This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Boy Did I Have Some Energy!" Edition--

Usually when I get home from traveling I am a slug and don't want to do anything besides the basics.
Not this time!
We picked up  fresh farm produce and reduced meats on the way home and I marinated veggies and steak and put up 3 bags of green beans that evening.  Then I made peach jam the next morning.  Today I have to blanch and freeze the rest of the corn on the cob I bought too.  This week may also find me getting more green beans to prep and put up for winter too as the beans are cheap and nice looking right about now around here.

By the end of this week between harvesting/putting up veggies and getting College Boy packed up to go back to school I may collapse.  Stay tuned to see how it all turns out.... ;-)

 

Onward to the meal planning!

 

Here's what was planned last week.......

1. Sunday--Kielbasa(from the freezer), rolls, onions, pickles
2. Monday--crab cakes and fish, leftover cole slaw, leftover stir-fry veggies
3. Tuesday--leftover roast chicken made into something TBD, grilled yellow squash
4. Wednesday--maybe Chinese take-out or "breakfast for dinner"
5. Thursday--eating out
6, Friday--eating out
7. Saturday--leftovers(risotto?)and veggies

 

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Kielbasa(from the freezer), rolls, onions, pickles
2. Monday--crab cakes and shrimp, leftover cole slaw, leftover stir-fry veggies
3. Tuesday--leftover roast chicken, grilled yellow squash & onions
4. Wednesday--Chinese take-out
5. Thursday--Eating Out--Lunch-fish Sandwich/Fried Dinner-Steak Sandwich and Soup
6, Friday--Eating Out--Lunch-bbq Sandwich Dinner-Steak, Salad and Mac and Cheez
7. Saturday--Eating Out--Lunch-Chicken Salad Sandwich and Fruit Dinner-leftovers(I had hot and sour soup from my Chinese take-out)

We had a big dinner on Monday as College Boy was off from work and home for the meal. I also tried to use up some leftovers before and after we got home from Virginia last week.

Hubs was off on Wednesday(we didn't leave for VA until Thursday)so we pan fried slabs of the cheese grits, eggs and ham casserole thing I made for breakfast.  It tasted better but nobody is enamored of that dish so we'll probably toss the rest and I'll never do THAT experiment again. lolz
 

As for my grocery spending last week.....

I didn't even go into a grocery store last week until Saturday(Aug. 1st)on our way home from VA.
So there was no grocery spending last week of July and I've already posted my July Food Totals last Thursday.

Leftovers going into this week--risotto. The grits casserole gets pitched and everything else was eaten.  I'll probably throw the rest of the risotto into the freezer since no one seems eager to eat it this week.
 

Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--Marinated Steak and Grilled Veggies, Corn on Cob
2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Green Bean Saute
3. Tuesday--Crusted Tilapia, Yellow Squash and Onions
4. Wednesday--Pizza and/or Wings at local place(I have a freebie Q)
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad, Garlic Bread
7. Saturday--Leftovers or Hot Dogs and assorted leftover fresh veggies

What I need to buy for this menu?.....I don't need a thing. 
The garden is giving up goodly amounts of squash now and I stopped at a produce stand on the way home near Bealeton VA and got fresh beans, corn, zuke, tomatoes(REAL TOMATOES!), cantaloupes and farm eggs....so I've already done my produce buying for this week. Plus I got some meat deals at a grocery store down in VA too on the way out of Fredericksburg so I've already spent this week.  I'll make a pot of sauce today to slather on the chicken parm and save the bulk to use for my spaghetti on Friday.

I haven't even looked at the grocery ads yet this week but if there are some loss leaders we can use I'll pick them up. Between the grocery meat deals and the produce stand I am already at $61.72 spent on food in August.  $288.28 left of the food budget to spend this 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

Happy August!

No rest for the wicked this first weekend in August!

We got home about 5pm yesterday from Virginia and there was work to be done.
Food bought to put away.......

And beans to snap, blanch and freeze.....

Then it was meat and veggies to marinate for the grill on Sunday before bedtime.

Today I've already made breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, cut up cantaloupe, stocked the fridge with drinks, and cut up peaches..........

And now if you'll excuse me I have peach jam to make and put up, then a deck to sweep and a bathroom to clean.  ;-)

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Sluggy

A Quickie

Can it really be the last day of July?
Can August be right on the horizon?
Can I really be sleeping on a subpar mattress in a sleazy motel in Virginia?

Yes to all!

My Eldest son's "moving to VA plan" has changed a total of 3 times since Tuesday.
This only meant a disruption in "our" plan once.....so far......but it was quite a change.

Hubs and I got into town here mid afternoon yesterday so had some time to kill yesterday.

We found somewhere to go...........

Can you guess where?

If I look like death warmed over it's because I was outside and it was something like 92F in the shade. ugh.
Welcome to Virginia in August.

More later as this adventure develops..........

Sluggy


 

2015 Food and Toiletries Spending.....July Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2015.

I have posted July's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2015 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.  I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in June.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3(3-4 at home this month). No kids under 19. 
Remember too that youngest son's friend often stays over at our house during the school break and eats here sometimes so I am feeding an additional person sporadically.

******************
BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $7.50
Value  $35.22
Savings  78.71%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $9.05
Value  $21.65
Savings  58.20%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $44.38
Value $67.57
Savings  34.32%

MALACHI's(produce market)
OOP  $3.97
Value $6.99
Savings   43.20%

RITE-AID
OOP  $100.00
Qs/Ads  $61.03
Value  $161.03
Savings  37.90%

 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $3.42

Qs/Ads  $0

Value  $3.42

Savings  0%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP  $56.32
Value  $91.39
Savings  38.37%

TARGET
OOP  $0.00
Value  $40.46
Savings  100%
 

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $227.26

Qs/Ads  $228.99

Value  $456.25

Savings  50.19%
 

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Target at 100%, the Bakery Outlet at 78.71% and Dollar Tree at 58.20%.  My WORST savings rate(besides the local market were I just bought a gallon of milk and milk is NEVER on sale in PA so it was 0% savings there)was Maine Source at 34.32%.

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.   Lots of single transactions at lots of stores. The only store I shopped at repeatedly was Weis.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........ $451.90

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$432.08

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$883.98

TOTAL Savings of...................................48.88%

This closes out the July food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into July wanting to do a $300 food budget for the month....after June's spending topped out at $602.03 it was time to reign things in.  8-(
Well if I hadn't bought those Rite-Aid gift cards(to use later in the year to get awesome deals) I could have done a $350.90 spending month and that would have been closer to my target.

The monthly savings percentage went down by 6.72 % in July to 48.88% compared to June's 55.60% average.  If I hadn't purchased the R-A gift cards my monthly savings percentage would have been 53.11% which would have been a 2.49% reduction in savings.

The savings rate for the whole year so far now stands at 58.12%.  That's a 1.4 % decrease in savings over June's YTD total(59.52%).  It's still hanging in well over a 40% savings rate for the year so it's all good. 

I have spent a total of $2,803.56 on food/toiletries in 2015 so far at this point in the year. That averages out to $400.51 per month so just over $400 average per month.  Not a bad thing but I can do better.

June's Grocery Spend Fest  raised the average monthly spending by $42.10 more per month for the year-to-date.
And May's spending raised the average monthly spending by $41.47.  
With July's average monthly spending at $400.51 we are finally heading in the right direction!

With College Boy going back to school next month(and no more coffee, snacks, chicken strips, soda, etc. being bought) I should be able to get this food spending even lower.

If you take my halfway through 2015 total and extrapolate it out for the full year, we are on track to achieve a $4,703.32 Food/Toiletries Spending Year for 2015.

LOOKING AHEAD To AUGUST.........

We'll try for a $350 food budget for AUGUST.  I am done buying special snacks and foods for College Boy for the Summer and he goes back to school on the 15th of August.  Granted I'll have a few items to pick up for him to take to school as he goes back a week before classes start for Marching Band Camp and he'll need food for that week plus snacks and bottled water for the Fall semester.  I've picked up over the course of this Summer some provisions for him to take back to school already, working those expenses into my monthly food shopping budget(drinks, coffee, canned pasta, ramen cups, cereal, etc.)so we shouldn't have to spend much this month, if anything thing, on foods/toiletries for him.

We do need to eat down some proteins in the freezer including a turkey breast this August.  Just getting that out will make quite a bit of room in there for late Summer produce buys coming up I wish to freeze.
 

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 July?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
 

Sluggy

College Bureaucracy Hell.....Better Than a Video Game

I have never had the problems dealing with institutions of higher learning(aka universities)with my older 2 children as I have had dealing with them in regards to child number 3, College Boy.

The older 2 by their sophomore year were pretty much on top of things and I was on autopilot with regard to having to "deal" with anything concerning their schooling, other than filling out the dreaded FAFSA each Winter and writing the checks to fund said schooling.

But this kid........!?!

Need I say more?
Yes, yes I do.....a lot more!

First off he is so off in his own world that he totally missed signing up for Fall term 2015 classes last Spring.  He DID make it to "Make-Up Day" but some of the classes he wanted/needed were filled.
He also totally missed Housing/Dining sign-ups for Fall 2015 back during his Spring 2015 term.
Then he missed the Housing "Make-Up Day" altogether.  He says it was because he wanted to room next year with a particular student and then gave me a story about how they need to both simultaneously submit their info/choices to Housing in order to get a room together.
And of course, that didn't even turn out to be accurate.

Now these educational institutions KNOW what the brain of a teenage boy is like.....dealing with them on a regular basis, how could they NOT know this, right?
Yet they handle things in such a way as to set them up for failure with getting all this completed correctly and in a timely manner.

The first thing schools do is NOT allow access to anything concerning the student by their parents.
Who decided this was a good idea?  Especially since the vast majority of parents are footing the bills for these students!
I know it's a privacy issue but every acceptance letter to college should come packaged with it, besides the forms to start applying for housing/classes/dining and financial aid, a form for the student to sign to allow their parents access to school information.

I find it ridiculous that even though I am still legally responsible for this child and I am paying his freaking bills! that I am not allowed to see any information pertaining to him/his grads/his balances due unless HE shows it to me.  Or he signs something they keep on file at the school that gives me permission to even speak to someone in charge about his matriculation at said school.

I don't even get access online to his account and he has to log in and show me the information I need to find.

We got a card from the school about 2 weeks ago informing us that his Fall invoice for school would be available online on July 24, 2015 and that payment was due in full(unless you opted for a billing plan)by August 7, 2015.  That's a 2 week window of opportunity and cuts it very close if you are an old fogey and mail a check rather than put this on your credit card or debit card.

So I try to go online and access the bill and hopefully just pay it electronically since it is faster.
But no, I can't access the bill.
So I have to find an opportunity when College Boy is awake when I am also awake and not practicing his instrument or rushing off to work his part time job.
Easier said than done I tell!

We finally are both free and awake on Monday his day off.  He has to go online on HIS computer since the school's website won't let him log in from my computer.
And I finally get to see the bill and save it to a flash drive so I can print it out forms from my machine.

But the Invoice/Bill says there is half of a $6,500 student loan applied to this bill!
A student loan nobody here applied for......
And to boot it is unsubsidized meaning interest accrues and builds as soon as it is disbursed. yuck.

College Boy looks at the loan amount and says that's cool and now he'll be able to spend more of our money of crap like pizza and going out at school.  I have to explain to him that an unsubsidized loan will grow as soon as you start the clock on this money and by the time he is in a position to start paying this back(and yes, YOU are paying this back, not your father and I!)after graduating and finding a real job, it will be far more than what they are loaning you.

So now I have to call the school and find out 1-why this loan is on his account, and 2-how to get it removed.
And when I called on Tuesday morning of course since CB hadn't signed a FERPA form to give us access to  his records they can't talk to me.  I tell her, "Well if you want to get paid for him to attend school there somebody had better talk to me about something because I pay his bills!" lolz

So she allows me to ask about this student loan issue and then informs me that Noah has to call or email a certain person in their Financial Aid office who handles the direct student loans and request that it be rejected.  I can't do this, even if he had signed a FERPA form.
So now it's on CB to handle this detail.

While nosing around on CB's online account at the school I came across an interesting item tucked in some corner of the site.
The reason we NEVER receive any paper communication from this school(other than this 1 card in the Fall and another 1 in the Spring)is because if you want paper communication you have to OPT IN!
So let me get this straight........you are only going to communicate with the bill paying parents electronically(unless you opt into paper communications which you never let us know we need to do this)but do NOT allow these bill paying parents electronic access to their student's information/account/emails.

Give it a minute to let that all sink in.

Is this all kinds of messed up or what?!?!

I just wonder how many kids show up for move-in day at college with their bill not paid and clueless parents? lolz

ATTENTION COLLEGES--Parents are old, old fashioned and use to PAPER COMMUNICATIONS for IMPORTANT STUFF!  This is how things worked in our world for forever.  We are not 20 somethings use to an electronic everything!
Make Paper the default and let parents OPT OUT if they wish.

So if this craziness isn't enough--now I have to deal with the Residential Life stuff of Housing and Dining.
College Boy's bill says he is on the 14 Meal per Week plan.  I suppose since he was on that one last year and he missed the sign-up/change date they just kept that one on his agenda.
We found that with his schedule last year that he was NOT eating 14 meals a week at the school's facilities.  We were paying gosh knows how much each semester for uneaten meals which drove me crazy!
So there was a 10 Meal per week plan and something called a 175 Block Meal Plan.  These 2 plans were within $2 of each other in price so the same financial outlay basically.  But of course the school's website didn't explain what the difference was between them besides $2.
After emailing the school last week and waiting a full WEEK for a reply explaining what makes these 2 plans different I finally did on Monday.
They both supply an average of 10 meals per week but if you don't use 10 meals a week they carry over into the following week, etc. until the semester ends on the Block Plan. 
This will be a much better option for CB and will result in NOT wasting money on food he doesn't eat.
So we changed his meal plan and will save about $125 a semester(big whoop, right?).  This savings I can use to throw some money at him if he runs short of $ for food during the semester if need be.

Then it was on to the Housing issue. 
He had finally selected a room option in May and luckily they still have available units(even though the sign-up deadline was long past).  And they had paired him with a suite mate and he isn't rooming with this frat brother friend.
So I ask about making a change to a room with said frat brother.
Housing would have to move him out of his current suite and put him in a vacant suite(if they can find one of the option he chose).  Then this frat brother has to request being removed from his current room and put into the CB's new room.  This would be problematic at best seeing as CB would have to get in touch with frat brother in the next 2 week's and get him to handle the request on his end.

But then when the Housing person looked even if they want to try to get this changed they can't because frat brother's parents are paying for a cheaper/different room option.....so frat brother would have to have his parents cough up more cash for the upgraded suite to make this even possible.
So at least we know and CB can get his sulk over this glitch in his plan out of the way before he shows up at school.

So I have mailed out the school payment this morning and am waiting on CB to call the Financial Aid Office to get the loan removed and for the school to correct the bill.  Worse case scenario(other than if the loan co. disburses the money to the school before Financial Aid contacts them)the school says that I have overpaid CB's fall bill.  I can live with that for now.

And we won't be filling out a FAFSA this January for CB's Junior year.  It's just a waste of time on our part seeing as "we are rich" according to the government.
Senior year he will need to take out some loans especially if he has to do an unpaid internship and live on his own in an apartment, somewhere in the country outside of where his school is located for that. 
But until that is needed we are opting OUT of FAFSA.

College Boy's school's Estimated Cost to Attend is $25,280.
Our calculated EFC(or Expected Family Contribution) by FAFSA is $55,111.

CB thus gets nothing for school....no financial needs scholarships, no subsidized loans or state grants.
The only tax benefit we get is a possible $2500 back for the American Opportunity Tax Credit when we file our taxes.
Oh boy......

So if you want some fun and entertainment in your mundane life, go sent a kid off to school.  It's better than a video game.
Though buying a gaming system would be a helluva lot cheaper!

Three more years of this stuff and then you can stick a fork in me and call me DONE!!!

Sluggy