Category Archives: frugalism

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, frugalism by

I spent $240 on food at Costco but that includes the protein drinks for B. So that was $25 on sale so closer to $200 for food. That included maple syrup(which lasts a long time), granola( because I didn’t make any), and some other pantry staples. I’d like to figure out what the breakdown is for long-term pantry stuff but not now.

I got gas at Costco this week and that was $4.65 a gallon. So saved some money there.

Today is my eye doctor’s appt for a retinal scan to see how my macular pucker is. I haven’t noticed any change, I still can’t really see out of my right eye. The left eye does all the work. 😦

B had another blood draw and his ALP is still elevated( liver) so that’s what seems to be causing the abdomen pain. He has a message to his UCD oncologist to see what she thinks this is about. His ALT and AST are in the normal range. I think one of them is slightly out of range but those are liver markers too. This really throws a wrench into the whole process because I’m quite sure Dr. Lee won’t do the surgery if something is going on with the liver. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Somewhat stressful.

We have PGE’s tree people showing up today. We think they’re going to take the one tree today and then the big one next week. If we paid for these trees, it’d be at least $4K for one and the other is huge so probably $5-6K

I’m just glad they’re doing it. I may go for coffee in town as I get too nervous with trees coming down. We’ll see how it goes.

I made black beans for dinner last night. We each had half a cheese tamale with them plus avocado. I only gave B a small portion because of his stomach pain. I told him also to take one of his pain pills and he did and said that actually helped.

Frugal Friday

Posted in bread, California, cash envelopes, cooking, frugalism, Uncategorized by

Groceries at Costco were $200. I bought a few things on sale like the breaded Talipa which is a great easy dinner option. Mostly things like milk, and eggs ( no shortage at Costco). I bought the organic 2 dozen pkt for $8.69. I also bought French roast coffee, seaweed snacks my daughter likes, Triscuits, nuts, cheese, asparagus, and a few items I wanted to try. One is a garlic spread( Toom)that’s supposed to be very good.

With that and my TJ’s trip, I’m already at $400 so I’ll need to be careful for the next couple of weeks.

Next week I have a dental cleaning so that’s out of pocket. But I am going to sign up for their dental plan which is $400. That covers 2 cleanings and other stuff so it seems like a good deal.

Today is the national No Spend Day. I hope it has an impact, especially on Amazon, Walmart, etc. During the pandemic, I liked Walmart’s pickup service and used it a lot. But since then I haven’t even been back.

I got gas at Costco so that’s always a savings.

I bought a Christmas gift for my son. An Easton Press copy of ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs’s Court. ” That was Ebay and was $28.00. I haven’t started my Christmas envelope yet, but I’ll write this down. This year is going to be even more minimal as nobody really wants anything. So I’ll do a few gifts each like the Easton Press and East Fork Pottery.

This is the Lemon Meyer rosemary Sourdough. Wow was that good.

This is the newly rearranged office area with the couch on the opposite wall so I can open the sunroom doors.

Here are two of the newly reupholstered Heywood chairs. We got all 5 done. One is my office chair.

This is the dirty cover. Uck!! I guess it’s been about 3-4 years since I did these. I use painter drop cloth material.

They are certainly not professional but work for us.

Today is Dex day and I don’t have a lot planned but I am going to try and wash the inside sunroom windows.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, frugalism by

I didn’t do any shopping this week except for a few things from the Holiday Market. So, that was really a good week. I don’t even think I need too much for next week since we’ll be down in Palo Alto.

I’ll try and have some meal ideas for my daughter since I won’t be cooking dinners. Probably just some easy meals she can just heat up.

I’ve done a good job using things up in the freezer. That probably helped with not going to the store. If anything, I need some salad stuff.

Tonight is pizza night and I’m not sure what we’ll do. I’m planning to go down to Roseville as I have an order to pick up at the mall. But my favorite pizza place doesn’t open till 11 and I plan on being home shortly after that. so??? I guess I’ll figure it out.

I need to stop at the bank and get my UHC printout so I can submit it to LLS. The bank is always so busy. After that, it’s just home for the day.

I’ve avoided buying anything from Amazon so I’m pleased with that. I have one book I ordered a while ago(and forgot about) and it’s finally being shipped. It’s a cookbook a YouTuber used and looked like a good one but it was only available from a third-party seller.

I do need to stop and get gas at Costco but I don’t plan on shopping there. I have a list going but it can wait till we’re back from Stanford. It’s mostly staples like oatmeal, and Rao’s sauce and things like that.

All in all, it was a frugal week!

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, decluttering, freezer cooking, frugalism, simple foods, velcade by

The week was overall frugal. I didn’t need gas yet in Santa Fe. I’ll fill up at Costco next week.

I went to the gym and library before my Velcade shot. Gettting books at the library always saves me from buying some random cookbook( a weakness(. I looked at two already, and there’s nothing I’d cook from them. They’re pretty books, but not how I cook. For instance, last night, we shared a steamed artichoke, and I made an us omelet to share with sprouts, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. We eat fairly simply.

I went to Costco after swimming on Wednesday and spent $250 or so. Some of that was snack/foodstuff for my daughter to take to work. She doesn’t get a full lunch break because of her hours, so I bought some beef sticks, egg bites (Kirkland brand), and something else I can’t remember. The two kinds of beef sticks were expensive, grass feed. I’ve actually never had one, so I can’t tell you if they’re any good, but as a high-protein snack, I could see it working. Organic eggs were 7.99 for 2 dozen.

Today is a home day because of Dex, but I feel pretty good this morning. I plan on vacuuming, dusting some, and doing a bit of decluttering odds and ends. I also have a pack of Kirkland I need to use, so I’m thinking of some meatballs I can freeze. We( my daughter and I have decided to mostly cut beef out of our diets. We don’t eat it often, so it shouldn’t be hard at all. But I have this to use and one other in the freezer, and I don’t want to waste it. If we go out together, we definitely would think about an In an-Out burger, but that’s pretty rare for us to do.

The rain is supposed to come by noon today, and it looks nonstop for days. I think I’ll plan on some soup dinners with homemade sourdough.

Frugal Friday

Posted in California, cash envelopes, cooking, frugalism by

I’ll save on gas today since I opted not go to the pool. I just woke up grumpy and don’t feel like driving. Next week is busier with a dentist appt and then Velcade on Thursday so I’ll be out quite a few days including a gym or swim day.

I spent $75 at Winco on salad stuff and a few misc like cottage cheese. I wanted some bulk items too.

We went out for a coffee yesterday, so that was $16. B paid for that with his money.

I sorted out my cash envelopes for the month. I added $200 to the firewood envelope because we are going to need to buy a cord. I’ll have to check out from B how much we have left. We would need to have that sorted before a hospital visit.

Other than that, I don’t think I spent anything else. I did order the humidifier, which I like, but it didn’t really have any effect on the sleep apnea. Oh well, I think a humidifier in winter is probably a good thing, and it wasn’t expensive.

Yesterday, I put the Ranco Gordo Ayocote beans in the crock pot. I hadn’t made them before, and they were delicious. They are white beans but bigger than Marcella beans. There’s lots left over too.

Frugal Friday or not so much?

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, frugalism by

Well, Buggie is going to cost over $1000 so that’s not frugal. And the mechanic said that it isn’t just the starter but the flywheel behind it and he quoted $1600 for that. We said no for now. I guess we’ll have to really think about keeping bugs. Well, we’ll go get it today. We don’t drive buggie that far but still. If it’s going to start costing $$$ then it’s not worth it to us to keep it. I’ll be sad though because I love Bugs!! No decisions for a while though.

Most of the month’s bills are paid except for water and garbage next week. I’ll start a new budget on the 27th or so.

Costco was $240 and it was all food. Some pantry staples and a few freezer meals like ravioli. I bought some salad packs so were set there too. I shouldn’t need too much next week if anything. I think I will come in at $600 for groceries for the month. So not too bad for the 3 of us plus some of that is long-term things like olive oil. When did olive oil start to cost so much?? Plus I bought a 4 pack of butter and that will last months too.

I will need gas next week in the Santa Fe and that will be the last fill up till the next budget starts.

My daughter and I are going to the nursery this morning for some bags of soil for planting the garlic. I might pick up some pansies or other winter flowers. Then she wants to go look at paint chips at Ace. She wants to paint the studio and it really does need it.

So, the appt ended up not to be with Dr. Lee but his nurse. He must be a very busy man. But not much was different except she will schedule the laparoscopy and then they’ll go from there. I was disappointed there wasn’t anything more definitive. We’ll only need to spend 2 nights in Palo Alto though. One night before the procedure and then one night after. The procedure is only an hour or less but because it involves anesthesia it’s 2 hours before and 2 hours after. So I’m not driving back home after all that. So that’s that.

Yesterday after getting home, I pressure-canned the pinto beans. I got 7 pints done. This is a great staple to have in the pantry.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, freezer cooking, frugalism by

It seems this week has been Frugal probably because New Year’s Day was Wednesday. So that meant most stores closed. We didn’t go anywhere on Wednesday. Oh wait, I did go to Safeway on Tuesday with my daughter for the fondue veggies. That ended up $54 I think. After that, we went over to Target and needed dental picks, mouth wash and I picked up a $10 candle. So that was $25.

Wednesday, I made up the freezer double-stuffed potatoes. I had 12 potatoes in there and after they were cut in half and stuffed with potato, butter, cheese, and a little sour cream, I ended up with 15 halves. We definitely eat these and they don’t languish in the freezer.

Yesterday was Velcade and afterward, I stopped at Noah’s for a dozen bagels. I was going to do Trader Joe’s but wasn’t into it so I came home. That saved money, I’m sure.

Noah’s with schmears $21.00.

I took some frozen meals out of the freezer to use. One is lentil soup and it looks ok. The other is greek lemon chicken and I’ll have some of that for lunch. The other was a pulled pork from the fall and that didn’t look too appetizing:( I’m not sure that will get used.

I used the tamales from Costco last night with beans and salad. Tonight might be pizza but it depends on what we all feel like.

Today is a home day for me. I’ll take Dex around 12 or so. I want to vacuum and do some overall tidying. We gave away the Ikea fold-out couch that I used to have in the sunroom. it was a nice little couch but we weren’t using it and it ended up out in the studio and it definitely wasn’t getting used, so I put it on for free in the Facebook marketplace. A nice young couple came and got it. The studio, where my son had his bedroom, is now a catch-all for STUFF and I’m threatening, suggesting we go out there and do a reorganize. We’ll see if I’m up to it today.

Tomorrow, I’m not sure if I’ll go out. I have 3 bags of books to go to the Pet bookstore so that could be a trip out. Most of the books are my daughter’s that she is getting rid of but I have a bag too.

Other than that, I won’t go to the store till next week. Maybe do Trader Joe’s for some fill-in-the-blank stuff. I like their hash browns as they have only potatoes in them. Plus, they have WW tortillas I like too.

I plan on the pool on Monday, but I’ll look at the week and see what else is on the schedule.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, Uncategorized by

I calculated our groceries, and according to the receipts I have, we came in at $550 for groceries. I think for the 3 of us that’s very good. I think eating from the freezer makes a difference. Of course, when that food is gone I’ll need to restock.

My new budget starts Monday, so I might need more groceries for Christmas then. I plan on making the Polish cookies and they do take a lot of eggs and heavy cream. I’ll either hit up Trader Joes or just go down here to the Holiday.

I know our PGE bill is going to be over $300 so that’s not frugal but we need to be warm when it’s 32 degrees outside:) Our water bill is way down since it’s winter but it never goes below $70 with all of the MV water fees.

My gas was around $150, probably because gas is at the lowest I’ve seen it at 3.89. I know B has to fill the truck next week which he only does once a month. I’ll fill the Santa Fe on Monday before I swim. The rest of the week will be home days so no driving for the most part.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, California, cancer, frugalism, Uncategorized by

It was raining heavily yesterday down to infusion. There’s more rain coming in this morning too. I think the pattern will continue for the next few days. This morning my daughter will take B to his PET scan. Unfortunately, it is in Sacramento, so there will be traffic and rain. This will be his last appt. till the video visit next week.

Frugal-wise, I went to Costco to get the coffee. Spending $14 at Starbucks for a pound is not something I want to do very often. So with that in mind, I bought 2 bags at Costco. It was very busy at 1pm, which is a time I rarely go. I’m usually there at 9:30 and there are fewer people. It was okay and I got it done. I spent $180 and $$25 of that was champagne. The rest was food and $20 for TP and Toothpaste. So food ended up $124 or so. It’s not too bad overall.

I don’t think I need much from the store next week unless it’s some salad stuff. That’s the week before Christmas so I want to avoid stores if I can. I’m making our traditional lasagna and I might do a small ham.

I was able to submit my LLS for insurance. What a blessing. My grant is less than half of what it was last year, so I’ll probably run out of funds before my next sign-up period. I think they have so many people applying that a smaller grant allows more people to get some funding. It is still a huge saving for us.

Today, I want to go through the fridge and clean it. I have the leftover turkey chili I need to freeze and there’s a small amount of black beans too. Since I’m home for the day I can tick off some things on my list.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, frugalism, velcade by

Well, the bad news is his platelets did go way down to 31, so the infusion will be on Saturday. Overall, this cycle has been much better but it’s still a very hard chemo regime. The plan is I’ll take him down and my daughter will get him. I suppose I could go shopping or something but I don’t really do that. ( well, if I could go into Louis Vuitton I would).:)

Some wins this week.

I got gas at Costco, which was 3.79, so that’s the lowest around.

The Tartine baguette I made was delicious and almost all gone. I do have some ww bread in the freezer so I’ll pull that out for the week.

I went to Costco on Monday, mostly for milk and the above WW bread, but of course, I came out with more. I forgot coffee so I either need to go in for that or just buy it at Starbucks.

Some losses:

I found a fresh mozzarella roll stuffed in the back of the fridge. It’s way outdated and also a Bourisin cheese. Usually, both of those things get used up quickly so maybe with Thanksgiving they got pushed to the back.

Today is a dex day, so I’ll do some extra things around the house. I made some roast chicken breasts last night with potatoes dauphinoise so there are some leftovers. I still might make a pizza dough though.

That’s about it at chez moi!!