Sense to Save

Don’t get freezer burn during a power outage

For some reason, every time a thunderstorm rolls through, our power goes out. Annoying! What’s worse, if it’s out for a long time, food in our refrigerator and freezer could spoil.

To help prevent losing money, I keep a full freezer. A full, closed freezer will keep food cold enough to be safe for up to 24 hours. A mostly empty freezer won’t.

When I don’t have enough food in there, I make up for it by filling up old milk jugs and juice bottles with water and putting them in the freezer.

A bonus: A full freezer won’t have to operate as much to maintain its temperature. So, you’ll save on your electric bill.

Adventures at Aldi and Shop ‘n Save

Today, I took a trip to the nearest Aldi. I hadn’t visited this one before, and it has been awhile since I’ve been to an Aldi at all, but overall I’d have to say it was a good experience. The store is fairly small, but that means it doesn’t take very long to shop there.

Some prices weren’t deals. Others were fantastic. I wish they took coupons, though.

I went to the Shop ‘n Save near the Aldi. Hadn’t visited that one, either, but it was bigger and nicer than the one closest to my home. I had a list of exactly what I wanted to buy there and stuck to it.

Here’s what I bought:

Aldi

• Loaf wheat bread .89
• Loaf white bread .59
• 14 oz. yellow mustard .59
• Can mandarin oranges .45
• Can pineapple .69
• Baking cocoa $1.49
• Instant vanilla pudding .29

Shop ‘n Save

• Two 64-oz. bottles apple juice .98 each
• Three-pound bag of MacIntosh apples $2 (or .83/lb.)
• Ten-pound bag of Idaho potatos $1.99 (or .19/lb.)
• Bananas at .25/lb. I got 2.84 pounds, and spent .71

So far, of the $35 allotted for the week, I spent $4.99 at Aldi and $6.66 at Shop ‘n Save, for a total of $11.65. I have $23.35 left. Can do!

What am I going to do with all of this?

Looks like I’ll be making all sorts of things with potatoes. Anyone have suggestions? I’m thinking potato soup, twice-baked potatoes and potato salad. Let’s see what else I can come up with.

I’ll use some bananas and the canned fruit and maybe some frozen fruit to make a fruit salad. I’ll make some banana bread, as well.

I’ll probably bake most of the apples. Just cut them up, sprinkle on cinnamon and brown sugar, and bake at 350 or so for maybe 45 minutes covered. Delicious!

Clothes-washing Wednesdays

I just did four loads of laundry–start to finish–in one hour. Whew! Thanks to the many machines at my local Laundromat, I got the job done for $8.25 total.

The Laundromat has a special this month: $1.25/wash on Wednesdays. That’s a savings of .25/load. I paid $5 for the wash and $3.25 for the drying cycles (7 minutes=.25 for the big dryers and 14 mins. = .25 for the smaller dryers. I think the large dryers are more efficient).

We don’t have a washer or dryer in our apartment unit, but there are facilities in our basement that we can use if we want. The cost is $1.25 per wash and dry. I think the washing machines are a little small, and the dryers don’t work very well. If I did four loads here, it would cost more than $10 since I’d need the dryer to run more than once. Plus, it would take me several hours. Not a good use of my time, since I can’t just leave it there.

I’m looking forward to the day when we’ll have a washer and dryer in our home. But for now, I guess I can be happy that we aren’t using our electricity or water to run the machines. I’m trying to find out how much it costs to do laundry at home. Does anyone have the numbers for that?

Oh, one other thing I do while at the Laundromat: They have a coupon-exchange box. People add their unwanted coupons and take what they want. I’ve found plenty of coupons for things I will actually use, and I don’t have to buy the Sunday paper for it. Does anyone else use a coupon-exchange?

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Laundry tip No. 1: Cut your fabric sheets in half. You instantly double the amount of fabric softener sheets you have, and will be able to use a box twice as long. Try it for a load and see if you like the result. My clothes still come out smelling fresh and static-free.

Laundry tip No. 2: Add baking soda to your wash load. It helps with stain and odor removal, and it’s much cheaper than Oxyclean or a similar product.