To-Do List January Edition

Here's what was on my list of things to do in January...........

*  Pay Bills--DONE  All paid, early or on time.

*  Go to many Dr. appointments--DONE  All related to my injury in Maryland.  Six appointments in January counting the stitches removal.

*  Clean and Organize stuff in House--PASS  Though I'm not making much progress as I am restricted on walking around now, Hubs has made great strides in setting up his room.  He's made the bulk of purchases(curtains, rod, bookcases, a locking cabinet and a file cabinet)too and has his room finished.  Go him!  I think I bought a curtain rod and a set of curtains for the bedroom only in January.

*  Clean out Coupon Envie--DONE  Not that this is the monthly chore it use to be as we don't buy the local newspaper for the coupons.  The only coupons I get are printable ones I decide to print or the few that come on Wednesday with the weekly ads.

*  Edit More Photos--PASS  I've kept up with current photo editing.  I need to get some old photos done though.  I could do better here.

*  Post about Old Trips--FAIL  Haven't done any posting on those in January.  Just didn't do it.

*  Work on Genealogy--PASS  I've done a bit in January.  Nothing major.

*  Go to Dentist--DONE  Hubs and I finally got out teeth cleaning scheduled and done in January.  I received bad news on the tooth front(thanks for the bad teeth dad!)so over the next 3 months I'll be spending a lot of time in the dentist's chair before we lose dental insurance at the end of April.

*  Organize Clothes--PASS  With my injury and not being very mobile right now I still have tubs of clothing not hung up or organized.  I had 2 large closets in the PA house to use but haven't figured out where/how to organize my clothing here yet.

*  Move $$ around--DONE  I didn't get the money I wanted to shift around shifted.  This  moves to February.  Not a "big" deal but will result in a little more interest income once it's finished.

*  Celebrate my Birthday--DONE  It was low key but lovely.  I heard from both my sons and my daughter here took me out for the day.

 

Considering I am limited on movement I had a pretty productive month.  

How was your January?

Sluggy

Your Name Is Important

This is just my way of telling y'all I'm gonna be a Grandma!!!

I.

Can't.

Wait.

Sluggy Grandma To-Be or Mimi or ?

This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Death By Sodium" Edition.....

On Saturday I was going stir crazy not leaving the house and the home health person on Friday didn't have the restrictive bandaging system the NP wants me to wear so I could actually get a shoe on my right foot.  So we slipped out to Lucky Palace for lunch.  Like I mentioned before it's attached to a shady old motel and you have to go through the motel lobby to get to the entrance.  It calls itself an "extended stay" motel but houses more than a few Section 8 type welfare clients.  I snapped a photo of one of the vending machines on my way in.......

They had a soda machine and a snack machine.  This was the bottom corner of the snack machine.

Ok, so I've seen single served laundry packs in vending machines and headache meds(and condoms are usually in machines inside bathrooms, aren't they?)but the lighters(without a cigarette machine around?)and curiously, a can of Armour Vienna Sausages??  

And the wording on this sign on the machine struck me as strange....

"Do Not Shake vending machine under any situation!" lolz

I can think of a situation where I'd want to shake the machine.  Since you give no refunds, I'd shake that sucker to kingdom come to get my money back if it didn't give me my Vienna Sausages! ;-)

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned.......

1. Sunday--Pizza and Salad

2. Monday--Beef Stroganoff over Rice, Green Beans

3. Tuesday--Fend for Yourself

4. Wednesday--Maybe a Linner Zalad at Zaxby's?

5. Thursday--Something frozen

6.  Friday--Tempura Shrimp, Cole Slaw

7. Saturday--Liver and Onions, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Veggies

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Pizza and Salad

2. Monday--Beef/Mushroom Stroganoff over Rice, Green Beans

3. Tuesday--Sesame Chicken w/bag of Veggies

4. Wednesday--Whopper Burger

5. Thursday--Subway subs(I had 1/2 a Tuna sub)

6.  Friday--Lasagna from "Lasagna Love"

7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself(Had Chinese out for lunch)

Found clearance fresh mushrooms at Kroger late the week before last so the Stroganoff was mostly mushrooms with a little beef.

Hubs fixed his frozen pizza Sunday but I didn't fix mine and just had salad that night.  Used a Chinese frozen meal and a bag of veggies, got take-out food 2 nights and my request from the Lasagna Love finally got fulfilled on Friday.(I requested a meal when I first injured my leg, well when we got home from the flight.  I figured I was in bad enough shape and not suppose to stand a lot so didn't feel like a freeloader for requesting a meal from this organization.)

What got put into the freezer last week....

* 2 1/2 gallons of ice cream

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

*  1 box of Sesame Chicken

*  1 bag of stir-fry veggies

*  1 baggie of beef strips

*  1 frozen Pizza

*  1 bag of Green Beans

Last week Hubs picked up stuff at Super 1 Foods and spent a total of $19.47.  Mostly ice cream, onions, potatoes and other fresh produce we were out of.

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $325.01 for February so far.

There are 8 shopping days left in February.

I've earned $112.60 on Ibotta in February.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in February.

I've earned $7.00 on Coupons dotcom in February.

I've earned 3,271 points from shopping on Fetch in February.

I earned 30 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in February.

I've earned 0 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in February.

That's $119.60 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $325.01

 in grocery spending so in reality it's $205.41 in food spending after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 54.12% and the monthly savings total for February comes in at 30.86% so far.  

Leftovers going into this week.....a little Stroganoff but no rice, half of a lasagna.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Tempura Shrimp, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--leftover Lasagna, Salad

3. Tuesday--Collards, Chicken Parm

4. Wednesday--Zaxby Zalad w/Chicken

5. Thursday--Brats on Roll(or not), baked Sweet Potato Wedges

6.  Friday--Catfish, Sauté Cabbage

7. Saturday--Liver and Onions, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Veggie TBD

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  I can finish the head of cabbage I bought for Cole Slaw by saute-ing it up to have with the catfish.  I need to buy collards and sweet potato which are both on sale.  I bought liver the week before at Walmart and will have liver and onions meal on Saturday and my daughter is coming over for that(She and I both love liver and my NP wants me to up my protein intake so this is quite literally what the doctor/nurse practitioner ordered. lol)  We also need milk and fruit as I finished the cherries we had though I do have canned stuff if Hubs doesn't pick me up something fresh on Monday.  Might stay under $400 for this month, might go over.  I resisted doing any Ibotta deals this past week/weekend.

Go me.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy 

Frugal Friday.....the February 17th Edition

Welcome to Frugal Friday!   

There are a very few Frugal win this past week......

*  Didn't go anywhere except to wound care this past week and a trip last Friday to Walmart(where I got to run over people with their motorized carts).  I guess staying home all week is frugal(ie-not spending money)but it's boring as hell!

*  The freebies/moneymakers or almost freebies from last week's grocery trips---

  *  1 free Zero Sugar Starry soda(no photo because I drank it already)

  *  2 free Pepsi Zero Sugar sodas(Pic of only one because I drank the other one)

  *  1 free Air Wick Essentials Starter Kit
  *  1 half price Yogurt cup

*  I had Hubs run out on Tuesday to Super 1 Foods for ice cream........

They carry Blue Bell Ice Cream around here(we are only 10 miles from Texas after all).  Super 1 had the half gallon containers for $4.97.  That's $3.01 less than even Walmart so it was a deal.  I highly recommend this "Moo-llennium Crunch" flavor.  It reminds me of Ben and Jerry's with all the textures of toppings mixed in. ;-)

*  Hubs gave me a $200 gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond for Christmas. Not a wise move if you ask me as they've been having financial diffculties.  Of course, this week BBB announced they were closing the local to us store and my leg is in no condition to spend it at the store anyway.  So I went online and spent it on necessities for the house-a cabinet to put my printer on and store supplies in, a runner for the top of the buffet(I only have a Turkey day and Xmas one so need something for Spring/Summer), another set of shelving for the laundry/utility room so I can keep pantry goods on, and a stainless steel set of cookware.  We still can't find the lids to my All-Clad cookware and Hubs thinks that box got tossed in the move.  On sale and with a coupon this set was about $50.  I am hoping these lids fit my regular set, if not, I'll have to use these new pans/pots when I need a lid on it.  sigh  Of course, once the new set arrives we'll find the box of lids, right?  Never fails........
Anyway, I used the gift card up before they go out of business and got some good deals on things we needed.

*  This past week in honor of Super Bowl Subway was running a BOGOFree deal on subs(It ends today, use code FLBOGO).  We did the deal twice this past week using a gift card I bought at Dollar General around Thanksgiving that was discounted by 20% making it better than half price.  Double win there. 8-)

*  I found money!

Nope.  Only went to the Wound Care on Wednesday and home again.  Did make a quick trip last Friday to Walmart though.  No money at Walmart even. 8-(

Total Found in last Week.... .00¢
Total Found this Year....... .36¢

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy   

Hubs is Such a Card!

Hubs is one to always give me cards on Holidays....Christmas, my birthday, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc.

Well with having to run me to the dentist, doctor's offices and the grocery store so much as I can't drive right now plus running the many errands he's having to do, I figured no card today on V-Day.

Well I was wrong.

I got up and found this on top of my laptop this morning.....

Under the sticky note was this.........

Well it's a card....a baseball card!  Hubs has been getting his man cave room in order and I suppose he found some of his old baseball cards among the shit he moved here and the rest is history. lol

Have a Happy Valentine's Day no matter what form it takes. ;-)

Sluggy