Category Archives: frugalism

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, frugalism, velcade by

So far, I’ve resisted the siren call of Black Friday. There are, of course, things we need and want. Our ceiling fan died on Wednesday so we’re going to have to buy one of those. But not today. I like to be out of that flow.

Thanksgiving was mellow and everyone enjoyed the meal. There were leftovers to send home with my son and his partner. We have some for today and then that’s it. We generally do not do a lot of leftovers.

We watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and it was a fun Thanksgiving movie.

This has been a low-spend week. I did a small shop here in town at the Holiday Market, but it was odds and ends. I spent $75 but $21 of that was Mumm Champagne. Earlier in the week I bought B the AirPod Pro 2 because it has a hearing enhancement and he needs it. I got a great deal at almost $100 off. It ended up with tax $158.

I’m not planning on driving out anywhere so that will save gas too until next week. I think I’ll just stick to my usual swimming plan and the gym.

I do need to make an Allstate payment and will do that Monday.

I pulled out some of the Christmas stuff and will decide what to put on the tree. Last year I put very few ornaments on and we all liked that better. I don’t need to buy anything at all, like lights. I’ll probably get out the tree this weekend. I miss having a live tree but Tahoe actually wasn’t issuing Christmas tree permits this year.

I’ll go to Costco after my Velcade on Thursday. I need eggs and HP ink. I’m sure other things will find their way into my cart.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, meal planning, Political things by

We got home around 5:30 p.m. after B’s infusion. It was raining and dark, so driving was a bit of a challenge. I had made some beet soup in the IP, so dinner was done. Overall, it went well down there, and he got the 2 bags. So today, he’ll get labs and see how much it improved the platelets.

He does have an appt for tomorrow back down in Rocklin, but my son or daughter will do that. It’d be great if he doesn’t need them but that’s not too likely.

This morning is still cloudy but no rain. I considered driving to the pool, but honestly, I’m just tired of driving this week. This morning, I’ll do some house things and read. I’ll also check the pantry for menu ideas. Tonight is pizza night but we may not do that. I guess I’ll see what everyone want to eat.

I went to Safeway on Tuesday after my labs. I think I spent @$90. This month’s food is over budget but I’m ok with that as some of that was stocking up stuff from Costco. I still need to go get a few things from the Holiday market and there is Thanksgiving. Some months are just like that.

We have spent more on gas than normal, driving back and forth to Sacramento, Rocklin, etc. The Santa Fe needs windshield wipers so B will take the car maintenance envelope and get those when he can.

I’ve only got a few things left to buy for Christmas. I need to order /send my BIL (Heidi’s husband) his annual cheese from Point Reyes. I’ll do that soon. And I need to get 2 GC’s for my daughter. One for the garden center and the other for Gap. She pretty much buys whatever she needs so gifts are a challenge. And besides, she told me she dislikes Christmas so there’s that.

I’m still not reading any news, and I feel better for it. I do catch a headline here and there and then freak out( like Kennedy as head of Health. I mean he’s a fu**king anti-vaccer. It’s all too much and somewhat feels like an alternate reality. Maybe I should read Carlos Castenada again.

Thankful Thursday( late) and Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, Gratitude, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia, Political things, Walking by

Yesterday was busy so I didn’t get anything written. I had to be down at infusion by 8:30am so needed to leave early. I did get my walk in first thing and that was nice. I’m thankful, I am still walking even though B isn’t. With his numbers so down he doesn’t have the energy.:(

I’m thankful infusion went ok. They are great nurses for sure. I noticed though there weren’t curtains to pull around the chairs which is odd for infusion rooms. All the UCD infusion chairs have some kind of curtain for privacy.

After infusion, I went to the library to pick up my holds. I am thankful for the Martha Riley Library as it is a wonderful community space.

I didn’t really have any enthusiasm to go to the gym. After that, I went back down to Winco. I finally saw where the new Trader Joe’s is and funny, it’s right down from Winco. But you can’t see it right off as the gas station blocks the view. It looks to be a bigger one than the Rocklin one so I’ll check it out next time I swim.

I’m thankful this fall has been colorful with leaves turning all shades of yellows, golds and some reds. Other than that, this week is really a downer if I’m honest.

Frugal-wise, it was ok. I didn’t really do a whole lot. All of the first-of-the-month bills are paid. There’s a little left over to get through till the end of the month. There’s Thanksgiving and so I’ll need a few more groceries for that. I ordered the Diestal turkey roast to be delivered on Nov 21. They are not cheap, but local and I’ve had good luck cooking them.

I spent $125 at Winco, $25 was on wine, so $100 was on food. I also filled the car up at Costco gas so that is a big $$ savings.

Today is a Dex day so it’s home for me. Barclay’s platelets have tanked so he’s going in for more labs this morning and hopefully scheduled for infusion. this is day 10. so we’re starting to hit the real downtime (days 10-15). He’s much better this cycle but still, there’s the platelets dropping. His hemoglobin is doing ok, but I think this is the period too where that started dropping. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.

My son is coming up today to work on a few things. If B needs an infusion tomorrow he could take him and my daughter go get him. We need the labs to come in till we know and the doctor says his platelets need to be under 50 for transfusion. I guess what she was saying is this is UCD policy. What a crock of shit. If it’s only going to keep going down and that means an ER visit, he knows he’s at 90 so why wait??? Doesn’t make any sense.

I’m still committed to not watching the news, it’s kind of a relief really. I know how I am with stuff that upsets me so much, so I feel this is a good thing for me right now. For how long? Who knows??

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, peritoneal mesothelomia, Political things by

It was a normal week of money stuff. I went to Costco and spent $300. Many of the items were bulk items like brown rice, granola, TP, and even some OTC allergy stuff for my daughter. I do try to get the items when they are on sale, as that makes for the best deals. I probably won’t do too much more shopping except for Thanksgiving stuff. But it seems there’s always something. Last month though, my grocery bill was under $500 for the 3 of us so pretty good.

I stopped at Noah’s Bagels after swimming and picked up one coffee and 2 bagels. I brought those back to infusion so B could eat something. I don’t often buy coffee out but we shared a medium coffee and it was very good.

Today I need to do my November meal plan. I’m going to use lots of pantry items and freezer ones too. I have lots of black beans so black bean chili will be on the menu. Also, pintos. I’m working on my sourdough loaves to get them to spring more in the oven. It’s an ongoing process. I don’t worry too much when it doesn’t work because it’s just flour, water, salt, and a starter. It’s fun and I enjoy the challenge.

I had to go out yesterday to pick up B’s meds and the damn pharmacy didn’t have 2 of them. He had done the refills a week ago so somewhere they screwed up. I had to wait for them to do them. PITA! Today he gets labs so we’ll see what the numbers are.

On the Facebook group, a new member was asking about the chemo and the surgery. Several people responded that the surgery is quite tough but one person said he was a year out from it and doing well. That gives me hope. I guess time will tell.

Yesterday afternoon we had a Samhain fire in the fire pit. It was nice to sit out with the fire and watch the sun go down. After a dinner of french toast and veggie sausages, we watched ‘Young Frankenstein’ which is one of our all-time favorites. So many great lines. We might watch Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein tonight.

I finished the LOTR Rings books and am back to reading some Baldacci. His different series are very good. I also read Mary Trump’s new book’ Who Could Ever Love You’. Boy was that an eye-opener. Trump is one sicko and his father was despicable. If you can get it from the library I’d recommend it just for the insight into trump’s mind.

I’m getting more stressed over the election and can hardly think about what will happen if he wins. It just really scares the Bjesus right out of me. The things he says and does are really nuts. Demented!! And yet people still are voting for him. It is beyond my little brain’s comprehension.

If he wins, I’ll just unplug for a while until I can handle it which may be never. Our country will be doomed for 4 more years. On top of that the policies will send us right back to McCarthyism. What a shit storm:(

Frugal Friday on Saturday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, frugalism, peritoneal mesothelomia, Walking by

Well, guess where we are?? The UCD infusion center. B’s platelets went way up,244, but his hemoglobin went down:(

So he’s getting a blood transfusion. It’ll probably be 3-4 hours but it’s nice here and quiet. I went for a long walk over to Kiwanis house and wow it’s all different. Well, not the Kiwanis house but all around it is construction.

I’m back now and since we have a while I thought I’d get this posted.

Then Monday he’ll get labs again.

So Frugal wise, I went to Winco this week and that’s about it. I think my groceries were $150. So okay really. I am planning Costco at some point next week but we’ll just have to see how everything plays out with chemo and labs.

I made the cauliflower soup last night from The Soup Sisters cookbook. Everyone loved it. I thought it was just ok. I did like it blended in the Vitamix so it was very silky.

I have some sticky rice to use up, so I may cook that like fried rice, and then I have some TJ’s orange chicken to use up, too.

I finished the budget for November so all the numbers add up and are accounted for. Most of our bills come out in the first 10 days of the month, so that’s good timing.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, cancer, cooking, frugalism, swimming by

This week has been ok money-wise. We’ve had to fill up the Santa Fe twice, but using Costco gas saves quite a bit. Gas here in town is $1.00 more a gallon than Costco. Go figure.

I went to Bel Air to get some leeks for soup and some tea drinks for B. I spent $58. Probably at Winco that would have been a lot less.

Then most of our annual fall bills have come due. Allstate I decided to do in payments. That’ll help break it up and I’ll finish it by Dec. Then the big one is our insurance. Here in California most insurance companies are not insuring for fire so you have to get a rider with the California Fair Plan. So you have one with the insurance company, in our case, that’s AAA and the the Fair Plan.

Both went up a couple hundred dollars but at least it’s not thousands. Still, for such a small house it’s a pretty expensive policy. There was no payment plan option so it went on the credit card. I got to $600 in my cash envelopes, but that’s certainly not enough. Hopefully next year I can get more in there.

Today is a swim day and Barclay trying to get someone to do something at UCD in regards to appts. We are so frustrated with them and honestly shocked at their inefficiency and lack of response. It is baffling since before we had such extraordinary service from them before. But this has been absolutely awful.

So once I get back from the pool, I need to organize my thrift store stuff to take next week. I also want to box up a dozen pint jars and offer them on Pay it Forward as I have way too many jars now. I’m not planning on canning as much so I know someone who is canning will use them.

Frugal Friday and other things.

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cash envelopes, frugalism, Uncategorized, velcade by

So I spoke to soon. The shots are starting today at the infusion center. My daughter is taking him today and tomorrow as I have my Flu/COVID shot today and almost always have muscle aches and feel lousy for 24+ hours. Then Sunday the center is closed so then I will take him on Monday. The only time they had Tuesday was 4:30 and I said no way am I driving Ca 65 at that time. So I do hope they can change it otherwise he’ll have to skip that day. He absolutely cannot drive himself as he’s really not computing.

It is very stressful to have so many appointments. I really dislike having so much scheduled. It makes me kind of crazy. But hopefully, after these shots at the infusion center, they will be at home for the next cycle. Plus, this week I have Velcade so then the next 2 days are Dex days and I don’t drive or go out.

Back to what’s frugal. Well, after Stanford, which cost quite a bit for food, gas, and hotel, hopefully, this week has been better. I filled the Santa Fe up at Costco, but since we’re driving so much that will add to gas expenses. Then I shopped at our Holiday Market and that’s always more expensive than Winco. But I needed stuff so that’s that. I particularly wanted miso to make B miso soup. I spent $55 on food. Then earlier in the week I spent $47 at Bel Air. Again these are stores I try and avoid but if I’m not in Rocklin then I have to make do. I will go to Costco next week to get milk etc. B is drinking a lot of milk and using it in protein shakes.

A number of annual bills are coming due and the the biggest will be house insurance. We still haven’t gotten the Fair Plan cost which I hope comes soon. Our annual PO Box is due and that’s a whopping $182 just for a box at the PO. I did have the money in a cash envelope at least. Plus Barclay’s motorcycle insurance is due. He is going to have to sell his bike at some point but not right now so the insurance needs to be paid.

How frugal was your week?? Some weeks are definitely better than others.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, frugalism, Gardening, Lake tahoe, Pantry by

It’s been an okay week budget-wise.

I got gas at Costco since I knew we’d be driving to Sacramento and then the next day to Rocklin. Gas here in town is almost a $1 more so it does save $$.

We did go back into Costco after Sacramento and picked up avocados, butter lettuce, milk( B is drinking a lot of milk in his protein shakes), cheese, and I can’t remember what else. That came to a little over $100 which I used cash for. I also, on a separate checkout, bought 3 Christmas gifts one of which was Chocolates in a 3 pack that I can separate for gifts.

That was it in spending so I think it was a good week.

Today is one of my Dex days so I’ll do stuff around the house although I feel kind of off. I bought a wood step stool from Amazon so I can sit on it and go through my pantry boxes. I just can’t sit on the floor for any length of time. I’ll check it out today and see if it works otherwise I’ll send it back.

I started my annual rereading of LOTR. I finished The Hobbit, and am 1/3 of the way through Fellowship of the Ring. I also picked up my holds from the library so I have a nice stack of books on my bedside table.

My daughter harvested the delicata squash and oh my, there must be 20. That will make some tasty fall/winter dishes. Everything in the garden is done. The tomatoes are done. There are still some jalapeno peppers out there but not a lot. I’d say the only thing I missed were cucumbers for pickling. But that’s not something I do a lot of anyway. She’s going to put in a fall garden with radishes, lettuce, and maybe chard. Our cilantro seeds itself so that should be coming up soon too.

Frugal Friday

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

This week I did another Costco trip. This one had TP, bread for the freezer, half and half, and other staples. It came to a little over $200. I had $130 cash and then put the rest on the debit card. When I do that then I take that amount off my food $. I still need to do another cash run so I’ll figure out what I have left in the budget. I did buy B his Sierra Nevada beer even though he’s not really drinking much. But he gives me the money back for that.

I also went into Winco for salad stuff and that ended up under $30.

All the bills for September are in and accounted for. Our Allstate insurance notice came and again prices are crazy. My son’s Subaru is on our policy( he pays for this though), and it’s a 2008 and almost $700. Why?? I will pay when the actual bill comes in but I think I’m going to pay in installments. I really don’t want to add to the CC.

It’s been hot as I mentioned but it cools off at night with all the windows open.

Today is a no walk day so I’m doing some extra chores. The biggest is the outside windows. I also processed more tomatoes for the freezer and will do all of them(3 bags) later this fall.

I stuck to my menu plan this week except tonight is pizza night and I don’t think that’s what I’m doing. First, I don’t have any dough made, and second, no one feels like a pizza in this heat. I’ll figure something out.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, California, camping, cancer, cash envelopes, frugalism, Lake tahoe by

First off, I want to thank a reader, NW, for a very generous donation that took me by complete surprise. I do have my Paypal linked to my blog but haven’t thought about it in years. It was such a kind thing to do and will help most certainly with the trip to Stanford, gas, lodging, and food. So thank you again for such kindness. Honestly, I was blown away by your thoughtfulness.

My dentist appt was a cleaning and then x-rays. It was pricey and I had to put that on a CC as my cash envelope had been emptied when B went to the dentist. I hope by the next appt, I’ll have my envelope fully funded. Oh, I have a tiny cavity she(The dentist) wants to fill so I’ll do that in October. We need to get through these appts of B’s and see how that goes.

I went to Costco after I had my doctor appt in Sacramento. Yikes, the traffic going into Sacramento was awful and took over an hour. Usually it’s 45-50 minutes. So coming back out it went smoothly swung into Costco. I spent $188 total. $15 was nonfood, $20 was wine, and the rest was food. I used my cash envelope.

We filled up the VW this week and that was $45.

We went to the nursery and bought 2 bags of potting soil and 3 pots and that ended up $60.

After that was a stop at Panera, and that was $28. I had cash in my coffee date envelope but forgot to use it so I’ll need to move that to back to the bank. Although I haven’t put any money into dining out for this month so I could wait and deduct that. I usually only do $50 as we don’t really eat out that often.

Overall, a frugal week. I didn’t need gas in the Santa Fe so that was nice.

Today I do plan on swimming as I haven’t been all week and I can feel it. I don’t need to get gas or get anything from Winco( across the street from the pool).

Next week is open with no appts so we’re thinking of driving up to Tahoe which we had planned on doing for our anniversary. After Labor Day is the start of the off-season although September is still busy up there. We still have our Nevada Beach reservations for the end of September but the Stanford trip is right in the middle of that week, so I’m guessing we’re going to have to cancel. We could trailer up and stay 2nights, but then we’d have to come back down for Stanford 2 days, and I just don’t see us able to go back up for 2nights. We just don’t have that kind of energy. I don’t want to cancel yet in hopes we’ll get a cancellation at Stanford. I love it up there at the end of September. The air is so crisp and the lake so blue. Plus, we get the annual parks pass discount so where can you go on vacation in Tahoe for $150 for 6 nights. But if we don’t get into Stanford sooner then I’m not sure it’ll work.

Being in limbo with all this is pretty tough and I have to say my anxiety is fairly high. I guess since we can’t really control these things, I need to let it go some. Easier said than done.

Enough of that, I made a frittata last night to use up that spinach I had. Tonight is pizza night. I think I have one last dough ball in the freezer I can use.