Merry Christmas to All!

 

Here's my Buc-ee's ornament on my Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  He never made it onto our small tree last year so he made his debut this year.

While everyone has a wonderful Christmas Holiday with what and whomever fills you with joy please at least say a prayer or keep in mind the folks in Western North Carolina who are still suffering from the devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene that hit their area back in October.  I personally know that area and how cold those mountains get in the Winter and most of the people who live there are suffering greatly and will continue to go through a traumatic time as the season progresses.

If I lived closer I'd be taking all these toiletries and foodstuffs I get for cheap or free to them instead of the food bank here in Louisiana.

Nick Johnson, a youtuber who has documented this disaster and the government's lack of help, has two videos out recently.

Maybe think about donating to some organization or person on these videos inside of buying another Christmas present for a family member.  I'll be donating.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday...the Dec.20th Edition

Here are our frugal wins for this past week......

*  I love going to Kroger here as they usually have marked down salad kits.  I got a couple this week but not too many to use up before we leave town.

*  We also had no food waste last week.  We ate everything in the fridge or put it into the freezer.

* Did 3 Flavorwiki taste testings and earned $13.53 over and above the cost of the items.

*  I sold some gift sets this week locally on FB.  These are gifts I no longer need for people no longer in my life.  I plan to sell as much as I can before we move.  I have toiletries to unload after Christmas.  The less we have to cart out of here the better. 8-)  

$62 made so far.

Anything we can't sell I'll donate to the food bank.

*  Entertainment last week was free tv or playing with the dogs.

*  I found money!  

I went to Walmart and Dollar General on the 14th and  thought I had found 2 pennies and the former and 1 penny at the latter.  But once I got home and went to clean them I saw that all three had another penny stuck to them! lol  So I ended up with 6 cents total.

Then I found myself back at DG on Tuesday.  There was a dime in the parking lot behind my car and when I went back out to my car I noticed a penny next to my car.

Total Found last week..... .17¢

Grand Total Found this Year.......$9.72 & 5.30 Euros  I may hit $10 found before the year is out at this point.

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy   

Don't Go Into Debt and More Christmas Songs!

Here's a SNL skit from years ago.  It is pertinent this time of year....

I am reminded of this skit because there is a credit union here that is pushing a product--a Holiday Loan.  It's a personal loan of $1,000 to buy holiday joy.  The terms are 12 monthly payments to repay this with a 12% interest rate.  Wow, not a good deal!

If you have kids and don't have money for Santa gifts then find a local organization like Toys for Tots or a Salvation Giving Tree to get them a gift for Christmas.  Then find a local food bank to get the fixings for a Christmas meal.  Nobody needs to know you got things from charities if you need to use them and you can have a good Christmas without going into debt!!

You don't need to go into debt for Christmas.  Gifts can be handmade, if you have a crafting or baking skill, you don't have to buy buy, buy!  Our economy will survive without you spending money you don't have on things you don't need. 8-)

Here's another campy Holiday song I have to listen to every Christmas.  Especially living down here in the swamp, it's timely.

Sluggy

Christmas Time is Near!

 Let's get into the Holiday Spirit, shall we?

This video and song have become a favorite tradition here on the blog.

Enjoy! 

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table....Dec. 16th to Dec.. 22nd

The "Misnamed Squash" Edition.........

I actually laid eyes on what they call Calabaza Squash while in Texas last week.  Like I explained in a previous post, Calabaza is a type if pumpkin, Calabacitas is a lighter skinned Mexican Zucchini.  You would think a huge corporation like Kroger would known the difference and get it right.  But then again....8-))

Onward to the meal planning!

Here is what was planned for last week.....

1. Sunday--Pizza, Salad

2. Monday--Smoke Sausage, Kraut, Zero Sugar Baked Beans

3. Tuesday--Pasta and Meatballs, Caesar Salad

4. Wednesday--don't sure, maybe soup with Asparagus in it

5. Thursday--Hamburgers, leftover Green Beans

6. Friday--something from freezer or leftovers

7. Saturday--something from freezer or leftovers

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Pizza, Salad

2. Monday--Smoke Sausage, Kraut, Baked Beans, Sweet Potato Fries

3. Tuesday--Pasta and Meatballs, Caesar Salad

4. Wednesday--homemade soup w/Turkey and Asparagus for Hubs, I didn't eat-still full from Texas Brisket out for lunch

5. Thursday--TV Dinners, leftover Green Beans

6. Friday--Don't remember it was that good ;-)

7. Saturday--I had leftover Sweet Potato Fries

Plus we had lots of leftover Green Beans last week to eat through with more to eat this week(that's what happens when you buy/cook 3 lbs. of them). 8-))

What got taken out of the freezer last week....

*  Pizza

*  Smoke Sausage

*  Meatballs

*  2 TV Dinners

*  2 Chicken Biscuits(breakfast)

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

*  Nothing  

                   

Last week we spent $88.99 grocery shopping.

There are 15 shopping days left in December.

Rebate monies earned in December.....

I've earned $128.10 on Ibotta in December.

I've earned $7.50 on Checkout51 in December.

I've earned $15.50 on Aisle, etc. in December. 

I've earned $0 on TaDa in December.

I've earned 1,960 points on Fetch from food shopping in December.

I've earned 17,925 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in December.($71.70)

I've earned 865 points on My Points in December.(not sure what the conversion rate is here)

I've earned 1,883 from food shopping on Swag Bucks in December.($18.83)

That is $151.10 in rebates(not counting Shop Kick/Fetch/MyPoints/Swag Bucks/TaDa were I earn gift cards or send $$ to my Paypal account and cuont it at the end of the year)on $205.24 of grocery spending so in reality it's $54.14 in food spending after the rebate apps I count. I now separate out the Food Bank donations and don't count those in the grocery spending(but I do count any rebates on those items) so it's a win/win--the food bank gets a large donation of goods and I get a lower grocery bill.

My savings percentage for the last week was 64.17% and the monthly savings total for December comes in at 55.54% spent.

Leftovers going into next week.....Brussels Sprouts, Spinach, Chicken Salad, more Green Beans.

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

1. Sunday--Cod, Squash and Onions

2. Monday--Cheeseburgers(bun optional), Leftover Green Beans

3. Tuesday--Whatever needs using up(soup, squash, green beans, etc.)

4. Wednesday--Whatever else needs using up

5. Thursday--?

6. Friday--?

7. Saturday--?

Nothing even approaching a gourmet meals this week.  Just using up bits and bobs in the fridge that will go bad before we return with some fill-ins from the freezer.

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? 

Sluggy