Categories
Every Day

It Has Been Crazy Around Here

I am without a cellphone right now so I can’t take pictures. I have a new one coming soon. Hubby and I decided we needed a second line at the same time. So we went to Mint Mobile and ordered a second cellphone and a new line. He is using my old one to monitor his blood sugars and it always has to be right near him. Because of this, I have gone out to run errands a couple of times without the phone. I don’t like doing that in case the car breaks down. I am hoping the new phone will arrive today or tomorrow and we can them activate the service.

The eclipse was not all that we thought it would be. We had an absolutely beautiful day on Sunday and yesterday. But Monday we were overcast and you could not see the sun. However we and all of our neighbors sat outside hoping to catch a glimpse. It never happened. However it was amazing how dark it got here so quickly and then it lightened up just as quick. We had 100% totality here. That was kind of neat. The other thing we noticed was that when it got dark, it got really cold. We had gone outside when it was in the sixties and the temperature dropped so fast. At least it is the first time we saw the sun rise in the West.

Yesterday Hubby got out our chairs for our sitting area in front of the house. It was so nice to be able to sit outside for a few hours yesterday and then have our drink before dinner outside. It was 80 here, sunny, and very low humidity. We enjoyed every minute of that fresh air and sunshine. I even turned off the heat and opened some windows. I left the heat off last night and it is still 71 in here as I write this morning. It is supposed to be in the 50’s and 60’s the rest of the week and storm so I think the heat will be going back on tonight or earlier.

We have new neighbors who moved in across the street from us. They moved here for the same reason we did….grandchildren. So I will be baking them some homemade pumpkin bread this week to welcome them.

I woke up on Sunday with some kind of stomach bug. So I have not eaten much this week. The only thing that has tasted good to me is toast. My sciatica is acting up again so I have not done a lot except put on pain patches all the time. It is hard to get anything done.

Remember I told you a while ago that Hubby was going to wall in the pantry he made me. Well, he moves slowly and is just now getting to it. He and my son are going on Saturday to get the material to do it. He did get all of the wood up to nail the walls to a while ago but that is as far as he got. He carpeted the floor a few years ago with gray carpet squares. He asked me what color I would like the walls. I told him light gray would be great because it would make the space brighter. So they will get everything on Saturday including the paint. Also the majority of my shelving is plastic. I have been lucky that all these years they have not broken under the weight. So we are having delivered all new shelving… sturdy gorilla shelves. I will be tied up for a few days moving everything out of the space. I have not been able to store any canning jars of food on those shelves because I was afraid they would collapse. So I will be very happy to get all of my jars out of my cupboards in the kitchen. It is a lot of work but I will be thrilled when we are all done. Since I plan on canning the majority of our food this year, it will be great to have the proper shelves for it.

I hope to be back blogging sometime next week. I hope you all have a great week and weekend.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

Grilled Reuben sandwiches were our dinner last night. It was made on marble rye bread with sliced corned beef slices, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and homemade Russian dressing. Hubby put them together and grilled them on our indoor grill. They were so good.

Breakfast yesterday was sausage and egg with grilled peppers in it and cheese McMuffins. We love them and have to use up the English muffins before they go bad. Today’s brunch for me was the leftover home fries from our breakfast out on Sunday. I cooked them with some butter to heat them through. That was all I wanted. I had a headache and was not too hungry. Hubby had sausage and eggs.

Dinner tonight was Rastelli’s rib eye pork chops with some Epicurean Herb Butter on top. We had some macaroni and cheese with it and Hubby was making a quick green salad to go with all of it while I was taking this picture.

I have only gone out to the Post Office this week. We had a very busy day yesterday submitting our meter readings to the electric and gas company, getting paperwork all filled out to go to the Post Office, rolling over a large Share Certificate that was expiring to a 5% interest one, doing laundry, calling my sister for our Monday chat and a bunch of other little things. I did get a Free coupon and a $1.00 off one for Ken’s salad dressing in the mail.

Hubby’s computer decided to turn on the day after we thought it had died. However it is 5-6 years old so he purchased one from Dell but they say it will take a month to build what he wants. So hopefully, his will hold up until the new one comes.

We spent the day working in the basement again today. Hopefully it will be done soon. I also cleaned the inside of the refrigerator today. Now I have to fold the load of laundry I did today.

How are you doing keeping your grocery bills down?

Categories
Every Day

What I Did To Save Money The Past Few Days

On Monday we had a high of 71 and on Tuesday we had a high of 73. As soon as the sun came up, I had the shades and blinds up on the sunny windows to warm it up in here. We followed the sun around the house all day each day.

I took our car yesterday to the car wash while I was out running errands. It was filthy from the road dirt and salt from the snowstorm last week. It was a perfect day to do it. Our car wash gives out coupons each time you get the car washed. They never expire. I now have collected 5 of them so my next car wash will be free.

I tried an experiment on Monday morning. I use reusable cups in my Keurig. I added some more grounds to the first cup pod and brewed a second cup. The second cup was perfect. I will be doing this all the time now. I used to do this when I made pots of coffee. Why I never thought to do this with the pods I don’t know.

On Monday I took my navy shower. While the water was warming up, I caught that water in a pail. I used it to wash the bathroom floors.

I ran a lot of errands yesterday in a circle. I started with a doctor’s appointment and some testing in the next town where I got really good news. The doctor also gave me a sample of the drug I take. That sample will last me 30 days. Then I went to the bank to deposit some checks. Next I went to Niagara Produce and purchased about 3 lbs. of fresh asparagus for $ .99 a lb. and 2 boxes of canning lids for $ 5.29 each. These are getting very hard to find so I pick them up when I see them. I also purchased a large value pack of fresh chicken tenders for $ 1.99 a lb. I will be doing them up for the freezer with the food saver today. I got 2 lbs. of strawberries for $5.00, 3 pints of blueberries for $ .99 each, 5 lbs. of carrots for $ 3.69, and a 10 lb. bag of onions for $ 4.99.

Next I went to the drug store to pick up a prescription for Hubby and then to Top’s for some loss leader items. They were out of stock on all them and it was senior citizens discount day. I was shocked at how empty the store was. Since I was there and could get the discount I picked up some hot dogs that were on sale but not by much because we are low on them.

My last stop was because of exhaustion. I was out of the house all day and I forgot to thaw something. I stopped at Subway and got two 12 inch subs with a coupon for $ 12.99 and $1.04 tax. I said to the person making them, do you have a way to put the dressings on the side? She said yes and I was thrilled because it was 3pm when I was getting them and we would not eat until 5pm. I never knew they could do this. I did not want them soggy plus I knew that Hubby and I would only eat 1/2 of each of them so we now have dinner for tonight too.

Today I will be dicing up some gallon bags of onions along with cutting up some apples in the refrigerator that are getting old. I will bag up some of the blueberries and strawberries and all of these things will go in the freezer. Waste not, want not!

Most of the day will be spent reorganizing my pantries and updating my inventories.

What have you done to save money?

Categories
Every Day

Some Great Deals Today

Sorry that the pictures are a little weird. Hubby needed the phone and I was rushing when I did them.

I know I told you that I was not going to shop this week again. However, after we ate the some of the strip steaks that I purchased earlier in the week, Hubby wanted more. We agreed that they were the best strip steaks we have ever purchased at Top’s. They were very tender and very flavorful. Since I still had grocery money leftover last month and in January, I went back today to get two more packages of 4 each. Tomorrow is the last day of the sale and I avoid shopping on the weekends if I can. My cost for those were $50.95.

Top’s was having a three day only sale and today was one of the days. I got a loaf of bakery French bread for $ 1.29, bananas at $.29 a lb, 1 yogurt for $ .29 and 1 peanut butter for $ 1.29. They had other things but these were the only good deals that I could use with the 3 day coupons.

I also picked up 4 more of the Cabot cheeses at 4/$10. My total for all was $ 64.57.

Every couple of weeks, I have been looking at the price of my favorite mouthwash on Walmart. It had been too high for my blood. I have been out for a while. Finally it came down to $ 11.89. I still did not want to pay that price. Last night, I looked and found out that it was on sale for $ 6.78 bottle. Walmart is just a block from Top’s. So I stopped in and got three bottles today which will last me a long time. My total with $ 1.63 in sales tax came to $ 21.97. Natural Dentist is the best mouthwash I have ever used. It really pays to be patient.

Tonight Hubby will be coating and frying a large piece of haddock that we will split for dinner. When he cooked the steaks the other night, I baked 4 extra potatoes to make potato salad. I will do that right after I finish posting this.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. It is supposed to be 52 here today and then high 50’s and then up to 67 through Wednesday. I am loving it!

Categories
Every Day

My Last Grocery Haul Of The Month

This morning I went to Top’s for badly needed fresh items and my last 2 fresh meat items for the month. We were down to our last half and half so I picked up 2 cartons for $5.99 each. I drink a lot of coffee so I try to stay stocked with at least 3 cartons. They are dated in April so they will be used before they go bad.

I also got 4 Cabot cheese chunks for a total of $10.00. These are my go to snack items. Hubby wanted grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch and we were almost out of American cheese so I bought one for $3.19.

I stumbled upon these NY strip steaks on sale for $ 8.99 a lb. for a total of $ 21.98. These will give us at least 2 meals but possibly 3. Usually when we have leftover steak, we saute it in a fry pan with butter and garlic and serve it with scrambled eggs. My last purchase was a lb. of Oscar Mayer bacon that was on sale with a Super Coupon for $ 5.99.

My total was $ 53.14.

This past weekend and today, we have been cleaning out some more items. I have taken everything out of my kitchen cupboards and rearranged them to make things easier to find. Some items that we haven’t used in a few years were put in the sell box. Things make more sense to the both of us now.

Our clock that we purchased from a relative’s jewelry store in 1967 died this past weekend. The clock always chimed every 15 minutes. It was made in Germany. I hate to throw it out because it has been with us for so long. Hubby looked to see if he could fix it and the mechanism that he thinks needs replacing is over $400. We would hate to buy the part and find out that it didn’t fix it. So he is going to tinker with it and see if he can fix it. His sister gave him the name of an organization who fixes clocks such as these. So he is going to contact them also. If it can’t be fixed, we will have to let it go.

Tonight I am making homemade pizza using the Naan bread that I buy at Aldi’s. I will bake it in the 11 in 1 oven that I bought recently.

Not much else going on. Have you saved on your groceries this week?

Categories
Every Day

A Grocery Haul and Why I Haven’t Been Blogging

I have been missing in action and a few of you noticed and contacted me. Thank you for caring! I have such a wonderful group of readers.

Last week, I did something to my back. It has not allowed me to be very active this week. It seems to be mending but not as fast as I would like. Just sitting or standing is painful. So I have been laying down a lot. Hubby has been doing most of the work around here: the cooking, cleaning, and organizing in the basement. He really surprised me by doing something I had been trying to get to for months. I had sorted all of my extra cleaning products into boxes by type. He went down there two days straight and got rid of a lot of empty boxes that were on the gorilla shelves and made room for all of these products. Some of these cleaners are very toxic so I will be taking them to our county hazardous pick up in March to get rid of them. I had never realized just how bad some of these things are for your health until I started researching them. He also cleaned his workshop area and threw out a lot of junk that he had been saving. I went down there with him 2 days ago for about an hour, not only to see what he had accomplished but to sit in a chair for about an hour and go through a lot of Christmas items. He brought them to me and I quickly made decisions on what to keep or toss. We had already given the majority of our ornaments to our sons. So that is another area that we have just about done. But there is a lot more bins to go through. I will be looking at them through the lens of would I keep this if I wanted to move. If not it is getting tossed or donated.

One day we had to go to the lab to get blood work done. Afterward I did a small haul at Top’s because there were things I wanted that were on a 3 day sale only and we picked up some prescriptions that had been filled at the drugstore. So here is the haul that I quickly took pictures of. Ignore the blurry pictures. All I wanted to do after all of that was lay down.

I purchased a three pack of porterhouse steaks for $7.99 a lb. that were on a 3 day sale for a total of $ 31.16. Hubby cooked one that evening and it was delicious. The other 2 were frozen for the future. I got a package of BS Chicken Breasts that were on sale for $1.99 a lb. for a total of $ 11.64. I also purchased 3 jars of peanut butter for a total of $ 5.97, 1 package of Oscar Mayer Bacon on sale for $5.99, 4 Ortega Taco seasoning packets on sale for $1.00 each for a total of $4.00, 1 head of lettuce(not pictured)for $ 1.48, 1 dozen medium eggs for $1.49, and 5 Cabot cheeses for $10.00. My total was for all was $ 71.73.

I have also done our Federal Taxes that I can’t file until they decide to update the computer with the information needed for Form 5695 which is for the energy credit that we qualify for because we bought our high efficiency central air conditioner last year. It took them until January 31st to get the updated instructions online. Now you can’t file them until February 7th because they have not updated the computer system to accept it. That date could change also.

Next week, I have 3 days of medical appointments. So I don’t know how much I can blog or if my back will let me. Time will tell. But I am going to try to do a blog post about what we spent in January for groceries, eating out and restaurants, etc. I also will do a post about what my plans are for groceries in February. The above haul was done on February 1st so it will not be part of our January grocery budget.

Did you save any money last week?

Categories
Every Day

A Very Busy Day

Last week I ordered three sets of LED lights. One of the cupboards that I have a lot of trouble seeing into is under my kitchen sink. So I had Hubby install two strips of them on the right and left hand walls of the cupboard. . These lights work on motion sensors so when I am not in the cupboard they are off. I keep cleaners for the kitchen, dishwasher pods, Brillo pads, and sponges in this cupboard. Behind the wastebasket that holds my recyclables, until I take them out to the garbage can in the garage, are a few jars that I reuse to get rid of grease. Never allow grease to go down your sink unless you want to have to call a plumber. When the jar gets full, I place it in my garbage and start a new one. Anyhow this lighting allows me to easily get out what I need.

I had one set of lights left so Hubby hung that in one of my kitchen pantries. Today I ordered some more for the other pantry and two other closets- one that holds coats and one that holds all of my cleaners and vacuums.

I got a lot done today since I arose at 4:30am. When I have my coffee now, I just quickly check my e-mail, Facebook messages, and blog comments. Then I had to make some changes to our budget since I had forgotten about the bill that came yesterday for our lawn fertilization this year. By paying it today, we saved 3% off the bill. So I had to add those figures to our landscape budget and I have made some other small changes too. The posts have been updated.

Next it was time to read a couple of verses of Matthew in my Bible. I do this every morning while finishing my coffee.

Next I made my grocery lists for this week. I only need a few things at Top’s and Aldi’s. I most likely will not get out until the end of the week. It snowed here again today and will tomorrow and we may have some freezing rain into Wednesday.

After making brunch which was pizza, I did up all the dishes, cleaned my quartz countertops and kitchen stove top. Then I ran the dishwasher.

Next I threw a load of wash into the dryer that mainly consisted of a terry robe, bathroom and kitchen towels, and a tablecloth, then folded them and put them away.

Then I cleaned our two bathrooms.

I did some organizing of a dresser in our bedroom and then organized our Master Bathroom vanity. I also organized my desk area. After the mail came, we paid two bills.

Hubby and I sat and watched a You Tube video. Then it was time for me to reheat the homemade chicken soup for dinner that I made yesterday. It always tastes so much better the second day. I used 2 pint jars of chicken and broth that I canned 2 years ago. I took the rest of the meat off the carcass from the rotisserie chicken I bought last week, added rice, fresh carrots and celery. Then I seasoned it all. This gave us two dinners and will give us a lunch tomorrow.

We have company coming in about 15 minutes so I have to close.

I hope you all had a great day.

Categories
Every Day

A Little Of This And A Little Of That

I am getting low on meat so I purchased ground round on sale for $4.79 a lb. for a total of $ 30.80 at Niagara Produce. This will give us about 11 meals. Hubby told me the night before that we needed celery because he used up the last of it in turkey salad. So I picked up one while I was there only to find out later that we had a new one already in the other produce drawer. So I cut up one package into pieces and froze it for soups and stews. I also needed two reusable bags at $ .99 each. They are so much bigger than the other bags. Mine seem to disappear when the family is here. I also stopped at Top’s and got a package of their on sale chicken breasts for $ 1.99 a lb.

Today I have a doctor’s appointment so I will stop at Top’s again because they are having a 3 Day Sale with some great loss leaders to get you into the store. I will be getting either a whole or half pork loin depending on what grade it is. They are on sale for $ 1.69 a lb. If it is Select, I will not buy it. If it is Choice, I will. They also have Heluva Good block cheeses for $ 1.99. I will be getting Extra Large Cooked Shrimp for $ 7.77 a lb. too. All of these are terrific prices for us. I will buy nothing but these loss leaders.

Now that all the turkey leftovers from my son are gone, I have been doing quick meals because we have been really busy in our basement going through every storage box and bin and reorganizing things. More on that later. We have had copycat Chick Fil A sandwiches, pizza, and tonight we will have taco salads to use up the rest of the romaine lettuce. Tomorrow night will be fish fries and French fries. Then I think I will make a beef stew in the crock pot for the weekend.

Hubby and I have been really busy in the house getting rid of anything that we are not using by donating it or tossing it. As I have mentioned briefly before, our garbage pickup rules are changing on January 1, 2024. Instead of being able to put out 6 bags or cans of garbage a week, we will have to use just the 1 that we have to buy from our garbage company for $ 65. That extra charge will appear on our property tax bill in January along with the the full year’s cost( about $ 260.) of the garbage pickup. It is the one on wheels that the truck picks up and dumps the garbage. I have to wonder how many garbage people are losing their jobs the end of December because of this. We have been using a recyclable one for a few years. Because of this we are trying to get rid of anything we aren’t using this month while we can still put out 6 cans or bags. Hubby went through the entire office and pitched so many things that were not being used. Now we are working in the basement.

In the spring, this is going to become a real problem because of grass and bush clippings. Hubby has 5-6 bags of clippings per week. This along with the garbage may not all fit in the new can. Hubby has had a conversation with our Town Supervisor about how we had the cans on wheels out in Arizona that were green barrels that you put the bush and tree trimmings out and they picked them up. He informed Hubby that the garbage company did not offer that but he will look into it. Meanwhile he told Hubby that we can buy an extra barrel for another $ 65. and for an additional property tax of $ 33.75 each year of the contract. We are happy that it is an option but we really won’t need it until he starts mowing in the spring. So since we can buy the extra at any time during the year, we will wait until then. In the meantime, we will get a feel for how much this new can will hold. Maybe it will work. We’ll see.

We also learned a valuable lesson this past week. Don’t ever buy from a third party seller at Walmart! We have had two items that we have had to return. The first was flannel sheets that were dirty. The package was taped up like it had been a return and then shipped to us. The second was Cross Pen Refills that we ordered from China. After a very long delay that package came yesterday. Not only was it not even close to what we ordered but our mailman brought it to our door telling us that they had paid some of the postage but there was $ 5.25 in postage due on it. Yikes this was for a $10.99 order that was supposed to be postage paid. Of course I had to pay the postage only to find out later when I opened it that it was not what we ordered. But the worst part of all of this is that when you bring your return back to Walmart, they tell you that they will return it to the seller and the seller will credit you. That will take 15 days or more. I asked if this is a new policy and she said yes. Walmart is no longer giving you the credit when you make the return. Well this stinks! I don’t have high hopes that the China one will be credited and I will just chalk up the postage to lesson learned. I will be very careful from now on to make sure that I am only buying from Walmart or Amazon and not a 3rd party seller.

Well, it is time to get started on my day with making bacon and eggs for breakfast. You all have a great day!

Categories
Every Day

The Last Couple of Days

We had a wonderful day yesterday with Alexa. It was just a quiet peaceful day at home chatting with her and doing some You Tube Quizzes. Last night we had an easy dinner of fried chicken sandwiches and shells and cheese. Alexa got packed to go home today and then we watched women’s college volleyball.

This morning, we had a quick granola breakfast and then headed to Syracuse at 9am to meet Alexa’s mother. They left to go to the Capital Region and we headed back to Buffalo. We were running out of gasoline so we stopped at the Flying J truck stop and filled up the car. We paid $3.599 per gallon. That is the cheapest price in our area.

We were starving and I considered stopping for fast food for just 1 minute. But I held fast to cooking at home and made us grilled cheese sandwiches when we got home about 1:10pm.

After throwing a load of sheets in the washer, I was exhausted. We have been busy and on the go since November 9th. I decided to take a quick nap that turned into a 3 and 1/2 hour one.

When I got up, Hubby was about to finish his chicken salad that he made for lunch yesterday. I just grabbed a small chicken pot pie from the freezer.

After canceling two tests scheduled for this Wednesday because of snow coming , here I am writing to you. I will sleep well tonight hopefully. Tomorrow will be a a catch up and football day. Then I have a busy week getting ready for my son and his two large dogs to arrive for Thanksgiving.

The house will get dusted and vacuumed and be given a lick and a promise. Those dogs shed a lot so no heavy cleaning till after they go home.

I am hoping to get all of the Christmas gifts ready to go back with my son when he leaves so that I don’t have to ship anything.

I will be back with another post this week. I hope you are all doing well with your plans for Thanksgiving.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

On Monday, my granddaughter and I went and picked up my free Butterball turkey. You could get a free one up to $25. But of course they did not have one that big. All of their turkeys were between 16 and 17 lbs. We got the largest one we could find which was 16.90 lbs. I was happy with that. It is now in the freezer to cook sometime this winter.

We also picked up a box of their pumpkin muffins which my granddaughter loves and some Indiana Popcorn with the chocolate drizzle(oh so good) that we shared for the Buffalo Bills game last night. I used some reward points that I had so I paid only $ 3.32 for all.

Then we went to the bank so that my granddaughter could make a deposit. It was the first time she did it alone and she did it without a hitch even after all of the questions they threw at her.

We came home and had a delicious bowl of chicken tortellini soup for lunch per her request. Then we spent the afternoon just enjoying her company. For dinner I made two meals worth of homemade meatballs. I froze one meal’s worth for the future. She loves spaghetti and meatballs so she was very happy!

Then we watched the Bills game which we lost in the last few seconds of the game due to a penalty. We had 12 men on the field instead of 11. Really, really dumb! Today the offensive coach got fired! He should have been let go a long time ago!

Today, Alexa helped me do some organizing in my pantry. There were heavy things that needed to be moved and she was happy to do it for me. She also marked many items with the expiration date where I could see it. All in all we spent about 2 hours doing this but now it is finally done. I am very thankful for her help.

As a treat for dinner, we got KFC chicken to bring home. I think we have enough for 2 more meals. I used a coupon that let us get a 16 piece meal for $ 34.99. Yes, I always spoil my grandchildren.

We have been enjoying ” Guess That Song” on You Tube for the past hour and a half. They are playing it while I finish this to get it posted. Hubby knows so many of them but Alexa knows so many more. She is even really good with the songs from the 1960’s and 1970’s!

That’s it for today!