This Week on the Dining Table...........the April 7th Edition

"What Is Wrong With People?!"

Do you see that small blue item in this photo?  It's a dental pick in the elevator in the medical building where one of my doctors has an office.

This is whole nasty level from leaving used dental picks outside in the parking lot.  And there are multiple trash receptacles in the lobby of this building.  What is wrong with people?

Onward to the meal planning!

Here is what was planned for the last week.....

1. Sunday--Beef and Broccoli

2. Monday--Leftover Mushroom Parmesan, Salad

3. Tuesday--Leftover Chicken Marsala, Leftover Cabbage

4. Wednesday--Poultry Pot Pies, Salad

5. Thursday--Scallops, Green Beans

6. Friday--Leftover Beef and Broccoli

7. Saturday--Leftovers(if no leftovers, we'll think up something else)

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Beef and Broccoli

2. Monday--Leftover Mushroom Parmesan, Salad

3. Tuesday--Leftover Chicken Marsala, Leftover Cabbage

4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef and Broccoli

5. Thursday--Scallops, Green Beans

6. Friday--Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zucchini 

7. Saturday--Pork Loin Stir-Fry Veggies

Most everything happened(except the pot pies)but not necessarily when planned.

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

*  Thin Steak

*  Chicken Thighs

*  Scallops

Last week we spent $21.76 on groceries and the savings rate came in at 53.64%. Spending for the month is $21.76 and the savings rate is 53.64% for April before rebate monies are added in.

Rebates earned in April-

$35.93 on Ibotta

$0 on Checkout51

$0 on Aisle and Misc.

$35.93 total in $$

Total spent after rebates is -$14.17  I used some gift cards to pay so that is why my total is negative. ;-)

7,650 Pts. on Fetch

0 Pts. on SwagBucks

346 Pts. on My Points

26 Pts. on ShopKick

0 Pts. on TaDa

(I don't count these until I cash out for a gift card or cash.)

Before AND after rebates we had a low spend month for groceries at least for us.

Leftovers going into next week...Pork w/Stir-Fry Veggies

Here is what was planned for this week.....

1. Sunday--Catfish, Brussels Sprouts

2. Monday--Poultry Pot Pies, Salad

3. Tuesday--Lasagna Casserole, Carrots

4. Wednesday--Shrimp, Leftover Green Beans

5. Thursday--Chicken Parmesan, Veggie TBD

6. Friday--Salmon, Baked Sweet Potato Fries

7. Saturday--Steak, Salad

Just trying to eat down what is here when I'm not getting great deals.  I chose my meals by cherry picking the deals and building meals around those items, combined with what is in my freezer.

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.

Sluggy   

Income & Spending....the March Edition

***Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway ends soon!  It ends Monday, April 7th at 11:59pm Central time  Go HERE to enter.***

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals, personal savings 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.

We went into retirement in June of 2017 with no debt, no mortgage nor a car payment.

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 March report--

I have 2 goals for March....

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 fund may be applied 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 2025.

*  I do not include/report on our retirement accounts here, just the non-retirement ones.

I have to report that we finished up March in the red.

The amount extra we ended the month of March with?....-$10,184.04

Income or Fund in March We Can Access

The "income" in March---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $2,530.11

*  SS income of $4,104.00

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $1,460.21

*  Rebating Cash-out  $28.99

*  Stock Dividend  $20.79

Total "Income" for March....$8,150.77

Expenses in March---

*  Irregular bills in March were $13,694.87

*  Variable expenses in March came to $4,005.53

*  Medical Premiums in March were $634.41

Total Expenses....$

$8,150.77-$18,334.81=-$10,184.04

Slush Fund coming into February of $83,904.58 and the subtraction of -$10,184.04 in March, the end of March 2025 Slush Fund comes to $77,145.15. 

The Slush Fund, on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog), shows a subtraction of $10,184.04.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this February, here are the good and bad side of things.....

Here are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill and the WAM were the same as last month.

*  The electric bill went down $26.92 in March.

*  The cell phone went down $9.08 from las month.

*  The Mastercard went down $26.23 in March.

*  Hubs Amazon c/c went down $272.16 from the previous month.

*  My Amazon c/c went down $118.90 in March.

*  Hubs Aviator c/c went down $1,697.07 from last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  My Aviator c/c went up $1,865.20

And we had some "one off" bills in March--

*  Doc Co-Pay of $20.00
*  Long Term Care Premiums of $1,244.02
*  Security Deposit for the new rental $2,102.49
*  I paid for the June cruise $10,328.36(ouch)

The Food Budget costs for March are in another post HERE. Food costs are included in my credit card payments(mainly because I buy the food but sometimes these costs come out of our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS for March 2025--The cruise payment is due in March. ouch  The cruise payment put us in the negative for the month but we planned for that.  Other than that the rest of the bills were about the same, except the heat may be off more days than on because March is deep Spring here in the deep South so the electric bill should be less. 8-)

THOUGHTS GONG FORWARD INTO APRIL--We'll have more bills associated with moving(2nd payment to the moving company, paying first month's rent on the house, setting up utilities,  getting renter's insurance, etc.) Plus my car died the end of last week so that's going to be a pricey repair.  My car needs to make it 1,350 miles to PA without any issues.

On the flip side food expenses should be way down as we empty the freezer.  I foresee only buying fresh produce until we leave.

Here's hoping 2025 treats us all even better financially! 8-))

So how was your March financially?

Did you spend less than the income you had in March?

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 down/off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or retirement account?

Or did you blow all your excess monies after bills were paid on a "want"?

If you post 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 

Food Spending....the March Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for March 2025.

I have posted Maarch's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located  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).
****************

BROOKSHIRE'S

OOP  $2.77

Sales  $1.52

Value  $4.29

Savings  35.43%

KROGER

OOP  $226.99

Qs/Gift Cards  $242.42

Value $469.41

Savings  51.64%

SHOPPER'S VALU

OOP  $1.21

Value  $3.15

Savings  87.81%

WALMART

OOP  $70.41

Qs/Gift Cards $51.39

Value  $121.80

Savings  42.19%

********************
My best Store Savings Total was at Shopper's Valu with a savings of 87.81% but most of the grocery dollars were spent at Kroger with a savings rate of 51.64%.  My worse rate was at Brookshire's with 35.43%.  Not a bad savings rate average overall though.

I shopped at 4 different stores in MARCH.  

TOTAL Spent in March.....$301.38

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$297.27

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$598.65

TOTAL Savings of........49.66%

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

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....Nice job this month.  Didn't spend a lot, for us, in our situation, but got some good deals and lots of savings.  We are continuing to eat down the freezer and the pantry in preparation for the move.

The Monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 49.66% in March to 6.25% compared to February's 43.41% savings average.  When savings percentage goes down it's a good thing.

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 $1,060.43 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2025.

2025 Yearly Total Value of Items  $1,931.05

2025 Total Saved   $870.62

2025 Yearly Total Spent  $1,060.43

2025 Yearly Savings Total of  45.08%

The average per month amount spent is $353.48 in 2025 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, Swag Bucks, My Points and other miscellaneous rebates-Aisle, Tremendous, Sampoll  etc. and have it 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.  I don't add in all the cashed out savings until the end of the year,

The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger Cash Back), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way.  Alexa app gave 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 and it's defunct now so I won't worry about that bit.

Because I don't like to let money sit in these rebate accounts and Paypal, I send $$ to my bank account throughout the year.  So far I have sent $489.82 from various rebating programs and through Paypal to my bank.  If you add in all that my food spending at the 2 month point in 2025 comes in at $269.23 or $134.62 per month.

Besides all I sent to my bank account I have more $ sitting in these various rebating programs as well as in Paypal.  This is not counting Alexa, ShopKick or Fetch, which all comes out in gift cards or Amazon credit.

LOOKING AHEAD TO APRIL 2025....

I have just under 1 month to finish using up what we have in the freezer.  We can take canned goods with us but not the frozen/refrigerated food.

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

  

Frugal Friday....the April 4th Edition

Here are the frugal wins for this past week....

*  I love finding marked down foods at Kroger(this really doesn't happen at Walmart).  The lure of Ibotta sucked me back in so I bought some items for the food bank that had Ibotta offers.  I also got some marked down produce, salads and I found these three catfish fillets....

Not only were they marked down but they were also part of the Mega sale(buy 5, get $1 off each)so that made them $1.93 each.  I also bought 2 6-packs of Gold Peak tea which I'll need when we are moving, making it 5 items(and the tea was on sale and had an Ibotta rebate too!

*  We used up some pantry items as well.  The less we have to move the better. I'll be going through the pantry this weekend and culling a donation to the food bank.

*  There was no eating out this past week.  

*  Made a sale locally of a ton of laundry detergent.  The people here are so flaky about showing up so I was glad to make this sale.

*  It's been warm here so the heat had been off during the day.  We actually had to put the a/c on a couple of days too.

*  Entertainment last week was free tv, YouTube watching, sitting on the deck reading or doing genealogy.  Still slogging my way through the Jesse James tome.

*  Played Bingo at Group Therapy on 

Thursday and I won a pair of socks. 8-)

*  I found money!

Found a nickel at Walmart on 4/1, Tuesday.

          

Found .56¢ in the Walmart parking lot when  we went to pick up a new Rx.

Found Money This Week..... .61¢

Grand Total Found in 2025....$2.10

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy