This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Roller Coaster Ride Week" Edition--

 

It was a week of highs and then a week of really low lows.
A great time was had at Chez Sluggy mid week when company arrived.  Meeting people you have known for years only online is 'da bomb!
Then another blogger friend took his own life which sent me crashing to the depths of despair.
Then to add to my agony I have temporary lost the use of my foot.
And yesterday my Daughter flew into PA for a visit and that has lifted me back up.

 A few more highs and less lows is all I am asking for, for this coming week.


Onward to the meal planning!

 

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

1. Sunday--Collards, leftover zuke in sauce, fried Flounder
2. Monday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Zuke w/Tomato sauce, Garlic Bread
3. Tuesday--Mixed veggie Stir-fry, Garlic Soy chicken(using grilled chicken leftovers), Rice(for Hubs)
4. Wednesday--Chili(Hubs will have rice too)
5. Thursday--?
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

 

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Collards, leftover zuke in sauce, fried Flounder
2. Monday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Zuke w/Tomato sauce, Garlic Bread
3. Tuesday--6" Subway sandwich
4. Wednesday--Steak dinner out w/friends
5. Thursday--Chili(I don't eat chili, I had a Hamburger and leftover Collards)
6. Friday--Denny's(I had fish and chips and a salad)
7. Saturday--Stromboli take-out
 

As for my grocery spending last week......Hubs bought a pack of hamburger rolls, 2 containers of panko(we were out and they were on sale) and half gallon of milk(also out of this).
I did not go to the grocery stores last week.
$6.92 spent.
 

Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--Chinese take-out
2. Monday--cook-out foods(burgers, dogs, corn, etc.)
3. Tuesday--?
4. Wednesday--?
5. Thursday--?
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

I am bedridden at the moment due to my foot.  My daughter is here visiting so either she will be cooking for us or we will survive the week on more take-out meals Hubs brings home, at least until I am able to walk around again and get downstairs.  It's at times like these when I wish our house was all on one level.....
I have no plan this week so far.  If I improve enough I'll come up with a plan then.
Otherwise, I am at the whim of Hubs and Daughter. ;-)


What I need to buy for this menu?......no clue. It depends on what Daughter wants to cook.
 

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

The Long Weekend at Chez Sluggy

Not much has been going on, yet a lot has been going on here this weekend.

My foot started hurting me on Tuesday and by Friday it was quite unbearable so up to the ER Hubs took me that evening after he got off of work.

The pain was akin to what I experienced 2 Septembers ago when a blood clot was found in my ankle via an ultrasound test.
That clot required Heparin shots and Coumadin pills and blood tests every 3-4 days to get it to dissolve and then a maintenance routine of tests and pills for the next 6 months for me to be able to walk again on that foot.

Well this was the same foot(left)and very similar symptoms/pain in said foot earlier in the week.

ER techs did an ultrasound and no clots were found anywhere in the foot or leg.
Then X-rays were taken to rule out any bone/tendon/ligament breaks/tears/spurs/etc. in the foot.

So an infection was diagnosed, antibiotics and painkillers prescribed and 6 hours after entering the ER I was sent home to rest and take said medications, elevate the leg if possible, and follow-up with my PCP next week.

The Culprit.

This foot has had chronic swelling for the last 20 years....since I gave birth to College Boy.
I have a condition in my legs that can lead to infection but since the foot is always swollen, I can't deduce that anything is wrong with said foot unless there is severe pain when standing on the foot.
Basically since I've had this condition in my legs I've never had an infection in the foot due to the condition.

So I have basically been bed bound since yesterday.  I can get up to use the bathroom and I made it downstairs and back once yesterday, but that took a lot out of me.

Poor Hubs had been at my beck and call all weekend fetching me drink and eats and entertainment(my computer). 
My routine at the moment is wake up and take meds then go back to sleep.....eat and potty and go back to sleep......check the computer before tiring and go back to sleep.

I am so glad it is NOT a blood clot and just an infection.  Funny thing, that I am glad to have an infection. lolz

I have decided that painkillers are lovely things. 8-)))

I am off to take another round of meds, use the bathroom and, yes you guessed it, go back to sleep.

My daughter is arriving this evening for her first visit home in over 2 years.  Perhaps I can stay awake more than 30 minutes at a clip once she gets here. ;-)

I hope you are having a nice relaxing holiday at your house.....

Sluggy
 

The State of the Stockpile

Well I got the pantry cleaned/organized a couple of weeks back after College Boy went back to school.

The before shot.............

And the after shot.........

I got rid of the cardboard box and put all the small appliances from it into an extra Rubbermaid tub we had laying around.  Multiple of the same items that were opened were combined, thus taking up less space.  Item CB had brought in from the stockpile to use and then changed his mind and then shoved into the pantry were put back into the stockpile.  Now the only items in the pantry are opened items being used and maybe if that open item is almost empty another of the same kind, ready to be pressed into service.  Also in here are unopened items which will be used in the coming week's meal plan and/or items used often like a can of tomatoes, tomato paste, a box of pasta, a can of soup or beans, etc.
The large paper bag holds my onions and there is a bag of potatoes behind it. 
The only exceptions are my dried beans and a bag of sugar which critters might get into if kept in the garage.

In conjunction with cleaning out and organizing the pantry I also thoroughly went through my stockpile of foodstuffs(you know, the shelf stable canned, boxed, bagged, bottled stuff)in the garage, cleaning and organizing that.

It took me 3 full days to get it all gone through and organized again.
Between me just throwing grocery store purchases happenstance on the shelves and College Boy taking items out then changing his mind about eating said items and shoving them into the pantry instead of back in the stockpile, both locations were an utter disaster!!

In progress after Day One of cleaning......items all over my antique sewing machine cabinet, some items still on the floor and only 2 shelves organized.

So I moved everything around and put it all back into some sort of order.  Amazingly, I only had to throw out about 10 items that got pushed to the back and forgotten and not eaten before it was safe to do so.
Barbecue sauce from 2010 and a can of condensed sweetened milk from 2007?  No thanks! lolz

As I reorganized I also made sure to rotate stock so that "first in" gets used first, going forward. 8-)

Everything can be seen now and is grouped and arranged by "last in, first out".  Plus most items are off the floor too(except for those gallon jugs of tea and our "alcohol stockpile" which is a whole other story. lolz

Over the last 2 years we have actually reduced the amount of the stockpile.  We have two industrial type metal shelving units(one is pictured above)with 5 shelves on each as well as 3 dinky metal shelving units w/5 shelves each, like they sell at Home Depot.  Every single shelf was filled with food/paper/cleaning products!
Now we are down to using 8 of the 10 industrial shelves and 9 of the 15 dinky shelves.

So here is the state of the stockpile.

And these are the items I don't even need to THINK about buying again before 2016--

ketchup no-salt
mustard
relish
pickles
tartar sauce
pie crust mix
baking/pancake/waffle mix
salad dressing
tomato paste
canned tomatoes
canned soup for cooking
canned soup for eating as soup
baked beans
canned chili
canned beets
barbecue sauce
various marinades
coconut oil
olive oil
veg. oil
spray oil
solid shortening(Crisco)
mayo
taco shells
100% juices
steak sauce
most spices I use regularly
sugar
cold cereal
oatmeal
coffee
tea bags
tuna fish
green chiles
rice
pasta
brownie mixes
cake mixes
muffin mixes
cashews
walnuts
pecans
peanut butter
applesauce
prunes
pineapple
pumpkin
dried beans
vinegar
no-cal sports drinks
chocolate milk drink mix
drink mixes
bottled water

And on the non-food side of things--
laundry detergent
dishwasher detergent
dish soap
spray cleaners
toilet paper
paper towels

This list is more for me, to refer to in the coming months before I go food shopping, rather than a report to y'all on what I stockpile.

Currently out of in the stockpile----

panko


How is your food storage looking lately?
Do you stockpile goods when you find them for a good price?

Sluggy

$28K Savings Challenge.....August 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 or these other categories.

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 2015 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $28,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the August report.....

I have posted my August End of Month $28K $AVING$ 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 $2,333.33.

I have to report that we finished up August with a goodly amount leftover.
The extra amount we ended the month of August with?.......$2,862.15

Income

We had $2155.35 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in August totaled $706.80.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a small bonus Hubs received, my blogging revenue, a small car insurance refund and some unused pet boarding vouchers I sold for cash.

This brought us to our gain of $2862.15
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Phone charges and internet  were approximately the same as last month.
*  The gas credit card went down $17.11.  Again, Hubs used the Mastercard more instead of his gas card to buy gasoline.
*  The water bill was down $1.03.
*  The electric bill was down $4.81.
*  Cash withdrawals were down $426.52.
*  Medical bills paid by check were down $121.24, mostly due to the cataract surgeries and follow-ups being mostly paid off in July.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS(and the not so bad)
.
*  The credit card bill was up $1508.50 over July's bill.  This is mostly due to trips to VA and College Boy BTS stuff.
*  Irregular semi-annual expense of Car insurance was due for 1 car this month.
*  Irregular annual expense of House insurance was due this month.

 

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

August has been one of our "most expensive" months so far in 2015.  Our expenses in August came to $4315.93 while July was our cheapest for the year(so far)at $2200.  High credit card spending, and 2 insurance bills in one month will do that to ya!  ;-)

Take those 3 bills in August out of the month and we only spent $1321.25.
I wish we could do that more often. lolz
 

The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 8 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $25,749.07.
That averages $3218.63 a month put into savings so far. 
We have left $2,250.93 to put away this year to reach our $28K Goal.

With $25749.07 saved already we only need to put away $562.73 each of the next 4 months to reach the $28K goal for the year and unless something really bad happens I can do that standing on my head. 8-)

Last September through December I was able to tuck away $14K from our income for those 4 months.  I am not sure if I can replicate that feat in the coming 4 months but I'll give it a shot.  Saving almost $40,000 in a year out of our take home pay + other miscellaneous income streams would be spectacular!

Finally thoughts on August---
More monthly bills were down rather than up except for the credit card.  2 irregular bills put a kybosh on putting even more money away this month.

THOUGHTS going forward into September----

As for irregular expenses.....
We have the school taxes due this month which adds over $2K to our September costs.
We also have the Family Reunion so a bit of travel expenses will be going onto the c/c this month.
Our daughter will be visiting for a week this month so there will be increased spending for this.
Electric and water bills should reduce a bit more in September but not enough to offset the tax bill.  It's going to be a fairly boring month with the money here.

With 8 months behind us we have $25,749.07 down and $2,250.93 left to save in 2015. 

 

So how was your August financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in August?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?
 

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 or commiserate with you!

Sluggy

A Sad Day

I had dinner with Jay back in mid July.  You might remember this photo I posted from that trip.

This would be the last time I would see Jay.

He passed away early this morning I've been told.
My heart is just breaking.

We have lost a gem....... a truly good man who gave more than his share to this world and those in it.
I just don't know what to say beyond that.

You WERE loved while you were here Jay, please know that.

Rest in peace my friend...........

Sluggy