2016 Food & Toiletries Spending.....April Update

* I've closed out the April books a couple of days early as I am done shopping.  Anything bought in the next 3 days will come out of May's funds. *

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2016.

I have posted April'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 April.  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 at home this month). No kids under 20.

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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $4.75
Value  $20.45
Savings 76.77%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $20.00
Value  $54.64
Savings  63.40%


MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $62.56
Value  $84.00
Savings  25.52%


RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/gift card  $144.98
Value  $144.98
Savings 100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $29.66
Qs/Ads $53.59
Value  $23.93
Savings  44.65%


TARGET
OOP  $.98
Qs/Ads  $3.00
Value  $3.98
Savings  75.38%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $131.07

Qs/Ads  $137.64

Value  $268.71

Savings  51.22%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bakery Outlet at 76.77% and Target at 75.78%.  My WORST savings rate was Maine Source at 25.52%.  Other than Maine Source, all other stores were at least 44.65% savings.
I'll take it. ;-)

I shopped at 7 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$249.02

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$381.33

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$630.35

TOTAL Savings of...................................60.50%
TOTAL Savings without Rite-Aid...........48.70%

Value of items excluding Rite-Aid bought ones was $485.37
Rite-Aid goods brought home totaled $144.98.

This closes out the April food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into April wanting to do a $250 food budget for the month.  I ended up staying under my goal just barely.
Yay me! ;-)

If you look at our Eating-Out Totals for April they are down from March's so we weren't buying food less and eating out more this month, which means we really were paying less to eat.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went down by 15.98% in April to 60.50% compared to March's 76.48% savings average.  Yes, this level of savings, though down from March's savings level is still a good problem to have! lolz

If you delete the items bought at Rite-Aid in April our savings percentage goes down to 48.70% which is still well above the 40% savings rate threshold I like to stay over.  We "brought home" less things from Rite-Aid this month so the difference between all savings % for April and not including Rite-Aid savings % in the April total is less of a range than in March when we "brought home" a lot more from Rite-Aid.

We did empty some freezer space even though the salmon and chicken sausage deals meant adding a bit more to the freezer, more food got used up than got added.  Some pantry goods also got used up and not replaced and the only new pantry goods that were added were items we had used up.

With 4 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $1190.22 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $297.56 per month spent.  The average in March stood at $313.73 per month spent to that point in 2016 so we are down $16.17 spent per month from last month's year-to-date tally. Compared to this point in the year to 2015's totals we have spent $43.64 less on food and toiletries in 2016.

It would be so nice to continue this less spending trend back down below $4K for the year.  Now that my daughter is moving back home for a couple of years I know this low amount of spending on food will not continue and we most probably won't get under $4K spent on it all for 2016.
And I am ok with that.

LOOKING AHEAD To May 2016.........
College Boy returns home from college on Summer break 1 week into the month.  This means our food spending will increase in May.  But some of us will be out of town this month and not be eating at home, so that might counterbalance somewhat the increase in food spending that CB being home  will require.

I will continue with my usual shopping ways in May....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 a $300 food/toiletries spending month in May.  A slight $50 increase hopefully will be enough to cover 1 more mouth to feed and still be able to stay under budget.

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 April?
*  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

Interesting Stories in Genealogy

Yah, I know some of you out there are thinking, "Gee, Genealogy is so boring...how could you think anything about it is interesting?".

I hear you.
But.......sometimes you come upon tragic, disturbing and ironic circumstances in your family tree.
And sometimes you get all three occurring in the same person's life story.

Recently I was filling in details of the outer branches of my family tree and came upon a man named WILLIE PLEASANT LIGGON.

Willie was the brother of Ivy Liggon who married first Willie Townley Minter, then Raymond Lafayette Foster second.  I am related to Raymond directly, through my Foster line and then again by marriage, as he married Rosabel Vassar my Great Aunt(sister of my Grandmother).
My 2 x Great Grandmother, Luretta Foster was the half-sister of Wesley Baxter Foster, Jr.(they had different mothers), and Raymond was the son of Wesley Jr. so Raymond is both the husband of my Great Aunt Rosabel and my 1st cousin 3x removed.
Ivy and Raymond never had children as they married in 1949 and Ivy was 51 years old.  By the way, Raymond was only 37 when they wed making Ivy a cougar well before it became fashionable. 8-)
So the Liggon line is only related through marriage.

Got it?  I am glad because sometimes even I can't make sense of this Family Macrame of mine! lolz

So getting back to Willie Liggon, Ivy's brother.  He was born 31 Jan 1902 in Richmond VA, the fourth child in a family of 6 children to Alonzo Columbus Liggon and Willie Ann Wright Liggon.

Willie Liggon married Zillah Isabella Sandridge on 10th August 1920 in Weldon, NC.  Isabella's older brother, Herman H. Sandridge applied for the marriage license and was surety for the bond.

In the 1920 Federal Census Willie Liggon is enumerated on the 10th of January so is still single at this point and living with his parents and siblings. He works as a plumber.
Willie is 18 years old later that year when he marries barely 16 year old Zillah.

Willie can't be found in the 1930 Census however.
We find his wife, Zillah in the 1930 Census living with a son, Willie Liggon Jr, 6 years old, and she has remarried to Merrill Lyle Craig.
A little more digging and we found Willie Liggon's death certificate.

Willie Liggon died the 12th of August 1928.  He was only 26.5 years old.  Such a tragedy to die so young and leave a widow 24 years old with a small child of about 4 years old.

Within the death record comes the disturbing part......how he died.  No medical health issues, no work accident.
Willie Liggon drowned in the James River off of Mayos Island.

Mayos Island is named for the Mayo Family of Richmond who received permission to construct a toll bridge across the James River in 1785.

The Mayo Bridge intersected the island as it crossed the James connecting the towns of Manchester and Richmond.  It is now known as the 14th St. Bridge and carries present day Route 360 across the James River.  It was the first bridge over the James at Richmond.  The bridge was rebuilt over the years as floods and then the Confederate forces burning it in 1865 in a last resort to keeping the Yankees out of Richmond, kept destroying the bridge.
In 1910 rebuilding the bridge became a priority and the latest incarnation of Mayo's Bridge was completed in 1913.  It still stands today.

Mayo Island began life as 2 adjoining islands actually; Tollhouse Island and Confluence Island. These islands were merged and expanded with fill becoming the Mayo Island you find today.  The Tollhouse section of the island held the Toll Booth for those crossing Mayos Bridge. This Tollhouse section also contained a wooded grove used for picnics, barbecues, fishing and quoits matches.  It was a family park that local Richmonders enjoyed on their weekends and days off during the first part of the Twentieth Century.

Willie Liggon's cause of death is listed as "accidental drowning at Mayo Island".  We can suspect that Willie had taken his wife and child for a holiday that hot August day to Mayo Island and had found himself in the James River either on purpose for a swim(since Mayo Island is downstream of the falls and rapids near Richmond on the James) or accidentally falling in and drowning, probably in full view of his family.
What a heartbreaking end to a young life!

And then in what I find to be a highly ironic twist Willie Liggon was buried in Riverview Cemetery on the shores of the James River.

Riverview Cemetery in Richmond, on the banks of the James River, is not 2 miles upstream from Mayo Island where Willie met his tragic end.

No one has made a memorial for Willie Liggon in the Cemetery on "Find A Grave" yet so I'll be doing that and linking family members to his memorial in the coming days.
Maybe this post and his memorial will help family "find" him again and keep his memory alive.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "We ARE Using Stuff Up" Edition......

Two weekends ago before I made my spaghetti sauce I took a photo of my home canned tomatoes above.
This is the last jar of canned tomatoes I have.  I haven't grown enough tomatoes the last 2 Summers to can anything for later....heck last Summer the deer ate every. single. tomato. sigh
I shed a small tear but then realized I don't NEED canned tomatoes since I have about 20 cans of tomatoes in the stockpile still that I got cheaply with sales and Qs from the grocery store.   I don't need no stinkin' tomatoes......lol

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

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--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Eating Out
2. Monday--Tempura Shrimp, Cole Slaw, Sugar Snap Peas
3. Tuesday--Rigatoni in Meat/Mushroom Sauce
4. Wednesday--Fend for Yourself(Hubs had Kielbasa and Cabbage, I had a Chicken Tender Sandwich)
5. Thursday--Potato Crusted Cod, Brussels Sprouts, Leftover Cole Slaw
6. Friday--Corn on the Cob, Rigatoni in Sauce, Watermelon
7. Saturday--Taco Salad made from Leftover Sloppy Joe meat

6 meals cooked at home.
4 new meals, 2 nights of leftovers, and 1 night of Eating Out.
Mostly kept to the plan but no bbq chicken or Onion Soup.  Those move to this week.

As for my grocery spending..... I spent a total of $74 last week.
I have spent $249.02 in all for April so far and have $.98 left of my food budget with 5 days to go.

Leftovers going into this week.......Rigatoni in Mushroom/Meat Sauce, Sloppy Joe/Taco Meat, some Brussels Sprouts and some Cabbage from the World's Largest Head of Cabbage. lol

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

1. Sunday--Smoked BBQ Ribs, Cole Slaw, leftover COC
2. Monday--French Onion Soup
3. Tuesday--Something Leftover and Easy.....Tacos?
4. Wednesday--Leftover Ribs, etc.
5. Thursday--BBQ Baked Chicken, Roasted Cauliflower and Potatoes
6. Friday--Salmon, Noodles for Hubs, Veggie pulled from the freezer
7. Saturday--No clue yet

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 2 meals of leftovers(re-purposed into new dishes or not) and 0 meals Out and 1 meal of  "I haven't a clue yet". lolz

What I need to buy for this menu.....nothing(for the 6 meals I know what I am preparing).

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

Life Is Always Changing

So I alluded to some changes coming down the pike in 2016 for us at Chez Sluggy in earlier posts.

And here is the big one.......my daughter is going back to school and moving back in with us in PA.
And she is bringing her boyfriend.
As Sonya Ann would say, "yaaaaay" with a frowning face. 8-(

As of now we don't have a hard timeline for when this move will occur as Daughter is dealing with medical issues and wants them address in Louisiana before they move to Pennsylvania(at least right now that is her plan).  So when she starts school(and moves here)will depend on when the medical is addressed.  She basically needs Laparoscopic back surgery.  I won't get into details on this here.
We are at the whims of her spine doc and our insurance provider(and probably appeals by said insurer)as to when she will be able to get the surgery.  If she gets it soon, she can start college in the Fall and will be moving here in August.  If they keep delaying then she starts in the Spring and moves here in December.  If her spine doc refuses to do the surgery on her then she can quit her job and move back sooner rather than later and get a new spine doc up here.

So I have either until August or until December to make room in the house for her and the boyfriend.
Oh and did I mention they are bringing their dog too? ;-)
So we are going from a household of 2 and 1 kid here part time(when not in school)to a household of 4 and 1 kid here part time and a rather large crazy dog.

We have very little clutter left in our house(just lots of dirt lolz)but I am again searching the house with a keen eye toward getting rid of more "stuff".  Hubs has lots of "stuff", from his book addiction, to his chess accoutrements to his beer brewing supplies.  My "stuff" is a fabric stash and lots and lots of toiletries.  The food stockpile is not "stuff" and will be needed even more once they all move in here.

I do still have some things I never listed on eBay(about 5 tubs worth)which I will be going through soon and doing something with it all.  The immediate problem is that Daughter's old room is now the Toiletry Room so most of the toiletries here need to be moved elsewhere.  If I had my druthers I wouldn't be selling or giving a lot of this away(as we will use it eventually and with 2 more people in the house we will be going through the toiletries at a faster clip).  But I took a serious look at it all and some of it needs to go for lack of room.  I guess I could keep it all and have Rubbermaid tubs stacked around in all the rooms of the house but I don't want the house to resemble a storage unit. lolz

So, even though some of you readers feel I don't need the cash and I should just give it all away, I will be putting some of the toiletry stash up for sale locally.  I really don't want to have to organize a yard sale/toiletry sale or go to a flea market and sell my excess, as I have done in the past, as it's time consuming and just something I don't want to deal with at this time.  So I am using a FB yard sale page for my town presently to sell items and will expand out and list items on the local Craigslist board if the sales just don't happen as quickly as I need them to.  And if neither of those ideas pan out then I can get use to the "Early American Storage Unit" Look.  ;-)

If I had my druthers I wouldn't sell any of this but life changes and you roll with the punches.

I listed a few items on Friday and a few more on Saturday morning and here is what I've earned for my efforts...........

$70 bucks and someone is picking up shampoo this afternoon which will make a grand total of $90 so far.  8-)))

Once Daughter and BF move in we will have added expenses all around.  At least until the BF gets a job here and starts paying for some expenses. With Daughter in school full time and depending on how her back is she might not be able to get a part time job for awhile.
So yeah, I do need the money to add to what it will cost us in additional expenses(food, electric which includes a/c and heat)to live here.  I'd rather not stop putting money away for retirement expenses like I do now but if I have to stop my Savings Challenge for awhile I can.
 And until Daughter sells her house(the proceeds of which will go toward paying for college-the portion her scholarships don't pay)we will be fronting her money for college expenses too.  In the end we will get back what we spend on the college expenses but not on the living expenses.

All I can say is that Daughter is darn lucky her parents are careful with their money and in a position to help her and willing to give her a help with a fresh start in life.

How do I feel about all this?
Well, I've been in a funk most of the Winter over this.  I'd go so far as to say I've been depressed. Going from a nice quiet and peaceful household of 2+ to a household of 4+ and a dog is not something that was on my radar as we moved toward retirement.  And we really don't know her BF well so having a stranger living here produced some anxiety in me.  There are elements of my personality that are gregarious and outgoing but when I am home I am pretty introverted.  I need a quiet place to call home to recharge myself.
And my Daughter is somewhat high maintenance and brings the drama at time(plus her relationship with BF adds to the drama). We seemed to have a great relations once she moved to Louisiana. lolz

Add in that having them here until she is finished with school is also going to push back our moving out of PA timeline.  We had hoped to leave in the Spring of 2018 and relocate once we paid for the last semester of College Boy's tuition, but Daughter may not be done with her degree by then.  So we are stuck here until she gets that diploma.  Well we CAN move away but we can't sell this house until she's finished with school.

I have doubts about how this will all work in the end but I am willing to make changes in my life to accommodate them and their needs.  I hope we can avoid conflict and I am trying to stay positive about what will come.


Sluggy

Weis Friday Deals

I did indeed go back to Weis(PMITA)Markets on Friday to do the One Day Deals only available on Friday.  I put it all away before thinking to take a picture. 8-(

I got.....
1 Watermelon for $4(despite the time of year it WAS good!)
1 head of Lettuce for .99¢
1 head of Cauliflower for $2
10 ears of FL Corn for $3(again, early but sweet!)  Dinner last night was roasted corn on the cob and watermelon for me.  Hubs added leftover Rigatoni in Sauce.

I also picked up an in-store bakery blueberry pie for Hubs for $3.99.

My two best deals though were meats--
I tried that chicken breakkfast sausage for $2 I bought on Thursday and it was excellent so I bought 5 more packages and "fed" our freezer. lol
And I bought a slab of ribs which cost $7.19 for 5.21 lbs.  How could I not for the price of $1.38 a lb!
This slab will be going on the smoker Sunday morning and will be enough for 2 meals for Hubs & I.

Another $31.18 spent OOP, $32.49 saved or 51% savings rate on these groceries.
Still under my $250 food spending Budget for April but by less than $1.

I've now got to resist spending anymore on food until a Week from this coming Sunday.
Not sure if I can do that but I'll try.  ;-)

Ok, time to get some laundry done, sell a few toiletries and get those ribs rubbed down for tomorrow.

What's on your agenda this weekend?

Sluggy