Instead, your only option may be to dissolve any sense of brand loyalty you may have in favor of more wallet-friendly options. [...] we shouldn’t count on name brand products getting cheaper without a fight. ‘Corporations are going to continue to price gouge as long as they’re able to.’” (link)
Also...
Let me be clear to any corporation that hasn’t brought their prices back down even as inflation has come down: It’s time to stop the price gouging. Give American consumers a break. ~ President Joe Biden
My Frugal Week
Friday we cleaned more in Dad's office, workshop, and pole barn. We cleared enough space to park Dad's four wheeler inside the garage and then it took up all the space we cleared. So, we will back it out of there when we are in there cleaning in the future.
We found a WAGS $10 gift card among Dad's stuff when we were cleaning out, and It must have been 10 years old or more, I couldn't even look it up on their website. I had to call the 800 number to find the balance.
One thing we've noticed is lots of wasps hibernating in multiple places down there. It explains why we saw so many wasps upstairs last summer. We will be investing in some wasp traps from Harbor Freight, who sells a two pack for $3.99 or researching homemade wasp traps to see if they work before the wasps wake up for warm weather.
Saturday was garbage day, and Timmy came and filled up the back of his pickup truck. There was still some stuff he couldn't fit in there, but it'll keep until next Saturday.
We also ran some errands afterwards as we needed more garbage bags for decluttering/cleaning downstairs. I also picked up a pair of shoes on clearance for $5 to wear downstairs to stop getting my good shoes dirty. I washed mine again after this week's cleaning and air dried them in my bedroom.
On our way home we saw where our neighbors had a free drawing table on their lawn. So, we came home to get the four wheeler and went back to pick it up. We are going to sell this at the consignment sale next month.
On Monday, I went to the eye doctor and received an injection in my left eye and he said I will need one in my left eye and might need one in my right eye in four weeks, but time will tell. I hope I don't need one in the right eye too next month, as it was so nice to not get one in that eye today.
Afterwards, Bailey had a doctors appointment and received a tetanus shot, which is good since we are working in Dad's workshop where there is a lot of machinery, glass, nails and screws.
On Tuesday I went to the Samaritan Center for their class and earned another $10 in thrift store credit. Afterwards, I only spent $6 in the thrift store, so I still have a credit to use in there.
I bought seven flannel blankets (25 cents each) to use as cleaning rags, a small glass bottle because I plan on making my own vanilla this year, a reusable bag, two bottle brushes, one larger than the other, and a large silicon wire whisk. I've been needing a larger whisk, and it was only 25 cents.
I also picked up this beautiful thick glass pitcher, which will be perfect for warming up maple syrup in the microwave or using for homemade dressings. I also picked up four more children's books to add to my basket for a Christmas gift this year.
After that I ran into Walmart and they had Muck Lucks on mark down for $7.00. They had been $12 all winter and while I wanted some, I refrained. Now priced at $7.00, I was more than willing to fork over the money for the two pack. These would also make great Christmas presents for this year.
After receiving a lot of rain early in the week, we woke up to cold temperatures on Wednesday, a sign that winter is still with us. Rather than turn on the heat, I put my socks and shoes on, long sleeves and a jacket to warm up in the house. I also added a hat and scarf to keep my head and neck warm.
Our electric bill comes out on the 14th of every month and ours was $185.23. We used 1631 kWh in this billing period while we used 1339 kWh in the same billing period in 2023. The difference was that bitter cold Arctic blast we had in January. I read several comments about BIG electric bills this month from that cold spell, so I’m grateful ours wasn’t higher. Of course, we work on keeping it lower in our all electric home.
One day I stopped in at Burger King and used reward points for a free double cheeseburger. Using the mobile app will allow you a free order of fries with any purchase.
So, I bought a Rodeo burger and only paid $2.50 for all three items. I came home and gave one of the burgers to Bailey and we split the large order of fries. That was a pretty inexpensive lunch.
While I was running errands, I stopped in at McKays and traded some of Dad's books. I ended up with $20 in cash plus $20 in trade credit, so I put the $20 in my gas tank and bought myself these two books and still have over $12 in trade credit. And we still have more books of his to trade.
I looked in the free bin at McKays too and found a Biggest Loser cookbook and several movies on DVD, so I snagged those and gave them to Bailey to sell at the consignment sale next month.
I also went to the dentist for my six month cleaning this week. My insurance pays for this, so there is no cost to me. The hygienist moved here from Illinois two years ago, so we had a lot to talk about since I am also from Illinois. He enjoys the milder winters here just like me.
He gave me the following freebies...
Freebies
Toothbrush, toothpaste, Gum soft picks with coupon, Gum Proxabrush with coupon, and dental floss.
I also stopped by the Little Free Pantry to drop off some donations and these four glass canning jars were there, so I picked them up to bring home. Two of them are Ball and the other two are Golden Harvest.
CVS Extra Care Plus
Last month I decided to join CVS ExtraCare Plus program, so I could get my prescriptions mailed to me rather than drive the 20 miles to get to CVS. Turns out they give each member $10 in extra care bucks to spend each month, so it's like getting $5 each month for free.
My question of the week for the Fourth Frugal Friday of January 2024 was about Lord Chesterfield Butter Beans. Bobi was so sweet to help me, and she did the research for me and figured out that Lord Chesterfield is now selling under the label, Glory Foods.
I found these at Publix for $1.99 per can and just had to try them. I'm very happy to report that these are exactly like Lord Chesterfield and are so delicious! If you ever get the chance to try them, please do and let me know what you think.
Avoiding Spending
Hmmmm....I did not avoid spending this week as I had to buy gas and a few groceries (I was completely out of corn, gasp!), but I was very prudent as usual.
I've been reading a book recommended by my friend Linda. It's written by David Baldacci and is entitled, Wish You Well. It is also available as a movie or on Amazon Prime. I must warn you that there are several deaths in the book, so please read at your own discretion.
How was your week?
Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here.
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.
I made a batch of Crock Pot yogurt this week using this recipe from Bless this Mess. It was an utter fail for me, but I think I added the yogurt while the milk was too warm, so I will try again the next time I get some free or reduced milk.
What’s for Breakfast
Pizza Eggs, Oatmeal, Scrambled Eggs with Gravy, Peanut Butter on Toast.
Movie Night Tuesday ~ Chicken BBQ Pizza for Bailey, leftovers for me.
Wednesday ~ Breakfast for Dinner, Sausage, Sausage Gravy, Biscuits, Scrambled Eggs, and Fruit Salad.
Thursday & Friday ~ Chicken Dressing Green Beans
Saturday ~ Chinese
Sunday ~ Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread.
What’s on the Menu for This Coming Week
I haven't decided yet, so I'm going to wing it this week. I have several ideas planned, so please come back next week to see what we had on our menu this week.
What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?
This week I spent several minutes each day unsubscribing from emails that want to sell me something. Some of them send multiple emails per day and I don't want to receive that many emails from any company.
We bought two dryer brushes to clean out our lint trap. I already cleaned out the dryer upstairs and used the vacuum to help clean up the lint. We will also have to take it downstairs and clean out the line leading to the outside.
We cleaned in Dad's office again last Friday and will clean in there again today. We put out another dozen or so bags for the garbage man on Saturday. I'm going to give him a really big bonus for all this extra trash.
If you're interested, Knife magazine wrote an article abut my Dad's passing and you can read it here.
We went to the class at the Samaritan Center on Tuesday with the topic being Food Safety. And we both received another $10 voucher to the thrift store. One of the things I picked up were smaller baskets with handles to corral items around the house. They were only 40 cents each and perfect for some things.
We've not done any grocery shopping this week, so no money spent there. We are simply eating what we have here at home.
Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here.
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.
On Monday, while out running errands, we were able to pick up a few groceries like chicken, celery, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, tartar sauce, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, oranges, and pears.
What’s for Dinner
Monday ~ Bailey had book club, so I was on my own for dinner. I had some cheesy bread sticks with broccoli and ranch for dinner.
Tuesday ~ On Monday a friend gave me three heads of cabbage. Woo Hoo! Stir Fried Cabbage and sausage for dinner again. I just love cabbage stir fried with onions and ginger.
Wednesday ~ Chicken & Dressing, Green Beans with Onions, Broccoli Salad, Pickled Beets. This was the last of the dressing I made at Thanksgiving and stored in the freezer.
I haven't decided yet, although I have a few ideas in mind, I'm going to wing it this week. Please come back next week to see what we had on our menu this week.
What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?
I perused the grocery store sale ads on Wednesday. There wasn't anything noteworthy that I could not buy for that price at Walmart.
I hung my laundry on the drying rack rather than use the dryer for certain items.
I received a payout from Amazon this month for $12.96 thanks to those of you who use my link when ordering off Amazon.
Bailey and I decided that Friday would be the day we work downstairs in Dad's office since our garbage man comes on Saturday. That way he can get all the bags we are throwing out and they won't have to be outside for very long.
On Friday evening I was worn out from cleaning down there. I think I threw away at least one dozen bags of garbage. I threw away the area rugs as well and used the shop vac to vacuum the floors. I barely made a dent in the mess.
There were around 200 VHS tapes down there in five boxes and I put a free sign on them on our local Facebook group and someone came to get them Saturday afternoon. His son had wanted some for Christmas and he was thrilled to get so many and said he was going to build a shelf for them. I'm glad to have them out of the way, so we can continue cleaning.
I brought several kitchen items from Dad’s kitchen to use in my own kitchen. One item was an Anchor Hocking glass loaf pan, which I've always wanted, but rarely see them second hand. Also, several Corelle plates. It was funny because we would give each other meals we had cooked, so he had several of our plates down there and we had several of his plates up here.
Someone also asked for free firewood on the Facebook group and I know Dad has two or more loads of firewood across the road. So, I offered them up on the group and already have someone coming to get them on Saturday too. Another task out of the way.
Before we started cleaning, we went on a trip in Dad's four wheeler to Fletcher Spout, which is located in the Cherokee National Forest, next to the Conasauga River and is only a few miles from our home. In 1890, William D. Fletcher created this on his property and intended for people to always be able to get fresh, free spring water. His family maintains Fletcher Spout to this day.
Dad alway saved his Ocean Spray juice bottles with the handle and took about thirty of them every few weeks and filled them up here. Bailey always went with him and helped him fill them up. He told me how much help she was to him. I'd been saving these jugs for him and we took the one we had empty with us and filled it up in memory of Dad.
It was wonderful to be outside in nature just riding around and enjoying the area where we live. The ride made me think of my Dad so much and how much he loved it here. We even took a ride to the local church cemetery where he wanted to be buried because it overlooks the mountains. Spending the last five months with him at the end of his life made me look at our home in a whole new light.
On Monday I had a doctors appointment with the orthopedic doctor and received cortisone shots in both knees. I also combined errands to save on gas and filled up my gas tank ($2.69 gallon), picked up some groceries, and went by the Little Free Pantries and dropped off a few things.
On Tuesday we attended the first class in a six week series on ways to save money when cooking on a budget. It's held at the Samaritan Center and each time we attend we get a $10 voucher to spend in the thrift store, so Bailey and I earned $20 to spend in the thrift store. We also received a free book, "Eat Well on $4/Day Good and Cheap".
They showed us how to cook a three can vegan chili and there was even leftovers to take home.
Afterwards we went sh0pping in the thrift store. They sell children's books for 20 cents each and I'm going to collect children's books all year and add them to a Lego bin that belonged to my Dad to give to our friends for Christmas who have four daughters.
I picked up some bigger kitchen spoons as all of mine seem to disappear. (?) I also picked up some fabric things that I'm going to use as cloth napkins and a couple of shirts for me for 75 cents each.
Speaking of Christmas, another book I picked up was a Victorian Christmas book, which I'm going to cut up and use in various crafts for Christmas this year.
Freebies
Thanks to Bobi, who figured out for me last week that Lord Chesterfield was acquired by McCall Foods (https://www.mccallfarms.com/our-brands/) and are now packaged under the Glory Foods brand (https://gloryfoods.com/).
We also picked up a free weatherization kit at Sethra. I wanted one for a window in my bedroom and low and behold there was a kitchen faucet adaptor included in there. We actually needed one as I took off the water filter this weekend and didn't have an adaptor. So neat that one was included, and it's a swiveling one at that.
With this fix, I'm reassessing my needs. We filter water through our kitchen faucet water filter (since we are on a well) and then use a Zero Water filter. I like to do that as it saves on the Zero Water filters, but I've decided to stop filtering our water twice and won't buy a new kitchen faucet water filter.
Savings of the Week
Upon checking my account at CVS.com, I realized I had over $20 in cash back rewards to use on there.So, I checked my list of items we need for February and saw toilet paper, so we were able to get two twelve packs of the Scott 1000 toilet paper for free.
Saving Money on Entertainment
We watched a 1987 Jessica Tandy & Hume Cronyn film, entitled Foxfire, for free on YouTube this week. In the film, Annie Nations and her husband Hector loved their life together in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but when Hector dies, Annie has to decide if she can handle the wilderness on her own.
Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here.
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.
