The Food Spending Report......February Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2020..

I have posted February'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 February.  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(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 24.
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ALDI'S
OOP  $24.94
Value  $45.44
Savings  45.11%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $12.47
Savings  67.92%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $25.08
Value  $49.58
Savings  49.42%

MALACARI'S

OOP  $25.18

Value  $39.57

Savings 36.37%

OLLIE'S

OOP  $16.18

Value  $32.42

Savings 50.09%

PRICE CHOPPER

OOP  $24.15

Value  $51.12

Savings 52.76%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.25
Qs/Ads/BC/GCard  $477.11
Value  $477.36
Savings  99.95%

WALMART
OOP  $48.92
Value  $77.99
Savings  37.27%

WEIS
OOP  $237.94
Qs/Ads  $257.10
Value  $495.04
Savings  51.94%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 99.95%, the Bread Outlet at 67.92% and Price Chopper at 52.76%.   My worst savings rate was at Malacari's with 36.37%.
I shopped at 9 different stores in February.  About half of my food spending in February was done at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

TOTAL Spent........................................$406.39

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales................$397.24

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$803.63

TOTAL Savings of ................................49.43%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for February w/R-A........$406.64
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$874.35
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1280.99
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................68.26%

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went over my usual $400 monthly food budget in February by $6.64.  Not too bad considering I also earned $96.35 in cash rebates for February.
I wanted to spend in the $200 range but lots of Ibotta rebates and good deals were found in February.  No worries however as the total was still near my usual $400 budgeted for food.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went down by 10.72% in February 2020 to 68.26% compared to the January 2019 rate of 78.98% savings average.  I'm not worried though as a 78.98% rate is WAY high!  Anything above 40% is great in my book. ;-)

With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $556.12 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$556.12

2019 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items....$1280.99

2019 Grand Total Saved...............................$874.35

2019 Yearly Savings Total............68.26%

The average per month amount spent is $278.18 in 2020.

LOOKING AHEAD To March 2020.............
Will try to keep food spending under $400, hoping to do a lot better than that though(depends on deals that happen or not in March).  No special things going on in March involving food-special meals to cook/holidays.  I am feeling up to eating things again other than soup and Jello so back to regular cooking/eating.

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 February?

*  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

2017 Savings Challenge & January Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various savings pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.

For 2017 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.
I have decided to lower the goal amount to save for the year to $35K.
I barely made my $38K goal in 2016, what with our added expenses, so I think it's wise to back down the goal a bit again this year so I am not so stressed through out the year worrying about making the number.

We will have higher medical expenses this year and although the BF doesn't live here anymore the Daughter does still, so some everyday bills will be higher than when it was just Hubs and I(and College Boy here during school breaks).

If I do better than I think I will and save OVER my goal that's great too. 8-)

On to the January report.....

I have posted my January End of Month $35K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,9916.66.

I have to report that we finished up January with a surprisingly to me large amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of January with?.......$4,000.05

Income

We had $3596.03 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in January totaled $404.02.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts plus my grocery rebates. I applied the rebates this month since all the December grocery bills were put on the credit card(and the c/c bill due in January included these charges.).

This brought us to our gain of $4000.05
Since we have no debt, this all goes into savings, 

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The credit card bill was $1191.90 lower in January.  Most of the c/c spending was food expenses as I put all grocery shopping on the credit card and pay it off monthly.  As most of the Xmas spending was done in November there was little put on this card in December.
*  Cash withdrawals were $100 less than last month.  With Hubs still incapacitated and not leaving the house except with me for doc appointments he hasn't spent cash so hasn't needed WAM(walking around money).

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $8.76 higher than last month's bill.
*  The gas card bill was $16.75 higher than December's bill.
*  The electric bill was $113.84 more than in December.  Two reasons for this-January is colder than December so the thermostat got nudged higher plus with Hubs living on the daybed in the living room I had to keep the downstairs warmer 24/7.  I usually don't heat downstairs very much at night when everyone sleeps upstairs.
*  On the medical bills front-we had a $3.68 balance on Daughter's chiropractic co-pay bill from October she forgot to pay, I had to give College Boy $20 for two refills of his medicine while away at college, and another DME bill for me of $175.65 had to be paid totally OOP as we haven't met our deductible. This all meant medical bills were up$165.61 over December's amount since we had met maximum OOP last year and were paying no co-pays the last 1.5 months of the year.
*  There was a Kohl's charge bill of $7.88 which was the balance I owed after a purchase using my Kohl's cash and Kohl's birthday coupon.
*  We had 3 other irregular bills due in January-a car registration, a driver's license renewal and items College Boy needed for school which came to $42.97, making another $109.47 more in irregular expenses.

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.

With 1 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2017 is $4000.05.

FINAL THOUGHTS on January---

I wasn't expecting to have such low expenses in January.  It was a good shock, trust me. lolz
I suppose most of it was due to the fact that other than Rite-Aid(where I don't actually pay money)and the grocery stores I stayed out of stores last month.
Compared to January 2016 we saved $1537.29 MORE to put into savings this January. 8-)

THOUGHTS going forward into February of 2017----

I will continue to do this Yearly Savings Challenge in 2017 and we'll shoot for $35,000.
I foresee February being a more expensive month than January was.  We will have more medical bills this month plus electric will be higher in February than it was in January.
Another reason is that the first February paycheck was $700+ less so yes indeed, the disability pay dropped to 70% of income.  Given I foresee higher expenses for February and half of our Feb. pay checks are lowered, money will be a bit tighter this month and not as much leftover to put into savings.
We've got another $30,999.95 more to save this year to reach our Savings Challenge goal. That means we need to save $2,818.18 in each of the next 11 months to save $35K for the year.

So how was your January financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in January?
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!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....September Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.

For 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $38,000 this year, $8K more than my goal for last year.

On to the September report.....

I have posted my September End of Month $38K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up September with a yummy amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of September with?.......$5,543.68

Income

We had $4998.87 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in September totaled $544.81.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, stock dividends, blogging revenue, a medical refund for over payment and a car insurance refund for over payment.

This brought us to our gain of $5543.68
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, electric bill, and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The credit card bill was WAY DOWN $2023.76 from August's amount.
*  We received a car insurance refund of $192.48 on the car that was donated to charity.
*  We received 2 stock dividend checks in September.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas card bill was up $115.66.  Hubs used it more than the Mastercard to purchase gas in September.
*  The water bill was $9.69 higher than in August.
*  The direct medical spending was up again $24.63 from August's spending.
*  We received a car insurance bill of $70.60(I don't understand why)but this now moves our semiannual car insurance payments to November and May from October and April.
*  Property taxes were due and paid.  'Nuf said.....  If they had to be due better to be due in a month with a third paycheck, right?  ;-)

The Food Budget costs for September are in another post, which is located HERE.

With 9 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $28,797.32.

Final thoughts on September---
Though we had some high expenses in September(Hello property taxes, I am speaking to you!)the third paycheck more than covered that and gave us a bit extra to tuck away into savings.

Compared to September 2015 we put $3625.32 MORE into savings this September, mostly due to this year's September being a 3 paycheck month.
.
We have $28,797.32 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $9,202.68left to save over the next 3 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $3,067.56 a month for the rest of the year.  This means for the rest of the year I need to average $99.10  per month LESS than our monthly savings target goal of $3,166.66.  But even with that, this will still be a tight race to get to $38K this year.  We have higher everything bills now with 2 extra adults in the house + more medical co-pays.

Only 3 months left in the year to get to my savings goal.  We are quickly running out of time in 2016.


THOUGHTS going forward into October----
I don't see any unusual or irregular bills coming up in October since the semi-annual car insurance bill moved from this month to November.  The electric bill will rise as we will see the heat being turned on in October.  Credit card purchases should stay steady and we have no trips planned this month which always derails our spending.

So how was your September financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in September?
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!

As we go forward into the last half of 2016 why not make this year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Or pay extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy