I’m off to a very good week of saving money. Starting first with my propane bill. Since I only need to be ordering propane now, once per year, thanks to the installation of our new wood pellet stove, I purchased 200 gallons of propane at $3.09 per gallon. (instead of 1200 gallons per year….this is already a HUGE savings!) Toss in an uptick in the delivery charge and my one annual bill came to $625. I paid for this using a new rewards credit card that instantly gives you $200 back as soon as you spend $500 in the first three months. I waited till a billing cycle passed which means my credit card bill won’t be due till August. So, my propane bill got reduced to $425 BUT that’s not all. Since I referred my husband to use this card, I got a $125 cash referral fee, thus reducing the propane cost to $300. That’s a total savings of $325 off an energy bill! Score!
Next came my bathing suit bill. The only thing in clothing that I will be buying this season is a 2nd bathing suit. It’s not good to rely on one bathing suit, as I did last summer, because we go swimming in our community pool almost daily. Have you looked at bathing suit prices this season? Most are over $150!! Since I’m a mature body type, I can’t get away with bandannas or bikinis. I need a bathing suit with support, cover, tummy control, yada, yada, yada. These features don’t come cheap. I bought this years bathing suit from Land’s End. If you purchased a newly, full-priced article of clothing from them, you got a 70% discount by June 7th. Needless to say I bought a two-piece tankini, with all the mature attributes, at an original price of $147.90 BUT using the discount code, I got the suit for only $67.95. I had to pay the $9 shipping fee BUT there was no sales tax on the purchase. Bottom line, final price was $76.95. I saved $79.95 on the purchase. Score!


I scored some points food shopping for meat this week. My local supermarket had a BOGO free promo going on. If I bought one pack of 85%lean/15% fat chopped meat, I got the second one free. This brought down the per pound cost to $3.09 for good quality chopped beef. I’m going to weigh the meat out in one pound increments and vacuum seal them for my freezer. Savings was $12.50 for the free package.

Next up came my cell phone service. For years, I am certain, I was overpaying my bill by using AT&T. My bill, for 3GB of data and two shared lines was $113 a month. I got unlimited talk and text, plus 1GB of data (we really don’t use our phones that much) with Consumer Cellular for only $38 a month. We kept our own numbers, there was no charge for the SIM card and shipping was also free. We got a little bit more of a discount using our AARP membership account. That’s a savings of $75 per month!

Lastly, came our dog. She needs annual meds for tick control. Normally we buy the meds from our vet, but those prices are sky high. I was able to use a discount coupon for 20% off and sign up for automatic deliveries once every year, giving me another 35% discount. So, instead of paying $77.50, my bill was reduced to $47.04 including tax. Shipping was free. I saved $35.50 on this annual order.


Every.single.thing.I buy HAS to be at a discount. I can not afford to pay retail for anything anymore. And that’s fine. I may not be able to earn much money but I certainly know how to save money. A penny saved is a penny well earned.
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Nice to see your blog, I lost you in the shuffle of changing my blog up
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Great savings! I get coupons for dog meds from my Vet. I paid $233 for a year’s supply of tick and heartworm meds for our 75 lb puppy. (I like your cost a whole lot better!)
I might try to reinstitute my CVS’ing savings again. I’m sure there are savings to be had everywhere, we all just need to look.
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Hi Sharon. Thank goodness for savings! It’s a girls best friend!!
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I purchase the yearly CVS CarePass and use the $10 monthly pass with their ExtraCare coupons and weekly ad. I take advantage of their free shipping when you buy one CarePass product. I usually get over thirty – forty dollars retail for around three dollars. This is my second year and still loving it. Sincerely, Lara
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I have never done well at CVS. I have no idea why I can’t master this store! Without coupons the stove is expensive!! Ugh. Good for you!
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Hi Cindi, Macy’s is having their 30% off Friends and Family sale and their tankini and swim shorts sale prices are about what you got at Land’s End.
Yesterday I was planning my trip to my 50th high school reunion. Took advantage of Hilton Honors rewards and getting seven nights of my room and full breakfast daily for free. I also got a new Chase checking account with $250 rewards using towards reunion reception ticket, and gas.
My local Market 32 has thighs and drumsticks for 99 cents a pound this week and starting Sunday $1.69 boneless half or whole pork loin and 99 cents whole roasting chickens. I will be filling my freezer at these prices.
Love discounts, too.
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Lara, I checked out Macy’s and could have gotten a suit for around $89 with all the discounts. then they charge sales tax and delivery, so it wasn’t prudent. At least for my size. That’s fantastic with your Hilton Honors. 50 year school reunion. WOW! I think if I eat another chicken thigh I will scream! I miss my chicken cutlets. Hard to find right now. And we’re all stocked up with pork too. If I eat another pulled pork sandwich I’m going to join the thigh crowd and scream louder! This week coming up, however, Shop Rite is selling NY strip steak at $5.99 a pound! I’ll probably buy 4 to 6 steaks and just pay the reduced price, whatever it totals. I miss red beef! And these will go great on the BBQ. My freezer needs a serious defrost BUT it is loaded with so much stuff it’s going to be difficult. I’ll think of something. But it had better be soon. LOL!
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Chicken thighs make great cutlets to use as country fried chicken and lazy cordon blue, chicken tacos or fajitas, and chicken salad lettuce wraps. Sincerely, Lara
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Lara, that’s great advice. I love country fried chicken. I’m going to try that. Hubby just called me from Aldi. They only had one package of boneless chicken breasts for $3.99 a pound! It was always $1.69 to $1.99!! They did have chicken thighs and legs, so he bought two pacs each of those. Your comment came in just at the right time. Now I know how to prepare those thighs!!
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Cindi, It’s relatively simple to peel the skin off the thighs, trim out the bone and then use a meat mallet on both sides to make a thin cutlet. Use your usual country fried chicken coating. You can also add a slice of cheese, half slice of cooked bacon broken up or ham -roll thigh around and sprinkle with season bread crumbs and bake at 350 convection toaster oven about 45 minutes not preheated. you get more meat with chicken thighs then drumsticks. Pork is my go to meat for Chinese dishes. I make my own wontons with my pasta machine and grind the pork for the centers with an old fashion hand grinder. I also love thinly sliced pork marinated in little soy sauce, tablespoon oil, and sprinkled with cornstarch for ten minutes with zucchini, tomatoes, and minced fresh garlic stir fry. Sincerely, Lara
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Hi Cindi, this is Chris. Great post, I like when you do these kinds and break down how you do them. You give me ideas I hadn’t considered. We all have to be creative these days.
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Absolutely, Chris. These were all things I needed. Not wants. I gotta look good at the community pool, right? LOL!
Treasure those coupons and discounts. They really do help.
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You are so creative! Nice savings!
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