My 2021 Challenge

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MackerelCat
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Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:44 pm

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by MackerelCat »

The squirrels here are fortunate to have the enormous oak tree in our next door neighbor's front yard. It is usually swarming with squirrels, but lately the hawks and owls have been stopping in that tree.
Mackie
alliesmama4
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

MackerelCat wrote: Mon Nov 08, 2021 7:15 pm The squirrels here are fortunate to have the enormous oak tree in our next door neighbor's front yard. It is usually swarming with squirrels, but lately the hawks and owls have been stopping in that tree.
I have a large wooded area behind my house. I too have hawks, and owls in my trees and the occasional eagle flies over but does roost here. Feel sorry for the squirrels but they seem to be holding their own. There are enough woods around me that they can find a place to hide if need be. Last year I was out in my front yard which is an acre. I was working close to the house in the jungle that is my rock garden. Teddi was running around and inspecting everything but he was pretty far away from me. Every now and then I looked to see where he was. I realized there was an eagle overhead that was making circles over him and saw that each time it came a little bit lower. I ran over and stood beside Teddi and the eagle took off. That was a scary moment for me.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I had a checkup with my NP today. I am dangerously low on B-12. I need B-12 shots weekly but it is a 50 mile round trip. So today we talked about me giving myself injections at home. I was somewhat apprehensive but it was incredibly easy. So I will be saving my energy and gas. Today I had to take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon after I came home.

Part of me wants to continue with the no spending on food challenge and another part of me says you need to stock up at the current prices and while things are still available. On TV tonight the news said our big local chain stores said currently there are no shortages of holiday foods because they have been stocking up to have a steady supply. However people have also been buying things earlier than planned. I am not concerned about my own holiday meal since I have everything I need except for the gluten free stuffing mix from Aldi's. I need to go over everything that I have and do a projection of how long it will last. Decisions, decisions.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I have been seeing news bytes on TV and online regarding the increase in the cost of food in general and the possibility of supply chain interruptions which has given me concern on whether or not to cancel my challenge of not spending cash on groceries this month and I have decided to keep a watchful eye on things and continue my challenge. I have done some price comparisons and here are a few example. Not more than a couple of weeks ago my favorite chili was $1.50 at Dollar General and just recently it went up to $1.85. Yikes! The good thing is that Walmart, although they were out of stock a few weeks back, now have it back in stock at $1.56 which is their normal price. Evaporated milk is still $1.19 at Walmart. The same brand at DG is $1.45 and at my local chain store $1.89. Yikes! I plan to keep a close eye on things and if I see Walmart is having to raise their prices I might reconsider. I am doing the challenge just for fun to see how far I can stretch things. However if it looks like prices are starting to climb too high or some to be out of stock for prolonged time I will stop and start to stock up.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I have decided to end my challenge! Yesterday I baked a roast for Teddi and it was not that good. A lot of fat. So I decided I better order two one for the freezer and one to bake this week-end. The roasts are not big. Somewhere between 1.5 lbs. to 3 lbs. I had planned on placing the order for Sunday but then saw where they only had 3 left so I placed my order for 8:00 AM this morning. I also added some fresh dairy, and ground beef and a few canned goods as well as some Duraflame logs to get the free curbside pickup. They were out of some of the items I ordered.

The scary thing is that I was offered free Prime for a month and I had not planned on using it until December after my challenge was over. I was doing some recipe research and found a new sugar sub I was not familiar with so I went on Amazon to see what it was and how well people liked it. While on Amazon I thought I would do some price checking on some of the things I have been checking locally.. Are you sitting down? A 12 oz. can of evaporated milk cost $6.98! That is just one can! You can buy 2 for $10.99! I told a friend about it and she could not believe it and she checked to see if I had somehow misread it. Nope! I checked on my favorite chili and it cost $5.77 for one can. I can buy it from DG for $1.86 and Walmart $1.56. I do not know if the high prices are because you are paying for " Free" Prime shipping hidden in the cost of the product or if this is going to be our future? I checked the cost of flour Gold Medal cost $16.68 for (2) 12lb bags. I do not use flour but am thinking of friends and family that might. So after seeing what might be in our future I decided to stop the challenge and start to seriously shop locally and buy what I think I will need as a possible hedge against drastic price increases or shortages. I was just doing the challenge for fun to see how far I could stretch things. I could be wrong about prices going that high locally but I do not want to take the chance.
Janet Alliesmama
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Jackielou
Posts: 13426
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by Jackielou »

alliesmama4 wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:33 pm I have decided to end my challenge! Yesterday I baked a roast for Teddi and it was not that good. A lot of fat. So I decided I better order two one for the freezer and one to bake this week-end. The roasts are not big. Somewhere between 1.5 lbs. to 3 lbs. I had planned on placing the order for Sunday but then saw where they only had 3 left so I placed my order for 8:00 AM this morning. I also added some fresh dairy, and ground beef and a few canned goods as well as some Duraflame logs to get the free curbside pickup. They were out of some of the items I ordered.

The scary thing is that I was offered free Prime for a month and I had not planned on using it until December after my challenge was over. I was doing some recipe research and found a new sugar sub I was not familiar with so I went on Amazon to see what it was and how well people liked it. While on Amazon I thought I would do some price checking on some of the things I have been checking locally.. Are you sitting down? A 12 oz. can of evaporated milk cost $6.98! That is just one can! You can buy 2 for $10.99! I told a friend about it and she could not believe it and she checked to see if I had somehow misread it. Nope! I checked on my favorite chili and it cost $5.77 for one can. I can buy it from DG for $1.86 and Walmart $1.56. I do not know if the high prices are because you are paying for " Free" Prime shipping hidden in the cost of the product or if this is going to be our future? I checked the cost of flour Gold Medal cost $16.68 for (2) 12lb bags. I do not use flour but am thinking of friends and family that might. So after seeing what might be in our future I decided to stop the challenge and start to seriously shop locally and buy what I think I will need as a possible hedge against drastic price increases or shortages. I was just doing the challenge for fun to see how far I could stretch things. I could be wrong about prices going that high locally but I do not want to take the chance.
For the first time ever I noticed empty shelves in the grocery... mostly in the cereal aisle, but there was some advertised meats that were not available.

As far as prime goes, I love it. That price you read would have been for even those who do not have prime. It's just you get free and faster shipping if you do. Here in Canada it isn't so much free shipping as it is faster shipping.
Jackie
http://inthelandofthelivingskiesii.blogspot.ca/
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