This had been a very busy week. We have had company, been tied up with appointments, worked in the gardens, canned chicken because I caught a good sale this week of $ 1.88 per pound for BS chicken breasts, had to have an expensive repair done that we were not expecting. Thanks to our emergency fund, we could pay for it with cash.
We got our monthly electric and gas bill. It was $ 132.98. Our electric was up about 80 kwh but that was because of A/C usage. I really couldn’t compare the bill to last year’s because the meter reader made a mistake last year and only charged us 7 kwh which threw our bills off for a couple of months. We are doing our best to keep the usage down. Our A/C has been off for the past couple of days because the heat wave has broken.
We cleaned our garage and Hubby power washed the floor.
I ran many errands. I took 2 – 40 pound bags of potting mix back to Home Depot. Hubby purchased too much. Yes, I can still lift 40 pound bags. I took 2 bags of bottles back to Fast Cash for the deposit money. I stopped at Aldi’s for a pound of strawberries that were on sale for $ 1.69. I picked up 3 prescriptions at Rite Aid for about $28.00. I took some donations to Goodwill and then my last stop was at Top’s for the on sale chicken.
We enjoyed having a friend here who we hadn’t seen for a long time.
I have a busy weekend coming up. But I will be back on July 1st to report how much we saved during the month of June towards our goal that we have been working on. We were not as able to save as much as we had hoped towards our goal because we had to replace the money in our emergency fund that we spent to repair our garage door. Last Saturday, I was putting some items in our car to get ready for errands this week. As I was coming back in the house, I pushed the button to close the garage door and it made a horrendous noise. The door went down but we could not get it back up. So for two days we could not get our car out of the garage. The company who came told us that the spring had snapped. The builder put in a door that only had one spring. The companies don’t even do those anymore. So we had them replace it with a dual spring unit and they replaced all the parts with stainless steel ones. This should last for years. But it was very expensive.
I have been on a vacation the past ten days. I needed some time away from the daily routines of life. Now that I am rested, I am back.
We did not do a lot during this time to cut costs. But these are the few we did do:
I filled up the car with gasoline using my Top’s points getting $.50 off per gallon. The gasoline price was $ 3.69 per gallon so I paid $3.19 per gallon.
I cooked from scratch all except for one day. That day we got Subway 12 inch subs. We ate half for brunch and the other half for dinner which gave me a much needed day off from cooking. I used a coupon for get two foot longs for $12.99 which was a very good deal.
My son and West took us out on Saturday morning to celebrate Father’s Day. Hubby enjoyed it and I loved not having to cook. We had a great breakfast at our local family owned Greek restaurant.
Hubby has needed some new shorts for a while. His were fraying badly. I think they may have been 10 years or older. So he found 2 pair on LLBean on sale. They were not inexpensive but nothing seems to be today. I used Rakuten to get 2% off and used my cash back credit card to earn 1%. We did not have to pay shipping.
I have been watching our water usage carefully because it is now sprinkler season which costs a lot of money. We have not had to use the sprinklers a lot until this week. We were 91 yesterday and they have forecast high 90’s right through Friday. The lawn, shrubs and flowers will be very thirsty. So navy showers are definitely a thing. I am very careful using water in the kitchen and for cleaning.
I filled out 5 rebates and mailed them in.
I hemmed two pairs of jeans. I am short and even though I order my jeans short, they are still too long for me.
I am washing my own windows and washing my own walls to save on paying someone to do it.
My Fetch account got all screwed up and I have been trying to get it fixed. It has not been easy and is not there yet.
I am not doing any grocery shopping this week. We are eating from our pantry.
Hubby wanted meatloaf for dinner on Father’s Day. I made him a very large one. I hate meatloaf but I made it and ate it. For some reason this one tasted pretty good. So we ate it on Monday night too. Hubby has been eating it for brunch also.
For something different tonight, I am making a 9×13 chicken potpie casserole using leftover cooked chicken and turkey that was frozen, corn on the cob, that I cut off last last August and froze, that needed to be used up, sliced carrots, diced celery, diced potatoes, chicken broth and cream of chicken soup with herbs. I just put it in the oven. We will season it when we eat it according to our tastes.
For entertainment this afternoon, we have been watching the men’s college baseball championship.
Remember in a prior post I told you that I cancelled Peacock that I was getting for $ 5.99 a month. Well I did not know that Peacock was carrying the Olympics. So this weekend Hubby asked me if we had Peacock. I said no because I had just cancelled it. Well, I went out and looked for a deal and signed Hubby up with an account using the deal for $ 19.99 for one year. I will cancel it next June before it costs us full price. That saved us $ 51.89.
I took all of the chicken that was left off of our first chicken and did the same with the whole second chicken. I made homemade chicken soup for dinner and it will probably last for 3-4 meals.
I forgot to tell you yesterday that on one of my Top’s shops this past week, they did not give me the 200 gas points I earned. So when I went on Thursday I went to customer service with my receipt and they gave me the additional $.20 off per gallon. That brought me up to $ .40 off per gallon and after shopping that day I was up to $ .50 a a gallon. So I will be getting gas soon. Watch your receipts closely. They make mistakes sometimes. $.20 off per gallon is valuable today.
One load of laundry was done using cold water and about 3 tbsp. of laundry detergent. I never follow the directions on the detergent bottle or box. A repairman told me years ago to use only 2-3 tbsp. He said you do not need more than that because the agitation does most of the cleaning. I hung that load to dry.
I cleaned a bedroom today. I didn’t get the windows done so that will be on my agenda tomorrow.
Breakfast this morning was bacon and eggs again. I ate the scrambled egg that was leftover the other day. Waste not, want not! I also sent an e-mail to Top’s customer service letting them know that the quality of their bacon is tasteless and it is like chewing rubber. Their bacon has always been delicious. I don’t know what has happened to it. I will not be buying it again.
I also contacted Walmart. I have never gotten my Florastor order. They kept saying it was delayed. I really needed it as quickly as they told me it would be here. I am only taking 1/2 a dose of what I should be taking trying to make it last. They told me it is lost(probably stolen). Well, why should I have to contact you? Shouldn’t you have let me know me know and refunded my money? They issued the refund for $ 53.77 which will take 10 days. UGH. Now I am back to square one and will have to see where else I can find it.
My arthritis has been bad especially when it rains and we have had a lot of that. I tried Advil, Tylenol, and aspirin and nothing worked. My son suggested I try Aleve. He has some medical background and said many people say they get relief from it. I did and it works. I am hoping it continues to work.
I used my credit card reward points to get $100. cashback in the form of a credit on my next credit card bill.
This morning we went to our doctor’s appointments. We always try to go together for a couple of reasons. Hubby is very deaf in one ear and his hearing aid does not do much for him anymore. I am his ears for what the doctor is saying. We pay this doctor our copay of $50.00 when we go because his bill is spot on and we never owe anything after our 2 insurances other than this copay we give him when we go. This saves us from having to mail a check using a stamp and envelope to pay him. It also saves us on gasoline. We do this with four different doctors.
After dropping Hubby at home, I did some more grocery shopping. I am trying to beef up our pantry. I try to replace what we have used recently. I did this at Dollar Tree this morning. Everything you see here was $ 1.25 each.
I got Ranch Dressing, black beans, chili, 2 mandarin oranges, raspberry preserves, soup, BBQ sauce, 3 frostings, and a can of hot dog chili sauce. The hot dog sauce was the only exception to what I needed in my pantry. I bought one can to try it. My sister has asked me if I had ever tried it. I had not. So I will try it and let her know what I think. This store has some good prices on name brand items. My total for all was $ 15.00.
I also went to Aldi’s to get a few items. They have the best price in my area on romaine lettuce($2.89) which we were out of. I also got egglife wraps for $ 4.99, broccoli for $ 1.09, flatbread for $ 3.99, hot dog buns for $1.29, and 4 sauces at $ 2.19 each. Aldi’s usually has the best looking romaine. When I went to Top’s next, the romaine was horrid looking and $ 3.99. My total for Aldi’s was $ 23.01.
My last stop was Top’s where I did the rotisserie deal again. It was $10. for the 8 Knorr sides and the chicken was free. I also got more blueberries for $ 1.99. Total was $11.99.
With the exception that I am on the hunt for a good price on local strawberries, I am pretty much done shopping for this month. My doctor told us that the u pick place is open but we can’t pick them anymore. I am hoping that NP has them next week. I want to make some jam.
Sorry about the last picture. When I was out today it was 76, full sun after raining and 67% humidity. It was so MUGGY! I came home, took pics, put everything away and took a nap. I was beat!
Matter of fact we were going to order out and get a pizza at Domino’s since any pizza is 50% off through 06/09/2024. I have plenty of money in my grocery budget that I can use. I hated to spend the money but I have been so beat. When I went to order, it said that you could not come into the lobby of the store, order online or use, the drive thru. They were temporarily closed. I called and the woman who answered did not even know why they were closed. So much for offering a deal and then not being open for it.
I had not thawed anything for dinner and it was almost dinner time. So I pulled 4 egg rolls out of the freezer which I could air fry right away. We each ate 2 and dipped them in sweet and sour sauce. They were delicious. I have a strawberry rhubarb pie which we had for dessert. In the end I saved the price of the pizza which I have no idea what that would have cost because their website was down.
I am still really tired so going to bed very soon. It’s 7:15pm.
I will be posting this on Friday.
Did any of you do anything to save money on Thursday?
A couple of years ago, I got a deal on this foundation that I use most of the time. I got 6 bottles for $ 3.00 each. This is my last one and there is very little left in the top of the bottle. Both Amazon and Walmart have it for $14.78. I do have Amazon reward points that I can use to bring it down to $13.45. However, I would have to spend more than this to get free shipping since I do not subscribe to Prime.
I have decided to not pay that price because I have all of these. They are not my favorites but I am not going to waste them. Some of the colors are a little off but I will mix them if need be. Some are perfect for winter when my skin is lighter than in the summer. When they are all gone, I will look for a deal again.
Hubby had a button come off his shorts. Looking around the house, he found it and sewed it back on. That saved us from having to buy a button. Small things do add up.
We were craving egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast sandwiches for brunch. So I decided to make homemade ones. I have not made English muffins recently nor did we have croissants. However, we had sesame buns that Hubby likes for his sandwiches. They are getting old but still very soft. So I cooked up the bacon, made eggs, and a cheddar cheese slice. Then I am putting them in the microwave to melt the cheese a little. They were delicious and satisfied our craving.
Waste not want not. There was a small piece of cooked egg left so I put that in a sandwich baggie in the fridge. It will end up in another breakfast sandwich or in stir fried rice.
A couple of years ago I found many packages of Christmas sandwich baggies on sale for 90% off. I bought lots and have been reaching for these when I need one for over 2 years.
We had strip steaks last night seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning. I was just letting the steaks rest while I cooked the broccoli.
Last night for entertainment, I continued to read “The Tightwad Gazette”.
All the years of our marriage, Hubby and I have had some lofty goals. We have met them all including buying 4 brand new homes, putting our sons through private schools and college, 2 in ground swimming pools, moving cross country twice, and giving away many thousands of dollars to family and charities, etc.
We have one last goal before we die! It is to give a certain amount of money to four family members upon our deaths. I am not going to tell you how much that totals up to because we want to keep that private. We have been saving many years for this goal. What I will tell you is the amount we still need to reach that goal is $ 113,028. Yes it is a lot of money. But we want to speed the savings up so we are going to extreme cost cut. Another reason I am doing these cost cutting posts is to help a family member. Plus if I only help one of you, I have done my job here.
I am aware that we all want to talk about what we save. It is really more about what we spend. Every dollar that we fritter away is a dollar that can’t be saved and invested for any goal that I or you want to reach. By fritter away, I mean waste. You all know the frivolous things I am talking about. We have talked about them many times.
I don’t know how fast we will reach this goal but I am hoping it will be under 3 years. I will let you know at the end of each month how much money has been saved toward this last $ 113,028. from our different streams of income. I will be very mindful that every dollar we spend will not be there to lower the amount we need.
So lets get started on the cost cutting with some of the things that we have done so far this week.
Hubby has decided to cut a birch tree that has grown larger than we thought it would so it needs some serious trimming. It is near our house and when the wind blows here the branches whack the roof. We had a tree company come out last summer to get an estimate. He told us he would it do it for $350. when he had another job in the area. That was the last time we heard from him. Whatever Hubby can’t reach, we will ask one of our sons to do when they visit. This way we won’t spend that $ 350. or most likely more because prices are always going up.
You read my small grocery haul post yesterday where I am trying to keep what we spend on groceries very low. I do this by purchasing only sale items, using coupons, and taking advantage of senior discount day 6% off. I also take advantage of deals for extra gasoline points if we can use that food. Gasoline is very expensive here in NY mainly because of all the taxes on it. So I like the Top’s and B.J.’s deals to get cheap gasoline. I always check prices before I fill up and if our cash station has the better price than those stores after the points and deals, I fill up there. Right now I am trying to wait until my tank is very low so that I can fill up and get the full benefit of those points or deals.
That free rotisserie chicken, that I purchased on Tuesday, will make 2 or 3 meals of sliced chicken and a big pot of chicken soup which will give us 3 more meals. I will be making my own broth in the crock pot instead of spending $ 1.37 for 32 ounces. I can get twice that from the chicken carcass. skin, and water. That will save me $2.74.
Hubby made a Caesar salad with his chicken and used up the last of the lettuce last night. I just ate a chicken sandwich. It was nice to not have to do any cooking.
We turned our A/C off about 10 days ago because the weather got cooler. We had to turn it back on mid morning yesterday. It was so hot and muggy here. I made sure all day that the shades were drawn on the sunny windows. But 10 days less of A/C on our next electric bill should make a difference.
Hubby has the sprinkler system on a timer three days a week. I usually get up before it comes on so I check and if it rained during the night or is supposed to rain that day, I turn it off. Our water rates have gone up this year so I do everything I can to not waste water.
I got a haircut at Great Clips before I shopped at Top’s yesterday. I had a $2.00 off coupon and had my stylist punch my card. You buy 7 haircuts and you get your 8th haircut free. I have 2 punches right now.
Fast Cash Bottle Redemption is in the same plaza so I took 3 bags of bottles back to get $ 2.55 in deposit money. Our deposit here is $ .05 per bottle or can. But it looks like NY wants to raise the deposit to $.10 a bottle and expand the deposit to other beverages including wine, spirits, and hard cider. It is in the legislature and I expect it will pass.
I used to buy big packs of water bottles to stock up for an emergency. I have quit paying for that. I now just wash out any plastic bottles when they are empty and fill them from the sink. I rotate through them to keep the water fresh.
Another thing that I have been doing is replacing my jars of spaghetti sauce with McCormick’s Spaghetti Sauce mix. It is cheaper and takes up less space. When my jars are gone, I will only use this or make my own homemade.
I ran a few errands this morning one of which was stopping at Top’s. They had a few good deals that I wanted to take advantage of.
We like these Knorr sides especially when we have had a busy day. They were 8 for $ 10.00 which is only $.80 each. When you bought 8, you got the rotisserie chicken for free. I checked the price at Walmart for the Knorr sides and they were $ 1.12 each and no chicken. This was one of the biggest chickens that I have ever seen at my Top’s. I was surprised because they are usually very small. We will be having some of this for dinner since I have had a very tiring day. If I have to go out for any other reason this week, I may do this deal again.
I purchased 4 Cabot cheeses for $10.00 and 2 Crowley cottage cheese for $3.00 each. This deal also gave me 200 free gasoline points or $ .20 off a gallon.
The blueberries were $ 1.99 using a Super coupon. Tillamook Ice Cream was on sale for B1G1F. I bought 4 at a cost of $15.98 for all. This will be our stash for when the grandchildren visit this summer.
It was Senior 6% off Discount Day which gave me $ 2.73 off my order. My order total was $ 42.82.
I have another cost cutting post that I am working on for tomorrow. For the first time ever I am going to tell you what goal I am working on and how much I have left to save to reach it. It is a hefty amount but we can do it! Because of this, you will be seeing many cost cutting posts.
I went to Top’s this week using a 3 day sale coupon. I got Italian bread that was on sale for $ 2.00 and then used a $ 2.00 off Monopoly Q to get it free. I got Porterhouse steaks on sale for $10.99 a lb. and used a $ 2.00 off Monopoly Q for a total cost of $ 42.07. There were 3 steaks in the package totaling 4.01 lbs. The shrimp was pricey but I needed it for a dinner I am making in a few weeks. It was on sale for $ 12.99 and I used a digital coupon for $ .40 off so it cost me $ 12.59. The total for all was $54.66 minus a 3 day sale Q of $5.00 off a $50. purchase for a total of $49.66.
The mayonnaise you just see in the corner of the picture was not bought on this trip. I just took it from my storage to put in the fridge when Hubby empties the jar that has just a little bit in it.
Then I went to Dollar Tree to get 6 qts. of shelf stable milk. We seem to be going through a lot of it between baking, making scrambled eggs, and making puddings for snacks and desserts. Some does get used for cereal once in a while too. These were $ 1.25 each totaling $ 7.50. I really like the whole milk but they had none. The 2% is just fine for what I need it for.
We continue to cut as many costs as we can around here. I started washing my own windows on the inside and one door on both sides and cleaning the blinds in the breakfast room. I have to be really careful because the windows are very tall so I have to climb on a ladder. I am using glass cleaner and microfiber cloths. I did not want to pay to hire someone to do it because it is so expensive. Hubby will pressure wash the outsides when I am done. I will take the screens out and clean them also. In the same room, I cleaned all of the walls and the door. We have a cathedral ceiling in there so that was not easy either. I could not reach our ceiling fan even on a small ladder. So Hubby cleaned that light and all of the fan blades. Onto another room tomorrow.
Hubby has been trimming bushes and weeding. We hired the landscape company to do the spring cleanup and some plantings. But Hubby is hoping to keep up with the maintenance throughout the year. That will save us a fortune. If it gets to be too much, then we will just hire them again.
Our cherries will be ripe in about 2 weeks. We will pick what we can reach and leave the ones at the top for the birds. They love them.
I did our net worth statement yesterday because I do it a few times a year. We are getting very close to our goals.We are so happy about that.
Besides the things we do every day like cook from home, do wash in cold water, cook outside on the grill or in the small oven, etc., that is about it for this week.
The first thing I did this morning when I got up was open the blinds and shades on the windows that did not have sun directly on them. I open and shut them as the sun is on them. No lights are on here. I noticed when I did this that our sprinkler system is on this morning. Hubby has it on a timer to come on certain days and we always water the grass in the early morning. You do not want to water in the heat of the day. But I am keeping an eye on it because we might have rain coming. If that happens, I will manually shut it down.
Next I made my coffee in my reusable K cup. We have not had liquid Coffeemate flavored creamer in our coffee in a while. A few weeks ago on a sale I picked up some Amaretto. It just doesn’t taste as good as it used to years ago. But I will not waste it nor will I buy it again. Half and half is so much better.
I ate Steak Umms with a hard boiled egg for brunch. Hubby had a small amount of his steak leftover from last night so he cooked that up for him with his egg. I have bacon and some breakfast sausage thawed but I don’t know yet if my son and West are coming this weekend. If they do I will use it then.
Then it was time for my navy shower. I have been using up an old Johnson’s Baby Shampoo for washing my hair. I got dressed but I no longer use makeup unless we have company or I am going somewhere. It has gotten so expensive and the deal I got quite a while ago for CoverGirl Ageless foundation for $ 3.00 a bottle is almost gone.
Last night before we went to bed we put some Green Gobbler Drain Clog Dissolver down our kitchen and bathroom drains. It sits overnight and then we run a little water down it in the morning. Ever since we have been doing this every other month, we have not had any clogs. It is a lot cheaper than calling Roto Rooter. I am now out so I ordered a gallon at Walmart. They have the cheapest price at $ 18.82+ tax. But this time I ordered their mainline one because it is safe for toilets too and will keep them clog free. I got free shipping and since they have it at my store, they will deliver it later today. I switch from one to the other about once every 6 months.
This morning Hubby made some changes in our bathroom and kitchen sinks. I have been complaining that they seem to have less water pressure coming out. I didn’t know if was the town water system doing it or what. So Hubby took the drain part off of each faucet. Inside of them they have one or two very tiny rubber washers. He removed those. He said he should have done that many years ago. Now all the drains are perfect.
This morning I will be finishing the pantry I didn’t get fully done yesterday. Then I will be working on my photo albums for my sons. I have so many pictures from when they were growing up and I want to divide them up between them. I know that they will most likely scan them into their computers but that is fine.
Then I think Hubby and I will just relax for the rest of the day.
Dinner tonight will be ground bison burgers with tomato and onions.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Ours will be peaceful.
In case you haven’t seen it, Aldi’s, Target, and Walmart say they are lowering food prices on certain items because people can no longer afford this inflation, have no savings, and their credit cards are maxed out.
I quickly scanned the Walmart site this morning and did not see much of a change in prices except for junk food which is not nutritious food. The White House asked these grocery stores to do it and they are taking credit for it. Gee another move for votes. Am I surprised? Don’t be fooled people. If this administration gets back in the White House for 2025, things will get worse than you have ever seen before. Our country as we loved it and have known it will be gone. It is almost there now. I hate to get into politics here but people were fooled in the last election and need to wake up to what is going on.
Also it is Walmart who made the statement about people not having any money and their credit cards being maxed out because of inflation. The White House is pointing fingers at these stores saying inflation is all their fault so please lower your prices. What a joke! The inflation is being caused by all the money printing by our government. And then they give it to foreign countries and the illegals. We, the taxpayers, are footing the bill. Ridiculous! I have been voting for almost 59 years and watching government all of this time. They are not there for us but just to enrich themselves. This has been going on since the 1960’s. People are just waking up to this finally.
Don’t be fooled by these grocery stores’ statements that they are doing this for us. They are doing it for themselves. They have lost customers to cheaper stores like Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and grocery outlet stores. They are lowering prices to get their customer base back into their stores.
Now I am not saying that we should not take advantage of these reduced prices. But make sure that they are something you really need and really are the lowest price in your area. Here is a list of the reduced prices for the summer at Aldi’s:
It would be nice if Walmart and Target would put out a list for all of us.
Those of you, who Walmart says have spent their savings and maxed out their credit cards, should be going to food banks until you get back on on your feet. Tough times is what they are there for.
That said here is what I did today to cut costs. First, I froze or used up whatever I could in the produce drawer. I hate wasting food.
Breakfast this morning was hard boiled eggs and the last of the ham. Dinner will be grilled strip steaks, purchased on a loss leader sale of $10.99 a lb. and a tossed salad. For those of you who don’t know, we only eat two meals a day.
Hubby has been faithfully taking care of our gardens. 100% of the flowers planted in the ground are perennials. I love them because they bloom year after year. This is our youngest peony. I just love the color. The only annuals we do every year are in the pots on our patio and the hanging baskets. This peony will be gone in a few days. By then our huge white peonies will bloom. Right now this peony, our two lilac bushes, our lilies of the valley, and our Siberian irises are in full bloom. Hubby had flowers, flowering trees and bushes planted that bloom different seasons of the year.
Hubby had a doctor’s appointment today. We had a postage paid package that needed to be taken to Fed Ex. They have a drop off in Office Max which was on his route home. The traffic was quite heavy on our main road here today with everyone heading to Lake Ontario for the long weekend. So Hubby avoided the main road. With gasoline prices so high, he did not want to waste gas idling in traffic.
While he is out, I straightened up one of our pantries in our kitchen and make sure that the oldest items will get eaten first. First in, first out and that is how we roll.
I am sending out a $5.00 liquor rebate. I also got a $ 18.40 rebate check in the mail today. That will get deposited in savings.
We got our mid April to mid May electric and natural gas bill today. I was very disappointed because it was $ 155.94 for 30 days. Last year’s bill for the same period was only 28 days and totaled $ 129.24. That is a $ 26.70 increase year over year. So I compared both bills which showed this bill was for 2 more days. Also we had an increase on our meter charge of $2.00. There were also rates increases that kicked in and the supply and demand charges were up significantly. Our natural gas therms were down by 1 therm. There is not much that can be done about any of it.
However, I can do whatever I can this month to make sure that my bill is down significantly next month. I did one load of laundry today using 2 tbsp. of liquid laundry detergent in cold water and hung a lot of it to dry. Towels I put in the dryer on medium heat.
Lights are off when it is daylight. We cook either in our countertop oven or grill outside. Laptop is off and unplugged when I am not using it. I do not let water run down the sink. I fill it a bit and then wash my dishes. I have a lot of paper plates that I purchased long before the prices went up. So in this season, I am using them to avoid washing dishes whenever I can.
