Monday, December 31, 2012

Last Groceries For The Year.

Well, this week we did our last shopping for the year. For a change, I was able to go with Hubby who usually does it by himself after work. Shopping is just another chore for him but because I only go while I'm on holiday I always look forward to it. I love to go and read all the labels and squeeze all the fruit; Hubby just fumes and tries to get it over with as quick as possible!

"Grocery" shopping at Shopper's Drug Mart
This week Shopper's Drug Mart had great sales on coffee, peanut butter, paper towels and toilet paper. I saved $56.90 on just 14 items! As an added bonus they were having one of their 20X Optimum point promotions and now I am only a few points shy of saving another $60.00. It still feels weird though to be doing this kind of shopping in a drug store.

Shopper's bill
We were shopping in the Big City this week, and because it is cold outside, we were able to get to our favourite fish mart. They close so early on the weekend that we are usually not finished with our day by that timeand you really don't want to have a bag of fish sitting in a hot car for hours so we come home fishless. This week Hubby bought six pieces of salmon side fillet (enough for three meals) for about $24.00. I'm looking forward to a salmon dinner later in the week.

Yummy, yummy salmon fillets!
The rest of the shopping.
The rest of the shopping was done at the regular old grocery store and while the bill was over $108.00 it did include some expensive items like freezer bags, parchment paper, cocoa powder and corn flake crumbs. Nothing much was really on sale except for the cheese slices and the steak (4 striploins for $11.50). I'm all set now for a good start going into January. It's time to use up the freezer stuff. You know the items bought weeks ago that have migrated really far down to the bottom of the freezer. Yeah,  those items. Time for them to come to the top and get ready for menu planning. I'm not going to buy any meat for at least two weeks.

Superstore grocery bill.
I don't know about you but I  haven’t made any resolutions for 2013 because I really don’t stick to whatever plan I come up with. That in itself can feel disappointing. Lead a good life, appreciate what I have and love the people around me, that's essentially what I try to do every day anyway. So I'm going to go with that. What about you, dear reader? Have you made any resolutions, or any that you think you will be able to keep?

One thing that I am going to do next year is to try some new recipes. This week I am going to make a dish from the Pioneer Woman's site for "Zannie's Black-Eyed Pea Dip". It looks delicious and a good way to start the New Year off with some good luck from eating the black-eyed peas.

So, New Year's Eve is tonight and usually I would maybe have a visit from Granny New Years but, honestly, I have it all and don’t need anything else but love, good health and great friendships and the odd funny joke and a game to be played. C'mon Granny, bring me all that you can of that! Life is good.

Happy New Year!!!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

So, The Apocalypse Didn't Happen...

A Maritime Christmas scene
A Maritime Christmas Card by Cape Shore
So, The Apocalypse didn't happen as promised(?) by the Mayans. I guess that means that we will be able to get on with Christmas after all.

I just wanted to wish all my fellow bloggers, followers, friends and family a very Merry Christmas. May we all feel the joy and magic that this season has to bring and remember to help the less fortunate with our good will throughout the year to come.

I'm a very lucky person in that I do have a full time job which pays out a bonus in the new year. This year's bonus will go to "Because I Am A Girl" and the local humane society. Last year I gave to "Smile Train". It makes me feel good to be able to donate which is why I do but also because I think that I am responsible to do so.

I'm certain this year will be more challenging for everyone to save money as the cost of everything is on the rise. I'm going to be tweaking my budget even more, with Gail's help of course. I have a challenge for myself to pay down more on the mortgage because retirement is close for both Hubby and I.

When I first started my blog it was about the challenge of saving and paying down debt so I'm going to be writing about these ideas again and about the ways I plan to stretch our budget. The first challenge will be about shopping wiser and smarter so as not to waste any food. Now that will be tough because everyone has waste whether it be produce that went bad or unused. I'm going to try to buy less and use more of what we bring home.

Wish me luck and together we can come up with some new ways and ideas to save some bucks.