My 2022 Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2022 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I live in southwestern IL, and we are starting to get a break from the bitter cold of winter. I have been busy trying to reorganize things in my basement for the solar system setup. I am somewhat hampered by the fact that my basement has a ton of other people's stuff in it. At least two nieces, one nephew and my brother. My niece's husband was in a serious car accident so that put them on hold for 2 years then the pandemic hit for two years. My brother was getting things moved to his new house then covid hit. Unfortunately, my other niece lost her SO during the pandemic. Not due to covid but he fell and died on the OR table. He was still a young man. So sad for her. She is living with one of her adult children and does not know what to do with her things. Hopefully with the nicer weather I can get everyone busy soon and involved with getting things out and into their own homes. I can only do about 10 min of work at a time, but it is amazing how much you can do in 10min. At least I am getting an idea on what I have and where I need to move it to. I went downstairs 3 times today, but my back and arthritis are telling me that is my maximum amount of time. After I get things sorted my aide can help me more but right now, I am the only one that can decide what to keep and where it should go. Also, some things will be going to Good Will and some other charity shops.

Teddi enjoyed being outside a lot. While I was working in the basement he was out sniffing and exploring the back yard. My basement is a walkout basement with a lot of almost floor to ceiling windows, so I was able to keep an eye on him. He rarely goes to the backyard, so it was a new adventure for him. After a while he just sat on the patio enjoying the sun and the sounds of the frog singing in a pond not too far away. They are Illinois Chorus frogs, and the pond is a protected sanctuary since they are on the endangered species list.

Things are going to be tight moneywise since I have to have some trees taken down and I need cash to pay for that. I plan on eating down what is in my freezer. Also, I do have some canned goods to fall back on. I do not like depleting my stockpile too much due to the increased cost of things, but I am grateful that I have what I do have and can manage for quite a while.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2022 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I am in a rut eating. I fried up a pound of breakfast sausage a while back and have been eating that with a scrambled egg every morning. I finally finished the sausage this morning. Also, a while back I made taco meat using about 3/4 of a pound of ground beef. I have been eating it in various forms. Some days for lunch or dinner. One day I made taco salad with the last of my lettuce. Tonight, I mixed the leftover taco meat with some leftover canned chili and had 3 tacos. Tomorrow I will use the last of that mix to make nachos for lunch. That will use up the last of the shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes and onion. I will have to diced up some pickled jalapenos to go with it. So that will be the end of Mexican food for a while. I like Mexican food, but this has been too much all at once. I have limited freezer space or else I would have frozen some for later.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. I managed to get a small, corned beef for a little over $9.00. I bought a few potatoes to go with it and have about a half head or a little bit more of cabbage in the fridge. I plan on throwing it in a crockpot tomorrow. I might bake a keto version of Irish soda bread made with a combination of almond flour and coconut flour. Last year I made Irish soda bread using a pizza crust mix from some place. It was ok but way too many carbs. It amazes me the recipes that are online for when I want something, but it has too many carbs but if your type it in online it seems someone has come up with a keto or low carb recipe. I just need to find the time and energy to make them.

I am making progress in the basement but there is so much to contend with. I did get hold of one of my nieces and they will be coming in the next couple of weeks to get their things.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2022 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I have been somewhat hampered by some recent medical issues. My blood pressure was too high, and I have an infection in my thumb. Will not bore you with details. lol. However, things are improving.

I had a call from a very nice man from the solar company. He told me not to stress myself out trying to get the basement organized. He said it will take around 2 months for everything to fall into place. That is a relief. I have started to bring things upstairs to sort through and decide what I want to do with them. I do see some progress. I am also using up food from my freezer but have made a Walmart curbside order for tomorrow to do some fill-in with fresh produce and a roast for Teddi.

Unfortunately, my washing machine is not sounding good. The repair man told me last year that the ball bearings were wearing out. He could not tell me how long they were going to last but that when they wore out it would not be repairable. So, I need to start to look into getting a new washing machine in the near future. I do have the money but will put it on my credit card to get the cash back and then pay it off in a lump sum.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2022 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Nothing significant going on here. I am making progress in getting my basement somewhat decluttered for the solar project. I am hampered by my thumb problem. It is no longer infected, but it is on my right hand, and it keeps getting bumped when trying to do anything. So, it is sore. Also, my neighbor came over to do some yard clean up before starting grass cutting. I have about an acre and a half. His wife usually cuts the grass but due to her medical problems she is not going to be doing it this year. He is retired but has so many people that rely on him to do a lot of things so I went out to help a few times two days in a row. Not good really affected my back and ALs tremors were activated. They usually start to flare up in the spring but the activity seems to make them worse than usual.

I am doing well trying to cook as much as I can using what I have on hand in the house pantry, fridge freezer etc. Except for buying the occasional necessities like eggs, fresh produce and some dairy I think things are going well.

I went over to visit my neighbor and she gave me a lovely handbag. It is tan and inside was a really nice clutch purse. She is such a sweet lady. I worry about her and her upcoming surgery.

I got a nice surprise from CVS the other day. A check for $46.63. They said I was overcharged. I thought I was but the people at the window did not think so. I had told the clerk that I did not pay that price when I was getting it through Walgreens and she asked if I wanted to have my RX referred to them. I told her no and just paid the difference. Glad corporate decided I was right and gave me a refund.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2022 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I am working on saving money by eating down my freezer. I am down to odds and ends of leftovers. Also have some cod and fresh frozen salmon that were given to me from my SIL. Also, have grass-fed ground beef, a roll of pork sausage and calf liver. I also have some frozen veggies. I have been looking for recipes to try to match up with current ingredients. It is going to be interesting to see how far I can stretch things.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2022 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I already had a tight budget and had to have some necessary unexpected house repairs. They are unrelated to my solar project. Teddi has been back and forth to the Vet the last couple of months and drained his fund as well as the emergency fund. I knew my house insurance would go up due to the solar project and my auto insurance went up as well. I understand the reasonings for both, but it is more than I anticipated. Also, the first installment on my property taxes is due. I have budgeted for everything and doing ok except for the unexpected. There are very few areas where my bills are not set in stone. Water and food are two areas where I have some flexibility.

I bought a CSA membership earlier this year. I have not been to the farm yet but plan on going this Friday. I wanted to wait until they had more variety to offer plus it is a bit of a drive and with the cost of gas, I wanted to be able get things that will be a need and not a want. The other day I thawed out a 1 lb. package of grass-fed ground beef. I made taco meat with it using a.79 cent packet of taco seasoning. I had three hard corn tortillas left from a box, so I made tacos. I had one tomato left from the grocery store. So added chopped tomato, diced onion from the fridge, hand shredded cheese that I bought for $2.50 a block a few weeks ago. Added some shredded lettuce and chopped a few pickled jalapeno peppers and a dollop of sour cream. It was tasty and filling and frugal. I still had a lot of taco meat left so over the next several days I had taco salad twice using up the leftovers from the tacos. I am now out of lettuce, tomato and scallions. Today I am going to make nachos for lunch with some of the taco meat. I have another box of hard corn tortillas from the grocery store. I will add some of the shredded cheese, sour cream and chop up some white onion and pickled jalapeno peppers. Years ago, I went to a local Mexican restaurant and for some reason they added shredded radishes to their soup as a topping and for their taco toppings, so I am going to shred some radish and add it to the nachos. The radishes were an interesting addition and I liked them.

Dinner will be half lb. of grass-fed ground beef made into ground beef stroganoff. I am going to serve it over finely shredded cooked cabbage and onions. They call finely shredded cabbage "keto noodles." The other half lb of beef will be made into keto Salisbury steak prepared in my air fryer. There are more ways I am saving money with my food, and I will update later when I am not so tired. Fatigue is my biggest problem right now.
Janet Alliesmama
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