Tag: grocery haul

Categories
Every Day

A Fun Day Yesterday

First, I have a piece of business to take care of. If any of you tried to get into this blog yesterday or today, it was down. I did not know it until Chris sent me a message that she was having problems commenting last night. My admin who is my son has fixed the issue and we are up and runnng again. Thank you for your patience.

I always have a wonderful girl’s day out with my friend. We left about 11am yesterday to go to https://www.tatteredtuliphome.com/ to browse and see the Christmas decorations. They were beautiful but I did not buy anything. I have enough Christmas things now. After browsing for a while, we went to https://www.platterschocolates.com/ where I purchased a few gifts.

Then we had lunch at https://woodcockbrothersbrewery.com/ . The service and food was wonderful. My friend treated me. We are taking turns doing that.

I had asked my friend when she picked me up if there was a Wegman’s close to where we were going. She said yes that it was very close. So after lunch we went there so I could buy a Shady Brook turkey which was 14.85 lbs. Using your Wegman’s card you could get 1 for $ .48 a lb. that cost me a total of $ 7.13. This is the best turkey deal that I have gotten in 2 years. I could get a Top’s turkey for $ .58 a lb. but I will save $ .10 a lb. any day. Since it was so close to where we were, she saved me from driving a 19 mile round trip to my store. I had brought a bag to keep it frozen while we were at our last stop. It is the last turkey I will buy unless I see a markdown deal at Walmart after Christmas.

Our last stop was at https://arrowheadspringvineyards.com/ where we enjoyed a glass of wine.

Since we didn’t get home until dinnertime, Hubby made easy ham and grilled cheese sandwiches.

I will be back tomorrow with my Top’s shopping haul of loss leaders that are the cheapest this time of the year.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

Before I forget, today will be my last post until Tuesday. Hubby’s sister is arriving tomorrow from Houston for a visit. So I will be busy until next Tuesday.

I have planned out our dinner menu’s for the time she is here. I will be making chicken parmesan tomorrow night with a side salad. Friday night will be hamburgers and FF’s. Saturday night we will have our friends joining us for dinner too. That will be a very enjoyable evening. Hubby is going to make his chili which will be served on rice and his coleslaw salad as a side. Dessert will be orange sherbert to cool down the heat from the chili. Sunday will be any leftovers from the other meals because you know I do not waste food. So they will get eaten or frozen. On Monday she leaves before dinner. So it will be something easy for just us. I like to get bedding washed and put back on the bed right after company leaves. All the towels and any cleaning that needs to be done will get done that evening so that I wake up to a clean house on Tuesday.

Yesterday, I shopped at Walmart after I took a return to Dollar General. For any of you that don’t know, they take returns for Fed Ex. It was a postage paid return so it didn’t cost us a dime.

At Walmart, I purchased a Butterball turkey at $.97 a lb. for a total of $14.92. If you are planning on getting one there, I would do it quickly. Our store had loads a week ago but they are dwindling fast. I also picked up some sausage for $ 6.94 for breakfasts and some chicken patties for $5.96 which Hubby and I love for quick sandwiches. Lastly, I got a 1/2 gallon of 1/2 and 1/2 for $ 4.98 and a 12 pack of Zero Sugar Fanta for $8.92. Every time I buy that it kills me because the price is so high. But Hubby always starts his day with one can. He calls it his juice. He let me know before I went that he had just opened his last can. I keep looking for a sale so I can stock at a better price. So my total was $ 42.43. I didn’t count the bottle deposits because I get my money back when I return them. Sorry, there was no picture because I quickly got all the meat in the freezer so we could run out to vote.

Talking about the voting, two things come to mind. If it didn’t go your way, don’t be upset because it didn’t go your way. Instead put your time and energy into making your individual finances better. Do all the frugal things everyday! They all add up! Secondly, be happy you don’t have any more political calls or ads to deal with!!!

I am going to put my energy into doing a load of wash today and hanging it to dry and changing our bedding. It is getting very close to the end of the year so we will be going over our finances and planning for the New Year. Then if I have any time left, I will do some more work in our basement. There are a lot of things down there that we no longer use. I will find them and decide if I should sell them or donate them.

BTW, have you noticed my new logo on the left hand side of my blog posts? My son, who is my admin, made that for me the other day. I was thrilled.

I hope you all have a great week. I will be back here next Tuesday.

Categories
Every Day

An Exhausting and Busy Day Yesterday

I was out of here early for my medical tests and a doctor’s appointment yesterday. Everything is good.

While I was in this town, I went to the bank to deposit 2 checks and get a little cash for the winter. I do not drive in the winter if I can avoid it. I now have almost all of my next appointments scheduled for the end of April.

I also have Hubby’s sister coming to visit us from Houston soon. So I had to go to one liquor store to replenish what was needed. I had not gone to this shopping plaza in over 2 years. I noticed when I pulled in that Paula’s Donuts was there. I did not know they had moved. So of course, I had to go in and get a couple of apple fritters. I will not be going again. They are delicious but not good for us.

My next stop was at Niagara Produce. They had the extra large eggs on sale again for $ .99 a dozen. I got two to fill up my 60 count box in the refrigerator. They will go fast with company here and I will be cooking breakfast for my son this weekend.

I got home about 11am. I was craving a cup of coffee and needed some food. I could have neither before my tests. So after eating a donut and having two cups of coffee, I went back out to run some errands north of me.

My round brush broke so I went to Sally’s Beauty Supply to replace it. Then I filled up our gas tank. Next I went to Top’s and just picked up some loss leaders.

It’s a good day when you save more than you spend. We were out of English Muffins and Hubby loves one for breakfast with my homemade sugar free peach jam. They were on B1G1F. I also had a super coupon to get a jar of Ragu Kettle Sauce for $ 1.77. With the price of tomatoes here, I can’t make homemade sauce for that price. I also purchased a large pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts at $ 1.88 a lb. They have been packaged up and frozen.

My last stop was another liquor store that had the wine I needed for $ 7.00 cheaper than the liquor store I went to this morning. When you are buying 4 bottles, that is a savings of $ 28.00 so it was worth the extra trip.

Shopping for 2 gifts that I need in November was also completed.

Finally I got home about 4pm. We ate dinner and then I called my sister.

I got a whole lot done but I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow last night. I was exhausted!

I still have to get my flu shot but I am going to have to schedule it. Walking in is a long, long wait.

Hubby also will have a total of 3 returns that Abbott Labs wants. We have gotten one replacement and 2 others are on the way. Until we have them and all the paid for boxes to send the others back, I will not go out to Fed Ex. So I will try to do that and schedule my flu shot for the same day.

I am happy that I have almost everything that we need to get through the winter. I still will shop for a turkey or two on a good deal and some other good Thankgiving deals as I see them. I will also get some baking items and some hams as I see them go on sale.

I almost forgot to tell you that I ordered 4 boxes of turkey stuffing mix from Amazon for $ .75 each. I believe that this deal is still available. They arrived yesterday. They will come in handy to go with the extra turkeys I have or to stuff pork chops or chicken breasts.

Please feel free to share any deals and at what stores to help others anytime.

Categories
Every Day

Grocery Haul, etc.

After a dentist appointment last week, I went to BJ’s because it was right down the street. I purchased 2 more rotisserie chickens for $ 4.99 each and 4 lbs. of butter for $9.59 which worked out to about $ 2.40 a lb. That is the cheapest price I have seen in my area in a couple of years.

I also picked up a 32 oz. block of cheddar cheese for $ 7.79 which is about $ 1.95 for 8 oz. That is a rock bottom price here for good cheese. I shrink wrapped half of it and that is in my refrigerator for snacks. The other half has been shredded and put in the freezer to top casseroles or for tacos. I mix in just a tiny bit of cornstarch before I freeze it to keep the shreds from sticking together. This is healther than the cellulose they put in shredded cheese that you buy at the grocery store.

As you can see on my receipt, I also purchased 10 lbs. of 90% lean ground beef for $ 32.90. They had a limit of 2- 10 lb. packages of ground beef on this 42% off sale. I had already purchased one of the 80/20 the week before I got this. So I have reached my limit. I put the beef in the fridge before I took this picture to keep it cold until I could shrink wrap it. I made a small meatloaf with some of it on Wednesday. That lasted us two days. I now have about 26 lbs. of ground beef in my freezer and that should be enough to get us to the Memorial Day sales.

When Hubby had his birthday party, our friends gave him these balloons tied to 6 large cans of his favorite beer. That was a few days before the end of September. I took this picture 3 days ago and look how long they have lasted. I enjoyed them on my birthday 2 weeks later. It is Sunday October 18th and they are still inflated. I am wondering just how long these will last. In case you were wondering where they were purchased, it was Dollar Tree for $1.25 each. The next time I need to get birthday balloons, I will definitely purchase them there.

I did 3 large loads of laundry this week. I pre-treated any stains on our clothing with Dawn dish liquid. It takes all of the stains out and it is cheaper than buying those stain products that are made for the laundry. Those are expensive and most of them don’t work. Our electric blankets have been put on our beds for the winter. So all of the other blankets needed to be washed and stored away. All of the clothing was hung to dry but I did use my dryer with my wool balls to dry the blankets and our towels.

Winter will be here before we know it so we are getting ready. Snakes for the bottoms of doors of the rooms that we will not use over the winter have been taken from storage and put out. Coats and gloves have been brought upstairs to our coat closet. Winter clothes have been put in our closets and lighter weight clothing has been put in a closet we don’t use. Our boots are in the bench in the garage. The seat lifts up and we have lots of storage in it. We are keeping the heat lower by a few degrees than we have done before. That is because Hubby now has a lot of sweaters and sweatshirts to wear in the house. I am happy because not only should our heat usage be lowet but I won’t have to wear shorts in the house all winter while the heat is on. I was always sweating.

We will be getting our monthly electric and natural gas bill this week so I will again be reminded of how expensive these bills have gotten. UGH! I will report on it when I get it.

So I am off to get some work done in the house before the Buffalo Bills game. I hope you all have a great day!

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That

On the way home from getting my stitches out on Monday, I stopped at B.J.’s. They are having a 42% off Birthday Celebration sale. I had no Bubba Burgers left so I picked up the 12 count box for $ 31.49. These are Hubby’s favorites. Since they are $ 19.99 elsewhere for a 6 count box, this was a great deal. Of course, I had to pick up a rotisserie chicken for $ 4.99. We had chicken sandwiches for lunch and then I picked all of the meat off and ended up with 2 bags worth for other meals. The carcass is in the freezer with others waiting until I have time to make broth next week.

The 43.5 ounce coffee was $ 15.89 after a $ 2.40 digital coupon. But the best deal of the day was the 80/20 ground beef. I only had about 3 – 1 lb. packages of ground beef left in my freezer. It ended up costing me about $ 2.71 a lb. for 10 lbs. after the 42% birthday discount. It cost me $ 27.09 total. I bought one but I am having second thoughts. I will pick up another 10 lb. roll next week when I have to travel down that way. There is a limit of 2. Twenty pounds should last me until summer when we see sales again. I food savered it up into 1 lb. packages. I don’t think I have seen a price this low in a couple of years.

On Tuesday, I finally had the time to roast my turkey. Hubby and I had a nice turkey dinner that night. Last night I ate some leftovers and Hubby ate a Chef’s salad using some of the turkey. After dinner I picked the carcass clean. We have enough meat left for 3 more meals and some to make soup. So the carcass will cook tonight in the crockpot to make the broth.

Earlier this week, the $ 90. deposits from the government to help with Medicare costs hit our bank account. That was sure quick. So any seniors who are expecting that money, check your account for the deposits.

When we had company staying here for Hubby’s birthday weekend, we kept our bedroom door open so that Eloise could sleep in with us and still get to her food and her litter box. I was concerned that she would keep us awake all night. Nope she didn’t but she did still get me up a little after 3. Then the next night, she didn’t get me up until 5:45am. This seems to work and I am getting more sleep than I have in over 2 years. Some nights it is longer and others shorter. She sleeps on the foot of one of our beds and seems to be content with that even though she has her own comfortable bed in our room. This is working and proved to me just how sleep deprived I was. I was always so tired. Now I have energy and can get many things done each day again.

I am so looking forward to later today. A very good friend is treating me to lunch to celebrate my birthday early. We are going to a town I loved when Hubby took me there years ago. We will also do some shopping.

I hope you all have a great day!

Categories
Every Day

The Utility Bill, etc.

Monday:

It was that day of the month again yesterday when the electric and natural gas bill hit our inbox. I was surprised that it was only $ 175.04 especially with the A/C on this past month.The bill was for 29 days in which we used 606 KWH and 2 therms of natural gas.This time of the year the gas is only used for range top cooking and to heat our hot water.

Last year’s bill for the same exact period was $ 188.59. We used 665 KWH and 3 therms of natural gas.

Year over year it went down by $ 13.55. I am not complaining since we haven’t had a reduction in our bill in a couple of years. As you all know this is one bill that usually keeps going up. I could tell you that it was something that we did to reduce it but the truth is it was not as hot as last year during this period.

However, it is almost September and heating season is coming faster than I would like. It is time to start thinking about what we can do to lower those heating bills. We had a new furnace put in a month or so before winter ended. It is a little bit more efficient than the original one. So this heating season will give us a better idea of what that will do to lower our usage if anything. We have a couple of leaky windows that we should do something about. And as usual, we need to caulk the windows that need it. We also need to check the weather stripping around our doors and the sweeps at the bottom of them. And I don’t want to forget to make sure we have enough furnace filters to get us through the winter. I believe the cost of those will go up again next month so I am ordering mine now before that happens. We have good insulation in the house and in the attic. So I don’t think that adding to that will do anything.

As usual, I will find the cloth snakes that I use at the bottom of the outside doors and for the bedroom doors that we don’t use in the winter. Most people don’t visit us during this season because our winters here are cold and snowy.

Hubby will get the car ready for winter.

I finally was able to get my hair done at the salon. It needed it badly since I had cancelled my appointment when Hubby was in the hospital.

On the way to my appt. I stopped and did some shopping at Top’s. They had Ronzoni pastas on sale for $1.00 each. I purchased 10 so that I could get the 100 extra gas points. Those will last 12-18 months. That will be the only shopping this week. On the way home, I picked up Hubby’s prescription.

Since one of the pastas was elbow macaroni, I made my grandmother’s bacon macaroni goulash for dinner last night. We hadn’t had it since last winter. I made a double batch which we will eat tonight.

Tuesday:

This morning I paid some bills and did some other paperwork. I am going to cook a couple of batches of white rice in my instant pot and bag them up for the freezer in the portions that we use for a meal. Prepping ahead makes it so much easier at mealtime. I was getting so lazy using the 90 second packets. I will not be buying them again. They are so much more expensive than using the 20 lb. bags of rice.

My project for the Fall and Winter( as my stockpile dwindles) is going to be making many things that I now buy from scratch. Seasoning packets come to mind along with homemade bread, salad dressings, etc.

Most of the meals I make in the next month are going to be based on using up the things in my refrigerator. I need to make space because we will have lots of company the end of September to celebrate a birthday. So the space is needed for foods I will need.

As soon as I throw a load of wash in, I will spend the day working on my pantries.

Categories
Every Day

Grocery Hauls, etc.

I went to Aldi’s and got broccoli florets($1.15), a 4 pack of greek yogurt($2.65), and the small Naan flatbreads($4.99) for a total of $8.75 after rounding. I wanted the large Naan flatbread but they were out of stock. These will do for our pizzas for now.

Next I went to Walmart to pick up Hubby’s prescriptions for $ 0 co-pays. I was down to about 7 eggs so I needed the 60 count to get through the next couple of weeks. They were $ 8.12. They only had one zero sugar creamer that I like which was the pumpkin spice for $ 3.94. I also got 1 heavy whipping cream for $ 4.74 and 1 half and half for $ 2.56. My total was $ 19.36.

Last stop was Top’s where I purchased the Coffeemate creamer for $ 4.69, the bag of Vidalia onions for $ 6.49, and the white cheddar cheese for $1.88 for a grand total of $ 13.06.

So my groceries came to a total of $ 41.17.

However I did spend $60.00 more on groceries at Top’s. I struck up a conversation with a young woman who had her 3 year old little boy shopping with her. I came upon them in the store when I heard the little boy ask his mom if he could have some real cheese sticks. She nicely told him they could not afford those today. The little boy accepted that with no tantrum. I said to her things are so expensive now. I had noticed that most things were up $1.50 since I shopped Top’s 5 weeks ago. She said she has a family of 7. I can’t even imagine how much she spends for groceries for that size of a family. She is a stay at home mom and her husband works. I imagine that daycare for 5 children is too expensive for her to work. She told me they do not get food stamps. She said they were on Obamacare but the premium for the new year is going to be in the thousands so they will go without it and just pay as needed. I noticed besides some healthier cereal and milk she had a few other healthy items. Not much for such a large family but it could have been a fill in the gap shop. So I got in line behind her to pay for her groceries. The little boy asked his mom if she would take him for a ride in the cart. She said to the cashier to ring her items up and she would be back in about 2 minutes. I quickly handed the cashier a $100. bill and told her it was to pay for the young woman’s groceries. I did not want the woman to know I was paying. Too late because she came back quickly and saw me hand the cashier the $100. She told me I did not have to do that. I told her I know but I want to and I can afford it. She was so grateful. I remember when my boys were little and how hard it was to make ends meet while I was a stay at home mom.

It has been such a hard few weeks between my open wound and Hubby’s heart attack. The Lord has been good to us through it all. So it made my heart feel good to help this family out.

I think I told you yesterday that Chewy was going to replace my chunky Delectables for free. The package arrived a few minutes ago and they sent 2 boxes instead of 1. They are such a great company! I am very glad I found them when I got Eloise.

We continue to make most meals with what we have in our pantries.

I appreciate the couple of people who gave me ideas on what to take to the cookout tomorrow. I ended up being very busy today so I made chocolate fudge brownies with a bag of butterscotch chips thrown in. I may or may not frost them in the morning. There will be lots of desserts there so I only made one pan.

I did get my gas and electric bill today. But that is for another post.

Hubby is taping our preseason Buffalo Bills game because we will be at the cookout for most of the game and I don’t want to miss it.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

We were invited to a July 4th party and I was making a fruit bowl in a watermelon shell to bring. Trying to find fruit that was decent was not easy. I went to Niagara Produce and got the watermelon for $7.99. I also purchased seedless green grapes for $8.37, blueberries for $3.99, and 4 dozen XL eggs that I needed for $ .99 each. That came to $ 24.30. Their strawberries were small and not in vey good condition.

Then I went to Top’s and got cherries(I pitted them all) for $8.42, more blueberries for $6.99 and cantaloupe for $ 14.97(I had to buy precut because I could not find a whole cantaloupe in the store.). I hate doing that but Hubby really wanted cantaloupe in the fruit bowl. Top’s strawberries were really orange. There was not a red strawberry in the store. They were far from ripe.

So on Friday morning I went to Walmart to pick up a prescription for Hubby. While I was there, I looked at their strawberries. I was shocked to see that they had perfect strawberries. So I purchased 4 small containers for a total of $ 10.32. They are not in the picture. I was so happy that they had them because if they didn’t I was going to head to the next town to go to Wegman’s or B.J.’s.

This was a large party with lots of kids, I brought over a much bigger half of the watermelon filled with fruit. I made this extra one in case it was needed and put it in my refrigerator. I also had a bag of fruit leftover for us to munch on the next few days.

I didn’t find out that the fruit had run out until after everyone had eaten. The hosts of the party said it was gone by the time they dished up their meal. If I had known, I would have gotten this other one in the refrigerator. Looks like everyone was loving it. So yesterday, I brought over this half of the watermelon of fruit to the hosts for them and their 2 boys to enjoy. Lesson learned: Bring double next year and put it in a big bowl.

One of their fathers makes the burgers every year for them to grill. He is a hunter and got a deer this past season. They are the best burgers I have ever had. He makes them out of venison and ground pork and I don’t know what kind of spices he uses. So when I brought the fruit over, they gave me 4 of the burgers that were leftover and not cooked yet. We each had one for dinner last night. The other two I have frozen for another meal. I have always hated venison because it tastes gamey to me. Not these burgers. They were so yummy!

There were so many fireworks in our neighborhood on July 4th night that I could not get to sleep until after 11am. So I was dragging yesterday. However last night, I had to do some work in the basement to make room for a purchase that is coming today.

But now I am rested. I have a very busy day. I have an appointment in the next town and then have to run some errands near me. Then I have more work in the basement to do.

I hope you all had a good 4th.

Categories
Every Day

Grocery Haul

I do not like shopping on Sunday. However, I have learned my lesson when it comes to Top’s. After having to get rainchecks for the best deals on Mondays, I started going on Sundays. I quickly found out that when the meat department opens at 8AM that they never have the beef deals ready. So yesterday I went at 10AM. The NY strip steaks were fully stocked. I was able to pick and choose 4 large packages with 4 steaks in each. They had the best price that I have seen in months. They were $11.88 a lb. so I paid $ 125.57 for all of them. These steaks are always tender and delicious. When I got home I used my foodsaver to package them up. We now have 16 meals of strip steaks in the freezer. I may roast a turkey this week. If I do, I will free up some space in the freezer. Then I might get some more steaks. We love grilling them outside in the summer and fall.

The rest of the items pictured were purchased at Walmart because they had much cheaper prices than Top’s. I bought 2 frozen mixed berries for $3.52 a bag. I eat these with zero sugar whipped cream when I need a sweet snack. I just put a serving in a bowl and defrost it in the microwave for a few seconds. It always satisfies my cravings for snacks but it is much healthier than candy or chips. I also purchased one bag of dates for $ 4.97, 1/2 gallon of milk for $ 1.96 and the cottage cheese was $ 2.87. I love cottage cheese with diced fresh tomatoes for brunch. My total for all was $16.84.

Hubby has been using up my half and half that I use in my coffee on his cereal. So I purchased the milk for him. The half and half is $ 4.98 so paying $ 1.96 for the milk was a no brainer. I do have shelf stable milk in the pantry but it is all within date so we will keep that for emergencies.

I do track prices so that I can do a couple of stores and know that I am always getting the best price. Top’s and Walmart are only a block apart so a round trip is only 7 miles. I am not so good at tracking Aldi’s because they have to have a very good deal to get me in the store. I did go last week when I got the 8 lbs. of organic ground beef but I was too tired to look at other items that day. I need to go again and do that. I wonder if I can find the prices online or are those prices just if you have delivery or pickup. Does anyone know?

We had a good day yesterday. My sons both called Hubby to wish him a Happy Father’s Day and they had long chats. My son who lives closer spent part of Friday here. My other son was planning on making the 4 and 1/2 hour trip but his dog is sick so he couldn’t. I don’t know when we will see him again. I am seriously considering flying there. It is too long a car trip for us. We have no direct flight from here to there. However, Hubby could take me to an airport that is about an hour and 15 minutes away that does have a direct flight. Hubby no longer flies either. It is just too hard for him. But I can go alone. The only other way is to hitch a ride with my other son when they go to New Hampshire to visit his in-laws. My son could pick me up along the route they take.

My grandson is coming this Friday to stay with us for the weekend. I am hoping since he loves organizing that he will help me take some inventory in the pantry. We will enjoy having him here(spoiling him) and he is always a big help to us.

Hubby and I watched a lot of soccer this weekend. We are enjoying those games.

Tonight my sister and I will have our usual Monday chat. Her granddaughter got married this weekend. So I am looking forward to hearing all about it.

I have two medical appointments this week so I don’t know when I will post again.

I hope you all have a great week!

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That

I went to Niagara Produce this week to get 4 dozen eggs to fill up my 5 dozen container in the refrigerator. They were still on sale for $.99 each. I also purchased fresh broccoli crowns( $1.49 a lb.) for $ 1.59 to cook as a side for a couple of dinners this week. I always check for marked down meat. While I was looking, I saw this package of on sale cheese and parsley Italian sausage. It was $3.99 a lb. so it cost $ 7.14. This will give us two homemade meals: a pasta one and a pizza one. My total was $ 12.69.

Then I went to Aldi’s to get sliced mushrooms for $ 1.29 for burgers this week and peppers($2.55) to make fajitas last night for dinner. I also got the flour tortillas for $ 1.95 for the fajitas. The organic ketchup was $2.15. The cantaloupe was $ 2.49 and the brioche buns were $3.99. I picked up 2 more butter at $2.89 lb. to add to my freezer stash. The frozen California Medley vegetables were $ 1.15. My total was $21.65.

I stopped at Panera Bread and purchased the dozen bagels Tuesday deal for $9.99 using my Panera giftcard that I purchased 3 to 4 years ago on the Top’s deal at Christmas. They give you 13 bagels so I got 7 asiago cheese and 6 cinnamon crunch. I froze most of them for future meals.

Top’s was my second to last stop. We rarely buy cereal but we do use Rice Chex in our party mix so I picked up 2 boxes on sale for $3.00 a box. The Kraft salad dressings were on sale for $ 3.00 each. We eat a lot of salads in the spring and summer so I am now stockpiled on dressings. The Skinny Pop was a treat for me. It cost $ 3.50. I got 2 Peter Pan peanut butter on sale B1G1F so it was $3.69 for 2 of them. We love this for a snack with celery. The Smithfield pork tenderloins were on B1G1F for $ 9.99 for both. We will cook these on the grill for a couple of meals this summer. The leftovers will get used in pork fried rice. The grapes were on sale for $1.88 a lb. so I paid $ 3.42 for $ 1.82 lbs. They will be used in chicken salad and for snacking. The bread was on sale for $ 2.99. I use this for French toast for my grandson and Hubby on Sundays when we are all together for breakfast. The cheddar cheese block was $ 1.88. My total for all was $ 37.47 minus my 6% senior discount of $ 2.25. So OOP was $35.22.

My last stop was at Consumer Beverage where I returned bottles for $6.00 which I used to defray the cost of a 24 pack of Yuengling Lager that cost $22.99 plus bottle deposits of $1.20 – $6.00 plus $ 1.84 in tax totaled $20.03. I am also submitting an $ 8.00 rebate. This is Hubby’s treat after he is done mowing the lawn.

We needed food so I finally had to go shopping. The only way I could get through it was to use a lidocaine patch. But I was totally exhausted when I got home.

I submitted a $6.00 rebate for 3 bottles of Kendall Jackson wine.

We have not turned on the A/C yet even though we have had a couple of 80+ days. Our home has high ceilings so we stay pretty cool in here. We also have ceiling fans in 2 bedrooms, a portable fan in the 3rd bedroom, and ceiling fans in the breakfast room, which is where we eat all of our meals, the great room, and the office. We have only had to use select fans a couple of days.

Our landscaper replaced the tree that died since he planted it last fall. It was under a year warranty. It is a nice red maple and is a bit bigger than the one that died. I pray that this one survives.

What have you been doing to save a few dollars?