This Week on the Dining Table

The "Well This Christmas was Different!" Edition--

Sorry to be MIA the last few days.  It's been stressful around here what with nothing going as planned.
I haven't had time to do much online nor any inclination to.
I am just so tired.  Gee, like I haven't said that before? lolz

I haven't even tallied my grocery receipts for this past week until now.....throwing them in my receipt book is all I could manage.
Let's just say that I thought my December Grocery Challenge was bust due to not being able to cook like I usually do because of demands on me and Hubs accident causing me to buy stuff I usually don't just to get through the day.  I had no clue what I had spent especially this last week.

Wednesday evening I had a mini meltdown here.  The kids kept coming downstairs asking about when dinner was going to be served while I was trying to deal with doing things for Hubs(who's been a bit demanding)and trying to prepare a home cooked meal that was a bit complicated.(Not a good combination for future reference.)
Not once did they offer to help me make dinner or help out in some other way and I just went off on them.

Right now I am taking everything one day at a time.  If we can get through the day with everyone being warm, fed and clothed, I call it a win.  The budget is just an afterthought for me at the moment.  This is why I have been avoiding sitting down and calculating receipts.

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Flounder, Cauliflower, au gratin Taters

2. Monday--Soup Night or Fend for Yourself

3. Tuesday--Hot Dogs or Kielbasa, Potato Salad, Beans

4. Wednesday--Chicken Marsala, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli

5. Thursday--Tacos

6. Friday--Leftovers or ?

7. Saturday--Xmas Eve Chinese Meal Out(Take-Out this year as Hubs can't go)

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Flounder, Cauliflower, au gratin Taters

2. Monday--Soup Night or Fend for Yourself

3. Tuesday--Homemade Pizza

4. Wednesday--Chicken Marsala, Mixed Veggie, Alfredo Noodles

5. Thursday--Hot Dogs, Beans, Potato Salad

6. Friday--Fend for Yourself(I had a salad, Hubs had soup)

7. Saturday--Xmas Eve Chinese Meal(Take-out)

6 meals cooked at home, 2 of them nights of leftovers, and 1 night of Take-Out/Eating-Out.

The Dec. Buddget update--

$10 more in rolled coins, $10.75 in Ibotta and $6 in SavingStar, making my totals as follows-- 
Gift Cards.....$64.36

Cash Rebates--

 Savingstar...$148.03

 Checkout51..$42.25

 Ibotta..........$44.25

Rolled Coins...$97.50

Other Cash(post coupons)...$42.00

Total.....$435.39

As for the grocery spending.....3 trips to Weis, 1 trip to the Bread Outlet since I was out taking Hubs to a dr. appt., and 1 trip to the Shursave Market for mushrooms only brought the week's spending to $137.89 and brings my December food spending Total to $404.69 so far this month. 4 Days left to spend in December and $30.70 left in my December budget.

I am amazingly still under budget(I am shocked really!)and I may squeak by on this food challenge.  8-)

My savings percentages this week was 55.04%.

Leftovers going into this week.......potato salad, ravioli in sauce, some Chinese take-out.

Here is this week's "food plan".
Due to circumstances out of my control(no oven-details coming later), meals will be a bit different if not easier and quicker.

1. Sunday--Beef Eye Round Roast, Yeast Rolls, Green Bean Casserole, Mac & Cheese
2. Monday--Leftovers
3. Tuesday--Chicken Enchiladas(premade Stouffer's)
4. Wednesday--Tacos
5. Thursday--Xmas Dinner 2.0
6. Friday--Clam Chowder and Biscuits
7. Saturday--NYE tapas(aka appetizers)

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating-Out and 2 night of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu? Lettuce, milk.

And for the record I'll NOT have to buy anything dessert related or needed to make dessert type foods for at least 3 weeks.(6 pies, 7 types of cookies plus candy and cookies gifted to us & nephew made whipped cream on Sunday here.  It's a sugar wonderland!)

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

Merry Christmas from Sluggy

Here's something I like to share at Christmas.
It's sort of a tradition here at Chez Sluggy now.

I'd like to dedicate this song to Cousin Sonya this year.  ;-)


Sluggy

Grocery Deals This Past Week

A few items I bought this past week.....all at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

Last Friday these were Buy One Get Two Free(reg. price $3.99).
I bought 6, paid for 2=$7.98
I used 2 x .55¢/1 ManuQs(doubled to $1 each)=$2.00 making the OOP $5.98 so less than $1 per bag.
I also earned $1 cash rebate in my SavingStar account so in the end, $4.98 paid for 6 bags.
(1 bag is missing as it is in a Christmas stocking.) 8-)

8 O'Clock Coffee was BOGO this past week.
At Weis even if an item is BOGO you can use 1 coupon for each item, even the one you are getting free.
So I got 8 bags(reg. price $5.49), paid for 4=$21.96
I used 8 x $1.50/1 IPQs so $12.00 off=$9.96.
I also have a $1.50/1 Weis Q which stacked so $9.96-$1.50=$8.46 or $1.06 per bag OOP.
(1 bag is missing here too since College Boy made coffee with one.)

Weis had/still has Angel Soft 12 packs of TP for $5.49 on sale.
I had a $1/1 IPQ making it $4.49.
I also had a $1/1 WeisQ that stacked making the final cost $3.49.

4 x Pepsi product sodas on sale for $11(must buy 4).
I used 2 x $2/2 Pepsi products 12-packs IPQs=$7
I unlocked and received a $4 Ibotta cash rebate for buying the 2 packs of new Mtn. Dew flavors, making my cost $3 for 4 12-packs, or .75¢ per 12-pack.
You will notice the "Mom's" notes on them all.  Not that I drink Mtn. Dew(I will drink a Dr. Pepper now and again)but in order to keep them from disappearing in a nanosecond permission has to be asked to have one otherwise these are not to be touched.  The things I have to do to monitor usage around here! ;-)

Select General Mills cereals were $1.88 per box in the ad that just finished at Weis(Must buy 4 to get this price.)
2 boxes of Chex(for making Muddy Buddies)and 2 boxes of Cheerios were purchased for $7.52.
I used a .50¢/1 Cheerios(doubled to $1 off)ManuQ and a $1/2 Chex ManuQ making this $5.52 for 4 boxes.  I'll receive $2($1 for buying 2 Chex, $1 for buying 2 Cheerios)cash rebates back in my SavingStar account and I also got $1 cash back in Ibotta for buying the Chex so these 4 boxes will end up costing $2.52 total, or .63¢ per box.

I also bought 3 Pillsbury crescent "whack" rolls for $6 total.
I used a $1/3 IPQ and will get back $1 in SavingStar, making these $4 total for 3 tubes.

I get the Cabot brand emailed newsletter and had printed off a $1/1 Cabot cheese IPQ last month. Weis had Cabot chunks for $2.50 on sale this past week so I got 2 chunks for $1.50 each with coupon/sale price.

That's the extent of my grocery deals this week and my shopping adventures.  No retail therapy around here as all the Christmas gifties were bought and paid for by early December.
Nothing much to do around here ltely except grocery shop, make cookies and cook meals.
Oh, and taking care of that invalid guy that showed up. 8-)

Sluggy

Sluggy's Financial Woes...Maybe, Maybe Not

Besides the negatives of falling down and breaking a limb, which in and of itself is bad, there is another down side.

I am speaking of having to go on short term disability.
I went and looked online and saw that here in PA that means an income reduction of 40% until you can return to work.
That means 40% less money coming in for us, going into 2017.
Ouch.

Hubs talked to HR and what I saw isn't accurate for his situation and his employer, thankfully.  He was told the first month he'll get 100% of his income and then it drops to 70% in month two.
There is a 1 week wait or something where you can't collect until you've been out of work for 7 days(and don't get paid for those 7 days).  Luckily Hubs still has personal days he can use for those days so we won't go without pay for that week.
For now the tentative return to work date is Feb.7th. so we will have a month of 70% less income.

And to have this all to be happening at the Holidays just sucks.  It's a good thing that I have bought ahead for Christmas(and all that is already paid for)and haven't put any recent Xmas expenses on credit cards that I can't pay off monthly in full.

Hopefully Hubs last paycheck for December which arrives this Friday won't reflect any reductions yet.

On the bright side are two things(well one has a bright side, sort of)--
It wasn't a worse injury and Hubs will fully recover and be able to return to work and his nice salary.
The other bright side(sort of)to all this is that we have not only met our deductible but maxed out our deductible with out of pocket for medical co-pays for the year.

No, not satisfied the high deductible(that happened in about March).  We have hit $7K in medical deductibles and co-pays out of pocket for 2016 so from about mid November forward all the medical bills/prescriptions/DMEs/etc. have not cost us one penny more.
This means it's fortuitous that Hubs broke his leg this month and not in January....if you can call breaking one's leg fortuitous. ;-)

Add that $7K to the $5600 we have paid in insurance premiums this year and we are out of pocket $12,600 for medical costs in 2016.
ouch.

Until Friday when I see the paycheck I can't be confident that I'll be able to achieve my Savings Challenge goal for 2016.
Between our expenses this month, a possible reduction in income and having to hold back a percentage of whatever is leftover after expenses are paid for December to help cover the High Deductible of our insurance policy(before they pay anything)which rolls over January 1, I am crossing my fingers we can meet our savings goal for the year.  It will be close if we do make it. ;-)

With my prescription costs in January alone and Hubs beginning physical therapy in January plus Daughter's medical appointments that month, we will hit our high deductible in record time in 2017 and I predict we will max out our co-pays before 2017 is over as well.
Not something to look forward to but it is going to happen.

Between this possible short term income reduction and other financial changes we might be undergoing next year(that aren't set in stone and I am not at liberty to talk about yet)I really can't sit down to finalize our 2017 Household Budget like I had wanted to by mid December.

I had planned to make 2017 the Year of Austerity Spending BEFORE Hubs' accident happened.

What with 2 more adults living here and us basically paying their living expenses(rent, utilities and bulk of food costs) for the next 2 years so Daughter can finish her degree, our basic costs have gone up and will continue to be higher.

Once December is over I can see actually how much more their living here has cost us over the last 6 months and make plans to adjust how and where the spending happens.
I had planned on cutting back on categories and putting the fear of MOM into these kids when it comes to wasting water/electricity/food.  Yes, they need to be more aware of what/how much they are using.
A short term income reduction brings this point home even more now.  Plus the fact that Hubs will be retiring shortly(could be in a year, could be sooner now)changes will be coming whether they like it or not.  Once Hubs retires we can't sustain the current level of spending on our retirement income(not until Social Security kicks in anyway but that won't be happening until well after he retires).

And on the bright side.......
We received a refund of car insurance on Monday, finally after cancelling the car coverage in September!

I will attempt to NOT spend this all in one place.
Though I could do some damage at Rite-Aid with that pittance. ;-)

We are thankful for good medical care and insurance coverage and an income to pay for it all here at Chez Sluggy  today.  You never know what life with throw at you but by planning and handling your finances well, you can help your chances of surviving the shit that happens.

No matter what comes our way in the future I know we will be ok. 8-)

Sluggy

Happenings This Past Week at Chez Sluggy

What a week!

I am worn out.
Between my usual stuff(cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and deal hunting)and all my new caregiver chores, plus all the Holiday "getting ready" stuff,  it doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging OR "me" time.
Just sitting down, closing my eyes and doing nothing for 10 minutes is my idea of heaven lately.

On Tuesday we had some excitement since it was my Daughter's 24th birthday.
She wanted to go out to the newish Mexican restaurant that opened up here earlier in the year.  This worked out well since I had a $25 gift certificate I had bought a few months ago for a 50% discount.

Daughter had a shot and a beer to start things off and then some dish with a mole sauce with a side of fried plantain.

I'm not a big Mexican food fan but it was Taco Tuesday($2 tacos)so I got 3 tacos(1 carne asada/2 al pastor) and a side of rice and beans.

This restaurant is sort of dark inside so when my tacos came I put some lime and a verde sauce on and started munching down.
A few bites into taco #1 I noticed it tasted funny.....funny bad.
By the time I finished taco #1 it finally hit me-Cilantro!

I thought the green on top was finely shredded lettuce or parsley but no, it was fresh cilantro.

It turns out that I am one of the 4-14% of the population on earth who share a group of olfactory-receipt genes called OR6A2, that pick up on the smell of aldehyde chemicals that are both found in cilantro and soap.

Yes, cilantro makes food taste like Ivory soap to me.

So I spent some time picking all the cilantro out of my tacos.....

The Daughter happily ate my inedible tacos and she gave me a few bits of her enchiladas and mole sauce.  1 soapy taco, a few bits of enchilada and my rice and beans was plenty for me.

Then since I mentioned that it was Daughter's birthday, the staff came out to sing Happy Birthday, make her wear a sombrero and attempted to set the building on fire with a firecracker in her slice of cake...EEK!



After extinguishing the rocket Daughter ate her cake and I paid the bill and we made the treacherous drive home up the mountain in a snowstorm.
Fun times.....
Of course I had to get in on the hat action too. ;-)

On Wednesday I managed to roll some more coins.........

Another $10 added to my rolled coins for the year bringing me to $97.50.
So close to $100 in coins for the year.

On Wednesday we also got a delivery of meat.......

My brother and his wife sent us an Omaha Steaks gift bundle for Christmas.
Unexpected but yummy.

Of course it would have been nice to know I was getting 18 lbs. of frozen foods ahead of time so I could make sure I had room in the freezer for it all!!

Luckily, this time of year, my entire garage can sub for a deep freezer since it's below freezing here in PA.
Between eating some of this the past 4 days and making room in the freezer we've about made room for what is left.  Of course we saved the steaks first!! lolz


On Thursday Hubs had his 1 week post op appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.

 Here's the x-ray from the ER.  Oh he did a fine job breaking that leg, yes he did!
Spiral fractures of both bones...ouch.

Here's the x-ray taken after a metal rod was inserted into Hubs leg plus some screws into his ankle area during surgery.........

The leg in real life with sutures at various spots.  The incision on the knee is where the metal rod or "nail" was put in.

The next day Hubs went on YouTube and tried to watch a video of the surgery he had.  When the doctor started hammering the metal nail into the patient's knee he had to turn it off. lolz

Hmm, another patient in the casting room who didn't look too well.....hehehe

We go back in 2 weeks to get Hubs' sutures out.
We won't talk about how I almost killed Hubs once we got home, getting him from the car to the house.  No we won't go there......

Friday evening Daughter went to pick up College Boy from school after her last final exam.  College Boy's exams were finished on Thursday so he got to party before leaving for Winter break.  They beat a snowstorm that was heading East that evening/early Saturday morning.

Saturday and Sunday was cleaning, cooking, laundry, patient care-the usual.  Throw in some shopping and meeting folks who bought 2 of the fragrance sets I sold on the local FB yard sale site and it was a bursting full weekend.

Remember those fragrance sets I bought at Rite-Aid?  Well "buy" isn't quite accurate since I paid with Plenti points and received cash rebates too.  Ok, I "spent down "$21.74 in points when all was said and done.
I sold two of the sets for $22 cash so now I "made" .26¢ on that transaction plus I still have two fragrance sets for free to use for gifts.  That all worked out exceptionally well! 8-)))

A few Christmas cards got written and addressed as well on Sunday and they got mailed on Monday.

On Monday Hubs had his eye dr. appointment and shot. ouch.
I shlepped him into the car, out of the car and into the dr. office, back and forth in a wheelchair through the humongous office from waiting rooms to exam rooms and back again x 4.  Then he had a reaction to the shot so we got to visit at the office for an extra 30 minutes.
Fun times.....
Then it was shlepping him back into the car to home and back into the house.
I don't know who was more exhausted after that excursion, Hubs or me.


As for the Christmas tree..............

A space I cleared out for the tree.

It is up and lit, albeit fuzzy.........

I am glad now we decided to put up the small tree instead of the huge tree.  With the big tree up it would be difficult for Hubs to navigate with his walker in there where he is sleeping/recuperating.

Perhaps a few ornaments will actually get ON the tree this week if I do it.
Nobody here(the kids)seems to want to decorate and I just am stretched too thin to do it at the moment.
meh.
I bet if I said that no presents would be under the tree unless they decorated it that would get their butts in gear, eh?

And that catches everyone up on the highlights of a Week at Chez Sluggy.

I am soooo behind getting Christmas related chores finished at this point I can't worry about that any longer.
What gets done, gets done and what doesn't, well, it too will get done eventually...or not.

Maybe I just need to get lit like the tree and stop worrying about anything else. ;-)

I hope everyone is doing better than I am at keeping up.
All I can say is if you aren't in shape for the Holidays yet, don't sweat it.
Don't be so hard on yourself and just enjoy the season no matter.


Sluggy