Frugal Makes Cents

My Electric and Natural Gas Bills

2012-01-26T17:10:00.000-05:00

Alex M. asked in comments if I could tell her a little more about my electric bills since she lives in the area and will be moving soon. I had to write a check and go out and pay my property taxes today so now that that is taken care of, I have time to do so. So this is for you Alex.

She wanted to know if I thought our electric and natural gas bills are high here in the Buffalo area. I think they are for a few reasons. We have lots of generation plants here but I believe that a lot of the cheap power that is generated here is sent to other parts of the state. So we do not really benefit from that cheap power. Hence, rates are high. We also are one of the highest taxed states in the nation. If you look at your bills you will see that a good portion of the bill each month is taxes and surcharges. The county you live in and the state all get their cut.

Alex wanted to know about my utility bills. Before I give you those figures, I want to give you some statistics about my home. I have 2112 sq. ft. of actual living space. We also have 2112 sq. ft. of basement space. The heat is run into the basement but we keep the vents closed in the basement. And we have an attached two car garage which is unheated. We have 10 foot ceilings in all of our rooms except two. We have cathedral ceilings in our morning room and the exercise room. Our master bedroom has a 10 ft. ceiling but a huge tray ceiling which makes it higher in that area.  It is more expensive to heat space with high ceilings than homes with lower ceilings. We also have a pretty open floor plan. All of these things have to be taken into account when you try to compare utility bills.

That said, our last bill was for $ 216.69 for 29 days. We used 656 KWH and 107 CCF's of natural gas. It has been a warm winter so the bill was $ 110. less than the same period last year. For the past 12 months, we have paid a total of $ 1994.25. The usage for this year has been 8670 KWH and 767 CCF's.

You all know well from reading my blog that I do whatever it takes to cut our usage every month whether it be the larger things or the little things.  Can I cut more each month? Sure by really watching what I do.

When we had this house built, we did not allow the builder to put in the standard furnace or hot water tank or the standard appliances that were the norm. We were having an energy star home built but their guidelines are too low in my estimation. So DH and I contracted privately for the furnace, air conditioner and all of our appliances. Our gas furnace is the highest rated as far as energy savings that we could have installed by our heating contractor. We had tankless hot water put in. We purchased a top energy saving gas range with a regular or convection oven. Our Bosch dishwasher saves on energy and water. We purchased a used HE washer and dryer from our son and DIL. We bought energy saving central air conditioning. The builder put in energy star rated windows. Thanks goodness because our windows are huge. We had a humidifier installed on our furnace because humidified air feels warmer than non humidified. That way we can keep the heat lower during the day and at night than if we didn't have a humidifier. We purchased energy saving pleated shades on almost all of our windows. We have heavy blinds on the others.

I also watch our usage. I think about how long I keep the refrigerator or freezer doors open. I only go into the downstairs freezer once or twice a month to bring up what we need for meals. I try to keep my freezers full because full freezers cost less to operate. I think about whether I can cook my meal in the microwave or a small appliance rather than the oven because they consume less energy. When I cook on top of the stove I like to cover pots to keep the heat in. When I use the oven I rarely open the door and let the heat out. I use the light to check on how things are cooking. I will cook a few turkey breasts, chicken breasts, and other meats all at once to save on cooking twice or three times. I always air dry my dishes in the dishwasher.  I only wash full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine. We use CCF's in our lights. There are many more things I do that you have seen in my money saving challenge post and that you will see in the future.

The bottom line is that there are always things you can do to lower your utility bills. You just must be always conscious of what you are doing and why. I have been doing it so long that it has become second nature for me. I guess I must be doing something right because when my neighbors talk about their utility bills, I seem to have lower ones than them. I can only judge by the fact that some of their homes are two stories and less square footage than I have. No one has built a home like mine yet so it is just a guess. I do know that we do pretty well considering we only have one neighbor next to us and we have no homes yet to really block us from the wind. We get a lot of wind since we are so close to two Great Lakes. We have no protection from it. When this phase of building and the next happen it will help having homes surrounding us to block that wind. But for now and the next few years we do not have that advantage.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let us know how you save money on your utility bills.

Money Saving Challenge - January 25

2012-01-25T18:49:00.000-05:00

These are the things we did today to save money:

- Breakfast was bacon and eggs. We always feel better all day long when we start our day with protein instead of starch.

- I did one load of laundry in the HE washer using cold water and a detergent sample. The clothes are drying in the basement as I write this.

- I ran a very full dishwasher with 1/2 dishwashing tablet. The dishes are air drying.

- I got $11.00 in rebates in the mail today.

- On the way home from an appointment, we stopped at Rite Aid to pick up three prescriptions for DH. While I was there I picked up a bottle of glycerin( pictured) so that I can make liquid soap some day this week.

- We got our electric and natural gas bill for the month. It was $ 20. less than last month so little things you do, do pay off. I was happy with that because we had company over the holidays so extra cooking and showers, etc.  It was also $110. less than the same period last year which I attribute mostly to lower heating costs. It has been a much warmer winter this year than last.

- I did our Federal Income Taxes yesterday and will be filing them today. I was very happy that we are getting a small refund instead of having to pay more than what we have already paid in.

- Today, I worked on our State Income Taxes. I hope to finish them tomorrow. We will not be so lucky with the State. We will have to pay.

- Lunch was roast beef with au jus sandwiches.

- Got two rebates totalling $ 9.00 ready to go in the mail tomorrow.

- Walked 2 miles on the treadmill for my exercise.

- Also stopped at Bon Ton today on the way home from our appt. and found a beautiful long sleeved top that was 70% off. Then I noticed it had a small spot on it. I was pretty sure that I could get the spot out in the wash with some Oxi-Clean so I asked for the store to mark it down more. A manager agreed to mark it down another 10%. So I now own that top at 80% off. It never hurts to ask for a markdown when something isn't perfect. I have never been turned down when I ask.

- Made homemade black bean and rice burritos for dinner.

- Entertainment tonight will be a game of Scrabble.

That's it for today. It's been a very busy day and I am tired.  So I am off to relax.

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

Please Vote for Didi

2012-01-25T09:46:00.000-05:00

I don't ask this very often but could you please take the time to vote each day until this contest ends on February 7th for our online friend, Didi D. in the Heinz and Ocean Spray Ultimate Recipe Challenge. You know her from this blog as Didicoffeegirl. She has been very helpful to all of us with her advice, especially her cooking recipes and comments that she leaves on this blog.

You can vote for her Sweet Savory Chicken Puff   recipe which is currently #9 but hopefully with your help, that will change. So make sure when you vote each day that you look for the Sweet Savory Chicken Puff by Didi D. and vote on that one.

Didi is an award winning cook and you can find a lot of her recipes on
Just a Pinch . If hers don't come up, search for Didi's Kitchen.  I will warn you though, get ready to salivate.

Thanks for your help and I will post my Money Saving Challenge later today.

Dinner Tonight

2012-01-23T18:19:00.000-05:00

I made the Ranch House Crockpot Pork Chops for dinner tonight. The sauce was outstanding. I cooked the sauce and the pork chops in the crockpot on low for the 6 hours the recipe called for. The pork chops were definitely overcooked. Next time I would try 4 hours on low and then check them with a meat thermometer to see if they are done. Or I might just bake all of it in the oven long enough to cook the pork chops and get the sauce nice and hot....say 30-45 minutes. I would definitely be checking the chops with the meat thermometer. That being said, the recipe is a keeper. I also believe this would be delicious made with boneless chicken breasts.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share what you cooked for dinner tonight.

My Only Shopping For This Week

2012-01-22T18:45:00.000-05:00

I shopped for the few items I needed this week and I used up some coupons that were expiring. At Top's I got the following:

3 Chobani Yogurt - $1.49 each - Used 3 Free MQ's = All 3 Free

1 Spot Shot Carpet Stain Cleaner - $ 4.99 - Used a Free MQ = Free

1 Skinny Cow Candy - $ .99 - Used Free MQ = Free

2 - 4C Bread Crumbs - $1.33 for one and $ 1.34 = $ 2.67 - Used $ 1./2 MQ = $ 1.67 for Both

Total OOP was $ 1.67 + tax.

Next stop was Aldi's where I got:

1 Gallon of Milk - $ 2.25

1 Dozen Eggs - $ 1.45

Total OOP was $ 3.70.

And last stop was at Petsmart where I used a $ 5./10. store coupon and a $ 1.00 MQ to get 40 lbs. of cat litter for $ 8.99 + tax. We have a brand new Petsmart in my area so they keep sending me coupons in the mail. I just hope they keep coming and I can keep stocking up on cheap cat litter.

My Menu Plan

2012-01-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

Here is my menu plan for the week:

Sunday - Chicken Pot Pies, Applesauce

Monday - Ranch House Crockpot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes , Broccoli

Tuesday - Leftovers from Sunday and Monday

Wednesday - Black Bean and Rice Burritos with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, black olives and cheese

Thursday - Beer Battered Haddock Fillets, Easy Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots , Salad

Friday - Macaroni and Cheese, leftover carrots

Saturday - Leftover Macaroni and Cheese, Ham, Green Beans

Breakfasts are a choice of Apple & Spice Dutch Baby Pancakes , or waffles, eggs, bacon, oatmeal, fruit, English muffins with homemade peach jam, juice and coffee.

Lunches are a choice of turkey, ham ot tuna wraps, chicken soup, tossed salad, fruit salad, corned beef hash, hot dogs, or grilled cheese.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you are making this week.

Petite Cheesecakes Recipe

2012-01-22T01:13:00.000-05:00

Since so many people are asking for this recipe, I decided to post it. I have been making these for over 40 years. These were made with blueberry pie filling. I also have made them with cherry pie filling. They are so easy and look and taste so elegant.

Nabisco "Nilla" Cookies
16 oz. cream cheese ( at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tsp. vanilla
1 can of pie filling

Makes 1 dozen. Place cupcake papers in a cupcake pan. Put one "Nilla" cookie in the bottom of each cup, bottom side up. Combine remaining ingredients, stirring really well to incorporate the cream cheese into the mixture. Spoon into the baking cups until 3/4's full. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then completely cool the cakes. Top each one with the pie filling. Then refrigerate and enjoy.

Money Saving Challenge

2012-01-21T14:24:00.000-05:00

These are the things we did the past couple of days to save money:

- Plans got changed for dinner last night. We ended up having company so we did not have tacos. Instead I pulled an eye round roast out of the chest freezer. So we had roast beef, rice, broccoli, corn and petite cheesecakes for dessert. I had all of the ingredients on hand to made blueberry ones. We also will be eating leftover roast beef today. The chicken in wine sauce will go on the menu this coming week.

- DH snowblowed the driveway and walk. The snowblower is definitely paying for itself over hiring a plowing service. We can also do it when we want to and not be at the mercy of someone else's schedule.

- Did my navy shower this morning and washed my hair. I am using samples of shampoo and conditioner and body wash to continue to use up the little trial sizes that are around the house.

- I ordered another gift card getting it at a 12% discount from Plastic Jungle. I am now prepared to do any clothing and shoe shopping that we need over the next few months. Of course I will be using coupons along with the dicounted giftcards.

- Breakfast was homemade egg McMuffins yesterday and oatmeal today.

- My son and DIL gave us a large bag of Dunkin Donuts Decaf coffee that would not work well in their machine. We love this coffee.

- We watched "Horrible Bosses" from Netflix for entertainment.

- For some reason the heater vent was open in our Master Bedroom closet. I closed that today. I see no reason to heat our closet especially since on the other side of the wall is the garage.

- I plan on picking up some glycerin at my drugstore the next time I go there because I plan on making my own liquid handsoap in the next couple of weeks.

- Made my menu plan for the week.

- Filed all coupons from the week in my binder.

- I am gathering homemade gift ideas to make for birthdays and Christmas this year. Once I am done, I will make notes in my gift organizer of what I am making and for whom.

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

I Have Been Busy Taking Inventory

2012-01-19T15:56:00.000-05:00

Since I run my house like a business and it is January, it was time to inventory the upstairs freezer again. Yes, it got away from me when I was really busy over the holidays. For some reason I am not perfect. :-)

Actually I would like to use up everything in the upstairs freezer and wipe it all down with soap and water to clean it. So I took inventory of what was in it and made a note to myself as to where things are. That is what the below abbreviations mean to me. There is nothing I hate more than having to rummage through an entire freezer to find what you are looking for. So I make a note as to what shelf or basket the item is on or in. That way I am not wasting electricity with the door wide open while I am looking for something. I can pretty much lay my hands on the item very quickly with this system.

So this is what I have in that freezer right now:

Sports Snacks:

2 snacks of Taquitos( 2nd s)
1 snack of Mozzarella Bites ( 2nd s)

Baking:

1/2 bag of Slivered Almonds ( d)
4 lbs. of Yeast (1st s)
2 Homemade Pie Crusts (1st b)
1 Large Bag of Chopped Walnuts (d)
2 Bags of Hershey's Kisses (d)
1 Bag of Hershey's Bliss Chocolate ( d)

Fruit & Jam:

2 and 3/4 bags of Cranberries ( 1st b)
2 Bags of Bananas ( 1st b)
1 small bag of Strawberries (1st b)
1 - 2lb. bag of Blueberries (1st b)
2 bags of Dole Blueberries(1st b)
11 jars of Sugar Free Peach Jam (4 on 1st s. & 7 in d.)

Bread:

9 Pocket Thins (2nd b)
2 Baked Biscuits ( 3rd b)
1 Lg. Bag of French Croissants ( 3rd b)
3 bags of Leftover Bread to make stuffing (3rd b)
4 English Muffins (3rd b)
2 Chocolate Chip Muffins (3rd b)
2 Blueberry Waffles (3rd b)
2 rolls of Grands Biscuits (1st s)
1 bag of Mission Tortillas (2nd b)
10 Multi Grain Rolls ( 1st b)
1 Loaf of White Bread (2nd s)

Prepared Meals:

2 pkgs. Cheese Ravioli (2nd s)
1 Bag of General Tso's Zesty Chicken ( 2nd b)

Meat:

11 meals of Ham ( 9 in 2nd b & 2 in 3rd b)
1 pkg. of Beer Battered Haddock Filets (2nd b)
1 meal of Whitefish (2nd b)
2 Boxes of Seasations Fish ( 2nd b)
1 meal of Tilapia (2nd b)
5 pkgs. of Hot Dogs (2nd b)
2.1 lbs. of Pork Ribs (2nd b)
2.05 lbs. of Pork Loin Niblets (2nd b)
1 pkg. of Turkey Chunks (3rd b)
1 Sirloin Tip Roast (3rd b)
1 meal of White Meat Chicken Strips (3rd b)
1 pkg. of Chicken Breasts (3rd b)
1 lb. of Ground Round (2nd b)
1 meal of Boneless Spicy Buffalo Wings (3rd b)
1 lb. of Center Cut Bacon - ( 2nd b)
1 meal of Swedish Meatballs ( 2nd b)
1 meal of Turkey Pepperoni (2nd b)
1 pkg. of Canadian Bacon ( 2nd b)
1 pkg. of Cocktail Sausages ( 2nd b)

Dairy:

3 pkgs. American Cheese ( 2nd s)
2 pkgs. Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (2nd s)
3 pkgs. Shredded Colby Cheese ( 2nd s)
2 pkgs. Shredded White Cheddar Cheese ( 2nd s)
1 pkg. Mozzarella Slices ( 2nd s)
1 pkg. Shredded Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese (2nd s)
5 lbs. of Margarine ( 1st s)
2 Half Pints Heavy Cream ( 1st s)
1 Cool Whip ( 1st s)

Vegetables:

1 bag of Sliced Red Peppers ( 1st b)
5 individual meal bags of Red Peppers ( 1st b)
1 meal of Diced Onions (1st b)
1 Broccoli w. Cheese Sauce (1st b)
1 Broccoli Spears in Butter ( 1st b)
7 individual meal bags of Green Peppers ( 1st b)
1 bag Water Chestnuts (1st b)
1 Green Giant Corn Niblets ( 1st b)
1 bag Crinkle Cut Carrots ( 1st b)
1 bag BE Sugar Snap Stir Fry Veggies (1st b)
1/2 bag French Cut Green Beans ( 1st b)
1/3 bag Corn Niblets ( 1st b)
1 meal of Tator Tots ( 1st b)
1 bag of Sliced Potatoes ( 3rd b)
1 bag Steamfresh Rice w. Spinach, Tomatoes & Onions ( 1st b)

My plan is to make my meals from this freezer over the next weeks and empty and clean it. So you will see my menus made from these items supplemented by refrigerator and pantry items.

If anyone who has idea on what I could make, please feel free to leave a comment and share it with us.

Money Saving Challenge - January 17

2012-01-17T21:36:00.000-05:00

These are the things we did to save money today:

- Made homemade home fries and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

- Read the electric and gas meters and submitted the readings to the power company so we won't get an estimated bill. We used 100 KWH less than last month and 8 CCF's less of natural gas, so I am pleased.

- Paid my lab bill which was less than the normal co- pay. I love it when that happens.

- Went to BonTon to see what they had at the 70% off yellow dot sale. I found 6 cloth napkins that matched my tablecloths. I also got an additional 15% off with a coupon. Since we are using cloth napkins now I was thrilled to score these.

- Made turkey sandwiches for lunch from turkey slices that I had frozen.  I made a homemade garlic herb bread to have them on.  The recipe was in my bread machine book.

- We are still keeping the heat at 68 and 64 at night. The only light on in the house right now is the one over my computer even though it is very dark out today because it is raining.

- Hemmed a pair of pants that were too long.

- Spent an hour working on a birthday gift that I am making.

- Polished 4 pairs of shoes that needed it. That will protect them in this rainy weather.

- Ran a full load of dishes in the dishwasher using 1/2 tablet. Then let them air dry.

- I received my free Valentine's card in the mail today from cardstore.com to give to DH. It is a really nice card.

- Made this Italian Herb Salad Dessing Mix to make salad dressing for dinner tonight. I grilled the whitefish on my indoor grill rather than heating up the large oven. This saved on my natural gas usage.

- For the first time since owning computers in the 1980's, I got a very bad malware on my computer this afternoon. It took over the entire computer. Fortunately, my son is a computer expert. I called him and he told me to shut down the computer until he could get here at about 7:30PM. He came over and he found the malware and got rid of it. I didn't have to pay anyone to take care of it for me. My computer has been rid of it and cleaned. I am very thankful for his help. So this is why this is getting posted so late tonight.

Please feel free to share with us what you did to save money today.

Todays' Shopping

2012-01-16T16:49:00.001-05:00

The first place I went this morning was BJ's to price out my new glasses. I picked out designer frames that I absolutely loved and then gave them the prescription. The total for the glasses was $142.77. I was so happy with that. Thanks to everyone who helped me make my decision. While I was there I picked up the dishwasher tablets that Alana told me about. They were 120 tablets of Finish and I used a $4.00 BJ's Q and a $ 2.15 MQ for a total of $ 7.64 + tax.

Next stop was Top's where I picked up a few things that I didn't mention yesterday. This is what I purchased:

12 Bags of Mariani Banana Chips - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .75/1 = $ .25 each for 8 of them and 4 of the Q's doubled to $ 1.50 so all 12 bags were free. Didn't realize this until I got home.

3 Bells Stuffing - $ .46 each = $ 1.38 ( this seems to have been an unadvertised special)

4 Kikkoman Seasoning Mixes - $ 1.00 each - Used $ 1./1 IP Q's = Free

1 Qt. International Delight Irish Cream Creamer - $ 3.69 - Used $ 1./1 MQ = $ 2.69

3 Pints International Delight Amaretto Creamer - 3 for $5.00 - Used (3) $ 1./1 MQ = $ 2.00 for all 3

3 Boxes of Green Giant Vegetables - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .60/3 MQD = $ .60 each

Total OOP was $ 7.87. I use the chips in trail mix so free is good. I stumbled on the Bell's Stuffing. These are boxes that will stuff a 20 lb. turkey. I can use them for my turkeys or to stuff chicken breasts or pork chops. At. $ .46 each, I was not passing them up.  The Chinese seasoning mixes were free which is cheaper than making my own. DH will only drink Amaretto or Irish cream creamers. They did not have the Irish Cream in pints so hence I picked him up one quart of it. The boxed vegetables were badly needed. I have lots of canned but only a few frozen.

I tried to get 2 sirloin tip roasts at the Top's Supermarket on Transit Road in Amherst. However the lady in the meat dept. informed me that there were none in the case and the meat manager was at lunch so there was no one to cut any. If I wanted to wait until he got back from lunch, I could get them. This is not satisfactory for a sale that started yesterday and for there to be no staff at lunchtime that knows how to cut meat is unacceptable. The customer service at Top's is one of the reasons I rarely go there anymore. None of you know this but when I worked when the boys were in private school and college, I rated the customer service of very large companies. Top's has some of the worst I have ever seen.

So on the way home, I went to another Top's and got these sirloin tip roasts at $ 2.99 a lb. totaling $ 21.41. I ground one for ground round and froze one for a roast beef dinner.   I also stopped at our local liquor store to pick up the wine I needed to make the chicken in wine sauce this week. The wine was $ 7.99 + tax and I will submit for a $ 2.00 rebate. I never buy cooking wine in the market to cook with. Instead I buy a bottle at the liquor store that I can cook with and drink it.

This took up most of my day with the exception of cooking meals. I am headed to the kitchen to cook dinner.

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

Menu and A Little of This and That

2012-01-15T08:59:00.000-05:00

Here is our menu starting today:

Sunday: Barbecued Chicken Legs, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans

Monday: Broiled Whitefish, Spanish Rice, Corn

Tuesday: Homemade Cheese Pizza, Salad

Wednesday: Beans and Rice, Salad, Fruit Salad

Thursday: Leftover Night

Friday:  Tacos with Ground Beef made with Taco Seasoning, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cheese, Black Olives, Salsa, Sour Cream and Taco Sauce

Saturday:  Chicken in Wine Sauce , Broccoli

It has been a busy weekend. I babysat West for a good part of the day and evening yesterday while his Mom and Dad went skiing. He is so cute and always showing Grandma and Grandpa something new.

Today is West's 2nd Birthday Party. Can you believe he will be 2 later in the week? I don't know where the time has flown to. It seems like he was just born yesterday. We got him the John Deere lawn mower which I think he will love especially when he can mow in the spring when his Dad does and a book and some other small gifts for his easel.

I plan on going to Top's this week for a few things. Some of the deals I see from scanning the ad are the split chicken breasts on sale for $ .99 a lb. If you debone these, they will cost you about $ 1.78 a lb. I will pass on this deal because I can buy a 40 lb. box of chicken breasts at Niagara Produce for $ 1.59 a lb. when my supply is gone.
However the sirloin tip roasts are on sale for $ 2.99 a lb. I will get one for roasting and one for grinding for ground sirloin. I can't buy ground sirloin for that price. If you don't have a grinder, pick out a roast and ask the butcher if he will grind it for you. I also see Green Giant frozen vegetables on sale for $ 1.00 a box. I have $ .60/3 Q's making them $ .60 a box. My frozen veggies are almost gone so I will pick some of these up. Softsoap is also $1.00 for the 7.5 oz bottle only.

I will also pick up the dishwasher tabs on the deal that Alana told me about when I take my glass prescription down to BJ's. At Aldi's, I will be getting a fresh Del Monte Gold pineapple for $ 1.99. If you have an Aldi's the split chicken breasts are $ .89 a lb. this week so even cheaper than Top's price. Save- A- Lot has cooked shrimp for $ 4.99 or raw for $ 3.99. By the time you remove all of the shells on the raw, it is probably cheaper to buy the cooked. The Armour meatballs are $ 1.99 and there are printable $1./2 Q's. I made my own meatballs a week ago for the freezer so I will not be getting these. That is about all I see that I would consider getting this week for my stockpile.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you are making for dinner this week or any good deals you saw.

Eating and Shopping Much Differently in Our Household

2012-01-13T18:10:00.000-05:00

As grocery prices continue to rise, I had to find a way to spend less on food. Coupons just wasn't cutting it anymore. Fortunately, I have a stockpile to help with that. However, we also wanted to find a way to eat healthier and still keep our budget intact. So we have changed the way we purchase food and what we eat.

As you have probably noticed, I haven't spent much money on food since January 1st. We are trying to use up our stockpile and then buy differently than we have for years. I just fill in with eggs, milk, and an ingredient for a recipe that I might be missing.

I no longer use salt. I am trying to break DH of the habit also. Instead I am using Mrs. Dash and I am planning on trying this recipe: Copycat Mrs. Dash   as soon as I empty my storebought Mrs. Dash. It is a lot of ingredients but I have all of them. I have never cooked with salt, so I just flavor my food with the Mrs. Dash at the table.

I am using up the prepared foods in our freezers and on our shelves. But when they are gone, I will no longer buy them with the exception of juice which I believe costs less to buy than make. I will be making our own sauces,gravies, salad dressings, bread and rolls, rice mixes, all of our soups with the exception of a great deal on FF Cream of Chicken that I use in some recipes. If I can't find a great deal, I will make up the Cream of Chicken dry mix that just needs water added to it.

I also will buy canned or frozen fruits and vegetables that are out of season. I will be buying canned beans and tomatoes when I see a great deal on them or they are free. I love to make our own spaghetti and pizza sauces.

When the pastas are gone, I will be making my own. I am making my own yogurt right now. I think you get the idea that I want to get back to making things from scratch as cheaply as possible. So my pricebook will concentrate on the ingredients to make dishes, not processed foods.

We are also going to be giving up soda when our stockpile is gone. We have already started drinking mostly iced tea and water. We are not buying iced tea or water. We are making the tea with filtered tap water and  drinking the same water.

Snacks are history in this house unless they are wheat crackers, rye crackers, homemade ice cream or sorbet, salsa and guilt free chips, popcorn or any kind of fruit.

I am not a big baker. But I will be baking the bread and rolls and then baking cookies, a cake or brownies once every two months or so.

We are using butter and margarine very sparingly. Oils are used in baking bread and rolls so I have a stockpile of those.

Most of our baking supplies, rice and oils will be purchased at BJ's because they seem to have the best prices although I am tracking sale prices at the markets in the area.

Our meats and vegetables will be purchased where they are the cheapest. We are considering only purchasing turkeys, chicken and fish for most of our consumption and only purchasing and eating beef and or pork once a month. We have also cut back on our portions of meat and fish. We will be eating more meals with beans which I will buy mostly in bulk at  BJ's when my supply of free ones are gone.

For lunch today, I found strawberries in the freezer that I had purchased last spring when they were cheap. I added $ .19 sliced bananas that I had frozen and some pomegranate juice that I got free. I also added a little homemade yogurt. The result was the smoothie pictured.

Tonight for dinner, we had pork chops with apples and cranberries, baked potatoes and corn. I sliced up the apples,adding cranberries I froze at Thanksgiving, a little apple juice, and some brown sugar to make a sauce for the porkchops in a skillet. I baked the potatoes in the same oven as the porkchops and we used a little pat of butter and a Tbsp. of FF sour cream when I served them. The corn was from frozen. It was simple but delicious and healthy.

Besides regularly searching for recipes online and making my own up, I have tried a few recipes from Brandy's site: The Prudent Homemaker. She and her family have had their income cut by 70% during this bad economy and she has been an inspiration to me and many others during this time. I have tried her:

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Beef Stew

Minestrone Soup

and they are delicious. I will definitely be trying others in the future.

I also have tried a few recipes from Lucky's site:

Making My Own Luck The recipes are:

Vermont Farmer's Beans

Crockpot Applesauce

These two are definite keepers for us. I will be trying more of hers in the future also.

So have any of you changed the way you are shopping? Have you gone healthier?

Eyeglasses For Me

2012-01-12T18:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems age is taking it's toll on this old body. After years of only needing very weak reading glasses, I now need to buy glasses with a prescription. The eye Doctor has recommended that I take the prescription anywhere they can fit me. They had a place right where I saw the Dr. but he kept hinting that I could take the prescription anywhere which made me understand that the place there was very expensive. I have no experience at all with this and we have no eyeglass insurance.

So I need some help. Could those of you who wear glasses leave a comment and let me know where you go to get eyeglass prescriptions filled? I know of $39. glasses online but he says I need someone to fit me so I want to be able to walk into a place and do that. Do you know who would be cheaper? I have BJ's, Walmart and Target. Any advice you could give would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Besides going to the eye Doctor, it has been a quiet day. I seem to have picked up a stomach flu that seems to be going around. So I am going back to bed. I just wanted to check in with you all and see if you have any advice.

Any of you who saved money today, feel free to leave a comment and share it with all of us.

Money Saving Challenge -January 11

2012-01-11T18:39:00.000-05:00

These are the things we did today to save our money:

- The only gasoline used today was for DH to go and get a badly needed haircut. He goes to the old fashioned barber. You know, the one with the barber pole out front. Haircut and tip is only $ 12.

- Breakfast was made at home. Cereal and OJ for DH. Yogurt with granola and V8 for me.

- Lunch was salad with a few slices of ham broken up on it.

- Dinner was fish and salad per my menu.

- I spent a bit of time today organizing my medicine cabinets. I properly disposed of old pills that had expired. Knowing what I have prevents me from overbuying when it comes to meds and saves me money.

- Since I want to make fajitas next week and have no seasoning, I made some homemade today using this Fajita Seasoning .

- I also make my own chicken rice and was getting low on seasoning for it, so I made more today and the recipe is here: Chicken Mix for Rice .

- The mail brought a Free Q for Spot Shot and a $ 7.00 Rebate.

- I did two loads of laundry using the HE washer and minimal detergent. I used the dryer on express dry. I found a Rubbermaid container of winter clothes in the basement that I forgot to bring up in the Fall. I always wash them before I hang them in the closet.

- I threw out all of the expired coupons from December and filed an envelope full of coupons in my binder.

- Entertainment tonight is going to be reading a pile of magazines that have built up. I have a large leather basket that I keep next to my dresser and I just throw all of the magazines from the mail in there. When it gets about 1/2 full, I spend a night going through them, just reading the articles that interest me and cutting any coupons that I can use. DH will be watching sports.

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

Oh To Be Able To Do This

2012-01-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

I wish I could sleep anywhere anytime like kitty can. Actually she sleeps so much during the day that she wakes me up at 4AM every morning looking for wet food even thought she has plenty of dry food.

Today was one of those days when I wish I could curl up and just go to sleep. Waking up to all of the pictures gone from my blog was very upsetting. Luckily the content is still there.

After trying all morning to fix the problem and then finding out I couldn't, DH said let's just go out for a while. I thought good idea; it will clear my mind. So we ended up at BJ's because DH had never been there and wanted to get his picture put on his membership card. So after a trip to get cash at the bank, off we went to BJ's. Not a good move. DH loved BJ's; especially the electronics section. So we checked out and the bill was $ 268.+. Now I remember why I never take DH shopping with me. It ruins the budget. So I will be breaking down the bill tonight to log into my journals and see if any budget categories were upended. Hopefully not. I am leaving him home next time I go there.

So no money saving got done here today. I am slowly trying to put pictures that I have on my computer back up on the blog. I will never restore all of the 4 years worth
because I no longer have a lot of them. But I will eventually restore all that I can.

After just having dinner, I am going to bed early and watch my shows that I watch on Tuesday night. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. :-) I will be back with the money saving tomorrow. However, those of you who did save money today, please feel free to leave a comment on this post and share that money saving with all of us.

Pictures: Important. UPDATE!

2012-01-10T08:58:00.002-05:00

UPDATE: From doing some research, I have found that the pictures have been deleted permanently and can not be recovered. UGH! Some pictures I may have in other albums, so when I have a few minutes here and there I will try to repost some of them. But it is going to be a long and arduous process.

Wendy asked me in a comment, " What happened to all of your pictures?" The simple answer is that we tried to delete them from our mobile phone yesterday and deleted them from the blog. We are trying to put them back on the blog. I think I have fixed it but I can't be sure until tomorrow. Perhaps they can never be fixed, I don't know. I told you I am not a computer whiz. Lucky, I may need your help??? I will e-mail you.

Precious

Money Saving Challenge - January 9

2012-01-09T18:31:00.000-05:00

These are the things we did in the past couple of days to save money:

- DH is building his own workbench in the basement. He researched buying one and found he could build it out of wood a lot cheaper. So yesterday, my son brought the truck over and took him to Home Depot to get the wood. This saved us from having to have it delivered. DH paid for it with the Home Improvement Gift Certificates that I purchased from Rite Aid a few weeks ago when I received 2- $ 10. Up Rewards for doing so.

- I scoured the grocery ads and have decided to just buy lettuce, some canned vegetables, and some Pom juice this week. I also love that Wegmans is holding the prices for 4 months on certain products again. One of them is the roasting chickens at $ .88 a lb. So as my freezer stock goes down, I will be stocking on those again. At the moment, I still have a few in the freezer.

- Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with a handful of blueberries. I buy the blueberries frozen when Top's has them on sale in the large bags.

- Lunch was turkey, sliced apple, and lettuce in wheat wraps.

- We will have homemade turkey soup for dinner with a hot freshly baked French croissant.

- DH and I have taken a long walk each day for the past three days. It has been warmer than normal here for January and sunny. Just beautiful days for walking. So that has been our exercise.

- I have been cleaning out dresser drawers of anything that we are not wearing, is beyond repair, or we don't like. I hate clutter so I do this every couple of months to stay on top of it. I will be dropping the still usable items off at Salvation Army this week.  My son and DIL were doing their closets this weekend and that got me in the mood again. :-)

- DH has been downloading some apps onto our new cellphone. I will be loving the Amazon one for price checking. In my experience, Amazon's prices usually beat everyone else's but now I can check and know for sure. At Christmas, my 4 year old grandaughter taught me how to play Angry Birds which has been downloaded to the phone. When I would try to play it, my birds would go backwards. She taught me the right way . :-) I could see where this game becomes addictive, so I am just going to play it while waiting in Dr.'s offices rather than reading 7 month old magazines. Are there any apps that you find to be invaluable?

- We need to make a good size purchase of clothing from JC Penney's, so I purchased a giftcard discounted at 9% from Plastic Jungle today.

- The mail today brought the 3 Free Chobani Q's and a $4.00 Rebate check.

- DH had a dental appt. and came home with a new toothbrush, floss, mouthwash, an a couple of tubes of toothpaste.

- I did two loads of laundry today in the HE's using minimal detergent and cold water. I used the dryer but used the express dry cycle.

- I ran the dishwasher on the quick cycle using 1/2 dishwasher detergent and air dry.

- We are drinking water or iced tea during the daytime. At night, we will have one glass of soda. When the stockpile of soda is gone, I would like not to buy anymore.

- DH will watch football tonight and I will read and watch Castle later on. That will be our entertainment today.

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

This Week's Menu

2012-01-08T13:55:00.001-05:00

Our menu this week is:

Sunday: Roast Turkey Breast, Stuffing, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans

Monday: Homemade Turkey Soup

Tuesday: Angel Hair Pasta with Meatless Spaghetti Sauce

Wednesday: Broiled Salmon ( me), Broiled Whitefish ( DH), Salad

Thursday: Pancakes with real Maple Syrup

Friday: Pork Chops with Apples and Cranberries, Baked Potatoes and Corn

Saturday: Tacos made with ground turkey and taco seasoning and a choice of fresh tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, jalapenos, salsa, cheddar cheese, onions and taco sauce.

In our quest to be healthier, I am trying to have at least 2-3 meatless meals a week and use less meat in our meals. So the tacos will only be made with 1/2 lb. of ground turkey for the both of us. When we have the turkey, fish and pork chops, I try to keep the portions at about 6 oz.

About the only thing for this menu that I need to buy this week is the lettuce. I am getting low on real maple syrup but I have ordered that online at Amazon which is much cheaper than buying it in the market. I like Coombs Family Farms. So any shopping I do this week will be minimal.

Sites That I Use All The Time

2012-01-06T10:56:00.012-05:00

Over the years, many people have asked me for site links. I don't mean frugality or coupon blogs. What I mean is sites that I use to save money all of the time. Today I would like to share some with you.

We use this site all of time for appliance repairs:

Repair Clinic

When I am shopping at Amazon and need just a small amount of money to bring me to the $ 25. to get free shipping, I use:

Amazon Item Finder

The shopping site that I use most frequently for shopping codes is:

Shopping Codes

And for free shipping:

Free Shipping

To buy discounted giftcards:

Plastic Jungle

To sell books:

Cash4Books.net

How To Clean Just About Anything:

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/

How to get just about every kind of stain out:

Stain Removal Chart

If you don't get a Sunday newspaper, here are all the ads:

Sunday Ads

Discount Eyeglasses:

http://www.39dollarglasses.com/

Ingredient search:

http://allrecipes.com/Search/Ingredients.aspx

Shipping Comparison Sites:

http://shipgooder.com/

These sites have helped me so much over the years and I hope by posting them all of you will be helped by at least one of them also.

Please feel free to post any sites that have helped you also that are not frugality or coupon blogs by leaving a comment.

Money Saving Challenge - January 5

2012-01-05T19:05:00.001-05:00

As I start writing this, I am enjoying a cup of sugar free hot cocoa that I heated up the water for in the microwave. The cocoa was free after coupon. After helping DH put the garbage and recyclables out to be picked up, I needed it to warm me up. We get points added to an account each week according to how much the people in our little town put out for recycle. Since I hadn't checked my account in a while, I decided to take a peek. I have over 1300 points and I see some discounts we can get to sightsee in our area in the spring. So I will continue to save and DH and I will benefit from some cheap entertainment in the nicer weather.

I pulled a portion of ham out of the freezer to make ham and cheese omelets for breakfast. I had diced the ham up before I froze it so it was ready to use when it thawed. The cheese was diced from leftover cheese and crackers for the holiday. With a side of canned pears, we had a delicious and filling breakfast.

Thinking about dinner, I also pulled the beef tenderloin out to thaw for my beef barley soup for dinner. I reogranized my upstairs freezer this morning so I can find things. So many leftovers got frozen after the holidays and just tossed in there that I couldn't  find anything. After 10 minutes, it was all nice and organized. I found some diced onions and celery that I had previously frozen so they will also go in the soup. I will be cooking the soup in the crockpot to save on energy.The leftovers for tomorrow night are shown in the picture. I made the Crockpot Beef Barley Soup whose recipe is in the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook for those of you that have it.

Then it was time to do a load of wash in the HE's using express wash with cold water and minimal detergent. I actually emptied a bottle of liquid detergent so I cleaned it and have added it to my stash of empties. They will be used to store my homemade  detergent when I run out of store bought. The laundry was hung in the basement to dry.

For lunch we had some premade burritos from the freezer. I am trying to use up all the leftovers with just one or two items in them this week for our lunches.

I shopped online for some gifts for my grandson's birthday and used some Amazon.com gift certificates that I earned by searching using Swagbucks and also got free shipping.

After lunch I made a quick trip to Rite Aid to pick up some prescriptions. On the way there I made a stop at Fast Cash to redeem $ 1.15 in bottle deposits.

My microfiber sponges that I talked about earlier in the week arrived. I put a different color in each bathroom and a different one in the kitchen so that I can keep track of what goes where. The other 9 are now in my stockpile. These sponges are wonderful and a lot larger than I thought. Perfect for doing dishes, pots and pans.

Finally I pulled out the Christmas cards that I received this year and cut the pretty pictures into gift tags for next year. They have been put away into my wrap organizer.

I had a problem with one of the Chobani yogurts that I purchased just before Christmas. It separated very badly even though it hadn't reached it's sell by date and was inedible. I was very disappointed because I was going to use it today as a starter to make my own homemade yogurt. I love this yogurt and had never had a problem before. So I e-mailed Chobani and told them and also let them know how much I love their yogurt. They are sending me some coupons. It's always worth it to let people know when you have a problem with their product. So I will wait to purchase another one and make my yogurt after I receive the coupons.

That was about it for today. I did not sleep well last night so I am quite tired tonight.  Perhaps tomorrow will be a more productive day.

As usual please feel free to leave a comment and share how you saved a bit of money today.

Sometimes You Just Have To Try To Get The Necessities Cheaper

2012-01-04T12:46:00.001-05:00

Looking at my whiteboard list that hangs on the side of my refrigerator yesterday, I had to add these necessities to my shopping for the week. We had not one egg nor one drop of milk in the house. DH needed distilled water for his CPap machine and we were almost out of Alka Seltzer which is a necessity to take with a certain medication in this house. That got me thinking about the cheapest way that I could get those things. Since I had $10.00 in ECB's expiring today and an additional $ 2.50 in ECB's, CVS was going to be my choice. I didn't go there yesterday because it is south of me and I was shopping up north yesterday.

The Alka Seltzer was a great deal at Walgreen's so I stopped there on the way and purchased:

1-36 ct. Alka Seltzer $ 5.79 - used Walgreens $2.00 Q from the January Booklet & used $ 2.00 MQ = $ 1.79.

Then I went to CVS and purchased the following:

2 Dozen Large Eggs - $ 1.49 each
1 Gallon of Milk - $ 2.49
1 Dish Liquid - $ .99 - Used $ .20/1 MQ = $ .79
4 Gallons Distilled Water - $ 1.57 each

Used $ 12.50 in ECB's

Total OOP was $ .55 but should have been 0 since I forgot to use my CVS GC that I got free a couple of weeks ago. That's okay, I will just save it to use the next time I need necessities.

So what did you do to save money today? Please feel free to leave a comment and share that with all of us.

I'm Taking a Leap of Faith

2012-01-03T15:55:00.002-05:00

It has been snowing here on and off all day. I debated on whether I would go shopping or not. When DH came in from getting the van inspected and the oil changed, he told me the roads were fine so I decided to go.

I took a "leap of faith" and decided to buy some meat at Save - A -Lot. I have never done that before. I talked with the manager who assured me that the chicken came in frozen and was not leftovers that had been repackaged. I also found out the pork loin had just come off the truck. Actually the truck was in the parking lot while I was there. He also told me if there is any problem, he will refund my money. So this is what I purchased there:

2 Pkgs. of Frozen Boneless Chicken Breasts on sale for $1.29 a lb. = $5.40
1 Pork Loin on sale for $ 1.99 a lb = $ 11.09
2 lb. Bag of Carrots = $ 1.00
3 lb. Bag of Yellow Onions = $ 1.00
10 lbs. of Russet Baking Potatoes = $ 2.99
1 - 12 oz. Sugar Free Pancake Syrup = $ 1.49
6 Pack of Tomatoes = $ 1.99

Total was $ 24.96. The meat prices are phenomenal for this area. $ .33 a lb. for onions and $.50 a lb. for carrots and $ .29 a lb. for baking potatoes, I just couldn't pass them up. DH and I love tomatoes in our salads even in the winter so this was a good price. The porkloin I cut up. One half of it was cut into boneless porkchops and the other half will be used for a roast. All of it was foodsavered and frozen.

Next stop was Top's where I purchased:

4.39 lbs. of Boneless Alaskan Whitefish on sale at $ 4.99 a lb. - Used Tops Ecoupon for $ 5.00 off = $ 16.91

1 Coffemate Italian Sweet Cream Creamer - $ 2.00 - Used $ .75/1 IPQ Doubled & $ .50 Tops Ecoupon = Free

1 Box of Top's Crunchy Raisin Bran - $ 2.99 ( DH loves this.)

Received 6% Senior Discount of $ 1.53

Total was $ 18.37. I foodsavered the fish into portions for two and froze everything but the portions for the broiled whitefish tonight.

Then I went to Aldi's where I purchased:

4 lb. Bag of Sunkist Navel Oranges = $ 1.99

1 - 64 oz. Orange Juice = $ 1.99

Total was $ 3.98.

Last stop was Petsmart where I purchased:

4 cans of Purina One Cat Food - $ 80 each = $ 3.20 - Used Petsmart $ 3.00 off any cat food Q = $ .22.

DH also remembered this morning to ask for his AAA discount at the automotive garage. So he got $ 5.00 off his oil change. The mechanic that did the New York State inspection told him that our car is in tip top shape. Since we also have no rust after 10 years and only 67,000 miles, I believe it will be a long time before we need to buy a new car. I love that.

While I was out I filled up the van with gasoline using the $ .80 off a gallon in points that I had at Top's so I paid OOP $ 2.699 a gallon.

I am off now to log my and DH's purchases today in my journals. Please feel free to leave a comment and tell us what you did today to save some money.

Money Saving Challenge - January 2

2012-01-02T11:30:00.001-05:00

It's is so cold and windy today that I can see the dollars just flying away in the form of our utility bill. Valu Center is having a 30% off sale on window kits so I will have to send DH this week there to find a solution to how cold our back door is. As you can see in the picture, the door is mostly glass and believe me when I say that you can feel how cold it is when you get close to it.  The picture gives you an idea of what I am talking about. It is the only window in the house without a window covering. I like all the light that it brings into my morning room but in the winter, it makes the room cold. I hate to have DH drill holes in this door to put up a curtain of some sort but we may have to. If anyone has any suggestions on what we could do permanently, I would love it if you would share them in comments. The rest of our home has energy saving window shades so this door really bugs me.

As I told you yesterday, dinner tonight will be hamburgers and sweet potato fries. The hamburger was in my freezer and purchased on reduced price because it was expiring the next day. The sweet potato fries were purchased on sale with a coupon quite some time ago and need to be used up. The lettuce, onion and tomatoes were in my produce drawer. The tomatoes are getting soft so need to be used in the next few days. The rolls were in the freezer also. We like to cook outside on our grill even in the winter. However since it is too windy and cold today, they will be grilled indoors.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with a few blueberries thrown in. The blueberries were frozen when they were at their cheapest price in season. Lunch will be the end of the leftover bean soup.

I am not going out today not only because of the cold but to conserve on gasoline. All errands will be run tomorrow after DH gets back from the garage where he will have our inspection done and the oil changed in the van.

Today, I will be setting up my tracking journals to track every penny we spend this year. DH tracks in Quicken but only broad categories. I have a whole bunch of journals and notebooks that I have either gotten free or for pennies that have accumulated over a couple of years. I can't think of a better way to use them. I want to track my groceries so that I know exactly what we spend on produce, meat, dairy, etc. I want to track all of the taxes we pay during the year including real estate taxes, income taxes, taxes, fees and surcharges on bills like utility,telephone, medical,etc., and all sales taxes paid whether it be on non-food, household, gasoline, etc. Since I live in one of the highest taxed states in the nation, I am sure that I am in for a shock. Nothing says Happy New Year like getting your property tax bill for 2012 yesterday. The mail came so late on Saturday that we thought we didn't have any. DH found it when he went out to get the paper yesterday morning. While looking at the enormity of it, I noticed that the county taxes went up by 3.5%. So much for the 2% tax cap. All of the loopholes in that law will allow the counties to get much more than 2%.

I want to know what I am spending all year on gifts, most of which will be homemade. I want to know what I am spending on all utility bills, cable bills, Netflix bills minus the taxes. I want my medical costs divided up between doctors, dentists, tests and drugs.

You get the idea, every penny will be tracked. I will have monthly reports so I will know what we need to work on to lower the costs. If you don't know exactly what you are spending on each item, you can't see where to cut.

Besides doing that today, we will look for a movie to watch on Netflix. It is a great day to wrap ourselves in blankets, watch a movie and drink some hot cocoa. As usual, we will keep the computers off or asleep, lights off until dark, and shades down on the windows to keep the heat in.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us what you are doing today to make your net worth better.

Happy New Year! Let's Get Going!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

First let me say "Happy New Year to all of you and your families. I wish you all a healthy and wealthy 2012."

Now let's get moving with the new Money Saving Challenge. I hope you are all as excited about it as I am. I plan on beating my record for savings in 2011. I want this to be the best year for savings ever. Pinching every penny will be very important to me.

In case some of you missed my Money Saving Challenge posts for 2012, you can read them here:

http://frugalmakescents.blogspot.com/2011/12/many-changes-coming-for-2012-part-1.html

http://frugalmakescents.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-2012-part-2-money-saving-challenge.html

http://frugalmakescents.blogspot.com/2011/12/changes-for-2012-final-post.html

http://frugalmakescents.blogspot.com/2011/12/update-to-money-saving-challenge-for.html

I promised you that I would post my menu every week so here it is:

Sunday: Bean Soup; Salad

Monday: Hamburgers with Tomato, Lettuce and Onion; Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday: Broiled Whitefish; Broccoli; Applesauce with Cinnamon

Wednesday: Shake N Bake Chicken Breasts; Green Beans; Brown Rice

Thursday:  Beef Barley Soup; Saltines

Friday: Beef Barley Soup; Crescent Roll

Saturday: Pepperoni Pizza; Salad

All dishes will be homemade and made as cheaply as possible. For those of you in the Buffalo area, this week Top's has boneless whitefish on sale for $ 4.99 a lb. If you buy $ 20.00 worth, you can use their Top's e- coupon to get $ 5.00 off. This is what I plan on doing. I try not to spend $ 4.99 a lb. for fish,meat or poultry but we do love fish and this is a great deal especially when I can also get a 6% senior discount on Tuesday. You can freeze this fish up to 3 months. The beef barley soup will be made with leftover beef tenderloin that I cooked and then froze the leftovers last week.

Changing the subject now, have any of you done anything special to get ready for the challenge? I would love to hear in comments what you have done. For those people who have blogs, I am sure you probably have blogged about this in the past few days or today. So any visitors here should check their blogs. They are listed on my sidebar.

Besides the things I have done that I blogged about in the past few days, I have done three other things to get ready.

First, DH and I both have at least 12 handkerchiefs each. So what do we reach for? Yup you guessed it, the expensive kleenex. There have been no really good deals on tissues in a very long time. The price has escalated and the coupons are pretty much non- existent or just pennies off 3 or 5 boxes. Well, we will no longer be reaching for the expensive tissues. Every morning we will put a handkerchief in our pocket. I also have put one in my purse. The few tissue boxes I have left will be saved for company. I can easily throw the handkerchiefs in the regular wash when they get dirty and they won't really add anything to the cost of doing the laundry.

Second, we are switching from paper napkins to cloth napkins. The paper ones are also expensive to buy. I have a few cloth ones that don't really match my tablecloths and placemats but only DH and I will be the wiser. We can use up the paper ones for company. Meanwhile I will keep my eyes open in the spring at garage sales for ones that will go with the tablecloths or I will make some if I find some great sale material.

Third, yesterday I ordered 12 microfiber reusable sponges that I can use in the kitchen and in the bathrooms. I will keep 8 to use on the kitchen counters, stove, dishes, and pots and pans and 4 to clean the bathroom counters, sinks, tubs and shower tile. They have a diamond weave on one side for scrubbing and a soft microfiber on the other side.  They cost $ 19.94 + shipping for 12 of them. I spend a lot more than that buying sponges during the year that fall apart on me and have to constantly be replaced. These can be put in the dishwasher top rack to be cleaned or thrown in the wash. They should last at least a year so in the long run they will save me money. I already switched to microfiber cloths last year to clean up messes and do other jobs. I love them and even after using them a year, they look almost new.

I was thinking about going to CVS today because I have $10. in expiring ECB's but since I will be going to Top's on Tuesday and they are a block apart, I decided to save the gasoline and go then. If the items I want to get at CVS are gone, no problem. I can get them just as cheaply elsewhere and use my ECB's to stock on vitamins or other things that we use all the time.  Gasoline is still $ 3.50 a gallon here so too expensive to waste. It is not worth running out for just a couple of things. The cost of the gasoline cancels out any savings.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you are doing to save money in 2012.

Homemade Bean Soup

2011-12-31T14:58:00.001-05:00

DH was getting tired of ham leftovers, so today I froze what was leftover in 2 people servings except for what I needed to make a crockpot full of bean soup which is pictured cooking away above.  We love homemade soups in the wintertime. They are healthy comfort food for us and so cheap to make.

So this morning, I got out the crockpot and threw the following ingredients in:

2 cups of dried navy beans - rinsed throughly

1 ham bone with lots of ham still attached to it

6 cups of water

2 chopped carrots

1 onion, chopped

Cook all ingredients on low for 10 - 12 hours. Remove the bone from the soup and take off all the bits of ham. Cut them up. Also cut up any large chunks of ham that may have fallen off the bone into the soup during the cooking process. Put all of the ham back in the soup. Salt and pepper at the table when served. I don't cook with salt do that we can each choose to add it or not add it.

I have been making this for over 40 years and we love it. If you don't own a crockpot, you can make it in a large pot on your stovetop. Just make sure to soak your beans overnight with enough water to cover them. Rinse beans in the morning and return to the pot and continue adding the ingredients. Then cook on the stovetop for 3-4 hours. To save on energy, I am using my crockpot today. You could also substitute canned beans but that will cost a lot more than using dried beans which can be purchased in bulk.

Since we will be having some homemade sausage cheeseballs and shrimp canapes for New Year's Eve celebrating, we will eat nothing but a cup of the bean soup for dinner.

Enjoy your New Year's Eve and stay safe. We are staying home and off the roads. How are you celebrating your New Year's Eve?

Money Saving Challenge - December 30th

2011-12-30T12:57:00.001-05:00

After getting a really good night's sleep now that company has left, I took my navy shower, washed my hair with free sample shampoo, and made a pot of coffee. I put the last load of laundry from the guest beds in the HE washer on a warm wash with 2 Tbsp. of detergent. Then I hung them to dry in the basement.

I turned the heat way down in the guest rooms, closed the doors and put the snakes in front of the doors to create a barrier so that no heat from the rest of the house will go under the doors. I have to save energy every way I can. My last gas and electric bill was horrendous because of the rate increase. Because of the economic policies in Washington, I expect they will continue going up. I also read that the electric bills will increase over the next year because of all the regulations being put on coal plants. Soon we will all be lucky it we can eat, afford a doctor's appointment or hospitalization, or stay warm or cool in our own homes. Businesses will be passing along those extra costs to us also so we get hit twice. So I will be saving any way I can and it will be drastic this year. Always pick and choose what I do to fit your own lifestyle. Some things may be too drastic or time consuming for you which is okay. I have the time and I have the willpower to do them all!

For breakfast I decided to use some of the ham from the spiral sliced one I cooked on Wednesday evening. So I made this recipe: Ham, Pineapple and Cheddar Quiche .
You all know I substitute when I use recipes. So since I had piecrust, I used that. I also used evaporated milk diluted a little for the half and half which I did not have. I used white onions instead of green. I only had canned pineapple chunks so I cut them into tidbits.  And as you can see, I did not have a glass pie pan so I used a round metal cake pan since it was the first thing I grabbed. It worked fine and breakfast was delicious. We will have the leftovers the next couple of mornings.

I had lots of leftovers from having company so I froze them today to make sure that nothing gets wasted. I froze muffins and pound cake, whole beef tenderloin roast which I will use next week to make beef barley soup, leftover cheeses and pepperoni, and leftover bread cubes from the fondue at my son's last weekend which will become croutons or stuffing. I have lots of ham left which will get used for meals over the weekend and, along with the hambone will make a pot of homemade bean soup.

This afternoon, I will be starting to make a birthday gift. I have a number of birthdays coming up in the next few months. So that I won't feel rushed, I am starting to work on them now. I will watch football with DH while I am doing that.

Dinner will be leftover sliced ham, leftover broccoli, corn and macaroni and cheese. Everything but the ham will be reheated in the microwave to save on energy.

Tonight DH and I will watch a Netflix movie: "The Departed". I only subscribe to the one DVD Netflix plan but they gave us a free extra one over Christmas. So we watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with family and we need to watch the other one so that I can mail them back at the same time so that they will send me another one.

Be sure to check the other blogs on the Money Saving Challenge for 2012. Both Lucky at Making My Own Luck and Marilyn at Marilyn's Money have a post up today.

BTW, I can't find a couple of the blogs of people who told me they wanted to join the challenge in 2012. They are "Small Slice of Life" and "If You Do Stuff, Stuff Gets Done". It is possible that they are down to be worked on. I will check over the next few days to see if they are back up. If not I will assume, they are gone and delete them off my sidebar.

Have you done anything today to save money? Please share with us by leaving a comment.

I'm Back.

2011-12-30T07:49:00.001-05:00

I'm finally back. Thanks for being patient while I had a wonderful 5 days of celebrating Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at my son and DIL's home here. We ate lasagna, and many different kinds of fondue over 2 day period, all of which was very delicious. But best of all, we were able to play with West and watch his fascination with his new toys. He spent hours pushing his new grocery shopping cart around the house. I think he takes after his Grandma. :-) He was so much fun and he is always smiling. You just never know what new thing he will do next.

On Monday, my son, DIL, and Alexa arrived from the other side of the state. We hadn't seen them since October so we were very excited. Alexa was so much fun. She didn't let her broken arm stop her from doing anything. One of the gifts that we gave her was the Melissa and Doug castle with the royal family and some furniture. My other son and DIL gave her a firetruck. Her Dad is a volunteer firefighter so she is fascinated with firetrucks. It only took her a moment to take the truck over to the castle and rescue the queen from the burning tower. Her imagination at this age is so creative. But what she did on Wednesday evening really put a smile on our faces. She had changed into her PJ's and knew that her bedtime was in 10 minutes. She came out to the kitchen just in time to see our cat climb into her bed to go to sleep. She sat down on the floor next to the cat and sang her the most beautiful lullaby in such a beautiful singing voice that it brought tears to my eyes. Then she said Goodnight to the cat and went off to bed after kissing and hugging Grandma and Grandpa first. It was a beautiful moment. Yesterday, they left to go home so that she could make her follow up orthopaedic appt. in the afternoon. She is doing well and has at least 2 more weeks in this big cast. Then maybe they will be able to give her a smaller one.

DH and I have so enjoyed our family and we are so happy that we moved back from AZ so that we could have more times like this. Thanks to all of our family for making it so special. We love all of you very much!

Now back to business. Are you all gearing up for the Money Saving Challenge? I am getting very excited. I want to do the best I ever have with this in 2012. So just starting a little early, I will be back later today blogging again.

I had just a little time.....

2011-12-26T12:15:00.001-05:00

In between making appetizers and snacks for lunch and planning to make a whole beef tenderloin dinner tonight, I had just a little bit of time to hit the Walmart 50% off Christmas. I spent $ 55.92. I had no wrapping paper left so I really loaded up.

The thing that I am most excited about is the Bingo game. My mom always played Bingo on holidays with her grandchildren for prizes. They always loved it. So now I have a game and can follow that tradition with my grandchildren too. I picked up some little prizes so that we can play it with Alexa this week. I think maybe next year that West could handle it with help.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You All

2011-12-24T08:38:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to you all. I hope you have wonderful holidays with your families. If you are traveling, I wish you a wonderful and safe trip. And I wish everyone the best for a Happy, Healthy and Wealthy New Year.

We will be doing a lot of celebrating with our children and grandchildren starting today and continuing through next Thursday. I am so looking forward to seeing both my grandson and grandaughter and the joy on their faces in this Christmas season. Besides the religious side of the holiday, I believe it is seen through the eyes of the children and it so magical for them. And I enjoy every moment of their magic!

So unless I have time to check in momentarily, I won't be posting until next Thursday. I will be back and gearing up for the Money Saving Challenge for 2012. Till then.....

An Update to the Money Saving Challenge for 2012

2011-12-23T16:44:00.001-05:00

Lucky whose blog is here: Making My Own Luck was nice enough to make a Money Saving Challenge Button for my blog. Then my DIL, Michelle, was nice enough to put it on my blog. You see I am technologically challenged. I am pretty good with a computer but this confused me. So thanks to both Lucky and Michelle for your help with this.

If any of you who have joined the Money Saving Challenge for 2012 would like to grab the button for your blog, feel free to. It is on the right hand side bar on my blog. Just scroll down under the list of participants. You may still join at anytime for 2012. Just be sure to leave a comment and let me know so that I can add your blog to my sidebar to share with everyone else.

Money Saving Challenge The Past Few Days

2011-12-23T09:53:00.001-05:00

These are the things I have been doing to save money around here the past few days:

- Changed the last two light bulbs in the house to CFL's in an effort to decrease the electric bill

- Using sunlight or daylight instead of turning on lights during daytime hours

- Took next month's budget money for food and household items, gasoline, and entertainment out of the bank in cash

- Had 3 stay at home days where I used no gasoline and spent no money

- Mailed out $ 11.00 in rebates

- We finally used the last forever stamp from our stockpile that we bought when they first introduced them. Since stamp prices are increasing on January 22, 2012, I purchased 200 forever stamps today. That ought to last me a few years.

- Watched a Netflix DVD

- Washed two full loads of clothes plus the cat's bed using cold water and minimal detergent. Air dried the cat's bed and dried the clothes with minimal drying time

- I have gotten 8 magazine renewal cards in the mail. I have renewed none of them. I will not pay for any renewal for 2012 - no coupon sites, no coupon subscriptions and no magazines.

- DH and I went out to dinner last night using a $20.00 Groupon that I got for $10.00 in Groupon credit. We brought 1/2 of our meals home for lunch today.

- We will have shrimp cocktails and tossed salad for dinner. Easy dinner and no gas or electricity used to cook it.

- We have turned the heat down to 64 at night. We turn the electric blanket on for about 1/2 hour when we first go to bed and then shut it off. We seem to be nice and warm all night.

- I picked up a quarter and 4 pennies off the ground in a parking lot yesterday. I find it hard to believe that people throw money away.

- Took deposit bottles to Fast Cash and got $ 2.10

- With gasoline prices so high, I have been trying to be very cautious of not accelerating too fast when the light turns green.

- We always brew our own coffee at home. I can't even remember when I have bought a cup of coffee out. I think it was when I had a free Starbucks giftcard that I won back in 2009. If I need a cup of coffee in the car, I just pour it from the coffeepot into my reusable insulated cup. The same goes for water or iced tea in the warm weather.

- Ran all of my errands today using a circular route to save on gasoline.

- DH made party mix and that has been our snacks this week.

- Walked a mile for exercise yesterday

- Had $ 23.00 in UP Rewards expiring so picked up milk, eggs, margarine, and some greeting cards for birthdays next year

- Stopped today to pick up the items in the picture. My bill came to $ .00! Thanks Sis for the Free Chobani yogurt coupons. Wholly Guacamole sent me Free coupons for any product so I used them for the layered dips. I even got  vanilla yogurts as starters for making my own yogurt again.

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

Savings on My Deli Meat

2011-12-20T15:40:00.000-05:00

Last week Top's had boneless hams on sale at $ 2.99 a lb. They are normally $3.99 a lb. If I bought deli ham, I would pay $5.99 or more.

So I picked one up to slice thin on my meat slicer. As you can see I got a lot of sliced meat. Before I started slicing on the meat slicer, I sliced a really thick chunk off so that DH could make ham salad which is one of his favorites to have on crackers.

I finished slicing all of the meat. Then I divided it up into 4 portion sizes for weekly sandwiches. Next I used my foodsaver to shrink wrap the packages for my freezer. These will give us about 6-8 weeks of sandwiches.

Since I am baking a spiral sliced ham the day after Christmas, I will have even more ham to use for sandwiches, extra meals, casseroles, and bean soup. That ham only cost me $ 1.69 a lb. But I would guess that after bone that meat will cost as much as the boneless ham does.

I always figure the cheapest price for deli meat. 99.9% of the time when you do the work it will cost you a lot less. So grab those hams while they are cheap this time of the year.

Whether it is turkey breast, chicken breast or roast beef, I do my own using on sale meat and slicing it myself. I decide on Sunday if we will be having meat sandwiches for lunches. If so, I cook a turkey breast, extra chicken breasts, or a roast beef for our meal and then slice the leftovers up for sandwiches. Right after St Patrick's Day, I cook up extra corned beef for sandwiches that month. In the long run, it saves me many dollars over a years time.

DH's Two Christmas Recipes

2011-12-18T20:13:00.000-05:00

DH has been busily making his two Christmas specialties today. First, he always has to make a canning kettle or two of Party Mix. It is the same recipe that we have made for well over 40 years and his mother made it for years before that. Here is the recipe:

1- 10 oz. box of Wheat Chex
1 -12 or 14 oz. box of Rice Chex
1- 12 oz. or 14 oz. box of Cheerios
1 bag of Thin Pretzel Sticks
3 cans of Mixed Nuts
3 cups of canola oil
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
2 and 1/4 Tbsp. garlic salt

Bake 2 hours at 250 degrees; Cover the first hour and stir every 20 minutes the second hour.

Next he made his Bourbon Balls. These are cookies for adults only because of the bourbon in them. Here is the recipe:

1 Cup of Vanilla Wafer Crumbs
1 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 Cup of Chopped Pecans
2 Tbsp. Cocoa

Combine these ingredients in a bowl. Then in a measuring cup combine:

1 Tbsp. Karo Syrup
1/2 Cup Bourbon

Stir well. Then combine the dry ingredients with the wet and stir very well. Form into small balls and set them on parchment paper or wax paper to dry. Then roll them in powdered sugar. Store in a covered container. We love these but be forewarned that they taste very strongly of bourbon.

Homemade Potpies

2011-12-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

First, I want to say thanks to all of you who left comments on my post when I asked for potpie recipes. I truly appreciate it when you add your $ .02 by leaving comments on my posts. I will eventually try each and every one of them. But today because of a lack of time, I made this one. First I cooked up potatoes, carrots and celery because I had no leftover vegetables. These are the vegetables that DH will eat.

At the same time I cut up 3 all natural, hormone free chicken breasts that I purchased yesterday at $2.38 a lb. Then I cooked them till they were white and cooked through.

When everything was cooked I put the ingredients in a bowl and added Fat Free Cream of Chicken soup and salt and pepper. While I was doing that DH was cutting the pie dough into the necessary bottom and top crusts.

Then he put the bottom crusts in the pie maker, added some of the filling to each, and added the top crusts.

After 9-10 minutes of baking in the pie maker, they were done. The top crusts look wet, but they weren't, they were baked and crusty. Because DH overfilled them just a little and the dough was very thin, I think you are seeing the filling through the crust.

But anyhow, these were absolutely delicious and tasted even better than Marie Callender's and we all know how expensive they are. These are a whole lot cheaper and much healthier. I know what is in mine. We ate a couple for dinner, made 4 more for the fridge to reheat tomorrow, and made 8 more uncooked to put in the freezer for future meals. In a couple of weeks when we are craving them again, I will pull some out, thaw them, and just pop them in the potpie maker and bake them.

These can be made from any kind of leftovers and I will. But today, we had no leftovers. DH and I were thinking we could make ones with homemade chili in them too. There are all kinds of combinations that you can make. I even use this potpie maker for fruit pies, onion and cheese tartlets, and mini quiches for breakfast.

If you can think of other combinations, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

Yesterday Was An Awful Day For Our Grandaughter

2011-12-17T10:35:00.000-05:00

This is especially for Alexa. You all know that she is my 4 year old grandaughter. Well, she fell off a climber at preschool yesterday and broke her arm. Poor baby! It was a tough day for both her and my DIL. She was a trooper though and was smiling after her arm got casted.

Hopefully, she slept well last night and we will get to talk with her today via webcam. We love you Alexa and we look forward to it.

Lockport Petsmart Grand Opening

2011-12-17T09:48:00.001-05:00

Finally, the Petsmart in Lockport had their grand opening today. I went but was too late to get their free giftcard giveaway. However I was able to snag these freebies. The cat has already been running around the house with the white one which is loaded with catnip. She is like a crazy cat right now. I don't have a dog but the flying saucer is kid sized so that works around here.

They also sent a $5.00 off $10.00 coupon so I was able to snag 35 lbs. of Tidy Cat Scoop cat litter for $5.98. I wonder if I can keep getting cat litter as cheaply as I have been getting it the past couple of times. We'll see. What is nice is that Petsmart honors competitors coupons.

Another Healthy Meal

2011-12-15T18:17:00.000-05:00

I was a little under the weather today. So rather than order out for dinner, DH came to the rescue. He made a wonderful Chef's salad for each of using ham, turkey, provolone cheese, romaine lettuce, onions, tomatoes and black olives. I just had to add oil and balsamic vinegar. Why does food taste so good when someone else makes it?

Tonight I am researching homemade potpie recipes. I love potpies but I don't like the prices they charge for them in the market freezer case. So if I am up to it tomorrow, I will make a whole bunch of individual potpies. A couple will be for dinner and the rest will go into the freezer for future meals.

If anyone has a great potpie recipe that you could share the link for, I would love it.

Changes for 2012: Final Post

2011-12-14T16:42:00.000-05:00

I had my thinking cap on today while I was cleaning our master bedroom and bath. Some of things that I want to do on a regular basis on the blog next year is post my menu every week,and concentrate on an energy post every couple of weeks. Energy and water bills account for megabucks in most households right along side the cost of food. So I want to drop my costs down and at the same time help you drop yours.

Since I am planning on making all of my adult gifts next year, I need so start early. I might even dabble with making some gifts for my grandchildren. So I plan on writing about some of the homemade gifts that can be made so that all of us can give nice Christmas and birthday gifts without a lot of cost. Birthday gifts will also be homemade. I won't be able to put pictures up of what I am giving for obvious reasons until after the gift date. Any retail store gifts will be purchased with earned giftcards from points programs, Amazon e-certificates from using Swagbucks, rebate or survey cash. Let's see how nice I can make this for my family.

Another thing that I will be doing is making all of my homemade cleaners. So I will give you recipes for everything that I will be using. I have a few store bought cleaners left that I am using up. After that it will be all homemade.

I have dabbled in making bread, popovers, and hamburger rolls. I want to learn to make good English muffins, hot dog rolls, and any other bread item that we might need. Believe me when I say that I am not a baker but I am going to teach myself. Bread prices are outrageous and I no longer want to pay that much.

Once my boxed pasta is gone, I will be making my own also....all kinds of macaroni and spaghetti and possibly even lasagna noodles.

Something that I have done in the past is make all of our yogurt. I will be doing that again after I buy the first plain one to use as a starter. I also want to learn how to make sorbet.

All of these ventures I will share with you. I hope you will share any ideas you have as I go along this path.

Matter of fact, if there is anything else that you would like me to write about that would be helpful to you, please ask by leaving a comment. If I have any expertise in the field, I will see what I can do. One thing I will not write about however is investing because I do not give that kind of advice.

Our Healthy Dinner Last Night

2011-12-14T05:16:00.001-05:00

I was so busy yesterday that I forgot to eat lunch. So DH made sure that I had plenty to eat for dinner. In my quest to eat healthy, I roasted a whole chicken, cooked fresh asparagus and baked some potatoes. And no, I did not eat the skin that DH put on my plate. The potato has Smart Balance margarine on it.

For those of you who are in Wegman territory, I roasted a chicken that I purchased at $.88 a lb. at Wegmans. They will be that price until at least December 31. These are the meatiest and most tender chickens that I have ever purchased. If you follow the directions on the back of the chicken package, they turn out so moist. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes and then turn down to 350 for 18-20 minutes per lb. I am so glad that I purchased quite a few of these over the past couple of months.

Since I already had the oven on, I figured I would make good use of that natural gas and add 4 baking potatoes the last hour. Two were used last night and two will be quickly heated in the microwave tonight to go with all the leftovers. After that I will make a pot of homemade chicken soup that will be used for a few meals.

For 2012- Part 2: The Money Saving Challenge

2011-12-13T09:27:00.000-05:00

I plan on continuing the Money Saving Challenge for next year. But before I do, I promised that I would tell you what we have been able to save this year. Being retired, the way we save is a little bit different from the way someone with a job and income would save.  They would put away into savings, stocks or any other savings vehicle, a certain portion of their income a month. As retirees on a fixed income, our savings consists of not spending the amount of money that we could in our yearly budget. It also includes any income generated from investments. For us this year, it also included a small consulting job that DH spent a few hours on.  It also includes any rebate or survey checks that we did. So by doing all of those things, we were able to keep in our savings $31,117. that we could have spent in 2011. I am very happy about that since investment income is hard to earn these days.   It used to be a rule of thumb that you could easily spend 4% of your investment income a year and have it last. That is no longer the case. Interest on savings accounts is a pittance. The stock market has been a roller coaster and a crap shoot over the past few years.  The more money we can keep instead of spending, the more we earn. With inflation pushing up our expenses, the more we can keep for future years, the happier I am.

Now I know that many of you can't save that much money. Some of you probably don't have incomes that large. You have to remember that I am working with a lifetime of working and saving. There is just DH and I so our expenses will be less than a family with children and our savings will be more. Some of you can't save because you have debt and so you are trying to pay that off. I admire you for doing that. Pay off the debt and then start saving your nest egg.  I don't want you to be discouraged. Everyone can save according to their means. We have no debt or mortgage on our home so our expenses will be less than a lot of you. We have already put our children through college, so we don't have to worry about that any more. Yes, I have that blasted credit card bill but we pay that off every month. I hate seeing that bill come in so except for the Netflix bill, gasoline and the really necessary online shopping, I will be using all cash.

So on that note, I will be continuing the Money Saving Challenge for 2012. What that means is that I will be keeping every dollar that I can in our pocket instead of handing it over to a corporation or business for their profit.  My mantra is that no one will take care of you but you.

This year I will strive to post the Money Saving Challenge at least twice a week if not more. I will let you know what I am doing and how I am saving.  I will let you know about my successes and my failures. Yes, I have failures too. I am hoping by doing this, I will keep myself accountable and that you will learn just a few tips that will help you along your path to financial freedom.

So as other years, I am asking any of you who would like to join me to leave a comment and let me know. I will be putting up a list on my sidebar of those who would like to participate. If you have a blog, let me know and I will put up a list of those also so that people can learn from you too. There are no rules about how many times you have to post your money saving. Do it at your own pace as time allows. The more who join, the more content there is to share and the more we can save with your tips along our journey together.

Part 3 tomorrow............

Many Changes Coming for 2012: Part 1- Eating Healthy

2011-12-12T13:58:00.000-05:00

There are going to be many changes on this blog in the New Year. One of the changes that I will be making is to cook and eat healthier than we have been this year. There will be lots of fruits, vegetables and grains added to our diet. I will be incorporating and using up the stockpile in our diet. And I will be stockpiling at the same time, much healthier items in our pantry.

It used to be that you could get many items free or cheap with doubled coupons. Since the TV program "Extreme Couponing" aired, that has changed. Very rarely can you get anything free or cheap. If you do, most of the time it is for something sugar laden or unhealthy. Matching up coupons with sales has been more and more non-existent when it comes to food. You can still get some great deals on non-food items at both the drugstores and Walmart. So I will continue to use coupons for those items. However, I doubt very much that I will be buying extra coupons or inserts unless I find that most of the insert coupons are on items that we are using all of the time. Instead of spending the money on coupons, I will be adding the money that I would have spent to our healthier food budget. Printing needed coupons online will be a priority.

I will be cooking most everything from scratch. This means I will be scoping out the best places to buy the ingredients that go into my meals. I will be looking for the best prices on meats, poultry, fish, veggies, fruits, grains, milk, juice, etc. My hunt will include all of the grocery stores, the Dollar stores, Niagara Produce, BJ's and any other place that I run across. I will be updating my price book with all of those prices. Buying fresh produce that is in season will be a priority.

I am in the process of updating my sidebar so you will see some changes over time there also. The Buffalo Blogs will still be listed there for those of you who would like to still do the coupon deals each week. Most of those blogs list the deals each week at Top's and some of them list the Wegman's deals.

Most likely, I will not be shopping weekly but more often than not, it will be every two weeks. I will still post what I buy and the prices. If I happen to need produce or milk and have to run into a store just to pick those items up, I will post about it. If I see a great deal that I feel should be posted, I will post about that one deal. I will be keeping a running total for the year of every dollar I spend on food and on non-food items.

I will post my menu every week showing what we are eating for that week and any recipes that I can easily link or type up. I will give tips on what I am cooking and how to do it the cheapest way I know.

Tomorrow, I will be posting about the Money Saving Challenge for 2012 and what that will entail.

Money Saving Challenge

2011-12-10T06:58:00.000-05:00

These are the things I have been doing recently to save money:

- We have a laser printer. I needed to order the 3 color cartridges. New they cost over $ 200.+ shipping. I searched and ended up buying remanufactured ones plus a toner waste bottle for $ 148. shipped. This price was after I used a coupon code that also gave me $ 6.00 off. It really does pay to spend 5 minutes looking at your options.

- Baked a loaf of whole wheat bread in the breadmaker.

- Meals this week have all been from our stockpile.

- Made my Top's list for Sunday. Potatoes at $ .39 a lb. purchased in a 10 lb. bag look really good this week along with the 5 lb. bag of apples for $ 3.97.

- Planning all of my Christmas company meals. It looks like I have most everything except the liquor. That will be purchased at Premier because they have the best prices in the area.

- I have not been out since Tuesday and with the snow, I went nowhere yesterday. So I am lowering my gasoline costs.

- I did fill up the car with gasoline on Tuesday using gas points at Top's getting $ .60 off a gallon.

- We got an early Christmas present from our son, DIL, and West. We needed an electric blanket for our king size bed. They gave us one this week that has dual lighted controls. It is so soft and warm to sleep with. Because of this we were able to turn the heat down another degree to 63 at night. Thanks to them for letting us use it now when it is getting very cold.

- I baked cookies last night. Then turned the oven up 25 degrees and baked blueberry muffins for breakfast. I often use my oven for batches of baked items so that I only have to heat it up once. Half of the muffins went in the freezer to pull out in a month or so.  What is left of the cookies after DH was into them and the muffins are pictured above.

- Received our quarterly water and sewer bill. It was $ 48.+, I was very happy with this since it basically pays for the minimum. So keeping an eye on how we use water in this house has paid off. It also helps that we are no longer watering the lawn.

- Received $ 9.00 in rebates in the mail this week.

- Making homemade goulash tonight using macaroni,canned tomatoes,spices,and reduced price ground chuck. I will only use 1/2 lb. of ground chuck for the whole pan which cuts back on my meat usage and stretches the pennies farther. This will feed us for two meals and possibly a lunch.

- We got our yearly car insurance bill. Since the car is now almost 10 years old, we dropped the collison saving about $ 154.

- Watched a Netflix DVD yesterday called "Kill the Irishman". This is one of the best movies we have seen in a long time. I love Netflix since the movies are delivered via the mail to me. DH and I more than get our money's worth each month.

- Washed three loads of clothes in the HE's using cold water and minimal detergent. I did use the dryer but dried the clothes in successive batches using minimal drying time.

- Updated my pricebook with the BJ's prices.

- Have made a couple of batches of sugar free iced tea this week.

- Our Dr.'s have been switching some of our meds to generic which is saving us money on co-pays. The costs of co-pays has skyrocketed under our plan. So where the Dr. thinks the generic is as good we have switched.

- I have been cutting my dishwasher tabs in 1/2 since my stockpile is getting low. This has made no difference in how clean the dishes get.  Here's hoping for a great sale on detergent soon or at least a great coupon.

- Received a packet of inserts in the mail that I won on a giveaway on this blog: Tricias Frugal Finds . Thanks Tricia!

- I also ordered this laminator that I found on Tricia's blog: Laminator. I had ordered this once before but they cancelled my order. DH has a few things he needed to get laminated and this costs less than it would have cost us to get them done. They shipped it yesterday so this time I am actually going to receive it. This was a better price also. I needed to buy another item to get free shipping so I purchased a birthday gift that I need next year.

- Unclogged a bathroom drain using baking soda and hot water. No plumber needed here.

- I did treat myself this week to a haircut and color at my favorite salon. But I did use a 20% off coupon that they sent in the mail.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us any money saving things that you did this week.

My Review of "The Money $aving Mom's Budget" by Crystal Paine

2011-12-09T11:31:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Crystal's book that will be released on January 10, 2012. You may place a pre-order for "The Money $aving Mom's Budget" here: Amazon .

Crystal explains how to set your financial goals and then work on them in bite size pieces. As she so aptly states, there is no get rich quick way to realizing your dreams. It takes lots of hard work, sacrifice and perserverance. She knows because she and her husband reached a milestone in their goals by purchasing their dream home with cash saved over a 2 and 1/2 year period. Can everyone do this in 2 and 1/2 years? No, but as she points out, until you break down the goal and then follow a plan you will go nowhere. So perhaps it will take you 3 years or longer but this book explains the tools you will need to reach your own goals whether they be buying a home, paying off debt, or taking a grand vacation.

Part of that plan is to streamline your time so that you use it for the things that matter in your life. Crystal focuses on how to set up your time priorities and set up a time budget. She shows you how to get the clutter out of your life so that you can realize your money dreams.

There is also a wealth of information on living below your means including how Crystal achieves her grocery budget by using cash only. She also takes you through setting up a bare-bones budget and gives you a list of ten ways to lower your expenses by $600. a month or more. She simply explains grocery budgeting, how to save money using the drugstore gimmicks, and how to never pay retail.

I believe that this book should be made required reading in every high school in the country. So many of our students graduate high school without a clue as to how to budget their money. Then they go off to college and run up staggering debt. Crystal's book shows them that there is another way by teaching them how to handle their money and hence be able to attain their dreams. The youth of America and people starting out on a financial path need this book. Even if you are a mature person like me, there is something for everyone in it.

I think it is important to mention that all of Crystal's proceeds from this book will be donated to Compassion International.

In full disclosure, I was sent this book to read and review. I was not paid for my opinion.

Let it Snow

2011-12-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

This is what we woke up to this morning. It is still snowing heavily. Seems we have won the "snow lottery" for the Buffalo area. It's a good day to just stay home.

Stocking on Some Items for Christmas Company at Top's

2011-12-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

I waited to shop at Top's until yesterday when I could get my 6% Young Hearts discount that is only once a month. There were a few things that I needed for company coming at Christmas. Some things on sale, some not. Some coupons and some items no coupons.

This is what I purchased:

3 Bags of Tostitos - on sale 3 for $6.00

1 Tostito Dip - $ 3.50 - Used $ 1./1 MQ wyb 2 bags of Tostitos tortilla chips = $ 2.50

2 Bags of Rold Gold Thin Pretzels ( for party mix) - 2 for $ 6.00 - Used $ 1./2 MQ = $ 5.00 for both

4 jars of Welch's Grape Jam - $ 2.00 each = $ 8.00 - Used ( 4) $ .55/1 MQ's D = $ .90 each or $ 3.60 for 4

2 Duncan Hines Blueberry Streusel Whole Grain Muffins - $ 3.19 each or $ 6.38 - Used (2) $ 1./1 MQ's = $ 4.38 for both

2 - 6 oz Chobani Yogurt - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .30/1 IPQD = $ .40 each or $ .80 for both

2 Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs - $ 1.99 - Used $ 3.00/1 IPQ = Both Free

2 Heinz Cocktail Sauce - $ 2.00 each = $ 4.00 - Used $ .35/1 IPQD = $1.30 each or $ 2.60 for both

1 Silver Palate Pasta Sauce ( been wanting to try it) - $ 3.00 ( had it last night - hated it)

1lb. Top's Thin Spaghetti - Used Free Top's e-coupon wyb Silver Palate Pasta Sauce = Free

1 Ken's Ranch Dressing ( for dip) = $ 2.00

1- 2 ltr. Pepsi Max - Free Q from the manufacturer = Free

Received 6% Discount of $ 1.79

Total OOP was $ 28.09 + tax and bottle deposit.

Feel free to leave a comment and share any good deals that you got at Top's this week.

Coke Rewards - Hurry!

2011-12-07T08:23:00.001-05:00

One of my readers who has also become a friend just let me know that Coke Rewards has a Free 12 Pack for 30 points instead of the usual 240 today. Hurry on over there because this probably will not last long. Thanks so much Kathy for sharing.

My New Experiment

2011-12-06T16:03:00.000-05:00

I have been saving my spending money for the last few months so that I could make a trip to BJ's, the grocery warehouse club. It has been years since I belonged to one. The last one was when we first moved to Arizona and my DIL took me to Costco. She had a membership. Then when hers expired I purchased one. But that was only for one year. I quickly figured out that I could do better at the grocery stores there.

However, with supermarkets and manufacturers raising their prices so rapidly, it is getting very difficult to get great deals. So I have been using every option at my disposal including Aldi's, Big Lots, Save- A -Lot, Niagara Produce, and the dollar stores.

When BJ's put out a Free Trial Membership Coupon that was good for 60 days, I decided that I would go get it. So yesterday, I made a trip there. However, they offered to give me 14 months instead of 12 months on a membership and a free card for DH and $ 10.00 off a membership, so I signed up for the 14 months. I am positive that I will easily save back the $40. that I spent in those 14 months plus more.

What I liked about BJ's is that they put out store coupons and they allow you to use your manufacturer coupons with them. If you are buying an item that is in a three pack, you can use a store coupon and three manufacturers coupons. I had no coupons with me yesterday, however they gave me 6 different books with coupons in them. I was able to pull out the Glad and the Hefty for much needed trash and zipper bags that I needed. BJ's also sells gasoline at a great price. Those weeks when I have no gasoline points or on the off weeks of gasoline points from Top's, BJ's gasoline will be a good alternative.

Pictured above are the items I purchased yesterday. I bought a 2 lb. package of yeast for $ 4.49. Since I make almost all of our bread, rolls and pizza dough, I use a lot of this. The yeast at Top's cost me $ 5.99 for 4 oz. Buying it at BJ's, it cost me about $ .14 per ounce. Top's is $ 1.49 per ounce.

I also purchased a box of 24 bags of Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn for $ 7.99. I pay $ 8.00 for 24 bags of Top's Popcorn when it is on sale. I needed the Triscuits for a Buffalo Wing Dip that
I am making this weekend. I got a 2lb. 6 oz. box for $ 6.99 or about $ .18 an ounce. A 10 oz box of Triscuits at Top's this week is on sale for $ 2.50 or $.25 an ounce. Don't forget that I can use coupons for these items at either place.

Since I needed a lot of Cheerios to make party mix, I purchased a 37 oz. box for $ 5.59 or about $ .15 an ounce. At Top's it cost me $ 3.99 for a 14 oz. box or about $ .28 an ounce.

I also needed canned chicken breast for the same dip recipe mentioned above. I needed 12. 5 oz. cans. I got a 4 pack of those size cans for $ 7.69 or about $ .15 an ounce. A 4.5 oz. can at Wegman's is $1.99 or about $ .44 an ounce. A 3 lb. bag of onions was $ 1.99. A container of chicken bouillon cubes that makes 150 cups of broth cost $ 5.99 or about $ .04 a cup. At Wegmans, a 3.33 oz. bottle costs $1.99 or about $ .06 a cup. The Lowry's garlic salt was 33 oz. for $ 6.59 or about $ .20 a ounce. At Wegman's, McCormick's garlic salt is 5.25 oz. for $ 2.79 or $ .53 an ounce.

The Vlasic Pickle Relish was a 2 pack of 24 oz. bottles for $ 3.99 or $ .08 an ounce. A 16oz. jar of Wegman's relish is $ 1.79 or $ .11 an ounce.

And lastly I purchased a 200 ct. box of Glad Tall Kitchen Garbage bags for $ 14.99 minus a $ 2.50 BJ's Q for a total of $ 12.49 or $ .06 a bag. The last time I bought these at Walgreen's they cost me $ 5.99 for a 45 ct. box or about $ .13 a bag. And I purchased a box of 94 ct. Hefty One Zip Freezer bags for $ 7.99 minus a $ 2.00 BJ's Q = $5.99 or about $ .06 a bag. Wegman's has their 30ct.for $ 2.99 or about $ .10 a bag.

A lot of prices that I saw were higher so I will have to pick and choose what I buy there and be vigilant about having coupons for those items. I did notice that their choice meats seem to have competitive prices along with a lot of cheaper prices on dairy products. This will be an experiment in progress to always make sure that we are paying the best price. So hang in there with me and eventually I will have a list of items that I regularly buy there.

If there are things that you consistently purchase at a warehouse club that you know to be cheaper than other sources, please feel free to leave a comment and share that with all of us.

I Could Not Pass Up This Deal

2011-12-06T07:32:00.000-05:00

When they had the Home Improvement Giftcard Deal last time which I learned about from Slugmama , I just couldn't get back to Rite Aid to get it. But as I was going through my flyer that came in the newspaper on Sunday, I noticed that they had it again.

Since DH is still buying drywall and other items for my pantry that he is building, I went and purchased two $ 50.00 giftcards. I would have purchased more but the deal was limited to two.

When you purchase one this week, you get a $ 10.00 UP Reward. Since I got two, I now have an additional $ 20.00 in Up Rewards to roll over the next few weeks for things we need.

These cards are good at Home Depot which is where DH shops and many other home improvement retailers. Here is a list: Home Improvement Gift Card Retailers

So if you have a project that you are going to need supplies for, run to Rite Aid this week and get in on this deal. It is a win, win!

I'm Singing in the Rain

2011-12-05T16:00:00.100-05:00

This post has been over 8 months in the making. I am so happy today that I found myself out all day running errands and singing in the persistent rain.

Most people that know me know that I am a very happy person who packs as much into a day as she possibly can. I have such a wonderful life and such a wonderful family that I have always been so contented. All of that changed last March when I started being in so much pain that I could not stand it. The pain has gotten worse and worse over the months. I have been to two specialists who didn't diagnose the problems. One sent me to physical therapy for about 6-8 weeks which didn't help me at all. The Dr. also gave me pain control pills that I threw out after only taking them one week. They made me nauseous and didn't work.

I became a person who was always in chronic pain. The slightest thing that someone would say to me would set me off. I became depressed and started to wonder if I ever again would feel good. I often thought that soon someone else would have to take care of me. That depressed me even more. I have always been very active and done so much that the thought of inactivity was not palatable at all. Being in my sixties shouldn't mean that I have to slow down or change my way of life. I am too stubborn for that.

At times I have been miserable to DH and miserable to my children. I want them to know that it wasn't me. It was the pain talking. If I haven't answered an e-mail over the months to any of you, it was because I was in so much pain that I couldn't sit to answer it. At times, I couldn't even turn on the computer to post.

I love my grandchildren but was having trouble even lifting the little one. I would babysit and pray that I could get him up the stairs to his room for bed. He would always help me by taking my hands and walking up the stairs so I wouldn't have to carry him. Just lifting him out of his highchair when I would feed him was an issue.

I would come home from all the shopping I would do in agony but I would continue to do it. It took my mind off the pain for a little while anyhow. Sitting for any length of time at the computer was impossible so I would do my posts in bits and pieces and then publish them when I had finished.

The neighbors would come by to chat with us and always ask DH why I wasn't outside and ask for me. DH was starting to think I had turned anti-social. It wasn't that. I just couldn't be around anyone because I was afraid of being grouchy.

I was not getting sleep because I couldn't get comfortable in bed. My legs and back hurt so bad when I would lay down. The only time I wasn't in pain was when I was standing up. But if I did too many errands or too much shopping, I would again be in agony.

Finally, after 8 months, that all changed last Friday when my primary Dr. diagnosed me with sciatica and severe bursitis. I have had back problems since 2003 but they were always manageable. I was even getting used to the sciatica. But the bursitis was debilitating. Well, after two cortisone injections and 2 Motrin a day, I am pretty much pain free. I did go get a hip X-ray this morning because I may have a right hip problem. But I can deal with it knowing that I can take care of that. I am praying that the X-ray is fine and that it is just a little arthritis.

For two days I have been busy as a bee and back to my old active life. I find myself up until midnight doing so many things that I had not been able to do. Today I went and got the X-ray, did something which I will keep secret until tomorrow( picture above- my new experiment), continuing to read Crystal Paine's book and looking forward to writing my review, ran 5 other errands and brought DH and I home a submarine for a late lunch to celebrate. If the X-ray shows no problems, then the Dr. says I can get back on my treadmill which is something I have been so looking forward to. I have packed on some weight since March and I need to get rid of those excess pounds.

I have to thank my family for being so patient with me over these long months. I love you all! I also have to thank my sister, Pat, for listening to me complain all of these long months.  And a big thank you to Didicoffeegirl, one of my online readers, who is a nurse and suggested that I might have sciatica a long time ago and who has been my sounding board even though she had her own problems. Thanks for listening Didi.

I wanted to share this with all of you and let you know that the old Precious is back! You can look forward to many more posts to hopefully help you in your frugal endeavors. I am so looking forward to continuing the Money Saving Challenge with a new fervor for the New Year.

Now I am back to singing while I make dinner. Stay tuned till tomorrow to learn about my new experiment!

The Best Eye Round Roast Ever

2011-12-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, I am a "young heart" so I have about 45 years cooking. I have learned a lot in those 45 years but I have never been able to make a tough eye round roast tender except to pot roast it or cook it in the crockpot until NOW! The above picture is what was left of our 3 lb. roast after dinner.

Over the weekend, I decided to see what I could do to change the way I had been making them. I found this 5 star recipe:

High Temperature Eye - of Round Roast

I followed the directions exactly and we had the most tender eye round roast ever. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

No more will I have to cook it in the crockpot or pot roast it. In the oven it will go. Considering that the oven is only on for about 21- 25 minutes after it is preheated, this recipe is a bonus saving of energy also. Having used ground sea salt and peppercorns to season it, it had a nice crust also.

DH sliced it very thin and it was melt in your mouth tender. Right after I took this picture, DH sliced the leftovers paper thin on our meat slicer. We will have some delicious roast beef sandwiches for lunch this week at a cost of $ 2.99 a lb. When was the last time you bought sliced deli roast beef for such a low price?

When I see these roasts go on sale for about $ 2.99 a lb., I buy 4-6. I also grind them to make very lean ground round much cheaper than I can buy it in the market. Plus I know that my hands and equipment are clean.

Is there a recipe that you use for any kind of tough meat to make it tender that you could share with us? Feel free to leave a comment and tell us all about it.

Rite Aid Deals

2011-12-04T15:48:00.000-05:00

Last shop today was at Rite Aid. This is what I purchased:

2 Bags of M&M Peanuts - 2 for $ 4.00 - Used $ 1./2 $ MQ = $ 3.00 for both and I recieved a $ 1.00 UP Reward

4 Pkgs. of Duracell Coppertop 4 pack Batteries - $ 2.99 each = $ 11.96 - Used ( 4) $ 1./1 MQ = $7.96

2 Underwood Deviled Ham - 2 for$ 3.00 - Used (2) $ 1./1 MQ = $ .50 each

1 Box of Sucrets - $ 2.99 - $ 1./1 Rite Aid Flu Book Q and a $ 1.1 MQ = $ .99 and I recieved a $ 2.00 Up Reward

Used $ 11.00 in Up Rewards

Total OOP was $ 1.95 + tax and I recieved $ 3.00 in UP Rewards.

CVS Shopping

2011-12-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

It wasn't cheap to shop at CVS this week because I needed mixed nuts for a few batches Party Mix that we make every Christmas. Here is the recipe: Party Mix . This was the best price I have found for the nuts and they were part of the $ 10. Giftcard Deal so that helped.

Here is what I purchased:

3 American Greetings Cards at $ .99 each = $ 2.97 - Used $ 2./3 IP Q = $ .97 and I received a $3.00 ECB

1 - 10 pack of Candy Canes - $ 1.27 and I received $ 1.27 in ECB's

2 pkgs. of Schick Quattro Disposable Razors - $ 9.79 each = $ 19.58 - Used a B1G1F Q and a $ 2. MQ on the one I purchased = $ 7.79 ( I was $ .41 short of earning the $10. ECB but I will go back and buy one more razor with Q's this week to earn the ECB.)

6 cans of Planters Mixed Nuts - $ 3.00 each = $ 18.00

3 Pkgs. of Dunkin Donuts Coffee - $ 6.99 each = $ 20.97 - Used $1.50/2 MQ = $ 19.47. This and the mixed nuts earned me a $ 10.00 CVS Giftcard. I should have only bought 2 coffee- my mistake. But we love the coffee so it will get used.

Total OOP was $ 47.50 + tax and I recieved the $ 10.00 Giftcard and $4.27 in ECB's. I will go back and buy a cheap razor to get the other $10.00 ECB. When you are tired, you shouldn't shop. That is when I make mistakes. :-) Now I will have some ECB's and a Giftcard to roll for other CVS purchases.

Sunday at Walgreen's

2011-12-04T15:03:00.000-05:00

I was so happy to see the brush heads for DH's new Sonicare electric toothbrush on sale today. I got a $ 5.00 off coupon for them when I got the toothbrush. This is what I purchased:

2 Dozen Large Eggs $ .99 each = $ 1.98

1 - 4 Pk. English Muffins - $ .99

1 Simply Orange Juice - $ 2.99 - Used $ .50 Dec Rebate Q = $ 2.49

2 Packs of Gift Boxes - $ 2.99 on sale B1G1F = $ 2.99

1 - 2 pack of Sonicare Brush Heads - $ 24.99 - Used $ 5.00 MQ = $19.99

1 Pro Clean Spinbrush - $4.99 - Used $2.00 MQ and $ 3.00 Dec. Rebate Cpn = Made $ .01 and I received $ 1.00 Register Reward ( this was not ringing up right at the register so everything was put in manually.

Used $ 2.00 Register Reward

Total OOP was $ 26.43 + tax and I received $ 1.00 RR and $ 5.00 in Jingle Cash. I also received a Catalina Q for $5.00 off another Package of Sonicare Brushheads and will definitely be getting another package.

Excuse My Absence for The Next Couple of Days

2011-12-01T21:59:00.002-05:00

Tonight, I babysat West while his Mommy and Daddy went out for a business dinner. I came home a few minutes ago to find that UPS had delivered me a copy of the near final draft of "The Money Saving Mom's Budget" by Crystal Paine. I had been anxiously awaiting it's arrival from her publisher.

Many of you follow her blog Money Saving Mom so you know who I am talking about. For those of you who don't, click the above link and take a look. She is a young mother and wife whose blog I have followed for quite some time. She recently purchased a home with cash which is quite an accomplishment for such a young family. I am hoping that she details a little more about that in this book. I am sure that both her blog and this book could be very helpful to many of my readers. Her book is being released on January 10, 2012 and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com .

Tomorrow, after an appointment, I will be reading this book so that I can review it and post that review to this blog. So please excuse me if I am absent for the next couple of days. You now know what I will be doing.

Money Saving Challenge - November 30

2011-11-30T18:37:00.001-05:00

Finally, I could upload these pictures in blogger. Most of the day it wouldn't let me. You are looking at my bargain of the day. I never got to Walmart for cat litter yesterday because I got really busy here. So today I went to Big Lots and used the $ 10.00 coupon that I earned buying Christmas gifts there on Black Friday. I figured I might as well use it on something we really needed since my Christmas shopping is done. So after coupon I paid $ 3.24 including tax for 40 lbs. of cat litter. I and kitty love this cat litter. That is a lot less than I would have had to pay at Walmart.

Today's mail brought a couple of freebies: a nice all natural sponge from Scotch-Brite that I signed up for on Facebook and a whole group of coupons for WW Smart Ones including a Free one.

I did make my homemade pizza for dinner. I estimate with the cost of making the crust, a can of pizza sauce, some turkey pepperoni, spices and mozzarella cheese that this pizza cost me about $ 3.00. That's about $ 18.00 less than it would cost to get one from our favorite pizza place.

The other things that I did today to save money are:

- Caught up my points programs - My Points, Recyclebank, Coke Rewards, etc.

- Ran the dishwasher full on the energy saving cycle

- Since the electric toothbrush arrived today, I made out the $10. rebate to mail out tomorrow

- Cooked up some veal meatballs to freeze. They will get used in veal and peppers next week.

- Our medical plan sent us a letter that we received today informing us that one of the drugs DH takes they will no longer cover at all. DH researched to see if there was an alternative and there is one. So he will call the Dr. to get a new script for the other medication. Medical plans are getting really picky now that so many regulations have hit them for Obamacare this year.

- Made out all of my Christmas cards and was happy that I had enough stamps so that I didn't have to wait in line at the Post Office this time of year. By cutting back my list I saved about $ 9.00 in postage.

- Tonight, I will read for entertainment. Since so many shows are reruns, I am thinking about keeping the TV off.

We have our house decorated outside for Christmas so I thought I would share.

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

Blogger Help

2011-11-30T13:37:00.002-05:00

Is anyone else having trouble uploading pictures to Blogger today?

Thanks!
Precious

Money Saving Challenge

2011-11-29T09:31:00.001-05:00

I know that it is hard to save money especially during the holidays. You can tell that just by the record breaking sales on Black Friday and the double digit increase in sales on Cyber Monday. Some would like us to believe that the economy is getting better and that these increases prove it. Most of the media pointed to these sales and said that is why the stock market took a huge jump yesterday. More likely the stock market jumped because investors believe that Europe has found a fix for the Euro. I want to see details if I am to believe that. More likely they are just again kicking the can down the road. There has been a hint of the IMF( International Monetary Fund) bailing out Italy by lending up to a trillion dollars. Since the United States is the largest contributor to this fund, we as taxpayers will be on the hook for billions. Billions that we don't have so we will have to borrow the money from China again. Meanwhile Italy is selling bonds which is boosting the European market. I wonder who is buying these bonds.

Our government told the media yesterday that a bailout of Italy by the IMF is not true. However we find out yesterday because Bloomberg printed it, that our Federal Reserve led by Ben Bernanke bailed out the largest banks by giving them $ 7.77 Trillion and kept it a secret. And we were only told that it was the Tarp billions that they got. We only find this out yesterday because Bloomberg and Fox News sued to get the Freedom of Information Request ( FOIL). The worst part is that some of those trillions went to banks in other countries. This plan was hatched by Geitner when he was head of the Federal Reserve. So if they would keep this a secret from taxpayers why would they admit that they are working on an IMF bailout of Italy?

What does this have to do with saving money you say? I believe that our country is in dire straits and that the government is spending money like drunken sailors. Because of the $ 7.77 trillion bailout of the banks, we have seen our dollars devalued. Now you know why things including food have risen almost 25% in the past three years. If we ran our budgets at home like the government does, we would all be bankrupt. Just how much do you think prices will go up if we bail out a country? We will be on the hook for billions and bailing Italy out won't work in my estimation. The banks got $ 7.77 trillion but some of them are saying they may need another bailout.

Bottom line, until there is a change in the policies of the U.S., our hands are tied. We can write our politicians all we want and complain but they don't seem to listen. So all we can do is pay attention to our own budgets. Spend, spend, spend and you will be as broke as the government. Save, save, save and you will protect yourself and your families. Everybody keeps telling us to spend or the economy won't come back. The truth is when the policies change, the economy will come back. Saving your money gives banks and credit unions more money to lend to small businesses to create the jobs that are so desperately needed in this country. That is what will help bring the economy back.

So are two days of spending for Christmas presents a sign that the economy is coming back? I doubt it. More likely it is a sign that people have done without for so long that buying Christmas gifts makes them feel good. It may also be a sign that the sales up to Christmas, after these two days, may go down. Time will tell.

So knowing that I can only take care of my own family, this is what I have done the past few days to conserve our money:

- DH has been asking for me to buy a refill head for his electric toothbrush. After googling prices, I determined the cheapest price I could get one replacement head for was approximately $ 18. plus shipping Yikes! So instead I bought him a new toothbrush for $ 24.99 with a $10. rebate which will bring the final cost down to $ 14.99. This will also give me time to find cheaper replacement heads, I hope. I have plenty of free manual toothbrushes but DH and I both love our electric toothbrushes and they have saved us plenty of money at the dentist by faithfully using them.

- DH is installing the trim around the door to my pantry in the basement. He is saving us a lot of money by doing this himself. Little by little everything is getting done down there for a lot less money than a contractor would have charged us to do it.

- I purchased the Entertainment Book for cheap the other day which will save us money in the long run. I plan on faithfully checking it everytime I make a purchase. We will also dine out at those restaurants the majority of the time.

- Since DH and I like to go to Perkins for breakfast and we have company coming soon, I purchased the Perkins Groupon. It was $30.00 worth of food for $15.00. However I had a referral credit on my account for $5.00, so I only paid $ 10.00.

- We drained our outside faucets so that they won't freeze and break over the winter. I don't want to have to replace them.

- I cut up and froze some celery that was starting to get old. This will be great for stirfrys and casseroles.

- 99% of our meals have been and will be made from our stockpile. I will continue building it and replacing it little by little when I see a great deal.

- I made 4 qts. of turkey stock from our turkey and froze 2 of them for future use. I used 2 qts. to make homemade turkey soup.

- Did two loads of laundry in the HE's using minimal detergent and minimal drying time.

- All lights stay off until dark. TV's are also staying off until primetime. Computer usage is kept to a minimum of 1- 2 hours a day depending on how much research I have to do. The heat is being kept at 68 for now. When we get our electric blanket, we will drop the temperature a few degrees at night.

- Outside Christmas lights are being kept on a maximum of 5 hours.

- Today I will be making a trip to Aldi's for items that are needed that are much cheaper there than any market here. Things like orange juice, eggs, cranberries, and FF sour cream.

- I  desperately need cat litter. I usually buy it at Petsmart but I decided today I will buy it at Walmart. It is not worth the gasoline to drive 24 miles round trip just for cat litter. We have a new Petsmart opening closer to me but the grand opening is not until Dec. 17th. So I will buy enough to last until then. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a great grand opening sale or at least some coupons in the mail.

- We got our first Christmas card yesterday so I guess it is time to start writing them. I have cut back my list this year to people we actually still have a relationship with. No more sending a card to people who just keep sending them and we never see or hear from them the rest of the year. This will cut down on the cost of cards and the pricey stamps.

That is about all for now. I am hoping to do more money saving challenge posts than I have been as we come to the end of the year and as I continue the Money Saving Challenge for 2012. Less shopping means I have more time for those posts.

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

Our Stockpile Menu This Week

2011-11-28T08:19:00.007-05:00

Monday:

Breakfast - French Toast with pure maple syrup, orange juice, coffee

Lunch - Turkey soup,iced tea

Dinner - Sour Cream Turkey Casserole except I am using the end of the turkey. Also using FF cream soup and sour cream and cutting back the amount of crackers; spinach, milk

Tuesday:

Breakfast - Oatmeal, pears, V8, coffee

Lunch - Egg salad on saltines, iced tea

Dinner - Leftover turkey casserole, leftover spinach, milk

Wednesday:

Breakfast - Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, orange juice, coffee

Lunch - Tuna fish sandwich, carrot sticks, iced tea

Dinner - Homemade pepperoni pizza, tossed salad, diet soda

Thursday:

Breakfast - Blueberry muffins, banana, V8, coffee

Lunch - Leftover pizza, diet soda

Dinner - Haddock for DH, shark for me, baked squash, corn, peaches for dessert

Friday:

Breakfast - Cheerios with milk, banana, orange juice, coffee

Lunch - Canned Healthy Choice soup, pears, iced tea

Dinner - Homemade mac and cheese, baked squash, milk

Saturday:

Breakfast - Apple cinnamon pancakes with real maple syrup, banana, orange juice, coffee

Lunch - Salsa and chips, peaches, diet soda

Dinner - Smorgasboard consisting of all leftovers from the week, milk

Sunday:

Breakfast - Leftover apple cinnamon pancakes with syrup, V8, coffee

Lunch - Tossed salad, mandarin oranges, iced tea

Dinner - Sirloin Tip Roast, roasted potatoes, broccoli, red wine

Snacks this week will be a choice of of celery and carrot sticks with homemade dill dip, apples, tangerines, pretzels, or blueberry muffins

Sunday Shopping: Tops, Rite Aid & Walgreens

2011-11-27T10:26:00.000-05:00

This morning I had a few things to shop for, not much. At Top's I purchased 20 Hungry Jack Pancake Mixes. They were $ 1.00 each and I had 10 - $ 1./2 MQ's so I paid $ .50 each. These are the perfect size for DH and I to get two meals out of. This way we can vary our flavors. I also picked up a 20 oz. loaf of white bread for $ .88 with Top's Super Coupon. The total after coupons was $ 10.88. I gave the cashier $ .88 in cash first and then the $ 10.00 balance allowed me to use a $ 10. prepaid Visa that I earned from a rebate.

Next stop was Rite Aid where I purchased a 120 ct. bottle of St. Joseph's 81 mg. Aspirin for $ 4.99. I used a $ 1./1 MQ and $ 3.50 in UP Rewards, so I paid $ .49 OOP. This purchase earned me a $ 4.00
UP Reward. I love moneymakers.

The last stop was Walgreens where I purchased two Crest Complete Deep Clean Toothpaste on sale 2 for $ 6.00. I used 2 - $ 2.00/1 MQ's, so I paid a total of $2.00 + tax. I also earned a $ 2.00 Register Reward.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us any good deals that you get today.

Black Friday Shopping

2011-11-26T08:55:00.000-05:00

I no longer hit the stores in the middle of the night for Black Friday deals. If I can do it online, I will. Otherwise, I go out later in the morning after we get up. So that is what I did yesterday.

First I went to Big Lots for two doorbuster items for my grandchildren. They actually had both of them plus I was able to pick up another toy for my grandaughter. I spent enough that I was given a $ 10.00 off coupon to use in the next two weeks or so.

Next I stopped at Top's and picked up two more of those $ .17 liquid creamers. Then to Dunkin Donuts and grabbed some lb. bags of their coffee that are on a limited deal right now. They are B3G1F.  This is DH's favorite coffee so he has me stock up this time of the year when they run their deals. They were 4 bags for $ 20. in prior years but sadly those days are gone.

Then I went to BonTon to look at a doorbuster toy which they did have but I didn't like it. I did buy myself a Miss Elaine bathrobe that I desperately needed. It was $ 60. on a 50% off sale. I also picked up an 18 pack of Green Mountain K-cups for my son and DIL. They were marked from $ 18. to $ 9.90 and then I was able to get another 20% off with my Rewards coupon. So the K-cups were $ 7.92. They are pictured above.  I don't know a thing about K-cup prices but my sister did tell me that I got a great deal. I also got 20% off of the bathrobe so I ended up paying just $ 24. for that.

Lastly, I went to Rite Aid where I purchased 5 bottles of Diet Coke that were on sale for 5 for $ 5.00. I used the RA VV Q for $ .50 and I received a $ 1.00 UP Reward. I purchased two boxes of Hersheys Pot of Golds for gifts for $ 3.99 each but I got $ 4.00 in UP Rewards. Always looking for some new toys for our toy basket here for when the grandchildren come to play, I bought 8 Hot Wheels cars. They were two for $ 1.50 and I received $ .50 in UP rewards for each two I bought. My last purchase was the Planters 3 pack of nuts for $4.99 and I received a $ 2.00 UP reward. I only had $ 4.00 in UP Rewards to roll so I had to put some money out of pocket but I ended up with $ 9.00 in UP Rewards to roll the next time I need something there.

I also purchased about $ 105. worth of toys online from Amazon at about 38% off. I was able to use $ 45. in Amazon GC's that I earned through using Swagbucks for searching. And of course of purchased the Entertainment book online that I posted about yesterday.

I had 99% of my Christmas shopping done quite a while ago but I take advantage of sales after Thanksgiving for things that we need and for the grandchildren's birthday gifts.

That was the extent of my shopping. I always love to hear how you did on Black Friday. Please feel free to leave a comment and share what you purchased with us.

I Said I Wouldn't Buy An Entertainment Book This Year But....

2011-11-25T16:11:00.002-05:00

I could not pass up today's deal. Entertainment.com is offering the books at 35% off plus free shipping. If you go to Ebates and sign up and then continue to Entertainment.com on the Ebates site, you will get an additional 40% off back in cash. My Buffalo book was $24.50 after the 35% discount and I will get an additional cash rebate from Ebates of $ 9.80 for a final cost for my book of $ 14.70. Even for the few coupons I will use, this is a moneymaker for me.

In full disclosure, this is my referral link.

Our Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

We had such a wonderful day with our family and what a feast my DIL and son put on. We were invited over to spend the entire day with them. First, we had breakfast. My DIL served homemade Swedish coffeecake, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread and bacon. The pumpkin items were from two different recipes. Until dinnertime, we had appetizers which were stuffed celery with cream cheese and olives, dates stuffed with cream cheese or pecans rolled in confectioner's sugar, olives, cheddar cheese cubes, shrimp and cocktail sauce, homemade guacamole dip with veggie chips and more that I can't remember. Dinner was turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole with pecans and marshmallows, corn, cranberry sauce, black olives, sausage, apple and raisin stuffing, gravy, and squash soup. Too stuffed from all of this, we didn't eat dessert until after 7PM. My DIL made two different pumpkin desserts.....a pumpkin ice cream cake and a pumpkin cheese cake. The desserts were so delicious, I ate a large piece of both. Everything was so scrumptious including the eggnog with Baileys and Sam Adams that we had throughout the day. Thanks to my DIL and son for such a wonderful day.

The best part of the day was being able to spend it playing with West. Here he is pictured reading a book with grandpa just before he went to bed for the evening.

Today I am cooking my own turkey because DH and I miss the leftovers when we go out. I am just cooking a 12 lb. one. My DIL was nice enough to give us leftovers......Swedish coffee cake, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, pumpkin cheesecake, and stuffed celery. So all I really have to do for dinner is roast the turkey, make gravy and add a vegetable. Thanks to my DIL for being so thoughtful. And thanks to both she and my son for letting us spend the day with you and West.

Later, I will write about my little bit of Black Friday shopping that I did. I hope that all of you had a great day yesterday!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T06:32:00.000-05:00

Most of us will be enjoying our turkey dinners and eating until we are stuffed. Many will be sitting back and watching football. And I would bet some of you will even be going to Black Friday sales in the evening. We will be spending our Thanksgiving with our son, DIL,and grandson. My other son, DIL, and grandaughter will not be able to join us. We will truly miss them!

For me, Thanksgiving is all about family. I am so blessed to have the most wonderful husband, sons, DIL's, and grandchildren. I am also blessed to have shared so many years with my only sister. It brings back wonderful memories for me of my Mom coming to spend the day with us. My sons so looked forward to seeing her and playing the Bingo game for prizes that she would bring every year. And all of the years, as a kid, going to my aunt and uncle's home for a turkey dinner. There were so many cousins, my aunts and uncles, Mom, my sister, and my grandmother and grandfather. The gathering was so huge that my aunt would set up the basement family room with wall to wall tables. I also remember playing many a game of ping pong afterward. Some of those people are no longer with us so I remember and honor them on Thanksgiving. My cousin, Sue, who passed away in February gave our family a tape of these gatherings when we were kids. It was from an original 8 track movie in black and white taken approximately 55 years ago. I try to look at it around this time every year.

So tomorrow, I look forward to another wonderful Thanksgiving with family. It's going to be fun! I will share our day with you and the menu later this week.

I wish all of you and your families a day filled with love, laughter and memories. For those of you who are traveling, I wish you a safe trip. Happy Thanksgiving!

Money Saving Challenge - November 22

2011-11-22T18:40:00.000-05:00

These are the money saving things going on in my household:

- Breakfast was leftover roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and orange juice.

- Yesterday, I picked up a bottle of Bailey's for Thanksgiving. It had a rebate form for $ 10.00. When I got home, I realized that the cashier never gave me the receipt. So I called the liquor store today and the manager is mailing the receipt to me. I was not about to lose out on this amount of money.

- We got our electric and gas bill today. It was for $ 128.80 which was $ 29.00 less than last year even though there had been a rate increase this year. Turning the heat down 4 degrees has made a difference.

- Did one load of laundry and hung it to dry.

- Ordered 3 replacement pads for our furnace humidifier online last week. The cost of three pads at Amazon.com with shipping was less than buying two from Honeywell. It pays to compare prices.

- Lunch was leftover meatloaf. We made sandwiches. The meatloaf was made last night using marked down ground chuck and marked down ground pork.

- I have a raincheck for a certain item. Rather than drive 9 miles to find they don't have the item in stock yet, I called the store. They didn't have it so I saved a trip and the gasoline.

- Rode 3 miles on the exercise bike today. It is nice to have the equipment in my own home and not have to buy a gym membership.

- The mail brought a $ 7.00 rebate check.

- I ran out of facial cleaning towelettes that I had purchased for pennies a couple of years ago. While, I wait on a good price to purchase more, I will be using free samples and then just a washcloth and Ivory soap.

- I am starting to write Christmas cards. I have cut my list way down from prior years due to the cost of postage.

- Stayed home today which cuts the gasoline bill.

- Returned 3 bags of deposit bottles yesterday to Fast Cash. Received $ 2.90.

- Printed a coupon from facebook for Valu Home Centers for a free snowbrush and scraper. It always pays to have a spare when one breaks. Thanks Amanda!

- I am researching the best price on a kingsize electric blanket.

- Dinner tonight are homemade chicken strips, tossed salad and bacon and cheddar potatoes. We are craving a restaurant meal so I am making it at home.

- Tuesday night is my very favorite for TV. The NCIS's and Body of Proof will be my entertainment.

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

Sunday Shopping

2011-11-20T10:50:00.000-05:00

I was out shopping at 8 AM. The wind here is horrible so I was glad to get home. My first stop was Walgreen's where I did two separate transactions but I will put them together for expediency.
I purchased 6 boxes of the Bayer 81 mg. aspirin with the in ad Q's for $ 1.99 each. I used $ 1.00/1 MQ's on each so paid just $ .99 a bottle. I was so happy to see these on sale since we take an aspirin a day around here and we were on our last bottle.

And then I was off to Top's where I purchased:

2 - 100 ct. Pkgs. of Vanity Fair Napkins - $ 2.00 each - Used $ .55/1 IPQ's D = $ .90 each

4 Dole Mandarin Oranges - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .50/2 MQ'sD = $ .50 each

4 Bird's Eye Vegetables - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .50/2 MQ's D = $ .50 each

4 International Delight Creamers - on sale 3 for $ 5.00 - Used $ .75/1 IPQ'sD = 4 for $ .50 or about $ .16 each

1 Zone Perfect Bar - $ 1.00 - Used $ .55/1 MQD = Free

Total OOP was $ 6.30.

I have these black canvas organizer bags that keep my grocery bags from falling over in the back of the van. They also allow DH and I to carry more groceries into the house at once. We put them on the floor in the kitchen and then I unload them. After I did that this morning I went to pick the bag up and put it back in the car and found the surprise pictured below:

She had made herself quite at home and was not happy when I removed her. The rest of my day will be spent relaxing and making a birthday dinner for my son and his family.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us any great deals that you got today.

Money Saving Challenge - November 15

2011-11-15T16:18:00.000-05:00

These are the things that we have been doing to save money the past few days:

- Put up mesh fencing around our gardens to keep the deer and rabbits from eating our bushes this winter.

- DH has been building the wall in my pantry and he put in a new door. So this pantry will be it's own room down in the basement. I can now enter it from the stairs.  This has cost about $ 150. but a lot less than having a contractor build it. Next we will decide whether we want to tile or re -carpet the floor between the two doors down there. I will take pictures when it is all done.

- We have been covering our grill and outdoor furniture with covers that we purchased so that they can stay outside this winter.

- DH finished cleaning the garage so it's all ready for the winter.

- I have been using up leftovers this week. Since they are finished, I will cook kobe beef burgers for dinner tonight accompanied by homemade French fries.

- The mail has brought a Crest toothpaste sample and $ 43.88 in rebate checks. I have also gotten about 12 magazines that were free subscriptions.

- One pair of my jeans were faded, so today I dyed them with RIT dye. They look like new.

- While trying to repackage things in my freezer, I realized that I have 2 turkeys and 3 turkey breasts in the bottom of it so I may not be buying many turkeys this year.

- Took a roasting chicken from the freezer to the refrigerator so that it will thaw and I can roast it tomorrow.

- I had to read the electric and gas meters today and submit them to the company to avoid an estimated bill. Looking at last years bill, we have cut our KWH just a little but we have cut our natural gas CCF usage by 30 CCF's from the same period last year.This is a significant drop. Keeping the house at 68 during the day and 65 at night instead of 72 all day seems to be paying off.

- Hand washed a couple of sweaters and laid them out to dry.

- Did 3 loads of wash using cold water in the HE washer and minimal drying time in the HE dryer.

- I cleaned the inside of my dishwasher including all filters and screens to keep it functioning at peak performance.

- My son brought me 2 more butternut squash so I will be cooking those in the microwave later. I have been so enjoying these. To me they are a treat!

- I have been hunting high and low for the Christmas cards that I got Free last year. I finally found them.

- We were out of Italian dressing so I made some using oil, vinegar, about 1/3 cup of grated onion, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1 tsp. each of oregano, basil and celery seed, and grated black pepper to taste.

- I baked a batch of walnut chocolate chip cookies this morning.

- Our Netflix movie arrived today so that will be our entertainment after dinner tomorrow night. Tonight we will be watching the NCIS's.

- Out automobile policy is up for renewal and we decided to drop the collision insurance since the car is just about 10 years old. This will save us $ 178. a year.

That's about it. I have been doing a lot of uncluttering in the house. I find by doing this 3-4 times a year that everything stays neat and organized and things that we don't use get tossed or donated.

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

Top's Trip Yesterday

2011-11-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

I did a little Top's shop yesterday. This is what I purchased:

8 cans DelMonte Diced Tomatoes - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .75/2 MQD = $ .25 each

4 Coffeemate Creamers - $ 2.00 each - $ .50/1 MQD = $ 1.00 each

2 Heluva Good Dips - $ 1.66 each - Used $ .50/1 IPQD = $ .66 each

Total OOP was $ 7.32.

This was all I could use this week. Tomorrow I will be back with the Money Saving Challenge.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us any good deals you have gotten this week.

My Walmart Trip, etc.

2011-11-13T12:05:00.000-05:00

I made a quick trip to Walmart today to pick up 11 packages of Pepcid AC before the $ 4.00 coupons expired today. They cost $ 4.38 a package so I paid $ .38 each. I also did a Top's shop too but my camera has decided to give me a problem. So if I get that working, I will post my Top's shop tomorrow.

Last night we did something that we haven't done since West was born. West, his Mommy and Daddy and DH and I went out to dinner to a favorite local restaurant called Wagners. The last time we went out to dinner with his Mommy and Daddy was 2 days before West was born. West was so patient last night waiting for his dinner keeping busy playing with his Play Dough and crayons. He was sporting his new haircut that his Daddy gave him. He was a joy to be out with. Beer and wings was on the menu along with sweet potato fries and regular fries and gravy. When I was in high school many, many, many years ago, one of our hangouts was a place named Paul's Restaurant. The specialty that we all ordered was French fries with gravy. I have tried this dish at restaurants from here to Massachusetts, here to Florida, and here to Arizona. Never was I able to get what even came close to Paul's fries and gravy until I ordered them at Wagner's. They are just about the same. So delicious that now whenever I go there, I will be ordering them.

While I was at Walmart, I also picked up this necessity. West is getting so big that he has outgrown the high chair I have. So now he can eat at the table with us with his new booster seat.

Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what deals you got today.

Waste Not, Want Not

2011-11-12T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well, it is Saturday again. So it is time to check the refrigerator for leftovers from the week. I do this every week before I shop. I do not want to waste food expecially since it is so expensive.

I keep one shelf in my side by side refrigerator for leftovers only and food that I know will expire soon. That way I know to check that shelf first before I cook for the day to see what I can incorporate into another meal.

As you can see, we have quite a bit left this week. The containers on the left hold leftover Caesar dressing and chicken from Chicken Caesar wraps. The large container in the front holds about 3 meals worth of cooked butternut squash. Behind those are leftover pizza sauce and leftover whole wheat spaghetti. The pitcher has leftover chicken broth in it. Also there are two cans of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits that must be used by Nov. 14th. There is also a jar of applesauce that is 3/4's full and a jar of mixed fruit that is 1/4 full.

So my dilemma is what do I do with these today? I will bake one package of Grands this morning. We will use a couple for turkey bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits for breakfast. The others will be used for sandwiches and meals the next two days or so. Since these freeze well, I will freeze the second can for another day.

The chicken and Caesar dressing is enough to make a wrap with romaine lettuce for DH for lunch. I will finish the mixed fruit for my lunch today. The squash will be used as a vegetable with meals today, tomorrow and Monday. The applesauce will also be used for meals the next few days.

And lastly, I will be making a pot of Mexican soup using up the whole wheat spaghetti ( cut up into small pieces), the pizza sauce, and the chicken broth. I will add some black beans, taco seasoning and veggies. This will be our lunch the beginning of the week.

Now that I know that I have a plan for my leftovers, I can feel confident in making my menu for the next week.

Do you keep a shelf just for your leftovers? Do you check it often to see what you can incorporate into a new meal? Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us how you handle your leftovers.

A Quick Shopping Trip

2011-11-09T15:23:00.001-05:00

Since oil goes on sale this time of the year, I like to stock up for the rest of the year. So I did that today.

Here are my two little shopping stops:

Top's:

4 Pillsbury Brownie Mixes - $ 1.25 each - Used $ .35/1 MQ'sD = $ .55 each

4 Crisco Canola Oil - $ 3.49 each - Used $ .50/1 MQ'sD = $ 2.49 each = $ 9.96 - Received $ 4.00 off Instantly for buying the oil and brownie mixes = $ 5.96

2 Idahoan Mashed Potatoes - $ 1.00 each - Used $ 1./1 Facebook Q's = Both Free

Total OOP was $ 8.16.

Valu Home Center:

6 Pkgs. of AAA & AA Eveready Gold Batteries - on sale B1G1F ( one pkg. was $ 1.97) = $ 5.91

1 - 9 inch LED Flashlight - Free with Facebook Q = Free ( it's in the picture behind one of the Idahoan; double click the picture if you want to see it better ) Since our small ones just bit the dust, this was quite a steal for me. Many Thanks to Tricias Frugal Finds for posting this coupon.

Total OOP was $ 5.91.

Finally the two squash were free from my son and DIL. They are in a weekly organic co-op so get lots of vegetables. We have been the recipient of their excess produce many times this summer and fall. Many thanks to them for thinking of us.

DH and I are going to have our last steak cookout of the season tonight. I am so looking forward to our last two strip steaks, garlic mashed potatoes and a nice tossed salad for dinner. Add a glass of red wine and I am thrilled.

Please feel free as usual to leave a comment and share with all of us any great deals you got this week.

The Dipping Sauce for the Potstickers

2011-11-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I forgot to tell you how I make my dipping sauce for the potstickers. It's easy and makes them so tasty. These are the ingredients:

- 6 Tbsp. of Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce

- 1 Tsp. of Ginger

- 3 Tbsp. of Rice Cooking Wine

- 1 Tsp. of Red Pepper Chili Oil

- 1/2 Tsp. of Splenda

- 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

Mix together and refrigerate.

Making It Cheaper: Potstickers

2011-11-08T19:31:00.000-05:00

We love Chinese food. DH's favorite dish is potstickers. We have not found a great Chinese restaurant since we moved here. Usually we get Chinese take-out food when we visit my son in the Albany area.
But in between those visits, DH craves potstickers.

I can buy a 12 oz. bag of them ready made at Wegman's. It is a 12 oz. bag that costs $ 5.49. However, we have made them ourselves before. I made lamb ones back in January 2010. DH and I have even made our own wrappers but they are a lot of work.

Since I had wonton wrappers in the refrigerator, I decided to make up a batch today for a few meals. I was also curious to see if I could make them cheaper than buying them.

So I used two of the chicken breasts that I deboned yesterday, cut them into strips and ground them with my Kitchen Aid grinder attachment.

Next I added the other ingredients( prices after each of them) which were 8 diced water chestnuts ( $ .22), 3 diced green onions ( $ .43), 1/2 tsp. five spice powder ( $ .05),2 Tbsps. soy sauce which was free for me but if you had to pay ( $ .07), 1 tsp. sugar ( $.10), and 1 tsp. sesame oil ( $ .08).

Then both DH and I filled the wonton wrappers ( .06 each) with the filling and folded them into potstickers.

Next I boiled them in water and took them out while I changed the water so that I can fry them in oil just before we ate them.

The final cost for 48 potstickers, including the cost of the chicken($1.03) was $ 4.97. The bag of Wegman's only had 24 potstickers so I made double the amount ( 48) for $ .52 less than buying 24 of them. DH and I ate 1/3 of them so we have two meals frozen to reheat when the craving for potstickers starts again.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us an item that you make cheaper than storebought.

My Chicken Experiment

2011-11-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

Years ago it used to be that if you bought chicken breasts with the bone and they cost 33% less per lb. than boneless, that you were getting a good deal. This is an old formula that I used from weighing them myself 30 years ago. In recent years they seem to leave more skin on the breasts than they used to and the bones seem larger. So I decided to do an experiment this morning to see if that still rings true.

So I took this package of chicken breast on the bone that I bought yesterday at Top's:

It weighed 4.68 lbs. and cost $ .99 a lb. which made the entire package cost $ 4.63. Then I took a boning knife and cut the breasts off of the bones. The boning knife allowed me to get almost every ounce of chicken off as you can see below:

Then I weighed each piece using my small food scale:

Using my calculator, I added up all of the boneless chicken weights and determined that it weighed 2.59 lbs. Taking the $ 4.63 that it cost me for this package of chicken and dividing it by the 2.59 lbs.that the boneless chicken cost, I determined that the boneless cost me $ 1.78 a lb. That is about 80% more per lb. than the bone in cost. So I can throw the 33% formula out the window.

The reason I did this today was to determine if I should go buy many more packages to stock my freezer. Since I can buy boneless chicken at Niagara Meat and Produce for $ 1.59 a lb., this is not a good deal for me. However, I do have to buy a 40 lb. box when I purchase it there.

If I did not have a freezer with the space to buy the 40 lb. box, then the bone in chicken would be a good deal for me. Usually I can not buy boneless chicken by the package for under $ 1.99 a lb. So if I was just buying a few packages at a time, these packages of bone - in chicken at $ .99 a lb. would be a great deal.

You can do this with any bone in or boneless cut of meat to see if you are really getting the deal that you think you are. It is definitely worth doing the math, especially at today's prices.

Sunday Shopping

2011-11-06T18:30:00.000-05:00

I was out before 8 am this morning filling the van up with gasoline & getting $ .90 off a gallon with my Top's points. I spent $38.10 to do so. Then I was off to do lots of shopping. This is what I purchased:

Wegman's:

5 lbs. Wegman's flour - $ .99

1 - 64 oz. Wegman's Orange Juice - $ 2.49

2 Smart Balance Milk - $ 3.79 each - Used $ 1.50/1 IPQ on each = $2.29 each

2 cans of Wegman's Coffee - $ 2.49 each

2 Wegman's Peanut Butter - $ 1.29 each

1 Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs - $ 1.99 - Used $ .75/1 IPQD = $ .49

2 boxes of Zesta Saltine Crackers - $ 2.50 each = $ 5.00 - Used $ 1./2 MQ = $ 2.00 each

1 bunch of Green Onions - $ .85

Total OOP was $ 20.96.

Niagara County Produce:

1 Celery - $ 1.29

3 Reduced Price Bananas at $ .19 a lb. = $ .17

Total OOP was $ 1.46

Top's:

1 Pkg. of Chicken Breasts with bone - $ .99 a lb = $ 4.63

2 pkgs. of Sargento Shredded Cheese - $ 2.00 each - Used $ .55/1 MQD = $ .90 each

1- 32oz. Smuckers Strawberry Jam - $3.00 - Used $ 1.50/1 IPQ = $ 1.50

7 Pillsbury Cakes Mixes - $ 1.25 each = $ 8.75 - Used (3) $ 1./2 Tearpad Cpns = $ 5.75 - Received $4.00 off Instantly for buying these and the Smuckers) = $ 1.75

4 Nestle Hot Cocoa - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .55/1 IPQ's D = All Free

1 Kleenex Cool Touch Tissue - $ 1.50 - Used $ .40/1 MQD = $ .70

1 Can of Water Chestnuts - $ .99

3 Nissin Super Meals $ 1.00 each = $ 3.00 - Used $ 1./3 MQ = $ 2.00

1- 250 ct. Small Steps Napkins - $ 2.50 - Used $ 1./1 MQ = $ 1.50

Total OOP was $ 14.87 + tax.

CVS - 2 separate orders:

8 Softsoap - $ .99 each - Used $ .75/1 MQ's = $ .24 each

Total OOP was $ 1.92 + tax.

Walgreen's :

2 Clabber Girl Baking Powder - $ .50 each with In Ad Cpn - Used (2) $ .50 IPQ's = Both Free

1 Schick Hydro 5 Ct Razor - $ 9.99 - Used Free Cpn = Free

Total OOP was just tax.

Rite Aid:

2 - 8 oz. Purell - $ 2.99 each - used $ 1./1 MQ's and $ 1./1 RA Q's from Flu Shot Books = $ .99 each

Total OOP was $ 1.98 + tax.

For people in my area, I noticed the frozen turkeys this year are $ .49 a lb. with $ 25. minimum purchase at Wegman's and $ .48 a lb. with $25. minimum purchase at Top's.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us any good deals you got today.

Are You Comatose When It Comes To Your Money? (Final Thoughts)

2011-11-04T11:42:00.000-04:00

We also budget $ 100. every two months for haircuts for the both of us. I also get my hair colored.

Travel and vacations runs another $ 200. a month.  Stamps, Christmas cards, the Sunday paper, and other odds and ends run about $ 45. a month.

The last thing in our budget that I haven't mentioned is spending money. DH and I budget $ 100. each per month for this. This is money that we can use and not have to keep track of what we spend it on. We may use it for whatever we desire. I use mine mostly for extra coupons that I need.

So our total monthly expenses run $ 4296. a month or $ 51, 552 a year(after tax money). This is about all we spend on. As you all know, we are retired and there are just two of us. So we have no commuting or job related expenses as most of you would have.

Categories that are not in our budget that you may have are mortgage payments or rent, student loan payments, credit card payments, automobile payments, credit card payments or 401K payments.

Our home is paid for and we have no outstanding debt. We use our credit cards as a convenience but pay them when the bill comes. We have no car loan. We still try to keep as much of our retirement money in investments or savings as possible.

Bottom line is we spend as little as possible and if we have money left over at the end of the month, we just roll that category into the next month. If we decide after a while that we are budgeting too much or not enough, we will adjust our categories.

I did want to show you what we spend but only as a guide for categories for your own budget. Plus your categories may differ from ours. Your families will be different sizes and hence your expenses may be different.

Some of you asked me how we decided how much a month we needed? We keep track of our expenses yearly and just divided those amounts by 12. The grocery budget is a little different depending on how stockpiled we are. I also want to cut how much we are spending there by making things cheaper from scratch. My current pricebook which I am faithfully keeping updated is a great resource for always getting the best deal.

The other two things that I wanted to relay to you who are still working is that retirement is not cheap. It is a priority for you to save for retirement. The longer period you have to save, the less money you have to put away every month. If you wait until you are 40-50, you have to put a lot more away every month. So save while you are young.

Secondly,make it a priority to be debt free by the time you retire. It is so stress free to not have to worry about how you are going to make your mortgage payments. It is hard enough in retirement to pay the taxes on your home. Owning it outright makes that so much easier.

Could we live cheaper? Sure we could! We could drop the cable and use dial up internet. We could only pay for either a house phone or a cellphone. We could stop taking vacations. We could severely cut our spending money.  I could color my hair at home or go gray again.  We could stop going out to dinner or anywhere else. We could stop giving gifts and give up the security service. There are lots of ways to cut but we choose not to and fortunately because we planned well, we don't have to. However, if the day ever comes, we could do it and survive very nicely.

So please work on your budgets so that you know where your dollars are going. Don't just turn a blind eye and then wonder why there is more month than money. It is so important always but especially with the costs of goods and services rising so rapidly. I would like to see all of you reach your goals in life and be able to retire in your golden years. But you can't do it without working your goals out for a year, 5 or 10. You need a plan for the next year and down the road.

Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. I will do my best to answer any.

Are You Comatose When It Comes To Your Money? ( Continued)

2011-11-03T08:37:00.003-04:00

Well, talking about QE3, the Fed yesterday afternoon decided not to do it. Will wonders never cease? I wish they hadn't done 1 and 2. But I am of the thinking that our economy would be better off if the government had not bailed out the banks and just let things take their course. I believe we would be further ahead now without spending all of that wasted stimulus money. But that is just my $ .02!

So back to my thinking on our budgeting. As of November 1st, we have put a new budget in place. I took $ 160. out of the bank for grocery and drugstore shopping. Of course that does not include drug co-pays for prescriptions. But it is all of the money that I have to spend for one month. With my stockpile built up, this should be all I will need to spend a month for the next year. When the cash is gone, it is gone. I will learn to make substitutions when it is necessary. I will find ways to either buy it or make it cheaper. I do have turkeys to stock on but they will have to come out of my November budget.

We have budgeted $ 150. a month for gasoline. That figure may be high but it will give us leeway if gasoline prices keep rising. Plus DH and I have Dr's that are quite a distance from us so we took that into account.  It will also prevent me from making trips for just one or two items. We will have to really think about where we are going and what we are buying.

We had to budget $190. a month for cable, internet, telephone and netflix because of the increase for all. This really bothers me spending this much but DH enjoys the TV and I like the internet so we will just have to pay for them. The telephone is a necessity for us and the netflix saves us a fortune on movies. DH and I watch at least 8-10 movies a month on DVD alone.

Entertainment such as eating out, sightseeing, museums, zoo's etc. is set at $ 100. a month. We can do many things or enjoy fine dining once during the month.

Utility rates keep going up so taking into account that there will be an increase again in a few months, we have budgeted $ 200. a month for natural gas and electricity. Heating season is upon us and that is when our costliest bills are. Higher in the winter and lower in the summer. But you better believe that I will be working hard to make sure that the bills are lower than this.

We must budget $ 700. a month for medical premiums, co-pays and dental expenses. This amount is a necessity.

The budget for gifts for all birthdays and Christmas will be $ 150. a month. This is doable if I watch for sales and make more gifts.

Our security service costs us $30. a month and it is a necessity for us. Automobile and homeowner's insurance comes to $191. a month and is also a necessity.

Clothing is budgeted at $ 40. a month. We both have a good size wardrobe and it is just a matter of replacing things as they wear out.

We have the money saved to replace our car but we do budget $ 250. a month for oil changes and repairs.

Right now, we pay only $10. a month for our cellphone but that could go up to $40. a month in the next year so that is what we have budgeted.

Household items and garden maintenance comes in at $ 600. a month. That amount includes replacement costs for appliances and furniture as they wear out. Since we just spent $ 245. for outdoor furniture covers for our patio furniture, it doesn't take long to spend it.

School and property taxes are budgeted for the next year at $ 950. a month. Not much you can do about this but hope that they aren't higher than this when everything is passed for 2012.

As you can see, we are up to $ 3751. a month and I am not finished yet. I will continue this tomorrow and explain how we knew what we needed to budget.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts with all of us.

Are You Comatose When It Comes To Your Money?

2011-11-02T11:35:00.002-04:00

Do you really know where your money is going every month? Or does it just drip out the door in small amounts and you have no clue what you are really spending? I suspect that most people have a general idea but really don't know the full picture.

Being that it was getting close to the end of the year, I was getting uneasy that a lot of our money has been dribbling out for stockpiling and the holidays. It is so easy not to pay attention and then be shocked when you actually add it up. Add to that the fact that so many costs have escalated the past few months besides food costs. For us, utility rates went up and now Time Warner which provides cable, internet and telephone is raising their rates on December 1st for the SECOND time this year. I wish we had Verizon Fios here. I would switch in a minute because it is $44. cheaper.

And of course there are medical costs that are rising faster than anything for us. The co-pays up to $90. a prescription is more than enough to make me sit up and look at our money situation.

Then there are school and property taxes here in New York which are some of the highest in the nation. I am not complaining because we chose to move from a low tax state to a high tax state. Being near our grandchildren has made those high taxes worth it. But we still have to budget for those increases.

All of these increases have happened so fast over the past few months that I decided to take a look at our budget now instead of waiting until January. You see we have been retired well over 10 years and needless to say our money does not go as far as it used to in 2001. Before we retired, we could almost count on a pay raise every year or two. That is not the case when you are retired. When we saved for retirement, we took into account that we would have a small amount of inflation every year. What most retired people did not expect was the ugly inflation that is a result of our government printing money out of thin air constantly. They have done this twice already and now are getting ready to do a QE3.  Every time they do this your money is devalued and massive inflation rears it's ugly head. Of course, they tell you this is not the case because their figures do not include food and gasoline costs - the two things that hurt Americans the most.

This period in our lives reminds me of the 1970's when inflation was also rampant and gasoline prices were out of sight. The only difference I see is that by the government printing money, they have artificially kept mortgage rates low. When this is no longer the case, you will see mortgage rates sky rocket.

A lot of you are not retired and do not get raises either because the economy is so bad. Even if you do get a raise or did get a raise this year, I am pretty sure that, for most of you, that raise did not make up the difference of rising costs. I am sure that some of you actually got reductions in pay since many companies are cutting salaries just to be able to keep people employed.

So we felt now is the right time to look at the money situation for the next year, 5 years and even 10 years. Looking now before we go overboard for the holidays was the right time for us. We have pretty much finished our Christmas shopping. Did we cut back this year? Yes, we did because we had to take into account all of the increases in everything else. Will we still give generously? Of course. But we had to cut back on the amount of money we will spend. But then again, you have to remember that the best part of the holidays is sharing time with your families, not how many gifts you give.

So take a look at your money situation with your spouse or significant other or even do it yourself if you are responsible for your own bills. Just make sure that if you have a spouse that they are on board with the budgeting. I have seen too many people over the years hide bills from each other and never get on the same wave length as far as budgeting. Recently, an old friend died and his wife was in shock when she found out that he had run up thousands of dollars in credit card debt without her knowledge. He just kept telling her that everything was fine. She never saw a bill. While she holds the blame for never opening her eyes, she is left with many debts and hardly any income. You can never enjoy a debt free life with enough money to live on until you die if you hide things from each other. That is the biggest sabotage to a rich life.

To be continued....................

Young Hearts Day at Top's

2011-11-01T13:51:00.000-04:00

Today was the day for my 6% discount at Top's. Every little bit helps with these rapidly escalating prices. I was especially happy to find ground chuck reduced for quick sale at $ 1.99 a lb. I stopped by Dollar General on the way home even though I did not have any coupons.

This is what I purchased:

Top's

4 Pkgs. of Ground Chuck at $ 1.99 a lb = $ 8.76

6 Mission Wrap Kits - on sale at 50% off = $ 1.74 = Used (6) $ 1./1 MQ's = $ .74 each

1 Ritz Crackers - $ 3.69

2 Taster's Choice Coffee Sticks - $ 1.00 each - Used (2) $ .65/1 IPQ'sD = Free

4 Boxes Honey Nut Cheerios - $ 2.50 each - Used ( 2) $ 1./2 MQ's = $2.00 each

2 Pkgs. of Top's English Muffins - $ 1.50 each

2 Muir Glen Pizza Sauce - $ 2.39 each - Used $ .75/1 IPQD = $ .89 each

6 cans Hunt's Diced Tomatoes - $ 1.00 each - Used (2) $ .45/3 MQ'sD = $ .70 each

10 cans Hunt's Tomato Sauce - $ .50 a can

Received $ 3.05 Discount

Total OOP was $ 36.82.

Dollar General

3 boxes Of Chex Cereal - on sale B1G1F = $ 5.00 for all 3( I am stocking for party mix)

2 Boxes Velveeta Shells and Cheese - $ 2.00 each

1 can Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup - $ 1.00

Total was $ 10.00 but nothing OOP because I paid with a Free $ 10.00 Prepaid Visa Card from the Cars 2 Cottonelle Deal.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us any great deals you got this week.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T18:29:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween to you and your families. I hope you are all having a fun and safe day!

I have been busy here the past few days. I am working on a year budget that we are starting tomorrow, November 1st. I decided not to wait until January 1st because rising costs are not waiting until then. It is also a way to keep holiday costs under control. More on that later......

Besides that I babysat West on Saturday evening while his Mom and Dad toured a haunted house and went out for coffee. He also came to visit us that morning. He is getting so big as you can tell by the picture above.

Yesterday, I cooked a turkey dinner and we watched the Buffalo Bills game. It was a lazy day for me.

Today, I made a quick trip to Aldi's to pick up a few things. I purchased:

1 Appleton Farms Spiral Sliced Ham at $ 1.69 a lb = $ 16.41 ( This is my Christmas ham. I used to buy these hams in AZ and they are one of the best we have ever had. So I wanted to get mine early while they still have them.)

2 Unsalted Butter - $ 1.99 each = $ 3.98

1 Pineapple - $ 1.99

2 cans of Candied Sweet Potatoes - $ .99 each = $ 1.98

Total OOP was $ 24.36.

We have had a wonderful Halloween. Our little monster, West came trick or treating. He was so excited to get Cheerios to put in his pumpkin. I have to run and answer the door again but I am enjoying every minute of seeing the little ones and their costumes. They are all so cute and so polite. I hope you are all having as much fun.

Aldi's is Becoming my Favorite Market

2011-10-27T14:54:00.001-04:00

With prices rising so rapidly, Aldi's is becoming my favorite place for groceries. And with the crowds that I am encountering when I go there, I believe it is becoming many people's favorite store. You just can't beat their prices on most items even if you have doubled coupons in your area. The Top's flyer has been very disappointing the last month or so and continues to be even this Sunday.

I spend a little time while I am in line checking out other people's carts and asking them about certain products they buy. A woman this morning told me that the Cattlemen's Ranch Beef Steaks are outstanding. I will be buying them next time I go.

This morning I made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up some Equate Ibuprofen. It is 1/2 the cost of Advil. I got a 200 ct. bottle for $ 6.98.

Then I went to Aldi's, armed with my list, where I purchased:

1 - 200 sq. ft. roll of Plastic Wrap - $ 1.29

2 Casa Mamamita Salsa - $ 1.19 each

1 Pkg. of Prosciutto - $ 2.49

1 Pkg. Muenster Cheese - $ 2.19

1 Doz. Large Eggs - $ .89

1 Pkg. of Cocktail Sausages - $ 2.49

1 Bottle of Cocktail Sauce - $ 1.09

1 Pkg. of Broccoli Crowns - $ 1.49

1 Pumpkin Spice Liquid Coffee Creamer - $ 1.39

1 Stove Top Stuffing Mix - $ .89

1 Fit & Active FF Chicken Broth - $ 1.39

2 Bottles of Tartar Sauce - $ 1.19 each

Total OOP was $ 20.36 + tax.

I had lots of energy to shop after DH made breakfast for me this morning while I sat and enjoyed my coffee. He made homemade blueberry waffles and they were so good. He likes to make a bunch when he does it so we have a few packages in the freezer ready for other meals.

Are you doing more shopping at Aldi's than you used to? Are there particular items that you especially love. Please leave a comment and share with all of us what you buy there.

Money Saving Challenge - October 26

2011-10-26T14:36:00.000-04:00

These are the things we did today to save money today:

- Breakfast was homemade Egg McMuffins made with eggs, turkey bacon and cheese on a Multigrain English muffin.

- We shampooed our bedroom carpeting with our steam cleaner. Since we purchased our own steam cleaner 7 or 8 years ago, it costs us nothing but a little shampoo and electricity to do our own carpets. This way we can do them on our own schedule instead of hiring and paying a service to do them. This has paid for itself many times over.

- DH received a bill from the eye doctor. After checking it out, I realized they had made a billing error. So I got my records out and called them. Sure enough, they had made a posting error and we only owed 1/2 the billed amount. I check and double check every bill because so many practices seem to make mistakes these days.

- While I was grocery shopping on Monday, I picked up the giftcards that I needed for Christmas gifts. This saved me gasoline since I won't have to make a special trip out to purchase them. I have added these gifts to my organizer so that I know what I have.

- Sold some books to: Cash 4 Books . I have sold so many books to these people. It is so easy and efficient.  I have been gleaning books I no longer want from those shelves in the basement. I want that bookcase gone from my pantry area.

- I have decided not to order an Entertainment Book this year. I will keep the $35.00 in my pocket. We go out to dinner less than once a month and the restaurants that we choose to go to are not in the Entertainment Book. We also very rarely do fast food unless it is take out at Panera Bread. So I would be spending $ 35.00 buying one.  I will keep my eye open for coupons in newspapers, etc. for the restaurants we go to.

- Since our automobile policy will be up for renewal soon, I am researching the best deal for insurance. Since the car is almost 10 years old, we will be dropping the collision on it.

- My sciatica has gone away enough for me to be able to do the exercise bike. So I rode 3 miles today. Cheap exercise in my goal to be healthy.

-  I was making my grocery list of necessities for next week when I realized that next Tuesday is Senior Day( Young Heart's Club) at Top's. So I will put off my shopping until that day.

- Heat is still at 68 and all but one light is off. It is a rainy dreary day here so I need a light while I write this. I am still watching all electricity and natural gas use in our home.

- I am researching the best place and price to buy some new jeans for me. I am down to one old pair and one okay pair. Since I am losing weight, I do not want to spend a lot of money on 2 more pairs.

- DH cut up an old pallet in the garage for more firewood for our outside fireplace.

- In the mail today, I received $ 11.00 in rebate checks and two free magazines.

- Lunch was a can of Campbells Chunky sausage and gumbo soup which DH and I split.

That is about all for now. Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us what you have done to save money today.

Monday Shopping

2011-10-24T17:29:00.000-04:00

After a busy weekend of yard work, housework and babysitting, I finally had time to do a little shopping today. I just went to two different Top's and to make a deposit at the bank.

Even though I went to 2 different stores, I will consolidate the orders to save my time. This is what I purchased:

10 Bags of Whiskas Dry Cat Food - $ 3.99 each - Used $ 2./1 MQ's = $1.99 each = $ 19.90

4 Jars of Smart Balance Mayonaise - $ 3.00 each - Used $ .75/1 MQ'sD = $ 1.50 each = $ 6.00

4 Jars of Smart Balance Peanut Butter - $ 3.00 each - Used $ .75/1 MQ'sD = $ 1.50 each = $ 6.00

5 Dr. Pepper Ten - $ 1.00 each - Used Free Q's = All Free

3 - 28 oz. Furmano Diced Tomatoes - $ 1.00 Each - Used $ 1./3 MQ = $ 2.00 for all 3

8 Bags of Pepperidge Farm Artisan Rolls - $ 3.49 each - Used $ .75/1 MQ'sD = $ 1.99 each = $ 15.92

4 Tabasco Sauce - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .75/1 MQ's D = All Free

1 Pkg. of Boneless Wild Shark at $ 7.99 a lb. = $ 1.75

1 Pkg. of Alaskan Whitefish at $ 3.99 a lb. = $ 9.06

2 Bags of Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix - $ 2.50 each = $ 5.00

2 Mission 96% FF Tortillas - $ 3.49 - Used $ 1./1 MQ's = $ 2.49 each or $4.98

1 Romaine Lettuce - $ 1.91

1 Pkg. Baby Carrots - $ 1.50 - $ .62 credit for Tops Baby Carrots Super Cpn = $ .88 ( Q was for a 2 lb. bag but I accidentally picked up a 1 lb. bag; the cashier let me use it anyhow)

Seedless Green Grapes at $ 1.77 lb = $ 3.43

Total OOP was $ 76.83 + tax and bottle deposits. Since I was flush with grocery money this month, I decided to fill in the holes in my stockpile. The dry cat food will last almost a year. The stuffing will be for turkeys I will get near Thanksgiving. The artisan rolls will be so easy for the holidays and I love that I can take just 2 out for DH and I for dinner. I planned on buying a few meals of whitefish. However the shark was an impulse purchase. I have always wanted to try shark. So I bought just a little piece to try. DH won't touch it.

Feel free to leave a comment and share any great deals that you are getting this week.

Money Saving Challenge - October 21

2011-10-21T13:50:00.001-04:00

These are the things we did today to save money:

- DH repaired my HP computer. We had gotten an estimate of $250. including the part and labor that we needed to have someone repair it. DH took it apart and he determined the power supply was bad. So he found a brand new power supply online that even with shipping only cost us $ 56. The HP is up and running like brand new.

- Washed two loads of laundry using the HE's and minimal detergent.

- Ran the dishwasher on quick wash cycle thereby saving energy and money.

- I dug out all of the gifts that I have been stockpiling for Christmas and made a list in my Christmas organizer of what I have and for whom and what I still need to buy. Hopefully I will be done sometime next week with all of the shopping.

- DH and I were thinking about buying a large prelit tree to put up between our morning room and kitchen. We have a small tree that we brought with us from AZ. We have decided that we really don't need the large tree. We will put the small one up on our marble table and that will be perfect for us. We will use the $ 300. we would have spent for necessities.

- We got our gas and electric bill for the past 30 days. It was $10.00 less than the same period last year. Since our rates went up last month, I feel great that we did that well. Our natural gas usage was way down as a result of the warm weather for a couple of weeks and the fact that we are setting our heat at 68 this year instead of 72. I will continue to work on saving as much energy as possible every month.

- Had a turkey sandwich on my homemade bread for lunch made from a turkey breast I roasted.

- Dinner will be cold turkey slices, broccoli and sweet potato fries.

- I am reworking our medical figures into our budget today. DH went to pick up a couple of prescriptions and the cost was $220. It was a shock....co-pays have gone up so much. So I need to account for these increases in the money we set aside for medical.

- DH is taking the van in, as I write this, to have the snow tires put on. The place where we go sent us a 25% off coupon that expires tomorrow.

- I belonged to the campaign at BzzAgent to read a John Grisham book that they sent me last August. If I buzzed enough about the book, they promised they would send me a copy of his new book, "The
Litigators" that was just released. It arrived today. I bet you can't guess what I will be doing this weekend. :-)

- Caught up all of my points programs and surveys that I missed doing while I was away.

- Prepared my shopping lists for Sunday.

- Lights are off until dark today. TV's and radios are also off until this evening.

- Cleaned the bathroom counters and the outside of the toilets with homemade cleaning wipes.

- Watched a Netflix DVD today: Heat

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

Making It Cheaper: Fudge

2011-10-19T10:23:00.001-04:00

I love homemade fudge. Especially during the holidays to give for gifts. This year I will be giving a box of homemade to the mailman, my UPS man and the paperboy for Christmas. Since I already have the boxes to put it in, purchased years ago, there will be no cost for those.

Since I was craving chocolate yesterday, I decided to do a dry run and make some fudge. I use the Five Minute Fudge Recipe that has been around for years and have added my costs:

2/3 cup of evaporated milk ($ .50)

1 & 2/3 cup of sugar ($ .43)

1/2 tsp. salt (less than a penny)

1 & 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows ($ .25)

1 & 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ($ .75)

1 tsp. vanilla ( or a substitute flavoring) ( $ .10)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( or any nut that you have in your pantry)($ .25)

Put the milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and heat to boiling stirring constantly. Then continue to cook while stirring for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and add the marshmallows, chocolate chips, vanilla, and nuts. Stir until dissolved, about 2 minutes or so. Pour into a buttered 8 x8 or 9 x 9 pan. Cool and cut into squares. You can also substitute butterscotch chips for the chocolate chips or maple or amaretto flavoring for the vanilla.

My cost for this recipe would be less than $ 2.29. Yesterday, I paid $2.04 because I didn't use the nuts. I am saving them for when I make these gifts and for other baking purposes. If I purchased an equivalent amount of fudge, I would pay at least $ 8.00. Think about how cheap it is to make this the next time that you are tempted to pay $ 8.00 or more for a lb. of fudge.

I believe for such little money, I will have a nice gift for these service people. There are many people you could make this yummy cheap gift for besides service people...think of your neighbors, children's teachers, or even extended family.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with us anything that you have made cheaper to give as a gift.

Money Saving Challenge: The Past 5 Days

2011-10-18T14:21:00.001-04:00

These are the things that we have been doing the past 5 days or so to save money:

- Made a pork tenderloin in the crockpot with sliced apples, onions and just a touch of brown sugar. It was melt in your mouth good. By using the crockpot, I saved a lot of energy by not cooking it in the gas oven.

- Finished two homemade Christmas gifts using materials that I already had.

- Rather than find someone to fix my computer, DH tore it down himself. It was not an easy job but he has the patient of a saint. He has determined that most likely the power supply is bad. My son took a look last night and he seemed to agree. So DH researched online for one and has ordered a brand new one for $45. He will install it when it arrives. Having someone repair it would have cost a fortune.

- Our heat is on because it has been getting down in the low 40's at night and only the 50's and 60's during the day. However, we have set the heat this year at 68 instead of 72. I think our blood has finally thickened up. :-)

- I did 4 successive loads of laundry after our trip using the HE's. I had too much to hang so by drying one load after the other, the dryer never lost the residual heat.

- In the mail, I received another makeup bag from Target. This one is even nicer than the last one. It was full of shampoo, lotion, and facial samples.

- I have also received $ 26.00 in rebate checks and $ 50.00 in Prepaid Visa's from the Cottonelle Cars 2 promotion. This $ 76. will help defray our Christmas cost this year.

- Earned the $ 10.00 Old Navy giftcard at CVS which will also help defray those costs.

- I am still stockpiling but being much more selective now that my stockpile is built up.

- Shopping will only happen once a week or twice at the most to save on gasoline costs. Our price for gas here in WNY is one of the highest in the nation and last night they said prices are headed up again.

- DH has planted 25 bushes and perennials that we brought back from my SIL's garden in Albany.  She was thinning out and we were happy to take columbine, 3 white rose of sharon bushes, hostas, ferns, etc. These are the things that we needed to finish our gardens on the north side of the house. My SIL has a green thumb and everything she gave us last year has thrived. So I am sure these will also.

- After I have used the oven, I open the oven door up to let that warm air into the house to help with the heat. Might as well take advantage of that residual heat.

- Today, I will be bringing my herbs that I have grown all summer into the house so that I can hang them to dry. I still have parsley and coriander to do. The chives will survive the winter, so they can stay outdoors.

-  Made French toast for breakfast using homemade bread.

- Dinner will be homemade turkey bacon,onion,and macaroni goulash. I will make garlic bread with the homemade bread. Lunch was salsa and tortilla chips.

-  We had the lines blown on our sprinkler system today. This is cheap insurance so that the water does not freeze in them and damage the system.

- We also had the fertilizer company put down weed killer and the winter fertilizer on our lawn. This will keep the lawn in good shape for the spring. We have a great company that takes care of all of our needs for the lawn all season. They do a great job and are cheaper than if DH bought the supplies and did it himself.

- DH marked the sprinkler system heads on the south property line because they will be leveling that lot soon to build on. This way they won't accidentally dig them up.

- Since I am craving chocolate again, I plan on making homemade fudge this afternoon.

- DH and I will watch the NCIS's and Body of Proof on the TV tonight for entertainment.

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

Making It Cheaper

2011-10-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

Unless you have been locked in a closet, you have noticed the price increases in the grocery stores. I don't know about you but many products for me are now way too expensive for my grocery budget. So I will be making many of the items from scratch that have skyrocketed to bring down my cost.

One of the items that has become cost prohibitive is bread and bread products. I have no bread outlet store near me, so a loaf of good bread starts at $ 2.50 a loaf if I catch a good sale. If no sale, then I can pay up to $ 3.69 for a loaf of bread. I have tried Aldi's and Save-A-Lot's bread and DH does not like it. So I am back to making my own bread.

We have no bread in the house at the moment. I was not about to run to the store and pay what I consider an exorbitant price for a loaf. Besides the cost of gasoline at $ 3.699 a gallon here makes the trip for a loaf cost prohibitive also. So I opted to make a 2 lb. white loaf in my breadmaker. Here is the recipe with a cost breakdown:

1 & 1/4 + 2 Tbsp. warm water

2 Tbsp. of oil - $ .06

3 Tbsp. of sugar - $ .06

2 Tsp. of salt - $ .02

2 Tbsp. of dry milk - $ .40

4 & 1/2 cups of unbleached flour - I used 3 & 1/2 cups of organic Free from my DIL and 1 cup that cost $ .15

2 & 3/4 tsp. of active dry yeast - $ .20

So my cost for a 2 lb. loaf is $ .89 and it will taste better than any loaf of white bread that I can buy. Even if I had to pay for the free flour, it would only add $ .52 to the cost which is more than a dollar less than I can buy it on sale.

With flour and sugar at rock bottom prices now before Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is the perfect time to stock up for the year. I know I will be. It is a no brainer! So now I have bread to make sandwiches with the leftover roast chicken from Saturday night. Plus French toast will be on our breakfast menu tomorrow.

DH made the above crockpot full of his chili for dinner last night. His Dad was raised in Mississippi and Texas and he taught DH to make the best Texas All Meat Chili. The recipe is here:

http://frugalmakescents.blogspot.com/2010/10/dhs-chili-recipe.html

This pot will give us 3 meals and some to put on hot dogs. This chili also freezes very well. I know I am looking forward to eating it again tonight with a nice slice of homemade bread and a Samuel Adams Octoberfest beer. YUM!

This series, " Making It Cheaper" will become a regular on my blog. I will be making many products cheaper than I can buy them. So stay tuned for more.

If there is something you would like to be able to make cheaper than you are paying for it at the supermarket, leave a comment and let me know. I will see what I can do for you. Also if there is something that you make cheaper, please leave a comment and share it with all of us.

I'm Back: Sunday Shopping

2011-10-16T14:16:00.001-04:00

We are still trying to figure out whether to fix the HP or buy a new computer. The cheaper option would be to repair it. However, I am not reading good reviews on the Touchsmart. They seem to break a lot. I hate to throw bad money after bad money! But for now, I have connected my old Dell Laptop, updated everything and installed my camera so that I can blog. I still can't retrieve my e-mail though for those of you trying to reach me.

This morning I did most of my shopping for the week. This is what I purchased:

Save-A-Lot:

10 Pkgs. of Butterball Turkey Bacon - $ 1.00 each - Used $ .65/1 MQ = $ .35 each

10 Parkay Margarine - $1.00 each

5 Heinz Roasted Turkey Gravy - $ 1.00 each

Used a $ 5.00/$25.00 Save - A - Lot Q

Total OOP was $ 13.50.

CVS:

14 Cans Blue Diamond Almonds - on sale 2 for $ 5.00 = $35.00 and I received a $ 10.00 Gift Card

4 Colgate Total Toothpaste - $ 1.99 each - Used $ .75/1 MQ's = $1.24 each

Used $ 38.00 in ECB's

Total OOP was $ 1.96 + tax. I received a $ 10.00 Gift Card good at Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, etc. This giftcard will help with Christmas shopping.

Rite Aid:

1 Rite Aid All Purpose Cleaner clearanced at 75% off = $ .87

3 cans of Folger's Coffee - $ 3.99 each - Used $ 1./1 MQ's = $ 2.99 each

1 RA Kleenex Purse Pack - $ .39 - Received 20% Wellness Discount = $ .31

Used $ 10.00 in UP Rewards

Total including tax was $ .26.

Top's:

20 cans of Campbell's Select Harvest Soup - $ 1.25 each - Used(10) $1./2 MQ's = $ .75 each or $ 15.00

5 Dr. Pepper Ten - on sale 3 for $ 5.00 - Used 5 Free MQ's = All 5 Free

Used $ 5.00 OYNO Catalina Q

Total OOP was $ 10.00 + tax and bottle deposits.

Analysis:

I was so happy to replenish my turkey bacon at this great price. The same goes for the cheap margarine. I like to have some jarred gravy on hand for when I run out of homemade for turkey leftovers.

We were down to our last tube of toothpaste, so I was glad to see this sale. With nut prices escalating in the next month by 40%, I was happy to stock on the almonds. DH and I eat a small handful each day. This was a great sale price plus I earned the giftcard. Since my ECB's were expiring in a few days, this was a great way to use them.

I also had the UP's that were expiring and I can always use coffee. The cleaner I stumbled on. The kleenex was a filler.

We love this soup and I am now stocked for the winter for lunches. The soda was free.

Please feel free to leave a comment and share with all of us what you got a great deal on.

FYI

2011-10-15T12:09:00.000-04:00

When I tried to turn on my 15 month old HP Touchsmart PC this morning, it would not turn on. After checking with HP this morning, I was informed that the warranty expired at one year. We have done as much troubleshooting as we can on it and still can't get it to work. So we have to find someone to fix it. Hence, I don't when I will be back blogging again. Just wanted to let you know so you don't think that I have left for good. This is going to drive me nuts because I can't even get to my e-mail, etc. I will return as soon as I possibly can.

Top's Shopping

2011-10-14T14:09:00.001-04:00

Since Top's is close enough to me, I decided to make a quick trip today. There was a couple of things that I desperately needed like milk and margarine. So I scanned this week's ad very quickly and bought a few other items. I don't like shopping on Friday because a lot of shelves with sale items have been cleared by then. So there were a few items that I couldn't get. But they will go on sale again in about 12 weeks.

This is what I purchased:

2 dozen eggs - $ 1.79 each = $ 3.58 = Used $ .55/2 IPQD = $ 2.48

2 Smart Balance margarine - $ 3.00 each = $ 6.00 - Used $ 1./2 MQ = $5.00

1 gallon of Milk - $ 2.39 - Used $ 1. off Milk Q = $ 1.39

1 gallon of apple cider - $ 3.99

12 Green Giant vegetables - $ 1.00 each = $ 12.00 - Used (4) $ .60/3 MQD = $ 7.20 or $ .60 each

1 Powerade - $ 1.00 - Used Free Q = Free

2 Top's Popcorn - $ 1.00 each - Used (2) $ 1.00 off Salty Snacks Q's ( I won these from Mom's Coupon Affair shown on my sidebar) = Both Free

3 - 1 ltr. Diet A&W - $ 1.00 each - Used B2G1F Hangtag = $ 2.00 for all three

6 bags of Mama Rosie's Cheese Ravioli - on sale B1G1F = $ 2.79 x 3 = $8.37 - Used (3) $ 1./2 Top's Q's and (3) $ 1./2 MQ's = $ 2.37 for all 6 bags and I received 200 gasoline points

12 cans of Hunt's Diced Tomatoes - $ 1.00 each = $ 12.00 - Used (4) $ .45/3 MQ's D = $ 8.40 or $ .70 each

8 cans of Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce - $ 1.00 each = $ 8.00 and I received a $ 5.00 OYNO Catalina Q for buying the Hunt's sauce and tomatoes

Used a $ 10.00 OYNO Catalina Q

Total OOP was $ 30.83 and I received a $ 5.00 Catalina OYNO Q and 300 gasoline points for the Mama Rosie's purchase and for using 10 coupons.

Please feel free to share any great deals you got today with us by leaving a comment.

Our Wonderful Fall Vacation

2011-10-13T08:15:00.001-04:00

We left last week on Wednesday to go visit my son, DIL, and grandaughter in Albany. Alexa has grown so tall since we saw her last. She is reading now and does really well for a 4 year old. She never fails to amaze me with her vocabulary which seems to grow every day. I just wish we had had more time to time to spend with her on this trip. We spent a couple of wonderful days playing with her before we went with DH's sister and BIL to stay at their townhome on Schroon Lake up in the Adirondacks.

As you can see in the picture above, this is no small place. It is 3000 sq. ft. and so beautiful. They have 3 floors of rooms with a master bedroom suite on each floor. The suite we stayed in had a balcony off the bedroom which overlooked the lake. The views were just incredible as you can see below. There is a bubbling brook right next to them which was just beautiful. The view of the lake is breathtaking. We spent a lot of time on the balcony just taking it all in.

My BIL and SIL took us on a couple of little sightseeing expeditions to North Creek and Chestertown. I was especially interested in these places because I do genealogy. When I was a little girl, my grandparents used to go on trips to North Creek. Since my grandfather's sister and her family lived in Chestertown, I assume this is why they went there so frequently. So I was happy to see both of these places and imagine what it was like 50 years ago. Thank you to both my BIL and SIL for a beautifully relaxing weekend with good company, great food, and lots of laughter.

After breakfast on Monday, we packed up and drove back to Albany to spend another day or so with our family. Tuesday was my birthday and DH asked Alexa to help him pick out a birthday cake for me. She was so excited and happy to do this. She picked a beautiful ice cream cake that you can see below. She was patient while they added "Grandma" to it. She also surprised me with a birthday balloon. She made it the best birthday ever. I was quite happy to tell her when we left yesterday that the cake would melt on the way home in the car, so she would have to keep it in her freezer and finish it up. She was quite thrilled with that. :-)

As you can see in some of the pictures, the leaves are turning here in the NE. Up at Schroon Lake they were about 60% turned so the color wasn't as bright as I thought it would be. When we drove out on the thruway on October 5th, there was hardly any color. However when we came back yesterday, it was so beautiful. The leaves had changed about 90% and the oranges and reds were so brilliant.

We had beautiful weather while we were away. It was close or over 70 degrees almost every day. We could not have asked for a better week. We came back to rain here and that is okay.

Thanks to everyone who made this a very special vacation for us.

We Have Been Away

2011-10-12T14:54:00.000-04:00

We have been away on vacation for eight days. We just returned and I hope to get back to blogging soon. I want to thank Michelle for keeping up with most of the comments while I was away. The last two blog posts were set to post automatically while I was away. Give me a day or so to get laundry done, do the grocery shopping, catch up on the mail, etc. and I will be back blogging as I normally do.

Comfort Food

2011-10-08T17:02:00.000-04:00

Since DH has been battling such a rotten cold, I decided to make him some comfort food. This an old recipe that I have been making for years:

Tater Tot Casserole

Tatertot Casserole:

1 lb. of ground round browned

2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup

1/2 -3/4 cup of milk

16 oz. of tatertots

Cheddar Cheese

Put the ground beef in a layer in a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with Pam or butter it so the food doesn't stick. Next put a layer of tater tots. Mix the soups with the milk and pour over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Take out of the oven and sprinkle a couple of handfuls of cheddar cheese on top. Put back in the oven till it melts!

This is so easy and so YUMMY. This will serve DH and I about 2 meals. You can substitute cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery soup. DH hates mushrooms and we really like the taste of cream of chicken so that is what I use.

Am I the Only One Whose Medical Bills are Rising?

2011-10-06T13:55:00.000-04:00

I believe that everyone's medical bills are rising. When Obamacare was passed, they said that it would make medical costs cheaper. Now I realize that it isn't in effect full force yet, but all of the things that the government has told the companies they have to do these past couple of years have raised the rates dramatically. We have gone from having one increase per year to two. Our premium just went up another $ 26. October 1. I know I just can't wait to see what happens when the full bill takes effect. None of us will be able to afford it. But I think that is what they want. Everyone paying into a government system, not your own policy. Oh, I forgot not every one. Obama and his family and the politicians are exempt. Because we all know the plan isn't good enough for them. They are just ramming it down every other American's throat whether we want it or not but they don't want any part of it.

We just also had an increase for our drug co-pay from $ 30. to $50. and $ 70. to $90. for prescriptions. I don't know if everyone's going up like this but I know it is killing my medical budget. Our Dr. co-pays just went up from $ 20. to $ 25. We had similar increases last January and last Fall.

So I have to had to take a look at what I can do at the moment to lower costs. This is what I am considering:

- Asking for samples of drugs at my Doctor's office.

- Getting the Dr. to write prescriptions for double the dosage ( on the drugs that they make those dosages) we take and cutting them in half.

- Having the Dr. change our drugs from the higher priced ones to the lower priced ones.

- Keeping a list of all things to ask my Doctor so that I don't forget anything and have to make another appointment.

- Have the Dr. write prescriptions for a year so that I can do wellness visits once a year instead of twice.

- Always check for coupons here: Coupons before ordering a prescription.

All non - prescription drugs that I keep in my medicine cabinet will only be purchased on sale and a ECB, UP Rewards or RR deal at the drugstores. They will be purchased with single check rebate money or ECB's, UP Rewards or RR's.

DH and I have never run to the Dr. for every little thing. We have to be really sick to go there. My grandmother always said the farther away you stay from them, the better off you are. She lived to 87 and never went to them. She may have had something there. I do believe in preventative action such as your yearly check ups but not in going for a hang nail.

Please leave a comment and share with all of us what you do to cut back on your medical costs without affecting your health.