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

A Few More 2015 Recaps

Just a couple more recaps here at Chez Sluggy before we move on to 2016 Goals.

*  Exercise Program
I started "real" exercising in 2015 in mid-March.
I was able to log in 460 miles on the exercise bike for the year.
My best months were June, July and August.
While I only did a few miles in September and then in October, I was also doing Physical Therapy for my foot issue(lol)those months so I was exercising just not riding a bike.
I really didn't add in any weight training last year.  That will be an added thing going into 2016.

*  Eating Out
I try to keep a limit of $100 on Eating Out per month.  This doesn't count Eating Out when traveling and there was a LOT of traveling last year!  This $100 mark doesn't include any special occasion Eating Out either.....like birthday celebrations, when people come to visit and we take them out, that sort of thing.
Eating Out amounted to $3212.71 in 2015.
Of that, just the "Regular Eating Out" came to $874.81.  This comes to $72.90 per month average so we stayed under the $100 a month goal for that.
Now the remaining $2,337.90 in Special Eating Out?....that's another story! lolz
True we can afford it but still, that's a big pile of cash!
Other than not eating out as much(or traveling as much)I'll be thinking on ways to bring this down a little in the new year.

*  Now I am just in waiting mode to get our end of year credit card statement that breaks down all the c/c spending into categories so I can see "how much we spent on what" in those categoriess last year. I put much of our spending on the credit card(and pay it off every month in full)rather than pay by cash or check/debit for the free reward points putting it on plastic gets me.  It's not much of a savings in the end but spending this way does give us FREE gift cards that I can use for giving, food spending or purchasing items we need/want.

Sluggy