Today is my errand day so I went to Aldi's and Top's. This is what I purchased this morning at Aldi's:
1/2 Dozen Peach- Cream Roses - $ 3.99
1/2 gallon of Milk - $ 1.29
Chopped Walnuts - $ 1.99
1 lb. of Strawberries - $ 1.99
1 Fit and Active Turkey Bacon - $ 1.99
2 lbs. of Green Seedless Grapes - $ .99 a lb - $ 1.98
12 oz. Honey Bear - $ 2.39
1 jar Sliced Jalapenos - $ 1.69
64. oz Orange Juice - $ 1.99
Total with tax was $ 19.32.
Tops:
4 Roman Meal Bread - $ 1.89 each - Used $ .75/1 IP Cpn Dbled = $ .39 each
1.88 lbs. of Whitefish at $ 4.99 a lb = $ 9.13 - Used Tops $ 2.50 off a lb. IP Cpn = $ 6.63 or approx. $ 3.52 a lb.
1 Bag of Cornmeal - $ 1.50
4 Coffeemate on sale 3/$5.00 - Used $ .55/1 IP Cpns Dbled = $ 2.27 for all 4
2 Dozen Large Eggs - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .25/1 Tops Monopoly Cpns = $ .75 a dozen
1 Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta - $ 1.00 - Used $ 1./1 Mfrs. Cpn = Free
1 - 16oz. Tops Frozen Corn - $ 1.00
2 Fancy Feast Appetizers - $ 1.00 each - Used B1G1F Cpn = $ .50 each
1 Kozy Shack Twin Rice Pudding - $ 1.00 - Used $ .40/1 Cpn Dbled = $ .20
1 Zone Bar - $ 1.00 - Used $ .55/1 Cpn = Free
1 jar of Yeast - $ 5.99
Total with tax was $ 21.69.
Analysis:
My daffodils bit the dust so I treated myself to these gorgeous roses. The picture doesn't do them justice. They are BEAUTIFUL and I am so worth it. :-) The walnuts are needed for trail mix and they were $3.49 for the same bag at Tops. What a great deal at Aldi's. Strawberries, grapes and cantaloupe from last week will be our snacks this week. We use turkey bacon with eggs for breakfast and this is a great price compared to Tops. The milk, honey, jalapenos, and orange juice were on my list and Aldi's had the best price.
At $ .39 a loaf I can't make my own whole grain bread so I stocked for the freezer. Since I double bag it, it will keep for a long time. We don't use much bread, just occasionally for sandwiches or French toast. The fish was a great deal but the coupon made it even better. This will give DH and I two meals. This week I will be cooking the tilapia from last week and will post the recipe when I do.
The cornmeal is for a new pizza dough recipe that I want to try. My stock of creamers was getting low so I was hoping for a sale. It is one guilty pleasure for DH and I. The eggs were cheaper than Aldi's after coupons. I will take free pasta and Zone bars anytime. We needed the corn for tortilla soup this week. Kitty loves these appetizers but I will only buy them when they are a deal. The Kozy Shack is for a treat next month. The yeast I needed to make pizza dough and English muffins.
I have to thank Amanda at Mom's Coupon Affair for some of the deals using printable coupons.
Lastly, I came home and got the mail which had 3 rebate checks in it. Two Renpure Rebates at $ 6.99 each and my monthly Rite Aid Rebate check for $ 39.98 for a total of $ 53.96. Not too bad a mail day! Since I have over a $ 100. of rebate checks sitting here, I best include a trip to the bank soon.
Did you have a good mail day or get a great deal this week? Feel free to leave a comment and share it with all of us.
Our area is continuing to participate in restaurant week. Starting today you can get a deal at many restaurants. For a set price of $21.11 for one person, most restaurants will give you a multiple course menu. About 1/3 of the restaurants will give you a meal for two for the same price of $ 21.11.
If eating out has become prohibitive in your budget, perhaps this is a way to enjoy a meal this one time this week. It will never get any better around here. This link will take you to the full list of restaurants that are participating: Restaurants
I made 24 of these muffins today. This recipe is here: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. However I wanted to make them healthier, so I used organic canned pumpkin that I got cheap using subscribe and save at Amazon a while ago. I also replaced the sugar with Splenda and replaced 1/2 of the oil with applesauce.
Two will be breakfast tomorrow, some will make their way to my son, Sean's home and most will go in the freezer in two packs for other breakfasts.
These are the things we have done the last few days to save money:
- Took the Suave Professionals Quiz and scored two free products
- I continue to sign up for free samples and products on facebook when time permits. I don't want to go over my one hour per day computer time.
- Still exercising 30-60 minutes per day on the treadmill which is easier for me. I don't have to spend the time, gasoline, and monthly fees to drive to a gym.
- Submitted my meter readings to the utility company( it is an estimated month) so that I wouldn't be overbilled. Bill is online today and is for $ 235.76. That is down $ 53.57 from last month. I suspect most of the drop is because it has been a little warmer so the heat hasn't had to run quite as often. I will be trying to cut everything that I can because I suspect that with everything going on in the mideast that the oil prices will affect our rates by this summer.
- Filled our van up with gasoline using the $ .10 off a gallon that I earned at Tops. I am not shopping there as often so not earning as many gasoline points but every little bit off helps.
- DH put in 8 outlets, the wiring, and more breakers in the basement. He also put in an outlet for me at the bottom of the stairs so that I have a place to plug in the vacuum cleaner to vacuum the stairs. He saved us a lot of money in labor costs.
- We are starting today to get estimates on having our patio put in this spring. By getting a few, we will have an idea of what the right price for the work we want done will cost. We have a fund for this so we will pay cash.
- My free subscription to Money Magazine arrived in the mail. I ordered 13 free magazine subscriptions using airline miles. DH and I had a lot of miles but we are not flying like we used to so the miles would have expired. This was a good way not to let that happen.
- The 2010 census showed that our county lost 1.53% in population. However the area of the town where we have built gained over 20% in population. That tells us that we built in the right place pricewise. If we ever need to sell this house, we should have no problem at this growth rate. However, after 3 moves and 4 houses, I hope we never to have to move again.
- I continue to shut off lights, watch washer and dryer, oven and stove use to keep our utility bills down. The 23 hours that I am not on the computer a day, I either put the computer in sleep mode or turn it off. DH and I have learned to live with the heat at 68 degrees instead of 70. I can't wait until the snow is gone for good so that we can grill outside every night.
- DH put in a closet pole under the stairs in the basement for us so that we can store the winter coats, etc. I researched and found the best price on heavy duty zippered bags at Amazon. I was able to use gift certificates earned by using Swagbucks to pay for them.
- We have stopped drinking diet soda in this household. So not only are we healthier but we are saving a fortune by not buying it. We drink iced tea and water instead.
- The mail today brought $21.00 in rebate checks. I just love rebate checks!
- Guess who we babysat today? Playing with West is just PRICELESS!
- Worked on making another Christmas Gift.
- Doing all of the spring cleaning ourselves including steam cleaning the carpets. My steam cleaner that I purchased 14 years ago was one of the best purchases we ever made. It has saved us a lot of money hiring someone to do it or renting a machine. We have always had white or light carpeting and it keeps them looking brand new.
- DH wanted Anchor Bar wings for dinner. So I made boneless chicken wings with Anchor Bar sauce. They are much healthier.
Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us what you did this week to save money.
I have a money saving challenge post almost ready from this week. But until then, I wanted to ask you what are you now going without because the price has risen too high? For example we are not buying diet soda anymore. Not only is the cost prohibitive but it is unhealthy for us. Over the next few weeks I will post about what else we are doing without.
Also, I am starting to make more homemade foods than before. For example, I will be making all of our bread and rolls. We don't eat anywhere near as many carbs as we used to but the little bit we do buy is getting so expensive in the supermarkets that I am going to start making all of the ones we do use myself. Over the next few weeks, I will also blog about how and what we are making.
I would love to hear from all of you about what you no longer purchase because of the price or because you make it now at home. Please leave a comment. I would love to hear how you are handling these couple of things. Also if there is a food item that is so expensive that you don't want to give it up, let me know and perhaps I will help you make an alternative.
I took this picture in the neighborhood today. It is still snowing and according to the weatherman it is supposed to snow into tomorrow. They say this is spring. What do you think?
DH and I are keeping busy indoors. DH is installing electrical outlets and wire in the basement today. He has been working down there a couple of days now. He also put in a closet bar for me under the stairs down there so I have a place to store garment bags with our winter coats if spring ever arrives.
I just spent the last two hours with two men from the cable company here trying to find out why I get tiling at night on the TV's and screens that say this channel is unavailable right now. They have checked and replaced boxes, cables, connections, etc. I suspect this did not fix the problem but only time will tell. I suspect they have a problem in the underground cable. I told them I will be calling everytime this happens again. This service costs way too much to let it ride. They gave me the boss's telephone # to call directly if the problem isn't fixed. I am hoping that I don't ever have to call him. Now, I can continue my spring cleaning. After dinner, we have a Netflix show on disc that arrived today.
Lastly this is a nice freebie that arrived in the mail today!
Some of you have told me that you are trying to eat healthier also. You have asked for recipes. So I will post them when I have time. DH's homemade tomato soup is delicious and after you make it, you will never eat canned tomato soup again.
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Cup Chopped Onion
1/4 Cup Chopped Celery
3 cups of FF Chicken Broth or Your Homemade
3 - 14 oz. Cans of Low Sodium Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1 - 8 oz. Can of Low Sodium Tomato Sauce
1/4 Tsp. Thyme
1 Cup FF Milk
2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
Couple of Drops of Frank's Hot Sauce
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Heat the olive oil and saute the onion and celery until they are soft. Add the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and thyme. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Then puree the soup until it is smooth. DH uses a handheld blender right in the pot but you could pour it in your blender, puree and then put it back in the pot. Then stir in the milk, balsamic vinegar, hot sauce and black pepper. Cook it until it is heated through.
DH and I never cook with salt. We just add a little Salt Sense to our food at the table. This soup served us dinner tonight (one soup crock each) and will also be dinner tomorrow night. Most likely there will be enough for a lunch also. We served it with a tossed salad but it would be good with a hunk of crusty bread also. DH has also cooked up pasta and put it in this soup. But since we are trying to cut back on carbs, we didn't add any pasta.
This was my errand day. So unless a great buy comes up somewhere that I absolutely have to have, I am done for the week. I have been out all day and just got home at 3:30. I am beat and need to rest before I get on the treadmill so here is my first post since I decided to blog again. Besides a dentist appointment, I did lots of shopping.
My first stop, after the dentist, was at Niagara Produce and Meat where I purchased a whole beef tenderloin at $ 6.99 a lb. and some romaine lettuce for $ 1.69. The butcher cut it into filet mignons and wrapped them in packages of two and there was one left over which I will use for stir fry some night. Since DH and I only eat beef twice a month, these will last us for most of the grilling season. While I was there I wrote down most of the produce prices also so that I can update my pricebook. My total was $ 43.53.
Next stop was at Walgreens to pick up the Natural Dentist Rinse. They are $ 6.99 but were on sale for B1G1 at 50% off. I swear by this rinse. I truly believe that the reason I have no gingivitis problems at my age is by brushing and flossing and using the rinse twice a day. So when it is on sale, I get a couple to keep in my stockpile. My total was $ 11.33 with tax.
Next was a stop at Aldi's where I got a dozen large eggs for $ .99, tortilla chips for $ 1.69, 1/2 gallon of FF Milk for $ 1.29, 24 oz. of Tilapia Fillets for $ 3.99, 32. oz of Fit and Active Vanilla NF Yogurt for $ 1.79, Fit and Active FF chicken broth for $ 1.39, bananas for $ .39 a lb., a cantaloupe for $1.29, strawberry preserves for $ 1.49, and a lb. of fresh strawberries for $ 1.99. My total was $ 16.62. One of the only snacks we have besides popcorn is salsa and chips so I decided to try this brand of chips since they were multigrain and a great price.
Then it was to Walmart for 4 boxes of Gain Softener Sheets that after a $ 3.00 coupon on each were $ .52 each. I also picked up a muffin tin for $ 4.96 since I only have one and I like to bake healthy muffins in quantity and freeze them. My total with tax was $ 8.57.
My last stop was at Tops where I purchased a 40 oz. bag of frozen blueberries for $ 5.29. This was cheaper than buying fresh and we love them in our fruit and yogurt parfaits for breakfast. I also got Salt Sense - $ 1.49, 4 cans of Fancy Feast ( one can free with coupon) - $ .69 each, 2- 35 ct. Tops Tall Kitchen Garbage Bags for $ 2.99 each, and 2 Success Brown Rice ( used a $ 1./2 cpn) - paid $ 1.50 each. My total was $ 13.18.
I came home to these nice freebies in the mail. The Family Circle is a free subscription that I have. I was thrilled with the Target makeup bag loaded with samples and coupons. My makeup bag has seen better days and this is going to make a great replacement. Then there were two cute heart Post It samples.
Knowing that I would be tired after all the running around, DH made his delicious homemade tomato soup which is simmering on the stove for our dinner. We will have a bowl of that and a salad. He is such a thoughtful guy. :-)
Please feel free to leave a comment if you had a great errand day and share with us any great deals you got.
I have received so many nice comments from all of you wishing me well and even more e-mails from many of you wishing me well and asking me to continue the blog even if I only post once or twice a month or just update you once in a while. You have no idea how much you have all warmed my heart and how much I appreciate all of your sentiments.
Now that I seem to have my schedule worked out and I am on the road to being a healthier me, I have been seriously thinking of all of your sentiments. I will post when I can and most of them will be centered around the Money Saving Challenge. That challenge is near and dear to my heart and keeps me on the financial road that I want to follow.
So I will post when I have time and if it doesn't mean me being sedentary for any length of time. I don't want to live a sedentary lifestyle because I believe it just allows your body to disintegrate. I have always been pretty active but I have also been known to have my days where I spent way too much time on the computer, especially blogging or researching our family history. I no longer do that. I only check e-mails and do some research, so I spend no more than about an hour a day on my computer.
My days consist of exercising 30-60 minutes a day on the treadmill. DH and I walk alot. Yesterday we managed to walk the entire neighborhood and along the way chat with a few neighbors who we hadn't seen all winter. I have also begun my spring cleaning and continue with a little of that every day. I will be so glad when I can put the heavy coats and clothes away and get the lighter clothing out for spring and summer. It is getting a little warmer here.
Since Sue's death, I have lost 14 lbs. by exercising and eating a very healthy diet. It has only cost us to buy fish and seafood and a few other items that we run out of weekly. For the most part, we are eating from our stockpile in the proper proportions for our diets. So we eat a lot of fish, chicken, turkey and other meats( on occasion) and lots of salads and vegetables. We eat fewer carbs than we used to and I don't miss them. We have an occasional glass of wine with dinner on the weekends. Otherwise we are drinking lots of iced tea and water. If I have a beer which I did on St. Patrick's Day while having a wonderful stew at my son and DIL's home, I drink Bud Select 55. I like that it has fewer calories.
I am not running errands more than once or twice a week. Gasoline is hovering between $ 3.70 and $3.75 a gallon here which is outrageous. So by cutting back the amount of driving we do, we are spending no more a month than we did 6 weeks ago. I know that not everyone can do that because of commuting to work but I am sure everyone can find a way to cut back even just 10-15%. I am afraid the gasoline prices are just going to continue to rise. So every little bit helps the budget.
The beautiful daffodils above, I purchased for myself a few days ago. I love their brilliant yellow color and they smell awesome. They remind me of spring and a new beginning which is how I feel these days. For some reason, I can't find our vases since the move. Normally that would have stressed me out. But no problem, I just put the flowers in a large water glass until I either find ours or see a beautiful new one that I want to purchase. I will be treating myself to beautiful cut flowers every week or two.
So if you don't mind, I will be hanging out here when I can fit it in. So look for a money saving challenge post in the next week or two.
For the past few days, I have been thinking about my life and what would be best for my family and myself following my cousin's sudden death. What I didn't tell you in my last blog post is that Sue's sudden death was the second in the family under pretty much the same circumstances. Sue's father also died suddenly at the age of 59 while cross country skiing. This has made us realize after talking to a cardiologist that 5 of us cousins are also at risk. We may very well have a congenital condition and we also may have passed it along to our children. Because of all of this, my priorities have changed. I no longer will be blogging. Blogging can be very stressful and it takes a lot of time. The worst part of the time spent is the lack of exercise while doing it.
So I will be working with my doctors over the next few months to get my health checked out. I will also be spending significantly more time in our exercise room to get my body healthier. And I will be spending a great deal of my blogging time to make fresh, healthy, appetizing meals for DH and I every day.
You see, I have a dream! It is the dream of dancing at my grandchildren's weddings. I want to be around long enough to do that! You all know how much I love my family. They are the most important priority in my life. So my time will be spent with DH and all of them while getting as healthy as possible so that I can spend many years with them.
I will be trying to banish as much stress as possible in my life so this blog needs to end. I have thought about this long and hard this week. This morning I woke up to the sun shining and the possiblity of spring coming soon, and I knew it was the right day to tell all of you.
I started this blog back in the spring of 2008, so I have been at it for a very long time. I have enjoyed the time I had with all of you and I hope that you have in some small way learned from what I have written. You all have the strength and knowledge to do the best you can for your families and I know that you will. I wish all of you and your families a wonderful journey along the path to retirement. Keep your eye on your goals and you will have as wonderful a retirement as DH and I are sharing.
I will be keeping the blog up so that you can use it as a reference. Almost everything I have learned over the years about money is in these blog posts. The examples I give can be applied in many different circumstances. I wish all of you a healthy, happy, financially free life.
It is a new day and I am looking forward to a wonderful one. Good Bye My Friends!
Precious
