2017 Food & Toiletries Spending.....April Update

* Posting my grocery totals a bit early as I am done food spending for April.  If for some reason I shop again before Monday, this amount will go onto May's spending.*

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2017.

I have posted April's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in April.  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 3-4(3 at home this month). No kids under 21.

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BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $14.07
Savings  71.57%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $3.00
Value  $6.00
Savings   50%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $178.57
Value  $178.57
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $8.57
Qs/Ads  $9.93
Value  $18.50
Savings  53.68%

TARGET
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/Gift Cards  $62.76
Value  $84.55
Savings  100%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $244.97

Qs/Ads/Gift Cards  $588.58

Value  $833.55

Savings  70.61%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Target at 100% and the Bread Outlet at 71.57%.  My WORST savings rate was Dollar Tree at 50%.
Ok, having a "worst" savings rate of 50% is not too shabby..... ;-)

I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$260.54

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$874.70

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1135.24

TOTAL Savings of ..................................77.05%
TOTAL Savings w/o Rite-Aid of ..............72.76%

This closes out the April food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into March wanting to stay under $200 on groceries.  Even with using $208.16 worth of free(or paid for w/last year's money)gift cards to pay I came in at $260.54 spent.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 7.95% in April to 77.05% compared to March's 69.10% savings average.  That's no surprise given the $208.16 of free shopping that took place last month.

With 4 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $1,351.60 on food/toiletries in 2017 which averages out to $337.90 per month spent in 2017. 8-)


LOOKING AHEAD To May........

I really don't know how May will pan out.  I'll be away for more than half of the month so the shopping/cooking/eating will be in the hands of Hubs and Daughter(and College Boy once he gets home from school).  The pantries and freezer are stocked full but if they don't plan ahead somewhat all hell could break loose as far as food shopping goes.
I am not going to worry about it, them or the food budget.  What happens happens.....but they do know they will have me to be accountable for once May is over.  ;-)

If they just rely on take-out/fast food my food budget will be great but then the Eating-Out budget will take a BIG hit. sigh.  I guess they are going to get me one way or the other.
It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how May shakes out.
Hopefully I won't have to drink heavily when I get home in order to deal with the potential budget disaster they created. lolz

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 April?
*  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

Looking Back on April & Other Stuff

I love the end of the month/beginning of a new month time.
Ok, let me rephrase that....the money nerd in me loves this time.  ;-)

* It's 3 days to the end of April and looking back...... I am over my $200 food budget limit I imposed for April.  And that's even with using free or paid for last year gift cards. Oh well.  Still, spending $260 OOP for food for a month for 3 adults(and stocking up on some "deals")is awesome in my book.

* I have still got about a half a tank of gas in my car and have only filled it once in April.  Go me.
May will change all that in a big way.....I'll be putting miles on the Sonic and paying for lots of gas.

* I didn't take any cash withdrawals this month and still have $36 in my wallet from March's cash.
I decided when April started not to take any cash out of the bank automatically on the 1st and just see how far March's leftovers took me....to the tune of $36 evidently. lol
I think I had $72? in my wallet at the end of March.
So $36 is leftover from that $72 after paying cash for about $20 in prescriptions I picked up, a few of gallons of milk at the store($13 approx.) and I did do the drive-thru for a burger or two in April so that came out of the leftover March money too.  I took myself to the movies in April but that was using a gift card that was paid for 2 years ago.
Sounds about right.  I really didn't spend on much besides groceries this month.

So I am going into May(really? May already!?!)with $36 in my pocket and half a tank of gas.
Woohoo! ;-)

* I've only got 1 item left on my To-Do List for April-a Sallie's donation to finish gathering and taking in.  I guess I'll get the rest of it gathered today and loadedd into Hubs' car when he gets home and see if Hubs can drop it off on the way home from work on Friday.  Then we don't have to make a trip there over the weekend.

*  I bought a total of 14 bags of coffee this past sales week at Weis(PMITA)Markets while they had this brand on BOGO sale.

6 bags of the Alert type(highly caffeinated)cost $7.47 after sale and $1.50/1Qs or $1.25 for each bag.
8 bags of assorted regular types/flavors cost $10.96 after sale and $2.50/2Qs + 1 x $1/1 Weis Q or $1.37 per bag.

$76.86 worth of reg. retail coffee for $18.43 or $1.32 on average per bag.
I also have a rain check for 8 more bags of the flavor they were out of that College Boy prefers + 4 x $2.50/2Qs to use with that rain check, netting me 22 bags of coffee at a cost of $30.39 or $1.38 per bag average.
Not too shabby. ;-)
Some of it is whole bean coffee so it will stay fresher longer and we can always throw some into the freezer to keep if it gets "old" sitting on the pantry shelf.

* Ok, I am serious about id-ing this mystery flowering tree!
Reader Tina left a comment Monday(thank you for that!)about it being a Saskatoon Serviceberry tree.  I looked and the photos I found are not quite right plus it does not grow berries. sigh.
So here is a better up close shot with my lovely whitest white woman hand in the picture......

The flowers are small(about 1.5 inches diameter)and have thin petals.  Most of the flowers are now past their prime bloom and you can see the leaves are beginning to sprout.  It's an oval leaf much like a beech tree I think?

And it's definitely not a bush or a short/dwarf tree.....

The two trunks behind the swing are the tree in question so it's as tall as our 2 story house + another story +.

This is a photo standing under it looking up.

And here are the petals that it sheds all over the yard........

I looked around while I was driving to Weis this week and noticed about 4 more of this same tree along the roads on my route.  None were in anybody's yard so I couldn't just go up to a door and ask them if they know what was growing in their yards.....because you know, if I got desperate enough, I'd do just that.  lolz

So I am off to work on my End of Month Grocery tallies, a blog post or two(1 geneaology, 1 road trip)and get that Sallie donation sorted out.

What's going on in your world today?

Sluggy

My Rite-Aid Run

I bopped up to Rite-Aid for some Rxs and also put together a non-Rx transaction.
The card had a "Spend $30/Get $5 back in Plenti Points" on it.

3 x Suave 'Poo $3 ea. on sale=$9
2 x Garnier Whole Blend 'Poo on sale=$7.00
2 x Right Guard Dry Spray Deo BOGO50%=$10.93
2 x SalonPas Pain Patch BOGO=$2.59
2 x Swedish Fish bags on sale=$3.00
1 x Sweet Stripes mints (rain check)=.99¢
SubTotal..........$33.51

Coupons Used
1 x B2B1Free Suave ManuQ=$3.00
2 x $2/1 Garnier Whole Blends ManuQ=$4.00
1 x $3.50/2 Right Guard Extreme Dry Spray Deo IPQ=$3.50
Coupon Total.....$10.50

$33.51-$10.50=$23.01 +.78¢ tax=$23.79

I used $23.79 in Plenti Points to pay and earned back $15.00 in new PPs($5 wyb $30 Offer, $2 wyb2 Suave, $2 wyb2 Whole Blends, $2 wyb2 Right Guard, $2 wyb2 SalonPas, $1 wyb2 Swedish Fish, $1 wyb Sweet Stripes mints bag)so I spent down my points by $8.79.

Except--
A $3 Load2CardQ also came off(it looks like it was for one of the shampoo brands?)so my total was $3 less(or $20.79 instead of $23.79)or $5.79 spent down in the end.

I also applied for and received a $1.20 Checkout51 cash rebate for buying the Swedish Fish candies and a $1 SavingStar rebate for buying the Right Guard deo, making my spend down now $3.59.

But....and isn't there always a but? lolz........there is a Right Guard Mail-in Rebate to try this new dry spray for free which got mailed out today.
Not sure how much I'll get back on that because A-I bought two and one was half price on sale so do I get back the full price one, the half price one or an average of what I paid for both? and B-the rebate form says they deduct any coupon used on the item on what they send you back, but the Q I used on these items isn't identified on the receipt so how will they know of the four Qs on the receipt if one was used on this product?
Good luck on them figuring this out! lolz
So I'll either get back $7.29, $5.46, $3.64, $3.79, $1.96 or .14¢. 8-)

Whatever it is will be fine.  I'll either have a nice moneymaker here or I'll have spend down as much as $3.45 in PPs.

I had almost $100 in points on this card so I can afford whatever happens. ;-)

What good deals have you gotten this week or plan to get this week?

Sluggy

Road Trip Plan so Far

Planning this thing is going so slow because we are covering so many states/so many miles.
Plus I have to let Hubs have input about where/what/when.  It would go so much faster if "I" just planned it, but what can ya do.  ;-)

Here is the state itinerary to date in order of when we will be passing through them.....

Pennsylvania
Ohio
Kentucky
Illinois
Missouri
Nebraska
Colorado
Wyoming
Montana
Idaho

Then Back from Idaho by way of.....

Montana
South Dakota
North Dakota
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
Ohio
Pennsylvania

Right now it's 6,833 miles door to door and will take about 30 days to complete(depending on how soon some folks get tired of us).  8-)))
And that's not counting any side excursions.

We have on the excursion agenda so far--

Mt. Rushmore
Little Bighorn Battlefield
Fort Laramie
Great Platte River Road Archway

Those are the big touristy type things we'll stop at.
There are lots of little attractions along the way we are considering too.


I am already tired and we haven't left the driveway! lolz

Here's a visual of our route so far on a map of the US.........

Ok, so I am not so good at drawing freehand a straight line. lolz  But this is the basic route so far.

Once we get to MN on the way back we aren't sure which route to go from there-either WI, IL, IN, MI, OH to PA or WI, IL, WI, MI, OH to PA.  We'd like to see the UP of MI so the second route would accomplish that plus have us avoid Chi-town(which is always a good thing!lol)but it's longer.

We will be stopping to see 3 folks definitely(and as many as 6 more).
If you are along the route I've mapped out so far and would like to hang out with Sluggy and Hubs(or give us lodging for the night too)email me.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The  "The Mystery Tree" Edition--

 This is that tree with white flowers that only leaves out once all the flowers drop off it.  The flowers are white.

This is the best close-up(blurry)photo I could get with my camera.
I have ruled out dogwood, Bradford pear or a crab apple.
It's a tree and rather tall, not a bush or shrub.
Once the leaves come I can take a photo of those and maybe go down to a local nursery and id it finally.

Anybody have a clue what it is called?
Bueller??
Bueller???

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Ham, Beans, Rolls, Deviled Eggs

2. Monday--Tacos

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Onions, Beans or leftover Mac Salad

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Chicken Cordon Blue, Mixed Veggies
7. Saturday--maybe Take-Out Subs?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Ham, Beans, Rolls, Deviled Eggs

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Subway sammiches

4. Wednesday--Tacos and/or Taco Salad

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Pizza, Salad
7. Saturday--Chicken Cordon Bleu, Creamed Spinach, Pierogies(not for me)

The Kielbasa meal didn't happen and moves to this week.  I bought two cheap-ish pizzas at Weis on Friday but that purchase will count under Take-Out/Eating Out budget.  We got subs on Tuesday instead of Saturday.  Everything else planned did get served last week.

Two trips to Weis but a dent in the food budget of $39.76.   This brought my April food spending total to $212.03.  There are 6 days left in the month.  Other than buying lots of bags of coffee(unless I need to get rain checks)I don't foresee much in the way of food purchases this coming week.

My savings percentages last week was 52.78%. 

Leftovers going into this week....... Ham, Rolls, Roast Chicken slices, leftover pizza slices and Taco filling.

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

1. Sunday--Manicotti in Sauce(from freezer), Salad, leftover Garlic Bread

2. Monday--Quesadillas(using leftover chicken and/or taco meat), Corn

3. Tuesday--Kielbasa in Rolls, Beans

4. Wednesday--Mac and Cheese w/Ham, Brussels Sprouts

5. Thursday--Steak, Baked Potatoes, Sauted Veggie(TBD)
6. Friday--Breakfast for Dinner(Daughter is making this.)
7. Saturday--Leftovers

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

What I need to buy for this menu?  Some fresh veg for Thursday's dinner.

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