Tag: saving on Christmas

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Every Day

Top’s Grocery Haul This Week and Other Things


I shopped at Top’s this week. I purchased white cheddar popcorn( $2.99) at Hubby’s request. I was getting low on eggs so picked up the 18 count with a Super Coupon for $1.69.

The celery was also a Super Coupon and cost $ .88. The yogurt were on sale for $1.00 each.

But the best deal that I got was 4 of the craft beer French fries. If you purchased 4, they were $ .99 each. 

My total out of pocket was  $ 9.52. 

I have been busy around here doing regular chores and finishing up organizing the kitchen which is one of the biggest rooms in the house and held so much stuff. I pared a lot of it down. If it hadn’t been used in a year, it got donated. It is so much easier to cook  and find utensils, dishes, and pots and pans now that it has been simplified. 

Now I am preparing for my son and granddaughter to visit for a few days. We are very excited that they are coming especially Hubby. He has not seen our son since last November. We have not seen our granddaughter since she was here in July. 

We have been getting ready for winter. It is upon us and it is predicted to be very snowy this year.

My son helped Hubby put all the patio furniture away about 10 days ago. I am so glad because the winds have been awful.

Our landscape crew were here for the last time this year and everything has been weeded and trimmed. The pest control people were here and the spiders seem to be non existent. Yeah, because I hate spiders. The company who blows out the lines in our sprinkler system came and did that and shut it down till Spring. The last thing that needs to be done is winter fertilizer and that will be done by the company in the next couple of weeks. 

Hubby changed the filter on the furnace yesterday. With the heat on, we do that once a month. 

How did you guys do with Amazon Prime Days? Did you think the deals were worth it? I was very good and was able to pick up a Christmas gift for my grandson. I had a $10.00 credit that helped lower the cost.

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Every Day

2019 Goal: Save for Christmas

Every year I have good intentions to save up all “extras” for Christmas gifts. I did pretty well in 2018 but I know when I get busy I miss things.

So in 2019 I will be more focused. I plan on saving all bottle return money in a jar. In New York, we have a $.05 deposit on all returnable cans of soda and beer, and water bottles. I don’t buy bottled water now but Hubby does drink Diet Coke and we have the occasional beer bottle. I have two bags here that need to be taken back so they will go in the 2019 Christmas Fund.

We already save all of our change in a container for the grandchildren which we love doing. So that idea is out!

But I can save every survey and rebate check that I get. That would include rebates from Ibotta and Fetch. I will also save rebates from Saving Star,  Checkout51, Ebates, and from searching through Bing. I already have a rebate check sitting here waiting to be cashed. Since our Christmas shopping is all done and paid for, I will start my 2019 savings with that check and the bottle returns.

I do a fair amount of grocery and wine and liquor rebates during the year. So they will be saved for Christmas 2019.  

We get cash rewards from using our credit cards. I can save that money and use it for Christmas presents. Since we charge almost everything on our best rewards card and pay it in full every month, that money adds up very quickly. I just cashed in for $100. so I will save that.

I can’t think of any more right now but if I do later, I will add them to my list.  I would love to hear your ideas for saving money for Christmas 2019. Please leave any suggestions in the comments. 

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Every Day

Keeping the Costs Low

Oh, the dilemma again over sending Christmas cards. Every year I try to knock down the number that I send out. I keep it down to family and really close friends. If I send a card to a family member 10 years in a row and I don’t get a response, then I feel that they don’t want contact and I take them off my list. I don’t send cards to anyone who I will see over the holiday season.

I would actually like to send e-mails instead but I don’t have most people’s e-mail address or they don’t use email. I know that is hard to believe but not in my generation.

So I sat down this morning and wrote them out. I ended up with 27 cards that are already in the mailbox. 

A few years ago, I caught a great after Christmas deal of $1.00 per box for very nice Christmas cards. So I purchased 10 assorted boxes. I am still using them so they were purchased and paid for long ago. The only other costs were my time and stamps. I am still working on forever stamps that I purchased before the last price increase. So they cost me $ .47 each instead of the $.49 they are today. Also when I purchase my stamps, I buy them in bulk at BJ’s and get a small discount. So mailing these 27 cards cost me less than $12.69 plus about $1.50 for the cards. So it is not an extreme expense.

A few things that I have been doing around here is cashing in 10 Coke code caps for $5.00 Amazon gift cards. I didn’t know that they were running this deal until my sister mentioned it. Fortunately, I still had some caps from Hubby drinking it.

All of my Christmas shopping is done. I have one more package coming today and when that is wrapped, I am all done. One of the last purchases I made was a Black Friday deal that I did online on Thanksgiving. Our Keurig is still running however I am afraid that it is on it’s last leg. It makes terrible noises. So when I found a Keurig on sale for $ 59.99 that included 40 K-cups and a bonus in the coffeepot box of 4 more plus  some iced tea ones, I jumped on it. I defrayed the cost of this by paying with some Amazon credit card points. I had been keeping my eye out for a deal like this since I did not want to wake up one morning and not be able to make coffee. I know that a Keurig is a luxury but it is one of the luxuries that we are willing to pay for but not at full price. We only drink one cup of coffee in the morning so it works perfectly for us. 

The only grocery deal I purchased this week was yesterday. Top’s had large roasting chickens on sale for $ .77 a lb. That is a really low price for my area so I purchased two for the freezer. One day when I am feeling better, I will take them out and roast them so that we will have lots of chicken already prepared. I will then freeze it until it is needed.


Not much else going on around here. We are just trying to stay warm. Anything new frugally with any of you?