Rite-Aid Buy While Traveling

On the way home from a quick trip to Pittsburgh to see our eldest son for Christmas Hubs let me stop at a Rite-Aid......

2 x Raisins on sale=$5.00
2 x Sugar on sale BOGO50%=$6.43
Subtotal.....$11.43

I used a .75¢/2 Domino's IPQ bringing the total to $10.68
I used $10 in +Up Rewards and paid .68¢ OOP.
I received back $6 in new +Ups($1 wyb2 raisins, $5 wyb $15 baking items).

Then I bought the same stuff again at another store in another town......

Everything the same except the sugar came to $6.73, making my OOP .98¢ for that transaction.
Same $6 in new +Up Rewards received.

Now I am off to plan out how to spend all these +Ups I have that are expiring between this Sunday and Jan. 6th.

Sluggy

 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas or Winter Holiday

Here's hoping your Holiday is everything you wish it to be.

Photo taken at our traditional Chinese dinner on Christmas eve.


Thanks for coming here time and time again to check in with my little life.
I wish for you all a world of peace and acceptance and unity.

Sluggy

 

December Financials...The $24K Savings Challenge

We are just waiting on the electric bill to come in but other than that all our expenses are accounted for in December and paid up.

I have a pretty accurate guestimate on the income left to come in for the month so I sat down to do a rough end of month calculation.
We should end the month with a spare $2,000(or a bit more)to put into my Savings Challenge.

I am torn whether to apply all this spare $ to savings however.

Let me explain......

Our high deductible insurance resets on Jan. 1st.
This means we pay all insurance related expenses out of pocket until we hit that $4K mark for 2015 and then our insurance benefits and co-pays kick in.

I take some very expensive medications.
The "U&C"(aka usual and comparable market cost)for one is almost $500 a month another is almost $400 a month(without any insurance drug benefit, which doesn't kick in onto after we hit our $4K deductible).
I have to refill these each month.

We will carry over a bit more than $1K in our Health Savings Account into 2015 after all the December co-pays/co-insurance charges are paid.

By mid-February of 2015, with these drugs(plus others and a dr. appointment and labs in February)our HSA will be depleted from paying our OOP costs.  (This isn't counting any charges our Daughter-who is still on our plan-has incurred in the first 2 months of 2015.)  Each payday means we add under $200 to this HSA so we will need to come up with $ for OOPs fairly soon into 2015.

I think I am going to take most of the excess cash saved in December from our income and hold it for paying medical OOPs instead of funneling it into my 2014 Savings Challenge.

It's really not a big issue, whether I put this excess income into a savings fund or keep it in the checking account to pay medical costs.

Either way the costs need to be paid, whether from our excess Dec. income or, if we wait a few months to pay those medical bills, with new 2015 income.
One way we pay them immediately, the other we wait until the funds in the HSA build back up.

I feel better if we pay them on time however and using the excess Dec. income is probably what I'll do.
So my 2014 Savings Challenge total won't be much more than what it was in November.

If it stays at it's November tally of $26,353.19 that's still a goodly amount for us to have put into savings during the year.  8-)

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Eating While Traveling" Edition......

  

 

 

 

Onward to the meal planning!

What was planned last week--

1.  Pork Chops, Braised Cabbage, Mashed Potatoes(for Hubs and son)
2.  Tacos

3.  Meatball Subs, Veggie TBD

4.  Leftovers or Hamburgers
5.  Chinese Chicken(using my .84¢ chicken) w/Ginger Stir-Fry

6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers or Fend for Yourself Night

 

And this is what actually happened--


1.  Pork Chops, Braised Cabbage, Mashed Potatoes(for Hubs and son)
2.  Tacos

3.  Leftovers

4.  Leftovers or Hamburgers
5.  Meatball Subs, leftover cabbage and collards

6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers or Fend for Yourself Night

The chicken didn't happen(too many leftovers to use up)so it got shoved into the freezer for later.
 

Last week I made 4 trips to 2 different markets and spent $55.39 on $135.24 worth of groceries.  I cherry picked the good deals at Weis last week--cereal, peanut butter, boxed stock and canned tomatoes mostly.

 

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

1.  Dinner Out
2.  Dinner Out

3.  Dinner Out

4.  Chinese Out(Xmas Eve tradition)
5.  Rib Roast with Roasted Veggies, Homemade Rolls, Pumpkin Ravioli w/Sage Butter Sauce

6.  No Clue
7.  Mushroom Risotto, Tossed Salad Greens
 

 

What I need to buy for this menu.........the roast and some veggies for Christmas dinner and mushrooms for the risotto.


I am up to $287.61 in food spending for December with 9 more days left in the month.
 

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?

Sluggy

Rite-Aid Again.....What Else?

I made one more trip to Rite-Aid on Saturday.
I had gotten another $3/1 Excedrin Catalina which made it free after +Up Rewards so how could I not get more? lolz

I also decided to do the $5 on $15 Baking Items +Ups Deal on another card.

2 x Playtex tampons on sale=$7.00
2 x BC cookie mix on sale=$4.00
1 x Excedrin on sale=$3.99
SubTotal......$14.99

Coupons Used
2 x $1/1 Playtex tampons IPQ=$2.00
1 x .75¢/2 BC cookie mix IPQ=.75¢
1 x $1/2 BC baking items VideoValuesQ=$1.00
1 x $3/1 Excedrin CatalinaQ=$3.00
Coupon Total......$6.75

$14.99-$6.75=$8.24

I used $8 in +Up Rewards and paid .24¢ OOP.

I received back $5 in new +Up Rewards($1 Excedrin, $4 wyb2 Playtex) so this stuff  "cost" me $3.

And the Catalina machine spit out yet another $3/1 Excedrin Q!
I give up.....lolz

I now have tracking of $4 on 2 Wellness cards toward the $5 Baking +Ups.

This week I'll buy 2 containers of Domino sugar(on sale BOGO50%=$6.43 my store)and 2 canisters of Sun-Maid raisins(on sale $5 for 2) on each card.
These purchases will give me $15.43 spent on each and trigger the $5 +Ups for each.  The raisins also double dip as they have their own +Ups Deal staring Sunday--buy 2, get a $1 +Ups back.

I have a .75¢/2 IPQ(redplum dotcom)for the sugar so I'll spend $10.68 after Q and get $6 in new +Ups back on each card and $6 in +Ups will print out.

The cookie mix spending from this week was $2.25 on one card and $1.50 on the other card after Qs(one card got an extra .75¢ discount from my SavingStar account).

All together I'll get 4 bags of cookie mix, 4 4lbs. of sugar and 4 canisters of raisins($30.86-$5.75 in Qs=$25.11-$12 in +Ups earned=$13.11 "cost"(paid for mostly with +Up Rewards).  As I'd have to pay that much just for the sacks of sugar at the grocery store, this is a good deal if you need sugar, raisins and cookie mix.

Other than these items I don't foresee any other Rite-Aid shopping until after Christmas.
But then again, something that's an irresistible deal might turn up.... ;-)
Sluggy