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Every Day

A Little Of This and A Little Of That

Our government here in New York has banned plastic bags effective March 31, 2020. Knowing that they were probably going to do this, I have been saving every one that comes into the house for months and I will continue to save them. I have a plastic bag dispenser inside one of my pantries for the ones that I will use over the next few months. The rest are being stored in empty Kleenex boxes in my basement stockpile. 

Why you ask? Because I reuse them for my garbage. In our town all garbage must be bagged before you put it in your trash can. So I empty waste baskets from all over the house into these little bags. That way I can save the expensive tall kitchen garbage ones that I buy for just the kitchen waste basket. 

We have some people who walk their dogs in our neighborhood who don’t live in here and don’t always pick up after their dogs. So those bags are what I use to clean it up. Most of my neighbors pick up after their dogs.

I expect that when the new law goes into effect here that tall kitchen garbage bags and those black trash bags will rise in price. So by using what I have, I make mine last longer. 

Last month I found a new product that we love. It is G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ Sauce. Walmart carries it for $7.52 for a 2 pack. We tried the Hickory flavor but they have other flavors too which Hubby and I will be trying. This is delicious! So many SF products don’t taste good but this one is definitely a keeper. I made a pan of BBQ chicken the other night and even Hubby loved it. And my Hubby is very fussy. So if you have a diabetic in the family or just don’t want sugar in the products you eat, give it a try. 

I am rearranging my kitchen cupboards again to make things easier for me as I age. This is the results after I rearranged my beverage cupboard. I think you have all seen that I keep my Keurig on my kitchen counter along with our sugar free syrups and whipped toppings that we make our coffee with. Everything else is in the cupboard above these things. The only new container I purchased was my
tea box .  Th organization doesn’t need to be pretty. It just needs to be functional.

For those of you that don’t know, you can click on the pictures and they will get bigger. That is a tip for my senior readers who may not see as well as they used to and that includes me. 

Today will be a quiet day spent at home. I will continue working on my organization projects. Dinner tonight will be mandarin orange chicken for Hubby so that he can finish up the rice. I will finish the last bit of BBQ chicken and the broccoli.

Any of you doing any organizing now that Spring is here? Feel free to leave a comment and share with us.

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Every Day

Planning For Easter

I love Easter, not only because of the Resurrection but because I love having family and watching the grandchildren enjoy their Easter baskets. It also makes me believe that Spring may finally stick around. Unfortunately, my family in Eastern NY will not be able to come this year. So I have already sent my granddaughter’s gift.

However my son, DIL, and West will be joining us. I was going to cook a turkey dinner but Hubby wants leg of lamb. He loves Australian lamb and you can only find it on sale at this time of the year. Instead of paying $ 9.99 a lb, I found it on sale this week for $ 6.49 a lb. I bought 2 boneless legs of lamb. The semi- boneless are on sale for $1.00 less per lb. However, I felt that it was worth paying that $1.00 per lb to get boneless. 

I purchased a 6.98 lb. one for Easter dinner. The other one which I will save in the freezer for a few months was 5.73 lbs. The larger one will feed 5 of us and give me leftovers for the week.

I have a special recipe that I will share with you on how I cook it. I have made this almost every Easter since we got married.

1 boneless leg of lamb( or you can use one with a bone)

Olive Oil

2 Tsps. Salt

3 Tsps. of Oregano

1 Tsp. Pepper

2 Minced Garlic Clove


2 cans of Beef Consomme

16. oz of Tomato Sauce

Brush the lamb with olive oil and put in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt, oregano and pepper. Add the garlic, consomme and tomato sauce to the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven for about 2 and 1/2 hours at 325. I use a meat thermometer to tell me when it is done. We like it medium rare between 130 & 140. if you like it rare then roast it for less time or more for well done. Then thicken the stock for gravy. 

This is so incredibly delicious that Hubby wants me to cook it today. But he is just going to have to wait until Easter.

I will serve this with rice with the gravy on top. We will also have broccoli and a tossed salad. I am hoping to make a bunny cake for West. I used to make one when my kids were little. So if I can find the recipe, West will get one. 

I had a list when I grocery shopped this morning but I ended up buying more than what was on the list. I actually spent $143.97. When I see a good deal on meat that I didn’t have on my list, then I stock. Especially with beef prices going to rise quickly because of the floods. 


So I purchased 2 Porterhouse Steaks at $ 5.99 a lb.
They will get grilled soon. I also saw Eye Round Roasts on sale at $4.69 a lb. so I got 2 (This price has already risen.) Top’s also had boneless chicken breasts at $ 1.69 a lb. But my inventory tells me that I have over 75 lbs. of chicken in the freezer. So I skipped it.


The rest of my order was some more Lay’s chips for Hubby to have with dip while watching the game tonight. I also got some very expensive Delicious Apples because Hubby wanted them to add them into his coleslaw mix. We were down to 2 SF Jello and I eat this for a dessert or snack sometimes so I got a bunch. I got mushrooms to go with the steak and a cucumber for salads.

I had $ 479.54 left in my grocery budget before today’s shop. I now have $ 335.57. I will not be doing shopping for quite a while unless I see a great meat deal. 

I have never been one to know how much money I have in the grocery budget and go spend it all each month. I try to have money leftover to roll so that when I see meat deals like I did today, I can buy a few to put in my freezer and use at a later time. The one thing I hate is having to buy something at full price. So I try to avoid that although it has happened when I really need something for a recipe.

Today has been busy. Hubby spent some time with a pest control company representative deciding whether to hire them or not. They will set traps for the voles that are digging up our lawn, get rid of bee’s nests, and ants and any other pest that we get like spiders. I hate wolf spiders. The rep just came back and while he was gone we did some research. So we hired them for the season.

Because it snowed one more time since our last car wash, I used those coupons to get a free car wash again today. Now all of the salt should be off it until next winter. I also tanked the car up again getting $.60 off a gallon using supermarket points. 

Have you planned for Easter yet? Feel free to leave a comment and share your plans with all of us.
    

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Every Day

My Top’s Grocery Haul

I did a Top’s grocery haul this week. I made a list over this past weekend using the sales flyer. I must have been hungry when I made it because I ended up crossing off half of the list before I went to the store. The items really weren’t needed.

Hubby wanted a snack for this coming weekend while he watches the championship basketball games. Top’s had a deal where you could get a bag of Lay’s chips for $ .99 with a Monopoly token that I had. I also picked him up some sour cream to make onion dip. I have plenty of dried onion soup mix in my basement stockpile from a $1.00 deal at Walmart months ago. I also picked him up 4 -12 packs of Diet Coke that are not pictured.

The stuffing mixes and gravy mixes are for when I eventually cook the big turkey. I can’t eat them so this will make it easier to just make a little for Hubby when I cook it and to make more with leftovers. Most of the cooked turkey I will be freezing for future meals. 

I have been taking the time to give myself a weekly manicure and ran out of polish remover. 

Strawberries, eggs, and the reduced fat cheddar cheese were all on sale. Now that I can add some fruit back in to my diet on Phase 2, you can’t have enough strawberries.

I wanted to make a big pot of homemade spaghetti sauce(most processed spaghetti sauce has sugar in it) this week for Hubby. Hence that is why I bought diced tomatoes. I had none left in my stockpile.

He has been so patient cooking his own meals so I decided to make him his favorite, spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. I can have a couple of meatballs in the sauce and some veggies. No spaghetti for this lady. I have a question for those of you who eat healthy. What do you serve spaghetti sauce on? I hate whole wheat pasta. I would love to put it on spaghetti squash but I can’t find one in my stores. 

The bacon is for our family Sunday breakfast this coming weekend. 

I purchased some
sliced mozzarella for caprese salad and some shredded Mexican cheeses
for Hubby’s Tostito snacks that he makes. 

That was it. Even though Hubby is eating some snacks and a little bit different than me, he is still losing some weight which I am happy about. 

My total for this Top’s haul was $ 51.46. So now I have $479.54 left in my April grocery budget. 

Hubby and I are going to take it easy today and binge watch some movies. It is looking like this weekend may be warm, in the 50’s and 60’s, so perhaps we can get outside and enjoy it.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will be back next week.  

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Every Day

Frugal Things In The Past Few Weeks

We have done a few things frugally in the past few
weeks.

Our SUV just turned 6 years old. It is in excellent condition and we want to keep it that way. We have less than 30,000 miles on it. We had quite a bit of snow this winter so it went to the car wash a lot to get the grime and salt off. Salt causes rust and we do not want any of that. The car wash costs $10. for the Works. Every time we get it washed, they give us a receipt. If you save 5 receipts, you get a free wash.
Hubby used 5 of them last week to get a free wash. And I have 5 more to use next time. Once it warms up here and we turn the outside water back on, we will wash our own car. 

We have been cooking all of our meals from scratch here at home using fresh ingredients that we purchase as cheaply as possible. We have been watching our portions and making sure that we get the nutrients that we need each day. Overeating wastes money and causes us to be unhealthy.

Our weight scale was old and Hubby was sure that it was inaccurate. I researched the best ones. They ranged anywhere in price from $15.00 up to $ 190. dollars. I bought the one for $19.99 which was highly rated. It is working well for us. I didn’t need an expensive one that worked with your computer and phone.

Last year we hemmed and hawed over renewing our B.J.’s membership. I didn’t but then they caught us with a year for $25. It was a mistake. I only did two shops all year and most of that time was used checking prices. With a year’s worth of careful research, I have determined that I can get the same prices and a lot of the time cheaper prices using Amazon, Walmart, Target, and meat sales at the regular supermarkets. A lot of prices were higher also and quantities are so big that our little family of 2 has trouble using such quantities. So when our membership was up the end of March, I did not renew it and will not be renewing it.

Our faucet cartridge died in our kitchen faucet. Hubby had a terrible time getting the screw out so that he could replace the cartridge but he kept at it and after an hour and a half, he was able to take it apart. Meanwhile, I went to the hardware stores in search of a new cartridge. Home Depot was the only one that had one in stock. The price at $20. was outrageous. But I had no choice but to buy it since we would have no water for a few days while I ordered one. And I was not about to go without water in the kitchen for an hour let alone a few days. While Hubby installed it, I found the same one at Amazon for $ 13.71. I ordered one to have a spare here the next time this happens. This guarantees that we will have one cheaper or that it will never give up the ghost again. Either way that works! 

I have almost emptied our last refill for our soap dispensers. Rather than buy more refills, we will refill with shampoo. I have a ton of shampoo that I got free that will work just as well.

I have been weeding out food from our basement storage pantry that we will never eat and donating it to the food pantry. I have been organizing it as I do this.


Since our winter electric and natural gas bills have been so high this winter, we have been really careful to turn off lights, use cold water washes, and use small appliances for cooking. Our last bill was $40.  less than the one before. Because this winter was so cold and snowy, I have not been able to determine if our back storm door is helping lower the bills. But we are hoping it is. If nothing else, it will be nice to have fresh air in the morning room and kitchen once the temps go up. 


I filled up the SUV with gasoline getting $.50 off a gallon using Top’s points. 

It is amazing how when you take the car in to get something done, they try to sell you something else. Hubby took the SUV in for a recall and the dealer told him he needed new brakes. He took the car in to get the snow tires taken off and the regular ones put back on. They told him that we needed a battery. Hubby has scheduled an appointment at our trusted garage who always fixes our SUV. Our car needs to be inspected in April. We will let them tell us if we need those things. If we need a battery, Hubby will buy one and install it himself saving us the labor. If we need brakes, my son said he will install them for us or if the garage’s price isn’t too costly we may get them done there. 

I have decided not to plant any vegetables again this year. Niagara Produce has such great prices on local veggies and fruits that it isn’t worth my time and effort. Plus I have no space to grow the amounts we will be using. 


That is about all that I can thing of right now. I will have to get back to keeping a list so that I don’t forget to tell you everything.


Please leave a comment and share with all of us what you have been doing frugally lately.  

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Every Day

A Day In The Life

After getting up really early and getting that one cup of coffee and an egg for breakfast, I got ready to go to the dentist for an 8AM appointment. I just loved dealing with rush hour traffic especially when it had been snowing since Saturday night. Another expensive trip($330.) for cleaning and X rays but the good news is that I had no cavities.

Next it was a trip to the bank to get cash out for April’s groceries and eating out. After tracking spending on healthy food last month, I decided to get $500. for the month. My trial run in March was $800. which got us some items that will last more than a month or two plus let Hubby buy some goodies for himself. I had $ 77.90 left from March to roll into April. So after doing my withdrawal, I had a running balance of $577.90. I will be taking any monies that are left each month and just rolling it into the next month. That way I can build up a balance so that if I find a great meat sale, I can stock.

It will also allow me to build up some monies for a nice dinner out. We are cooking all of our meals right now but I am sure after a month or so, we will want to go out. I have looked at most of the menus for the restaurants we frequent and I believe it will be pretty easy for me to stay on South Beach while eating out. 

Easter has been on my mind since family is coming for dinner. I have a spiral sliced ham and a large turkey in my freezer that I purchased at rock bottom during the holidays in 2018. However, Hubby wants a leg of lamb. Lamb usually goes on sale closer to Easter. I will be keeping my eyes open for that perfect sale price. If it is really good, then I will buy one for Easter and a spare for the Fall.

But I did start getting things for an Easter basket for West. I had a $3.00 ECB and a $2.00 ECB that CVS just gave to me. So on the way home from the dentist I stopped and got some candy to start it. Free was terrific! I am doing something different for my granddaughter. 

Next I went to Niagara Produce to pick up some produce. We are going through a lot of produce these days. I also picked up some cold cuts and free au jus for Hubby. And I shopped at Walmart. Jelly beans are more for West’s basket and some for Hubby too. Hubby wanted wraps to go with his cold cuts. 


I started with $ 577.90 in my budget and after deducting the Walmart and Niagara Produce shop I have a balance of $531.00. I will most likely do a Top’s shop tomorrow since it is Senior Citizen Discount Day(6% off).


I am beat after all of the shopping and the dentist. So I will most likely settle down with a book and my lemon water for a while. Hubby needs to go outside and rake up the glass from our table on the patio. It broke during the wind storm a few weeks ago and he hasn’t gotten to it yet. He started one day but he said it was too cold. So we will be replacing it with a new patio dining set soon. 


The other surprise we got today was a notice from our town that our assessment on the house went up $33,000. for 2019. They nailed everyone in here most likely because the houses were selling the end of last year for 28-40% more than they had been. I expect we will get hit again next year because they are extending our neighborhood behind us. So lots of new homes will be for sale. They started selling them about two weeks ago and have sold 6 so far. I will be happy to have a large home behind us to break up the wind. 


Now that I am losing so much weight, I was afraid I would lose my wedding ring. I almost lost it last weekend. So I stopped and got a ring guard. That will work until I am down to the weight I want to be and can get it made smaller. 

Tonight I will be making a South Beach recipe for gingered chicken and steaming some asparagus. I will make some rice in the rice cooker if Hubby wants some.   


I hope you are having a great day! Have you gotten any great deals lately? Please feel free to tell us all about them in comments.

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Every Day

I Am So Grateful

I want to thank everyone here who prayed for me and wished me well during my surgery and recovery. Thanks for sticking with me while I am recovering.

Since 2007, I have blogged under various blog titles and I have enjoyed every moment of it. My only hope when I started was that I would be able to share with you frugal things that would help you along your life’s journey.  However, something unexpected happened. So many of you who have frequented my blogs for so many years have taught me many valuable things in your comments. Some recipes and things that I still use today. For all of those things I am very, very grateful! 

I am also very grateful for the many friends that I have made. Some of you I know but others I have never met. But I feel like I know you all after so many years.

So as I start the next chapter of my life, I will be here for you and I hope you for me. 

I have been so rejuvenated after having this surgery. I am grateful for the wonderful surgeon and his team who repaired me. For 4 years, I was in chronic pain. I did the best I could to manage it without pain killers. Yes, I went to a specialist who only seemed interested in sending me for every test known to man. But the one that would have told them the real problem they never ordered. My surgeon ordered two that told the whole story. I am so thankful to him. He sent the test results to my gastro doctor who was shocked when she saw them. She actually called me to wish me luck with the surgery. However up to that point she tried to talk me out of the hiatal hernia surgery. So I did an “end run” around her and found my surgeon. Needless to say I am done with her.

My brain is telling me that I can do anything but I can’t. I still tire out late afternoon every day. But I am getting better at being less tired every day. I am driving now and running some errands. I still have restrictions on lifting anything for another month. I am enjoying the South Beach diet. I have less than a week to go and will be on Phase 2.

However, tomorrow I can go back to the gym whenever I want as long as I stay away from any weight machines. I am so looking forward to the Aqua Fit exercises. I also love the treadmill. My treadmill at home needs repair. That is one of the things on my to do list this week. I have to call someone to come and repair it because I like how handy it is to just jump on it when I am in the mood.

I am feeling like I did when I was in my forties. I actually made a bucket list yesterday. There are so many things that I want to do and places that I want to see. I want to live every day in the moment and just enjoy it all. Hubby and I have already made some plans for the summer. So many places to explore right in our own backyard.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wonderful Hubby! But I do every day. He has been such a blessing to me our entire marriage and whenever I have had surgery he is always there for me. He waited on me hand and foot and still is helping when I need it. And I enjoy his help even just doing the dishes together! I also have to thank my youngest son who has helped us when I was in the hospital and around here since. And my oldest son who has checked in with us every few days since my surgery. I so enjoy talking with him. 

The other thing that has happened to me is that I no longer have any stress. Being in that much pain gave me constant stress and now it is gone. I just do what I am doing and don’t thing about anything else. I don’t stress about what needs to be done. I just take it moment by moment and that has been good for me.

So it is time to end this post. However, I will be back tomorrow with a frugal post! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! 

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Every Day

Just a Little Tip My Surgeon Gave Me and a Little of This and a Little of That

My surgeon told me I could start the South Beach diet in a few days. But he gave me a few tips. He told me to only eat until I start to feel full. He also told me to use smaller plates for my meals.

My dinner plates are huge but my smallest plates are the size of saucers. So I decided I had to buy at least 4 in between plates. Since I won’t be using them forever, I did not want to spend a lot of money on them. 

So I went to Dollar Tree yesterday and found 4 of the pictured ones. They weren’t my favorite design but they were the right size. The price was right at $ 4.32. 

It was time to read the meters again and submit them to the power company which I did. I noticed while doing this that both the electric and natural gas usage has gone down. It is still really cold here so I was pleasantly surprised. 

Pictured is what I ate for breakfast yesterday. The scrambled eggs are so yummy and the avocado pairs well with them. I can’t eat a lot of meat yet. 

I am going to try to do some laundry today. I am just adding things one at time because I get so tired.

I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me in the last 2-3 weeks. They worked because the surgery was a success and I am getting stronger every day. I appreciate all of you. 

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Every Day

Wegman’s South Beach Haul

I managed to get to Wegman’s for my first South Beach grocery shopping haul. But I had to cut it short because it exhausted me. I hope to go to Top’s later this week to pick up the things that I didn’t get.

My brain is telling me that I can do anything but my body is not letting me. I get tired very easily.

Here is my receipt because it is easier for me right now than to list it all here. I got a few things that Hubby wanted that aren’t pictured. The picture is just of the South Beach items.

This diet is very important to me for my health. I am not trying to be frugal when I spend for it. I will be shopping at a number of different stores over the next 10-12 weeks so that I can get a handle on who has the best prices. I used no coupons today. I had one for the Cheerios but because I was so tired, I forgot to use it.

I am having the people who wait on me in the fish market cut my organic salmon into 3 oz. pieces which is perfect for my diet. I love salmon and have decided to splurge on it. Hubby likes haddock and we have a few whole ones in the freezer for him. Tonight, I am having baked salmon with fresh lemon and steamed asparagus for dinner. This meal is not only SB but on my soft food diet this week. So while eating the soft foods, I am trying to stay SB.

I also picked up some sirloin steak which Hubby will grill some day next week. This is two portions. On this diet I can have steak once or so every 2-3 weeks. Most of the time, dinner will include chicken or fish and sometimes pork. We have a lot of chicken in the freezer to go through before I will have to buy more. I also have pork and more salmon in the freezer. 

We will have lots of salads and veggies. I plan on ricing the cauliflower. I will be trying a new veggie, the jicama, in a recipe. And there will be lots of tuna on salad for lunch.

We are very aware that our grocery bill will rise but it is worth it. We saved our entire married life so that we could afford to pay more when need be.

Are any of you getting warmer weather? Today is the first day of spring and cold temps in the 20’s and 30’s are forcasted for the next week. I am so over winter!!!  

As always click on the pics to make them bigger. I will try to post again soon.  

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Every Day

Many Things Have Been Happening Around Here

Even though I have been resting and recovering from my surgery, life doesn’t stop.

I believe I told you that a few days before my surgery, we had damage to our roof from a bad wind storm. The roofer couldn’t match the shingles because they were made in Canada and they no longer make the architectural ones that were on there. The American ones and the Canadian ones were a different size too. So they had to remove all of the shingles on 2 sections of the roof in order to blend them in properly. They also removed the roofing paper under them. The cost was about $ 4,100.+. We have a $1,000. deductible so the insurance company is reimbursing us the difference. We already had it done because we had another wind storm and we were lucky that it didn’t cause any more damage. 

I finally started eating soft foods yesterday. I never knew that scrambled eggs could taste so good. Up to this point I had been on a liquid diet, baby food, and watered down mashed potatoes. I will be on the soft food diet for about a week and then I start the South Beach Diet. Since my surgery about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, I have lost 13 lbs. It gives me a good start to the SB diet where I hope to get down to my normal weight. Hubby is going to eat pretty much what I eat so we don’t have to cook two meals. I have made a menu plan for the first two weeks and we hope to get that shopping done this week. Meanwhile, little by little, I have been going through my freezers and pantries weeding out food that we should not eat. I will be donating most of it to the food pantry after I check with family to see if they want any of it.

I am anxious to get back to my aquafit classes, the treadmill, track, and some other machines at the Y. The surgeon told me yesterday I can start in another two weeks.  

Hubby has been my driver all of this time. He has been game to take me any place I wanted to go. So errands like getting gasoline and banking $45. in rebate checks have been done. 

You all also know that we use the Skinny SF Syrups from Jordan’s in our coffee. We especially love the Irish Cream and the Vanilla Almond. I almost placed an order a week ago. But I decided to wait until we were down to 2 bottles left. I am so glad I waited. Jordan’s is celebrating their anniversary and I got an e-mail from them last Friday saying their top 10 sellers were on sale. Sure enough both flavors that we like were in the top 10 sale. Normally I pay $5.99 for the big bottles. But they were on sale for $ 3.99.

So knowing a great deal when I see it, I placed an order for 24 Irish Cream and 6 Vanilla Almond totaling $ 119.70. By doing so I saved $60.00. These will last us quite a while.  

I have been watching a lot of TV and You Tube, reading, and doing paperwork. I try to stay busy so that boredom doesn’t set in.

This past Saturday, my son and grandson came for lunch and a visit. Not being up to cooking it for them, I sent my son to Ales and Sandwiches to get lunch for everyone. I was even able to get a small portion of mashed potatoes with gravy so that I could mix the gravy in and make them soupy. We enjoyed their company and they brought Nori, their dog, too. I enjoyed seeing her. She hasn’t been out for a visit in  many months. 

I apologize for the rambling but I wanted to let you know that I am still around and hope to be back blogging on a permanent basis soon. Till then, stay frugal!

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Every Day

Living On Just Social Security

While I am recouperating, here is another video that I thought might be of interest to some of you who are or will be living on Social Security only in retirement.

This is Tawra’s mother, Jill, who is showing you how she lives on $750. a month of Social Security only.

Again stick with them. It takes them a couple of minutes to get into the conversation.

But the tips may help some on Social Security and others with small fixed incomes too.   

Living on $750. a Month 

Enjoy.