Friday

Yesterdays shopping strategy didn't go exactly as planned with the couponing and employee discounts.  I need to start taking a calculator with me.  I was trying to get enough in my cart to equal $75 to get the $15 off your purchase of $75 or more.  Sigh!  I ended up after the discounts with a purchase total of $100 and then had to go back after I realized I had forgot 2 things were on my shopping list.  So I spent $120 and saved $29.00.  While we will use all the items purchased and some went in to my winter stock up cabinet, gotta do better at figuring out what the total price is in my shopping cart LOL!  Another comforting thought is the winter stock up is going good, less heavy items I'll have to try to carry through the snow this winter, less trips out and preparing for any financial or natural disaster with having ready made items in stock.

Frugal today is paying 4 bills ahead of their due date Yay!  I'm so thankful for my job and the ability to stay ahead of the game on the bills, no late fee's.

Yesterday's plan delayed me putting more money into the savings account for our car fund but will do better next week.

Frugal today?  Will be making pizza's at home for dinner tonight, dh will have them ready when I get home.

Anna

Thursday

Getting a game plan in place for my shopping trip this morning to my store.  I have to print out the store coupons it's going to be a big shopping trip today and I should be eligible for one of the coupons and of course my employee discount.  They still have Pepsi on sale 3 for $9 so I'll be picking up more of that.

I want to stop at Aldi's today too and get a few chickens.. maybe Krogers instead?  I want to make chicken for us for Saturday instead of buying it premade.  BBQ pulled chicken.

Anna

Frugal and Healthy Tip

We don't use Pam cooking spray in our house because of all the bad things in it and it is a aerosol spray.. we try to avoid aerosols of any kind.  So we've been using a paper towel to swab cooking oil on our baking pans until recently a member on another group suggested this as a alternative.

She uses a silicone oil brush to brush oil on pans..so cool!  A small BBQ brush would work too but I think the silicone one would be much easier to keep clean.  So no aerosols and no wasting paper towels.

Anna

Wednesday

Today I had to work 8am to 4pm so a no money spent day.  As always I took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with me something like, with protein and filling to get me through the work day.

Came home, made turkey hot dogs, potato chips and coleslaw for our dinner instead of being tempted to buy fast food.

So my paycheck next week will be a little bigger than normal which will help keep tucking that money into our savings plan for the new vehicle.

Anna

Tuesday

Today was not particularly frugal but it was a day when being frugal allowed me to do a kind deed.

Yesterday Pets Without Parents Columbus, Ohio sent out a We need help notice on Facebook that they were in desperate need of Puppy Dry Food.  So today I went out and got a big bag of dog food for them, got my dog's which was on sale and did some other errands all in the same area so I didn't waste gas.  Took it to the shelter, played with the puppies and kittens (free therapy) and came home.  So many beautiful little innocent kittens of all colors.

Anna

Parsley Plus

I demo'd. this product at my store over the weekend, we had free samples which I was allowed to bring one home (frugal).  I really like this product and no heavy fumey smell.

http://www.ecos.com/parsley.html

Anna

Sunday

Day of rest though I did make a run to Aldi's for weekly staples and to Family Dollar for hair conditioner and cosmetic puffs for our dogs to clean their ears.

Day 9 of no fast food Yay!

Tonights meal:  Dh had a frozen pizza, I had a big salad.

Anna

Saturday

Frugal:  Worked all day, money going towards the goal of saving for a new car.

Bought a 4 lb. bag of sunflower seed kernels for $8.99 after my employee discount versus 5 oz. of a store bought one at $4 per jar.  I love these in my salads and now that summer is here I have been eating a lot of salads for my lunch or dinner.  While this is quite a bit I will have to put it in smaller containers and put in the freezer to keep them fresh all summer.

Anna

Friday Frugal

Today I will be working and will not spend any money.  Dh is making pizza's for us tonight so we will save the $25-$28 we would normally be spending on take out and putting it towards our car purchase fund.

I will be emailing my insurance company today to find out about leasing versus buying.

Anna

Thursday Frugal Shopping

I didn't save huge but did save $5.08 with my discounts.  And of course price comparison to other stores I saved a lot that way too.  I noted details on the laundry detergent because I had no idea they even put formaldehyde in detergent, yuck!  This detergent should last us about 3 months I would guess at least.

The wings is enough for at least 2 complete meals, gotta account for the bone weight in that one.  Dh will cook these for us on Saturday evening along with some of the corn on the cob, the rest will be for a meal during the week.. I'm thinking baked chicken, corn on the cob and cole slaw.



4 lbs. of Buffalo Chicken Wings.. uncooked $8.99
1 bag of corn $3.59
Pepsi 3 for $9.00
120 ct. trash bags $3.59
10 lbs. of sugar $4.31

170 oz. of Natural Detergent ECOS Free and Clear Brand 85 standard loads, 170 HE Loads.  [B]$8.99[/B] This is a earth friendly produce Formaldehyde Free, Free Surfactants, PH Balanced, 1, 4 Dioxane Free Made with Coconut Oil.

I also picked up flowers for dh to take to his parents and uncles grave.. for 3 graves $13 at Dollar General and it included one wreath that said "Hero" on the banner which I've never seen before.  His one uncle died in the Korean War at age 17.  We are the only ones alive now to remember the sacrifice he made for his country although dh never met him, he died before dh was born.

Anna

Wednesday

Off work today, on call all week.. they hired a lot of teens for the summer and existing staff that are students during the fall/winter/spring are on break so not a lot of extra hours right now.  So as they say "Make Hay While The Sun Shines" today I finally got around to making my Candy Apple Jelly.  Waiting now for the second batch to come out of the canner.  It's so pretty!  I made 10 half pint (jelly jars).

Other frugals today?  Staying home, have to run across the street today to Family Dollar for bandaid patches for our dog Windi.. she is slowly, slowly healing from the hot spot infection she got last summer and I keep the patches on her to keep dirt and bacteria out of it so it can keep healing.  I have these on her loosely and attached with Scotch tape, it doesn't stick tight and doesn't hurt coming off.  The matt finish type.

Anna

Projected Plan This Week

The store I work for has a coupon that came out yesterday 10% off your total purchase, no minimum amount of purchase required.  I also get a 10% off discount as a employee so I'll be combining those two on my shopping trip there this week.  Still stocking up for the coming winter.

Anna

Tuesday

Frugal today is logging in to Krogers Feedback, doing their survey and getting 50 points toward my fuel perks to get a discount on our gas.

Plan to mow my grass today, so frugal is doing it myself instead of hiring someone to do it.

Yesterday I talked to the lawn maintenance guy that works for the gas station next door to us.  He has friends and family who do different types of maintenance work.  We will hopefully soon be getting a large tree cut down in our back yard by contractors for AEP.  They will leave the trunk of the tree for us to get rid of.  I am guessing this will be way too heavy for dh and I to try to handle, so I talked to Lonnie who came over and looked at what needed to be done and he will do it for us.. not sure on the price yet but he is reasonable and a hard worker.

Yesterday dh switched to a different medicine, one that he will not have to go to his doctor's office every month to have blood draws done which means he won't have to take time off from work to go for, saving us money as he doesn't get paid for that time off and there have been times when he has actually lost overtime pay because of having to do that.  They also gave us 2 months worth of free samples to try.  We called our pharmacy from the doctor's office to compare prices on 3 different brands of this med. to get the cheapest and what our insurance will cover.  THANK YOU KROGERS! for taking the time to check on it.  The office manager went online to get the print off for side effects and found a coupon making the med $10 a month instead of the $25 our insurance coverage would have cost.  So no extra money for the med. for at least the first year.

That's about it so far today.

Anna

Projected Future Frugal Planning

We need to get back to the grindstone on eating less fast food:  While it's nice to pick up a pizza on Friday nights we need to start buying more Tombstones and making more of our own meals.. we're spending $100 a month on Friday night dinners and that is not helping our goal of saving money for our new car.

Krogers was nice enough to send me a coupon for a free Tombstone Pizza so that is a good start to getting back on track.

The chicken I cooked today I will save some out of it for us, perhaps Saturdays dinner will be BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches along with coleslaw and chips.

Anna

Monday

Today so far my frugal is cooking 2 whole chickens 95 cents a lb. on the stove top and will be deboning here in a bit.  This will be my dogs food toppings for the next 7 or 8 days.  I also save the broth as they love it in their dry food too.. no food goes to waste.  And it's so much healthier for them than buying nasty canned dog food, ick!  That stuff smells bad, looks bad and when it comes out the other end smells even worse.. mystery meat.

Dh is off work today, has a doctor appt. so we're just hanging out here at home today.  Its a beautiful day outside Yay!

Yesterday was a little more organization day:  I have a lot of hot peppers left from last summer in the deep freezer, handy for quick freezing was using freezer bags but they do tend to jumble up the freezer.  I have been buying a little at a time freezer containers (Made In The USA) and yesterday I took 2 freezer bags of stuff out and rehomed them into the proper freezer containers so less chance of being attacked when you open the deep freezer and stuff starts sliding out.  These containers purchased at Meijers Dept. Store are all $2.29 smaller ones have more containers, larger less but very affordable and designed for the deep freezer. I can't remember what the brand name is but they have been around at least the last 20 plus years.

Anna

Saturday & Sunday

Worked yesterday, came home dh made dinner, went to bed by 8pm.  I was tired and sore from being on my feet for 7 hours.  Today got up early 6am, got laundry done, hung some outside (frugal) and ran some errands.. Aldi's and Turkey Hill (used Kroger points 30 cents off a gallon).  Took a nap and just enjoyed a quiet day at home.

I'm "On Call" for work till Friday and Saturday when I do my demo's again so not sure what my weeks frugal plans are yet.

Anna

Friday

Not a lot frugal.. took lunch to work, spent no money till this evening when we bought our weekly pizza.

I did pay my bills on time or ahead of time and online.

Tomorrow is another working day..going to bed now as my hip and feet hurt.

Anna

Thursday

Used a $6 off $60 purchase coupon along with my 10% off coupon for groceries today.  Also used a coupon for $3 off my dog food purchase.  Sigh!  Totally undid my frugalness today by buying 2 pairs of post earrings, one pair of ruby studs and one pair of sapphire studs.. Umm.. I did get them at 75% off prices, does that count as frugal? LOL!

Have a great day everyone.

Anna

Wednesday

More frugals on Tuesday:

As I mentioned in the previous post yesterday I didn't have any powdered pectin.  I tried to save time and money called Lowes they still don't have their canning supplies in.  Called Ace Zettler Hardware theirs was $5.99 a box (WHAT?) you gotta be kidding me on that price!  Called the nearest Krogers to me, they don't carry canning supplies at all.  So sigh! bit the bullet and drove to the Graceland Krogers (about a 2 mile drive) and found they had their Kroger brand powdered pectin on sale $1.59 a box normal price is $1.79 a box.  I bought 10 boxes!  I am just tired of not having enough or the right kind for a recipe when I'm feeling creative so I bought enough to last awhile.  Also frugal was I bought nothing else but what I went in for.

I am working today so I won't have the time or energy to make my jelly today but hopefully tomorrow.  My dd is coming up this weekend so need to work on dusting up the house, mopping the floors etc. tomorrow too.

All meals from home this week.. dh wanted veggie burgers for dinner last night.  I had left over tuna casserole.  Tonight he will make a frozen Tombstone pizza for dinner and I'll have more leftover tuna.  I love that stuff so not suffering from food boredom.

All bills have been paid on time this week and money put into the savings account as we try to reach our goal of saving enough money for a down payment on a new vehicle.  We aren't sure yet if we will do a lease or buy new.  We're leaning to a lease since we don't put a lot of miles on our vehicles.

Anna

Tuesday

I missed posting yesterday meant to do it last night then we had a power failure in the neighborhood till 11:30pm last night.

Not much frugal yesterday ran errands, scheduled everything including a refill of meds for one of my dogs at the Vet's office all in a direct route saving time and money.

Frugal last night was being prepared when the electric went out.  I keep my flashlights in the same place, always.. so was able to go directly to where they were at and use them.  I have one flashlight that has truly been a very frugal investment.  It looks sort of like a lamp with a handle it's a LED flashlight.  I hesitated on the price back then, bought at Walmarts for $15 but that flashlight has lasted over 3 years, it lights up a whole room and we have not had to change out the battery.  During one outage that last almost a week we used it every day.  I am definitely going to buy another one soon at BatteriesPlus, I think last time I looked they are now up to $24 but well worth the money.

I was going to make Candy Apple Jelly today but in looking at my recipe realized it calls for powdered pectin and all I have is liquid.  Pooh!

Anna

Carrot Cake Jam

Found this awesome recipe from Ball Canning Site:

Makes about 6 (8 oz) half pints

Sweetened with crushed pineapple and spices, this sunny fall jam tastes just like carrot cake. It makes a perfect gift for any occasion.

You will need:

1-1/2 cups finely grated peeled carrots

1-1/2 cups chopped cored peeled pears

1-3/4 cups chopped pineapple, including juice

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

6 Tbsp Ball® RealFruit® Classic Pectin

6-1/2 cups sugar

6 (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:

1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.

2.) COMBINE carrots, pears, pineapple with juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a 6- or 8-quart saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, cover and boil gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and whisk in pectin until dissolved. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring frequently.

3.) ADD sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil stirring constantly. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

4.) LADLE hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.

5.) PROCESS in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed

Sunday Mothers Day

Frugal today is staying home.  I will not be running any errands, cooking anything fancy.. every man for himself day today.  Dh's going to have left over lasagna today, I am having chicken from a box (Banquet type).  We thought about KFC but though we love their chicken, it is so full of salt we literally end up drinking gallons of water after eating it, the boxed chicken doesn't do that and it's a whole lot cheaper than KFC.

I want to work on crocheting today though I am reading a book series by Christine Feehan so may just keep reading instead.

This coming week I want to try to make a batch of Candy Apple Jelly.

I was just thinking.. we may treat ourselves today to a milk shake from Dairy Queen.

Anna

Sunday

Happy Mothers Day To All My Frugal Friends.

Anna

Friday and Saturday

Worked both days, spent no money.  I also have started making a list of items I want to buy from the store I work for.. they have been sending out email coupons pretty often and I want to make sure when I buy that I am spending enough to get the coupon discount instead of buying a item here and there that would have added up to the price of the coupon discount.  For example:  Last Thursday I had Get $6 off off any $60 purchase plus my employee discount.  I waited till payday and bought all the items on my list getting all the discounts off my purchases at one time.

Also frugal was I bought a pre made frozen lasagna Thursday.. we thawed it out Thurs. and Fri. in the fridge and dh cooked it this afternoon having it ready when I got off work, so no fast food purchase because I was too tired to cook and nothing sounded good here.  We will have leftovers tomorrow for lunch.

Anna

Frugal Find Thursday Afternoon

I went to the store I work for which as I think I've mentioned sells in bulk.  I was looking at a big box of mini pancakes we had marked down in our clearance section,  original price $25 marked down to $10.  It had 24 pkgs. of 45 ct. each.. way too many for us though I did think about sharing with my neighbors.  A co worker was there and said she'd. looked at the box too but it was too much for her and her 2 daughters too.  We decided to share the cost.  I used my employee discount and a coupon $6 off any $60 purchase... we are allowed to use both on a order.  We split the box and it cost us $4 each for 12 pkgs. each... we'll have pancakes for a long time!!  I looked at a single serve box similiar at Aldi's.. almost $4 for one little pkg.  Quite a savings for both of us.  Communication with my co workers is going to be key in the future on big box deals like this though right now it would be hard to even fit a mouse in my deep freezer (blessings).

I also started my winter stock up plan.. I bought 4 5 lb. cans of chili beans, 1 5 lb. can of diced tomatoes, 1 5 lb. can of peaches. will continue to do that weekly by winter I will have my entire winter season stocked up so no big cans of anything or boxes of anything to carry in the house.  Will also be doing the same with dog food.  And of course, should a natural disaster strike as it has in the past here.. I have plenty of ready made food to see us through.  Same with a financial disaster.  I'll be stocking bulk size cans of canned meats too.

Anna

Canning: Getting Started Supplies list

For those of you who have wondered about canning and how to get started I am listing what you will need to begin with:

I will be covering mostly Water Bath Canning For Fruits as I don't can meats or vegetables anymore.  For those who are interested in doing so I suggest buying the Ball Canning Book.  You can find it in any store that sells canning supplies.

A Water Bath Canner
Tongs
Funnel
Canning Jars

http://www.goodmans.net/i/4119/ball-10730-water-bath-canner-kit-enamel.htm?sc=GOOGLEBASE&k=BL-10730&utm_source=GOOGLEBASE&utm_medium=datafeed&utm_campaign=BL-10730&gclid=COfJi62VnL4CFckWMgodmWcA_g


I am including a link that has a good picture of the above mentioned items.  These can be purchased at most large grocery stores like Walmarts, Kmarts, Target and Meijers.
Canning fruits is very easy, just a little prepping and you are on your way.

You will need to copy and paste this to your search bar as for some reason clicking on the link isn't working here.

Thursday

Frugals:

Got my first paycheck from my new employer.. Yay!

Will return library items due back today so no late fee's.

Will be hanging clothes I washed last night out to dry this morning, gonna be a hot one in the mid 80's so they should dry quickly.

Getting prepped to cook another chicken for my girls.. I didn't get this one cooked day before yesterday as I had planned.

Still need to cook that 2 lbs. of hamburger today too, will use one for dinner tonight.

Anna

Wednesday

Taking lunch to work with me as well as my own coffee.  We get it free there but any time you are on the floor a customer is likely to ask where something is at or if we have something in stock.  Since I'm new, it's best to avoid that for right now so take my own with me.

Frugal will be wearing my thrift store tops.

Frugal is I have a Tombstone pizza in the fridge for dh to fix when he gets home.  Cheese is grated, pan is ready.. all he needs to do is preheat the oven, add his toppings and bake.  I'll probably have a big salad for dinner when I get home.

Anna

Tuesday

Frugal yesterday was getting 40 cents off a gallon using my Giant Eagle perks card brought gas down to $3.12 a gallon.

Also yesterday I went to Goodwill and found 4 polo type tops for work.. $17.00.  Much better than the price I paid for one shirt at Target last week when I started my new job $15.00.

Todays frugal so far is I am cooking a chicken (organic) I got on clearance yesterday at Krogers for us and our dogs.  I will freeze most of it for later meals.  I have a second one in the refrigerator I bought on Sunday that I will cook once the first one is done (my pot isn't big enough for 2).  I am boiling them and then deboning when they have cooled down.

This weekend a meal option will be BBQ chicken sandwiches with coleslaw instead of caving in after working all day and buying fast food. Love the job but the standing on your feet all day is hard on my back, legs and feet which leaves me unmotivated to do anything but Veg out on the couch when I get home. Having meals ready for the microwave will be the way our future.  I will be working a lot of hours the last 2 weeks of this month and the first week of June as we cater to the needs of the high school grad. crowd.

More frugals today is thawing out now 2 lbs. of turkey burger, will fry them later today with onions and freeze one of the 2 lbs. for later use.  These will be added to Rigatoni meals.

Anna

Monday

I forgot a frugal yesterday.. I made a double batch of tuna casserole and froze it for later meals.  We ran into the issue Saturday of I had planned on veggie cheeseburgers for dinner when I got off work.. no hamburger buns.  So this week I'll plan a little better.  We also had fajita chicken strips already cooked but after demo'ing them for 2 days that was definitely not on my list of things I wanted to eat LOL!

More frugals today is taking my bank keys back to the bank and turning them in.. we have a security box there but don't use it plus the bank has started charging a hefty fee for it so get rid of it.

Anna

Sunday

A few frugal things today:

Have checked Aldi's Ad online since I won't get the flyers till this evening.

Strawberries are on sale $1.29 lb. will buy those after Monday when I find out what my work schedule is so that I can make more preserves for us and have the time I need to do them.

I have done one load of clothes this morning, dried part in the dryer my work clothes.. dh's jeans will hang outside after I come back from Aldi's and mow the yard.  I also need to wash a couple blankets will line dry in the house and outside today.

Getting things organized for the upcoming work week... my work clothes washed, ironed and in order in case I would get called in when I'm not scheduled.

I have a employee meeting tomorrow night at 8:30pm.. none of us are thrilled to be out that late, it probably won't end till 9 or 9:30pm but it is mandatory that we all be there and that's the only time when the store isn't open that we can all be there together.

Anna

Saturday

Not much frugal today.. worked all day.  Took my lunch with me.  We did buy pizza for dinner ($10) as dh could not think of what to cook, we were missing some things like hamburger buns.

I will try tomorrow to make a double batch of tuna casserole.. one for during the week and one for the weekend when I'm working.

Anna

Frugal Work Day Friday

Frugals today:

Paid bills on time online.  No late fee's, No postage stamps used.

Packed lunch, coffee and snacks to take with me to work so no money will be spent.

I am working on doing dishes up and putting things in the deep freezer so that food doesn't go bad before we can use it, so that's a frugal.

I also need to jar up the second bag of dog food I bought yesterday, did one bag last night. Frugal is keeping it jarred up so we don't loose it if a mouse or bug gets in the house. Even on sale at $10.99 that is still a loss of money if it is contaminated. 

Yesterday another frugal was using coupons for items I needed to purchase.  $2 off razors and 75 cents off each Tombstone Pizza I bought.  Total Savings $3.50.

Today I will be returning a $60 pair of Nike tennis shoes that I bought for work.  They are black which is the standard for my jobs dress code requirements and they aren't leather or suede so they allow your feet to breathe.  The problem is they pinched my toes a little so I need a half size bigger.  Famous Footwear allows you to return shoes for the first 30 days which is great!

Anna