What Frugal Thing .....- Part II

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Four paperbacks for $1.60. Goodwill.

[marvholly]

Today was supposed to be a no drive day since I can walk to CVS BUT there are several deals I want to do at WAG too and while I could walk there also, I would NOT like to walk back hauling a bunch of stuff so it will be a controlled driving day (<5 mi rt).

My chore for today, in addition to cooking that small pork loin and making a baked egg dish is spending a BUNCH of time online trying to find a Medicare supplement that meets my preferences so I can call on Monday and be sure my Dr. & hospital will accept it. I am leaning to an Advantage type plan as I have had HMOs thru my work since 1997ish. While the monthly $$ is a big consideration so is the type of services included and the deductibles & co-payments required by my typical usage. When I call the Dr I also need to move my appt from May to June. There is NO reason to pay 2 deductibles (current COBRA insurance and Medicare part B) for a 1 month delay in my appointment.

[marvholly]

As much as I might try this is NOT a frugal week. In addition to scheduling payments for routine bills (natural gas, auto brakes, gasoline, wedding gift) of $500 I also sent a check to my IRA so I can finish my taxes & I have to pay my real estate estimated taxes (final is due in Aug) Those total nearly $10,000 between them. I still will get/need to pay my internet, water, electric and phone bills but those will total <$165.

To keep my driving down (saving on gas & maintenance) I have scheduled only 2 driving days this week: today and Fri. I will visit my Dad and shop/run errands like paying my real estate taxes in person vs. mailing a check or paying the ‘convenience’ fee for paying online. I am going to try to keep to only 2 drive days/week but that may depend on my Dad’s situation and I may allow myself a controlled driving day (no more than 5 mi rt) or 2/week to hit up FREE lectures, concerts and movies in my town.

Since I tend to batch cook and have a TON of homemade ready to reheats in my freezers I have decided that next week I will plan to use these for a number of meals except for fish and maybe a veggie entree. Then I will be ready to go again w/meat loaf, turkey breast and whole chicken. I will probably eat MUCH more red meat than usual since I have several dishes frozen.

I have also decided to avoid stopping at a local natl chain grocer that I pass 2-3x/week for a week or 2. I tend to buy clearance meat there and I am WAAAY overstocked on meats. I do need bagels so I will go to at least 1 of my bread outlet stores this week either today or Fri.

I changed my Dr. appt from May to July. I go on Medicare in June and as I said there is NO sense in having to pay 2 deductibles this year. Found out my Dr. takes the AARP Medical Advantage plan which is 1 of 2 I was considering. i am waiting for some mailed info i requested on a couple other plans but am likely to go w/AARP.

[NolaP]

Made dinner from the odds and ends I had in my kitchen, and then brought the leftovers in to work for lunch.

[My English Castle]

Remembered to freeze the leftover fried rice. We'll love it when we find it again!

[marvholly]

I have sent for >30 free samples this month. Some I use, some go into gift baskets and some are stocking stuffers for the grandkids. At the historical rate I receive these I should get 9.

Found out my Dad now has pneumonia. I could not figure out why he was still in the hospital after > a week. Now I know. Suspect it will be another week.

I am SOOO glad it is nearly berry season again. I generally eat plain non-fat yogurt and berries for breakfast 2x/week. I am on the LAST of the bags I froze last summer. Also, I eat cereal & fruit for breakfast 2- 3x/week. I made the bulk oatmeal again today. Changed to using milk instead of water. STILL do NOT like it even after adding sweetener & a BUNCH of cinnamon. I’ll use this container for streusel topping and either return the 2 unopened or just donate them since I did buy w/coupons and my out of pocket was only $0.55 for both.

I almost always have fruit as part of my breakfast. I have kept some canned on the shelf for when all fruit is really $$$. I have not used these in YEARS. I am making a concerted effort to use now and will not replace. If I get desperate I can always hit Aldi for a single can.

I had a coupon for a $1 bagel & cream cheese at Einsteins. They are in the same strip mall as Trader Joe’s & on the way to see my Dad. Have not been there in 8-10 years. Walked thru and found some items that are even better deals than I currently get and some I just want. Sunflower seeds are $1.69/lb. I pay $1/7.25 oz at Dollar Tree. Frozen berries are cheaper than Aldi. Their prepared pizza dough is 0.99 and save SOOO much time it is on my list. My old friend 2 buck chuck is now $3 but still a good deal for the quality, esp for wines I seldom drink (reds).

Wed was a no drive, no spend day. Today will be a controlled drive day because I want to hit up WAG & maybe the library.

Today is Friends & Family Day at WAG. If you go to & register at their site you can get a 15% off coupon w/few restrictions (single instance of being better than CVS as I recall). Caveat NOT printed on coupon is that you MUST check out in cosmetics or photo. When I asked about this a time/3 ago I was told those were the only registers w/the proper key(???). Wish I remembered which store had the good beauty advisor but I don not think it was any of the 3 in my town.

I am going to try to do the Tasters Choice 7ct pkg deal at WAG today BUT since this deal has been all over the net for at least 2 days I suspect all 3 of my local stores will be OOS and there will be NOTHING on the trucks that come in on Fri.

I was able to get another set of 3/27 coupon inserts, which gives me another $1 bagel & cream cheese at the place near Trader Joes. I will prob go sometime next week after I see how my grocery/household $$ is going. This time I will probably go there w/ice packs in my cooler and pick up some items. I am will also probably try to make nut butter from some of the sunflower seeds I will buy w/my immersion blender.

[marvholly]

I was able to do the WAG Tasters Choice deal 2x. The third WAG in my town seems to stock quite well and is reasonably coupon friendly. Shame it is off my standard travel pattern by at least 1 mile.

WHOOO WHO!!! My double kitchen sink stopped up Fri night. I know it was a BIG bunch of veg stuff (won’t do that again). I did the baking soda + vinegar soak followed by boiling water and got it totally freed up. Saved myself about $75 for a plumber even at weekday rates.

Put on a BUNCH of miles on Sat but bought gas for $0.09/gal less than in my general travel area. It was the bday party for my twin grandkids. SOOO in addition to small gifts I also gave checks for their college funds. Cost covered by plumber savings BUT I would have done it anyhow. I think this is what my Dad calls circular thinking (cleaned up his phrase).

Sunday ended up being a no drive, no spend day. I’ll get to Wag & CVS when I visit my Dad.

Several of my fruit/veg markets have asparagus on sale for 0.99 this week. I LOVE it, however, I am VERY picky about the thickness. Prefer them about the width of my baby finger. Like the 3 bears they were all either too wide or too narrow, none just right. Did not buy but I got some good deals on Boston lettuce, red leaf and zucchini. Its not a bargain if I don’t like it. I love the versatility of zucchini. I use it in salads, in marinated veggies and as a cooked veg either roasted or w/canned, diced tomatoes & seasonings. If they are BIG (not this week) I make them baked stuffed.

In keeping w/my goals to eat down my stockpile of prepared meals I brought up containers of beef barley soup and lentil stew from my basement freezer for later this/next week. It is almost getting too warm to eat these (IMHO) but the forecast has a bunch of rainy days this week and the dampness often makes me willing to eat these. I ate cooked turkey breast from the kitchen freezer for dinner on Sun. Dinner tonight is the last of the egg casserole I made last week.

I think I found the answer to my oatmeal taste problem. I used a bit of French Vanilla Coffemate (bought buy1get1 free & w/ 2 x 0.75 coupons) in it this morning & it tasted quite good. I will try this a couple times before I donate the 2 unopened containers.

[marvholly]

I was thinking about running to WAG, fruit/veg market accross the street & Target today. Then I evaluated how many miles I have already driven this month, calculated what the added miles would be and realized:
I am WAAAY over my milage allowance already for this month
Gas hit $4.08/gal here yesterday

I will wait on these errands until my next big drive day. It will not matter as the WAG item is not a sale item and Target items will still be on sale.

[marvholly]

Catch Up Report:
Black Friday 2010 I bought a Wahl hair & beard trimmer for $10. So far I have saved at least 1 haircut for myself and the aide at my Dad’s rehab place cut his hair and trimmed his beard but we did tip him $20. I just did a trim on Mon so I am good for at least 2-3 weeks and can probably do another trim then so I will have saved myself 2 haircuts at a minimum of $10 each in about 8 months.

Also, I am getting better at using the hair trimmer. Front & sides look just fine this time. Did have a trimed WAAAY too much spot in the back but that will grow out in about 3 weeks.

[marvholly]

Today would have been a no drive, no spend day if I hadn’t had a MAJOR CSR on Thur. I left the envelope w/all my gift cards on the counter at Target. Luckily the cashier or person behind me turned the envelope in. There is $65-75 in gift cards in it. They do have it in the lost & found and I need to go get it.

I am not happy but I have had to turn on my heat several times the past 2 weeks. Either our temps have been significantly below normal and/or we have had damp, chilly, rainy days when the temps are decent. It is forecast to be like this thru Sun.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Oh, my. So glad Target employee saved your envelope!

A couple weeks ago, I scooped seeds out of a beautiful bell pepper and planted them. (Hint: seeds will germinate even from a green, pre-ripe pepper.) Have enough little seedlings to trade with my friend who always starts heirloom tomatoes.

[marvholly]

I should stay home today & either do spring chores or give myself a beauty day (hair, manicure). However, I am going out. I need to get my gift card envelope at Target (didn’t go Fri), cash the check DB gave me to cover my purchases for Dad-bills will be here soon, hit Wag for the FREE crazy bones (for grand dogs) and get my Sun paper at the $ store.

Since I have not eaten out at all this month I may just ‘treat’ myself to breakfast. There is a GREAT place in my city's downtown and 2 new places I have been wanting to check out nearby. Have to see what kind of coupons I have for where. Lunch is the salad I had taken to visit Dad on Thur but did not eat. He had the lox/bagel/cream cheese I brought him and I had his hot dogs (weeks junk meal). Dinner is a bit of a debate: homemade chicken cordon bleu (chicken breast, ham & swiss on hand) w/noodle rice casserole, fruit & a veg OR leftover cooked steak (freezer), onion rings (new recipe), baked potatoe, veg & fruit.

In my efforts use what I have, especially cooked entrees; I notice I have NOT done any fish this week. Need to program in at least 2x next week. Another item for the meal plan is black bean fajitas. I cooked some black beans last week & need to use those. It will likely be my veg meal for the week + I will use an avocado that has been around TOOOO long. Also, one serving from the chicken breast & pasta I made last week needs to go into the freezer. I just realized I have NOT seen bulk ricotta cheese on sale this Lent as I usually do & stock up for lasagna & stuffed shells. Guess I will substitute cottage cheese this year.

I just realized this is going to be another WAAAY too much driving week. I have things I MUST do today. Sun I HAVE to hit CVS & WAG within 2 hr of opening or all the RR/FREE items will be out of stock. There is also a FREE concert at my library I want to hear. Mon is a staffing about my Dad’s condition & what/where he will be able to go.

In previous years I have noticed all sorts of places having specials and/or freebies during April, especially around Earth Day (4/22). 4 of my 7 reusable bags were gotten that way. This year I have been keeping a running list so I can try to get to the ones I want/use.

[mom-from-missouri]

Saved yesterday big time. Took daughter #3 to get a prom dress that was free. It is at "Cinderella's closet" We took in some dresses to donate, and she got to pick out one at no charge. Basically they do this yearly-saves a lot of girls a lot of money. We did spend $20 on shoes--just got her basic pumps that she can also wear to church, and 4H senate meetings-she needed them as she had outgrown her others. Will be doing this again next year, when all 3 of the younger girls will be at prom (can you imagine buying 3 new dresses at once??)

Today we stayed in the city after church for a wedding shower. Ate off the dollar menu at McDonalds to fill in the time, instead of driving the 37 miles back home for 90 minutes.

On the way home we stopped at CVS to buy a newspaper. After we got home, we realized we got last weeks paper instead of this weeks....2nd time in the last 2 months this has happened. Last time the manager told me they didn't sell week old papers...will be discussing it with the manager again tomorrow!

[marvholly]

Turns out my envelope of gift cards was turned in by a customer. AND probably a young person too. The Starbucks and Oberweiss cards were GONE but the WAG, 2 CVS Safeway and some others cards were all there. Lost about $25 but got back $40+.

[marvholly]

WAHOOO
Went into my gift card stash and found the Srarbucks & Oberweiss cards. I put them away several months ago because I plan my trips there.

I started an experiment Tue. I am hanging out as much laundry as possible to dry vs. using my gas dryer. I want to see if the savings make a difference (do about 3-4 loads/month but more in the summer)and if stuff looks & feels ok. Everything today s/b ok but summer stuff is going to be questionable. It is NO savings if I have to spend the time & electricity to iron. Turns out everything but 1 blouse was ok and a good shaking helped that.