DON'T READ THIS; IT'S BORING!: March 2024

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Saturday, March 30, 2024

March Food Spending......2024

Onward to March's Food Spending Report.....

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for March 2024.

I have posted March'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 March. 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, Pet Food. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
****************

DOLLAR GENERAL

OOP $7.74

Sales $7.71

Value $15.45

Savings 49.90%

KROGER

OOP $546.02

Qs/Gift Cards $546.23

Value $1,092.25

Savings 50.01%

SUPER 1 FOODS

OOP $14.00

Sales $11.11

Value $25.11

Savings 44.25%

WALMART

OOP $347.11

Qs/Gift Cards $203.43

Value $550.54

Savings 46.95%

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My best Store Savings Total was at Kroger with a savings of 50.01%. My worse rate was at Super 1 Foods with 44.25%. Not a bad savings rate.

I shopped at 4 different stores in MARCH.

TOTAL Spent in March......$914.87

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$768.48

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$1,683.35

TOTAL Savings of........45.65%

This closes out the MARCH food/toiletries/etc. spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....What a mess March was financially as far as food spending goes! Folks, it just keeps getting worse and worse. If I remove all the stuff I bought to give to the food bank my spending would be much more reasonable.....but it would still be high.

The Monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by .34% in March to 49.07% compared to February's 49.41% savings average. Not much of a change from last month so I'll take that, as it's still a high savings rate.

Since we have an adequate income and food should be a pleasure in life(no way am I going to eat unseasoned rice and beans for my remaining days like some people-because I don't have to). I will buy quality food and pay the price at the register. I may not like the price but I will deal with it.

With 3 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $2,227.39 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2024.

2024 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$2,227.39

2024 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$4,373.44

2024 Grand Total Saved...............................$2,146.05

2024 Yearly Savings Total..............................49.07%

The average per month amount spent is $742.46 in 2024 so far but that's before all the rebate monies are added in.

Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Shopmium, TaDa, Checkout 51 and other miscellaneous rebates sent to my Paypal)at the end of the year and add it back into my food budget, so at the end of the year my food spending will go down. The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way. Alexa app gives me Amazon credit onto my account but I don't buy food on Amazon(sometimes I buy dog food there)so I really don't know how to count that.

LOOKING AHEAD TO APRIL 2024.....

Who the hell knows where prices will be in a month! I have no crystal ball and the government just keeps printing money willy-nilly which makes our dollars stretch even less further. Case in point, the 1.2 Trillion $ spending bill the Congress just passed without vetting it. Where do you think the $ to fund this is coming from? Taxpayers and the government will just print money to cover what we don't cough up, thus our dollars are worth less. Economics 101. We need a line item veto! And we need to decrease the debt-it's so out of control! *Off my soapbox now.*

I'll keep an eye on what we spend, rebate and coupon like a mad woman when I have to step foot in a grocery store and shop from my pantry when I can. I won't be food shopping for more than half of April so that will help with the spending. 8-)

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

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

* Do you track your yearly food spending? It's really not that hard or time consuming; just keep 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 versus 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

Friday, March 29, 2024

Frugal Friday.....the March 29th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins this past week so here goes....

* I successfully used up odds and ends and incorporated them into new meals and no food got thrown out. 8-) Americans throw out an average of 30-40 percent of our food supply(between all sources-each family, stores ditching spoilt food, and the natural waste that happens along the course of going down the food supply chain). If I can do our little part and not let veg and fruit, etc. rot shoved into the back of the fridge I am happy. It means we are good stewards of our food resources. 8-)

* Picked up 2 prescriptions and paid Zero OOP(well, I do pay premiums for a Part D plan). ;-)

* I cashed out on Tada for a $25 gift card to use later this week.

* There was no spending on eating out this week other than using a gift card to get a salad for lunch on Thursday at Zaxby's. They also have an offer if you have their app until the end of March where you can get a small free order of fried shrimp if you spend $5 so I got that also for free. It was "meh" and Zaxby's should stick to doing chicken imho.

* I did a little more Ibotta rebating this past week as I was trying to hit a big $10 Bonus and a $5 Weekend Bonus. I hit the $5 Bonus with this lot from Walmart on Thursday since I was in Walmart picking up prescriptions anyway.

All this was a $24.73 moneymaker, between Ibotta and the $5 Weekend Bonus, that Tada earned gift card mentioned above, Shopmium, Fetch, Tada, Alexa and Social Nature. 8-))) Even without the gift card this all would have cost me only .27¢. The deodorant and shampoo willl go to the food bank, the tape I will need when I ramp up my eBay business in May, 2 items are gifts for family/friends and the rest we will use.

* I received a $2 rebate check in the mail this week for a long ago submitted for Dreft stain remover(bought and submitted the rebate last year I think). I had given up hope of ever receiving that $2 but it's tucked in the bank account now. ;-)

* I found money!

Hubs and I went to a different Walmart, one a few miles down the road from one we frequent that is a small neighborhood Walmart as it was the only one in the area that carries a product that there was a manufacturer's full price rebate on that I could apply for. We found a few other deals there(like clearance Kinder bars which made them free after rebate and a Made Good flavor of granola bites that was $1 after rebate and those Reese's ice cream cones that none of our regular Walmarts seemed to have two of in stock for weeks.

Anyway, while leaving I spied a penny on the floor and scooped it up.

Then when we got to the car I saw a whole cache of pennies strewn about the crosshatching of the handicapped parking area in front of where we were parked so I merrily set about picking them up and tucking them into my pants pocket to cart home and wash. 11¢ richer in the found change department for 2024 for that trip was a bonus!

Went to pick up my Rxs at the local Walmart on Thursday. I found a penny in the crosswalk outside on the way inside and another penny next to the car when I went back out to leave.

Total Found in last Week.... .13¢

Grand Total Found this Year.......$2.69

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Great Road Trip of 2017.....Part Thirty/Day Twenty One

Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Nine of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Ten of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eleven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twelve of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Thirteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Fourteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Fifteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Sixteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seventeen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eighteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Nineteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Nine of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

The next morning at the hotel they had a free breakfast and free newspapers in the lobby. We loaded up on breakfast as we wouldn't be stopping for lunch.

I culled the coupon inserts out of the newspapers before housekeeping threw the papers out.

Winning! lolz

So we packed up our luggage back up in the room after breakfast and headed out on I-94 going South East.

A nice sunny day, good for traveling if you have sunglasses. 8-)

Cousin Sonya Ann loves her some Entenmann's Donuts....not the vanilla ones enrobed in a chocolate coating but the Devils' food ones enrobed in chocolate........Mmmm, donuts......

We would be stopping to see her the day after this one and I found an Entenmann's bakery outlet along the way while we were on the road this day so we made a very short route change to pick some up to surprise her when we got there.

But alas, the Bakery Outlet had gone out of business though they still have signage up in that little strip mall for it. 8-( No donuts were secured.

We did stop once we hit Minnesota for gas and while Hubs filled the gas tank of the car I wandered into the convenience store to look around and stretch my legs.

I found some funny shirts for sale there......

And then more of these Snickers bars with funny sayings on them.....

A "Rowdy Oddball". Yep! That about sums me up. ;-)

A sign for Sinclair Lewis Ave. in Sauk Centre MN. I've read some of his stuff.

92 Miles to Minneapolis. I've been through Minneapolis on the way from Wausau Wisconsin to Clear Lake, Iowa and then Roland, Iowa back in 2014 on my solo road trip. I also attended a convention in Inver Grove, MN along with a bunch of Beanie Baby Collectors back in the 1990's.

Lake Wobegon Trail ahead. I was never a fan of Garrison Keillor.....

Passing through St. Cloud Minnesota.

We saw this billboard outside of Minneapolis. I think "The Artist Formerly Knowns as Prince" was still alive and in residence in Paisley Park back then but this wasn't a stop on our agenda.

Over the St. Croix River..........

And into Wisconsin, another place I've seen a lot of. We were staying the night in a hotel near Eau Clare, WI.

It's true what they say about "Midwest Nice", as we found this note on the bed of our room when we checked in. A personal note thanking us for staying with them. 8-)

And staying over the river in WI rather than back in the suburbs of Minneapolis the room was much less expensive for the same accommodations you've find in the Metropolitan area. Not a fancy room but clean, spacious and quiet. They also had an indoor pool(makes sense to have it indoors this far North, right?)so while Hubs took a short nap I scampered down to the pool for a refreshing dip as the drive that day was short and we got in mod-afternoon.

Then we dressed and drove back into Minnesota to visit a blogger friend. The sky was exceptional that day as we drove through farmland on some backroads.

We met blogger friend SAM in MN. She made us dinner and we had a nice long chat with her Hubs, my Hubs and us. They have a nice comfortable home in a nice subdivision(which we were challenged to find! lol). Her hubs was a sweet man and a joy to get to know, as well as SAM. We took a photo to commemorate the visit. Boy, is she tall! Well, everyone is tall compared to me. lol

Thanks again for the hospitality and allowing us to visit SAM or rather, thanks to her doggy for allowing us to visit. ;-)

Then we drove back to Wisconsin to the hotel and almost had a run-in with a deer darting out onto one of those backroads we took to avoid traffic. That was a little too thrilling an end to the evening but both the rental car and the deer were no worse for the encounter. And my nerves eventually recovered. '-)

Sluggy

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Some Ibotta Hauls & Winning At The Grocery Store Games

Going to the Grocery Store is not for the faint of heart anymore. You have to keep a keen eye out so you don't get overcharged.

I may be a mild-mannered Senior Citizen but in my mind's eye I am something like the photo above. lol

These Ibotta rebate trips were done recently, in the past week. Last Friday I got these items.....

$31.69 OOP.

I earned $22.25 from Ibotta(including the Weekend Bonus and .50¢ Bonus for Silk)and earned $2.75 in Kroger Cash Back so $6.69 spent.
The Gatorade tablets were on clearance for $3.06 each and had $2 rebates on Ibotta. $1.06 is a great price so this item and much cheaper than buying the bottles of Gatorade. The Almond milk was .59¢ after Ibotta, the Silk Bonus and KCB. The 2 Good Yogurt Drinks were .89¢ each after Ibotta and KCB. The Claritin was another clearance find-a $30.99 reg. priced box for $13.02. I had a $4/1 Claritin digital coupon and got another $4 Ibotta rebate so that cost me $5.02. 8-)))

I also picked up these........

2 x Blue Buffalo Nudges dog treats at $12.99. They were BOGO and there is a free up to $15 rebate offer from the manufacturer so FREE dog treats for the puppies when the rebate comes in.
Here's the rebate link....https://www.bluebags4wags.com/

Then on Sunday I picked up this stuff to finish my Weekend Bonus.....

This all cost me $43.56(plus 2 x Reese's Ice Cream Cone packs not pictured). I got back $21.50 from Ibotta(16.50+ $5 Weekend Bonus), full manufacture's price of $3.28 for the drink mix from Social Nature, $2.80 worth of points on Fetch for the Fast Twitch Drink and the ice cream(unfortunately the Points for the Arm and Hammer laundry detergent disappeared from my account before I bought that but I still got $5 on Ibotta for it)and 1,265 Shop Kicks(for the Kotex and Kinder chocolate bar)worth $5.06 and $6 from Alexa(L'Oreal, Kotex and Fast Twitch). The L'Oreal face moisturizer was a $1.58 moneymaker after Ibotta and Shopmium. All totaled I spent $43.56 OOP and got back $38.64. Most of that $4.92 spent in the end was on the laundry detergent($1 on the Made Good/$3.92 on the A&H product). Not a bad outcome.
The pads and the Made Good granola snacks will be part of my next food bank donation.

Working on the MidWeek Bonus and got this at Kroger on Tuesday.........

$42.92 OOP $19.50 earned from Ibotta, $2.55 earned on Fetch, $2 from Tada=$24.05 back making all this $18.87. *(My $2 off 1 Extra cereal digital coupon didn't attach so I chatted this morning with CS at Kroger and they credited my account $2 for that.)

The best 'deal' here is the Alba brand sunscreen I found in the clearance aisle-marked down to $2.87 a tube and I had a $5 off 2 rebate, making them .74¢ combined. Sweet! Down here the sun is not your friend in the Summer or "Hell's Front Porch" as I refer to that season here.

I was 1 item away from earning a $5 Ibotta Bonus so since Hubs had to go to Walmart this morning and my L'Oreal face moisturizer rebate reset I had him pick this up........

$6.42 with a $5 Ibotta rebate and a $5 Midweek Bonus. I thought I had another $3 digital coupon offer as well on one of my rebate apps but even without it, it's a deal.

There was also a glitch deal on the Kroger toilet paper this past week. It was marked BOGO on the shelf and I had a digital store coupon making them $3.99 each after taking off $3.50 on up to 5 items.
Of course they just rang up $3.99 so I took a picture of the shelf tag and went to customer service for a price adjustment as two of my four packs should have been free. The nonplussed woman tried to tell me the shelf tag was out of date but I enlarged the photo and showed her it was current, expiring that day.

Customer Service lady refunded $7.98 to my credit card making 4 packs of tp $7.98 total or $1.99+ each. Nice.
Sometimes it takes work and alertness to win at the grocery store wars. And trust me, you have to go in there in warrior mode. ;-)

Sluggy

Dollar General Deceptive Business Practices

Because the South is lousy with DGs, this is a big problem here. Funny how these stores seem to always proliferate in low income neighborhoods.....I'd need both hands to count the number of DGs within a 6 mile radius of my house. I watch at the register like a hawk if I step foot in a Dollar General and buy anything. I've been overcharged quite a bit but if they don't honor the price on the shelf, I don't buy that product and have them put it back. I inform them on the discrepancy but when I return to that particular store weeks or a month later, the shelf price has not been corrected. Every other store I buy anything from will honor the shelf price if the item in question rings up higher at the register.(Some states have laws that require a store to honor the shelf price anyway.)

This beef I have goes back to when we lived in PA and I didn't pay as close attention and was overcharged once. I wrote to the company and basically was told "so sad, too bad" and nobody was going to rectify the situation. These stores are constantly under staffed on purpose and it's all the employees can do to keep order and the doors open. It's a very poor business model and I hope more states bring lawsuits against them.

Sluggy

Monday, March 25, 2024

This Week on the Dining Table....the March 25th Edition

The "A Great Deal on a Couple of Pizzas" Edition.....

I bought a couple of these pizzas to try at Kroger a week or so ago as they were BOGO and I had multiple rebates/coupons to go with them such that these were better than free to me. We don't often eat pizza anymore but sometimes we splurge out. It was a tad spicy(either the sauce or the pepperoni-pepperoni is like that, very inconsistent on degree of spicy from pie to pie).

Anyway, I liked the verbiage in the instructions on the back of the box-read what I highlighted.......lolz

Would I pay the regular price of $13.99 for one of these? No way.

This is day 288 of the new "way of eating". Down 59 lbs. since the cruise(not counting the 8 I gained on the cruise and then lost again, which would make it 67 lbs.).

Kicking the weight loss up again with intermittent fasting this week, but no movement of the scale yet.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned for last week...........

1. Sunday--Braised Corned Beef, Colcannon, Cheesecake Factory Rolls

2. Monday--Liver, Onions, Gravy, leftover Colcannon

3. Tuesday--Rueben Sandwiches

4. Wednesday--Teriyaki Stir-Fry w/leftover Pork Loin, Rice(for Hubs)

5. Thursday--Cheeseburgers(bun optional), leftover Veggies or Sweet Potato

6. Friday--Salmon, assorted leftovers

7. Saturday--?

And here's what actually happened......

1. Sunday--Braised Corned Beef, Colcannon, Cheesecake Factory Rolls

2. Monday--Liver, Onions, Gravy, leftover Colcannon

3. Tuesday--Rueben Sandwiches

4. Wednesday--Teriyaki Stir-Fry w/leftover Pork Loin, Rice(for Hubs)

5. Thursday--BLT Sandwiches

6. Friday--Assorted leftovers(I had green beans, stir-fry w/a little pork loin)

7. Saturday--Salmon, leftover Cabbage, leftover Sweet Corn Grits

What got taken out of the freezer last week...

* Teriyaki Pork Loin

* Bacon

* Liver

* Salmon

What got put into the freezer last week....

* 1 piece of Salmon

* 2 packs of Sausage

* 2 packs of Ice Cream Sandwiches

* 2 packs of Ice Cream Cones

Last week we spent $179.45 on grocery shopping for March.

Total shopping comes to $744.15 for March.

There are 6 shopping days left in March.

Rebate monies earned this month so far.....

I've earned $278.04 on Ibotta in March.

I've earned $70.50 on Shopmium in March.

I've earned $19.50 on Alexa app in March.

I've earned $33.25 on Kroger Cash Back in March.

I've earned $29.43 on TaDa in March.

I've earned $4.75 on Checkout51 in March.

I've earned $40.22 on Aisle, etc.

I've earned 31,586 points on Fetch from food shopping in March.

I've earned 6,623 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in March.

I've earned 0 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in March.

That is $442.77 in rebates(not counting the Kroger Cash Back/Shop Kick/Fetch/Alexa)on $744.15 of grocery spending so in reality it's $301.38 in food spending after the 4 rebate apps I count(the ones that give me cash back, not the ones that I turn the points into gift cards, or Alexa that gives me Amazon credit, and I count when those points are cashed in). Some of what I spent was for Food Bank donations(I'll start not counting those items in our personal grocery spending going forward into April.)

My savings percentage for the last week was 52.33% and the monthly savings total for March comes in at 42.40% spent so far.

Leftovers going into this week....not a blessed thing. We got nothing.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Pizza, Salad

2. Monday--BBQ Pork Loin, Assorted Veggie Mix

3. Tuesday--TV Dinners

4. Wednesday--Garlic Shrimp/Veggie Skillet meal

5. Thursday--Chicken Parm, Sweet Potato Fries

6. Friday--Catfish, Cole Slaw, Green Beans

7. Saturday--Steak, Scalloped Potatoes, Veggie TBD

Trying to use some fresh produce up and trying not to buy any more as our trip is coming up soon. Shopping from the freezer this week and for Easter dinner next Sunday.

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

Sunday, March 24, 2024

The Great Road Trip of 2017......Part Twenty Nine/Day Twenty

Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

When last we met we had just crossed over the state line into North Dakota......

Nice sky and an encouraging billboard, "Do Your Best." I concur.

More sunflowers........

When we got to Fargo I told Hubs I wanted to visit the local Visitor Center.

This piece of equipment was featured outside of the Center......can you guess why I wanted to go here?

What a grand new building! Hubs initially stayed in the car while I went inside. He noticed that local kids were going into the building and coming out with bags of fresh popcorn. Color him puzzled.....

As I entered the Visitor Center I saw a coffee and popcorn machine right by the door???

Then I saw some display cases...........

These cases had all sorts of props and memorabilia from the movie "Fargo". It's a good movie with a great cast of actors. If you haven't seen it, you should go find it on some streaming service.

There were photos of the cast during production too.

It was shame they weren't selling this t-shirt in the little gift shop inside the visitor's center.

Here's where it gets weird(or maybe just quirky), they had the actual woodchipper machine used in the movie inside the visitor's center. It has a rubber foot sticking out of the hopper(if you know, you know). They had Winter trapper hats(google it if you live in the South and have never been North), and a short piece of lumber so you can reenact a scene from the movie while one of the employees there takes your photo(with your phone or camera).

Here's Hubs posing with me, though he didn't don a trapper's fur hat like I did.

Such a grand two story Visitor's Center with all sorts of brochures of things to see and do in the area and books for sale and reading tables like in a library!

And a small gift shop off to the side.

We spied this colorful bison on the way out.

Then we checked into our hotel for the evening, dropped our bags and went out to find dinner.

We hit a strip mall nearby with two options, Smash Burger and Huhot. After Val in Iowa had raved so about Huhot we chose the Mongolian Grill.

A cute sign as you entered........

We perused the appetizer and dessert menu while we waited for our drinks. Then it was time to get in line.

Huhot is a buffet style place. You grab a plate and make your meat selection, then your veggie selections, and lastly your sauce option(s). Then you queue up and wait your turn to have one of the "chefs" put your dinner on their large circular flattop grill and they cook it for you. All cooked your dish is returned to you to enjoy. They have a communal tip jar and when someone puts a tip in they all chant together while they cook. Too funny and fun!

Here's my plate of vittles(you get soup and rice too). My first plate was a bit spicy(the sauce was as I combined two sauces on that plate. My second plate I went with just the non-spicy sauce which was more to my palate's liking.

For the price I didn't think it was a good deal so I wistfully glanced over at Smash Burger on the way back to the car(since I had never had that before either as there are none of either restaurants back in our part of PA).

Since it was August and the days stretch out until 8 something in the evening we had time to kill so we made a stop in town across the road from the "Sons of Norway" Lodge in Fargo.

After having my DNA tested a few years earlier it turned up that I had a small amount of Viking blood coursing through my veins. Then after years of genealogical research I had discovered earlier that year that a statue of my 33 x Great Grandfather, Rollon Ganger-Hrólf the Viking or as he is also known ROLLO. He was Count Rouen, the first ruler of Normandy(in present day France). It is still not known whether he was Norwegian or Danish but we can say with certainty that he was Scandinavian.