Lions and Tigers and Picassos, Oh My!

As I've said recently, Hubs and I are off to Ohio later this month for some vacation time.
We'll be spending some time in the Columbus area this trip.

While I am no longer a shopaholic/spendaholic, I did use to hit the second hand stores on occasion in my past.
My jaw about hit the floor when I read this article about what one man found in a thrift store recently.
And the thrift store was in Columbus Ohio.


Price paid?
$14.14

Well played Zach Bodish, well played.....

I heard he sold it for $7K.  He's unemployed and used the money to keep afloat.

Now I'm thinking we need to squeeze in some thrift store shopping on this trip!lol

While I haven't found a valuable work of art at the thrift store I did find a "hidden gem" once.
Back in the early 2000's, I found this at a Salvation Army.....

This is not mine but mine is identical to this one.
It's a Steiff tiger puppet.
Though mine has it's metal ear button which dates it from the 1950's.
The one I found was perfect in every way except it was missing the paper tag on it's chest(it still has the threads that held the tag there though).

Tiger was lying in a bin with a pile of dirty old smelly no longer loved stuffed animals.
Somebody knew it was worth more than the .50¢ price all the other critters were marked, so they marked it $7.00.
The lady at the register was aghast that this toy was marked at 7 freaking Dollars!  She apologized and said that that manager was not there so she couldn't ask her to lower the price for me(not that I asked for a reduction).  She had to charge me $7 and was none to happy about it. lol

This was back when this puppet was going for $150 on eBay.
$7 didn't phase me......

Too bad I didn't sell it.
He's packed away with some other dolls from my childhood.
I AM an idiot!!

And if I found a Picasso, I'd probably keep that too. 8-)

What about you?  Have you ever found some unrecognized valuable at a thrift store?

Sluggy

May 2012 Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2012.

I have posted May's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2012 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in May.  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(3-6 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 16.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP   $5.89

Value   $27.74

Savings  78.77%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $151.77

Qs/Ads  $90.87

Value  $242.64

Savings  37.45%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $180.82

Qs/Ads  $134.15

Value  $314.97

Savings  42.60%

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 May

Rite-Aid SCR....$2.00
Subtotal........$2.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Nothing

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$2.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES
Nothing

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 78.77%, Weis at 42.60% and Shursave Grocer at 37.45%.  Ok, so I only shopped at THREE STORES again this MONTH!lol

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$338.48

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$246.87

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$585.35

TOTAL Savings of...................................42.17%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$2.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$336.48
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$228.10
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$585.35
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................42.52%

This closes out the May spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into May with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  I was able to stay well below my budgeted amount, even with more kids home and more mouths to feed.
Of course, by not actively couponing and doing the drugstore deals, my savings percentage didn't come anywhere near to the 70 or 80% I can pull out of my ass when I try hard.

I used very few coupons again in May. My 40%ish savings was mostly just buying what was on sale and/or buying meat with store discount stickers on them.  Ok, I have a few Catalinas I used too.  I spent almost NO TIME working up scenarios or ways to devise more savings on my shopping trips.  This debunks all those naysayers who think you have to spend lots of time fooling with(fooling=clipping, getting, organizing)coupons in order to save substantial money at the grocery store.  Just buying on sale and stocking up at lowest price in the sales cycle can reap you significant savings.  And buying on sale/lowest price only requires you to keep track of the week to week selling price of goods.  Not a big time hog in my book.  ;-)

LOOKING AHEAD TO JUNE.....

I will be keeping my food budget at $400 for June.  I just don't know what is going on yet this month.  This week we have family coming to stay.  2 weeks hence #2 Son leaves for camp and I'm not sure when he is returning.....could be the end of June, could be end of July.  I'm not planning on any stock ups but you never know with me. lol
I don't feel like I'll "need" all $400 but I've got it there just in case....but I don't plan to use it all.

How did you do in May with your Food Budget? 

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

How Did It Get to Be June Already?

Well goodbye May!
I read pretty near everyone in the blogosphere lambasting May for being a really sucky month this year.
Sucky as in sucking all the money out of their pockets!
Lot of unexpected and planned spending was had in May for many folks.
Everyone is glad to see May go.

Me?
I don't rightly remember much of May what with all the stuff going on here, I haven't had much time to notice how monetarily sucky the month was for us.  I do recall many hands being stuck into my face, palms up, waiting for dollars to be deposited onto said hands over the course of May but the exact dates and amounts escape me.

And I was bad too in May since I spent money on some clothes and shoes.  Granted I got everything for great sales prices but it's nothing I needed really.  Who needs purple clogs, right?!
And then I bought a new bathing suit for myself.  Maybe that WAS a need though since all my old suits all have dry rot from all the chlorine over the past 5 years.  So a new one was in order and I did get it on sale.  But even so.....fat ladies swimsuits on sale are STILL outrageously expensive!

I guess when I sit down later today to do my "Savings Challenge" accounting I'll see the bottom line on the spending won't I?
If you hear a sonic boom later today, that will be me reacting to the bare walls in our money vault.
And believe me, the money vault is pretty bare(for us)as we leave May.

This morning, I found a post in my Drafts that I never completed and posted in May.  It was a Quarterly Updated on how the Yearly Goals were going.
Did anyone notice a post on my blog about a Goals update in May?
Nope, didn't happen, did it?

The kids came home mid month in May and it's been a blur since then. ;-)
Let me go and take a peek at my blog so I can recall what went on.....brb.....

Man!  I was a whole lot of BORING in May, wasn't I?
Food shopping, Meal Plans, a Giveaway and a whole LOT of Video/Music Clips.
1 Savings Challenge Report for April and 1 Decluttering Session.

Makes me wonder why anyone even reads this!

Here's a run down of what's ahead for June at Chez Sluggy.

Moving and cleaning stuff.
Surgery for one of our dogs.
Hemming Daughter's work pants for her new job.
#2 Son finishing out the school year and the wailing and gnashed of teeth that goes with that!
Graduation for the Nephew.
Hub's siblings descending on us for the event noted above....oh, now THAT will be fun!
Packing and getting #2 Son ready for camp training.
Taking #2 Son to camp.
Taking a small vacation.
More Decluttering.
Working on my Genealogy.
Working on Scanning Photos.
And dare I mention it....finally maybe doing some sewing.

Yeah, I didn't think anybody would actually BELIEVE that last one.....

So, let's all take a deep breath before we launch into June. 
And let's hope it's a sunnier month for all!

So did your May suck all the cash outta your pockets?
Or did you survive high and dry, sitting on your pile of cash?

Sluggy

Go Feel Some Warm Fuzzies

Ok, I just had to share this after I saw it on my friend Alisa Rickett's Facebook page.

I dare you to go watch this clip and NOT smile!
If you're like me, you'll dissolve into a puddle of teary-eyed goo by the end.....

Sluggy

Why O Why O Why O.....

In a few weeks here,  the Hubs & I will be taking a short jaunt to Ohio.
Since we'll be dropping off #2 Son at camp on the western edge of PA, we'll take the opportunity to spend some time alone with each other out that way.  We figure we'll cross over into Ohio and see what there is to see and do there.
So if anyone knows of any thing to "see and/or do" while in eastern Ohio--meaning from Columbus and on over to the right of there in the state--please leave a comment with some suggestions.
And no, we don't do amusement parks and we aren't going up to Cleveland, but anything else we would love to hear some ideas!  ;-)

Sluggy