One Important Thing That I Have Learned Over the Years!

I have learned from many years experience that when you are really, really, busy, you have to prioritize your life. With having so much company the past 6 weeks and knowing that I will be having company for most of September, I have decided that this blog has no longer become a priority for me.

I want to spend some real quality time with my family when they visit and not have to worry about posting on the blog. Also over the next 6 months or so we will be making a cross country move which will be quite stressful and this blog has to take a backseat to all of that. We still have tons of research to do for our house buying in New York and eventually we will be putting our home here on the market. Things are going to become quite hectic!

Because we will be moving eventually, we are eating totally from our stockpile and not shopping except for milk and juice. So I will have no shopping trips to post about and I don't want to bore you with things that I repeat over and over again. I think I have posted just about every day to day thing that we do to save money in our household. Hopefully some of you have been motivated to take what you could apply to your households and use it.

I thought about closing the blog but decided to leave it up so that you can refer to any valuable information that you can use over the next 6 months or so. Hopefully, Google will let it stay. I don't know if after a period of time of inactivity, they will make it disappear. We will see.

I have made some really great friends over the years here and hope to hear from you once in while. You know who you are and you have my e-mail address. When we get moved, I will re- energize the blog and hope to see you all then. I will most definitely be moving to the "land of no doubles" so will be applying my expertise to a different way of shopping. If Google has removed this blog by then, I will just start up a new one. You will always all know be by Precious!

Meanwhile, DH and I are looking forward to being near our children and grandchildren again soon. We will enjoy their visit and count the days until we are all together again. We miss them all terribly!

I wish you all wonderful healthy and prosperous lives and I will be touch in 6 months or so. I will be checking in once in a while on your blogs.

I Will Be Busy Until Wednesday!

Just wanted to let you all know that we had friends fly in this morning from the Northeast. They will be staying with us until Wednesday. So I will be taking a short hiatus while we catch up 4 years of our lives and just enjoy each others company. We also just found out this morning that family is coming to visit us for a couple of weeks in September. We are so excited and can't wait for them all to arrive. You know how I feel about family and my grandaughter!

All of you continue your frugal ways and I will be back to posting again on Wednesday. Have a wonderful weekend!

Money Saving Challenge - 8/20

I ran out to run some errands today and stopped at Supestition Ranch Produce Market and Bashas. This is what I purchased:


Produce Market:

2 Cantaloupe - $ 1.00

1 Large Beefsteak Tomato at $ .59 lb = $ .79


Organic Broccoli at $ .49 lb = $ .86

3 Green Bell Peppers - $ 1.00

2 Cucumbers - $ .50


Total OOP was $ 4.15


Bashas:


4.29 lbs. of Split Chicken Breasts at $ .77 lb = $ 3.30


Total OOP was $ 3.30


We are still researching homes and probably will be for a few more days. I roasted the chicken in my Nesco out on the patio while we swam today. We continue to do all of the cost cutting things that I have mentioned prior.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you did today to save money.

Money Saving Challenge- 8/18

DH and I have been working on new home research the past few days. So it has been pretty quiet here. I did make my homemade shake n bake which gave me about 20 packets worth for a lot less than buying it. And I did make the tartar sauce. It was okay but nothing to write home about. So I will be trying a different recipe next time.


This morning I needed to run a few errands. I went to the bank with a deposit, to the gas station to fill up, to CVS, and I also picked up a sandwich for DH and I for lunch. This was all run in an efficient route to save on gasoline. I checked gas buddy and found that the cheapest gasoline on my route was $ 2.61.9 a gallon so I filled up there. I spent $ 30.53 on gasoline. Does anyone know why gasoline prices have jumped so fast? The last time I filled up I paid $ 2.39.9! That is a big difference in price. The sandwich I got free with a coupon the company sent me.

DH has been out of soda for a day or so. He begged me to buy some flavored carbonated water this morning. So keeping with my theme of paying as little out of pocket as possible,I went to CVS where I could use ECB's and pay the balance with a free giftcard. I bought him 6 bottles of the CVS brand for $ .99 each. I used $5.00 in ECB's and put the other $ .94 on the free giftcard. I hope he makes it last till I find a good sale.

Before I went out I threw a load of wash in on off peak hours using cold water to wash. I just got done hanging it to dry.


The mail yesterday and today brought Vocalpoint coupons for the Bounce Dryer Bar, my free Parents Magazine which will go in the pile to trade in at Bookmans, a $ 10.00 Rebate Check from buying the Natural Dentist, and a $27.34 rebate check.


Other than that we continue to conserve on electricity and water as best we know how. I am making all meals from our stockpile. Dinner tonight will be steakburgers on buns with all the trimmings and hash browns that I got free a few weeks ago from Schwanns. We will add some free potato chips that I got at Fry's this past Sunday and a cold beer that my kids left here when they moved and we will feel like we are eating out. :-)


As usual, please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us what you did to save money today.

Money Saving Challenge- 8/16

My list was adding up as you can see above, so I needed to get out and get some things. DH and I have been researching homes in New York for days. We have determined that purchasing what we want to buy will cost us 50% more than we originally thought. Prices in New York are very expensive. So I am ramping the savings up to get there. We can always take the money from our portfolio but we would rather save as much as possible.

So before I went out shopping, I did a couple of things. I asked myself: Did I really need to buy everything on the list? I determined that I could make the tartar sauce and the bread crumbs from my stockpile. I decided that we could do without the hoisin sauce. We only use it for a pork dish and we can just make a different more inexpensive pork dish. Since I am on my last bottle of dish liquid and creamer, I needed to get those things. My experiment with making my own creamers did not satisfy DH. Even though they weren't on my list, I do need hot dog and hamburg rolls for this week and I will not turn on the oven while the air conditioning is on to make them.

Then I made a plan. I had 2 requirements: first, that I spend as little as possible OOP and secondly, I wanted to spend as little gasoline as possible to buy these things. I could get the dish liquid on sale with store coupon and mfrs. coupons at Walgreens but it wasn't on my route. So I decided to do CVS, Bashas, and Frys because they were. I had a $5./15. CVS coupon, free CVS gift cards and some good coupons for Fry's and Basha's. So this is what I purchased:


CVS:


1 Pkg. of Hamburg Rolls - $2.00

1 Pkg. of Hot Dog Rolls - $ 2.00

1 Large Dawn Dish Liquid - $ 2.99

1 Glad Soy Fragrance Candle( gift- filler to use CVS cpn) - $ 3.29 - Used Free Mfrs. Coupon = Free

2 Childrens Pop Up Books ( gifts- filler to use CVS cpn) - on clearance for $ 2.49 each


Used $5./15 CVS Cpn


Total was $7.66 but Nothing OOP because I used a free CVS giftcard.



Fry's:



2 Large Coffemate - $ 3.00 each - Used $ 1./2 Frys Cpn and 2 - $ .50/1 Mfrs. Cpns dbled = $3.00 for both


1 Bag of Ruffles Potato Chips( figured I would pick them up while I was there) - $ 3.99 - Used Free Frys Cpn = Free


Total OOP was $ 3.00!



Basha's:


2 Large Bottles of SunSations Dish Liquid - $ .99 each


Used $ 2.00 Catalina Cpn Good on my Next Shopping Order( since it was expiring, I might as well stock on the dish liquid)


Total OOP was $ .14!



My cost for gasoline for this trip was $ .55.


I feel good about my shopping this morning and I am now off to make tartar sauce and bread crumbs. I also need to wash and hang a load of clothes since it is off peak hours.

We will be taking our usual swim for exercise and then eating some more lasagna for dinner.


As usual please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you have done today to save money.

Money Saving Challenge - 8/14 & 8/15

Today, I decided to make a huge pan of lasagna. The first picture is all the ingredients I used:

Lasagna Noodles

Jarred Ragu Sauce

Cottage Cheese

Mozzarella Cheese

Hot Italian Sausage

Ground Chuck

Pepperoni

Pamigiano Reggiano Cheese

Basil

Garlic Powder

Oregano

Parsley

and I added 4 black olives and a little Digiorno Parmesan that were hanging around my fridge. I might as well use up containers. I cooked up the meats and then put it together. The second picture is the finished product before I cooked it. It has 2 huge layers! While DH and I were swimming this afternoon, I put it out on the patio in this very large 12 quart Nesco Roaster to bake. When we were done swimming, it was perfectly done. DH and I had some for dinner and will have it again tomorrow night. The rest I will use my Foodsaver to do up 2 person portions and I will freeze them for other meals. So I used less electricity to cook a whole lot of meals at once and I kept the heat out of my air conditioned house.

All we spent yesterday was $ 1.07 for a target at the shooting range. Today, we went nowhere and spent nothing.

We have been just relaxing for the most part the last couple of days. Tonight I will make my CVS list for the morning; if I see anything that I need.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you have been doing to save money.

Money Saving Challenge -8/13

I am feeling a little better today. Yesterday, all we spent was the $ 40.63 for the groceries.


Breakfast this morning was leftover pizza reheated. We also had coffee.


I spent the morning researching some prices on a special project that I am working on.

Late morning, I went out to pick up some pool supplies that we needed. I picked up 2 gallons of muriatic acid at CVS for $ 7.99+ = $ 8.63 which I paid for with my Free prescription giftcard so nothing OOP.

Next I went to Leslies and picked up a new Deluxe DPT Test Kit(we get a new one every couple of years), 3 lbs. of Power Powder Plus Shock, and 1 quart of Algae Control which totalled $ 72.33. However I had $50.00 worth of gift certifcates from Leslies from a complaint that we made earlier in the year, so I only paid $ 22.33. Now that the gift certificates are all gone, I have added these items to my pricebook and will be looking for the very best prices in the city.

Lunch was cold cut sandwiches on hard rolls.


This afternoon, I felt like swimming, so we did that.


We are still being very vigilant about using our electricity. We are still living at 81 for air conditioning and 78 off peak. I am still hanging laundry to dry and using the indoor stove as little as possible. We keep the lights off as much as possible until it gets dark outside. I charge our cellphones during off peak hours or when I am in the car. TV's have been off most of the day but DH will be watching the football game tonight. We shut down our water heater from 1-8PM everyday using a timer. I try to only use my computer during off peak hours. We use our ceiling fans when we are in that room but shut them off when we leave. This morning I vaccumed the coils on the refrigerator so that it works efficiently. We keep our fridge at 38 and our freezer at 0. Right now I am cooking a whole chicken in my Nesco, out on the patio table, to keep the heat out of our A/C house.


We will be having the chicken, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner. Since I am on the mend, I needed comfort food.


DH will watch football for entertainment tonight and I will be reading.


As usual, please feel free to share with us what you did to save money today.

Shopping When You Are Ill!

When I don't feel well and need to shop, I just head to one market and hit the deli, meat and fish shop, produce and dairy. So that is what I did today at Albertsons. This is what I purchased:


4 Hard Rolls - $ 2.00

3 -2 ltr. Diet Coke - $ 3.00

2 Barilla Lasagna - $ 2.49 each

1 dozen large Eggs - $ 1.49

1 Large Albertsons Cottage Cheese- $ 2.39 each

1 Whole Chicken Fryer - $ .57 a lb = $ 2.53

Approx. 3/4 lb. of Sea Scallops - $ 6.26

Approx. 1 and 1/3 lbs. of Orange Roughy Fish - $ 11.51


1.93lbs. of Green Seedless Grapes at .77 a lb = $ 1.49


6 ears of Corn - $ 1.00

.83 lbs. Sweet Red Onions - $ 1.24

1.78 lbs. Yellow Onions - $ 1.76


1 lb. of Butterball Chicken Breast - $ 6.99 - Used $ 1./1 Albertsons Cpn and $ 1./1 Mfrs. Cpn = $4.99


Used a $ 6./30. Fresh n Easy Cpn which gave me $6.40 off because the only way they said they could enter it was $1.60 x 4 = $ 6.40( I am still shaking my head over that!)


Total OOP was $ 40.63


Analysis:

The hard rolls and deli chicken are for lunches. DH still drinks soda. I have given it up. He was getting low, so hence, the Coke. The lasagna noodles and cottage cheese are because I am craving lasagna again but with sausage and meat. I will be using my Large Nesco roaster out on the patio this weekend(off peak hours) to make lots(about 12 portions for us). We will eat one portion and I will freeze the rest for future meals. I was low on eggs. The chicken fryer will be cooked in the crockpot tomorrow out on the patio and will give us enough meat for 4-5 meals. We like fish so tonight we will be having orange roughy and corn on the cob. I froze 1/2 of the orange roughy for another meal. The scallops will be for one meal. I needed onions. The corn is for the next 3 meals. The grapes are for snacks.

Money Saving Challenge- 8/11

My picture doesn't want to load today for some reason. Oh well!


I am a little late posting this for yesterday but I was not feeling well and the meds the Dr. told me to take knocked me out for 12 hours.

We continue to eat out of our stockpile. Yesterday's breakfast was cereal, blueberries that I had frozen and thawed, oj and coffee. Lunch was pork sandwiches. Dinner was homemade pizza.


The mail brought a $10. check, my Free Woman's Day magazine( which is now in the pile to be sold to Bookmans), and some Fry's coupons.


Due to the fact that I was not feeling well, all I did was wash one load of laundry and hang it to dry.


Money spent yesterday was:


$20. CoPay for a Dr's visit

$20.19 for OTC meds( I wish I had brought my coupons with me because I would have saved $4.00)


So the total in my little notebook for the day is $ 40.19. All of them were necessary expenses, but I sure wish I had had that $4.00 coupon with me. At least I was able to use a Free prescription giftcard to pay the $ 20.19.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us how you did yesterday.

STOP the Bleeding!

Do you have holes to plug? Are you spending money and not aware of where it is going? How many of you have kept track of every penny for a month, two months, or three months? Do you wonder at the end of the month, why you have more month than money?


Over the years, I can't tell you how many times I have heard friends say " We can't save any money because we need every dime to pay for our expenses". I am sure there are some people out there for whom this statement is true: people who have lost their employment, people who have had to move for employment and can't sell their houses, people making a minimum wage, and people who have made bad choices in their lives and are paying back debt . For the majority of Americans, the statement says to me " We can't save any money because we choose not to". OR " We can't save any money because we have no idea where our money went this month, next month, etc.".


Are you one of those people who have no clue how much money you are really spending each month? Have you tracked every penny for at least three months, so that you know where to plug those holes? And I don't mean tracking by using Quicken or another money tracking software and just entering broad categories. I MEAN using Quicken to track every penny that you pay out. If that is too difficult, get one of those $.01 notebooks that everyone has been offering for back to school supplies. Enter today's date and write down every penny that you spend money on today, whether it be a telephone bill you are paying or a bottle of water you stopped to pick up while you were out running errands. Do this for every money expenditure for at least three months and you will have a great picture of what you are really spending your money on. At the end of each month, add up those categories and I think you will be shocked at how you are really spending your money. Account for everything - even what you charge on your credit card.

Oh, I can hear you thinking, I will start this on the first of the month. Why? Start today and you will have an entire month's spending on September 11th. Deciding to start on September 1st is just a way of procrastinating.


I have done this a # of times over the years. What I found was that I was spending a ridiculous amount of money on books. I still struggle with this addiction although I have gotten much better at using the library and only buying books that I preview first and decide whether it is a book that I will read over and over again.


For some people eating out is a real money waster. Keep track of how much money you are spending on eating out at restaurants and buying fast food. For many, I am sure this is one of the biggest money holes they have. I love to eat out too. But I prefer to eat out at a really healthy expensive restaurant once in a while instead of a chain. I much prefer to eat in and make a meal a lot cheaper and healthier in my own kitchen. While my sister was here it was too easy to stop at a fast food restaurant or eat at a restaurant while we were shopping. I will not be doing that in the future. I really don't think the food is very good and it certainly isn't healthy. Plus I know that my hands and food are clean when I make it myself.
Add the amount up for a month and see how much money has slipped through your fingers at restaurants and fast food joints. I believe that a lot of people will be very shocked.


Other things that can add up to a really large amount of money over a years time are:

- coffee drinks purchased at Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.

- candy, snacks etc.(I need to work on this one!)

-alcoholic beverages purchased out. If you enjoy a glass of wine, beer or a mixed drink, have it at home where you can drink it for a lot less money.


- lottery tickets

- gym memberships that you never use. Cancel them and save yourself a bundle.

- subscriptions to anything that you don't read or use.

- car washes - Do it yourself.

- going to the mall to window shop. You know you will most likely buy something.


I don't think I need to list any more. I think you get the idea. So add up those pennies that are leaving your wallet like water going through a sieve and you will get the full picture of where your money is actually going each month. Plug those big holes and you will have money to save for the things that are really important. To me those things are appreciable assets not depreciable assets.

I will be holding myself accountable by tracking every penny we spend over the next month here on the blog. Let's see where Precious's money is going. Want to join me? Then get out your notebook!

My New Toy!

I have been watching the prices on this webcam for a while. It is a Logitech Pro-Cam 9000. DH has one on this computer and I wanted one on mine so that I can chat with my grandaughter and my sister at my desk. Today, DH saw it on sale at Office Max for $ 69.99. Staples had it in their ad for $ 79.99. I took the Office Max ad to Staples and price matched it to get the $69.99 price and then used the $ 5./50. coupon, so it cost me $64.99+ tax. While I was there, I picked up 6 of the $ .01 notebooks. I am thrilled! It doesn't take much to make Precious happy!

Sunday at CVS!

I had a good morning of shopping at CVS. This is what I purchased:

CVS Trip#1:

1 Propel - $ 1. - Used $.75/1 CVS cpn = $ .25

1 Bic Soleil Razor - $ 6.99 - Used $3./1 Mfrs. Cpn= $3.99 and I received a $ 3.00 ECB = $ .99

1 Revlon Colorstay Mineral Mousse - $ 9.99 - Used $ 1./1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 8.99 and I received $ 9.99 in ECB's so $ 1.00 moneymaker.

1 bag of Tostitos- $ 3.00

1 Tostitos Dip - $ 3.00

1 True North Pistachio Crisps = Free wyb 1 Tostitos and 1 dip

1 GE Peach Rings - $ 1.50(filler)

Used $ 5./25 CVS Cpn

Used $11.98 in ECB's

Total was $ 4.82 which I paid with a CVS Prescription Giftcard so nothing OOP and I received $12.99 in ECB's!

Trip #2:

1-4 pack of Sharpies Accent Highlighters - $ .99 - Used $1./1 IP Cpn = Free

1 Tostitos- $ 3.00

1 Tostitos Dip - $ 3.00

1 True North Nut Mix - Free wyb 1 Tostitos and 1 Dip

Used $ 6.00 in ECB's

Total was $ .01 which I paid with Free Prescription GC so nothing OOP!

CVS $5.00 off $25.00 Printable Coupon

My thanks to Frugal Rhode Island Mama, whose blog is here:

http://www.frugalrimama.com/


Take a quiz here and receive a $5./25. printable coupon at the end:


http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/images/promotions/landingpages/rx/rx09030_readyfill/index.html?WT.mc_id=FH_080809_CVSHome_Ready



This would be great combined with our Sunday purchases tommorrow!

The Little Things Do Add Up!

So many times people think that the little things don't add up so they don't do them. My experience has been that they do add up and when you do as many as possible they add up to big money.


Here are just a few examples of what I have done over the past couple of days:


1. I cooked turkey burgers for dinner last night. Instead of heating up the kitchen, we cooked them on the grill. DH was hungry and wanted some kind of mac and cheese to go with the burger. I had a cheap box of Velvetta Shells and Cheese that I purchased a few weeks ago. The dilemma: I didn't want to turn on my stovetop to cook this because it majorly heats up the kitchen and makes my A/C work harder. So I cooked it in the microwave which takes a lot less power. I researched on the internet and found lots of suggestions on how to do this. So I filled a glass casserole dish with water and brought it a boiling point in the micro which took about 2-3 minutes. Then I stirred the shells into the water, recovered the casserole dish and cooked the pasta for about 10 minute at 50% power. Then I stirred in the cheese and warmed for just 30 seconds. It turned out perfectly. So I spent just pennies to cook this and our kitchen stayed cool.


Less energy used = less dollars paid to the electric company.


2. I hate paying for lens cleaner for my glasses. I have experimented with a few recipes and now have one that I swear is the same recipe the brand name manufacturers use. I have an 8 oz. bottle that I keep reusing. I put about 3 oz. of isopropyl alcohol in the bottle and fill the rest up with water. To this I add a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid and shake. This costs me all of about $ .10 to make a bottle. If I had purchased it, it would have cost me between $3.00 and $ 4.00 for an 8 0z. bottle. With DH and I both wearing reading glasses and using computer glasses, a bottle does not last very long.


3. I was out of taco seasoning. Those little packets on sale cost $ .50- $ .67. Since I buy my spices in bulk or for cheap on sale, I made my own seasoning. I am storing it in plasticware in my pantry. This is how I made it today:


1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. of ground cumin
1 tsp. powedered oregano
1 tsp. Alterna sugar substitute


This makes approximately one envelope of seasoning mix or 3 tbsps. Since I was taking the time to make it, I made 15 packets worth. I will just measure the 3 tbsps. into my pan when the recipe calls for a packet of taco seasoning.


4. I made homemade shower cleaner to refill my automatic Scrubbing Bubbles shower cleaner that I got for cheap a year or so ago. The store bought refills cost $4.99 - 5.99. I can make it for pennies using store brand products and free rinse agent and cheap dishwashing liquid. Here is the recipe I use:


1/2 cup hydogen peroxide
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
2 tsp. of dishwasher rinse agent like Jet Dry
6 drops of liquid Dawn Dish Liquid

I mix this up in a 4 cup measuring cup and them add water to measure a total of 24 ounces. I mix a triple batch, then fill the refill bottle with 1/2 and save 1/2 in a glass jar for the next refill.


Over the coming days, on my quest to live as cheaply as possible so that I can save money in our house fund, I will be posting about more things that we do and make to save as much as possible!

Anatomy of My Electric Bill!

Well, we got our electric bill today and I was in shock when I saw it. We have kept records of all of our electric bills since the day we purchased this home almost 10 years ago. This is the largest bill we have ever had. None of our other bills have even come close to being this high!

Last month's bill was $163.69 for 30 days. This month's bill, which was read yesterday, was $ 226.50 for the past 29 days. Last month we used an avg. 9.07 kwh per day. This month we used an avg. 13.41 kwh per day. SRP's graphs show that our bill is 47% higher than last month! SRP shows the average bill only rose by 32%.

I did an analysis of why the bill would rise 47% in just the past 29 days. Did I do something wrong? Have I not been conscious of when I use on peak and off peak hours? Why did our bill rise 15% more than the average bill? Did the electric company make a mistake when they read it?

I have come to the conclusion that I have done nothing wrong. I checked our meter and it was read correctly. This was the hottest July ever recorded in the history of Phoenix since they started tracking temperatures back in the 1890's. It takes a lot of energy to bring a home down from 114- 117 temps to 81 in on peak hours and 78 in off peak hours. The 15% more than the average bill is because we had an extra person for 14 days of that 29 day period so more showers, more lights, more cooking, more laundry, etc. A 15% increase for an extra person is to be expected.

I always check the SRP comparison of the average bill for the same period for the same size house with a pool. The average bill was $ 327.41! WOW! I will happily pay my $ 226.50 and hope for temperatures to decrease this month!

In the meantime, we will continue to keep the A/C at 81 and 78. We will try to cook all of our meals outside and not use the stove or oven. If we need to do something inside, we will use the microwave. All laundry will be washed in cold water and hung this month. I slacked when my sister was here and used the dryer. We will try not to use any power except the refrigerator and A/C during on peak hours. Our hot water is on a timer and turned off during on peak hours. I am sure this saves us a lot of money. I am so glad that we switched to TOU metering and rates a few years back. Even though we are retired and always home, we are able to shift a lot of our consumption to off peak hours. Sure we can't do much about the A/C or refrigerator. But we can do our best to shift the hot water, pool usage and everything else to off peak hours. I just wish that we had realized that 10 years ago. We would have saved a lot of money. Even though our bill was $ 226.50 this month. It would have been higher on the regular rates. We saved $ 48.81 by being on TOU metering. I will never go back to regular metering again no matter where we live!

Money Saving Challenge - 8/6

We did a few things today to save some money here:


- We had promised my son and DIL that we would buy them their stroller for our new expected grandchild. Today I bought the Chicco one that they picked out which was on their baby registry. Since their car seat matched, we purchased that too. But I used 15% off codes for both of them and received free shipping also.


- Breakfast this morning was cereal and bananas, orange juice and coffee all from our stockpile.


- After finishing my grocery lists this morning, I went and got it all done as shown in the previous post.


- While I was out, I deposited a whole bunch of rebate checks in our house account.


- I worked the Post Office into my efficient route to save on gasoline. Everything was run in a circle. I am so glad I got gas recently at $2.39.9 a gallon. It has jumped in just a few days to $2.57.9 a gallon.


- I picked up my online ordered books at the library.


- Lunch was salsa and chips from our stockpile.


- I continue to add to my pile of junk mail paper. I use the backsides of ads to print coupons. I also add any return envelopes that I don't use to my envelope pile. I re-use the envelopes for mail by putting labels over the addresses and for carrying coupons when I shop.


- The mail brought an envelope of great coupons from Fry's including a Free Ruffles Potato Chips coupon. I also received a nice envelope of coupons from my sister (Thanks Pat) and a Free Coupon for one cup of Yoplaits Whips Yogurt.


- I again worked on homemade Christmas presents. I spent a fortune on Christmas last year so I am trying to do a frugal one this year.


- Dinner tonight was roasted chicken, rice and mixed veggies. The chicken was roasted out on the patio in my Nesco. The rice was leftover and reheated in the micro along with the veggies. All of this was from our stockpile.


- DH is watching the AZ Diamondbacks game right now and as soon as it is over, we are going for a swim. Then we will watch "The Mentalist".


Please leave a comment and share with us what you did today to save money.

My Grocery Shopping Day!

I am HOT and TIRED and I am sitting here while I type this with a pint container of Ben and Jerry's and a spoon. I am not kidding! :-) But I got the shopping done in spite of the 107 degree heat! Here is what I purchased:


Fry's:


1 Celery - $1.00


2 International Delight Creamers - $ 2.37 each - Used .55/1 Mfrs. Cpns Dbled = $ 1.37 each


1 gallon of Fry's Milk - NO CHARGE (since I returned a bad gallon that was not out of date)


2 - 1/2 gallons of Kroger Orange Juice - $ .99 each = $ 1.98


1 Hamburg Rolls - $ 1.00


Received $ .20 in Cloth Bag Credits


Total OOP was $ 6.52 and I picked up my Buddy Check Pink Cloth Bag that I ordered for Free!


Bashas:


3 pints of Ben and Jerrys' Ice Cream - $ 3.33 each - Used $1./1 Mfrs. Cpns = $6.99 and I received a $ 2.00 Catalina Good on my Next Shopping Order.


3 pints of Starbucks Ice Cream - $3.33 each - Used $2./1 Mfrs. Cpns = $3.99


2 - 12 oz. Shamrock Farms Chocolate Milk - $ 1.00 each - $ .30/1 IP Cpns Dbled = $ .80 for both


1 - 32 oz. Mountain High Yogurt - $ 2.50 - Used $ .50/1 Mfrs. Cpns Dbled = $ 1.50


Total OOP was $ 13.28 and I recived the $2.00 Catalina good OYNO!



Albertsons:


24 pack Of Diet Dr. Pepper = $ 6.99


10 - 32oz. Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .75/1 IP Cpns = $ .25 each


6 -20 oz Sobe Lifewaters- $ 1.50 each = $ 7.50 - used B5G1F Mfrs. Cpn and (2) B1G1F IP Cpns = $ 3.00 for all


2 Hormel Pork Tenderloins - on sale B1G1F = $ 9.99 for both - used $ .50/1 Target Cpn = $ 9.49 for both


1 X14 Toilet Bowl Tab( not in picture) - $ 2.19


4 Snickers Bars - $ .50 each = $ 2.00(filler)


Used $3./30. Fresh & Easy Cpn


Total OOP was $ 25.79! I forgot to give her the B5G1F till last minute so I was able to get the 3.00 coupon through. This was accidentally done. I would have just gotten more Snickers if I had had to. I am starting my Halloween stash!


My August grocery budget is $150. minus the $ 46.11 I spent today leaves $ 103.89 for the rest of the month!

Money Saving Challenge - 8/05

What a beautiful glorious day it has been! The sun is shining, the sky is blue and I feel wonderful! I just got off the webcam from visiting with my son and grandaughter. That always puts a smile on my face.

We did a few things to save money today and here they are:

- Breakfast was English muffins and jam, orange juice and coffee. They were all from our stockpile.

- I spent some time this morning making my grocery lists for tomorrow by perusing the ads and pulling any coupons that I will use.

- Instead of one neighborhood newspaper, we got two yesterday which had both a Red Plum and Smartsource, so I cut and filed those coupons today.

- I washed a load of clothes in cold water with free laundry detergent and free liquid softener. I hung them to dry.

- I am continuing to work on the Christmas gifts that I am making. I am on a quest to make this as frugal a Christmas as possible.

- Since I had to go out to pick up prescriptions today, I stopped at Sonic and used the Free coupon they sent for a Toaster Club Sandwich. DH and I split that for lunch.

-The mail brought $13.00 in rebates, a free product to test from one of the survey companies, and DH's pill containers that we ordered through Amazon.com a few days ago which were paid for with SwagBucks.

- I received $50. in Free CVS giftcards using the KMart coupon when I picked up the prescriptions and used a Free CVS Giftcard to pay for them . I also used a Free CVS coupon for a 3.5 oz. Absolutely Divine Chocolate Bar. That will make great homemade cookies.

- I got an e-mail that my Free Pink Buddy Check Bag that I ordered is in at Fry's. I will have to pick that up tomorrow.

- Dinner tonight is leftovers from last night: Chipolte Chicken served on rice and GG Steamer Broccoli(free after coupon).... all from our stockpile.

- We will be going for a moonlight swim tonight since our pool has underground lighting. We thought we would enjoy that after a hectic day.

-The dishwasher will be run in off peak hours after 8pm and will air dry.

- DH is vaccuming right now while I write this. Our darn cat is long haired and leaves lots of black fur everywhere. Keeping carpets looking new takes a lot TLC.

- I checked to see when our electric meter will be read. It should be within the next couple of days. I expect it will be our largest bill ever since we recorded the hottest July on record here and I had an extra person in the house for two weeks. I am hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Time will tell!

-After our swim I am going to continue to read "Common Sense".

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you did today to save money.

If You Enjoy McDonald's....................

Here is a very nice coupon:


http://cdn1.eyewonder.com/200125/poc/McDonalds/Angus/landingpage.html

If You Think You Will Be Able To Keep Your Employer Sponsored Healthcare Plan, Think Again!

President Obama and the White House keep saying that under the National Healthcare Plan, you will be able to keep your healthcare that you have now. Well if you think that is true, you had better think again. Here is an article that I believe explains why this is not going to happen:


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574298661486528186.html


I truly believe that we need a way to pay for healthcare in this country for those who are too poor to afford it. I do not believe that we should be paying for illegal immigrants which this bill will pay for. I also do not believe that we should give free healthcare to a segment of the population who can afford it but would rather spend their money on other non-essential items. That segment has been estimated at over 20 to 30 million people.

If the President wanted to cover the people who are truly too poor to afford insurance, they could have done it with the stimulus bill by setting aside the billions of dollars that are needed.

No, their agenda is to cram this down the throats of every American whether they want it or not. You are seeing their agenda every day by the Dems saying they will bypass a vote and get it done in their committees. They want to run our lives and tell us what we as Americans are going to do. I have told you before that my nephew is a Doctor in the U.K working in their national healthcare system. Be very scared about what this White House and the Democrats are going to do to you with this plan.

The other opinion that I will state on this is that President Obama always talked about redistribution of wealth. You are seeing it in everything; just look at the Cash for Clunkers program. All of us are paying for the people who are taking advantage of this. The largest redistribution of wealth will be this healthcare plan if it passes. Since they have no intention of paying for care for the elderly, do you really think that the elderly will go without? No, they will pay for their healthcare privately and none of their children will receive one penny of inheritance. That will be the biggest redistribution of wealth this country has ever seen!

Any of you who are young who are reading this may say.....well I don't care about the elderly! Well you will because you will be there someday.......faster than you think. If this plan gets passed, you will all be on the national system. There will no private system except for those who can afford to pay for their care. That is what DH and I will do!

If you think that this healthcare plan is so wonderful for all of you, ask yourself one question:

Why is President Obama and his family and staff and all of Congress and the Senate excluded?

If you care about your families' healthcare and your childrens' healthcare, contact your Senators and Congressman and let them know and make sure to tell them that you will not vote for them if they pass this plan. You can find their e-mail's, addresses and telephone numbers here:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml


http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm


It may be the most important telephone call or e-mail that you send! It directly affects your future!

Money Saving Challenge - 8/03: Thought Processes!

Recently a number of people have said to me, "You seem to think about things alot". I try! I realized many years ago that it was important to think things through when it came to our money. So I do try to think about what I do each day and make sure that I make the right decision for us. So that will be the theme of our money saving challenge today. I will take you through my thought process. If it motivates you to think a little more about what you do as you go through your day, then that is a bonus!



My cat's litter box needed cleaning today. Since the clumping litter is so expensive, I scoop it everyday. Once in a while, it needs to be totally dumped and the box cleaned and refilled with all fresh litter. As I was doing that today, I decided I can get another 2-3 days out of this litter before I do that.



For breakfast, I decided we would have cereal with milk and bananas. The bananas are perfect so I need to use them up for cereal and make some lunches of banana salad. If we can't use them all, I will freeze them to make banana bread when it cools off here in November. I also need to use up the gigantic gallon of milk that I purchased the other day for DH and I. That is a lot of milk but it was way cheaper than buying a 1/2 gallon. So we will be having lots of cereal, SF pudding, and other milk items this week. We also had juice and coffee. I am still trying to use up all of that Archer Farms coffee that I got for free. I am down to 2 drawers full. After I put the dishes in the dishwasher, I decided that it would easily handle the rest of the dishes from lunch and dinner, so I will run it tonight after 8PM which will be off peak hours.





Every day after breakfast, I think about what we will have for dinner. Since we are mainly eating from the stockpile, I just make our meals from that. Since last night, I made veal parmesan with noodles and there are leftovers, that is the logical choice. There is only one veal cutlet left though but it is big enough for DH and I to each have 1/2 and there are plenty of noodles. I need to add more sauce so I will open one of those free Bertolli sauces to top it all off. I will add a small tossed salad for each of us since I have just enough lettuce and some veggies to use up. I can reheat this veal parmesan in the oven, toaster oven or microwave. Since I am ALWAYS trying to use as little energy as possible, I will use the microwave. Plus that choice will not heat up my house which is so costly to air condition.


While I was taking my navy shower today, I was thinking..... how fast can I get it done? Can I do it faster than yesterday? The answer is yes....hence less energy and water used. When I was shampooing my hair, washing with body wash and shaving my legs, I was thinking... thank you CVS for all the free and cheap stuff. I also thank them for all the free toothpaste and cheap mouthwash. I get all of my floss in the form of samples from our dentist.





I went over our house goal figures today since it is the beginning of the month. July was not an easy month to save for a variety of reasons. At the end of July, we had only saved another 2% of our house fund. So we now have 63% of what we think we will need. We will be researching a little more on pricing in those areas soon so that we have a better handle on what it will actually cost. I am hoping that we can save at least 5% this month. So I will definitely be rachetting up the guerilla frugality to get there. I miss my kids and my grandaughter!





On my desk are a variety of coupons that may or may not get used this week. I have coupons for two free tacos at Jack in The Box only good tomorrow, a 20% off coupon for Famous Footwear, a 1 cent Sharpie coupon for Office Max, a Free Coupon for a free sandwich at Sonic, and a Kmart Prescription coupon good for up to $100. in Giftcards. I will not make a special trip out just to use these coupons. Gasoline is expensive. Unless DH and I need to go near Jack in The Box tomorrow for something else, those coupons won't get used. On Wednesday or Thursday, I will most likely do the new deals for the week at the grocery stores, take the mail to the Post Office, and pick up the free sandwich for DH and I to share for lunch. I will also work Famous Footwear in to my errand run to use the 20% off coupon since I have a small credit slip with them. Since my sister got me the free sneakers while she was here, I don't need any type of shoes. I will most likely get socks for DH since he is always putting holes in them. If my route takes me near Office Max, I will get the sharpie. I will not go out of my way for it. Both DH and I are checking so see what prescriptions are ready to expire so that we can call refills in and try to get the full value of those prescription giftcards.


I put our wash in the machine and there is still room for more clothes, so I decided to wait to wash them. I always run it on full.

I reminded DH that it is the beginning of the month, so it is time to change the filter on the A/C. It runs more efficiently when it has a clean filter every month.


I have just about 3 hours until peak energy hours, so I need to get off of here and get my work done while it is still cool in here. I am posting what I have for now and will update this with more as my day progresses. See you later!


CONTINUED:


I just cleaned the Master Bathroom. While I was in there I took quick stock of our medicine cabinet and HBA items to see what we have too much of or what we are running out of. The running out of is now on my list to watch for a great sale, The too much of is on a list titled DO NOT NEED TO BUY FOR YEARS! When I don't keep a list is when I end of with the too much of. Since I like to do my cleaning as cheaply as possible, I washed the window and the mirrors with cheap windex and newspaper. I washed the woodwork with my homemade all purpose cleaner and a rag. I use a small amount of bleach to clean the toilet and some elbow grease. The sinks get done with powdered Ajax and a rag. I use an automatic shower cleaner for the shower and tub. DH figured out how to get the cap off and refill it with homemade solution. It does an okay job but since I am anal about some things, I scrub it down every couple of weeks with cleaner and a rag. The countertops are washed down with the same all purpose solution as the woodwork. I polished the wood cabinets with cheap Pledge. I vacuumed the pleated shades and the tile floor. DH will steam clean it later. The bathmats and rags will get washed tomorrow when I do laundry. All new towels and washcloths have been put where they belong.


While I was cleaning, DH yelled to me that there was mention on our news that one of the areas in New York where we would like to buy a home is 6th on the Forbes List that came out today for home vacancies. That got my mind going that maybe that would equate into lower prices there over the next year or so. One can hope!


DH also did some research on the Cash for Clunkers program and was surprised to see that our van qualifies. Since our van only has 47,000 miles on it and still has 2 and 1/2 years of a warranty on it, I questioned why he was even thinking about buying a new car. He says he was just checking. He agrees with me that buying a new car now would be a waste of money, even with the $3500. - $4500. program. Ours is good for many more years!


We just finished lunch. DH had a sandwich using items from the stockpile and I ate some cherries.


Now that it is on peak hours and energy is so expensive, I am shutting down my computer until it is off peak hours again. I will update you then on the rest of the day!


CONTINUED:


DH has his computer on so I am going to finish my day up now.


This afternoon, while we were swimming in the pool, we discussed possibly finding a realtor in the New York area soon so that we can get a handle on the prices. We know what we are looking for and what we want to pay, so we will doing that very soon. Someone had told me her husband was a realtor and could help but I can't find her e-mail. So if you are reading this leave a comment and let me know.


The landscaping crew that comes every Monday were here. I was thinking how fortunate we are that we can have them come in every Monday and take care of our property and not have to worry about the heat or DH pulling out his back doing it. If we had not saved over the years that would not be a possibility.


DH and I read part of afternoon and just relaxed. It is so nice not to have to go out to a job everyday. If we had not saved, we would still be working and not have the luxury of being our own bosses.


As I heated up the veal parm in the microwave, DH made homemade mozzarella garlic bread. He quickly browned it in the toaster oven. That is much better than heating up the large oven. I was thinking how lucky I am that I have a husband who loves to help with the cooking. :-)


After dinner, I went and got the mail. I was very happy to see a $4.00 Rebate check and a $3.00 survey check. Those will be deposited in home goal savings.


Tonight we will watch a little TV and do some reading.


What do you think about as you go about your frugal day? Be sure to leave a comment and share with all of us.

Another CVS Trip- #3

UPDATE: Just wanted to let you know that people have been reporting that they are buying 2, 3 or 4 and not getting the ECB's. Why I got them for 2, I will never know. Was there a momentary glitch that I was just lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time? I have no idea! I have been checking many deal boards and see no one reporting what happened to me, happened to them. So be very leery!

I had to go out again to run an errand and I passed another CVS, so I decided to do the Electrasol deal on DH's card. There must be a glitch in the system. I could only find two Electrasols so I decided to get them and look for 3 more this week when they got restocked. The $10. ECB printed for buying just two. I don't know why. Just letting you all know what happened to me.




Here is what I purchased:

1 Blink Gel Tears - $7.99 - Used $3.00/1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 4.99 and I received $ 7.99 in ECBS

2 Electrasol Dishwasher Tabs - $ 4.50 each - Used (1) $ 4.00/1 Mfrs. Cpn and (1) $ 2.50 off Mfrs. Cpn = $ 2.50 and I received a $10.00 ECB(what a moneymaker)

Used $ 3.00 in ECB's

Total was $ 5.86 which I paid with a Free CVS Prescription Giftcard so nothing OOP! I received a total of $ 17.99 in ECB's this trip!

CVS!

I was up and out early this morning but the school supplies shelves were cleaned out along with some other things I wanted. However I did get a few great deals:

Two CVS Trips Combined here:

1- Centrum Silver - $ 9.99- Used $ 1./1 Mfrs. Cpn = $ 8.99 and I received a $2.00 ECB and I will be sending for the $ 5.00 Centrum Rebate

12 Jars of Ragu Sauce - $ 2.00 each = $24.00 - Used $ 1./2 IP Cpns = $18.00 and I received $ 6.00 in ECB = $ 1.00 a jar(I was out so this is a good price for me)

6 Boxes of Electrasol - $ 4.50 each - Used $ 2.50/1 Mfrs. Cpns = $12.00 and I received a $ 10.00 ECB

3 Visine - $ 4.50 each = $ 13.50 - Used $ 2./1 Mfrs. Cpns = $ 7.50 and I received $ 3.00 in ECB's

Used a $4./20 CVS Cpn

Used a $ 5./30. CVS Cpn

Used a $ 1.00 ECB

Total was $39.25 including tax which I paid for with a Free CVS Prescription Giftcard! I received a total of $21.00 in ECB's for these 2 orders. I also received a coupon for a Free CVS Brand Abs Divine 3.5oz. Chocolate Bar.