Comment on a comment

Got to love "Anonymous" comments... Here's one I got today: So, I don't get it. You did a freezer inventory and found you had frozen EVERYTHING and then you went to K-Roger as a "loyal" customer and bought more dead animals to freeze, even though a couple of days ago you said you wouldn't have to go to the grocery store for a month. Duh. I'm just dense, but do you ever READ what you write?

I guess I shouldn't comment on the "I'm just dense" part... mustn't offend a blog reader and all that. However, you missed the point. My challenge is to cut my grocery bill back by almost 50%. It just happened that Kroger had sent me Loyal Customer coupons that matched items they had on sale, and the coupons were about to expire. Throwing out those coupons for something I would normally buy, would be like throwing away $7.50 cash. Any time I can get a meat meal (which, apparently, is not to your liking... each to his own on that one) for .26 per person.. hey, I'm dancing in the aisles. It is RARE (occassion-wise, not meat-wise) that I can purchase meats for that price.

So, dear commentor, YES I read what I write but Life Happens. Things Change. Big Money has been $aved and that's the goal here. And you might just want to look away cuz you never know -- I MAY even do it again :)

Kroger shopping

I had no intention of going grocery shopping, but expiring coupons that matched sales lured me in today. But it was worth it!

Pork chops (assorted, which means 30% good pork chops and 70% pork "steaks") were on sale for .99 a lb. (normally $2.49 to $4.99). Kroger had sent me a "Loyalty" coupon for $2.50 off $10 pork purchase, so I bought 10 lbs of pork chops for $7.50 -- .75 cents a pound! I came home and divided it up into serving portions (2 adults) and we will get at least 10 meals (12 if I do additional stir fry meals), with meat for each meal costing only .75, or $.37 per person!

Kroger also had all their chicken at 40% off, so I picked up a Roaster -- starting price $10.80, sale price $6.50. Again, Kroger had sent me a "loyalty" coupon for $1.50 off $5 chicken purchase, which I used to get the roaster for $4 for an 8lb roaster, or .50 lb. We will get at least 3 dinners and sandwiches for 3 lunches, plus 2-3 meals of soup for that $4 purchase. Again, that's a decent meat meal for .50 per meal, or .25 per person!

I picked up 12 cans of Kroger canned vegetables, on sale for .33 a can (normally .79), and 3 8ounce packages of Kroger extra sharp cheddar cheese, at $1.50 per package (normally at least $2.89). They also had "expired" hamburger rolls (the bakery ones, not the flat Kroger brand) normally $1.99 for $.79. Those went right into the freezer. Kroger also had their brand of cereals on sale for $1.49 and $1.69 a box, so I added two boxes of cereal to the pantry.

So I don't feel bad about going grocery shopping. I stuck to my list (sale items only) and got some great bargains. Gas prices here jumped more than .30 a gallon this week to $3.49 a gallon, and you know that increase is going to hit at the grocery store shortly.

By the way, yes we survived the "earthquake"... but it did wake us up around 5:30 am. We're about 180 miles from the "center" of the 5.4 earthquake in Indiana, but it shook us enough to wake us both up and wonder what it was. You just don't expect earthquakes in Ohio! Live and learn!

A Giveaway on my other blog & being not so frugal

I have another blog, My Quilt Life and am currently holding a giveaway and hope you'll stop by and comment and be in the drawing. All comments through 04/30/08 will be used in a drawing on 05/02/08. If anyone has a problem leaving a comment, just email me (JoanOH AT cinci dot rr dot com). Being NOT so frugal Yesterday I talked to a neighborhood teenager about helping me out for a few hours a week with the yard and garden. Woo Hoo! He's a big strapping kid and as nice as can be, and I know he needs the work. I am thrilled that I'll have some help because this year my back problems just are not going to let me do much digging or roto-tilling on my own. My vegetable garden is 20 by 75 feet and it's a lot of work. Unfortunately, the "frugalness" of the vegetable garden is going to fly out the window because it will be offset by my paying someone to help... sigh. In addition to the vegetable garden, I have a perennial garden that needs major work - dividing plants and moving them - and I'll have him help me with those. We have 20 trees due in soon, and he can help plant those as well. I'll continue to do the lighter weeding and planting, but it will be great to have a big strong back around to help me out. I believe 3 hrs a week for 3-4 weeks ought to do it. Maybe I'll just have to plant an extra large crop of veggies to make up for the money I'll have to pay him, but it will be well worth it to keep the yard maintained and the gardens back to their glory days!

Spring cleaning progress and more

UPDATE ON REVOLUTION MONEY EXCHANGE I received my "free money" yesterday! I did not have to give them any banking info -- I simply requested they mail me a check. I just checked their web site and they still have the FREE $25 offer up, though I think I remember the last day is 04/15. The check is drawn by the First Bank and Trust, just as my research showed me it should be. I'm happy! Hey, anytime anyone wants to send me free money, I'm in! Too good to be true? Not so far! If you go under "Help" on their website, on the bottom left you will see privacy policy. Click on that and it will pull up the whole three pages of privacy details. At the end, there is an opt out section that you have to print and mail in if you want to opt out of the following: their sharing your non-public information with nonaffiliated third parties, with their affiliates, and their using information to market their products and services. I plan on sending in my opt-out information, but maintaining my account. As an Ebay seller, I'm hoping that this new service will make some progress and give PayPal some competition. SPRING CLEANING AND GROCERY SHOPPING PROGRESS I continue to make progress on my Spring cleaning. Yesterday the laundry room (which also holds my chest freezer and cabinets holding baking ingredients) was attacked. Now the kitchen, laundry room, dining room, and family room are done. It was eye-opening to do my freezer inventory. I will definitely have no problem going the rest of the month without buying any groceries. Funny how I think I need to do a full grocery shopping every week (out of habit?), but if I'd just stay organized and keep a running inventory, I'd be better about what I do and do not have to buy. Take a look at my freezer inventory (this is a small chest freezer plus a refrigerator freezer): 5 1/2 lbs of hamburger, plus 2 lbs swedish meatballs 2 pkg boneless pork chops 1 smoked sausage 3 pkg diced ham (for adding to omelettes, mac & cheese, etc.) 2 bags chicken pieces for soup 3 lbs chicken wings 4 pkg chicken breasts, bone in 2 pkg chicken breasts, boneless 1 1/2 bags chicken breast strips 2 pkg talapia fillets 1 pkg lentil soup 1 pkg chili w/beans 2 boxes breakfast sausage links 2 lbs. bacon 5 4-cup bags of tomato sauce (from garden tomatoes) 1 bag mixed vegetables 1 bag whole Okra 1 bag spinach 1 bag cauliflower 1 bag green beans 1 bag peas & carrots 3 pkg pumpkin puree (from our Halloween pumpkin) 2 boxes egg rolls 2 boxes lean pockets 1 loaf bread 1 English muffins 1 party rye bread 1 pkg of 6 cupcakes (no frosting) Open items 1/4 bag french fries 1/2 box waffles 1/4 box mini ice cream sandwiches 1 bag blueberries 1/2 bag cheese raviolis My pantry contains plenty of bottled salad dressings, canned soups, cereal, canned vegetables, rice, and pasta. I also have boxes of brownie and cake mixes (bought at Krogers last week for $1) for desserts and lunches. I got out my bread machine yesterday, but will use up the bread and English muffins we have before making my own bread. I was also delighted to find that I'd stored a large variety of flours in my freezer! I do that to prevent bugs from infesting the flours -- I found almond flour, rye flour, wheat flour, corn meal, barley, and whole oats! Great for future breadmaking! They are all enclosed in ziploc bags, then stored in tupperware airtight containers, so I'm hoping they will still be good. I am proud of the fact I only had two unlabelled packages of "mystery meat" that had to be thrown away. I also had one package of roast beef slices dated 2006.. that got tossed as well. FREEZER ORGANIZATION What good is it to clean out your freezer if you don't organize while you're at it?! To toss all those items back in the freezer in the same jumbled way they came out, just doesn't make sense, so I organized it all. I used two cardboard boxes that fit in the bottom of the chest freezer -- one for beef and pork, and one for chicken and fish. In the two wire baskets, I placed vegetables and lunch items. On the shelf of the freezer, I placed "fast food" items - egg rolls, chicken nuggets, etc. In the refrigerator freezer, I placed all breakfast items (sausage, bacon) on one slide-out shelf; dessert items (ice cream, cupcakes, Girl Scout cookies) on the second shelf; and breads in the bottom shelf. Good to go!

Menu planning, To Do List

My To Do List today is a continuation of my Spring cleaning efforts. --Defrost chest freezer, organize, write down inventory --Clean, organize refrigerator freezer, write down inventory --Wash, dry, fold, put away slipcovers - done --Change masterbedroom sheets - done --Clean both coffee pots --Get bread machine out, clean, make bread --Find box of cookbooks in basement This Week's Menu Planning - still working on the two weeks of menu's I wrote last week. This is what's left: Mon - Baked chicken, noodles, vegetable (bake extra chicken) Tues - Stir fry with l/o chicken, egg rolls Wed - Tuna casserole, salad Thurs - Spaghetti, meatballs, salad Fri - Crockpot soup*, cornbread Sat - Out to eat Sun - Breakfast for dinner - ham, cheese, green pepper* omelettes, toast *Crockpot soup is going to be the result of finding out exactly what I have in my freezers today. I know I've been stowing away beef and turkey bones, and possibly a ham bone or two. I also put little bits of leftover veggies in a ziploc bag, and think I have two or three of those in the freezer as well. Everything will go in the crockpot, additions made as necessary, and we'll have soup, part of which will go back in the freezer, and part that will go for Jeff's lunches. We may actually eat quite a bit of soup in the next few weeks, as we rarely eat soup once the heat of summer gets here. I found a good deal on green peppers while at Jungle Jim's yesterday. They have an area in the store for veggies that have "gone by" but I found two very large green peppers that were blemish-free, for 72 cents. Green peppers right now are $1.29 each a Krogers, and about half the size of the Jungle Jim's peppers. I cut both peppers into strips and placed one set of strips in a ziploc bag (with paper towel) in the vegetable drawer to use this week, and the second set of into the freezer (I first freeze them on a cookie tray, then place them in a ziploc bag when they are frozen -- then they don't stick together and you can't take out just what you need).

On my soapbox

Drivers Flood Station for 35 Cent Gas
Apr 11, 10:29 PM (ET)

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - Traffic was backed up and police were called to control the crowd after a Wilmington gas station accidentally set the pump price at 35 cents a gallon.

The Wilmington Star-News reported Friday that hundreds of drivers flooded a BP station for the cheap gas after the price dropped around 9 a.m. Thursday.

Station employee Shane Weller said the price for premium gasoline was supposed to be $3.35 a gallon. He complained that customers paid the cheaper price all day without saying a word.

It was all the extra traffic that led station employees to the mistake around 6 p.m. They found it after calling their district manager, looking for permission to changing the price as a way of stemming the flow of customers.
---
Information from: The Star-News, http://starnewsonline.com/

My Two Cents

This is just not right. First of all, the gas companies are posting profits in the billions of dollars while we, the average consumer, have no choice but to pay the astronimical prices at the gas station.

But look at that last paragraph. When the customers flooded the gas station, what did the employee do? He called for permission to RAISE THE PRICES because he had too many customers!!!! Obviously, he knew this was an option or perhaps even a set standard -- too many customers? Call the manager and ask to raise the prices.

What does this tell you? That gas stations can raise prices not solely based on the price they are paying, but because the station gets too busy. How many times prior had the manager OK'd this practice?!!!

I've long said that the gas stations in our area are in cahoots. It is amazing to watch. A gas station on the west side may raise it's prices by .05 a gallon at 7am. Word seems to get out to the other gas stations, and one by one, they all raise their prices to match within an hour. Then one gas station will drop it's prices (I assume to get more customers), and within the hour, all the gas stations in the area drop their prices to match. You don't see gas delivery tankers filling up to warrant the gas price change, you just see price changes raising and lowering in a domino effect.

I voted for President Bush. I still think it was the right way to vote at the time. I'm not a huge Bush fan at the moment, and one of the reasons (of several) is that someone needs to get a handle on these gas prices. In the Cincinnati area, prices can fluxuate in a 24 hour period by as much as .30 a gallon -- sometimes up, sometimes down. It's just crazy. You have no idea when to buy gas because there's always a chance that tomorrow it will be .30 a gallon less and you try and wait it out -- and instead, it goes up. 20 a gallon! It's so frustrating!

But the little news article speaks volumes, doesn't it?