Frugal In Florida

It's Saturday. Saturday afternoon, matter of fact. 2:15pm at this very moment. I am sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a slight headache (too many beers last night), listening to hubby and sonny boy tear apart the wood deck right outside the window. Hubby went and bought himself a BFH. Ok, I will not elaborate what a BFH is, but it has a long wooden handle, and a 6 lb weighty thing at the end. And it's for big jobs. Such as tearing up the wood deck. Sonny Boy is using the big crow bar along with the crow bar screw driver looking thing (would that be classified as a BFSD?) The sawzaw (??) and the chainsaw have both made appearances. I've got 911 predialed on both the cell and the house phone :) One can never be too prepared. The alternative was for me to go shopping and blow my budget. Sonny Boy has just put on work gloves. After 2 hours of this. But then comes in and ask for a stick of deoderant (?) and a papertowel. After he washes his hands real well and dries t...

to stick with it at least to the end of the MONTH! Stopped by Publix this morning down the street from work. 1. Looking for a coupon book 2. Looking for more wine tag coupons ($1 off salad) 3. Wanted a banana (or 2) for the office Didn't find the coupon book ... Got me some more wine tags for $1 off bags of salad AND $1 off one avocado (!!!!) Got me some coupons for $1 off pack of EXTRA gum and any cola (thinking dasani water bottles) ... AND picked up: bag of coleslaw $1.49 one lonely Hess Avocado $1.49 2 bananas. After my $2 off coupons, paid $1.41. Darn bananas cost almost as much as the coleslaw and avocado. Geesh, 69 cents per lb. So ... I'm good to go. I want to make turkey, avocado, spinach paninis Teriyaki Chicken Thighs and Sesame noodles , Chicken Cesar Salad, BBQ pork and coleslaw ... but now thinking more like smoked beef and coleslaw, baked taters and broccoli and cheese soup. And ... the rest of the pasta . No particular order or day. Just...

Recently, I was talking to a girlfriend of mine who made a confession that surprised me. She was slightly offended that her boyfriend of over a year did not introduce her as "My girlfriend, K..." Hmmm. This was really an issue for her.... That made me think. When I introduce my hubby, do I say, "my husband, M?" Or do I say "this is M, my hubby" ... or simply, hold his hand, arm, waist, etc, and say "this is M"? I think all 3 ... and then I thought of how he introduces me. First off, before I go any further into this conversation, you need to know a few things: he's my high school sweetheart, meaning, the honeymoon is way over... we know each other better than most people since we've spent over half our lives together... we are not touchy, feely, clingy (you know the type) and are very secure in being OURSELF yes, we do complete each other, but do NOT feel that our life is incomplete without the other (does that sound wrong??) Whe...

Continues ... for the next week. Sunday would officially be the end but I really think I need to continue on into February. $30 a week sound reasonable? That's $10 per person (cat not included, but he's got caught up in the stockpiling frenzy too) ... I have done HORRIBLE. Ok. Not 'that' bad, but bad enough where I feel it was a failure. Ok. Maybe that's a little dramatic (who, ME?) We have emptied out some of the older stuff. Donated some stuff. THREW AWAY some stuff. But I've also bought stuff. The first 10 days started out pretty well. Stayed away from the stores. But then something happened. Oh. Yeah. I had friends coming over. Hubby decided he didn't want to pat out the hamburger so I had to go back to the meat section and buy patties in ADDITION to the ground beef. Oh, yeah. Then I needed chips. And instead of buying beer, I decided I would drink wine. Oh. No. You better get some beer, just in case (mind you, I had not had a beer since before ...

Well, sort of. As you read, I fell off the wagon, or rather, succumbed to pressure ... or ... lack of enthusiasm? There are so many ways to say it: I am having a very difficult time!!! Oh, I know. I'm not the only one. And it really does take a lot of will power AND support of other family members!! Princess was coming over on Tuesday evening to visit (this, in itself, is just a whole 'nother story which this is not the time NOR the place) and I wasn't sure if she was staying for dinner. I wanted to be prepared. And perhaps make her all time favorite, chicken picatta. Of course, had I known this BEFORE I left the house Tuesday morning, I could have taken the chicken and sauteed shrooms out of the freezer, but you know, real life kicked in yet again :) So with GOOD INTENTIONS, I stopped at Winn Dixie (less likely to get sucked in as I HATE shopping these stores) ... have my 2 $1 off coffee coupons for the current b1g1f sale ... and head in. Walk out spending $34. With 5 ...

We always start out with good intentions, right? :) Hubby seems to be in the mood to eat out lately. Not your typical run of the mill fast food places though, japanese takeout, sweet tomatoes, italian joint (non pizza, strictly go there for the garlic rolls) and a little place called Ernies. Most of the places are running under $30 for the 3 of us with coupons. I've done very well on the shopping front though! I didn't step foot in a store for 10 days! 10 days folks!! I mean, heck, I got the milk from Walgreens for 50 cents less than the store ... hubby swears it doesn't taste as good, but him and Sonny Boy drank it all. But then yesterday came. The end (at last!) to our brutal cold snap we had. Finally, people want to hang outside, eat, drink and be merry! Woohoo ... I know what the term cabin fever means now so I'm all in! Of course, I'm NOT prepared to entertain, meaning nothing defrosted, but that's ok, I was thinking along the lines of burgers and dogs...

Day 5. How many more days are there in this month?? It's 39 degrees this morning, the start of day 6. I could eat soup every stinkin day at this rate ... uggg. Brrrr Ok,focus, focus, focus. Day 5. Tuesday. Only Tuesday? Breakfast, cereal, egg & bacon on bagel. Oranges Lunch, salad, soup, rest of ham for sandwich for hubby Dinner, scounge for something on your own guys. I'm tired. Sonny Boy found a pizza (where did THAT come from??), hubby had mac & cheese with turkey (??) The pizza? Ummm. Well. Hmmm. Winn Dixie had a sale going on. Not a GREAT sale, but with my coupons, made it much better. 2 pizzas, 1 bryers ice cream, 1 box mozz sticks, 1 box garlic breadsticks, 1 2 ltr bottle of coke, $11.47. And I had $1 off 4 of those items, so the price was $7.47. Of course, bought a few other things, such as coffee creamer, but not milk or eggs. Duh.

Has been: Of course, mine is not black. Nor is it sleek & state of the art looking. Rather, it's a faded white, almost dingy cream looking, dating back probably from the late 1980's. Oh. And the reason its frugal? It was dumpster dived (doved?) / retrieved back in the late 90's. And the reason it's the most used? Because its been borderline freezing cold down here in South Florida. I've got the heat cranking on both sides of the house. I know, 43 is not cold by alot of your standards right about now, but for us it is!!! Oh, and the headline I find of interest this morning? This extended 'chill' may just kill off the iguanas! Ok, not that I wish they were dead, or die off, but rather, relocate anywhere but MY yard ... this is sort of 'good' news!

Day 4. Only 4 days into it??? Stopped at the store on way home from work. Needed: eggs, cat food, lettuce, sandwich bread. For $12 (all on a Publix gift card), bought sandwich bread, iceburg lettuce, 4 value size boxes of nature granola bars (yogurt ones are highly recommended & yummy, $3 for all 4 boxes), 4 100 calorie nabisco snack cakes (ok, these are a RIP OFF as there are 5 sleeves in each box, with 3 cookie/cakes. That's only 15 for $3??? Thankfully they were b1g1f with my $1 off on top). 2 6pks bottle water for Sonny Boy for school (99 each after coupon). Bypassed the eggs. Think I can get the big crate cheaper at GFS. Bypassed the cat food. Think (and that would be a big BOLD think) that Target has a giftcard offer going on right now for the cat food that I buy. Breakfast, cereal, leftover cinnamon rolls and egg/bacon on bagel. Lunch, pb & jelly for Sonny Boy (his request), salad, soup for me & hubby (hubby also had a ham sandwich on sandwich thin bread I ...

Day 3. Isn't it sort of wrong to start something like this when you are home for 3 to 4 days straight? I mean, I get a little stir crazy ... Actually, it wasn't all that bad. BUT I did need to run to the pet store for chewey scratchy flea medicine (the not so thrifty part of having a pet) and had a small list for store: eggs, bread, pizza rolls, cat food, tomatoe soup and spaghetti-os . Yeah, I got everything EXCEPT eggs, cat food, and sandwich bread. Uh huh. $12 later and what do you know?? At least Sonny Boy will have food to make a quick meal with when he gets home from school. Let me explain before you all say WHAT?? He eats breakfast at 6am. Gets to school at 6:50am. Eats lunch at 10:50. Gets home at 3:40. Now, can someone please explain to me who planned THAT lunch hour??? Yeah, he's ravished by the time he gets home. At least I get a little time when I get home from work for the "Whats for Dinner" question, which BTW, will be tacos tonight. Anyways, b...

Day 2 ... a little more difficult than Day 1, not sure why. Oddly enough, we have "nothing" to eat. He. How many of you out there here that, or even say that?? Dinner ended up being macaroni & cheese with leftover ham and green salad. For some reason, it didn't give me the usual warm and fuzzy feelings. I made bacon with bagels for breakfast. Lunch was munch all you want on leftovers (still). Been making a month long menu plan based on what I see in the freezers and pantry. Will post shortly.

And .... wholewheat pizza crust organic hd buns (don't use for buns) dinner roll (brown & serve 1/2 pk slider rolls flatout bread cheddar jack cheese parm/romano cheese swiss (shredded) parm cheese cheddar cheese mozz cheese Provolone slices fake crabmeat shrimp raw grouper large shrimp raw tilipia coconut shrimp bananas strawberries blueberries strawberries smoothies grape juice apple juice limeade chix breast perfect portion pork tenderloin chicken italian sausage chicken apple sausage sweet pork tenderloin sweet pork tenderloin turkey bacon cheddar brats ham steak hamburger ground turkey Roll sausage hot dogs boca crumbles pepperoni (box) beer bratwurst sausage links (breakfast) chicken stirfry breaded chix tenders sausage patty (cooked) ham hock turkey breast cooked chix breast poached chix italian sausage roast beef (10 oz pkg) crab cakes (reg) sausage roll chix breast chix thighs (bone in) ground sausage steak meatballs small 1/4 ham kiabalis smoked sausage crab cakes min...

Day one was not so bad. We had leftovers all morning and day from New Years Eve (honeybaked turkey breast, ham slices, variety of cheeses, wings, etc.) and then for dinner, Hubby asked if I found any red sauce in the two freezers that I inventoried (still need to do the main kitchen one) and YES, matter of fact, I did find some! So dinner was garlic rolls and pasta with my red sauce and green salad. Sonny Boy had a friend over...they snuck in very very quietly while I was doing the Wii Yoga. Ummm, that Palm Tree stuff? Not so much a good thing for me. Wii says that I need to work on balancing my right side ... huh.

Brrrr...January 2, 2010. 7:35am. Current weather conditions: Clear Blue Skies, east, north, south and west Light breeze from the Northwest Current temperature (according to my weather station): 48.2 degrees. HOLY CRAP! Folks, this is cold for us. We live 3 blocks from the ocean and directly on waterway...it never ever gets REAL cold this side of town ... and tomorrow? Well, just check in and see! I'm thinking I may have to turn on the heat (???!!!!) in the morning!