Category Archives: cash envelopes

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, cash envelopes, frugalism, Uncategorized, Walking by

Our weather has turned to the cooler side. Actually, the house is quite chilly but I refuse to light a fire. I have some house plants on the wood-burning stove platform so I don’t want to have to remove them to start a fire.

I didn’t walk this morning as I went to the gym yesterday and had on my new gym shoes. Anytime I get new shoes my feet and back take a hit till they adjust. So my legs were sore and my low back. I’m wearing them around the house today to help break them in and adjust.

On the frugal end of things, B is using our free dump pass to take a whole truck load of crap to the dump. Honestly, I don’t know where it comes from. It seems we just took a load and here we are again. Well, this was free so maybe he just loaded everything he could.

The plumbing is still not fixed but B has all the siding off and has access to the pipe so that’s a start. He and son are planning on fixing it this weekend. Fortunately, it’s not a gusher and just a slow leak. But I suppose it will save money doing it himself.

I did the Walmart order and a Trader Joe’s so I’m set with groceries for a few weeks. I came in at @ $200 altogether. I do need to do a Costco trip for coffee etc. but will wait till next week. The week after we’re in Tahoe so I wouldn’t be able to do it then.

I’m still doing cash envelopes for groceries, dining out, misc, Home Depot, and fun money. It seems to be working well and I like to have the cash available. It helps me with my budget and then I’m not debit carding everything.

Next week is my daughters birthday so she will pick where to get dinner. I figure about $100 for all four of us. So not frugal but it’s part of the birthday gift.

Frugal Friday

Posted in bread, budgets, cash envelopes, cooking by

We went to Costco yesterday and spent just under $400. That included clothes for B( sweatpants and sweatshirt), and lots of nonfood items, like my Krill oil pills( expensive even on sale) $20. The regular stuff of coffee, bagels, cheese, veggies, bananas, and some frozen food. All in all, it was a good shop. That’s probably all I’ll do for a few weeks with exception of milk, half and half, and wine or maybe something nice for Valentine’s Day.

After Costco, we had our Date Thursday and went to our favorite Mexican restaurant. We hadn’t been there in at least 6 months. So that was fun to do. I’m using a cash envelope for ‘dates’ and that’s how we paid.

Today I’ve been pottering here and there around the house. I moved my Ficus Tree to the LR where it can get more light. I started another sourdough loaf. Tidyed the kitchen and swished the bathroom. I’m trying to figure out a different way to slice my boules. I looked up a bread slicer and saw a few under a hundred that could also slice meat and cheese. It seems like it would certainly save money in the long run. When I buy deli meat it’s usually turkey or ham and since it’s Boars head it runs $17 a pound so it’s pricey. When I was in Costco I looked at their turkey breast (cooked) and it came in at About $17-20 for 4 lbs. So that would be a huge savings. I am also going to check the price of a turkey breast that I could cook myself. I just don’t want something with lots of sodium.

Tonight I’ll make a homemade pizza since last week we ordered takeout. That’s probably all that I’ll do this month. When we’re in Napa we will go out to eat but that comes under travel.

I plan on looking at our taxes again this weekend. I guess the middle class refund we got last year is confusing. It won’t be taxed by Caliornia but for the federal government it isn’t decided or something like that. I plan on just putting it under the 1099 and see if it affects our taxes. I kind of doubt it but I’ll put it in and see.

If anyone has any suggestions about a meat/bread slicer let me know or cooking just a turkey breast to slice up. I was also looking at an electric knife which some bread makers suggested so that’s an option too. An electric knife would be cheaper than a slicer. Does anyone have an opinion on an electric knife for cutting sourdough bread?

Friday things

Posted in budgets, California, cash envelopes, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

Another nice walk without being too cold. Sunrise is 7:20 am and was the same yesterday.

Today is just a pottering day and tidying things up. I’m not sure why things look more ‘untogether’ around Christmas. Maybe it’s the Christmas tree and the few decorations I have around although I even put a few away as I felt it was too much visually. Maybe it’s being stuck inside a lot with the rain and cold.

We’ve had fun with the ‘ugliest’ tree ornament game again. So far the pink sparkly dinosaur is winning but it’s a close runner-up with pineapple face. <>!!!!

I’m debating going to the pool tomorrow. I want to go but I’m not sure about the traffic on Christmas eve day. I guess I’ll wake up and see how I feel. I need to check the hours too as I think I saw something about that on the way out the other day but didn’t pay attention to it.

Tonight we’re ordering a pizza so I won’t have to cook. That’ll be nice.

My January budget will go from Dec.26 to January 25 approx. I do think the cash envelopes are helping with some things like Home Depot, bird/chicken food, groceries ( to some degree), and, misc. For now, I’m going to keep doing it. January will be a low spend month with no extras. I plan on holding off on Costco till we need coffee. The biggest change is going to be saving from SS the extra increase so we can use that for annual bills. Plus whatever other money we can put towards that fund from anything else.

Frugal Friday, I guess.

Posted in budgeting, budgets, cash envelopes, cooking, freezer cooking by

No, just kidding 🙂 It’s been a fairly frugal week except for our 2 year Septic pumping. This house only has a 900-gallon tank(which is now illegal but back then was acceptable.), so we need to have it pumped every 2-3 years. It was $575 so not too bad really, and we have that in our annual bills account.

But food-wise, it’s been a low-spend week. I have plenty of things in both the fridge and freezer to use. This past week I made baked herb chicken with our cherry tomato compote, veggie sausage bake, cheese toasties with avocado and tomato, and pasta with tomatoes, and mozzarella. Tonight is pizza night and I’m not sure that’s what I’m doing. It’s early yet so I have time to think about it. First thing this morning is to blanch and freeze some local corn. I haven’t seen the sales for 10 for $1.00 come up. Maybe I missed it. So this was 2 for $1.00. I got just 10. Then I have more tomatoes to process but I may wait and do that tomorrow.

Barclay was supposed to get his port out this morning ( a milestone after 3 1/2 years) but he got a rash ( we think from his Shingrex shot) and the doctor said he should wait for it to be gone. He’s going to call his team nurse this morning to check on it.

We went out for a coffee at the local cafe and had iced americanos. That was $10 with a scone and came out of his personal money. Since we are doing cash envelopes again, he’s getting $100 a month for fun money. That’s working out very well. Also, he’s in charge of the cash envelopes for chicken food, and home depot. I’m still working out how much those should be REALISTICALLY. A budget only works if it fits what you need to spend and have the $ to fund the line item. So far, I have Tractor Supply at $50, and Home Depot stuff at $200.

We are going to have to take my VW to the shop as the coolant is still leaking. Hopefully, it won’t be too much. I don’t really keep a car repair fund so I guess I better start that.

I just finished the corn and got 3 small baggies of shucked corn. So maybe 20 more ears of corn.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgets, California, cash envelopes, cooking, Uncategorized by

It’s been a fairly frugal week. Yesterday before the gym I went into Winco mostly to get some Ball Quart jars as I read somewhere Winco’s prices were the lowest. The quart jars were $13.73 so a good price. I also picked up some KA flour that was half the price of what Safeway’s was. All in all, it was slightly over $100. I used cash. Using the cash envelopes this month has really helped me be more conscious of what I’m spending. I still need to go into Costco for some basics like olive oil, sugar, coffee, and a bottle of champagne to celebrate our anniversary later this month.

I have a large load of tomatoes from our garden ripening so I can process them this weekend. I think I’ll do some salsa and sauce if there’s enough. I bought some jalapenos at Winco and will do some more refrigerator jalapenos and maybe some cowboy candy( sugary jalapenos).

I still have some more beets to can too as I bought another bunch at the farm stand last week. Maybe I’ll do that this morning as I’m not going anywhere today.

We’ve had home-cooked meals all week( tofu burgers, BBQ chicken,) and last night I did pasta and used some of the dehydrated cherry tomatoes in olive oil. It was quite good but I cooked the dehydrated tomatoes too much in the butter/ olive oil sauce and they were slightly overcooked but still delicious. I just did another batch of dehydrated cherry tomatoes and I’ll put them in olive oil as well. I think I’m going to buy a different dehydrator too. The one I have is round and plastic and doesn’t hold a lot and the one I’m looking at is square with metal shelves. I think that will work better.

I just finished reading Todd Borg’s new book,” Tahoe Moon”. If you love Tahoe like I do, you will love this latest thriller.

Friday things

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, cooking, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Today has been mostly tidying the house and catching up on a few things. I returned a small handheld label maker I had ordered a couple of weeks ago from Amazon because the ink was skipping and after trying a bunch of times just gave up. I’ll look for a different kind of label maker when I feel like it.

I’m planning on using my cash envelopes for August for a few things like groceries, Target, Home Depot and, a few others. I feel like we need to be a bit more focused on where the dollars are going. I know our daily budget but lots of time I just say to B to get it at Home Depot and then he buys whatever. It’s covered in our checking but I feel like we need to say there’s this $amount and that’s it. I’ll focus on August and see how it goes. For some things like gas, I won’t do cash so that’s the debit card. But I will have an index card with the amounts as ‘virtual cash’. All our regular bills are automatic.

Today is our last really hot day and then we start to trend downward into the low 90s. Maybe we can start eating dinner out on the patio again.

After my gym workout, I went into the library and picked up my holds. Two were canning books but they weren’t quite what I was after so I guess I’ll just have to buy the Ball book again. ( I gave it away a few years ago because I hadn’t used it). Most recipes are on- line but I’d still like to have a copy for reference mostly. I was excited to get the new Anne Hillerman book. I still love all things Santa Fe and New Mexico and appreciate the native culture immensely. The pinion pines smell amazing and the sky is incredibly blue. I’ve bought pinion pine incense and it’s lovely.

Tonight is supposed to be pizza but alas, it’s too hot so we’re going to have a brown rice salad. Last night I made zucchini fritters from the farm. I’ll probably go out there later this afternoon for a few things.

Not much else going on here.

A goat cheese quiche:

Garlic herb butter

corn from the farm.