My 2021 Challenge

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

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

HappyDaze wrote: Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:43 am Same. I have very minimal seasonal decor, purchased at thrift stores. It all fits into the trunk that I use as a coffee table in the living room.

The only jewelry I ever wear is earrings. I recently got rid of all my earrings (maybe 10 or so pairs) and replaced them with 4 new pairs - silver studs, gold studs, small silver hoops, small gold hoops. They work with everything, nothing more is needed.

I don't know what it is that attracts me to minimalism and simplicity so much - but it's how I roll.

I am with you on a lot of things.

Your earrings sound like classics that fit every situation. I have never been one to wear earrings.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

With the intense heat we have been having it has taken a toll on my energy level. The last few days we have had heat warning with a heat index anywhere from (103 F) (39.44 C) to (105 F) (40.55 C).I have been picking peaches and have them in the fridge. I sorted through them to give some to family and friends because there is no way I will be able to can all of them before they get too far along in ripening. Hopefully Friday we will get a break from the heat. There are still a lot of peaches on the trees that are still not ripe enough to pick.

The fruit bandit has not shown up. Yippee!! For the last three years he has stripped my pear and peach trees. I put in a camera last year after he raided my trees. I also have signs on the trees that state " Smile you are on camera."

I have been using my time to work on and rework my budget. Things are really, really tight. I will not get a break until Nov. That is the one month that I do not have to pay my property taxes.

I have been working hard at trying to earn enough gift cards to pay for some staples on Amazon that I have on subscribe and save. I have shuffled things around to get the maximum discount. Everything should be covered with gift cards by Sept 17th which is my shipping date with some money leftover. I was disappointed I was unable to get cash from InBoxDollars. They have stopped sending checks as of this month. I was $5.00 short of being able to cash in for a check. However I can go with gift cards instead. Free is good although it would have been nice to have cash to use at my local stores. I will be using up a lot of my frozen foods the remainder of this month and next month.. October grocery wise will be interesting.

Just had a phone call from my utility company. Due to the excessive heat they are asking for volunteers to cut their electric tomorrow between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM. Previously I signed up for this and this is the first time they have contacted me. If I do that they will give me a reduce charge on my utility bill. I am all for that. I can tolerate it for a while here with fans and then if need be Teddi and I can go for a ride to a park. I have 6 inch walls which keeps the heat out for a long time and ceiling fans can usually keep me comfortable for a while. I am curious to see how this works out.
Janet Alliesmama
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by HappyDaze »

Janet, that is an interesting offer from your utility company. Please let us know how it goes.
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

HappyDaze wrote: Thu Aug 26, 2021 1:27 am Janet, that is an interesting offer from your utility company. Please let us know how it goes.
Sheila I am really curious as to how this works too. I just received my bill for the past month so it will be a while before I find out how this works. During the severe cold this winter, about the time that Texas had their huge grid failure, the utility company sent out requests on TV and radio for all customers to reduce their usage. They responded on TV again that they had good response from their customers in reducing the strain on the grid.
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 working on my budget I keep adding things I had not planned on. My aide said it took her 18 weeks to get her passport. I had not planned on that until November when things are somewhat less stressful moneywise. So in Sept I will have to get a new picture and send my current passport in for renewal. Maybe $75.00 to $80.00 I had not planned on spending in Sept. The budge in my budget is very small so I will most likely have to use some of my emergency food that I have been trying to save to build up more of a stockpile. Bummer.

Teddi will need his heartworm medicine again. I usually purchase a couple of months at a time however Sept and Oct will have to be single purchases.

This past week my aide has brought me two black purses and two Fall tops from one of her clients. I do not think I will keep them, not my style. However she said to pass them on to anyone I know that might use them. If not put in my pile of things to be donated. She also brought me 5 more servings of single serve fruit cups from another client. They really help to fill out my meals. Like the other night I had sauerkraut and kielbasa from the freezer and opened a container of applesauce to go with it.

Currently using up fresh veggies that I have in the fridge and using meat from the freezer to put meals together. I am doing well and do not feel like I am shortchanging things health wise. Household needs are covered by my current stockpile. Money is in short supply but right now all bills are covered for the foreseeable future. Come Sept and October the food budget is cut drastically to try to make ends meet however with what I have on hand I can manage with a few fill-ins in the way of fresh veggies and dairy.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Hard to believe it is Sept 5th already. I have been working and reworking my budget. Things keep popping up that I had not planned on. My property taxes are really high. I only receive Social Security and a tiny pension ( under $100.00) from my job. I was forced into early retirement at 53 due to medical problems and I am now 76 almost 77. My property taxes are due this month, Oct, and December and require almost half of my income. I get to skip Nov. However I plan on saving half of Decembers tax in November. Then I can rest a bit easier starting in 2022. My property taxes are not due again until July 2022. This year I had a huge amount of unplanned expenses. I had unexpected problems with my car and computer. Both costing a lot of money. Fortunately I had saved most of it from the gov stimulus checks. Also Teddi had a lot of unplanned medical bills. Some were in the $300.00 to $200.00 range over what I had budgeted. I have considered moving but after working on facts and figures I am still better off staying here. There is no way I could find a nice apartment that is cheaper than what I pay in taxes and insurance here. Also looked in to a smaller house. It too is not feasible since Illinois has the 2nd highest property taxes in the country. A smaller house would have higher taxes than what I am currently paying here. I was lucky to freeze my property taxes at 65 when there was a housing slump and my brother petitioned to have them lowered to comply with the value of my house at that time. Right now if I had to pay the real taxes I would be paying close to $6,000.00 a year. There is no way I could do that.

I have all bills covered but the cash flow is scary and this is the 5th of the month and I do not get paid again until the 3rd of Oct. I have an emergency stockpile of food and have started to use them. Today I made sugar free chocolate pudding using a box bought on sale for .39 cents a long time ago. I made reconstituted non-fat milk last night and used some of it to make the pudding. I do not know why but the pudding is darker and more chocolaty and better than when I used fresh whole milk. A pleasant surprise. This was the last package of pudding so I cannot make more to see if I will get the same results.

I have been using up food from my pantry, cabinets, and fridge freezer. I will just hit some of the high spots of what I have been doing. The other day I noticed my celery was starting to go limp. So I cut the big bottom root off and put the stalks in a glass of water. They have perked up nicely and I am enjoying cheese stuffed celery each day for a snack. I opened a can of cheddar cheese from my emergency stockpile. Quite a few years back one of the emergency food companies was offering canned cheese at a huge discount. I bought a case. Every now and then I do use it. It is not as good as fresh cheddar cheese but it does work with casseroles, salads, and when making things like pimento cheese and stuffed celery. I am going to put the celery root in a pot of dirt on my deck. It is suppose to regenerate. I am not sure if it will take root but it is worth a shot. Also I saved the roots from green onions and will be trying to re-grow them.

Yesterday I made Thai yellow curry. I bought a package of skinless boneless chicken breast a while back for $2.35. I had planned on getting three meals from the package using various menu ideas. The cost of the meat between 3 meals comes out about to .79 cents each. Last night it was Thai yellow curry using the chicken, a free red potato, two green onions, a can of mushrooms, and coconut powder from the pantry. I try to keep a jar of Thai yellow curry paste on hand all the time so that I can enjoy it at home. I bought a bundle with a friend and we saved some money doing so. It cost around $7.00 for a jar and I can usually get 3 to 4 meals from one jar. I also try to keep fresh cilantro in the fridge. Walmart sells a nice bunch for .89 cents. It keeps for many, many weeks in the fridge in a bowl of water. I just snip off what I want. I served my Thai curry over cauliflower rice from the freezer and topped it with some fresh cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. I had two healthy portions last night for dinner and two today for brunch. Tonight I will use another portion of the chicken to make fajitas using green bell pepper from the freezer and seasonings. I have a little bit of fresh onion left so I will be using that as well. I need to make the fajita seasoning using herbs I have in the house. I do not use flour tortillas due to the gluten so will use corn tortillas from the freezer. I also have a little bit of sour cream left. I plan on making some salsa using canned tomatoes.

The other piece of chicken was a loss. I am not sure if anyone has heard of a product called Hot Logic? You are suppose to be able to put your meal in a pan in this pouch, plug it in and it cooks to perfection while you are busy doing something else. This is only the second time I used it and it shattered a new Pyrex casserole dish and the liquid leaked all over my counter and in to the cloth pouch. I do not know what happened because the temperature is set to never go over 165 F per the company literature. I took the temperature of the meat and it was 185 F. I am going to contact the company and see if I can get my money back. The meat was in a lovely Indian butter sauce that I had bought a long time ago at Big Lots. I have half of a jar left and it is the freezer. I will use it sometime in the future.

I have decided to use the grocery money I have in my budget primarily for protein and a few fresh veggies as needed. I am feeling inspired to look for recipes that will use what I have instead of making a menu plan of things I want. I had made a Walmart curbside order for Saturday. However after letting it sit for a few days I went back and deleted it completely realizing the items were more of a want instead of a need. I feel I am eating well and enjoying the challenge of coming up with tasty food on a small budget. It does help that I have food already in the house and just need to add a few things to make a good meal.
Janet Alliesmama
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