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 »

SandiSAHM wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:09 pm Our beast goes to the vet for the annual thing tomorrow, she needs 6 months of heartguards, too. Hopefully it won't be too pricey, I can't remember last year's $.

She may need another chip, when I went to update our address info on the one she has now the provider's website was just *poof* - GONE. If he can't do anything about it (if the company went out of business) I guess the only option is another one. Poor dog.
That is a bummer regarding the chip business being gone.. Our furbabies do cost a lot but they are worth it. Good luck with your" beast." What kind of furbaby do you have?
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 »

Another month is about to be over with. It seems to fly by so quickly.I did not meet my goal of making money from surveys to save towards going to my nephews wedding next May however I did make some money so that is better than nothing. I did make money from one of my surveys that I had decided to use to buy a rotisserie chicken periodically. I have earned $6.00 and with store rewards will be able to buy a chicken in the near future for $1.46. That leaves an additional $3.00 to buy another chicken down the road. I can stretch the chickens a lot and do share some of it with Teddi so save on buying his expensive dog food that he sometimes refuses to eat.. Yesterday I made taco meat using a combination of ground chicken and ground beef. Also 4 stuffed peppers. The rice and onions used in the stuffed peppers were free from my aide. Today will use the last of the meat combination to make a meatloaf.

My stove oven and my convection oven are both dead.. I did find a counter top cooker in my basement a while back and used it to make the stuffed peppers. I checked the temp before baking and it was spot on. The only thing is it limits me to baking with (1) 8 " cake pan and loaf pans. I do have some mini pie plates and bundt cake pans that I used in my toaster oven so can make small versions of things.I have a lot of things in my basement from when I was a traveling therapist and needed something when I was away from home. I would have to buy it since I was living out of town. That is why I can sometimes come up with something out of my basement to fill in when the need arises.

I have a lot of things that need to be repaired or replaced but trying to make do with what I have for now.. Food it the one area where I can save money also water usage. Most of my bills are set in stone so no flexibility there. I am looking forward to Nov when a big bill will be paid off and that will give me flexibility. I paid one off this month. So looking forward to a new month and hoping there will not be too many surprises.
Janet Alliesmama
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2263
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by SandiSAHM »

alliesmama4 wrote: Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:24 pm That is a bummer regarding the chip business being gone.. Our furbabies do cost a lot but they are worth it. Good luck with your" beast." What kind of furbaby do you have?
No one but God knows, :lol: The pound advertised her as a "black-mouth cur mix" but I've seen curs and they have floppy ears and are smaller than she is. She's 65 lbs and has pointy shepherd-style ears. Does have black around her muzzle a little, though. The rest of her is fawn colored. Not a lot of undercoat so her ancestry wasn't too much shepherd, I had a shepherd-malinois mix once and oh my goodness the SHEDDING! This one hardly sheds at all.

She acts a little like a ratter, she's even stopped to listen to our resident mole munching around underground (she stands there staring at the ground with her ears trained like radar on the spot... it's a hoot), so maybe something short-haired that was meant to chase vermin mixed in. She doesn't like the neighborhood squirrel. Barks at birds and POINTS, and no one taught her that.... she's a mutt.

Our vet is an older man, he's seen a lot, and I asked him what he thought she was and he just shook his head.

Good guard dog, very noisy when she needs to be and pretty much a laid-back sweetie the rest of the time. Good with kids of all ages.

When we first got her she would do the weirdest things, like walk around, over, under, and between the rungs and legs of the chairs in the dinette. I told DH, we've gone and ruined a perfectly good search-and-rescue mutt by overly domesticating her :lol: but I was more than half serious, with some training I bet she'd be right on it.

Aaaand DH just called, $147 for the whole vet appointment. It'll be another $3 to update her tags with the city. She's in excellent health (she's only 3, so we sort of expect 'excellent' health, at least for a few more years), Lord willing.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

SandiSAHM wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:44 am No one but God knows, :lol: The pound advertised her as a "black-mouth cur mix" but I've seen curs and they have floppy ears and are smaller than she is. She's 65 lbs and has pointy shepherd-style ears. Does have black around her muzzle a little, though. The rest of her is fawn colored. Not a lot of undercoat so her ancestry wasn't too much shepherd, I had a shepherd-malinois mix once and oh my goodness the SHEDDING! This one hardly sheds at all.

She acts a little like a ratter, she's even stopped to listen to our resident mole munching around underground (she stands there staring at the ground with her ears trained like radar on the spot... it's a hoot), so maybe something short-haired that was meant to chase vermin mixed in. She doesn't like the neighborhood squirrel. Barks at birds and POINTS, and no one taught her that.... she's a mutt.

Our vet is an older man, he's seen a lot, and I asked him what he thought she was and he just shook his head.

Good guard dog, very noisy when she needs to be and pretty much a laid-back sweetie the rest of the time. Good with kids of all ages.

When we first got her she would do the weirdest things, like walk around, over, under, and between the rungs and legs of the chairs in the dinette. I told DH, we've gone and ruined a perfectly good search-and-rescue mutt by overly domesticating her :lol: but I was more than half serious, with some training I bet she'd be right on it.

Aaaand DH just called, $147 for the whole vet appointment. It'll be another $3 to update her tags with the city. She's in excellent health (she's only 3, so we sort of expect 'excellent' health, at least for a few more years), Lord willing.
I think we would call her a Curbstone Setter where I live.. Still a lovable member of the family. Enjoy the love and companionship that she brings to your family she will have many years ahead of her at her young age. Bummer on the vet bill.
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 »

Ok this is day 2 of the new month and and I have already spent money. Late last night I saw an ad for a new kind of weed whacker. I need it desperately. I have hired people to come in every so often (5 times) to dig weeds out and put down weed barriers and rocks and the weeds still come back.They were professionals. I have hired a friends son and one of my great nephews has come in and pulled weeds and still have an ongoing problem. I cannot use chemicals since I am chemically sensitive and with fur babies you do not want them sniffing around chemicals. This weed whacker seems to do heavy duty things well and is light weight. It uses batteries only, and they send you two batteries so one can be charging while you use the other one. It does edging and if you order six reels of cutting strings and pay $8.98 for shipping you get free strings for life. I have some really strong weeds out here that are taller than I am. I cannot even see the limbs and yard waste in my burn pile due to the weeds being so high. They did allow me to break it up into three monthly payments which works well with my budget. I found a recipe on line for a non toxic weed killer using vinegar, salt, and dish detergent. I am going to use that as well. This means war!!

Had tacos for lunch made with ground chicken and ground beef.. I could not taste the beef due to the taco seasoning and could not tell there was ground chicken added. The chicken is cheaper than ground beef and so I have been able to stretch the ground beef to make stuffed peppers, tacos and a meat loaf.

One of our local stores has been having sales on bacon so I have been stocking up on it for later on. I did go over budget last month but sometimes you have to spend money to save money and who knows what bacon will cost in the future. I know it is not going to get cheaper.
Janet Alliesmama
floridacatlover
Posts: 8058
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by floridacatlover »

alliesmama4 wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 5:30 pm Ok this is day 2 of the new month and and I have already spent money. Late last night I saw an ad for a new kind of weed whacker. I need it desperately. I have hired people to come in every so often (5 times) to dig weeds out and put down weed barriers and rocks and the weeds still come back.They were professionals. I have hired a friends son and one of my great nephews has come in and pulled weeds and still have an ongoing problem. I cannot use chemicals since I am chemically sensitive and with fur babies you do not want them sniffing around chemicals. This weed whacker seems to do heavy duty things well and is light weight. It uses batteries only, and they send you two batteries so one can be charging while you use the other one. It does edging and if you order six reels of cutting strings and pay $8.98 for shipping you get free strings for life. I have some really strong weeds out here that are taller than I am. I cannot even see the limbs and yard waste in my burn pile due to the weeds being so high. They did allow me to break it up into three monthly payments which works well with my budget. I found a recipe on line for a non toxic weed killer using vinegar, salt, and dish detergent. I am going to use that as well. This means war!!

Had tacos for lunch made with ground chicken and ground beef.. I could not taste the beef due to the taco seasoning and could not tell there was ground chicken added. The chicken is cheaper than ground beef and so I have been able to stretch the ground beef to make stuffed peppers, tacos and a meat loaf.

One of our local stores has been having sales on bacon so I have been stocking up on it for later on. I did go over budget last month but sometimes you have to spend money to save money and who knows what bacon will cost in the future. I know it is not going to get cheaper.
Janet, I think you are smart to get a battery-powered weed walker. Just today I was thinking that I want to start looking for one soon. A few years ago I bought one for mom’s house that requires a cord. Big mistake. It is a pain and I hate using it. I have areas up against the fence and up against some gardens edged with rocks. And today I was in the far corner of the yard where I used to be able to get the mower but really can’t right now (behind the ever-growing bougainvillea). So when you get it let us know how you like it and the brand name.
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