Valentines For My Valentines

 

I am treating this year pretty much as I treat every Valentine's Day, on a very small scale.  I do not purchase over priced greeting cards, candy or exorbitantly priced flowers and I don't want anyone else to do that for me either.  I keep it very simple and very thrifty and I have yet to hear anyone complain.

 

I make my own valentines and send those off in the mail to loved ones far away.  I love to bake so heart shaped sugar cookies decorated with sprinkles is my plan this year and I will share with friends and co-workers.  I like to make my daughters little treat bags so I have something sweet planned for them as well.  All homemade, of course, and a handmade valentine for them as well.

 

I like to make a special meal and this year I will be making prime rib, a baked potato with sour cream and a green salad.  I have two thick slices of prime rib in my freezer left over from New Year's Day and once thawed I'll pan sear them and serve with a little Au Jus on the side.  Most likely I will make a dessert to have too using items I already have in my pantry.  I plan to set a nice table too.

 

It will be lovely and the cost will be minimal.  Far better than a crowded restaurant and an expensive meal, even if I do have to wash dishes afterward.  There are plenty of wonderful ways to make a holiday special without spending a lot of money.  And no one in my life will doubt how much I love and treasure them once all is said and done.

 

Budgeting My Way To Retirement - Week 5

 

I began the first day of the week by getting up early and heading off to Fred Meyer to pick up eggs and ground beef that was on sale.  While there I found mushrooms and pork chops on markdown as well as English muffins and rye bread so I added those items to my cart as well.  Then I was off to pick up a half gallon of cream from the restaurant supply store before heading into DSW to see what I could find for a great deal on a pair of shoes.

 

Fred Meyer and cream from Cash & Carry

Lucky for me I found a pair of Timberland sport shoes on clearance for half price making them 48.99.  With the $10 OFF coupon I had received in the mail my final cost was $38.99 plus tax.  I was quite pleased with that price so I bought them and headed for home.

 

Once home I got to work dividing up my meat and bread purchases, wrapping, labeling and putting them into gallon sized Ziploc bags before getting them into the freezer.  That pretty much topped up my chest freezer in the garage as well as the one in the kitchen.

 

Lots of future meals here!

The day before I had simmered a hambone all day to make broth reserving a quart of it before the rest was added to the freezer.  Once my groceries were all put away I used the quart of broth to prepare my grandmother's recipe for split pea soup.

 

I was never a fan of pea soup until my grandmother's recipe
It's the best!

The remainder of the was business as usual and went by in a flash.  Friday was payday and I was able to take care of all our monthly expenses in short order paying everything well ahead of the due dates.

 

We had zero food waste last week

In addition to the soup we ate plenty of really good meals made from things we already had on hand and using up odds and ends of things in the fridge and freezer.  I made up a package of five Italian sausages & tomatoes with pasta for my daughter and green salads.  We each ate one sausage so we were able to enjoy two dinners.  The fifth sausage was diced up and added to some penne pasta I cooked up and then used the last of the pesto, a dab of butter and a couple tablespoons of cream to make us a quick brunch on Saturday.  It was delicious, used up a couple things I had in the fridge and stretched that package of meat for six meals.  I also cut up a large pork chop to make us some teriyaki pork with rice for my daughter and more salads to go with it.  We had leftovers for more meals and lunches too.

 

Our first big pepper pantry haul of 2022

Saturday morning the young one and I were out of the house early with a list and a plan.  We went to Wal-Mart and Grocery Outlets stores for the sole purpose of a prepper pantry shop.  We decided to add some more items, primarily canned meats, and Wal-Mart had what I was after at a price I was very happy about.  The biggest thing I was after and Wal-Mart had it was canning lids!  I picked up fifteen boxes of canning lids so I am no longer panicked that I am down to one box and they are nowhere to be found.  I've been on the hunt for lids since this whole pandemic started.  I was beyond happy about this find.

 

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I will post more about our prepping and updated plans in that regard soon.  In the meantime let me know how you're doing and what you've been up to.

 

Breakfast Hash

 

A thrifty and delicious meal we enjoy from time to time is what we like to call breakfast hash.  We eat it for dinner too because who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?  It is really very simple to make and is a great way to use up odds and ends of things you may have in your refrigerator.

 

I will take four of the small potatoes, usually the little ones at the bottom of the bag and scrub them up before I dice them small.  If I have leftover onion I like to dice that up too and brown the potatoes and onion in a skillet over medium heat with some rendered bacon fat I save in a jar in my refrigerator.  While that all cooks I'll whisk up a couple eggs in a small bowl and once the potatoes are crisp and cooked through I pour in the eggs and scramble it all together.  At this point you are pretty much good to go, but if you happen to have any leftover ham, sausage or bacon to add to the potatoes before the eggs go in it really brings it up a notch.

 

You can do a lot with this recipe, but however you choose to do it, I'm sure you will agree it is a great way to get the day started.

 

Weekly Soup

 

With the rising costs of groceries it is becoming a bigger challenge to stay on budget.  Any time I was looking to lower our grocery spending or save some extra money for something I would add a weekly soup to our menu in order to make what we had stretch further.  It works well and allows me to use up odds and ends of things that might otherwise go to waste.

 

This year there was no doubt that I'd be adding a weekly soup to our menu plan.  I began the new year with a spicy coconut curry soup that will warm up your insides and leave you full and satisfied.  Soups are healthy, thrifty and above all delicious.  I also love the endless possibilities I have when it comes to making soup.

 

My favorite combo - grilled cheese and tomato soup

I will often make a pot of soup (usually in my slow cooker), some type of bread and a salad and that will be our meal.  Leftovers reheat easily in the microwave and store nicely in the freezer as well.  I will often freeze some of the soup to have later down the line, thawed and reheated for a super quick weeknight supper or lunch on the weekend.

 

Canned soups are also an economical alternative,
especially if you stock up when they are on sale

If you want to add a weekly soup to your menu plan and need some ideas or recipes click here for a post I wrote a while back.  Let me know in the comments what your favorite soup is.  Do you make soup often?

 

Budgeting My Way To Retirement - Week 4

 

Today is the last day of January!  Our first month of 2020 went by very fast, but I'm very happy with how it is going so far.  I'm taking it one day at a time with intent and purpose.  Much more thought is going into my days and my actions.  It feels really good.

 

I had very good luck at the grocery stores

I love a nice productive day and my Sunday was exactly that.  My daughter and I headed out early that morning to run errands.  I had a list and four stops in mind, mostly grocery shopping.  We started at Fred Meyer, then went to Winco, stopped to drop off a box plus two big bags of donations at the thrift store, then Albertson's before heading back home to wash produce and put away groceries.  We took our time and came home with everything on the list but two items so I called that a successful venture.

 

Markdown meats from Albertson's was a happy find

After groceries were put away I ran a large load of laundry, tidied up around the house, fixed us a four course Chinese meal for our Sunday dinner and got some writing in and did some meal planning as well as some financial planning.  It was a very good day.

 

I stocked up on cheese $1.47 a package

I perused all of the new grocery ads that came out on Wednesday and determined there was nothing I needed so I did not do any more grocery shopping for the month of January.  You can click here to see what all I bought this past month and my final totals if you are interested.  I was very pleased with how I did.

 

I filed my tax returns

Wednesday evening I was able to easily finish up and file my federal and state income tax returns because all of my documents were ready ahead of schedule.  This year it appears the IRS is accepting returns and processing them earlier than usual, with refunds sent out within twenty one days.  We shall see how it goes and if I actually do get my refund any earlier than usual.  I'd be pleasantly surprised if that was the case.  I have big plans for that $$.  Can you guess what I'm planning to do with that money?  If you said save it, you are correct!

 

Lots of fresh green salads last week

Saturday was another wonderful and productive day as I enjoyed being home and puttered about the house.  First thing was to take out a ham bone and a container of the drippings from our Christmas dinner as well as some onion scraps I'd saved in a bag in the freezer.  I placed that in my largest slow cooker with a large carrot and the center stalks from a bunch of celery along with three quarts of water and let that simmer all day.  Once that was done I removed the meat from the ham bone to add to soup and strained the broth.  I saved the carrot and celery for the chickens and tossed the spent bones.  I saved a quart of broth for soup and froze the rest to use later.

 

I made ham broth to use in bean and split pea soups

I got my living room tables dusted and polished, the floors vacuumed and mopped and even cleaned and tidied a few drawers in the kitchen.  A clean, neat and organized home does wonders for my soul.  I feel completely calm and relaxed. 

How was your final full week of January?  What thrifty things did you do?

 

This Month's Grocery Spending - January 2022

 

This month I only went out twice to do my grocery shopping (January 2nd & January 23rd) and per my usual I went armed with a detailed list and shopped at several stores to get the items I wanted at the prices I was willing to pay.  With shortages affecting each store differently you pretty much need to go to various stores in order to get everything you need these days.  To save time and money I always plan out a route that is most efficient and drive in one big circle.  Fortunately, every store I typically go to lies within a five mile radius of my home so I have a lot of places to choose from without involving a ton of driving or a ton of time.

 

At the beginning of the month we didn't need much, mainly dairy & fresh produce

Freebies!  Thank you very much Albertson's!

I employed a variety of ways to shave the cost off the groceries I ended up buying this month.  I scoured the ads, checked store websites for special offers, free offers and digital coupons.  I used coupons that came in the mail from Fred Meyer and maximized my savings by waiting until the items I wanted to use those coupons with went on sale.

 

50% OFF lowest marked prices

Markdown & sales produce plus a FREE bottle of salad dressing

Meat prices have really soared so finding good sales and well priced markdowns was a bit of a challenge, but not impossible.  I was able to get a good price on some ground beef and used one of my Fred Meyer coupons to shave off an additional $1.10 from the sales price.  I used a $5 OFF Produce coupon I received in the mail to cover the cost of items I picked up on sale or markdown.  And I was able to pick up several items at Albertsons for FREE using a $25 gift card I received as part of a pharmacy promotion when I filled a new prescription last summer.

 

A few extra items added to the prepper pantry

I even managed to get a couple small prepper pantry hauls completed.  In my first grocery shop at Winco I picked up two jars of pesto on sale for $1.98 each.  Then, this past Sunday, I stumbled across a price reduction on canned tomatoes and canned vegetables for 48¢ a can so I picked up $5 worth of canned goods to add to our current supply.  Every little bit counts.  The $9 for these items is included in my regular food budget as this year I do not have a separate prepper pantry budget.

 

Albertsons provided citrus, milk, bananas & meats from the markdown bin

A few more items from Winco

The only nonfood item I purchased was a bottle of vitamins at Trader Joes for $3.49.  The final total on my food purchases came in at $66.18 leaving me with $33.82 left in my $100 budget.  I was really proud of that.  I was even happier with all of the delicious, nutritious and thrifty meals I created.  Even better is the fact that most of what I purchased on my last shopping trip is going to last well into February and some of it well beyond.  Some good investments into our culinary future.

 

Fred Meyer haul - produce, meat, cheese $1.47/pkg, eggs, tortilla chips

How did you do with your shopping this month?  Any great buys or opportunities to stock up on anything?

 

A Shopping Cart

 

One of the things I am doing this year is investing in some carefully thought out items that will make my life better and improve my quality of life overall.  The first item I have purchased is my very own shopping cart.  Why?  Well, because it will make my life easier and much nicer.  One of stores I shop in, Fred Meyer has some of the mini carts that are the perfect size for me, but stores like Winco and Wal-Mart have the much larger carts.  Wal-Mart does have a few of the smaller carts but they can be difficult to find.  Albertsons used to have them, but they have since opted for a mid size cart instead, which is still pretty big.  Factor in that most of the carts are dirty (which has always been a concern of mine, even pre-pandemic) or in desperate need of repair or replacement and it makes my favorite chore so much less pleasant, especially when you have to fight your cart to go straight, or the wheels squeal so everyone can hear you coming.

 

Check out the hot pink wheels!

By the time I'm done fighting my way through the store with the cart and load up my car my lower back is usually pretty angry with me and I still have to get the groceries into the house once I'm home.  I realized that once I'm home I can now reload my cart and take them all inside in just one trip. Since I have weight limits now on how much I can lift at any one time this is an excellent option and much safer.

 

It drives like a dream

The cart I chose is definitely not cheap which makes it an investment piece, for sure.  But, compared to what some people spend on a stroller to lug their kiddos around in, it seemed reasonable.  Plus I didn't want something cheap that wouldn't hold up or caused me frustration as that would definitely defeat the purpose of why I have it in the first place.  And I like that this cart operates along the same measures as a stroller in how it collapses down and pops back up.  It is German made, very rugged and drives super smooth.  It sets up and collapses easily and quickly too.  I found it on Amazon if you are at all interested in more details.  I used a discount coupon to shave 10% OFF the price and paid the rest with money from my annual Christmas bonus so it did not affect my 2022 budget in anyway.

 

I think it is the perfect size for me

I know a shopping cart may seem like an odd choice but for me and my particular situation I think it is a perfect option.  I wish I'd had it with me when I did my trip to Minnesota last fall.  It would have been ideal for hauling my stuff in and out of the hotels.  But, I will have it for next time so that makes me very happy.  In the meantime I plan to enjoy my thrifty shopping adventures even more.