This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "No Energy/Getting Back into My Groove" Edition.......

I have felt so sluggish this past week with no 'umph'.  While the weather has cooled off into the 70's and 60's it has rained or been high humidity all week so I didn't get a lot accomplished other than grocery shopping/cooking/dogsitting/the usual.  Nothing much on my monthly To-Do List got done last week.
But my morning glories are still going gangbusters!

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Leftovers

2. Monday--Subway sandwiches Take-Out

3. Tuesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Sauted Squash

4. Wednesday--Meatloaf, Noodles, Fried Green Tomatoes

5. Thursday--Kielbasa, Halushki

6. Friday--Crab Cakes, Fries, Cole Slaw, Broccoli

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Leftovers

2. Monday--Subway sandwiches Take-Out

3. Tuesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Sauted Squash

4. Wednesday--Meatloaf, Noodles, Green Beans

5. Thursday--Kielbasa, Halushki

6. Friday--Chinese Take-Out(The kids went to the fair)

7. Saturday--Rigatoni in Meat/Mushroom Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread

5 meals cooked at home, 1 of them a night of leftovers, 0 nights Eating Out and 2 night of Take-Out(1 I was feeling badly and the other we treated ourselves since the kids were out.)

Some leftovers were eaten for lunches last week.  The Crab cakes which were not cooked/served move to this week and WILL happen this week, finally! lolz

As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis and 1 trip to the Shursave grocery store brought my weekly spending to $101.00 and my September food spending Grand Total to $721.51.
Yes I could have gotten by without any food purchases this last week of September but there were some awesome Deals on things other than meat this past week and I took advantage of those Deals--8 boxes of cereal for .44¢ a box + a free gallon of milk coupon, 18 boxes of facial tissue for .55¢ a box, 16 cans of soup for .52¢ a can, 2 large boxes of pancake mixes for .99¢ box, 5 x 1 lb. blocks of cheese for $2.99 each, 10 x 8 oz. bags of shredded cheese for $1.50 each, 4 x 8 oz. containers of mayo for .50¢ each, 2 boxes of taco shells + 1 can refried beans for .76¢ each, 2 jars of spaghetti sauce for .89¢ each, 8 containers of instant potatoes for .19¢ each, and 3 small tubes of cinnamon rolls for .21¢ each.  The Deals cost me $59.90 but it was tremendous value for that amount($164.83 regular retail)and now I won't need certain products for months to come and won't have to worry about paying full price for them if bought when absolutely needed.  8-)

Leftovers going into this week........beef bourguinon, 1 chicken thigh w/peppers, 1/4 turkey breast, stuffing, rigatoni in sauce, 2 kielbasa, small container halushki, small container of flavored noodles, 2 pieces garlic bread.

Here is this week's "food plan".

1. Sunday--Cheese Steak Sandwiches with Peppers and Onions(requested)
2. Monday--Hamburgers on Rolls, Fried Green Tomatoes, French Fries
3. Tuesday--Leftovers(probably Beef Bourguinon)
4. Wednesday--Chicken & Stuffing Casserole(using leftover stuffing)
5. Thursday--Leftovers(Hubs and are going out/Kids on their own)
6. Friday--Crab Cakes, Cole Slaw, Broccoli
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 0 nights of Take-Out and 3 nights of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Sub Rolls, Steak-Umms, and Provolone Cheese.(Already bought on Saturday and a great deal.)

I do need to find a deal on B/S chicken breasts soon as I have none left.  Other than that and the few things I need for this menu I don't plan on stocking up on anything this week.

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

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....September 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 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $38,000 this year, $8K more than my goal for last year.

On to the September report.....

I have posted my September End of Month $38K $AVING$ 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 $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up September with a yummy amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of September with?.......$5,543.68

Income

We had $4998.87 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in September totaled $544.81.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, stock dividends, blogging revenue, a medical refund for over payment and a car insurance refund for over payment.

This brought us to our gain of $5543.68
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this September, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, electric bill, and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The credit card bill was WAY DOWN $2023.76 from August's amount.
*  We received a car insurance refund of $192.48 on the car that was donated to charity.
*  We received 2 stock dividend checks in September.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas card bill was up $115.66.  Hubs used it more than the Mastercard to purchase gas in September.
*  The water bill was $9.69 higher than in August.
*  The direct medical spending was up again $24.63 from August's spending.
*  We received a car insurance bill of $70.60(I don't understand why)but this now moves our semiannual car insurance payments to November and May from October and April.
*  Property taxes were due and paid.  'Nuf said.....  If they had to be due better to be due in a month with a third paycheck, right?  ;-)

The Food Budget costs for September are in another post, which is located HERE.

With 9 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $28,797.32.

Final thoughts on September---
Though we had some high expenses in September(Hello property taxes, I am speaking to you!)the third paycheck more than covered that and gave us a bit extra to tuck away into savings.

Compared to September 2015 we put $3625.32 MORE into savings this September, mostly due to this year's September being a 3 paycheck month.
.
We have $28,797.32 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $9,202.68left to save over the next 3 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $3,067.56 a month for the rest of the year.  This means for the rest of the year I need to average $99.10  per month LESS than our monthly savings target goal of $3,166.66.  But even with that, this will still be a tight race to get to $38K this year.  We have higher everything bills now with 2 extra adults in the house + more medical co-pays.

Only 3 months left in the year to get to my savings goal.  We are quickly running out of time in 2016.


THOUGHTS going forward into October----
I don't see any unusual or irregular bills coming up in October since the semi-annual car insurance bill moved from this month to November.  The electric bill will rise as we will see the heat being turned on in October.  Credit card purchases should stay steady and we have no trips planned this month which always derails our spending.

So how was your September financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in September?
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!

As we go forward into the last half of 2016 why not make this year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Or pay extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

Fall Is Finally Here GIVEAWAY!

It's Finally Fall here so let's have another Giveaway!

This is the seventh  Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2016.
This time it's a blend of toiletries from the stash AND items I picked up on my Summer Vacation in Maine to share with one lucky reader.  8-)))

Here is what you can win if your entry is picked.......

1 x Centrum Vitamints
1 x Degree dry spray Deodorant
1 x Dove Daily Moisture Shampoo
1 x Colgate Toothpaste
1 x Pentel Mechanical Pencils(2)with extra Lead and a Bonus Ink Pen
And from my Maine Adventure--
1 x Bar Harbor Lobster Bisque Soup
1 x Claey's Hard Watermelon Candies
1 x Maple Leaf shaped Gummies
1 x Moose Lobsterman Xmas Ornament
1 x Reny's Dark Chocolate w/Sea Salt Bar
1 x Lobster shaped Gummies
1 x Kashi Honey Oat Cereal
1 x Hotel Shower Cap
2 x Hotel Shampoo bottles
2 x Hotel Conditioner bottles
2 x Hotel Body Lotion bottles

I did a short viedo of the prizes too.............



I'll leave this giveaway open until Sunday, October 16th, at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time, so that gives everyone a full 2 weeks to enter this one.  On the 16th 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 every day until the Giveaway ends.
Tell me in your comment, what here is the thing you most want to win or what your Halloween plans are(parties?, decorate?, give out candy?, dress-up?), 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 if you are a Follower of this blog.  Please leave 3 separate entries for these bonus entries with either a link to your blog post where you talk about the giveaway OR the name/ID you follow under so I can verify you follow the blog for your entries.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.
I am not the government with unlimited funds to pay postage, sorry.

***PLEASE 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 privately 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

2016 Food & Toiletries Spending......September Update

* I've closed out the September books a day early as I am done shopping.  Anything bought in the next day will come out of October's funds. *

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2016.

I have posted September'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 September.  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 5(4 at home this month). No kids under 20.

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

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $3.00
Value  $9.77
Savings   69.29%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $15.65
Value  $42.36
Savings  63.05%

FARM STANDS
OOP  $23.25
Value  $52.86
Savings  56.02%

MALACARI'S PRODUCE
OOP  $5.55
Value  $12.55
Savings  55.78%

PANERA
OOP  $6.99
Value  $9.99
Savings  30.03%

RITE-AID
OOP  $2.99
Qs/Ads  $350.42
Value  $353.41
Savings  99.15%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $93.30
Qs/Ads $54.12
Value  $147.42
Savings  36.71%

TARGET
OOP  $6.70
Qs/Ads/Gift Cards  $86.23
Value  $92.93
Savings  92.79%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $564.08

Qs/Ads  $658.74

Value  $1222.82

Savings  53.87%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 99.15%, Target at 92.79% and the Bakery Outlet at 69.29%.  My WORST savings rate was Panera at 30.03%(for the bagels I bought there).  For all but 2 stores shopped at, the savings rate was at least 53.87%.
I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$721.51

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1222.60

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1944.11

TOTAL Savings of...................................62.89%


This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into September wanting to do a $400(then changed to a $500)food budget for the month.
Things went waaaay off budget this month!  $221.51 over my revised higher budget.
What can I say?  Lots of awesome deals on items we use/need(cheese, pantry staples, facial tissue, etc.) and meat discounts so I loaded up.
My spending total also included supplies for making/canning my pepper relish so I'd be at about $700 without those costs.  Still high though.

It is looking like I won't need to shop much in October.  My budget may get a well deserved rest in the coming month.  ;-)

The monthly food spending savings percentage went up by 14.84% in September to 62.89% compared to August's 48.05% savings average.
That's a big difference!  It seems that when I spend more on my budget I save a much higher percentage comparatively.  Crazy.

With 9 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $3658.00 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $406.45 per month spent.  This is $51.89 higher per month than the average in August was.  Yikes.  But then again I spent A LOT more in September.  At least the savings percentage rate was better meaning I paid less for what I did buy in September compared to August.


LOOKING AHEAD To October 2016.........

Other than chicken I am well stocked on every item I possibly could be stocked on(not counting fresh milk and produce and bread).
Maybe I will take a break from the grocery stores in October except for necessities.
That would be different, right?  8-)

If I am not planning on stocking up(and will try to avoid any Deals I find)I could try for a $300 budget on food in October.  Hey! Stop laughing out there.  It could happen......

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 September?
*  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

This Week on the Dining Table

*Well I am 3 days late this week posting my Menu.  I still wanted to get it up anyway.*

It's the "Quick Weekend Reunion Trip" Edition.......

It was nice weather this year for the Reunion.  I was so relaxed that I didn't even take any photos while we were there, except for this one of a floral arrangement to commemorate my 1st cousin 1 x removed, Hilda, who died earlier this year.
I was able to connect with 2 of Hilda's daughters at the reunion this year as well as talk with another 1st cousin 1 x removed at length.
Between the heat that day and yakking I forgot all about my camera until late in the day.
Oh well.

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Beef Bourguinon, Mashed Potatoes

2. Monday--Turkey, Stuffing and Gravy, Asparagus

3. Tuesday--Paprika Chicken with Peppers and Onions, Noodles

4. Wednesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Fried Green Tomatoes

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Crab cakes, Cole Slaw, Fries, Summer Squash

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Beef Bourguinon, Mashed Potatoes

2. Monday--Turkey, Stuffing and Gravy, Asparagus

3. Tuesday--Paprika Chicken with Peppers and Onions, Garlic Noodles

4. Wednesday--Leftovers(I had manicotti and salad)

5. Thursday--Leftovers(I had Beef Bourguinon)

6. Friday--Pizza(from Papa John's)

7. Saturday--Golden Skillet Chicken Sammich(Out of Town)

5 meals cooked at home, 2 of them nights of leftovers, 2 nights Eating Out(we were away) and 0 night of Take-Out.
We had so many leftovers still that after Tuesday I stopped cooking and we ate leftovers exclusively until we went out of town.   Crab cake meal gets moved again and though it's on this coming week's menu, it may or may not happen this week too.

As for the grocery spending.....3 trips to Weis(1 just for carrots)and 1 trip to the Shursave grocery store brought my weekly spending to $113.02 and my September food spending total to $617.52 with 4 days to go in the month.
I just don't want to think about this month's food spending anymore. 8-(


Leftovers going into this week........beef bourguinon, 1 chicken thigh w/peppers, 1/2 turkey breast, stuffing.

Here is this week's "food plan".

1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Subway sandwiches Take-Out
3. Tuesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Sauted Squash
4. Wednesday--Meatloaf, Noodles, Fried Green Tomatoes
5. Thursday--Kielbasa, Halushki
6. Friday--Crab Cakes, Fries, Cole Slaw, Broccoli
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 1 nights of Take-Out and 2 nights of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Cabbage maybe. Don't need much besides milk but that won't keep me from adding to the stockpile this week.

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