A Last Minute Rite-Aid Trip

Hubs said he needed some medicated shampoo so we went up to Rite-Aid late Saturday and I worked that item into my transaction.
Saturday was the Friends and Family 30% off Day(30% off or sale price applied, whichever was less).  While this was a good thing, it also tripped me up for a moment.

I did the Spend $30/Get $10 in Points P&G Deal(included 6 bottles of Pantene 'Poo, 4 rolls of Bounty Basic, 4 bottles of Dawn dish soap and 2 boxes of Puffs facial tissue), got his 'Poo, bought a bottle of Men's Dove 'Poo and also bought 2 large boxes of R-A brand Q-Tips(College Boy is a Q-Tip addict).

Total before Qs was $44.01 + .95¢ in tax=$44.96

I bought enough shampoo that I could use the $5/$25 Beauty purchase RA Q(from the Beauty Mag in store) and I had these other coupons--
*2 x $5/3 bottles of Pantene ManQ
*4 x .30¢/1 Dawn IPQ
*4 x .50¢/1 Bounty single roll IPQ
*2 x .35¢/1 Puff tissue IPQ
*1 x $2/1 Dove men's 'Poo CatalinaQ

Qs came to $20.90 plus another $2.25 in Load2Card Qs came off(a $2/1 Dove and a .25¢/1 for either Dawn or Puffs?) so $23.15 off.

$44.96-$23.15=$21.81

I put $1.94 of the OOP on my free R-A gift card so $19.87 spending down my Plenti Points.
I received $10 back in new Points(for spending $30 on P&G items), so $9.87 OOP after the new points were added to this card.

I also have a $2/1 Dove shampoo SavingStar Rebate that I earned so after that comes in I am "out" $7.87 for all these items.

I didn't get the P&G Plenti Points because the 30% made my total under $30 so I had to buy 3 x .99¢ items in a second transaction to reach the $30 threshold.

The Pantene which should have been $4 each on sale but with the 30% Day Coupon was only $3.49 after discount, so I was a bit short of $30 spent to get the $10 P&G Plenti points.
darn!

I had to go back in and get 2 more Dawn and another Puffs(as that is what I had more coupons for)and I paid on a free gift card for those.....

Even so, $9.87 spend down of my Plenti Points for all that isn't bad, is it?
Especially when you figure the medicated 'Poo and RA brand Q-Tips came to $9.54 + tax alone.  That means everything else was basically free?

The Dove men's 'Poo was $3.63 after 30% discount, I had a $2/1 CatQ AND then  noticed afterwards that a Load2Card for $2 off also came off during the first transaction, so it turned into a .37¢ moneymaker.  And once I get the $2 SavingStar Rebate Rite-Aid will have paid me $2.37 to buy that bottle.  8-)

Another "Bonus" during these transactions is that all those Pantene bottles had bonus product samples attached too.

I am now waiting for Hubs to bring home a Sunday paper to see if we got a particular coupon or two that was suppose to be in this week's inserts or not.
If we did, I'll be going back up to Rite-Aid today for some more inexpensive hair products.

Did you get anything cheap or free at Rite-Aid this past week?

Sluggy

TO-DO List.....November Update

Let's see how I did with my November To-Do List.

NOVEMBER

* Have Car Tuned FAIL--I couldn't get an appt. at the car shop until Dec. 1st, but it's done now. ;-)

* Reorder DMEs DONE--Ordered, arrived and they've bill my insurance.  They offered to send me a 90 Day supply so I consented to that so that I won't have to refill early in the new year when our high deductible resets and we are paying fully out of pocket for DMEs.  When I got the invoice it says I am now on a automatic reorder schedule they also signed me up for.....oh, hell no!lolz  I'll be calling them in January to get off of that as I order when I need stuff.

* Clean Living/Dining Rooms DONE--Well it got done "enough" to get through company coming for Thanksgiving but isn't a thorough cleaning.  When College Boy is here for school break I'll get him to help me with this when we take down the Holiday trimmings.  For now it's off the list.

* Cancel XM Radio DONE--Actually Hubs had to do this as the account was in his name.  But then again, it's on my list because I had to keep nagging at him to take care of this. lol
I am not in the car enough to justify paying for satellite radio anymore.  

* Wash Windows PARTIALLY DONE--I got 4 done and the French doors downstairs plus CB did the front storm door.  I'll save the rest of them for 2016 as this is a good January activity while CB is home.

* Get 10 Items up on eBay FAIL--Nope, I just couldn't bring myself to do this.  I don't relish the thought of dealing with eBay so close to Christmas and going away in October meant I didn't get anything listed that month, which is when I like to list for Xmas(and have all the listings close by the end of Nov.)  Perhaps I'll put some non-Xmasy items up in January when I have lots of free time?

*Sew 2 Pair of Pants DONE--I got all the cut-out pants sewn up.  Of course some of them aren't hemmed yet and the PJ ones don't have elastic in the waists as I need CB home to measure for that.

* Bike 30 Miles DONE--I set a modest goal for this and surpassed it even with half-assed effort.

38 Miles done.
Go me. 

* Gather Salvation Army Donation DONE--

* Drop of SA Donation DONE--Got it delivered before Thanksgiving.

* Gather Food Bank Donation DONE--Between grocery items I had picked up in the 2 months before November, toiletries gleaned from my stockpile, and the things bought on my November Food Monies here is what went over......

* Drop off Food Bank Donation DONE--Got this delivered before Thanksgiving too.

* Clean out Basement PARTIALLY DONE--All my inventory from my ceramic shop business is still sitting in our basement since moving here in 2000.  This includes many, MANY ceramic molds as well as unpainted bisque.  We got all the bisque out of the collapsing cardboard boxes(except for 4 boxes)and it's now sitting on wooden shelves and boards.  We also found most of my gnome collection mixed in with this business stuff and that is now reboxed and in the garage until I figure out what to do with it all.
Another surprise(a pleasant one!)we found down there is my ceramic Nativity set which I had made back in the late 1980's before I had kids.......

It disappeared shortly after we moved here in 2000 and I had given it up for lost.  When we first moved in all the stuff that we didn't have a place for yet went into the basement.  I had thought everything but the ceramic supplies and the eBay inventory had come out of there that first year in this house.  As I emptied my storage units I always hoped I'd find this set somewhere among all the eBay inventory, fabric and toiletries I had stashed in there but never did.
This just made my day!
We still have wooden pallets that need to be broken up, brought out of the basement and gotten rid of down there and a whole lot of cleaning to do with the floor so this will get done over the Winter so I can cross this Job off my list.

* Hold a Giveaway DONE--It was held in November and a winner picked....

* Mail out Giveaway Box DONE--It was mailed out and received before November ended.

* Pick-up CB from School DONE--Hubs and I both went to fetch College Boy....and lots of his stuff too!

* Cook Turkey Day meal DONE--I was very organized this year and everything came out well.

* Take CB back to School DONE--I got one photo of him this time, right before left to go back.
He looks excited, doesn't he? ;-)

* Make Xmas Card List DONE--Now all I have to do is to actually WRITE THE CARDS! Can you tell this is not one of my most favorite things? lolz

* Make Xmas Gift List DONE--List was compiled over September-November and as of Nov. 30th most everything has been bought/acquired.  I have one more present to purchase and a couple of checks to write and the list and procurement are complete.
Yay!


I've already got my December TO-DO List up on the side bar(pretty fast for me, right?lol)and I'm plugging away at that too.
The Basement Cleaning moves to Dec. but the Window Washing will wait until January's List.

How did you do at getting your November TO-DO List completed?

Sluggy

Can It Be?....More Weis This Week??

New sales ad started on Thursday and I went over to Weis(PMITA)Markets since Thursday is still the day here to check for Produce, Bakery and Meat markdown stickers.
Let's just say I hit the meaty motherlode!

Here are the most exciting parts of my trip.......

Weis facial tissue was marked down to $1 per box and I had a .25¢ off WeisQ so that was .75¢.
The Tribe hummus big tubs were marked 1/2 Off so $2.99 for that.
I wanted to see if the $1/1 Angel Soft coupons dotcom would work on the Angel Soft packs for $3.87 this week at Weis.  It did so I got that TP for $2.87 and it counts toward the $5 Angel Soft Rebate on SavingStar...woohoo!

Then I hit meat gold.

This variety of a local PA meat company's bacon, honey cured lower sodium, had $3 instant discount stickers on it as they are coming cose to their sell by date.
This Kunzler bacon runs $6.49 a package at our Weis but it just came on sale Thursday for $6 a package.
With those $3 off stickers it made this bacon $3 a package.
Can I get an Amen for cheap bacon?!? ;-)
I "only" bought 6 packages....yes I left a few for others.

The 2 Johnsonville Beef Brats were on sale for $3.50 this week and had $2 off stickers on them, so cost me $1.50 each for Beef Brats.
The 4 Hillshire Farms Cheddar Wurst Brats were on sale for $3 this week and also had $2 off stickers on them, so cost me $1.00 per package.

This order with other items included(and everything bought was on sale)came to $42.83 for $100.46 worth of reg. retail food.  $65.48 of that reg. retail was meat.

A 57% savings rate for all.

I went back to Weis today to get more Angel Soft toward the SS Rebate, get a Friday only Deal or two(ground beef and chicken)and to see if I could find anymore instant meat discount stickers.

And I spent another $34.55 on more groceries and saved 60%.....

I made a little video for this trip and maybe putting it up before the Friday Deals Sale ends today at Weis others can get in on them except YouTube too so long to upload this but there ya go......



I've spent more than 1/3 of my December grocery budget so far but if I can get awesome deals I am ok with it.


Sluggy

$28K Savings Challenge.....November 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 November report.....

I have posted my November 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 November with a Large amount leftover.
The extra amount we ended the month of November with?.......$4362.03

Income

We had $4085.11 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in November totaled $276.92.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts and blogging revenue.

This brought us to our gain of $4,362.03
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this November, 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 cash withdrawals were the same amount as in October.
*  The water bill was down another $8.38 from October.
*  The electric bill was only up $39.97 from last month.  With electric heat this is an amazing total for heat and lights, etc. for November in northern, mountainous PA.
*  The credit card was only up $38.05.  Seeing as it's the Holidays that practically being the same as last month.  ;-)
*  The medical co-pay bills went down by $718.64 in November.

HERE are the BAD THINGS(and the not so bad)
.
*  The gas card bill went up $49.03 from last month.
*  There were two irregular bill expenses--two store credit card bills totaling $185.35 which were paid in full.

The Bad List was nice and short this month.  8-)

The Food Budget costs for November are in another post, which is located  HERE.  I stayed under my $300 budgeted amount(on this report grocery money comes out of "Cash")on that expense.
Plus I included some spending for the Food Bank donation in those monies so a Win/Win.

November was a fairly inexpensive month for us, but not the least expensive for 2015. Cheapest bill month's for us so far in 2015 are July, November, February and April from 1st to 4th respectively. These are typically the months we don't pay the irregular expenses in so that makes perfect sense, right? ;-)

The 2015 TOTAL.....
With 11 months accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2015 is $38,451.79.
That savings amount averages $3,495.61 a month put into savings so far. 

We have well surpassed our $28K Savings Goal by $10K+ at this point in the year.
And there is one more month left to save some more though I don't expect to be able to shove much more into my goal for 2015 since we need to keep some of the December savings in reserve to put toward high medical deductibles which reset in January.  8-(
It would be "nice" however to be able to sock away another $1,548.21 into the 2015 Savings Challenge in December.  That would give us a total of $40 Thousand saved this year.
I like nice round figures, don't you? 8-)

Final thoughts on November---
More monthly bills were down rather than up this month and we kept our usual monthly costs fairly low.  Not bare bones low but still pretty low.

THOUGHTS going forward into December----

I'll have a $467+ co-pay from my first cataract surgery to pay as the insurance company finally sent the dr. a payment leaving me on the hook for another $467+. sigh.  But this is the last of the cataract surgery bills and I am NOT looking back! lolz
Same eye doctor's office screwed up Hubs bill which came last week to the tune of a $185 overcharge.  It is suppose to be about $31. Yikes!  The billing department was contacted and they are sending out a new invoice with the correct amount.  But still that's almost $500 more in medical co-pays(over and above our usual prescription & DME co-pays for a month)that are due in December plus about $40 in Physical Therapy co-pays which the bill for the PT should be arriving soon too.

As for the holidays, most everything is already bought and paid for, from gifts to traveling arrangements and will appear on the December c/c statement and then I need to write a few checks.
The credit card bill is paid in full each cycle so there will be no January c/c hangover nor any interest paid on any Holiday gifts.

With 11 months behind us we have surpassed our savings goal in 2015 by a wide margin!
Even so, I am NOT letting up on socking cash away for the last 1 month of the year.  Expenses in December should be about average for us so we will have some leftover money come Dec. 31st.

But with the 2016 high medical deductibles kicking in Jan. 1st I am unsure how much we'll be able to put toward the Savings Challenge in December.  I like to carryover at least $1K of any leftover $ from December into January to put toward those insurance costs.  I am guessing I'll have about $1000? more to put toward the Savings Challenge next month.  Not sure but come back next month to see how it turned out.

So how was your November financially?
  

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

December 2015 Net Worth Snapshot

December 1 Net Worth Snapshot

We are $10,117.81 up from last month's net worth(only liquid cash/investments, as I don't count housing or car values).  Over $4K of that if due to savings put away in December from our household accounts.  The other half of the uptick is from our retirement/investment accounts.

We are also $125,000  up from one year ago, the December 1st of 2014 net worth.

Once Hubs retires I will miss these little monthly look backs, when we move from acquisition mode with money to spend-down mode. ;-)


Sluggy