Tag Archives: Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, freezer cooking, husband, Myeloma, Pantry, swimming, Walking by

It was a frugalish week. After swimming on Tuesday I stopped at TJs for a few things like eggs, sandwich bread, odds and ends, and wine. I need to go there tomorrow and pick up some stuff to take camping. There’s not a TJs in the whole of Lake Tahoe. There is a Grocery Outlet though. I spent just over $100. Other than that no grocery shopping. I think the way to save money(and it is working) on groceries is to stay out of Safeway, or even our Holiday Market is pretty high priced. Of course, sometimes I need something and it makes sense to get it here rather than driving out to get it. So I think I’m going to plan regular TJs, Winco, and then Costco for the bigger bulk items like coffee.

Today is B’s birthday so we’ll all celebrate with some cake and take out pizza. Another turn around the sun!! Happy Birthday to the love of my life.

We had a nice walk with only a few people there. It does really bug me though when people do not use a flashlight when it’s still dark-ish out.

Then I came home and made a loaf of pumpkin bread to freeze. I had enough pureed pumpkin left to make a batch of pumpkin muffins too.

Later I’m heading into town to go to CVS to hopefully pick up my dexamethasone. There’s been some confusion about where to send it and now I’m not sure if it’ll be there. I figured I’d better go in and check rather than call. The infusion center called and I have all my October dates scheduled. He wants 4 weeks on and 1 week off. Not sure why but in the long run it probably doesn’t matter. We canceled our mid October camping trip because we were going to leave the day I have an appt with the Dr. and then infusion after. There’s no sense going if I’ll have just gotten the shot and then Dex. We had a reservation for 4 nights so 3 of those days wouldn’t really make sense as those are the days I’m not 100%. That’s ok. We’re keeping the Napa reservation in November. I’ll start my next cycle that week so it’ll just need to be later in the week as we’re booked Sun- Thurs. Although, I think we’ll probably leave Wednesday so I can get the appt on Thursday.

Our fall weather is definitely here. Very cool mornings, nice days with warmish temperatures.

Here’s how the pantry is looking. I haven’t done another pressure canned meal as I don’t have a lot of room. When we get back I’ll make something to add. just look at the color of those tomatoes!!! The applesauce is from our tree this year. I still have half a box to do. All the rest of the tomatoes even the green ones I’m putting in a box in the closet to ripen. As they ripen I’m just bagging them and putting them in the freezer to process at a later date.

Frugal Friday

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

It seems like it was a low-spend week. I did go to Winco and got the strawberries and some other stuff I can’t remember and that was $50??? I haven’t been to Safeway or Costco so that always makes for a lower spend week.

I received my order of peaches but not both boxes. I ordered 2 and only got one. I’ve emailed them but haven’t heard back. It would make way too expensive for peach jam. I sure hope they deal with it.

Then I checked my LLS and it seems they’ve messed that up too so I’m waiting to see the final assessment. The other day when I checked they had it all right and then yesterday I checked and it looked way different and only was paying a fraction of what I submitted so, I may have to call:(

I guess all of this would be frugal if it was working the way it’s supposed to.

Today, I’m going to pressure can Boston Baked Beans. I have done the presoak and pre-boil and now have them in the oven for 4 hours. I should get 6-7 pints of beans. I omitted the bacon so it may not have as deep a flavor. I got this bag of Great Northern white beans at Winco during the pandemic. I think I paid $2.00 for it. So 6 pints of baked beans for that price is pretty frugal.

I’m heading into the gym for a workout and then when I get home will get the pressure canner going.

Friday Things

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, travel, Walking by

I decluttered 2 bags of books at the library yesterday. I’ve been hemming and hawing at should I let certain ones go and finally decided that although I like to look through them I rarely use them for recipes so I let them go. Now I have 3 shelves empty and waiting to be repurposed. I have a few more to donate. My thinking is along the lines of Swedish Death Cleaning, that when I’m gone, are either of my kids going to want this. It definitely helps me see what I can let go of.

B did the small Costco run and that ended up @ $125. that included non-food items as well. I don’t plan on going to the store until I need produce. Right now I have lots of tomatoes, avocados, spinach, and a small bag of salad mix. I have a free coupon for a salad mix and olive oil at the Holiday so I’ll go down and do that today or tomorrow.

I thought about ordering a pizza but decided to make up the large batch of dough. It makes 4 big balls and even those can be cut in half. I have all the toppings I need so I set to go. If it’s nice I’ll have B get out the Ooni. The Ooni does take some adjusting to so I may need a few dough balls to try. Plus you don’t put a lot of toppings on because it’s a fired pizza and it makes it too heavy. ( I know it’s happened a lot in the past).

The budget is going well and all the bills are accounted for. We had an emergency money need as our 12 yo water heater gave up the ghost and we had to buy a new one at the tune of $800. So that sucks but now we know we’re set( I hope for the next 12).

This was one of the wines we bought in Napa. We probably wouldn’t have bought it except the wine clerk said it was his favorite. It was delicious!!! I will get more.

Today, I headed out to the garden shed to organize my canning jars. I need to put quarts,pints and half pints together instead of thrown together.

Yesterday was nice enough to open windows and I got out our rug shampooer and did the rugs. Sometimes I wonder how I get thru a day since the last time I used it( the only time as it’s new) I didn’t see that you’re supposed to go back over the area with hot water so I just had shampooed:( Still it looked good and was nice and clean). This time I did it right and it looked better:) Oh well, I guess it all works out somehow:)

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, husband, simplicity, Uncategorized by

It’s been a nice week. Very low key overall. The weather is cooler but still no rain. I guess I’m ready for some rain and we do it need it as things are quite dry.

The small fall garden we planted has given us some lettuce and chard and even a few radishes my daughter grew in a # 10 can. Too funny but they were the best radishes yet. We’ve had 2-3 nice salads and that saves a bit from buying store-bought.

I’ve been to the gym a few times to keep up on weights and treadmill but have been coming straight home and not having to go into Safeway. That really does save money. I think the Walmart pickup has really been excellent as I can see the amount of what I’m buying and planning meals too.

 Today I’m heading to Costco so that won’t be too frugal. This list includes Vanilla which for some reason is exorbitant.  It’s been that way for a while. Last year when B was still working I had ordered vanilla beans and made my own extract. But that is used up now.

I’m planning on getting a Costco pizza for dinner which is a money saver since it’s $10 for a huge pizza. I end up freezing some but that’s okay.

The year is winding down and I’m glad that 2019 will be over. It’s been a hard year with everything. B still hasn’t decided about going back to work but I think it’s about 90% that he doesn’t want to deal with all the stuff again. We’re not sure how the disability payments will go in January. They’re due to end Dec 31st so if there’s an extension, I don’t know yet. It’ll be harder with just SS $ but I think it will work although Costco’s trips will be MUCH smaller:)

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, cooking, Uncategorized by

Well, we’ve been fairly frugal this week.

I haven’t been to the store for a regular shopping, just bits and pieces here and there. Today, I need to pick up some mozzarella, mushrooms, and olives for pizza. It’s cool enough I think I can actually bake it in the oven.

I did go to Target with my daughter for cat food and then she picked out some clothes for her Library conference in St. George Utah, so that added up but not too bad.

The first of the month’s bills are done and then with the next pay check, it’s just the water bill and Verizon. I got the Verizon bill down quite a bit by paying off my iPhone last month and then we canceled the insurance on both mine and my daughters. So the savings added up. Next when I can pay off my son’s phone in a few months that will drop it even more. As we ready for retirement, these monthly bills must be as low as possible. Plus, no car payment. Right now we’re still paying on the Santa Fe but there is some reimbursement for that from my husbands work. But into retirement, there cannot be a car payment at all.

Next week I do need to get to Costco as we will need some staples like TP and sugar organic tomato paste etc. I’ll try and budget @ 200 for that shop.

We also got our 6-month car insurance bill and it went down substantially because the took off my son’s ticket for speeding and his single person accident. Both of these are more than 3 years old so maybe that was the magic number but it went down almost $400 which is huge. So that will be very helpful.

Figuring out the numbers for retirement is challenging. It will certainly be no frills and if we want to keep living here we need to be sure the basics are covered. There’s no million dollar retirement account that’s for sure.

Today, I’m going to the gym to do weights mostly, and then I have an appointment for getting my Invisalign trays.

Tonight, as I said, is pizza.

Walking in the morning has been delightful and many of the people who were showing up early to beat the heat are gone. There’s still a few who will probably drop away since at 6 am it’s still darkish.  But there have always been a few of us that just keep walking, dark or not. On a sad note, Hobbles the duck went missing sometime during our vacation and I miss him. He was quite a character.IMG_0700

 

 

Five Frugal Things Friday, oops Saturday

Posted in cooking, Uncategorized by

I guess I missed this yesterday so I’ll just do it today. First, though, it’s a miracle. We can see the sun. It’s strange to see that yellow orb in the sky after so much rain. If you missed this on the news, I-80 from Colfax, ( right above where we live) to Truckee, was closed due to a mudslide that went across all lanes. Now that’s serious folks. One lane eastbound is open this morning but all the rest are still closed. Wow, that’s a lot of rain and mud.

So it hasn’t been a frugal week at all.

  • B went to Costco and spent $200. Well, it was stuff we needed and of course some champagne to celebrate my numbers.
  • I went to Grocery Outlet and spent $70 on groceries. so not frugal
  • We’ve had all space heaters off since though, rainy, it has been quite warm @ 52 degrees yesterday to start. So I’m hoping the electric bill reflects this.
  • My daughter and I went to Walmart. I only go to Walmart once or twice a year and that is because they carry the Danskin active wear line. This is what makes up most of my capsule wardrobe. But for the last year, they’ve had nada that I liked. But yesterday I found the pants I like( think yoga pants)so I got the only black they had in my size and a grey. Grey is not usually in my color base but I liked these so I got them.  Overall it wasn’t frugal, but since I don’t really shop very often, I felt okay about it.
  • We ate all our meals at home except my daughter and I splurged on an In and Out Burger.
  • I did put $100 in our Santa saver. So that’s a start.

 

So today I’m going to do some house chores like vacuum unless I can get someone else to do it, go to the gym, then wash a few windows. I cleaned up the sun porch where we have the cockatiels and now the windows need to be cleaned. We took out the treadmill as no one was using it. I’m not sure what to do with it but for now its the black hole of the barn. Boy, is that the next area to declutter. At one point it looked pretty good. Now it’s just a disaster zone. Well, it has been too cold to be out there so soon.

Well, off to start this wonderful sunny day.

Dinner is roast chicken( the Zaycon order) red potatoes from Costco, grilled tofu, and a big salad. I want to learn how to cut up a chicken so I may try that today. I pulled out my cookbook, ‘ The art of French Cooking’ by Julia Child and it shows or tells how. ( I think).

Five Frugal Things Friday

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So as with many other bloggers, I’m joining in with the 5 frugal things this week. I may not do  this every week but it can help with accountability.

  1.  We haven’t been out for any lunches or dinner.Although I did buy a cup of soup the other day so I guess that’s not really frugal.
  2. We are trying to keep our space heaters at 55 or off. My son is gone for a few days and we have his off completely. But we are in for a very cold storm by Monday even possibly snow so that may not keep going.
  3. I returned the ham I bought at Costco since it was moldy( yes, very weird) but I didn’t go get another but bought some sliced ham and that was fine with us. As it was I froze half of it. So I got back almost $24.00.
  4. Bundling errands so we only take one car to town.
  5. Uh, there must be one more…. oh, I know, we’re only going to run the dryer once a day.  Unfortunately, today was extra sheets so I’ve run the washer and dryer 3 times but overall it’s the goal and I did do it every other day this week.
  6. This is good. WE ordered propane and it was only $1.55 a gallon. Believe me, that is so cheap I could hoard it if I had extra tanks. To fill up was $ 178. Pretty much unheard of as this time last year it was almost $400.