2019 Food & Toiletries Spending......the August Edition

Onward to August's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for AUGUST 2019.

I have posted August'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 August.  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 & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
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BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $14.00
Value  $51.49
Savings  72.81%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $75.39
Value  $157.36
Savings  52.09%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $16.77
Value  $29.14
Savings  42.45%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $5.17
Value  $10.47
Savings  50.62%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $331.67
Value  $331.67
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKETS

OOP  $26.54
Qs/Ads $25.25

Value  $51.79

Savings  48.75%

WALMART
OOP  $19.57
Value  $36.50
Savings  46.38%

WEIS
OOP  $146.72
Qs/Ads  $152.26
Value  $298.98
Savings  50.93%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 72.81% and Malacari's at 52.09%.  My worst savings rate was at Ocean State Job Lot with 42.45%.  Having a worst rate of over 40% is still awesome. 8-)))

I shopped at 8 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August.........$304.16

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$331.57

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$635.73

TOTAL Savings of ................................52.16%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August w/R-A.............$304.16
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A...................$663.24
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$967.40
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................68.56%

This closes out the August food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well UNDER my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in August(almost $100 less!).  I put fewer things into the freezer in August and I spent less money.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 4.11% in August 2019 to 68.56% compared to the July 64.45% savings average.



With 8 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $3,051.44 on food/toiletries in 2018.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$3,051.44

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$12,136.40

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$9,084.96

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............74.86%

The average per month amount spent so far is $381.43 in 2019 which went down $11.04+ per month due to less spending in August.
The yearly rate went down .54% from July's percentage for the year-to-date mainly due to "buying" less items at Rite-Aid in August compared to July's haul.
May was a lower than usual savings percentage and it's been slowly rising every month since that.

LOOKING AHEAD To September 2019.......
No trips, no company coming so a usual food/cooking month.  I have a $15 prepaid debit card earned at R-A but I'll put it toward food spending in September.
I might venture into Target at some point in September which will mean lower OOP spending on food as I'll use discounted gift cards.

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 August?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?

*  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

AUGUST 2013 Budget Results......Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for AUGUST 2013.

I have posted August's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2013 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in August.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3+ at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
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BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $11.67
Savings  65.72%

BERGER'S FARM MARKET
OOP  $9.00
Value  $15.00
Savings  40%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $32.86
Qs/Ads  $7.70
Value  $40.56
Savings  19%

MAINE SOURCE(restaurant supply)

OOP  $28.57

Value  $44.81

Savings  36.24 %

OLLIE'S
OOP  $24.47
Value  $36.60
Savings  33.15%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $27.48

Qs/Ads  $33.07

Value  $5.59

Savings  16.90%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $225.48

Qs/Ads  $147.36

Value  $372.84

Savings  39.52%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN August.....$0.00 (Last month's $35 rebate received was given to #2 Son to use for groceries while we were away.)

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bread Outlet at  65.72%, Berger's Farmstand at 40%, Weis PMITA Markets at 39.52%.  I food/toiletries shopped at 7 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$391.86

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$202.69

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$594.55

TOTAL Savings of...................................34.10%

This closes out the August food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into August with $300 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month and was going to shift the last $100 into the Vacation budget for extra spending money.  Well that would have worked out fine, except I spend $108.48 on the 29th, after we got home, at the grocery store.  Ugh.  I could have waited 3 days and spent that $ on the September food budget but no, I had to go and screw that all up.

So instead of taking $100 less out of savings to cover the miscellaneous spending on vacation, the whole thing comes out of savings.  I am not too concerned by this, since we have the extra money in savings to cover whatever we spent.  It would have been nice though to finish out August with $100 less in food spending. 8-(

So going back to my $400 food budget, I ended the month with $8.14 leftover.  And that includes $40 in cash given to #2 Son to use for food while we were on vacation(plus the $35 from the rebate check we received last month).
 

I did NO Rite-Aid shopping last month again.  In fact, I gave away about 3 bags of toiletries while on vacation plus another box of toiletries/HBA in July for a blog giveaway.

While spending $400 in August on food/toiletries is good, considering we ate out for 11 days of the 31, that puts our daily food spending a bit higher than I like to see.  30 days for $400 comes to about $13.33 a day, while 20 days for $400 comes to $20 a day for food.
 

Looking ahead to September---We don't have any parties or special meals going on this month except for a Family Reunion at the end of the month and we aren't bringing/making any food for that.  We will need to eat-out a few meals.  The Labor day cook-out/sort of,  I already have the food bought and paid for that.   We are going to try to stay out of restaurants/fast food/take-out meals in September and eat home cooked only.  I need to drop these 3 pounds I picked up last month by eating restaurant food on vacation.  Meals this month will be back to reduced sodium and fresh seasonal veggies and cheap.

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far this year--
 

2013 Total Saved $2,032.80

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $4,990.08

2013 Yearly Total Spent $2,957.28

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  40.74%

 

In August, total savings percentage for the year has gone DOWN .89% over July's total of 41.63% to 40.74%.  So we saw a slight decrease in our savings rate on food/toiletries spending for the year.
We are holding steady in the 40%s.
Works for me! 8-)

 

How much did you spend on food in August?
 

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Leaving town so use it up few days" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 Sunday--Subway sandwiches
Monday--Chicken and Broccoli(from the garden)in Garlic Sauce, Coconut Rice
Tuesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Taters(trying again to get this cooked!)
Wednesday--Barbecue Ribs & Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Collards
Thursday--?  Will play it by ear
Friday--?  Will play it by ear
Saturday--Probably bunches of leftovers

 

Everything Sunday through Wednesday as planned, with the addition of Squash Casserole for Wednesday's meal.  Thursday we had homemade meat sauce with ravioli and tossed salad(at Tanner's request & I had raviolis and precooked crumbled ground beef for a meat sauce in the freezer) , Friday Tanner & I had a real late lunch at Friendly's so no dinner and Saturday we had a burgers/dogs cook-out for lunch before Tanner left so it was just leftover stuff from the week for dinner that night.
 

Last week,  I spent  $106.43 on  $167.51 worth of groceries at 2 different grocery stores and the farm stand.  That included about $50 in some meat deals and discount bakery goods(for while company was here), a pizza, snacks and PowerAde for #2 Son and $5 in fruit & $3.50 for local tomatoes at the farm stand.   The birthday cake was another $7 and bad planning on my part necessitated a $9.16 ground beef purchase(I had frozen but didn't think to thaw it out beforehand).  This means I spent only about $31 on essential food items that were used last week.

 

Food waste galore last week......4 strips of turkey bacon that just got "old" before it got 'et and a 1/4 of a bag of carrot shreds that again, just got "old".  And 1 of the cantaloupes I bought at the farm stand was too ripe so it went to the great compost in the sky. lol  I should have pureed it and froze it for smoothies but freezer space is still at a premium here and I had company and just didn't feel like standing around pureeing melon with them here.  Yes, I am using company as an excuse for throwing out a melon. 
I have NO  shame.......8-(

  

Leftovers going into this week's plan......where do I begin??lol......squash casserole(2 helpings), collards(1 helping), spare ribs(8), pulled pork, coleslaw, pork chops(2), meat sauce, coconut rice,, chicken w/broccoli(1 helping).  Hubs and I will try to eat on the foods #2 Son & others won't eat while we are gone today(just like we ate leftovers yesterday).

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is--leftover foods are in bold lettering--
 

Sunday--Chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce,  PLUS fresh broccoli from the garden, coconut rice
Monday--Assorted Leftovers that #2 Son won't eat this week
Tuesday--?
Wednesday--Whatever Sonya Ann fixes....uh oh.....lolz
Thursday--Eat Out
Friday--?
Saturday--Wedding Reception

I have NO shopping list this week.....yah! 
Hubs and I will be eating out 5 nights this week.  1 night at Sonya Ann's house and 1 night at the Wedding dinner.  The other 3 nights are wide open and unknown at this point but will involve restaurants.  I am taking a bottle of no salt Ketchup with me however, if I need it to "doctor" up something that is not quite edible.  Plus I will be trying to make R/S diet friendly choices.  Wish me luck!

Instead of stocking up the fridge and leaving a meal plan for those who will be at home, I'll just give them money and they can decide what to serve/fix/eat.

Meals at my house this week will sort of be like Vegas......what happens at meal time at Sluggy's house STAYS at Sluggy's house. ;-)

 

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Not much of a meal plan but next week's post mortem should be "interesting". lol
 

 What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Everything is set until company gets here" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Leftovers or Whatever you can Find in the Fridge
Monday--Leftover Lasagna for me, Sausage Sammies for Hubs
Tuesday--Chicken & Dumplings
Wednesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Potatoes
Thursday--Fend for Yourself night, I can't eat. eek!
Friday--Probably Chinese Take-Out as I won't feel like cooking but will be ravenous lol
Saturday--No Clue yet....maybe that grilled Pizza I never made ?

 

We were good with this plan until Tuesday.
Wednesday we had leftovers again since there were still leftovers.  Friday Hubs took me to a Chinese buffet after we got out of the colonoscopy so we had an early dinner/late lunch.  I think I had some pickles and melon that night when I got hungry again.
Saturday Hubs wanted to eat out since we were running errands(mostly looking at travel trailers)so we went to TGI Friday's.  I had a free appetizer coupon so I got that and a salad, which made that early dinner $8 less than it would have been.
All this early dinner stuff lately makes me think we are turning into one of those old Early Bird Special couples who eat dinner at 2 in the afternoon.  Geez, I didn't think we were THAT old yet. lolz
 

Last week,  I spent  $85.90 on  $121.97 worth of groceries at 3 stores.  I ended up not doing the Catalina Deals at Weis(PMITA)Markets.  This spending includes $11.55 on colonoscopy prep supplies and $16.18 on junk foods for #2 Son for the month and $12.62 for "we're having company" type foods.  So $40.35 of my $85.90 in spending wasn't for regular meal foods.

 

No food waste last week...woohoo!

  

Leftovers, that are still aok, going into this week's plan......1 helping of Chicken & Dumplings.  If I don't eat this for lunch one day, it can be fed to the dogs, with their undying thanks. lol

Company is arriving in time for dinner on Wednesday so I've got a plan in place through Wednesday.
As for Thursday, Friday and Saturday?.....no clue.  We will be winging it.

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is--
 

Sunday--Subway sandwiches
Monday--Chicken and Broccoli(from the garden)in Garlic Sauce, Coconut Rice
Tuesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Taters(trying again to get this cooked!)
Wednesday--Barbecue Ribs & Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Collards
Thursday--?  Will play it by ear
Friday--?  Will play it by ear
Saturday--Probably bunches of leftovers

On the shopping list for these meals--turkey deli meat(for my lunches), more foods to have here for company like baked goods, chicken for Monday's dinner, collards and ?

 

 

I'm figuring about $50 for the above.

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Half the week's meals are up in the air still but it will all work out for the best. 8-)

 What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy