Frugal Friday on Saturday

Here's some of the stuff I did that was Frugal this past week--

* I got a free toothbrush and toothpaste at Rite-Aid by combining sales/coupons/Plenti Points.

* We've been eating Leftovers/Planned Overs the last 3 days(and will continue to eat them over the weekend too)instead of cooking new food and throwing the old stuff out.

* I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets for their "Fabulous Friday" 1 Day Sale Deals this week.  Daughter has been fighting a cold/the crud so I picked up a whole chicken on sale for .85¢ lb. and using various other food ingredients I have already I made a big pot of chicken soup.  I also dug through my OTC/HBA tubs and found her Mucinex, Vitamin C and Zinc cough drops to help her fight this thing off.

* I also found 2 cheap Holiday/Christmas food idea solutions at the "Fab Friday" Sale.
1--We like to have chips and onion dip during the Holidays but I like to cut the sour cream with Greek yogurt(cuts fat and saves calories)but Greek yogurt can be more expensive than sour cream often times here.  Weis has their brand single serve Greek yogurt cups 1/2 off on Friday(.50¢ ea.)and they carry a plain non-flavored one.  There is a $1/10 Greek Weis yogurt cups Q in the Weis Q Book so I bought 10 single cups(1/2 price for $5)and used that Q making the cost $4 for 5.3 oz. cups X 10.  A quart container of plain Greek yogurt runs at least $5.49 here so I saved a bit of coin during this.

2--The bigger win were the 2 whole Eye of Round Roasts I bought.  Hubs likes to have Beef for Christmas and we usually end up buying a Prime Rib Roast for $8 or so a lb.($50-$60 total)to prepare for dinner.  With 2 more to feed this year(7 total)I can't see spending even more for 1 hunk of meat.
The eye round roasts were $2.50 lb!

I got an 8+ lb. roast for $20.40 after discounts.......

This cut is not as fatty as what I usually serve(plus it has no bone)but I am sure I can marinate and roast this baby up to be a tasty Christmas dinner.
This means I'll get the free turkey for Thanksgiving instead of the ham for Xmas at Weis with my points.

I also picked up a second slightly smaller roast to put into the freezer for another time.

* While at Weis I also got this......

There was a mostly drank abandoned Powerade sitting on the curb where I parked my car.  So when it was still there when I left the store to get back into my car, I plucked the cap off and took it home.
Why you may ask?
Because it's worth 3 points in my Coke Rewards Account! lolz  I did put it into a tissue and washed it at home before handling it to reap the code.  ;-)
I have been compiling points all year in wait for the Holiday sale on free 12 packs of Coke products.

* While at Rite-Aid I also bought a bag of Halloween candy for 50%.  This is going into a loved one's Christmas present.  Why pay full price for Christmas decorated bags when you can get it for 50% because it's Halloween decorated?  The candy inside is still the same taste/quality.

* Hubs mentioned that we were running low on wash cloths lately.  So I went to Kmart and bought a pack of 8 cloths on sale for $2.99.......

But no, these didn't cost me anything because I used part of an old gift card I had gotten for transferring prescriptions a couple of years ago.  Need met and no money spent out of pocket.


Now I am off to continue with the cleaning tear I seem to be on today.  I've already cleaned 3 floors, cleaned out my painting tubs, washed 2 walls, cleared off my desk and moved some things out of the living room to a new storage place.
I'd better get back to it before I collapse......

What are y'all up to today?

Sluggy

Quickie Rite-Aid Porn

While refilling an Rx at Rite-Aid these jumped into my order this past week.........

1 x Crest toothpaste on sale=$3.50
1 x Oral-B toothbrush on sale=$3.50
Subtotal..$7.00

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 Crest toothpaste ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Oral-B toothbrush ManuQ=$1.00
(Both Qs were in Sunday's P&G coupons insert.)
Total....$2.00

$7.00-$2.00=$5.00 OOP
I used $5 in Plenti Points to pay and earned back $5 in new Plenti Points($2.50 for each item) so these were free after PPs.

In all likelihood I won't be back to Rite-Aid for anything other than medications and maybe a gift card that gives back PPs until the Black Friday sales start on the 24th.
I hope Sonya Ann can hold out that long for more Rite-Aid posts. lolz

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge......October 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 October report.....

I have posted my October 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 October with a yummy amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of October with?.......$4,449.89

Income

We had $4298.78 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in October totaled $151.11.  This was solely interest made on non-retirement accounts.

This brought us to our gain of $4449.89
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).
*  The credit card bill was down $50.77 from September's amount.
*  The water bill was $17.18 less than last month.
*  The electric bill was down $42.90 from September's total.
*  The gas bill was $57.29 lower than last month(more purchases for gas put on the c/c rather than the gas card.)
*  Cash withdrawals were $700 lower(due to using the c/c for most if not all grocery spending + Hubs took less cash in October).

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The direct medical spending was up again $190.09 from September's costs plus we still have an $800+ bill not received yet for Daughter's August procedure. gulp
*  We had a $275 non-recurring bill for attending a local Church's auction.  Not really a bad thing as we go each year and bid on local services/goods we would used anyway and pay less than retail for them.  We get a deal, the church gets some funds raised....win/win!  And we did spend $45 less at the auction this year compared to last year.

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

With 10 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $33,247.21.

FINAL THOUGHTS on October---
I was able to tuck away about $1K more than I had projected in October.  Mostly that was due to the car insurance payment moving from October to November, so really, we still have that expense, it just gets dumped into the next month so no gain or loss really.
Medical co-pays were the only category that we spent more in, compared to September(and it was under a $200 increase)so that's good.

Compared to Octoberber 2015 we put $1,972.44 LESS into savings this October.  This can mostly be explained away because of car insurance premiums, $500 more spending on the c/c and medical co-pays of over $800 last October compared to October 2016.
.
We have $33,247.21 saved so far in 2016, and we have only $4,752.71 left to save over the next 2 months at this point to reach our goal of $38K saved.  That averages out to $2,376.40 a month for the rest of the year.  This means for the rest of the year I need to average $790.26 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 plus can I mention that Christmas is coming!?!?

Only 2 months left in the year to get to my savings goal.  We are quickly running out of time in 2016.


THOUGHTS going forward into November----

Semi-annual car insurance comes due in November.  The electric bill will rise as we will see the heat being turned up in November.  More medical co-pays will be due(including Daughter's $800+ one from August)in November so that will increase outlays this month.  But want based purchases should stay steady/low and we have no trips planned this month which always derails our spending.  We have some "already accounted for in the finances" gift cards/certs for eating out so not much spending on that category for November.  Gas charges will be up as we need to retrieve and return College Boy for the Thanksgiving holiday this month but that expense shouldn't top $50 for gas.

Besides the electric bill and medical payments it should be a fairly regular/low expenditure month for us....if I can keep the food spending down.

However....since I need to keep part of what I save in December out of my Savings Challenge to cover when the High Deductible Medical Plan deductibles kick back in on January 1st(and the cost of the first $3K in medical bills fall on us totally before we see any sort of benefit),
I need to aggressively save more in November than the $2,376.40 I "need" to save in each of the next two months, because in December I probably won't be able to save the other $2,376.40 I need to meet the 2016 Goal.  (Plus there will be increased holiday spending on at least gifts in December.)
So I am getting into Savings Ninja Mode for November.  Or I at least hope to. ;-)

So how was your October financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in October?
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

One Week Later

So here is what I looked like last Thursday evening.........

YIKES!

And here is what I look like today and how my lips usually look......

*Sigh*

As of today I am off 2 medications for the hives and swelling.
Rah.
I still have a few more days to go on the steroid but I'm in the tapering off phase of that drug.

Man am I ever glad THAT is over with!
And I don't want to go through that again.....

This face may still scare small children but at least it's the face I know.  ;-)

Sluggy

2016 Food & Toiletries Spending.....October Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2016.

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

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

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $13.64
Savings   70.74%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $87.90
Value  $166.74
Savings  47.28%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $166.10
Value  $166.10
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $174.48
Qs/Ads $91.73
Value  $266.21
Savings  34.46%

TARGET
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/Gift Cards  $15.92
Value  $15.92
Savings  100%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $250.34

Qs/Ads  $279.69

Value  $530.03

Savings  52.77%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Target at 100% and the Bakery Outlet at 70.74%.  My WORST savings rate was Shursave Market at 34.46%.  For all but 1 store shopped at, the savings rate was at least 47.28%.
I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$516.72

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$641.92

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,158.64

TOTAL Savings of ..................................55.40%
TOTAL Savings w/o Rite-Aid of ..............47.94%


This closes out the October food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into October wanting to do a $300(then changed to a $400)food budget for the month.
I actually spent $516.72, $116.72 over the extended goal amount.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went down by 7.49% in October to 55.40% compared to September's 62.89% savings average.
Still over 50% savings over regular retail is mighty fine though. 8-)

With 10 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $4,174.72 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $417.47 per month spent.  This is $11.02 higher per month than September's average.  My savings rate for the year is holding now at 60.99%.  This is a number I can easily live with. ;-)

LOOKING AHEAD To November 2016.........can it really be November already?.......
I've got a free meat item coming this month for Thanksgiving so Turkey dinner will just require some fresh produce purchases mostly as I've been gathering all the other fixings for that big holiday meal....unless I get a free ham instead to use for Christmas which makes sense frugally since Turkey is cheaper than Ham, so go for the one that is worth the most.  That means I'll have to buy a turkey but I am sure I can get a good price on one as other grocery stores around here have deals on them.

We will try to eat down some of the frozen assets here in November.  My food/toiletry spending will probably in the $400+ range but I'll try to keep it under $400.  No promises though with all the adult mouths I need to fill plus more on Turkey Day as we host the family dinner.

I'm going to put it out there now that I wish to stay under $5K total for food/toiletries spending in 2016. My thought was to do a $4K or lesss food year but then we gained two more adults fulltime in the household so that's that.
Staying at $5K means I have $825.28 left to spend this year on food.
Did I mention that there are still 2 months left in the year too?
Gulp!

To augment what I can spend out of the food budget, I have a $25 Weis gift card, a $20 Giant gift card, about $17 left on a Visa gift card too, so another $60+/- in "free" money to use beyond the $825.28.
Plus I have many Holiday foods/ingredients already acquired and a well stocked pantry/freezer to boot.
This will still be a struggle to mean everyone's needs here and not skimp on Christmas/Thanksgiving and stay under this mark.
But I am up for the challenge.....

Let the Holiday Food Games Begin!!  8-)))

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 October?
*  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