July Budget Results.....Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2011.

I have posted July's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2011 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in July.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(3 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 15.
******************

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP  $31.91

Qs/Ads  $36.31
Value  $68.22
Savings  53.23%

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $22.45
Value  $105.14
Savings  78.65%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $21.51
Qs/Ads  $12/43
Value  $33.94
Savings  36.62%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $10.67
Qs/Ads  $140.75
Value  $151.42
Savings  93%

RITE AID
OOP  $7.83 (whole amount put on free Rite-Aid Gift Cards)=$.00 actual OOP
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $399.04
Value  $406.87
Savings  98.08% before gift cards/ 100% savings after free gift cards

WALMART
OOP  $7.21
Qs/Ads $0.00
Value  $7.21
Savings  00%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $105.16
Qs/Ads  $117.80
Value  $222.96
Savings  52.83% 

I don't track Rite-Aid's +Ups here, nor 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 RECEIVED IN JULY
Pinecone Research....$9.00
Rite-Aid SCR...$6.99
Snapple....$8.98
Subtotal........$24.97

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
$0.00

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$24.97


COUPONS and FREEBIES

Glidden......Free Qt. of Paint
Kotex....$2/1 Q
Pantene.....Free ITEM Q

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Rite-Aid at 100%,  Price Chopper at 93% and the Bakery Outlet as 78.65%.  I shopped at 7 different stores in July.


TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$200.24
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$795.52
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$995.76
TOTAL Savings of...................................79.89%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$24.97
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$175.27
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$795.52
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$995.76
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................82.40%

Since my Rite-Aid shopping(which contains No OOP)always skews my savings percentages, I like to figure my Totals without the Rite-Aid numbers also.
TOTAL OOP after Rebates.....$175.27
TOTAL Value of Items Purchases(w/out Rite-Aid items)....$588.89
TOTAL Savings After Rebates(w/out Rite-Aid items).....70.24%
My food savings percentage seems to run about 50%-60% for the strictly food items only.
Those Rite-Aid purchases always boost up my savings total about 20% points.  This month Rite-Aid purchases only boosted my Savings Percentage 12.16%.



This closes out the July spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
I kept my food spending well under my $250 budgeted amount.  I have been buying more produce in July but not from the farmstand yet.  And we've been eating down some proteins in the freezer.
The only stocking up I seemed to do in July was on soda, soap and chips type snacks foods.


What's ahead for August.....
Well be up to 4 at home and then 5+ at home at the end of this month as the kids(and their friends)come back and then leave again for college.  It's a crazy month here.....busy with Band Camp, Summer Jobs, getting ready for school/college plus trying to can/freeze fresh produce for the winter.  I am going to try to keep up the cooking at home/no eating out schedule we've been following in July.  There may be a few meals out however in celebration of everyone home.  Our eating out does not come out of the food budget so I'll have a full shift of meals to pay for with the food kitty.
Hopefully I can stay around the $200 mark for August(before any rebates)and then use that $75 I didn't use last month and about $50 of the $250 budget for Aug.(giving me $125 combined)and put that toward my fresh farmstand purchases to preserve for winter.

How did you do in July with your Food Budget?
What are your challenges for August?  Any family coming to stay....or are you trying to figure out a food budget for a vacation? 
Please leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear about your progress!  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

Rite-Aid JULY Single Check Rebate Period GRAND TOTALS

I did a small transaction on Tuesday before the July SCR Period ended....

2 x Reach Toothbrushes on sale $2.99=$5.98
1 x Sampler Russell Stover chocies w/20% Wellness discount=$1.27
SubTotal....$7.25

Coupons Used
1 x $2/2 Reach Toothbrushes IPQ=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Reach Toothbrush AdPerks/VV Q=$2.00
Coupon Total....$4.00

$7.25-$4.00=$3.25
I used $3 in +Up Rewards and put the .25¢ on my Rite-Aid gift card.

I received $3 in +Up Rewards back($1 Russell Stover, 2 x $1 Reach).

  THIS TRIP
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.25 put on free gift card
Value of Items....$11.57
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$3.00
+Up Rewards spent.....$3.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$22.50
And I have $38.24 left on my gift card.

And here's the wrap up for this SCR Period....

Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--JULY Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......13
Total Spent....$3.50 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Number of Items purchased.....80
Value of Items purchased....$376.15
SCR qualified for....$22.38
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for July SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 7/23.....$22.50
+Up Rewards spent....$101.69
+Up Rewards earned....$66.88
+Up Rewards left....$22.50  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period






Analysis**  I brought 80 items home with a retail value of $376.15, used $3.50 off of my free gift card.  I will additionally receive $22.38 in cash rebates. 


In exchange for $3.50 on my gift card, Rite-Aid paid me $22.38 to bring home $376.15 worth of products.
How can you NOT love Rite-Aid! 8-))



Sluggy

$25 Gift Card Giveaway Results....

And the Winner of the $25 Walmart Gift Card is............

McVal!


McVal said...
Woohoo baby!!! Sign me up! With the wedding getting moved up and up, I need SOMETHING to buy the kids their school supplies with!
July 27, 2011 11:52 AM


Congratulations McVal!

Please email me directly(go to my "See Complete Profile" page to find it)with your Name, Mailing Address and Phone Number(yeah, it's MyBlogSparkso they want that too. lol)and I'll get the info. to the Powers That Be so they can mail you out your winnings.

A big thank you for everyone who entered.  Hopefully I'll see y'all commenting again and reading my humble little blog. 8-)

Sluggy

Company, Meals, Shopping, Gardening & Other Foolishness This Week

My week hasn't gone as I had planned.
First off, the Nephew has been staying with us since Tuesday.
He's not a big imposition but I've had to be more structured with him here.
I just chased him off the tv for the 2nd time this week.  He has a penchant for those MTV and VH1 shows I can't stand.....you know, the Jersey Shore, Mob Wives, Celebrity Rehab, Sweet 16, Cribs, etc.  All those unreality shows where he can sit and be a voyeur into other people's lives...other people who aren't living "real lives", and dream that he'll be just like them when he grows up.
Yeeesh.....

He's 17 and still doesn't have a learner's permit and blames it on other people in his life.
So the first day I drove him to the DMV to get a permit book so he can study and go take his permit test.
He put the book down about an hour after he got it and hasn't studied it since.
Somehow I think those 'other people' in his life aren't the ones keeping him from getting his license.....

I hit the Bread Outlet....9 packages of bread and rolls and 2 boxes of chocolate doughnuts and $10.67 poorer later we stopped for gas at Sheetz before heading home.  I tried to use my .70¢ a gallon points discount from Weis Markets but it didn't take.  The gas station cashier said I had to take my receipt up to Weis and get my refund there.
Bleh.  Another thing that doesn't work right.  Doesn't life just seem to be filled with stuff/procedures/routines that just don't work right?

Having the Nephew here necessitated me hitting Weis Markets again this week for some provisions so we combined the gas points refund trip with our shopping excursion to the grocery store.
The gas points malfunction seems to be a known issue and they have a 4 page instruction sheet at the CS desk to get you a cash refund without alot of fuss and muss.  I had my $10.83 cash refund in my hot little hand in no time flat.

As for the groceries....I had planned to get a Watermelon(on sale for $3.99), 2 blocks of Cabot Cheese($1.50 after Qs),2 packages of cream cheese($1.25 on sale) and a bag of onions for $2 this week.  They had nice red peppers for $1 each so I picked up 2(since I had to rethink my tentative meal plan this week with an additional mouth to feed) and I got a quart of whole milk for the quiche I was planning on making and added in a couple of bags of salad(BOGO sale) so I could offer some salads for lunches this week.  I needed something to make a quick late lunch that day, so I found some discounted fresh ground beef for just under $2 lb. to make some burgers on the grill for the 3 of us at home for lunch.

Here are a couple of deals I found as well.....

Turkey Kielbasa for $1 a package(near sell by date).  I bought 3 to put into the freezer.

I also had 2 $2/1 Hatfield IPQs to use by 7/30.  Last Saturday they had Hatfield bacon marked down to $2.99 and Ham Steaks for $2.50 but I didn't have those Qs with me, rats!
The marked down bacon packs were long gone, so I got 1 package of Scrapple for $2.99 so $.99 after Q.
Then I got this....

Over by the Ham Steaks they still had the 2 for $5 sign up, though it expired on Saturday.
So I threw a ham steak in my cart.
I went through the check-out and paid my $33.41 total, including the ham steak which rang up full price at $3.99.
I then headed to the CS desk since my ham steak didn't ring up the sale price hanging off the shelf tag.
Weis has a policy that if your item rings up incorrectly(not the sale price)you get your money back and get to keep the item for free.  They also give you back your money if an old sale hangtag is still on the shelf....I thought they just gave you the difference back between the current regular price and the old sale price sign but getting it for free is better, right?lol
So basically they gave me the ham steak for free AND they gave me an additional $2 off the rest of my order, for the Q I used on it's purchase.  Somehow that seems so wrong but they didn't deduct the Q since they will get that $2 back from the manufacturer when they turn it in.

So I spent $29.41 at Weis which turned out to be a 54% savings rate off of regular retail. 8-)

We started out the Meal Plan for the week....
SUNDAY--Ravioli, Garden Salad
MONDAY--leftover Pork Loin slices, Fried Yellow Squash, Mashed Potatoes
*Then things got rejiggered with the additional of the Nephew at meals.*
TUESAY--Rueben Sandwiches
WEDNESDAY--Chicken Fajitas
THURSDAY--Chicken Cheese Broccoli Rice Casserole
FRIDAY--Boston Baked Beans, Cornbread, Pickles
SATURDAY--Leftovers

So my quiche didn't happen this week.
Late Monday night, I cooked 2 small corned beef briskets in the crockpot and put in the fridge to cool Tuesday morning.  Then before dinner I took them out and sliced/shaved them on my mandolin slicer into deli slices for the sandwiches.  I also had the swiss cheese already and the 1000 island dressing.  I bought a loaf of rye bread for .89¢ at the Breat Outlet.
Wednesday I thawed 2 chicken breasts, used some old red bell pepper strips from the freezer, threw in 2 small leftover yellow squash I hadn't used on Monday, along with some of the onions and 1 of the red peppers I just bought Tuesday.  I also added 2 banana peppers from the garden to the mixture.  I used an opened bag of shredded cheddar and opened a package of multgrain organic tortillas I bought for .49¢ at the beginning of the month at Price Chopper.

I'll put some yellow eye beans on to soak in a bit for Friday's dinner.  That night's dinner is totally from the stockpile/pantry.

I did some more picking from the garden the last few days....

The 1st photo was from Sat. and the 2nd photo was from Wednesday.
Hubs picked 2 more cukes Wednesday evening.  Because of this mountain of cukes, I have a gallon jar filled with this.....

Bread and Butter Pickles anyone? lol

Due to the 2 weeks of early humid and hot weather here, I also have this....

The First Turning Tomato of the Season!!
BLTs and 'Mater Sammiches are in my near future......

And I found the garden planting diagram last weekend shoved in behind my recipe sheets on the bookshelf.  Indeed yes, Hubs planted melons...I am guessing that means WATERmelons in the bed on the side of the house.  I have found cucumbers places that are NOT indicated on the planting diagram, so I am taking said diagram's voracity with a grain of the proverbial salt.
Wouldn't you? ;-)

Yesterday after I got out of the pool and did a bit of weeding on the back garden bed I saw this....

And then this, tucked waaaaaaaaaaay back by the deck railing....

2 more melons....in the back garden bed.....where there is NO indication of said melons being planted back in that bed.
?!?!?

I think Hubs is trying to gaslight me......
Well maybe not, at least until the kids are grown and outta the house.lol

Ok, I am off to debone some chicken, throw some rice into the crockpot and maybe take a quick nap.
I have already washed dishes, gone to Rite-Aid and used up my expiring +Ups, picked up #2 son's friend so they could hang out here for the day, run the Nephew off of MTV/VH1/LALA land, gotten Chinese food for everyone for lunch(and not a thank you from any of them...grrrr)and posted this.  I'm beat!

What frugal stuff is happening(or Not!)in your world lately?


Sluggy

Exchanging Blog Links

I did a little blog housekeeping earlier this week on the Blog Roll. 
I like to go through it a couple times a year and delete blogs that have been abandoned or haven't had any new material posted on them in 6 months.  I also try to post new blogs I've discovered and think my readers might also like to check out.

If you have a blog and I don't have you on my Blog Roll, please leave a comment here or send me an email(my email is listed under my blogger profile info)with your blog URL and I'll go check you out.
Perhaps, if you are willing we could exchange blog links and I could be on your Blog Roll as well.

Also, if you have any suggestions for Other Blogs, that aren't your own, for inclusion on my Blog Rolls, shoot me a comment or an email and I'll check them out too.

Thanks!

Sluggy