Christmas Time & Beyond in Pictures

Our Christmas in pictures......

Christmas Eve Day we saw this wine bottle tree outside of the beer making supplies store....very clever.  You can't see it well but it had lights rigged up inside the bottles for nighttime veiwing.

While the Santa box and Santa bear and Santa snow globe kept watch over the house, we had out traditional Christmas Eve meal at the local Chinese Restaurant.........

Then it was back home and off to bed to await a visit from the jolly old elf himself!

Santa came!

 Hubs gets a thrift store mug with his home state on it!

Nothing says Christmas like Transformers wrapping paper that is 8 years old. lol

I got me a fancy Vera Bradley wallet to hold my vast amounts of cash.....yeah, right!

Some one left a comment on the blog about showing off a photo of my nativity set that I just rediscovered in the basement after I got it set up.
It doesn't photograph well but here it is.
It's glazed ceramic.  The color is called Royal Copenhagen.

Christmas day we had a nice prime rib dinner with the brother in-law and nephew then exchanged gifts that evening.
It was so warm we had to open windows....crazy weather!

I spent the day after Christmas making this gift to give my sister in-law.

It's a crepe paper snowball.  You use an entire roll of it to wrap the present and then watch the recipient be tortured by having to unroll it all to get at the gift.


I saw this idea online and thought it would be fun to do.
More on this later.

On Sunday we were off to Virginia!

This was the car's dashboard temperature around about the time we hit Maryland.  December 27th and 72F?  Nuts I tell ya'!

We stopped for gas at the Virginia/Maryland border.
$1.89?
Coming from the land $2.39 a gallon this was a good kind of nuts. lolz

A sign at the gas station.....welcome to the South.

And if you have any doubts where you were now, here is a replica of a Confederate ironclad ship at the gas station too. lolz

About dusk saw us crossing the Chesapeake Bay to Virginia Beach.

Oh how I miss living near the water..........

After dinner at my brother's house we settled in for a visit and exchanged gifts.
Here's my sister in-law unwrapping one of her gifts, that snowball......


The next night I took us out for barbecue to the Beach.

Me and the Santa pigs in a heavy rain.

I bought a Groupon for the restaurant and we got this FAMILY FEAST for $25!  Drinks and taxes set us back another $14.00  My brother covered the tip.......

Good food and good company and we even took leftovers back to the house!

They drove us by this house in their neighborhood that they thought I'd like.

The whole yard was done in purple lights!

There was one pink reindeer amid it all.  It was stunning in person, not so much in photos.

We went to the big ass liquor store the next day so Hubs could buy some goodies for himself.

Oh, if they had only made this wine when my kids were little...."Mommy's Time Out".lolz

And the weather got even crazier....

It actually got a few more degrees warmer that day.
Crazy talk for December 29th, even in Virginia!!

The next morning we hit the road toward Fredericksburg.  It was quite foggy once we got to Hampton/the Peninsula.

We got off the interstate to get lunch at Pierce's BBQ and made a wrong turn, ending up at the old entrance to "The Pottery" as we have always called it.

No photos from lunch as Pierce's was an absolute ZOO instead.  It was so bad a couple actually ate their lunch outside on an umbrella shaded picnic table in the pouring rain!!   Must have been some soggy ass Q!  lolz

We went to our son's apartment and then accompanied him grocery shopping and to his big ass liquor store where Hubs bought more goodies.

Then we checked into our hotel and went out to dinner, our son's treat.
I had a Long Island Iced Tea with dinner and they had to pour me back into the car. lolz
Then back to son's apartment to chat until his GF got off work and then we exchanged gifts.

Back to the hotel to get a little sleep.

Breakfast and a swim were the first order of business on New Year's Eve day.

Then we were off to downtown F'burg for lunch.

Pretzel as big as your head and really REALLY good pimento cheese spread with baguette......mmmm

And I didn't even drink there!  No, really I didn't......the menfolk did imbibe however.

The GF looking thrilled here to be having her photo taken, doesn't she? lolz

Group photo outside went much better.....

Back to the hotel for a nap and then eldest son came over to swim too.

We reconvened at dinner time for a corned beef feast cooked by eldest son and we watched a movie until the GF got back from work at 11:30pm.
We had some champagne toasts and ushered in the New Year......

All under the watchful gaze of the Grandkitty......

The next morning it was back on the road to PA.......

A late lunch/early dinner stop in Carlisle and then we headed home.  The last hour of driving was dicey as the snow was falling in fits and bursts.  We could have done without that.

And that is how we closed out the Holidays.

Sluggy

2015 Yearly Goals....How Did I Do?

Here's a recap of my 11 Yearly Goals from 2015.......some day I'll finish up with 2015 recaps but not today. lolz

*  Save $28K of our income this year.
PASS!  Yep, we put away into savings a wonderful $40K in 2015.  

*  Sew and COMPLETE 8 Projects.
PASS!  I made 1 nightgown, 5 pair of  pajama bottoms and 2 pair of shorts(jams).  This doesn't include the repairing and hemming pants sewing I did in 2015.  Yes, I could have gotten more sewing done but I hit the bare minimum goal at least.

*  Lose 40 pounds.
FAIL!  This didn't happen at all.  Well I did lose 15 lbs. at one point in the year but it found me again.  While I didn't lose any weight I did start exercising regularly and I feel better overall.

*  Have eye surgery.
PASS!  Had both eyes done and everything is healed and I see better than I have in 2 years.

*  Go on at least 5 trips for pleasure.
PASS!  We took 2 big road trips(to Louisiana and to Illinois), visited my brother in Virginia with College Boy last January, went to the Family Reunion in Virginia and visited family again in Virginia during the Christmas Holidays.  I also went to Virginia to find Eldest son an apartment and Hubs and I went back to help move him, so technically it was 7 trips but only 5 were pleasure trips.

*  Have 2 House Repair/Improvement Projects completed.
FAIL & PASS
The Bathroom Redo didn't happen but the Outdoor Landscaping Project did.
We have the cash sitting here waiting to spend on the bathroom we just didn't pull the trigger on it.

*  Get rid of 6 boxes of possessions plus some larger items that need disposing of.
PASS!  I sent 11 loads of stuff to charity plus a car load to the Food Bank.  This is well over 6 boxes of possessions.  We also took some of Daughter's stuff to her in LA and then I mailed her some other things. Toiletries were also given to daughter, son and brother in-law.

*  Complete 1 crochet project.
FAIL!  Nope, I didn't even work on it at all during the year.  The project, hook and the yarn sat here right next to my desk all year and I just didn't 'feel it'.  Sad Fail......

*  Reorganize our Personal Files.  Hubs was in charge of filing stuff.
PASS!  I took over the filing thought I should have worked on it more frequently throughout the year it is better and doesn't pile up as badly.  I spent a large amount of time on it back in Jan./Feb. 2015 and purged a lot of  old needless paper.  

*  Start an exercise program and do it every month.
PASS!  I started mid March and have exercised every month without fail.  Of course Sept. and Oct. I did very little(Sept. I hurt my foot and part of Oct. I was in PT and not allowed to bike and the other part of the month I wasn't home w/my equipment.)but I did something every month. And by exercise it doesn't include just walking around or taking walks which I also did. 8-)

*  Gardening.
BARELY PASS.  The garden was a partial success this year.  We only put veggies in the back bed and not the front one(put flowers out front).  Our tomato crop and green beans were a bust but the summer squash and collards did fabulously!

I am going to call 2015 a GOOD Year for my Goals as I passed 8.5 and only failed at 2.5 of them.  Now to come up with 2016 Goals to add to what I didn't get done in 2015.

Did you get something accomplished in 2015 that you set out to do?
Tell us about it in the comments.  8-)

Sluggy

More Rite-Aid This Week

We went to the town South of here to hit a different Rite-Aid to do the Deals on my son's Plenti card.
The transaction was all kinds of screwed up BUT it was all screwed up in MY Favor so I'm good with that.  ;-)

Here's what I bought.........

2 x Dove poo on sale=$7.00
2 x Suave gold poo on sale=$4.98
1 x Vaseline lotion on sale=$5.99
1 x Axe body wash on sale=$3.99
1 x Axe poo on sale=$3.99
1 x Nexxus conditioner on sale BOGO50%=$10.99
1 x Nexxus poo on sale BOGO50%=$3.49
(They only had 1 Nexxus poo at the $6.99 price point unfortunately.)
SubTotal.......$40.43+ $2.07 tax=$42.50

The Nexxus and Vaseline/Dove/Axe/Suave Deals double dip for their own Deals and with the Bonus Starting Points Deals.

How it should have gone is that I gave the clerk my coupons totaling $15.00, making my new subtotal $27.50(w/tax)which I would have paid with Plenti points and I would earn $28.00 in new Plenti points, making this a .50¢ "moneymaker".

But.......when scanning my Plenti card I elected YES use my points on the screen that came up and then, after the clerk scanned all my items he hit the button to finish the transaction and deduct my points BEFORE I handed him my coupons.
ugh.

So then we had a "post coupon" situation, where the clerk gave me $15 in cash for my fistful of coupons worth $15 I didn't get to use on the actual transaction.

That's fine because I'll just tuck that $15 away and consider it "points" once I exhaust all my accumulated Plenti points on this card.
No harm, no foul.

After getting home I looked at my receipt and saw that $42.50 of Plenti points was NOT deducted for my transaction(which is what my subtotal came to before coupons)but only $36.50 was deducted??
Then I looked closer and saw that $6 in Load2Card coupons had come off the transaction that neither of us had noticed. lolz

So I paid $36.50 in Plenti points and received $15 in cash back for the coupons the clerk didn't apply to my purchases, meaning with getting $28 in new Plenti points on the transaction AND $6 in electronic Qs applied to my bill, my .50¢ moneymaker turned into a $6.50 moneymaker.  8-)

Even better, I received $4 in Saving Star Rebates with this transaction too. ($2 Vaseline, $1 Axe hair, $1 Axe body wash)
This means my .50¢ moneymaker that turned into a $6.50 moneymaker had now turned into a $10.50 moneymaker! 8-)))

These "Starting Points" products bought gave me a $10 Bonus in points and I have tracking $10.43 toward a second $30 purchase for a second $10 Bonus in Plenti points.  Meaning I need to spend just $19.57 in SP products to get $10 more in Plenti points.
And if I buy products that also double dip with other Spend $X Get $X Deals I'll not really spend $19.57 in the end to get $10 in new points.
I now need to figure out how to get that last $19.57 spent the cheapest way without actually spending $19.37. 8-)

Grand Total for this week at Rite-Aid........I am "up" $31.27 combined on both Plenti cards/points/cash so far.
Earlier transaction on my card was a $20.77 moneymaker.
This transaction was a $10.50 moneymaker.

Getting paid to buy stuff rocks!


Sluggy

Christmas 2015 Budget/Spending Autopsy

Ok, so calling this an Autopsy is not very festive or cheerful.
So call it "The Post Where I Talk About What I Was Going to Spend for Christmas and What I Actually Spent for Christmas".
Whatever works for you.....

I budgeted $1800 for Christmas spending in 2015.  Except for what Hubs spends on gifts for me, this is our entire spending budget for Christmas.
Last year I budgeted $1900.00 and we spent $1782.47.

Since I did so well staying under budget last year I reduced the 2015 Christmas budget by $100 to $1800.

Our Christmas spending has been tracking upward since I began keeping running totals in 2010.
Except for 2 years, we have upped our spending each successive year.

2010.........$1000 planned/$881.64 spent
2011.........$1300 planned/$851.32 spent
2012.........$1000 planned/$1020.48 spent
2013.........$1650 planned/$2164.77 spent

2014.........$1900 planned/$1742.87 spent

We finally returned to being under budget in 2014 after 2 years of overspending.  I like this new trend more.  ;-)

How do I arrive at a budget for Christmas?  Nowadays I look at what we spent the previous years(because I have a full accounting for the last 5 years or so on the blog)and see where we did well and where we did "not-so-well" with budgeting and add in any unusual things we plan to do and after some papers are balled up and thrown away and there is one sheet left with lots of writing on it(as well as writing scratched out on it), we have a plan and a budget. lolz

No, really.....I look at possible spending categories and what I think we will use and compare it to what we have put aside by September of that year.
I generally use c/c points to get gift cards for free(to either give as presents or use to buy the presents to give), cash in our rolled up change(about $150 a year), use blog income(after I deduct what I pay in shipping all those giveaway boxes to winners each year) and then chunk in a hunk of either the tax refund from that year, a part of Hubs' bonus he receives in Feb./Mar. or a piece of the Savings Challenge $ we saved from the previous year(though I haven't had to use Savings Challenge $ in a long time now).

There are many ways to save ahead for Christmas.....make regular deposits to a dedicated account or a Christmas club at a bank, use a one-time windfall like a bonus or a tax refund, etc........so use whatever works for your situation.

The only unacceptable plan is to GO INTO DEBT for Christmas!
Better to not spend on Christmas than to endure the grief/angst/anguish/stress by going into debt buying crap at Christmas you can't afford and having to pay off the bills incurred sometime in 2016, or 2017 or beyond.

So we went into the Holidays with $1800.00 to spend.
Of course, I buy year round so some of that amount was already spent by September.

Here is where the funds were allocated.......
Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $35.00
Gifts for immediate family(includes any cash gifts)  $800.00

Gifts for extended family & friends  $50.00

Electricity for lights   $15.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie   $100.00
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)   $800.00
Charity  $100.00

And here is where the money actually went.....

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $25.74

Gifts for immediate family  $699.77

Gifts for extended family & friends  $50.07

Electricity for lights  $10.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie  $91.90
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)  $606.46
Charity  $100.00
TOTAL SPENT...$1583.94

Here are the Spending Details....

$25.74  *Shipping/Mailing Holiday Cards & Gifts----
We sent out 32 cards and mailed 2 small gifts.  Stamps cost $14.85 and the cards I had already from previous Christmases.  

I got smart this year and mailed Daughter and her BF their presents in the same package I mailed her birthday gift so no extra Xmas spending there as the Xmas gifts didn't add to the weight of that package. 8-)
I did send 2 people who aren't family small gifts this year which cost $10.89 to mail.  The actually gifts I either got for free and/or I already had here so no costs associated with those gifts given.

$699.77  *Gifts for family----Under $800 budgeted by $100.13
Last year I spent $644.04 on gifts for family so I spent $55.73 more this year on the family's gifts.  Family included 6 people--Hubs, 3 kids and their 2 SOs.

I really REALLY like to give them gifts!
But here is how I keep the cost a bit lower than it could have been--
* I cashed in points on my credit card and/or hotel program card and a Target free gift card w/purchase offer for gift cards and gave those as gifts.  I "saved" $255 by doing this.   
*  I shopped sales, both in store and online.  I keep an eye out throughout the year for deals.
* I got a couple of brand new items at Goodwill for much cheaper than retail price.
* I made a few things so those were just the cost of supplies.
* Lots of stocking stuffers were items gotten at Rite-Aid over the course of the year for little or no money too.

$50.07  *Gifts for extended family---Over $50 Budgeted Amount by .07¢

Locally we gave something to the nephew(a small Starbucks gift card, fancy chocolates and coffee)and a food box to his father/brother in-law.(Except for 1 item in the food box bought for this use all other items were picked up through the year, using my grocery budget.)
I spent a bit more on my brother and sis in-laws gifts this year though.

$10  *Electricity for Lights----Under budget by $5.00
Same stuff hung outside the house.
We used the smaller tree this year and put it up a bit later.
But we weren't hear to put lights on for a week or so meaning we spent less on electricity than last year.  It's really not a category that I can nail down the cost beyond an approximation.

$91.90  *A Christmas eve meal and show or movie----Under budget by $8.10
We had 5 for dinner this year.  Hubs, College Boy, myself and 2 of CB's friends.
Though we had 2 less people attend this year we did buy appetizers so the cost was about the same as 2014.

$100.00  *Charity----Even
I wrote an extra check to one of the charities we regularly support this Holiday.

$606.46  *Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze, cash incidentals)----Under budget by $293.54
Gas was $59.13(thank you lower oil!), Lodging was $157.06(including 2 breakfasts we ate at the hotel). Staying at my brother's house for free 3 nights and booking a pay in advance rate at the hotel brought this cost down some.  Meals out were $217.44.   #1 Son paid for 1 meal out and we ate at my brother's house 2 nights and son's apartment 1 night so this item could have been higher.  We spent $145.63 on liquor but most of that wasn't consumed but came home with us.
Tolls came to $27.20.
We didn't have to rent a car this trip so that helped keep the traveling expenses lower too.

All totaled, this year I budgeted $1800 and we spent $1583.94, so $206.06 under budget overall.
We still had a great Holiday and were able to gift and travel to see family even though I try to stick to a budget.

Thoughts for 2016--
I think I'll lower my Christmas Budget another $100 for 2016 to $1700.  Since I have come in under budget for 2 years in a row now I think I can do the Holidays for a bit lower.  Staying on budget is a challenge but I like a challenge.  Of course if we end up NOT traveling for the Holidays in 2016 I'll lower my Christmas Budget to $1000 instead.
It's the travel that really blows up my Holiday spending.

If you kept track of your spending for Christmas, how did you do?
Did you spend more. less or right about what you planned on spending?
Did you have any money epiphanies when you look back at the Holiday plan?
Do you see anything you'll change about your spending for Christmas 2016?

Leave a comment and let us know how you did and what you learned about yourself & money this year!

Sluggy

Sunday at Rite-Aid

It's a great week to be shopping at Rite-Aid(sorry Cousin Sonya!).

Since College Boy had taken my car last weekend to go do some recording with his college band I had Hubs take me up to Rite-Aid on Sunday to start doing the Deals this week there.

I maxed out the Dove/Tresemme/Suave/Axe Deal Spend $12 Get $4(Limit of 2 Deals)and the Spend $30 on "Starting Points"  Items, Get $10 in Bonus Plenti Points(Limit of 2 Deals per week).  I also did the Nexus Deal "$10 in PPts. wyb2"  and the Spend $30 on Select Clairitin/Afrin/Alka-Seltzer/Bayer/Etc. Items Get $10 in PPts. Deal.  I did those last 2 Deals 1 x each.  All "regular" Deals I did also double dip with the Bonus Spend $30/Get $10 Deals as I only bought "Starting Points" items within those regular Deals.
Get it?  ;-)

I also used 2 of my $1/1 Bic writing tool ManuQs to get free pens as select Bic items are $1 this week.

Here's the haul on my card...........

This was done in two transactions since the Afrin Qs are limited to 4 of the same Q per transaction.

2 x Nexxus
3 x Dove Poos
1 x Dove Men's BodyWash
4 x Suave Gold
5 x Afrin
2 x Bic pens


Everything came to $70.45 before Qs & tax.
I had $35.98 in ManuQs to use.....a Q for each item.
$70.45-$35.98=$34.47 + .76¢ tax=$35.23

When we were grocery shopping with Eldest son in Walmart while in Virginia there was a demo person giving out samples of various dips you could make for NYE.  She also was giving out recipe/coupon booklets!

Besides the food Qs there were toiletry Qs!
Notice the rare $2/1 Nexxus Q, the BOGO Suave Gold Q and the $4/1 Vaseline Lotion Q.
I grabbed 5 booklets.  The demo person tried to make me take more as her shift was ending....silly me didn't grab ALL of them! lolz

I knew I'll be able to make use of some of these Qs before they expire the end of February! woohoo.
And wouldn't you know--some of these figured into my transactions at Rite-Aid on Sunday(The Nexxus and Suave Gold ones).

I paid my $35.23 OOP with Plenti points so Zero $ spent.

I earned $48.00 in new Plenti points(2 x $10 wyb $30 select items Bonus Deals-everything but the Bic pens qualified for that, $10 wyb2 Nexus, $10 wyb $30 in select Afrin/Bayer/Etc., 2 x $4 wyb $12 in Suave/Dove/Tresemme items)
$35.23 spent down and $48 new earned makes this a $12.77 "moneymaker".

After points earned and coupons--The Afrin was -$2.57 + tax, all the Dove/Suave items were $1.96, the Nexus items were -$2.92 and the Bic items were $0.00.
Throw in the added Bonus $10 in Plenti points x 2 and even AFTER tax we are at -$12.77.

In addition I've already gotten back as of this morning $8 in SavingStar Rebates in my account there($3 wyb2 Dove shampoos, $2 Dove Men's shampoo, $2 Dove Men's Body Wash, $1 Suave Gold product).
This makes these transactions a $20.77 "moneymaker". 8-)

$95.83 regular retail price and I get $20+ for taking it all home.

I love to get paid to buy things, don't you?  ;-)

Now I just need to go back and use my son's Plenti card to do some Deals at Rite-Aid later this week.

Sluggy