I love the end of the month/beginning of a new month time.
Ok, let me rephrase that....the money nerd in me loves this time. ;-)
* It's 3 days to the end of April and looking back...... I am over my $200 food budget limit I imposed for April. And that's even with using free or paid for last year gift cards. Oh well. Still, spending $260 OOP for food for a month for 3 adults(and stocking up on some "deals")is awesome in my book.
* I have still got about a half a tank of gas in my car and have only filled it once in April. Go me.
May will change all that in a big way.....I'll be putting miles on the Sonic and paying for lots of gas.
* I didn't take any cash withdrawals this month and still have $36 in my wallet from March's cash.
I decided when April started not to take any cash out of the bank automatically on the 1st and just see how far March's leftovers took me....to the tune of $36 evidently. lol
I think I had $72? in my wallet at the end of March.
So $36 is leftover from that $72 after paying cash for about $20 in prescriptions I picked up, a few of gallons of milk at the store($13 approx.) and I did do the drive-thru for a burger or two in April so that came out of the leftover March money too. I took myself to the movies in April but that was using a gift card that was paid for 2 years ago.
Sounds about right. I really didn't spend on much besides groceries this month.
So I am going into May(really? May already!?!)with $36 in my pocket and half a tank of gas.
Woohoo! ;-)
* I've only got 1 item left on my To-Do List for April-a Sallie's donation to finish gathering and taking in. I guess I'll get the rest of it gathered today and loadedd into Hubs' car when he gets home and see if Hubs can drop it off on the way home from work on Friday. Then we don't have to make a trip there over the weekend.
* I bought a total of 14 bags of coffee this past sales week at Weis(PMITA)Markets while they had this brand on BOGO sale.
6 bags of the Alert type(highly caffeinated)cost $7.47 after sale and $1.50/1Qs or $1.25 for each bag.
8 bags of assorted regular types/flavors cost $10.96 after sale and $2.50/2Qs + 1 x $1/1 Weis Q or $1.37 per bag.
$76.86 worth of reg. retail coffee for $18.43 or $1.32 on average per bag.
I also have a rain check for 8 more bags of the flavor they were out of that College Boy prefers + 4 x $2.50/2Qs to use with that rain check, netting me 22 bags of coffee at a cost of $30.39 or $1.38 per bag average.
Not too shabby. ;-)
Some of it is whole bean coffee so it will stay fresher longer and we can always throw some into the freezer to keep if it gets "old" sitting on the pantry shelf.
* Ok, I am serious about id-ing this mystery flowering tree!
Reader Tina left a comment Monday(thank you for that!)about it being a Saskatoon Serviceberry tree. I looked and the photos I found are not quite right plus it does not grow berries. sigh.
So here is a better up close shot with my lovely whitest white woman hand in the picture......
The flowers are small(about 1.5 inches diameter)and have thin petals. Most of the flowers are now past their prime bloom and you can see the leaves are beginning to sprout. It's an oval leaf much like a beech tree I think?
And it's definitely not a bush or a short/dwarf tree.....
The two trunks behind the swing are the tree in question so it's as tall as our 2 story house + another story +.
This is a photo standing under it looking up.
And here are the petals that it sheds all over the yard........
I looked around while I was driving to Weis this week and noticed about 4 more of this same tree along the roads on my route. None were in anybody's yard so I couldn't just go up to a door and ask them if they know what was growing in their yards.....because you know, if I got desperate enough, I'd do just that. lolz
So I am off to work on my End of Month Grocery tallies, a blog post or two(1 geneaology, 1 road trip)and get that Sallie donation sorted out.
What's going on in your world today?
Sluggy
Ok, let me rephrase that....the money nerd in me loves this time. ;-)
* It's 3 days to the end of April and looking back...... I am over my $200 food budget limit I imposed for April. And that's even with using free or paid for last year gift cards. Oh well. Still, spending $260 OOP for food for a month for 3 adults(and stocking up on some "deals")is awesome in my book.
* I have still got about a half a tank of gas in my car and have only filled it once in April. Go me.
May will change all that in a big way.....I'll be putting miles on the Sonic and paying for lots of gas.
* I didn't take any cash withdrawals this month and still have $36 in my wallet from March's cash.
I decided when April started not to take any cash out of the bank automatically on the 1st and just see how far March's leftovers took me....to the tune of $36 evidently. lol
I think I had $72? in my wallet at the end of March.
So $36 is leftover from that $72 after paying cash for about $20 in prescriptions I picked up, a few of gallons of milk at the store($13 approx.) and I did do the drive-thru for a burger or two in April so that came out of the leftover March money too. I took myself to the movies in April but that was using a gift card that was paid for 2 years ago.
Sounds about right. I really didn't spend on much besides groceries this month.
So I am going into May(really? May already!?!)with $36 in my pocket and half a tank of gas.
Woohoo! ;-)
* I've only got 1 item left on my To-Do List for April-a Sallie's donation to finish gathering and taking in. I guess I'll get the rest of it gathered today and loadedd into Hubs' car when he gets home and see if Hubs can drop it off on the way home from work on Friday. Then we don't have to make a trip there over the weekend.
* I bought a total of 14 bags of coffee this past sales week at Weis(PMITA)Markets while they had this brand on BOGO sale.
6 bags of the Alert type(highly caffeinated)cost $7.47 after sale and $1.50/1Qs or $1.25 for each bag.
8 bags of assorted regular types/flavors cost $10.96 after sale and $2.50/2Qs + 1 x $1/1 Weis Q or $1.37 per bag.
$76.86 worth of reg. retail coffee for $18.43 or $1.32 on average per bag.
I also have a rain check for 8 more bags of the flavor they were out of that College Boy prefers + 4 x $2.50/2Qs to use with that rain check, netting me 22 bags of coffee at a cost of $30.39 or $1.38 per bag average.
Not too shabby. ;-)
Some of it is whole bean coffee so it will stay fresher longer and we can always throw some into the freezer to keep if it gets "old" sitting on the pantry shelf.
* Ok, I am serious about id-ing this mystery flowering tree!
Reader Tina left a comment Monday(thank you for that!)about it being a Saskatoon Serviceberry tree. I looked and the photos I found are not quite right plus it does not grow berries. sigh.
So here is a better up close shot with my lovely whitest white woman hand in the picture......
The flowers are small(about 1.5 inches diameter)and have thin petals. Most of the flowers are now past their prime bloom and you can see the leaves are beginning to sprout. It's an oval leaf much like a beech tree I think?
And it's definitely not a bush or a short/dwarf tree.....
The two trunks behind the swing are the tree in question so it's as tall as our 2 story house + another story +.
This is a photo standing under it looking up.
And here are the petals that it sheds all over the yard........
I looked around while I was driving to Weis this week and noticed about 4 more of this same tree along the roads on my route. None were in anybody's yard so I couldn't just go up to a door and ask them if they know what was growing in their yards.....because you know, if I got desperate enough, I'd do just that. lolz
So I am off to work on my End of Month Grocery tallies, a blog post or two(1 geneaology, 1 road trip)and get that Sallie donation sorted out.
What's going on in your world today?
Sluggy
Take a picture of the bark, along with the flower picture, and long view to show the shape. Then, take that to Lowe's and show it to them on your phone or look through their huge book. they can look online to solve the mystery. It seems I have seen those flowers but know nothing about the tree.
ReplyDeleteI think your money skills are great and your buying techniques are well-honed. Go Girl!
Kind of looks like a black locust. When the leaves come out, put up another picture and we can all guess again!
ReplyDeleteUnless my math is wrong or you spend a dollar, looks to me that you are going into May with $37. Now don't go all crazy with this extra cash! :)
I am too tired to sew any more. I asked Joel what tree that was and he said he didn't take dendrology (?)of the hardwoods. Big fancy words for I don't know....
ReplyDeleteLooks like a serviceberry tree. Maybe it's a non berry producing variety. It's pretty! http://bloomngardens.com/2013/03/serviceberry-trees/
ReplyDeleteWork for me today, but I've been getting off at 12:50 the last two days and it has been wonderful. I feel like I still have a whole day to get stuff done. I hope you have a great day. :)
ReplyDeleteAs I don't expect any changes in our April fortunes, I just spent some time looking at our wrap up for April. Not the worst, could have been better, but will work harder in May to meal plan, and watch the pennies. I really want to buy flowers (when really the snow is gone) but think I'll just by a $100 pack of seeds, and use my various planters and a bag of really good soil and see what I might get from seeds, and save my self $30. You've got me thinking might hard on our own retirement goals and a using the extra pennies towards financial independence.
ReplyDeleteI second the serviceberry nomination!
ReplyDelete