Food Spending.....the June 2023 Edition

Onward to June's Food Spending report......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for June 2023.

I have posted June'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 June.  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. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
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OLLE'S

OOP  $20.33

Value  $47.19

Savings  58.67%

WALMART

OOP  $108.36

Qs/free Gift Cards $144.58
Value  $252.94
Savings 57.16%

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My best 2 Store Savings Totals were at Ollie's at 58.67% and Walmart at 57.16% .  My worse rate was  Walmart at 57.16%. 

I shopped at 2 different stores in JUNE.   8-)

TOTAL Spent in June................$128.69

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$178.07

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$306.76

TOTAL Savings of ............................58.05%

This closes out the June food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 8.51% in June 2023 to 58.05% compared to the May's 49.54% savings average.  

With 6 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $2,246.26 on groceries/HBA /paper goods in 2023.

2023 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$2,246.26

2023 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$3,844.36

2023 Grand Total Saved...............................$1,598.1

2023 Yearly Savings Total..............................41.57%

The average per month amount spent is $374.38 in 2023 so far.

LOOKING AHEAD to July 2023...I'm still on a strict low-caloric diet for July.  Grocery shopping again this month will look a bit different like in June.  Of course we weren't home for the first 4 days of June either. lol

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 June?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just have 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 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

Income & Spending 2020....the December Report

 Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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.

  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 December report---

I had 2 goals for December.......
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 fun may be to apply 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 2020.

I can report that we finished up December in the black.
The amount we ended the month of December with?.....$1,942.36

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in December---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,883.76
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $430.32

* Dividend income of $18.27

* Grocery Rebates for the year of $1,473.27

* Deposit from my WAM to cover a gift to someone

Total "Income" for December.....$7127.86

Expenses in December---

* Healthcare Premium for December was $1,883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in December were $555.41
* Variable Expenses in December came to $2,746.33
Total Expenses....$5185.50

$7127.86-$5185.50=$1942.36
Slush into December of $32,365.78 in that Fund, add the $1,942.36 December overage and this brings the Slush to $34,308.14 going into January 2021.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,942.36 for December.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in November.

*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.

*  The Mastercard bill was $946.00 lower than in November

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* The water bill was $1.22 higher than November's bill.

* The electric bill was $89.17 higher than last month's bill. This one will continue to rise as Winter deepens.

* The gas bill was $14.19 higher than in November.

*  My Amazon card was $330.23 higher than last month.  Our Mastercard was compromised so I had to put food shopping on the Amazon c/c.

* There was an irregular bill due in December, the long term care quarterly premiums which came to $555.41.

* We had $250 in spending on cash gifts for Christmas and Birthday for my Daughter.  It doesn't make sense to mail her "things" as the postage is so high to LA from PA so I just mail her a check for both and she's happy to get what she wants herself.

* We also had a kennel bill for $60 to board our dogs for 2 days so we could visit our son in NJ.  He and his GF have 2 cats so we can't take the dogs with us obviously as it would lead to mayhem. lol

The Food Budget costs for December are in another post, which is located .  Food costs are included in the credit card payment(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).

FINAL THOUGHTS on December---
It was a good month overall financially.  Adding all those small economies pots of money back into the checking account to cover a large chunk of food spending gave us a much bigger overage last month to add to the Slush Fund, otherwise it would have been around a $500 addition to that Fund which still in my book would have been fine and dandy.

THOUGHTS going forward into January 2021----Hubs and I have yet to sit down and talk finances and the game plan for 2021.  Obviously extensive travel is off the table until the world stabilizes from this pandemic.  Vaccines are coming which will raise herd immunity but who knows when that will be achieved.  Maybe another short trip to NJ in the next 3 months but otherwise, I'm not seeing any travel.

We'll pay the garbage fees in a lump sum for the year in January to reap the discount there.  Our health insurance deductible has reset for 2021 so there will be $4K in spending on medical necessities(OVs, meds, etc.)up front, then normal co-pays by March(or earlier unfortunately).  March sees three different irregular bills due-long term care quarterly premiums, the real estate taxes and the annual sewage bill so we can't get complacent with frivolous spending early in 2021.  More later after we set the budgets at Chez Sluggy for the year.

The Slush Fund grew by $15,869.51 in 2020.  That Fund started the year at $18,438.63 and ended 2020 at $34,306.14.  Now we just have to decided which home improvement/repair project to spend that on-the main bath redo or new windows on the front of the house.  Both need doing.

So how was your December financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in December?
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 off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted 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 & Toiletries Spending 2018......the September Edition

* I won't be doing anymore food spending this month so I'm posting this a bit early.*

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2018.

I have posted September'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 September.  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 4-5(4 at home this month). No "kids" under 22.

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BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.00
Value  $41.31
Savings  75.80%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $38.94
Ads/Qs  $45.00
Value  $83.94
Savings  58.55%

GIANT
OOP  $19.11
Value  $79.74
Savings  76.03%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $54.65
Value  $108.58
Savings  49.67%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $965.93
Value  $965.93
Savings  100%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP  $34.40
Value  $67.67
Savings  49.17%

WALMART
OOP  $17.67
Value  $31.27
Savings   43.49%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $311.58

Qs/Ads  $366.35

Value  $677.93

Savings  54.04%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Giant at 76.03% and the Bread Outlet at 75.80%.  My worst savings rate was at Walmart at 43.49%.  If your worst savings rate is well over 40% that's great, right? ;-)

I shopped at 8 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for September..........$486.35

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales............$604.09

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$1090.44

TOTAL Savings of ................................58%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August.....$486.35
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales....$1570.02
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid.....$2056.37
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items........76.35%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
September's spending was off the rails.  I spent $86.35 more than my $400 food budget.
We have the money for it so it's not like it's a problem for our finances though.  I just take money from another area in September where we were under budget.  If I had to dip into savings to cover this overage or if I spent the money foolishly and didn't get great value for my dollars this would be serious.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went Up by .06% in September 2018 to 76.35% compared to August's 76.29% savings average.
The free stuff from Rite-Aid skewers my averages but without R-A I am at 55.40% savings.  So even without R-A we are doing well on the "savings" front.

With 9 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3955.63 on food/toiletries in 2018 which is a 73.66% savings rate for the year so far and averages out to $439.51 spent per month in 2018.  We crept back up away from my $400 per month average for the year in September.

LOOKING AHEAD To October.......
October is looking like an austere grocery spending month.  Except for those items we run out of every week(milk, fresh produce, fresh fruit, etc.)we are well stocked so I am going to try to put the brakes on food spending this month, or do what others call a Pantry Challenge.  I am not a fan of these things(since they just trigger in me a response that makes me want to spend more lol)but I am going to try to not grocery shop beyond the immediate essentials.  No stocking up in October.  This might work since October is typically when there are few food deals around in my area......the lull before the November/December holiday deals.
Except for the Shursave Market which runs a Thanksgiving Promo starting in early Oct.(You spend on anything in the store and accumulate points toward a Turkey Day gift certificate-not a free turkey.  Depending on your spending level you get either a $10 or a $20 certificate between early Oct. and early Nov.)
Since I typically don't spend the bulk of my food dollars at this chain I hardly ever earn even the $10 certificate but I feel compelled to spend $ there at the last minute to "catch-up" and earn that cert....even though it's really NOT a great deal to do so.

We'll see how October plays out.  ;-)

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 September?
*  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

Food & Toiletries Spending 2017.....November Update

* I am done food shopping for November so am posting this a couple of days early.*

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2017.

I have posted November'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 November.  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 3-4(3-4 at home this month). No kids under 21.

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BIG LOTS
OOP  $11.56
Value  $20.50
Savings  43.61%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $8.00
Value  $31.33
Savings 74.47%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $22.18
Value  $39.39
Savings  43.69%

MAINES
OOP  $79.19
Value  $150.03
Savings  47.22%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $28.35
Value  $55.27
Savings  48.71%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $722.79
Value  $722.79
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $72.17
Qs/Ads  $53.02
Value  $125.19
Savings  42.35%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $160.27

Qs/Ads  $159.36

Value  $319.63

Savings  49.86%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 74.47% and Weis at 49.86%.  My WORST savings rate was at Shursave Market at 42.35%.

I shopped at 8 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$381.72

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$359.62

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$741.34

TOTAL Savings of ..................................48.51%
Total Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1464.13
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items..........73.93%

This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into November wanting to spend $300 on food/toiletries but went over by $81.72.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 10.58% in November to 73.93% compared to October's 63.35% savings average.  Over a 70% savings rate is only because of all the freebies from Rite-Aid in November.  It's a anomaly which will disappear next month.  8-)

With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3953.73 on food/toiletries in 2017 which is a 68.31% savings rate for the year to-date and averages out to $359.43 spent per month so far in 2017.

LOOKING AHEAD To December........
I need to use up any store script/gift cards I have accumulated to keep cash spending down in December.  I will put some of my side cash(rebate/refund/post coupon/etc.)into play in December as well.  As all my kids will be home(Daughter the whole month, CB for 2+ weeks and Eldest son for 2 weeks as well)they may blow up my budget but I don't mind as I haven't had them all home together for at least 3 years.   I am going to try to keep the food budget at $400 but if it goes over, I won't mind.  ;-)

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 November?
*  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

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