January To-Do List Update

Here's the results of my January To-Do List.......

* Pay Bills-DONE  I rock this goal. lolz

* Bike Something-FAIL  Hubs is monopolizing the bike right now.  Yeah, that's the reason. ;-)

* Read 1 Book-DONE

I found another Fannie Flagg novel at Ollie's for $2.99(+ a 10% discount)in January so I picked it up. Ms. Flagg writes some great characters.

* Shred Papers-FAIL  Didn't happen in January and goes onto February's list now.

* Hold Giveaway-FAIL  Didn't get to it in time for January.

* Mail Giveaway-FAIL  Didn't do the giveaway thus didn't mail anything. lolz

* Put Tree and Decorations Away-DONE  Surprisingly we got this all done before January was half over with.

* Pay College Bill-DONE  Paid a little early but I didn't want to wait until the last minute.  College Boy is paid up until next Fall now.  Only 2 more semesters to go....woohoo!

* Buy College Books-DONE  I shopped the books around this year and saved a few hundred $$$s.  I have to check with CB as there was 1 book the course professor hadn't chosen yet in January and CB said he needed a book of musical scores that needs to be ordered too. sigh.  It. Never. Ends.

* Do FAFSA-DONE  Now that you can use last year's tax forms/records we got this done in record time.  Usually we are into March before this happens.
And ever better.....THIS IS THE LAST FAFSA I EVER HAVE TO DO!!!!!!
Do I sound happy here? 8-)))))))

* Take College Boy back to school-DONE  We went on Saturday rather than Sunday this time due to weather forecasts.  It worked out better too.  And this gave College Boy extra time to get himself back into school mode too.

* Clean up Garage-FAIL  With the weather so cold when I had time to get to this it just didn't get done.  This goes onto February's To-Do List.

* Finish  2017 Budget-SORT OF  I had things pretty much settled and then BoyFriend decided to go back to Louisiana.  We are good in that this gives us more breathing room with bills for the year and we have sufficient income to meet our needs/wants for 2017.  I'm still going to play around with the budget some and see what/how many trips/traveling we can fit in.

* Take Care of Invalid Patient(and don't kill him)-PASS  Hubs is still alive and breathing despite my best efforts.  ;-)
He has progressed from the cam boot and walker to a cane.  Now he's weaning off the cane and today is his last physical therapy session.  He can now drive a bit.  He tires quickly and has trouble walking on uneven surfaces/terrain but that will come.
It's just a matter of healing now and that just takes time.
He is mobile and self-sufficient and other than driving me crazy by being underfoot all day at home he is doing ok.

I'm overall pleased with how we ended January.
It beats how we came into 2017, that's for sure!

Are you happy with what you got accomplished last month?

Sluggy

Stuff Lately

We've had good things and bad things going on here lately......

* Crazy weather!  Snow then temps up to 50F and now snow is on the way later night again.  AND it's suppose to hit 50F again this weekend....crazy and it's a wonder we aren't all sick!

* Last week the Brother in-law and Nephew's apartment had issues.  First their hot water heater sprung a leak and then their heat went out(both are gas appliances).  Nobody else had their heat out in the building but their unit.
So between nephew working and them running to the apartment to wait for workmen to show up they were living here for 2 days.  It's a good thing we had 2 spare beds right now, huh?
And that stack of pizzas I got for real cheap last week sure came in handy to feed extra mouths too.

* Hubs is finally back at work, working from home as he isn't cleared yet to return to the office by his doc.  He has his last physical therapy session the end of this week.  I suspect at his next appointment with the "saw bones" in a month he'll be cleared to return to the office.

If you hear a sonic boom at your house from the cartwheels I'll be turning, don't be alarmed. ;-)
This little episode has confirmed for me that once Hubs does retire he needs to find something to do away from the house!  Kim I just don't know how you stand it....*snort*

And moving to a one level house with a detached garage with an apartment space above it(meaning plumbing and electricity and heat)would be really, really peachy keen!!!
If I can't get him to be away from home with an activity at least with those accommodations I can persuade him to use that apartment space as his office/man cave/whatever and leave the house for hours at a time. 8-)

Even the Daughter has made comments that he is driving HER crazy and she isn't here for long stretches between part time work and school.  I am getting sympathy from her too about putting up with Hubs so I know it's "not me" here. lolz

* Besides just holding things together I've had a mission to reorganize our household files.
I've made great progress going through the files.
Here is pile of stuff I weeded out to pitch.

It filled two grocery bags.

Here is a stack of now empty folders/hanging files.

And here are the papers I still need to file.

This has taken me weeks!  The filing is Hubs' job and I don't think he's filed anything in over a year!!!
Ugh.

* I also have been sorting things in the garage.  Since Hubs' accident in early December I haven't been vigilant about putting groceries away much, meaning there were grocery bags strewn about the garage.  It got to a point where it was a big chore just to find anything out there when it came time to cook, so since the weather has been warmer lately I've gone out there to organize and actually empty grocery bags and put things away on the shelving.

* I also took out shipping boxes that have been piling up since the Holidays and burned them in our fire ring on Monday.  That's been wonderful to get those things out of here too.

* We are suppose to get snow late tonight into Thursday morning.  Hubs can't shovel snow now so it falls to me and Daughter to deal with and we both have back issues so we have to take it slow and careful.  It shouldn't be too bad when she has to leave for school in the morning but then it falls to me to clear the driveway before she gets home around 5pm.  I see a fair amount of Tylenol and shoveling in my future for tomorrow.  8-(

We just have to keep our heads down and push through to Spring and keep on keeping on.

And now you are caught up on the doings at Chez Sluggy.

Sluggy

January Eating Out Total

Considering all things, we did pretty well on the Eating Out in January.

"All things" would be.....

* Hubs was still incapacitated so I had all my stuff and his stuff on my stuff to-do list so I couple of times I got take-out for dinner.
* It was my Birthday month. We couldn't go out but I bought a proper Birthday cake with buttercream frosting and steaks at the supermarket.
* I treated College Boy to burgers at Red Robin before he went back to school but used a free to me gift card so only spent $1.48 OOP on this.  (My only win in this category.)
* There was take-out lunch bought on the trip to take College Boy back to school at Wendy's.
* Every time Hubs had a dr. appointment that I had to drive him to he wanted drive-thru food to take home to eat.
* And the BF left so I splurged and got Primo Hoagies for dinner before he left.....these are the expen$ive subs(42.38 for 4 subs-and that was with a $2 off discount!).

$168.52 spending on Eating-Out/Take-Out for January 2017.
The particulars are posted on the Eating-Out/Take-Out Spending page HERE.

One birthday in February coming up but College Boy won't be here so we'll take him out sometime on his school break in March or April.
I'm going to try to keep the Eating-Out to a minimum this month.

How did you do on your dining out/dining in spending for January?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "I Got Nothing" Edition--

No photo, no ideas for this one.  Well lots going on but no time to hash it all out here.  Maybe later in the week I'll get a post up.

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Pork Chops, Stuffing(using leftover stuffing), Cauliflower in cheese sauce

2. Monday--Tacos or Taco Salads

3. Tuesday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Green Beans *

4. Wednesday--Hot Dogs on Rolls, Beans, maybe something else too

5. Thursday--Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

6. Friday--Pizza

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Pork Chops, Stuffing(using leftover stuffing), Cauliflower in cheese sauce

2. Monday--Tacos or Taco Salads

3. Tuesday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice

4. Wednesday--Hot Dogs on Rolls, Beans

5. Thursday--frozen Pizza, Tossed Salad

6. Friday--Leftover Pork Chops, Baked Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts(I had tater and sprouts.)

7. Saturday--Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup, Biscuits

Basically everything planned got served, though not always on the day it was suppose to be.

6 meals cooked at home, 1 of them nights of leftovers or Fend For Yourself, and 1 night of frozen pizza.

As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis,  brought the food spending last week to $120.89 and brought my February food spending total to $120.89 for the month.  There are 22 days left in the month.

My savings percentages last week was 52.18%.  Anything over 50% is awesome. 8-)

Leftovers going into this week.......Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Taco filling, Pizza, Soup and Biscuits.

Here is this week's "food plan"....
* Denotes "complicated" meals

1. Sunday--Frozen Pizza, Tossed Salad

2. Monday--Chinese Chicken, Fried Rice w/Veggies *

3. Tuesday--Haluski

4. Wednesday--Leftover Tacos

5. Thursday--?

6. Friday--Daughter has injection so something leftover or Fend for Yourself

7. Saturday--?

I still haven't sorted out the whole week's menu so I'll come back to this later.

This week will see 6 new meals cooked, 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating-Out and 1 night of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu?  I have ingredients for everything planned so far.

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

Great Deal on Frozen Pizzas at Weis

I got two copies of the Sunday paper last week, thus 2 sets of coupon inserts.
One of the inserts had a Buy 2/Get 1 Free DiGiorno Pizza Q.
Weis(PMITA)Markets has select DiGiorno pizzas for $3.99 this sales week.

When the cashier scanned the pizza coupons they automatically deducted $6.70, the maximum price that was coded into the coupons.
So 6 x $3.99=$23.94-(2 pizzas at $6.70)$13.40=$10.54 OOP for 6 pizzas.

These came in handy this past week and some more of them will be eaten today while Hubs watches that football game(I don't do football.).

This made each pizza cost $1.76.
I can't even buy a bag of cheese for that price most weeks, let alone all the ingredients to make a whole pizza!
A total savings of 74% over regular retail price.

I hope you get a cashier who just scans the coupon too!  ;-)

Sluggy