This is What We Elect to Govern Us....

Ok Folks, I am not going to make any comments here beyond the fact that this man was ELECTED to Congress by the folks in one of the electoral districts located in Georgia.
This man is a Congressman.

Now put down any beverages and go watch this clip....
WHAT THIS CLIP

Sluggy

$30K Savings Challenge MARCH 2010 Totals.....GangBuster Month!

I have posted my MARCH 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 March in the Black.

The amount we ended the month of March with was.......$3,673.47

Income
Besides Hubby salary we had a hefty amount in Rebates and some rolled Coins under the Income Heading. Add in a quarterly stock dividend check, a dental insurance reimbursement for #2 son's dental surgery in Feb. and a partial car insurance reimbursement when we took the old car we got rid of off the policy and the income side looks quite healthy!


Outgo
As for the expenses in March.....

The electric bill went down around $100 from last month.  Even though the heating bills should keep going down now until late Fall, I really need to get cracking on finding the new heating system for the house.

 The credit card bill was half of what it was last month, mostly because of less eating out. The previous month had a lot more birthday eating out.  We did have a small bill for #1 son's schooling, a driver's license renewal and an unexpected small furniture purchase(a new file cabinet) this month along with usual gasoline purchases that are put on the card and paid off each month.

We had a few out-of-the-ordinary expenses in March...some additional car insurance due to the car we bought so for a short time we had FOUR cars on the insurance**YIKES!**, a few doctor's visits, quarterly garbage and sewage bills, state tax bill & school related expenses for #2 son.  
All totaled, the out-of-the-ordinary expenses came to about $850.

The Food Budget costs for March are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in March was under the budgeted $250(due to the rebate money that came in last month)and our Savings percentage was a whopping 94.89%!

Looking Ahead to April....
The cc bill is on track to being under $500 this month again, which is always good. ;-)
I am also expecting our federal tax refund to hit the account in April.
On the not-so-good side of things, we have a local tax bill that is due by the end of this month.
The good thing is that the tax refund is larger than the local tax bill so that's good news!

YTD Standings....
We have a Year To Date Total of $8,523.72 in Savings.  To save $30K for the year, we need to put away $2,500 per month average.  We are ahead of our target as the 1st quarter savings total goal is $7,500!

So how was your March 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!


Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....April 5th Edition w/Spending Breakdown

Last Week's Menu Postmortem...
I injured my shoulder last weekend so there was NO Meal Plan or cooking done by yours truly last week.
Hubby pitched in and cooked a few nights and we got take-out for the other nights. 

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week.....our household presently consists of 2 adults and 2 teens at home.  No children under 14.

This week we'll be using leftover Ham from Sunday's dinner to make two new meals this week. Monday's dinner is also using a leftover grain from a few weeks back to build a new meal.  Since alot of what I am serving is stockpiled, I'm adding a Cost Breakdown Section where I'll list what I paid for the ingredients that are on hand so you can see what I spend w/stockpiling & sales versus buying it weekly when it might not be on sale. If I use a leftover ingredient I won't add that cost as it was already figured into the previous meal's cost.

MONDAY--Bolognese Sauce(freezer and stockpile) over Fried Polenta(leftover from Shrimp and Grits meal), Tossed Salad Greens(need to buy) with Dressing(stockpile)
TUESDAY--Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Ham(stockpile/freezer/leftover ham), Steamed Broccoli(have)
WEDNESDAY--Haluski(have & stockpile), Spinach Salad(freezer-bacon/have eggs/need to buy spinach)*Mostly a vegetable/grain meal with some dairy/No meat meal(except for a bit of bacon)
THURSDAY-Tortellini Alfredo(stockpile), Tossed Salad(need to buy)w/Dressing(stockpile)
FRIDAY--Fish(freezer), Coleslaw(have & stockpile), Oysters(have), Rice(stockpile), Corn(stockpile)
SATURDAY---Creamy Potatoes and Ham(using leftover ham/need to buy potatoes) , Wax & Green Beans(freezer)
SUNDAY--Eat Out

I'll post the recipe for the Halushki recipes later in the week. 

Here are the cost breakdowns...
Bolognese over Fried Polenta w/Tossed Salad--Polenta is leftover(.00¢), oil for frying(.30¢), tomatoes and spices for sauce($1.20), italian sausage for sauce($1.00), ground beef for sauce($1.69), salad greens($2.00), salad dressing(.50¢)=$6.69
Mac and Cheese with Ham with Broccoli Dinner--ham is leftover(.00¢),noodles($1.00),cheese($3.00), milk($1.00),roux ingredients(.70¢), broccoli($1.49)=$7.19
Halushki w/Spinach Salad--Cabbage(.78¢), Egg Noodles(.50¢), Onions(.25¢), Butter(.40¢), Salt/Pepper(.05¢), Spinach($1.50),Bacon(.50¢), Egg(.13¢), Dressing(.50¢)=$4.61
Spinach Tortellini Alfredo Dinner--Tortellini($3.00), Alfredo Sauce jarred($1.25), Parmesan Cheese(.70¢),Salad Greens($2.00), Dressing(.50¢)=$7.45
Fish Dinner--Flounder($5.99),Hush Puppy Mix for breading(.50¢), Oil for frying(.70¢), Cabbage(.78¢), Mayo, Sugar, Celery Seed & Vinegar(.75¢), Potatoes(.99¢)=$9.71
Potato & Ham Dinner--Ham is leftover(.00¢), Potatoes(.50¢), Butter (.60¢), Cream Cheese($1), Cheese($1), Milk(.50¢), Spices(.30¢), Green Beans($1)=$5.40

Adding up what has already been spent and what I need to spend for this week's menu, I can serve this menu of 6 meals to a family of 4 adults/teens for a total of $41.05.

Leftover nights have no cost as they were already figured in when the meal was served the first time.  If you divide the meals' cost by 6 nights(Sunday is dining out & that's on the enterainment budget), you get an average cost per night of $6.84.  That's $1.71 per person per night.  And this is mostly a cooking from scratch menu.  The only 'processed foods' are the jarred Alfredo Sauce and the Salad Dressing.   Who says you can't cook healthy on the cheap?

LAST WEEK'S FOOD SPENDING
Being sick, I didn't set foot into a grocery store last week...I did go to Rite-Aid but since I had Gift Cards I spent nothing out of pocket.  I did send DH to the store at some point for a few things to tide us over and he spent $26.52 on deli meat and cheeses and some hamburger as he hadn't thawed any ground beef that day for dinner.  He also bought himself a bag of potato chips.  No coupons used, nothing bought on sale.  But in a crisis, you pay what you have to and you buy what you have to, right?  I am thankful for the stockpile during weeks like that.  Between the freezer and stockpile we had most of what DH needed to make some healthy-ish meals.


The only NEEDS for this week's menu are potatoes, milk, salad greens, cabbage and fresh spinach.  There is a special on grated cheese which we are almost out of so I'll pick some up as well.  I am going to say $20 will get us through the week and this menu.


FOOD WASTE REPORT
Nothing wasted this week...Again! 8-))

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

Sluggy

Last Week's Rite-Aid Haul...3/28/10-4/3/10

Here is what I bought at Rite-Aid during the week of 3/28-4/3.  
This was 5 separate transactions.

2 Venus Razors
2 Olay Body Wash
2 Skintimate Shaving Gel
4 Johnson's Body Wash
1 Caress Body Wash
2 Clean & Clear Face Cleaner
4 Benadryl
1 Intuition Shaver
1 Bic Disposable Razors
**Not Pictured**
2 Dozen Eggs
2 Barilla Penne Pasta
3 Bags of Easter Candy
1 box Melitta Coffee Filters
1 Nail Polish

Total OOP....$6.89  Which was all put on a Heart Healthy Feb. SCR Rite-Aid Gift Card so ZERO spent!
Total Value of Items....$158.21

April SCR qualified for....$8
#41 Buy 1 Bic Razor2($2),#44 Buy Skintimate and Intuition Razor($1),#53 Buy $20 worth of J&J Products($5)
Also, the Benadryl purchase qualifies toward a $25 R-A Gift Card WYB $50 of select Allergy Products--SCR #552.  $17.56 down, $32.44 to go.

After the SCRebates, I have $8 in Overage so far for the month.

Other than finishing off to get the $25 Gift Card(SCR#552) I won't be haunting Rite-Aid as much in April.  There aren't as many opportunities for cheap or free or moneymaking there this month.  I do have a Gift of Savings $20 Certificate that expires at the end of April so I will be using that in the coming weeks.
I am going to miss receiving that big honking Rite-Aid SCR check next month as a result.lol
Oh well.....

Sluggy

To Use or Not to Use?

Annie Jones over at REAL LIFE LIVING posted her thoughts a few weeks ago on 'Coupons'.  You can read the post Here.
Basically she feels that Coupons don't work for her.
I thought she had some very good ideas on the subject and she makes some valid points.

I agree that coupons can take control over you.  Who hasn't bought something just because it was free with a coupon even though they don't use that product and had no plan for it to be used once it was procured?
If you can answer that question with a no, then you are a far better man than I, Gunga Din!lol

If you have any kind of obsessive aspect to your personality, you may find yourself being overtaken by a need to use a coupon(or many coupons) just because you will get a deal.
It takes a lot of self-control to keep the coupons as a TOOL aiding your life, rather than as the CONTROL over your life.
Let me say that again.....Coupons should be a TOOL to help you save money and put that saved money to a different use in your life.  If coupons become your life then perhaps you need to step away from the Sunday Inserts! ;-)

I have learned over the past year or so that I need to change the way in which I use coupons so that they work for me and I am not a slave to them.  I have done some good things using coupons and then there are some things I have failed at due to coupons.  Perhaps I'll delve deeper into this subject in a later post.

So when do you know when Coupons have taken over control?

1. When you spend more hours in a day finding/clipping coupons, studying store ads, reading coupon blogs, planning grocery lists, shopping, putting away the haul than you spend interacting with your family, spouse or friends.
**Ok, so I have sullen surly teens so maybe I don't really WANT to interact with them some days.
 
2. You can't bring yourself to buy something just because you don't have a coupon for it even if it's something you really really Need!

3. If someone were to ask you if your house was on fire and what would you grab before you left and you answer your Coupon Binder.

4. You have many, many boxes of  'insert name of product here' in your stockpile though no one in your house eats/uses said product.

5.  You have enough boxes/containers of one product to build a replica of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

6. You open your garage door and suddenly cars full of people start pulling up to your house and ask if you have any grocery carts so they can do their weekly shopping.

So tell me.....do you use coupons or are coupons using you?

Sluggy