The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of June's Food Budget

Even with the Catalina stock-ups(hello 12 cartons of ice cream!)at Weis and buying the ginormous jar of local honey AND the specialty salts at the local Health Food store this month I could have stayed on or just under budget for June.

And then the Graduation Party for 12 family members happened.

* And even with the buying some stuff a month ahead for it, the store bought cake(who was I to say no to this request and make a homemade cake?) and the bags of ice for the coolers/drinks just pushed the spending over $200 by the 10th of the month.  UGLY

Ugh. 
But your kid doesn't graduate from high school more than once so I am not beating myself up over spending money for this party.  I still think I did it fairly on the frugal side.

* And at least I didn't put the expenses on a credit card.  ;-)  GOOD

I am standing at food spending of $265.61 at this moment.
I have $48.96 in cash rebates received so far this month to add to my $250 food budget, for a total of $298.96 in the food kitty(so far).
* This means I have $33.35 left before I go over my allotted June budget for food.  UGLY


* All that Graduation party food meant massive leftovers to eat all of last week, so no food shopping happened....until the 18th.  GOOD

* I had a Weis Catalina Q expiring on the 18th, so I rolled it into a newer one.....

Assorted paper products(Kimberly-Clark brand I believe)were Buy $21/Get $7 Catalina.
I bought the 2 MEGA roll packs of toilet paper above, using 2 x $1/1 Scott ManuQs and my expiring $7 CatQ, for a grand total of $4.98 OOP for both.
And I received another $7 CatalinaQ.
$2.49 each for bigass packages of TP & $7 more in Cats?  Yes please!!  GOOD


* While I was in the store rolling that CatQ, I spent another $27.21 on blocks of cheese($1.67 each)and chicken(40% off Tyson convenience chicken for when #2 son returns from camp), plus big bags of tortilla chips(BOGO) for Hubs tv-time snacking pleasure.  My Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese stores were almost depleted and at my stock-up price so I had to get them now. UGLY

* Buying the chips and the chicken in that transaction?  BAD

I haven't had a chance to check the grocery ads for this week, but I already know that unless we need it immediately or it's an amazing price, I won't be buying it......and next week is looking that way as well.
* I have $33.35 to get us through the next 2 weeks.  UGLY

* Looking on the bright side, it's down to just Hubs and I to feed for the next 2 weeks so no teens pestering me to spend on junk. GOOD
 
* I'm going to dig into the freezer and come up with meals using up what we have to put a tourniquet onto the food budget hemorrhage happening this month at Chez Sluggy. GOOD

So how is your food spending/shopping going for June?
Are you projected to stay on/under budget?
Or are you a wanton spendthrift like me this month? ;-)

Sluggy

Getting to the Rite-Aid This Week

As soon as we got home on Monday I rolled up to Rite-Aid to get the freebies with BIL's card......

4 x Colgate Toothpaste on sale $2.99=$11.96
2 x St. Joseph Aspirin on sale $1.50=$3.00
SubTotal.....$14.96

Coupons Used
3 x $1/1 any Colgate Toothpaste ManuQ(5/5SS insert?)=$3.00
Coupon Total....$3.00

$14.96-$3.00=$11.96 OOP
I used $11.60 in +Up Rewards to pay and put the other $.36 on my Rite-Aid gift card so ZERO money spent.
I received back $14.96 in +Up Rewards so I am 'up' $3.36 in +Ups for this transaction.

Even if you don't have any Colgate ManuQs, the toothpaste is free after +Ups, as is the Aspirin.  Remember that there is a limit of 4 on the toothpaste and 2 on the aspirin +Ups Deals per wellness card.
And if your stores are out of stock, get that Raincheck!!  Make sure they note the +Ups deal on the raincheck, so you can get FREE toothpaste and aspirin after the sale ends on Saturday!

And I noticed today that I hit the $1000 spending mark at Rite-Aid using my wellness card in the middle of May, so I've qualified for the 20% whole store discount already for all of 2012.
Ok, so I haven't actually 'spent' any money at Rite-Aid since last August......which makes this even sweeter, right? ;-)
BIL's card/account is almost at the $500 spending mark for 2011 so he's at the 10% discount for 2012 now and I'm fairly sure he'll get to $1K mark/20% discount by the end of this year too.

How are you doing on getting to the Discount levels for next year?
Do you think you'll get to Silver or Gold by the end of December?


THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.36 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$20.94
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$14.96
+Up Rewards spent.....$11.60
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$62.73  And I have $42.33 left on my gift card.


Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--JUNE Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......7
Total Spent....$2.34 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$259.34
SCR qualified for....$0.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for June SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 6/16.....$59.37
+Up Rewards spent....$75.56
+Up Rewards earned....$87.29
+Up Rewards left....$62.73  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy

My Pretty Filler Post

I neglected to post photos of my little tree when it bloomed earlier this Spring!
This was my Mother's Day present from Hubs a few years ago.

Here are some pretty piccies from a couple of months ago.......

Being from the South, I have a deep affinity for the Southern Magnolia tree or Magnolia Grandiflora.  My oldest brother had a massive tree that engulfed his front yard.  It has scads of massive mature blooms and made the air around his house so fragrant.  I can close my eyes and smell it now....

 Of course the reason he loved that tree was because it was so huge that it had a large canopy of leaves.  You could sit out there even during a light rainstorm and not get wet since the water never got through the layers of those large shiny leaves.  It was like a living umbrella.

The greenery also shaded most of his front yard so no grass would grow.  He detested mowing grass and yard/lawn maintenance in general. lol

 My magnolia tree is not a Southern traditional variety since they are not hardy enough to withstand the winters up in these parts.  It is one of the hybrids that have been developed that will thrive in Yankeeland, called a Magnolia "Elizabeth".  It is also referred to as a "Tulip Tree" or a Lemon Magnolia, as the blossoms are cup-shaped, like a tulip blossom, before they open fully and the blooms smell like lemons....and they are yellow too.

The blooms also come BEFORE the tree leafs out.  So it's unusual looking when it's bloomed fully with very few green leaves on the bare branches.  The full greenery comes only after the blossoms die off.

It's grown about 4 feet taller since we planted it and it looks like it is thriving finally.
I am going to hate to leave it behind when we move.....

I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow to get my posting up to speed again.  We were away for a couple of days so I have some catching up to do on Real Life and Cyber stuff as well.

Sluggy

My One and Only Trip to Rite-Aid This Week

I had no +Up Rewards expiring this week for a change.
But I did want to pick up some Axe Deodorant for #2 son so here is what I bought....

4 x Axe Deodorant on sale $4.44 but 20% wellness discount was less at $3.83=$15.32
2 x Fritos on sale $2=$4.00
1 x Sunmaid Raisins on sale $2=$2.00
1 x Bayer Advanced Aspirin on sale $3.99 but 20% wellness discount was less=$3.43
2 x Milky War king sized bars on sale .98¢=$1.96
SubTotal....$26.71

Coupons Used
1 x $1 any purchase AdPerk/VV IPQ=$1.00
2 x BOGO Axe products ManuQ=$8.88  **Cashier took off for the sale price, not the wellness discount price
1 x $1.50/1 Bayer Advanced Aspirin IPQ(forgot to take the $2/1 ManuQ...doh!)=$1.50
1 x $.50/2 any Mars candy bars IPQ=$.50
2 x $.25/1 any Milky Way candy bar AdPerks/VV IPQ=$.50
Coupon Total.....$12.38

$26.71-$12.38=$14.33 OOP

I used $14 in +Up Rewards to pay and put the .33¢ on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $7.99 back in +Up Rewards(2 x $3 WYB 2 Axe, $1.99 Bayer Advanced) so basically the Axe, Bayer and candy bars were free and I "paid" for the Fritos and raisins with some +Ups.

Since between the discount price, Q and +Ups received back made my Bayer more than free I probably won't submit for the MIR that was in last Sunday's coupon inserts(along with the $2 Q I didn't bring to use).  The form states that the Manufacturer will take off the $2 value of the Q from your rebate submission price, so I'd only get $1.43 back, which after paying for the stamp nets me less than a buck.  I'll keep that Q and MIR form to use another time.

So what did everyone else buy at Rite-Aid this week?
I have $30 in +Ups expiring the end of this coming week so I'll be going back soon to spend those.
The Colgate and St. Joseph's aspirin are basically free this week after Q and/or +Ups so I'll probably get them(and donate the toothpaste to the food bank).


THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.33 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$39.20
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$7.99
+Up Rewards spent.....$14.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$59.37  And I have $42.69 left on my gift card.


Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--JUNE Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......6
Total Spent....$1.98 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$238.40
SCR qualified for....$0.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for June SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 6/8.....$65.38
+Up Rewards spent....$63.96
+Up Rewards earned....$72.33
+Up Rewards left....$59.37  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy

Decluttering P*rn....The June Edition

Who's up for some P*rn this morning?

The Decluttering kind of course!

Various Beanie type dolls
1 Pee Wee's Playhouse VHS tape
2 Books on Healing Foods
7 Bath Poofs
a buttload of Stickers
1 Refrigerator Magnet
1 Fisher-Price toy(vintage)
2 Silver plated Swan Candle and Flower Holders

Here's a close-up of those.  I picked them up at Sallie's years ago and thought when we entertained I could make use of them.....

Well we never entertain so out they go!

1 willow basket
1 bamboo box
3 women's jackets/coats
1 set of men's thermals

A pile of toys......

93 assorted Kid's Meal toys still in the packages.  It may not look like much in the photo but they fill a Hammermill  paper box.
Now I know you are sitting there thinking, "Gee, she is the meanest mommy in the world, not letting her kids open/play with their Happy Meal toys."
Or
"Gee, she let her kids eat waaaay too much fast food!"

Considering this is a pile of Kid Meal toys from 3 kids and it spans all the fast food they ate over a 15 year period, they really didn't eat chicken-like nugget food that often.
Ok, it's not ALL the kid meal toys they got growing up since they did open and play with more of these things than I would care to recall....especially after stepping on way too many of them as I ran the obstacle course of toys left on the floors of their rooms over the years.

And yes, I did withhold the toys as a rule when they ordered a Happy type Meal.  Since I didn't want them having me buy food they didn't really want to eat, just to get a toy, this policy kept them from asking for food when they weren't really hungry.  We weren't throwing out/wasting food or money.
(Let's not talk about all the kids' meals "I" bought to get teenie beanie babies or pokemon toys.....lol)

I'd keep the toys and we'd dole them out at a later date.....say, when they were bored, on long car trips, as prizes for birthday party games, or when they did something to deserve a 'reward'.  So over the years, a large number of these toys didn't get claimed.

Anyway, moving on.....

2 women's bathing suits
1 sweatshirt(new)
1 pair Joe Boxer shorts
7 skateboarding themed t-shirts

And finally.....

6 pieces of Cape Cod Cranberry Glass
Before these hit Salvation Army I'm going to try to sell them locally.
Either way, they will be gone by the end of this month.


So that's my 1st June decluttering booty.
Are you getting rid of junk this month too?
Tell us about your efforts to pare down and declutter!

Sluggy