Eat at Hometober days 4, 5, and 6- couponing- etc

Hello everyone 

For for eat at Hometober

On the 4th, we had leftover roast beef.  

On the 5th, we had delicious lentil tacos again.  

Yesterday,  I made a big batch of pasta sauce- the kind we call Roma Sauce 

where I first told how to make this sauce

  

It’s cooking in an 8 quart crockpot.  

Many containers of sauce went in the freezer and one will be for supper tonight on the 6th. 

 I’ll cook some pasta and green beans from our tiny fall garden.  

About couponing- 

These are not sales you could duplicate exactly but I do want to show you ways to save money, if you are wanting to do that

After I shop at CVS, they almost always put a high value extrabuck on my account or they email it to me.

On these two purchases, you can say that they have sent me four dollar extrabucks  several times. They can be spent on anything.

I like to stack them with other CVS coupons that are usually on everyone’s account

CVS sent me coupons for gold emblem snacks and also snacks in general. And a four dollar extrabuck

These nuts were buy one get one  1/2 off. Cashews are a family favorite!

So I bought two and nicelyntold the cashier I would like to add every available offer on my account to this transaction

I got 3 pounds of cashews for about $14

I was not expecting to get the four dollar extrabuck on this transaction but it was a nice surprise

Then in yesterday’s mail, there was another four dollar extrabuck from CVS

I looked over the other coupons on my CVS app

I saw one that was five dollars off $25 worth of candy

We don’t need any candy at this house, but I was wanting to fill the candy dish at a relatives assisted living home.

So I stacked my two $4 extrabucks with the five dollar off candy.

I don’t have a photo of the actual candy that I purchased because I’ve already taken it to my relative

But I bought six bags of the Hershey brand. That came to almost $24. But it needed to be $25 so I added a bag of peppermint that was a little over a dollar.

So I got six bags of chocolate candy and one bag of peppermint for about  $12.

My relative doesn’t eat this candy, but she does have a large candy bowl. 

There are many workers that come in and out of her apartment and they enjoy having a little treat and it’s just a nice little Thank you, saying we appreciate them.

So I was quite thankful to stock up on treat  for the workers for very little money

I went to Walgreens, mainly just to spend the reward from last week.

(And when I wrote about what I bought at Walgreens last week, I was wrong about my rewards.

Two of them are what are called boosters and had already expired so 

I only had $11 to spend in Walgreens Rewards.   yes, couponing is tricky.)

Walgreens also had cashews on sale. The 8 ounce bags were $2.99 each

The zipper bags were buy one get two free.

The bags are an OK deal, not the very best deal, but I was wanting to add more to my pantry stock.

This transaction was a little over five dollars.

So, if you are wanting to coupon, check your apps for the stores that you want to shop

After you shop there, check your app and your email again to see if they have sent you any personalized offers

In my experience, they tend to send offers for things you have already purchased.

At CVS I am still getting lots of baby offers even though our youngest grand is 4 1/2.  

I have not been back to Dollar General in two weeks.

And I don’t think I will be going back to either CVS or Walgreens again this week.

I have not looked into next week sales, but I don’t foresee myself being a super couponer like the people I see on YouTube or Instagram.

But I am very happy to have stocked up on things that my family really likes-like cashews which are a favorite snack of grand children and husband- and to treat all the workers at the assisted living home

If you’re wondering, I ended up with 5 pounds of cashews. 

I did check the dates on all the packages and all of them are dated well into 2024. 

I am positive my family will eat them before they go rancid.

This weeks to do list looks exactly like last weeks to do list

Because it is the very same list

I got so little done last week, I just re-used the same list for this week and added boxes for the things I really do try to do daily no matter what.

Even though it may be my motto, I don’t always get things done

Hope you are all having a really, really good week!

❤️ Rhonda 

Eat At Hometober day #3

"Will there be lentil tacos in Heaven?"

That is what grandson JJ said the last time he ate lentil tacos here. 

He Really Really likes lentil tacos!

Lentil tacos aren’t everyone’s favorite meal but my husband and I sure do like them and so do our grandchildren 

lentil taco recipe

Today,  I made our favorite lentil taco recipe times 3 in our  big crockpot.  

We had them for our supper,  in flour tortillas with traditional taco toppings. 

A triple batch makes lots of taco filling so I packed up the rest in meal size containers to freeze for future meals.  

❤️ Rhonda 

Eat-at-hometober day 2

I did some bulk cooking today.  

I cooked about 5 pounds of lean top round beef  roast in the crockpot.  

After about 6 hours in the crock pot, it was done and tender. 

I shredded and put in containers.  

4 went in the freezer for future meals like vegetable beef soup, tacos, beef and noodles.   

Y’all will these again during Eat at hometober.  

Supper was 1 container of shredded beef with a green salad and steamed vegetables.  

I used the tiny harvest of green beans from yesterday and supplemented them with some potatoes and frozen vegetables.  

A reader told me I should be saving my green onion tops to regrow.  

I liken to eat the white part so the ends I saved are pretty short but I planted them and will see what happens 

There is quite a bit of root in the soil- I’ll keep them watered and in the sun- 🤷🏻‍♀️

In the kitchen, we made a big change. 

One of the cabinet door hinges broke so after thinking about it,  we just removed all the upper cabinet doors (they are stored in the backyard shop)

We have a friend that is a custom cabinet builder.  He looked over our cabinets another time we were having trouble with one. 

For  an unknown reason, our cabinets were built with European hinges that are very finicky.  

His suggestion was we replace all the hinges but we didn’t want to do that then or now.  

I like no doors a lot.  I like being able to see everything and I think it makes cooking a little easier.

What do y’all think? 

❤️ Rhonda 

Eat At Home-tober, hummingbirds, coupon shopping

Hello everyone 

I don’t have to tell ya’ll about the cost of living 🤯 

We are fine but we have 2 trips planned and needed some home repairs.  

So, to help ease our pocketbook a bit,  I plan on us eating at home all of October- hence the phrase I made up- Eat at home-tober, kind of like Vlogtober, but I doubt it catches on.  

Groceries are expensive but eating out is even more expensive.  

I’ve bought groceries, most of what we should need this month, from the commissary, Kroger and Walmart.

I’ll need to plan ahead to keep this going all month.  

I plan on blogging about it all month if you want to follow along or join in————the more, the merrier, right? 

Today, 3 grands were here so we had homemade pizza.  

Unbaked pizzas

I let the bread machine knead and raise the dough.  I used the 2 pound measurements.  

This is a good, basic crust.  It rolls out easily and thin, like we like it. 

Baked pizzas with fresh fruit and veggies

All 5 of enjoyed it lots! 

I was thinking the hummingbirds had migrated already and then I saw one yesterday.  

So I washed and refilled the feeders,  

I live in the light green belt.  We could see hummingbirds until October 25, according to this graph.  

That’s much later than I would of expected.  I guess we will see but there is fresh nectar  in my backyard to fuel any hummingbirds that stop by.

Last week I did a little coupon shopping at Walgreens - these sales have expired 

Cost was about $27 and I earned $21 for next time.  

I’ve built up a laundry products and paper goods stocks pile in just 2 weeks.  

The candy corn is for a grandson who thought it was a bad deal that I didn’t include candy corn in my fall decorating.  

This week,  I have those $21 in Walgreens rewards to spend.  

I’m not sure what I’ll use them on but I may wait and go Saturday and use this coupon- 

Any purchase that is $45 - and  that is usually before coupons, etc- will earn $20 in Walgreens cash.  

They have many of their vitamins buy 1 get 1 - hopefully some will still be in stock Saturday.  

We will need to replenish our vitamin supply one way or the other anyway. M

But if you plan on doing coupon deals,  please get advice from an expert on YouTube or IG to get the maximum deals.  

❤️ Rhonda 

Last Week of September 2023

Good morning

First, here is this weeks to do list

Last week, I put out some fall decorations on the front porch

And in the dining room 

And living room.  

I have a tub full of fall  decorations from past years. Many of the items are things I’ve made.

The only things new this year are the little mum on the porch that hasn’t opened it’s blooms yet, the leaf garland over the fireplace, and I sewed a short runner for the big dining table.

One change is I took the orange buffalo check table runner that was very long and made it into two, one for the coffee table and one for the dresser under husband’s giant TV. 

This is an awkward selfie by me – the flowers are from my daughter.

They were a fundraiser and activity done by our local high school Special Ed students.  

 I think they are really pretty!

No photos but I did get some sewing done week including another top for me and pillowcases for the guest room.  

I also did some couponing-sale shopping at Walgreens and Dollar General.  I’m very happy with the savings at both places.  

Reading- I finished a kindle book called “Maggie’s Mistake “ by Carolyn Brown.  It takes place around 1900 and is set mostly in Oklahoma.  I enjoyed it a lot and it had lots of surprises.  

Last week was weird but this week looks like it will be normal.  

So,  I hope to blog more.  

Hope you are all well. 

Thank you for stopping by

❤️ Rhonda 

Meals, couponing and homemaking

Meals this week-

Monday was slider hamburgers. I used the leftover Texas roadhouse rolls for the buns.

Also carrots, little potatoes, and toppings for the burgers

I used the second half of that package of hamburger from yesterday and made taco meat.

We had Mexican bowls using the leftover Texas Roadhouse rice, beef, taco toppings

I think this is my husband’s very favorite meal-pasta with homemade sauce, green beans, grated

 asiago cheese to put on top

 Thursday, I made a salad with the last of the fresh vegetables in the refrigerator.

I heated up the leftover green beans and some leftover gravy from Saturday morning breakfast

 and  cooked a few chicken strips from the freezer

  

Nothing too exciting but it felt good to use up things instead of letting them go bad

Every meal tasted good.  

Everything is too expensive right now to waste. 

I tried my hand at some couponing this week

My plan for this week was to hopefully stock up on hair products and laundry products

First, I went to Walgreens because I saw they had a shampoo and conditioner deal.

  

All of the hair care products were on sale and I used a digital coupon on each pair

Everything subtracted just like I wanted it to

The bonus was I ended up with a register reward and some thing called Walgreens cash.

Then I stopped at dollar tree, still looking for the elusive wire pumpkin wreath frames

  

Dollar tree had some quality looking hair care products so I bought a few of them to try

After shopping, I am quite stocked up on hair products

And if you’re wondering why I need so much conditioner, I have thin, fine hair that tangles like crazy..

My daughter and granddaughter inherited my thin, fine, tangly hair too.

So, whenever I wash my hair, I use a big glob of conditioner worked well into my wet hair. 

And then I comb it out in the shower with a wide tooth comb.


Yesterday, I tried laundry product coupon shopping at Dollar General, Walgreens, and CVS

CVS had sent me eight dollars in CVS bucks to get me to come in because I haven’t been there in so long. So I used to that and a three dollar coupon and got a big container of Tide  for think it was $.2.79.  So that transaction went just fine.

At CVS, I got for Procter & Gamble laundry products. They all had digital coupons, but only three of the coupons attached.

Even still, I got four products for about $16. And I got quite a bit of Walgreens cash back.

At Dollar General, I bought four more laundry products. But one of those coupons did not attach either.

After I got home, I added up what I spent.  It was close to $40 for the laundry products.  Then I scanned them on the Walmart app, and they would’ve cost $79 if I had bought them at Walmart so I guess I did OK.

My little laundry product cabinet is stocked back up! 

My deals did not work perfectly but it’s OK.  My advice is before you go to any of these stores, check your digital coupons on your app.  All the stores have different deals right now.  Walgreens has some especially good coupons to get Walgreens Cash.  

The OxiClean Maxforce gel stain pretreater works amazingly well. It’s one of the many products I inherited when our son moved to the Midwest and our daughter moved in here.  I do recommend it if you need to pretreat stains.  

A Homemaking tip

If you have a canister vacuum, where the canister completely detaches from the mechanical part,

the canister can be hand washed just as if it was a dirty dish.

I hand washed my vacuum canister and the filter that is just a piece of foam.

Then, once they air dried,  I put them back on the vacuum.

The vacuum smells so much better when it is clean!

I’ve been watching some fall decorating videos on YouTube 

Have y’all started fall decorating yet? 

 🍁 🎃 🍂 

❤️ Rhonda 

New week to-do list

Good morning everyone

Sunday was very much a rest day here.

 But about 530, I got a second wind and decided to get some of the housework done.

The three grandsons slept and played in this room. So I washed all the bedding, vacuumed and dusted.

I also got a pair of little boy underwear and one sock out from under the bed 😵‍💫😱

Then I cleaned the hall bathroom and vacuumed the carpet in the other three bedrooms

Today, It was very nice waking up to a partially clean home  and knowing I don’t have a really long to do list for the week

Are you making a to do list for your week today?

❤️Rhonda 

End of a good week……

Hello everyone I hope you all had a good weekend 

4 of our grands were here Friday night for a sleepover

2 of them got up and went on an early morning walk with me 

  

Hamming it up 

Mrs. White,  I walk early in the morning because it’s the only cool time to do it.  All summer, it’s usually reached 80 by 8 a.m. and climbs to 100, and that is way too hot for me.  

Early morning walks are especially pretty too so for now, it just been my routine. 

We also visited a relative in an assisted living residence.  

That’s the 3 boys on the way out.  

The boys are 8, 10 and 11 but going down this hall, they all look about the same size.  

Meals the last few days 

Salmon patties, Cole slaw and potato salad inspired by 2 recipe links posted by  Melanie  at Comfy House 

When the grands were here Friday night,  we got a family pack from Texas Roadhouse- a big salad, chicken critters, fresh rolls, seasoned rice and steak fries and lots of condiments.  

  But I didn’t get the photo until after plates had been filled.  It’s our favorite takeout and it’s a lot of good food for about $40.   And the leftovers are delicous too!  

This weeks Kroger delivery 

I think it was about $32

There was a second pack of buns I put straight in the freezer.  

The ginger snaps and tortillas were Free-Bees this week.  

Kind of shocking what groceries cost- and as usual, I only shopped sale items except for the celery, green onions and bananas. 

A good book I just finished - I read it on Kindle Unlimited but I imagine it is available at libraries and other online book borrowing services 


Good night everyone 

❤️ Rhonda