It is a large amount to pay out every year. It does not include school taxes which are paid in September. We already have the money set aside to go up to Town Hall and pay them as soon as the bill comes. I will let you know how much they are after I know.

I wanted to take a picture of my dinner. However, Hubby had put his ice tea on the table which was all set. However, he put the lid on and the straw in but never screwed down the lid. Eloise jumped up on the table and knocked it all over everything. I had to clean everything up and reset the table so that we could eat. Then I forgot to take the picture.

I am beat. I just got done cleaning Eloise’s cage and doing all the dishes. So I am going to go watch You Tube and probably fall asleep.

I hope you all had a good day! Be back tomorrow.

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Every Day

2025 -The Low Spend Year

This will be our low spend year. I will aim for one or two no spend months as we go along. January will not be a no spend. The reason is that there are a lot of meat sales in that month. I don’t want to miss out on any of those great prices.

Since we are on the topic of food, I have cut our grocery budget back from $ 500. a month to $ 400. a month for 2025 for the two of us and it will also cover any company that we will feed. This connects with our Use It Up strategy. I will be very mindful of what we buy by always buying on sale and always checking our pantries, freezers, and refrigerator first. I will look for markdowns and reduced price items anytime I am near a market of any kind. If I run an errand or go to an appointment and there is a market on my route, I will stop in for a few minutes and just scour the store for those things.

We will try to cut back our utility costs which I have talked about in prior blog posts. We will also cut back the amount of water we use because those rates have gone up. We will be mindful everyday of how we are using water so that we don’t waste it. Eloise loves to drink out of our bathroom taps. But I felt we were wasting water while she was drinking. So we purchased her a fountain that was on clearance for $20. It recycles the water and we only have to fill it up every 3-4 days. It runs on a rechargeable battery so we don’t use a lot of electricity. Eloise starts the fountain running when she steps in front of it. Then when she is done it stops running. Thinking out of the box will be another of my mantras this year and I will share it all with you.

Every area of what we spend on will be scrutinized to see where we can save. What we spend on will be different than what you spend on. We each have our priorities. For example, we do spend on Cable TV. Hubby enjoys it so that will not be cut anytime soon. If it was up to me, I would cancel it because I watch it rarely. When I have some downtime, I watch You Tube to learn something new. That is so much more important to me.

An example of learning something new happened while my son was here a few days ago. We went out to breakfast the morning that he was leaving. We had put our kitten in her cage but his dog was loose in the house. He is an old dog but such a sweetie. I was the first to walk through our great room to go let Eloise out of her cage. I spotted quite a bit of blood on my off white carpeting. Well we soon figured out that the dog had broke a nail. I told my son I would get some cold water and a cloth. He said, “Mom do you have any hydrogen peroxide?” I said yes. He said get that and a cloth. He blotted it with that and I was shocked at how fast that removed the blood from my carpet. There is not even a trace that it was ever there. Being in the medical field for about 40 years, he knew about this. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down protein in the blood because of the oxygen in it. He told me it works on blood that has been dried on also. He told me if you get blood on clothing just put a bit on the spot and then wash the clothing. In all of my years and I am pretty old, I never knew this. So I learned something new that day! Thanks son!

I am frugal not cheap. For example, when I realized that the USDA had put some restrictions on ranchers selling their steers to meat processing plants recently which will make a severe beef shortage, I purchased two whole prime beef tenderloins and had them cut into 1 and 1/2 inch filet mignon portions. They were very expensive but it is something that we love. Knowing that they are going to cost more in the future had me stock up. We will be eating two of them and a tossed salad to ring in the New Year tonight. We will also be enjoying a bottle of champagne with our meal. The bottle is 4 years old so we will use it up. Every year we would tell ourselves that we would drink it and we would always go to bed early. I think tonight is when we will use it up.

Happy New Year’s Eve to you all!

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Every Day

Cutting Costs The Last Few Days

These are the things we have done the last few days to cut costs:

Two loads of laundry(clothes and sheets) were washed in cold water with 1/3 cup of liquid detergent and hung to dry.

Purchased $ 350. worth of Applebee’s gift cards for $ 280. using my Top’s reward points. Lowe’s was my first choice but they were out of them. Applebee’s is 3+ miles from our home. I kept $200. of the cards for ourselves. We gave away $150. worth of them as a gift. We also have $250. in gift certificates for our favorite restaurant, Russell’s Steakhouse. I have 3 Panera giftcards that I got with rewards last year. These will be most of what we will use for eating out or to go for all of 2025.

I cooked a 10 lb. ham the day after Christmas when our son came to visit for a few days. We sliced up the rest of the ham on our meat slicer and I sealed it up into food saver bags for future sandwiches.

I baked a cranberry cake using frozen fresh cranberries that I purchased at Thanksgiving of 2023. They were $ .99 a bag.

I filled our car up with gasoline using the $ .90 off per gallon using Top’s gasoline points that I earned. I paid $ 2.13 per gallon. The cash station was $ 2.85 per gallon so getting the gas at Top’s was a no brainer.

I picked up a prescription for Hubby for no co-pay.

We had a shrimp dinner last night and tonight I made knock off Chick Fil A chicken sandwiches.

I only had to run the dishwasher twice this past week.

We watched our Buffalo Bills win yesterday for entertainment. Hubby has been enjoying the College Bowl games.

Happy New Year to all of you! Enjoy the next two days!

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Every Day

2025 – Use It Up (continued)

Well you know what they say about best laid plans. Sometimes, they just don’t happen. I had forgotten that yesterday was Christmas when I said I would post yesterday. I hope you all had a wonderful one.

Hubby and I were alone yesterday. So Hubby and I did not have our usual Christmas dinner. Instead we had taco bowls. Christmas dinner will be today since we have company arriving for a few days. It will be ham and all the fixings to go with it. I have to bake a pie this morning too.

Let’s get back to “Use It Up”. I would bet a lot of you have the problem of too many cleaning supplies in your home. We have way too many and have been trying to use them up the last 6 months but they seem to last forever which I guess is a good thing. I won’t have to spend any money on them for a very long time because we will concentrate on using up every bit of them.

The same goes for all of our soaps: laundry, bar soap, liquid soap, dishwasher liquid, and dish liquid. I also have a case of all natural all purpose cleaner which was gifted to us.

Speaking of gifts, my sister – in – law surprised me with a wonderful book for Christmas: “The Prepper’s Cookbook by Tess Pennington. I was delighted because it has some great recipes to use up my stockpile. They have a huge used bookstore out there in Houston and I am hoping she got it there. It’s definitely not new. She is frugal like I am which I love.

We have also been going through our clothes and donating what we don’t want anymore. I think 2025 will be a year without buying any for me. I have so many plus shoes that have never been worn. Time to wear through them. Hubby may need some things but he won’t buy anything that isn’t a real need.

Another category of items that we will not be buying this year is personal care products. We have enough deodorant, shampoo, shower soap, makeup for me, toothpaste, toothbrushes(which I use for travel and to clean), floss and other dental items to last well over 2 years(thanks to my dentist), lotions and creams, etc.

I am sure there are many other items that we won’t need to buy but I am drawing a blank right now. I will write about them as the year goes on.

I will not be posting until at least Monday since we have company and I want to enjoy every minute visiting with them.

Then I will wrap up 2024 and dive into 2025.

Do any of you plan to not buy certain things in 2025? I would love you to share in the comments so that other people can benefit from your knowledge.

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Every Day

2025 Planning – Use It Up

A theme for 2025 seems to be popular for next year. I am usually not one for themes but I will play along. Use It Up will be one of my themes.

How many of you have food in your home that you have forgotten you have? Or food that you don’t know how to use it up? I know I do. People have gifted me food that I am not sure how to cook. But this year it will all get used. Waste not want not! I will use a recipe site like:

https://www.allrecipes.com/ingredients-a-z-6740416

Very little money will get spent on groceries until many food products that I have on hand are used up. We have already started this. I had stockpiled over 10 cases of Chunky, Progresso, Old El Paso, and Marie Callendar soups before the prices started inflating. Many I got for $ .89 – $ .99 each. Now they are $ 1.98 each or more. I make a lot of homemade soups but I had these in case of an emergency and for quick lunches or dinners in the winter time. It has been so cold that Hubby and I have been eating 2 cans week. We each like different soups. By doing this, we have saved a lot of money. Plus it is so easy to heat up a can of soup, add saltines with butter and call it a meal. That gives me a break because I am now taking care of everything because of Hubby’s meniscus tear. Add a kitten named Eloise to that and I fall into bed at night exhausted.

My freezers are jammed packed so we will be eating those up also. I have found 2 other stores where I can restock in bulk at great prices. Much better than the prices in the local supermarkets. They are the https://www.usfoods.com/why-us-foods/chef-store.html and https://www.sloansupermarket.com/ .

The rest of our food we will rotate so that nothing goes bad.

How many of you have tons of office supplies? I know we do and we are not going to buy any until they are all gone. We have lots of pens and pencils, notebooks, computer printer paper(about a case and 1/2), staples, rubber bands, markers, notepads, tape, etc. Just look at these notebooks. They will get put to good use this year.

The one on the left on the bottom row is a meal planner that barely got used. I will use it up this year to plan out my meals from my stockpile and write any groceries I need that week. The one on the right is a notebook with lined pages. I will be using it as a running list of errands, cleaning that needs to be done, etc. I will just cross things off as I do them and add things as I need to. This notebook will replace buying a planner. I have purchased planners from two different people over the years. This year they are majorly expensive around $ 59. and $ 68. I found this past year I barely used mine because of my online calendar. So buying one would be a huge waste of money. I will just use the notebook that I already own.

In the top picture is a money planner that did not get used. We keep everything online. But I will use it this year to track things I spend money on that are not fixed budget items. The other notepad I am going to use to track my frugal items that I do every day.

We have many more notebooks that will get used when we need them.

It is 1:37am and I am now tired and ready for bed. But I wanted to get this post done for you. I will continue it tomorrow.

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Every Day

Cost Cutting This Past Week

We did no online shopping this week so no money spent on that.

I did all of my errands for this week today. I went to Top’s to check out ham prices. No real deals to be had. I did pick up 2 lbs. of butter for $2.99 each using a rain check. I also used a rain check to get 4 SteakUms at the BOGO price of $3.99 for 2 of them so I paid $ 7.98 for all 4 packages. My total was $13.96.

Then I went to Walmart to check out ham prices which were too high in price. I looked for the $.25 a lb. turkeys that the online community is talking about but they had none. I did pick up a case of Clear American Sparkling waters for $ 9.36 to use for Christmas. I also purchased provolone cheese slices for $ 2.24 and a 2 lb. package of Bubba Burgers for $13.97. The total was $ 25.57. I paid with 2 $10. Walmart GC’s that I earned from Fetch and $ 5.57 in cash.

We watched our Buffalo Bills beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Our family was not able to come to celebrate Christmas this past weekend because of the flu.

I have been reading some frugality books that I haven’t read in a long time to get ready for 2025. Then I am setting each of them aside to give to a friend. This is giving me some time to rest my back.

My winter coat needs to be dry cleaned because I forgot to do it last spring. I am researching the price for the dry cleaner and the price to do it myself. Whichever is cheaper, I will do.

We are making all meals from our pantry and freezer.

I have set aside time in my schedule this week to make a bunch of quick breads from scratch. I need some for gifts and some for breakfasts meals for family that will spending a few days here during the holidays.

I have been slow walking on the treadmill which is helping my back.

I purchased a Sam’s Club Membership at the senior discount rate of $20.

All leftovers have been eaten this week.

I made 8 SF puddings for snack and desserts this week.

I did 1 load of laundry this week using cold water and hung most of it to dry. Towels and sheets I like to put in the dryer.

What have you done to cut costs?

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

It has been a rough week. My back has been bothering me but is a little better today. There is really nothing they can do for it but surgery. I refuse to do that so I will manage it with OTC pain killers and exercises from my chiropractor.

Hubby tore his meniscus in his left knee. It has been bothering him for a while but he finally was able to get in to see the orthopedist who made this diagnosis. They gave him a cortisone shot. It seemed to work the first day but he says he is in pain now. Next step is an injection of gel. Final step is a knee replacement. So I have been busy most of the week taking care of him. We also had doctor appointments yesterday and Hubby has 2 next week and I have some tests one day also. Needless to say I have been really busy and exhausted each and every day.

Fortunately, I have wonderful neighbors who have been bringing our garbage cans up from the road after they have been emptied. Then all I have to do is open the garage door and put them away. I was grateful last week because we had a lot of snow and this week because it was 22 degrees and extremely windy. So I will be baking homemade banana bread for them and their families soon. They think I don’t know who is doing it but my outdoor cameras are showing me who it is.

However, we did not get take out for meals. I was tempted but resisted the urge. I made all of our meals all week. We had pork chops one day with Spanish rice, soup twice, and red beans and rice with smoked sausage. Leftovers were eaten for breakfast along with bacon and eggs and chicken salad. Today we should finish the chicken for brunch.

The grocery deals were not that good this week so I didn’t miss those. I may get to Aldi and Dollar Tree this morning very early. I haven’t looked at the Top’s ad for next week yet but unless they have really great deals, I will not shop. It will be too crowded.

We have been craving filet mignon, baked potatoes, and a salad so I will defrost the meat today.

We were supposed to have Christmas here tomorrow with some family but one of them is sick and they don’t want us to get sick. So it has been changed to Sunday but most likely that will end up getting cancelled. We were looking forward to it but things happen. At least I have all the stockings filled but they can wait until some future time.

Since I was sitting a lot because Hubby wanted me to watch some taped shows with him, I wrote 23 Christmas cards out and got them mailed. I have one friend who is almost blind so I will call and chat with her soon.

I am so happy that Christmas money envelopes and all 5 stockings are done. I would not want to be running around now gathering those things.

We are not putting up our tree this year because of Eloise. She would either knock it over or become an ornament in it.

We continue to work on our budget for 2025. We were bitterly disappointed when our pest control company sent us notice of an increase in our quarterly cost. I just paid $202.+ for the past three months. Now it will be $234.+ a quarter or $936.+ a year. That is a yearly increase of $ 128. per year. I was not happy that every year they raise it but this is the largest increase. I hate spiders, all bugs and bees and wasps. So we are researching what we can do. We also have traps that they put food in each quarter to get rid of the voles that ruin our lawn. If anyone treats these things at the their home themselves, I would love to hear about in the comments and any products you use. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I hope you are all getting your Christmas food at the stores and your gifts done.

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Every Day

Cost Cutting This Weekend

We are eating leftovers for brunch. We have a choice of a hamburger, cottage cheese with pineapple, or meatballs with marinara sauce. When those are gone, all the leftovers will be gone. That is a good thing because no food waste. We do not eat lunch.

Dinner on Sunday will be grilled mojito lime pork rib steaks and tossed salad. All meals this weekend will be cooked at home. My son and West will be here for breakfast tomorrow morning. I will make bacon, scrambled eggs, French toast with 100% pure syrup, a side of avocado for 2 of us who will eat it and cranberry juice. Tonight we will bread haddock and deep fry it. I will serve it with broccoli.

I emptied my change from my purse this week into my change jug. I do this at the end of every week. We wrap it and take it to the bank for the grandchildren when it is full. They usually get around $100. each time that happens(once or twice a year). I always hold back a quarter to use at Aldi’s when I go.

We will not being going anywhere so no gasoline will be used. We will not be ordering anything online so no money will be spent.

Entertainment this weekend will be watching NCIS, FBI Most Wanted, and Matlock, reading, watching football, and playing rummy with our son and West. I have decided I will write out a few Christmas cards for people we don’t see all year. I will do this while watching football.

I have cloth snakes in front of the two doors in the basement to keep the cold air out. But I am feeling a draft again near the back door so I will find another one for there today. They are in a storage bin in the basement.

That’s it. Enjoy your weekends.

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Every Day

Cost Cutting This Week and November Savings

Hubby filled the gas tank up when we got back from out trip at the cash station. We paid $ 2.89 a gallon.

Hubby arranged through our insurance company to have a windshield replacement company come to our home on Tuesday and replace our cracked windshield. It is fully covered under our insurance. I am thankful because it cost over $700.

I stopped at Top’s on the way home from the X-RAY place and got a loaf of Schwebel’s bread for $.99, 2 bunches of bananas for $ .29 a lb, 2 lbs. of butter for $ 2.99 each and egg nog on sale for $ 3.99. I also used some of my manufacturers coupons from the companies I write to to get 1 butter, 2 cottage cheese, 2 sour cream and 1 Rosina meatballs. Almost all the under $1.00 coupons doubled. We have been wanting banana salad as a side dish but until now the bananas have been too expensive. I got one yellow bunch and one green bunch so they will last longer.

It has been snowing here for a couple of days. Our snowplow guy showed twice and I think he will be back tomorrow because it is snowing again. He is all paid in advance so I don’t have to worry about that when he comes. I shoveled the sidewalk and porch so that the delivery people don’t fall and my packages don’t get wet.

I cooked a half pound of bacon and 3 eggs for brunch. The bacon was very fatty so it made a lot of bacon grease. I used some to cook the eggs and saved the rest to use for other things like sauteing potatoes.

For dinner last night I made hamburgers and topped them with sauteed onions and cheese. We have one leftover so that will get eaten for brunch today by one of us.

When our garbage man came, my neighbor brought the can up to my garage door for me because the snow and wind blowing it around was awful . I was grateful and let him know. It was so easy to just open the door and bring it into the garage. I have thoughtful neighbors.

Our water bill came for three months and is now down to normal again. It was $ 57.44. The last bill over the summer was $ 212.10 for 3 months. For the past year we have paid $ 367.49 for the gallons of water we use. I would like to reduce that by $40.00 in 2025. Using the dishpans all year and being very careful to take navy showers will help. We had a dry summer. Hopefully next summer it will rain more so we don’t have to water as often. We also pay for water and sewers in our tax bill in January.

While we were away, the free gallon of milk that I got did not get used. It is still good so I made a lot of SF pudding to use it up. Before it goes bad, I will freeze the rest.

You all know that we pay for grocery delivery at Walmart. Hubby was out of his favorite crackers and I was out of saltines to go with soup meals. So we placed an order of those things, romaine lettuce and fresh tomatoes for salads, and a few other items. I noticed that Walmart had given me a free express order(delivered within 90 minutes). It actually arrived an hour after I ordered. That was convenient last night rather than have to get up early this morning and deal with it.

I scanned all of my receipts into Fetch. I got a rebate check for $18. for other items.

Our November savings was only $1600. The reason is all of the Christmas money gifts that we give out and charitable donations that we sent to different organizations in November. We give a lot of money in large lump sums to Tunnel to Towers a few times a year. I also put $50. in the Salvation Army kettle at Top’s. I also tend to tip in larger amounts in November and December.

Lastly, we had many things that we bought for Eloise to make sure she is warm this winter.

I am debating writing Christmas cards this year. I have them because I bought them half price last Christmas. But the postage is so high now. Are any of you doing something else besides cards like e-mails?

However $1600. is a win for us and gets us closer to our goal.

Have you cut any costs the past week or so? Please share with all of us. It helps others.

My storage is used up on my computer. I need to get rid of some pictures before I can take any more pictures. I refuse to pay for more storage. I will try to get that done over the weekend.