December 2016 To-Do List....Hahaha!

Let's see how we did with our December To-Do List, shall we?
My month didn't go as planned because of Hubs' accident early into December but we salvaged what we could from the list.

* Pay Bills  DONE  If nothing else I always pay our bills in full each month.

* Bike Something  PASS  Well after Hubs' accident I didn't have much time or energy to bike in December.  I got a few miles in but nowhere near how many I wanted to do when the month began.  Even if I didn't get biking done I was moving a lot more in December so should be in a little better shape by month's end.

* Read 1 Book  DONE  Actually I haven't quite finished it as I only get a few pages in each night.  I highly recommend "As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto" by Joan Reardon.  It's a collection of personal correspondence between the two women from 1952 until soon after Julia's book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" was published.  Besides chronicling the path to publication, there are recipes discussed and cooking talk, national politics of that time, as well as personal stuff.

Avis DeVoto was the wife of historian and writer Bernard DeVoto, who was quite popular in the earlier part of the 20th Century in the US.  He had done a magazine article about how French knives were superior to US cutlery back in 1952.  Julia, living at that time in Paris, had sent Mr. DeVoto a fan letter about his article along with a couple of French knives.  Avis, DeVoto's wife was also his secretary and answered much of his mail. Avis ended up writing Julia a reply and a thank you and thus began their pen pal correspondence and later a personal friendship that lasted until Avis' death in 1989.  If anyone can be credited, it is through the efforts of Avis DeVoto and her connections in the publishing world that got Julia's epic book into print and into the hands and hearts of American cooks.
5 thumbs up!

* Shred Papers  FAIL  Nope, just not enough hours in my day in December to get to this.  The project moved to January's list.

* Hold Giveaway PASS  The December giveaway took place.

* Mail Giveaway  PASS  The package was sent off well before Christmas and received heartily.

* Finish SA Donation #1, #2 CANCELLED  After Hubs' accident there was no way I had time or the ability to get this chore done. 

* Take Donations in #1, #2  CANCELLED  Decluttering and Donations can wait and be done in 2017 once the invalid is off my hands.  8-)

* Go to 2 Dr. Appointments PASS  Appointments done and Yours Truly is doing so much better healthwise.

* Put Xmas Tree Up PASS
No tree.....

Tadah!  A tree.

* Decorate for Xmas PASS considering what I had to work with.  Hardly anything got put out other than stockings, a purple garland on the stair railing and the Christmas tree. Hubs had put the door wreath up and the porch lights outside before the accident so we had the bare minimum.
I never got around to hanging the Xmas cards we received onto a silver garland and putting that around the kitchen window frame.
I did however set them all out on the kitchen table for a few hours and snapped this photo.....

While I didn't get much Christmas decorating done I did cook a lot of goodies and food for the Holiday.

* Finish Xmas Shopping DONE  The bulk of it was finished before December began(thankfully)otherwise there would have been little under the tree this year.  I did run out the Friday morning before Christmas for some last minute gifties(and partly just to get out of the house and away from the invalid). ;-)

* Wrap Presents DONE  I do believe I was up Christmas even wrapping some items and having to fill stockings.  Just not enough hours in the day with Hubs' incapacitated to get everything done sooner this year.

* Make Charity Donation DONE  This year I wrote a check to the local Food Bank.

* Pick-Up College Boy DONE  He got picked up by my Daughter since she was done with finals earlier that day.  This was a big help to me not having to drive to his school and back with everything going on here.  Of course, after I saw what they spent on fast food on the way home on my credit card I started second guessing sending her! lolz

* Finish 2017 Budget FAIL What with a decrease in pay after 1 month on disability and not knowing still when Hubs can return to work and his usual paycheck it's hard to get this finished.  But we are close and I hope to have the budget in place before January is out.

* Take Care of Invalid Patient(and don't kill him) DONE  Well as of this morning I haven't killed him yet.....not that I haven't been tempted some days. 8-)))

I should be able to get a tad more done in January as Hubs gets to where he can do more for himself.

How did you do getting chores on your December To-Do List marked off?

Sluggy

Frugal Friday or How I Saved My Family $600+

Here are a few ways I've saved our family some money this past week.
The last one is a biggie too.  ;-)

* No take-out or eating-out this week.

* Doing laundry during off-peak hours only.

* 1 trip to Weis(PMITA)Markets this week where I picked up 6 discount sticker meat packages, 4 packs of tortillas for $1 each after sale and coupon, $50.93 reg. retail worth of frozen pizzas for $26.88 OOP after sales/points/stacked Qs and 4 containers of Weis brand OJ and Grapefruit juice for 39% off during a sale. (Having all that pizza on hand will help me not get take-out on nights I just can't cook due to exhaustion.)

* I took a small chunk of leftover Xmas roast and with the addition of potatoes, onions, red bell pepper(from the freezer)and spices I turned it into Roast Beef Hash. This along with a large quantity of cheesy scrambled eggs was dinner on Monday night.

* Regular readers will know that our oven/range crapped out on Christmas day which led to the hilarity of having to transport large amounts of food back and forth to my brother in-law's place so as to cook it.

By Xmas evening Hubs was browsing new ranges on his phone and had picked one out that the local big box hardware store could have delivered by New Years for $550 + tax and $75 delivery fee.

Instead I figured out that the lower heating element needed replacing, found the part # and jumped on the internet and ordered it.(You wouldn't believe the price range between websites for said part!) I did splurge an extra $1.60 and have it mailed Priority rate instead of parcel post rate.
The part arrived in 3 days and on New Year's eve between my 2 kids and I(and a You Tube video)we got the new element installed.

And while we had the range pulled out from the wall I got behind there and cleaned.
Now this baby works good as new, both inside and outside!

Cost of part w/shipping.....$16.70
Labor........FREE
Savings from not buying a new range(+ tax and shipping).....approx. $641.00

This past week was an epic frugal win week at Chez Sluggy.

Sluggy

Rite-Aid Haul Porn

Here's what I bought at Rite-Aid this week in multiple transactions at two different locations.......

2 x L'Oreal Excellence hair color(20% discount)=$15.18
2 x L'Oreal Preference hair color(50% on clearance)=$10.28
4 x Finish dishwashing tabs BOGO sale=$12.98
2 x Kellogg's corn flakes cereal($1.88 on sale)=$3.76
2 x Centrum vitamins(w/bonus 30 ct. bottle)BOGO50%=$14.98
2 x I-Caps eye vitamins on sale=$35.98
2 x Dove Men's body wash on sale=$7.98
SubTotal....$101.14

Coupons Used
4 x $3/1 IPQ L'Oreal Excellence or Preference hair product=$12.00
2 x $5/2 In-Ad R-AQ L'Oreal Excellence or Preference hair coloring=$10.00
2 x $2/1 IPQ Finish dishwashing tabs=$4.00
2 x .75¢/1 Kellogg's corn flakes IPQ=$1.50
2 x $4/1 Centrum ManuQ=$8.00
2 x $10/1 I-Caps ManuQ=$20.00
2 x $2/1 ManuQ Dove Men's body wash ManuQ=$4.00
1 x .55¢ OYNO CatalinaQ(can't remember what this printed out for last week)=.55¢
Coupon Total.....$60.05

$101.14-$60.05=$41.09=$1.01 tax=$42.10
I used $42.10 in Plenti points to pay the OOP.
I earned back $40 in new Plenti points(for buying 2 x $50 in Starting Points items), making my OOP $2.10.
Then I earned a $3 cash rebate in SavingStar for buying 1 of the Centrum vitamins so in the end I got all the above items and got paid .90¢ to bring it home.
8-)))

$162.14 worth of regular retail price items for better than free.

All the items will be used by us except for 2 of the hair colorings which will be sold on the local Facebook site(and if they don't sell, will be donated to the local food bank here).

I've already got a plan together for next week too.

Sluggy

Eating Out Spending for 2016

I've updated the Eating-Out page located HERE.

All in we spent $2,306.67 on eating-out(also includes all take-out and fast food)for 2016 which averages out to $192.22 per month.  The only eating-out not included is anything Hubs buys on business trips or using his personal stash of monthly cash to buy food or coffee when away from home.

Largest spending months were May at $415.07 and August at $466.40 spent.
These were also the 2 months Hubs and I went on vacations(to Louisiana and to Maine)so the trip eating-out was large both months because we splurge on good regional food when on vacations.

The "regular" component of our eating-out totaled $766.46 which averages out to $63.87 per month.
The "trip" component of our eating-out totaled $1,163.52 which averages out to $96.96 per month.(1 birthday meal is also included in the trip part of eating-out this year, as I treated eldest son to a birthday dinner while on a trip.)
The "birthday and holiday" component(4 birthdays and 2 holidays)of our eating-out totaled $376.69 which averages out to $31.39 per month.

We spent $3212.71 in 2015 on Eating-Out so we spent $906.04 less last year on this category.  We had more trip eating-out in 2015 but then again we went on a few more trips that year.

I think we are doing well in keeping the Eating-Out spending under control.
Our total spent on this category is ok by me.  Sure, not spending anything on meals out would do wonders for our bottom line but really, this is not likely to happen.
We enjoy a good meal out while on vacation or to celebrate an event, and now and again some take-out to give myself a break from cooking.

How about you?
Do you track your spending on eating-out?
Are you trying to cut down on this category of spending and/or how do you keep from running up the bills on eating-out/take-out?

Sluggy

2016 $38K Savings Challenge...December Update and FINAL TALLY

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 December report.....

I have posted my December 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 December with a surprisingly to me large amount, given the challenges this month.
The extra amount we ended the month of December with?.......$3650.62

Income

We had $3265.80 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.

Other monies received in December totaled $384.82.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts, a tiny car insurance refund, 2 stock dividend checks, blogging revenue and $9.15 in spare cash I didn't spend on groceries in December.

This brought us to our gain of $3650.62
Since we have no debt, some of this goes into savings, not all. As it's January 1st we need to fund the $3K high deductible of our health insurance plan for 2017.

Outgo

As for the expenses this December, 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 water bill was $4.37 lower than last month's bill.
*  The gas card bill was $150.28 less than November's bill. Not that less gas was purchased really, it was just put on the Master Card instead. Plus after Hubs' accident he wasn't driving to work or anywhere else for that matter. ;-)
*  Cash withdrawals were $200 less than last month.  This was due to Hubs being incapacitated and not leaving home so he really didn't have much opportunity to spend money.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The credit card bill was up $347.65 from November's amount. Not a surprise really, being as some Christmas spending went on it this cycle.
*  The electric bill was $128.09 more than in November.  Two reasons for this-December is colder so the thermostat got nudged higher plus with Hubs living on the daybed in the living room I have to keep the downstairs warmer 24/7.  I usually don't heat downstairs very much at night when everyone sleeps upstairs.
*  We had a $10.04 balance on Daughter's Louisiana medical bills that showed up this month that I paid.  I knew it would come eventually as I knew they had under billed something.
*  There was a Kohl's charge bill for Christmas purchases I paid in December.  Not too bad at $281.12(I also used some Kohl's gift cards I had to pay part of the total and $281.12 is what was left on the balance.) Plus I'll be getting $60 of this back in rebates on some small appliances which were part of what I bought.
*  There were $154.00 in cash gifts made at Christmas so another small drain on the income for December.

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

Since we have a High Deductible Health Plan I like to reserve some December savings for the following year to help cover the $3,000 deductible that kicks in January 1st.
The $3,651.47 saved in December will be split thus-$1,960.28 goes into the 2016 Savings Challenge to get me to my goal of $38,000 saved and the remaining $1,690.34 of what was saved last month stays in the checking account to help with the high deductible costs.

With 12 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $38,000.00.

FINAL THOUGHTS on December---

Compared to December 2015 we saved $327.70 MORE and put $184.72 MORE into savings this December. 8-)
.
We have $38,000 saved from our regular take-home pay for the challenge.  This is an amount in addition to our retirement accounts, for which we have monies deducted from Hubs' pay before we receive his check.

THOUGHTS going forward into January of 2017----

I will continue to do this Yearly Savings Challenge in 2017.  Not sure yet what my targeted amount to save will be as we haven't finalized our budget.  Our food expenses will be more than they were in 2016.  Energy costs are going up here in 2017(both state gasoline taxes on each gallon purchased(actual cost of gas is a variable each month too, as well as the cost of electricity from our utility company).  Add in that property tax rates are also rising slightly over last year's rates.  We also have to bump up College Boy's college fund as the percentage rate at which the state colleges costs have risen have out paced the little bit our monies there have grown over the last 5 years.  He also had a 1 semester internship and we don't know yet where in the world that will be happening so room/board/transportation costs during that semester are a big black unknown at this point.  I am figuring it won't be cheap on our wallet.  8-(

So how was your December financially?
  

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

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid 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