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 »

Went over the budget for next month and the rest of the year.. I need to do some belt tightening. The easiest place is food and water. I can cut back on my telephone when I drop my landline long distance. I plan on doing that tomorrow. Called the important people that I need to stay in contact with that required long distance and everything worked well. I had hoped to stockpile more food and medicine but right now my medicine from the UK seems stable and stocked enough ahead in to 2022 if needed as far as use by date. I am hoping not to need all that I have so will coast with what I have for the next 6 months. I never use a whole prescription per month so can most likely stretch it for a year. Food is ok. I just may need some fresh dairy and veggies. I spent about an hour off and on, while watching TV, making notes of what I have on hand and looking through recipe books to match what I have. I am not a creative cook but can follow a recipe. Also water can be cut back on with laundry making full loads for everything. So the challenge is on to try to cut corners as much as possible. As always looking forward to the challenge.
Janet Alliesmama
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by Dgflorida »

You are simply amazing. I wish you luck that the changes give you the savings you want and need. I also hope you start sleeping better. I don't remember if we ever discussed this, but here there are charities that help with pets. They can assist with vet costs and also with food. Have you looked into that for your fur baby?
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: Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:53 am You are simply amazing. I wish you luck that the changes give you the savings you want and need. I also hope you start sleeping better. I don't remember if we ever discussed this, but here there are charities that help with pets. They can assist with vet costs and also with food. Have you looked into that for your fur baby?
No I have not looked in to help with Teddi. I can manage with careful planning but there is always the unexpected. I know my brother has always told me that if I need help with expenses to call him but I prefer to do things on my own. When I had a new furnace installed he offered to pay half of the remaining loan balance and when I had the new roof installed he offered to pay the $500.00 deductible. Thank you but no I want to stand on my own two feet. However if needed I know that he will help out. One of the sweet ladies on this forum offered to call my vet' office and give her credit card number to cover Teddi's medical bills when he was sick earlier this year.. So sweet and kind of her but I turned her down..There are really nice and caring people on this forum. I prefer taking care of myself and Teddi on my own. I am sure there are other people out there in more dire circumstances that could use the assistance.
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 »

My aide went shopping for me today and eggs are now up to .95 cents a dozen at Ruler. Still a bargain compared to most stores. Not sure how much at Aldi's. I had her buy some sales items at our local chain store.. My favorite pickled jalapeno peppers were on sale BOGO. I had picked up the same offer the other day so now well stocked with jalapeno peppers. They really come in handy especially when eating things that are a little bit blah like egg salad. I ate some pickled cauliflower in my salad today. I made it the other day with the leftover jalapeno pickle juice and some leftover cooked cauliflower. I have one more serving for a meal or with some kind of snack.

I have cut up and frozen 6 more bell peppers. They are of various colors. I have decided not to make stuffed peppers since it take up to much room to freeze a whole pepper however I do have a recipe for stuffed pepper soup and that will work out well this Fall and winter. Also I can always make a casserole with the same ingredients and get the same taste.

There was a sale for Gala apples BOGO so we shared the expense and cut the cost in half. I have apples on my tree in the yard but they are not ready to be picked yet so hopefully this bag will get me closer to apple picking time. The odd apple has fallen off of the tree but too tart to eat fresh so I gather them up and bring them in the house and will be cutting them up to make cooked apples with sugar and cinnamon. I have tried using sugar sub and they just do not taste right but just a tiny little bit of real sugar, usually less than a tablespoon, makes all the difference in taste. I do like my cooked apples a bit on the tart side.

For now have a lot of basic food in the house and will try to coast for a while. My goal is to not buy anything but the occasional dairy and fresh veggies from now until October. However if a really good loss leader does become available I will buy it using money from my slush fund. The slush fund is money that comes from money saved from the budget. Before we know it another month will be gone. I do need to review some things but despite the extra expense things are going well.

Saw that we might have more of a cold and wet winter so I need to start my weather prepping soon. I have been mentally deciding on what to do and do have a lot of things to work with.. Just need to find the energy to do them.
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 »

Forgot to mention I had saved $14.67 from gas for my car for this month to use toward groceries. My bill from one store was $18.05 but I saved a total of $6.69 buying loss leaders. So that was a good amount of money saved to go towards the groceries plus buying the loss leaders. Also bought dairy, a head of lettuce, and toilet paper from Ruler for $17.63. Should be able to coast for weeks using those items.
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 »

Today I plan on cooking ahead. When I bought the last rotisserie chicken I was smart enough to strip all of the meat off of the bones while it was still warm. Makes using it so much easier. I just grab the container and take out the amount of meat I want. Teddi and I each use 2 oz. However if I do not use cheese on my sandwich I will use 3 oz for my portion. I want to make sure that we both get the right amount for nutritional value.

I cooked three potatoes last night. They were russet from Ruler.. They were not organic and I did not like the fact that there were so many bruised spots that needed to be cut out. There was a lot of waste. From now on if there are no organic potatoes at Ruler I will not buy potatoes. I will use some of the cooked potatoes for Teddi combined with his meat for two meals. I will use the remainder to make a small bowl of potato salad for myself. I also boiled 7 eggs at .59 cents a doz. I will use 2 for tuna fish salad and 3 for potato salad and the rest will be used when I make a salad or eaten as a quick snack.

I made tuna casserole yesterday. I had bought some Vermont cheese powder from King Arthur flour company to use to make gluten free cheese crackers but due to not having a good working oven I have not used it. So I used their recipe to make mac and cheese. It tasted good however their recipe stated to use 1/4 c of milk and I found it to be too runny and really it did not have the creaminess that I associate with mac and cheese. Will need to find some way to add a creamy sauce to it using the cheese powder. So I decided to make tuna casserole using Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. This time I poured it out to check for mushrooms and for taste. Maybe I had a bad day the last time I used it. There were some mushroom bits in the soup and did have a mushroom taste.

King Arthur Flour does have some good things I can use but they are pricey so I wait until they have a sale as well as free shipping otherwise it it too much for my budget. I will be buying more cheese powder to have on hand for making mac and cheese. It is healthier and more tasty than Kraft mac and cheese. Plus I was able to use gluten free macaroni.. I do like Kraft due to childhood memories but it really is not a healthy choice. In fact in some countries it is not allowed due to the ingredients.

Before I went to bed last night I threw the leftover bones and skin of the rotisserie chicken in to my crock pot. The house smelled heavenly when I woke up this morning. I will be making soup with the broth but not sure yet what it will be.

I have apples that fell off of my tree to cook down today as well. I might make an apple crisp instead of just cooked apples.
Janet Alliesmama
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