$30K Savings Challenge AUGUST 2010 Totals.....Full Steam Ahead!

I have posted my AUGUST 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 August in the black....with another healthy addition!

The extra cash amount we ended the month of August with was.......$3,138.45.

Income
We had $3,132.45 left over of DH's salary after expenses were deducted. Add in a whole $6.00 of Rebates applied to the food expenses and you have a deposit of $3,138.45 toward the Savings Challenge!

Seeing as our monthly target is $2,500.00 to reach our Year End Goal, this month will go a long way to keep us ahead of schedule.

Outgo
As for the expenses in August.....it was pretty much a 'normal bills' type month.  Since the vacation money came out of the vacation funds set aside and not from the monthly income, we had just a few unusual/non-repeating bills. 

The Food Budget costs for August are in another post, which is located HERE.  The actual Food/Toiletries spending in August was about $17 less than I had budgeted for so we are right on target there.

Looking Ahead to September....

Looking at last September as a guideline,the only non-monthly bills I see are the quarterly sewage fee and the school taxes, which is a big one! 8-(  And it looks like at this point we will be purchasing a new refrigerator....which will cost a pretty penny!
Otherwise, it's just the usual monthlies plus some smaller school related fees(photos, club fees, band stuff, etc.).   No other big expenditures and no heating bill in September so it's usually a fairly good month to stash some cash away for us. 8-))

YTD Standings....
We have a Year To Date Total of $22,921.36 in Savings.  To save $30K for the year, we need to put away $2,500 per month average, at this point in the year we need to have $20,000 saved.  Currently, we are an entire month's worth of savings ahead of schedule.  It would be so awesome to finish the year with more than $30K saved!  I don't want to get my hopes up but I can dream. ;-)

So how was your August 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

AUGUST Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending Totals

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for AUGUST 2010.
I have posted August's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2010.

I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in August.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom information.

These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(between 5 & 2 at home this month) & 3 dogs. No kids under 14.

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP $11.56
Value $53.87
Savings  78.54%

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP $26.53
Qs/Ads $3.99
Value $30.52
Savings  13.07%

RITE AID
OOP $49.90 (whole amount put on Rite-Aid Gift Cards)=$.00 actual OOP
Qs/Ads $15.86
Value $188.10
Savings 73.48% before gift cards/ 100% savings after gift cards

WEIS (local chain Grocery store that doesn't take IP Qs in my town)
OOP $117.24
Qs/Ads $46.50
Value $163.74
Savings  28.40%

VACATION SHOPPING(assorted discount outlets in Maine)
OOP $133.48
Value $332.50
Savings  59.85%


I don't 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' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, 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 AUGUST

Pinecone Research....$6.00
Subtotal........$6.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
WalMart Gift Card(Giveaway winnings)...$25.00

Gillette Razor Survey Gift Card...$5.00

Subtotal....$30.00

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received..$36.00

FREE ITEMS
I love Bacteria Shirt(Giveaway winnings)

Purina Feed Trucker Hat
2 x Almond Milk Coupons(Giveaway winnings)

My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Rite-Aid at 100%, Bakery Outlet at 78.54% and the Vacation Outlet Shopping at 59.85%.

TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$288.81
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$501.84
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$784.65
TOTAL Savings of..........63.19%

TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$6.00
TOTAL OOP After  Rebates....................$282.81
TOTAL Savings of..................................63.96%

This closes out the August spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
While on vacation we ate out alot(which came out of the money put aside for the vacation and NOT from the food or entertainment budget).  I don't even think I used a single coupon this month....EGADS!lol

Very little produce was bought at a store since the garden is giving us an ample supply of goodies right now.  Our refrigerator is having problems so I've been reticent about stocking up with fridge/frozen foods this month as we need to get it repaired or replaced.  Not having it crammed full is preferable right now, so I am holding off on large purchases of food that need freezing or refrigeration.  I did spend almost half of my August food budget amount on the vacation, stocking up on shelf-stable foods(along with wild blueberries).
Yet I was still able to come in $17.19 under budget for the month. 8-)

What's ahead for September 2010.....

I am setting the September 2010 Food/Toiletries Budget at $250.
Why?
Because we have 4 family members home again.
And if the fridge issue is cleared up quickly I still plan on making my farm bulk buys early in September.

We are still full with shelf-stable stockpile items but if any good buys present themselves I'll take advantage of them.  I am figuring $150 for regular monthly purchases and the other $100 for the stocking on farm buys and any good deals.

As always, any rebates received this month will be added to the food budget spending.  I have few outstanding rebates at the moment so there will be little extra cash to cover food expenses in this way for September.  I did get  6 rebates out into the mail recently(and have some more to do soon) so the rebate amounts should pick up a bit in the next 2 months.

With eight months of the year behind us, we have averaged $184.40 per MONTH after rebates on food/toiletries spending for 2010 for a family of 4-5 adults/teens.

How did you do in August 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

Sunday Insert Coupon Frustration....What is Going on Here?!?

I have complained ad nauseum about my geographic area's lack of good coupons in the Sunday newspaper so bear with me as I rant about that again. ;-)

Either we get lousy dollar values OR we don't get certain choice coupons at all...usually its the "not at all" option that we suffer through.
It really chaps my hide since we also don't have ANY major grocery retailers either, beyond our "smaller, not as good deals" regional ones.....and they don't take internet printed coupons at all, adding insult to the injury.

I guess it's just as well the advertisers/manufacturers don't supply us with the good coupons.....if we did get the good coupons, we wouldn't have anywhere to use them, where we could maximize our savings with them.
Sometimes it sucks to be us and live here.....

Anyway, I am noticing something even more disturbing lately with the coupon inserts here.
Hubs and I bought a total of 5 newspapers on Sunday.
Our "metro" area has 2 major publications(I'll call them #1 and #2), plus the town south of us has one publication as well(we'll refer to it as #3).
We bought paper #1 at the local convenience store/gas station.
I bought paper #2 & #3 at Rite-Aid.
We bought 2 more of paper #2 at the Dollar Store.

Now there were 3 different coupon inserts available this past Sunday.....a Smart Source, a Red Plum and a P& G.

Here is what I found in paper #1......

Just the Smart Source insert.

Here is what came in paper #2....

All 3 inserts.

Here is what came in paper #3.....

Just the P& G insert.

Rite-Aid-where I bought paper #2 & #3 had stacks of paper #1 also.  I checked 3 different papers randomly pulling them from the stack(not just from the top)of the #1s.  All of the #1s I checked ONLY had the Smart Source insert!

The Dollar Store carries paper #2.....the 2 I bought had these inserts....

All 3 that were release.

This seems to be a new development.  These 3 different papers have always carried ALL the available inserts for the week in the past.  This week only 1 of the publications carried the full complement of inserts.
I've heard of certain areas losing the Valassiss(RedPlum)inserts but papers in the same town/area losing different inserts from each other?

Is anybody else seeing loopy stuff like this going on in their area?
Or am I just paranoid OCDing here?!lol

Sluggy loosing her grip

Last Week's Harvest....No More Cucumbers Please!

After nagging for THREE DAYS I did finally get someone to pick some green beans before they grew to GINORMOUS proportions and we picked the 5th head of cauliflower for Kallaum's Thursday dinner plus I found 2 huge cukes hidden in the back garden bed....

This Harvest--
TOTAL....2lb. 8.8oz.

Garden Harvest Weight Total to date....36 lb. 1.02 oz.

I am actually scared to go check the front and side garden beds now.  Last week there were more beans, yellow squash, golden peppers and a bunch of tomatoes close to turning or otherwise being ready to pick.

I also have a request for the Garden gods....no more cukes please!  We are overrun and a person can only eat so many salads or pickles.  ;-)


Sluggy

I Just Don't Get It....The One Where I Rant

Sometimes I think I was born on this planet by mistake.
Or maybe I was just born in the wrong century or country or something!

I just don't get it.....
I just don't get people.

I have a refrigerator that works sometimes and other times it decides it would rather not work properly.
So, since it's only 5 yrs old and replacing it would be quite expensive AND not as good for the environment as repairing it(which might also be cheaper than replacing), I am trying to find a local appliance repair person to attempt to fix it.

Now you would think....maybe this is where I get into trouble, projecting rational thoughts onto other beings of the human race...lol...that if you are in business for yourself, and you make your living and earn your money by being an appliance repair person, that you would do things to get repair jobs so you can earn that money.
"Doing things" would include like returning telephone calls from potential customers.
People who WANT TO give you money for your skills.
ESPECIALLY in this sluggish economy where most everyone is complaining non-stop that business is so slow and they don't have enough work to make a decent living.

You would think.....huh?

I have had ONE whole repair person return my calls.  
And that call went like this.....

Ring ring ring....
Daughter-"Hello?"
THEM-"Yah, you called about your fridge?"
Daughter-"That was my mom, just a minute, I'll put her on the phone."
*Daughter hands me the phone.*
Me-"Hello?"
Silence on the other end.
Me-"Hello?"
More silence on the other end.
Me-"HELLO!?"
More silence on the other end....but I can tell the line is open and 'live' because I hear breathing...
Then 3 seconds later the line goes CLICK and disconnects.

So I hang the phone up and stand and wait for them to call back.....and I wait and wait some more.
And the next day comes & they have yet to call back.
Now you would think....uh oh....there I go again "thinking" lol....that if the connection on their end was bad that they would call back?

You would think....
But no, I end up calling AGAIN and leaving my message again.

I swear, every time I have to find someone in the trade industries(construction or handyman repair, appliance repair, electrician)-the trades were people are self-employed, I run into these kinds of problems.
Problems like not returning calls, not showing up when they say they will, never showing up for appointments at all, and a whole host of little annoyances that you can overlook if they are good at their job and get it done.
I swear, if someone wanted to make a great living in this country and had a skill people would pay them decently for, all they would have to do to make a fortune would be to be halfway polite and actually show up and be ready to work!
Courtesy, integrity & showing up SOBER will make you a rich man!!

I am beginning to think that a lot of people who just don't want to work more than they have to, to support their lifestyles, go and buy a pick-up truck and have a sign put on the door that they are in *fill in the blank* business.  It sounds better than calling yourself an unemployed bum who doesn't WANT to work or can't handle working for someone else.  (I am NOT talking about unemployed people who get laid off due to the recession or something and who want to work but can't find a job.)

Oh....the one exception I have found in the trades are the plumbers.  For some reason the ONLY guys we have ever had work for us that were top notch in skills and in human decency were plumbers.

So I am being forced to buy a new fridge....it's either that or let our food spoil.
Or divorce my Hubs and find a new one that is handy....real quick!lol

All I want to know is this.....

 Where is NORM when I need him???!!!

Have you ever had any luck with hiring self-employed folks to work for you? 
Or have your interactions been unsatisfactory like mine?

Sluggy