November BUDGET RESULTS-Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2009.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in November.
These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(4 at home)& 3 dogs. No kids under 13.

ACME
OOP $62.75
Qs/Ads $1072.07
Value $1134.82
Savings  94.47%

CARONE'S(local Independent Grocery that doesn't take IP Qs)
OOP $58.65
Qs/Ads $57.64
Value $116.29
Savings   50%

ENTENMANN'S OUTLET
OOP $14.00
Ads/Sales $55.00
Value $69.00
Savings  79.70%


KMART
OOP $0.00
Qs/Ads $38.99
Value $38.99
Savings  100%

OLLIE'S (local Discount chain Store that doesn't take coupons)
OOP $.97
Qs/Ads $1.02
Value $1.99
Savings  50%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP $73.17
Qs/Ads $179.77
Value $252.94
Savings  71%

RITE AID
OOP $132.77before rebates/$.47 after rebates
Qs/Ads $619.83
Value $752.60
Savings 82.35%( 99.03% after rebates of $132.30 due)

SHOP-RITE
OOP $4.32
Qs/Ads $.77
Value $5.09
Savings  15%

TARGET
OOP $15.00
Qs/Ads $18.11
Value $33.11
Savings  54.70%

WALGREEN'S
OOP $1.22
Qs/Ads $38.99
Value $40.21
Savings  97%

WALMART
OOP $15.87
Qs/Ads $17.74
Value $33.61
Savings  52.80%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store that doesn't take IP Qs in my town)
OOP $163.40
Qs/Ads $350.99
Value $514.39
Savings  68.25%

I've decided NOT to track CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & go toward Food/Toiletries budget purchases, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECV'D. IN NOVEMBER

Kellogg's Fuel for School...$40.00
Olay/Pantene......$20.00
Palmolive Dish Liquid....$2.79
Pinecone Research....6.00
Rite-Aid SCR........$229.13
SC Johnson......$30.00
Suave Lotion/Body Wash...$3.98
Venus Razor....$7.99
Subtotal........$339.89

FREE ITEMS

Almond Tin(no nuts tho....boo hiss!)

2 x Coupons for Old El Paso Taco Shells & $10 GC from contest I won

Herbal Essence Shampoo Free Item Coupon

Book I won

Kashi Granola Bar yum!

Coffee Samples

COUPONS

Del Monte Fruit-Vocalpoint
Jolly Time Popcorn

GIFT CARDS & STORE CHECKS

Rite Aid  $10.00
Staples  $94.00 Store Check
SubTotal...$104.00

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received..$443.89

My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from  KMart at 100%,  Walgreen's at 97% and Acme at 94.47%.

TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$542.12
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$2450.92
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$2993.04
TOTAL Savings of......81.90%

TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$339.89
TOTAL OOP After  Rebates....................$202.23
TOTAL Savings of..................................93.25%

This closes out the November spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
With the high amount of income from Rebates received I was able to have a low out of pocket for this month considering I spent over $500 OOP on groceries/toiletries.  After rebates, just over $200 for $3 thousand in products is very good.
Having gotten so much at that Acme sale I was able to give over $350 of food/OTC meds to the Food Bank this month, as well as send 4 bags of food to family without even noticing a dent in my pantry supplies here.
Outside of Rite-Aid, where they now know me by name, I made only 1 other trip to a drugstore....1 trip to WAGS after I went to the Oral Surgeon since I was out that way, and no trips to CVS.

What's ahead for December.....
I have an overstuffed freezer at this point that needs defrosting and my stockpile shelves are groaning under the weight of all the boxed/canned foods on them.  Unless some grocery store sabotages me by running a great Catalina Deal, I am going to institute a USE IT UP Challenge for myself.  No buying unless we absolutely need it, which means only fresh produce/fruit & fresh dairy.
#1 son will be home from school mid-month so this will help me use up some of our stores, as the boy likes to eat!lol

I am NOT going to set a budgeted amount for Food.  If I do while I am trying to spend ZERO, it will just give me license to spend up to that budgeted amount in my head.  I am better off at telling myself I can't spend anything and see how many times I veer off of not spending by the end of the month.

How did you do in November with your Food Budget?  Leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy

What I Bought at Rite-Aid this Week OR Getting Paid to Take Stuff Home with Me!

Here is what I bought this week at Rite-Aid....

1 x Gillette Fusion Razor on sale $9.00
1 x Febreeze Candle on sale $5.99
1 x Duracell Batteries 40% off  $3.29
1 x Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste on sale $1.07!!!
Subtotal....$19.35

**Ok, so I was expecting the Toothpaste to be $2.49 like the sales flyer advertised.  But it rang up $1.07 with a reg. price of $4.29.  Now I haven't gone back to see if another of this tube will also ring up at $1.07-if I had more coupons, you bet I would have jumped on this for free!lol  But I don't have more Qs....  Anyway, I was expecting my total to be over $20 so I could use my AdPerks $5 off of $20 Q.  I didn't realize the Toothpaste rang up so little until after I got back into the car, so I used the AdPerks Q and it went through, even though my total was UNDER $20.  The AdPerk Qs go through even if you don't make the $20 minimum purchase!

If you see this exact tube of Crest pictured, I'd price check it and you might find you get some real cheap or free toothpaste at your store. ;-)  It's the Cinnamon flavor....

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $20 AdPerks Q=$5.00
1 x $4/1 Gillette Fusion Razor ManuQ=$4.00
1 x  $2/1 Febreeze Candle ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Duracell Batterie ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Crest Premium Toothpaste ManuQ=$1.00
Coupon Total....$13.00

$19.35-$13.00=$6.35+$.38tax=$6.73 OOP

SCRebates qualified for....
$5 Gillette Fusion Razor
$2 Febreeze Candle
$1.50 Crest/Oral-B Item
SCR total....$8.50

$6.73-$8.50=$1.77 Overage

I'm loving that that toothpaste was $.07 after the $1/1 Q AND I got a $1.50 rebate for buying it, meaning that I got paid $1.43 to take it home!lolol

Sluggy

Shameless Self Promotion.....turns into Bah Humbug-ness

I use to sell stuff part time on eBay.  Long story short, I stopped back in February of this year.  Just needed a break I guess.  That was about the time I threw myself into 'Extreme Couponing'.  eBay got pushed aside....

I still have tons of 'new in the packages' stuff here & in storage to sell and it IS the Season that folks loosen the purse strings and buy gifts, right?
So I opened my eBay store back up this past weekend.
It's located Here if anyone is interested and is in the market for overpriced collectibles and toys.

I figure eBay is a way to keep me out of the stores BUYING if I am home SELLING.  And I'd much rather make the money than spend it.  ;-)

While I don't recommend selling on eBay anymore(it use to be profitable for most everyone in the early days, not so now), I use to enjoy having it available as a way to bring in a little spare cash to provide for 'special' things the family enjoyed.  And being able to work when I wanted to from home in my housecoat was a big plus too.

But I'm having a rough time listing items using my auction management service.  The AMS has changed things around in the last 9 months I haven't used it, so it's slow going.  That and I am having to retake photos and dig out the items I had listed in Feb. when I shut down the store.  And I am under a time crunch to get everything up, seeing as tomorrow is DECEMBER!
December.....Already!
EEK!!!

So it's going slow and I'm getting the inevitable "I-can't-be-bothered-to-read-your-description-or-terms-so-I'm-going-to-pester-you-with-redundant-questions-and-waste-what-little-time-you-have" customers/potential bidders sending me emails.  How many times must I tell you I can't ship something to Singapore before you'll stop asking me??!!lolol

Then I got a person incredulous at the cost of the shipping of an item and asked if the shipping quote that appeared on his page was a misprint.
Excuse me, but this package weighs 19lbs. and measures 34x29x9(an oversized parcel), so yes, it will cost more than $4.95 to ship halfway across the country.  I am not Amazon dotcom and I don't offer free shipping. 

Now I went to double check the shipping quote on that item I just mentioned and the automatic shipping calculator on eBay is WAAAAY messed up for this listing.  eBay is giving me a $15+ quote to ship it to an address near me, while the PO website says it will cost over $60 to ship to that same address!
And eBay is showing that this package CAN go via Priority mail, while the PO website indicates that it is too large in size to go any other way but Parcel Post.
Boy, Mr. Incredulous Shipping Cost Buyer would pee his pants at the REAL shipping quote according to the PO Website!LOL
Wait!....I think that Sonic Boom I just heard was Mr. ISCB's jaw dropping on the floor....

The thought of having to contact eBay(always a FUN TIME!ha)and find out what the heck is going on since their shipping calculator is obviously ON DRUGS, has me so stressed out to the point that it is NOT WORTH IT.  So I just unlisted the item rather than deal with all this.

I guess I'm frustrated here.  And it's slowly turning into depression and I am losing my holiday spirit.
Now I remember why I use to close up the eBay store in early December....so I wouldn't have to deal with the Holiday Rush Buyers.lol

Maybe I'll just say the heck with it and haul everything up to Salvation Army instead and then go sit with my sullen unappreciative teenagers who don't want to decorate or listen to Christmas music but just want the parental units to dole out stacks of cash to them Christmas morning so they can go immediately back into their caves, lest they be forced to socialize with us old squares.
*Sigh*
Ho-Ho-Ho....

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday....November 30th Edition....Clearing out the Freezer

Last Week's Menu Postmortem...

We ate alot more leftovers last week than planned....which is a GOOD THING in this house!lol
The Chili didn't get made until Sunday and we moved Date Night from then to Monday(tonight).  Both kids were out on Sunday with friends so they will have the Chili tonight as they didn't have it last night.
Everything else was cooked/eaten as planned.  I cooked a smallish turkey for Thanksgiving Day so we are not overrun with turkey this week.  Maybe enough for 1 night's meal since we sent leftovers home with the guests on thursday.
I want to mention that this year my stuffing was totally homemade...meaning, all the bread products IN the stuffing I had made from scratch!  No buying those doughy, "all air & no nutrition" loaves of white bread to make stuffing with this year for me.  I used cubed up french bread from my Baking Day that was leftover and I made a double batch of cornbread from scratch and used those two to make the stuffing.  Everyone raved over it.  I KNOW it was good because most years I have to feed some of it to the dogs to get rid of it all but it is already almost GONE and no dogs have been fed any!lolol

I am on a mission this month to clear out the freezer.  It is so full and it needs a good defrosting so we need to eat down some of the things in there.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week.....

MONDAY--homemade Chili(stockpile/freezer), biscuits(fridge)
TUESDAY--Kielbasa on rolls(freezer), Potato Salad(root cellar), Corn(freezer)
WEDNESDAY--Leftovers from Thanksgiving meal
THURSDAY--Soup(stockpile), Sandwiches(fridge)
FRIDAY--Fried Catfish(freezer), Rice(stockpile), Broccoli(freezer)
SATURDAY--homemade Pizza(stockpile)
SUNDAY--something Mexican(burritos in freezer or tacos from stockpile/freezer)with the leftover Chili too
SNACKS/DESSERTS--Bread Outlet purchases(donuts/danish/pie), apples, grapes

Last week I spent $65 exactly at the grocery store and bakery outlet.  $11.97 of that $65 was on toiletries.  As I have done the Bread/Bakery Outlet purchase for the next 2 weeks already & I have most of what I need for the week's menu, I'm going to try to not do any stocking up this week so I'm putting myself on a $10 food budget for the week.

Food Waste Report....some of my "ugly" apples went bad/soft, as I didn't get to use all of them in time. These were put out for the wildlife so won't go to waste.

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week.

Sluggy

Wisdom & Laughter from George

In celebration of the Anti-Consumerists' BUY NOTHING DAY(aka Black Friday in the 'Consuming World'), I was watching this clip earlier from one of George Carlin's HBO Comedy Specials entitled, "Life is Worth Losing".    This clip holds most of the segment I thought was a relevant message to impart this weekend.

A word of warning if you don't know George....he loved him some profanity! If bad words offend you, please don't click on the clip.
You have been warned!!




And here is another relevant clip for the shopping season.....



Just something to ponder as you go out and begin your Holiday spending.
Be prudent.
Be precise with your gifting.
Don't spend money you don't have.
Make George & me proud.  ;-)

Sluggy