Frugal Friday......the March 16th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had last week.........

*

Last Friday I picked up a Friday Freebie at Weis-a roll of paper towels. 
I also got 2 more cans of crushed tomatoes for free using doubled coupons and the sale price. 
The Ocean-Spray organic juice was also free-on sale for $2 at Weis and I had a $2/1 IPQ(I printed off more of those Ocean-Spray Qs and went back for more free bottles.). 
The OJ was almost free-on sale for $2 and I had an electronic Q attached to my Weis card for $1.59 off this type of OJ so it cost me .41¢ only.
The Coleman uncured hot dogs were reg. price of $3.50 a pack and I had $1.50/1 IPQs plus they also had peelieQs on the packs for $1.25 off.  The cashier put through both the IPQs and the peelie Qs on each pack so they ended up costing me .75¢ per package. 
So some frees and some almost frees.  ;-)

*  After an arduous day grocery shopping on Wednesday which stretched out to 2 pm I stopped next door at Mickey D's for a Shamrock shake and a small burger.  I found an old book of $1 McDonald's gift certificates in my stash of gift cards pouch that morning so I used that to pay and only had .29 OOP to cover. 
Due to unforeseen circumstances(see the next bullet point)I'll have to blog about any more frugal wins on that Wednesday trip next week.

*  And this is as far as I got yesterday before the "Ides of March" befell me.  I went flying, slipping on ice(invisible ice where Hubs had shoveled over the grass, what was left melted and frozen overnight and was not visible above the grass)while taking Chester outside yesterday morning.  I can attest that the ground here is still VERY frozen. ouch
Anyway, I sort of rolled to my side so dirtied up my left knee, left a wonderful bloody scrape on my left elbow.........

and jolted my shoulder, which did something to my left collar bone which has made my left arm mostly inoperable.  You don't realize how many muscles have to work together when you do anything with your left arm until you hurt something. sigh.

So yesterday after the incident I spent most of the rest of the day/evening in the recliner, icing my collar bone and taking pain killers(leftovers from Hubs broken leg adventure).
Thankfully I was able to find a position that allowed me to sleep without pain(w/a pain killer too)last night.
Nothing is bruised or broken thankfully and I am a little better today but have to type with one hand still.
So that's as far as Frugal Friday will go this week.

It's always something in life, right?

I hope you had a better "Eyes of March". ;-)

And keep on staying frugal out there!

Sluggy

Sluggy's Financial Woes...Maybe, Maybe Not

Besides the negatives of falling down and breaking a limb, which in and of itself is bad, there is another down side.

I am speaking of having to go on short term disability.
I went and looked online and saw that here in PA that means an income reduction of 40% until you can return to work.
That means 40% less money coming in for us, going into 2017.
Ouch.

Hubs talked to HR and what I saw isn't accurate for his situation and his employer, thankfully.  He was told the first month he'll get 100% of his income and then it drops to 70% in month two.
There is a 1 week wait or something where you can't collect until you've been out of work for 7 days(and don't get paid for those 7 days).  Luckily Hubs still has personal days he can use for those days so we won't go without pay for that week.
For now the tentative return to work date is Feb.7th. so we will have a month of 70% less income.

And to have this all to be happening at the Holidays just sucks.  It's a good thing that I have bought ahead for Christmas(and all that is already paid for)and haven't put any recent Xmas expenses on credit cards that I can't pay off monthly in full.

Hopefully Hubs last paycheck for December which arrives this Friday won't reflect any reductions yet.

On the bright side are two things(well one has a bright side, sort of)--
It wasn't a worse injury and Hubs will fully recover and be able to return to work and his nice salary.
The other bright side(sort of)to all this is that we have not only met our deductible but maxed out our deductible with out of pocket for medical co-pays for the year.

No, not satisfied the high deductible(that happened in about March).  We have hit $7K in medical deductibles and co-pays out of pocket for 2016 so from about mid November forward all the medical bills/prescriptions/DMEs/etc. have not cost us one penny more.
This means it's fortuitous that Hubs broke his leg this month and not in January....if you can call breaking one's leg fortuitous. ;-)

Add that $7K to the $5600 we have paid in insurance premiums this year and we are out of pocket $12,600 for medical costs in 2016.
ouch.

Until Friday when I see the paycheck I can't be confident that I'll be able to achieve my Savings Challenge goal for 2016.
Between our expenses this month, a possible reduction in income and having to hold back a percentage of whatever is leftover after expenses are paid for December to help cover the High Deductible of our insurance policy(before they pay anything)which rolls over January 1, I am crossing my fingers we can meet our savings goal for the year.  It will be close if we do make it. ;-)

With my prescription costs in January alone and Hubs beginning physical therapy in January plus Daughter's medical appointments that month, we will hit our high deductible in record time in 2017 and I predict we will max out our co-pays before 2017 is over as well.
Not something to look forward to but it is going to happen.

Between this possible short term income reduction and other financial changes we might be undergoing next year(that aren't set in stone and I am not at liberty to talk about yet)I really can't sit down to finalize our 2017 Household Budget like I had wanted to by mid December.

I had planned to make 2017 the Year of Austerity Spending BEFORE Hubs' accident happened.

What with 2 more adults living here and us basically paying their living expenses(rent, utilities and bulk of food costs) for the next 2 years so Daughter can finish her degree, our basic costs have gone up and will continue to be higher.

Once December is over I can see actually how much more their living here has cost us over the last 6 months and make plans to adjust how and where the spending happens.
I had planned on cutting back on categories and putting the fear of MOM into these kids when it comes to wasting water/electricity/food.  Yes, they need to be more aware of what/how much they are using.
A short term income reduction brings this point home even more now.  Plus the fact that Hubs will be retiring shortly(could be in a year, could be sooner now)changes will be coming whether they like it or not.  Once Hubs retires we can't sustain the current level of spending on our retirement income(not until Social Security kicks in anyway but that won't be happening until well after he retires).

And on the bright side.......
We received a refund of car insurance on Monday, finally after cancelling the car coverage in September!

I will attempt to NOT spend this all in one place.
Though I could do some damage at Rite-Aid with that pittance. ;-)

We are thankful for good medical care and insurance coverage and an income to pay for it all here at Chez Sluggy  today.  You never know what life with throw at you but by planning and handling your finances well, you can help your chances of surviving the shit that happens.

No matter what comes our way in the future I know we will be ok. 8-)

Sluggy