Monday, December 31, 2018

Last Week's Thrifty Moves



The last full week of 2018 has come to a close and today is New Years Eve.  A new year begins tomorrow and I am super excited about it.  How about you?

The girls are were on winter break last week and are again this week as well.  We have had nowhere to be and nothing scheduled except for me going to work on Monday for a partial day and then Wednesday thru Friday.  I'm off today!  Hurray!


We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve.  I left work at 3:00 and came straight home to my darling girls.  I prepared a delightful supper of clam chowder, garlic cheddar biscuits and a fresh green salad.  After supper we climbed into the truck and toured our fair city.  We admired all of the pretty Christmas lights people had put up and decorated their homes with.  We sang along to Christmas music on the radio and had a really nice time.


Christmas morning we got up to a pot of fresh brewed coffee and opened the gifts we had for each other.  Santa had filled the girl's stockings with loads of good things like toothbrushes and toothpaste, candy, gum, hair bands, peanuts, pencils & notepads, pens and cookies.  We had a great breakfast of sausage links and scrambled eggs with mandarin oranges.  The girls also had cinnamon rolls.

Santa brought us a 5# box of mandarin oranges and some movies on DVD to enjoy.  Now You See Me, Now You See Me 2 and The Greatest Showman.  The girls were very happy about that and we had a little movie marathon after breakfast.

The aftermath

While we watched movies I went through all of the gift wrap on the floor and collected any re-usable tissue wrap, gift bags, gift boxes and bows.  I added this to my gift wrap bin to use for next year.

My oldest daughter gave me the Christmas gift paper she had used to decorate one of her teacher's desks.  I used an empty cardboard gift wrap tube and rolled the paper onto it to keep it nice.  I secured it with a rubber band I had save from a bunch of green onions I'd bought.  Now we have a nice roll of very pretty shiny foil gift wrap to use next year and it didn't cost me a thing.

This is what I saved

Our refrigerator was stuffed to capacity which made for delicious and easy meals to prepare as we reheated loads of leftovers throughout the week.  We had leftover sausage and pepperoni pizza, ham & scalloped potatoes, steak & Yorkshire puddings, spaghetti with meat sauce, clam chowder and garlic cheddar biscuits to finish up.  I made a fresh green salad and we also enjoyed sautéed green beans with sliced mushrooms left from Christmas dinner.


We took the bulk of the leftover ham in the refrigerator and trimmed off what remained.  Then we ground it all up to make a big bowl of ham salad.  It was really tasty and good to have on hand for quick snacks and lunches while the girls were home all day from school.  I wrapped up the ham bone and tucked it into the freezer.  I plan to use it to make a big pot of bean soup fairly soon.


I made two greeting cards I needed to send to friends rather than to purchase them at the store.

We gave the chickens stale bread and our kitchen scraps.  We also composted orange peels, coffee grounds, egg shells, tea bags and onion skins.


I washed out some ziploc bags and a plastic food storage container that we were given a food gift in to reuse.  I filled the food container with the last of the Christmas fudge we made and took it into work.

We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas.  How was your thrifty week?



Friday, December 28, 2018

December & Year End Thrifty Wrap Up



2018 is coming to a close and I can hardly believe it.  The holidays are just about over, my girls are already at the halfway point in the school year with my oldest set to graduate high school in May, it just amazes me sometimes.


I began the month by paying all of our monthly expenses well ahead of the due dates and I am really happy that I was able to consistently do this every month this year!  I paid the mortgage payment consistently 3 weeks early and it really made a difference!  My principal steadily went down each month and I pay less and less in interest that way.


Savings goals were met again this month and I was pleased that I was able to do that consistently throughout the year as well.  Sometimes I was able to add a little more and that was a great feeling.  I plan to continue with some new savings goals in the coming year.


With grocery shopping I spent more than was initially budgeted for the year by just under $150.  That may not seem like a lot to most people, especially given that I don't spend much in the first place, but I know I can do better and will be working to improve spending in that area moving forward.


I kept spending in check when it came to clothing, gifts, dining out, entertainment and so forth and I'm really proud of myself for that.  We purchased quite a bit of our clothing this year second hand.  I used gift cards to purchase a few new items that were purchased on sale or clearance and with coupons whenever possible.  I took advantage quite a bit of promotions at Fred Meyer (Friday Freebie), JC Penney ($10 OFF $10 Purchase) and Bath & Body Works (Free Item, no purchase necessary) and was able to get quite a few gifts for little or no cost.  I used a gift card at Dillards to purchase a pair of work pants for myself and a couple bras for the girls that were on clearance.  I plan to continue to do more of that type of shopping in the new year.


The biggest thing we did was to upgrade a major portion of our home.  We tackled a lot of do it yourself home improvement projects and I paid for most of it with gift cards I had been saving.  We updated our kitchen, living room, entry way, dining room, downstairs hallway and the stairs.  It was a lot of work but so worth it as our home looks amazing.  I used a lot of supplies I already had on hand in our garage, trim and wood I'd gleaned from the FREE WOOD bin near where I work and used gift cards and very little cash out of pocket to pay for what we needed.  The largest purchase out of pocket was our carpet tiles I ordered online from Home Depot with free shipping to our door.  I paid for that with my PayPal Credit account and no interest was charged because I paid it off within 6 months.


Lastly, I booked our family vacation to Disneyland coming up at the end of May.  This has been long awaited and much anticipated.  We saved and saved for this and I was ecstatic that I am finally able to make it happen.  I paid for the booking with my credit card in order to accrue a bunch of rewards points I'll be cashing in for more gift cards and then transferred the money from my savings account to pay off the bill before I accrued any interest.


2018 was a great year for us.  A lot happened and we got a lot accomplished.  It feels really good to be ending the year on such a high.  I'm super excited about 2019.  I have new goals to accomplish and lots of changes and adventures ahead for us.  It will be another amazing year, I can feel it.  I know I am tremendously blessed and ever so grateful for all that we have and all that we are able to do.

Happy New Year Everyone!



Thursday, December 27, 2018

My Grocery Budget 2018 - December Update



December was another big food month for us.  We baked cookies and made a lot of fudge to give as the bulk of our Christmas gifts this year.  Since summer I've been squirreling away all kinds of things into the pantry to do exactly this and when it came time we had plenty of ingredients to get the job done.  In fact, I think I have enough for next year too!  Ha, ha!


This month I focused my food dollars on sales items and a few goodies to make the holidays extra special.  I think I did a really well this month.  Here is what I bought for food:



Groceries

 $$$







Tortilla chips (2)

           2.24
Sale
WinCo
Pretzels

           1.98
Sale
WinCo
Sausage

           2.73

WinCo
Cream (2)

           6.56
Sale
WinCo
Green onions

           0.88

WinCo
Celery

           0.98

WinCo
Coleslaw (2)

           1.96

WinCo
Tiny shrimp

           2.18
Sale
WinCo
Smokies

           2.28
Sale
WinCo
Summer sausage

           3.98

WinCo
Pudding (5)

           2.50

WinCo
Parsley

           0.58

Wal-Mart
Peanut oil

           3.68

Wal-Mart
Bananas

           0.82

Wal-Mart
Mashed potatoes (6)

           4.74
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Sugar - 4# (2)

           1.98
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Flour - 5# (2)

           1.58
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Powdered sugar (2)

           1.58
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Brown sugar (2)

           1.58
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Chocolate chips (2)

           1.58
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Vegetable oil

           0.99
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Whipped cream

           2.49
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Eggs (2)

           1.58
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Soup (10)

           9.90
Digital Coupon
Albertsons
Bacon (2)

           4.98
Markdown
Albertsons
Clementines - 5#

           3.98
Sale
Albertsons
Marshmallow crème (2)

           1.76
Sale
WinCo
AuJus

           0.36

WinCo
Eggs (2)

           2.28

WinCo
Green beans

           2.20

WinCo
Peas

           0.99

WinCo
Sausage

           2.28

WinCo
Margarine (3)

           2.52

WinCo
Cinnamon rolls

           1.69

WinCo
Ground pork

           2.28

WinCo
Cereal

           1.59
Sale
WinCo
Cream

           3.28

WinCo
Onions - 3#

           0.98
Sale
WinCo
Sausage (2)

           5.46

WinCo
Sausage links

           2.98

WinCo
Cheese

           4.80

WinCo
Green onions

           0.58

WinCo
Cinnamon rolls

           1.00
Sale
Fred Meyer
Biscuits (2)

           1.58
Markdown
Fred Meyer
Juice

 FREE
Friday Freebie
Fred Meyer
Drink drops

 FREE
Friday Freebie
Fred Meyer
Garlic powder

           1.00

Dollar Tree
Minced garlic (3)

           3.00

Dollar Tree
Vanilla extract

           1.00

Dollar Tree
Lasagna noodles

           1.00

Dollar Tree
Almonds

           5.99

Trader Joes
Chili sauce

           1.49

Trader Joes
Mushrooms

           1.79

Trader Joes
Lettuce

           2.29

Trader Joes
Carrots

           1.99

Trader Joes
Spinach

           2.29

Trader Joes
Snap peas

           2.49

Trader Joes
Bananas

           0.76

Trader Joes
Avocados

           2.99

Trader Joes
Spice mix

           1.99

Trader Joes





Total

       138.99



$138.99 ÷ 31 days ÷3 people = $1.49 per person per day!


I can tell you right now I sure do like that ending total!



This budget month runs from December 1 through December 31



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