Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

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

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

You win some and you loose some. I paid the last of my property taxes today and have all bills paid or at least the money is there for when they come due. I felt good about it since due to having to pay for my medicare B premium I will be receiving $81.00 less per month than I received in 2018. A big chunk of money for anyone that is retired and living off of social security and a very tiny pension from work. I was forced in to early retirement at 53 due to medical problems.So I was thinking I had a little bit leftover to start an emergency fund.. woo hoo! So today I come home from the tax office feeling good about things and something is wrong with Teddi..My doggie nephew. Will not go in to deals right now but he needs to be seen by a vet.. it will come to $50.00 for an office visit and if he needs an x-ray that will be $166.00 or a total of $216.00. So I e-mail his Nana to contact his Mama who is in the navy to see what she wants to do. I did tell them if they sign him over to me I will pay for his medical bills. His Nana sent back an e-mail that she thought I understood that he is my dog and has been for a long time. No no one told me that. So Teddi is now my fur baby but he needs medical attention. He is not in any pain but there is something wrong with him that needs medical attention. I will have a few dollars left after paying for his medical eval on Friday. I would take him tomorrow but it is suppose to be a rough weather day with torrential rain 1 to 2 inches and possible thunderstorms. Teddi does tolerate thunder very well so do not want to stress him out more by being out in it. If he were in pain I would take him tomorrow.

On the food front east meets west. I had a packet of black lentil curry. It reminds me very much of chili with a slight curry undertone. So last night I was in the mood for nachos and decided to use some tortilla chips with the curry. It was yummy and satisfying. I was thinking the only thing missing was a little bit of grated cheese. So when I had the last of the curry for lunch today I added a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese and more tortilla chips and had Indian/Mexican nacho's... Ole!..lol The curry was from Big Lots and cost $2.00 so for $1.00 and a few extra added ingredient I had two meals for $1.00 each that was tasty and filling. This idea will be included on a rotation basis when I start to buy groceries again.

Due to the medical needs of Teddi I will be really having to pinch my pennies even more. Although he is costing me more money than I had planned on it is good to know he is now mine.. He is the sweetest little dog.. My niece, who is a cat person, told me he is such a little angel and he really is. I hope that whatever is wrong with him can be relieved by medical intervention. Janet Alliesmama and now Teddi's mama
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Breakfast was a keto English muffin and a fried egg with coffee and cream. The keto diet requires cream in your coffee. When I make the keto English muffin it amazes me that I only need 2 teaspoons of coconut flour, a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese and an egg. I could leave out the Parmesan if I were dairy free but I like using it. The cost is very small compared to buying a flour based English muffin. Lunch was a stir fry of cabbage (1/4 of a head) and 3/4 sliced onion and a small chunk of kielbasa. All very inexpensive but filling. I use to slice the kielbasa in thin rounds now I cut each round in to fourths. Although it is the same amount of meat it seems like more since it is spread out more throughout the dish. I nuked a sliced apple with a dot of butter, cinnamon, and some sweetener and it was similar to a baked apple. Although I think a baked apple is better this was quick and satisfying. I have enough leftover for dinner tonight and will nuke another apple. I am trying to phase the apples out so that I can start a complete ketogenic diet on Monday. Although with my diabetes I have to watch my blood sugar since it sometimes dips too low on the keto diet. Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Yesterday I was sorting through junk mail. I usually tear my name and address off of things before it goes in to recycling. Glad I took the time to read one from Walmart. It was offering $10.00 off to be used with their curbside grocery pick up. I have $15.00 in gift cards from BING for Walmart. Also can claim another $5.00 gift card from My Points. So that would be a total of $30.00 worth of free groceries. The card does not expire until 2/28/2019 so I am going to try to earn another $5.00 gift card from My Points and BING to bring it up to $40.00 worth of free food! I have ordered from Walmart for home delivery but it was for non-perishable things. With this offer I will be able to order fresh meat, dairy, and produce. Woo hoo! I am currently trying to coast through Feb with what I have on hand. My plan was not to buy anything until March 1 but Feb 28 works for me if it is free.. Then maybe I can coast through March by combining the fresh things with what I have in the house.. Looks like a interesting and fun project..

I buy Teddi's dog food at Petco. they have a rewards program for every dollar spent you receive one point and when you have 100 points you can take $5.00 off of your next purchase. I have 99 points so his next roll of fresh dog food will put me over the top and the money will be applied to the next roll of dog food. I have checked other areas to buy his dog food and with the points program it is best to continue with Petco.
Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I am camping out in my bedroom. The temp is slowing going to go from around (45 F) to ( 11 F). I have the house temp turned down to 66 F and using my new little heater in my bedroom. I do think the heater was a good purchase. Bought it on sale on one of the home shopping shows. The only problem is you have to manually turn it on and off..ie when it gets too warm or warm enough I have to turn it off completely. I wish it had a thermostat to do that automatically.

I like camping out in my bedroom. Although my house is one level I have a walkout basement so my bedroom appears to be on the second story. I have always wanted an upstairs bedroom but now with my disability it is not feasible. I have three large windows that face out towards the wooded area of my property. I love looking out there during all seasons to the change of the landscape and sometimes see deer running though the area. Can see the birds on my deck from here as well. I do not turn my whole house temp down too low maybe 64 at night because my furnace runs too long to heat it up again during the day. So may not save that much money if I keep it too low.. I do like sleeping in a cold room so that is good.

Breakfast was cottage cheese and canned peaches. I really was not hungry and my diabetic nurse told me that if I do not feel like eating to at least have some cottage cheese and fruit no later than 10:30 AM.. So I ate some.. Now if there had been a donut or coffee cake in the house I would not have had the problem of not wanting to eat..lol I confess I am a certified junk food junkie. lol. I did not eat the cabbage/kielbasa dish last night decided it was more of a grilled cheese and tomato soup night with another nuked "baked apple. I ate the last of the cabbage and kielbasa for lunch today. Dinner is up in the air right now.. Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dinner was another packet of Indian food it was a combination of peas and paneer.. plus I had a box of meatless veggie meatball from India. I bought it at Dollar Tree. There were 8 in the package so I ate 4 tonight and will have 4 tomorrow at a cost of a little over .50 cents each with tax. The paneer and peas was around $2.00 with tax but since it too was split in to two servings it was around $1.00 a serving. However after I ate half of the package I noticed a serving was 1/3 of the packet. Maybe if I had prepared rice it could be stretched that far but without rice I ate half. The jury is still out on the meatless meatballs. It was recommended that they either be fried or baked in the oven. I baked them. The texture was off. The flavor not sure of. They were ok but I think frying them might have enhanced the flavor and texture. Not sure if I buy them again..Dessert was a bowl of canned peaches. Had a snack mid afternoon. Added a tablespoon of sour cream to the last little bit of purchased salsa. I used pork rinds for dipping. I am not a fan of pork rinds but they are low carb and recommended for snacking. They were cheap a bag for .99 cents at Ruler or $1.00 at Dollar tree.

Right now I am baking off a half pound of my free bacon and will have it tomorrow with my free coffee and my really cheap keto English muffin and an egg. I use two eggs when I make it at .75 cent for 12 eggs it comes out to about .13 cent with tax.. So very cheap breakfast.. I do add cream to my coffee but with saving so much elsewhere it is not a problem.

Teddi is still eating free puperoni purchased with money sent from his Nana.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Yesterday I took Teddi to the vet. It was $232.00 for exam, x-ray, and medication. He has a slight subluxation of his back left knee. He is on doggie IBP for 7 days. I am going to start him on doggie glucosamine and chondrotin which is for arthritis. He does not have arthritis yet but in doggie years he is 40 y/o and with a joint problem this might delay any kind of problem in the future. My brother always had a working pair of Great Pyrenees dogs on his farm for over 25 years. They are huge dogs and as they aged their joints were starting to show wear and tear and he put the last pair of dogs on glucosamine when they started to show a problem and it helped immensely. So he suggested I try it with Teddi and the vet agreed it was a good idea. It is pricey so I will have to shop around to find the one that is the best in a decent price range. However as they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I have just been eating leftovers so nothing exciting to report. Tomorrow I plan on making a pork chop casserole that was a favorite one of my Dad's. I will be using the free pork chops from my gift box. The most expensive item will be the cream of mushroom soup. I cannot believe had much it cos. It was $1.25 on sale. Regular price $1.50.. It has been a very long time since I bought cream of mushroom soup.. I usually make mine from scratch using a gluten free recipe but feeling rather tired lately decided to buy some.. Also I needed cream of potato soup for another recipe and it was the same price on sale. Crazy prices if you ask me. I will have to get busy and make some basic gf soup base to keep on hand for future recipes.

I still have a little bit of money leftover so I can mark it as emergency fund. I have gone through my slush fund and have about 25.00 in it. The slush fund is money that has been saved from other categories ie my water bill I saved almost $8.00 from it last month so it goes in to the slush fund which is usually money used for food or if I go over budget in another area.

We are expecting a wintry mix around midnight but due to staying well stocked I do not have to go to the grocery store and face the madness that a lot of people will be dealing with as the store shelves empty out fast with bread, milk and eggs. I do have to pick up a medication some time today but after I get home can settle down to having movie and pizza night. Dish TV is giving us free Showtime and some other channels with movies this week as well as week-end and I tape movies that I would like to watch for later on. I have cut my programming to what they call a welcome package. It is $38.02 a month and every month they offer different channels for free hoping you will want to upgrade. I am content with what I have but I do enjoy some of the occasional free channels. However not enough to upgrade.
Janet Alliesmama
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