Tag: cutting costs

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Every Day

Living on Less to Save Some Dollars

Are you sick and tired of all of these price increases on everything? I know that I certainly am. It is time to really start ramping up our frugality even more than we do now.

Finally, we were able to turn the heat off. We have gone from winter to summer this weekend. Right now(5AM) it is 77 in my home. It is comfortable. That is because we kept the windows closed and the shades and blinds drawn on the windows where the sun was coming in yesterday. It was 89 and humid and the overnight temperature is only going down to 67. Today the high is supposed to be around 84 but much more humid However, we have not turned on the A/C. I would like to see how many days we can go without it. We used our ceiling fans to stay comfortable while we watched our hockey game last night and the ceiling fan is on overnight in our bedroom. We will use them in any room we spend time in today.

The results of me tracking when we turn things on that use electricity is showing me that the worst offender is the dryer. I used it the other day to dry some sheets and towels and that is what is spiking my kwh’s. It is incredible how much it uses. Fortunately, I hang a lot to dry. I wish I had a place to hang these big things but I don’t.

Did you hit your Memorial Day Sales this week? I went on Sunday and bought 6 lbs. of ground beef for $ 4.29 a lb. which I will be taking back today because the meat is bad, 3 lbs. of Sahlen’s hot dogs for $10.99 only to find out that Niagara Produce has them on sale for $9.99. I will be going there and stocking on a few more packages to get us through the summer. I also purchased a 6 lb. package of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 a lb., a 30 oz. jar of Hellmann’s mayonnaise using a digital coupon for $ 3.79, and 3 32. oz. bottles of Heinz Ketchup for $3.99 each.

I have been taking inventory of the food in our home and I will be trying to fill in the necessary gaps this week. We have used quite a bit of our pantry foods since January. But we still have a lot to go through. We are carefully rotating the items we are using by date- the oldest gets eaten first.

So sometime this week, I will fill in those gaps. I have a trip planned to BJ’s in another town to get produce, 2 of their roasted chickens at $ 4.99 each, and stock on a cheese spread they have that Hubby loves to put on wheat thins or triscuits. One of the roasting chickens will be kept on warm in the crockpot for dinner that night. The other will go in the fridge. I will cut up all of the meat except for our dinner that night into portions for future meals and freeze them. The bones and skin will be put into the crockpot to simmer in water in the garage all night. Then I will have my bone broth for soup. On the way down I will quickly stop at N.P. to see what their produce looks like and how much it costs there on the fresh things that we need. I will buy 2 more dozen extra large eggs for $.99 each. I will also pick up the Sahlen’s hot dogs. I will then compare their produce prices with B.J.’s and buy whatever looks healthy and costs less at each of those stores. I can quickly run back in again on my way home to N.P. if need be.

I will also stop into Wegman’s and Trader Joe’s to look at their meat and produce and gather some prices for my price book.

Last stop will be to get gas to fill up the car. My cash station is $ 4.39 a gallon. BJ’s is $ 4.37. However, Top’s is $4.49 a gallon. I will have to check and see how many gas points I have. It is rare for these three stations to be this close together on price.

After those trips, I will not be buying much. I am getting really tired of making the billionaire corporations richer and richer and then listening to them whine about how people aren’t spending much these days and when they do they are buying store brands. Here is my tip for the big guys. Lower your prices and perhaps more people will come in and shop! I know all the reasons everyone is giving for all of the price increases but I still think they are somewhat gouging us also because they can use those excuses. BTW, Walmart announced that they are removing all of the self checkouts because of all of the theft in their stores. They say it is millions of dollars a month. They also said they are laying off 1000 executive people because not as many people are shopping or buying as much as they used to.

Since it is so hot here, I will be bringing my Yeti cooler with me. I don’t want anything I buy to go bad. My travel mug will be filled with ice and water to keep me cool and hydrated. I also always keep protein bars in the car in case I get hungry while I am out.

We will be eating what we have in our home. Prices are getting so high on food that I won’t pay for most things. If I do any shopping it will only be for a great meat deal (on any beef) or something that is a necessity like produce. If produce prices skyrocket this summer, we will go without except for an occasional tomato to make BLT’s with. Many times the frozen fruits and vegetables cost less than the fresh. I will be comparing prices. I am hoping that when our local crops come in season that there are some better prices than what we are seeing now on shipped in items.

We are also rationing our food by eating the proper portions.

We are trying to get our electricity bill down. We will keep the A/C off as much as we can. We will cook outside on the grill when we can. Crockpots and other small appliances can be used outside or in the garage. That will keep the heat out of the house. I have also stopped using the blow dryer to dry my hair. That also spikes the kwh’s. The same goes for the curling iron. I just brush it and let it dry by itself. We will have our new bill on May 21st. I will let you know about it soon.

Our cellphone company is offering internet now. Hubby is researching it. So far it looks like it would save us $49. a month unless our cable company ups our bill when we cancel it. We will still keep the home phone and cable TV. To me that is a bundle but they may up the price.

I am off to cook 3 lbs. of bacon. I will undercook it so that I can freeze it in portions and then reheat it in the microwave. Some will be kept in the fridge to reheat with our eggs this week.

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

Sorry that this is a day late. We had the new furnace installed yesterday and they didn’t leave until late. I had about enough time to heat up a can of soup for dinner and then make my Monday night call to my sister. When I hung up with her, I went to bed.

They have all the rest of the add on work that I talked about to do today. They wanted to get the furnace in and up and running because it is cold here. They did not want us to be without heat. My old furnace was so noisy. This one you can’t even hear turn on. It is so quiet and much more efficient. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference in my heat bill. They made sure that both the heat and A/C were running well when they were done.

Hubby can keep an eye on them and Eloise today. I have a hair appointment and I need to get a package of new furnace filters on the way home. This furnace takes bigger filters than our other one did.

I may or may not stop at Top’s. I think my list only has three items and I am going to take a look to see if I really need them or can substitute some things that I already have in my stockpile. Recently I had finally spent enough money at Top’s to earn a $10.00 gift card from the game they are running. So I will use that to pay the next time I do go.

I will be stopping at Panera Bread to pick up the Tuesday dozen bagel deal with my gift cards that I purchased many years ago. Panera and Home Depot are in the same plaza so no extra gasoline.

Last week I did my shopping at Niagara Produce. I just got 2 dozen extra large eggs because they were on sale again for $. 99 a dozen. The sale was finished last Friday but the new ad has the same price again. So I will get more next time I go there. We go through a lot of eggs for brunches and snacks. So I just keep filling up my 5 dozen box and rotate the eggs.

I have also been doing a lot of baking so that I can fill up the oven when I do turn it on. Baking takes a lot of eggs. I have been filling up my freezer with the baked goods so that when it finally gets warm here, I won’t have to turn the oven on. We will be set for the summer.

Meals have all been at home for the past 10 days or so with the exception of when my son took me and hubby out to breakfast for Mother’s Day. I have done soup out a can and homemade turkey soup that I had frozen in portions. I marinated two large pork tenderloins. One I froze with the hoisin sauce recipe that I used to marinate them. The other I cooked this weekend and we ate 2 meals from it. We had enough left that I was going to freeze a portion and make pork fried rice out of the rest of it. However Hubby has not been feeling well lately so I am lucky if I can get him to eat soup. So I froze the rest in 2 portions for 2 future meals. I also made pasta salad and we had that 2 nights and for 1 brunch. I made shake and bake chicken breasts and mac and cheese as a side for 2 meals. I also had broccoli which I could eat every day but Hubby doesn’t like it. So we have salads more often. Breakfasts have been muffin melts or eggs with bacon, sausage, or steak umms. We also have eaten some homemade pumpkin or banana bread with those meals.

I am faithfully writing down when I turn my appliances on. I just put them in my planner for each day. I put what appliance and the time that I turn it on and it turns off. This will give me a better idea of how many kwh hours I am using with each one. It is a lot easier than using the handheld kwh meter to do it. Our smart meter stats on the electric and natural gas company site are two days delayed. This way I can just look at my planner when each day gets updated and see what I am actually using per appliance and what is causing big spikes in the kwh’s. I am really trying to lower our bill.

I am still washing my laundry with cold water and hanging most everything to dry. I only run the dishwasher when it is really full which is about every three days.

Well that is it for now. What have you been doing to save a few $$$’s?

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Every Day

Back To The 1970’s

I keep hearing how the baby boomers had it so much easier than now. It is just not true. We had a very high period of inflation that lasted into the 1980’s. Inflation peaked in 1980 at 14.6% and mortgages were at 16%. We had a neighbor who moved in that we became very good friends with. When she told me their home interest rate was at 16%, I was shocked. Ours at the time was 8 and 1/2% because we had had our home built in 1978 and that was high enough. The mortgage rates just kept rising. Inflation reared it’s ugly head during the Carter administration because of high unemployment, rising oil prices, and government spending. It lasted just over 10 years from the 1970’s through 1980. Sound familiar?

Our salary in 1970 was around $11,500. We were a one income family. I was a stay at home mom to two sons who were born in the early 1970’s. It was cheaper to stay at home rather than pay a babysitter. My mom worked and Hubby’s mom was older so there was no one to help. You were on your own. Hubby was offered a different job in 1971 which he took that paid a bit more.

But we survived. It was not any easier than it is now. After taxes, social security, health insurance, etc., it was a small amount that you had to live on each month.

When we were a couple, I had $25. a week to buy food when we were first married. I squeezed every penny. When the boys were born, we upped that to $ 80. every two weeks. It stayed at that amount for years until they were teenagers. I shopped once every payday which was every other week. That included food, diapers, personal care, and household products. We had one of the first “warehouse clubs” called GEX at that time. I would go there and buy the needed items that were on sale. Then I would fill in with fresh produce in season at the farmer market stands. When produce wasn’t in season, I would meticulouly research what was cheaper: fresh, frozen, or canned. Meat was purchased on loss leader at the grocery store when we could afford it. I remember trying TVP(textured vegetable protein) plant based that mimicked ground beef because we could not afford regular ground beef. It was the worst tasting food ever. I only used a 1/4 to a 1/2 lb. at that time in a casserole. To finish up the lb. I had to doctor it up with sauces to make it edible. We never purchased it again. I have never purchased plant based meat today and never will.

I portion controlled all of our food and we never wasted a scrap. I would look over the food ads for the sales and cut any coupons that I could use. I shopped with a list and didn’t buy anthing that wasn’t on it. We would have a sweet dessert about once a month and we rarely purchased junk food. We ate a lot of spaghetti back then because it was cheap. I would sprinkle some ground beef into the sauce. Many meals were meatless. Peanut butter and jelly or eggs for lunch along with some fresh fruit. We ate lots of homemade soup, stews, and chili for dinners. You could stretch the meat in those things.

We had a small garden with strawberries and vegetables when we lived in our first home. Then we planted and enjoyed blueberries in our next one.

I washed cloth diapers for two babies and hung them to dry on our outdoor clothes line.The only Pampers I would use was when we would go out visiting at someone’s home. I got a box at GEX for $.99 for 12 and they would last us a few months. I used my washer to clean all of our clothes but I hung them to dry outside. I did not use the dryer. We were an all electric house until they lifted the ban on installing natural gas. Our electric bills back then in the winter in the late 1970’s were $600 or over for 2 months.

Gasoline was very expensive and we had shortages for a very long time. Hubby and a friend carpooled to work to save on it. They would alternate weeks. Work was 30 minutes away. On the week that our car stayed home, I would only go out to get needed groceries, take a child to the doctor, and sit in line to fill up the car. Many, many times I would sit in line for an hour and they would run out of gas before it was my turn. Then you would have to keep trying to find a station that had some gas again. I did this with the babies with me. It was so much worse than it is today. We did not go anywhere else with the car until they were old enough for nursery school and we carpooled that with 5 other families.

We cut down on Christmas gifts when they were babies. Only necessities were purchased and perhaps a stuffed animal or small rattle or toy. Many of those years we did not exchange gifts with anyone outside of our own little family.

We bought absolutely nothing that wasn’t a necessity back then. When the boys were born, baby showers gave us many items. I was offered many hand me downs and I took full advantage of those. Then I passed all of their clothes down to my cousin when she had a boy. I had a sewing machine at that time and made some of their clothes too.

Necessities were not wants. They were you can’t go without these items.

The difference I see today is all the tech stuff that costs a lot of money. Many children when they grow up want everything their parents had and more right away. They aren’t willing to save for it and then buy it. They charge these items and then get into a cycle of debt that many never get out of. We, baby boomers, always saved for the things we needed. Then we bought them.

The other difference I see from the 1970’s to now is that we always made savings a priority. Each and every paycheck had a portion set aside for emergencies. The savings rate today is abysmal.

Perhaps the way to survive everything going up today is to go back and live the way we did from the 1970’s through the early 1980’s. It’s your choice.

An example: We need some furniture. We have the money to buy it but I refuse to pay the prices today. Will it come down in price? Eventually, it will but not to the prices it was in 2020. Experience has shown me that.

I will say that we did have one advantage. We had TV’s but they weren’t on all day. There were commercials but not many and there were only a few shows a day. Every night, the TV stations signed off at midnight. Today, you are bombarded with commericials on TV, on You Tube, on Facebook. They are everywhere. I hate them so I ignore them. We DVR our shows so that we can fast forward through them.

Categories
Every Day

More Money Saving Days

Let’s get you caught up since last Sunday on what we have done to save a few dollars and a few that we spent too. First, I want to mention to you that I forgot something on my last money saving post. I used a $15. off coupon that I earned at BJ’s to buy a big container of cashews for Hubby. It was $17.99 so I only paid $ 2.99 OOP.

Sunday:

We had hamburgers and FF’s for dinner and eggs and sausage for brunch. They were all cooked from our stockpile. I cut up some carrots and froze them before they went bad. They will be used in soups ot stews or just cooked up as a side.

We had a lot of celery too. Celery does freeze but when it gets used in casseroles, stews or soups, it tends to disintegrate. So we use it up spread with peanut butter as a snack.

We ate a lot of salads with our meals to use up romaine lettuce before it went bad.

Hubby and I watched the golf tournament on TV. I was disappointed that during overtime, Scottie Scheffler did not win. I just love watching him. Hubby has been watching our Buffalo Sabres in the ice hockey tournament.

Monday:

We finished the leftover spaghetti for dinner and made the rest of the bread into garlic bread to go with it. Breakfast was granola and oatmeal.

I started washing some outsides of windows. I had already done all of the insides. They will get done slowly but surely. Some I will have to have Hubby do because they are too high up for me. At one time, I thought about hiring someone to do them. That was a few years ago and they wanted about $ 600. I can’t imagine what they want now. So we will do them.

Tuesday:

I made eggs and bacon for breakfast. I always cook the entire pound and we use it for many meals. Dinner was chicken patties on buns with Chick Fila Sauce. We weren’t real hungry so we just added dill pickle slices as a side.

I spent some time straightening up the basement pantry. My grandson had taken some bags downstairs that had been lingering at the top of our stairs. So I needed to work on getting those on the shelves.

I did a load of wash and hung it to dry. I used cold water as usual.

Hubby again watched the Buffalo Sabres game. We also watched The FBI that we had DVRed.

Wednesday:

I had eggs and salmon for brunch and Hubby had granola again. For dinner, I used up the rest of our discounted Subway gift card that I purchased at Amazon. It got me a sub and Hubby a wrap. I was just too tired to cook.

I again worked in the pantry in our basement.

I am again back on our treadmill to get some exercise. I love it but some days my back is so bad I just can’t stay on it long.

Hubby mowed the lawn.

Thursday:

Breakfast was eggs and bacon. As I mentioned to you last week, we went out with our new neighbors for dinner to the Big Ditch brewery. I had a double mushroom swiss smash burger with fries and 2 beers. Hubby had a double bacon cheese smash burger with fries nd one beer. It was happy hour so the beers were only $4.00 each. We did bring home 2 desserts. The entire bill just for us was $90. with tax and tip. We always tip 20%. This was expensive but it was so worth it to enjoy our new friends. They are such a pleasure to spend time with. We have decided to go out once a month for dinner with them. We save in other areas so that we can enjoy this pleasure. We know restaurants that they don’t and vice versa. Perhaps next time they will pick a restaurant that they like and we will experience a new one.

Hubby again watched the Buffalo Sabres game which we won. We are now 1 game ahead of the Boston Bruins.

Friday:

Breakfast was apple fritters. For dinner, Hubby cooked strip steaks on the outside grill. We had them with tater tots which he loves. We brought home some French fries from the restaurant that Hubby couldn’t eat. I warmed them up to add to my dinner. We again had a small salad with it.

I went out when Hubby got up and picked up a prescription for him. Usually our co-pay is $60. for this script. Yesterday, it was $.00. The cashier said insurance paid it because it looks like he has hit the gap because this medicine is majorly expensive. So it should be $.00 for the rest of the year. It was the most expensive co-pay that we have. So here is $ 60. we can put towards the loss of our school tax deduction.

When I got home, I took a long nap. I was so exhausted.

Later we watched the finale of Matlock. Wht a surprise that ending was! Now I can’t wait for it to come back in 2027.

Our ads for next week came in the mail today. Two things popped out at me for next Wednesday at Aldi’s. They have avacados on sale for $.49 each and grape tomatoes for $ 1.49. The ad doesn’t start until next Wednesday.

The Top’s ad which starts on Sunday has a Zero Powerade for $ .29 when you add the doorbuster coupon to your card. I like to keep these for when we do not feel well. They also have Top’s 8 oz. chunk cheese for $ 1.88 with the super coupon, limit 1 and 1 lb. of Jimmy Dean bacon for $ 4.99 with the super coupon, limit 1. In produce, they have vidalia onions for $1.28 a lb. They are our favorite onions. Tomatoes on the vine are $1.88 a lb. I may get some of those because tomato prices are skyrocketing. We like them for BLT’s. That is really all that interested me. They have on SALE four 80/20 ground beef burgers for $8.99. It will be a cold day in h*** that I will pay that price for ground beef on SALE. Remember that Memorial Day is coming and I am hoping to catch a sale at a good price for ground beef. I also am lacking in my mayonaise storage so I am hoping condiments will be on sale too. I only have two jars and that will not last with salads this summer. I could also use a good sale on ketchup.

We watched NCIS Sydney for our entertainment.

Today:

Hubby and I had 1/2 of our strip steaks left from last night. We will make eggs and garlic butter steak slices to go with our eggs for brunch. I will also have an avocado.

I have already cooked up Italian sausages to use in our meals. I got them discounted at 50% off recently. I did two bags worth. One will go in the freezer for a future meal and one will go on our pizza that we will make for dinner tonight. I will use Aldi’s naan bread for the crust. Then add leftover sauce from the spaghetti, spices, the sausage and mozzarella cheese. Following the directions on the back of the bread, it only takes 9 minutes in the oven. Since it is only 42 outside and it has been raining all night and still is, I don’t mind heating the house up with the oven. It is so chilly today. Because of this I may fill my oven today with some breads and brownies to freeze for later this season when it is hot out.

If the sun ever comes out, I will open the blinds and shades. For now I only have 2 window shades up because Eloise likes to sit in them and look outside. Hence, I have 2 lights on until that happens so that Hubby and I can see. It is so dreary and dark outside.

Sports will most likely be the only thing we will watch on TV today. I may do some reading. I will definitely go back to the pantry in the basement to do some work.

Tomorrow:

I plan on ribeye pork chops done on our outside grill for dinner. Our son and grandson will be coming for breakfast. We haven’t decided if I will cook or if we will go out for breakfast. They both do so much for us and spend so much gas to get here and back to their home. They live an hour and 1/2 away so we like to treat them once in a while. They do this 3 hour round trip quite often and gasoline is so expensive right now. They haven’t been here in a few weeks and we have not taken them to Kalamatta’s in a while. Hubby will ask my son to put the snow tires up on the ceiling rack now that our tires have been changed over. He will also ask him to help get our furniture and large umbrella out of the shed. Then we will be set for spring and summer. We will enjoy their company for most of the day.

I have no idea what else we will do except watch the Buffalo Sabres game.

How did you save some dollars this week?

Categories
Every Day

My Money Saving Days

Thursday:

We are again eating only from our stockpile of food here at home. We do have a night out for dinner next week with friends but the rest of the week I will be cooking at home.

We started this morning with coffee that I purchased back before the prices went up a few years ago. Then I cooked an egg and sausage McMuffin using 1 egg, an English muffin with butter, and two small sausages. Since our natural gas is cheaper to use to cook than electricity, I opted to cook the egg quickly in a small frypan. The sausages were already cooked but frozen so it was just a matter of putting them in the microwave for 40 seconds. Hubby opted to have a small apple fritter for breakfast.

We only eat 2 meals a day so dinner was grilled strip steaks, baked potatoes, and a salad. We had romaine lettuce that needed to be used up so we will probably have salads the rest of the week. We had planned on grilling outside but the rains came. So we did them inside using the air fryer setting on our countertop oven. We plan on using our outside propane grill to do most of our cooking this season when it is dry outside.

The Top’s flyer that came in the mail yesterday got thrown out without reading it since I will only be using the raincheck for the BS chicken breasts. I didn’t even bother to look at the Aldi ad that started yesterday. I do have to pick up some scripts that will be ready for Hubby next week so I will swing into Top’s and get that chicken. Walmart and Top’s are only one block apart so I will not be using up much gasoline.

I forgot about sheets that have been in the dryer since last weekend. Fortunately they were dry and I don’t care that they are a little wrinkled. So I folded them and put them away.

Eloise did not wake me up until after 4 am this morning. I was grateful. I fed her from her stockpile of food purchased a while ago on sale. Once it was light out about 6:15am, I opened all of the shades and blinds to let the sun in. It is supposed to rain later so I will use the sun while I can. Lights were turned off after the sun rose except for one lamp that Hubby only used while he did his newspaper crossword puzzles. Lights will stay off until dark.

Now it is time to go out and clean/detail our SUV. It is so dirty so this is going to take me a while. But since I will be not be spending $ 200. to get it done, I don’t mind doing it at all.

I called Spectrum to try to get the bill reduced. The only way I could do that was to go to a lower TV plan. They sent me everything that was included in that plan. So Hubby compared it to what we have now and he was not willing to give up what he already has. To keep him happy since he watches much more TV than I do, we are keeping what we have right now.

Friday:

Eloise again slept until 4am. I am liking this change.

I noticed when I fed her this morning that we are getting low on her delectables, dry food, and her cat litter. Chewy is offering a $30. e-gift card when you spend $100. You have to make sure that what you are ordering is in the deal. It doesn’t expire until the 19th. I was able to buy her delectables in bulk and get 2 of the cat litter using the discounted autoship prices and get the giftcard. That will allow me to buy her dry cat food which was not part of the deal uing the $30. gift card. Pet supplies are so expensive now that working these offers saves a lot of money.

While I was doing this deal, it reminded me to mention something to all of you. Amazon is no longer giving free shipping to anyone unless you have Amazon Prime no matter how much you spend. I refuse to pay $139. per year for that. I can get most items cheaper elsewhere or on Walmart with my + membership.

Brunch this morning for us was homemade egg McMuffins and coffee.

Last night when I baked the potatoes for dinner, I baked an extra 3 so that I could make potato salad for tonight. That has been done. We will have it with it with fish fillets for me and chicken tenders for Hubby. We are trying to use up small amounts from the freezer.

I emptied a thick large bag of toilet paper today. I have saved the bag to empty our wastebaskets into it until it full. The thickness of this bag satisfies my garbage company’s requirements.

I gave Eloise a dry shampoo bath. She does not like bathing in the tub. Since she is the cleanest cat we have ever had, this will suffice. She licks herself clean about 6 times a day. The dry shampoo also has aloe in it which is good for her skin and coat and won’t harm her when she licks.

Hubby and I watched 3 DVRed shows from this past week tonight for entertainment. Then I went to bed early so that I could get up early. Hubby watched football.

Saturday:

Again I was able to sleep to 4am before Eloise meowed at our door.

Breakfast this morning will be cereal. Oatmeal for me and granola for Hubby using shelf stable milk. We will have spaghetti with sauce and meatballs and homemade garlic toast on the side for dinner.

I need to do a load of laundry in cold water and then hang it to dry.

Having noticed that we had a spike in electricity a week ago, I started writing down when things are being used around here and at what time. We normally use from .53 to .81 kwh’s according to our hourly stats using our smart meter. At 8am one morning, we had a spike to 4.9 kwh’s. I found out what it was a couple of days later. I had turned on the flourescent light above my computer desk so I could see to do some work. I realized it when a couple of days later, I had turned the light on again. When the stats showed up online, I again had that spike. Needless to say I will not be using that light again. I will use our overhead lights in the kitchen because they use much lower kwh’s.

Today will be a reading day for me. I want to find some recipes using what we have in our stockpile. I also continue to read frugal books again before I donate them to the library.

I hope you are all having a money saving weekend. Please share with us so that we can learn from you.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

I will be eating the last reuben sandwich for brunch today. They have been so delicious. We did take a break for Friday and got two fish fries at Chiavetta’s for dinner. They now give a 3% discount for cash but you have to ask for it.

I think I will make bacon macaroni goulash for dinner tonight. We will eat the leftovers tomorrow night. We have not made this in a very long time. So when I get done here, I will grab a lb. of bacon and a baguette to make garlic bread from the basement freezer and a box of macaroni from that pantry. We have fresh onions and some Rao’s spaghetti sauce in my kitchen pantry. I will prep the bacon and cut up the onions so I can cook faster at dinner time. I will dice up a half pound of the bacon. That will be enough for two meals. The other half pound will get eaten with eggs for brunches this week.

I was surprised when I got my February-March gas and electric bill yesterday. It was for 29 days and was billed on March 19th. I was expecting a $400. bill. However it was $ 300.58. We used 503 kwhs of electric and 5 therms of natural gas. Last year’s bill for the same period was $270.84 for 490 kwhs and 4 therms of gas. So this bill was $ 29.74 higher. Not as much of an increase year over year as my prior bills. But still too darn high. Hopefully we will eventually get some nice weather again. It has been cold and dreary.

Well the light that came on in the car may have been a warning that our battery was low. Hubby went to go to his haircut appointment one morning this week and the car was dead in our garage. He tried to jump it and it wouldn’t work. So he called AAA to get it towed. Hillman’s which is our repair shop sent their truck out to us after they got notified by AAA. The tow is 100% covered by AAA with the plan we have. The guy tried to jump it and he got nothing either. So he towed it. We told them to let us know what was wrong and to put a new battery in also because this one was old. We knew we would probably not hear from them until the next day because most of their guys were training on a new machine the day it was towed. Turned out that the battery was dead, no juice at all. Hubby was picked up by their courtesy ride van midday the day after and was home in just a few minutes. The cost of the labor and the battery was $224. Hubby has always put new batteries in all of our cars himself which saves the labor charges. But this time was the first we had a computer on a car so we really didn’t know what was going on with that light. We do now for next time. However that said, this is only the second battery in 13 years and we have never had a repair except for recalls. We just make sure the maintence is always done on it. We only have 54,000. miles on the car so it is good for a very long time. I am just glad that I didn’t get stuck out on a road somewhere. I was going to run 10 errands that day but only did 6 or 7 when my brain said go home. The rest can be done later. Someone was definitely watching over me.

When we got the car back, I made a quick trip to Top’s for a couple of things and picked up Hubby’s script that was ready at Walmart. At Top’s I found an organic coleslaw mix that was $4.99 reduced since it was expiring that day for $2.50. When I got home, I looked at my receipt and they charged me $3.99 instead of $2.50. So tomorrow when I shop for the week, I will get my $1.49 overcharge back. I just need to take the label to customer service. Hubby will make up his waldorf coleslaw salad with it today. I also so got a bunch of bananas for $.44 a lb. totaling $ 1.04. So once I get my money back I will have spent $ 3.54.

All the laundry got caught up yesterday and the sheets were all washed and the beds made up with new ones. I hung most of the laundry but did use the dryer for some especially the sheets.

So my plan today besides making dinner is to spruce up my basement pantry and make sure everything is in the front of the shelves that needs to get used first. Then I may watch the Buffalo Sabres Ice Hockey game and some March Madness games with Hubby.

What have you been doing to keep costs down?

Categories
Every Day

A Little Of This And A Little of That

It has been a very busy week. I got pretty much all of my organizing done this past week. I just need to tidy up the basement pantry a bit. So much clutter went out of this house. It will be so much easier to keep things neat and tidy.

The weather had gotten a bit warmer but now overnight we have about 4 inches of snow and it is still snowing. Hopefully it will melt soon. I am so over snow. My plans today were to go to Aldi’s and Top’s but because of the snow, I will not be going. I will wait until the roads are clear, possibly tommorow or Thursday.

There has been no shopping since mid week last week. When I went out with the car, a red light momentarily went on and off that I had never seen before. Hubby checked the car when I got home and the manual said the parking brake was engaged. He saw the same light go on and off when he started the car. We had never seen this light in 16 years. So Hubby took it to our favorite auto repair people yesterday. They took the parking brake on and off a few times and said there was nothing wrong and didn’t charge us. So we will trust them. Why we have never seen that light in 16 years is now a mystery.

While I was out last week, I took the car into the car wash and had the works done which included the undercarriage wash. I needed to get the road salt off everything. It was so dirty and I was not expecting more snow so that is one of the reasons, I will not go out in the car until it is gone again. Yesterday when it was 67 outside, I spent some time cleaning up the inside of the car. I now have 4 carwash slips that they give you when you buy a wash. When you get 5, then you get a free wash.

I cooked a turkey last week. We got 3 meals out of it and then had 2 nights of homemade turkey soup. I also have 6 containers of soup portions that I put in the freezer for future meals.

I plan today to cook a corned beef in the crockpot since it is St. Patrick’s Day. We will have it with boiled cabbage tonight. Then we will eat reubens the rest of the week until it is gone. When I was out this past week, I planned on getting another corned beef to keep in the freezer for future reubens but alas Aldi’s had sold out of the cheaper ones. The prices elsewhere were ridiculous so I did not get one. However if I see any clearanced after today, I will get one or two more. Now I will be on the hunt for a good deal on a leg of lamb for Easter.

We did use up all of the rest of the Applebee’s Giftcards last week for appetizers. Those gave us a few meals. Now I need to work on the Panera ones. Amazon had a deal last week for a Subway $50. giftcard for $ 42.50. So I ordered one. We do get subs there once in a while using coupons so it was a no brainer when I can save another $ 7.50.

Yesterday’s mail brought another class action suit check against Rite Aid. It was for $39.73 so that was a nice surprise. I need to go to another town and deposit a bunch of checks at the bank and stop at B.J.’s for a few things so perhaps next week I will do that.

I am expecting my electric and gas bill in a couple of days. With the warmer weather, I was thinking that it might be cheaper than last month. But then oil went up way over $100. a barrel because of the war so I think it will be more expensive. Oil affects those prices. So I will not be surprised if it is over $400. for a month. I will let you know when I get it.

That is it for now. How are you saving a few dollars these days?

Categories
Every Day

Cutting Costs Again

Our mail brought us notifications that both Hubby and I are part of a class action suit because our doctors got hacked a couple of years ago. They have already decided how much money we will receive. We will each get $60. Wow! We have been part of these suits before and we were lucky to get $10. Believe me we are not complaining.

I took bottles back to Top’s today so I had $4.00 to go towards 5-12 packs of Zero Sugar Fanta that were on sale at B2G3F. Now all of my bottles are caught up from the winter. I was going to get a ham for $1.29 a lb. but they were all gone. It would have been nice if they had set aside some for the seniors to get since it was 6% senior discount day but they didn’t. So I will be on the hunt for a good price on hams the next couple of weeks. Anyhow, I got 5 of the sodas for $20.98 + $ 3.00 for the bottle deposits which I will get back and 5 Top’s chicken stock that were $.99 each when you purchased 5. I am getting low on stock since I haven’t canned chicken lately. My total was $25.93 minus $4.00 deposit return slip and $ 1.56(6% discount)= $20.37 OOP. I am no longer counting tax on my grocery bill. I am keeping track of that separately because I want to know how much I am paying in taxes this year.

While I was out running errands, I went to Niagara Produce and got 2 dozen Xtra Large eggs for $1.49 each and a 3 ct. package of Romaine Hearts for $2.99. My total OOP was $ 5.97.

The cash station was $2.839 for gasoline today. Prices have gone up because of the Iran situation. I had 181 miles left in my tank but I decided to fill my tank up because the prices will go up even higher. I got 6.67 gallons so it cost $ 18.94.

I have now decluttered our master bedroom and bathroom, the coat closet, the laundry room, and now I am working in the kitchen. I am getting rid of so many things in case we move again. It feels freeing because it is less to take care of.

Now that February is in the books, we had $2611.+ extra income this month. We get extra income from tax returns, interest, rebates, etc.

Dinner the last few nights was pizza at home and filet mignon. We finished Hubby’s coleslaw salad that he makes as a side with the filets. Dinner will be appetizers from Applebees that I will order on take out. I still have a lot of their giftcards that I got on a deal through Top’s a couple of years ago. They will pay for the entire order. I have heard through a good source that they may be going belly up so I want to make sure we use up these giftcards.

What have you saved recently?

Categories
Every Day

Cutting Costs

When we moved here almost 16 years ago, we had energy saving fabric pleated shades installed on the majority of our windows in our home. They are warranteed for life. The shades have held up well with the exception of the pulls that slip onto the bottom of the shades. They are cheap plastic and break every few years. It has been happening again recently. Hubby called the company again and asked them to send us more pulls for the shades. The company sends them everytime we call and knows what colors we need to match the shades because they keep the original order. This has been a company who has stood by their warranty. If we ever move, we would do business with them again.

I finally got out to do some errands. The first few days this week it just kept snowing and I just did not want to deal with it. Spring can’t come fast enough this year. I am so done with the snow and cold. I returned two more bags of bottles for the deposits. I received $ 3.25 which I used to defray a few things that I picked up while I was there. I purchased a package of coleslaw mix that was on sale for $ 2.50 and 5 Royal Zero Sugar Gelatin that were on sale for $1.00 each. So after the bottle deposit slip, I paid $ 4.25 OOP. Next I went to Aldi’s and purchased 3 French Baguettes for $1.85 each and a Corned Beef Point Cut on sale for $ 3.49 a lb. that cost me $12.11. My total was $ 17.66. I don’t know if I will see the corned beef any cheaper because of how high beef prices are. But if I do I will purchase 2 more. At least I have 1 for St. Patrick’s day and for some reubens. Two of the baguettes I put in the freezer for meals in the future.

Hubby used the Eco snow shovel to clear our walk and porch yesterday. This little shovel has worked well for us. The snowplow guy was here to clear the driveway at about 4:30am yesterday also.

Yesterday we had homemade muffins for breakfast and some yogurt. Dinner last night was chicken with some leftover broccoli. I am thinking I will roast a turkey this weekend so I will be thawing the $.50 a lb. one that I purchased after the holidays. Tonight we will have hamburgers and fries. I have fresh mushrooms that need to be used up so they will top my burger along with some swiss cheese. Hubby will carmelize some onions to top his.

My son, who lives in the Adirondacks, called us yesterday so we had a nice chat. His business is flourishing right now which is a great thing and we are happy for him. He got his internet company to cut his bill by just giving them a quick call. That has reminded me to do the same thing. So that is on my agenda for this week.

Today will be my laundry day this week. As usual it will be cold water wash and hang to dry.

Tomorrow, I will post about all of my bills that are increasing. UGH!

Did you do anything to save money that you could share? We can all learn from each other.

Categories
Every Day

Saving Money Wherever We Can

The soda cans have been piling up in our garage all winter. I was tempted to put them in the recyclable can this week. It has been so cold that neither of us has been wanting to return them for the deposits. But I decided I was not going to throw that money down the drain. So I took 7 bags to Top’s when I went there and got a slip to redeem for $9.70. I was going to cash it in when I purchased the groceries. But I got chatting with the cashier and forgot. So the next time I go shopping which won’t be soon, I will return the rest of the bottles and use both deposit slips for groceries.

The Top’s and the Aldi’s ads for next week came with my mail yesterday. I quickly determined that they were unremarkable for sales. So there will be no shopping next week.

I picked up 2 prescriptions for a total of $ 4.47 at Walmart. While I was there I perused the store for markdowns. The only thing I got that was worth spending my money on was a package of 8 small sub rolls marked down to $1.28. They were expiring that day so I froze them in packs of 2 for future meals. We can use them to make brunch or dinner with our “deli meat” that we slice on our meat slicer.

Hubby did not feel well the night we were going to dinner at the Big Ditch Brewery so we went Wednesday night instead. There was no cost cutting there but it was our Valentine’s gift to each other. We even brought home a slice of turtle pie and a slice of strawberry cheesecake to share that they made special for Valentine’s dinners this week. We spent $100. including a $21. tip but it was worth every penny because we had a great leisurely dinner, a couple of beers, and good conversation.

My son and West will not be coming out today because West is ill and my son would never bring him near us for fear we would catch it. So instead of the large breakfast I usually cook when they come we are eating granola cereal to use up an open bag. Perhaps we will have some apple pieces with it. This will be a cheap brunch that is from our stockpile. Lately we have been eating scrambled eggs and a canned ham from our stockpile that needed to be used up because it was expiring. I just fry up slices of the ham. It reminds me of when we were first married and broke and ate a lot of canned ham because it was cheap. It is a good stockpile item because it lasts for a very long time.

When I was cleaning and organizing our vanity cupboards and drawers in the master bath, I found 4 bottles of foundation with just a bit in each so they will get used up this week and next. I only put on makeup when I am going out.

I also have a huge bag of books to donate to our library so that will get done this coming week also.

I have been so tired lately that Hubby did a load of wash. He asked me to tell him what settings I use. So he has learned that I mostly use cold water, minimal detergent, and the Eco setting. He did use the Eco setting to dry it also. He even folded it and put it away. I was able to take a nap while he was doing it. I was very grateful. Today if I feel up to it, I will change our sheets on our beds and wash all of the bedding.

Dinner one night was NY strip steaks, baked potatoes, and salad. Another night we had homemade pizza slices that I froze last time I made it. Last night I made fajitas with chicken, multi colored peppers, onions, seasoning, and low carb wraps. We have plenty for another dinner tonight.

All receipts have been scanned into Fetch including our restaurant meal.

How have you been pinching pennies the last few days? Please share.