Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: January 12-18

[moldy]

Starting this for Renee, as I"m sure she is very occupied. I would encourage you to say a prayer, send blessings, or think of her and her family this week due to her recent loss.

I'm trying to get my freezers cleaned out, so there's a turkey in the oven, I"m brining two briskets for corned beef brisket (it has to stay in the fridge for 10 days with the brine - so I"ll cook it next week), and there's 10 lbs of hamburger waiting to be browned and put in the freeze dryer. This week, I work 3 days and have a day-long class, so today and tomorrow is about all the time I have to work on the freezer.

We did manage to get a second coat of waterproofing paint on the porch floor this morning. Uck - the fumes!! Even just being in the space for about 20 minutes is giving me a low-grade headache. Good thing is pretty nice today - I may need to take a walk for some fresh air!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

The "after the storm" clean up has begun! Cary has been out with his chainsaw since daylight this morning. He's got enough of the tree off of our Direct TV satellite and propane tank so that the repairmen can get to them. Propane tank was knocked off it's platform with damage to it and the lines. TV satellite was bumped and knocked out the signals. Fence is down on that side of the house. We have western cedar siding on our house, and some of it was damaged. Not to mention an old 50 year old huge oak tree being down in the yard. Gonna take forever getting this mess cleaned up and repaired. We are just so thankful that the tree missed our house for the most part. The top of the tree is what brushed up against our house doing damage to the siding. Needless to say, we won't be needing anymore firewood for a few years!

More rain and thunderstorms moving in again this afternoon. Our temps will be going back into the 70's later in the week with even more storms in our forecast.

 

[ReneeT]

Thank you, Moldy for starting the thread. The thoughts and prayers are much appreciated. My daughter is still in the mode she was in during his treatment - 'let's get this taken care of'; but is starting to ravel a bit around the edges; his son is tearful and angry (but not toward daughter or grandsons); older grandson is the same. Younger grandson told me that we would see him again in Heaven and that is why he is not sad. From the mouths of babes...

 

[nomifyle]

ReneeT, so sorry for you loss.

I'm still decluttering and its slow because I just don't have much energy. But I'm getting something done everyday. After getting the patio glass top table and two chairs out of my small kitchen I have room to put my food dehydrator in that spot on a nice rubbermaid cart that DH got a few years ago at a Goodwill wharehouse for $1. It just needed cleaning up. Its had the food dehydrator on it for years but in a different room, so now it will be in the kitchen and much handier to use. Now it will be right next to the foodsaver.

I had been storing canned food on the bottom two shelves of the rubbermaid cart and have moved them to a different shelving unit. some of my electrical appliances will now live on those bottom shelves. Even getting a little done every day will eventually get things more organized. My biggest fear is dying and my house is a mess.

Judy

 

[ReneeT]

Thank you, Judy, and Kua. Even though we knew the day would come, it has still hit us very hard. He had such a big (and ornery ) personality that everything seems too quiet now.

I'm trying to find some good deals in the ads this week but have only found a couple of things; maybe once I can talk myself into going through the rest of my coupon inserts, something will pop up. So far the only deals I plan to do are:
#1:
CVS - Boost is on sale buy one/get one half off; plus a buy 4, get $10 Extra Care Bucks. I have 2 - $5 off 2 coupons. If I can use two coupons (should be able to as it says 4 per day but sometimes they get kicked out) the deal will work out like this:
2 Boost high protein at 10.49 each = $20.98
2 Boost high protein at $5.25 each = $10.50
Total: $31.48
Minus: 2 - $5 off 2 coupons = $10; and 1 - $4 off $20 purchase coupon = $4; total $14
Total: $17.48 (plus tax; depends on which of the 3 local CVS stores I go to - pool town, daughter town or work town), plus I will get $10 ECBs back.
At 4 bottles per week, that will keep Hubby in stock for 6 weeks unless we donate some of it.

#2:
Local grocery store has in store coupons for Sparkle paper towels 6 giant rolls for $4.79; limit 3. I have coupons for $1 off each item purchased but may not be allowed to use all 3 of them at one time. If so, the end price would be $11.37; if not, $13.37.

At least these are the choose a size paper towels - what I really need to do is round up some of my worn bath towels and cut them into quarters, zig-zag stitch the edges and send them over to daughter to save a little $ on paper towels - every time the dog goes out he managed to find some mud, so his paws have to get wiped; pretty sure that is where most of the paper towels go Either that, or go buy her a case of the brown tri fold paper towels and put up a dispenser in her back entry closet... We did save quite a bit of $ on paper towels when we switched to that type here at home.

 

[ReneeT]

I forgot to mention - check your change!! I'm bad about not spending change - I just toss it in my pocket, purse, or the driver's side door pocket of the van - a cleanout of the van yielded $4.67 in change this morning. I left 4 (Aldi) quarters in the pocket and brought the rest in - there were 2 - 1963 silver dimes in the mix. Today, they are worth about $1.29 each.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Since

I forgot to mention - check your change!! I'm bad about not spending change - I just toss it in my pocket, purse, or the driver's side door pocket of the van - a cleanout of the van yielded $4.67 in change this morning. I left 4 (Aldi) quarters in the pocket and brought the rest in - there were 2 - 1963 silver dimes in the mix. Today, they are worth about $1.29 each.

Since we pay cash for almost everything, we accumulate a lot of change. We don't spend it, either. It gets dumped into a qt. canning jar. We have saved up 4 qts of nickels, dimes, and quarters since we started doing this.

 

[nomifyle]

Since


Since we pay cash for almost everything, we accumulate a lot of change. We don't spend it, either. It gets dumped into a qt. canning jar. We have saved up 4 qts of nickels, dimes, and quarters since we started doing this.

I've been saving change for years, even when my two sons were still at home. Youngest use to pilfer my change though, it didn't go over well with me.

I've got hundreds of dollars in all denominations of change: I read years ago that if things go south and we need to buy something to be sure to have correct change because sellers won't have correct change.

I keep a small bag of quarters in my purse (makes it heavy) in case we are stuck somewhere (like ER) it comes in handy.

Judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I've been saving change for years, even when my two sons were still at home. Youngest use to pilfer my change though, it didn't go over well with me.

I've got hundreds of dollars in all denominations of change: I read years ago that if things go south and we need to buy something to be sure to have correct change because sellers won't have correct change.

I keep a small bag of quarters in my purse (makes it heavy) in case we are stuck somewhere (like ER) it comes in handy.

Judy

I also keep a small bag of quarters and dimes in my purse for the same reason, Judy. We've never counted how much change we have in the jars, so I don't have a clue. We just fill up a jar, put it in our home safe, and start on another one. Ya never know when all that change will come in handy.

 

[ReneeT]

Well, if y'all get bored some day, pull out one of those jars or baggies of coins and check through them for silver or part silver coins - 1942-45 nickles (35% silver), 1892-1964 dimes, 1892-1964 quarters, 1892-1964 half-dollars, & 1965-1970 half dollars (40% silver).

 

[summerthyme]

Well, if y'all get bored some day, pull out one of those jars or baggies of coins and check through them for silver or part silver coins - 1942-45 nickles (35% silver), 1892-1964 dimes, 1892-1964 quarters, 1892-1964 half-dollars, & 1965-1970 half dollars (40% silver).

I do that before any coins go into the jar! It's about 30 years too late, though... unless you get really lucky, and some jerk kid stole their grandparents junk silver or coin collection and then blew it on crap at the local convenience store, it's almost unknown for silver to show up in general circulation these days. I think I've found 3 times in the last 15 years.

Summerthyme

 

[Illini Warrior]

I do that before any coins go into the jar! It's about 30 years too late, though... unless you get really lucky, and some jerk kid stole their grandparents junk silver or coin collection and then blew it on crap at the local convenience store, it's almost unknown for silver to show up in general circulati9n these days. I think I've found 3 times in the last 15 years.

Summerthyme

it happens >>>> my one nephew when he was younger got into his father's silver and was blowing big time at the video arcade - $100s in real silver

 

[summerthyme]

Yeah, I know it does. But that's pretty well the only way silver shows up these days... it's been sorted out of the change in general circulation years ago.

Heck, even pure copper pennies are getting harder to find.

Summerthyme

 

[COelf]

Even getting a little done every day will eventually get things more organized. My biggest fear is dying and my house is a mess.

This reminded me of my grandmother. She asked me if I would help her clean her closet and of course, I went and we cleaned out the old clothes and the one that no longer fit. I asked her if she was going to get some new clothes and she said no. I then asked why she was cleaning the closet and she said if she died then everyone would know her closet was a mess. I in my young thinking said if you are dead then you won't care. I thought I was in real trouble. Thanks for the memory.