2016 Food & Toiletries Spending.....November Update

* Posting this a day early as I am finished spending on food for November.*

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2016.

I have posted November'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 November.  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.

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

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $3.00
Value  $5.00
Savings   40%

KMART
OOP  $0.00
Value  $8.94
Savings  100%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $522.04
Value  $522.04
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $188.71
Qs/Ads $99.80
Value  $288.51
Savings  34.59%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $330.38

Qs/Ads  $477.68

Value  $808.06

Savings  59.11%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Dollar Tree at 100% and Weis at 59.11%.  My WORST savings rate was Shursave Market at 34.59%.
I shopped at 5 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$522.09

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1,110.51

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,632.60

TOTAL Savings of ..................................68.02%
TOTAL Savings w/o Rite-Aid of ..............52.99%


This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into November wanting to do a $400 food budget for the month.
I actually spent $522.09 which was $122.09 over my limit.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went up by 12.62% in November to 68.02% compared to October's 55.40% savings average.
A killer savings rate  brought about by a lot of free items at Rite-Aid during the month.  Even without all the freebies at R-A the month ended overall with a 52.99% savings rate which is not too shabby either.

With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $4,696.81 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $426.98 per month spent.  This is $9.51 MORE per month than October's average.  My savings rate for the year is holding now at 61.92%.

LOOKING AHEAD To December 2016........

I have implimented a plan to spend only grocery and Visa gift cards and cash rebates received and not spent so far this year, to pay for all the groceries in December.  If I can succeed at this that means my 2016 total spent on food & toiletries will remain at November'syear to-date total of $4,696.81.
Add in that I stocked up on many items in Novemeber(to get a store reward)so some things I'd buy in December are already in the larders, including Holiday goodies and a big hunk of meat for Christmas dinner.

Stay tuned in December to see if my plan works or if I crash and burn the food 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 November?
*  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

My Frugal "Me" Day

This post is subtitled "My Day with Brad Pitt", because, well, why not?  ;-)

Monday was a rare "Me" Day at Chez Sluggy.
The weather was good so I hit the road to the town South of here for a bit of fun.  Hubs was back to work and Daughter back to school but she would be home by noon so I got a reprieve from watching the dog.

First off was a movie at the actual movie cinema.  I used that movie ticket I got free for buying M&M's at Rite-Aid back in October.  Post about that Deal is HERE.

I saw "Allied", a little touted release this month about spies during WWII.  It was pretty good and even if it wasn't, Brad Pitt is easy on the eyes.  ;-)

You can save yourself $12 on a movie ticket and just watch this trailer and you'll have seen the best moments of this flick.


It was a rare 10:30 am showing, I guess because the local public schools were still not in session due to the Thanksgiving break.
That being said this is not the kind of movie kids would want to see(history? Ewwww!)so I had the entire movie theater to myself.
Loving that!!!

Then there was a quick stop at Aldi to see what mushrooms were going for there this week, as I needed them for Stroganoff making this week. $1.97 for an 8 oz. package?!?  Egads, and no thanks!

But while in Aldi I perused the German Christmas treats.  Being a German company, they always have a nice selection of German made goodies at the Holidays and at a decent price.
I just had to pick this one up.....

Cherry Stollen for $4.99
A yummy splurge.

Then it was over to Bonanza to use the last Free Lunch/Dinner Buffet certificate we won at the Church Auction in October before it expired on the 30th.
Ok, I had to pay for my iced tea drink but  leisurely lunch for $2.43?  I'll take it.

Between eating I had brought a piece of paper and pen and started writing up our Christmas card list.  Yes, I am one of those people who still send cards in the mail. 8-)

Feeling quite stuffed(but not too stuffed)I stopped at a local grocery store to see what deals I could find before heading home.
Since I've closed out November's food spending anything I bought on Monday goes on December's tally.

I found 1 lb. packages of bacon with $2 off stickers making them $1.97 each!  If I had had more room in the freezer at home I would have bought them all(there were at least 15).  I had to settle for 4 packages coming home with me. 8-)
I found mushrooms for $2.50 per 12 oz. box so picked those up for the Stroganoff.

Another find were these packages of mint chocolate chip cookies marked down to $1 each due to quickly approaching sell by dates.  These will go into the freezer to be baked off once Christmas is near and the cookie making commences.

And I even picked up 2 stocking stuffers for College Boy for free after coupons......

Then I headed home and did some Cyber Monday shopping for myself--
A Vera Bradley purse for 50% off and free shipping and some Bath & Body Works candles for cheap.
There may have also been Christmas presents purchased as well. ;-)

All in all a nice relaxing "me" day and it didn't break the bank.

Sluggy

This Week On the Dining Table

The "College Boy Came Home" Edition--

For the first tine I didn't have to go pick-up College Boy from school for Thanksgiving Break.  His sister did it for me after I agreed to pay for the gas for the trip and lunch.
That worked for me! lolz
And I think in the 4 days he was home he ate his weight in pie......

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Tacos(using leftover beef I had cooked up)
2. Monday--Fish, Cauliflower, leftover Mac & Cheese
3. Tuesday--Kielbasa, Sauted Cabbage
4. Wednesday--Leftover Buffet
5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner
6. Friday--T'giving Leftovers
7. Saturday--maybe Take-Out? or Homemade Pizza

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Tacos(using leftover beef I had cooked up)
2. Monday--Fish, Cauliflower, leftover Mac & Cheese
3. Tuesday--Kielbasa
4. Wednesday--Leftover Buffet
5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner
6. Friday--T'giving Leftovers
7. Saturday--

5 meals cooked at home, 2 of them a night of leftovers, and 0 nights of Take-Out. 

As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis and 1 trips to the Shursave market to use my $10 Reward chit brought my weekly spending to $19.95 and my November food spending Grand Total to $522.09 as I am done grocery shopping until Thursday.
I did use a $20 gift card at Weis last week(instead of waiting until December to spend it)too.

With using a free gift card and getting a free turkey my savings percentages this week was 85.13% and the monthly savings rate stands at 52.99%.
That's a goodly percentage even for me!  I just wish I could do that all year long.  ;-)

Leftovers going into this week.......meatballs, sausage, taco beef, mac and cheese, kielbasa, assorted Turkey day dinner foods.

Here is this week's "food plan".
1. Sunday--Subway using a gift card
2. Monday--Leftover Kielbasa, Pierogies or Leftover Spaghetti
3. Tuesday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Green Beans
4. Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Salad, Fried Mac/Cheese Balls
5. Thursday--Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner 2.0
6. Friday--Meatloaf, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes
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?  Mushrooms and we are almost out of milk.

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

All About Thanksgiving

Since the Daughter was working on Thanksgiving we planned dinner for later in the day than we usually eat.  This meant I didn't have to rise at the ass crack of dawn. Yay!
I could do all the prep and cooking at a more leisurely pace and even take an hour to go out to Rite-Aid to get a jump on the freebies there.

Here is the stuffing going into the large oval crock pot early in the a.m.
I pressed all 3 of my crock pots into service for the Turkey Day meal.  The black one in the background ended up being used for the mashed potatoes(both red and white)and the white small crock pot held and warmed the rutabaga.

Since there were 7 for dinner this year(me, Hubs, college boy, daughter, brother in-law, nephew and daughter's boyfriend)we had to add a card table onto our ersatz dining table(aka a camping/fold-up table)so everyone could sit down to eat together.
With so many for dinner I set up the food in the kitchen buffet style from which we served ourselves before taking our place at the dinner table.

Here are the mashed potatoes, carrots, stuffing(plus what was cooked inside the bird in a serving bowl)and extra rolls.....

The rutabaga on the counter behind Hubs and the platter of turkey on the island with the big bowl of gravy(you can't see in this picture).

Rolls, butter, salt/pepper and cranberry glop were table side.

Let me talk a little about the table.
Earlier this month blogging friend Kim over at Out My Window sent me a package......

I hadn't a CLUE why or what this could be!
Inside was a beautiful hand sewn tablecloth and matching cloth napkins Kim had made for me. 8-)
Also were 4 cute little birdies(quail maybe?)with a metallic copper finish.

With all the stuff going on in her life that she took the time to fashion all this for me was awesome.
She is one special lady is all I can say. ;-)

So I dug that box out of hiding and set my Thanksgiving table Thursday morning......

I had a couple of Autumn swags I intertwined and laid out straight in the middle of the table and put small tea light type candles and those little birdies randomly among the foliage.

Here are the matching napkins.

Well between the chaos of getting the meal on the table and the hungry heathens who couldn't wait to start eating I didn't get a shot of the whole table properly set for dinner.

Here is the crew that chowed down on the vittles here at Chez Sluggy for Thanksgiving(minus Yours Truly who was taking the photo).

I scaled back the side dishes this year(no sweet potatoes or green bean casserole)but still there was more than enough to keep this swarm of locusts busy.
I am sure three kinds of pie helped satiate them as well. ;-)

And we kept it civil and politically-free(though not alcohol-free). 8-)))

I hope you had the type of Holiday you enjoy.

Sluggy

The Rest of the Rite-Aid Trips This Week...BF Madness!

I made another Pre-Black Friday trip to Rite-Aid on Wednesday evening.

First I bought 2 restaurant gift cards that gave $10 in Plenti points.  Money spent on these Xmas gifts doesn't come out of the food/toiletry funds(but instead out of the gift budget), so this purchase gave me $10 in "free" monies to spend on toiletries/HBA/OTC items(well I spent down my Plenti points on this transaction, but the next day those $10 in points went live in the account to "pay" for what I bought Wednesday evening).

In a separate transaction I bought this........

The Pantene shampoos were on clearance for $2.49 each, so those were $4.98.
I used a $4/2 Pantene ManuQ on those making that purchase cost .98.

The Colgate toothpaste was on sale for $3.
I used a $2.50/1 Colgate R-A FlyerQ and stacked a .75¢/1 IPQ,  making this purchase a .25¢ moneymaker.

The MidNite sleep aid was B1G2Free so $10.99 for all 3.
I used a $1/1 IPQ I've had for awhile making this purchase cost $9.99.

Total OOP for all with tax of .06¢ was $9.78.
I paid with Plenti points.
After the $10 in gift card puts went live the following morning this transaction became a .22¢ moneymaker.

I had planned on a $1.22 moneymaker except that the Checkout51 $1 cash rebate on Pantene shampoo were all claimed by Wednesday evening for that week. bleh.  Still a good trip.


On Thursday, since we were eating late due to Daughter's work schedule, I had an hour in the early afternoon when I had no cooking chores to attend to so I ran up to Rite-Aid to start doing the Black Friday Deals.  Since there were so few freebies after Plenti points this year I was able to do them all in one day/one transaction on my Plenti card........

Everything was free(or better than free with coupons)after Plenti points they gave back, except that Huggies wipes(.49¢ each after sale/points/coupon)and the Dial hand soap(didn't give points/didn't have coupons, so sale price of .99¢ each).

The freebies I got were-
* Kleenex facial tissue
* Scunci hair elastics
* Rite-Aid gift tape
* Colgate toothbrushes

Better than free using coupons with the sale prices were-
* Listerine dental floss was $2.99 on sale and gave $2 in PPs, but with my $1/1 tearpadQs from the dentist's office these became a .01¢ moneymaker.
* GE light bulbs $2 moneymaker each with $2/1 Q
* Philips ear buds gave $6 in PPs but w/20% wellness discount cost $5.59 so a .41¢ moneymaker each
* Conair hairbrush gave $3 in PPs but w/20% wellness discount cost $2.63 so a .37¢ moneymaker.
* Colgate toothpaste suppose to be $4 a tube but this variety was clearanced to $1.19.  I had .50¢/1 IPQs plus these still gave back $4 in PPs so they were a $3.31 moneymaker. 8-)))  Had I been more aware, I could have also stacked the $2.50/1 R-A Flyer Colgate Q(as this variety of toothpaste also qualified for that Q) and made this a $5.81 moneymaker! ack!!!

As far as I know this variety may be clearance priced in most stores but it is not marked(and wasn't marked in my store).  It's the Enamel Health sensitive variety but do a price check before you have them ring it up to make sure.

This transaction cost me $47.91($1.79 of that tax)in Plenti Points but earned me back $54.00 in new Plenti Points.  No $ spent OOP and even with the not free after points Wipes and Hand Soap(and not realizing I could have made the toothpaste a larger moneymaker!) this was a $6.09 moneymaker.

On Black Friday proper I hit Rite-Aid again to do the Deals on Daughter's and Son's cards in two different transactions of course but photo is everything together........

R-A gift tape x 8
Colgate toothbrushes x 4
Colgate toothpaste x 4
Ge light bulbs x 4
Scunci/Conair x 4
Listerine floss x 4
Philips ear buds x 3(I ran out of PPs on one card so coudln't get 2 for free on that one)
Kleenex tissue x 4
Huggies wipes x 2(not free after PPs but .49¢ ea.)

In all this cost $77.04(including $2.94 tax)in PPs.
This all earned $100 back in new PPs(on two different cards)making these purchases a $22.96 moneymaker.

Total Black Friday Deal spending so far was $124.95 in PPs and $154.00 in new PPs earned so a $29.05 moneymaker all together.

I may go back up Saturday(today)for 1 more "better than free" ear bud and maybe do some deals that aren't free, like the 7-Up 12-packs($2 each after sale/points) or some DiGiorno pies($1.99 each after sale/points)and spend down some PPs.  I have so many!

And I also need to get some gift cards that give back PPs, both gift cards for Xmas presents(paid for out of the Xmas monies)and Home Improvement gift cards paid for out of the home maintenance budget.  The PPs I get back are just gravy really.  Hmm, gravy.... ;-)

And except for 1 small online purchase from Macy's which cost me ZERO OOP(I'll blog about that once the item arrives)that is ALL the Black Friday shopping that was done by yours truly this weekend.
Yes, my Black Friday is not so mad, is it?

I had some coupons that would have gotten me more free stuff on BF but I just don't like to go out in insane crowds alone and neither of my kids would go out shopping with me. *sniff, sniff*
I guess I have raised non-shoppers. 8-P

Free is awesome but going out alone in that shopping frenzy was not even enough to lure me into it! lolz

So what great deals did you get on Black Friday?

Sluggy