Tag: frugal things we do

We got 8 inches of snow yesterday so I did not go out today. Fortunately, our snowplow guy came last night and plowed the driveway. He is very reliable! Hubby and I are very pleased! Hubby snowblowed the sidewalk which is small and I shoveled the porch off. It is easy since I can just whisk it onto the seating area.

We finished up the portion of ham that I thawed for breakfast along with some scrambled eggs. One of the stores in my area has advertised that eggs are coming down in price to $ 3.59 a dozen. Not great but better than they have been. But I bet they will go quickly. I don’t need any right now plus I am not going out in the snow, ice, and cold to get them.

I spent my morning making a few telephone calls. One was a return that Amazon wouldn’t let me do online. So I called them and they told me not to return it. They said they can’t take this type of product back even though it was still sealed. So they said to donate it or throw it away. Since we couldn’t use it, I was happy to get an e-mail just 2 hours later from them stating that they had already processed the refund to my credit card.

I have been getting a bill every other day from a doctor’s office asking me to pay the balance which they say is a copay that I owe of $ 17.78. I don’t owe it and I let my doctor’s billing office know it. They were rude and told me they would have to investigate it. I said you will get back to me right? The rudest customer service rep. said, “No, you have to call us back. I said you guys make an error and I have to call you for the resolution. She said to me “It’s protocol.” Mind you I waited on hold when I called them for 35 minutes just to talk to them and I was not relishing having to do the same again. Two days later I get another bill telling me to pay it asap.

They rebilled an office appointment and EKG from 2019. Yup, over 3 years later! They say they didn’t charge enough for the bill so they re-billed it which they did in December 2022 and received more money from Medicare the beginning of January 2023. However, I had received no statement from Medicare or my secondary insurance on the rebilling. Bottom line is I don’t owe it because I paid the co-pay of the original bill 2 days after I received it in November of 2019 and I have a copy of the check and the next bill after I paid showing the payment. They don’t get to collect a second co-pay on the same claim. So I was curious, if my secondary insurance company had gotten the claim. I called them and they were not happy that the doctor’s office billing rep was so rude. They said they have not gotten any information on it yet from Medicare of the claim or their payment on it. So as soon as they get it, they will investigate the claim and decide whether they will pay it or not. They told me to set aside every bill from the doctor’s office because they agree I do not owe a second co-pay on a rebilled claim. They can’t charge me one and when the claim is resolved, they will let the doctor’s office know that and will send me the paperwork showing I owe nothing. I believe the billing office knows that and I’m being harassed. I am in my mid seventies and they think I will just not notice and pay it before the claim is complete! I am not that stupid. They can send me bills everyday. I will use them for scrap pads. UGH! I get so tired of incompetent billing offices. So moral of this story: Scrutinize your medical bills and know your benefits and how they work. Don’t pay what you don’t owe. I know it is a pain to get them straightened out but I am not paying them one penny that I don’t owe. To do this you need to keep good records also.

This afternoon, Hubby and I watched a favorite video that we both love. It’s called Lumnah Acres. It’s relaxing.

We finally got our last 1099 today so that I can make out our 2022 taxes. I may have to disappear for a couple of days soon to concentrate on doing them. They are very complicated this year.

Hubby found a Keto macaroni recipe that he wants to make to see if we like it. I checked the ingredients and we had them all.

Dinner tonight was lean cheeseburgers in lettuce wraps with sauteed in butter onions and dried mushrooms that I soaked and then sauteed in butter. I get my dried mushrooms at the Amish store. They have the cheapest prices on them. Snack tonight will again be strawberries with Zero sugar whipped topping.

What did you do today to save some money? We got exercise, cooked all our meals from scratch, got a refund, verified what I thought to save money on a billing, relaxed watching a free video on You tube.

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Breakfast was eggs and ham that I froze from our Christmas ham. It was a nice change from bacon.

After taking care of some bills, I ran some errands. I picked up a prescription and a Dr. Scholl’s for Hubby. Then I filled up the SUV with gasoline since we only had 68 miles of gas left. I do not like to keep the tank that low in winter. I paid $ 3.35 per gallon since I had no gas points due to not grocery shopping much this month.

My last stop was at Top’s to pick up some sale items. I purchased celery for $2.00, 2 packages of strawberries on B1G1F or $ 5.99 for both, and a top round roast on sale for $4.99 a lb. costing $ 20.36. My total for all was $ 28.35.

Hubby goes through a lot of celery for snacks. He dips it in dill dip. We both love strawberries with SF whipped topping as a dessert. The roast was a great price for my area. I will roast it for dinner one night and the rest will be sliced on the meat slicer for cold cuts. I can’t buy roast beef cold cuts here for less than $13.99 a lb. I much prefer to save money by roasting my own.

When I got home, Hubby said he felt well enough to cut my hair today. He did a really nice job. I was very pleased! He even cleaned up all the hair that was everywhere on the rug in front of the sink in the kitchen. I will be coloring my hair at home this week. I have not been coloring my hair and it has grown in about 2-3 inches and is white. I don’t like it because it washes me out. I look way too pale. Not going to the salon will save us a fortune every year. Hubby is still going to the barber every 7 weeks. The barber cuts it very short each time. The barber with tip is only $16.00.

I had to do a load of clothes this afternoon because Hubby was running out of clothes. He doesn’t have too many that fit him right now and he doesn’t want to buy much until he is down to his goal weight. So I washed them on the eco cycle in cold water and hung some of them to dry. A few were permanent press so I dried them in the dryer on a medium heat using my wool laundry balls. They only took 25 minutes to dry.

Before I made dinner, Hubby and I watched 2 of the 3 FBI’s that were on last night. We may watch the other one after dinner.

We are having taco salads using ground turkey instead of ground beef for dinner. The ground turkey is much cheaper to buy than the ground beef that I buy and tastes delicious with hot and spicy taco seasoning. We put it on romaine lettuce, chopped fresh tomatoes, sliced red onion, diced black olives, and then top the meat with Mexican shredded cheese and sour cream.

What did you do today to save money?

I wanted something easy for dinner last night. I always keep a big bag of meatballs in my freezer. So I just put them in a microwave dish with some Rao’s spaghetti sauce and nuked them for dinner. We had a salad with it. We will eat the leftovers tonight(waste not want not).

Our son and grandson came for breakfast. My son helped my Hubby with a few things around here. My son also knew that I was in a lot of pain yesterday. But I had 4 prescriptions to pick up at Rite Aid that were needed. I had planned on getting them after they left. But instead he drove Hubby to the drugstore to get them. I was very thankful!

Hubby spent a bit of time yesterday cleaning out his dresser. He has lost so much weight that many things were way to big for him. He also had a pile of white T-shirts that he hasn’t worn in a long time. I will be cutting those up into rags. He found about 10 pairs of summer shorts and many sleep pants in a bottom drawer. He will try them on today. He suspects that they were there because they were too small. I will take a second look at all of it with him today. He will keep anything that is like new and fits now. He also found about 20 ties that he no longer wears. The ties and anything else that he doesn’t want or is too big will get donated this week.

He surprised me this morning when he got up and was wearing one of his sweaters that he hadn’t worn in 30 years. He looked great!

Hubby descaled the Keurig this morning. He does not use the descale liquid that Keurig sells. He runs vinegar through our machine a few times and then runs a couple of things of water though it to get the vinegar smell and taste out. Then he puts in a new filter which we buy enough for a year at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X9805GO/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 Be sure to clip the $.55 off coupon if you need them.

We got our bill for fertilizing our lawn this season. We were surprised that it only went up by $25. I can’t wait to get the natural gas and electric bill tomorrow. YIKES!

I had no bagged mozzarella to sprinkle on our meatballs tonight. But I had a block of mozzarella which I buy cheaper than the shredded. So Hubby grated it using the attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer. Doing it this way eliminates the cellulose they put in the bagged shredded cheese.

We had snow today and it is still snowing here. I am hoping it stops so that I can get out to stock on some sale items tomorrow.

Did you save some money this weekend?

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.

Did you do anything to save a bit of money today?

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 will be off to bed early tonight.

Did you do anything today to save money?

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.

Did you do anything to save a little money today?

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.

Did you do anything to save money today?

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 looked for a Keto recipe for cube steak for dinner tonight. We have one recipe for it that we love but I wanted to find another one. So I am making https://www.castironketo.net/blog/keto-chicken-fried-steak/

Hoping that Hubby likes it. I think I will.

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.

So did you save any money today?

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.

What did you do to save a bit of money today?

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.

What did you do to save a bit of money today?