Frugal In Florida

I really am not much of a Kmart fan. I suppose it goes back to the store being OLD and in a not so great area of town here in Lauderdale. Oh, and the employees. Not quite sure where they train them, but clearly, customer service is not stressed enough. BUT then Sears came in the picture. AND now, well, the store is clean. Open. Bright. Clean. The employees, well, they are still there. I’ll leave it at that. THEN – they announce in the Sunday paper, that they will be DOUBLING coupons! Woohoo!!!!! I think (need to check) that this is for a week or so only. Guess what else they are doing now (again, need to double check) … LAYAWAYS!! So, if we can get SEARS quality stuff (not THE best but acceptable by most standards) at Kmart on layaway with double coupons. Well. Need I say more?

Woohoo! It was 54 degrees at 5am this morning at my house! Felt so good to NOT hear the ac's pluggin away! The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show is this weekend (starts tomorrow & runs through Monday). I scored 4 free tickets. I've given to hubby to see if any of his friends want to go. I don't think any of our friends are looking for a new boat at the moment (actually, I don't really think ANYONE is buying a new boat right now). Had told hubby that we should go over to the convention center & check out all the goodies there (remember, I have a $98 gift card!!!) but he doesn't really want to go. Would be nice if it could stay cooler like this but I think it goes back to 80's on Friday. Bummer. The sky is just that crystal clear blue that comes when it gets cold out. I so miss the cooler weather! Of course, I'm freezing, my toes & fingers are numb and feel like ice, but yes, I would love to move back north (Indiana, Michigan, Illinois) ... but I don

Took out the rest of the ground turkey yesterday so I could make the chili for today since it’s our first official cold front!! Woohoo!! Hey folks, it was 58 degrees this morning at A1A and Sunrise Blvd. It don’t get that cold normally oceanside! Brrrr…. So this morning at 6:30am, after the kids left, chopped the onion & garlic, tossed in skillet with ground turkey & cooked. Opened up 3 cans of spicy chili and one can of northern beans (why you ask? Because I can) 2 cans of tomato sauce and 1 can of chicken broth Toss in some chili powder, cumin, oregano, pepper & salt … and I think there may have been something else there but not sure (hey, it was still dark outside!)drained turkey (with onions & garlic) and added to crock Stirred it up. Put lid on. Plugged in and pressed the button 3 times for 8 hours of cooking time on low. Washed skillet, knife and cutting board. Put in dish strainer. Set oven to come on at 6:45pm at 400 degrees. Placed large cookie sheet on cou

Had to run into Publix after the gym (remember the post about my grocery list?), and of course, made the mistake of calling the kids to let them know that I was stopping & was there anything they needed? Ice Cream Gatorade or some other juicy juice stuff Ok. Mental note to add that to my short list. Edys ice cream, b1g1f HOT DOG! $5.15 Grape jelly $1.79 Kens dressing $3.29 … hmmm. That has gotten more expensive (b1g1f, got 4) Gallon milk $3.59 8 pk powerade $5.79 (gatorade was $7.09. What an odd price) 2 bags of hearts of romaine lettuce $3.09 Lucky charms, b1g1f $3.95 NOT on my list but heck, couldn’t pass up. Suppose I should have held out Trash bags (15) $1.79 Sunlight dishsoap 99 cents Bananas $1.87 (69 cents lb!!!) NOT on my list but have been craving them. Bread $1.29 So, I had one measly coupon, $1 off powerade. My freaking total was $35.40. Of course, “ohhh look, you saved $20.17 today!” YEAH but I had to spend $35.40 to get there! Oh well. I have $4 and change left

So I get these little perks from the office, $98 visa gift cards. I always intend for it to be something special, for the family or what not. I mean, I bought the ice cream maker. I bought a cool mixer. Same with the blender. Oh yeah, I got the iron & ironing board too. Hmm. I guess maybe it really goes to the household. Regardless. I have another one, just came in today. Should have another one in a week or so. I’m torn as to what to do. a. Go to Kmart, put the Xbox on layaway with $98 down. b. Go to grocery store & stock up well on stuff for the kitchen c. Go buy some new clothes d. go buy turkeys, lots of them e. save and give one to each kid for Christmas (problem with this is that you have to remember how much $ you have left, otherwise rejects if over the limit or you remember to tell the cashier you want to put $X on the card & pay the rest with cash or whatnot) f. go hunt for one of the big heavy pan that the pioneer woman keeps giving away & I keep missing!!

Was absolutely terrific. The weather wasn ’t the best, but at least it didn ’t rain rain. Just a sprinkle. The doo ran great. The drive was good, truck was good. 2 hours & 100 miles even from our house to the inn. Wow. We had decided beforehand to pack breakfast & lunch foods and only go out for dinner to cut costs. So I took cheereos ( dh fav at the time), yogurt , and milk. I also brought bread, mayo & dijon mustard, cheese and turkey for sandwiches. Tossed in those little lunch bag size fritos & cheetos that the kids won’t eat and the cheese & crackers (same deal). AND brought along 2 shrimp cocktail rings, cracker spread & these awesome whole grain crackers. Of course, sodas, beer, water, pina colada mix, vodka & jack. So we were set. Woohoo . Walk in to our room and the first thing I see is the 2 burner stove & fridge! WOOHOO !! Told dh , drats , wish I had known. Would have brought a skillet & some real food to cook! As it was,

I’m looking at a grocery list that I made last night when we got back from our trip: Garbage bags – there is 2 left in the box Milk – ½ gallon left Bread – ½ loaf or less Kens salad dressing x 4 (b1g1f) Dish soap (bottle was empty??) Lettuce or salads (b1g1f) – on quest to be healthier Grape jelly – someone, not sure WHO, has been eating & almost empty I’ve given myself $40 in my wallet and NO American Express or debit card. This is going to be my new MO. So why do I make a big deal about this? BECAUSE!!! All of the websites & blogs that I visit are talking about the economic downturn, the fear of recession/depression AND dh & I have just agreed, last week, to start being a little more conservative than we already are. Of course, this did NOT affect our weekend trip. Well. Sorta. We did eat IN for breakfast & lunch and went out for dinner (read other post on this deal). So of course, when you start to cut back on spending, the first thing to get slashed is the fo

In TWO weeks, we get to go vote for the next President of the United States. How many of you know for SURE who you are voting for? How many of you, like ME, still haven’t decided yet (as I type this, I envision my home phone ringing non-stop with all the political message recordings!)? Lets see. Does it even matter what I am registered to vote as? (Republican, in case you really wanted to know). Does it matter that I do NOT vote straight Republican? We have: 1. John McCain & that mom from Alaska (am I the only one that refers to her as that?) 2. Barack Obama (obamamomma) and that dude that had his eyes & hair done I believe Ralph Nadar on the list again this year which makes ds very happy, although I’m not sure why. You can go to this website www.votesmart.org and put in your state to find out who could be on your ballot. At this time, there are a lot of selections!! Holy smokes I need to start doing some more research.

I found a new website yesterday that provided some GREAT coupons to print off (ds favorite, pizza rolls, $1 off). www.becentsable.net I didn't spend a whole lot of time on the website, but did print off the Hunts coupon ($1 off), Pizza Rolls ($1 off) and a few others. With the price of groceries still high, figured I better start getting them coupons again for the things I buy frequently. I know, I know. I go through these periods. BUT it irritates me when I pay full price for something that I KNOW I've seen a coupon for!!

I am still trying to get in the groove of getting dinner together quickly at 7:30pm Monday through Thursday. It’s hard, if not close to impossible. BUT with a little planning, I’ve been able to do it most of the time. Easy enough, Thursday, because I watch Surivor with ds, we almost always do soup & sandwiches. It’s almost a fend for yourself type of dinner in a way. Other nights are planned leftovers from the freezer. And then there is the advance prep … like this morning, I cooked up the ground turkey & made my taco meat at 6am. Actually, I had wanted to do that last night but was just too tired and dreading the 5am wake up call. I also will make pasta in advance. Everyone can just nuke in microwave & put whatever they want on it (dh & dd put brocolli, garlic & olive oil, ds puts sauce and me, I ususally toss a little with lettuce & add parmesean & cesear dressing). Chicken is made almost every weekend, then cut & placed in serving size containers

This was found on cnn.com on Thursday, October 16th. I sent it to dh with no comments. Generally, I think Glenn Beck is a little radical (at least his televised show is borderline) BUT I have a tendacy to agree with just about everything in the article. DH & I had a little conversation about it (over cocktails) Thrusday after dinner. We discussed how last summer (18 months ago) we were in the pool one Saturday with a bunch of friends and how we are looking out over the intracoastal at the new McMansions and commenting how we never saw anyone outside, enjoying the beautiful view. Then I piped up and said well maybe they have to work alot to pay for it (were talking $3M and up homes). One of our friends who was in the mortgage business, stood up in the pool & said "in 2 to 3 years, you watch, all those homes will be in foreclosure & the banks will have to take ownership". Holy crap! He was right. It's just amazing, because you know what, I think EVERYONE s

Ok. They weren't bad. They weren't to die for either. The kids & dh complained that the house smelled funky when they came in. Honestly, it kinda smelled like a sewer smell. Not sure why but it did smell odd. I took the lid off & cooked the juice down some. They were ok. Edible. I think next time I would use beef ribs with bone. The ones I used were boneless countrystyle pork. They were frozen so I coudln't trim alot of the fat off ... I hate fat in the crockpot . DH ended up throwing the chicken breast I had marinating in Ken's lite cesear dressing on the grill (that was to be Friday's dinner) ... oh well.

This morning I have the crockpot all fired up to make my dinner while I'm at the office all day long. I know, some people flip out about leaving the slow cooker plugged in AND on all day long. The only thing I worry about is overflow, so I always, always, always put a baking sheet under the crock while I'm gone. Ok - say your one of them people...you equate the crockpot to an iron, left on all day. It's gonna burn the house down. Ummm . Maybe you have one of them really really old crockpots ? The one that your grandmother got for her wedding present? Perhaps, its time to break down and buy a NEW one. One of them SMART ones ... ok , so I'm a little excitable (could be the 3 cups of coffee too!) Target, just this past weekend, had the big red ones on clearance for $19!!!!!! Crumb! I have the large black one. A smaller (5qt?) older one (with the cheesy flower pattern & the old fashioned brown crock, PLASTIC lid - so it's not that old!), a smaller one (3qt

I would like to know just WHO gets the calls for those political polls that they keep using as a meter for the lead in the presidential election. I mean, I've been a registered voter for, oh, 26 years now. AND I have never received a pollster calling me. Believe me. NEVER. I've received some of the most annoying recorded messages however to not vote for so and so because they voted for this or that, but never a live poll. Hmmm. Would it be, because, maybe, because I'm Republican?? That doesn't necessarily mean I vote straight Republican ... come on, I'm tempted to vote for the independent dude this year only because I don't have faith or confidence in either candidate and we only have 3 weeks (LESS!) to go. I did not mean to yell, here and there. Forgive me. Im off to find some paradoy of all this madness on youtube (you know it's out there!!)

For the past 2 hours, since 5:00am (!!) I've had to listen to this "CHIRP" every 30 to 45 seconds from the smoke detector in the hall by the guest room. Which coincidentially, is almost directly behind me. I'm hard of hearing and man, that thing is loud and annoying. Ok, I get the reason why ... but do you think ANYONE else in this house has heard it?? Apparently not, it's still chirping away!! So, you may be asking yourself, why don't I change the battery? Because a) that is not something that I do and b) I don't think I have any 9 volt batteries. See, the last time I unscrewed the smoke detector from the mount, I failed to remember that our detectors are wired to the alarm system. Well, I inadvertently (in my haste to finish the damn project) pulled the wiring & oops, broke the connection. That was not fun. So. Here it is is, now 7am. Do you think anyone hears it yet??

I SWEAR I can hear the Ikea store calling my name. Drats. That was my plan today. Drive all the way west to Ikea. My ONLY holiday off without the kids. Drats. Boss told me Thursday that I had to come in & work today. Drats. I'm sure I could have protested in some form & maybe negoitated a half day? Drats. On the other hand, I'm thankful I have a job. And have money. To spend at Ikea on another day.

We went on the boat Saturday. Should have been a great day. It was a great day. But we stayed up a little too late on Friday. Dh (in my opinion) had a little too much to drink so he wasn't quite rarin to go in the morning. Our friends were to be at our house at 10. Of course, it's the same friends who came by the night before. I got up at 6:30. Cleaned up a bit (of course!) and then headed to walmart NM to pick up beer, water, gatorade/propel & ice. $80 later (of course!) I get home at 9am. Dh was on the computer messing around. Said he was turning off boat monitoring system. Ok. Next thing I know, he's messing around with a light on the boat. Does this really need to be done NOW when we have friends coming in 40 minutes?? Grrrr. So that kind of set my mood. I got out of it though. We went to Boca Lake (if you want to see, click here: http://lakebocacam.com/ ). Grilled the big hot dogs. Had another boat & friends show up. They brough JD. Not a good thing. Hone

We are finally going to do something for our 18th Anniversary! Woohoo. We are going SOUTH (young man) to Key Largo, Islamorado, Plantation Key, Tavenier, whatever you really want to call it!! The place we are staying is here: www.coconutpalminn.com It looks beautiful. Of course, they all do on the internet!! But the main reason we picked it was because it's on the Bay side AND has a boat ramp & dock and NO extra fee for the seadoo trailer overnight. The place that we've stayed at before www.pcove.com was really a neat place BUT they wanted to charge an additional $30 a night for the trailer. Hmmm. I thought that's what we paid 8 years ago for a 30 foot boat at the dock? Anyway. I'm really excited. I will pack a cooler with milk, sodas, water, etc. Lunchmeat, mayo/mustard & salad stuff. I am going to attempt to eat out of the cooler for breakfast & lunch with dinner only out. I don't know how cheap it would be. I know that the travel industry i

I’m not sure if this is nationwide or just a south florida thing … but we can get McDonalds hamburgers for 49 cents & cheeseburgers for 59 cents on Wednesdays and Sundays. I was looking for an easy way out for dinner on Sunday … still cost me $14 though … 10 burgers (you want cheese? Toss a slice on when you get home) and 4 large fries. As ds points out, large fries are like $2.50 each … he would know that!! Oh well. It was good junk food fast. Well, not so good. But it did hit the spot!

Well things are looking better (at the time) for the price of gas. Just filled up Dd’s car (well, really, it’s mine but she drives it ALLLLLL the time) for $35.00 … $3.29 per gallon. Much much better. Amazing as I just put $50 worth of gas in the Tahoe last Monday for $3.5* a gallon (can’t remember exactly but I know it was 30 cents or so more per gallon.

So we have 10 minutes or so before the market closes for the day, and GUESS WHAT?? It's down 600+ points! So. How many people are really concerned? It amazes me when I hear people say, oh it will come back, and so on. But you know what, WE (my husband and I) lost over $30,000 in the month of September on our retirement accounts. That is my annual salary. I basically just lost one year of pay in one month. And September wasn't even THAT bad!!! Ok. Deep breath. Whew. We ARE still going to Islamorada at the end of October. Its our 18th Anniversary. The kids should be thrilled that we will leave them alone again. They just wanted to be sure that we were around for Halloween (how odd is that??!) We are excited as we will drive the Tahoe and trailer the seadoo down for some cruisin. This will be my 2nd time to the Keys by car. We used to always go by boat and then the last time we drove and I was like "wow, that's what it looks like from land?" like a little kid.

This is in response to a post over at http://titus2345.blogspot.com/ Gallon milk 2% - $3.29 (Costco this past weekend-cheap!) 5lbs potatoes $2 (Walmart neighborhood market)apples $1.29 Oranges 3lb bag $3.29 (Costco) Bananas 50 cents/lb (Walmart Neighborhood Market) lettuce (iceburg head) 79 cents (Publix has a new “essentials” thing going on so this is now half price) Cucumber 89 cents is normal going rate. Can get them 5/$1 if I drive out to produce market Tomatoes $1.19 to $3.99 lb … 89 to 99 cents lb if I drive to produce market can’t wait for garden to come in! Carrots 89 cents 1 lb bag. I generally get a 5 lb bag at produce market for $2ground beef $2.49 all the way to $4.99 (for better stuff) Chicken $3.99 for b/s breast going rate ($5 for 3 lb frozen @ Walmart NM last weekend, got 3 bags, should have gotten lots more) pork chops $3.39 center cut boneless. Costco has it cheaper but I don’t normally buy them. I buy the tenderloin for something like $3.29/lb cold cuts (

I think I would choose to live way out in the country, with acres and acres of land and have cows, a few horses (I suppose that would be a necessity?), dogs, cats, kids (mine), hubby (mine) and perhaps a few friends/family members living there too. I would LOVE to live on a working farm/ranch. Sure, it sounds 'glamarous' to me, a city girl. I wasn't always a city girl. Believe me, when I turned 18, I was just looking for a way to get out of town!!! Chesterton Indiana. Wow. Rural land. We were thrilled when McD came to town! Even more excited when Pizza Hut came in. We would catch the SouthShore train and ride it to Chicago. Talk about awe inspiring. I was petrified, yet so giddy with excitement the first time, and even the 20th time! Now look at me. I do take time to enjoy the sites of downtown Ft. Lauderdale. I enjoy my ride in to work better. Down A1A with the ocean on my left and then west on Las Olas Blvd with the water on both sides of the street & a row of

So do you think it’s good or bad when your employer gives you the news 2 months in advance that your healthcare premium and costs will be substantially more expensive in 2009. DH just sent me an email stating (again) that he’s only going to say this “once”, if anyone has any pending health issues that need to be looked at, to do it now. I am starting to think that he may be concerned for his company and his job. Hmmm. That does not make me comfortable at all. Used to be, heck, if worse comes to worse, we have our savings/investments to tide us over but now it’s like WHAT savings? I believe our statement shows we lost over $30K last month (September). I’m sure it’s not over yet (although the market is DOWN and then way UP within minutes … freaky!)

That was me this morning on way to work: went to gas station by house, and all the tanks were wrapped in yellow caution tape. Hmm. I think they were out of gas. I hope that's what it was. Went to the 711 down the road on way to office, put in $50 since my tank was almost below 1/4. Ran in to Publix for dishsoap, and realized I needed toothpaste too. Then remembered I have one gift card left with $18 on it so picked up 3 of the smaller bottles of gatorade (6pks) for kids lunches. $17.xx later. Geesh. Of course, sitting here in the office, phones are QUIET ... eerily so, and the stock market is tanking again, down over 500 at one point which really sucks. I think it's around 400 now but still, that should say a LOT about that 'rescue bill' aka bailout bill aka screw the people bill. Sorry, I just don't think that my kids, their kids, and those kids should have to pay for the greed (and stupidity) of big banks and execs. Oh well. Just an fyi - I DO have rice, some

Yup. That's what happens every single time. I get bored. Start pacing the house. Get a teen asking for a lift to the movie theater. Me saying, sure, I wanted to go to Costco ANYWAYS. Huh? $285 later (so $50 of it was my membership renewal). What did I get that I had to have? Good question. Remember, just spent $145 at Walmart Neighborhood Market. Like this is really continuing the 30 Days of Nothing motto!! And I still forgot to buy dishsoap!! I have, like NONE. Not even the bottle anymore. so, let's see, what does $284 (minus $50) buy at Costco anymore? I'm telling you, the prices have changed there AND I was telling DH, it didn't seem anywhere near as busy. He said it's because of the economy & people aren't out there charging things up on their cards. I say it's because of the weather. Probably a combination of both. I got: 50 pk frito lays chips, 2 pkgs of 36 crackers/cookies, pkg of multigrain crackers, tangerines, 10 lb sugar ($4.75, better pr

Would have been delicious had I used all white flour. Just not a wheat flour fan. Here's how they looked right before I was ready to bake: I just don't like whole wheat flour and the flavor when I bake with it :( Next time, it's all white flour, regardless of what dh says!

So tonight we are making garlicky baked chicken, salad and these dinner rolls found here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/pw_dinner_rolls_-_no_kneading_required/ It's kinda like ones I've made in the past, but the no knead part has gotten me. I substituted 3 cups of white flour for whole wheat, only because hubby was grumbling because I told him that I would prefer NOT to have his double baked taters this evening ... I pointed to my newly slim stomach & said that I was trying to keep that. :) Oh well... so he grumbled about the all white flour (he has this weird belief that whole grain is better, but not necessarily as this was HOME made) so I asked him if it would make him feel better if I added some whole wheat flour in. Not sure what it will do to the final product, hopefully not a whole lot of anything!!! I'll keep you posted how they turn out. OH - the website is cool. I spend too much time on there. But heck, she's enteraining as hell and I'

Oh yea! I got to leave work an hour early on Friday and headed up to the new Walmart Neighborhood market on Federal Highway. I've been watching the sign for 2 years, waiting for the day. Honestly, I thought it was a done deal, not happening any longer, cuz it took so darn long! So...off I went. Got there about 4:30. On a Friday. Parking lot was mobbed. Yikes! Grabbed a cart outside, figuring it would beat trying to find one inside. Good deal. Great deals!!!! So, I bought 62 items & spent $145. I know, I know, I just came off the 30 days of nothing. Holy Smokes, 3 days later & I'm blowing $ left & right Here's what I got (with sale price/regular price): strawberries (1 lb pkgs got 4) 98cents/$2.98 cantelope (bougth 2) 98 cents/$3.98 bananas 50 cents lb kiwis 3/$1 fresh pineapple 98 cents/$3.98 12 pk corono lite (bought 2)$10/$13.99 12 pk heinekin lite $10/$13.99 24 pk coke products (bought 4) $5/$5.98 1 lb frozen tilipia (bought 2) $3/$4.98 3 lb b/s chix

Ahhh...at last, we can feel the change in the tempeture! I believe they said that it would 'only' be a high of 85 today! Uh huh. It's October 2nd for petes sake! And apparently, we had some kind of front that is bringing us dryer air. Woohoo! Lower humidity, lower temps (hey, we were still hitting close to 90) and NO rain! Better make sure I check the garden this morning before I leave for work. The thing that I don't like about this time of year? The sunrise & sunset times. We haven't changed our time yet (fall back one hour) and the sun isn't coming up & out until 7:15 am or so. Not to mention, it's been rainy & dreary for the past week, so more like 'what sun?'. Plus, when I leave the gym at 7 or so, I have to turn on my headlights because it's kind of getting to that iffy time of evening where you can't really see certain cars (grey). I have a white car but still. The pool is probably done, by my standards. DH was in las

$ NOTHING!!! It would be only fitting, right?? Wow. I really think I should continue this. Maybe not on such a level, but really, it wasn't that hard. I DID restrain myself. Maybe not as much as others, but hey, I had $450 leftover in my account when I deposited my end of the month payroll check. Rolled that right over into my savings account. That will pay for the kids Bday gifts (16 & 18 in December!). I do see a costco trip in the very near future. I have a list going & was actually thinking of trying to limit myself to $100. But I don't think that will work. Butter is on the list (2 sticks left in freezer). Chix thighs. Ham & turkey lunchmeat (can get it cheapest there) and a bunch of other things that we 'like' from there. Hmmm. Is that a sign?? OH - Walmart is FINALLY opening this "neighborhood market" today down the road from me. Well, it's about 4 miles away but a lot closer than the BIG store. I'm excited. It's "part

$ - 16 to the 2 kids, 8 each. School only on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday this week. I know that somewhere last week I got $40 of gas but don't think I posted it? I can't believe the month is almost over. I mean, it didn't seem 'difficult'. But then again, I don't think I really showed that much restraint. Sure, I thought twice about some things, but other times, it was as if the extra money in my account was there, so why not buy 2 drying racks instead of one. At least I did do a bit of comparison shopping. Breakfast - eggs, toast & sausage patty lunch - kids usual, me & dh had salads with chicken (freezer) dinner - tacos. Originally I was going to make quesidillas and had sauteed all the veggies on Sunday (peppers were starting to get soft, so it was a perfect excuse) but then when I did freezer inventory, found some taco meat that I had frozen last time. It's a good thing to do inventory! The gym was an awesome workout. I didn't lose any