Been Sick & Blah

I've been feeling not so great this week.  Might have had a stomach bug around Friday.  Having vertigo and sinus issues, feeling lethargic....you name it, I've felt it. lolz
But I'm feeling better today but still weak and tired.
I've been working on my end of March posts between running to the bathroom(TMI I know).
Now I am going to sit down and figure out the meal plan for the coming week...which won't be too difficult if I just move all the meals I didn't make last week to this coming week's schedule. lolz

Since I didn't get out to the grocery stores at all last week I don't have much grocery spending so far in April.  Hubs picked up a handful of items for us over the course of the week.

I did send Hubs out on Wednesday night as he wanted to go to the liquor store right next door to Weis(PMITA)Markets.  I sent him into Weis to do a deal I didn't get around to doing last week.
If you bought 2 x "ICBINB" margarine, which was on sale for $2.50 a container, you got $1 off an 18 ct. of large eggs(which are $3.55 reg. retail).  I sent him off to buy these three items along with 2 x .55¢/1 ICBINB Qs(which double up to $1 at Weis).
$9.13 reg. retail-.58¢ on sale items=$8.55-$1 on the eggs=$7.55-$2 in coupons=$5.55.  There was also a $1.50/2 ICBINB Rebate on SavingStar(which I have already gotten credit for in my account)so in the end these 3 items cost me $4.05 OOP.
That's about my only frugal shopping accomplishment for this week. ;-)

It snowed here last night and we awoke to an inch or so on the ground.
Happy April!!! ha
And it's windy as hell and the cold is coming right in through the walls and more of the same is expected tomorrow.  End of the week it should warm up to the 50's-60's(at least during the day).
I hope it's not this dreadful out by Wednesday as I must go out to a consult with a surgeon and the walk from the parking lot will be brutal in these temperatures.

The project manager from Lowe's finally came to the house this past week to check on the bathroom job and put in a work order for the 3 small issues remaining.  We are lucky we got our reno job on the contractor's schedule back in February when we did because project manager nows says that the contractor is backed up into JULY with work!  People poured into the store late Feb. through March signing contracts for work and there is now a 3 month backlog! Geez.

We need work done in the other upstairs bathroom but we can wait and this backlog gives us time to save up the money for that job now instead of yanking funds from the emergency fund for it.  It's looking like we won't get that job done until early next year or December of this year at this point.

Just not much being accomplished around here lately.  No Rite-Aid trips either.
Oh well.
Not much else to report in on so I'll sign off.

What's going on with y'all?

Sluggy

John Redfern.....My Wandering Ancestor Part 2

So let's recap our story as of 1850-- So by 1850, John Redfern, his second wife, Mary Hagen, and their children Barnabas, Margaret, Alice, Francis and May A, as well as John's 2 sons William John and James Redfern by his deceased first wife are all in Bedford County PA.

Sarah Redfern is married to Robert Spencer Bowman back in Ireland and they have a 1 year old son, Matthew Bowman.

The next federal census in 1860 finds the Redfern family is no longer living in Bedford, PA.
They are in Richland township, Jackson County, Iowa!
Richland is 20 miles south of Dubuque Iowa right near the Mississippi River.
Today you can travel between these places by car in about 12 hours.  But back in 1860 it would have taken a lot longer to cover that 775 miles in a wagon with a horse and with some people walking alongside on primitive roads or paths.

The Iowa territory was established in 1838 and achieved statehood in 1846.
In 1858 according to a Redfern family narrative, John and his family pulled up stakes and set off west ward again and headed for Jackson County, Iowa.  1858 was about 18 years after Iowa became a state.

The Redfern clan settled near Farmer's Creek in Jackson County.  I don't know if John bought land there or not as no land documents have been found yet.  As he lists farming as his occupation in this 1860 Census it's assumed he either was farming his own land or someone else's land.
 I found a land grant for a John Redfern, signed by Ulysses S. Grant for 80 acres in Plymouth County(which is by Sioux City Iowa on the western edge of the state and nowhere near Jackson County near the Mississippi River)dated 1875.  Perhaps John moved further west between arriving in Iowa in 1858/59 and 1875?  It is only speculation at this point.

This is the sort of land speculation poster(from Wikipedia)that circulated out East to try to entice people out to the now open states of Iowa and Nebraska.  Buy land for no money down.

When John Redfern moved to Iowa he was not a young man, being 48 or 49 years old when they arrived.  His wife, Mary, was about 43-44 years old.
The 1860 Federal census gives us a snapshot of the family and their ages in that year.......

John 50
Mary 45
Alice 14
Francis 12
Peter 9
Anna 9

No longer listed with the family are the oldest sons by John's first wife, William John and James, as well as Barnabas, Margaret, and May A.
New children, born since the 1850 Census are Peter and Anna,both listed as 9 years old, most probably were twins.

Also now living with the Redferns is a Patrick Redfern who is 40 years old.  He is possibly John's younger brother or a cousin of some sort.  I believe this census is erroneous in listing Patrick's birth place as Pennsylvania(unless he is a cousin and his Redfern parents were from Ireland and immigrated).  He is listed as a stone mason just like John's occupation in the 1850 Census.


So how about my ancestor, John Redfern's oldest daughter, Sarah Redfern Bowman.....where is she and how is she doing?

The next record we find for her is the 1860 US Census.  Yes, her and her husband, Robert Spencer Bowman and their children are living in Montgomery, Orange County, NY at the time of the 1860 Federal Census. As for the children....Matthew is now 11 years old and he has younger siblings named John aged 8, Robert aged 6, Adeline aged 4 and Anna aged 1.

So when did Robert and Sarah come to America exactly?
Well in this 1860 Census we can narrow down the immigration year as the younger two Adeline and Anna are listed as being born in New York and the two boys, John and Robert, are listed as being born in Ireland. The last child born in Ireland is Robert, born 1854 and the first child born in NY is Adeline, born 1856.
So that gives us a time frame of late 1854-early 1856.

I found a record of arrival for a Robert Bowman on board the ship "West Point", in NY harbor on April 17, 1855.

An example of a clipper ship from that era courteous of Wikipedia.

The West Point  was built in 1847 by Westervelt and McKay, a company that acquired renown by constructing streamlined clipper ships and fast steamships.  The West Point was built of southern oak in a time when using iron and copper was on the rise.  10 years later, in 1857, it was refitted with iron to keep up with the times.
The West Point was a full rigged vessel for the Robert Kermit Red Star Line, which carried goods, mail and passengers on a route between Liverpool England to NYC and was in service until 1863.
The Ship's Master on that 1855 voyage was William R. Mullins.
The West Point would have disembarked her passengers at Castle Garden, the first official American Immigration Center which was located at the tip of Manhattan in the Battery area.  This is where all immigrants into NYC were processed from mid 1855 to 1890, before the Ellis Island complex was constructed.
Unfortunately a fire at Ellis Island in 1897 consumed all the Castle Garden administrative records to 1890 so if you an ancestor who arrived during this time frame you may never find their arrival date, unless they are listed among the Customs Office passengers lists that were stored in D.C. rather than on Ellis Island.
Let me add that prior to August of 1855 passengers did not have to be processed through Customs and many just walked off the ship into the streets of Manhattan and beyond.  Since my Redferns arrived in April of 1855 the record for Robert Bowman may be the only one I ever find.

Years later on the 1900 Federal Census participants were asked, if they were born outside of American shores, what year they had arrived in the US.  Robert Bowman had self-reported that he arrived in 1852 and Sarah his wife reported that 1855 was the year.  Now it's highly possible that Robert had come over in 1852 as that was often the case with married couples, the husband would come over before his family/wife, establish a home and employment and then send for the family at a later date once he had earned enough money for the passage(s).
But as there were children born to this couple in 1852 and 1854 in Ireland, Robert would have had to have left in 1852 after making his wife pregnant and would have had to have returned in either 1853 or early 1854 to "knock up" Sarah again to be both children's father and then have left for America again with his wife and the, at this point, five children.
Something tells me we will never know if Robert traveled to America by boat from Ireland once or twice.
We do know that he arrived in Spring of 1855 at NY harbor and thus my Redfern/Bowman American story begins.

In 1860, after 5 years living in America the Bowman clan are settled in upstate New York, in the town of Montgomery, Orange County(which is situated along the banks of the Wallkill River) to be exact and Robert is working as a Day Laborer and Sarah is keeping house and rearing, their now, five children.

What changes would the coming War Between the States and the 1870 Federal Census bring to our Redfern/Bowman families?  Will John Redfern get the itch to move yet again?

Stay tuned for the next installment of our saga.

Sluggy

2016 Food & Toiletries Spending.....March Update

* I've closed out the March books a couple of days early as I am done shopping.  Anything bought in the next 2 days will come out of April's funds. *

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MARCH 2016.

I have posted March's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2016 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.  I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March.  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(2-3 at home this month). No kids under 20.

******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $6.00
Value  $27.25
Savings 78%


CVS
OOP  $0.00
Value  $3.96
Savings  100%


MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $34.47
Value  $62.78
Savings  45.09%


OLLIE'S
OOP  $6.22
Value  $22.77
Savings  72.68%


RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/gift card  $484.06
Value  $484.06
Savings 100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $43.55
Qs/Ads $29.71
Value  $73.26
Savings  40.55%


TARGET
OOP  $18.96
Qs/Ads  $65.98
Value  $84.94
Savings  77.68%


WALMART
OOP  $1.48
Qs/Ads  $2.01
Value  $3.49
Savings  57.59 %

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $121.46

Qs/Ads  $103.35

Value  $224.81

Savings  45.97%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, CVS at 100% and the Bakery Outlet at 78%.  My WORST savings rate was The local Shursave grocery at 40.55%.
I'll take it. ;-)

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$232.14

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$755.18

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$987.32

TOTAL Savings of...................................76.48%
TOTAL Savings without Rite-Aid...........53.87%

Value of items excluding Rite-Aid bought ones was $503.26.
Rite-Aid goods brought home totaled $484.06

This closes out the March food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into March wanting to do a $250-$300 food budget for the month.  I ended up staying under the low end of my goal.  This was surprising to come in under $250 as I figured I'd be somewhere between that and $300 spent in March.  But I did manage to eat down what was here a bit and didn't do a lot of stocking up besides.

Of course if you look at our Eating-Out Totals for March they are up while the food shopping totals are down.  The Eating Out is up more than the food shopping is down however since we had an expensive for us Birthday meal out in March and Hubs and I did a fair amount of lunch type eating out around Easter time as well as lunchtime cooking fatigue for myself some days where I got some fast food out(mostly Subway)which is something I usually don't do most months.  Eating Out totals got a bit pricey in March.  It's nothing we can't handle in our budget but might help to explain how I can spend so little on groceries.  Even so we spent way less than most Americans on Eating Out in March and way less than those same Americans for food shopping so I am good with what we spent.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went up by 3.13% in March to 76.48% compared to February's 73.35% savings average.
If you delete the items bought at Rite-Aid in March our savings percentage goes down to 53.87% which is still well above the 40% savings rate threshold I like to stay over.

While saving 3/4 on food every month is unsustainable it's nice to see and better yet is the over 50% percentage saved not including the bulk of the toiletries spending, so we got over 50% savings on food alone.

With 3 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $941.20 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $313.73 per month spent.  The average in February stood at $354.53 per month spent to that point in 2016 so we are down $40.80 spent per month from last month.  I can't believe I am still under $1K spend on food and toiletries with a quarter of the year behind us!  If all things go at this pace for the rest of the year we could end the year spending UNDER $4K for 2016.  We haven't been under $4K for the year in food/toiletries spending since 2011, back when there were lots of rebate offers and better coupons and I heavily into that sort of shopping.

It would be so nice to continue this less spending trend back down below $4K for the year.  Though I am not prepared to buy lesser foods and processed foods just to get my spending to that level but if I can get down there and still maintain the level of quality we enjoy now, all's the better.
It's still very early in the year so I am not getting my hopes up that this trend will continue, especially if certain events materialize later in the year which are planned(more on that later).

LOOKING AHEAD To April 2016.........
No College Boy visits this month and no Holiday spending should make for a low outlay in April for food/toiletries.
I will continue with my usual shopping ways in April....buy loss leaders or great deals which we can use.  I will try to empty some more freezer space and eat down from the pantry as well this month.
I am going to try for another $250 food/toiletries spending month in April.

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 March?
*  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?
*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Did Someone Say Giveaway!?!

Ok Folks, this is the second Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2016.

Spring has started to spring here so I am in the mood to give stuff away!

Here is what you can win if your entry is picked(the flowers are just decoration).......

1 x Dove Shampoo
1 x Arm & Hammer Toothpaste
1 x Tresemme Dry Shampoo(trial size)
1 x Bath Sponge
1 x Centrum Vitamints
1 x Lubriderm Lotion
1 x Zinn's Max Freeze topical pain reliever
1 x Eucerin calming Lotion(trial size)
2 x Russel Stover's mini Chocolate boxes
1 x Oral-B Toothbrush
1 x Simply Venus disposable Razors
1 x Conair ColorVibes Hairbrush
1 x Scunci Kids Barrettes
1 x Maybelline Mascara(brownish black)
2 x Nivea hand Cream tins
4 x Sinful Nail Polish(Blue Persuasion, Dawn, Love Bite, Dumpling, )
2 x Wet n' Wild Lip Sticks(Cashmere, Cherry Frost)
1 x Listerine Dental Floss
1 xPhysician's Formula Super BB+ Powder(Light Medium 7836)

Over $75 in regular retail of toiletries(and chocolate).

Here are close-up photos of the potential winnings.............

I'll leave this giveaway open until Sunday, April 10th, at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time, so that gives everyone a full 12+ days to enter this one.  On the 11th I'll put all the valid entries into a container and draw out a name and that person wins.


You may get ONE ENTRY EVERY DAY by leaving a comment on this blog post until the Giveaway ends.
Tell me what here is the thing you most want to win in your comment or tell me what your travel plans are for this year or tell me if you are going to plant a garden this year and/or what you plan to grow.
Or tell me whatever you feel like telling me in your comment.  8-)

You can also get 3 BONUS ENTRIES by posting this Giveaway on your own Blog or Facebook or Twitter with a link to the giveaway.  Just perform this action and then leave 3 comments/entries on this post along with a link to your post on your blog OR Facebook OR Twitter to receive your Bonus Entries.

  Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US or Canada only.
If you are in Canada, you will receive a smaller box of goodies, as the shipping rates internationally are ridiculous and I am not taking out a mortgage on my house to pay to ship this stuff.  ;-)

**
If you need this shipped to Canada, I'll have to change the box and it's contents a bit.  I can ship a plain box weighing up to 3lbs. via 1st class mail, which, while much more than the flat rate Priority to US addys, is still affordable.  These prize boxes usually weigh 7 or more lbs. when full, so if the winner is in Canada, I'll let them pick and choose which of the items they prefer sent in their box, until the box weighs 3lbs.  I hate to have to do this(not ship ALL prizes to them)but I would hate it even more to exclude them totally from entering the giveaway.

***NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.  If you're not a registered Blogger User with your contact information on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get ahold of you if you win. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one with those Google Circles nonsense I CAN NOT CONTACT YOU as Google Circles doesn't show your contact info.  I again had to disqualify some entrants in the last giveaway because their profile is linked through Google and not Blogger.  Please check your profile!  And if you ARE entering through a Blogger profile PLEASE have contact info(email addy)in that profile.  If I can't access your email addy I can't contact you so email me your email addy or add your email address to your User Profile.  If you have sent me your email addy privately for a previous giveaway I still have it on file so no need to resend it for this giveaway.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I have had to disqualify more readers than I care to due to this issue and I sure don't want it to happen again.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Spring is Springing" Edition......

Over the last 4 days the Forsythia bush has budded and is blooming as of Sunday.  It's rainy and cold today and we are still getting nights in the 30's so I don't have high hopes that these blossoms will remain much longer.
I suppose this seems that yardwork for 2016 isn't far off. lolz

Onward to the meal planning!

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

1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Subway Sandwiches
3. Tuesday--Leftover Corned Beef meal
4. Wednesday--Salmon, Asparagus, Noodles
5. Thursday---Spaghetti and Meatballs, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread
6. Friday--Steak, Salad, leftover Asparagus
7. Saturday--Take-out?  Will be cooking for Sunday.

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Leftovers(Don't remember what)
2. Monday--Leftovers(I have Beef Bourguignon)
3. Tuesday--Leftover Corned Beef meal
4. Wednesday--Salmon, Asparagus, Noodles
5. Thursday---Spaghetti and Meatballs, Garlic Bread
6. Friday--Marinated London Broil, Salad, Baked Potato
7. Saturday--Leftovers or Whatever you can make(Don't remember what)

6 meals cooked at home.
3 new meals and 4 nights of leftovers in some form or another.  We just had whatever on Saturday but we did go out to Eat for Lunch both Friday and Saturday.  Hubs was home both days from work and we ran errands both days so we splurged on eating out.

As for my grocery spending......Two trips last week and I spent $31.90 total.
Trip to Target added another $18.96.
I have spent $241.52 in all for March so far.
Between $9.48 and $59.48 of the potential $250-$300 March food budget left to spend with 4 days left in the month.

Leftovers going into this week...... 2-3 helpings of Spaghetti and Meatballs, a small piece of Steak.

We did have a bit of food waste this past week unfortunately.  Some hamburger rolls got moldy and had to be tossed.  If it's just a spot I'll remove it and still use them but a few were "eat up" with mold. bleh.

Here is this week's "food plan"--

1. Sunday--Baked Ham, Corn Casserole, Monte Carlo Veggie Blend, Deviled Eggs, Dinner Rolls
2. Monday--Subway Sandwiches(Iz tired of cooking!lol)
3. Tuesday--Leftover Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
4. Wednesday--Cod, Baked Potatoes, Corn on cob(freezer), Leftover Asparagus
5. Thursday---Chicken Thighs(some way), Veggies-maybe leftover Sunday veggies?
6. Friday--Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas
7. Saturday--Leftover Chicken Thighs(if we have any) or Fish, Potato Salad, Veggies of some kind

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 2 meals of leftovers(re-purposed into new dishes or not) and 1 meal Out/Take-out.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Salad Greens is all.  I bought the chicken thighs and potatoes last week.  Hubs will use the leftover ham from Easter dinner this week for lunch sandwiches and I'll use the little steak to make a steak sammich for lunch 1 day.  I sent more ham and all the leftover corn casserole with BIL so I didn't eat it. lolz
No Eating out this week just Subway tonight using my points on my Loyalty card to get them for free. 8-)

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 last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy