Focusing on saving money daily.

 Tuesday. 

Used oil lamp on dining table for morning coffee chat 

Turned furnace down without Hubby's knowing. Turned it up when winter April storm dropped the temps.

Had leftovers for our meals that we reheated in the microwave.

Did not use high temp wash cycle or dry cycle on dishwasher.

I washed freezer bags, sandwich bags and foil. Used silicon covers for food when possible.

Clothes washer was cold water, rapid wash, medium soil. Dried clothes on drying racks.

Used tasked lighting. 

Drained the "water" off last year's canned tomato juice to make pasta sauce. Took 6 qrts of juice to make 2 qrts of pasta sauce. I put that in a pitcher and put in the frig . I will make more tomorrow to get enough to can. I want at least 4 qrts if not 7 which is a full canner.

Got a ball park estimate from E's brother in law for basement ramp repair. He is figuring up a more solid estimate but said $6000 to $10,000 but really didn't think it would go that high. He said some of it is still good and can be reused (blocks/gravel for back fill) and he was more than happy to have Hubby help as that means the tractor can do the digging instead of his guys and Hubby can bring the blocks over to the ramp instead of the guys carrying them... there is over 100 blocks and they weigh about 40 -50 lbs. The other estimates were $17,000 to $20,000.

Wednesday

woke up to this

Used oil lamp on dining table for morning coffee chat 

Did not use high temp wash cycle or dry cycle on dishwasher.

Clothes washer was cold water, rapid wash, medium soil. Dried clothes on drying racks.

Turned furnace down (Hubby left for work).

I washed freezer bags, sandwich bags and foil. Used silicon covers for food when possible.

Did not use snow blower to remove 3 inches of snow off deck. Figured it would either melt by tomorrow or the wind tonight and tomorrow would blow it away... 2:15 pm ... most of it's gone.

Used task lighting.

Used 16 qrts of tomato juice to make pasta sauce. Will be canning tomorrow.

Cleaned, blanched and flash froze 96 spears of asparagus. Will be vacuum bagging them tomorrow. I have another pan to blanch tomorrow and 36 spears in the frig for meals. 

Made a pot of tea (10 cup) and then left it sit on stove next to burner that I was cooking the tomato juice down on. Kept it warm enough I did not have to reheat at all during the morning and early afternoon. Made 2nd pot of tea using  same tea bag. Simmered it a bit longer to increase the strength of it.

I washed the peanut, cashews and M&M containers that Hubby had emptied. He sat them aside instead of putting them at the sink so I didn't know they needed washed. They don't do well in the dishwasher. We refill them with bulk nuts and candy or  store pasta, beans etc in them and Daughter 4 has a few so she can get flour and sugar from us.

Hubby texted me and said to not fix the pork roast as he was given a gift card for take out that was going to expire. Someone gave it to one of the Amish guys and they won't use it in time. Update, it was a KFC gift card, Hubby used it and added $9 something to get a bucket of chicken with sides. I will vacuum bag the leftover chicken and freeze. We can reheat it in the air fryer. We will have 6 more meals from it.

We got a new credit card from Chase Amazon that gives cash back. I am reading the information to see the best way to use it (with what I am already using a credit card for). I save enough on shipping to "pay" for the prime. Hubby watches the shows. Called a friend that uses one and listed what he suggested.

Thursday. 

Woke up to frost.

Used oil lamp on dining table for morning coffee chat 

Did not use high temp wash cycle or dry cycle on dishwasher.

Clothes washer was cold water, rapid wash, medium soil. Dried clothes on drying racks.

Turned furnace down (Hubby left for work).

Used task lighting.

I washed freezer bags, sandwich bags and foil. Used silicon covers for food when possible.

Made a pot of tea (10 cup) and then left it sit on stove next to burner that I had the canner on.  Stayed warm.

Got 9 qrts of pasta sauce out of 22 qrts of tomato juice (after draining "water" off juice). I wrote on the canning lid it was from tom juice from last year.

M sent over a loaf of bread, she wasn't going to bake as they are going to visit her parent but they ran out of bread completely so she baked. They are going to her aunt's funeral (congested heart failure) today and then back tonight (long day) and then leave tomorrow at 5 am to go to her parents. A couple of their church family is house sitting and taking care of the calves and horses. (M didn't leave for her parents as her parents are now helping her uncle "close" up the house her aunt and he lived in) 

I put away the "non food stock" that came in and straightened up the storage loft. We have 6 months supply of dog stuff. Since Wilbur is going on 13 (May 3rd) and Rascal (March) is 10 and both have health issues. I am not willing to stock more than that. Charlotte will be 4 on Father's day.

Fixed pork loin roast with potatoes. Tossed a bunch of asparagus on top of it when I pulled it out to rest for 15 minutes before I cut the roast. Worked well.

Daughter 4 got the title of my car changed over into her name and sent me a picture of my tags on her mantle incase I buy a car between now and Jan so I can just transfer plates not buy plates. Dropped the cost of our insurance 

I cut open a lotion pump bottle that the pump had broke off. I had already mixed a bit of water in it trying to get the last out. I scraped what was left into a old container. I labeled the container lotion so I will know that when I have one I need to cut open, I can put the lotion in it.

Friday

 

No snow and no frost and no freeze that was forecasted. As happy as I was to see that , I was not happy to see Charlotte climbing up on the kitchen porch table to lay down. She's not happy with the new cushions. But when I put the old ones in the metal chair on the deck she will probably be laying in them.

Used oil lamp on dining table for morning coffee chat 

Did not use high temp wash cycle or dry cycle on dishwasher.

I washed freezer bags, sandwich bags and foil. Used silicon covers for food when possible. Used to drive Hubby crazy I do that.

Clothes washer was cold water, rapid wash, medium soil. Dried clothes on drying racks.

Turned furnace down (Hubby left for work).

Used task lighting.

We uncovered gardens and took covers to barn as there is another possible frost in the forecast. No sense washing anything until mid May.

Hubby turned heater off in pump house (again) 

Hubby moved trees and blueberry bushes out of barn. 

We went to produce auction. Not much there . A friend is hunting for Roma tomatoes so we went down to the greenhouse down the road from us. They had Amish paste. So I let him know as it was above the price point he was wanting to spend and smaller than he was wanting. We bought nothing even though there was things I would have loved to have for the front porch. 

We dropped a message off to an Amish guy.

Stopped at the small store that reopened in March and bought ham (real ham) salad and a cherry pie made by a local Amish young lady. That was lunch and supper.

Menards called and said delivery of the front porch flooring and ramp will be delivered Friday mid day. 

J, the Amish guy, that is going to work on the basement ramp, came back with a guy that works concrete (also helped build the ramp originally) more than J does.J likes second opinions. He agreed with J's thoughts that the whole ramp did not fail, just 2 batches of bad concrete did. Looks like they will be doing this job together .We should get that estimate next week.

Hubby went to CVS to pick up my meds. It was $1.04. He had already pulled the new cash back credit card out and normally we don't use any cards for amounts under $5. He mentioned to the clerk what he was doing and why he wasn't sure he wanted to do that... she asked him if he would bend over and pick up a penny... of course he answered. She told him to use the card for anything $1 or more. That was the same as picking up a penny.

Hubby sat down to eat and made the comment "I feel like I have been unplugged. I have no energy and don't want to do anything else. Is this how you feel daily?"

Yes that is exactly how I feel daily and now he finally understands when I say I am done for the day even when there is still work on my to do list. 

Saturday

Used oil lamp on dining table for morning coffee chat 

Did not use high temp wash cycle or dry cycle on dishwasher.

Clothes washer was cold water, rapid wash, medium soil. Dried clothes on drying racks.

Turned furnace down (Hubby left for work and to drop our tractor off to dealer for warranty maintenance).

Used task lighting.

I washed freezer bags, sandwich bags and foil. Used silicon covers for food when possible. I put the pans to soak in the sink and let the hot soapy water do most the work. 

I used vinegar to soak the kitchen sink for it's "deep" monthly cleaning. Helps clean out the drain pipes also.

Heated leftover pork roast and veggies in microwave and had ice cream for dessert.

I redid Daughter 4's budget due to increase in food costs, fuel costs (no more free rides to treatment) raise in her utilities even though her usage is the same and car insurance. Actually the car ins going over to her is less than ours was. Eating organic food is expensive when it is not growing season in this area. She had to go to a smaller meat box due to the increase in that price. Except for asparagus, nothing is growing yet.   

Then I changed our budget to not have to pull any more $$ from IRA.  

We decided to do as my life insurance agent suggested and only pay interest on the ins loans and nothing extra on anything else until we have all the projects paid for (basement and soil for garden boxes) and pretty much if necessary hire the work done. She just had one pay off their loan and then had to sell the house because they didn't have money to convert to ADA and couldn't get a loan due to loss of employment due to pandemic. They have unemployment only and the husband had a major stroke. 

At this point we have one ramp to get in and out of house on the first floor. We will have another on the front porch.  We would need a chair to go to the basement. My MIL is getting on for their basement. We have a wheelchair accessible bathroom. The sink would need lowered or changed (most $100). The Mudroom(originally was kitchen) sink would be lowered (Hubby can do it or Amish can do it as they put it in and MADE THE SINK) so I could wash produce and what ever there instead of the kitchen . The other would be oven and changing to a cook top instead of a stove. Really I can sit in a wheelchair and use 3 of the 5 burners on this stove. Yes I have practiced. The oven I would like a retractable door like British bake off . I do have an airfryer so that works also.

So we decided what ever isn't spent at end of month will go into savings until we have projects done or close to done. Daughter 4 has cancer surgery June 24 with 8 weeks recovery . She is supposed to get her results for the MRI of her right hip on Tuesday. If she has to have surgery that is going to make some interesting summer (NOT). But I did tell her this is her 1995 (my year for 3 surgeries in 90 days during the holidays)

How are you saving?

Blessed be