Ushering November In with Decluttering P*rn!

Now that everyone is full of candy, bring on the decluttering p*rn!
This all left the building yesterday.......

 6 sets of Star Trek micro machines vehicles.....try not to weep SonyaAnn!

1 spare Keyboard
1 Precious Moments Jennifer figurine
1 Grateful Dead magnetic clock

1 Halloween wig
8 assorted ceramic Halloween figurines (courtesy of the auction I went to in Oct.)
1 glass Punch Bowl with ladle and Cups (courtesy of the auction I went to in Oct.)
Sometimes at that auction, if no one bids(like on the stuff above), they add it to something else that folks DO want to bid on.  I "won" this stuff when I won something else I really DID want, so off to Salvation Army it goes! ;-)

1 Star Trek Barbie and Ken Doll Set
1 Power Rangers Fanny pack
1 complete Inspector Gadget toy
1 Rolling Stones magnetic Clock
2 Power Rangers movie figures
3 rolls of Manatee Wallpaper Board
1 Energizer Bunny doll
1 miniature Racing car replica
1 cassette tape of Toy Story music
1 set Power Rangers fake fingernails LOL
1 F-P  truck
1 silk scarf from Aruba

2 Star Trek Bird of Prey Vehicles
2 THE TICK Action Figures
1 set of Pokemon color your own Tattoos

Dr. Bobblehead from The Nightmare B4 Xmas
2 Star Wars 12" Action Figures
1 Yoda Star Wars Complete Galaxy Figure Set


Sluggy

October Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2011.

I have posted October'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 October.  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.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $12.78
Value  $43.40
Savings  70.55%

BIG LOTS
OOP  $50.33
Qs/Ads  $40.00
Value  $90.33
Savings 44.29%

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP  $257.26

Qs/Ads  $159.96
Value  $417.22
Savings  38.34%

FOOD LION
OOP  $36.87
Qs/Ads  $11.57
Value  $48.44
Savings  23.89%

GIANT PA  

OOP  $17.78

Qs/Ads  $24.74

Value  $42.52

Savings  58.19%

REDNER'S
OOP  $63.79
Qs/Ads  $74.56
Value  $138.35
Savings 53.90%

SAVE-A-LOT
OOP  $14.21
Qs/Ads  $6.40
Value  $20.61
Savings  31.06%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $152.04
Qs/Ads  $317.94
Value  $469.98
Savings  67.65% 

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 SEPTEMBER
Pinecone...$3.00
Subtotal........$3.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
$0.00
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$3.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

2 MyBlogSpark Giveaways

1 Shampoo & Conditioner to Test

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 70.55%, Weis at 67.65 and GiantPa at 58.19%.
I shopped at 8 different stores in October.


TOTAL Out of Pocket....sit down for this one!.....$605.06
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$665.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1270.85
TOTAL Savings of...................................52.40%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$3.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$602.06
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$668.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1270.85
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................52.62%

This closes out the October spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-I did indeed go WAAAAAY over my $250 food budget, as planned.  But there was a method to my madness here.  The local independent grocer has a 5 week program where if you hit a certain amount of purchases during that time, you get a gift certificate at the end of November.(They also threw in another Buy $30 of baking items, Get a $10 Catalina Q deal so these items qualify you for both certs.) So I've been buying items there to get me to the total I need for those 2 certs.  It's stuff I'd be buying anyway maybe in the next couple of months, so I'm just buying them a bit earlier to get the bonus cert.  I have been waiting until items go on sale, so at least I am not paying full retail for them, but I am not, for the most part, able to use coupons on the items there.

It's weird after 9 months(and the year before this one as well)to have spent so much money on groceries in 30 days time.  I look back about 4 years ago, to when I use to go the the grocery store with a "sort of list" and no meal plan whatsoever.  I would regularly spend $150-$200 a week and barely have anything left at the end of the week.  If I had to replenish staples(eggs, flour, butter, etc.), I'd spend even more.

What's ahead for November.....
I've still got some more spending to do to get to my gift cert. at the local independent grocer.  As for Turkey Day provisions, I'll need a bird and a few other things but not much to make that meal.
I'm going to try to use down the frozen foods I have here in November.  The freezer can use a clean out and a defrosting before winter sets in.  I'm going to shoot for $300 in food spending in November.

With 2 months left in the year, we have spent a total of $2,509.75 of our income on food/HBA in 2011.
That comes out to $251.27 per month.
We brought home items with a reg. retail value of $12,469.57.
That's a savings of $9,959.82 or 79.85%.

How did you do in October with your Food Budget?
What are your challenges for November?  Any family coming to stay....Holiday Celebrations?.....or is your school/work schedule too busy to shop/cook/eat as a family?

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 October SCR Period Totals

The October Single Check Rebate Period ran from Sept. 28-Oct. 25.
I did exactly 1 Rite-Aid shopping trip during this time.
Obviously, this update will be short. lol



Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--OCTOBER Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......1
Total Spent....$.26 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Number of Items purchased.....1
Value of Items purchased....$21.49
SCR qualified for....$0.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for September SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 9/6.....$0.00
+Up Rewards spent....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards left....$0.00  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Still not feeling like going back to Rite-Aid anytime soon.
Unless I find some more FREE ITEM Qs I need to use there.lol
I still have tons of HBA items left and haven't needed anything from Rite-Aid.
It's going to take something really great to get me back in there or running out of something.

On a bright note, I AM enjoying the break from Rite-Aid-ing!  It's nice to not have the stress of expiring +Ups to worry about. ;-)

Sluggy

Every Day I'm Shufflin'........Shufflin' Crap Around the House!

When you watch this think of me.....shufflin' crap around my house, cleaning and clearing it out and off to charity!

Cranking up the volume and shufflin' off to the living room to sort through more crap now....

Sluggy

BOO!.....Did I Scare Ya?.......Happy Halloween!

Looking back at Halloween when I was a kid.....I can only remember 1 costume I wore.
It was a black dress shmatah...it was homemade. The best part of it was the awesome Witch's hat my mom made for me. It had a paper bag base covered with black crepe paper with a brim....the classic Wicked Witch of the West model....

What made it even better was she took strips of black crepe paper and curled it and attached them to the underside of the brim, making black flowing "hair".  She also made a tassel of strips of the twisted paper and had it coming out of the point of the hat.
As I ran from house to house, my costume flapped in the breeze.
Best.
Witch Hat.
Ever.

And it cost almost nothing since the paper bags were free from the grocery store and the pack of crepe paper was cheap, and the dress thing was a dyed sheet she cut up.
We weren't wealthy people so no cheap plastic costumes from Woolworth's or Rose's for us.

Yah, I thought I was Miss Thing that night! ;-)
Until near the end of the evening, some older kid grabbed my hat as I ran past him, snatched it off my head and broke it.
If I had known that kicking a boy in the nuts would make him suffer back then, I so would have done that to this kid.....

Another  good memory of Halloween I have is also of my mom.  When I was about 5, she taught me a song that she was taught to sing at Halloween back in the 1930's.
I just did a little research on this song and it was a poem first, attributed to Abbie Farwell Brown, a prolific writer from Boston, 1859-1927.
I can't seem to find the tune so I don't know if the one my mom taught me is the official one created for the poem by W. Otto Miessner.

I can't remember my kids' names sometimes, but I still remember that song.lol

I'll leave you with a song from one of the Best Movies.
Ever.

What are your best memories of Halloween from when you were a kid?

Sluggy