Saving Money Today!

This is what I did today to save money:

1. Stayed home - no money spent on gasoline.

2. Baked cupcakes above for a dinner party that I am giving tomorrow night.

3. Washed and hung to dry a blanket. It is getting so warm here that extra blankets are really are not needed.

4. Cleaned and organized my storage closet. Can't use the food if you don't know what you have.

5. Filed the coupons that came during the week.

6. I received $ 15.00 in Rebates and the Free Coupon for a Kashi Entree in the mail today.

7. With A/C season right around the corner, I watched my power company's DVD's on saving on utility bills to make sure that I am doing all I can do to keep our A/C costs under control.

If you did something today, please leave a comment and share with everyone else. We can all learn from each other.

Saving Money Today!

The things I did to save money today:


1. I needed to pick up a prescription refill for DH today at CVS. Yesterday, I received in the mail my $ 15.00 MC Rewards Card for buying 2 Olay Regenerist. I hate these reward cards because they are such a pain to use. So I took it to CVS and purchased a $ 15.00 CVS Giftcard which is easier to use. Then I paid the $10.00 Co-Pay using the Giftcard!


2. I received a $ 3.00 survey check yesterday so took that and a couple of other checks to the bank to deposit in savings.


3. Cooked the penne rigate up for my pasta salad this morning by bringing the water to a boil, turning off the heat, and covering the pot for 15 minutes. It made perfect pasta. Of course this was done while the kitchen was still cool and in off peak hours.

4. Saved the pasta water to make soup tomorrow with the turkey breast carcass and skin.

5. Packaged up the meat from the turkey breast I cooked yesterday into meal portions with my Tilia Food Saver and froze them.

6. Ran the most efficient route to save on gasoline while doing errands.

7. Before I shopped at Fry's this morning, I went to customer service and purchased a $ 50.00 Giftcard which gives me $ .10 off a gallon for a full tank of gasoline. Then I earned more points by buying groceries using that card. I do this all the time to maximize my gasoline points!

8. I was craving fast food while I was out running errands. However, I didn't give in and came home and made lunch.

9. Hung a load of sheets to dry!

10. Called a friend in New York that I haven't called in two months using my cellphone minutes to save on long distance charges.

11. Tonight I will be doing some research to save money on some of our other monthly bills, like water, garbage, telephone, newspaper, cable, internet, etc. I am on a roll after switching automobile insurance carriers and saving $ 200.

If you did something to save money today, please leave a comment and share with everyone else.

Fry's and Some Errands!

Since I had to go to CVS to pick up a prescription and to the bank to deposit checks, I decided I would swing by Fry's again. I had a few coupons expiring for soda that I wanted to use. Here is what I purchased:


Fry's:


2- Simply Orange Juice - $ 2.88 each

4 - 2 ltr. Sprite Zero - on sale 3 for $ 5.00 - Used (2) B1G1F coupons

4 pkgs. Kroger Shredded Mozzarella Cheese - $ 1.00 each

2 pkgs. Kroger Mexican Cheese - $ 1.00 each


Total OOP was $ 15.09!


My rollover budget was at a negative $ 18.84 plus the $ 15.09 today = a negative $ 33.93 this month. However in January I was under by $ 2.14 so I am only over budget by $ 31.79 for January and February. Because of this I will be starting with a monthly budget of $ 150.00 minus the $ 31.79 that I am over = $ 118.21 for the month of March!

ANALYSIS: The cheese was too good deal to pass up! Usually my Kroger store only has cheddar when they have this sale. Today they actually had a few mozzarella that I use for pizza all the time. I was thrilled to find them!

We were in desperate need of orange juice. I checked the 12 oz can price and the lowest I could find worked out to 12.9 cents an ounce. The Simply Orange worked out to about a little over 7 cents an ounce. Since the sell by dates were in May, I bought 2! Great deal!

We love Sprite once in a while. This was not the best price but since I had the B1G1F coupons expiring today, I got it. It worked out to about $ .83 a bottle. I hate to pass up soda coupons because I can't find them very often. DH likes his soda. I have gotten use to drinking ice water and iced tea but once in while I have a soda too!

Easy Pasta Salad!

My DH loves my pasta salad! It is so quick and easy and nutritious. I don't really measure anything. I just mix together cold, cooked whole wheat penne rigate, cubed cheddar cheese, diced tomato, pepperoni and black olives with Italian Dressing. The best part is not only is it delicious but it is cheap to make. The pasta and Italian Dressing were Free after doubled coupons. I used $ .40 worth of pepperoni( 1/2 pkgs of Hormel), $ .41 worth of Kraft Cheddar cheese, 1/2 can of black olives sliced - $ .13 and 1 fresh tomato that cost me $ .49. So the total for this dish was $ 1.43 for 4 servings. Kids love this too! Mine always devoured it! You can use any kind of pasta like penne rigate, medium shells, etc. Now that the weather is warming up here, this will be served every couple of weeks.

So now that dinner is made, I am off to run all of my errands!

The Cost of Protein!

Now that I have a turkey breast roasting in the Nesco, so that I can package it up in portions for my freezer, and I have a load of wash hung to dry, I have time to talk about the cost of protein.


When I think of protein, I think of meat, poultry and fish. However I also think of cheese, milk, yogurt, beans, nuts, and eggs. The USDA says that one serving of meat, poultry and fish protein should be 2-3 ounces. Dry beans and legumes should be 1/2 cup cooked. Peanut butter is two tablespoons. Nuts are 1/3 cup. Eggs are 1 whole or two egg whites. A serving of cheese is 1 ounce. The recommendations are 2-3 servings of meat, poultry, eggs, nuts or fish daily. Milk, yogurt and cheese is the same. These portions may sound small but they are the recommendation. I wonder how many of us serve way more than what is needed to keep our bodies healthy. I know I am guilty and I am trying to cut back on portions.

Cutting back on portions not only is more nutritious for our bodies but less costly also. How many of us are guilty of eating a boneless chicken breast for dinner that may weigh 6-8 0unces? My DIL cuts these in 1/2 to serve two people. She has it right! That is the proper serving of protein. If this is the only protein that you will be serving during the day then the chicken breast would be your 2-3 servings for one day. However if you have cheese, eggs or any of the other protein rich foods, then eating that chicken breast is way more protein than your body needs.

So cutting back to the proper recommended portions is the first way that I know of to cut down on the cost of protein.

Now here are other ways that I cut back on the cost of meat, fish, and poultry and other proteins :

- Choose cheaper cuts of meat and cook them in a slow cooker or crockpot to tenderize them.

- Purchase meats ONLY when they are on sale in bulk and freeze them into portions.

- Purchase meats when they are on sale and reduced for quick sale. I have noticed that sale meats and poultry will be reduced for quick sale if their sell by dates are the day the sale expires. So I look for reductions on Mondays and Tuesdays since our ads come out in the paper on Wednesday.

- If you have little freezer space available, check the day the ad is expiring to see if they are out of the sale meats, then get a raincheck to stock later when you have more space at the cheaper price.

- Purchase meats with a coupon or winetag(these have become rare out here) when the meats are cheap or Free. Over the past year, I got plenty of Free Crab Classic, hot dogs, ham, bacon, pepperoni, and sausage using store or manufacturers coupons. I use these items except for the crab and turkey bacon sparingly because of the fat and sodium content.

- I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a meat grinder attachment. This allows me to grind my own hamburger. I can almost always buy chuck steak or roast or london broil on sale for way less than what it costs me to buy lean hamburger. I can also control the fat content this way.

- Instead of adding a lb. of meat to Hamburger Helpers, I add 1/2 pound and also hand another handful of rice or pasta. It works beautifully and gives us two cheap meals. I also cut back on the amount of meat I add to many homemade casseroles.

- When I make homemade spaghetti sauce, I either skip the meat or just add a few crumbles of already cooked ground chuck.

- I try to serve 1-3 meatless meals a week. Since I stockpile cheese when it is Free or cheap, we try to incorporate that into our meals each week making macaroni and cheese, cheese pizza or grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

- Eggs, whole grain pancakes and waffles with fruit make an inexpensive dinner.

- We love bean soup, baked beans, and Mexican dishes with beans and rice. Beans and rice are cheap when you buy the beans dried and the rice in 10 lb. or more bags. Rice sold at ethnic stores is much cheaper than buying it at your local supermarket.

- During the heat of the year here, we eat a lot of salads - pasta salads and Caesar salads with just an ounce or two of chicken diced up on them, fruit salads and cheese cubes.

- We try to get some of our protein from milk and yogurt. I always buy milk when it goes on sale at rock bottom prices or reduced for quick sale. I have a yogurt maker and have always made some of our yogurt but will be making most of it in the future from that reduced price milk.

- Cheese is always purchased on sale for just pennies with coupons. I freeze it for future meals.

- DH and I love nuts and peanut butter. I buy peanut butter when I can get it for Free with a doubled coupon. We buy nuts at rock bottom prices with coupons. I keep nuts in the freezer so the oils don't go rancid and opened peanut butter in the refrigerator for the same reason.

- We buy fish, shrimp, scallops only rarely, because it is so expensive in my state, and when it is on sale. If I see a great rock bottom sale price, I buy enough for 3 months. I stockpile canned or pouched tuna when it either Free or pennies after coupons.

Now please feel free to share with others by leaving a comment on how you save on the cost of protein!

CVS and Fry's!

CVS:

12 Bags of Pringles Minis - $ 1.00 each - Used $1./1 Mfrs. Cpns = FREE

2 Bags of Gold Emblem Cashews - $ .99 each - Used $ 2./2 CVS Cpn = Free

Total OOP = $ .00!

Fry's:

2 cans Dole Pineapple Chunks - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .75/2 Mfrs. Cpn Dbled = $ .50 each

1 small pkg. of Tri Tip Steaks - marked down to $ 1.70

Total OOP was $ 2.70

My rollover grocery budget for the month was a negative $ 16.14 adding the $2.70 spent today = negative $ 18.84!

ANALYSIS:

We can always use Free Snacks! I have been waiting for a decent price on canned pineapple and this was it. I just wish I had had more than one coupon. We use this for stir fry alot.

In my quest to get better prices on meat, fish and poultry, I couldn't pass up this markdown on steaks.

Free Sub!

Thanks to Chicagolandia for this Free Quiznos Sub coupon:

http://www.millionsubs.com/Reg.php?x=1

Since I had to run out to the Post Office this morning, I decided to do a few errands including putting $10.00 worth of gasoline in my van using those two Free Chevron Giftcards that I had. WooHoo, I love Free gas!

I also went and did a little shopping. Notice what I didn't buy. None of the Free HBA stuff this week. That Free HBA stuff is costing me a fortune in tax and I have enough here to last till the next millenium so I won't be buying most of that anytime soon. I will keep the tax money in my pocket!

Walgreens:

4 - 14 oz bags of Twizzler Pull and Peel Cherry - on sale for 2 for $ 3.00 = $ 6.00

2 Bags of Hersheys Whipps 0n sale for 2 for $ 5.00

1 box of Lifesaver Gummies - $ 1.00

Used (2) $ 6.00 Register Rewards

Total OOP was $ .00 and I will receive $ 5.00 + 10% back for Easy Saver Rebate this month.

Safeway:

1 Honeysuckle White Turkey Breast - on sale for $ .99 a lb. = $ 7.22

Total was $ 7.22 of which I paid $ 1.58 on a Free Giftcard so the balance OOP was $ 5.64!

Fry's:

1 loaf of White Bread - $ .88

1 Boboli Thin Pizza Crust - $ 4.59 - Used $ 4.00 Mfrs. Cpn = $ .59

Total OOP was $ 1.47

My month grocery budget was a negative $ 9.03 plus the $ 7.11 I spent today makes my budget a negative $ 16.14!

ANALYSIS:

Since Precious has a sweet tooth and there was nothing I needed at Walgreens, I decided to buy the candy and stockpile it since I had the Register Rewards expiring and I could make $ 5.50 on the deal.

The turkey breast was such a good deal and I had room for one in the refrigerator freezer, I had to get one. We love turkey here and it is so lean.

We needed white bread and I am just not up to making it today so I got a cheap loaf for now. Since I plan on making pizza next week, I decided to pick up this cheap and easy pizza crust!

Let's Think About Breakfast!

Well, I have been out of sorts for a couple of days but I think I am getting back to my old self.
So many of my online friends and so many others are losing their jobs and this makes me so sad. This economy sucks! So I thought I would do some posts on how to save on specific meals. It may help someone out who is really trying to stretch their dollars like I am.

Today, let's start with breakfast. This meal can be very expensive or relatively cheap. With coupons many times I have been able to get ham and bacon for free. But those days seem to be coming to an end. Most of the coupons are becoming off of two products and there has been a great reduction in the coupon amounts. Because of this I am finding it cheaper, most of the time to cook from scratch.

Ready to eat cereal is one of the most expensive breakfasts that you can serve; UNLESS you can get that cereal for under $1.00. I have a small stockpile that I got really cheap but have noticed that boxes of cereal have shot up in price to $ 5.00 or more a box. By the time you add milk and fruit it becomes a non-frugal meal.

Yes, it is nice to have eggs and ham, bacon or sausage but they are expensive also unless you have a stockpile of free like I am working on. Of course eggs are rarely free unless you get them on a B1G1F deal and then I think the store jacks the price to do that.

So let's talk about the cheaper alternatives. Here is a list of things that I like to make that are so much cheaper than the previous mentioned and are still healthy for you:

- Pancakes - I love to add a mushy banana to the batter! Use homemade syrup, butter or jelly to top.

-Waffles which can be made from that same pancake batter.

- Oatmeal from that Quaker canister and then add your own add- ins like brown sugar.

- Homemade Granola

- an Egg and Cheese sandwich on homemade bread

- Homemade Muffins

- French Toast with homemade syrup or butter

- Cornbread and Jelly

- Fried Potatoes and Scrambled Eggs

- a Poached Egg on a slice of toast

-Cheap donut holes made from biscuit dough

- Homemade Quick Breads

All of these things can be made a lot cheaper than serving eggs and meat or ready made cereal. Just google recipes for any of these and you will get many recipes that only cost pennies to make.

I always stock on flours and sugars when they are on sale around Thanksgiving to Christmas. I bought a lot of oatmeal when Fry's had it for pennies.

You can throw almost anything in muffins - fruit, baby food, chocolate chips, chopped up veggies, cinnamon, or make a crumb topping. The combinations are endless. I make a couple dozen muffins when I bake and freeze them in portions for our breakfasts. The same goes for quick breads. I make banana, cinnamon, blueberry, cranberry orange, etc. I also freeze these.

We eat eggs and ham or bacon or sausage and toast, Egg McMuffins or Biscuit Sandwiches on weekends mostly when I can get those items cheaply. I use these other items during the week.

DH and I are still drinking Free Archer Farms Coffee that I got at Target a long time ago. Creamers for coffee are breaking the bank around here so I am going to be experimenting this week with homemade creamers till we find one we like.

Orange juice is another expensive item. I am happy to drink other juices like apple, cranberry or grape that I get for pennies after coupons. But DH does not consider it breakfast without oj. I used to buy nothing but the 12 oz. cans of orange juice because they were so much cheaper but then the costs of those caught up to what you could buy the cartons for. However, the cartons and Simple Orange has gotten so expensive that I am going to compare again. I have also many times just drunk water at our meals.

I will buy whatever fruit is at a rock bottom price at our produce market. Usually they are a lot cheaper than buying at the supermarket. If you have a produce market near you, they are definitely worth checking out.


I would love to hear from any of you on how you keep your breakfast costs down. Please share with everyone else by leaving a comment!

Free Kashi Frozen Entree!

http://www.kashi.com/picturehunt

Attn: Pet Owners

Since our cat needs to go into the vet for her updated shots and vaccines, this $ 20.00 voucher is giong to come in really handy. It took me trying twice this morning but I got it! Yeah!



http://www.gettothevet.com/CouponForm.aspx

We All Love You Jack! Hang In There!

http://coupon.hangintherejack.com/two-tacos.php?referrer=TACOS

Saving Money Today!

1. Heat is still off- windows open! Yeah! We are warming up here!

2.Washed a heavy blanket in cold water- hung to dry.

3. We did some more research on car insurance. We have no accidents, clean driving records and no windshield replacement claims. Our car is a year older and the rates continue to go up and collision on the car was most of it. That does not make sense. We contacted the insurance company and they did not have an explanation that made any sense. Right then and there I knew we would be looking for another company. So after contacting a # of companies, we are going with a company that we actually had car insurance with when we were first married. We will actually be picking up a smaller deductible and better coverage company and saving $ 200. a year! A few telephone calls is worth saving all that money.

4. I roasted the turkey breast in my Nesco roaster along with some whole potatoes. This saves energy over using the big oven. I am buying another one of these turkey breasts next week - it was so moist that it was like cutting butter with your fork.

5. I washed all dishes and pots and pans in the sink today. Fill the sink with soapy water and the other with rinse water. Doing an experiment to see if this saves over using the dishwasher.

Saving Money Today!

1. Washed and dried about 10 Ziploc bags to reuse.

2. Made lists, pulled coupons and shopped for bargains.

3. I spent about an hour today sorting gifts in my gift closet and earmarking them for special occasions this year. If you don't know what you have, you don't know what you need to be on the lookout for to round out the gift buying for the year.

4. I planned my menu for this next week.

5. DH and I drained a bucket of water from the hot water tank today. We do this a couple of times a year to get the sediment out. The sediment is what corrodes the bottom of your tank. We want ours to last as long as possible.

6. I was told that I am hosting a South Beach Living Foods Houseparty in March. Yeah!

7. I ran the dishwasher - fully loaded in off peak hours.

8. Took a survey for $ 3.00.

9. Had almost free dinner out at Chili's using Free Entree coupons

A Question from Tosha!

Tosha asked in comments the following question:

I know that being organized is a key part of living frugally but I struggle with finding systems that work for my family. Can you share some of your methods and the most important organizational tools you have found?

I don't know exactly what Tosha is looking for but I am willing to share a number of things that I do to organize me.

First, let's start with how I organize my coupons for shopping. I find the biggest way to stay organized here is to cut and file those coupons every few days. I do it while I am watching a favorite TV program. I know that a lot of people keep their inserts whole and just cut them when you need them. That did not work for me! Everyone has to use the system that works for them. But here is mine!

The first picture is of the coupon binder that I use. In here I keep mostly food coupons that are cents off of one product only and the best pet food and litter coupons and some paper product coupons. They are filed under categories such as canned items, produce, cereal and breakfast items, meat, etc.

The second picture shows that I use the inside fron cover of my binder for my pen, grocery lists and Free coupons.

The third picture shows how the coupons are filed into pockets in my meat category.

The fourth picture shows that I use the back pocket for rainchecks, CVS coupons and ECB's, Register Rewards, and any store coupons for $ XX.XX off a $ XX.XX purchase when I have them.

The fifth picture is the box where I fileall coupons by category that are not food coupons- HBA, cleaning, meds, etc. I also file all of my rebate forms in this box.

The last picture is the box( on the left) where I file all of the coupons by category that are off of two or more products. I very rarely use a coupon from this box. The box on the right is where I throw the coupons that need to be file. There are about 6 in there right now that need to be filed that I either printed or got today.

I try to make my shopping lists before I go the to the stores and pull the coupons I know that I will use and keep them in a blue plastic emvelope in my purse. If I am going food shopping I always have my binder with me. If I am going to the drugstores, I grab the big gray file box to take inside with me.

I will do more on what I do to organize around here when I get a chance, Tosha.

As usual let us know what works for you in comments!

CVS and Walgreen's Shopping!

I needed to pick up a prescription for me at CVS, so I did some shopping there and Walgreens which I pass on the way. When you first look at my total for CVS, you are going to think my math is off. I will explain in the analysis.


CVS:

1 Prescription - $ 10.00

1 - 3 roll CVS Peppermint Antacid - $ 1.99 - Used Free CVS Cpn = Free


Total was $ 7.84 but nothing out of pocket because I don't count prescription co-pays in my grocery budget!



Walgreens:


4 boxes of Candy - $ 1.00 each = $ 4.00

3 cans of Mandarin Oranges - $ .50 each with In Ad Cpn = $ 1.50

1 can of Geisha Mushrooms - $ .50 with In Ad Cpn = $ .50


Used $ 6.00 Register Reward


Total OOP was $ .00!


ANALYSIS:


We can always use Free antacids. Now for how I got that total. I also purchased 2 Neutrogena products thinking it would print a $ 10.00 ECB. Well, I screwed up and it didn't. So I had to return them for a refund. I had used a $ 2.00 Neutrogena coupon on one of the products. The manager told me they had no way to take the $ 2.00 coupon out of the system. He said they sell enough stock- not to worry about the coupon. So he refunded my entire purchase of the two products - $ 9.48 plus $ .76 tax = $ 10.48. So with the coupon and the tax, I made out like a bandit. I told him I was sorry that I made the mistake and felt bad about it. He says to me and I quote: " You are in here all the time and one of our best customers, so please don't worry about it. You got a bonus!" If he only knew how little I spend when I am in there! :-)

I had a $6.00 Register Reward that was expiring at Walgreens. I was in desperate need of the mandarin oranges because DH likes them and I treated myself to the mushrooms which I love. That left me $ 4.00 to spend. I perused the clearance and saw nothing that I really needed. Since we have Free movie tickets and will be going in the next week or so, I replenished our movie candy stockpile.

This Week's Menu Plan!

Thursday: Free Dinner at Chili's

Friday: Roast Turkey Breast, Mashed Potatoes with gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce

Saturday: Hot Turkey Sandwiches, Cranberry Sauce

Sunday: Shrimp Fra Diavolo by Giada De Laurentis: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/shrimp-fra-diavolo-recipe/index.html, Rice, Pudding

Monday: Homemade Chicken Rice Soup, Crackers and Butter

Tuesday: Macaroni and Cheddar Cheese by Rachael Ray: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/macaroni-and-cheddar-cheese-recipe/index.html, Broccoli

Wednesday: Chicken Stir Fry on rice

Rethinking My Chicken Purchase Yesterday!

People who know me will tell you that I think about things more than other people! Something about my chicken purchase bothered me when I was trying to go to sleep last night.

My formula for chicken has worked beautifully in the past. But I don't think it did this time. These chickens were extremely bony or in the past couple of years the chicken to bone ratio has gone down and I didn't realize it.

Being the accountant that I am, I worked out the math this morning. It cost me $ 6.88 for 70 ounces of chicken. Dividing that out, it comes to $ .09829 an ounce. Seventy ounces of boneless chicken would cost $ 7.31 or $ .10437 an ounce.

Of course you end up with about 48 ounces of chicken broth which at my best price would cost me about $ .80! I won't count the electricity because crockpots only cost pennies to operate for 7 hours and you would have to use the stove or the crockpot to cook the chicken.

So the whole chickens vs. purchasing the boneless chicken only cost me $ .43 less and I got 48 ounces of chicken broth. Considering that I could use 6 bouillon cubes to make that broth and the work involved, buying the boneless at the $ 1.67 lb. price just might be worth it. You have to decide if your time is worth it. I don't have any children at home so I have the time to save the $ .43 each time and the $ .80 for the chicken broth. But you who are really busy with schedules or small children might want to think what is best for you. I may do this again next week with a couple more same priced chickens and see if results are different and then rethink my old standby formula!

Saving Money Today!

1. Remember those two chickens I purchased this morning? Well, they were put immediately into two crockpots to cook for the day. It uses so much less electricity than roasting them in the oven. While they were cooking, I gathered the utensils I needed to freeze the chicken into meals for DH and I. The chickens came out of the crockpots in pieces because they were so tender. No problem, since next I would pick those bones clean of all that chicken. You can see all the broth that the chickens made. Next you see the 6 bags of chicken all prepared to be frozen. Lastly, I strained the broth which will make great soup after it sits overnight in the fridge and I can defat it in the morning. You can already see the layer of fat separating from the broth. I actually got 7 meals for DH and I out of these 2 chickens. I put about 8 ounces of chicken in the refrigerator to make chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. Each of the bags for the freezer have 8-10 ounces of poultry in them which is the perfect portion for DH and I for a meal. I will use them to make stir frys, casseroles, jambalaya, Chicken Helper and various other dishes over the next few weeks. Each of these portions of meat cost about $ .98 for both of us. Pretty cheap meals for a little bit of work!

2. I was able to turn my heat back off today because it is warming up here. Yeah!

3. I made my grocery lists, pulled my coupons and did some cost effective shopping as shown in the prior post.

4. I filed a small pile of coupons that have come in the mail the past week. Filing your coupons as you get them every couple of days is a time saver besides being a money saver. If you let them pile up, it takes forever to get caught back up again.

5. I washed 1 load of laundry in cold water and hung it to dry.

6. I deposited my Ebates check for $ 51.02 into savings.

7. The lights were all off in the house until dark.

8. I made out and mailed two rebates.

9. I stopped into Goodwill on the way home from grocery shopping to see if they had any new books. They had no new ones and I was disappointed. But I will check again in a week or so.

10. When I bought the Cuties this morning I weighed a few bags and purchased the ones that weighed the most - 3 lbs. 2 oz.

11. I exercised for about 30 minutes on my recumbent bicycle. No gym membership fees.

12. Tonight, I will be reading for entertainment and watching a couple of TV shows.

As usual, if you saved money today, leave a comment and share with us!

Poultry Cherry Picking Today!

Our grocery ads came in the newspaper today. So after scouring them, I went cherry picking.

The poultry deals were too good to pass up. Here is what I purchased:

Basha's:

2 Sandersons Farms Whole Chickens on sale for $ 67. a lb = $ 6.88 ( 10.26 lbs.)

Total Out of Pocket was $ 6.88

Safeway:

1 gallon of Lucerne Milk - $ 1.57

1 - 7.42 lb. Honeysuckle White Turkey Breast - on sale for $ .99 a lb. = $ 7.35

Total was $ 8.92 paid with a Free Safeway Giftcard so nothing OOP!

Fry's:

1 - 3lb. bag of Cuties Mandarins - $ 2.77 - Used $ .55/1 Mfrs. Cpn Dbled = $ 1.77

2 - McCormick FF Tartar Sauce $ 1.00 each = $ 2.00

2 - McCormick Cocktail Sauce - $ 1.00 each = $ 2.00

2 Progress Light Santa Fe Soup - $ 1.50 each - Used $ 1.10/1 IP coupons = Credited with $ .50 Shortcuts coupon = $ .15 a can

1 - 32 oz. Irish Cream Coffee Mate - $ 3.59 - Used $ .50/1 Mfrs. Cpn = # 2.59

Total OOP was $ 8.61.

My monthly grocery budget was $ 6.46 minus the $ 15.49 puts me $ 9.03 over budget. However since there are such great meat deals this month, I am not passing them up. I will make up the difference another month to stay under my annual budget.

Analysis:

Boneless chicken breasts are on sale for $ 1.67 a lb. this week. The whole chickens were $ .67 a lb. Using my formula, I would have to get boneless chicken breasts under $ 1.11 a lb for them to be the better deal. ( $ .67 x 1.66 = $ 1.1122). The limit was 2 so that is what I picked up.

We are getting low on milk. A gallon sometimes goes partially to waste around here but it was cheaper at $ 1.57 a gallon than purchasing a smaller amount. I will try my best to use it up making homemade yogurt this next week and pudding so as not to waste any.

The turkey breast is the best price I have seen since Thanksgiving and we love turkey. It is so lean and healthy. The limit was 3 but I don't have the freezer space for more than one. I will be incorporating this turkey into my menu next week.

I LOVE Cuties for snacks. At $ .59 a lb, I was not passing these up!

We have a lot of fish and shrimp in the freezer. I have been waiting on a great price for tartar sauce and cocktail sauce. This was it!

We love soup for lunch or with grilled cheese for dinner. At $ .15 a can, it is cheap enough.

DH loves flavored creamer in his coffee. Lots of creamer! It seems we go through this like water and it is so EXPENSIVE! I have to find a cheaper way. Perhaps I will dabble in trying to make my own.

I am out of here to deal with my chickens. Be back later with my saving money today post!

Saving Money Today! - UPDATED!

1. I baked the Sara Lee Pumpkin Pie that I bought on clearance yesterday for $ 1.44, made a meatloaf for later in the week, and while the oven was hot I baked these muffins that I found the recipe for on Chicagolandia's Blog which is here: http://chi-annie.blogspot.com/ . I made the Cranberry Rum Muffins which DH loves. I broke down my cost to show you how cheap these are to make:



1/2 cup of Fresh Cranberries( I had these in the freezer so used these instead of dried. The bag was 12 oz. and I paid $1.00 on sale.) = $ .33



1 tsp. Rum Extract - I buy this at the $ .99 store so a tsp. would be about $ .05.



1/2 tsp. of orange zest - I make mine from orange peels that I would be throwing out- $ .00.



1 egg - $ .97 for the dozen = $ .08



1/2 cup milk ( I use dried for baking) - $ .14



1/4 cup vegetable oil - $ .11



1 and 1/2 cups of flour ( buy mine cheap during the holidays) = $ .19



1/2 cup of sugar ( I buy sugar the same way as flour) = $ . 12



2 tsp. Baking Powder( buy cheap also during the holidays) = $ .03



1/2 tsp. salt - $ .01



Total Cost for 10 Muffins was $ 1.06 or a little over $ .10 each plus the cost of electricity to bake them. Now I can't wait to try some of the other muffin combinations.





2. DH had a meeting today so I was without a car but that is a good thing because I spent no money spent out running errands.




3. Our steakburgers will be grilled outside tonight to save on electricity and the French Fries will be made from homemade potatoes and cooked in my deep fryer reusing oil that I save for this purpose.


4. I disinfected all the light switches, doorknobs, faucet handles and toilet handles this morning since I seem to have a virus and I do not want DH to get it. I use my homemade disinfectant which I keep in a spray bottle. I just mix 1/2 cup of bleach with 3 and 1/2 cups of water.


5. I handwashed some of my delicates today using Suave shampoo. This works great and saves me money over purchasing a special laundry detergent.


6. My leather sneakers were looking a little grungy. So I cleaned them with Tilex Shower Cleaner. They look new. I refuse to buy special leather cleaners.

7. I ordered a $10.00 check from one of the survey companies today since I had enough points from doing their surveys.

8. DH just went and got the mail and I was so, so happy to see an Ebates check in the amount of $ 51.02! I also received my Free More magazine.

9. Now I am going to rest!

Some Questions from Christi!

Christi asked the following questions in the comments and I will try to answer them before I start dinner. At least briefly because I think some of them deserve a longer more in depth post later. This is what Christi asked:


If you could, I would love to know more about your plan for the big purchase you are planning. I want to try and save a large amount (outside of our planned retirement and college savings) and am interested in how you approach it.Also, I'd like to know more about creating a food budget. Do you balance out more expensive meals with less expensive ones? Also, I am starting to calculate the cost of items I make to see, for example, if waffles cost more than pancakes, so I know which is more economical to make. Do you do things like this?


I can't tell you why I am wanting to save the money that I am this year because family is on this blog and it would be a surprise if we do it. That being said, my plan would be a little different than you saving for a large purchase. Since we are retired, we have to spend less than we have available this year to spend. I don't know if you are still working but if so you would just have to figure out how much you need by the end of 2009 and then divide it into the # of months left and put that amount of money away into savings. If you don't have that money freed up then you would have to spend less in other areas or find a way to create more income either by doing what you can to save at home or by getting another job.

In my situation, say my retirement income allows me $ XXXXX.XX a year that I can spend. I would have to spend $20,000. less than that amount in order to put it into CD's earmarked for this purchase. Or I would have to eek it out of the everyday purchases that we make every day by going without some items like alcohol, expensive meat, etc., or by spending less on gasoline, insurances, utility bills, cellphones, etc. and on and on. I can take more surveys, sell on E-Bay, have a garage sale, etc. I am working hard on it and reducing expenses as best I can. We will be traveling less this year and that certainly helps. I know that I need to reduce or make about $1666. a month total to do this. Will I be able to? I am on track at the moment. Will I be able to do it all year? We will see but I have that goal and if I don't try, then I will feel like I failed.

As far as my food budget, I mostly pull my menus from my stockpile that I have which is mainly made up of meat and poultry bought at rock bottom prices and items that were free after coupon or that I just paid pennies for. If I don't have an item I need to make something I will search for a substitute. So some days, we have more expensive dishes and other days we have less expensive dishes. DH and I do like to treat ourselves with filet or prime rib or shrimp once in a while and I can make it a lot cheaper at home than going out to eat.

I like your idea of tracking costs. You will have to let us know if pancakes or waffles are cheaper and show us your data on how you decided when you finish your research. I would be more than happy to let you be a guest author for a post on that. I do know that homemade pancakes, waffles, French toast, muffins, oatmeal etc. are always cheaper than ready made cereal unless you can get it for pennies.

I have done such things as determine that a whole chicken on sale is usually cheaper chicken than buying it any other way. I once bought a whole chicken, some chicken breasts on the bone and some boneless chicken breasts. They each weighed the same # of pounds or as close as I could get. After cooking them all, I weighed all the meat from each and determined what the cost of that meat was from each purchase. What I determined, for example, is if boneless
chicken breast cost $2.00 a lb., then bone in chicken breast would need to cost 33% less in order to be the best deal and that a whole chicken would need to cost 66% less in order to be the best deal. I pretty much stick by this formula when I am determining what the best deal is on poultry.

I also know that I can make homemade spaghetti sauce most of the time cheaper than jarred from canned tomatoes, sauce and paste and spices. But I will buy jarred to have handy when it is cheap like in the last few weeks.

It is much cheaper to make my own bread crumbs than buy them. There are lots of things that are cheaper and I will do posts on them in my saving money series when I get back to it tomorrow. My day was turned upside down today with the cat and I also think I am fighting a virus.

So yes I do calculate costs and I will bet lots of us here do. So anyone who does be sure to let us know what you have made that is cheaper. We would love to hear your opinions because we all benefit from them! So leave a comment!

CVS and Basha's!

I had to run out this afternoon to pick up a prescription for me. FrugalSuz reminded me that there was a Coke deal. I figured since DH hates Pepsi and that is all we have right now, I would get him some Diet Coke. There is only one in the picture even though I bought more.
So this is what I purchased:


CVS:


6- 12 packs of Diet Coke - $ 3.50 each = $21.00 - Used (4) $ 1.00 off Coke Reward coupons =
$ 17.00 and I received a $ 10.00 off ECB for buying $ 20.00 worth

Used $ 14.00 in ECB's


Total was $ 3.00 which I paid with a Free Prescription Giftcard so nothing OOP!


Since Basha's was on my way home I decided to go in and look for pad coupons. I didn't find any but I did find these 2 great buys:


Basha's:

1 Filet Mignon Roast or Beef Tenderloin - on in store special for $ 6.99 a lb. = $ 8.39

1 Sara Lee Pumpkin Pie - on clearance = $ 1.44


Total OOP was $ 9.83!

My monthly grocery budget was $ 16.29 minus the $ 9.83 I spent today = $ 6.46 for the rest of the month!

If You Want to Be Frugal, Don't Have a Pet!

This cute 15 lb. bundle of fur cost us an arm and a leg this morning. We took her to the vets this morning and she has a possible UTI and cystitis. She got a shot of antibiotics and is on pain meds. Total cost: $ 154.87! This picture was taken after we got home and just before the paid meds knocked her for a loop. She will probably sleep all day now so that she can terrorize us while we are trying to sleep! Moral of the story: Pets cost money!

We love her though and hope she is feeling better soon. She is a great companion!

A Question from Linda T.

Here is a question that Linda T. left in comments and I decided I would put it here in the blog because everyone can benefit by the answer. Linda T. asks:





The new stimulus bill scares me to death, and I know we need to start preparing for inflation, but I don't know exactly what to do. Do I need to spend money now to stock up or save my money now because I'll be retiring in a few years, and risk that when I spend my money it won't be worth much. You have so many good ideas.





You are right! Inflation is coming. You can't spend the amounts of money that are being spent in the stimulus bill and in other programs that are being worked on right now (the housing and banking problems) without actually having that money and having to borrow it or print more money. It weakens our dollar and that is when inflation rears it's ugly head. I have been through this before in the 1970's and early 80's. It was at a time when my children were born and things were so expensive - food, clothing, diapers, gasoline, etc. We had close friends who bought a home because they had been transferred to the area. The mortgage interest rate was 13.9%! It was UGLY back then! And I see it coming now!



You can never not afford to save for retirement. It should be your first priority ahead of everything else. No one is going to pay for you in retirement but you. I know that I have people who have e-mailed me and said, well we haven't thought about it yet since we are only 35-40. It is never too late to start unless you are 60 and just thinking about it and not taking action. So put away at least 10 - 20% or more depending on your financial circumstances. Some people have said to me: Well we don't have an extra dollar for that. The bills take up all of our money. Well, then it is time to reassess what you are spending your money on. You have to save for retirement. It is not a luxury; it is a necessity. The young need to make it their very first priority. I believe that this new administration will revamp Social Security. They will treat it as another welfare program. The poor will get it and the majority won't. I believe it will become income based. What I am hearing from people involved in government is that they are looking to stop the bleeding in Social Security by only giving it to people who make less than the federal median income. I am also hearing that that will include people who are already getting Social Security. So all that Social Security that we paid in and you paid in for years can not be counted on at all. Social Security is another example of government raiding the coffers. They spend that money as fast as it comes it instead of putting it away for retirement like it was meant to be. It should have been in a separate account that was saved for the purpose intended but it wasn't. That said, Social Security is not a lot of money and most people would be hard pressed today to live on what they receive.

What I would like to see is the government allow you young people to take that Social Security money that you pay in every month and put it in your own 401K's for retirement. I somehow don't see that happening since it would be the smart thing to do.

But not saving for retirement should not be an option! Over the years history has shown us that you can get 6 -9% return on your money. In the economic times we are in now, you will be lucky to get 2-4%. With inflation going to skyrocket, that is not going to be enough to keep up. However, we will eventually get through this rough period in our economy and the stock market will recover and you will eventually be able to earn a good rate of return on your money again. I am still a firm believer in a capitalistic society and that we will see good times again. I also believe that if President Bush and President Obama and their treasury cronies had kept their hands off our money and done nothing that we would be out of this mess sooner rather than later. Everything would have self-corrected! What they are doing is going to extend this horrible economy for years. But that is just my $.02! History justs keeps repeating so eventually things will get back to prosperity. So knowing how bad things are is a good reason to save even more today. If you have a 5-10 year time horizon that you don't need your money, the stock market is still the place to be. If you have less, keep your money safe in laddered CD's. We still have a great deal of money in the market.

All that said, you should also be stockpiling too. Prices are going to be escalating as the inflation rate escalates. Just set aside a portion of your grocery budget each month to stockpile foods that will last in either a freezer or stock on some canned goods. I have a pretty good size stockpile right now. So I just add to it on the good deals and rotate it so nothing goes to waste. In the beginning when I was first starting a stockpile, I would set aside $50.00 a month of my grocery money just for that purpose. When something reached a rock bottom price in my price book like say for example.......black beans, I would buy 10 -20 cans. I do this for most foods that have a long shelf life or for non-perishable items like soap, other HBA items and paper products. Also if I see boneless chicken breasts on sale for $1.49 a lb. I might buy 20 or 30 lbs. and divide them up in meals to freeze. That way, I am paying the lowest price all the time instead of low one week and then $5.99 a lb. the next week. 20- 30 lbs. when I have the space will last DH and I 20-25 meals. Since we usually have chicken once a week that will last almost 6 months. When I get down to 5 meals left, I start looking for the rock bottom price at the time again. I also will stock on anything that we use that I can get Free with doubled coupons. If I have 10 coupons, I will get 10. I rotate stock so that it doesn't go to waste. If I am getting close to an expiration date and I know I will not use something, I will donate it to the food pantry. There is always someone out there who is in desperate times and can use it. If I have 20 coupons, I might share 10 of the items with family who can use them.

I hope I have answered your questions. This is just what I do and you have to do what is right for you and your family depending on your circumstances.

A Question from Alane!

Alane asked the following questions in the comments on the prior post and I have decided to answer them here. Here is what she has asked:


My question is how, when, and why did you and DH decide to retire where you did? How hard was it to move away from family? Are you settled and really like where you live? I am such a Jersey girl I can't imagine moving away. I have lived briefly in San Diego County and just outside Wichita Kansas. I hated them both and really struggle with the idea of moving someday just to save money. How did you do it?


We always knew that we wanted to retire some place warm and get away from the cold, ice and snow in the Northeast. Where you live in New Jersey, you have a warmer climate in the winter. My sister- in law and her DH lived for years in New Brunswick, New Jersey and she was in shock when she moved to upstate New York where we used to live and spent a winter in the cold and snow. She was not used to it. We would get lots of snow - sometimes from October on. Usually though it would start mid- November and then go to mid - March and beyond. It would be cold, dreary and dark from October until June. We got really tired of it.

Both DH and I had been in Florida a number of times and hated how flat the state was and how humid it is there. We knew we did not want to retire there. Sometime in the 1990's - 1997 or 1998, my son and his wife moved to the Phoenix area. We came out to visit them the first time and hated it. Then we came out again and loved it. So we bought a house. We used it as a vacation home until we moved here in 2001. Each time we vacationed here we loved the weather more and more. I even spent 3 weeks in July here to make sure that it was tolerable and it was. We really love the weather and having the sun shine 99% of the year. We get very little rain or any real kind of weather.

It certainly helped that we had a son and DIL here. But in 2005, they moved to Florida for a job promotion. We stayed here. They moved back here around February 2007 for a different job. Mid year of 2007, our grandaughter was born. We so love having her here and don't know what we would do without seeing her all the time. It would just break our hearts!

My other son, who is the baby in the family, and his wife live in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. Yes, we miss him alot but he went away to college and we got used to him being away so that
made it easier. It helps that we can get on a non- stop flight to visit him whenever we want. He also visits about once or twice a year. He came out when his niece was born and a couple months before when he was on business in San Diego. He was out to visit again this past October. We also spent Thanksgiving with them in 2007. It will soon be time to visit them again. But I always know that I can jump on a plane and be there in 6 hours or so. We don't do winters there for the reasons I stated above.

The rest of our family - siblings are in the Albany, NY area and Endicott, NY. I have seen the Albany relatives last September and the Endicott ones in Las Vegas. They also come to visit us.

We are as settled as one can be and like it here. But I don't know what the future holds for us, so don't know if we will move somewhere else or just buy a family vacation home on a lake somewhere and spend summers there. It is something to think about. There is also a possiblity that my son who is here could move again so I don't know if we would stay here if we needed assistance as we got older. But change is easy when you don't have jobs and family to worry about. We stayed put in New York for years so that DH could have a steady job and the kids could grow up without being moved every five minutes. Kids need a stable environment with parents and grandparents there. I grew up in a house with a parent and grandparents and have never regretted that. My children only really knew their one grandmother because their other grandparents died while they were young. I always felt that they missed out on so much because of that!

We did not move to save money. We could have downsized in upstate New York for less than we paid for our home here. Property taxes are less than we paid in NY but there were many places in NY where the taxes would have been the same as here. We lived in a very expensive town. My relatives in Endicott pay about the same as we do for property taxes. If we had stayed in New York we would not have paid state income taxes because it was a perk of DH's retirement. By moving here we pay AZ state income taxes. In New York the sales taxes are a lot less than here. We pay 8.05% in my county except on food. In New York they pay no tax on clothing and shoes.

We estimate that we are paying a little more to live here than in New York because of all of this and because we moved from small town USA to a large city where the regular prices on things are a lot higher. Meat prices here when we first moved gave me sticker shock until I learned how to do it cheaply.

I hope I answered your questions Alane. If you have any more be sure to ask in comments.

Surprise, We are Now PRIVATE! Welcome to All Who Are Serious About Making Their Financial Situation Better!

Welcome All! I am glad to be able to invite most of you who signed up to our private blog. And yes, I do mean OUR! There were a few people who gave me trouble on the blog when it was public and tried to sneak in here by changing their e-mails. But I was one step ahead of them! Only two that I am aware of and they were not invited. So I feel pretty good that we only have people here who really want to share their ideas and tips and learn from my experiences.

By OUR I mean there are about 75 of us here who I know will be happy to share with each other. I have left a few spots open in case someone should be able to find us and wants to sign on.

There are advantages to taking a blog private, the biggest being that I no longer have to waste an hour or more a day rejecting e-mails from anonymous people who just want to disrupt the blog and don't appreciate we who are frugal and who want a better life and future for our families. It is a shame that people have nothing better to do but I guess that is life. I guess I wasn't the only one with this problem either; someone whose blog I loved to frequent had to take hers down too for the same reason. What a shame!

Secondly, with a smaller private blog, people who were afraid to comment or ask questions before may feel easier about doing it now. It will just be between us 75! I already had one person e-mail me and tell me that they would have liked to have asked a question before but would feel better in a private forum. So any of you who would like to ask a question or who would like to tell us about your circumstances so that we can help you might feel better about doing it now that it is private. Most of you now have my e-mail but just in case you lose it I will be posting it on the profile page. If you have a question and would like to keep your identity private even on here, feel free to e-mail me and I will try my best to answer it keeping your identity secret. You can trust me on that. Also many have already shared personal info with me and it will never be posted or told to anyone else.

Thirdly, feel free to let me know if there is a topic that you would like covered and I will try to do so with any information that I have gleaned over the years. I, in no way, have all the answers and learn things everyday from people of all ages. But I will do my best!

Now I can get back to posting and saving money without the distractions!

About the picture above: I got an invite from BzzAgent a while ago to do their Chili's Campaign. I was so thrilled when I got the information in the mail yesterday along with the 4 coupons above. Yes, they are Free Coupons - each for a Free Guiltless Entree off their menu. These are supposedly 750 calorie or less entrees. DH and I will be enjoying 2 of these coupons this week for dinner there. I also have about $40. worth of giftcards - 2- $10. ones which I purchased with rebate money and 2 - $10. ones I got from doing My Points clicks. So DH and I can enjoy beverages of our choice and pay the tip with the giftcards! So we will be having a Belated Valentine's Dinner all FREE!

I am Taking This Blog Private!

UPDATE: I have e-mailed each of you who have left me an e-mail so far stating that you want access when I take the blog private(my time here is 6:22pm MT). Please reply back to my e-mail so that you can absolutely be added!



I have decided to take my blog private for a number of reasons, some of which I will not be discussing here.

I started my blog originally to help relatives with deals. It has blossomed from there into many facets including my Saving Money Today Series, Retirement Series, etc. I have immensely enjoyed helping others and being a mentor. As you will notice or have noticed, I do not have any advertising on my blog. It was never meant to be a moneymaker for me. I truly just wanted to share what we do every day and have done to become financially independent. That financial independence is freedom. And freedom is what life is all about!

What I have not enjoyed is the people who are commenting anonymously and having to spend so much time a day rejecting comments from people who just want to be idiots. Yes, I do have the option of rejecting these comments and I spend plenty of precious time a day attending to those dumb comments. Someone asked me recently if the comments you see deleted are the anonymous ones. The answer is no. The deletions are either accidental duplicate comments, or ones I have written in haste that were full of mispellings. I even have a relative who has decided that she would rather be anonymous for some unknown reason which is beyond me. It makes you wonder why a close relative would do that unless they have something to hide. Perhaps some of the obnoxious comments have come from her. So for these reasons and many others I have decided to take this blog private. My time is too precious for me to waste on such nonsense. I would much rather use my time to share and teach than be rejecting crap from anonymous people.

There are many advantages to doing this besides not having to deal with anonymous jerks. By controlling who can visit my blog, I can get into much more detail on how we save and spend. I can publish my e-mail in case you have a question but do not want to put it out there for everyone to see. I can do the mentoring and coaching for those who really care about their families and their futures and don't think that doing the little things or the big things are too much of a challenge. Yes, I had a comment recently telling me that the penny ante stuff I put out here doesn't mean a thing. This person just doesn't get it. They don't get the fact that if you attend to the little things in life you will definitely attend to the larger things. They don't get the fact that all those little things add up over time. If I pay attention to how much water I am using, then I am definitely paying attention to lowering my auto insurance, how much cash I put out for a car and getting the best deal, what I spend on furniture that will last and not having to be replace it every couple of years, etc. I know how much income I produce on investments each month as well as what running my refrigerator costs in electricity.

I would like to continue my blog privately for those who are really interested. I have over 700 people a day who consistently visit my blog and who I hope I have made a difference in your path to greater financial well - being. By taking the blog private I can only have 100 readers. So to those of you who are serious about saving money and want to become financially independent someday as we have, leave me a comment with your e-mail that you will use to sign onto my blog and your blog url if you have one so that I can follow you. Yes, you will have to sign in each time you visit. I will not publish your e-mails for anyone to see. Your comments will be published without your e-mails.

I really don't want to leave out the people who want to visit my blog and who are serious. I just want to get rid of the annoymous people who just want to be jerks and waste my time. So if I get over 100 people who really want to learn and change their financial future, then I will just have to create another blog and duplicate information. But please don't take too long to let me know that you are interested because this blog will go private soon without any further warning.

Saving Money Today!

1. I washed and waxed our van this morning. I just use a bucket of warm soapy water; get it all washed and then turn on the hose to wash the soap off. Waxing was so much easier today since the sun is not so bright!




2. My lipstick tube is so far down that I need a lip brush to get the rest out but I will get every bit before I toss it.




3. I washed the Great Room windows today using the car window fluid that I bought in a big gallon jug a while ago on clearance for $ .79. I just refill my old windex bottle with it. This is a lot cheaper than buying the little bottles. I use sheets of newspaper to do the windows rather than expensive paper towels.




4. I ran a very full dishwasher in off peak hours.




5. It was time to change the filter for the heat. I do this once a month so that the heat or A/C runs more efficiently.




6. I save my dryer lint and toilet paper tubes to make firestarters for the firepit. I just stuff the tubes with the lint. These work beautifully to get the wood burning. There is nothing better than enjoying a beverage sitting by the firepit in the evening.

7. I made Amiyrah's Fried Chicken for dinner. I had made it before with chicken pieces and we loved it. So this time I made it with boneless chicken breasts. I soaked the chicken in my homemade buttermilk for a couple of days and the chicken was oh so tender. Thank you Amiyrah! This chicken is so delicious!

8. I flattened the chicken somewhat by pounding it between two cereal liner bags. I use these instead of buying waxed paper for all kinds of jobs.

9. I cooked the macaroni for the salad by bringing the water to a boil, dumping in the macaroni, turning off the heat on the stove, and covering the pot. After 10 minutes it was perfect.

10. Instead of dumping the pasta water, I saved it and made homemade soup for the next few days lunches. I did this by emptying my freezer bag of veggie rice, pasta and meat bits that I save up and then adding bouillon to the pasta water.

11. I will again be working on making a Christmas present while watching CSI tonight.

As usual, leave a comment if you would do something differently or you did something to save money today that you would like to share with everyone else.

Menu Starting Today!

Thursday: Fried Chicken (Amiyrah's recipe here: http://4hatsandfrugal.blogspot.com/2008/05/elusive-fried-chicken.html , Macaroni Salad

Friday: Leftovers from Thursday

Saturday: Homemade Pepperoni Pizza, salad

Sunday: Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Applesauce

Monday: Leftovers from Sunday

Tuesday: Steakburgers and French Fries

Wednesday: Pasta Salad and Garlic Bread

Saving Money Today!

1. Did a load of clothes in cold water with 1/3 of the recommended detergent and hung them to dry.

2. Took my Navy Shower using a free sample of soap, shampoo and conditioner.

3. Shopped( my prior post) using coupons and deals using the most efficient route to save on gasoline.

4. Filled up the car with gasoline and received $ .10 off a gallon using my Fry's Points.

5. Placed an online order using a coupon code for 10% off.

6. Received the $ 5.00 Chevron Gasoline Giftcard in the mail today from Maria! Thanks Maria! I am set for the next time I need gas. I also received 3 Jergens Naturals Samples.

7. Filed coupons that came in today's neighborhood paper. I like to keep up to date because it is not efficient to shop when you can't put your fingers right on your coupons.

8. Filled out 4 rebates and got them ready to mail.

9. Groomed my cat including clipping her nails. I will not pay for expensive grooming for her when I can do just as good a job.

10. Planned my menu for the next week using my stockpile.

11. Reheated the leftovers from dinner last night in the microwave to save on energy.

12. Tonight while I watch TV, I will be working on a Christmas gift that I am making.

CVS, Walgreen's, Fry's, Petsmart, Safeway!

I have been out shopping and running errands for hours. There were just too many good deals to pass up! With this huge stimulus package passed and now with Timothy Geithner, coming up with a plan although he had no details yet, just another trillion dollars he is going to spend, we are going to see inflation like most of you have never seen before - 14% - 15%! I lived through a period like this during the 1970's and it was not pretty. So I will be stocking on everything I can get my hands on to offset the horrible inflation that is coming. That means eventually I may have to up my budget just to stock. But I will since you will never make that kind of money in investments or savings during a period like that! So this is what I purchased today:

Petsmart:

5 jugs of Purina Pro Plan Cat Food - clearanced at $ 5.49 each - Used $ 3.00/1 Mfrs. Cpns =

$ 2.49 each

1 jug of Purina Pro Plan Cat Food - clearanced at $ 5.64 - Used $ 3.00/1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 2.64

3 jugs of Purina Pro Plan Cat Food - clearanced at $ 5.24 each - Used $ 3.00/1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 2.24 each

12 pkgs. of Whisker Lickins Treats - $ 1.00 each - Used $ 1./2 Mfrs. Cpns = $ .50 each

Total Out of Pocket was $ 27.81 plus $ 4.90 in tax = $ 32.71!

CVS:

1 Gillette Gamer Razor - $ 7.99 - Used $ 4./1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 3.99 and I received $ 4.00 in ECBS

Total Out of Pocket was $ 4.63 with tax and I got $ 4.00 in ECBS

Walgreens - 2 seperate orders :

2 Gillette Gamer Razors - $ 8.99 each - Used $ 4./1 Mfrs. Cpns and Received $ 6.00 Register Reward for each one

Total was $ 16.05 but paid with my Walgreens Free Rebate Giftcard so nothing OOP and I received $ 12.00 in Register Rewards!

Safeway:

4 - 2 ltr. Diept Pepsi Max - $ .99 each wyb 4 - Used $ .55/2 Mfrs. Cpns = $ 1.96 for 4

1 Milky Way Bar( not in picture ) - $ .89

1 - 16 oz Mission Tortilla Chips - $ .99 with In Ad Cpn

1 pkg. of Safeway Blueberry Bagels - $ 2.50

1 pkg. of Safeway Sesame Hamburger Buns - $ 1.29

1 loaf of Ovenjoy Sandwich Bread - $ 1.39

1 Hormel Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin - $ 4.99 in In Ad Cpn - Used $ 1./1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 3.99

Total was $ 11.34 which I paid with a Free Safeway Giftcard so nothing OOP!

Fry's:

2 pkgs. of Breyers Ice Cream - $ 2.77 each - Used $ 1.25/2 Frys Cpn = $ 4.29 for both

1 Dole Salad Kit - $ 2.50

1 Totino Pizza Rolls - $ 1.27 - Used $ 35./1 Mfrs. Cpn Dbled = $ .57

1 Smart Ones Entree - $ 2.00 - Will send for a rebate item

2 Hard Rolls - $ .89

1 International Delight Creamer - $ 1.99 - Used $ .55/1 Frys Cpn Dbled

14 cans of Hunts Manwich - $ .99 each - Used $ .50/2 Mfrs. Cpns Dbled

4 jars of Ragu Spaghetti Sauce - $ 1.29 each - Used (1) $ .60/2 Mfrs. cpn dbled and ( 1) $.50/2 Mfrs. Cpn Dbled

Received $ 6.00 off for buying 20 Daytona Deal Products

Total Out of Pocket was $ 15.26!

My monthly grocery budget was $ 68.89 minus the $ 52.60 I spent today leaves $ 16.29 for the rest of the month!

Saving Money Today!

1. I was out of buttermilk and needed some to soak some chicken overnight for a recipe that I am making tomorrow. No need to hop in the car and run to the store! I made a homemade buttermilk subsitute: for each cup of milk add 1 Tbsp. of white vinegar.




2. My electric meter was read yesterday so I received my bill online today. After being credited the 1% that they give me every month for automatically deducting my payment from our checking account, our bill for 27 days was $ 73.13. Last years bill was for $ 89.09 for 29 days. Considering that we have had two major rate increases since the bill last year, I feel pretty good about this bill. This bill we used 138 on peak KWH and 591 off peak KWH. Last year we used 203 on peak and 871 off peak so quite a reduction. It is amazing what some warm days will do to your heating costs and of course I will also take credit for all the things that we do to keep the electric costs down. :-) Our company lets you compare your bill to the average costs for this month of all of the people with the same square footage house and having a pool which we do run all year round. The average bill this month was $ 113. so since ours was $ 40.00 less, I must be doing something right. :-)



3. While running errands to drop off my library books today, I stopped at the Post Office and bought a few books of Forever stamps. I am stocking since the Post Office announced that in a couple of months, the price of a first class stamp will go to $ .44 from $ .42! I will be buying them right up to the time of the increase.



4. I also passed a Jack In the Box, so stopped to get Free Medium Fries with some coupons I had that were only good today. I was honest at the drive thru and asked if I should get 1 fry free at drive up and then walk in for the other one. The cashier laughed and said no and gave me the 2 free fries with the 2 coupons. So DH and I had free lunch.



5. One of us needs a hearing aid which will cost about $1600. We did some research with our healthcare plan and found out that they will pay 100% of the cost and gave us the form and told us how to get reimbursed. A little bit of research pays off again.



6. I received the Homemade Simple Booklet in the mail today with over $27.00 worth of coupons. I filed those coupons in my binder. I also received my Oriental Trading Company package with 2 adult Gingerbread Craft Aprons and 1 childs for my grandaughter and a whole lot of Holiday Ziplocs so that we can all make cookies together next Christmas. All I paid was $ 7.97 of which $ 6.99 was the shipping charge. I also received $ .32 from Ebates
for this order.



7. I made Lisa's B.'s Ziti in the oven for dinner. The recipe is here: http://kittytigerskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/10/quick-easy-frugal-baked-ziti.html

It was delicious. I changed it up a little bit. I used my homemade spaghetti sauce that I keep in the freezer and added pepperoni. I also used just shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I turned the oven off 10 minutes early and let it finish baking. It was perfect! Thanks Lisa for the recipe.

8. Entertainment tonight will be watching NCIS on TV tonight. I love that program!

As usual, leave a comment if you would do something differently or you did something to save money today. We can all share tips with each other.

Saving Money Today!

I woke up this morning to the nicest surprise! So that is #1 on my money saving list for today:

1. I got a note from Maria, whose blog is here:

http://www.thriftywaysandideas.blogspot.com/

that I had won her $ 5.00 Chevron Gasoline Giveaway! I am so excited because I very rarely win anything. So now the giftcard is on the way to me and I can use it in conjunction with mine. Yeah! Thanks Maria!

2. We went shopping for all new underwear, athletic socks and dress socks for DH. He always buys JC Penney Stafford brand. I love that brand because they last forever through many, many washings. So knowing what brand we needed to purchase, we waited for a sale. All of these items were on sale as buy one package get the second package 50% off. We also had a 20% off coupon that was sent to my e-mail for 20% off the entire purchase good only yesterday and today. So I was happy to pay $ 90.76 for all instead of the $ 146.76 that it would have cost us without the discounts. A little bit of work saved us $ 56.00!

3. I received a survey on the back of the JC Penneys receipt to take a survey online and get a 15% off coupon on my next purchase so I did that. I am sure I will be able to use the 15% off before it expires in March since it is good in the store, online or on a catalog order. I also picked up our free JC Penney catalog that I got a card in the mail for. I always keep one on hand to give me a baseline to compare prices online.

4. We went on our weekly date to lunch at Black Angus Restaurant. DH and I try to go on "one date" a week whether that be lunch, dinner, the movies, a sports game, etc. DH had a wonderful Flame Broiled Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad and I had a very tender Filet Mignon Sandwich with Fries. The best part: I belong to a lunch club here. They send me coupons weekly for lunch. Each week they are for a different restaurant. They usually allow one coupon per person and did in this case. So each of our lunches cost $7.99 with the coupons! We were so full and ate so late that we just had some fruit for dinner. So I will be making Lisa B.'s Ziti tomorrow night.

5. In the mail today, I received 2 Free subscription magazines: Family Fun( free site) and Smart Money( purchased with Coke points) and $ 18.15 in rebates.

6. Since it was in the 50's today, I had to turn the heat back on but as soon as it warms up, it will be going back off.

7. I will be reading my free magazines tonight for entertainment.

As usual, leave a comment if you would do something differently or you did something to save money today. We can all share tips with each other.