This Week on the Dining Table

The "When Is Asparagus Too Much Asparagus?!" Edition.......

 

We went to the restaurant supply store on Saturday.  They had asparagus for $1.49 lb. so I loaded up with 4 lbs.  Don't worry NONE of this will go to waste in my house as I am an asparagus addict!

 

The Sunday paper had an ad that the asparagus there was now .99¢ lb.

Figures, right? lolz

 

 

And here is what was planned last week---

 

Sunday--Leftovers(I had a big plate of Asparagus.)
Monday--Chicken Risotto, Asparagus
Tuesday--Birthday Dinner Out
Wednesday--Roast Turkey, Carrots, Potatoes of some sort
Thursday--Dinner Out(last of gift card & coupon)
Friday--Beef Roast and some sort of fresh veggie I buy this week
Saturday--Leftovers

 

And here is what actually happened---

 

Sunday--Leftovers(I had a big plate of Asparagus.)
Monday--Chicken Risotto, Asparagus
Tuesday--Leftovers(I had Rigatoni and Asparagus.)
Wednesday--Roast Turkey, Asparagus, Au Gratin Taters
Thursday--Leftovers of Fend for Yourself(I had a homemade burger and a large salad.)
Friday--#2 Son for free b-day burger Out(I had a chicken sammie.)
Saturday--Official B-day dinner Out(Thai food, mine had chicken in it.)

I finally made the Risotto....boy my arm is sore from all that stirring.lol

Only made 2 meals last week.  We never got to Bob Evans to use that last dinner Q but we still managed to eat out 2 nights.

 

I spent a total of $42.59 on groceries last week, including the .01¢ I spent at Rite-Aid.  

 

I spent $4.09 on head of lettuce($1.49) and a bottle of dressing($2.59) at the local independent grocer-I found a bottle of that same dressing in the stockpile later. ugh

 

I spent $38.49 at Weis(PMITA)Markets on.....a 4+lb. turkey breast, 2 lbs. asparagus, 1/2 gal. milk, 2 jars of Duke mayo(rock bottom price $2.50), cauliflower($2.50), 2 pints grape tomatoes, 2 bags of salad(50% off), 1 pkg. ham lunchmeat(.89¢ after $3 instant discount sticker), 3 lb. ground beef(marked down to $2.99lb.), 1lb. organic stew beef($2.35 after $3 instant discount sticker).

 

Food spending for February totaled $398.42 when all was tallied up last month.
  

We had food waste last week....a handful of grape tomatoes I didn't eat in time.

 

Going into the new week here are the leftovers we have.....everything is gone except for some slices off that turkey breast, which will keep in lunch sandwiches for a few days, and a pint of grape tomatoes, the organic stew beef(in the freezer)and the cauliflower(and the mayo is in the stockpile).

 

 

Here is this week's meal plan----

Sunday--Beef Roast, Yellow Squash Casserole
Monday--Broiled Teriyaki Salmon(freezer), Asparagus, Roasted Potatoes with Onions
Tuesday--Slices off Leftover Roast, Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots
Wednesday--Lasagna(from freezer), Brussel Sprouts
Thursday--Either Roast Beef Hash or French Dip Sammies from leftover Roast, and leftover Veg
Friday--Breakfast for dinner
Saturday--Chicken & Pot Pie Noodles

That makes 4 new meals and 3 leftover, from the freezer or planned over meals.

What I need to purchase for this menu?.......squash, asparagus, beef roast, eggs, rolls, carrots, onions(I am out of the 50lb. bag I got in September at the farm stand).   Most of this I picked up on Saturday(first day of new grocery spending month), so only thing left to buy is rolls.  I might attempt baking my own rolls and not go to the grocery store this week. at. all.

Nothing much in the sales ads I want or need but I do like going on Wednesday to check out the marked downs in produce and meats so I am torn.  What would you do?

 

 What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

 

Sluggy

So Excited!

I got up this morning and was perusing the local Sunday paper when my eye spotted something on the Classifieds/Real Estate section.

You see, I have always had this dream of taking an old building and turning it into a home.
At first, this dream revolved around taking an old barn and restoring it/converting it into a house.

And then, since we live in an area without many old barns, the dream changed into taking an industrial space(old factory, school building, etc.)and turning that into a home.

But old industrial spaces are mostly much too large to do this with and necessitate turning into multiple units of housing, like condos or apartments.  Since I don't have the resources(either financial or construction skills)that idea quickly faded from becoming a reality.
Since the last 10 years or so around here, as the population  has decreased, the Catholic church in this area has been closing and consolidating parishes and church buildings and then putting said real estate up on the market for sale.
So the dream changed to buying an old church property and making it into a home.

This morning the stars may have aligned on this dream.

Hubs and I are within 4 years of his retiring and 4 months within having to remain living in this school district anymore.
We preferably wish to retire to someplace warmer but the place I found may work anyway.

I found a property for sale.
This one.....

It isn't brick but it's smaller and in fairly good shape.
It's in a small community, on the main road and not one of the large cities around here.
But it's accessible to the larger cities.
And even better, this also comes with the church......

It's the old rectory, a 2 story home with a garage behind.  You can see the side of the church building to the right in the photo.  There are mature trees and bushes and a small garden area between the rectory and the church.
The size of the land these buildings sit on  looks to be multiple city lots...3 or 4 lots.

It's the price of this property that had my juices flowing.
It's being offered for $49,000 for all.

The real estate tax information is not available, since this is a religious property and wasn't taxed by the state/municipality but similar homes for sale in this area have estimates of $1,200 a year.  I am figuring double that since this listing contains 2 buildings.

The church obviously will need remodeling/renovating to turn it into a home space.
The rectory house will need extensive renovation as it has been basically gutted from what I read.
While it's not going to be cheap(hell ya I can do this on the frugal side though!lol), it's sort of like getting a "new" house, except that the outside structure is already in place and old.  I can get the kitchen the way I want it and lay out the interior space/rooms as I want in the church.

The initial plan is to remain living here(it's only 11.5 miles away), renovate the church building, then move in and then have the last of the work done here and sell our current home.
Once we move to the church, Hubs can still commute to work from there.  It would add an additional 10-15 minutes on his commute but doable for the 4 years he has left to work.

Once we move and sell, we can work on getting the rectory house livable/renovated.  After that, we can either sell or rent it out.  Since the property is zoned R2, we also have the choice of turning the rectory house into a duplex and renting or selling it as that type of housing situation.
After we sell or rent the rectory house it will help us recoup any money we invested into the reno and help pay the taxes.  Eventually when we recoup the money invested we can have an income stream in retirement from it.  8-)

As for Winters living in this church, once Hubs retires, we will buy a used RV and spend the ugly months of ice, snow and cold in parts South of here, either visiting our children or bopping around to wherever we feel like going.

I am trying not to get all excited but it's hard not to!
I've already contacted the agent and am working on going to have an "in person" look around and ask a billion questions about this property and snap my own photos.
After that and having a discussion with Hubs on this I'll call a construction type person for a consult and some advise on whether this is a plan I can green light or not and proceed to talk money with the realtor.
We would be paying cash for this of course..... ;-)

One step at a time, trying not to get my hopes too high at this point, but thinking this might be the way we need to head on down the road to retirement.


So what do y'all think of this?

Sluggy



 

Food & Toiletries Spending......February Update

Onward to February's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2014.

I have posted February's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2014 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in February.  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 4(3 at home this month)& 1 dog. No kids under 17.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $10.78
Value  $25.74
Savings   58.12%

DOLLAR STORE
OOP  $17.00
Value  $40.16
Savings    57.67%
 

RITE-AID
OOP  $51.23
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $243.44
Value  $294.67
Savings  82.61%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $125.98

Qs/Ads  $118.54

Value  $244.52

Savings  48.48%

WALMART
OOP  $23.46
Qs/Ads  $20.32
Value  $43.78
Savings  46.41%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $168.08

Qs/Ads  $115.39

Value  $283.47

Savings  40.70%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 82.61%, the Bakery Outlet at 58.12%, and the Dollar Store at 57.67%.  My WORST savings rate was 40.70% at Weis so I think I did exceptionally well in February on the value of what I got!  Obviously I'm not counting the Turkey Hill Convenience store where Hubs picked up a 1/2 gallon of milk and my savings rate was 0%. ;-)
I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$398.43

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$535.81

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$934.23

TOTAL Savings of...................................57.35%

Even without counting the Rite-Aid shopping, my savings rate would be 45.71%.

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into February wanting to cut my food/toiletries budget by $100, to $300 budgeted for ALL purchases.  I failed BUT I did stay under my usual $400 Food Budget.
Yay me.  ;-)


LOOKING AHEAD TO MARCH......

I'm going to try to do this $300 food spending budget one more time in March.
If I can't then I'll stop trying.

I tallied up our Eating Out spending for February and it came in at $94.44.
We had Chinese take-out once, Burger King once, I took #2 Son out for his free birthday burger and spent $24.82 on 2 drinks, my chicken burger and the tip, and $35.85 was spent on dinner for Hubs & #2 Son at Perkins on the audition trip to Mansfield. 
Of course we ate at Bob Evans twice too but we used gift cards to cover those meals.


Without the Rite-Aid totals added in, my February Savings Rate is 43%.  Achieving a savings rate in the 40's is what I shoot for, with or without shopping at Rite-Aid.
 

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

Total spend on food/toiletries so far this year.....$695.80

The average monthly food/toiletries spending this year so far is $347.90.

 

How much did you spend on food/toiletries in February?
Do you track your yearly food spending?
 

Sluggy

No Joy in Mudville Today.....

Well #1 Son continues to have difficulties at his place of employment.  He is trying to find a new position elsewhere, that pays enough for him to justify leaving his current job, and is having no luck.
I can't go into this sad tale but he is fearing for his safety and health(he works with "special populations") and his stress level(as well as our own)is quite high, having to remain in his current job.
So when exactly do you get to stop worrying about your kids....what age?
Obviously it's not when they are 22+ years old.  8-(

Add to that the letter #2 Son received yesterday from Temple, thanking him for his "interest" but regretting to inform him that they will not be availing themselves of his musical talents or his parent's Twenty Eight Thousand Dollars per year.

Yep, he didn't get into their music program. 8((
This upset him deeply, as it was his first choice school, almost to the point of tears and definitely to the point of throwing and hitting inanimate objects, like any self respecting 18 year old boy is want to do.

Then his dejection turned to "I suck and I hate music and maybe I just won't go to college."
This was followed a couple of hours later after a nap by, "Temple can go F**k itself!".

Ah, a chip off the ol' Slugmama block!
I think #2 Son will survive.

Nothing signaling the end of the world here, just having a rough patch as some folks say.
And this wretched cold is NOT making things any cheerier!

I am so ready for Spring, aren't you?

Off to console #2 Son's sorrows with a free Birthday Burger at Red Robin......

Sluggy


 

Throwback Thursday...1961

A girl and her dog......

When I was a wee one, we had a succession of Old English Sheepdogs.
Well a succession of two.

The first one was named Peaches.  I believe this is her pictured above.  She seems to be chewing on my dolly.

I really have no recollections of Peaches but I do remember the OES we had second.
His name was "Shep".
Yes, my parents were right up there with "inventive" names for pets. lolz

Shep was much larger than Peaches and I use to ride on his back.
Shep loved ice cream and in the Summer, on the off chance my father would take us to the ice cream stand, he'd get Shep a cone too, which that hulk of a dog would devour in one bite.
Must have been a very small cone of ice cream.

I don't recall where we got Peaches from, since I don't even have any memories of her, but I remember being told that Shep had starred in commercials(probably for dog food).  Being a retired actor, who was "put out to pasture" when he got too old to work, is why he was living with us as a family pet.

With how little my father made at this time and the amount Shep ate, my father either really REALLY loved this dog or he came with a food stipend from his previous owners.  ;-)

Notice my fabulous pose at almost 3 years old.  What an innate sense of fashion and future stardom I possessed even at this young age.
I suppose I was channeling Tallulah Bankhead daaaahling, in this shot.  I just needed a cigarette in a holder, didn't I?



Sluggy