Food & Toiletries Spending......December Update & Year End TOTALS

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2014.

I have posted December'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 December.  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(2-3 at home this month). No kids under 18.

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

BIG LOTS
OOP  $14.10
Qs/Ads  $12.28
Value  $32.83
Savings  46.55%

K-Mart
OOP  $1.06
Qs/Ads  $46.23
Value  $47.29
Savings  97.76%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $46.60
Qs/Ads  $25.45
Value  $72.05
Savings  35.32%

P&R OUTLET
OOP  $14.99
Qs/Ads  $17.84
Value  $32.83
Savings  54.34%

RITE-AID *(see below)
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/+UPs  $1,121.41
Value  $1,121.41
Savings   100%

SAM'S CLUB
OOP  $39.67
Value  $78.50
Savings  49.46%

 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $48.53

Qs/Ads  $29.18

Value  $77.71

Savings  37.55%

TRADER JOE'S
OOP  $64.04
Qs/Ads  $29.90
Value  $93.94
Savings  31.83%
 

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $211.88

Qs/Ads  $247.18

Value  $459.06

Savings  53.84%
 

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, K-Mart at 97.76% and P&R Outlet at 54.34%.  My WORST savings rate was Trader Joe's at 31.83%.

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.  I tried a few places I don't go to often as it's not in my regular routine.


* Let me explain how I spent ZERO at Rite-Aid for December.  The actual OOP(aka Out Of Pocket)spending was $15.55 for all of December.
But I had a shampoo return that netted me $8.04 back in December, as well as a return of $12 for some Aveeno products in November & a $5 refund for some +Ups that didn't generate, also in November.  All combined, this netted me $25.04 back in cash or on gift cards.   I applied $15.55 of that cash/credit back to my Rite-Aid spending in December, making my OOP $0.00 for the month.
I still have $9.49 to carryover into January 2015 to cover that much of OOP spending at Rite-Aid in the new year.

**  My TOTAL out of pocket for December food/toiletries was $440.87.
However I cashed out my Saving Star account(where some of my electronic coupon savings are deposited-I don't count these coupon savings until it's cashed out)and was able to deposit $40.04 for the year into our bank account, thus offsetting $40.04 of food spending.  This brought my OOP spending from $440.87 down to $400.83.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........** $400.83

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1,600.34

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$2,001.17     

TOTAL Savings of...................................79.93%
TOTAL Savings WITHOUT Rite-Aid.............54.44%

This closes out the December food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

While I didn't stay under $350 for the month, because of the additional of my Saving Star funds into our bank, I was almost under $400 for December.

The monthly savings percentage went up(up is good)by 24.22% in December to 79.93% compared to November's 55.71% average.  Without counting the Rite-Aid amounts the savings rate went down slightly from November's amount (by 1.27%) to 54.44%.
Just slightly down.  I can live with that.  ;-)

The savings percentage went UP for the year by 4.10% after adding December's numbers in. 

Total spend on food/toiletries for 2014 after 12 months.....$4,989.49.

The average monthly food/toiletries spending for the year after adding in December's numbers is down a bit to $415.79 for the year from Novembers subtotal of $417.15.   That's $1.36 down from last month's year-to-date spending total.
Down is good in this case......

GRAND TOTALS for 2014

2014 YEARLY OOP SPENDING on Food/Toiletries........$4,989.49
2014 YEARLY VALUE OF ITEMS BOUGHT.........$12,101.56
2014 YEARLY SAVINGS of................$7,112.07
2014 SAVINGS PRECENTAGE on SPENDING..........58.77%


THOUGHTS on 2014...............
If I don't say so myself, I kicked ASS on food spending in 2014!
I wanted to keep the yearly total at $4800.  I went over that benchmark by $189.49 but I'll call this a good year even so.
Under $5K for ALL consumables(except "adult beverages" & eating out)for a household for an entire year is awesome.

 

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 December?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  If so, how did you do in 2014?
 

Sluggy

I'll be Around.....Sort of

Sorry I've been MIA the last couple of days.
Posting will be sporadic this week.
Sporadic because Sluggy is traveling again.

 

I made a break for it right before another snowstorm up North and headed South.
It was 70+ degrees today where I am.

Wanna guess where I am?

Sluggy
 

Rolling/Spending the +Up Rewards This Week.....Part 3

I transferred a prescription on Tuesday using a "get $25 in +Ups" Coupon in this week's sales flyer which netted me this................

My $1/1 St. Joseph's Q was expiring on 12/31 so I went up to Rite-Aid on Wednesday to use that Q......

2 x St. Joseph's aspirin BOGO sale=$2.69
1 x Bayer aspirin 20% wellness disc.=$2.79
2 x Haribo gummies on sale=$2.00
1 x Wonderful pistachios on sale=$3.99
SubTotal.......$11.47

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 St. Joseph's ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Bayer aspirin IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Bayer item In-AdQ=$2.00
2 x .30¢/1 Haribo F/BQ=.60¢
1 x $1/2 Haribo items VideoValuesQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Wonderful pistachios VideoValuesQ=$1.00
Coupon Total........$6.60

$11.47-$6.60=$4.87

I used $4 in +Up Rewards expiring 1/2/15 and put .87¢ on a Rite-Aid gift card(with a $8.04 return/credit)so nothing spent OOP.

No new +Ups were earned this time.
Spent down $4 in Ups
Spent ZERO OOP.
Brought home $19.44 in products.


Then today while out for my eye appointment we hit the Rite-Aid downtown and got all this.......

2 x Huggies Wipes on sale=$6.00
2 x Gear Deo on sale=$6.00
1 x Bayer aspirin 20% wellness disc.=$2.63
1 x Ricola drops 20% wellness disc.=$2.39
1 x Wonderful pistachios on sale=$3.99
2 x NatureMade Fish oil gummies 20% wellness disc.=$21.58
2 x NatureMade Fish oil caps 20% wellness disc.=$15.18
SubTotal.................$57.77

Coupons Used
2 x .50/1 Huggies IPQ=$1.00
2 x $2/1 Gear Deo IPQ=$4.00
1 x $1/1 Bayer product IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Bayer product In-AdQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Ricola drops R-A/Facebook Q=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Wonderful item VideoValuesQ=$1.00
2 x $2/1 Nature Made Gummie product IPQ=$4.00
1 x $2/2 Nature Made products IPQ=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Nature Made product VideoValuesQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.........$19.00

$57.77-$19.00=$38.77

I used $36 in +Up Rewards and paid $2.77 on the gift card with my returns credited to them., so no mew money spent.
I received back $18 in new +Up Rewards($1 wyb2 Huggies, $2 wyb2 Gear, $15 wyb$30 Nature Made).
(My doctor wants me to start taking Fish Oil so this was a good deal on the spend $30/get $15 +Ups back.)

I have now spent down/rolled my +Ups until Jan. 11th so I don't need to return to Rite-Aid for at least 9 days from now.

$36 in +Ups Spent.
$18 in +Ups Earned.
Zero spent OOP.
$77.59 in new products brought home.
And a $50 Level Reward Code earned on 1 card.


Sluggy

It's That Time of Year Again

It's January and that time of year when the retailers haul out that BIG LIE.
You know, the one about how you need to spend gobs of $$$ on shiny new plastic containers to organize your life/stuff.
Or the one where you need to join a gym and pay for the honor of losing weight/getting fit.
Or the one where you need to start a diet which usually involves paying some company to eat their nasty tasteless foods.

Don't buy into the BIG LIE this year!

You can organize your life/paperwork/stuff/etc. by spending ZERO $.
Just get rid of crap you don't need/use.
Reduce the stuff in your life and then you won't need to buy storage containers to contain it all and keep it out of sight.

You can get fit by getting off your ass(me included!)and taking a walk/run and by exercising in your home.  Just move!

You can eat well by just saying NO! to crap food and not eating so much, even if it's good for you food.
Diets don't work anyway once you go off of them and WHO amongst us can stay on a diet indefinitely?
You need to make permanent changes in the way you eat/what you eat/when you eat/et cetera instead.



You can achieve success at any/all of these areas in your life and you can do it without spending $$$!

So stop right now and step away from those Rubbermaid Tubs, Gym Contracts and prepackaged Diet Foods.
You can have a better life WITHOUT putting more money into someone else's pocket in 2015!


Sluggy

Kissing Off 2014......A Good Year for Sluggy!

** I am a bit late with this post but still wanted to get it published.  Blogger was giving me fits last night trying to get this finished.
Ok....maybe it was the 3 glasses of champagne too.  8-)))
Enjoy!** -Slug



Ok, so in reality my 2014 was much better than my 2013.
Almost dying(which I tried to do in 2013)is not a fun way to spend your year.
So I look upon 2014 with fondness by comparison.

Good things happened in 2014------

My health improved.  Despite the stress of having to deal with all the medical crap that was thrown at me.

And I celebrated a milestone birthday......

 

 

#2 Son graduated high school.......

And did well his first semester at college.............

 

 

The Daughter got a salaried management position at her work and we helped her buy a house........

#1 Son continues to be gainfully employed and has a good relationship with his girlfriend.  They came to visit and we went drinking.....very strange to go drinking with your adult children it is!

Hubs work continues to value his business contribution and rewards him well monetarily.

I was able to make us live well below our means in 2014 and sock away cash giving Hubs more options on when he can retire.

I/We traveled a great deal in 2014.......to Louisiana and back......

And met some internet friends in person too..........

 

 

to Washington, D.C. to Hubs' conference.......

 then to the Midwest and back.......

 to Virginia........

 and to Ocean City, MD

I tried to step outside of my comfort zone in 2014--first by attending the Bloggerpalooza in Rehobeth Beach, DE......

....accompanying Hubs to DC and then by traveling to
Pittsburgh/Illinois/Wisconsin/Iowa/Missouri/Illinois again......2 trips taken solo and the 1 havinhg to amuse myself alone in DC. (I am very proud of myself for doing all of these.)

I met a lot of internet peoples in person on these two trips and every one, without exception, was nicer and more welcoming than I expected.

I/We paid cash for a new car in 2014.   And it's purple.  8-))

Though we didn't do much gardening this year, we did 4 outdoor projects--power washing the house..........

having our Driveway paved and prettifying the ac/heat compressor area.........

And Hubs & College Boy took down the swimming pool.............

And 2014 was the year Hubs started making his own beer...............

 

While this wasn't MY accomplishment, like those little kids in the Shake n' Bake commercial, "I helped".

Though there wasn't mush gardening it didn't keep me from making my yearly batch of pepper relish.............

I worked on my genealogy a good bit in 2014 and made some breakthroughs and connected with kin.
I found another internet friend was related to me too. 8-)

I blogged a whole lot!  Hey, it keeps me sane......
I also did 5 giveaways in 2014.  I like making people happy giving stuff away.......

I de-cluttered a great deal in 2014.
First I finished emptying out my storage unit in Jan. 2014.........

And got rid of lots of garbage........

Then we sent 8 loads to Salvation Army over the course of the year and 2 old cars to other charities to auction off.

I bought some furniture and actually turned my living room into a living room in 2014.

That only took me 14 years to do!
And I made curtains and recovered chairs/made tablecloths too.......

I finally got around to doing some sewing in 2014(note curtains/tablecloths above as well as some clothing), though not as much as I hoped to do. 
I was on a roll until I left for my road trip in July and then just got busy with other things once I got home.....more trips mostly. ;-)

And there were lots of adult beverages in 2014...........

 

 

 

And then there were some not so great things that happened in 2014-----

Our last dog died in November........

College Boy didn't get accepted at Temple but OTOH he is LOVING the school he is attending and he made Dean's List his 1st semester so PPPPPbbbbbbbbbbtttttt to you Temple! 8-)

Gee, that's about the only really bad things I can think of for 2014.

Ok, I had a brain fart and almost bought a church...........

before I came to my senses.
We has some big expenses in 2014.........the repaving of the driveway, a hefty $4K health insurance deductible with a new plan we were on, a car purchase and pay for COLLEGE($$$$!)but it wasn't anything we couldn't financially handle.
Sometimes you just have to spend that money....

2014 was a good year financially as well.  More on how we did earning and keeping some of our money in our own pockets in blog posts in the coming week.


I did a LOT of Rite-Aid shopping after I returned from my Summer Road Trip too but that doesn't cost nearly anything.
But keeping the stockpile you end up with in order IS a chore....

And between giveaways, gifting to friends and family and donating.........

we "shared the wealth" and spread the joys of stockpiling around.



Now that I think back on 2014 I think I WILL miss it!
Or at least most of what went on this past year.

And I enjoyed myself more in 2014.

So how was your 2014?
Are you sad to see it go or can't wait to close that chapter of your life?


Here's to everyone who survived their year and let's all look forward to all the GOOD THINGS coming our way in 2015!



Sluggy