Not a Fun Week

If I could skip this past week?
You know I would.

It was not one of my better weeks.

After 4 trips to assorted doctors....Urgent Care, Dr. Office, ER and back again to the Dr. Office.....I think we are turning the corner on this thing.

The good news is I found out I have a "condition" with a name for what has been happening.
The bad news is an incurable chronic thing that will flare up from time to time.
More bad news is that it involves abscesses in my groin and/or underarms(both very sensitive areas)which may require antibiotics but if they get too large, it may require cutting and draining massive amounts of PUS from my body.
Sorry if this is TMI......but at least I am not sharing pictures of 1 pint of bloody pus......lol

And that is what happened this week.
I got cut and drained in my poor armpit at the ER.
(Thankfully they didn't have to call in a general surgeon and do it in an OR and keep me there like they thought they would have to.)

But it was more like cut, drain, squeeze, poke and pack.
Then it was so much fun I got unpacked, cut, drained, squeezed, poked and repacked again.
All without being knocked out with good drugs.

Good Times. 8-(

They gave me Percocet afterwards the first time which I had forgotten makes me itch all over and gives me headaches.
So then they gave me Vicodin which just makes me dehydrated.
sigh.

The pain is tolerable now however so it's all good.

Hopefully when I go back Monday things will be improving and I won't have to do the cut/drain/squeeze/poke Hokey Pokey again.
That shit gets old......ya know? ;-)

Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.
Keep them coming for awhile longer.

I'm sore as hell and I don't have a lot of energy right now so I may only be around sporadically.
Thankfully Hubs is home to watch the dog now so I can nap in peace at least.
That is, after I pack up a large fabric order for an Etsy sale and make Hubs a grocery list to shop from.

Then I will wait for the medical bills to start rolling in.
That's when I'll need the Vicodin......

Sluggy


 

I'll Be Away For Awhile

I'm having a health problem which makes it difficult to sit and type.
Nothing life threatening but painful nonetheless.

I'm off to the doctor again today and hope for some resolution soon.  Not sure if he'll want to put me under the knife or not yet.
bleh.

Keep good thoughts for me until I return, ok?

Sluggy

$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