$24K Savings Challenge.......October Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2014 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $24,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the October report.....

I have posted my October End of Month $24K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

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 $2,000.

I have to report that we finished up October with a really large chunk of change.
The extra amount we ended the month of  October with?.......$6,451.86.

Income

We had $6019.72 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
This large amount was mostly due to a third paycheck in October.
 

Other monies received in October totaled $432.14.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a refund on our car insurance and a Conference dinner.

This brought us to our gain of $6,451.86.
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this October, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill went down another $5.10 from September.
*  Cable and phone charges were approx. the same as last month.
 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  Car insurance due on my car.
*  The quarterly garbage bill was due.
*  Dental bill due.
*  The credit card bill(paid off each month)was up $295 from last month due to our family reunions trip and the OC mini-vacay.
*  Electric bill was up $24.44 because the heat got turned on.
 

 

The Food Budget costs for October are in another post, which is located HERE.
 

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 10 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $23,475.69.
 

Only $524.31 Total left to meet the yearly goal and 2 months left to dig this up out of our income.
That comes out to an average of $262.16 for each of the next 2 months. 
As our Nov. and Dec. overages average about $1000 each month I don't think we'll have any trouble finding a spare $524.31 ;-)

I will be curious to see how much we have leftover for the last 2 months of the year above and beyond the $524.31 we need to reach our goal of $24K.
  

 

Looking ahead for November......

*  I will continue to do this Savings Challenge and report in each month on how it is going.

*  We have no irregular bills due in November.

*  We have 2 trips to #2 Son's school to get/return him for Thanksgiving break so gas(thus the c/c bill)will be higher in November.

 

So how was your October financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in October?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate with you or commiserate with you!

Sluggy

Rite-Aid This Week

I may only do 1 transaction at Rite-Aid this week to roll my +Ups.
After all, how much shampoo and toothpaste does a body need anyway?!

Here is what I brought home.......

First off the transaction planned did NOT include that Russell Stover Halloween candy and it should have come out to $16 in +Ups used, .57¢ paid OOP and $12 in new +Ups earned.

But here is what happened thanks to the goofy Load2Card Qs issue.......

2 x Dove Advanced 'Poo on sale $5=$10.00
3 x Dove Advanced Deodorant on sale $5=$15.00
2 x Reach toothbrushes on sale $2.99=$5.98
1 x Trident gum on sale=$1.09 ***
2 x Russell Stover Halloween candy 50%off=$1.28
SubTotal......$33.35

Coupons Used
2 x BOGO Dove Advanced 'Poo or Deo ManuQ=$10.00
1 x $2/1 Dove Advanced Deo IPQ=$2.00
1 x $1.50/1 Dove Advanced Deo L2CQ=$1.50 *
2 x $1/1 Dove 'Poo VideoValuesQ=$2.00
2 x $.75/1 Reach toothbrush PeelieQ(on product)=$1.50 **
Coupon Total......$17.00

$33.35-$17.00=$16.35

I used $16 in +Up Rewards and paid .35¢ on a Rite-Aid free gift card I had so no OOP this transaction.
I got back $12 in new +Up Rewards(2 x $4 Dove wyb $12, 2 x $2 Reach).

* The $1.50/1 Dove Deo Load2Card came off onto this transaction(even though I didn't want to use it because I had a better $2/1 IPQ to use) and the cashier then couldn't put one of my BOGO Qs through. Ugh.
So he did it manually which meant Rite-Aid gave me $1.50 in free stuff today.  8-)

**  The Reach single toothbrushes that give $2 in +Ups back this week had .75¢ peelie coupons on them while the multipack of toothbrushes which also gives $2 in +Ups back this week did not, so I got the ones with peelies as it meant less spent on my part.

***  I hadn't planned to get gum today but the Savings Star FREEBIE this past weekend was Trident gum, so anything I spent comes back to my SS account in cash.  Free gum so why not? ;-)


I had gone to Rite-aid wanting to do the 2 for $7.00 Dove Body Wash because the inserts had $2/1 Dove body Wash Qs.  Once in the store it was the 12 oz. Dove Body Wash on sale and the $2/1 Qs were for the 18 oz. size so I didn't buy them.

So Zero OOP, $46.80 in toiletries brought home and I spend down my +Ups by $4.

Sluggy

 

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Halloween was a Bust" Edition..........

We had an inordinately small amount of kids show up at the door for candy this year.
This means I way overbought on chocolate.....well since I got most of it for almost free at Rite-Aid I didn't really overbuy.
I am sure I'll find a way to get rid of chocolate, difficult a task as it may seem. *snort*


Onward to the meal planning!

What was planned last week--

1.  Leftovers

2.  Enchiladas with green chilles, Corn

3.  Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

4.  Tacos
5.  Pork Chops, something veggie in the freezer, squash apple pecan side dish

6.  Broccoli Soup, Homemade Bread
7.  Leftovers or a Pizza

 

And this is what actually happened--

1.  Leftovers

2.  Enchiladas with green chilles, Corn

3.  Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

4.  Tacos
5.  Pizza

6.  Broccoli Soup
7.  Leftovers

 

The plan was kept to except the chops never happened because we had too many leftovers to use up, no bread with the soup and we got a take-out pizza(actually 2 mediums).
    

Last week I made 4 trips to 4 different market and spent $51.05 on $102.00 worth of groceries and that was all done on Saturday so used November's food budget kitty.
I also did 4 transactions at Rite-Aid where I spent $4.04 total there for the week(but this was on October's budget $).
$51.05 spent for the month so far in November. 
I'll be doing a produce run at the restaurant supply store(best prices around)this week plus my 2 local grocery stores.  I haven't looked at the local store ads yet so don't know if there are any stock-up opportunities this week.
 

Going into this week, in leftovers we have.........1 enchilada, collard greens, taco fixings, and squash/apples with pecans side dish.

Here is the plan for this week.........

1.  Chinese Take-Out

2.  Salmon(in freezer), Yellow Squash Casserole

3.  Roast Chicken(in freezer), Carrots, Potatoes and Onions

4.  Tacos(leftovers)
5.  Pork Chops(in freezer), Collard greens(leftovers), squash apple pecan side dish(leftovers)

6.  Squash Ravioli, Sugar Snap Peas & Red Peppers
7.  Leftovers

 

What I need to buy for this menu........squash ravioli, yellow squash and carrots. 
I'm figuring on spending $100 or so between these items, my produce run, dog food, milk and any stock-up opportunities. 

I'll also be gradually picking up Turkey Day meal essentials starting this week.  I already have bread cubes and sausage meat for stuffing, pumpkin puree, pecans, pie crust mix, evaporated milk and cranberry glop.  Still needed are celery, green beans, a bag of potatoes and a turkey.  And I need to check on my flour supply as I made rolls from scratch at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
 

   

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?
Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?
How much did you spend on food so far in November?

 

Sluggy

Happenings Lately at Chez Sluggy

*  Halloween has come and gone......

We had a couple dozen trick-or-treaters this year.
Very unusual for our neighborhood.
Hubs mentioned that most of the kids are aging out of trick-or-treating around here and the neighborhood is growing older.
This might be true but I think the fact that our high school had a home football game on Friday is more of a factor.
Football is almost a religion in these parts of PA, even high school football.  I think the fact that most families(including younger siblings of players, cheerleaders and band members)were at the game explains why there were no older kids(over 10)out begging for candy this year.

 

 

One little girl was especially cute this year.  She was about 3 or 4 and had on a homemade dinosaur cotume(a T-Rex to be exact).
She walked up the driveway while her mom stayed at the street and onto the porch.
I said to her, "Oh please don't eat me scary dinosaur!"

She thought a moment, then took 1 tiny step toward me and said very quietly, "Chomp!".
So cute.
She got extra candy......

 

 

Here's our bowl of candy once the night was over.
It's a huge bowl and held 4 large bags of candy.  Even with giving out handfuls of candy to each T-or-Ter it's still half full!
That's ok.
I can throw what's left into the next package I send #2 Son, or he can eat on this when he comes home for Thanksgiving break in a few weeks.

*  The day before Halloween, the police finally caught "suspected" cop-killer Eric Frein, the latest entry onto the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List from around here.
We use to live in the Poconos, near the town where they held his hearing last week, and I use to drive by that PSP barracks where he shot at the police quite often in my daily life.
Knowing this area I knew it would be awhile before they flushed him out of the woods being as he was a survivalist devotee.  But I didn't think it would take just shy of 7 weeks to run him down!
Hubs and I really thought the authorities would have to resort to issuing Frein tags to the local hunters(hunting--another things that's akin to a religion around here)to finally get him.
"Ok Mack, here's your doe tag, your buck tag and your Frein tag.....now go out and do some killing!"

Hunters have been denied any of the various hunting seasons since the beginning of October around here but they got Frein just in time not to ruin turkey season.
I am also so glad because that's all that's been on the local tv news around here for 7 weeks. 

*  I got a letter back from the P&G laundry rebate I sent for on Saturday telling me I didn't spend enough to qualify for the deal.
Obviously someone working on this deal can't do math!
I have copies of everything I sent them to prove I spend enough.
You had to spend $30.
I spent $49.02.
Subtract coupons totaling $14.25.
That gives you $34.77.....well over the $30 required.

Now I am debating whether to just let this go or to send them a letter with copies of my copies and pointing out the math is correct and they have erroneously screwed me out of my $10 rebate...which they will probably ignore and I still won't get satisfaction.
Or I can just start boycotting P&G goods instead.
What would you do?


*  I got a deal last week.  This showed up in the mail about a month ago......

A sheet of coupons from K-Mart offering me various $ amounts of gift cards for transferring prescriptions.
It was expiring October 31st so I transferred an rx that was coming due the end of October and got a $40 gift card for my trouble.

The other 2 offers were only for $10 gift cards so I only moved 1 for the $40 card.

Free Christmas shopping money?
YES please!!  8-)


*  We have officially been cable TV free for 10 days now.
And I am not adjusting well.  Up until now I have been a cable show watcher.  There are very few shows I have watched on network tv for years now.  Big Bang Theory, The Middle and Modern Family being the few exceptions to this.  Though I am not a big tv watcher my fav shows are mostly on cable.  We don't have Netflix of Hulu Plus or watch DVDs here much.  It has been a difficult 10 days for me but I keep reminding myself that for the few shows I am missing it's not worth the $70 we are now saving each month.
The jury is still out on this experiment however.


*  It's the beginning of November so I dug through and organized the freezers.  I have lots of salmon in there as well as pork chops.  I keep putting pork chops on the menu but we always seem to not get around to making them. lolz  I am going to try to eat down the freezer over the next few weeks so I can hopefully get a second turkey cheap and fit it into there....or maybe just a turkey breast since it's difficult to finish off a whole turkey between just Hubs and I. 

*  I finally went though my Summer clothes last week.  About time since it looks like it might SNOW today.
bleh.
I had to wait until we went to OC to change out the wardrobe since I needed warm weather things to wear down there.  Now it's time to knuckle down and put away the sandals and shorts.
double bleh.


*  It's coming up on 2 months since we contacted Sears about our split-unit going out on us.  After sending out a repair guy who was clueless TWICE, they finally sent out the guy who installs these things and guess what?.....the whatever died last year on the compressor and was replaced is dead again.  Twice within 12 months they went.
He tried to get Sears to replace the whole compressor, since it seems to be a lemon, but guess who is opting to replace the part again?
Sears.
Have I said how much I hate Sears now??
When we called for service in August we didn't have a/c.  Now we need heat it's been so long. 8-(

Anyway, if last year's fun is any indication of this year's fun with this, the part is having to be shipped from Japan so it will take it's sweet time getting here and the unit getting fixed......again!
Have I told y'all how much I hate Sears lately???
So we hobble along using the baseboards and the ceramic storage heaters that still work to keep warm.
Boy, I can't wait to get out of PA and this house.
Only 3 more years.....

So what's new at your house?

Sluggy





 

Food & Toiletries Spending......October Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2014.

I have posted October'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 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 3(2 at home this month)& 1 dog. No kids under 18.

******************


FOOD LION
OOP  $12.92
Qs/Ads  $2.46
Value  $15.38
Savings  16%

SAM'S CLUB
OOP  $65.06
Value  $88.00
Savings  26.06%

SAV-A-LOT
OOP  $7.77
Value  $9.35
Savings   16.90%

SHOPRITE
OOP  $47.65
Qs/Ads  $89.09
Value  $136.74
Savings  65.15%

TARGET
OOP  $5.81
Qs/Ads  $16.27
Value  $22.28
Savings  73.92%

RITE-AID
OOP  $10.29
Qs/Ads/+UPs  $464.51
Value  $474.80
Savings   97.83%

 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $87.77

Qs/Ads  $39.03

Value  $126.80

Savings  30.78%

WALMART
OOP  $13.79
Qs/Ads  $11.30
Value  $25.09
Savings  45.04%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $118.23

Qs/Ads  $64.51

Value  $182.74

Savings  35.30%
 

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 97.83%, Target  at 73.92% and Shoprite at 65.15%.  My WORST savings rate was Food Lion at 16%.
I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$369.29

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$711.89

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,081.18

TOTAL Savings of...................................65.84%
TOTAL Savings WITHOUT Rite-Aid.............40.80%

This closes out the October food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I thought I came close to the $300 budget but I miscalculated spending earlier in the month by $50.
meh.

The monthly savings percentage went down by 7.66% in October to 65.84% compared to September's 73.50% average.

The savings percentage went up for the year by 1.61% because of the great savings month that was October.  After September my yearly % of savings was 52.79% and after adding October in it stands at 54.40% for the year.
8-)

Even if I remove my Rite-Aid shopping out my October totals that monthly total is $359.00 spent with a 40.80% savings rate. 
Not bad.

Total spend on food/toiletries so far this year after 10 months.....$4,004.15.

The average monthly food/toiletries spending to-date for the year so far is $400.42.  Only pennies away from being back down to $400 a month or less.


LOOKING AHEAD TO NOVEMBER......

I am going to try again for a $350 food spending budget this month.  It's just Hubs and I here this month except for Thanksgiving break when #2 Son comes home for a few days.  There is the whole overblown Turkey day meal but we will try to keep it low key this year.  A turkey and about 4 sides and pie.
No gluttonous feast this year.

And I can't seem to do a $300 food month so I'll wave the white flag and concede to $350 a month this November.

 

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

 

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in October?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  If so, how are you doing thus far in 2014?
 

Sluggy