Happy New Rite-Aid Year!

So this deal actually got me out of my warm jammies and into clothing to go to Rite-Aid in.lol

2 x Centrum ProNutrients supplements on sale BOGO50%off(reg. $12.29)=$18.43
2 x Colgate Optic White Toothbrush on sale $3.49=$6.98
1 x Oral-B Xaction Power White Toothbrush on sale=$5.99
SubTotal....$31.40

Coupons Used
2 x $5/1 ProNutrients IPQ(on red plum website)=$10.00
2 x $4/1 ProNutrients AdPerks/VV Q=$8.00
2 x $3/1 Colgate Optic White Toothbrush AdPerks/VV Q=$6.00
1 x $1/2 Colgate Toothbrush ManuQ(1/1 insert)=$1.00
1 x $3/1 Oral-B Power White Toothbrush ManQ(1/1 insert)=$3.00
Coupon Total.....$28.00

$31.40-$28.00=$3.40
I used $3 in +Up Rewards expiring this week and put the .40¢ on my free Rite-Aid gift card.

I received $2 +Up Rewards back(wyb 2 ProNutrients).
I also qualified for $6.99 in Single Check Rebates--$2.99 for the Oral-B toothbrush and 2 x $2 for each ProNutrient supplements.

So I'm "down" $1 in +Ups but I'm getting $6.99 in cash back on this transaction......or I "spent" $1.40 in +Ups and gift card credit but Rite-Aid is paying me $6.99 in CASH for this stuff.  Either way you look at it, it works for me!lol


The Colgate toothbrushes and ProNutrients stuff qualify toward the BUY&SAVE $20+Up Resolution Reward.  Spend $100 in qualifying items and get a $20 +Up Reward back.  The amount is tracking on your receipt and this transaction got me to $25.  It actually should have been $25.41 so I'm thinking it's not recording increments less than $1?  Maybe it will roll over and record that .41¢ once I buy another .59¢ worth of qualifying product??

If you want to do this deal you'd better hurry because the ProNutrient SCR is only good on purchases made through 1/3/12, which is today!  It's still a good deal but you don't get $4 back unless you buy the supplements today.

Sluggy

December Food Spending Week 5, Meal Plan January Week 1

*I am taking part in Precious' MONEY SAVING CHALLENGE again for 2012.  You can find her blog FRUGAL MAKES CENTS and a list of other participants and their blogs  HERE.
Check it out.  You might find some new ideas for incorporating frugality into your life there!*


I love searching around for old photos and advertisements featuring kitchens from years gone by.  These are mostly the kitchens from my youth in the 1960's or earlier.  Some I look at surely stand up to being innovative and attractive even by today's standards, some are very "kitchy" lol now and then there are those that fall under the heading of "It SEEMED like a great idea at the time!".
With that I give you the Pepto-Bismol Nightmare Kitchen....

What was FORMICA thinking?lol
I guess the he-men who obviously ran that company in the 1950's were trying to appeal to the women's feminine side?
Egads!!
It's a cute novelty but imagine having to walk into that room every morning at 7 am and fix your family breakfast(not to mention having to spend more time in there throughout the day).  No wonder our mothers drank and took up prescription sedatives.....

Enough of that, onward to the Meals and Food Spending. 8-)


Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Ham, Rolls from scratch, Deviled Eggs, Rutabaga, Green Beans, Cranberry Glop, assorted pies

MONDAY--Leftovers

TUESDAY--Leftovers

WEDNESDAY--Date Night-I have a free dinner for 2 to Applebee's

THURSDAY--Leftovers

FRIDAY--Cheese Steaks

SATURDAY--Crudites and chips with dip, homemade Pizza-using dough Hubs picked up last week for cheap

Instead of 2 meals to prepare, I made 3 meals. The ONLY explanation for making myself do more work than I wanted/had to was yes, I got tired of eating leftovers. lol

We still have a substantial amount of ham leftover to use this coming week.  I used the hunk of bulk bought roast beef deli meat #1 son wanted me to buy before Christmas(and then he didn't eat)to make the cheese steaks the night #2 had a sleepover.  Whatever meat was left after that was frozen.  We still have some barbecue pork and homemade rolls left to use up this week.

The food spending was fairly low last week.

In all, we spent $72.82 last week at the grocery/drug stores.....well not really, we actually only spent about $45 last week.  But this $72.82 amount includes $27.35 I spent the 2nd and 3rd week in December at Rite-Aid.  I forgot to add this amount in earlier this month, so I just tagged it onto my spending at the end of December.
I made 4 trips to various stores.   Reg. retail of $475.08(including the Rite-Aid items)so I saved 84.61% last week(mostly due to the Rite-Aid savings)....without R-A items it would have been about 60%.

My Dec. food spending total was $307.74.  Just over my budgeted amount of $300 for the month.

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Leftovers-Pizzas, BBQ

MONDAY--Ham, Harvard Beets, Mashed Potatoes, another green Veggie

TUESDAY--Fish, Wild Rice, Apple Salad

WEDNESDAY--Mac and Cheese, Broccoli

THURSDAY--Omelets,Fruit Salad, Toast or E. Muffins

FRIDAY--Rigatoni and Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
SATURDAY--Kielbasa on rolls, Onions, Ginger Carrots

Items needed for this menu.....Salad Greens, Eggs, Rigatoni, Fruit, Milk.  There are some fish deals locally so I make do a little stocking up on that item.  No other plans for food shopping this week at the moment.
For January I am going to keep the $300 Food Budget since the daughter will be home for almost all of this month.  February's budget will go down to $250 since it will just be 3 of us again.

So what is everyone else eating this week?  

Sluggy

$32K Savings Challenge.....DECEMBER & 2011 Grand Total RESULTS

Ok, here is my last Savings Challenge Update post for 2011.
This post is NOT about bragging or showing off.  It's just what we are able to save given our income and being able to hang tough against so much spending.

On to the December report.....

I have posted my DECEMBER End of Month $32K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up December in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of December with?.......$4,355.36!

Income
We had $4186.70 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Add in $6.00 in Rebates applied against the food expenses, $.84 in Interest on the Checking Account, $141.82 in dividends, and a refund of $20 on our car insurance rate toward the Savings Challenge & you get a total of $4355.36.

Our monthly target is an average of $2,666.67 to reach our Year End Goal.
This month we blew that goal out of the water, thanks to an extra paycheck.  8-)

Outgo
As for the expenses in December......

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

* The electric bill went up only $71.....that's good seeing as the heat was on!

* The food spending was almost on budget at $307.74
* The water bill was $50.50.  This is low when all the kids are home(extra showers and laundry).
* There were no taxes due this month...yay!!
* I continued to consistently sell in my eBay store in December.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* The credit card bill was $1750+.  Even though $350 of that was fees paid to eBay on sales there we were still over our usual $1000 average on the credit card bill.  No matter the amount of the bill, it is paid off in full each month, ALWAYS.

* $1180 in car maintenance/repair bills.  Seems every time we take a car in for oil change or regular maintenance they find something else. ugh.
* Had $85 in unexpected medical associated bills to pay. (Need I mention #2 son lost his retainer AGAIN after getting the 1st replacement 2 weeks before hand, so we had to pay for ANOTHER replacement. He's repaying us for it with his allowance.)
*  Still a LARGE amount of cash withdrawals by Hubs. I'm not complaining this month because some of it was him buying me Christmas presents. ;-)

The Food Budget costs for December are in another post, which is located HERE.  We kept almost to the food budget amount again in December so I am calling it all good.

YEAR-TO-DATE GRAND TOTAL.....
With 12 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2011 is $34,461.31.
YES!
We blew our $32K Goal out of the water!!!

The extra paycheck in December gave us a hefty amount to tuck away after all the bills were paid AND left lots of room for Christmas indulgence!

So how did your savings go for the year?
Do you have an emergency fund of 6-8 months worth of expenses?
Do you have debt?
If you don't have the former, start living below your means NOW and put some money away for emergencies.
If you have the latter, start living below your means NOW and put a smaller amount away for emergencies and use the rest of your leftover cash each month to pay down your debt.
And once you get debt-free, continue to throw that debt repayment money into savings.
It is NEVER too early or too late to SAVE SOMETHING.
And the amount you save is NEVER too small!
Anything you can spare will go a long way to make you more financially secure in this crazy unstable world we live in.

So come along and Challenge Yourself to Save Money each Month Toward a Realistic for YOU Savings Goal or Debt Goal!

Not everyone can shoot for $32K, I fully get that!
But everyone can shoot for some number, right!?

Find a money goal that works for you and put that number out there for everyone to see.  Put it into paying down your debt, put it into savings, invest it or put it toward the principle in your home mortgage....just get busy and do this!

It will help keep you accountable to your goal if other eyes are on you.
Put it out there online and let us all stalk your money too. ;-)

So how was your Deember financially?
Did you spend less than you made?
Did you stay within your budget or not?

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

What Do You Get.....

...when you mix this.....

And this.....

We will find out in a few hours from now.

Hopefully it doesn't look something like this by midnight......




Gawd, now I do NEED A DRINK!lol
Off to party 2011 out!!!

Sluggy

December Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2011.

I have posted December'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 December.  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(3-5 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 15.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $22.45

Value  $106.19

Savings  78.86%

PRICE CHOPPER

OOP  $9.98

Qs/Ads  $

Value  $23.94

Savings  58.30%

RESTAURANT SUPPLY STORE
OOP  $78.03

Value  $119.77

Savings 34.85%

RITE-AID DRUG STORE
OOP  $27.35(with an additional $17.04 put on my free Rite-Aid gift card)
Qs/Ads/+Ups $341.26
Value  $368.61
Savings  92.59%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $109.26

Qs/Ads  $93.10

Value  $202.36

Savings  46%

TURKEY HILL

OOP  $3.66

Value  $3.66

Savings  0%

WALMART 

OOP  $8.98

Qs/Ads  $0
Value  $10.99

Savings  18.30%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $50.56

Qs/Ads  $53.65

Value  $104.21

Savings  51.50% 

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 DECEMBER
Pinecone...$6.00

Toluna.....$20.00
Subtotal........$26.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Burger King(giveaway I won)......$25.00

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$26.00 cash/$25 food

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero  *pathetic*

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 92.59%, the Bakery Outlet at 78.86% and Price Chopper at 58.30%.
I shopped at 9 different stores in December.


TOTAL Out of Pocket........$313.74

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$632.76

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$946.50
TOTAL Savings of...................................66.85%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$6.00 *I don't use my Toluna $ for food budget.
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$307.74
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$638.76
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$946.50
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................67.49%

This closes out the December spending AND the YEARLY Spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month & the Year.....
I went back into Rite-Aid in December and did some of the better deals there.  While I did spend cash there in December(as I had NO +Up Rewards to start with), I still had a 92% savings rate over regular retail!  And I still have +Up Rewards and FREE Gift Card money going into 2012.

I was able to stay close to my $300 food budget limit.  While I didn't really stock up at all in December on anything, we were able to eat well and do a good sized Christmas dinner.  I had to spend a bit more on the Hunk of Meat to barbecue but we are still eating on that a week later.  1 more meal with the Christmas ham tomorrow and then I'll divide up what is left and freeze it for later.

In Total, we have spent $3,080.59 Out of Pocket on food/HBA in 2011.
That comes out to $256.71 per month for our family of 5.
We brought home items with a reg. retail value of $14,234.09 for the year.
That's a savings of $11,153.50 or 78.36% for all of 2011.

Before you think I've done something remarkable, remember that my food budget does Not include eating out $.  And we do our fair share of eating out around here. ;-)

This closes the books on Food Spending for 2011.  I think we did pretty well sticking to a budget overall without having to live on ramen noodles. lol

How did you do in December with your Food Budget?  Did the Holidays drive you over the edge with food spending?  Or were you able to celebrate within your means?


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