Last of the Rite-Aid This Week

I hit a couple of Rite-Aids on Saturday while I was out shopping.
I had that $25 rx transfer +Up Reward to use before I leave to go home......

4 x L'Oreal 'Poo 20% Wellness disc.=$15.96
2 x L'Oreal hair treatment on clearance=$6.98
4 x Q-tips 20% Wellness disc.($2.79)=$11.16
1 x Old Spice 6-pack soap clearance=$2.49
2 x Ice Drink BOGOFree=$1.49*
1 x Degree Spray Deo=$4.97
2 x Axe Deo on clearance($1.34)=$2.68**
SubTotal.......$45.73

Coupons Used
2 x $4/2 L'Oreal 'Poo ManuQ=$8.00
2 x $2/1 L'Oreal treatment ManuQ=$4.00
1 x $1/1 Old Spice IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Degree Deo IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Degree Deo VideoValuesQ=$2.00
Coupon Total........$17.00

$45.73-$17.00=$28.73 + .91¢=$29.64

I used $27 in +Up Rewards and paid $2.64 OOP.
I earned $11 in new +Up Rewards($5 wyb $20 L'Oreal, 2 x $2 wyb2 Q-tips, $2 wyb2 Axe).

*SavingStar's "Friday Freebie" this weekend is a full refund when you buy a 17 oz. ICE drink.  Rite-Aid had Ice drinks Buy One Get One Free last week so I'll get the price I paid for the one drink I bought back, bringing my OOP down to $1.15.
Sweet! 8-)
Update**  SavingStar only gave me .75¢ back on the BOGOFree drinks, so my actual OOP on this transaction will be $1.89, not $1.15.
Still a good deal in my book! 8-)

**I found some Axe deodorants on a clearance shelf for $1.34 each.  These qualified for the "Buy 2 Axe items, Get $2 +Ups" Deal this past week.  So after earning a $2 +Ups for these deos they "cost" me .34¢ each plus tax.

After I saw that the clearance Axe qualified for the $2 +Up Rewards Deal I bought two more......photo below with other items I bought at another store later.

Paid with $2 in +Ups and .73¢ OOP.
Received $2 in new +Ups.

Then I had to go to another Rite-Aid to use that $10 off 3 Bayer products Q(which expires today).  All the stores are out of the small $3.29-$3.49 size low dose aspirin products I wanted to buy with this Q so I did this instead........

3 x Aleve PM($6.49)B2G1Free sale=$12.98
I used $10/3 Bayer products ManQ.....$12.98-$10=$2.98

I used $2 +Ups and paid .98¢ OOP.
No new +Ups were earned this transaction.

Total OOP all trips..........$4.35
Total value of items bought....$79.93
+Ups spent/rolled........$41
+Ups earned...........$13

Sluggy
 

More Trips to Rite-Aid

Well all the other Rite-Aids I hit hadn't clearanced out the Old Spice soap packs to 75%, still at 50% and not all had PeelieQs so I got this stuff instead.......

2 x Suave naturals 'Poo bogo50%=$3.43
2 x Bic stick pens on sale=$4.00
Subtotal.....$7.43

Coupons Used
2 x $1/1 Bic stick pens(1 ManuQ, 1 IPQ)=$2.00

$7.43-$2.00=$5.43 + .32¢tax=$5.75

I used $5 in +Up Rewards and paid .75¢ OOP.
I earned $4 in new +Ups(2 x $1 Bic, $2 wyb2Suave).

Spent down $3 of my +Ups.
.75¢ spent OOP.
Earned $4 in new +Ups
$10.16 in products  brought home.

The Christmas stuff is all 75% at Rite-Aid now so I picked up this stuff....it's not on my food budget however.......

3 x packs of gift boxes(mine are all torn and ready for the trash).74¢each=$2.22
3 x bags of bows(again, mine are past recycling through another holiday)=$3.47
2 x Altoids peppermints tins=$2.98
Total....$8.67 + .52¢=$9.19 OOP

I didn't use +Up Rewards to pay for this stuff since it's not going on the food/toiletries budget.

Though the mints are food, they will keep to give as gifts next Christmas.  It's not like it's chocolate which will get all cruddy keeping it so long.

I still have a $10/3 Bayer items to use this week(it expires Sunday)so there will be at least one more trip to Rite-Aid this week.
Aren't you thrilled? ;-)

Sluggy

 

Rite-Aid This Week...First Trip

Finally got a chance to get to a Rite-Aid on Tuesday to do a few deals in this week's ad.
I have no printer access here at my brother's house but a gleaned a few Qs from their Sunday papers(no RP inserts though)and combined with the few Qs I brought with me, here is what I bought.........

2 x Bic stick pens on sale=$4.00
3 x Bayer baby aspirin on sale B2G1Free=$6.58
1 x Axe dry spray Deo on sale=$5.47
1 x 6-pack Old Spice soap on clearance 75% off=$1.24
SubTotal.......$17.29

Coupons Used
2 x $1/1 Bic stick pens(1 ManuQ/1 IPQ)=$2.00
1 x $10/3 Bayer products ManuQ=$10.00*
1 x $2/1 Axe dry spray Deo IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Axe dry spray Deo VideoValuesQ=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Old spice 6-pack PeelieQ on package=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$17.00

$17.29-$17.00=.29¢ OOP
I paid .29¢ OOP and got $2 in +Up Rewards back(2 x $1 Bic).

The Old Spice soap was a great deal on clearance for $1.24 but the peelie Q on the package made is an AWESOME deal!  I just wish the other scent was also on sale because those packs had peelies too. lolz

*My 3 Bayer items were only $6.58 since the 3rd item was free, so I had $3.42 overage on that $10 off 3 Bayer items Q.  It was used on the other items, what the Qs on those items didn't cover.
And getting $2 in +Ups on the pens was just icing on that cake! 8-)

I'll be hitting up more Rite-Aids around here this week looking for more cheap soap.
Check your aisles for items you regularly use since I saw lots of clearance tags at Rite-Aid.  Might be you find some deals at your store too.

No +Ups spent/rolled.
$2 +Ups earned.
$28.43 in products brought home.

Sluggy

 

Rolling/Spending the +Ups Rewards This Week.....Part 4

Due to traveling all day on Saturday I only was able to make one trip to Rite-Aid that day.

Somewhere on the DELMARVA Peninsula/Eastern Shore I bought this.......

2 x Nexxus 'Poo $6.29 20% wellness discount=$10.06 + .53¢ tax=$10.59

No Qs were used. (I bought this to finish off my Spend $20/Get $10 +Ups which was tracking on my card and sitting at $10.06.)

I used $10 in +Up Rewards and paid .29¢ OOP.
I received back $10 in +Up Rewards($10 wyb $20 Nexxus).

Rolled $10 +Ups.
Earned $10 +Ups.
.59¢ OOP.
$12.58 in items brought home.

This finished up last week's rolling/spending +Ups at Rite-Aid.
I wanted to buy some more supplements(fish oil/CoQ10)and earn another $15 +Ups since I was tracking at $6+ already toward another one, but didn't get a chance before the week's ad ended Saturday night.

Sluggy



 

$24K Savings Challenge.....December 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 an interest bearing Savings Challenge account. 

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 December report.....

I have posted my December 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 December .
The extra amount we ended the month of  December with?.......$2,147.75.

Income

We had $1,908.85 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in December totaled $238.90.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, stock dividends, a per diem for Hubs' work and a bank deposit from my electronic coupon account.

This brought us to our gain of $2147.75.
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Usually goes into savings.......except we have already surpassed our $24K savings goal for 2014 AND we have a $4K insurance deductible that kicked in on Jan 1st.
Because of this, I am only sending half of December's savings amount toward the $24K Savings Challenge.  Half of what we saved in December is $1,073.87.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The cable/internet was $39.95.  This is slightly more than November's bill but we had a credit last month.

*  Phone charges were approximately the same as last month.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS
.
*  The electric bill was up $126.13 over November due to heating.  This cost will continue to increase for the next 2 months and then start decreasing again.

*  The water bill was up $8.17 from last month, mostly due to College Boy being home in Dec.

*  Cash spending increased by $530 from last month, mostly due to Christmas and traveling.
*  The credit card bill(paid off each month)was up $267.16, mostly due to a car repair.
*  We had some irregular spending too in December--birthday monies, charity donations and driver's license renewal costs, all came to $279.50.

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 12 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2014 is $27,427.06.

 Even with only sending half of December's leftover cash into the Savings Challenge we were able to surpass our $24,000.00 goal by $3,427.06.
Yeah us!!! 8-)))

THOUGHTS going forward---
In 2013 we were able to save $24,033.60 in our Savings Challenge.  Our 2014 amount saved was $3,393.46 more than the previous year.  I guess it was due to a slight pay increase for Hubs and a few lower costs/bills throughout the year.
I am still considering what $ goal to shoot for in 2015.  I don't see our income changing much this year and so far our expenses look to be stable so I may increase the goal a bit from last year's of $24K since we surpassed that one.
$28K perhaps???
More on this later in the month.
 

 

So how was your December financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in December?
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?

How much were you able to save in 2014?
Do you have a regular savings goal?

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