Earning Christmas Update.....First Quarter of 2016

I am trying to earn as many freebies for Christmas giving as I can this year.
Yep, it's one of my goals to keep/save my cash as much as possible and find freebies to give at Christmas.
That being said, I am under no illusion that I'll pull off a free Christmas in terms of gift-giving but at least I should be able to find enough to stuff the stockings this year, right?

So far here is what I've gotten for free during the 1st quarter of the year......

1 x full size bottle of Axe deodorant
1 x small bar of goat's milk soap
12 x packs of Juicy Fruit gum
1 x $10 Best Buy Gift card(for buying 20 packs of applesauce)

The gift card wasn't exactly free since I did have to use a stamp to mail away for it but for all intents and purposes, it's free.  ;-)

As I said, the gift card was for buying applesauce earlier in the year.
The soap was being handed out one weekend in February when Hubs and I went to Price Chopper to get beer.
The Axe was a freebie sample from the Walmart website in January.  The "sample" turned out to be a full sized deodorant.  There was an optional short survey they also sent about a month later to do online, which I did, as CB has used this before and I knew his views on the product.
All that gum was also gotten in January when Weis(PMITA)Markets had what seemed like a month long sale on Juicy Fruit gum for $1 a pack.  I paired that sale with as many JFG coupons I could glean from Coupons dotcom that month(which reset that coupon a couple of times during Jan.)and doubled at Weis to $1.

Granted it's a good start but I have between 2 and 4 stockings(4 if I do the grown kids' stockings too)to fill so this isn't going to cut it. lolz

I'll keep searching for freebies throughout the rest of the year and will report back 3 more times before the year ends.

I am fortunate that I do have all those toiletries I don't pay for from Rite-Aid which I can raid if I need to as well, if the freebies dry up. 8-)

So how is your Christmas gift gathering going this year?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Musical Sunday" Edition......

Hubs and I got to see College Boy perform Sunday evening with his punk band from school.  There was an impromptu concert held at an informal venue(aka someone's old barn)about 45 minutes northwest of here.  The weather was stellar so we drove over for it and got to chat with CB too and bring him some essential supplies to get him through the last 20 days of school.

I'll upload the 2 videos I made later for your listening pleasure.


Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Ravioli(freezer)in Mushroom/Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
2. Monday--Leftover Meatloaf, leftover asparagus, leftover beets
3. Tuesday--Sloppy Joes made with beef/turkey, using homemade low-salt sauce, Rolls, Sugar Snap Peas(freezer)
4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef Bourguignon, Cuke and Tomato Salad
5. Thursday--Kielbasa(freezer) on Rolls, Collard Greens(freezer)
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY(Fend For Yourself)

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Ravioli(freezer)in Mushroom/Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
2. Monday--Leftover Meatloaf, leftover asparagus, leftover beets
3. Tuesday--Sloppy Joes made with beef/turkey, using homemade low-salt sauce, Rolls, Sugar Snap Peas(freezer)
4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef Bourguignon, Cuke and Tomato Salad
5. Thursday--Leftover Ravioli w/Mushroom/Meat Sauce
6. Friday--Pork Tenderloin sandwiches, CA medley veggie mix
7. Saturday--Kielbasa on Rolls with Onions and Peppers, Sauted Cabbage

7 meals cooked at home.
4 new meals, 3 nights of leftovers, and 0 nights of Eating Out.
Mostly kept to the plan but not necessarily in the order planned.

As for my grocery spending..... I spent a total of $44.78 last week.
I have spent $175.02 in all for April so far and have $74.98 left of my food budget with 12 days to go.

Leftovers going into this week.......Mushroom/Meat Sauce, Sloppy Joe Meat, Sauted Cabbage and 1/2 helping of CA Veggie Mix.

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

1. Sunday--Eating Out
2. Monday--Tempura Shrimp, Cole Slaw
3. Tuesday--Rigatoni in Meat/Mushroom Sauce
4. Wednesday--BBQ Chicken, Leftover Cabbage
5. Thursday--French Onion Soup Gratineé
6. Friday--Leftover Sloppy Joes or Taco Salad
7. Saturday--?

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 1 meal of leftovers(re-purposed into new dishes or not) and 1 meals Out and 1 meal of  "I haven't a clue yet". lolz

What I need to buy for this menu.....Got the World's Largest Head of Cabbage last week so don't need that, BBQ chicken half and shrimp is in the freezer.  I have a large bag of onions so will do our favorite French Onion Soup(low sodium, not that dark brown sodium soup crap you get in restaurants), use up the Leftover Sloppy Jo meat and Meat Sauce I had last week.  Haven't a clue about Saturday's dinner yet.....depends on what if anything is left and/or what I pick up in the store this week or what I pluck out of the freezer.  Other than looking for meat markdowns I don't have any plans at the grocery store this week so far.  Maybe will buy milk, maybe not.

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

Rite-Aid Trip Today

I got some goodies this morning at Rite-Aid.

First off I activated a partner offer on Plenti dotcom for $1 in PPs wyb2 General Mills cereals and 2 other household offers as well-one for $3.99 in PPs wyb2 Tresemme Beauty-full items and one for $1 in PPs wyb1 Tresemme(any product).  Both of the Tresemme offers expire today so this will only work if you buy them today.

I also activated rebate offers in my Saving Star account for $3 off Olia Hair color(no longer available to activate so if you didn't awhile back you can't do this one) and 2 x .75¢ on 2 GM cereals-Golden Grahams and Cocoa Puffs(Yes, College Boy will be coming home in about 2 weeks and I am getting ready.).

Everything I bought qualifies for the Spring Points Promotion for this week.....Spend $50 and get an automatic $20 back in Plenti Points.

Here is what I bought.......

4 x Garnier Whole Blends shampoo(20% wellness discount=$3.67 ea.)=$14.68
2 x GM cereals on sale=$5.00
2 x Vitamints(20% wellness discount=$7.19 ea.)=$14.38
1 x Olia hair color on sale=$7.99
2 x Tresemme beauty-full shampoo on sale=$10.00
SubTotal.......$52.05

Coupons Used
2 x BOGO Garnier Whole Blends items ManuQ=$7.34
1 x $2.1 Garnier Whole Blends item ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Garnier Whole Blends item ReceiptQ=$1.00
2 x .75¢/1 GM cereals IPQ=$1.50
2 x $4/1 Vitamints(1 IPQ/1 ReceiptQ)=$8.00
1 x $3/1 Olia Hair Color ManuQ=$3.00
Coupon Total..........$22.84

$52.05-$22.84=$29.21(w/.87¢ tax)

I used PPs to pay so Zero cash OOP.

I earned $20 in new PPs so $9.21 using "down" the Plenti Points.

But....
I will also earn $5.99 in activated PPs in the next couple of days when they get credited to my account($1 GM cereals, $3.99 Tresemme Beauty-full $1 any Tresemme), making this a $3.22 points spend down.

Then I will get $4.50 in Saving Star cash rebates($3 for the Olia, $1.50 for the 2 cereals) and I will end up with a $1.28 Moneymaker.

Yay me!



Sluggy

How I Use A Large Ground Beef Purchase

I had bought a 5 lb bag of Ground Beef last week at Maine Source and it was incorporated into last week's meals and my meal plan for this coming week grew organically from this purchase.

Of course this meant having a plethora of ground beef meals but while we are heavy on beef meals now, when I buy a large quantity of chicken or fish our menu will be heavy with those proteins instead.

This is how I used that bag o' beef....

Last Wednesday we each had a hamburger for dinner(Hubs had 2).
I had a hamburger for my lunch 3 times last week(Wed-Fri) and Hubs and I each had a burger last Saturday.  I guess I was just in a burger craving mode. 8-)
8 Burgers used up half the ground beef.

Then on Sunday I took most of what was left of the beef and made a big pot of sauce, also using up some fresh mushrooms I didn't use in the Bourguignon.  We had ravioli in this sauce for Sunday's Then we had the leftover ravioli on Thursday night, using more of the pasta sauce.
The rest of the sauce leftover will be the basis for a Rigatoni and Sauce dinner either this weekend or next week.

The rest of the ground beef was mixed with 1 lb. of ground turkey on Tuesday and made into Sloppy Joe meat using my homemade low-salt sauce recipe.  The rest of Sloppy Joe meat will be another 2 meals(either lunches or dinners).  I might keep this Sloppy Joe meat or have 1 more meal of SJ and then add more spices and turn this SJ into Taco filling for the last meal using this beef.

So that 5 lbs. of beef made all this.......

* 1 Burger Dinner for 2(3 burgers consumed)
* 4 Burger Lunches(5 burgers consumed)
* 2 Ravioli Dinners for 2(with beef sauce)
* 1 Pasta Dinner for 2(in the future with beef sauce)
* 3 Sloppy Joe Meals for 2(1 done, 2 in the future)

19 total meals consumed(or will be consumed when all is said and done).
I could have made meatballs or thrown beef into a casserole, make beef enchiladas, etc. depending on what we had a hankering for dinner.  This is how I chose to use up this purchase.

So what do you do with ground beef when/if you buy that food?
Anyone have any good recipes using ground beef to share?

Sluggy

Please Start Saving for Retirement Now

I read a statistic from the US Government Accountability Office that says that about 50% of those age 65 or older, who are retired, rely mainly on Social Security benefits to survive.

Social Security is only designed to replace about 40% of our pre-retirement income(for average wage earners).  Go HERE to read this.  It is an actual quote from the Social Security Adminstration.  (You can also access a Retirement Estimator from that page to see what your Social Security Benefits would look like using current information.)

Social Security is only a part of the proverbial 3-legged stool of retirement.
Pensions(or Defined Benefits Plan or 401Ks)are another part, and savings and investments are the last part of that 3 sided retirement income instrument.

Even if you have yet to put anything away into a retirement account it is never too late to start, no matter your age.  The younger you are when you start saving the better, but even into your 60's there is time to put away something so that you aren't living in a cardboard box or raiding dumpster for dinner when you get old.

The average Social Security check last year was $1,340 a month or $16,080 a year.
But that amount is before Medicare benefit payments are deducted(which you are enrolled in at age 65). At the very least Medicare Part B premiums are $104.90 a month and Part C and/or D plans add to that cost(depending on the plan).  So the average check is now down to $1,235.10 and probably lower due to paying for supplemental Part C/D plans.
Could you live on $1,235.10 a month/$14,821.20 a year?

The answer is probably no for most of us without having to forego many everyday luxuries we are use to, like a car, a nice place to live, eating 3 healthy meals a day, having heat, etc.

Even living in the paid for house I do, once I deduct the taxes, sewage and garbage fees, if I only had this average Social Security check coming in I'd be down to having $10,002.72 to live off of per year.

The car costs, utilities, water and phone costs would take another $6,868.71 out and leave $3,134.00 of that check to cover all food and toiletry costs for the year.  Plus if we needed dental or vision care(which aren't included in Medicare)or a surprise car repair/replacement that would also have to come out of that $3K leftover for food/toiletries.   Seeing as I spent over $4K last year on food/toiletries, and I keep a very tight food budget compared to the average American consumer, we'd be over budget and in the red and having to put expenses on credit cards(which we wouldn't be able to pay off ever).
Forget about traveling, eating out, entertainment that wasn't free or giving our children gifts or donating to charity.  It just wouldn't fit into this budget.
Thankfully for us, we won't have to live on that average Social Security benefits check alone, as we have saved for many years for our retirement.

Please no matter your age start saving something for retirement now.  I beg you!
Even if you think you'll work until you die so you don't think you have to save.  Life never works out the way you want it to/think it will.  Working until you drop dead is a great plan unless of course you get sick and can't work.  And at some point in this journey called life we will all get sick and it might incapacitate you well before you plan on not working and force you to stop earning an income.  You could be disabled for many years before you leave this Earth and then what happens when you try to survive on a Social Security and/or Disability check that just isn't enough?

Anything you can put away for your tomorrow is a bonus.  Do you really "need" that coffee beverage before work or that third cocktail at Happy Hour?  Do you need to buy yet another sweater or go out to lunch instead of brown bagging it to work?
Take that $2, $4, $8 or $20 instead and start tucking it away into a savings account.
Score a savings at the grocery store?  Why not take that amount you "saved" and actually put it into the bank and once you have enough roll that account into an investment instrument?

Be good to yourself by looking out for your tomorrows.
Start saving for your "tomorrow you".
One day your "tomorrow you" will thank you.

Sluggy