Friday, June 4, 2010

TGIF!.....1 more day

Yes, one more day of relatives and counting........and 1 more day until the weekend too. ;-)
This week has been K-double R-AZY!!
House guests, a cook-out, getting the pool open for the season, college smartass son home still(but not wanting to be here-if you know what I mean!), school field trip, hosting dinners for relatives, #1 son having a girlfriend over every-single-day for 3 weeks, doctor's appointments, trying to make arrangements for camp, a teeny bit of eBay stuff, extra cooking, some organizing out in the garage, gardening and of course, a teeny bit of blogging and finding time to sit on my big fatass in front of the computer.
There was also the National Honor Society ceremony at the high school.  Here's our brilliant daughter.....
And here with her aunt and uncle....
And as always, they spelled her last name wrong.
UGH.
You would think that having been in this school district since 2nd grade they could at least get that right?!?

 Here's some pics of the garden beds from the weekend before last, when we finally were able to plant stuff.  These hopefully will have lovely heads of cauliflower some day.....



And here are a couple tomato plants and Italian pepper plants....


Under my Magnolia Tree we put the other pepper plants.....these are suppose to  be yellow when ripe I think.

This past Saturday we bought some more seedlings and have put those in, as well as sown some seeds.  #1 son helped me sew the pole beans and the lettuce mix this week amidst much grumbling and gnashing of teeth....I did the gnashing while he handled the grumbling.
We still have a few patched to sew this weekend.  Some of the seed was old so I'll wait a week and if nothing germinates, I'll lay down some fresh seed.

This weekend we need all hands outside to do yardwork.....lots of weeding/weed wacking around stuff, a flowerbed needs massive help, a dead tree needs chopping down and we need to attempt to care about the lawn and at least make motions like we are fertilizing and sewing grass seed, etc. on it.

My eBay listings/photos/sorting junk/making up Sallie's donations has been put on hold this week, as I have not been free to tear up the living areas and fill them with half filled boxes and piles of stuff.  This will resume after the weekend.

Daughter needs underwear(oh, I hope she doesn't read this!lol)and swimsuits for camp.  She has lost weight and she really needs a whole new wardrobe as everything is falling off of her...literally, falling off.  We'll do a mother/daughter consult this weekend and come up with a plan that doesn't bust the bank or the budget.

I have not been in a store at all since last Saturday and have enjoyed the break.  I think my streak will end today though as we need some groceries and there are a few 'deals' I want...mostly on dairy items....cheese at GiantPA, a diary Catalina at Weis that includes ice cream!!!, and milk at the local Shurfine affiliated market.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets some good weather so they can spend some time outside!

Sluggy

Thursday, June 3, 2010

I Bought Something....but it's Going to Save me Money!

"Sometimes you need to spend money to make money" is how that old saying goes.
And sometimes, that old saying is correct!

While being frugal is all about NOT spending money, a little spent can, in the long run, make you more frugal.
This past weekend, the story all started with a cheesecake......

DH and I wanted to splurge on a gourmet cheesecake this week.  Since I didn't feel like making a cheesecake, we headed over to the restaurant supply store a few miles down the road.  This is a local go-to store for local eating establishments.  They stock not only baking/serving/restaurant containers, etc. but they stock a small assortment of foodstuffs.  Most of it is industrial sized.....mega cans of fruit cocktail, tomato products, pickles, condiments, etc. so not very consumer-friendly unless you can use up or repackage large quantities of an item.  They do also carry frozen and refrigerated goods but they are also large packages.
We picked up the cheesecake and were browsing in the containers/utensils part of the store and I saw this.....
That my friends is a heavy duty all aluminum, industrial restaurant grade cheese slicer with an adjustable blade.
And I purchased that bad boy for almost $10.
(It's the first thing I have bought for myself that isn't food or toiletries in a very long time.)

Now I can hear you thinking, "Why did she buy that thing?".
Because that slicer is going to save me some BIG Money over the course of the next year!

We eat a lot of sliced deli-style cheese here.
Our cheese of choice is Cooper's Sharp....well, I like Hoffman's Xtra Sharp too but we usually buy Cooper's as it costs less.
But Cooper's is NOT cheap, nor does it go on sale often here.
Regular price is $6.99lb.
Lowest Sale price is $4.99lb.

When #2 son is on a Grilled Cheese binge, we can go through 1-2lbs a week between his and the rest of the family's consumption.

That restaurant supply store also carries this item.....

5lb. blocks of Cooper's Sharp Cheese.
5lbs. of unsliced cheese.

5lbs. of cheese would cost me $34.95 at the deli, on sale, the least expensive I could get it for is $24.95.
I paid $16.25 for this unsliced block of cheese.
That comes out to $3.25 a lb.
With this 1 block I'll be saving between $18.70 & $8.70 on 5lbs, depending on if I had bought the cheese at the deli at regular price or on sale.
When this 5lbs. is gone, I will have already saved enough to pay for the cheese slicer.

If we go through a lb. of cheese a week(it's probably more but let's say 1 lb.), that's 52 lbs. of deli-cheese a year.  That's $363.48 a YEAR on $6.99lb. cheese at the deli....$259.48 a YEAR if I could find it on sale every week.
Buying it in 5lb. blocks and slicing it myself I would pay $169.00 a YEAR for the same amount of cheese.
$363.48  vs.  $169.00
That's a savings of $194.48 a year just on cheese!

Now if we liked cheaper brands of cheese, those come sliced but in 5lb. blocks/stacks for about $11 per block.  This is the stuff that sells regularly priced at the deli counter for $3.49lb.  Just buying a larger amount at the supply store you save $6.45 per 5lbs.with no slicer or slicing skills needed!

If you don't think you can eat it all before it goes bad, there are two other options....
1. Find a friend or neighbor who uses cheese and buy a 5lb. block together and split it.  Eating 2.5lbs. of cheese is not as opposing a feat.

2. Slice the whole 5lb. block and wrap some of it and place in your freezer.  I wouldn't recommend freezing it BEFORE slicing since the freezing process can make your cheese hard to slice when it thaws.  Frozen cheese tends to fall apart and crumble, so slice it first.

At any rate, buying in bulk can be a savings if you do your math first to make sure it's a good deal, and make sure you can/will consume all of the product and not let it go to waste.
Check locally for restaurant supply stores or warehouse club type clubs too, as some of those will carry bulk foodstuffs.

Sluggy

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Who Here Speaks eBay?

So, I get a Question to Seller this morning.  Yes, it's another episode of "I don't speak/understand/read/write English but I'm going to ask you stuff via an online translator".

Our contestant today is from Brazil, and speaks either/or Spanish/Portuguese.


hello! I would like to know which the value of a of iten that wanted to buy of you.  **Ok...they want to know the value of an item I am selling, or at least this is what I THINK they are asking at this point.

- TIME FORCE Power Rangers Ranger CHRONO-SABER MIB  **This is understandable since they just copied the listing title.

Which the value that is and the items and the value of the sending to Brazil for Registrad Airmail?  **This is where the wheels start flying off the bus!   I'm thinking they mean "what is the value and the cost to ship to Brazil by registered airmail".  Now there is no such thing as registered airmail from the US.  There is express air, priority air or 1st class air.  You can insure and/or send certified via some of these shipping rates as well.  So I have no clue which rate they want a quote for.  
Do they want to know the value(for customs) or the cost of the item?  The cost is obviously right there on the eBay listing(hello!), so they must want to know what I put on the customs declaration so they know what/if any customs fees they will be charged to receive the package.
Man, that used up way too many brain cells this early in the day!lol
But it continues.....

I would like to buy out of you of Ebay,
getting rid of the commission, you would grant like this me a discount.
**Aaaaah, so now it becomes clear as mud....by "value" they mean they want to know how much it will cost them to buy it from me directly, and not through eBay.  They want a DEAL.
Oh, you naughty, naughty customer......screwing eBay out of their cut!
So they want me to sell something to someone in another country without ANY safeguards to me if/when they make a chargeback through Paypal and I lose my item, get my payment yanked out of my account and have the honor of paying the chargeback fee which Paypal will pass along to me.  tsk, tsk, tsk....

I await the return. Thank you!  **And just keep waiting until hell freezes over buddy!  




So what does our contestant win today Johnny?

I do believe he gets banned from our eBay listings for life!
And what made this one extra special is that he sent it to me TWICE!LOLOL

Thanks for watching today's episode.....now where's that Hump Day drink??

Sluggy

Merriment and Mayhem is oh-so Memorial...or is That Memorable?

I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Memorial Day Weekend.

Here?
It was merriment and mayhem!

The relative arrived on Sunday afternoon and was soon followed by another of DH's siblings(though they aren't sleeping here).
So on Memorial Day, for our 'quiet & small picnic', we had a full compliment of 11(and 1 more later on that evening) once assorted teens brought assorted friends over. 
With the unseasonably warm weather this early in the year, DH was able to get the pool open for the picnic.  The heat on Monday raised the pool temp. to 74 so most everyone spent some time in the pool.

 I spent all day prepping, standing over the grill cooking and then cleaning up, followed by a quick dip in the pool.  By 9pm Monday I was beat and too tired even for a drink.

And I have NO photos of the day, since no one else could be bothered to pick up the camera and take some shots while I was working my hiney off.....

Not to be totally UNpatriotic, we did have my BIL, who is a Vietnam Vet at the party, so we paid homage to him throughout the day. ;-)

Besides the eating and swimming, we celebrated 2 birthdays--the nephew's birthday which was earlier in the month....
 Hide your keys and stay off the highways.....he's old enough to drive now!EEK!!lol

 And #1 son's birthday which will be next month when he is away working at summer camp.....
Don't even ASK what he is laughing at!  You would be sorry.......
Happy 19th bday a tad early kiddo!

You'll notice our elegant 'partyware' cups in the last shot.  Instead of disposables we used regular drinkware and duct taped everyone's name to their cup. 
Nothing says FESTIVE like DUCT TAPE!

I used plastic utensils, though it's my 'permanent set' that I reuse for outdoor eating every time.  I spent a good deal of energy fishing those out of the garbage since people just assume you throw those away after 1 use.....not here!lol 
I did break out a pack of my emergency paper plates however(I hide them so don't tell the kids I still have some...shhhhh!!).  It saved me a little on the clean up required.

We topped off the evening by showing #1 son's 'girlfriend' some old home movies.......specifically, #1 son at 2 yrs. old and making his 1st 'poopies in the potty' milestone.
Ah, fun times......

Yes, I am THAT kind of mom.....lolol


Sluggy

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

$30K Savings Challenge MAY 2010 Totals.....Not so Good but Still on Track!

I have posted my MAY 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 May in the black!

The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with was.......$1,183.24.

Income
We had $306.68 left over of DH's salary after expenses were deducted. Add in some rolled coins amounting to $16.00, a $115.81 in Rebates &, along with the flea market profits of $744.75 and you have a deposit of $1,183.24 toward the Savings Challenge!

Seeing as our monthly target is $2,500.00 to reach our Year End Goal, we are waaaaay short this month.

Outgo
As for the expenses in May.....it was a money gobbling month!

The electric bill went down $30+.  It should have gone down more because the heat was off....except we used extra hot water having an extra person here for the month, so more laundry(I use hot for my white loads) and showers plus DH started opening the pool up which uses more electricity as well as water.
The water bill went up too due to the increased water usage mentioned above.

 The credit card bill was up over $1100 due to DH's new glasses(2 pair) and the new cd player he had installed in his car.  There was also paying for daughter's SAT exam.  Those charges accounted for $900 on that bill.  The rest was gas and some eating out charges and was within our normal range of expenses.

Out-of-the-ordinary expenses in May besides the CC Bill ones.....yearly maintenance and repairs on the 3rd car for the teens' use, in the amount of $1,636.99.  Though this car is a workhorse it is very old and the teens are running it into the ground with driving all over the place.  This car needs to last through next school year as daughter is taking dual enrollment classes at a local college while in her last year of high school, and she needs wheels to get to the school  3 times a week.  If it goes, she has no transportation so we are putting a stop to the 'fun' use of this car.  It seems like she/this car has become the way for all the kids to travel places here and that's being ended.  It is going to be for getting to her job and very limited 'fun' travel from now on.  This car is costing us around $2K a yr. in repairs/maintenance at this point.  And then you add in registration, plates, inspections and insurance and it's becoming quite the suck hole.

There was also a yearly veterinarian check-up for the 3 dogs.  That blew a $454 hole in the budget as well this month.

The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in May was $18.04 over the budgeted $300.00 for May, but by putting the rebate money that came in last month toward that expense I can say we came in under budget there.  After the rebate money we only spent $202.23 on food/toiletries and our Savings percentage was 82.97% which is quite respectable.

Looking Ahead to June....
We have a week long visit from a relative in June, but various teens will be leaving home for weeks at a time in June  so the food spending will probably go down overall.  I have lowered the food budget for June back to $250 but will try to do better than that.
The Credit Card bill as of June 1st is already over $1,300.  More than half of this is due to a car a/c repair.  The rest is just a bunch of smaller $40-$50 purchases like clothing for the kids, plants and manure for the gardens, hubby's internet chess subscription, out of the ordinary gas purchases from retrieving #1 son from college, associated eating out charges from the trip to his school, etc.
We also have another car repair that will showing up on this month's credit card bill.  No word yet on the amount but I am sure it won't be pretty!lol  At this rate, we are looking at a $2K or more cc bill for June.

Plus I put off paying the $1K for #2 son's weeks at camp until June since May was so hard on the budget.
So, that's $3K plus the ordinary utilities and food expenses coming up in June.  All the more reason to keep an extra sharp watch on spending this month.

I am hoping but not totally certain that we will be able to meet our monthly goal of $2,500 saved in June.

YTD Standings....
We have a Year To Date Total of $16,073.74 in Savings.  To save $30K for the year, we need to put away $2,500 per month average.  Even with our lackluster May total saved, we are still ahead at this point in the year of our final goal.

So how was your May 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