Frugal Friday - Saving for Christmas 2020

(Note 1 :  my referral codes/links for grocery apps and Swagbucks can be found at the bottom of this post for anyone who might be interested.  Thanks)

(Note 2:  These are not for earning fast money, but consistently using them over time will add up!)


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Beginning on January 1st, I decided to see how much money I could earn using Apps on my phone, Swagbucks, selling on EBay, Pine Cone Surveys, etc.  The purpose of this is to save toward the cost of Christmas gifts in 2020, or at least put a chunk of cash toward it! 

In my planner I assigned a page to each source of income.  My plan is to update the page with the amount earned each month in 2020, so I can track the figures and also get an idea of what's worth doing and what's not worth doing.

Here are my current planner pages and the categories:

1.  Paypal

I started out with a balance of $198.53 as of January 1st.  I don't spend the Paypal money too often and it reached this amount over a long period of time.  Things that go into my Paypal account include things like payment for doing Pine Cone Research Surveys and an occasional sale on EBay or Etsy.   

So far since January 1st, I have added $12 from Pine Cone Research and $16.93 from Ebay sales (net after all expenses) So currently there is $227.46

The surveys earn $3.00 each and I usually do 2 or 3 a month.  Pine Cone Research is a great way to earn a little cash.  They have open applications every so often and you have to be accepted by them.  If I see that they are accepting applications, I will post it on here.  The surveys are easy to do and occasionally  they will send a new product for you to try out for free.  Then you complete a follow up survey which earns another $3.00. 

I don't sell a lot on EBay.  In fact this is the first time in a couple of years that I have sold anything.  What did I sell?  I don't use the conditioners that come in my hair color boxes.  So I had been putting them to the side for quite a while.  I had accumulated 11 of them!  They sell quickly.  Its not a lot of money, but they are out of my house and the money goes toward my goal of Christmas money!

I have some ideas for other things to sell on EBay, such as a dress that I bought a couple of years ago that still has the tags on it and I haven't worn.  It might be fun to see what I can get for it. 


I haven't had anything for sale in my Etsy shop in a very long time.  I would love to though.   Maybe soon!

2.  Amazon Gift Card Balance

This is by far the place that I accumulate money in the most.  I started out on January 1st with a balance of $210.53.  As of today I have $299.48.    The increase is made up of the following:

Fetch Rewards $10.00
Ibotta $20.00
Swagbucks:  $53.00
Amazon refund 5.95

I consistently earn points on Swagbucks which I redeem for Amazon Gift Cards!  Here's my Swagbucks Referral Link if anyone is interested:  CLICK HERE

The grocery apps on my phone are a source of income, but its slow.  Here are the ones I am using:

Shop Kick.  As of today I have 681 points which I earned since January 1st.   I need 1250 to get a $5.00 Amazon Gift Card.  The way it works is that you earn points (kicks) when you go into certain stores.  Then while in stores you scan the bar code of certain items.   Watching short videos earns a few points. You can also buy certain things and scan in your receipt for points.  I haven't bought anything yet that qualifies.  I'm only doing the things that don't require me to spend money.  So, at this rate I should have a $5.00 gift card in a couple of months.  This is REALLY slow, but its kind of fun to do and eventually there will be items that I would be interested in buying that would accumulate points much faster than just the scanning in the store.  So, I am going to continue on and see how much I earn by the end of the year.

Fetch Rewards.  This one is easy to use and earning a gift card doesn't take too terribly long.  You just scan all of your eligible receipts and if you purchase certain items you earn points.  If there are no eligible items on the receipt, you still earn a flat 25 points.  You need 1,000 points to earn a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card.  I started out on January 1st with 1433 points.  I cashed out for one $10.00 Amazon Gift Card, and after earning points since January 1st, I currently have 8,896 points.  I will soon have enough points for another $10.00 gift card.

Ibotta.  This one isn't as easy as Fetch Rewards, but I can earn gift cards pretty quickly.  I enjoy using it.  You need to activate the offers before shopping and I find that I already purchase many of the eligible items.  Sometimes it is for any item, such as any pasta sauce, or any oatmeal, etc.

You have teammates, which for me are friends on Facebook that also do Ibotta.   I didn't do anything to add them as teammates, they just showed up on my account.  To be on my team, use my referral code shown at the bottom of this post.  We can see what each of us is earning and help each other earn more!  I started out on January 1st with $18.71.  You have to reach $20.00 to cash out.  Since then I cashed out for one $20.00 Amazon Gift card and currently have $12.66.  I need $7.34 more to cash out for another $20.00 Amazon Gift card.

Other Grocery Apps.  The apps I am also attempting to earn money are Checkout 51, SavingStar and Coin Out.  I've earned gift cards before on Checkout 51 and SavingStar, but so far this year I have not earned anything.    I started out on January 1st with $9.50 on Checkout 51 and that has not changed.  I need $20.00 to get a gift card.  I started out on January 1st with $13.25 on SavingStar and that has not changed either.  I will keep an eye on SavingStar and Checkout 51, but they just haven't offered any items so far this year that I actually use.  I'm not going to buy something that we don't want or need just to earn a few points.  Coin Out is a new one I am trying and so far have $2.22.  Its easy to use because you just scan any receipt and earn a few points. There are other ways to earn money with Coin Out, but I haven't really tried any of them, other than scanning receipts.    It might not be worth the trouble, but I'll keep plugging away.  I have to reach $10.00 to cash out for a gift card, so at this rate it will take 10 months!

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If you would like to sign up for any of these Apps, I would love for you to use my referral Code.  It would be especially fun to be teammates on Ibotta.  Here are my codes, or links.

For Fetch Rewards use this code when signing up: B4AEN

For Ibotta use this code when signing up:  foujkwh

For Checkout 51 use this link:  https://checkout51.app.link/9JidDdPcg4,   or just click HERE.
 
For Coin Out use this link:  https://coinout.com/referrals/new?r=MGPHCWC   or click HERE.

I don't think SavingStar has a referral program.

I'm off work today, so had time to put this post together!  Have a great weekend!

A Tiny Frugal Tip# 5 - Play The Games

There are so many stores out there and ALL of them want your money!  There are all kinds of gimmicks that they use to achieve their goal to get you into their store and to spend your money there.  But you have to be smarter than they are!

One of my best frugal tips is to decide on a select few stores, learn their "deal games" and then play the games well.  Just focus on a few.  For me, I have chosen CVS, Dollar General, and Food Lion, as far as brick and mortar stores.  These three stores are convenient for me.  I also love Amazon Subscribe and Save.

I know their prices.  I know how to play their games.  I have their MVP card, Extra Care card, and and have signed up for their digital coupons.  When I go to CVS, if it isn't on sale, or I don't have a coupon, I don't buy it!  At Dollar General, I know what is a good price and I leave the other stuff there.  

A price book is a great tool to help you play the games well.  I like to bring the price of an item down so low, using a combination of sale prices and coupons, that there's no doubt that the price is the best I can find.

My "old lady" brain can't keep up with too many stores at one time.  Sure, there are some great deals at Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Walmart.  I'll visit these stores from time to time, but they just aren't my "deal stores".

There's only such much time to spend on getting the best deal.

So that's my tiny frugal tip for today.  Play the Games ...... and play them well!

A Tiny Frugal Tip #4 - Misfit Cleaners

Welcome to my Tiny Frugal Tip Series!
 
My last tip was about saving money on clothes by loving the clothes you already own. Today's tip is about saving money by USING the cleaning supplies you already have on hand.  Are you like me in that you have some cleaning supplies you thought were going to work, or you bought them because you had a coupon,  and then you never really liked them?


This the basket that holds my misfit cleaning supplies! 

I've tried to use them, really I have!  I almost threw them away just a few days ago.  Then I decided that there must be some way to make use of them and save money.


Here are the ideas I came up with:


1.  Organize the cleaning supplies by category.  Begin by wiping off the containers and combining any that are the same.  Use the ones with the smallest amount left in the containers first.  It helps with decluttering if you can throw away some empty ones.  This creates a sort of "snowball" effect in getting rid of the cleaners.  Kind of like when someone is trying to pay off debt!


2.  Make a list of what you have on hand and areas of the home in which you plan to use them.  If you have some kind of household binder, that would be a great place for the list.  


3.  Brainstorm ways you could use the cleaners.  There are multiple uses for many of them.  Could you use one of them for washing the outside of the car or cleaning the inside of the car?  Can you use one of them for cleaning outdoor items, like lounge chairs or flower pots?   Would any of them work for spot cleaning laundry?  If you use your imagination, you might just end up really loving a misfit cleaner!


One way I am using some of the cleaners comes from an idea I got from Flylady.  I put a little cleaner in the toilet brush container, along with a little water.  Then when I swish the brush around in the toilet, the cleaner is already on there.  This works great for the light daily swishing that often needs to be done.

Search on line to find ways to use certain products.  Also on the back label of the product, there is usually a list of uses that you haven't even considered.


4.  If you have a cleaner that doesn't work as well as you want it to, save it to use on an area that isn't as dirty.  Save your heavier duty cleaners for the extra tough cleaning jobs.


5.  Could you donate the items?  Do you have a family member or friend, who could really use some of the cleaners?  Different people like different things.  Even if you hate a cleaner, someone might be glad to save a little money by not having to buy some cleaners.  There might even be a need at a homeless shelter, or animal shelter.


6.  Promise yourself that you won't buy any more cleaners until the ones you have are used up!  You can probably accomplish this by getting creative and making some of your own cleaners. to supplement them.  Vinegar is a great base for making homemade cleaners.  You might be able to create a new cleaner using what you have by adding vinegar, baking soda, etc. to it.  Just don't cause any explosions!


7.  If you are like me, you have certain cleaners that you use all the time.  Make a list of those and only buy those in the future.  Even if a cleaner is on sale and you have a coupon, its a waste of money if it doesn't work for you.

This is the shelf in my laundry room.  The basket on the left contains my misfit cleaners.  The one on the right contains the cleaners I use regularly.  My plan is to empty the one on the left and simplify all my cleaners so that there are only a few basics up there, eventually.

Lets give our misfit cleaners some love and put them to use.  Stay out of the cleaning supply aisle until you have used them!

A Tiny Frugal Tip #3

Good Tuesday morning to you and welcome to my Tiny Frugal Tip Series!

This frugal tip is about small batch freezing and meal starter freezing.   This saves money because you cut down on waste and also it can help cut down on eating out and extra trips to the grocery store when you need a meal and its getting late.

One of the easiest things to freeze is rice.  I love to be able to pull a bag of rice out of the freezer both for meals at home or for my lunch to take to work.  You can use any kind of rice, but its especially handy for brown rice, since it takes longer to cook.  When you have a little time, you can cook up a large pot of brown rice and freeze a few bags.

This is a recent bag of rice I took out of the freezer for a side dish for supper.

It heats up well in the microwave.

Bell pepper is a good thing to freeze.  If you buy them from the grocery store or grow your own, you know they won't last too long in the fridge.  I go ahead and cut them up, spread them out on a cookie sheet to flash freeze and then put them in a freezer bag.  When you need some bell pepper for a recipe, its easy to just pour out what you need.  If I do this, it really cuts down on the waste of finding a mushy bell pepper in the fridge!

I use a lot of tomato paste, but even the small 6 ounce can is too much for most of my recipes.  So, when I open a can I use what I need for the recipe I am cooking, and freeze the rest.  These blobs of tomato paste are from a 12 ounce can.  I let them freeze for an hour or so on this plate and then after they got firm, I transferred them to a freezer bag.  The next time I make a pot of soup or chili I can just add one of the blobs to it directly from the freezer.

Frozen Tomato Paste Blobs!



We didn't have a very good tomato harvest this year, but I froze a few bags, one bag at a time.  It was no big deal to put a few in a pot to simmer while I was doing something else.  I think I ended up with 5 bags.  This kept the few tomatoes we had from going to waste, since they tend to ripen faster than we can eat them.

Another great meal starter I love to have on hand is browned hamburger.  After I get the meat home from the grocery store, I like to go ahead and brown some of it and freeze it.  Just last night I had no idea what we were going to eat for supper.  Then I remembered a bag of frozen browned hamburger in our freezer!  Chili!  It was so easy using the frozen meat and a frozen tomato paste blob along with some canned tomatoes and beans.  I love to put sour cream and some shredded cheese on top of mine.

Vegetable Soup is good to make from frozen browned hamburger.

 

I need to share my quick week night chili recipe, but no time! Gotta get ready for work!

I also want to tell you about another blog I have started called, "Homemaking Dreams Deals". I hope to share deals that I come across and also I feel it is a more appropriate place to blog about Swagbucks. I hope you'll check it out and become a regular reader. Thanks!

A Tiny Frugal Tip #1

Welcome to a new series of posts that I plan to do, called "A Tiny Frugal Tip". They'll be short and sweet, but hopefully you can glean some information to save a few dollars!

Here's a tiny tip that's also frugal.  Put your body wash in an empty liquid soap dispenser and add a little water to it.    It lasts longer and its easier to use.  With coupons and/or sales you can buy body wash pretty inexpensively.

I was experiencing some dry skin on my legs and after I started shaving with the lathered up body wash,  my legs are smooth and soft.  I like it better than shaving cream or regular soap.

Its easy to pump the body wash onto your washcloth or directly onto your legs.

Its hard to get that last little bit of the body wash out of the original bottle, so I add a little water to it and shake it.  Then its easy to get every drop out.

I like the convenience of having pumps in the bath tub, so I am thinking of transferring my shampoo and conditioner to an empty pump bottle as well.  Adding a little water to shampoo and conditioner is a good idea I think, because you are going to lather it up with water on your head anyway.

Just a tiny tip to finish off the week!

Happy Friday!

How to Menu Plan - Side Dishes

My method of menu planning is to have a list of possible dishes to choose from that we like and that I have ingredients on hand for.  Before going to the grocery store this week, I did a little inventory of what I had on hand and made a list of ALL the possible things I could make for side dishes.

Butter Beans Cooked With Ham Bits

I was surprised at how long the list was and I could have thought of more, but was in a hurry to get out the door.

Here's what I came up with:

Green Beans cooked with ham bits
Butter Beans (Lima) cooked with ham bits
Corn
Three Bean Salad
Fruit with cottage cheese
Black Eyed Peas
Great Northern or Pinto Beans
Chips and Salsa
Broccoli and cheese
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Deviled eggs
Fruit Salad
Broccoli, rice and cheese casserole
Brown Rice cooked in chicken broth
Tomato Sandwich
Sliced Tomatoes
Fried Okra

Sweet Potato Casserole

Just having things to choose from makes menu planning so much easier.  I put this list to good use for our lunch yesterday.  We had butter beans cooked with ham bits, sweet potato casserole and beef kabobs.  I found the sirloin steak for the kabobs at Food Lion marked down.




Okra, Cherry Tomatoes, Regular Tomatoes

I've been trying to use our fresh vegetables from our small garden as much as possible.  This includes vegetable soup, fried okra, BLTs, tomato sandwiches and more.

Tips:

I buy the little vacuum sealed packages of ham bits, which I call seasoning meat.  Once the package is opened, I separate it into little packs the size needed for one pot of beans and then freeze them.  I wrap each pack in plastic wrap and put them in a freezer bag.

I usually have some pecans in the freezer and can take out just enough needed for the top of the sweet potato casserole.

For menu planning I don't assign a certain food for a certain day.  I just have a list of things that I could cook.  Usually on Sunday I try to cook a little bit a head for the upcoming work week for suppers and also things to take for lunch.

And I'm always open to that unexpected offer by hubby to go out to eat!  We don't do this too much because its so much cheaper to eat at home, but we do eat out occasionally.

What side dishes do you like to cook?

Freezing Food in Jars.Frugal - Kitchen Tip Monday

One way to save money in the kitchen is to make your own chicken broth or stock.  I purchased a package of split chicken breasts on sale and then simply boiled them with two things in mind.  Number one was to make chicken salad for lunches this week.  The second thing was to store the chicken broth.  At no extra cost, I now have 2 and 1/2 quarts of chicken broth!

Frozen Chicken Broth

Freezing things in glass jars is a new thing for me.  I've frozen chicken broth in freezer bags before, but that didn't work out too well.  It was kind of messy!  With the jars I can take a jar out of the freezer, set it in the fridge and use it as needed.  I really love the plastic lids that can be used on canning jars for storage.  I bought mine at Walmart, but you can also get them on Amazon HERE.

Tips for freezing chicken broth in jars:  1.  Leave some space at the top of the jar; 2.  Place the filled jars in the fridge overnight before freezing.

Homemade Chicken Salad

Having some items ready to grab in the morning for lunches is a real time and money saver!  I'm already envisioning some sliced summer tomatoes fresh from the garden with this chicken salad.

Homemade Sweet Pickles

These are some of my homemade sweet pickles.  Without these chicken salad isn't the same! My love and thanks go to my Mama for teaching me to make sweet pickles and chicken salad.  Also, I need to use the plastic lids on the pickle jars after they have been opened for storage in the fridge!

Have a great Monday and if its hot where you are, stay cool!

On a Mission at Dollar General

I went to Dollar General on Saturday on a mission to check some prices on things we buy regularly.  There are six Dollar Generals in my area, one of which is brand new and only a couple of miles away from home.  I don't want to run from store to store trying to save money, but if I am already going to be at a particular store, I think it would be smart to pick up items that we need that are a good price.  The only problem with that is that I can't remember what is a good price most of the time.  And not all items are a good price just because they are for sale at a Dollar store.


These Libby's brand canned green beans were on sale for 2 for $1.00, so I picked up 6 cans of those.

I like Petite Diced Tomatoes and was happy to see them in the Dollar General Brand, Clover Valley.   I made a pot of Chili Saturday afternoon and they were great!  They are 67 cents a can.

The Clover Valley brand of  parboiled rice was $3.75 for a 5 pound bag.  I thought this was an extremely good deal, because this is the same as the Uncle Ben's brand, which is always really expensive.   Confession time:  I thought this was brown rice until just now when I looked closer!  I do prefer brown rice for its health benefits and the fact that it is a slower burning carb.  But, we will use this rice.

I like to cook brown rice in chicken broth and then freeze it in individual serving size freezer bags.  I take one for my lunch at work and add either home cooked frozen chicken or a small can of chicken.  Makes a good lunch. 

At this particular store, they have an entire section that has only dollar items.  There are some great finds  there.  Of course everything there is not a good deal.  I bought these bottles of Salon Selectives Shampoo and conditioner and the Purpose Farmstead Apple foaming hand soap for a dollar each.  These are bonus size bottles and are safe for colored hair.

Every time you visit Dollar General you get a $5.00 of $25.00 coupon that can be used the following Saturday.  I try to wait to shop there until the following Saturday so I can make use of that coupon.  If you know what you need that is a good price there, this is a great way to save some money.  Its even better if you have manufacturer's coupons to stack with the $5.00 coupon.

Using K Cups is not the most frugal way to drink coffee.  In fact its pretty expensive.  However, Hubby and I love our Keurig and so I am always on the lookout both in stores and on Amazon for the best price on them.  I bought the machine for him for Christmas a couple of years ago without realizing that the K Cups are expensive.   So far the Dollar General (Clover Valley) K Cups are the best price I have found.  They are $4.75 for 12.  If I use my $5.00 coupon on a Saturday and buy 5 boxes, they end up being $3.75.  Of course I would have to buy some small filler items, like a couple of cans of tomatoes to reach the $25.00 amount.

There are wall stickers also in the dollar section.  I love this one. 

This is what you see when you come in our back door.  The stickers are removable and don't damage the wall.  So I figured for a dollar, it would be cute and if I decide to take it down, there would be no problems.

Sunday morning when I left church, I ran into the Food Lion and briefly compared a few prices from my scribbled notes and the verdict is that Dollar General's prices are a little lower.  For instance, a dozen eggs at Dollar General are $1.55.  At Food Lion they are $1.89.   That's not an earth shattering savings, but if I 'm already in the store, why not pick up the items that are cheaper?

My next mission is to do a detailed list of prices for items at Food Lion and get the lists from both stores organized so I can tell when a sale is really a sale.  It irritates me when the sale paper for Food Lion says "Hot Deal", and its NOT! 

My top three stores to shop at are Food Lion, Dollar General and CVS.  I rarely go to Walmart, but occasionally I do.  I never buy anything at CVS that isn't on sale, combined with a coupon!  I also buy a lot of things through Subscribe and Save on Amazon.

What stores do you shop at the most?

Little Tiny Frugal Tip

Most of the toothpaste tubes now come with a flip top cap.  But, when you get down to  last of the toothpaste, its almost impossible to get it out because the flip top cap prevents you from being able to squeeze the tube at the top.

I bet you all knew this, but I didn't know the flip top just screws off and underneath is the standard toothpaste tube.  I felt sort of dumb because I didn't realize this.    I was complaining to Hubby about all the toothpaste that was still in the tube and he told me about it!

The toothpaste in the above picture lasted me about another week once I learned to take the flip top cap off.

A Frugal Tip - Saving money and time with Amazon Subscribe and Save

In the past when I saw an Amazon Subscribe and Save deal on a blog, I never took advantage of it.   I really didn't know how it worked and it sounded complicated to me.  But, recently I have been using this service with good results!  And its very easy and convenient.

There are a few money saving blogs that I read most days and when I see an Amazon Subscribe and Save deal for a product that we use all the time, like toilet paper, I go ahead and sign up for it.  Some of these have a coupon that you just click on before ordering, to further sweeten the deal.

Some good points about Subscribe and Save that I enjoy are:

Shipping is free. 
You get plenty of notice before shipping if you need to change your order.
Its easy to skip a shipment or cancel it altogether.
I love having a good supply of things like toilet paper, dishwasher packs, facial tissue, and more.
Its easy to make sure you are getting the best price for an item.
If you are subscribed to at least 5 items you save an additional 15%
Driving up after work to find that monthly box of stuff is fun.
You can choose your monthly delivery date.
Amazon gift cards earned with Swagbucks can be applied to your order.

Here are some of the items in my Subscribe and Save account.  I don't get all of these every month.  You can get them how ever often you want them.  For example in December, I skipped all of my items altogether and then resumed in January.  If you only want to get an item for one month, that's fine too.  Just cancel it.  Several of my items only come every 3 or 4 months.

Scott Extra Soft Toilet Paper
Angel Soft Toilet Paper
Angel Soft Tissues
No Sugar Added Del Monte Canned Pears
Olay Foaming Face Wash
Cover Girl Professional Mascara
Finish Dishwasher Packs
Cascade Dishwasher Packs
Peanut Butter (gave to food pantry)
Ecotrin low dose aspirin
Dish Liquid

Some of these had a coupon and some were just a limited time good deal.   Sometimes the Amazon price IS NOT the best price.  You have to compare prices with your grocery Store.  Figure out how much the per unit of an item is, such as the dishwasher packs, and you will see that often buying the larger box from Amazon is a much better price than buying the smaller boxes more often.

There is a section on Amazon that contains all the Subscribe and Save items.  Not everything is available that way, but lots of things are.  I have found a few good deals by just searching there myself, but most of the good deals I have found came from money saving blogs such as these:

Jungle Deals and Steals
Money Saving Mom
Moms by Heart
Southern Savers
Fabulously Frugal
We use Coupons



I go to these blogs by searching for them on Swagbucks, which helps me to earn more points to get my Amazon gift cards.  If you don't already use Swagbucks, I would love for you to sign up through my referral link HERE.  That way, any points you earn up to 1000, I would get credit for also.  Once you sign up for Swagbucks and start earning Amazon gift cards, anyone who signs up through your referral link can help you earn the gift cards faster.  Each $5.00 Amazon gift card requires 450 swagbucks.

If you sign up for Swagbucks, the above list of deal blogs are good sites to search for, even if you don't want to participate in Subscribe and Save. 

Saving Money On Health Insurance

Health insurance is a tough area to save money in.  You've got to have it and its expensive!  The policy that I have started out pretty low, back when I was 34 years old.  It has gone up every year as I have gotten older and now is 4 times as much per month!  This is not the best policy in the world either.  I have a large deductible for hospital stays.  But, I do have a co-pay for doctor visits and the insurance pays for yearly tests such as a mammogram and eye exam. 

Hospital Attire

Recently I got an email from my insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, containing an offer to earn a $50 gift card, so I jumped on it!  To earn the gift card, you have to go to the BCBS website and complete a health assessment.  I did this and while there discovered that through September, if you do certain activities you can earn up to a $120.00 credit on one month's insurance premium.  Yep, I am definitely working on that one!

While this offer is wonderful, its only a one time offer.  When you look at the big picture, since I am spending a large amount each year on insurance, $170.00 is just a drop in the bucket!  But, its something, and that's better than nothing.

While writing this post, I tried to think of ways to save money on health insurance or at least maximize its benefits.  There's only so much one can do, short of dropping it altogether.  But, here are a few ideas:

1.  Its definitely worth your time to visit your insurance company's website to check to see if there are any offers that could save you some money.  Sometimes, if you lose weight, exercise more, quit smoking or complete health assessments, there are monetary benefits.

2.  Know what your policy pays for in order to get your money's worth.  If you know your policy, you can take advantage of yearly exams, etc. that are covered.  You can also avoid those unnecessary things that your policy does not pay for.

3.  Check around for better deals on insurance plans.  I'm not interested in changing plans, as I've had the one I have for over 20 years.  But, even within your current insurance company, there may be a better deal.  A search on the Internet revealed that Health Savings Account type policies can save a substantial amount of money.   Each person would have to weigh the pros and cons of any policy they are looking into.

4.  If you can be added onto a spouse's policy at work, it might be a big savings.  When we checked into doing this, the extra premium for me was just as much as I was already paying.

5.  Working for an employer with good benefits, such as health insurance, would be excellent!  I do not have this option.  I do have good benefits, but not health insurance.  Looking for a new job at this point in my life is not something I'm interested in doing either.  But if you are looking for a new job, finding one with insurance  benefits should be a priority.

6.  Stay as healthy as you can!  Taking good care of yourself with diet, exercise and preventative care will save money now and later.

7.  Increasing your deductible can reduce your premium.  Its a gamble, but if you put the money saved aside, you would have it for the deductible if you ever had to go into the hospital.

Sunrise  seen from a hospital room.

Well, those are just a few ideas that I have.  At least we can be alert for ways to save money on health insurance and not just blindly pay the premiums.  If I put so much energy into saving on groceries, wouldn't it make sense to work on saving money in an equally expensive area of life?

Stock Up Deals at Food Lion This Week

The only grocery store options I have near me are Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly and Walmart.  My favorite is Food Lion, so I tend to just concentrate my efforts there.  If I can figure out what is a good deal and really stock up when the prices are their lowest, I can do just about as well at one place as I can at the other.  I realize that Walmart price matches, so that might be an option I would want to pursue at some point.  Piggly Wiggly has the best meat prices, so I'm thinking of doing a meat stock up shopping trip there occasionally.

There is a great stock up deal at Food Lion this week that I want to share with you.

Buy 5 select My Essentials or Food Lion items get $5.00 off instantly. There is a limit of 5 items per shopping trip.  Since I am near a Food Lion about 6 days a week, I intend to do this deal several times.  All of these items would be excellent items to donate to a food pantry or to stock up our own pantries with.

These are the items that you can choose from and the final price AFTER the $1.00 is subtracted from each item.   

My Essentials Peanut Butter - $1.00
Food Lion Snack Mix - $1.00
Food Lion Tortilla Chips - $1.00
My Essentials Salsa - $1.00
My Essentials Snack Crackers - $1.00
The 2 pound large boxes of My Essentials Spaghetti - $1.00
My Essentials Grape Jelly - 77 cents
My Essentials Strawberry Preserves - $1.00
My Essentials Tasteeos or Shredded Wheat Cereal - $1.00
My Essentials Raisin Bran or Crispy Rice Cereal - 97 cents
Food Lion Instant Oatmeal - $1.00
My Essentials Pancake Syrup - $1.00

One of the Food Lion Internet Coupons for the week is 75 cents off any cereal.  Combine that with one of the cereals included in the above deal and you get a box of cereal for 25 cents or 23 cents.  CLICK HERE to print the coupons.

Some of the other coupons that would be good to use are : 75 cents off any juice, 40 cents off My Essentials Tuna, 55 cents off turkey bacon, and 50 cents off 48 count My Essentials Tea Bags.

I always scan my MVP card at the machine when going in the store.  Lately I've gotten several coupons good on the store brand of pantry staples, such as butter, pasta, sugar, ketchup, eggs and bread.  I always go ahead and use these which helps me stock up on staples at a great price, even if its only one item at a time!

One other item I plan to stock up on this week are the 24 ounce bags of Pictsweet vegetables on sale for $2.50.  These are the larger bags.  If you have ever grown, picked, shelled and froze butterbeans (lima beans to the non-southerner),  like we did when I was growing up, you would know that $2.50 for a big bag of them is pretty good.  I would gladly pay $2.50 per large bag, in exchange for not having to pick butterbeans on a hot July day and then have to shell and freeze them!  I like the lima beans because you can pour out the amount needed and keep the rest in the freezer until needed.  They are good in vegetable soup, cooked with smoked sausage, or alone as a side vegetable.  I am assuming this sale applies to other vegetables, but I'm not sure which ones are included.

The 12 pack of Cottonelle double rolls are $6.99 and a $1.00 off coupon is supposed to print at the machine at the front of the store.  I don't know how many sheets are on these rolls, but if you are loyal to Cottonelle, this might be a good deal for you.

*** NOTE ... I am in no way compensated by or affiliated with Food Lion.  I only did this post to share good deals with the few people who read my blog who might benefit from it  What I think is a good deal, might not be a good deal to you.

The Toilet Paper Fairy has been!!!

The way manufacturers package and label many items, its very hard to figure out what is a good price!  This drives me crazy when shopping for things like toilet paper, laundry detergent and ice cream.  Things that once all had the same number of ounces or sheets, or loads, now have different ones.  Some items that used to always be a pound are now 12 ounces.   Its so easy to be tricked into thinking you are getting the best buy by reading all the junk they print on the packages.  My advice is not to pay any attention to anything, except the bottom line:  How many ounces, sheets, etc. does this item have?  Then compare brands and sale prices.

In the bedroom closet.

After staring at all the prices and number of sheets on toilet paper in the grocery store one day, I vowed that I would get to the bottom of this quandary, with toilet paper and the many other items that we all use.

It doesn't matter to me if it says double rolls, or anything like that.  What matters is how many sheets are on the roll.  Once you decide which brands you like, then do a comparison based on the number of sheets.

In the laundry room.

Here's what I figured out so far:

Most brands of toilet paper have 264 sheets per roll.    One exception is Scott Extra Soft "Mega Rolls", which have 400 sheets.  The Scott Extra Soft regular rolls have 264 sheets.  But, you have to look at the fine print on the package to see how many sheets per roll your favorite toilet papers have.

I like Scott Extra Soft, Charmin Basic, Angel Soft and Cottonelle.  I do not like the very thick brands.  They seem to stop up.... the plumbing.   I don't like the Scott 1000 sheet rolls, although they used to be the only one I bought.  They are a great buy, but they are too thin to me, now that I have grown accustomed to the Extra Soft ones.

At any rate, here are the prices that I try to get on toilet paper.  Some of these can only be achieved if I also have a coupon, but normally I do have coupons.

Any toilet paper that has 264 sheets per roll:  The lowest price I've found is 33 cents per roll.  But anywhere between 33 cents per roll and up to 41 cents per roll.  Of course, 33 cents per roll prices equals STOCK UP TIME!

The Scott Extra Soft Mega Rolls with 400 sheets per roll:  50 cents per roll.  These are often on sale for $6.99 per 12 pack and I usually have a $1.00 off coupon.  If I see these on sale for less than $6.99 and I have coupons, this would equal STOCK UP TIME.

Just remember, you have to check to see how many sheets are on each roll of what ever toilet paper you are buying, whether or not it says "double rolls", etc.

I intend to out smart those manufacturers by sitting down with a calculator and a list of the prices, ounces and other sizes of items we buy regularly, and figuring out what my stock up price is.

Recently, before I became "enlightened" as to the details of toilet paper prices, I bought some Scott Extra Soft toilet paper and thought I had gotten them at a real steal.  When I got home I realized they were the 264 sheet per roll size and not the mega rolls.   I got fooled once, but not again!

I hope this will be helpful to you!

In The Farmhouse Kitchen - Day 4 - Thursday - Thrown Together Meals

Meal planning definitely saves time and money.  But, sometimes you have to just throw something together when cooking.  I guess a form of meal planning would be to have a list of meals that can be "thrown together" from what you have on hand.  At the bottom of this post is a list of possible ones.

Here are a couple of examples from my week.

Underneath all the cheese and Fritos in this bowl are delicious chili beans.  They are thick, FULL of hamburger, and wonderful for dipping with the Fritos.  The recipe is another one from PIONEER WOMAN, called FRITO PIES.  I was intrigued by her method of serving the chili in a Frito bag, but  instead of putting the chili in a bag of Fritos, I put the chili in a bowl and poured the Fritos around the edges.  That bag idea sure would be neat at a picnic or when tailgating though!

T

Chili Cheese beans Fritos

The reason I felt like this meal was thrown together is that even though I tried very hard to make a good meal for my hubby, unfortunately, he had to work very late that day.  The beans had been sitting in the pot on low for hours.  They got thicker and thicker.  They were not nearly has good as they would have been if eaten on time.

O.K, they were still good to eat, but by the time hubby got there I felt like I was just throwing them in a bowl with chips and cheese and saying, "Here you go!".  I wasn't too proud of my efforts at cooking.  I know you've been there before too.  You know how it is when you put your heart and soul into a meal and then it sits there for hours before its eaten.  The meal doesn't look or taste as good and you feel like someone has let the air out of your balloons!

And poor hubby ate leftover chili cheese beans for a couple of days!

Here is a weeknight meal from a couple of days ago.  We had bananas, tomatoes and leftover bacon that really needed to be eaten.  So we had banana sandwiches and tomato and bacon sandwiches.  It sure was good, but definitely a "thrown together" meal!



Banana Sandwich and Bacon and Tomato Sandwich with lots of black pepper

Sometimes a meal that is just thrown together turns out surprisingly great.  My mother used to say that she could always "knock up" something to eat from what she had in her cabinets. 

I decided to brainstorm "thrown together main dishes and sides" that can be made on the spur of the moment.  Here are a few:

Peanut Butter Sandwiches and canned soup, or your own frozen soup.
Pimento cheese on celery
Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Canned vegetables (corn, peas, beans)
Frozen Pizza
Chef's Salad
Breakfast for Supper (Fried or scrambled eggs, toast with jelly)
Vegetable soup using canned vegetables and hamburger
BBQ Chicken using bottled BBQ sauce.
Any meal that you have frozen
Meal Starters from the freezer, like frozen browned ground beef, can produce a variety of meals (tacos, spaghetti, chili, lasagna)
Baked beans
Pasta Salad
Meatless spaghetti using jarred sauce
French Bread or English Muffin pizzas
Baked potato Bar (potato baked in microwave) (toppings:  cheese, sour cream, butter, baked beans,etc.)
Canned clam chowder - Add extra potatoes, clams and milk.  Eat with saltines.  YUM.
Boiled eggs (deviled, in a salad, or alone)
BLTs, or BTs, BLs or LTs (LOL)
Any meal that uses fresh veggies from the garden (cukes, tomatoes, peppers, okra, etc)
Canned biscuits
LEFTOVERS!

I bet you have your favorite "thrown together" meals.  Tell me please.... I need more ideas.

In The Farmhouse Kitchen - Day Two

Some recent from scratch cooking brought to my attention that the condition of my spice cabinet was pretty bad! LOTS of really old spices. Spices I paid dearly for and used only once. When I needed one of the spices that I use frequently, I was having a hard time finding it since they were all mixed up with the other ones.   It was just generally a mess!

Before

I brought over the kitchen trash can and started tossing.  It felt so much better to look into the spice cabinet afterward.  The small bottles of spices are in the basket.  See my cute mason jar salt dispenser?  I know there are lots of people with much more beautiful and organized spices, but this works for me.   I can turn the lazy Susan around to find what I need.  This cabinet is located to the left of, and right beside the stove.

After

I found some spices in there that I didn't realize I had and had planned to buy.  One was dry mustard and luckily it was still in date.

Then after church on Sunday I stopped by Dollar General and Food Lion and replenished my spices.  Dollar General has the best prices on basic spices, but you won't find many that you need there.  At Food Lion the spices are pretty expensive.  I couldn't find Cumin at Dollar General, so I looked in the Hispanic Food section at Food Lion and found a large bottle for only $1.39!  There was a huge selection of spices at great prices in this section.  I will check them out further when I have more time.  This is a tip given to me by Little Pen Pen.

Here's what I purchased at Dollar General.  Some of these things aren't spices, but I listed everything, just for informational purposes.

McCormick Meat Tenderizer - $3.00  (could probably find a better deal, but we don't use a lot of this)
Baking Powder (large can) - $1.15
32 oz Beef Broth - 1.60
Paprika - $1.00
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (large bottle)- $1.95
Oregano - 1.00
Parsley Flakes - $1.00
Vanilla Flavoring (imitation) $1.00
Cream Soups - 50 cents

I love that now I can find what I need much easier when cooking.  When I am making a new recipe, I know whether or not I have all the spices called for.

Here are some good "stock up" deals I found at Food Lion: (prices good through today)

My Essentials Peanut Butter, 1.16 each (bought 4) (Some will go in our emergency food storage and some will be donated to the food pantry)
28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes - $1.00 each (bought 4)
VanCamps pork and beans - 47 cents each (bought 4)
Bush's Great Northern or Pinto Beans 50 cents each (bought 4)
Pompeii Olive Oil - $6.00 (bought 2) (this will last us for a long time!)
12 oz sandwich ham - $1.64 each (bought 4, the date is good through October)
3 lb yellow onions - $1.79
2  16 count packs of Borden sandwich cheese $5.00, get a dozen eggs free.  Eggs are $1.87, so after deducting that, each of the 3 items were $1.04 each.  One pack of the cheese is pepper jack flavored and the other is sharp cheddar.  We can always use eggs and cheese, so I considered this a good deal.  The use by date of the cheese is a very long time.  Eggs are good for 4 to 6 weeks after their use by date, so we will have no problem using them.

My goal is to stock up when the prices are at their very lowest.  I don't think you will find peanut butter much lower than $1.16 each very often.  Then we can go shopping in our pantry, instead of buying things as needed at the grocery store at full price.  I am also slowly putting together a price book so my middle aged brain can keep up with what actually is a "stock up" price!

Soon, I'll be doing a post listing my "stock up" prices.

My New Pocketbook Organizer

It seemed too good to be true, but I ordered this pocketbook/purse organizer on Amazon for only $3.43, with free shipping.  It took about two weeks for it to arrive, but I was very pleased with the quality.

It is soft, has two zipper compartments, a roomy center compartment and 4 nice pockets on each side.  There are handles to lift it out with when you want to switch it to another purse.

I really like it a lot.  I plan to make myself some new pocketbooks soon to fit it.  It works well in my current bag, but I will make the next one just a little wider and not quite as tall.

HERE is the link to Amazon, if you are interested in ordering one.  There's nothing in it for me, I just wanted to share a good deal.  Residents of North Carolina cannot be Amazon Affiliates due to the sales tax controversy.   Maybe this will change one day.

Making Vegetable Soup From Fresh Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

I've been playing with my food again.....

Our grape tomato vine is still going strong, but has slowed down a little.  However, one can only eat so many in salads.  I had to find some other way to use them up.

Tomatoes on the counter ripening.

A little experimenting with cooking them yielded a pot of soup for now and one for later.  They are delicious in this soup and I would think in other tomato dishes like chili.  I cooked them alone first by cutting them in half and adding a little water.  Once they were done I added some browned ground beef, 1/2 small can of tomato paste, one can of mixed vegetables (undrained) and enough water to cover it all.   Then it simmered for a while and made a wonderful meal.

Delicious and Nutritious

One half of this batch was used in the vegetable soup above and I was able to put a starter meal in the freezer for later using the other half.   All I will have to do is add a can of mixed vegetables and a little water.  This one is earmarked for the first cool day in the fall. 

The other half of the meat, tomatoes and  tomato paste for the freezer.
 

There are lots of healthy vitamins in this soup. All of the ingredients were in my pantry or freezer.   I was worried that the little tomato skins would come off when cooked, since I remove the skins on larger tomatoes before cooking them.  They didn't.  There were little chunks of tomatoes, but no loose skins.   This makes using the grape tomatoes in soup very easy!

My Zero Cost CVS Deals This Week

I received a $3.00 bonus Extra Bucks coupon from CVS by email yesterday, which was only good for a couple of days.  If you want to play the drug store game at CVS, you really need to sign up for their emails. 

I found a great 75% off clearance on CVS brand Cold and Flu medicine that my hubby takes for allergies.  The ingredients in this one do not cause one's blood pressure to go up. 

There's a 79 cents off Just the Basics paper towels, that prints at the coupon center, which makes the paper towels free for everybody..... unless they run out.  Its not worth a special trip, but I was there anyway.

Here's the break down:

4 packs of CVS Cold and Flu HBP medicine $5.76 (total)
1 bottle of Wisk Laundry Detergent 4.99
1 roll of JTB paper towels .79

Less coupons and extra bucks

$2.00 off Wisk
$1.00 off CVS allergy medicine (printed at the coupon center)
$3.00 bonus extra bucks
.79 off the paper towels (printed at the coupon center)
$4.75 extra bucks

Notes:

1.  CVS has wonderful clearance sales if you can find them.  The CVS allergy medicine was only marked 50% off on the tag, but when I got to the cash register, they came up 75% off.  I ran back and grabbed 2 more at that price.  It would be a good idea to scan items at the coupon center to check prices.  I love to find a clearance item for which I also have a coupon.

2.  We don't use many paper towels at our house, since we have converted to cloth napkins, dish cloths and dish towels.  But, I'll take them anytime they are free!  I have 3 rolls in my stash right now that were all free with coupons.

3.  You can scan your CVS card at the coupon center more than once.  I always scan twice and save the coupons for when the items are on sale.  Lots of times, a week or 2 later, I will be able to combine these CVS coupons with other coupons and sales to get an unbelievable deal.


4.  I did what is known as "burning extra bucks" in this transaction.  This means that I used extra bucks coupons on items that did not generate more extra bucks.  In other words I didn't "roll" them.  Sometimes I just want to start over from scratch when I see some good deals.  I'll get more extra bucks, soon enough!

Another Mason Jar Magic Trick

A Mason Jar Salt Box:

I got this idea somewhere on the web. Just cut the top out of an ordinary cardboard salt box. Using the inner jar lid part as a pattern, trace around it and trim. It will be a perfect circle that fits perfectly on top of the jar with the ring holding it on.  Then just cover it with paper, fabric or you could just leave it as is.

Put some salt, or other shakable product, in the jar, put the lid on top and tighten down the ring. It looks much nicer than the cardboard salt box sitting in your cabinet or on the counter.

Some ideas I have for these would be for powdered parmesan cheese, pepper and sugar.  A cute spice set could be made using the really small mason jars with nice labels.   They would work well for measuring because you could slowly pour the contents into a measuring spoon or cup.

There are so many uses for Mason Jars.  I saw that the aqua blue ones are for sale again.  If I see any of them, I just may have to splurge on a few.