March groceries 2.24.2018

PLAN TO BUY

milk

heavy cream

half and half

sour cream

cottage cheese

Greek yogurt (we don't eat enough to make it worth my making myself)

lettuce Romaine for sure possible living bibb as it last longer than others for me

lunch meat (on sale and with coupon)



MAYBES

broccoli

celery(if we finish what we have)

whole chicken if below $1/lb

AND ON 2.25.2018 my main 26 cubic ft frig took a crap. The good news on this is I caught it before I lost all that was in it's freezer but lost a lot out of the frig. Two and half hours of working on it, ice was at the fan and had stopped the fan from circulating the air. Something that had happened three times with this and the last time we had a friend who makes his living doing appliances repairs show me how to deal with it. SO we dealt with it... then another 2 1/2 hrs to cool it back down and put what didn't get tossed back in (2nd frig and 2 coolers loaded to save what we could)

Today I went to the store armed with grocery list, coupons and sales.
$257 later I have restocked with saving $68. 25 in coupons and $15 by buying what I could at Aldi's before going to Krogers.

I got
DAIRY
milk, heavy cream, half and half, cottage cheese(coupon and sale), sour cream(couponand sale), chip dip(coupon and sale) and yogurt(coupon). I got 2 free cheeses also(coupon and sale).

MEAT
ham lunchmeat (Aldis save $1.20)
turkey lunchmeat(Aldis save $1.20)
frozen chicken breast (Krogers 3 lb bag normal price $9.99 on sale for $5.37 and had $1.25 coupon)

PRODUCE
apples,pears(coupon and sale),asparagus (sale),spinach(coupon and sale), mixed baby lettuce(coupon and sale), bibb living lettuce, romaine lettuce,roma tomatoes(sale), avocados, cherry tomatoes(coupons and sale), lemons(sale), limes(sale), cutie oranges(coupon and sale), mushrooms (White and portabella) (coupon and mark down)baby carrots(coupon made them free), celery, colored bell peppers,strawberries,bananas,broccoli and a free Nourish bowl of brussels sprouts mix.

FROZEN
Icecream (coupon and sale)
potstickers (coupon and sale ...that night's dinner)
eggrolls (coupon and sale ,,,that night's dinner)
fried rice (coupon and sale , that night's dinner)
2 stirfries (coupon and sale, that's night dinner )
caulflower (coupon and sale)
corn (coupon and sale)

DRY GOODS
4 cans of corn that normally are 89¢ a can and the 4 pack was $1.99
bagels(coupon and sale)
English muffins(coupon and sale)
potato chips, fritos and puffed corn (on sale and coupons)
granola bars for Daughter2 to carry in her purse for when her sugar drops so she doesn't have to get fast food and me to carry when we start working on 209.

I knew if I didn't buy something at the store we would be ordering out or eating out and the Asian food not only did that night dinner but lunch for the next day (okay I ate eggrolls for bfast, Daughter2 ate potstickers for late night snack) and dinner tonight. I might have enough to mix together and put in freezer to have in a couple weeks.

Blessed Be

Staying frugal

This is my old wringer washer that I finally replaced with an automatic as I was down with my Crohn's and looking at surgery(which did not happen) I kept this washer...yesterday Hubby pulled it out of storage and rigged it so I could use it BECAUSE he has dumped garlic buttter sauce from 50 wings ALL over his good coat,good jeans and new shirt...I feel like I have to remind him like a child to change into "play"clothes. SIGH... I had washed the clothes and coat 4 times with stain remover and nothing got better. In one last try before they got replaced, I used the wringer washer. No pretreatment just regular homemade laundry soap and hot water and IN WATER for 45 min and it was out. The water looked like yuck so I washed a another time in the wringer which the water looked "clean" and tossed it in the automatic to drain and spin as the coat would not have went through the wringer. BUT will not be replacing the coat and clothes and I will be telling Hubby to change in to play clothes LOL.Savings is $275.

I did not go to store and I am not planning to going this weekend as Daughter2 might be moving out by next weekend (figures are crossed).She was planning on this weekend but the owner couldn't get her stuff out due to the down pours of rain. Which we won't be moving Daughter2 in pouring rain...did that and not going that way again. Daughter2 did research for a moving truck *Hubby has CDL and thought she found the best. Hubby saw a moving truck she had not mentioned checking so he did and we can get 3 days at this place instead of only 1 day where she was going to rent from for cheaper than the 1 day.PLUS he didn't input our AARP discount.

We ordered the appliances for 209 at Menards today, all was on sale plus they have their 11% rebate so we saved almost $1000 between the two.

I did swagbucks goal 4 times this week.

I did 2 pinecone surveys.

I used the drying rack every day as Daughter2 is starting to wash some stuff that was in storage that she will need in her house.

I shut the furnace off the day it was 70 outside, aired out the house. Closed house back up when sun was sitting, closing curtains and such. Realized the next morning when it was chilly I had forgot to turn the furnace back on and Daughter2 said she hadn't turned on the space heater either.

We had to take Wilbur and Charlotte back in to get their stitches out, Charlotte had one get a little infected but instead of giving her pills the vet suggested we clean it 3 times a day, use people antibotic on it and then a coating of vaseline... 3 days later no infection, Since we were in there we had Rascal's nails clipped.

I have been coughing since the beginning of Feb when I was sick with what I thought was a cold or allegry attack... went to the doctor, Nope I was getting over the flu.... he was surprised I wasn't down in the hospital thinking it was a Crohn's attack (I was nausated but never threw up) ANYWAYS... I am ran down HA HA from it so I now have meds for the cough and orders to rest or I won't be in any shape to work on 209 in a couple weeks. If the cough doesn't improve in a week I will be back on steriods (SIGH).

 In exchange of some work Daughter2 is doing for me I am stocking some of Daughter2's pantry from mine. She is working on getting the "dry" goods before she moves in and then the persishibles when her frig is up and running.I know I am getting the better end of the deal as I priced out gettting the work done and the lowest bid was $200 and she's not "taking" $200 worth of pantry. She said it's worth it to her as she won't have to spend time going to the store.

The dreariness of the rainy days we are having to turn lights on, so we have taken to trying to sit together in one spot to only have on 1 light.

I have been looking to replace the white 10 inch cornelle plates. The last of my set from 30 yrs ago just shattered. Even though I have a set of 4  Iris cornelle I miss the 10 inch white ones.They fit my serving bowls as lids besides being my serving platters. I've been without since last Nov and just wasn't willing to pay the price I was seeing. I found them on sale onsite, had a code to save even more, got swagbucks and ebates also and got four including the shipping for 50% off, 4 for the price of 2 I can handle.

I bought Daddy a new cane using my Walgreen points to pay for it.

I filled out the survery for Bob Evans after taking Daddy there and got another $4 off if we use it in the next 30 days. Which we will of course.

I have done the normal routine, open and close curtains, turn furnace down (or off LOL), printer and computers turned off when not in use. Power strip to coffee pot off when not in use. . Sensor used on dryers or drying rack instead of dryer. Cold water wash with homemade laundry soap and white vinegar for softener. Water added to shampoo,conditioner, body soap,hand soap, dish soap, lotions etc.Use scrap paper from mail, paid bills  etc. Make sure I do my Krogers and Menard receipts so I can get my points from Krogers for fuel and the rebates from Menards. I've also been uploading receipts to Receipt hog for credits. I try to remember to look at Ibota and checkout 51. Mobisave doesn't work for me.When we get out meds from CVS I make sure Hubby uses the CVS card as I have the pharmacy rewards on my card. My fitbit is connected to Walgreens so I get points for walking and sleeping, two things I do anyways. Washed baggies , foil and bx inserts.

My tomato plants I started from seed I saved from last year are still alive. Some look decent while others I wonder when they are going to just die.  Still ever one that grows and produces a tomato is a freebie.

Can't think of anything else at this point .. Need to start writing it back down daily like I have in the past.

Blessed Be

209 update

We have the appraisal back...that was about $10,000 more than we thought it would be let alone needed it to be.

We have the house inspection back and we had actually covered everything needing done when we went over it with the contractor. SO nothing added there.

The underwriter had some questions (they always do) and I already had that paperwork around incase they asked so that was dealt with within 30 min...

Now it's just sit and wait 12 days for the closing.

We played a bit and plugged some things into the program Hubby is using for free. The door to the left of the green door is the east front door (or house 2)

The green door by the stove is actually a 4 x 8 green pegboard I hang my pots and pans on . The program didn't allow just green boards LOL. This is the south side of the kitchen and it going to be the cooking center. The little table is a 24 x 30 inch porcelian top I just found that I will make into a table to be by the stove. Hallway goes to the bedroom(blue)bathroom(orange) and laundryroom (lime green)The gray cabinet with white top is suppose to be our French door frig and the dark box is a blue metal cabinet that was my late husband's grandmothers. While looking at this I noticed I will need to have something to hang the onions and garlic from by the stove and a shelf for the hot pads.

This is looking at the west wall that is the kitchen and dining area. Outside those French doors will be a deck and a huge red barn. The Hoosier cabinet we hope will fit here , the round table will actually be my retangle porcelian table (we made it round because we only could do round and square)that was my parents that came from their landlord's family when my parents married. This is going to be my "baking center". The cabinet on the far right of the purple wall is my china hutch (I know it fits there because the lady that lived there had hers there), square table is our dining table...the door at the china hutch goes to the mudroom.

First door which is actually the middle door of north wall goes to the staircase. The other door going to the red room is the front room. The purple wall is on the east side. I might put a bookcase between the windows to hold my cookbooks. Microwave and the roll cart it sits on is at the end of the penisula that my white kitchenaid mixer is on (blue one is also with a blender but doesn't show well) The roll cart holds the Lifetime wear cooking pans my Daddy bought Mother for Christmas after they bought their house...and two weeks later he was laid off when the company he worked for closed.They remind me that even in really hard times it can be okay.

This is the east wall. The dishwasher might be moved to the penisula since I am not willing to go without it and the contractor was having a issue getting it in the cabinet with the Crane sink. The penisula will be my prep area. I can see us eating breakfast and lunch there if it is just one of us.Hubby said it might let him be in the kitchen with me without me telling him to get out of the walk way LOL.  It can go unsaid that this is the cleaning area of the kitchen. I am thinking of hanging this on the wall where the coffee pots are sitting (on dishwasher).

I might put a bar like this also by stove for hotpads...something to think about.I am pretty sure we have dowel rods in the garage here.


I already got the curtains for the purple area(I did have to buy 1 set as I had 2 sets but they were half price so that was fine) I have a couple different curtains I can use at the sink if I feel that need as the porch is right there and it is roofed so I might not need one. I haven't figured out where to put the trash can but if Wilbur is still with us I am bungie cording it to the wall as his late mommy the beloved Weebles taught him to knock it over and take the lid off so she could eat the trash as she wasn't big enough to do it.It's not something we have gotten broke completely with him.

Tomorrow we go to Menards and order the range,frig,dishwasher and a dryer since everything is on sale AND they have the 11% rebate. It will save us over $1000. By ordering it, it won't be in until after closing so we don't have to deal with it sitting here amongst Daughter 2's stuff.

She was suppose to be able to start cleaning her new place this coming weekend but due to pouring rain the owner wasn't able to get all her stuff out. Not sure how that is going since owner is getting married out of state on Saturday. Frustrating on this end for Daughter2's family and us but can't blame the owner for not wanting to get her stuff soaked as we did when Daughter2 moved out of the last place.

Blessed Be

update on 209.

This is a Hoosier cabinet. Hubby has decided to build me one some what like this one. Our contractor actually ran across a flour bin in the trash and snatched and is GIVING it to us with the condition he gets to see the final cabinet. I'll be having it sealed to make it food safe.I don't think it's an original and neither does the contractor but still. Porcelian tables are not made any longer (I have an actually table that is about 100 yrs old) so Hubby is going to do butcher block of the table part.Hubby is looking to put cedar inside the cabinet to help keep pantry moths at bay.

I've been looking at kitchen layouts from 1900-1930s . I found the following pictures at kitchen apartment therapy. https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/   I love this site.

1929 apartment ... looks like yellow and green are common kitchen colors through the decades.

1920s kitchen. yellow and blue. Love the china cupboard.

This is Hubby's favorite as it has the Crane sink and the large Hoosier style cabinet. 1929 back to green and with yellow and orange in the flooring and accents on doors

1900-1920... this reminds me of what was there when we first looked at the house and its my favorite
the bump outs remind me of 209, it's the reverse of ours but still... Some green and orange in this one.

Being frugal with dealing this house (even if we didn't have the money going out for electric, heat, plumbing etc we would be frugal) is time consuming at times. I research for the best deals from my need to buy list, get used or on sales or with rebates. Tracking what we buy is necessary for when we sell it (or the kids do after we die) to lower the capital gains tax. We are pretty much at the point of having to wait to we can start working on the house (after closing). We also look at this as a 30 yr investment and already had set the payment with taxes, ins etc to be BELOW what social security would pay if we took it early at age 62 so we wouldn't be stressed about paying medical ins and the house or having to go back to work like several we know.Some are thinking we are nuts with what is going on with the stock market and being retired and then spending a small fortune on a home but we planned for this expense 10 years ago and still are remaing under budget (shock there). A close friend said something about being on a fixed income and I reminded them that they were working and on a fixed income as they are on salary AND could be laid off tomorrow without benefits. Nothing is certain ever except we live and die.He went home and told his wife he was retiring out and they needed to figure out what to do to stay in the home when they got older.

The home inspector has went through and the HUD appraiser also has, so now it's wait for the paperwork and the final amount we need for down payment and closing costs.

Sometimes it is overwhelming with appointments and shopping and decision making, other times it just drags forever.

The new expensive clothes/frugal/dogs

Daughter 2 took this picture for me, right after she cracked the joke she plans to inherit this hoodie in about 20 years.  Definitely warm as I only had a tank under it and didn't need my coat with it being 10° outside and I ran around without a coat.

This is the skirt, really comfortable. The only negative I found was I had to carry a lint brush with me as Charlotte's baby fine white fur stuck very well to it.  I wore it when we went to Basil's on Market for our Valentine's day dinner. Early but we got the all you can eat crab legs with house salad and truffle french fries for $30/each . It's not a meal on their menu.  Each time they brought out more crablegs for us( we ate 4 claws (4-5 "fingers") each their brought out more truffle french fries... I have enough french fries for a meal for the 3 of us if not more.Top it will chili, sour cream and cheese and call it done.I did notice that even though you could order a drink, appetizers etc plus the special. every single person that was getting the crab leg special was only ordering water to go with the meal.

We decided since there is Valentines day and our anniversary(I made reservations for this meal at Basil's on Market) and we wanted to eat out at a nice sit down restaurant we would not get any fast food this month .We will be taking Daddy to Bob Evans but we have a coupon and gift card for that and Daddy pays the tip.

We have been eating from the pantry, have not been to the grocery store since Jan 31s Someone is going to have to stop and get milk/ half and half/ heavy cream probably Monday.I used all the half and half and the heavy cream and custard pie is on the menu as I use a 1949 recipe.

Daughter 2 got excited as I opened the beef veggie soup I had canned last fall. She is the only one that eats it in her house. She got a new place and will be moving March 1st. I will have to vacuum my own floors SIGH  well I won't when we move in new house ... HA HA.  Next time I can Veggie soup, I'll can some pints for her.

I see empty spots in the pantry and freezers which is good though part of me wants to refill it...not doing that so don't have to move it.Lots of sales right now and I just started pitching the ads directly into the burn trash so not to even think about it.

I washed baggies, box inserts,and foil.Daughter 2 brought home some plasticware that someone had left at work and didn't claim. She washed it out and brought it home. Hung delicates on drying rack, washed heavy clothes first so if they weren't completely dry they went in with second load for dryer. Cold water, homemade laundry soap and vinegar for the softener.

Mixed water with dish soap, hand soap, body soap, shampoo and conditioner. Used orange peel vinegar to clean floors.

Turned off coffee pots, laptops and printer when not in use. Daughter 2 said she is down to running heater in her room 6 hrs if that.

Reloaded the medications, toilet paper, paper towels and dog treats from storage in upstairs.

Reloaded dried fruit and M&M s from storage upstairs.

Didn't go anywhere as Charlotte and Wilbur got fixed from Wed to Friday...Vet said she wasn't pregnant as I had him make sure before surgery, yes that was an unnecessary expense  but I feel better about the choice of surgery at this time. They are doing fine, Charlotte is recovering faster that Wilbur due to her age even though her surgery was more than his.

Her favorite place to sleep even though she thinks she's hiding (under a glass dining table) and is now too big to curl in the middle.

Wilbur was goofy. He slept most of the evening and then got up and did this

Yes he is totally asleep standing with his head on the couch by Hubby. Hubby picked him up and laid him on couch.

I transplanted the tomato seedlings I had started.

Blessed Be

Feb goals/ 209 update

First 209 update. We signed loan papers as our mortgage guy held them when he found FHA was increasing amt allowed and he redid them...COOL .Him doing that saved us $5000 down payment and over $20,000 in interest in the long run.FHA home inspector is being scheduled along with HUD appraiser so closing is going to be close to March 6th. We spent 3 hrs with our contractor today going over the project binder I put together for him that will also be at the site.It was great to hear I love this, I am so happy you did this repeatedly as he said it will make his job a lot easier.. He had salvaged a 1950s Crane sink and is going to have it refinished for me. He will be either building a cabinet or reinforcing a boughten cabinet which ever is cheaper plus he helped me pick out a counter top that is more into what I am looking for that can handle the heavy sink.We set the budget for what we have on the have to buy list for the house and are looking at Habitat restore shops. Charlie (contacter) is also going to look through his warehouses to see if he has somethings that he savaged that is "Cheaper" for us and suggested I let his crew paint our ceilings as I am still having issues with my arm. Gave us the price with us buying the paint and supplies.  We stopped on the way home at one Restore home and got a fan for half the price it would have been new and it works.

Grocery... after seeing the % of what I bought in dairy in Jan I have decided to keep the $250 as the Food money for Feb BUT lower what I bought of each. We eat a LOT of cheese. SO if I am keeping with having snacking cheese , then the cheese in the food needs to be  lowered. I can increase the milk or yogurt.as we use cheese to replace protein at times. Junk food was higher than normal but that's because I bought Daughter's 2 Pepsi as it was on sale. I bought corn chips ( I can't eat corn chips) for walking taco's and tortilla chips for nachos bellegrande .Daughter eats tortilla chips with guac as her breakfast and late night snack. More guac then chip and she buys the guac.

I did get some black bean hummus that I will like to make from scratch. I have the list of ingredients that was in the mix to play with.

I am waiting to see what the electric bill is with Daughter 2 using a space heater to heat her bedroom. She's good about keeping it turned low or even off once she gets the room warm. This past week she's had to keep in on all night due to having one of the dogs with her and us having to shut the staircase door which stops heat from going up at all from propane furnace due to Charlotte being in heat. We know that Wilbur doesn't spend the night HOWLING if he sleeps with me and Charlotte sleeps with Daughter 2. Charlotte whines a bit with Daughter 2 but she's not a barker or howler and snuggling her will calm her down to sleep. Rascal sleeps with me or on the loveseat in the front room.

I have to sit down and figure things.

Blessed Be

Jan grocery budget results.

The tracker I uses goes for Jan 1st to the 31st. So even though we only get paid once a month around the 15th. We will be running the grocery budget by month  instead of half months.

I set the budget for Jan at $420  with the goal to come in closer to $250.

Shelf costs of food bought       $437.19


coupons                                    $ 14.13



discounts                                  $194.55



total savings                            $208.68 (47.73 %)



Out of pocket                         $228.51

30 % is fresh produce, 50 % is dairy and the other 15% is a mix of ingredients for special meals,5 % junk food as I also bought Daughter 2 pepsi since it was on sale.


Out of this  amount I spent in Jan ,$160 I just spent the 31st for the month of Feb.


SO I decided to set Feb budget for $250.