January Frugalistas

[BarbecueMom]

37 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Grocery spending.  

Our goal is $800 for the month, but that includes everything.   Food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, pull ups.  All food for 7 everyday.  We don't eat out at all.   Kids are home everyday.  I don't think that is bad at all.  But I am trying to see if we could cut it down. 

$35 so far

Honestly, we're over that for at least the past few months, for five people, and that's with food alone, not non-food items.  There are lots of reasons for that: stockpiling the new freezer, gluten free baking items, holiday sales on more expensive items, food items used for non-eating purposes (gifts, science projects, etc.).  We also eat every meal at home.  21 meals a week, for everyone, every week.  No church potlucks or family dinners or school/work lunches.  We do eat a lot of beans and rice, and all of our leftovers, but it just adds up, especially when I have to buy gluten free versions of "cheap foods". It was a pain in the butt to find lentils and black eyed peas without cross contamination warnings!

We have optimized and pared down in every other spending category, but food is still tricky.

I have enough of a stockpile built up now that I can challenge myself to stay under $500 for the month.  $600 might be more realistic, but we'll see.  Tonight's the first shopping trip, Aldi and two local chains.  If I can stay under $100 for all three stores combined, I'll be thrilled.  I still have to do a monthly Costco and Sam's run on Sunday.  I have a Costco membership, and my mom has a Sam's membership, that was we can take advantage of both stores.

[mommyoffive]

Yeah I don't think that $800 is that much for 7 people 21 meals a week.  Plus a big dog.  And all our household things.  But I think we might be able to get it lower. I would like to try for $600.  I think that will push us to not waste food.  Not eat meat tons.  Lots of rice, eggs, noodles, and beans.  All good things for you. 

[cjzimmer1]

I haven't posted much in these threads but have always read them.  Our monthly budget for 8 is $900 for food only items.  Our going out to eat budget is set for 1 meal a month so that is pretty much our full food expenses.  This month I'm trying to keep it under $600 but under $500 would be even better.  Next month our half of beef will be ready so I need to accumulate extra in the grocery budget to cover it (otherwise I end up using the tax refund money but with the changes I don't know how that will fare this year and I also have to pull our property taxes out of the refund and of course they keep going up).  But we are pretty stocked and our church does a Daniel fast for 3 weeks in January so not buying any milks/cheese/sugary snacks/convenience foods (most of our meat is bought in bulk from farmer's so no savings on meat) should help keep the budget lower.  

I'd love to buy some more organization/storage containers but the household budget is pretty thin from Christmas so I keep telling myself it can wait but of course when the urge to clean/organize hits it's tempting to plunge ahead because it much easier to do those tasks when I'm in that kind of mood.

[Soror]

Good surprise, we realized that we did not deposit dh's refund check from his financial aid for college. It should be just about enough to cover the extra from his summer classes (his financial aid pays part, then his work covers 75% of what is left but with all the classes he is taking we were going to have a bit of a bill left).

re: groceries- Family of 6- we can easily hit $800 a month- If I really work it I can hit $600- this month I'm aiming for $500, we'll see how I do! 

 

[HomeAgain]

I'm almost embarrassed to say what we spend on groceries.  Our budget is $250/week for 4 of us.  We've been hitting under $200/week recently due to a slight bit more management and attention, but even so.  And it's not like we buy a lot of junk food!  It's all fresh fruits, veggies, meat (cheaper, sale cuts), eggs, dairy (1/2 gallon milk, 2 blocks of cheese, 1 container of sour cream and 1 container of plain, store-brand greek yogurt each week).  I make our own pasta mostly, we cook from scratch, we rotate menus to reuse ingredients...I'm in awe of all of you doing more with less.

[AmandaVT]

9 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

I'm almost embarrassed to say what we spend on groceries.  Our budget is $250/week for 4 of us.  We've been hitting under $200/week recently due to a slight bit more management and attention, but even so.  And it's not like we buy a lot of junk food!  It's all fresh fruits, veggies, meat (cheaper, sale cuts), eggs, dairy (1/2 gallon milk, 2 blocks of cheese, 1 container of sour cream and 1 container of plain, store-brand greek yogurt each week).  I make our own pasta mostly, we cook from scratch, we rotate menus to reuse ingredients...I'm in awe of all of you doing more with less.

 

I looked at our end of year trends on Mint and was horrified to see we averaged just under $1500/month for food over 2018. That includes coffee shops, eating out, etc. But, yikes. That's nuts. Things were so tight for so long for us, that I think when we were finally making more money, we just loosened things up too much in the budget. So, I want to tighten the belt again, but be careful not to let DH feel deprived because he has some issues with that from childhood. He gets anxious when he feels the cupboards are too empty. We should be fine on $200/week though. 

I also try not to buy much junk food. I try to get the bulk of our shopping done at Trader Joe's and I use Amazon subscribe and save for a bunch of stuff to save as well. It's hard though. 

Doing well so far this week - I haven't been to the grocery store since Sunday. DS and I went to our favorite coffee shop today - he bought his steamer and cookie with a gift certificate that he got for Christmas and I bought my coffee with a full coffee card I had been saving up. So, no money out of pocket! 

[cjzimmer1]

6 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

I'm almost embarrassed to say what we spend on groceries.  Our budget is $250/week for 4 of us.  We've been hitting under $200/week recently due to a slight bit more management and attention, but even so.  And it's not like we buy a lot of junk food!  It's all fresh fruits, veggies, meat (cheaper, sale cuts), eggs, dairy (1/2 gallon milk, 2 blocks of cheese, 1 container of sour cream and 1 container of plain, store-brand greek yogurt each week).  I make our own pasta mostly, we cook from scratch, we rotate menus to reuse ingredients...I'm in awe of all of you doing more with less.

Don't be embarrassed food costs vary so much from one area to another.  Also with a smaller group to feed you can't take advantage of bulk pricing quite the same way as I can.  I can go to the local grocery store and buy a 5 pound bag of red potatoes for $3-4 but I can go to the Amish grocery store and buy a 50 pound bag of red potatoes for about $10.  I have no problems going through that quantity before they sprout but not everyone can.  Multiple that kind of savings across many products and it adds up quick. 

Also dairy products are pretty cheap here.  16 ounce of sour cream is less than $1.00, commodity cheese (cheddar, colby jack, mozarella) can all be had for under $3 a pound (regular price not sale).  I actually make yogurt but a gallon of whole milk from Aldi's cost $1.99 so even with $1.00 for the starter, it only costs me $3.00 for a gallon of yogurt (and my instant pot makes it so easy to make compared to the other methods I've tried that I actually make the time to do it now).  Eggs have been 48 cents a dozen at Aldi's for several months now.  I do get stuck on milk products because only 2 people can drink regular milk and the lactose free and speciality milks add up a lot faster.  I can totally see how anyone with special dietary restrictions is going to spend a lot more on food than those without.

 

[hjffkj]

4 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Yeah Walmart is the only store in our town.  Small town.  I don't mind it.  They don't do online grocery shopping there.  I tried it once and liked it, but dh doesn't really.  He would like to save money and shop at Aldi.  It is cheaper.  He scored some 80 cent 1 gallon milk.  This is the second time he has.  Milk at Walmart in our town is 2.89.   And we drink a ton.  I am sure we could save lots if we changed what we eat.  Like cereal, chips, and ind. wrapped food.  But we eat that stuff.   We should also eat no meat more often.  It would be nice to get it down to $600.  We shall see. 

Oh that is the dog food too.  

We do waste a lot of food too.  I would love to be perfect on all that.  

 

I've tried to shop at Aldi but their produce selection is way too hit or miss for me, we eat a lot of fresh produce. We also don't drink much milk at all.  One gallon will last us a week if I don't make yogurt, if I make yogurt then that is 2 gallons a week.  most of that milk goes into baking, no one drinks it regularly.  We also don't do cereal.  We do two bags of chips, one tortilla and one something else every week, once it is gone it is gone.

Our $600/month includes dog food, diapers, wipes, toiletries, and cleaning products(not that I use much other than baking soda, vinegar, and sometimes bleach.)  Toilet paper we get in bulk at the restaurant store that my dad and I go to maybe once a month or every other month.  But we aren't buying it monthly, more like  every 6 months. I have a stockpile budget of $50 a month for anything like t.p. that we buy in bulk.  I do not spend that $50 every month though, and having it usually helps lower the monthly grocery bill more that $50 because if I see meat at a rock bottom price I get as much as the $50 will cover and freeze it.  

It took a while to get our budget where it is but at the time a low grocery budget was a necessity so I had to make it work.  Now that it isn't necessary I still keep it low because we eat really healthy meals and everyone is satisfied.  And when your kids think that a box of cereal is a special treat it makes it easy to treat them inexpensively.

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, hjffkj said:

 

I've tried to shop at Aldi but their produce selection is way too hit or miss for me, we eat a lot of fresh produce. We also don't drink much milk at all.  One gallon will last us a week if I don't make yogurt, if I make yogurt then that is 2 gallons a week.  most of that milk goes into baking, no one drinks it regularly.  We also don't do cereal.  We do two bags of chips, one tortilla and one something else every week, once it is gone it is gone.

Our $600/month includes dog food, diapers, wipes, toiletries, and cleaning products(not that I use much other than baking soda, vinegar, and sometimes bleach.)  Toilet paper we get in bulk at the restaurant store that my dad and I go to maybe once a month or every other month.  But we aren't buying it monthly, more like  every 6 months. I have a stockpile budget of $50 a month for anything like t.p. that we buy in bulk.  I do not spend that $50 every month though, and having it usually helps lower the monthly grocery bill more that $50 because if I see meat at a rock bottom price I get as much as the $50 will cover and freeze it.  

It took a while to get our budget where it is but at the time a low grocery budget was a necessity so I had to make it work.  Now that it isn't necessary I still keep it low because we eat really healthy meals and everyone is satisfied.  And when your kids think that a box of cereal is a special treat it makes it easy to treat them inexpensively.

 

I totally agree that Aldi's produce is hit or miss.  Sometimes it is fine and then sometimes dh won't even buy the stuff I want because it all looks bad.  I wish that we didn't drink much milk.  Lots cheaper. Dh is huge drinker, the kids aren't that much but still with cereal and oatmeal and then usually one glass a day, it goes fast.  I don't drink much, just again with my morning meal. 

We eat a ton of fruits and veggies too. 

A restaurant store?  I never even would have thought of something like that.  I wonder if we have one around.  Do you just buy TP from there?   Or do you get meat there?  I admit I a like nice TP and I hate when dh buys the cheap stuff. 

I am really going to try for $600.  I always think that just saving $200 a month isn't that much.  But to me when you figure out how much it is per year, yeah it adds up. 

 

Edited January 3, 2019 by mommyoffive

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, soror said:

Good surprise, we realized that we did not deposit dh's refund check from his financial aid for college. It should be just about enough to cover the extra from his summer classes (his financial aid pays part, then his work covers 75% of what is left but with all the classes he is taking we were going to have a bit of a bill left).

re: groceries- Family of 6- we can easily hit $800 a month- If I really work it I can hit $600- this month I'm aiming for $500, we'll see how I do! 

 

 

Score on the check.

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Don't be embarrassed food costs vary so much from one area to another.  Also with a smaller group to feed you can't take advantage of bulk pricing quite the same way as I can.  I can go to the local grocery store and buy a 5 pound bag of red potatoes for $3-4 but I can go to the Amish grocery store and buy a 50 pound bag of red potatoes for about $10.  I have no problems going through that quantity before they sprout but not everyone can.  Multiple that kind of savings across many products and it adds up quick. 

Also dairy products are pretty cheap here.  16 ounce of sour cream is less than $1.00, commodity cheese (cheddar, colby jack, mozarella) can all be had for under $3 a pound (regular price not sale).  I actually make yogurt but a gallon of whole milk from Aldi's cost $1.99 so even with $1.00 for the starter, it only costs me $3.00 for a gallon of yogurt (and my instant pot makes it so easy to make compared to the other methods I've tried that I actually make the time to do it now).  Eggs have been 48 cents a dozen at Aldi's for several months now.  I do get stuck on milk products because only 2 people can drink regular milk and the lactose free and speciality milks add up a lot faster.  I can totally see how anyone with special dietary restrictions is going to spend a lot more on food than those without.

 

 

An Amish store?  I don't think we have those around here.  Dumb question are they on Amish land or are they just own by an Amish family? 

[SamanthaCarter]

There's only so far you can push on a grocery budget before you start to sacrifice health and nutrition. Protein and veggies cost a lot!

[cjzimmer1]

41 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

 

An Amish store?  I don't think we have those around here.  Dumb question are they on Amish land or are they just own by an Amish family? 

It's in the Amish community (we have one about 45 minutes away) but I wouldn't call it Amish land just because there are farms owned by non-Amish mixed right in between the Amish farms.  They have lots of different stores bakeries, grocery stores, cheese factory, cabinet makers, furniture maker etc.  But it's all spread out and there isn't really much for signage so you pretty much have to know that Otto sells tables and, Marvin sells quilts and Levi owns the grocery store and so on. You could spend hours driving around checking all the different shops if you wanted.  They will happily tell you about the other places and how to get there but you gotta ask.  I did get a hand drawn map once and that has been very helpful to navigate but I've never seen one since (I've photocopied it at least a dozen times because mine keeps wearing out and I want to always have a readable copy). Anyways that was the long answer to say if you don't have an Amish community you probably don't have an Amish grocery store (although I suspect the Mennonites might have something similar if you have any of those around).

[Soror]

3 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

There's only so far you can push on a grocery budget before you start to sacrifice health and nutrition. Protein and veggies cost a lot!

For sure and we all have different circumstances- different COL, stores available, dietary needs and preferences, family sizes etc. 

We are a gluten free family and I strive for a whole food diet. It is relatively low COL and I primarily shop at Aldi's and sales at Kroger's and odds and ends here and there. Right now I'm focusing on in season/sale veggies and whatever meat is on sale, stocking up on things(like butter, cheese, almond milk) when I catch them cheap. This week's groceries were $116 but I only paid $56 b/c part I used a gift card on (we got a gift card for Christmas but I used cash to buy a desk/bookshelf). I didn't think about it being a 5 shopping trip month when I set the goal for $500, we'll do what we can and see where we end up. More beans baby 🙂 

The bed is SOLD, woooohoooo!!!! Dh will be depositing that money tomorrow. I thought I had a serious nibble on the phone but it looks they weren't serious. I told ds if it is not sold by this weekend I want him to put it on eBay. Not a single nibble on my chair I'm trying to sale.

[SamanthaCarter]

Soror, what do you buy at Aldi? I have trouble finding anything that is a better price than Walmart or the Kroger sale price, but we are not gluten free. Is it the specialty gf stuff? 

[BarbecueMom]

The goal was under $100 for grocery shopping today.  Final total... $59.62!  And so much easier to put stuff away when I got home, lol.

 

[Soror]

 

 

7 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Soror, what do you buy at Aldi? I have trouble finding anything that is a better price than Walmart or the Kroger sale price, but we are not gluten free. Is it the specialty gf stuff? 

It varies based on sales but in general- meat, produce, almond milk (unless it is on super sale at Kroger), butter (ditto sale-). Cheese is usually on sale from Krogers. I don't buy a lot of gf specialty items- except gf wraps, bread (I've tried 1 million recipes and none have been good enough especially for ds taking lunch to school), and noodles (penne at Aldi's and rice stir fry at Krogers). A few canned good items ie I buy canned chili beans and dried beans. Regular gf bread from Wal-Mart cheapest price and the kids like it best.

I try to hit loss leaders and good deals at Krogers - and round it out w/ Aldi's

[HomeAgain]

Is anything better/cheaper at Aldi that is shelf stable?  We have one that I pass about once a month, but it's an hour away from us.  We're done with our heavy baking this year but if they have good prices on that sort of thing I can keep them in mind for next year.

[BarbecueMom]

24 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Is anything better/cheaper at Aldi that is shelf stable?  We have one that I pass about once a month, but it's an hour away from us.  We're done with our heavy baking this year but if they have good prices on that sort of thing I can keep them in mind for next year.

I know my butter, baking powder, and powdered sugar are all from Aldi.  I usually get chocolate chips from there, but didn’t end up needing many this year.  I do use the milk and dark chocolate bars for melting and coating truffles.  I also buy ghee (for stovetop popcorn), sweetened condensed milk (I make my own coffee creamer with it) and evaporated milk (for queso and cream sauces) there in the baking section.  Oh, and canned pumpkin! Because of my reflux, I use pumpkin for anything with tomato paste (soups, chili), and it’s about half price.

GF specific items we like are the pretzels (wheat pretzels taste like barf to me, these are good), French fried onions (use on salads and baked potatoes), and knock off Larabars/protein bars.  Their store brand Rice Krispies are gluten free (name brand are not), and I use them to make chewy granola bars.  Everything is labeled better for GF there, as long as I remember to read the label before buying.

My list was pretty small for Aldi yesterday (gallon of milk, 11lb chicken breast, OJ, eggs, 6lb bananas, 3lb apples, 3 cucumbers, 2lb carrots, 1lb box organic spring mix, 3lb mandarins... some other produce I’m forgetting), but my total there was $39.99, and $17.02 of that was the chicken.  That being said, Walmart here is a chaotic madhouse and I try to only go in once a year for the rare thing I can’t find anywhere else (last year it was badminton birdies).

Also, we have sales tax on groceries in MO.  It’s 6.35% at the Aldi I shop at.  I know some states don’t.

[mommyoffive]

13 hours ago, soror said:

For sure and we all have different circumstances- different COL, stores available, dietary needs and preferences, family sizes etc. 

We are a gluten free family and I strive for a whole food diet. It is relatively low COL and I primarily shop at Aldi's and sales at Kroger's and odds and ends here and there. Right now I'm focusing on in season/sale veggies and whatever meat is on sale, stocking up on things(like butter, cheese, almond milk) when I catch them cheap. This week's groceries were $116 but I only paid $56 b/c part I used a gift card on (we got a gift card for Christmas but I used cash to buy a desk/bookshelf). I didn't think about it being a 5 shopping trip month when I set the goal for $500, we'll do what we can and see where we end up. More beans baby 🙂 

The bed is SOLD, woooohoooo!!!! Dh will be depositing that money tomorrow. I thought I had a serious nibble on the phone but it looks they weren't serious. I told ds if it is not sold by this weekend I want him to put it on eBay. Not a single nibble on my chair I'm trying to sale.

 

Yay for the bed. 

Ugh, I think I will leave the grocery budget where it is.  I should have looked at how many weeks this month has before I set that.  Note to self. 

Dh hasn't fixed my laptop.  He said it has the blue screen of death so it isn't a good sign.  Nice that we had bought another one because we knew that would happen.  

Dh spent $6 at Aldi.  Got some 50 cent gallon milk.   Sweet. So we are up to $41 for the month so far. 

I am turning down the heat a bit to save some money.  It is really warm for us, so it isn't that hard. 

I found something I lost that would have been $$$ to replace. I have been looking for it for weeks.  I can't believe I found it. 

Checked the bank account and it was way higher than I thought.   Still have to pay credit cards in full this month though.  

Edited January 4, 2019 by mommyoffive

[mommyoffive]

11 hours ago, BarbecueMom said:

The goal was under $100 for grocery shopping today.  Final total... $59.62!  And so much easier to put stuff away when I got home, lol.

 

 

Score!

[mommyoffive]

A good Swagbucks or mypoints deal

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/swagbucks-sign-up-for-gobble-meal-delivery-get-33-back-2-for-six-meals/

 

Anyone need holiday cards?

https://hip2save.com/2019/01/04/20-tiny-prints-new-years-cards-only-1-27-shipped/

Edited January 4, 2019 by mommyoffive

[SamanthaCarter]

I think the reason that I don’t save much at Aldi is that the savings are on the ingredients I don’t really compromise on. I buy $6/gallon milk and I think it’s worth it. I buy chicken from a local free range farmer. DH has tried all of the almond mills and truly prefers Simple Truth unsweetened over all other brands. The lettuce I like is $1.99 at Walmart, same as Aldi. Loss leaders on produce between Walmart and Kroger make a trip to Aldi not worthwhile. But I always feel like I’m missing something when people talk about Aldi savings...

[Baseball mom]

6 hours ago, BarbecueMom said:

I know my butter, baking powder, and powdered sugar are all from Aldi.  I usually get chocolate chips from there, but didn’t end up needing many this year.  I do use the milk and dark chocolate bars for melting and coating truffles.  I also buy ghee (for stovetop popcorn), sweetened condensed milk (I make my own coffee creamer with it) and evaporated milk (for queso and cream sauces) there in the baking section.  Oh, and canned pumpkin! Because of my reflux, I use pumpkin for anything with tomato paste (soups, chili), and it’s about half price.

GF specific items we like are the pretzels (wheat pretzels taste like barf to me, these are good), French fried onions (use on salads and baked potatoes), and knock off Larabars/protein bars.  Their store brand Rice Krispies are gluten free (name brand are not), and I use them to make chewy granola bars.  Everything is labeled better for GF there, as long as I remember to read the label before buying.

My list was pretty small for Aldi yesterday (gallon of milk, 11lb chicken breast, OJ, eggs, 6lb bananas, 3lb apples, 3 cucumbers, 2lb carrots, 1lb box organic spring mix, 3lb mandarins... some other produce I’m forgetting), but my total there was $39.99, and $17.02 of that was the chicken.  That being said, Walmart here is a chaotic madhouse and I try to only go in once a year for the rare thing I can’t find anywhere else (last year it was badminton birdies).

Also, we have sales tax on groceries in MO.  It’s 6.35% at the Aldi I shop at.  I know some states don’t.

 Can you tell me how you use the pumpkin in these dishes?  Does it taste different?  I have a ton of pumpkin in the freezer and I have reflux so interesting. 

[SamanthaCarter]

6 hours ago, BarbecueMom said:

I know my butter, baking powder, and powdered sugar are all from Aldi.  I usually get chocolate chips from there, but didn’t end up needing many this year.  I do use the milk and dark chocolate bars for melting and coating truffles.  I also buy ghee (for stovetop popcorn), sweetened condensed milk (I make my own coffee creamer with it) and evaporated milk (for queso and cream sauces) there in the baking section.  Oh, and canned pumpkin! Because of my reflux, I use pumpkin for anything with tomato paste (soups, chili), and it’s about half price.

GF specific items we like are the pretzels (wheat pretzels taste like barf to me, these are good), French fried onions (use on salads and baked potatoes), and knock off Larabars/protein bars.  Their store brand Rice Krispies are gluten free (name brand are not), and I use them to make chewy granola bars.  Everything is labeled better for GF there, as long as I remember to read the label before buying.

My list was pretty small for Aldi yesterday (gallon of milk, 11lb chicken breast, OJ, eggs, 6lb bananas, 3lb apples, 3 cucumbers, 2lb carrots, 1lb box organic spring mix, 3lb mandarins... some other produce I’m forgetting), but my total there was $39.99, and $17.02 of that was the chicken.  That being said, Walmart here is a chaotic madhouse and I try to only go in once a year for the rare thing I can’t find anywhere else (last year it was badminton birdies).

Also, we have sales tax on groceries in MO.  It’s 6.35% at the Aldi I shop at.  I know some states don’t.

Okay, so I did a little back-of-the-napkin estimate on your shopping list and if I paid going rate here for battery milk, eggs and chicken, your total is in line with the prices I pay. Whew. Maybe I'm not missing anything? Who knows? I know Aldi is really good for Maple Syrup, but Big Lots is better, so I'm a year stocked up on that. 

I LOVE the pumpkin puree idea. I need to push back on tomato products for DH's sake, and if I have histamine issues, for mine too. I had no idea I could sub pumpkin puree for tomato paste. 🙂

-=-=-=-=-=-

I went down to city hall this morning to contest my real estate assessment. Not that I think mine is that far off, but that the neighbor with same age house, same lot size, same square footage, better maintained house is consistently assessed at over 17% less than mine (that house has no price history, possible updates without a building permit). I'm not sure I will end up saving us any money, but the inequity stings. The lady at the real estate office was very helpful and they will be looking into this. Likely neighbor's assessment will jump substantially next year. Fortunately, she doesn't live here (its a second home used 5 or 6 weekends a year) and won't know I was the cause. I hope the city at least pushes ours back down to last years assessment just to try to be fair. 

So - if your house is similar to those on your right and left, check the tax assessments!

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by SamanthaCarter

[HomeAgain]

Okay, small wins for the day:

Mail came.  We got a free calendar that has pictures of ds's current history studies (woot!) so double win there.  My dentist's office sent me a check.  Between what I paid at my appointment and what my insurance said was acceptable to charge, there was an overage. 

We had gourmet pizzas (LOL) for lunch using dh's new pizza stone and peel that I gave him for Christmas.  Everyone got what they liked and it was about $5 for four pizzas, plus two more to make for dinner.  It's leftover night in our house: two will have pizza, one will have leftover Chinese (the mostly sauce from sesame beef with more noodles and veggies made at dinner-time), and one of us will have the last of the chili over hot dogs. 

Dh went grocery shopping this morning.  The ads were too good to pass up or wait until I would have gone on Sunday.  He spent $150 and got enough meat for 2+ weeks, plus all the things we need for the coming week.  Meal plan starting tomorrow:
-pasta bake with Italian sausage, bruschetta, caesar salad
-General Tso's chicken with bok choy, radish, snow peas, over Jasmine rice
-leftover night
-Cajun pork chops with a warm kale salad
-taco night
-nacho night (leftover taco night)
-vegetable stir fry over rice (or, use it all up night)

In addition, we get $.40 off per gallon of gas at our next fill up, thanks to double gas points.

Edited January 4, 2019 by HomeAgain

[historically accurate]

4 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

A good Swagbucks or mypoints deal

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/swagbucks-sign-up-for-gobble-meal-delivery-get-33-back-2-for-six-meals/

 

Anyone need holiday cards?

https://hip2save.com/2019/01/04/20-tiny-prints-new-years-cards-only-1-27-shipped/

I'm trying the meal delivery deal. Here's hoping for good food. My kids won't touch most food, so a meal plan for 2 is good enough for me or if they decide to actually eat like humans that night we can cook all of them and eat smorgasbord style.

[BarbecueMom]

1 hour ago, Baseball mom said:

 Can you tell me how you use the pumpkin in these dishes?  Does it taste different?  I have a ton of pumpkin in the freezer and I have reflux so interesting. 

 

48 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

Okay, so I did a little back-of-the-napkin estimate on your shopping list and if I paid going rate here for battery milk, eggs and chicken, your total is in line with the prices I pay. Whew. Maybe I'm not missing anything? Who knows? I know Aldi is really good for Maple Syrup, but Big Lots is better, so I'm a year stocked up on that. 

I LOVE the pumpkin puree idea. I need to push back on tomato products for DH's sake, and if I have histamine issues, for mine too. I had no idea I could sub pumpkin puree for tomato paste. 🙂

 

Pumpkin:  It was someone on this board that tipped me off onto the pumpkin idea (Jean in Newcastle, maybe?).  I use about half a can per batch of chili, and honestly you can't taste the pumpkin.  It gives it the thickness and scant sweetness that you usually get from the tomato paste or puree.  DH and DS10 add hot sauce to their chili anyway to get that vinegary bite, and my chili already has a bit of brown sugar.  You might have to up the salt a bit to bring out the spices, but not much.  There's also this Chipotle Pumpkin Pasta that I like to make when everyone else is having marinara or spaghetti or something.  DH thinks it looks like pumpkin pie on penne noodles, but that's fine, more for me.

Aldi vs. everywhere else: The cost difference on most things probably is negligible if you are already shopping frugally.  Our Walmart is just bat guano crazy most of the time, the parking lot is huge, the store is huge, the lighting gives me a headache.  I worked at a different Walmart for six years during high school and college, and it was NOT like the one near me.  I do like the "quirkiness" of Aldi - no shelves, the quarter for the cart, having to bring bags or pay for them, the weekly "What's the special buy gonna be?!",  "fancy" cheese for cheap cheese prices (I have a block of applewood cheddar, a block of some kind of smoked gruyere, a log of blueberry vanilla goat cheese, and some white cheddar in my fridge now that we didn't get around to eating over the holiday).  The employees have been there forever, know me, know my kids.   I run into my neighbors and fellow patients from the orthodontist office there, and even the customers I don't know are friendly and personable.  I can't always find everything I'm looking for there, but oddly that's part of the thrill of it.  I think need a new hobby besides "going to Aldi", haha!  I imagine that if I had a crummy, run-down Aldi, I wouldn't be as keen on the quirks.

Funny thing about the milk though... most organic or higher end milk here is shipped in from California.  There's a "local dairy" that sells $6-7/gallon milk in glass bottles (you have to pay a deposit per bottle), but it's coming from several hours away in another state.  However, there's a dairy farm for one of the brands of regular ol' name/store brand that's two or three miles from my house.  Go figure, lol.

We don't have a Kroger or any other national chain store here, either, except a couple WF and TJs in higher end suburbs.  Other than Aldi (and Walmart), we're dominated by local chains.  The pack of romaine that I bought last night at one of those chains is the exact same brand that Aldi sells (I had an app coupon, which made it ~0.50 cheaper than Aldi).  They all get their produce from the same distributors.  I've actually found the Aldi produce to be better because the turnover is much quicker.

[Condessa]

I’m testing the waters with purchasing from Goodwill and reselling on eBay.  I’ve done this with fractional-size violins for my growing kids before, and generally made a small profit after selling the instruments they have grown out of, when they hadn’t received any damage while we owned them.  I thought maybe I’d try doing it for the profit vs. just when my kid needs an instrument, and I was looking on the goodwill website when I noticed a wakeboard at my local goodwill, and thought I’d try that.  I bought it, cleaned it up, and posted it on eBay.  It cost me $31.96 including tax and the gas to drive over and pick it up.  We’ll see what happens.  Dh thinks I’m nuts.

[sdobis]

I'm trying to be frugal for my daughter's birthday, but that may look different from other people. We usually go more extravagant and spend about $500 on her party. She asked me if she could go to a local pottery shop to paint with about 5 friends which would only be about $200, but that doesn't include lunch/dinner and cake. I told her that we are spending less this year, so she decided on having a few friends over to watch a movie and just hang out. We'll probably order Chipotle or Panera and have cake. I don't know what to do about goody bags. Her friends always give them out. 

I told her that she could take her neighbor friend to the pottery shop. Why did I say that? That's at least $50. We're also buying her 2 records for a total of $40. 

I'm going to keep the party at about $125. Add in the rest for a total of $215. Not too bad considering what we normally spend. 

[mommyoffive]

37 minutes ago, Michelle Conde said:

I’m testing the waters with purchasing from Goodwill and reselling on eBay.  I’ve done this with fractional-size violins for my growing kids before, and generally made a small profit after selling the instruments they have grown out of, when they hadn’t received any damage while we owned them.  I thought maybe I’d try doing it for the profit vs. just when my kid needs an instrument, and I was looking on the goodwill website when I noticed a wakeboard at my local goodwill, and thought I’d try that.  I bought it, cleaned it up, and posted it on eBay.  It cost me $31.96 including tax and the gas to drive over and pick it up.  We’ll see what happens.  Dh thinks I’m nuts.

 

Good luck with that.  It sounds like you already have found a niche.  I have been watching a ton of youtube vlogs about people who do just this.  It sounds like a fun.  

[Ravin]

It should not be so difficult to find a reasonably priced winter coat in January, even in Arizona. Wal-Mart, Goodwill, nothing. Went to Ross and wound up with a white e(honestly, why even manufacture a white coat for a child?) Medium-weight jacket and a rain jacket. All because his nice leather coat disappeared at school. At least they will fit for next winter, too (though the coat will no doubt be stained).

Edited January 5, 2019 by Ravin

[hjffkj]

On 1/3/2019 at 5:35 PM, mommyoffive said:

 

I totally agree that Aldi's produce is hit or miss.  Sometimes it is fine and then sometimes dh won't even buy the stuff I want because it all looks bad.  I wish that we didn't drink much milk.  Lots cheaper. Dh is huge drinker, the kids aren't that much but still with cereal and oatmeal and then usually one glass a day, it goes fast.  I don't drink much, just again with my morning meal. 

We eat a ton of fruits and veggies too. 

A restaurant store?  I never even would have thought of something like that.  I wonder if we have one around.  Do you just buy TP from there?   Or do you get meat there?  I admit I a like nice TP and I hate when dh buys the cheap stuff. 

I am really going to try for $600.  I always think that just saving $200 a month isn't that much.  But to me when you figure out how much it is per year, yeah it adds up. 

 

 

There are two different stores I go to, The Restaurant Store and Restaurant Depot.  The general public can get a membership to The Restaurant Store but you need to have a food oriented business to shop at Restaurant Depot.  My sister has a bakery and my aunt is a caterer so my dad uses one of their memberships.  

My dad gets other stuff from the Restaurant Store and now that we are sharing food I just contribute a percentage of the food he gets there since we use it too.  He buys toilet paper, olive oil, cooking spray, ziplock bags, flour, sugar, brown sugar, raspberry preserves, and dish soap there.  The prices for those things can't be beat.

The Restaurant Depot has much of what Restaurant Store has but it also have frozen and refrigerated food.  He gets canned tomatoes, butter, sweet italian sausage, cheese, and eggs there.  They have a HUGE variety of meats and the prices are good but we need a bigger freezer before we dive into purchasing the meat in bulk. 

 

Edited to add:  there are other things he buys at both places but those are what he gets consistently.  But if something goes on a great sale he'll get that

Edited January 5, 2019 by hjffkj

[hjffkj]

9 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

I think the reason that I don’t save much at Aldi is that the savings are on the ingredients I don’t really compromise on. I buy $6/gallon milk and I think it’s worth it. I buy chicken from a local free range farmer. DH has tried all of the almond mills and truly prefers Simple Truth unsweetened over all other brands. The lettuce I like is $1.99 at Walmart, same as Aldi. Loss leaders on produce between Walmart and Kroger make a trip to Aldi not worthwhile. But I always feel like I’m missing something when people talk about Aldi savings...

 

The few times I shopped at Aldi I was not impressed and didn't save much compared to Walmart or Shoprite.  

[SamanthaCarter]

I did $115 for about 10 days of food but I still need to get about $15 of meat on Tuesday. I call it a success! I even managed kid treats: outshine bars, Oreos and two brownie mixes. 

[HomeAgain]

8 hours ago, Ravin said:

It should not be so difficult to find a reasonably priced winter coat in January, even in Arizona. Wal-Mart, Goodwill, nothing. Went to Ross and wound up with a white e(honestly, why even manufacture a white coat for a child?) Medium-weight jacket and a rain jacket. All because his nice leather coat disappeared at school. At least they will fit for next winter, too (though the coat will no doubt be stained).

There was Valentine's stuff out at the beginning of December here.  I'm half surprised bikinis and shorts aren't taking over the shops yet.  It's ridiculous.


Okay, slightly gross here, but do you guys have any good, solid tips for getting blood stains out of fabric?  Youngest ds inherited my slight anemia and reaction to dry air: nosebleeds that go on forever.  DH wondered why I had such a fit that he bought white sheets for ds's bed here.  2 winters in, he's got it. He's looking at dark grey, patterned sheets for next time.  And we do try to keep ds's iron levels up it isn't always perfectly possible.  I am certain this sheet is done for by this point but maybe there is something I haven't tried beyond soaks, oxyclean, hydrogen peroxide...bleach isn't an option.  I just want his bed to look okay through the end of the month.  LOL  Maybe I should just dye them myself.

[cjzimmer1]

2 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

There was Valentine's stuff out at the beginning of December here.  I'm half surprised bikinis and shorts aren't taking over the shops yet.  It's ridiculous.


Okay, slightly gross here, but do you guys have any good, solid tips for getting blood stains out of fabric?  Youngest ds inherited my slight anemia and reaction to dry air: nosebleeds that go on forever.  DH wondered why I had such a fit that he bought white sheets for ds's bed here.  2 winters in, he's got it. He's looking at dark grey, patterned sheets for next time.  And we do try to keep ds's iron levels up it isn't always perfectly possible.  I am certain this sheet is done for by this point but maybe there is something I haven't tried beyond soaks, oxyclean, hydrogen peroxide...bleach isn't an option.  I just want his bed to look okay through the end of the month.  LOL  Maybe I should just dye them myself.

Hydrogen Perioxide!

During one of my dad's hospital stays the cleaning staff told my parents they use it on all the laundry to make sure there are no stains.  We've used that trick ever since.  I've even gotten old blood stains out but sometimes those take a few iterations to get fully clean.

[Soror]

11 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

I did $115 for about 10 days of food but I still need to get about $15 of meat on Tuesday. I call it a success! I even managed kid treats: outshine bars, Oreos and two brownie mixes. 

Woohoo buckaroo! WTG!

3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

There was Valentine's stuff out at the beginning of December here.  I'm half surprised bikinis and shorts aren't taking over the shops yet.  It's ridiculous.


Okay, slightly gross here, but do you guys have any good, solid tips for getting blood stains out of fabric?  Youngest ds inherited my slight anemia and reaction to dry air: nosebleeds that go on forever.  DH wondered why I had such a fit that he bought white sheets for ds's bed here.  2 winters in, he's got it. He's looking at dark grey, patterned sheets for next time.  And we do try to keep ds's iron levels up it isn't always perfectly possible.  I am certain this sheet is done for by this point but maybe there is something I haven't tried beyond soaks, oxyclean, hydrogen peroxide...bleach isn't an option.  I just want his bed to look okay through the end of the month.  LOL  Maybe I should just dye them myself.

2

I know when I had a homebirth they suggested peroxide for sheets. 

12 hours ago, Ravin said:

It should not be so difficult to find a reasonably priced winter coat in January, even in Arizona. Wal-Mart, Goodwill, nothing. Went to Ross and wound up with a white e(honestly, why even manufacture a white coat for a child?) Medium-weight jacket and a rain jacket. All because his nice leather coat disappeared at school. At least they will fit for next winter, too (though the coat will no doubt be stained).

 

Mercy, how annoying!

18 hours ago, Michelle Conde said:

I’m testing the waters with purchasing from Goodwill and reselling on eBay.  I’ve done this with fractional-size violins for my growing kids before, and generally made a small profit after selling the instruments they have grown out of, when they hadn’t received any damage while we owned them.  I thought maybe I’d try doing it for the profit vs. just when my kid needs an instrument, and I was looking on the goodwill website when I noticed a wakeboard at my local goodwill, and thought I’d try that.  I bought it, cleaned it up, and posted it on eBay.  It cost me $31.96 including tax and the gas to drive over and pick it up.  We’ll see what happens.  Dh thinks I’m nuts.

2

Good luck, I had a friend that did that for a few years and made decent money at it. She stopped due to life getting crazy and some changes in eBay policies but it seems there are plenty still at it. I've sold just a few things here and there.

 

[historically accurate]

19 hours ago, Michelle Conde said:

I’m testing the waters with purchasing from Goodwill and reselling on eBay.  I’ve done this with fractional-size violins for my growing kids before, and generally made a small profit after selling the instruments they have grown out of, when they hadn’t received any damage while we owned them.  I thought maybe I’d try doing it for the profit vs. just when my kid needs an instrument, and I was looking on the goodwill website when I noticed a wakeboard at my local goodwill, and thought I’d try that.  I bought it, cleaned it up, and posted it on eBay.  It cost me $31.96 including tax and the gas to drive over and pick it up.  We’ll see what happens.  Dh thinks I’m nuts.

At the height of my DD's American girl obsessions, I bought and sold AG. Made a pretty penny for the about year and a half I did it. AG then started with more and more sales and flooding the market, so the resale prices went down. Best deal I remember was a fuzzy-pictured lot on ebay that I scooped up for $75 (two dolls and a heap of clothes). The pictures were so bad you couldn't tell which dolls they were. One of the dolls was a white-bodied Samantha and in that heap of clothes was a hard to find Felicity outfit. Bonus was my kids got a nice collection of AG at rock-bottom prices.  

[mommyoffive]

54 minutes ago, beckyjo said:

At the height of my DD's American girl obsessions, I bought and sold AG. Made a pretty penny for the about year and a half I did it. AG then started with more and more sales and flooding the market, so the resale prices went down. Best deal I remember was a fuzzy-pictured lot on ebay that I scooped up for $75 (two dolls and a heap of clothes). The pictures were so bad you couldn't tell which dolls they were. One of the dolls was a white-bodied Samantha and in that heap of clothes was a hard to find Felicity outfit. Bonus was my kids got a nice collection of AG at rock-bottom prices.  

 

Wow. I think it is so neat to hear all the niches out there. 

[HomeAgain]

2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Hydrogen Perioxide!

During one of my dad's hospital stays the cleaning staff told my parents they use it on all the laundry to make sure there are no stains.  We've used that trick ever since.  I've even gotten old blood stains out but sometimes those take a few iterations to get fully clean.

That is usually my go-to if I didn't get to it quick enough to soak while still damp.  I think we may just have to scrap these sheets totally, or wait a few months until we get good sun again.  That, plus the peroxide, usually will work when nothing else does.

[Condessa]

I got a free stock from a promotion for signing up with the stock investment app “Robin Hood”.  Didn’t cost me anything to sign up.  Are we allowed to post links to things like that on here?

[BarbecueMom]

Made it all the way to January 6th before buying anything non-consumable.  I was hoping it would be a lot longer than that!  It did follow my "personal rule" about non-consumable purchases though, only replacing broken and necessary items.  The charcoal starter fell apart a few weeks ago, and it took way too long to get the coals going on the grill last night without it.  And DH dropped and shattered his travel coffee mug at work last week.  I had gift cards to cover both items, and also used a Target coupon for the travel mug.  If your store has been remodeled, watch for a $5 off a $15 purchase coupon in the mail.

I'm at $154 for the month on groceries and $51 on non-grocery consumables, but that includes January stock up trips to both Costco and Sam's.  Usually 1/3 to 1/2 of my monthly budget is gone by this point, so I'm on the right track.  That even includes some packaged things for DH to throw in his desk at work for long/busy/hangry days.

We're having a relatively not-frugal dinner tonight.  My oldest is a huge fan of MasterChef Junior and gourmet cooking in general, and he's been asking me for several months to make something with lobster.  He originally had a lobster curry with 30 (!!!) unique ingredients picked out, but I talked him into a lobster macaroni and cheese.  I was able to buy decent cheese and lobster tails at Aldi during holiday sales, and ordered a case of gluten free macaroni with my Amazon Subscribe and Save last month.  We'll see how it goes.  Also throwing together a salad and some GF cheese garlic biscuits with the rest of the Cup4Cup flour left over from some holiday baking.  I've never actually had lobster before, so this will be a new experience for all of us.  Well, the "all of us" that will actually eat it.  I suspect the other two kids will be having leftover not-lobster.

Edited January 6, 2019 by BarbecueMom

[hjffkj]

Had our first grocery trip of the year and it was under $100!  That included a box of diapers. I'm pretty excited that the meat and bread in the freezer is enough to last us the month so I'm pretty sure our bill will be under $100 each week.

So, dh took me to an open house today.  I wasn't particularly excited about the idea since I thought we were set on staying until Spring.  But OMG this house fits ALL our needs.  It has a nice size inlaw suite on the first floor, four bedrooms upstairs, 2 huge family rooms, and a big basement(not finished but perfect potential to finish.)  Best of all it is price well for the size and our needs.  Waiting to hear back from our realtor so she can walk through it with us, but I think we're putting an offer on this house.  That will change all of my financial goals for the year but oh well.

[mommyoffive]

7 hours ago, Michelle Conde said:

I got a free stock from a promotion for signing up with the stock investment app “Robin Hood”.  Didn’t cost me anything to sign up.  Are we allowed to post links to things like that on here?

 

Wow, that is awesome. Was it worth a certain amount? 

[mommyoffive]

6 hours ago, BarbecueMom said:

Made it all the way to January 6th before buying anything non-consumable.  I was hoping it would be a lot longer than that!  It did follow my "personal rule" about non-consumable purchases though, only replacing broken and necessary items.  The charcoal starter fell apart a few weeks ago, and it took way too long to get the coals going on the grill last night without it.  And DH dropped and shattered his travel coffee mug at work last week.  I had gift cards to cover both items, and also used a Target coupon for the travel mug.  If your store has been remodeled, watch for a $5 off a $15 purchase coupon in the mail.

I'm at $154 for the month on groceries and $51 on non-grocery consumables, but that includes January stock up trips to both Costco and Sam's.  Usually 1/3 to 1/2 of my monthly budget is gone by this point, so I'm on the right track.  That even includes some packaged things for DH to throw in his desk at work for long/busy/hangry days.

We're having a relatively not-frugal dinner tonight.  My oldest is a huge fan of MasterChef Junior and gourmet cooking in general, and he's been asking me for several months to make something with lobster.  He originally had a lobster curry with 30 (!!!) unique ingredients picked out, but I talked him into a lobster macaroni and cheese.  I was able to buy decent cheese and lobster tails at Aldi during holiday sales, and ordered a case of gluten free macaroni with my Amazon Subscribe and Save last month.  We'll see how it goes.  Also throwing together a salad and some GF cheese garlic biscuits with the rest of the Cup4Cup flour left over from some holiday baking.  I've never actually had lobster before, so this will be a new experience for all of us.  Well, the "all of us" that will actually eat it.  I suspect the other two kids will be having leftover not-lobster.

 

Does your oldest do the cooking of that?  

[mommyoffive]

3 hours ago, hjffkj said:

Had our first grocery trip of the year and it was under $100!  That included a box of diapers. I'm pretty excited that the meat and bread in the freezer is enough to last us the month so I'm pretty sure our bill will be under $100 each week.

So, dh took me to an open house today.  I wasn't particularly excited about the idea since I thought we were set on staying until Spring.  But OMG this house fits ALL our needs.  It has a nice size inlaw suite on the first floor, four bedrooms upstairs, 2 huge family rooms, and a big basement(not finished but perfect potential to finish.)  Best of all it is price well for the size and our needs.  Waiting to hear back from our realtor so she can walk through it with us, but I think we're putting an offer on this house.  That will change all of my financial goals for the year but oh well.

 

Sending you some house dust.  Sounds perfect.

Good job on grocery shopping? 

 

I went shopping tonight.  I returned $75 worth of stuff.  Should have been $95 but dh wants to keep some of the stuff. We don't need it, but we probably will. 

Spent $105.  But $25 of that was shampoo and conditioner.  I am replacing everything with Parabean free stuff.  And then 9 bucks of Christmas items for next year.  I wanted lights and they were out.  Should have gone before.  Our walmart was only 75% off.  Booo

So I am considering it to be $70 for grocery at this point.

Dh will go do more shopping on Monday at Aldi. 

Still didn't pull the trigger on tickets.  The kids auditioned for 2 shows this weekend so we are waiting to see what happens with that.  

Opened some new cards for travel hacking.  Yeah.  We will have some totally free trips already have tons of airline points, now doing some hotel points. 

Edited January 7, 2019 by mommyoffive

[Condessa]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Wow, that is awesome. Was it worth a certain amount? 

It was only worth $6, but I still thought it was pretty neat.  The fine print said there was a 98% chance of the free stock being worth $2-$10, 1% of it being worth $10-$50, and 1% of it being worth $50-$200.  

Here’s a link to use the promotion, if anyone wants it:

https://share.robinhood.com/michelc1276

[AmandaVT]

First weekend with cash for all food - so far so good. I went to the ATM on Friday and took out $240 - $200 for food and $20 each for DH and me for pocket money. I took $120 to the store today and had $.53 left when I was done checking out. Still have my $20 too. Going to make an effort to only head out once this week for a coffee out and resist the urge to take DS out for lunch when he invariably asks. 🙂 

[HomeAgain]

Slight win here.  Last summer/fall I lost a steak knife.  Not a terribly expensive one, but from a set I really, really like.  We had brought out the extra set with my sister and her family here (we keep minimal silverware in our drawer for daily use), and when I put everything away, a knife was gone. 
Fast forward to this week.  We've had ups and downs in the weather so I haven't been using our compost drum daily.  Either it's frozen or it's raining, so the compost sits in a bowl in the fridge until I can go out there.  I tumbled it, opened the door again to make sure it was all rotated, and saw a shiny thing.  There was the stainless steel steak knife!  Still in really good condition! 😮 

Dh and I high fived this morning.  We have not had any debits from our checking since the 4th, when he grocery shopped and we paid a bill.  Those were the only two that day, and the only things that have come out since the first are a few bills, 2 grocery trips, and gas.  The cell phone bill will go out today, and we'll go shopping on Thurs for the coming week.  We've spent more time doing things at home like reorganizing and decluttering than we have being out and about, which has helped to keep us from looking for bargains or events for the family.  
Here's hoping the next 3+ weeks go as well.  🙂  DS will have a birthday next month but he's decided in lieu of a party with his closest friends, he'd rather our family go to a restaurant of his choice and the arcade.  Totally doable, and relatively easy considering the alternative.