Breakfast this morning was bacon and over easy eggs. I baked an entire pound in the oven. I under cook it just a bit so that I can warm it in the microwave each morning and not have it come out like a rock. It will last most of the week.
I have two black barrel type end tables. One in the great room next to the sofa and one in the bedroom next to a recliner. They are great for storage. I keep linens in the one in the bedroom and blanket type throws in the one in the great room. I noticed when I moved the one out of the bedroom that the black paper that is on it was pulling away on the cover and the barrel right where they make contact. So Hubby super glued it and it is now like new.
I did some more organizing in the pantries today.
This afternoon, we watched the Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins game. We won.
Hubby made Keto breaded haddock using pork panko rinds, almond flour, coconut flour, and an egg wash. We served it with broccoli.
I am taking it easy the rest of the night. I didn’t feel well when I woke up this morning.
I was just worn out yesterday from all the things I have been doing since I got home from the hospital. I slept in late on my new bed which I love. I found a Marie Callendar potpie in the freezer the other day after looking for something else. Hubby hates potpies unless I make homemade. So to get rid of it, I ate it for breakfast. Not Keto, but I am not letting food go to waste that we already have.
I spent the morning doing more sheets, etc. They were from the two beds that we slept on for 3 nights. They are now done and the beds are all made up and ready for guests. I also closed those rooms off again so that we are not heating them. While they were drying, Hubby and I watched CSI- Las Vegas which we had recorded.
About 1pm, I went into our room to watch just one You Tube show. Then my plan was to do some more organizing in the pantry. Well, I don’t even remember the show. I fell asleep and woke up at 4:30pm.
Dinner was taco salad which was layered with romaine, onions, diced fresh tomatoes, black olives, a sprinkle of fiesta cheese, the seasoned taco meat and then sour cream dollops on top. It was so good!
We got about 3-4 inches of snow yesterday. I was quite surprised that our snowplow guy showed up. But he did and plowed the little bit of snow last night.
Today, it is now Saturday. As soon as Hubby gets up, I plan to remove the top drawer of my freezer in my fridge. I can’t get the bottom one open. It is stuck. So I will put all of the contents of the top drawer in a laundry basket first so that he can lift the drawer out. Then I will quickly clean the bottom drawer and remove some of the contents to our chest freezer. Then put everything back. I always work fast so that nothing thaws. I did do this and organized it while I was doing it. It made me realize that we have way to many pork products so we will not be buying any of those for quite a while. We also have lots of haddock so I will thaw some for dinner tomorrow night.
I am seriously considering thawing a turkey to cook this week. I won’t stuff it but just roast it in the convection oven and then take most of the meat off and freeze it in portions for meals. Of course we will have some the day I roast it. I will make bone broth for soup overnight with the bones and skin. Some of the turkey will be sliced on the meat slicer for cold cuts for Chef’s salads.
Thank goodness all of the laundry is finally done around here. I really do not want to see my upcoming utility bill after running the dryer so much.
After the freezer is taken care of, I need to pay a bill, register the warranties on our mattress covers, and write my doctor through the portal to get a prescription. He gave me two samples of a new drug to see how I tolerated it. I just opened the second sample and I love this drug, so he needs to write a script. I need to contact the manufacturer and get a coupon for it because it is really expensive.
Brunch was hamburgers. I had 2 in the freezer that were getting old and needed to be used up.
We made taco salads again for dinner tonight. They are so good.
Now Hubby and I are watching the NFL game: Seattle against San Francisco.
I am so excited because the new beds are coming today. I am just hoping that the blankets that I purchased fit. They sold them on Amazon as XL twin. But when they came they are marked twin. Update: They fit beautifully!
Brunch was turkey slices spread with cream cheese. Then I rolled them up and cut them into bites. They are so good!
I did a load of washable rugs this morning. It seems like I have been doing laundry all week. I guess I have been.
Dinner tonight was chicken nuggets and salad.
The grocery ads came for this next week starting on Sunday. The only thing that I saw was chicken drumsticks at Top’s. They are $ .99 a lb. but I have plenty of them. So this will be the second week in a row that I have done no shopping with the exception of the fresh tomatoes.
I needed a pillow for my new bed. Hubby did not want a new one. So I ran up to Walmart and got one that was on sale for $ 14.97. I looked at bedspreads but did not like any of them. So I will keep looking.
We decided today that we will lock in another large CD because the rates are way up. I will work on that tomorrow.
Tonight we watched some more shows that we have recorded: Part one of the finale of Blue Sky and the 3 FBI’s.
I actually slept in today until 8:30am. Felt very rested for a change. Hubby and I had bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Dinner will be chicken legs done in the air fryer. I will make homemade wing sauce for Hubby. I just like mine with ranch dressing. We will have a tossed salad on the side.
We spent the morning moving all of the lamps and little things back into our master bedroom. I cleaned everything really well before we put them back. The air purifier needed a good wash and Hubby makes our own filters for it from material we bought(the same material the manufacturer’s use but a whole lot cheaper than they charge). So he put a new filter in it. I gave the 4 windows in the room a quick wash on the inside. I had cleaned the ceiling fan before Hubby shampooed the carpeting. The room is now ready for the new beds. They will come tomorrow morning.
Then I decided to clean the master bathroom from top to bottom and our master closet also. I keep them pretty organized and I clean the sinks and toilet every day so it didn’t take long. I just had to quickly do the garden tub and shower. Then wash the floors and vacuum the carpet in the closet.
Hubby and I never watched the NCIS crossovers last night, so we did that this afternoon. It was very enjoyable to just sit and do nothing for a good portion of the day for a change.
Walmart had notified me about 5 days ago that they received the blanket I returned to them. So I checked to make sure that they had credited my card for the $43.+. They had so I took that off my list to follow.
West’s 13th birthday is coming up soon. All he wants is money which I think is the typical teenager thing. So I made his birthday card out and put the cash we are giving him in it. Hopefully they will come for breakfast before his birthday. If not, I will mail it and send a check instead.
I did a load of wash with heavy stuff. I used cold water and hung everything to dry.
Tonight I will watch You Tube for a while before I hit the sack.
Breakfast was an egg and some leftover smoked sausage.
We have another busy day. The carpet people came and stretched our master bedroom wall to wall carpet. I had never had wall to wall carpets loosen and get wrinkles until we moved here. We live in a very humid climate and that is why it is prevalent here in Buffalo. We had to have the great room carpet done a few years back and it has held. So we figured while the bed was out of the room, we would hire someone to do it in the master bedroom. The schedule has worked out perfectly. After the carpet people left, Hubby shampooed the carpeting. I have put the ceiling fan on to make sure it is good and dry by Thursday when the bed delivery happens. The carpet looks brand new and it is almost 14 years old. They only charged us $ 199. for the stretching and $ 51. for moving all of the furniture and then putting it back plus the sales tax. I was surprised at the low price because our master bedroom is a huge room.
While all of that was going on, I went to UPS with a return for LL Bean. Hubby had ordered jeans well before he had his heart attack. One pair was never worn and are way too big for him. So I called LL Bean and they told me I could return them. They sent me a label that arrived yesterday so I packaged them up in a box that I had saved. The jeans are expensive there, so this refund will help pay for clothes that he will need in the future. That will probably be soon because he has lost about 37 lbs.
Top’s was on my route to UPS so I stopped and got some tomatoes. $8.82 for 4 tomatoes. They were $ 2.79 a lb. That really made me appreciate the tomatoes we grew and ate all summer.
I folded 2 loads of sheets and blankets today. I have all the California king size things in a pile for my son to give to him the next time I see him.
I had called my town to find out how much of the bed I could put out at a time. She said 4 pieces. So I told her this is a king size sleep number bed that comes apart in pieces. She contacted her rep who said they would take it. But she still said that they might only take 4 pieces. UGH! I have decided that on our day for large things which isn’t until Feb. 9th that I am going to drag all of it to the bottom of the driveway and make a sign that says this is a sleep number bed and your rep said you will take it. We’ll see if that works. I will be very ticked if they don’t. It will take me a year to get rid of all the pieces if I can only put 4 pieces out at a time. Plus I will have to drag it all back into our garage. UGH! They only take 4 pieces a month so if they don’t take it, it will be March 9th till they take 4 pieces again, etc.
Hubby and I are thinking about watching the 3 hour crossover of the NCIS’s tonight. Hubby recorded it last night.
So we saved money by shampooing our own carpet instead of hiring someone. We made all of our meals at home. I returned an older item to LL Bean that they still sell that Hubby never wore because of his weight loss. I got the tomatoes because the store was on my route and that saves me on gasoline. I making dinner from my freezer, fridge, and pantry. We will watch something on TV for entertainment instead of spending money going out.
Breakfast was early this morning because we have so much to do today. I made bacon and eggs for us. We also had many cups of coffee.
One thing we are not doing this week is grocery shopping. I perused all of the Aldi’s, Top’s, Dash’s and Price Rite ads and there was nothing that I wanted or needed that would get me out of the house. If we happen to go near Niagara Produce for some other reason, I will stop in for a fresh tomato. But I will not make a special trip just for that. We will be eating from our pantry, fridge, and freezer.
After we got the bed and lamps out of our master bedroom, I worked in the pantry again today organizing it. I am devoting small chunks of time each day until the pantry is done.
We had to open up the door and heat registers in the two guest bedrooms today so that they will be warm enough for us to sleep in them for three nights until our new beds come. But they will get closed right back up again when we move back into the master bedroom.
I did a few loads of wash today in cold water. I had a load of clothes, a load of sheets from the bed we took out, and some blankets to wash. I used my homemade detergent. The clothes were hung to dry on the drying rack and the shower rod. The sheets and blankets were dried in the dryer using the wool balls to cut down on the time needed.
Two buttons were getting loose on my winter coat so I sewed them back on.
I took a break for a while this afternoon from all of the work to do some crossword puzzles in the book that I got in my stocking this past Saturday. I just needed to relax a bit.
Hubby and I also caught up on CSI Las Vegas and NCIS LA.
For dinner tonight, I am making Cajun Andouille Smoked Sausage with peppers and onions. Entertainment will be my usual Monday night chat with my baby sister.
We had steak the other night for dinner. We had half of it leftover. So Hubby sliced it up and cooked it in butter and added garlic. I made scrambled eggs and that was breakfast.
This morning we spent some time scratching off 12 lottery tickets that we got in our stockings yesterday. Between us, we won $24. So the next time I go out to a store, I will cash them in for us. I also won’t have to buy us any Keto snacks for weeks. Our stockings had so many of them and 2 big bags of pork rinds. Yum!
We have to empty our bedroom of lamps and things that are on dressers and end tables today so the carpet people can do their thing on Tuesday. I don’t want to leave everything for tomorrow. We have to get rid of the bed which is going to be thrown out tomorrow. That will be easy because it is a sleep number bed and it comes apart in pieces. The carpet people are being paid to move all of the rest of the furniture which is a recliner, 3 large dressers, a hope chest, and two end tables. We moved an end table that was next to the recliner today. It was a light weight one that I keep extra sheets in.
We watched the Buffalo Bills game which they won today. It was so heartening to see so many fans turn out with #3 red hearts for Damar Hamlin on their shirts, jackets, etc. The team also had the #3 on their uniforms. When the team came onto the field, they were waving #3 flags for Damar. There was no doubt in my mind that they would win the game for him. The best part of all of this is that Damar was awake and able to watch the game. He is recovering well for someone who went through what he went through on the field last Monday. He has a long way to go but we are all praying that he gets back to normal health.
I worked some more in my food storage to get things how I want them.
Hubby cooked fish sticks for himself for dinner and a few small chicken strips for me in the air fryer. I was happy to get rid of an open box and an open bag in my freezer. We ate no sides because we are going to have some cantaloupe later.
Tonight, I will be relaxing watching some You Tube videos. I am definitely enjoying watching TV with it now being mounted on the wall.
It has been a rough week health wise in our home so I needed to do other things besides blog. Rachel, I am sorry that I was so late responding to your comment. I know you all understand. But between appointments and tests, we did manage to save some money by being frugal this week.
I was a bit late getting my Christmas cards written. I had a box of cards leftover from another year. But I ended up being about 10 cards short. I was going to pick up a box at Dollar Tree but then I remembered that I night have some in a Christmas box in the basement. I found them and I think I have enough for next year also.
I mailed those cards yesterday using forever stamps that I purchased two years ago. BTW, stamps are going up January 22, 2023 from $. 60 to $ .63 for a first class letter. You might want to consider buying some forever stamps before that date if you need them. I will be getting a 100 count roll. These increases have me thinking that the best way to do Christmas cards in coming years is to buy postcards. The stamps for those will rise next month too from $.44 to $.48. But they are a lot cheaper to mail than a first class stamp.
Hubby made a big crock pot full of his homemade Texas chili that his Dad taught him how to make when he was a teenager. It is all meat! He used 85/15 organic ground beef that I purchased a while ago on sale at Aldi. He used 2.5 pounds. It turned out so delicious. We rarely eat rice but you have to when you have chili. Tonight will be our third night eating it. Then we will freeze up the rest of it in meal portions. It can be used again when we are craving chili, to put on hot dogs, or over baked potatoes, etc.
We continue to think about how we can cook our food cheaper. For example, the meat and onions were cooked up in the electric fry pan then it simmered in the crock pot with all the rest of the ingredients for about 6 hours on low. Leftovers have been heated up in the microwave. The rice was cooked in a small rice cooker that uses very little electricity.
We continue to lower our heat at night to 64. I have the cloth snakes in front of the doors to keep any leaks of air outside. We haven’t had much sunshine except for one day, so the energy saving shades have been kept down.
Hubby decorated our front windows with wreaths with LED lights and we put the candles that are also LED in the windowsills. I had gotten C and D batteries for these months ago when I found a sale. We also considered buying 12 more candles to do all of the rest of the windows but after looking at how high the prices were on them, we said no. The ones we wanted were $38. for 4. Yikes! He and I decorated our little tree which we made a few years back from our large tree. I am allergic to real trees so we have used artificial ones for years.
Hubby also made some coleslaw which he loads up with apple and pecans. It made a nice lunch for many days.
Yesterday, I went out to run errands. I ran them in a 10 mile circle. I had to go to the liquor store for Christmas stuff. Then I went to Top’s to get a spiral sliced ham for $ 1.49 a pound. It was the same price as Aldi’s. Except if I hadn’t scanned the ad so quickly, I would have realized that I had to buy $30. worth of other groceries besides the ham. So when I got to the register, the ham rang up at almost $64. I was $17. short so I asked the front end manager if he would run back to the meat department and get me an on sale($4.99 a lb.) sirloin tip roast to get me that additional $17. He kindly agreed to get it. It took him a very long time but that is because when he couldn’t find a pre-wrapped for that price, he had the butcher shop cut one up fresh for me that was just a little over the $17. I was very grateful. But next time, I will pay better attention. However, that roast will get cooked until it is perfectly medium rare to slice for sandwiches. At $4.99 a lb., they are cheap cold cuts. I have a meat slicer that I bought back in the early 1970’s to use to save on food. Here we are again with prices out of control just like back then so it is getting used a lot.
My last errand was to pick up Hubby’s insulin and his needles. The insulin is not cheap. That was a $ 60. co-pay. But our insurance covered the cost of all of the needles. I find that the alcohol preps are the cheapest at Walmart so that is where I buy them. I was happy to get home because it was so cold outside.
Hubby and I watched the Buffalo Bills game again on Sunday and we watched Yellowstone for our entertainment. We get Paramount Plus for free with our Walmart+.
What have you been doing to save a bit of money? Feel free to share with us in the comments.
Hubby made homemade shower cleaner since our bottle was getting low. He makes it using 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol, 1 tsp. Dawn dish soap, 1 Tbsp. vinegar, and 3 cups of water.
Hubby refilled my homemade eye glass cleaner using 3 parts rubbing alcohol and 1 part water.
Hubby’s birthday was last week. I got him his favorite carrot cake at the bakery and then asked him what dinner he wanted me to make. He wanted meatloaf. He loves it and I hate it. But I will tolerate it on his birthday. I think he likes the leftover meatloaf sandwiches even better. It was an easy dinner for me to make along with mashed potatoes and a veggie.
My 2023 planner came and is just as beautiful as the one I have been using this year. Over the years I have used many different planners but this is the only one that I have purchased 2 years in a row now. It is the best one that I have ever used. The layout is perfect for me. The best part is that I had a $10.00 off coupon using my PPP rewards to defray the cost.
Hubby ended up eating the leftover tater tots for brunch one day. I froze the leftover rice to put in a future soup.
I purchased 2 packages of celery and 2 -2 lb. bags of carrots on B1G1F sales. I also got 2 cucumbers for our salads for $1.00 each.
I purchased a large chuck roast for $ 5.99 a lb. I cut it into 2 pieces, I made beef stew in the crock pot on Thursday for dinner. I used the beef, whole potatoes, onions, fresh celery and, carrots. We had biscuits with it also. There was enough left for 2 more nights. The 2nd piece went into the freezer for the next time I make beef stew.
Our loaf of bread is almost gone, so I will be making another one today. My bread maker is getting a workout these days.
We picked the rest of our tomatoes and took the plants out of the pots. That is it for this year. We will be having diced up fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese for the next few lunches.
I washed some sheets and towels this week. Since I was going to dry them in the dryer, I made sure to set the spin cycle to high. The more water that was taken our of this wash, the less time I had to run the dryer.
Last post I told you how Hubby fixed the humidifier after the man who came out to tune up our furnace for the season told him he needed a new valve. What I neglected to tell you is that, the valve was going to cost us $175. So by Hubby doing the repair on this which ended up only being a clogged tube, we did not have to spend that money. Since we now have our heat on, the humidifier is working perfectly.
Lastly, I filled the car up with gasoline getting $ .20 off a gallon with points that I earned at Top’s.
What have you been doing to keep more money in your pocket?
We had our gas furnace tuned up and checked by our family owned company that we use. We had a coupon to pay $ 69. for it. Then I checked my utility company site and found out that we could apply for a $50. rebate. Make sure that you check your utility sites for any rebates they offer. The heating guy checked our humidifier on the furnace too and said the water wasn’t moving in it. He said he needed a certain part to fix it and that he didn’t have it on the truck. Hubby didn’t think that it needed that part so he told him he would fix that himself. Sure enough, the tube was clogged. Hubby has repaired that.
I took my granddaughter bowling. I found a $10. coupon to defray the cost.
We had pizza delivered on Monday for dinner. They were running a football deal because it was Monday night football. We took advantage of that.
We all watched the Buffalo Bills game on Monday night. It was cheap entertainment. Go Bills!
My granddaughter and I spent many hours just chatting and playing UNO. We do not have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.
Lights are off during daylight hours.
We took a trip to the Amish store where we picked up some treats, fresh jalapenos, oatmeal, rice, bacon and spices that I needed. Their prices are so much cheaper than the supermarkets.
I did a load of laundry and threw my granddaughters clothes in to make a full load. That will save her from having to wash them when she goes home. We washed in cold water and hung many things to dry.
We are caulking and foaming places that need it to make sure we don’t lose heat this winter.
I am still picking tomatoes. I have been busy with my granddaughter since last Friday, so I froze them to can when I am not so busy.
Hubby cooked a sirloin steak on the outdoor grill rather than use the broiler in the house.
We have been trying to eat up all the leftovers: donuts, banana bread, chicken strips and tater tots, broccoli and cauliflower, deli meats, salad greens, etc.
Hubby sauteed the leftover steak in butter and garlic in the electric fry pan. We ate it with scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Our A/C has been off for over a week.
The nights are getting cold here but rather than turn on the heat we have piled on the blankets. I am debating whether we will use our electric blanket this year. A few regular blankets will save us money.
My son drove Alexa to our home and he stayed a couple of days. It is a cross state trip. Rather than us drive her all the way back on Saturday, we drove 1/2 way and met her mother who took her home the rest of the way. It saved us time and gas. I already miss Alexa. We had so much fun while she was here for 8 days.
We got our September 2022 electric and natural gas bill. We used 597 kwh and 4 ccf’s of natural gas. The bill was $ 122.62. The September 2021 bill was $ 132.12 for 828 kwh and 3.1 therms. It is a good thing that we watched our usage. If we had used 828 kwh like last year, our bill would have been huge. We watched everything we did power wise and it made a big difference. We will continue to conserve as much as we can. While I was looking at the bill, I decided to see how much we spent on these utilities the past year. From Oct. 2021 through Sept. 2022, the total bill was $ 2055.58. I would love to get that figure under $2000. but with prices on the rise, I don’t think it is possible. But you know I will try my very best to keep it down.
Hubby and I used up many leftovers last night. We made Chef’s salads for dinner. We used up the rest of the lettuce, one tomato, some purple onion that was diced up a week ago, leftover black olives and deli turkey, leftover sharp cheddar cheese, and leftover cooked bacon. We even finished up a bottle of ranch dressing. It was delicious! Tonight, I am hoping to incorporate either some leftover tater tots or rice. So we will either have tater tot casserole or fried rice.
What have you been doing lately to save some money?
