Food Spending 2021.....the December & Year-End Report

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2021.

I have posted December'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 December.  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(2-3 eating at home this month). No "kids" under 25. 
*****************

CVS

OOP  $2.41

Value  $17.86

Savings 86.51%

FOOD LION

OOP  $42.61

Value  $52.71

Savings  19.16%

OCEAN STATE

OOP  $6.84

Value  $10.00

Savings  31.60%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/Gift Cards  $521.58

Value  $521.58
Savings  100%

SCHIFF'S

OOP  $17.74

Value  $25.68

Savings  30.92%

WALMART
OOP  $77.80

Qs/free Gift Cards  $306.10
Value  $383.90
Savings  79.73%

WEIS

OOP  $63.72

Qs/Sales  $35.46
Value  $99.18
Savings  35.75%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, CVS at 86.51% and Walmart at 79.73%.

The worst rate was at Food Lion at 19.16%.  I just bought a salt-cured ham at FL and those never go on sale(got a bit off with my loyalty card tho). 8-)
I shopped at 7 different stores in December.  

TOTAL Spent in December.................$211.12

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards...$378.21

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased....$589.33

TOTAL Savings of .............................64.18%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for December w/R-A..............$211.12

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards w/................$899.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid...$1,110.91
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items....................81.00%

This closes out the December food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....It was a GREAT lower spending month!  Spent almost half of what I usually shoot for and just a tad more than in November(which was also a very low spend month)so I am pleased.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 11.11% in December 2021 to 81.00% compared to the November's 92.11% savings average.  Compared to November there was a lot less free stuff from Rite-Aid in December(no Black Friday Sales deals). ;-)

With 12 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3,683.86 on food/toiletries in 2021.

2021 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,683..86

2021 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$21,866.88

2021 Grand Total Saved...............................$18,183.02

2021 Yearly Savings Total.............................83.15%

The average per month amount spent is $306.99 in 2021.

But wait!  There's more.....

December is when I cash out/add in all my rebating monies for the year.  Here are those amounts that posted to my bank account.......

*  Ibotta....$2,823.29

*  Post Coupon/Refunds...$341.17

*  Coupons dotcom.....$134.16

*  Checkout 51....$110.12

*  Aisle.....$36.28

Total to add to December's Income to counteract the Food Spending....$3,445.02

$3,683.86-$3,445.02=$238.84 total spent on Food shopping in 2021!  We ate well, donated boxes of foodstuffs/toiletries to our local food bank and shared with various relatives and it cost us a grand total of $238.84.  I went after the rebating harder than ever this year!  In 2020 I was able to cut our OOP on food/etc. in half.  In 2021 I blew the doors off our food spending!!

I also have in the other apps, going forward into 2022, that I can only cash out for gift cards(which I used during the year at food stores to bring my OOP down)....

*  Shop Kick....$33.64

*  Swag Bucks...$79.51

*  Fetch....$26.15

*  Tada....$13.20

That's another $152.50 in potential food savings I have in reserve going into 2022!

LOOKING AHEAD To January 2022.......

With January comes the bad weather so most of my shopping will be done in town, if at all.  We are packed to the gills with food/toiletries/HBA/paper products so I am going to try to stay out of the stores except for freebies after rebates, to roll/spend Bonus Cash at R-A and if we need perishables(which we will).  I am not going to put a $ amount on what I may spend but I am hoping for a low number.

I have folks who tell me all the time that only spending a few hundred a year on food/etc. is preposterous and not do-able.  I'm here to tell you it IS do-able!  Yes, it takes work and effort but once you get into the right frame of mind and you "get" the knack of this process these kinds of savings are manageable.  Even if you work....you may not get the same results, as I have more time to devout to this way of shopping but you can work miracles still with your food spending combining coupons and rebate offers and a little planning.  Rebates are just not on processed foods anymore(though they still make up a large part of the offers most months).  

Shoot for a modest goal of $20 in rebates the first month and see how you do, then increase your goal the next month.  Even if you only do $20 in rebates each month for a year, that's $240 LESS you'll spend on food and $240 MORE you can put toward something else like an electric bill, a car note, your rent/mortgage or save toward retirement.  

Plus you'll be able to bless others in so many ways.......if not to a food bank or less fortunate relative, selling your stockpile for cash(and at a reduced price to the buyer-saving them money too)or in my case, using my excess to hold Giveaways on the blog to bless my readers.

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 December?

*  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

Nov 1st Net Worth....Update Quickie

We are actually up almost $12k from October 1st's net worth overall(only liquid cash/investments/bonds, as I don't count housing or car values).  The retirement accounts were up $6K+ for November 1 from October's calculations and the cash reserve/non-retirement accounts were up $5K.

I didn't post the October 1st Net Worth...how did I forget that? lolz
We were almost $13K up in Oct. from Sept. net worth so this month is a bit lower but still, I'll take it!!! 8-)

We are up $90,426.96 from one year ago, in the November 1st of 2015's net worth snapshot.  Even with miserable interest rates and a lackluster stock showing lately, over the course of a year it still grows at a decent clip when you have a good chunk of money invested. ;-)  Even though we are mostly out of the stock market with our investments now since we are so close to retiring we still earn a nice hunk because of the size of the pot.

We are still in acquisition mode as Hubs still has a good income.  Unless something unfortuitious happens we should keep rolling along and tucking money away, even with our expanded living costs with 2 grown kids home fulltime, for at least another year+.  The plan is still for Hubs to retire once College Boy graduates college but the moving away piece of the puzzle won't be happening quite as soon as that since Daughter is still living here so she can finish school.

Some people wonder why I am so focused on saving so much money for our retirement.
We have no pensions(government or private company)coming to us from an employer is at the base of this thinking so we can't rely on that steady monthly income stream to help keep us afloat in our old ages.  We will receive SS however(unless it goes belly up or close enough to it that the Asshats in Washington start means testing who will get what they put into it-but that's another rant for another time).
The main reason being twofold--

1-Hubs will be retiring before the age when he can collect Social Security benefits and receive Medicare.  Since I am even younger, that means I will also be healthcare shopping(+ 9 extra months worth for me)on a Government Exchange(or whatever the system is that is in place at that date)once Hubs employer isn't extending their coverage to us, before I can receive either SS or Medicare too.  Hubs employer gives retirees a lump of cash to cover some medical once they retire but it's not even close to what health premiums and deductibles will cost for those 4-7 years we may need to "bridge" to SS and Medicare.  We also have an HSA which we haven't tapped yet and are also squirreling money away in for later use, once Hubs retires and our medical bills increase.

2-I have chronic illness and am a "frequent flyer" when it comes to health services.  Except for 1 short term issue, Hubs has no health problems(well, if you don't count that I am a pain in his ass).  He takes nor needs any medications.
Lucky duck! lolz  I will always need healthcare and I suspect the costs will just keep going up(Ya think??).  Sluggy is NOT a cheap date...... ;-)

My thinking is no matter how much you think you will need to live when you get old, it won't be enough.  At some point it's going to run out.
So save whatever more you can, when you can as long as it doesn't take away from your quality of life now.

So I just keep plugging along and updating "where the money stands" until something changes.

Did you increase your net worth last month?
Do you have a retirement plan in place?

Sluggy

$28K Savings Challenge.....October 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 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the October report.....

I have posted my October End of Month $28K $AVING$ 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 $2,333.33.

I have to report that we finished up October with a HUGE amount leftover.
The extra amount we ended the month of October with?.......$6422.33

Income

We had $5,548.51 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in October totaled $873.82.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a bonus Hubs received and a rebate check.

This brought us to our gain of $6,422.33
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this October, 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.
*  The cash withdrawals were the same amount as in September.
*  The water bill was down .42¢.
*  The electric bill was only up $7.26 from last month and that's even with putting the heat on now and again in Oct. so I call this a win!
*  The gas card bill was down $96.30.(More gas was put on the regular c/c.)

HERE are the BAD THINGS(and the not so bad)
.
*  The credit card bill was up $430.67 from September's bill(but we did go on vacation so not so bad).
*  There was an irregular bill expense--the car insurance paid(6 months worth).
*  Medical bill payments were up $786.10 from September's bills(foot expenses and cataract surgery co-pays.)
*  We spent $320 cash on "fun" at the Church auction.

The Food Budget costs for October are in another post, which is located  HERE.  I spend well under my $300 budgeted amount(on this report grocery money comes out of "Cash")on that expense.

October was a fairly expensive month for us, but not the most expensive for 2015.  6 months of car insurance payments, high medical bill co-pays due this month and our annual fundraiser attendance boosted our bills total for October.
Our "regular" bills, outside of these other bills, for October came to $2266.85.

The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 10 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $34,089.76.
That savings amount averages $3,408.97 a month put into savings so far. 
We have surpassed our $28K Savings Goal by $6,089.76 at this point in the year.
And there are two more months left to save some more!
Woohoo!!!


Final thoughts on October---
More monthly bills were down rather than up except for the credit card and we had an extra paycheck this month.
3 irregular bills put a kybosh on socking even more money away this month.
But even so we put a LOT of money away in October!

THOUGHTS going forward into November----
No irregular bills this month, except for if any medical charges come through from either the foot episode or the cataract surgery ongoing saga. 8-(
I have under $200 in store card charges(clothing for College Boy and some Xmas presents)due this month.
No extra paychecks or much "other income" expected in November so it should be a boring, middle to low outgo and income month for us.

With 10 months behind us we have surpassed our savings goal in 2015.
Even so, I am NOT letting up on socking cash away for the last 2 months of the year.  If everything goes as planned and if the bills for these 2 months in 2015 follow along with what we saw in these same months in 2014, I could be looking at putting away another $5K before the year is out.  That would put our total saved in 2015 at just over $39,000, a full $11,000 more than I set out to save.
This would be amazing to me but only time and our spending will tell if we get to this stretch goal or not.

So how was your October financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in October?
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

I Finally Have Some Goals for 2015

After much ruminating over this subject I have come up with a set of Goals for My 2015.

Here they is......


*  Save $28K of our income this year.  This is my Savings Challenge for 2015.  I've upped the goal $4K from last year's goal.  While January isn't off to a great start financially speaking, my eye is on the prize.

*  Sew and COMPLETE 8 Projects.  Last year I completed 2, count 'em 2, sewing projects.  I started another 4 and they sit untouched so far this year.  Sewing is something I can't schedule, I have to be in the 'mood' to sew.  I just never got in that mood much in 2014.

*  Lose 40 pounds.  For the rest of 2015 this means losing 3 & 2/3 lbs. each month.  slow and steady and changing up your diet is the way to go with this one.  I must do this for my health!

*  Have eye surgery.  My trip to the optometrist in January was not good.  That teeny tiny cataract that he saw in Dec. of 2013 has taken off into a full blow one.  I noticed on my roadtrip to the Midwest last July things with my eye weren't right.  I don't know how soon but I will be having cataract surgery in the coming months.

*  Go on at least 5 trips for pleasure.  This is an easy goal. lolz  We already have 1 trip taken to Virginia to visit my brother.  September will be the Family Reunion also in Virginia and October we go to Ocean City MD.  I am planning on going down to Louisiana soon after my eye surgery so that leaves 1 more trip to plan.  Date and place are still to be determined.

*  Have 2 House Repair/Improvement Projects completed.  2 years to go until we start dealing with selling this house so we have a few items to repair/replace in anticipation of that event.  Still figuring out which projects we should tackle this year and the cost.

*  Get rid of 6 boxes of possessions plus some larger items that need disposing of.  I have been in decluttering mode for years now and I am still not done.  That should tell you just how much crap I owned! lolz  The decluttering will continue in 2015, though we are getting real close to having nothing left to ditch.  I think I can ferret out at least 6 more boxes of "stuff".

*  Complete 1 crochet project.  I bought yarn awhile back for a project so I need to get on it.  I finally found the pattern I want to use so this will commence shortly.

*  Reorganize our Personal Files.  Hubs was in charge of filing stuff.  After seeing the mess up in the file room last week I have already begun to tame that paper dragon this week.  I have purged about half of the files and begun on reorganizing all that is left.  I need a better system and I think I'll be taking over this chore because it just drives me crazy when he leaves piles of paper everywhere in that room!

*  Start an exercise program and do it every month.   I will begin slowly with riding the exercycle and snow shoveling.  Once I build up some stamina(and I unbury the dreadmill in the garage)I'll start walking.  I've got some hand weights and need to come up with a routine I can do.

*  Gardening.  Not sure how much of a garden(veggies)I will attempt this year.  At least a few plants so I can make my relish in the Fall and can some tomatoes.

Ok, I think that's a nice big list.
Now I need to break this all into bite sized chunks so I get it accomplished.

Wish me luck because I'm going to need it with some of this! ;-)

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge.......March Update

In our family we save money.
It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

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, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments 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, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

On to the March report.....

I have posted my MARCh End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

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 $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up March in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of March with?.......$1,352.60

Income
We had $1280.04 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in 2 quarterly dividends, some bank interest and a rebate check, and we get another $122.56.  This brought our gain to $1,352.60 for March.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill was $13.18 lower than Feb.

* The electric bill was $99.82 lower than Feb.(Our heat is electric.)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The credit card bill went up $98.91(but was still paid off at month's end.)

*  The cash withdrawals were up $200 over last month.
*  The doctor bills were up $67.05 from last month.
*  The long distance phone bill was up $4.01 from last month.
*  We owed $44 in state taxes.
*  The yearly sewage bill was paid this month.

*  The yearly local taxes were due this month.(I received a discount from paying them before April 1.)

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

We managed to stay well within our $400 food budget in March.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 3 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $5,489.63.  Only $14,510.37 left to save and 9 months left to accomplish it.

We just missed our $1,666.67 target goal for the month, but not by much.  Considering the yearly taxes and the yearly sewage bills paid, I'd call March. a WIN for us on the money front.

Looking ahead for April......

*  We don't have any quarterly or yearly bills due this month.
*  Since #2 Son got his driver's license, we have an additional car insurance bill due this month, to the tune of almost $400. sigh.

*  Due to my health scare and visit to the ER and hospital, the bills will start to roll in this month, so I can't even hazard a guess if we'll be able to make our monthly savings target of $1666.67 in April.  We shall see in the fullness of time.

So how was your March financially?

Have you finished paying off those presents from last Christmas you put on credit?
Did you spend less than the income you made in March?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in March and what did you do with it?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debt or put extra toward your mortgage principle?
Did you receive a tax refund and what did you do with that money?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge....JANUARY Update

In our family we save money.
It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

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, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments 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, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

On to the January report.....

I have posted my JANUARY End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

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 $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up January in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of January with?.......$2,761.06

Income
We had $2,579.14 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a per diem check for mileage for some business traveling and some bank interest and we get another $181.92.  This brought our gain to $2,761.06 for January.

Outgo

As for the expenses this January, most of them were on the bad side, rather than the good side....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The medical bills were $192 lower.

*  The credit card bill was $98 lower.

*  There were no Xmas spending or car repairs/maintenance bills.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The cable bill  monthly price went up in 2013 by $4 a mo.

*  The cash withdrawals were $100 higher.

*  The water bill went up $4+.

*  The electric bill went up by $43.

*  The quarterly garbage bill is due in January.

 

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

We managed to stay well within our $400 food budget in January.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 1 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $2,761.06.

We surpassed our monthly goal by $1,000 in January!  This extra will be a very good thing later in the year, during some of our more financially challenging months, when we can't hit our target goal.

Looking ahead for February......

February is always a challenging money month for us, because our semi-annual car insurance premium is due, as well as our county taxes for the year.  I also have an unexpected dental bill to pay in February.

In addition, the electric/heating bill will be the highest one of the year this month.

I am hoping to keep the variable bills(food, credit card, Hubs cash withdrawals)wrangled in February to compensate.  And I will hope that none of the cars needs anything other than gas until March.

So how was your January financially?

Did you put the Holiday spending on credit, and do you have Christmas debt to pay now?
Did you spend less than the income you made in January?
Did you stay within your budget or not?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy

How the 2012 Goals Turned Out....

Readers might remember that I set up a List of personal Hopes/Goals for 2012 back in January.
This post is my End of the Year Check-In for my list and to see how I did(or didn't do) on the Goals I set out to accomplish 12 months ago.

Sluggy's Personal List of Goals for 2012

1.  Get all the tax and college Paperwork completed and filed by the end of February.
PASS....one of the few things I can totally cross off the list until next year...which starts in less than a WEEK.  LOLOL

2.  Convert all my vinyl LPs to CDs and purge the LPs from my life.
FAIL on the record digitizing.
Six months into the year, I changed that Goal to Digitizing all my photographs, since I purchased a handheld scanner with a gift card I received for Christmas in 2011.  I have stacks of scrapbooks from my mother plus a stack of scrapbooks from when my kids were small to digitize.  In the last 6 months I scanned 2 whole books worth of photos.  I am VERY far behind but I "AM" working on this project.  I didn't realize it was such a large project and I misjudged the amount of time involved.  
This "new" Goal goes onto the list of Projects for 2013.

3.  Continue to Declutter everywhere.  Finish the garage and move what's in the living room into the garage so that the house is 100% done by April.  Be out of the storage unit by December.
FAIL--well, the house is NOT 100% done yet so that's a fail.   
I have continued to declutter in 2012 but it hasn't been nearly what I did in 2011 and it's not done yet.  I didn't reopen the eBay store until November, so I didn't sell off all the sellable items yet.  I still have things in the storage unit.  
I need to throw this Goal onto 2013 as well.

4.  Complete 4 house projects in 2012.  2 inside/2 outside
FAIL.  Projects identified and the cash is there, but we haven't pulled the trigger yet on any of them.  I need to sit down with Hubs and set up a step-by-step process for getting these projects done in 2013.

5.  Read 20 books this year.
FAIL.  I read 6 books.  Most years I read much more.  I just wasn't feeling it in 2012.

6.  Rework the stockpile.  Make it healthier and more compact.
PASS.  I reorganized and thinned it twice in 2012.  I loaded up Oldest son Thursday evening with stockpile items to take back to school and I'll make a pass through the stockpile on Sunday again and glean some more items to give to the B-I-L.  

7.  Finish up the eBay sales by May.
FAIL  
I shut down eBay before Christmas 2011 and didn't do any eBay sales this year until November.  I will sell for 3 more months(Jan-Mar. 2013) and then shut it down for good.

8.  Get the sewing going again.  Go through projects in-progress and alterations pile and get rid of stuff.  Sew clothes for myself for a change!
FAIL
I did nothing except hems some pants for Hubs and daughter, and finish some pj pants for daughter. 

9.  Get the Etsy Store up and running. 
FAIL
Just didn't get to that one at all.


10.  Spend more time with family, especially Hubs.
PASS  Have taken a couple of vacations with Hubs alone in 2012.  Have tried to spend time with the kids with mixed results.  Oldest has been home a total of 9 days in 2012.  Daughter moved home in May so we've been working on our relationship and I think it is better.  Youngest tries to spend as little time as possible with us, since he's almost 17. lol

I need to face the fact that our "kids" are now past the ages of doing things together as a family.  Oldest moved out basically when he left for college in 2009 and has only come home for brief visits since.  Summers he spent living/working at summer camp so he wasn't home when school ended for the year.  Daughter is living at home this school year but is wanting to move out into an apartment as soon as it's feasible.  At least she'll be nearby.  #2 Son is busy with school, band, driving, trying to get a 'real' job and his girlfriend so he's about to fly from the nest too.

11.  Lose 40 lbs...there, I said it!  Now I have to do it!!
FAIL.  I lost 7 lbs.  At least I didn't gain.....ugh.  I need to get more serious with this one in 2013.


12.  Continue the Savings Challenge with a goal of $20K for 2012.
PASS.  We hit the goal and then some!  We have $26,000.00+ saved right now and I haven't added in December's money yet.

13.  Continue to be Frugal whenever possible and live well below our means!
PASS.  We spend way below our means each month generally.  In a bad/expensive month, we still spend less than we make, though sometimes with not a lot of room to spare.
I know we could have been more frugal sometimes, but I'm happy with our general level of frugality.

14.  Take at least 1 REAL vacation and ENJOY IT!
PASS.  Hubs and I took 2 short vacations.  They were short, but not jam packed and we just did what we felt like doing at the moment.  They were low stress trips.

So, in the end, 2012 was a real mixed bag of result for me.
I Failed more than I Passed this year.......an 8 to 6 ratio.

 I was just not as ambitious as I thought I'd be and bit off more than I could finish.  
As I look ahead to my Goals for 2013 this weekend, I'll mull over how realistic my expectations were in 2012.

 How did you do on your Goals for the 2012?
Sluggy

Sometimes I Don't Like Being a Grown Up

This title means I sat down today and paid bills and it wasn't pretty.  But at least it wasn't as ugly as it could have been. ;-)

The second paycheck of the month hit the bank account credit union account on Friday, so I sat down this morning and paid the rest of the bills that need paying this month.
That would include the "monthlies"--electric bill, the credit card bill(which includes most of our gasoline purchases and some eating out).  The "rest of the bills" also includes the non-montlies like a $1197.71 car repair(I can now state for the record that I hate catalytic converters!) and the yearly school taxes(ditto school taxes).  I did receive a 5% discount for paying the taxes before Oct. 1st so it was a mere $1940.81.  I got about $76 off....go me!

After writing out the checks that needed writing, I now have $1246.24 LESS in my account than I had BEFORE the paycheck hit the account.!
Or to put it another way, I just spent $1246.24 MORE THAN the paycheck brought in.

Yah, still wrapping my head around that one!lol

Oh, and that doesn't count the $480 IN CASH Hubs took out of the bank on Saturday.  Ok, some of that was for me for my food budget, but most of it I will never get a single receipt back on what he blew it on.  I am guessing coffee and crap he buys at the hardware store.....crap he HAS already in the garage but he can't find because he refuses to CLEAN HIS WORKBENCH!
End of rant.......

I'll just say here that I am so glad that I put money aside each month for that tax bill(plus the other tax bill that comes due April 1st), plus the car insurance bill which I pay semi-annually. 

If I didn't and I had to basically pull money out of my ass for some of these bills, we'd be in a bad bad place financially....
A place called "Hello Credit Card!, let's put what we can't pay on YOU" and then only make minimum payments and stay in and increase our debt until we end up on Suze Orman's show as a warning to the world on how NOT to handle money, instead of downsizing out lifestyle and spending less on crap or "wants" so we can only be in debt for a short time while we turn our ship and get headed in the fiscally responsible direction.

But still......sometimes I hate being a Grown Up and doing the responsible thing instead of the easy thing or the thing I see other people doing that I know is only going to cause them pain at some point in the future.

But I have my eye on the prize.....the prize of a financially secure retirement.
Well, as secure as it can be considering the political atmosphere in this country. ;-) 

When I retire, THIS is the view I want to have when I have to pay my bills.....but with cuter feet......

Sluggy
 

$20K Savings Challenge Report for May 2012

Ok, here is my May Savings Challenge Update post for 2012.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against "unconscious" spending.

Just to update, My Savings Goal for the Year in 2012 is $20,000.  It's well below what I've saved in previous years I know.  But we also have a goal of paying for 4 home improvement projects at Chez Sluggy this year.  We plan on cash-flowing these projects with the additional money we save and/or our income tax refund.

On to the May report.....

I have posted my MAY End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

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 $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up May in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with?.......$2,832.03!

Income
We had $2728.26 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $2.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses, $101.31 in blog ad revenue & $.46 in interest(HAHAHAHAHA!) and  you get a total of $2,832.03.

Outgo
Traditionally May has been a fairly normal month as far as spending goes.  No big tax bills or lump payments. 

As for the expenses this May......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The water bill was boringly the same.

*  The mild winter temps continued, which decreased our heating/electric bill by about $25.  The second consecutive month for a decrease....yay!

*   The credit card was $400 less than last month's bill.  It was still over $1K though. bleh!
*  No car maintenance/repairs bills this month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Credit card bill was fairly high at $1000+.

*  We bought a new dishwasher.

*  The new dishwasher meant hiring a plumber to install it(our house is weird)....that was $265!!!

*  Another vet bill for 1 of the dogs.  Not large but it's still unusual spending.

*  Cash spending(my food money and Hub's WAM money)was WAY HIGH!  I'm going to have a talk with him about reigning it in this weekend.

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

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 4 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2012 is $9,422.83.

We hit our monthly goal in May and then some, so now we are ahead of where we need to be

With 5 months done, we should be at $8,333.35 saved for the year, so $1,089.48 ahead for the year!

As for a look ahead at JUNE.....
* There will be another vet bill for surgery the beagle had this week.(It was put on the credit card.)
* The quarterly garbage bill will be due.
* Mini-vacation will cost money but most charges will be put on credit card so not due until July.(Good for June's figures but not for July's.)
* A 3rd paycheck in JUNE!!!  We will NOT use it toward our saving challenge goal however.  This check will go toward paying the home improvement projects that NEED to begin soon.

I figure I should be able to meet the monthly savings goal for this Challenge in June, barring any money fiascoes.

So how much did YOU save in May?  Did you spend all your income or did you put something aside?

Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses?
Do you have debt?

Start living below your means NOW and put some money away for emergencies and/or start paying down your debt.
And once you get debt-free, continue to throw that debt repayment money into savings.  You won't believe how fast you can accumulate wealth once you have no debt!

It is NEVER too early or too late to SAVE SOMETHING.
And the amount you save is NEVER too small!
Anything you can spare will go a long way to make you more financially secure in this crazy unstable world we live in.

So come along and Challenge Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal or Debt Goal!

Not everyone can shoot for $20K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?

Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see.  Put it into paying down your debt, put it into savings, invest it or put it toward the principle in your home mortgage....just get busy and do this!

It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Put it out there online and let us all stalk your money too. ;-)

So how was your May financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
How much did you save in May?

Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?    Let us know!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!

Sluggy

$30K Savings Challenge....December 2010 Total and END of YEAR TOTALS

I have posted my DECEMBER End of Month $30K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have to report that we finished up December in the black yet again!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of December with was.......$3,787.26.

Income
We had $3,595.01 left over of DH's salary after expenses were deducted. Add in $175.25 of Rebates applied to the food expenses, along with $17.00 in rolled Coins and you have a deposit of $3,787.26 toward the Savings Challenge!

Our monthly target is an average of $2,500.00 to reach our Year End Goal. We passed the $30K yearly target mark in November.

Outgo
As for the expenses in December.....there were a few large bills.  The credit card bill(which is paid off each month)was over $1100(had to replace my computer's hard drive among other things) and 2 car repairs cost us over $1500 as well. There were also some smaller non-regular or quarterly bills, like paying for the replacement retainer for Daughter's ortho and the sewage bill.  Then both the water bill and the electric bill came in VERY high this month...ouch.
It's a good thing there was an extra paycheck this month because otherwise we would have barely had anything to throw into the Savings Challenge pot after paying the bills.

The good news with December is that nothing I bought for the Holidays was put on a credit card.   Hubs did put his gift to me on the card and we have some Dining Out on it(Daughter's Bday, Steakhouse with #1 Son home from school and Christmas Eve eating out tradition at the local Chinese Restaurant). Add in the usual gasoline purchases and such and we still will have a substantial CC bill but nothing swollen beyond being able to pay it all in January.
No interest, no payments being dragged out until June or worse.....yay!

The Food Budget costs for December are in another post, which is located HERE.  The actual Food/Toiletries spending in December was kept low due to the large rebate amount received that month.


YEAR-END GRAND TOTAL.....
With December's addition we ended the $30K Savings Challenge with a Total of $34,019.88 saved for the Year!
I am so happy with how much we've been able to save in 2010.  This is $10,000+ more than we saved in 2009!

It was a great year!  I think the key to staying on course and having a good result was to keep track month-by-month and doing it publically.  If I had no one holding me accountable how easy would it have been to have just stopped putting the money away when things got too hard?  Yep, it would have been very easy to let it go and go on spending sprees for junk we didn't need. 

So how was your December financially?  Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?    Let us know!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!


Sluggy

Money Saving Challenge 2011....Get Busy with Your Coupon System!

This post was inspired by Precious' Money Saving Challenge series.  You can check her blog out at Frugal Makes Cents.




Now that 2011 is here, it's time to get going on preserving your family's income.

Let me say how I hate, yes-HATE! to give our family's money away.
...To much to the Government(who is quite inefficient in how they use it and waste quite a bit).
....To businesses and stores for their overpriced products.

While some of this spending is necessary(and required by law to boot), with the discretionary spending, I try to do what I can to reduce the amount we let leave Chez Sluggy.  

One of the areas where you can slow the money hemorrhage each month is by controlling your food spending!
One way to reduce your food spending is by using coupons.
If you do use coupons, now is the time to do a little maintenance on your system before you get inundated with the beginning of the year flood of coupons!

So I spent a little piece of my time today going through my Coupon Inserts from the latter part of last year and clipping out any coupons that have not expired by 12/31/2010 that I think I may use/need in the coming months.
I spent 2010 labeling my inserts and filing them.  I only clipped coupons as needed each week.
So I had quite the stack of inserts to sort through.

For now, I'll put each pile of coupons into one of the pencil cases I have, with all the Jan. expiring coupons in one case, the Feb. expiring coupons in another case, etc.

I'll reconsider going back to using a coupon binder for my system this month.  If the amount of actual FOOD coupons picks up I probably will.  2010 was a very poor year for manufacturers releasing Food coupons(except for the junkier food ones)into circulation.  I found I used far more internet printed coupons than manufacturer's coupons printed in the newspaper inserts.  It was so one-sided I am considering no longer buying the Sunday paper for coupon inserts and using a clipping service instead for the few coupons I would require.

Do you plan on using coupons more or less in 2011?
Do you have a system to keep them organized that works well for your?
Please leave a comment or question.

Sluggy

Be Prepared for Unemployment.....Have a Plan to Reduce Spending

Do you see it?
Over there, in the corner.....that quite large pachyderm?
The elephant called Economic Recession.
Even when no one is talking about it, it's presence is always felt.  I see less people in the stores buying. More 'for sale' signs going up on people's houses and condos.   Fewer car lots still open.  Restaurants closing up.

In these uncertain economic times, it is wise to have a plan to reduce your expenses if income loss ever happens to you.
Unemployment percentages and lay-offs are at record highs for this generation.  While your job may be a sure thing today, no one knows what tomorrow may bring.  Don't be blindsided when and if a loss of employment and income happens to you!
This is especially important if your household runs on one income and not two.  If that one income leaves, you don't have the safety net of that second source of money.

Plan Ahead When Your Income is Good
Even before the thought of a job loss there are two things you should be working on well before you encounter an economic crisis--paying off/down debt and piling up cash.
If you have debt(anything except a mortgage)get serious on paying off that debt.  That's a good plan no matter the economy or your income!  The less bills you have sucking your limited income up in unemployment, the better.  And make sure you have a hefty Emergency Fund. This would be a pile of money in an account somewhere(heck, even in a coffee can buried in your backyard!)that you can use to cover expenses if you ever lose your source of income until you go back to work. 
When unemployment happens, the better shape your finances are in the better you can ride out the "laid-off storm". 

Have a Plan to Reduce Expenses
Beyond eliminating/reducing debt, make an emergency budget plan for your family.   When a job loss strikes, you need to take immediate steps to reduce your spending and preserve what money you have and make it last until the paychecks come rolling in again.

That point was brought home this week in my family.  Hubs came home with glum news that his company, which had let go a handful of employees last month, was about to announce a much larger round of lay-offs that would affect many areas of the business.

Hubs is fairly certain that he isn't at any risk of losing his job at this point.  But the facts are that A--many companies are "lay-off happy" lately,  and B--that he is nearing retirement age and C-- that he has a larger than some at his level salary due to his many years of service.
These 3 things may put him in the "firing squad's" crosshairs in the future.

So in my copious free time....lol....I sat down earlier this week and contemplated a "Lay-Off" Budget for my family...just in case it's ever needed.

While we are pretty frugal here already and have no debt currently and live on a budget, there are 'wants' we can cut and 'needs' we can reduce if we had to. 

Here is my list of what I'd change in my budget if a job loss happened tomorrow.

*Cable TV--Since we have a bundled service that includes high-speed internet too, we would shop around to either unbundle and drop cable altogether or reduce the cable component to bare bones.  We could realize a small savings doing this.  While not a 'need', Internet is the one thing that would go as a last resort, but for now it would stay.
Potential savings of $50 a month.

*Telephones--We don't pay for our kids cell phones and never have.  If they want one, they find the money through work or allowance to pay for it so we can't save anything there.  But we do have 2 pay-as-you-go cell phones between Hubs and myself, as well as a landline.  We would drop the landline as I have a long distance pay-per-month plan on my cell.  With #1 son away at school, some form of long distance service is a need.  Dropping the landline would save us approx. $30 a month.

*Eating Out--This would be stopped immediately....ALL OF IT!  While we would probably save $200 a month here(between the dinners out, the fast food for #2 son, and the hot school lunches) we would probably spend more on groceries to make up for it so I'm saying a savings of approx. $150 per month.

*Entertainment--This item could also be eliminated from our budget.  We can find free things to do to amuse ourselves if there is a personal financial crisis. Savings of approx. $25 a month.  Yes, we are TOTAL Party Animals anyway, huh?! lolol

*Groceries & Toiletries--While I spend basically zero on toiletries now anyway, I could cut some fat from the food budget.  I'd plan more meatless meals and try to reduce grocery expenses by using cheaper ingredients, much to the chagrin of Hubs.  Daughter gets free food at her current job so those nights would help because I don't have to feed her. If the cost cutting had to be extended for a long period of time, I'd expand the size of the garden next Spring, in order to grow more of our own produce, which would bring down grocery costs over the course of the year.  Short term, we could cut to a $150 a month food budget for a reduction of $50 to $100 a month as I spend $250 now.

*Laundry--Once I run out of almost free detergent, I'd make my own to save money. I'd wash only in cold water(I do use warm water some loads now).  I'd figure out a way to string clotheslines somewhere in the house or garage to dry clothes in the winter so no using the dryer at all.  Not sure how much that would save but it would be something.
Potential savings of  $15 a month.

*Water Usage--I'd set a stricter limit of the teens shower lengths.  Maybe a timer with a loud bell to get them out of the shower faster.  If this period stretched into next year, we'd not open the pool, as it is a water hog.
We would also utilize rain barrels(if we could source them for cheap)to water the garden next year.
 Potential savings of $10 a month.

*Electricity--We would eat down the freezer and then unplug it and make due without stockpiling the bulk of our frozen foods.  We would still have the small freezer compartment over the fridge and the makeshift root cellar in the garage(during cold weather).  Light bulbs would be replaced with lower wattage models.  Some bulbs would be removed if the area only needs 'mood' lighting and not task lighting.  I'd get all up in the teens faces more when they leave on lights and the tv when they leave a room......the teens would add that I couldn't possibly get more up in their faces about this. ;-)
Potential savings of $8 a month.

*Heating/Cooling--By far the largest component of our Electric bill.  Turning down the thermostats another degree or two in the cold weather and make everyone bundle up more.  I'd also add insulation by jerry-rigging heavy drapes or quilts over the back windows in the house.  The back of the house gets the evening sun only so they are pretty useless for passive solar efforts, so I'd cover them with padded fabric to retain heat.  Any of those rooms that I need sunlight in during the day for illumination, I'd made the drape removable.  In terms of cooling/air conditioning, we only have window a/c units now and I don't find we need the a/c very often.  I attempt now to keep the units off and utilize the ceiling fans as much as possible in the hot weather.  The a/c would be used for emergencies only.
Summer months savings of $15 a month, Winter months savings of $50 a month.

*Home/Car Insurance--We would revisit our policies and see if there was a way to cut the premiums down without putting anything at risk with this coverage.  The car insurance on the car for the teens use would either be discontinued(and they would drive my car when needed)or they would be asked to help pay for that part of the insurance from their part time jobs.
Potential savings of $80 a month.

Miscellaneous Expenses--Mostly this includes things Hubs spends on with the cash he withdraws every month(except what he spends on eating out and gasoline)...food at work(which he would no longer need to spend), dry cleaning(which he would no longer need to spend), coffee on the way to work(ditto), other incidentals and WAM(walking around money).  It's hard to know for sure but I think this could be a $100 a month savings if he didn't need to spend for these items.

With just these items, we could potentially reduce our expenses between an additional $528 to $613 per month!

With the small amount of money we spend compared to many people I know, I am floored at how much I could still pull out of the budget if I had to!  Yes, doing some of it would inconvenience us and would impact the lifestyle we are used to, but I feel all of this is still highly do-able and wouldn't cause undue strain on anyone in our family.
The teens would probably disagree vehemently with me though.... ;-)

So this Emergency Budget would be my first step if Hubs ever comes home with 'the bad news'.   I feel a sense of relief just having something written up.  I know what to do now instead of panicking!

Have you thought about making an Emergency Spending Plan with your partner?
I highly recommend having some idea of how to proceed, in writing, if the unemployment blues land on your doorstep.  Having a plan beforehand is key to surviving periods of economic distress.

Sluggy

Don't Miss This Deal....HURRY, Today ONLY!!!

Ok everyone.....get your hiney over to ING DIRECT TODAY!
GO HERE! 

This is my kind of Black Friday shopping!  ING has some one day only deals to enhance how much you save.


I have my eye on opening a Checking Account and getting a $121 bonus!
Eazy Peazy $$$

Get paid to shop today!lolol

Sluggy

I'll Show You Mine...

I've been clipping coupons and practicing the Art of the Coupon now for just over 6 weeks.


On Saturday, I put all my toiletry steals & deals together and took this picture. I guess you would now call this a Stockpile.....





This is only the stuff I got for free or pretty darn close to free, up to March 12th. This doesn't include the armloads of stuff the family is now using and it's ONLY Toiletries(except for the 3 packs of gum on the bottom right side). There is also the PAPER Products Pile, the CLEANING Products Pile and the humongous FOOD & DRINK Pile.


With calculator in hand, I figured a rough estimate of $788.00 retail value on this, as they call it here, turlitrees lot. I paid approx. $20 out of pocket cash for all this and that included all the taxes.


I need to make some plans to utilize some of this now. Like taking the glucose meters to the free clinic & some of the toiletries to the local women's domestic violence shelter. Seriously, no one needs 14 tubes of toothpaste!


I've found that over these weeks, I've gotten a little more picky about what I try to score. I no longer try for the Glade products, Scenty Sprays & things like Fabric Softeners usually, as those are somethings we just don't use. Also Tums and Gastro-type medicines. This family has indestructible gastrointestinal tracts it seems.lolol
I don't wear make-up but I've gotten a bit(not pictured)for #1 daughter. She snatches that away right quick!

So, how am I doing with the Hounding??

And more importantly, WHERE do I put all this stuff??!!??!!

I really really need my dining room table back.

Every crevice is filled in my house and garage! My pantry is filled, the trunk of my car is packed, the shelves in the garage are groaning under the weight of too many canned goods ready to topple over.....I need to organize it all and FAST!!

I may have to evict a child and take over their bedroom.

Hey, now there's an idea.....

Evict the surly teen du jour, gain some storage space.

Hmmmmmm.

"Sorry hon....it was a choice between you & your stuff or the Bic Razor Stash. The razors keep my legs silky smooth & you keep my blood pressure up by arguing with me. Sorry, you'll have to find someone else to stress out for the next 2 yrs."

***Poof! Sluggy wakes from her dream.***

Seriously though, how much space does your total stash take up in your house?

I've seen other people's stash photos but tell me how much space you use for it.

Sluggy-Stash Challenged

FEBRUARY $AVING$ CHALLENGE TOTALS

If you look closely at my right sidebar, you will notice that I updated my 60K $aving$ Challenge Totals for February a couple of days ago. I had hoped to just sneak it in and not have to post about it, but alas, I was caught.

Like I mentioned before, this month is NOT pretty!

While I practically Doubled my eBay sales(thanks in part to that nice guy in The Netherlands), the loose change in the house seems to have dried up. Ok, of the two, I'd rather have more eBay sales than change.lol

We ended Feb. with a net Loss of $157.97.

Negative savings.

Not good.

EVER!

I knew mid-month when we received the Bill Trifecta-a 6 month car insurance premium notice, the unexpected auto repair & the bill for the kitchen countertops,
February would be a wash.

The last 2 items appeared on the MONSTER CREDIT CARD BILL.

Monster to the tune of $2902.85.

The countertops and the auto repair account for $2126.49 of that monster, so in reality, the normal expenditures on it were only $776.36. That includes some online paid bills, most of the gasoline purchases and some Birthdays eating out money. (Dec-Feb. is our Birthday Landmine Field for spending on eating out.)

So if you take off the unusual expenses, we 'could' have had $215.67 left at the end of the month to dump into the SCG.

But we had emergencies. That is why you have Emergency funds....the shock absorbers for buffering those monetary bumps in the road of your money.

Soooo....we deduct that negative $157.97 from our Grand Total Saved & we are down to $3216.67 Saved for the year.

The target goal for 2 months in:$10K.

We are more behinder than last month.

*sigh*

Looking at the bright side....

The credit card statement period closes on March 11th. We currently have $548.39 in purchases on it. If I can keep from buying gasoline for 7 more days, I can have a much lower Mastercard bill to pay this month.

I heart $548.39 bills alot more than $2902.85 bills.

And I have set a $150/250 Low Spend Food Budget for March(See my Food Budget Part II post). That should result in a much lower expenditure for groceries than last month's total of $863.42.

Please help me stick to this March grocery budget.

If you see me in the grocery store with a fist full of coupons and that food lust look in my eyes, throw me in a cart and wheel me out!

Looking on the Not-So-Bright side....

Coming up this month however is the yearly local tax bill and the sewage bill. The sewage bill is hardly a blip on the spending screen but the Tax Bill is significant. Even more reason to keep all other expenditures down. I like to pay it before April 1, as we get a discount if we do. And whenever any governmental entity offers you a discount, TAKE IT!

Always.

Sluggy

MIR at CVS on Hair Products

If you frequent CVS drug stores, be sure and check out the MAIL IN REBATES available currently for ORGANIX & VITAMIN Hair Products there. Most all varieties of these brands qualify for a MIR when you mail in the cash register receipt w/the product circled and the TRY ME FREE Hangtag. (Make sure you get one with a Hangtag, I took mine off of the Organix bottle before I shot the photo.)

And if you hurry in before this week's sale is over at CVS, you can get these brands on sale for $4.99. I know, I know.....you say, "I'm already getting them free no matter reg. or sale price when I do the MIR." I say, "Better to be out of pocket initially $4.99 rather than $6.99, until the rebate comes in!

Sluggy