Southern Louisiana Cajun Life

Another video from Cajun Country......

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the March 22nd Edition

There are very few Frugal wins this past week but here goes....

*  I successfully used up odds and ends and incorporated them into new meals and no food got thrown out. 8-)  I cooked up the rest of an open pack of bacon-half went into the Liver meal(come on Anne!  You know you'd love my liver dinner)and the other half went into BLTs for Thursday night's dinner.

*  I got 2 MRIs done on Tuesday of my neck and base of my skull for the Neurologist(paid nothing).  I have 2 more MRIs scheduled later today for my shoulders for the Orthopedist(again, nothing will be owed for those).

*  There was no spending on eating out this week.

*  I had a dental cleaning on Wednesday.  Since I have no dental insurance at this point it cost me $$$ OOP.  But better to spend that now than not go to the dentist until I have a problem, so this is frugal, right?  They found nothing of concern so I am good to go until the end of October.  Maybe I should show up for that Halloween appointment wearing fake vampire teeth? lolz

*  I did a little Ibotta rebating on Thursday......

This all cost me $67.03 OOP.  Rebates I earned from Ibotta($24.50), Social Nature($14.47), Shopmium($13.00),  Zoup! manufacturer's rebate($4.98) brought it down to $10.08.  Add in $1.75 from Fetch and $1.82 from Shop Kick, $9 back on Alexa/Amazon plus using a $4.97 on a Walmart gift card and this all ends up as a $7.46 moneymaker.

If I buy one more item with an Ibotta rebate before Sunday night, I'll earn an additional $5 for hitting the Weekend Bonus(plus whatever the rebate for that one item is). 8-)

Some of this will go into the Donation Box, some to family and some we will keep.  Nothing will be wasted.

The only other food purchases was a pack of Romaine lettuce and 2 cans of Water Chestnuts which came to $5.60.

*  I found money!

I hit the jackpot of self-checkout machines at Walmart on Thursday(the only day I went out to a store).  Someone had left ALL their change in the coin return.  I guess they had gotten back their tax return refund and felt flush enough with dolla bills y'all so they didn't want no stinkin' change back.  Sweet!  I'll gladly take it!!  Bonus, I didn't have to pick this all up off the floor...

Total Found in last Week.... .53¢

Grand Total Found this Year.......$2.56

That's all I got.  

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

Sluggy    

February 2024 To-Do List.....How It Turned Out

Here are things I wanted to get done in February.....

*  Pay Bills  DONE  Always done first, Always!

*  Go to 4 Dr. Appointments  DONE

In February it was 2 x the Painful doctors(Pain Management)for test injections and then the Ablation, the Orthopedist for x-rays of shoulder issues and the creepy Eye doc for an eyeball check(where he found the secondary cataract).

*  Have Shoulder Injections  DONE

I had the injections.  They didn't seem to help however so the Orthopedist put me on an oral steroid pack in March at my follow-up, while we waited to schedule MRIs.  Of course, they scheduled the MRI for when we will out of the country, even after we told the doc and office staff when we wouldn't be here. sigh

*  Begin Going Through Merchandise to Sell  FAIL

I just didn't get around to this yet.  I have certain projects/things I need to finish before starting on this one.  I doubt I'll get to it until late April.

*  Find a New Dentist  FAIL

Like I detailed in that recent Frugal Friday post, using that AARP United Healthcare Dentegra Discount Program didn't pan out.  Even after informing UHC they don't seem to want to update their providers who accept Dentegra NOR care about this old ladies' terrible weekly long experience finding out that Dentegra is a NO GO.

*  Re-organize Pantry  DONE

We had a mouse in the massive kitchen island last Summer(found how it was coming up from below the house and corrected that). Since then Hubs has been paranoid about another critter getting inside(especially in the laundry/utility room as that is where we store the dog food.  Got a metal can for that now and he bought tubs to keep all the boxed/packaged food in-stuff in glass and metal, etc. is safe he feels.

So other than a couple of tubs for the boxed items, we have shelving for the canned goods, plastic bottles, beverage bottles, etc.

In the nook by the door to the hallway we have a larger shelving unit which holds dish soap, trash bags, baggies, laundry and cleaning products as well as some boxed dog food.  12 packs of soda as well as some bottled water sit stacked in front of the shelving.

Two upper shelves hold canned, jarred, bottled pantry staples and above it the tp stash.  After 1+ year here I think I bought 1 pack of tp but all you see in the photo was what I brought from PA when we moved here.(Hey, it made great packing material for some fragile items. lol)  I could probably go another year or so before we had to buy anymore tp. 8-))

And this is my auxiliary pantry space.  Since I can't use my sewing room for that purpose, I set up another shelving unit to hold more items in there.  I have a Rubbermaid tub in the kitchen where I put food bank donation items.  I probably need to go through what's in here and add to the donation tub.  The dish soap should be in the laundry room with all the other soap and the Kleenex should be in there as well.  There is more work to be done.....

*  Schedule RFA procedure  DONE

I had it and it was about as painful as the test injection nonsense I had to undergo to get approved for this one. ugh  I am 2 weeks+ out from having this done and the improvement is still barely perceivable. 8-(

*  Send Youngest a Birthday Present  DONE

I made sure I sent his package waaay early since the "Cajun Pony Express" operates around here with it's own unique set of rules and work hours.  I also Paypal-ed him some cash too.

*  Buy Stuff for House(Always)  DONE

I can't for the life of me think of what was bought but something is always needed to be done here(and money spent).  I believe Hubs had to buy some lawn tractor stuff and fire ant killer for outside projects.

*  Help Hubs reorganize his half of the Closet  DONE

Hubs has been living out of 3 Rubbermaid tubs for 1+ years now.  He left his dresser in PA(the bottoms of the drawers were falling out)and he hasn't felt the need to buy another dresser here.  He has a much smaller wardrobe than I do and he felt he had a system that worked with these tubs.

I picked up a hanging organizer on clearance for $3 at Kroger in February and helped him move most of his clothes out of those tubs into a more accessible configuration.  He now has one tub left for out of season clothing.  Hanging everything on hangers or in the organizer seems to be working for him.

*  Reorganize Master Bathroom  DONE

The vanity/sink area was piled high with stuff.  I found better places for all that(other rooms, drawers in the vanity or under the sink doors, etc.)and here is what is left, which are mostly items in use.

We have containers, boxes and a basket of excess items strewn all around the bathroom.  Now it's all contained and tucked between the vanity and the ginormous bathtub.

I still have these items perched around the tub and this container of items I still need to sort through and decide on where it needs to go.  I'll call this a win and mission almost accomplished. ;-)

*  Go Through and try on all my Clothing  DONE

I tried on every stitch of clothing I own.  3 piles got donated as they were hopelessly too big and not worth altering.  The stuff hanging together in my closet(23 items)are clothing I hope to save and wear again.  A few only need hemming but some are big projects but I LOVE the fabric(rayon)and can't bear to toss them.  I hope to get 3 dresses hemmed/re-hemmed before the cruise.

*  Edit More Photos  DONE

Always doing this and filing them away afterwards.

*  Post About Old Trips  DONE

I posted 3 installments of the trip out West in February.

*  Work on Genealogy  DONE

I did a smattering of genealogy work that month.

*  Move Video Files to New Computer  FAIL

*  Contact Church Food Bank to Make a Donation  DONE  Boy i never thought I'd have the trouble finding a Food Bank like I've had down here!  I contacted one of the few I could find(that weren't affiliated with the state government-who only want cash).  Called and left a message as their website said they were only in the facility/church 2 days a week(Thursday, Sunday)so I waited until Thursday during the hours they listed they were there.  Again, my call went to voicemail.  Since they never returned my first voicemail I just said, "I left a message (date)and still have not received a reply about making a donation.  You people sure make it difficult for someone to be charitable.", and then hung up and crossed them off my list.

Hubs made a call to a different church and this one was overjoyed for anything we could donate!  BTW-not to bash a religious denomination, but the first unresponsive church was Baptist and the one that welcomed our donations was Methodist.  I don't know if this means anything but because there are so many Baptist churches around here(can't swing a dead without hitting one)I want to think it's that particular Baptist church that was the exception. 8-(

*  Finish Gathering Donation Items  DONE  

Like I said, we made a food bank donation to the church that responded they would happily take our stuff.

That's all that got accomplished in February that was on my To-Do List.

Sluggy

White Women on Instagram Parody....So True!

Ok, this is for/about some folks I know.

I am off to the dentist, oh joy!

Sluggy

Government At It's Worst

 Don't you love American politics and politicians?

Sluggy