This Week on the Dining Table.....June 1st to 7th

 

Here's one of those invites to talks on signing up for Medicare Advantage plans you get before you turn 65 and are eligible for Medicare.

Only I got this one when I turned 66 and was still in Lousiana!lolz

Just a bit late you might say.....

Onward to the meal planning!  Here is what was planned for the last week.....

1. Sunday--Leftover Chicken Thighs, Brussels Sprouts

2. Monday--don't remember

3. Tuesday--don't remember

4. Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Sweet Potato Fries

5. Thursday--don't remember

6. Friday--Cheddar Broccoli Soup

7. Saturday--Steak, Corn on Cob

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Leftover Chicken Thighs, Brussels Srouts

2. Monday--don't remember

3. Tuesday--don't remember

4. Wednesday--Cheeseburgers, Sweet Potato Fries

5. Thursday--Chicken Parm, Broccoli

6. Friday--Broccoli Cheese Soup, (Biscuits or Salad)

7. Saturday--Steak, Corn on cob

 We shopped at Walmart and Shoprite this past week so most everything was bought there.

What got taken out of the freezer.......

*  Ground Beef

*  Chicken Parmesan

*  Steak

The last week we spent $160.01 on groceries and the savings rate came in at 44.10%. Spending for the month is $627.16 and the savings rate is 30.93% for May before rebate monies are added in.

Rebates earned in May--

$123.43 on Ibotta

$18.00 on Checkout51

$42.67 on SwagBucks

$0 on Aisle and Misc.

$443.06 total in $$

Total spent after rebates is $443.06

for May. I need to find someplace other than Walmart to buy groceries here. We picked up loss leaders at Shoprite but it's crazy how much more food cost here than in LA.  I still miss Kroger even more.  We gave ShopRite a shot but it's not the same as when we shopped there in the old days, 8-((

16,932 Pts. on Fetch

3,177 Pts. on SwagBucks lol

353 Pts. on My Points

2,212 Pts. on ShopKick

0 Pts. on TaDa

(I don't count these until I cash out for a gift card or cash.)

Here is what was planned for this week.....

1. Sunday--Out for Father's Day

2. Monday--Leftover Steak, Corn on Cob

3. Tuesday--Leftover Chicken Parmesan, Green Beans

4. Wednesday--Leftover Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Biscuits or Sweet Potato Fries

5. Thursday--TV Dinners or whatever

6. Friday--No Clue

7. Saturday--No Clue

We have a much smaller fridge/freezer now so have to be more strategic with food purchases here.  It's going to take some getting use to.

We are cleaning out the fridge before our trip.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week.

Sluggy   

Income & Spending Report.....March 2018

Now that we are living on an annuity(like a pension) and 401K$ withdrawals(retirement savings), 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.
But this money leftover at the end of each month, at least for now(as we find our new financial "normal")won't be saved toward a yearly Savings Challenge.

The issue now is to cover all the bills with these two sources of income and not have to dip into the regular savings(that I built over the last 10 years)to pay our month to month expenses.

Since I got another nasty anonymous comment and another comment about how my accounting sucks and about how I am misleading people since I refer to the overage I carry over from month to month as "income"(and no, I don't believe anybody thinks this is true income but I do have to account for it, don't I?)I will handle it differently going forward.

And no, I am not trying to fool myself or anyone else with my monthly spending reports.   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 March 2018 report--

I had 2 goals for March......
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 2018.

I have to report that we finished up March in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of March with?.......$1,778.19

Income

The income in March---
* Monthly annuity payment of $3173.13(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance for Feb. of $851.11 ##
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $311.79
* Stock dividends of $98.07

Total Income for March......$6,247.58

## The balance of the 401K withdrawal($2553.31)got divided by 3 and gives us $851.10 in January to add to the income for the month(Feb. and Mar. will also get $851.10/$851.11 respectively)for general expenses.


Expenses in March---
* Healthcare Premium for March was $1813.48.
* Variable Expenses in March came to $2655.91.

Total Expenses for March......$4,469.39

$6,247.58-$4,469.39=$1,778.19 overage for March.

* Two Irregular expenses were due and paid-the Real Estate taxes and an Annual Sewage bill totaling $1802.53.  These were paid out of the Sinking Fund which was $2858.76.  SF fund remaining carries over into April in the amount of $1056.23 and there will be a deposit into it in April as well when we take the 2nd quarter 401K withdrawal.

The monthly overage will now be referred to as our "Slush Fund".  I call it that above in my 2 goals I try to reach each month.
Think of it as a Short Term Savings we can draw on if our bills are high in any given month and the Annuity/401K draw/Interest/Dividends/Other Side Hustle Monies don't cover all the bills.

We went into March with $6422.92 in the Slush Fund.
Add in March's overage of $1,778.19 to the Slush Fund and it stands at $8,201.11 going into April.

Outgo

As for the expenses this March, 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 water bill was $14.66 lower the February.
*  The electric bill was $27.94 lower than last month.
*  The medical payments were $161.37 lower than in February.
*  The LA house electric bill was $7.91 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in February.

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The gas card charges were $57.62 higher than last month due to Hubs trip to LA.
*  The credit card bill was $236.05 higher than in February.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals was $190 higher than last month due to Hubs trip to LA.
*  The long distance phone bill was $1.80 higher than in February.
*  Annual real estate taxes and sewage bill was due this month.  Thes two irregular bills were paid out of the Sinking Fund account.

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

So we end March in the black with $1778.19 in new general overage so once it goes into the Slush Fund that Fund goes into April standing at $8,201.11. ($6422.92+$1778.19=$8,201.11).
The Sinking Fund goes into April standing at $1,056.23.

FINAL THOUGHTS on March---No big charges I didn't know where coming in March and the "usual suspects" aka the variable bills were pretty low.

What I consider our "income" was the annuity and the partial 401k withdrawal of $851.11, and any interest/dividends/extra side hustle monies, so $4434.10 "income" for March.  The Mar. variable bills(without the Healthcare premium which is covered fully by the RMSA refund)were $2655.91 so we had $1778.19 leftover from "income" when the month was over.  If we can cover the bills(variable and irregular)each month with "income" leftover, this overage( Slush Fund)will continue to grow into the succeeding months.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2018----This month there are two irregular bills due-our long term care quarterly premiums and these will be paid out of the Sinking Fund balance.  Electric should continue to go down.  The credit card bill will continue to be high(around $1500).  Once we get Hubs eye dr. charges figured out(they insist on him paying when he goes even though the EOBs they submit to our insurance vary a LOT(on the low side)from what they charge him....it is a nightmare!)the month should be a good and ho-hum one for us.  IF this house sale goes through in April all the better!!  And we should come out on the other side of the tax season in the black with a refund so two things to look forward to resolving in our favor in April. 8-))

So how was your March financially?
  

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

Make this year was the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you have banked 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

2017 Food & Toiletries Spending....February Update

* Posting my grocery totals a day early as I am done food spending for February.  If for some reason I shop again today, this amount will go onto March's spending.*

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2017.

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 3-4(3 at home this month). No kids under 20.

******************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.75
Value  $17.26
Savings  72.48%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $31.28
Value  $49.30
Savings   36.55%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $331.67
Value  $331.67
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $21.52
Qs/Ads $34.20
Value  $55.72
Savings  61.38%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $236.40

Qs/Ads  $251.02

Value  $487.42

Savings  51.50%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 72.48% and the Shursave Market at 61.38%.  My WORST savings rate was Maine Source at 36.55%.
The bulk of my money was spent at Weis Markets in February and I had a 51.50% savings rate there.
I shopped at 5 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$293.95

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$647.42

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$941.37

TOTAL Savings of ..................................68.77%
TOTAL Savings w/o Rite-Aid of ..............51.79%

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into February wanting to spend $300 on food and toiletries.
I came in $6.05 under even with stocking up on a few things this month.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 4.48% in February to 68.77% compared to January's 73.25% savings average.

With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $845.22 on food/toiletries in 2017 which averages out to $422.61 per month spent in 2017. 8-)


LOOKING AHEAD To March........
College Boy will be home for 1 of the 4 weeks in March.  I want to try for another $300 grocery spending month anyway.  We've got lots in the pantry/freezer/stockpile heading into March.
If I can't keep under $300 I should be able to stay close.

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

My Food Spending/Tracking Method

Reader Linda asked earlier this week in a comment my method of keeping track of my food budget spending so I am here to reveal my secrets.
Secrets, riiiiiight!

Nothing hi-tech here as you can see.
Here is my secret weapon......

A good old notebook.
It sits on the bookshelf by my desk.

When I get home from the store my receipt(s) go into this notebook.........

I put all grocery/food/toiletries spending receipts in the front cover of said notebook.
When a new month rolls around and I get receipts, those receipts go into the back cover, and at some point in that next month, I purge the last month's receipts out of the front cover when I am done calculating or sending for refunds/rebates in which I need those ones.
And the process starts all over again.

The secret is to have a place to gather all your shopping receipts so you don't misplace them.  You aren't always going to have the time to immediately record your receipts(or the energy after putting all your spoils away).  When you can't get to it right away, have the receipts somewhere handy you can access them when you do have the time to record them.

When you are ready to record your spending, pull out your receipt(s) and do so.
I use a new page each month(and any overflow if I have a lot of shopping trips that month go onto the facing page.
I put the month at the top of the page, then list the date of each trip and which store I shopped at.
Across the page goes my OOP spending, the reg. retail value of that trip, how much $ was saved and then if I am not rushed for time(and feel like it)I calculate out the percentage of savings for the trip.
The only other tools you need are a pen or pencil and a calculator. 8-)

At the end of a week I will add up the columns to get a weekly Total of my spending/savings.  Then(if it isn't the first week)I pull forward the spending total to do a Month To Date entry so I can keep an eye on how much has been spent so far that month and how much I have left in the budget.

By the end of the month there is a lot of writing on those pages as you can see from the photo of the September 2016 pages.

When the month has finished I add up all my individual stores entries and get subtotals of how much was spent/saved/% at each store and then what was spent/save/% overall for the month.
From this information I can do my monthly spending total post as well as update my Food/Toiletries webpage for the year(accessed from the top tab on the site).

It's important to know how much you spend, period.  Sure, not everyone wants this much detail so do what works for you.

It's not rocket science.  Just get a system down that works for you and track that spending!

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

September Food Spending Week 2.5 and Menu Plan

 I love this little Flow Chart from Summer Tomato to help you find REAL FOOD in the grocery store.
Check it out!lol

Speaking of supermarkets, I made 3 trips to the grocery store last week...really 1 trip last week and 2 trips into Week 3 or Week 2.5.lol  I can't seem to line up the weeks with the menu plans.  I need to come up with a better system for reporting in.

The local market had some BOGO sales so I stocked up on basic things like onions, potatoes, bread and bagels(as I didn't get over to the Bread Outlet yet).  I bought a number of items for #2 son for snacking including 1/2 off muffins, juice, pizza and chicken strips. Also some Gatorade for band practice, and sweets like ice cream and pie.
I picked up some deals.....a package of trout, a package of hot dog rolls, frozen veggies, as well as a General Mills Promotional Deal when you bought 8 items you received $4 off your total.  For that I bought 4 boxed veggies, 1 sack of flour and 3 rolls of whack biscuits.  Total w/sale prices was $11.59....total after $4 and $2 in Qs off=$5.59 for 8 items.
I also used a $10 gift card I won ages ago to pay for a part of this order so my $20.84 total was $10.84 OOP.
Sweet!

My meal plan for last week ended up looking like this....
Sunday--Tacos
Monday--Ravioli, Salad
Tuesday--BLT Sandwiches
Wednesday--Mac & Cheese, Cauliflower
Thursday--Leftovers
Friday--Chinese take out
Saturday--Pecan Crusted Chicken, Cream of Spinach

The only items I needed to buy to accomplish this menu?.....A loaf of bread

So this week, using what I bought last week and what was already in the freezer/pantry, is looking like this.....

Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(fresh sauce from garden and homemade balls for the freezer)
Monday--Chicken Biscuits, Corn(roll of biscuits, frozen chicken patties and corn in freezer)
Tuesday--Trout, Fries, Pan Roasted Summer Veggies(trout and taters I bought, veg. in freezer)
Wednesday--Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze, Potato Salad, Brussel Sprouts(chops in freezer, taters and sprouts I bought)
Thursday--Meatloaf, Roasted Potatoes and Carrots(beef in freezer, taters I bought)
Friday--Leftovers
Saturday--Hot Dogs, Leftover Veggies/Potato Salad(dogs in freezer, rolls I bought)

Left to buy for this menu.....Carrots.
I know it's heavy on potatoes but 2 of us ate a lot of rice last week for snack meals and for lunch, so I'll make #2 son happy and serve fries instead of rice with the trout.

Last week I spent $116.29 at the store on $217.74 worth of items, for a savings rate of 46.60%.
I only used $4 in Qs.  Seriously, I can't find a coupon deal unless I want to buy a bunch of processed stuff lately.

I have spent a total of $181.47 so far for September in 2.5 weeks.  $68.53 left in the food budget with 11 days to go so I am short about $20 at this point in the month.

This week we need some dairy and eggs and I'll pick up what is on special and work it into a menu for next week.
If I find some good deals I won't worry about that $20 overage.

At this point, I'll hold off going to the bread store until next week or October.
I'm debating doing the Campbell's Catalina at Price Chopper(for the Prego sauce) as it will put me over the budget if I do.

What are y'all eating and buying this week?

Sluggy

Yearly Spending Post Mortem 2009....Why Should You Do One?

I am a 'numbers gal'.....yep, the OCDness in me shows up as me being pretty anal about money and the accounting of it.  Hey, my father and one of my brothers were/are CPAs....I come by this naturally.lol

Every year in January I do a Post-Morten of our spending for the previous year.  I get out all the check registers and canceled checks, the bill receipts and invoices and even the cash register receipts if need be.  Yes, I save all that stuff in the short term to be able to do this.

I go through and add up what we spent our money on for the year.  I break it down into categories and then after I have the yearly total for each category, I find the average monthly amount spent.  It takes about 3 hours to complete if everyone leaves me alone for that long.lol

So I can tell you that in 2009, we spent $336 on garbage pick-up or $28 per month.  (No, this isn't included in the municipal taxes we pay here.)
And our landline phone bill was $266.98 or an average of $22.25 per month.

Why do I do this?
Besides satisfying my OCD, we can analyze where the $ went and maybe find where we spent too much or find places where we can change things up and spend less this year.

For instance....hubby and I looked at the post-mortem and saw that we spent a whopping $525.43 on long distance phone service for our landline in 2009.  We don't have a cell phone plan so we had signed up a couple of years ago for an AT&T flat rate long distance plan for the landline.  At the time we found we were making alot of long distance calls(between hubby's sibs and my sick brother in VA)and #1 son had friends who lived in OH he wished to talk to for HOURS on end.lol
At the time, that flat rate plan was very cost effective for us.

Now, we don't make all those long distance calls and #1 son is at college so we are overpaying for this service for the few calls we do make a year.  I had kept the service during #1 son's 1st semester since we thought he would get a landline phone there so we could call him if he needed us for something.  He never got the landline and he finds that emailing us is just as good as calling when he needs something.

So we are dropping this long distance plan.  For the little long distance we use, we will get phone cards to use with our landline.  I am figuring that should cost us approximately $100-$200 a year.  This will give us an extra $425-$325 a year to spend elsewhere in our budget or to drop into savings.

It's also interesting to see from month to month how spending changed or didn't in some categories.

I also found that I stopped using checks to pay for groceries altogether in June 2009 and began using cash only.  I found writing checks to cash and using that money to buy groceries/toiletries and keeping the receipts so I knew how much I spent of it on those items each month worked well for me.  Now and again though I do slip up and use the credit card to pay for groceries.  And when I do, it highly annoys me.lol

I wrote checks totaling $5,950 to cash and $1,224.91 in checks to specific grocery stores for a total of $7,174.91 in 2009.  As I spent a total of $6,254.84 on food/toiletries in 2009, that means I had $920.07 of miscellaneous personal spending last year.  This would be things like a tiny bit of gas(most gets put on the credit card tho), buying a drink or lunch out, money for the kids for movies or such, ice cream in the summer at the ice cream place, newspapers, parking fees, etc.  I didn't keep track of each little thing I spent it on, but it shows that those little incidentals DO add up!

For me, $920.07 on these types of purchases is NOT acceptable!
This year I am going to put a notebook in my car and try to keep track of all these little miscellaneous expenses in hopes of trying to cut some of it or at least have a more detailed list of where every penny goes.

Keeping a spending jouranl isn't for everyone, but if you are having a hard time getting a handle on where your money goes, it's a good idea/tool for at least a month or so to keep one to see where you are spending and how much.  It may surprise you to see what you actually spend on and how much over time!

Now to revisit my Grocery spending for 2009, it totaled $6,254.84. Averaged out over the course of the year, that's $568.62 per MONTH(for 11 months).
WOW!
That's quite high.

DECEMBER     $101.55
NOVEMBER    $202.23
OCTOBER         $48.20
SEPTEMBER   $170.93
AUGUST          $446.50
JULY                $520.69
JUNE                $699.91
MAY              $1019.36
APRIL            $1104.32
MARCH           $855.39
FEBRUARY  $1085.76

But if you look at it per month you will see that I was able to bring it down consistently from month to month until I started to get it under control in July.  By being a bit smarter with my spending, getting the stockpiling method going and upping my income with rebating we did much better by the second half of the year.  The 1st 5 months of 2009 we spent an average of $952.95 per month of food/toiletries.
The last 6 months of 2009, that average cost dropped to $248.35 a month!
Whatever I am doing here seems to be working.....

If you are serious about reigning in your spending, especially on food/toiletires, try tracking your day-to-day expenses for 2 months. 
It may be eye opening!

Sluggy