The living room, however, is in good shape. Very late Friday night/very early Saturday morning, about 3:45 a.m., in fact, Dancer helped me to declutter (he jumped up on the mantel and knocked down and broke the vase in which I had the azaleas), sweep (up the pieces of broken vase) and mop (the water from the broken vase)! He must have known that I hadn't met my goal of decluttering 100 items in March and tried to help! Later Saturday morning, after I had woken up properly and had a cup of coffee, I noticed I had missed one piece of broken vase under the sofa, so I swept a little more. The flowers were transferred to another vase and kept on top of a bookcase. Only the white flowers are remaining. It's been a week since I received them.
For brunch, I decided to cook my last remaining egg. I scrambled it with some of the canned corned beef I had (need to freeze the rest of it). I cut up a small orange and added that to a glass of water to make infused water.
Saturday afternoon, I went grocery shopping to buy the coffee, that was on sale, for my daughter. I posted about that, already. There were other bargains to be had, too, but I resisted them because I had spent my March grocery budget and more! There will be other sales, another time. Certain things go on sale on a regular basis, although sometimes, the new sale price might be higher! But there is only so much one can stock up on and use while they are still good, isn't there?
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| Dancer Inspecting the Groceries |
After I came home, I ate some of the strawberries and had a cup of tea.
Later, in the evening, I finished cooking the chicken legs (drumsticks) I had bought earlier in the week and had partly cooked. The drumsticks were huge! I asked the butcher to cut each one in half for me. I had made a curry with the top half of five of them. The rest, I had sauted in a pan with onions and soy sauce, etc. I ate a couple of them, that night, as they were and they were OK, but lacked flavor. So, yesterday, I recooked them and added more ingredients to them - a couple of cloves of garlic, some chopped celery, some tomato, and a little bit of green bell pepper strips (I can only tolerate a small amount of it in a dish, otherwise, it gives me indigestion! I sliced up and froze the rest of the bell pepper to add to other dishes, in the future). In a separate pan, I boiled some cut up red potatoes, and added a cut up carrot, and some green beans to it towards the end. One can add/substitute any kind of vegetables, of course - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, other types of squash, etc. Then, I added them to the chicken and sauted everything together. It was a sort of stew, but a dry stew, without gravy. I had a serving of that for my dinner.
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| Chicken "Stew" |
There are still more carrots, green beans, the cucumber, and the small head of broccoli remaining for later in the week, plus most of a head of lettuce.
I finished the rest of a container of blueberries for dessert. I still have the second container of blueberries. Maybe I should make a fruit salad for tonight's dessert.
My Aunt C called me while I was making dinner and we had a nice, long chat. She is still having a cough and still taking the doctor prescribed medication for it! She has asthma, too, so coughs often turn into bronchitis for her.
After dinner, I did the dishes, wiped down the stove top and the counters, wrote to my friend, video chatted with my daughter, and wrote my grocery spending blog post.
On Saturday, I was grateful for:
- Dancer helping me to declutter and clean!
- Grocery deals and bargains
- Being able to go over the budget, on occasion, if needed
- A relaxed day
- Being able to taste and enjoy my food again
Although, that latter might be a mixed blessing! I have a tendency to over-indulge, when the food tastes good, and, as a result, the scales have been going up!
I think you're right about resisting sales. Most sales on staples come round regularly. It's knowing when it's really an unmissable bargain, that's the real skill LM x
ReplyDeleteLyssa, yes, one needs to keep tabs on those sale prices. I used to keep a price book, where I'd note down the regular prices, sale prices, and those "loss leader" sale prices that are designed to entice the shopper into the store. I kept it up for some time, but, eventually stopped because I was able to recognize the deep discount bargain prices. I am noticing that the new sale prices on some items have gone up, so I have learned to adjust. Butter used to go on sale for $1.99/lb, but now, $2.50/lb or even slightly higher ($2.59/lb) is the best price. So I stock up when that happens and ignore the "sale" price of $3.50, unless I am completely out of butter. Regular price is $3.99 on store brand and $4.50 and higher on other brands. If one didn't know that it goes on sale, occasionally, for $2.50, one might think that $3.50 was a good price.
DeleteThat's the risk of having a cat. They sometimes knock over things, and sometimes on purpose. Like to get the flowers or the water in the bottom of the vase. I'm not saying that's what Dancer was doing, but that's what one of my cats would have done.
ReplyDeleteWell, Dancer likes flowers. He likes to smell them, maybe eat them, or, at least, take them out of the vase to play with them! My fault for leaving them out! I am actually very surprised that he let them be for as long as he did! :D I think he's trying to tell me that I need to grow more cat grass for him!
DeleteWow! You have been one very busy lady. I woke up this morning to 5 posts from your blog. Did I lose a week somewhere? Ha,ha. When my son left home and took his cat Brucie with him, I was once again able to bring in flowers. He was forever tipping over vases, on purpose, to "enjoy" the flowers.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that I am constantly going over the budget, but this weekend I discovered that I don't "really" investigate it properly. I think it is important to honestly examine what the numbers mean and make a plan of action. Having just said that, I went out on Saturday and spent $40 without a blink of an eye. What is wrong with me??
Your chicken dish looks yummy. I had something similar last night....my precooked chicken thighs with onion, yellow and orange pepper, green beans, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower and mushrooms in butter, but slowly "steamed" with a lid on the fry pan. I call it stir fry, but it would be stew if I added potato.
Ha, ha, Susan, let's just say that I felt like writing blog posts, yesterday! :D
DeleteYour chicken dish sounds good, too; a variation of what I made.
I think budgeting is a little like being on a diet for some of us - the minute I go on a diet, I start craving all the things I can't eat! If I try to cut out carbs, for example, then, all I want is bread, rice, potatoes, etc. I think of a budget as a spending plan - I list out all the categories I spend on, then, determine an amount I am comfortable spending in each category, an amount that I can afford, given all the other financial constraints and goals that I have. That gives me the "permission" I need to either spend or carry over that amount to another month. If my craft supplies category is $10/month, then, I may spend $10 and not feel guilty about it - it was a budgeted, planned for expense. Same with eating out - I budget $25/month for eating out/entertainment. I can use it to buy a $5 hamburger once a week, two $12.50 Thai food lunch specials from the farmers' market twice a month, or a special meal out with a friend once a month. Or, I can save all or part of it and carry it forward to the next month, so I can enjoy a meal out when my daughter visits, next. When I do that, I don't feel guilty about spending $40 or so to go out for lunch with her, because it is a planned expense. If you don't want to break it down to such detailed categories, I'd say to allocate $25/month (or however much you want) as an allowance for you. To be spent as you please on whatever you like - crafts supplies, books, eating out, etc. It is a budgeted expense. But, once it is gone, that is all for the rest of the month. Would doing something like that help?