How did I save money today?

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Friday, last week I picked up my CSA fruits and vegetables boxes.
I was blessed with 3 pounds of yellow peppers.
3 pound bag of Granny Smith Apples.
3 pound bag of plums.
1 bag of Avocados.
3 pounds of Yellow squash.
3 pounds of Zucchini.
5 pounds of red potatoes.
2- 2 pounds bags of broccoli florets.
Bag of lemons
flat of eggs
4 pounds of hamburger.
4 pounds of vension hamburger .
2 pounds of Swiss cheese.
1/2 gallon of milk.
Head of lettuce, 1 big white onion, 2 tomatoes.
The peppers and the zucchini are already prepped and in the dehydrator.
When they're done the apples will be next to go into the dehydrator.
Made good size lettuce salad with head of lettuce, tomato, onion, ribbons of colby cheese.
 
I paid my son to fix the car. He pulled the engine, removed the freeze plugs, flushed the engine water jackets, replaced the freeze plugs, changed the transmission front seal, changed the oil, installed a drain cock, and reinstalled the engine. He charged me $350 and I gave him a $20 tip.
 
Got to day 9 of not spending any money but busted today.

I did save money however by buying bulk bread improver saving $100 over the price of buying smaller packets in the supermarkets and also purchased prescription cat food on eBay saving $21 over buying it at the local veterinary clinic.

Today I banked multiple supplements and covid payments into our 3 month living expenses emergency fund bringing us to 91.53% of the way there to our goal.
 
I saved alot at Aldi, too. Glad to have one just 15 miles out. Couldn't believe how cheap their basics are for bread, milk, eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, cereal. Meat prices are high here, but I did get two fam packs of chicken leg quarters for 89 cents a lb. Still had to spend $20 for a good size beef roast, and hamburger was $5 a lb, so I passed on that. Their produce prices weren't too bad. Their special was a good sized carton of strawberries for 99 cents.
 
I baked cookies! They are already disappearing...
My ex-girlfriend (one of my wife's best friends) is in town so she has been invited for cookies.
I hope there are some left when she gets here...
 
Got to day 16 of not spending any money and busted yesterday when we went to town and got some medication for DH and some comfort food chocolate but I did save 15 % on the medication using our pharmacy discount and a further $12 by buying the chocolate on special.

Today I did the grocery staples shopping online and saved in total using our 5% off using our roadside assistance gift card. using $10 in free groceries accumulated on my supermarket rewards card and coupling specials $27.60 on usual prices.
 
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Day 3 of not spending any money today.

We had another supplement payment come in today which I banked into our emergency fund and we are now 98.4% of the way to our goal amount :) . On Tuesday we will have reached our goal and surpassed it when I get paid and bank the money.
We are just shy of 90% and should be about 97% beginning of next week. Am looking forward to hitting that goal. They won't let me in many of the stores here which I don't really care about until I actually need something. (We are in the Nazi state of WA.) Anyways, helps on the $ saving front. Last weekend, I did order a book as a gift and a new vent cover for our trailer (wind blew our other one off!!!) Our garden is beginning to produce so haven't even been going shopping for groceries.
 
Eating out of freezer and refrig freezer, pantry this month, maybe longer.
Throwing grocery money on to extra car payment.
Would like to get that paid off sooner than later.
Got one other small bill I would like to paid off sooner than later too.
I figure 3 or 4 months and that will be paid off too.
Going to start putting more money into emergency fund as soon as that's paid off.
Crocheting blankets for myself, and my grand daughters.
Those will keep us warm this winter and many winters to come.
Mine will be scrappy, oldest grand daughter's will be bright primary colors, youngest grand daughter's will be lilac, mossy green, deep rich purple, cream.
Using what I have making do.
It's my way of life.
 
I've managed to stock up on some things and still have money left over for the emergency fund.
One pay period I saved $28
And this last pay period I have $39 to put in the fund. Today is a new pay day for grocery money.
Using my store card, coupons and buying only whats on special I've saved a total of $250.45 so far this year on groceries.
And I have enough points to save 40 cents a gallon on gas before the end of this month ( which I need to get done sometime soon)
 
Busted today.
But only spent $25 total.
You got to have popsicles when the oldest big little grand daughter comes to spend Saturday night with you.
And all day Sunday because daddy's got to work.
$1.97 for the popsicles.
$14 for indoor/outdoor battery operated bug zapper
84 cents for hamburger buns
$1.88 white mushrooms
$2.05 Porta Bella mushroom,
This was at 2 Wal*Marts this morning.
Lunch was $5.47 at Sonic for the Wacky Pack Hot Dog meal with Rt. 44 Iced tea.
My reward for going to the civilian hospital for tests.
Might be little bit over $25, but not by much.
 
Catching up as we have been away for tests for DH in the big smoke and got home Friday :) . I hate big cities more than I did before I think with the freeways, overpasses and crazy drivers and people who don't have a clue how to social distance.

Onto savings over the last week and a bit -
- We saved $200 by choosing to stay at the RSL accommodation rather than book into a standard motel.
- Saved $593.50 on buying a good 7pce set of Damashiro kitchen knives with block, a steel and knife sharpener on special and then coupled that with using a 15% off voucher code as well.
- Picked 2 1/4 bunches of silverbeet from the gardens saving $10.13 over buying it in the supermarket. We blanched and froze it for meal sized portions for the freezer.
- Said yes to a friend who had too many food dehydrators and wanted to give me one. I will be experimenting with this shortly.
- Traded a bunch of silverbeet and some saved egg cartons for a dozen free range eggs from a lady in our village.
- Said yes to another friend who was trying to get rid of 4 shovels as they said they had too many.
- Said yes to the local RSL sub branch who insisted on paying us to deep clean the club each week even though we were happy to do it as volunteers. They wanted to pay us $50 a week but we said too much as they had lost their major money making events due to Covid. The $100 a month we will now put into savings.
- With our tax refund we paid an additional months payment off our mortgage.
- Not sure if I mentioned this but went to battle with our bank over the phone to have our mortgage interest rate reduced telling them they were not competitive and managed to get an additional .13% discount despite them already reducing our interest rate down .27%. Always worth a try to save more money :).
- We reached our 3 month living expenses emergency fund and surpassed it and decided to go now for a 6 monthly living expenses emergency fund of which we are 51% of the way there.
- Also reached our home maintenance fund to get the ceiling panels fixed, house stump replaced and tank stand shed beams reinforced. New goal is to save for a solar system for the home of which we are over 35% of the way there to saving for that too after banking our tax refund.

Now on day 3 of not spending any money today but will bust tomorrow as we have to buy some garden grey water hose and other parts.
 
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Spent just $15 but the gas tank is filled on my car.
Had dinner out after having oldest big little grand daughter yesterday.
Break down: $10 for gas.
$5 for dinner
Silence after grand daughter priceless.
But there again grand daughter is priceless too.
Sitting here knitting up washcloth/dishcloths cost free.
Using bits and dabs out of grand daughter's yarn basket(leftovers from other finished projects).
 
Had to buy a battery for my wife's car. A 7 year warranty that lasted 5. So, I got a discount on the new battery.
Then she went to the hardware store... and then grocery shopping. I could have saved a bunch of money not getting the battery. She won't drive my car... The same make model and year as hers but mine is a two door. Mine also has a bit harsher shift in the transmission and the alignment allows it to make really sharp high speed turns. You do have to actively drive it so, it will be my car until the project car is done.
 
Topped up the pantry with a massive $600 + on-line grocery haul.
It'll be interesting to see if I get everything I ordered.

I'll be canning the meat and chicken from the order so I'll spend the day prepping the kitchen for a whole day's worth the canning.
TG. I’ve missed you. Where have you been other than online setting up a monster order 😁Hope all is well.
 

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