Today, the 31st marks the end of the month and a new paycheck. In the last 11 days, I have tried very hard to limit my spending to necessary items. I was able to get to the end of the month and meet my obligations without issue.
Ways I stretched my buck:
Used gas gift cards to fuel my car in part.
Limited my travels when possible.
Limited our dining out.
Minimized my lunch spending to bare bones.
Took lunches most days and DH took lunches half the time.
Postponed some spending.
Minimized grocery spending to necessities and extreme bargains.
Occupied myself (entertainment) with items already on hand and redbox rentals.
Used coupons as much as possible.
Used regular coffee instead of k-cups several days.
I did transfer a small amount of money from my savings to my checking to ensure that all automated payments would be covered. I was able to reduce spending enough that I actually didn't need to.
Now, moving forward.
My general plan for the rest of the year is to continue to build my stockpile. After the first of the year, DH and I will sit down and decide if we need to continue to build, stand steady or consume. I will be ordering bacon and ham tomorrow from Zaycon Foods. I will also make another trip to the butcher shop to purchase some ground sirloin.
I will continue canning items that I can find at a discount. Right now, that includes apples purchased at .66 per pound and 30 apples that were free. I'm thinking more applesauce, some apple pie filling and a small amount of apple butter. Right now, I have a couple of pounds of cherries in the freezer. I'd like to try some cherry jam from those.
This fall, I want to can some sweet potato chunks and perhaps some more potatoes. As far as dehydrating (which, by the way, is a great way to supplement your heating), I want to dry some additional hash browns and maybe some sweet potatoes as well. As frozen vegetables go on sale, I will try to dry some more vegetables to put together a jar of veggies for soup.
That's enough for now. More thinking and planning later. DH just announced that the "holidays are here, time to start planning for Thanksgiving." Good grief, Charlie Brown.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Resisting the temptation..
It's Thursday, I don't feel much like cooking. Take out or going out sounds really good, .. and easy.
Stay focused.
Checking the freezer, I remember that I put some things in the freezer just for times like these.
BBQ shredded pork, chicken, meatballs. Meatballs. With Spaghetti.
It actually sounds really good and quick.
Let me go cook before I loose my resolve.
Stay focused.
Checking the freezer, I remember that I put some things in the freezer just for times like these.
BBQ shredded pork, chicken, meatballs. Meatballs. With Spaghetti.
It actually sounds really good and quick.
Let me go cook before I loose my resolve.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Too much month at the end of the money
I checked my bank account today to find that those extra expenditures had taken a bite out of my bank balance. 9 days to payday. After a few minutes of panic, I decided that a good plan is more effective than panic.
How did I get to this point? October has some extra expenses for me every year but this year had a few extras. I picked up a couple of bills since we had a large expenditure for the new gutters. I also had tag/taxes due on my car. Zaycon sold chicken in my area and we had a few small medical expenditures.
How do I get to the end of the month? My first step was re-evaluating my grocery trip for today. I trimmed it significantly to minimize the expense. I got it down to 10 items and less than $20. Success. I will proceed with an apple purchase from Aldi this week since the price is so low.
I'm going to strictly limit my lunch expenses and carefully control spending at Walmart over the next 9 days. I'm going to utilize what I have whenever possible - I think I have what I need on hand to finish my Dresden plate quilt. I have groceries that will carry us without issue. (I may need to buy a perishable here and there.)
It will be interesting to see just how much I can reduce expenses between now and the end of the month.
How did I get to this point? October has some extra expenses for me every year but this year had a few extras. I picked up a couple of bills since we had a large expenditure for the new gutters. I also had tag/taxes due on my car. Zaycon sold chicken in my area and we had a few small medical expenditures.
How do I get to the end of the month? My first step was re-evaluating my grocery trip for today. I trimmed it significantly to minimize the expense. I got it down to 10 items and less than $20. Success. I will proceed with an apple purchase from Aldi this week since the price is so low.
I'm going to strictly limit my lunch expenses and carefully control spending at Walmart over the next 9 days. I'm going to utilize what I have whenever possible - I think I have what I need on hand to finish my Dresden plate quilt. I have groceries that will carry us without issue. (I may need to buy a perishable here and there.)
It will be interesting to see just how much I can reduce expenses between now and the end of the month.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
A busy day....
It's been a busy weekend, especially today.
Friday night, instead of going out to eat, I used some beef chunks to put together a vegetable beef soup. It saved us the expense of a dinner out and the bonus is leftovers for Monday's dinner. I love to come home to a pot of soup to warm after that first day of the work week. I'll probably make us a grilled cheese sandwich to go along with it and call it a day.
Saturday, we had several errands that we needed to run. We also stopped by Target later in the day. They had marked down some 'Seal a Meal' quart bags to $3.98 for 20 bags. It was SUCH a good deal that I picked up six boxes. They should work fine in my Food Saver.
Sunday we spent most of the day doing chores around the house. After mowing the lawn, I started trimming back a forsythia bush that had grown beyond belief. DH helped to get some of the vines out that were massive. The vines had grown through the forsythia and up into the dogwood tree. We stuffed (and I mean stuffed) four large paper lawn bags full of cuttings and vines.
DH was also able to get the rain barrel back in place under the new gutters. We also moved some stuff around in the garage. Three loads of laundry and two loads of dishes. (Where do are the dishes come from?)
One a crazy note, one of our garage springs broke unexpectedly today leaving us with an unusable garage door. I'll be taking the little car tomorrow and hope to find a spring at the home improvement store. DH thinks that he can repair it himself. That would probably save us a $100 even with the spring purchase.
I dehydrated six pounds of red delicious apples and placed them into two quart jars which I vacuum sealed. I see that Aldi's has both granny smith and gala apples for only .66 per pound this week. I would like to get three or four bags of each to put up for winter. I'd do six more pounds in the dehydrator, six pounds into applesauce and six pounds put up in a light syrup for apple pies.
I didn't get the green beans I bought Saturday canned but hope to finish that tomorrow.
I didn't get any work done on my quilt project, it can wait until later in the week.
I need to water my houseplants.
So, my plans/goals for the week are as follows:
Monday: Aldi, Grocery Store, Home Depot
Fix garage door, can beans
Tuesday: Aldi (?), Can Apples, start applesauce
Wednesday: Can applesauce and place apples in dehydrator
Thursday: work on quilt
Friday night, instead of going out to eat, I used some beef chunks to put together a vegetable beef soup. It saved us the expense of a dinner out and the bonus is leftovers for Monday's dinner. I love to come home to a pot of soup to warm after that first day of the work week. I'll probably make us a grilled cheese sandwich to go along with it and call it a day.
Saturday, we had several errands that we needed to run. We also stopped by Target later in the day. They had marked down some 'Seal a Meal' quart bags to $3.98 for 20 bags. It was SUCH a good deal that I picked up six boxes. They should work fine in my Food Saver.
Sunday we spent most of the day doing chores around the house. After mowing the lawn, I started trimming back a forsythia bush that had grown beyond belief. DH helped to get some of the vines out that were massive. The vines had grown through the forsythia and up into the dogwood tree. We stuffed (and I mean stuffed) four large paper lawn bags full of cuttings and vines.
DH was also able to get the rain barrel back in place under the new gutters. We also moved some stuff around in the garage. Three loads of laundry and two loads of dishes. (Where do are the dishes come from?)
One a crazy note, one of our garage springs broke unexpectedly today leaving us with an unusable garage door. I'll be taking the little car tomorrow and hope to find a spring at the home improvement store. DH thinks that he can repair it himself. That would probably save us a $100 even with the spring purchase.
I dehydrated six pounds of red delicious apples and placed them into two quart jars which I vacuum sealed. I see that Aldi's has both granny smith and gala apples for only .66 per pound this week. I would like to get three or four bags of each to put up for winter. I'd do six more pounds in the dehydrator, six pounds into applesauce and six pounds put up in a light syrup for apple pies.
I didn't get the green beans I bought Saturday canned but hope to finish that tomorrow.
I didn't get any work done on my quilt project, it can wait until later in the week.
I need to water my houseplants.
So, my plans/goals for the week are as follows:
Monday: Aldi, Grocery Store, Home Depot
Fix garage door, can beans
Tuesday: Aldi (?), Can Apples, start applesauce
Wednesday: Can applesauce and place apples in dehydrator
Thursday: work on quilt
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
A good day
After having two bad days at work. (I feel like I work with middle schoolers most of the time.) My day off today was a great break and I got a good bit done.
DD and I ordered 80 pounds of chicken from Zaycon Foods and it arrived Tuesday afternoon. I took off about an hour early to pick it up. All told, it took a little over 2 hours to process (trim, pack, and label). Most of the trimming went directly into a big past pot along with half an onion and a carrot. I brought the pot up to a boil for about 30 minutes and then simmered for an hour. After that, I moved the solids to the crock pot to continue to simmer over night. Most of the liquid went into the fridge to settle and allow the fat to solidify. Today, I skimmed most of the fat and proceeded to can the broth into quarts using my new pressure canner. The first batch was four gorgeous quarts of homemade broth. Canning the broth was an experience. Listening to those jars repeatedly ping and spit was a riot. All four have been washed down now and I'll double check the seals tomorrow. I have about two quarts of broth still left to can tomorrow night. I think those will go into pint sized jars for convenience. I was also able to glean a pound of shredded chicken from the broth meat. I'm thinking chicken tacos?
I still have seven pounds of carrots to can. Perhaps I can get those done Thursday or Friday. I really need to find a source for produce that is cheaper and more plentiful than the grocery store or corner market. The real farmers market here in Atlanta is on the south side of town and is at least an hour there and an hour back. Not very convenient.
I also spent the day with my littlest grandson today. His regular sitter is recovering from some surgery and he'll be spending a few days with me off and on for the next few weeks. He was a joy today and we made some spiders as our arts and crafts project with pipe cleaners and some craft paint I had on hand.
He went with me to the grocery store and was not a hindrance at all. I was able to pick up a few items that were on sale and I had a coupon for. It was not a huge shopping excursion as there were not that many things that we needed or an abundance of great deals.
With the chicken mentioned above and several trips to the butcher shop for ground sirloin, a sausage trip, and some pre-cooked shredded pork, my meat stash in the freezer is in pretty good shape. I'd like to take a hour or so over the weekend to get it more organized and take an inventory of what we really have.
I'm loving the vacuum sealer (Food Saver) that I bought. It's been very helpful in getting the shredded pork and chicken quickly packed.
As for housework and chores, I did get three loads of laundry washed and dried today. The garbage went out on time and the Halloween decorations are out.
I was able to add some blue borders to the quilt I'm working on and pulled it all together for the quilt top.
All good things must come to an end and as a result, it's back to work tomorrow. Wish me well....
DD and I ordered 80 pounds of chicken from Zaycon Foods and it arrived Tuesday afternoon. I took off about an hour early to pick it up. All told, it took a little over 2 hours to process (trim, pack, and label). Most of the trimming went directly into a big past pot along with half an onion and a carrot. I brought the pot up to a boil for about 30 minutes and then simmered for an hour. After that, I moved the solids to the crock pot to continue to simmer over night. Most of the liquid went into the fridge to settle and allow the fat to solidify. Today, I skimmed most of the fat and proceeded to can the broth into quarts using my new pressure canner. The first batch was four gorgeous quarts of homemade broth. Canning the broth was an experience. Listening to those jars repeatedly ping and spit was a riot. All four have been washed down now and I'll double check the seals tomorrow. I have about two quarts of broth still left to can tomorrow night. I think those will go into pint sized jars for convenience. I was also able to glean a pound of shredded chicken from the broth meat. I'm thinking chicken tacos?
I still have seven pounds of carrots to can. Perhaps I can get those done Thursday or Friday. I really need to find a source for produce that is cheaper and more plentiful than the grocery store or corner market. The real farmers market here in Atlanta is on the south side of town and is at least an hour there and an hour back. Not very convenient.
I also spent the day with my littlest grandson today. His regular sitter is recovering from some surgery and he'll be spending a few days with me off and on for the next few weeks. He was a joy today and we made some spiders as our arts and crafts project with pipe cleaners and some craft paint I had on hand.
He went with me to the grocery store and was not a hindrance at all. I was able to pick up a few items that were on sale and I had a coupon for. It was not a huge shopping excursion as there were not that many things that we needed or an abundance of great deals.
With the chicken mentioned above and several trips to the butcher shop for ground sirloin, a sausage trip, and some pre-cooked shredded pork, my meat stash in the freezer is in pretty good shape. I'd like to take a hour or so over the weekend to get it more organized and take an inventory of what we really have.
I'm loving the vacuum sealer (Food Saver) that I bought. It's been very helpful in getting the shredded pork and chicken quickly packed.
As for housework and chores, I did get three loads of laundry washed and dried today. The garbage went out on time and the Halloween decorations are out.
I was able to add some blue borders to the quilt I'm working on and pulled it all together for the quilt top.
All good things must come to an end and as a result, it's back to work tomorrow. Wish me well....
Thursday, October 11, 2012
A freezer surprise...
I needed to clean some old things out of the freezer to make room for the chicken coming next week. I found that there were quite a few things that had been in there too long (bags of frozen vegetables) and had turned into a solid mass. There were also some bagged Voila dinners that we didn't care for. I remember getting these REALLY cheap so it wasn't too painful to toss these. I also threw away some old dessert items and some left over baked goods.
My next task is to organize the freezer into categories. I'm thinking that I should have one shelf for fruit, baked goods, and dessert items. A shelf for chicken items, a shelf for beef items and a shelf for pork and miscellaneous meat items. Butters, juice, spices, breakfast items all in the door. That leaves two baskets to be used for miscellaneous items.
My future freezer focus will be on stocking the freezer with mostly meat, veggies and basic storage items. I will not purchase so many snack items and convenience items unless I really think we can consume within 3 months.
One happy spot in doing this task was finding a freezer bag of bacon hiding in the back. Yippee! That's probably about 25 slices or 4-5 meals worth for us.
This weekend, I want to start working on a soup project. I'd like to make four jars containing dehydrated vegetables (onions, celery, carrots, green beans, kidney beans, etc.) for soup. I'd like to have these "convenience jars" available so I could just add some broth, a can of tomatoes and some meat (if I have it) to quickly have a vegetable soup.
I also picked up a couple of pounds of apples at the local farmer's market (more like a neighborhood shop) to add to the galas I already have. I'm going to make a small batch of applesauce for canning. I'm still looking for cheap apples.
My next task is to organize the freezer into categories. I'm thinking that I should have one shelf for fruit, baked goods, and dessert items. A shelf for chicken items, a shelf for beef items and a shelf for pork and miscellaneous meat items. Butters, juice, spices, breakfast items all in the door. That leaves two baskets to be used for miscellaneous items.
My future freezer focus will be on stocking the freezer with mostly meat, veggies and basic storage items. I will not purchase so many snack items and convenience items unless I really think we can consume within 3 months.
One happy spot in doing this task was finding a freezer bag of bacon hiding in the back. Yippee! That's probably about 25 slices or 4-5 meals worth for us.
This weekend, I want to start working on a soup project. I'd like to make four jars containing dehydrated vegetables (onions, celery, carrots, green beans, kidney beans, etc.) for soup. I'd like to have these "convenience jars" available so I could just add some broth, a can of tomatoes and some meat (if I have it) to quickly have a vegetable soup.
I also picked up a couple of pounds of apples at the local farmer's market (more like a neighborhood shop) to add to the galas I already have. I'm going to make a small batch of applesauce for canning. I'm still looking for cheap apples.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Saving Summer and Fall
This is a quick post regarding my canning and freezing for the summer and fall of 2012 - or lack thereof.
By this time last year, I had already canned some pears in syrup and some picked pears and I was just beginning on apples. Unfortunately, this year it has been difficult to find inexpensive produce and fruit. I have put several pints of cherries up along with several bags in the freezer. (I'm going to make a small batch of cherry preserves later.) I think I did about six pints of picked pears but I expected to increase my canning efforts this year instead of reducing.
I did make strawberry preserves but frankly, they don't look very good. There was a lot of foam and they jelled too firm. I've read that sometimes strawberries do that regardless of how you process due to the lack of moisture in the fruit. I'll have to find some creative way to use those "preserves."
I wanted to can some peaches but I could never find a sufficient quantity at a price point to make it advantageous. I did end up with several quarts of frozen peaches. The best deals I found was to purchase the culled fruit from the local market. Frequently, these would have bad spots by the time they ripened but they were tasty and froze easily.
I was able to dehydrate a good several pints of tomatoes over the summer along with some varied vegetables and fruits. As the summer got good and hot, I had to reign in the dehydrating because the kitchen got too hot. As winter rolls in, I want to get back to the dehydrating. I found that dehydrating store bought veggies was very simple. I'd like to put together several quarts of mixed vegetables from which I could quickly make a vegetable soup: carrots, onions, celery, green beans, etc. Maybe just add some canned tomatoes, broth and the dehydrated veggies.
Apples are just coming in season. I'm going to search out some good deals on apples this weekend. I need to dehydrate more and get some fresh applesauce made. We went through a pint in just two days here. (The little girls really like the chunky applesauce.) Apples in the grocery store are running $1.50-$3 a pound. The best deal I found was .66 a pound at Aldi last week. I got six pounds but that quickly went into two small packages of dehydrated apples. Last year I had about 40 pound of apples. With six pounds already done and about 5 pounds on the table from the grocery store, that leaves me only 29 pounds to find. Hmmmm! That's going to be a challenge - maybe we should just shoot for 30 pounds total.
So many plans, so little time.
By this time last year, I had already canned some pears in syrup and some picked pears and I was just beginning on apples. Unfortunately, this year it has been difficult to find inexpensive produce and fruit. I have put several pints of cherries up along with several bags in the freezer. (I'm going to make a small batch of cherry preserves later.) I think I did about six pints of picked pears but I expected to increase my canning efforts this year instead of reducing.
I did make strawberry preserves but frankly, they don't look very good. There was a lot of foam and they jelled too firm. I've read that sometimes strawberries do that regardless of how you process due to the lack of moisture in the fruit. I'll have to find some creative way to use those "preserves."
I wanted to can some peaches but I could never find a sufficient quantity at a price point to make it advantageous. I did end up with several quarts of frozen peaches. The best deals I found was to purchase the culled fruit from the local market. Frequently, these would have bad spots by the time they ripened but they were tasty and froze easily.
I was able to dehydrate a good several pints of tomatoes over the summer along with some varied vegetables and fruits. As the summer got good and hot, I had to reign in the dehydrating because the kitchen got too hot. As winter rolls in, I want to get back to the dehydrating. I found that dehydrating store bought veggies was very simple. I'd like to put together several quarts of mixed vegetables from which I could quickly make a vegetable soup: carrots, onions, celery, green beans, etc. Maybe just add some canned tomatoes, broth and the dehydrated veggies.
Apples are just coming in season. I'm going to search out some good deals on apples this weekend. I need to dehydrate more and get some fresh applesauce made. We went through a pint in just two days here. (The little girls really like the chunky applesauce.) Apples in the grocery store are running $1.50-$3 a pound. The best deal I found was .66 a pound at Aldi last week. I got six pounds but that quickly went into two small packages of dehydrated apples. Last year I had about 40 pound of apples. With six pounds already done and about 5 pounds on the table from the grocery store, that leaves me only 29 pounds to find. Hmmmm! That's going to be a challenge - maybe we should just shoot for 30 pounds total.
So many plans, so little time.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Octoberfest and a trip to the Sausage Shop
The main goals for October are to finish up some home projects and stock up the pantry/freezer.
We have a company coming Wednesday to put gutters and gutter covers back on the house. The front gutters (which were in poor condition) were removed when the painting was done and the rear gutters are getting covers. Surprisingly, gutters are much more expensive that you realize. (At least they were more than I realized.) Oh well, it needs to be done so we're moving forward. This will be the last significant expenditure on the house for 2012. (We've put new flooring in the living room and dinning room, refinished the staircase, and painted the exterior this year.) There are still a few small projects that need to be wrapped up (touch up trim paint on stairs, finish painting outside rockers, purge and organize storage items), but we'll continue to work on those as time permits.
As for the other portion of our October goals, we took at trip over to Patak Bohemian Meats Saturday morning. I was astounded at the people lined up to get in. (They only open one Saturday a month.) It took us about a half hour waiting outside and probably another 15 minutes waiting inside. There were meats and sausages of every kind imaginable. We left with 2.5 pounds of andouille sausage, two pounds of hot Italian sausage, one pound of smoked beef sausage, one pound of pepper bacon, a half a pound of Canadian bacon and a summer sausage that was about a pound and a half. That's about 8.5 pounds of meat for just over $30. We had the Italian sausage Saturday night and it was delicious. Pepper bacon for breakfast and andouille for dinner tonight. DSIL said the andouille was very good. I packaged half the Italian and andouille for the freezer by vacuum sealing. We'll be having some BLTs for dinner one night this week. Yum.
I have had much of an opportunity to shop to stock the pantry. I did get six pounds of apples from Aldi's on Thursday and dehydrated them last Friday. Most are vacuum sealed and some are held out for snacking. DD informed me that granny smith apples were on sale at Kroger but apparently not at mine. Bummer. I'm still trying to decide if I'm heading to Ellijay to apple pick or not. If I can find some decent deals, I may just forgo this year. I have some applesauce and canned apples left from last year so I really don't need to do as many. Keep your fingers crossed that I can find some more good deals like the Aldi's deal.
I'll be heading back to Publix Monday or Tuesday. I desperately need to stock up on green beans. They have my favorites and I would like to speak with the manager about buying a box or case at a time. I wonder if they give any discounts?
Also on my to-do list for this week is getting some of the old stuff out of the freezer. I was able to get my upstairs freezer cleaned out but the big one downstairs needs some help, too! With 40 pounds of chicken destined for my freezer on the 16th, this is a priority. I know there are some frozen entrees (Voila meals) in the freezer that I purchased at give-away prices but we didn't care much for them. There's also some stuffed potatoes that came as part of a meat purchase and some fish fillets that need to be tossed.
I'm also still working on my new quilting project. This one is a pointed Dresden plate pattern. I purchased a bundle of fabric from Walmart and used that to create the 'plates.' While shopping at Walmart today, I tried to find a coordinating blue but I was unable to locate one that went well. Looks like I'll be making another trip to Joann's. I also purchased some fabric and a pattern for a new nightgown for me. I have issues finding suitable nightclothes that can be considered somewhat modest without being granny-style in nature.
On a bright side, we were able to do something this weekend that we have not been able to accomplish for a long time. We spent less than normal on eating out this weekend. We ate out Saturday breakfast and then grabbed a fast food sandwich for lunch. We had homemade pizza on Friday night, ate in Saturday night and lunched at home on Sunday. I would estimate that we spent $27 on dining out this weekend. After our fails of late, this is a great improvement.
It's going to be a long week - lots to do.
We have a company coming Wednesday to put gutters and gutter covers back on the house. The front gutters (which were in poor condition) were removed when the painting was done and the rear gutters are getting covers. Surprisingly, gutters are much more expensive that you realize. (At least they were more than I realized.) Oh well, it needs to be done so we're moving forward. This will be the last significant expenditure on the house for 2012. (We've put new flooring in the living room and dinning room, refinished the staircase, and painted the exterior this year.) There are still a few small projects that need to be wrapped up (touch up trim paint on stairs, finish painting outside rockers, purge and organize storage items), but we'll continue to work on those as time permits.
As for the other portion of our October goals, we took at trip over to Patak Bohemian Meats Saturday morning. I was astounded at the people lined up to get in. (They only open one Saturday a month.) It took us about a half hour waiting outside and probably another 15 minutes waiting inside. There were meats and sausages of every kind imaginable. We left with 2.5 pounds of andouille sausage, two pounds of hot Italian sausage, one pound of smoked beef sausage, one pound of pepper bacon, a half a pound of Canadian bacon and a summer sausage that was about a pound and a half. That's about 8.5 pounds of meat for just over $30. We had the Italian sausage Saturday night and it was delicious. Pepper bacon for breakfast and andouille for dinner tonight. DSIL said the andouille was very good. I packaged half the Italian and andouille for the freezer by vacuum sealing. We'll be having some BLTs for dinner one night this week. Yum.
I have had much of an opportunity to shop to stock the pantry. I did get six pounds of apples from Aldi's on Thursday and dehydrated them last Friday. Most are vacuum sealed and some are held out for snacking. DD informed me that granny smith apples were on sale at Kroger but apparently not at mine. Bummer. I'm still trying to decide if I'm heading to Ellijay to apple pick or not. If I can find some decent deals, I may just forgo this year. I have some applesauce and canned apples left from last year so I really don't need to do as many. Keep your fingers crossed that I can find some more good deals like the Aldi's deal.
I'll be heading back to Publix Monday or Tuesday. I desperately need to stock up on green beans. They have my favorites and I would like to speak with the manager about buying a box or case at a time. I wonder if they give any discounts?
Also on my to-do list for this week is getting some of the old stuff out of the freezer. I was able to get my upstairs freezer cleaned out but the big one downstairs needs some help, too! With 40 pounds of chicken destined for my freezer on the 16th, this is a priority. I know there are some frozen entrees (Voila meals) in the freezer that I purchased at give-away prices but we didn't care much for them. There's also some stuffed potatoes that came as part of a meat purchase and some fish fillets that need to be tossed.
I'm also still working on my new quilting project. This one is a pointed Dresden plate pattern. I purchased a bundle of fabric from Walmart and used that to create the 'plates.' While shopping at Walmart today, I tried to find a coordinating blue but I was unable to locate one that went well. Looks like I'll be making another trip to Joann's. I also purchased some fabric and a pattern for a new nightgown for me. I have issues finding suitable nightclothes that can be considered somewhat modest without being granny-style in nature.
On a bright side, we were able to do something this weekend that we have not been able to accomplish for a long time. We spent less than normal on eating out this weekend. We ate out Saturday breakfast and then grabbed a fast food sandwich for lunch. We had homemade pizza on Friday night, ate in Saturday night and lunched at home on Sunday. I would estimate that we spent $27 on dining out this weekend. After our fails of late, this is a great improvement.
It's going to be a long week - lots to do.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Super Saving September Summary
So, September is gone. Where are we?
One successful point of our savings plan was the automobile fuel. I was able to spend one $50 gas card and $50 in cash for gas. At the end of September, I still had 180 miles left to travel on the fuel I purchased.
A true fail was limiting dining out. We (I) obviously have absolutely no willpower.
I haven't tallied up my grocery expenditures yet but I think I have reduced it a bit. I've ordered (and paid for) 80 pounds of chicken that will be here mid-October. (From now til then, I'll be working on getting the main freezer and the little freezer cleaned out. Old items to the trash and eating what we can.)
I purchased a Food Saver vacuum sealer this past weekend from BJs and ordered a jar sealer and two deli containers from Amazon today. They are estimating that delivery will be October 4 or 5th which is amazing. If they are able to pull that off, I will be impressed. The expense was more than I wanted to have in September but with chicken coming soon, it eliminated another trip to BJs next weekend. My wish list (long term) includes a pressure canner but at $200+ this may have to wait until Spring.
I need to keep watching for canning jars on sale / clearance as the season winds down.
I hope to catch up on my receipts in the next few days. I'm planning another grocery trip tomorrow to stock up on some deals. There aren't that many but there are a few to be had. At DH's request, I will be on a mission to stock up til the end of the year.
It's apple season and I've been trying to decide if I want to do the u-pick again or simply purchase some apples. The favorites were applesauce and dried apple slices. I think I will price some apples at the local market and see the difference.
One successful point of our savings plan was the automobile fuel. I was able to spend one $50 gas card and $50 in cash for gas. At the end of September, I still had 180 miles left to travel on the fuel I purchased.
A true fail was limiting dining out. We (I) obviously have absolutely no willpower.
I haven't tallied up my grocery expenditures yet but I think I have reduced it a bit. I've ordered (and paid for) 80 pounds of chicken that will be here mid-October. (From now til then, I'll be working on getting the main freezer and the little freezer cleaned out. Old items to the trash and eating what we can.)
I purchased a Food Saver vacuum sealer this past weekend from BJs and ordered a jar sealer and two deli containers from Amazon today. They are estimating that delivery will be October 4 or 5th which is amazing. If they are able to pull that off, I will be impressed. The expense was more than I wanted to have in September but with chicken coming soon, it eliminated another trip to BJs next weekend. My wish list (long term) includes a pressure canner but at $200+ this may have to wait until Spring.
I need to keep watching for canning jars on sale / clearance as the season winds down.
I hope to catch up on my receipts in the next few days. I'm planning another grocery trip tomorrow to stock up on some deals. There aren't that many but there are a few to be had. At DH's request, I will be on a mission to stock up til the end of the year.
It's apple season and I've been trying to decide if I want to do the u-pick again or simply purchase some apples. The favorites were applesauce and dried apple slices. I think I will price some apples at the local market and see the difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)