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Our 2019 Goals

We have always had goals we want to reach each year. While we have been pretty good at raising our net worth every year even though we are retired, we have smaller goals that we want to concentrate on in 2019 that will help us raise our net worth but also let us concentrate on things we have always wanted to learn. 

In some cases, they are things that we want to make habits in our household. Many will be learning to make things from scratch that will not only save us dollars but be healthier for us. 

These goals will not only touch on our food saving but every other item that we pay money for. We are hoping it will be the best money saving and learning year yet. Even though we are in our seventies, we have a thirst for knowledge. We always have and we are not about to stop now!

So I hope you will join us on our journey in 2019 and that you can learn something new too. I hope that we can learn from all of you also. Knowledge is power when it is shared back and forth!

Even though it is not 2019 yet, I will start touching on these goals this week. My Christmas shopping is done and wrapped, our taxes have been looked at so that we are properly prepared for the end of the year, our goals have been written out for 2019, our stockpile for the winter is in the house, and we have more time to do so in the next few weeks.  

Have you set your goals for next year yet?

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Waste Not, Want Not

We are using up the leftovers from Thanksgiving. Every dab of everything will get used. I have never understood why people don’t use leftovers. I have known so many of them who just throw them out. They might as well just burn their money and not waste their time cooking them. Remember every penny always counts. They all add up!


This morning, Hubby made potato pancakes from all of the mashed potatoes we had. He put cheddar cheese in them and I have to tell you they were delicious. I love them with a dab of sour cream and Hubby loves ketchup.

We have leftover cranberry sauce. It will be used with Little Smokies and some chili sauce for dinner tomorrow night. Any leftovers will be lunch on Tuesday.

There is a little sausage stuffing smothered in gravy which will be lunch for us tomorrow. 

And today I made homemade turkey and rice soup for dinner. All the leftover turkey went in it. When I cut up celery for the stuffing. I diced enough for the soup too. I also sliced up carrots and used the leftover corn from Thanksgiving. The last of the gravy was thrown in along with the broth. Leftovers will be frozen for future soup meals.

Get creative with your leftovers and save those dollars! They will increase your net worth a lot during a year’s time.  

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Every Day

I Wish You A Happy Thanksgiving

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! We want you to be grateful for your families and your family’s health. Those are the most important things in life. We are grateful for ours. I also want you to know that I am grateful for every one of my readers throughout all of these years. You give me inspiration with your comments and I hope I inspire you with a little advice. 

We have been going to appointments this week and preparing for company. My son, DIL, and granddaughter will be arriving around noontime today. We are so looking forward to spending time with them this holiday. We haven’t seen them since the summer. My granddaughter was taller than me last summer and I can’t wait to see if she has grown some more. I can’t wait to hear all about her new school.

I will be back posting on Monday after my company leaves and I get caught up around here. Enjoy your turkey dinners and your Black Friday shopping. My very best to all of you!

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Every Day

A Little of This and a LIttle of That

I decided to do some baking for Thanksgiving today.
I baked two loaves of pumpkin bread and two loaves of banana bread. They are all from scratch.  After they cooled, I double wrapped them in aluminum foil and froze them. They will be part of our breakfasts while my family is here for the Thanksgiving holiday. So I will pull them from the freezer the night before I need them. 

So what do you do for dinner when you have been baking?  I was tired but didn’t want to spend the money to go out. So I grabbed some cooked chicken that I put in the freezer from the 2nd roasting chicken that I cooked  a bit ago. I diced it and added it to a Zatarain’s Red Beans and Rice mix that was in my basement stockpile. Hubby tossed a bagged coleslaw mix with diced apples, raisins and walnut pieces and added his own sauce. It was about 5 -10 minutes hands on time and it was delicious.


I wrote our two couples who I have been helping this past week because I hadn’t heard from them. They are both busy especially because they will be traveling for Thanksgiving. So they are going to write to me after they get back. When they update me, I will update you. 


I am happy that I have all of my Christmas shopping done and wrapped. I am almost ready for Thanksgiving. I just have some pies to make and bake either Tuesday or Wednesday. Tom turkey has been defrosting in the refrigerator since this morning. This is one of my favorite holidays especially when family is coming to visit. I miss my granddaughter so much and can’t wait to see her!

While I have been shopping, wrapping and baking for the holidays, we have been thinking about our goals for 2019.  We have been brainstorming for months. There are a lot of small things that we want to do to let us save some serious money next year. Have you thought about your goals for the New Year? It’s not too early to do so.

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Lest You Think That I Don’t Spend Any Money….

I did one of the largest shopping trips this morning that I have done in probably a year. This trip was to pick up the rest of the things that I needed for our Thanksgiving meal and other foods for our winter stockpile.

The coupons that Top’s mailed me that I discussed in a prior post arrived yesterday. They are four weeks worth of coupons. This week’s was my free turkey coupon and a $3.00 off produce coupon. The turkey coupon was good for a 10lb. and up with a $50. purchase. I knew that I was going to be spending a lot more than $50. today. Above is the free turkey which will be used for a family dinner next spring. The ice cream is for Thanksgiving dessert and the potatoes were needed to make our mashed potatoes.

As you can see above my free Jennie O turkey was 19.57 lb. It would have cost me on sale $ .48 a lb. or a total of $ 9.39. Free is so much better!

The gallon of milk was free because I purchased 3 Pillsbury Pie Crusts and 1 Pillsbury cookie dough. It was a Top’s store deal. One of the boxes of crusts will be used for the homemade cherry pie for Thanksgiving. The cherries were picked from our tree in June and frozen. I also purchased a pumpkin and an apple pie. I am short on time next week because we have appointments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I like Mrs. Smith’s pies so they will suffice. I will make the cherry pie on Tuesday evening. I picked up the limit of 4 butter at Aldi’s for $1.99 a lb. and 1 lb. at Tops with a Super Coupon. I need to get more at Aldi’s every time I go by one. I plan on stockpiling 20- 25 lbs. for this next year. The sausage is for the stuffing next week. Eggs are always stockpiled here when we have company. Hubby wanted some deli ham for lunches this week. I usually buy my 1/2 and 1/2 at Walmart but they have had none the last 2 times I have been in that store. Hopefully this will last us through Thanksgiving.

The bananas were free with the $3.00 produce coupon. Celery was needed for stuffing. The jellied cranberry sauce, yams, and some of the broth will be used for our Thanksgiving meal. The Ritz were needed for the stockpile as was the canned apple pie fillings. The Chex mix is for snacking while company is here. The candy is a gift. The 6 cans of Deluxe mixed nuts are to make two large batches of our party mix. One for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Hubby HATES mixed nuts that have peanuts in them. So once a year I splurge on over $40.00 worth of the deluxe nuts for the holiday party mixes. The Fit and Active whipped topping are for  the pies.

The 2 boxes of Rice Chex, 2 Cheerios, and the 2 bags of pretzel sticks are for the party mix. The bread is for French toast when we have company.

Lastly, Hubby’s Diet Coke was on sale for B2G2F. So to keep him stocked, I picked those up.

I spent $ 142.36 at Top’s and $ 22.47 at Aldi’s. I desperately need Wheat Chex. Neither store had any. We can’t make the party mix without it. So as soon as I finish this post I am headed out to go to a few more stores to try to find two boxes. I may have to travel to another town but I am not coming home without it. I also need to go to the liquor store for some bottles of wine. Once this is done, I am hoping with the exception of butter and some hams to not need anything else for a long time.

Have you guys finished your shopping yet for your Thanksgiving meals?     

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Every Day

Frugal Doings The Past Two Weeks

Here are the things we have been doing to save some dollars:

– We ordered a custom(our door is an odd size which is larger than the standard) Anderson almond color storm and screen door combo and a really nice door handle. Without going into the detail with all of the problems we have had with this company and the saleman, we paid a lot less than it would have cost. On the original order we were given a 15% discount. However because of all the screw ups with pricing and other things, the manager redid the order with another new salesman, who didn’t know what he was doing. We ended up getting 15% off of the door. We also ordered the handle and delivery and installation. The manager also gave us an additional $ 45.00 off for all of our trouble. Today we received notice from the company of an additional credit of $ 20.20 in tax that we should not have been charged because the door is a home improvement. Our door has not arrived yet but will be installed the end of the month. I can’t wait. We are hoping that it will stop the draft from our original door. We have done everything we can to try to fix that draft and nothing has worked. This is the outside door in our morning room where we eat. 

– When our chickens were done roasting the other night, I baked a German Chocolate cake and a cinnamon coffee cake(pictured at the top of the post) while the oven was heated up. We were craving something sweet so the cake was wonderful. The coffee cake was eaten along with scrambled eggs for our family Sunday breakfast. They were made with all mixes from my stockpile. The Krusteaz coffee cake was free because I had a free coupon. The cake and frosting mix cost me a total of $1.25 after coupons.

– I ran a lot of errands in a circle to save on gasoline last week when I went to the dentist and finally got my 2nd permanent denture. The first one was not right. They made me another new one and made adjustments every step of the way which meant I had to go to the dentist a lot. When I got it, I was quite happy with the fit and how it feels and looks in my mouth. It’s been a long process and I am glad it is done. After the dentist, I went to the bank and deposited $20.04 in checks that had come in the mail the last couple of weeks into our high interest savings account. Of course, the day after I made that deposit, another $20.00 check arrived. I only go to the bank once a month so that check will have to wait. 

– While I was driving to the bank, I spotted a store that I had never seen before called Five Below. I stopped and went in to check it out. Everything is priced at $5.00 or under. The store is very neat and organized and extremely clean. I was very impressed and happy that I now have a new place to shop. I was able to pick up some small things for my grandchildren for Christmas that I think they will like. My total cost was $5.00 + tax.

– I also stopped at Kohl’s and purchased an on sale  long sleeved top using my 15% senior discount and a $5.00 off coupon. I have very few long sleeved tops and it is starting to get really cold here. So I am purchasing ones when I see something I really like. 

– I read my books and took them back to the library and got 4 more.

– I cleaned and defrosted my chest freezer and reorganized it so that I could fit in 3-4 turkeys. I have purchased 2 so far.

– Entertainment doesn’t have to cost large amounts of money. We enjoyed a game of Ticket To Ride after a family breakfast. Our game table gets used a lot and has ever since we purchased it in Arizona. Many board games, card games, and jigsaw puzzles have been done on this table.

– Sewed a small tear on a seam in a pair of pajamas.

– Wrapped Christmas gifts in 90% off wrap that was purchased two years ago.

– I made a quick Christmas card list and will use cards that I purchased a couple of years ago for 90% off. At that time I bought 10 boxes of them so they are going to last a few more years.

– I went to the Post Office and purchased 200 Forever stamps since the price will be going up in January. They want quite a hike of $.05 on a First Class Letter. Yikes! I think the hike is January 19, 2019.

 – Did four loads of laundry. I hung two loads and dried 2 loads in the dryer using my dryer balls. I always dry towels because we don’t like the feel of them when they are line dried.


– My son picked up lunch for us at Ales and Sandwiches just before the Buffalo Bills game yesterday. I gave him a coupon for two sandwiches to defray the cost.


What have you been doing the past couple of weeks to save a few dollars? Feel free to let us know in comments and share with everyone else. People truly do learn from your comments. I know that I have learned a lot from all of you over the years.

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Every Day

More Energy Saved

As if you couldn’t tell, I am in energy saving mode this season. With the heat in our home set at 70 during the day and 65 during the night, it is going to be an expensive fall, winter, and spring. Especially since it is predicted that energy bills will be 5% higher.  Since I can’t set the heat down because Hubby is always cold, I am finding other ways to try to keep our utility bill reasonable.

One of the ways I do this is to bake a lot of items at once in our oven. Another way is to roast more than one poultry item at a time. I did that yesterday. 

I thawed 2 frozen chickens(that I purchased at our rock bottom price of $.79 a lb.) both about 7 1/4 lbs. and roasted them at the same time in my turkey roasting pan. 

When they were done, we took one and used it for dinner last night. We will be eating leftovers for the weekend and beyond. Tonight will be all the leftovers from our chicken dinner last night. Tomorrow will be hot chicken sandwiches. These two chickens made a delicious gravy and a lot of it. 

I removed all of the meat from the other chicken after our dinner and used the food saver to package it up for the freezer. Then I used my large crock pot to make broth using the bones and skin from the carcasses. That cooked overnight. Some will be used for soup on Monday and some was frozen in a jar for soup when we eat the second chicken. I sliced some of the meat up and diced some of it. The little bits and pieces will get thrown in soup. The diced will be for casseroles, skillet dishes, and the soup. The sliced will be for sandwiches.

Not only did cooking two at a time save us energy, it also saved me time and less dishes to wash than if I cooked twice. Big pans aren’t my favorite thing to scrub.

So the next time you go to turn your oven on, think about what you can put in there for more than one meal and make it do double or triple duty and save energy at the same time. 

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Every Day

Sometimes You Just Have To Ask

A couple of days ago I purchased two turkeys at the supermarkets. I spent about $58. on the turkeys and other items for my winter stockpile. Things like cream soups, stove top dressing, eggs, spaghetti sauce, crescent rolls, English muffins, shredded cheeses, provolone cheese slices, Dole Mandarin oranges, taco seasoning, wet wipes, and ranch dressing were all on sale and after coupons they were dirt cheap.  There are a few other items I need over the next few weeks for Thanksgiving and for my winter stockpile. When I get those I will be pretty well prepped which should get us through to spring and beyond. Things like cranberry sauce, fresh potatoes and onions, frozen veggies, soda for Hubby, etc.


I use the cream soups in crock pot dishes and the stove top for a quick side with chicken breasts. I had already purchased stuffing mix in bulk at B.J.’s to go with turkeys that I buy this season. The sauce is used for a base in homemade sauce. I buy it when it is cheaper to do so than tomato sauce. Crescent rolls are to use with all of the little smokies I purchased a week or so ago. We love them as a wrapper on the smokies and then baked. They are a nice snack during the holidays. The English muffins and eggs are for family breakfasts. The wet wipes were $ .25 each after coupons so I use them to clean especially our sinks in the bathrooms. The rest was to fill in the stockpile. 

After buying a turkey at one store, I started seeing  pictures of coupons everywhere online for a free turkey when you spend $50. and a bunch of $5.00 off coupons for other items.  People were checking in on whether they got those coupons in the mail or not. Most people were complaining that they did not. Most of the people who got them stated that they had not shopped at this particular store in a number of weeks.  So let me see if I have this right. If you don’t shop with us, we reward you!

I know that it is just a marketing campaign to draw shoppers in over the holidays. But I was a bit frosted since I spend the majority of my grocery money at this supermarket and plenty of it annually. 

So I sent an e-mail off to their corporate headquarters and was very nice about it but stated my case. I let them know that I felt very slighted because I am a good customer who spends a lot of money in their market. Since the coupons said Christmas Bonus on them, I asked where my bonus was for being a good customer. I happened to mention to them that they sent me coupons 2 weeks ago for cat and dog food and I don’t own a cat or a dog. I might have even mentioned that perhaps I could spend the next 6 months shopping at another supermarket and then maybe they would send me some coupons. 

Well a manager got back to me yesterday and informed me that they are mailing the coupons that I complained about to me. She did state that the coupons were sent out randomly though. I doubt that. Why would you tick off your customers by sending them out randomly? Are you hoping people  won’t tell other people about them? In this day and age with the internet, everyone is going to find out about it. I suspect that they really were sent out to people who hadn’t shopped there in a while. Well, whatever the reason, I am looking forward to the coupons. I will wait for them to do my next stockpile trip and then get a third turkey. It never hurts to ask when you feel something isn’t right.  

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Every Day

Saved A Bit Of Energy Yesterday

Right now I am in getting prepared for Thanksgiving mode. Shopping for our dinner, finishing up Christmas gifts, and getting the house ready to receive my family is what is what I am working on.

Yesterday, I cleaned the kitchen. The reason I picked the kitchen was because it is the room I hate cleaning the most. Usually I clean it last. But this time I reversed things. It’s easy to keep it clean on a day to day basis. However the grease and grime from all of the cooking builds up so quickly. 

So I scrubbed the stove top and the outside of the stove.

Every year about this time, I run the self cleaning function to clean my oven. I hate using that function because it takes 6 hours at very high heat. It majorly increases my electric bill when I do it. 

Knowing that we use small appliances a lot to save on energy, I assessed whether the oven needed to be cleaned using the self cleaning function. The oven really was not that dirty. So I proceeded to wipe out the entire oven with dish soap and water. It cleaned up very well with a little elbow grease. I was ecstatic that I saved all of that electricity. 

My stove top is now immaculate. That is not a stain that you see in the front of it. It is the overhead light with a reflection. All in all the oven and the stove top are in great shape for being almost 9 years old. 

While I was at it I cleaned the toaster oven. 

Next I did the microwave. To do that I just put a cup of vinegar and water into it and set it for 3 minutes. When I take it out the inside wipes out easily. 

Lastly I cleaned the outside of the dishwasher. The inside had been cleaned a week or so ago. 

Everything else (like the refrigerator) is kept clean on a daily basis. Hubby will clean and polish the hardwood floors in a week or so.

It feels good to know that the kitchen is super clean and that I saved 6 hours of electricity while doing it. 

I have started my Christmas shopping but I have a lot more to do. 

Today is senior citizen discount day at Top’s so I plan on doing some shopping for the food I need for our Thanksgiving dinner and other meals while my family is here. I might as well get it at a 6% discount.

Lastly, don’t forget to vote today. It is one of the most important things you can do. 

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Every Day

Best Turkey Prices

Our turkey prices are slowly coming out in the Buffalo area. 

Here are the cheapest prices that I have found so far here:

Aldi’s – Butterball 10-22 lbs. – $ .87 lb. Limit 2


Save-A-Lot – Honeysuckle – $.49lb. -Spend $25. min.

Price Rite – Store Brand – $ .39lb. Limit 1
Price Rite – Butterball – $.79 lb. Limit 1 


Target – Market Pantry- $ .79 lb. Limit 4
Target – Butterball – $ .99 lb. Limit 4


Walmart – Butterball – $ .98 lb.

Top’s – Store Brand – $ .48 lb. 
Top’s – Jennie O – $ 48 lb. Spend $25. min.         


I will add to these as I find more. Still waiting on the prices for Wegman’s store brands.


If any of you would like to add your prices in comments, feel free to leave your area- store and prices. It might help someone else who doesn’t get the ads.