Ok, I now have 12 Giveaway entries sitting in my moderation file that I can't publish because these people have NOT supplied an email address and/or your Blogger or Google profile does not list your email address.
So if your name is on this list below, you need to email me privately your email address in order to be entered into the current Giveaway.....
Friday's one day sale at Weis(PMITA)Markets had Glad trash bags at half price last week.
Yowza!!
Half price trash bags and there were/are Glad trash bag coupons on Coupons dotcom this/last week.
I went and printed out a slew of those and did two transactions at Weis on Friday......
Pictured above are the 12 boxes of trash bags I got(7 boxes of kitchen size bags, 5 boxes of large garbage bags).
Regular retail on all this is $107.88, sale price was $53.94, minus my $19 in coupons and I paid $34.94 + $2.09 tax=$37.03.
12 boxes netted me 510 trash bags or 07¢ per bag.
I hate paying for something that just gets thrown away and Hubs won't use cheap bags for trash so I did well here.
I just wish I had more coupons to buy more since name brand trash bags NEVER go on sale for this cheap here!
Hubs and I took a drive to an animal shelter South of here where we had adopted our two beagles in the early 2000's.
I've been feeling the urge to get another dog lately, as we've been petless for three years or so now.
We found this cute little guy, Charlie the Chihuahua.
Charlie was a typical "fierce customer" being a "Hua"(pronounced hoo-aa).
That all changed once you started petting him, but as soon as Hubs stopped the pets, Charlie gave him "what for". lolz
6 meals cooked at home, 2 of them a night of leftovers or Fend For Yourself, and 1 night of eating-out/take-out.
As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis and 1 little trip to a Shursave market brought the food spending last week to $127.42(but $6.48 of that was put on a gift card paid for last year so $120.94 from this year's money). This brought my April food spending total to $172.27. There are 20 days left in the month.
My savings percentages last week was 60.63%.
Leftovers going into this week.......Meatballs, a little bit of Corned Beef(enough for a sandwich), Fajita filling for 2 tortillas, Beef Pie(enough for 2 helpings), Macaroni Salad, Roast Chicken slices. I also have 2 grilled chicken breasts from a pack I grilled up to make the Fajita filling.
Here is this week's "food plan"....
* Denotes "complicated" meals
1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers, Macaroni Salad
2. Monday--Chicken, Broccoli, Cheese, Rice Casserole(using up grilled chicken)
This week will see 3-? new meals cooked, 0 night of Take-Out/Eating-Out and 2-? nights of Leftovers.
What I need to buy for this menu? Not sure if I need anything this week. I do need to go get my freebie protein this week from Weis(can get a ham, turkey breast or lasagna)and a veggie to serve for Easter dinner.
Target has eggs for 2 dozen for $1 this week AND a spend $50 on food/beverages, Get $10 gift card this week. I have $50+ in free Target gift cards so may just buy groceries at Target with those. I am sure I can find food/beverages we can use that aren't above what I normally pay there if I try. ;-)
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?
The BIG NEWS here at Chez Sluggy is that Hubs has decided to retire from his job effective June 30th.
Hubs turned 59 earlier this week and his goal was to retire before 60.
I had to wait until he actually told his bosses he was leaving to let the "cat out of the bag" on my blog however.
And you know, since I've known the definite date for over a month now, that has been killing me. ;-)
So this changes everything here at Chez Sluggy.
Well not everything.
But everything concerning money, day-to-day living, money, shopping, money, our relationship and money.
Did I mention it changes our money situation yet?!? ;-)
July 1st I stop expanding our Net Worth and transition into depleting it. **Gulp!!!**
I have been counting down the paychecks left until Hubs leaves work and then paychecks are no more(that count is currently 7 left). Thinking about it in terms of paychecks just makes it seem even scarier. 8-O
7 more paychecks and then there is no more pay coming in.
Now that doesn't mean we have no money coming in, just no paychecks.
Our "paychecks" will now start coming out of all that money we've put aside for this time in our lives over the last 33 years.
Hubs company is top notch when it comes to taking care of your employees in my book. Not only did he make a good salary over the years but we got good medical bennies(though we paid A LOT for them out of his pay)and the company matched a part of every dollar we put away for retirement.
Now that he's retiring, they even have a dedicated retirement counselor to help guide him through separating from the job and filling out all the paperwork and setting up all the support systems we'll be needing.
He had his first session with the counselor earlier this week and we found out two very good pieces of information--A)The retiree medical savings account the company funded is larger than we had anticipated(if you have a spouse/domestic partner you get another 50% of whatever if in the account) and B)Hubs company does have a health plan for retirees(meaning we don't have to worry about having to navigate the ACA-or whatever is out there in it's place-for healthcare until Medicare kicks in).
His counselor was impressed at how much planning we had already put into place over the last few years. We know our basic numbers on all our accounts and know pretty much what we will do with them and when.
The only real big unknown is how much he government will tax what we withdraw, which affects how much of our own money we actually get to live off of or just how much we need to withdraw each year.
I have heard/read that the transitioning period from working life to retired life is a stress all onto itself.
So we are into this period and yes, it's stressful. But I guess any period where you are letting go of one way of thinking and living and stepping into what for you is the unknown can't help but be nerve wracking!
But beside stressful, in other ways it is exciting and rife with possibilities.
So, here goes nothing, or should I say, everything.........
Let's see how I did with my To-Do List for March. March To-Do List * Pay Bills DONE Everything paid and on time. * Read 1 Book DONE
Other than him being Miley Cyrus' father and having that monster song hit in the 1980's I knew nothing about Billy Ray Cyrus. The book was a quick, easy read and told in his own, down-to-earth words. It's worth taking up if you enjoy finding out about what a "star" is like underneath. -2 stars I also started this book last month.......
A biography of Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux. So far it's great! * Go to Dr. Appt. DONE And I am doing well. * Go to Dentist Appt. DONE Have to go back for a second appointment as an old filling was disintegrating and it needs redoing. Then we wait for the bills to come in. bleh. * Get CB from school DONE And it was a wild ride the last 8 miles but we lived to tell the tale. ;-) * Do CB's taxes w/Him DONE I use to do College Boy's taxes for him but now that he is 21 I sat down and made him "do" them with my assistance. I hope he can figure it out next year as I am getting too old to do this shit anymore. ;-) * Work on Genealogy DONE I did a fair amount of digging in March and unearthed a few more ancestral cousins, two of them most people will recognize. 8-) * Clean Desk Area PASS Well I didn't get to my actual desk but I did do the bookshelves next to my desk where most of my crap is stored(files, gift card box, books, recipe file, medicine, coupon inserts, address book, stamps, staple, etc.) All four shelves got de-cluttered and better organized. Now I just have to de-clutter the desk....it's not a big desk and most of it is taken up by my laptop, printer and a box of tissues but it's amazing how much little crap I can pile on it as well. lolz * Work on Medical Files DONE I pulled out all the EOBs and matched them up with medical invoices and proof of payments. Since I am a frequent flyer, Daughter has lots of visits and with Hubs two current medical issues(leg and eye)we get lots of communications from both medical billers and our insurance company. If I don't stay on top of it, it would turn into a massive clusterf**k in no time! I got all the paid bills/EOBs stapled, arranged in chronological order and put back into the file turned facing the back of the folder. Anything pending or still not billed/EOB-ed stays right side up and goes on my master list of what isn't paid but EOB-ed. The file is getting so thick already that I realized I really should make it a two folder system now-1 for paid bills and 1 for pending. Oh, I am a genius, aren't I?! 8-))) * Make sure Hubs mails Taxes DONE....Finally! I have learned I REALLY like to be in control of stuff like this and not rely on someone else to do it. Not only did it worry at me since he doesn't seem to have the same rate of "wanting to get this completed" as I do, but OMFG!, he spent a TON of money on software to do them! Like TWO different versions of software to do them AND two more payments to the software people to FILE the crap! We are in the hole $200+/- just doing the taxes, let alone what we owed on two different state returns. At least A-we got a federal refund to counterbalance the owing thing and B-We can take the cost of doing our taxes off next year's return. But next year's(2017)looks like it will be another PITA complicated filing(due to one issue we had this year plus TWO more complications next year!)so if we are going to spend so much to do taxes I am taking them to a tax accountant if I can't talk my brother into doing them for me(he's a retired CPA). And Hubs' procrastination?!? I don't even want to talk about that....... 8-( * 1st Load to Salvation Army for 2017 FAIL Well I have crap to take in all over the house basically. Nothing got scooped into bags/boxes and taken up actually due to weather/Hubs working from home so nobody went out that way(he usually drops stuff off on the way home from work). I am debating whether I should even catalog what we donate this year. I ALWAYS write down every specific thing we take in on a paper and they sign and date it so when tax time comes I make sure we get every last deduction for donations we have coming to us. But last year I didn't have enough itemized deductions to make it worthwhile to file a Schedule A and just took the standard deduction amount. And that's even with donating a CAR for gosh sakes! lol It really irked me since we don't have mortgage interest to deduct that we didn't even make the Standard Deduction ceiling but then again, I'd much rather NOT pay a mortgage every year. 8-))) Hmmm, get a mortgage deduction vs. keeping all that money people pay to interest on their houses? I think I'll keep my money and suffer..... ;-) So this item is just a matter of getting the stuff out of the house and up to Sallie's. It will get done in April no doubt! So what did you get done in March? Sluggy
