Showing posts with label WAM aka walking around money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WAM aka walking around money. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Half Year Small Finances Review

So we are halfway through 2018.
How did that happen so fast?? lolz

I went through the various small pots of monies and here is where it all stands as of June 30th.
I save up all my rebates/spare change/refunds to apply toward the food bill in December.
(I don't put monies from things I sell during the year into this kitty.)

*  The spare change was rolled and counted June 30th......


$38.50 to put toward the food budget come December.  Now that Hubs isn't working and doesn't have as much WAM we don't get as much change accumulating at Chez Sluggy.

*  Here are the current cash rebate app totals for 2018 thru the end of June.......
   Ibotta  $55.40
   Checkout 51  $6.25
   Savingstar  $26.25
A total of $87.90 in cash rebates to put toward food spending in December.

*   My Weis Refund envelope has $19.81 in it.

*   My Rite-Aid Post Q/Refund envelope has $98.47 in it.

Altogether I have $244.68 at the halfway point in the year to apply toward food spending in December.  If this pace keeps up I may be able to fully cover food shopping in December with these odds and ends I save up.  8-)))

*   Not part of the grocery monies but here is my leftover WAM from the first 6 months of the year.....


I've still got a little over half of my WAM for the year so far, $366.
Almost enough to buy a plane ticket outta here! lolz

Sluggy

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Money Stuff After the 1st Quarter of 2018

Just some miscellaneous money stuff........

* Grocery/Toiletries Spending after 3 months stands at $1261.72.  That breaks down to an average of $420.57 per month.  Right about on target for us.
I've "saved" $4006.34 buying our supplies on sale/using Qs/rebates over buying all our food/toiletries at regular retail prices.  I take that with a grain of salt since I wouldn't buy some of those regular retail prices ever(would buy store brands instead)so if I take half of the "savings" it's $2003.17....that seems more realistic to me. ;-)

* Eating Out Spending after 3 months stands at $570.92.  That breaks down to an average of $190.30 per month.  A bit high but we have 2 Birthdays(and thus Birthday meals out)in the first quarter of the year and nobody in my family likes to each out for their birthday at cheap places it seems.

* As for cash rebate/savings apps/accounts here is what I've earned back in cash monies for the 1st quarter of 2018.........

 *  Weis refunds/overcharges  $16.56
 *  Rite-Aid refunds/post Qs back  $70.15
 *  Checkout51 cash rebate  $4.25
 *  Ibotta cash rebate   $25.95
 *  Saving Star cash rebate  $23.79
TOTAL.....$140.70 cash back/refunds

At year's end I'll add that Refund/Cash Rebate $ back into the grocery Budget to offset some of our spending on food/toiletries.
After the 1st Quarter I've spent $1261.72 on food/toiletriesand gotten $140.70 in rebates/refunds leaving our actual spending at $1121.02 so far in 2018(if I added the rebates in now).

* I've also counted my WAM leftover at the end of March.........


$216.00 leftover and accumulated WAM going into April.
I had $140 leftover WAM at the end of February so after getting another $100 for March that made $240 WAM to spend in March.
I spent only $24 of WAM in March which means $216 leftover WAM at the end of March.

After adding this month's WAM that gives me $316 going into April.  As is my habit I doubt I'll spend much of it on myself.  If this trend keeps up I'll need to figure out what to do with it all at the end of the year.  Hmmm, maybe something splurgy for me?

* We have a change jar and I roll change once we have enough to roll.  At the end of the year I either add it to the food budget or some other goal I've been working on.


$10.50 is what we ended the 1st quarter with in change.  Back when Hubs was working we had a LOT more spare change to roll.....but I'll take it. lolz

* Gift Cards Tally
We currently have $1557.12 in gift cards.
 Home Improvement stores....$448.79
 Big box stores.....$298.46
 Gas cards........$20.00
 Rite-Aid......$200.00(not counting the partially used one in my wallet)
 Amazon......$50.00
 Movies...........$51.40
 Restaurants....$438.47
 Visa........$50.00(gotten as a gift at Xmas)

We started the year with $2015.57 in assorted gift cards so we've used down $458.45 so far this year.
The Home Improvement store cards will be gone before Summer is over(yard stuff, paint, etc.), $150 of the Restaurant cards is earmarked for Hubs Bday dinner out so that will put a nice sized dent into what is left.
I haven't bought any gift cards this year and I don't foresee getting anymore at Rite-Aid(where I usually bought them)as the benefit(store rewards earned)isn't as good as they use to be(plus the store rewards earned expire in 2 months, so not worth it).
If  Dollar General has % off gift cards, that is where I'll pick gift cards up....but they rarely do this except around the Holidays.
Some of the cards I have are old now and I need to make a point of using them up.

I am off to pay some bills and figure out Hubs eye dr. bills which are a clusterf*ck.  They don't bill in a timely manner and then after I pay and Hubs goes in for a new visit, the office doesn't show our payments(which are mailed to a third party clearinghouse a thousand miles away in DALLAS TX!)so they make him cut a check AGAIN!!  I should have such a credit on his account there by now....argh.

What are you up to today?

Sluggy





Friday, March 9, 2018

Frugal Friday.......the March 9th Edition

Let's see what we did frugal last week..........

*  Other than a birthday dinner out we'll eaten at home this week. 

*  Here's the WAM I ended February with.


$140 leftover to add to March's $100 WAM.  I've spent $9 this month of my WAM......hard to spend it if you don't go anywhere, right? lolz

*  While we are out on Tuesday Hubs and I went to the Bread Outlet and got this........

3 x 12 packs of rolls(burger and dog), 3 x loaves of Arnold's bread and 2 x packs of Entemann's doughnuts(1 is already opened and in the kitchen).  All this set me back $9.  I pay cash at the Bread Outlet so it comes out of my WAM instead of being put on the credit card. 
With all those rolls I'll be taking some of that bbq'ed pork I smoked in the Fall out of the freezer, whip up a batch of cole slaw and we'll have bbq on next week's menu.  Making your own bbq beats paying $10+ a plate for it at a restaurant.

*  I got free canned tomatoes at Weis(PMITA)Markets last week.

These were on sale for $1 a can last week and I used .50¢/1 Qs that doubled to $1 so free tomatoes....yay me!

*  I almost sold something on eBay.  A buyer offered me 1/3 less than I wanted, which I didn't take, then he offered me $20 less on an item I was selling for $150.  I took that offer.  10 minutes later he cancelled the order.  Thanks a lot moron!  So I had to relist the item and then go block his User ID from buying/bidding on any of my items ever again.  My blocked bidder list after all these years is quite long now. lol
Loser. 
I have a love/hate relationship with eBay if you can't tell. lolz

*  I got nothing else.  Other than grocery shopping, Rite-Aid and taking College Boy out for his Birthday dinner last night I've been home bound, not doing much except paying bills and loving on Chester and the family.


Maybe I'll go clean something today and go find a sewing project to work on.......or maybe I won't. ;-)

What frugal wins have you had this past week?



Sluggy