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 »

Dgflorida wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:10 am I may have to look into true lemon although hubs is content with solar iced tea. Congrats on the continued weight loss if you want it.
Thanks on the congrats. Yes I want it...lol. Trying to get down to my fighting weight when I was in college..lol.

I have given my SIL ( she spends months in Mexico for the Fall and winter) and my niece who is a purser for Delta and is overseas so much handfuls of the lemon packets. They said they like to use them in bottled water when they are out of the country. They get tired of just plain bottled water.
Janet Alliesmama
Momof2Still
Posts: 173
Joined: Mon May 14, 2018 10:05 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by Momof2Still »

Janet- I hope Teddi continues to improve and that your weight loss continues. I too am trying to let go of some weight but am not stressing over it. Little by little it will go away. I thought of you this morning when I read this article:

https://www.thekitchn.com/6-low-carb-br ... o-22924782

It is low carb breakfasts, some of which can be made ahead and eaten over the week. I have not tried any of them but did print out a few to try as they looked good and inexpensive to make.

No shopping, at least not grocery shopping, for me this week. I leave Thursday for my trip, so trying to use up what could go bad while I am gone or freezing it. I made a potato salad and a pasta salad on Sunday and have been eating those with pre-grilled Italian sausage, pre-grilled brats, or pre-cooked meatballs (all from the freezer) for dinner. I have been having some of the pasta salad with my ½ sandwich for lunches the last couple of days- trying to limit some of the carbs since both salads are carb high, plus I have some sandwich meat I am trying to use up before I leave.

I did go to my favorite thrift store and found a few items I have had on a wish list (waffle maker-smaller than what I had and got rid of; hand beater, tortilla shell molds to bake tortillas shells in the oven to use as bowls for taco salads- set of 4; a box grater, and a stainless steel French style rolling pin). I want to keep the rolling pin in the freezer and use it for rolling out pie crusts or other doughs that need to stay cold. They also were giving away bread, so got a pkg. of whole wheat sliced bread and a pkg. of English Muffins. I paid $7.75 for everything.

Well, that is about it for around here. I am almost done with my cleaning and organizing but do have a few more things to do. Have a great afternoon.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Momof2 Thank you for the site. I found it interesting and will be going back later on to see what I can make with what I have on hand.

Your thrift store sounds amazing. You really do get some nice things there.

Enjoy your trip. Not sure how long you will be gone but it will be nice just being with family.
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 have been busy trying to get things organized. I moved everything out of the spare bedroom and the closet so that when the time comes the workers can get in to the attic to see what the damage is from the leaking roof. We cannot do anything until the roof is replaced and at the same time we keep having almost daily or at least every other day rain and or storms so they cannot do the roof replacement. The other day I had an ah-ha moment. My Dish TV satellite dish is on the roof and I want to maintain the integrity of the roof. It is guaranteed for life and I might want to get rid of satellite in a few years and get a nice new HDTV and one of those fancy TV antenna's that picks up programming out of the air. I have a small HDTV with an ok air antenna but would eventually like a better one.It is in the basement sitting room area. So called dish and they can move it down on to a pole so that is in the works but due to their schedule not until 07/23rd. I did have Julie/ Dig Safe come out and mark the areas needed but at the same time it will expire before my appointment unless there is a cancellation. Oh well not a problem just more phone calls and paperwork for everyone. I check on line several times a day to see if there is a cancellation and if there is I can claim it on line.

Since Teddi wiped out my emergency fund last month with his medical bills and he has a lot of needs this month things are not only tight they are squeaking!! I went to Petco today to buy more dog food. At last nights dinner he ate the last of what I bought last week. I am glad I went today. They had about 5 rolls left and I grabbed 3. The "Best By or Use By" dates are pretty far out so they will still be good. This will only feed him until the last Friday in July and I will have to buy more. I will check again next week when he goes to the vet and if they have restocked will buy one more. That is all I can afford this month but at least he will have healthy food..which he needs to stay healthy. He does have treats and I am thinking of making him some dog biscuits. He does not like commercially made dog biscuits..I think they are too big for his little mouth. He only likes likes pupperoni and I found something similar at Dollar Tree which he only get occasionally.

I have been rummaging in my freezer trying to see what I can come up with using what I have on hand. The fridge freezer is getting pretty low so it was easier to see what I have. I was surprised to find another roll of pork sausage which means I will be able to have my keto sausage gravy every morning for the rest of the month if I so desire or I am thinking to use some of it as breakfast for dinner type thing using some in pattie form with eggs and keto engish muffin maybe even some fried potatoes. We shall see right now no potatoes.. lol Anyway it gives me a little more meat to fall back on. Found some Au gratin potatoes. I had bought a box a long time ago at Dollar Tree (1.00) and it made so much I froze some and forgot about them. Nice surprise. Then a jar of pineapple chunks. I remember now I had thought of opening my dehydrated pork chops and thought it would be nice to make a sweet and sour pork dish so saved some of the pineapple to do so. Right now need it more for a fruit exchange.

Tonight I had salmon patties, au gratin potatoes, broccoli, and pineapple for dinner and have enough of everything for another meal tomorrow or Sunday. Made a large batch of tuna fish for lunch so will be good to go for quite a few lunches.. I would like to make some kind of gluten free cracker or bread to go with it. I told my aide I might start to grow gills but I will not starve...lol. Fortunately I do like both tuna and salmon.

I have a lot of beans of various kinds due to Cyber Monday or Black Friday online purchases which was BOGO so will be doing more things along that line. I did have my aide pick up a few things the other day and I am thinking I need to go tomorrow. Ruler had eggs .59 cents a doz and I had her buy me three doz but I have already used or ear marked one doz for this week and week-end. Whole milk has gone up from .59 cents a half gal to .67 cents a 1/2 gal..It use to be .57 cents.. oh the horror of it all..lol. I know am very lucky to get these prices so want to buy another half gal to put in the freezer. Also their block cheddar cheese was $1.79 now $1.69. Amazing prices and will work well filling in. When you cook from scratch these items, to me, are the bases for a lot of the things I like to cook.

I am short on money but do have a lot of things to work with. I needed rope to tie up some limbs on my pear tree so found some heavy thick yarn in my stash in the basement and crocheted a rope..lol. Used a large hook and did a chain stitch. I did get one limb tied up but need a ladder to get to the others higher up. I also cut some of the pears off of the tree. The limbs are too thin and fragile for the amount of fruit that it set so removed some. I need to do more but I was not really equipped to do more at that time. I needed paper towels to drain my salmon patties on tonight but do not have any. Not a problem used coffee filters. I crumpled them up first and then spread them out and they seemed more absorbent. Just might be my imagination but they seemed to work better that way. I use kitchen towels to wrap my produce in when I bring it home. The towels seem to keep the lettuce, celery, cabbage, and green onions from going bad compared to leaving them in their original wrappers. I am short on towels too often due to this. Found some nice cloth in my basement stash that I had bought at a thrift store a long time ago thinking of making place mats but now going to cut the fabric make it in to cloths to wrap my food in. I have not bought any strawberries in a very long time due to cost. However years ago I had bought 2 lbs on sale and while cleaning them felt really unwell. So I put them in a large bowl and draped a kitchen towel over them and put it in the fridge. It was a very long time before I got around to thinking of cleaning them and I thought they would be yucky and rotting. Nope they looked very fresh and they were still good.

This is going to be an interesting month. After all bills are paid I have very little money left. I need to see how much Teddi's bills are next Tuesday after he sees the vet then I can make a better decision on what is left. I am going to go to the grocery store tomorrow and buy more eggs and milk. I forgot to mention. I earned another $3.00 from a survey on Tuesday so will be able to combine it with a $2.00 store reward and buy a rotisserie chicken some time in the near future for $1.46.. That chicken will last for a lot of meals and can be frozen for later on too. The future is tight but still bright..
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 »

Did not make it to the grocery store. We had an on and off cloudy sky and the temperature was going to go up so thought it might make a good day to try to dry sheets on the clothesline in the garage.. So I stayed home and got caught up on laundry.. The sheets smelled so good when I brought them in late afternoon. I still have more sheets to launder. I use them on chairs and one couch since Teddi likes to take his naps on them sometimes.. So if the weather is decent tomorrow will do the rest. I love me ecoegg. Saves money and no dragging home heavy bottles of detergent. Also love not having to take them to the recycling dumpster.

I worked on the cloth to make the produce wraps. I did not realize the cloth is actually curtains so spent time on and off picking out the seams, deep hems and the headers. Gave me a lot more cloth to work with. I am hoping to cut them out tomorrow and then can hand sew the edges while watching TV.

Breakfast was cottage cheese with pineapple. Did not get around to making my sausage gravy. Lunch was use it up time. Made nacho's with the last of the hard corn tortillas 3.5. Toasted them in the oven. Thawed out some chili beans from the freezer. I made salsa the other day to use the last of my cilantro. I used canned tomatoes. Not as good as fresh but still tasty. Added some freshly grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped onions and pickled jalapeno peppers. All things I try to keep on hand as basics and I can make a quick meal or snack. Dinner was tuna fish salad. I hydrated some peaches last night I added them to plain yogurt and they made a nice dessert. Also saved the water I hydrated the peaches in. It was very refreshing and balanced out the spicy nachos nicely.

If the weather is nice tomorrow I am thinking of taking all of my recyclables in the trunk of my car to the recycling dumpster. I need to pick up medication at Walgreen's just down the road from there so thought this would be a good time to order a rotisserie chicken.. It will be a nice treat and will start me off with some meat to work with during the coming week.
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 »

Stayed home due to Teddi not feeling well. We had some pretty intense fireworks near us last night and it threw him in to a quivering mess. I felt so sorry for him. He is just now doing a bit better and ate his breakfast which I have taken in and out of the fridge periodically but he would not eat. Glad that he did eat since if he does not he starts to throw up bile.

Found some unmarked things in the freezer and thawed them out. One of them was a container of some kind of homemade made from scratch Mexican casserole.So decided to make enchiladas then realized no tortillas. I do have masa harina and looked up a recipe to make homemade corn tortillas. It was a lot of work but I managed to make 12 of them.. Will not be making them again too much work.. Do not know how Mexican ladies manage to make enough to feed their families..took me about an hour and a half. I should have made the enchiladas while the tortillas were still warm. I did put them in a covered container but when I started to make them they were too thick and stiff so made a layered casserole type thing with tortillas, Mexican casserole, and enchilada sauce then sprinkled with cheese. I will top it off with sour cream, chopped onions and pickled jalapeno peppers when I eat it. It is baking in the oven right now. I looked up what to do with the rest of the masa harina and you can use it to make yummy corn bread.. who knew? Love the internet can type in just about anything and someone has an answer.

I went over my budget and expenses for July and August. Going to be tight each month. I need to make a payment on my property taxes. Groceries seem to be the only place that I can really work at saving a few extra dollars so I will be getting very creative in the kitchen. I do have a lot of food stored but at the same time I wanted to stock up. I think with so much flooding in various areas of our country prices are going to get worse as time goes on.
Janet Alliesmama
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