Friday, December 30, 2022

How Not To Do Christmas Eve



We got back from the cruise on December 21st, back to Sissie's house.  We enjoyed a couple of low key days, Sissie did a ton of laundry for various cruisers, we had some good dinners and a few laughs.  I had planned to have Kim take me out in Sissie's car on Christmas Eve to fill in some presents I wasn't able to acquire on the cruise like I wanted to but then I pulled an "oopsie".

Sissie has a very tall bed which she had put Hubs and I into to sleep while at her house.  The first night back I begged off that bed as I was feeling sick still(I totally missed Mexico and never left the stateroom while in port thre)and sleep deprived after sleeping on the cruise ship with the 3 Snoring Caballeros. Our last night I slept not a wink so I was feeling under the weather and sleep deprived so I begged to sleep in the tiny bed in the "Sluggy Memorial Bedroom" by myself.  After 1 night of recovery in there I joined Hubs in the tall bed.

Sissie had generously purchased a small collapsing stool to help me ascend and descend her bed.  All was well until the morning of December 24th.  That's when I tried to use the stool to get out of the bed but my foot was not well placed on the stool and as I leaned forward my right foot slipped off the stool and I stumbled to the floor with my left foot/leg.  Luckily Sissie had a luggage rack near my side of the bed and my suitcase was open on on it.  As I fell I reached out and braced my arms/hands onto the open suitcase, otherwise I would have tumbled headfirst onto the floor and may have concussed my head into the wall or floor.

After regaining my balance I noticed a searing pain in my right lower leg(shin).  I looked down to see blood spurting from my shin and forming a lovely red puddle around my foot on Sissie's fairly new carpeting on her Master bedroom floor. ugh

Having a flash of brilliance I grabbed my phone off the dresser and quickly as I was able stumbled into the bathroom, leaving a trail of blood behind me on the carpet.  I figured if I bled out I'd do less damage on the bathroom's linoleum floor. 

I quickly called Hubs on my phone and it just rang and rang.  Then I called Sissie's phone and got her voicemail.  All the while I could hear everyone below me in the kitchen yakking up a storm.  As the blood continued to pour out of me I began screaming "Help!" at the top of my rather hoarse lungs.  
Damn Karaoke on the cruise made me hoarse!!

About the 4th "Help" someone heard me and Hubs ran up the stairs and saw me on the toilet and the growing pool of blood around my foot.  He rushed to the stairs and called out for Sissie's Hubs to come up to assist me.  Sissie's Hubs was a retired medical corpsman in the military so that was luckily for me.  He came up, assessed the situation, told Hubs to called down for someone to call an ambulance then got to work to staunch the bleeding.  My Hubs found a rolled up bandage wrap so they used a hand towel and wrapped it tightly into the bandage as the EMTs arrived.

**If you are queezy at the sight of blood you may want to skip the rest of this post.**

Since I was still holding my phone I had the presents of mind to snap this "money shot" as I calmly sat there as Sissie's Hubs put pressure on the wound.


If I hadn't braced myself on the open suitcase I could have hit my head and been knocked unconscious and laid up there bleeding for who knows how long, possibly passing out and then knows what would have happened. 8-((

The ambulance arrived in about 7 minutes and I was able to hobble downstairs onto the gurney and got whisked away to the ER.  There the injury was accessed, rewrapped and I was banished into the waiting room.  Once the bleeding was relatively controlled(or at least buried inside a bandage wrapping)Hubs and I waited in that waiting room for hours.

The waiting room was another ordeal.  Most of the folks waiting there seemed like flu victims except for one guy we called "ranty man".  He had been there since 1 am as he loudly told whomever was on the other end of his phone.  He proceeded to curse out the hospital staff, threaten to call his lawyer, etc. but no one threw his ass out.  He sounded like a drug seeker but how knows, I was in no condition to pay that much attention to him.  He was at the least annoying and ratcheting up the uncomfortable feeling among us waiting room folks.

After a few hours they called me back to take a look under my bandage job.  The wound was still gushing when pressure was taken off so they rewrapped it with fresh bandaging material and sent me back to the waiting room.

Finally they took me back for good.  The rewrapping wasn't tight enough so as I dragged my leg/foot across the waiting room back into the ER I left a trail of blood on the floor, soaked the wrapping more and bled into my shoe.  Lovely.

It took hours to stitch the wound up.  I think I went back around 5 pm and was released around 8 pm, with 24 lovely stitches.  Then we had to find a pharmacy on Xmas eve that was still open to fill the antibiotic prescription as well as obtain gauze and rolled bandaging to change the dressing.

Here is the wound early Xmas morning..........

The nurse said I should get a sharpie pen and make two dots for a smiley face. 8-)

I was told to keep my leg elevated which I did on Christmas but we left Sissie's house the day after Xmas and that day was spent in airports, on a plane and walking to get a shuttle bus back to our car and then a 3 hour drive home.
Here's the wound the morning after we got home with a lovely hematoma.


And here it is from the 28th.


Still trying to keep it elevated and not walk.  I am suppose to get the stiches out on the 3rd of January.  Go me!

I'll be fine but please keep Kim in your prayers as well as reader Hilogene as I saw in the comments her husband also passed away on Christmas Day.


Sluggy

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Very Sad News

After a marvelous trip to 6 Caribbean/Central American countries we all got the shock of our lives once we returned to Sissie's house.  

On Christmas morning, Kim's husband, Joel, very unexpectedly passed away from a massive heart attack.  Everyone is still in shock over this.  Kim requested me to say something on the blog but words fail me other than to say life can change in an instant so enjoy your loved ones while you can.

The love birds hanging in the lounge.
Sea day at the pool.
Kim talked Joel into playing a game.

He was so proud of the shirt he won!

Kim and Joel with their "Diet Coke Connection".

Our last dinner at the Summer Palace restaurant.

Kim obviously won't be online for awhile but please keep her and her family in your prayers at this time.  You can leave well wishes here which I will approve as I am able or leave messages on her blog Out My Window.


Sluggy

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Today's Activity, Not Recommended

 Well I felt we were all getting complacent and bored on Christmas eve so I decided to fall off the bed and bleed out.


So we'll be sitting in the ER waiting room for Christmas 🎄 Eve.

I hope your day is merrier and you're brighter than Sluggy.

Sluggy

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Sick at Christmas? Let's Hope Not

 


Enjoy this video. I'm on my phone and the file is too large so I can't put it up directly here 

https://youtu.be/qyCdqQG46K4

Cough cough 

Sluggy

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

We is back in Murica


 Back on dry land.  Kim wandered off in the airport cuz she saw a Dunkin Donuts. Through security and we board/bored in two hours.  Our bodies are 80% carrot cake and some variety of Diet Coke right now.  I have been awake since yesterday morning at 6 am.  Had some awesome times and one fiasco.  The phrase "Ramadama Ding Dong" has a special meaning now to us.  Details soon..maybe?

Some of us(3)are some sort of ill but like Gloria Gaynor said, we will survive.  Hope everyone is having a great Christmas 🎄 so far and Happy Channukah and Happy Solstice.


Sluggy

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

The To-Do List....November Edition

First here is a photo of my rosebush from Dec.4th........


Still blooming into Winter.  This is going to take getting use to. ;-)


Here is the list of everything that I needed to get done in November and how it all panned out.........

*  Pay Bills--DONE  Everything got paid.

*  Move Into House--DONE  We moved into the house, emptied the POD, emptied the U-Haul Truck mostly into the garage and we've been slowly going through all the boxes/tubs in the garage.  We are far from finished going through it all.

*  Clean and Organize stuff in House--Working on it.  This is going to take months.

*  Buy Stuff for House--Working on it.  So far we've bought shelving units, a bed, replacement parts for the ginormous fridge, curtain rods, a night stand,  2 chairs for the kitchen island, 

*  Close on PA House--DONE.  While the people who bought the house had aid they wanted to close before Thanksgiving, they left town for the holiday so that didn't happen.  The closing happened on Nov 29th and our check got overnighted the next day.  So glad to have that headache off our hands!

*  Clean out Inserts/Coupon Envie--DONE  I small chore I get done every month, sometimes twice in a month.

*  Editing More Photos--Working on it.  I haven't taken many photos since we got back from the beach so not much to edit.

*  Post about Old Trips--FAIL  Nope, didn't work on any of those posts.  Been busy moving and putting the house in order.

*  Work on Genealogy--FAIL  Haven't felt like working on this, see above.

*  Change All Addresses/Contact Info--DONE except for SwagBucks.  SB is being an asshat about changing my email addy so I can't cash any of my $$ out of that account.  I'll have to phone them after the trip.

*  Celebrate Thanksgiving--DONE  We actually had two Turkey Day celebrations.

*  Change Driver's Licenses--DONE  Went to a rural town North of here as they had appointments available sooner.

*  Register Cars in LA--DONE  After we got the driver's licenses changed, Hubs took the paperwork into the OMV and got the cars registered here and inspected too.

*  Get new Auto Insurance--DONE  We renewed our old insurance but in LA as we were in the midst of changing licenses and car registration.  After the new year we'll look into changing companies perhaps.

*  Set Up New Bank Acount in LA--DONE  This has been a royal pain to get done.  Seems none of the banks or credit unions down here would take our money until we had LA driver's licenses and at least 2 bills addressed to us at this address which meant we had to be here long enough to generate bills. lolz  None of the local banks have national or even widespread regional presence(mostly state banks).  Then we realized one of the banks I had money in that I dealt with only online has actual branches here(at least 4 in the area)so instead of setting up yet another bank account we'll get checks for the until-now online bank and use it as our primary bank.

*  Pack for Cruise--DONE  And we are outta here!  See y'all later! 8-)))

Sluggy

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Income & Spending 2022...the November Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals and social security payments, I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.

I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)


On to the November report---

I had 2 goals for November.......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2022.
This month I also had a goal to survive the move and have a little fun.  So far, so good.;-)

I can report that we finished up November in the red.
The amount we ended the month of November with?...-$8,816.68

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in November---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $3,235.81(after tax withholding)
*  SS income of $3570.00
*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $104.30
*  Storage deposit refund from PA $25.00
*  C/C credits on m/c statement of $76.04
Total "Income" for November....$6,986.15

Expenses in November---
* Irregular bills in November were $1,661.66
* Variable Expenses in November came to $11,915.04
* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13
Total Expenses....$15,802.83

$6,986.15-$15,802.83=-$8,816.68

Slush into November of $70.334.97 in that Fund, subtract November's shortfall of $8,816.68 and we get $61,518.29 going into December's 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows a subtraction of $8,816.68.

Outgo
As for the variable expenses this November here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The cell phone, WAM,  as well as the Health Insurance premium were all the same as last month.
*  There was no water bill in November.  It will be due in December.
*  The gas cc bill was $90.48 lower than in October.
*  We got a small deposit refund from the storage in PA,

HERE are the BAD THINGS(so many bad things...)

*  The Mastercard was $3,550.74 higher in November.
*  My Amazon c/c was $210.30 higher last month(mostly groceries).
*  Hubs Amazon c/c bill was $1,528.44 higher in November than in October.

*  We had many irregular bills due in November too--
  *  2 Vet bills for the dogs(1 for well check and shots, then Dixie got sick so another visit and meds.)
  *  Had to pay for an HVAC guy to put a dryer vent in.
  *  6 months of car insurance.  I think we'll change companies in the new year as the rate seems high.
  *  We paid the garbage service in advance for a full year and this is higher here than in PA.
  *  I had a small balance on a c/c I don't use much and don't remember what I bought. lol
  *  Car inspections once we registered the vehicles them in LA.
  *  New LA driver's licenses were bought and paid for as well.

The Food Budget costs for November are in another post HERE.  Food costs are included in the credit card payment(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS on November 2022---
November was another very expensive month.  Lots of bills from the move came due and were paid as well as having to purchase needed stuff like a bed, chairs, storage units, etc.  While our PA house sold on November 29th we have some residual utilities to pay there and theses will carry over into December bills.  I think November saw the last of the "move" bills.  After the house sale check arrives we can set up a bank account nearby which will make paying bills easier than it's been so far and we can close the PA account down and have those funds transferred here.  It will be nice to have our money settled down and consolidated again.  8-)))

THOUGHTS going forward into December 2022--Won't be around to spend much here but we'll be spending elsewhere in December.  There will continue to be small charges here and there as we fix things, remove and improve things, replace things that didn't come or make it to LA.  There will be an irregular bill as Long Term Care comes due in December and we'll be making the third house insurance payment(this is so weird here--you pay it over the first 5 months of your policy and then you are done for the year?).

So how was your November financially? 
Did you spend less than the income you had in September?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!


Sluggy  

Monday, December 5, 2022

This Week on the Dining Table

The "LA-where you wear it with pride" Edition.....



Louisiana is the sort of place I am finding out where they wear the common man label with pride.  Found this bottle of wine in the local liquor store this past weekend from a local to LA vineyard of a muscadine wine labeled "Redneck Red".  lol

Onward to the meal planning!
This is what was planned.......
1. Sunday--Fend For Yourself (I had a can of soup)
2. Monday--Bake Potato Soup, Rolls, Leftover Turkey Day sides
3. Tuesday--Chicken Strips, Mac and Cheese, Cabbage
4. Wednesday--Shrimp Scampi w/Linguine, more Turkey Day sides
5. Thursday--Beef Pie w/Veggies and Cornbread
6.  Friday--Baked Potato Bar(I've got a lot of taters to use up)
7. Saturday--No Clue yet but I have lots of options in the freezer and some fresh produce to use up.

And here's what actually happened........
1. Sunday--Fend For Yourself (I had a can of soup)
2. Monday--Bake Potato Soup, Rolls, Leftover Turkey Day sides
3. Tuesday--Chicken Strips, Cabbage
4. Wednesday--3/4 of a Zaxby's Zalad
5. Thursday--FFY I had Egg Drop Soup
6.  Friday--FFY  I had some Chicken w/Cashews Chinese
7. Saturday--Sloppy  Joes

With being sick the meal plan veered way off course.  Lots more Fend for Yourself later in the week but I was up to cook on Saturday because I had a bag of cooked ground beef in the freezer.  It was what is was.

What got put into the freezer last week....
*  5 bags of frozen veggies
*  4 TV dinners
*  3 whole Chickens
*  2.86 lbs. of Ground Beef
*  3 small Eye of round Steaks
*  2 Ginormous 1/2 Chicken Breasts(seriously HUGE!)
*  6 Chicken Thighs

What got taken out of the freezer and used...
*  some Bacon
*  some Chicken Strips     
*  a bag of Cooked Ground Beef                                   

I hit Super 1 Foods for meats and frozen veggies as they had good sale(whole chickens for .87¢ lb.) Walmart for some stuff/deals with rebates to the tune of $133.01 last week.
This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $133.01 for December.  

There are 26 shopping days left in December.

I've earned $34.90 on Ibotta in December.
I've earned $1.00 on Checkout51 in December.
I've earned $12.50 on Coupons dotcom in December.
I've earned 9,360 points from shopping on Fetch in December.
I earned 2,390 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in December.
I've earned 514 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in December.

That's $48.40 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $133.01 in grocery spending so in reality it's $84.61 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 37.71% and the monthly savings total for December comes in at 37.71% so far.  

Leftovers going into this week.....Sloppy Joe filling, 1 helping of Baked Potato Soup, Cole Slaw.

Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Baked Sweet Potato
2. Monday--Leftovers or ?
3. Tuesday--TV dinners
4. Wednesday--Out to Eat in Texas
5. Thursday--Sissie's house or out to eat
6.  Friday--Sissie's house or out to eat
7. Saturday--Cruise ship food!

Using up anything open that might go bad or take it to my daughter's house Mode.

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Nothing at all.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy 

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Frugal Friday.....the December 2nd Edition on Saturday

Welcome to Frugal Friday on Saturday! 

Not much for frugal wins lately.......

*  I felt sick so I headed to the Urgent Care and picked up drugs so I can get well.  Since I've hit my OOP this year on medical co-pays the doc and the drugs cost us nothing OOP.

*  On Black Friday the cruise line was having a BOGO cruiser sale so we called our consultant and booked a cruise for 2023 and one for 2024 for half the rates(if rates do up in the next year or two as they surely will it's an even better savings).  Means spending $$$ but for something we were going to do anyway so why not get all the savings we can on it?  We had bought the Cruise Next credits on our Dec. 2022 cruise so the deposits are covered and we don't have to pay anything else on them until at least mid January 2023.

*  I found NO money this past week!  I didn't go anywhere this past week.  Didn't spend any $$ so that's a win, right? ;-)

Total Found in last Week.... .00¢
Total Found This Year....$23.80

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy  

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Christmas Time!

So some of y'all keep asking about seeing pictures of the new house.  Basically the house isn't photo ready yet....between boxes stacked everywhere(now mostly in the Bubba garage)and the work the house needs, I am not ready to show it.
But in the meantime here is our Christmas tree up for 2022........


The Charlie Brown Xmas Tree is the extent of our Holiday decorating for 2022.  Trust me!, it was an effort just to dig this thing out and assemble it. lolz
You'll notice Sluggy's gifts from Santa the Pharmacist around this magnificent evergreen.
Yep, your girl is sick with a sinus and ear infections right now.  Hopefully these drugs will knock it all out before we fly out of Dallas next week on our way to Sissie's house.  I don't want to spend the whole cruise in a cabin with Kim while our husbands are left unsupervised on the boat. ;-)

So enjoy your holiday and know that photos will be forthcoming in the new year.

Your  Bayou Slug

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Food Spending 2022.......the November Report

*Since I am finished food shopping a couple of days early I am posting the November Food Spending now.  Enjoy 8-)

Onward to November's Food Spending report......




Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2022.

I have posted November's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in November.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
****************
CASH SAVER
OOP  $66.13
Qs/Ads  $49.99
Value  $116.12
Savings  43.05%

KROGER
OOP  $420.53
Qs/Ads  $247.31
Value  $667.84
Savings  37.03%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $7.45
Value  $13.87
Savings 46.29 %

SHOPPER'S VALU
OOP  $34.44
Value  $51.42
Savings  33.02%

SUPER 1 FOODS 
OOP  $49.30
Qs/Ads  $36.16
Value  $85.46
Savings 42.31 %

WALMART
OOP  $305.64
Qs/free Gift Cards  $205.99
Value  $511.63
Savings 40.26%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Ollie's at 46.29%, Cash Saver at 43.05% and at Super 1 Foods at 42.31%.
The worst rate was Shopper's Valu at 33.02%.  
I shopped at 6 different stores in November.  I am still learning the ropes of grocery shopping in this area(where to go, whom to avoid, etc.).

TOTAL Spent in November................$883.49
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards...$562.85
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased....$1446.34
TOTAL Savings of .............................38.92%

This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....well I knew that when we got a house to set up the food spending would explode and it did.  We were actually moved in early in November and I sure did take advantage of any Thanksgiving deals I found.  This freezer compartment is HUGE but I still didn't fill it all yet.  I blame having a broken shelf in the freezer that we need to replace.  I blame the high spend partially on horrible inflation which is actually worse than what the government reports it to be.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 2.90% in November 2022 to 38.92% compared to the October's 36.02% savings average which is a tad better.  Even though I had savings rate in the 40's at some store where I spent the bulk of our grocery monies weren't at those stores.

With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3,441.43 on food/toiletries in 2022.

2022 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,441.43
2022 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$12,644.53
2022 Grand Total Saved...............................$9,203.10
2022 Yearly Savings Total..............................72.78%

The average per month amount spent is $312.86 in 2022 so far.

LOOKING AHEAD To December 2022......We won't be home but for 11 days in December as far as cooking goes.  I am trying to use up fresh produce before we leave for the cruise as well as any perishables in the fridge.  I can take anything we can't finish to my daughter's house for them to use.  That is a nice perk.  There will be lots of spending on food out in December(airports, in ports, and at Sissie's house)but that's not part of my grocery spending.

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in November?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just have your receipts and either track it in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.

*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?

*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Monday, November 28, 2022

This Week on the Dining Table

The "LOL Things I've Seen Lately" Edition.....



Daughter and I went to a small town over in Texas on Saturday and we saw this makeup bag for sale in a strange little novelty store. hehehe

Onward to the meal planning!
This is what was planned.......
1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Salad, Leftovers
3. Tuesday--Chicken Strips, Mac and Cheese, Cabbage
4. Wednesday--Beef Pie w/Veggies and Cornbread
5. Thursday--Some Form of Turkey, Rutabaga, Mashed Taters, Stuffing, Cranberry, Pumpkin Pie
6.  Friday--Shrimp Scampi, Linguine, Veg TBD
7. Saturday--More Leftovers

And here's what actually happened........
1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Caesar Salad, Leftovers
3. Tuesday--Lasagna
4. Wednesday--Fend for Yourself
5. Thursday--Turkey Breast, Rutabaga, Mashed Taters, Stuffing, Cranberry, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie w/Whipped Cream
6.  Friday--Fend for Yourself
7. Saturday--Leftovers

What got put into the freezer last week....
*  1 Pie
*  2.5 lbs. of Salmon

We turned to a frozen lasagna on a day I didn't feel like cooking, a bag of Caesar salad that needed using up and I turned 2 boxes of generic/store brand Stove Top mixes into a semi-homemade dressing for Turkey Day by adding store made sausage meat, more onions and celery and herbs and some leftover cornbread from the fridge that nobody wanted to eat.  The apple pie(frozen)was for son in-law who doesn't like pumpkin or sweet potato. With all the running around for house supplies and unpacking spending lots of time in the kitchen cooking last week wasn't high on my agenda.

What got taken out of the freezer and used...
*  1 premade Lasagna
*  1 apple Pie                                        

My budget got busted last week so let's just add some more damage onto it, shall we?
I hit Walmart and Kroger for some stuff/deals with rebates to the tune of $113.02 last week.
This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $883.49 for November.  A high number but considering I was starting from scratch here I'm ok with it.

There are 2 shopping days left in November but I am finished food shopping.

I've earned $189.41 on Ibotta in November.
I've earned $0.00 on Checkout51 in November.
I've earned $17.50 on Coupons dotcom in November.
I've earned 9,360 points from shopping on Fetch in November.
I earned 6,176 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in November.
I've earned 1,344 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in November.

That's $206.91 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $883.49 in grocery spending so in reality it's $676.58 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 36.53% and the monthly savings total for November comes in at 38.92% so far.  Gone are the days of 70% savings rate with Rite-Aid. 8-((

Leftovers going into this week.....1 helping of lasagna, 2 helpings of rutabaga, carrots and mashed taters, a few helpings of cranberry and stuffing, and half of 2 pies.
I have a small pan of homemade mac and cheese from when I had it for the family gathering the last before last, plus carrots, potatoes, 2 sweet potatoes and half a head of cabbage to use up before we leave town.

Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Fend For Yourself (I had a can of soup)
2. Monday--Bake Potato Soup, Rolls, Leftover Turkey Day sides
3. Tuesday--Chicken Strips, Mac and Cheese, Cabbage
4. Wednesday--Shrimp Scampi w/Linguine, more Turkey Day sides
5. Thursday--Beef Pie w/Veggies and Cornbread
6.  Friday--Baked Potato Bar(I've got a lot of taters to use up)
7. Saturday--No Clue yet but I have lots of options in the freezer and some fresh produce to use up.

Some meals not made last week just carry over into this week.  We're working on leftovers at the moment too and trying to use up anything that will go bad before we get back from the cruise ;-)

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Maybe some milk and a bag of salad?

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy 

Friday, November 25, 2022

Frugal Friday.......the November 25th Edition

Welcome to Frugal Friday!  I hope everyone had a relaxing and festive Thanksgiving.  We did an intimate lowkey meal here with just daughter and son in-law though we heard from our two sons, my brother and the nephew via text and phone.

Please keep the folks and their families who were gunned down at the Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia in your prayers.  That's the Walmart near my brother's house which I have been shopping in many times when visiting there.


Here are a few frugal wins lately.......

*  Spent last Saturday with son in-law parents and extended family for a Turkey Day gathering.  So much food his mom put out and it was all yummy!  I brought a rather lackluster mac and cheese....it turned out too dry as I baked it the day before and I had to use a new to me brand of pasta....yeah, I am blaming that pasta. lolz


*  I am slow sometimes(shut up Anne, Kim and Sissie!).  Our dogs like a little wet food, specifically Bella brand,, in their kibble for meals.  I had been buying it at Walmart, the least expensive place in these parts to get it.  I finally had a lightbulb moment and checked online sources and found it cheaper at Amazon if I do a subscribe & save deal.  My first order arrived on Tuesday and it's enough to cover the puppies through the end of 2022.  Bonus points because I used Amazon credits to cover most of the purchase so 36 trays of food cost me $13.38 OOP

*  Daughter has decided she'll watch the puppies while we are on our cruise so we won't have a kennel boarding bill to pay afterwards.  We'll still have to pay to park our car at the Dallas airport for 2 weeks so that sort of negates any savings on the kennel but I'm not complaining.

*  Went to Kroger again to pick up $2.99 lb. butter(limit 5 with digital Q).  I'll head into 2023 with almost 15 lbs. in the freezer.

*  I found money this past week!     

 


Found a penny in Walmart on Saturday.



Went to a different Walmart on Sunday to pick up Rxs and found another penny on the way out the door.


Same trip I picked up Wendy's for lunch while doing laundry at my Daughter's house.  I found 2 quarters in the  Drive-thru.  Who throw away quarters?  Score!     

I also used an old gift card to pay at Wendy's so double win.


Then on Monday when I cleaning in what will be my sewing room I found a dime and a penny wedged under the baseboard trim in that room.  This house just keeps giving and giving. lol  I've found a total of .15¢ so far and Hubs found a nickel under the back porch when he was under there cleaning up trash.

Total Found in last Week.... .63¢
Total Found This Year.....$23.80    

          

*  Daughter got an Ibotta free turkey(boneless)and offered it up for our Thanksgiving dinner.  I'd never cooked a boneless one but I must say it was quite juicy and just the right amount of meat for 4 people(with a few leftovers).  It was us four and 3 dogs for Turkey day here.

*  Instead of going to the expense and effort to make dressing from scratch I used 2 Kroger brand "Stove Top" style boxes and dressed it up by adding sausage meat(kept it moist)and more sauteed onions and celery and herbs(all of which I had on hand).


*  I used a Walmart gift card bought with SwagBucks back in PA and used it at Walmart earlier in the week to cut down on my OOP spending there on Wednesday.

*  I found Salmon marked down at Kroger this past week when I went to pick up the butter.  The salmon was close to sell by date but plenty of time to use it once I cut into portions and put it the freezer.  Came out to $6.76 per lb. with discount.  Great price!

*  I used Kroger fuel points to gas up on Tuesday for a .20¢ discount per gallon.

*  One of the items I ditched in the move was my Dutch Oven as it was in rough shape.  I checked online this past week to see if anyone had them on BF special.  JCPenney's had one I liked and I happened to have an old gift card gotten at Rite-Aid for that store.  So I ordered one to ship to the local store and Hubs will pick it up for me(it's heavy)once it's in.  It only cost me the sales tax as the gift card was enough to cover the sale price.   Plus there is a rebate for a $20 Penney's gift card I can apply for once it gets in.  yay.


*  Will be sitting out Black Friday this year.  There is nothing worth the stress of crowds at any price....well, unless it was free, and the only place I got free was Rite-Aid ;-)  My shopping was done months ago, most of it wrapped and given to my 2 sons and their wife/significant other before we moved so I didn't have the big expense of shipping anything to them.  I picked up a couple of things after we got here for my daughter and son in-law and Hubs and I don't really exchange Xmas gifts anymore.

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy  

Monday, November 21, 2022

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Mixed Up Thanksgiving" Edition.....


We went over the son in-laws folks house on Saturday for Thanksgiving.  There were a ton of people there we didn't know(half brothers, wives, grandchildren, etc.)so that was different.  Just another change to what we are use to. 8-)
Daughter might want to do something on Thursday though that's just the 4 of us.  We'll see what happens.

Onward to the meal planning!
This is what was planned.......
1. Sunday--Chicken Fajitas, Spanish Rice
2. Monday--Fried Catfish, Asian Cole Slaw, Cornbread
3. Tuesday--Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry w/Veggies, Rice
4. Wednesday--Beef Pie w/Veggies and Cornbread
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6.  Friday--Shrimp Scampi, Linguine, Veg TBD
7. Saturday--Thanksgiving Dinner w/family

And here's what actually happened........
1. Sunday--Chicken Fajitas
2. Monday--Fried Catfish, Asian Cole Slaw, Cornbread
3. Tuesday--Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry w/Veggies, Rice
4. Wednesday--Leftovers
5. Thursday--Beef Stroganoff, Sweet Potato Fries
6.  Friday--Leftovers, Big Salad
7. Saturday--Thanksgiving Dinner w/family

I wasn't feeling well Sunday so Hubs had the Fajitas and I ate an apple.  I used the leftover rotisserie chicken I bought the week before and put it into the Fajita filling.

What got put into the freezer last week....
*  a 10+lb. turkey
*  5 more lbs. of Bacon
*  3 boxes of pie crust
*  2 bags of veggies
*  3 pies

What got taken out of the freezer and used...
*  some Catfish
*  a bag of Teriyaki Chicken
*  a bag of Stir-Fry Veggies
*  a bag of Sliced Beef
                                                   

I busted my budget and spent $237.79 last week. Just 2 Kroger and 2 Walmart trips to put stuff in the freezer and pantry to stock it as I found deals and a few necessities.
I figure since we won't be buying food in December(doing a sort of grocery fast and will be away too then)I can go over as what I buy will "last" for 2 months.
This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $770.46 for November so far.  

There are 9 shopping days left in November.

I've earned $160.56 on Ibotta in November.
I've earned $0.00 on Checkout51 in November.
I've earned $15.75 on Coupons dotcom in November.
I've earned 8,667 points from shopping on Fetch in November.
I earned 5,416 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in November.
I've earned 1,321 pts. from food shopping on Swag Bucks in November.

That's $176.31 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $ in grocery spending so in reality it's $412.35 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 47.98% and the monthly savings total for November comes in at 39.25% so far.  Gone are the days of 70% savings rate with Rite-Aid. 8-((

Leftovers going into this week....Chicken Fajita filling, Teriyaki Chicken and Stir-Fry veggies

Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Salad, Leftovers
3. Tuesday--Chicken Strips, Mac and Cheese, Cabbage
4. Wednesday--Beef Pie w/Veggies and Cornbread
5. Thursday--Some Form of Turkey, Rutabaga, Mashed Taters, Stuffing, Cranberry, Pumpkin Pie
6.  Friday--Shrimp Scampi, Linguine, Veg TBD
7. Saturday--More Leftovers

Some meals not made last week just carry over into this week.  We're working on leftovers at the moment too. ;-)

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Not sure.  If I have to get some form of turkey(the whole one's won't thaw in time to cook one but we don't want all those turkey leftovers right now)I'll spend a bit more for November.
No worries as we have the cash to cover all this food and nothing goes on a credit card that we don't pay off at month's end. 8-)

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy 

Friday, November 18, 2022

Frugal Friday.....the November 17th Edition

Welcome to Frugal Friday!
Here are a few frugal wins lately.......

*  I got another free turkey sort of by accident.........

Went to Kroger earlier this week to load up on the loss leaders/deals.  Got to the register and had almost $100 in spending which is the threshold for a free Kroger turkey.  Was debating on picking up some 6 packs of Coke Zero for later since they were on sale so went ahead and got them as this put me over $100 spent.  Hubs went back and selected a turkey to add to the order.  I would have bought the Cokes eventually so why not now, on sale, and with a bonus $18+ turkey?  Two turkeys in the freezer now?  Yes please!

*  Went to get our Louisiana driver's licenses on Thursday.........

Needed to do this soon as A-my PA license was expiring in Jan. and B-needed to register the cars in LA for insurance purposes as our current policy expired yesterday.
Instead of heading to the big city to either wait for hours since they had no appointments well into Dec.(and we wouldn't be here then)we drove North to a little town and got appointments right away.  When it came time to pay I used Cash instead of c/c or check as those methods tacked on a service charge to the cost.
BTW-It's not the DMV here it's the OMV. ;-)

*  I found money this past week!      

A dime in Kroger on the floor by the Customer Service desk.  

                     

We stopped at a new-to-me Walmart on the way back from getting our Louisiana Driver's Licenses and I found a penny by the CoinStar machine in the lobby.


Then I went into a Dollar General up yonder for a gift card purchase and found a penny at the checkout.


Total Found in last Week.... .12¢
Total Found This Year.....$23.17                       

*  While at that Walmart we picked up a doormat which was needed..........

It rang up half price!  And Chester approves...

*  While in Walmart I picked up an Ibotta freebie that had popped up earlier that day.......

A container of Bob Evans mashed taters.  Actually these were a .36¢ moneymaker as they were only priced at $3.64 and I got $4.00 back on my Ibotta account.

*  I went into that Dollar General to buy gift cards for someone.  When you bought 2 of select cards you got $6 off your total this week and  I bought 2 gift cards that qualified.

*  I used a Walmart gift card bought with SwagBucks and used it at Walmart earlier in the week to cut down on my OOP spending there on Wednesday.

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy