Tag: cost cutting

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Cutting Costs

We had teriyaki noodles ($.89) and filet mignon for dinner last night. We grilled it outside at home. Filet mignon at restaurants is $35.- $ 59. Ours was cut by the butchers at Niagara Produce when I purchased a whole tenderloin almost 2 years ago. I paid $10.99 a lb. Each one is 5-6 oz. so these cost us about $ 4.13 or $ 8.26 for both for dinner tonight. It is so much cheaper to eat at home. It pays to have a food saver because food keeps a very long time in the deep freeze when you remove the air. They were delicious.

For brunch, I had a cheese omelet. Hubby had an English muffin with the homemade peach jam that I made.

Hubby is down to his last bottle of Irish Cream Skinny Syrups to put in his coffee. I looked on their site and there was no sale. So I contacted them online and they gave me a code to get 15% off my entire order. It never hurts to ask.

I have been dealing with a mess that was created by Fetch. After months of trying to get it straightened out, I finally got a person that understood and I finally have all of my points proper on my account and it is under the correct telephone number. I was actually able to scan the last two weeks of receipts and order a $10. Walmart gift certificate with some of the points that I had accumulated. Patience pays off!

Our Rakuten rebate check for $ 5.17 came in the mail yesterday. By the size of it, you can tell that I don’t shop much. But every little bit goes to savings.

I continue to get 3 magazines in the mail that I have never requested and will not purchase because they are mostly ads. But I will be glad to scan them if they keep coming.

The utility meters were read yesterday so I should be getting my electric and natural gas bill within the next few days. I am hoping that it is not as large as last month.

I needed some fresh lettuce. Niagara Produce had the 3 count of Romaine lettuce for $ 1.99. I got 1. Top’s had a Super Coupon for Daisy sour cream which I was out of. With the store coupon you paid $1.99. But I also had some $ .50 off coupons for Daisy products which Top’s doubled so I paid $ .99.

We used up most of our gasoline getting home from the Adirondacks on Monday. Since I had no gas points for Top’s, I filled up at the cash only station for $ 3.35 a gallon which is the cheapest in my area. Top’s right now is $3.55 a gallon. Both Top’s, N.P., and the gas station were on my route today.

It rained here while we were away so we have not had to water except for our hanging baskets that are under the front entry so they don’t get the benefit of the rain. Actually we have not had to water a lot so our quarterly bill should be much less than last year.

We have found a snowplow guy for the winter. He stopped by our home yesterday and we hired him. It will cost $500. for the winter which is the same amount we paid last winter. This winter is supposed to be really snowy so I believe we will get our money’s worth.

I did a load of wash yesterday to clean the clothes we used on the trip and some others that were in the laundry basket using cold water and a couple of tablespoons of detergent. Most were hung to dry.

Every year I have been buying the Passionate Penny Pincher’s yearly planner. It had been very expensive. This year I tried to check the price for 2025 and it is not ready yet. I am assuming the price is going up. I then checked She’s in Her Apron’s planner and it is $ 67.98 for the weekly and for 6 months of the daily it is $ 58.95. So I would assume you have to buy two and that would be $ 117.90. All these prices are ludicrous. I will save my money and put it into investments. I will use a notebook that I got on clearance a long time ago for $ .10. and keep a running list of everything I have to do in it. I will use my outlook calendar to track our appointments.

What have you been doing to save some money?

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A Little Of This And A Little Of That

Dinner last tonight were the German smoked sausages that Chris brought to me when she visited. We put horseradish mustard and onions on them. The side was going to be shells and cheese but I ended up only making the sausages because we were not very hungry. BTW, these shells and cheese are better than the brand name ones.

We had one sausage left so we will each eat a half of it with eggs for brunch today. We will be eating a peach for a snack later.

For brunch when I got home from the doctor’s, we had breakfast croissant sandwiches. They are GV and come 4 in a box. I discovered a while ago that I can’t make croissant sandwiches that are as cheap as these. It would cost me more to buy the croissants, sausage, egg, and cheese. They are delicious. It isn’t something we buy all the time but in a pinch when I have to go out first, they are easy. Hubby knows they are there so he can make one if he gets hungry.

I was going to pick up a script for Hubby but I did not feel well so I came straight home from the doctors. He went and picked it up later. There was no copay.

One load of laundry was washed in cold water with 2 tablespoons of soap and hung to dry yesterday.

Hubby did some weeding and cut the dead flowers off the roses.

Dinner tonight will be grilled steak and a tossed salad. We have Romaine that needs to be used up.

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Every Day

Cost Cutting The Past Week Or Two

I have been working on our family trees the past 24 years. The past 3-4 years, I have deemed ancestry.com way too expensive to buy. However I ran across a July 4th deal that gives me newspapers, all other countries besides the U.S., etc. It was too good to pass up. It was $129.+tax for 6 months. So I have been researching an hour a day. There is a lot of new stuff out there.

We have been eating a lot of cold things for dinners. It has been just too hot to cook. Lots of sandwiches, taco bowls(just heat the meat in the microwave) with ground beef, taco seasoning, salsa, black olives, Mexican cheeses, taco sauce, and sour cream. We use Cantina tortilla chips to scoop it up. Caesar salads and macaroni salads have been on the menu too. We have lots of leftovers so we will pick from those for dinner tonight.

Have any of you guys purchased Bubba’s Angus Beef Burgers that are frozen and come in a box? I had heard many people talk about them but had never tried them. Recently I saw a video where a butcher did a taste test of many of the frozen burger brands. These burgers were his #1 pick. Because of that, I purchased one 2 lb.(1/3 lb. each burger) box to try them. Hubby absolutely loved them. We usually use organic 80/20 hamburger meat and make our own. But we do keep a box of frozen for when we are tired or just busy. Up to this point, I just purchased ones that were a Walmart brand. Not any more! These are the best burgers we have ever eaten. I can’t describe how good they were. If you haven’t tried them, try a box. I think you will be amazed. I did some research in my area and B. J.’s has the best price. They have a 12 burger pack for $25.29 and they had a 3 dollar coupon off so I got one box. If you don’t have a B.J.’s, I found the next best price at Walmart. A 6 count box was $13.97.

Hubby is mowing our lawn. It is the first day it hasn’t rained in about 4 days. We are getting ready for a wall to be installed on Monday around our grill. It is necessary to keep our grill from getting damaged. The winds blow them over. We are on our second one because the winds destroyed the last one. I was hoping that our landscaper would be here before this. But he didn’t come earlier because he caught Covid and would not come near us. I was very happy that he waited until he was over it.

I filled the car up with gasoline this week. I had Top’s points equaling $1.20 off per gallon. Our Top’s gas here is $ 3.56 a gallon so I paid $ 2.36 a gallon. Now we will make sure it lasts a while.

We had 4 tornadoes touch down 3 days ago here in Western New York. We had warnings but fortunately our county was not hit. Most importantly no one in the tornadoes paths were injured. But there is lots of damage to property and homes. Many people are still without power.

What have you been doing lately to save a little money?

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Every Day

Cutting Costs On Thursday

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?

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Every Day

Cutting Costs and My Why

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.

Are any of you saving for a goal right now?

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Enjoy Your Holiday Weekend And A Few More Cost Cutters

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.

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Every Day

Money Saving The Past Few Days

Over the weekend my wonderful neighbor spent hours raking and mowing our lawn. We are very grateful to him for doing that. It hadn’t been mowed in two weeks plus most of our trees had lost their leaves. Believe me when I say it wasn’t an easy job. He saved us from hiring someone. We did give him a gift afterward.

We have always loved Halloween trick or treating. But we did not participate this year because I was leery of Hubby or I picking up any kind of virus from the kids. That would be the last thing Hubby needs right now. However our neighborhood did have a parade with all the kids in their costumes on Sunday. They were led by a state trooper car with it’s lights on and the siren letting everyone knowing they were coming as they entered each different street. Hubby and I sat outside waving to the kids as they went by. We were so surprised at how many little ones there were. We loved seeing their costumes.

The new snow plow driver came to pick up the money for our winter plowing. He told us he will be back soon to put the reflectors on the sides of the driveway where he wants them. He wanted to wait until after Halloween because it seems kids have a tendency to take them. He seems very nice and I am sure he will be reliable. However, my son when he comes for Thanksgiving will tune up the snowblower just in case and teach me how to use it even if I just end up using it to do the sidewalk. I am grateful for that.

Our dinner meals this past weekend were Keto chicken parmigian for two nights with green beans. Each meal was 1/2 of a chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, and Rao’s sauce and 4 whole green beans. Breakfast was ham and eggs and a sausage patty and eggs. Everything was eaten at home.

Of course, our entertainment was the Buffalo Bills game which they won. Go BILLS!

Other than those things, it was a quiet weekend.

Yesterday was Hubby’s follow up appointment post hospital with our cardiologist. He took his time explaining and covering everything and answering all of our questions. He also did not like some of drugs that they prescribed at the hospital so he changed those to give Hubby the best drugs for his condition. I spent part of the afternoon waiting for those to be filled and bringing them home. He also gave Hubby instructions on how to judge how much exertion he can do. The drugs were not cheap( $135.) but that is why we save money.

I have been looking for a good warm sweater for a while now. The one I had was from before I lost weight and is 3 sizes too big. But the prices were too high until I saw this one: https://passionatepennypincher.com/amazon-cardigans-we-love/

I loved them and purchased a navy one. Not only were they reduced by 13% but by going through her link I got an extra 25% off. I also got free shipping without being an Amazon Prime customer. So my $39.99 sweater ended up costing me $29.99+tax. I think this deal may still be working if someone needs a sweater.

Other than these few things, we did the usual: heat lowered, cold water washes, cooking using the cheapest appliance energy wise, lights off in the daytime, etc.

Did you save money these past 3 days?

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Every Day

Cost Cutting Friday

There was not much cost cutting yesterday because my back was giving me trouble. So I took it easy in the house. Hubby did make us some chicken salad for dinner.

Today is going to be an organizing and picking up day. My house has gotten out of control with my back issues. So I am going to get some things done that need it, like cleaning up our pantries and making sure the expiration dates are being rotated properly.

I am going to pick the 2nd chicken carcass clean and freeze the meat. I freeze the carcasses and any chicken bones that I get to make a big pot of broth for chicken soup when I get enough. So I will be making that soon. It is finally soup weather here. We had a freeze two nights ago and last night it again got down to 30.

This morning I transferred our winter coats to our coat closet and packed the spring and summer ones up. I also put the hats and gloves in the container in the closet so they are at the ready. Our master bedroom is large enough that we don’t have to pack up any summer or winter clothes. With all the purging we did after we lost weight, there is room for both in there.

Hubby thinks he found a pair of shoes at Zappos for $59.99. Has anyone ever purchased from them or had to return anything? I would love to know your experiences before I order.

I got $ 15.00 in rebates in the mail today!

That’s it for today! More organizing and cleaning than anything.

Did you do anything to cut costs today?