Net Worth.....July 1st Update

We are up just over $9.5k from the June 1st net worth overall(only liquid cash/investments/bonds, as I don't count housing or car values).  The retirement accounts were up over $6K for July 1st 2017 from the June 1st 2017 calculations and the cash reserve/non-retirement accounts were up over $3K.
Most of that cash reserve/non-retirement accounts earnings was regular pay, dividends and interest.

We are up $139,635.69 from one year ago, from the July 1st of 2016's net worth snapshot.

Since Hubs' officially retired on Friday and his paychecks are no more and we have moved from acquisition mode to spend-down mode, this will be my last Net Worth Update. 8-(

We do have some more monies coming in this Friday--a partial paycheck, a half a year bonus check and all his personal days he earned this year that he didn't use.
After 12% deducted from the first two monies(that % goes into the 401K)and federal taxes taken out of all three payments(another 25% off)this last bit will add approximately $23K to our net worth.
With that little bit added in, we are retiring with a shade under $1,350,000.00 dollars in place.  We also own two houses free and clear worth about a combined $330K.(Neither of these are in areas with inflated housing costs.)

Not a bad accumulation for working and saving and watching the finances for 33 years.
Was it hard?  Darn right it was!
We made lots of choices with our money(mostly good choices)to get to this point. And we delayed or went without many "wants" to get here.

We still raised a family(pretty successfully)and had some fun along the way but never took our eye off the ultimate prize of an early retirement for Hubs.
He deserves it!

Now I need to move from "saving mode" to "keeping what we accumulated mode".
I've come up with a new motto for myself and the way I live my life.....

"You can afford Anything, but you can't afford Everything."

Life is about making choices in your life.  By making the right choices you can have anything you want if you have a target and make a plan.  But this means you can't have everything, every bauble along the way that catches your eye.

Thanks for reading these updates every month and if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them.
I am by no means a financial expert but I'll readily share what worked for us on our financial journey.

Did you increase your net worth last month?
Do you have a retirement plan in place?

Sluggy

2017 Food & Toiletries Spending.....June Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JUNE 2017.

I have posted June'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 June.  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(4 at home this month). No kids under 21.

******************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $19.00
Value  $63.74
Savings  70.20%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $53.33
Value  $135.87
Savings   60.75%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $52.49
Value  $86.82
Savings   39.55%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $281.79
Value  $281.79
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $36.91
Qs/Ads  $18.33
Value  $55.24
Savings  33.18%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP  $70.82
Value  $136.20
Savings   48%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $302.48

Qs/Ads  $518.74

Value  $821.22

Savings  63.17%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 70.20% and Weis Markets at 63.17%.  My WORST savings rate was at that Shursave Market at 33.18%.

I shopped at 7 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$535.03

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$764.06

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1299.09

TOTAL Savings of ..................................58.82%
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items..........66.16%

This closes out the June food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into June wanting do only spend $260 on food.  Big time fail there.   Lots of good stock-up opportunities plus going to stores I only spend at/go to occasionally(Surplus Outlet, Price Chopper, Maine Source)and even though I got great value for the money spent, I spent and how. ;-)

I generally have a few over $500 food budget spending months per year so being at $535.03 this past month doesn't worry me.  Last year there were four months when food spending topped $500(and one of those months was over $700!!! spent).

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 5.28% in June to 66.16% compared to May's 71.44% savings average.  Not worried about that though since over a 60% savings rate is still awesome.  ;-)

With 6 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $2,100.93 on food/toiletries in 2017 which is a 71.34% savings rate for the year to-date and averages out to $350.16 per month spent in 2017. 8-)


LOOKING AHEAD To July........
Hubs and I are bugging out mid July so our food will be on our trip budget for half the month and my Daughter hates going to the grocery store so she'll probably keep the spending down(except for getting Take-Out).  I will leave a sent amount for the kids to use on food while we are away, the amount which I am still mulling over in my head.
As for the half a month I am home, I'm going to shoot for spending $250 or less.  That's $100 a week plus a little extra as we are having a cook-out for July 4th(so feeding guests).  I am hoping to do better(less)than that but if I don't I am not going to worry about it.

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 June?
*  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

Frugal Friday....June 30th Edition

So what thrifty things got done around Chez Sluggy you ask?
Here's the list.........

*  I hit two more Rite-Aids yesterday for more water as I was out near both stores on errands.
Can you say FREE water?

8 bottles from each store, so I am up to 20 bottles.  If I can find 4 more bottles at my local store today when I am there picking up an Rx that will make 24 in total. These will be lovely to take on our road trip this Summer.

*  I made $1!

I used to be a Nielsen grocery scanner person years ago.  They sent me an offer to join some radio study along with a crisp, new dollar bill inside the envelope.
We will pass on being in the study/survey but yes, we will take and thank them for the FREE MONEY! 8-)))
This just shows that it does pay to open all the junk mail you get.  ;-)

*  We had a bag of apples that needed using up since it's been hanging around here for so long.  Daughter was suppose to use them while I was in VA but she didn't.

We've gotten some cool days so last Saturday I made a massive apple pie. I also made a carrot cake using ingredients I had on hand. The pie is gone now but we still have some cake left.  The cake is good without any frosting too(though Daughter made me frost it).

*  Bath & Body Works had a semi-annual 75% off Sale earlier in June plus I had a $10 off $40 coupon to use.  I decided to pick up some Xmas presents.

$5 for $13 lotion and body washes for someone on my shopping list.
This Aromatherapy line at BBW hardly ever goes on sale for so cheaply. It was awesome to pick up for that price.
I also treated myself to some body wash and a candle.
7 items in total for under $40 after shipping and tax.

*  Our deck swing's awning is a rough shape.  It's old and I've already repaired it a couple of years ago.  I need the shade of that awning in the Summer to sit on the swing to not get burned up.

Before--

And here's the After--

It's not a great looking repair but if it holds up for the season I'll be happy if we can get one more Summer out of this swing and awning.  I can't remember exactly but we bought the swing the year we had the deck put up so it's at least 10 years old?.....maybe older.  Glad we have gotten our monies worth out of it at any rate and happier still not to have to shell out money for a new one yet.


*  I've been picking up household/food items for College Boy's apartment needs when he goes back to school in August.  By fitting them into my weekly shopping money/budget it won't seem such the money stretch if I were to wait and buy all what he needs/wants the week before we pack him off.

So far in June I have..........
2 skillet dinner kits
2 dish soap
1 bottle bathroom cleaner
6 bags of coffee
2 bottles of ketchup
8 boxes of cereal
3 boxes of lotion tissues

This doesn't count the stuff I already have for him like; tp, detergent, reg. tissues, shampoo, deodorant, trash bags, paper towels, toothpaste, toothbrushes,etc.  You get the idea.
I should sit him down and make a needs list now and populate it with the stuff we still need to procure to take back to college with him so I have something to work off of once we return from our road trip in August.....if there is still anything we need to get at that point.

*  I sent away for this freebie.........

A coupon for a free bottle of iced tea.
We can always find a use for free iced tea here. ;-)

*  So glad I had the Hubs put in at least some of a garden while I was in VA.  It's been growing well(except for the green bean plants)and the maters and cukes have opened blossoms now.

Before--end of May

After--end of June

And some of the yellow squash plants I started in the half barrels at either end of the garden bed sprouted and are also growing now.  Free fresh home grown veggies are awesome, aren't they?

That's about it for here for frugal lately.
What's been going on around your house?


Sluggy

Weis Trip on Wednesday

After getting freebies at Rite-Aid I hit Weis(PMITA)Markets.
Since I'd already spent $105.82 total at Maine Source and Price Chopper this week I didn't need to pick up much at Weis this week.
Of course there were Meat Discount Stickers so I got more than I was planning.

The planned was the feta cheese, the cuke, the bag of salad greens and the loaf of bread in this photo.
Also planned were 2 x 8 packs of G2 Gatorade(not pictured but bought).

These were the unplanned purchases--2 packs of marinated ribs, 1 pack of boneless pork chops, 2 packs of small steaks and 1 pack of stewing beef.

$42.85 worth of meats for $18.79 after sales and instant discount stickers.
That's a 56.15% savings over regular retail just on the meat!
The ribs will probably make an appearance for July 4th cook-out, the stewing beef will go into my chili, the pork chops will be panko-ed and eaten as pork tenderloin sammiches and the small steak cuts will get cut up further and marinated for kebabs on the grill.

And if you notice that bag of salad in the first photo it has a 50% off produce sticker on it but the cashier missed it........

So instead of getting it for 1/2 off at $1.49, got it for free after pointing the error out to Customer Service and they gave me $3 cash making my salad free + earning me $1.50
This brought my total OOP spending to $32.93 for $68.88 worth of reg. retail items or a savings rate of 52.19%.

Anytime I can save 52.19% on food is a good day.  8-))

Sluggy

Rite-Aid Porn This Week

I went up to Rite-Aid to pick up some Rxs.  I used my Daughter's Wellness card(since it's only got about 300 points on it toward the 1000 you need to earn 20% Discount off of regular prices for 2018)and the Catalina machine spat out 2 good "Spend $X, Get $X off" your order Qs.

I had brought 3 x $2/1 Cetaphil baby products IPQs with me to see if it was worth doing the "Buy 3, Earn $10 in Plenti Points Cetaphil Deal".

After getting a $3 off any Skin Care purchase of $10 Catalina at the pharmacy counter doing this deal was a no-brainer.
I also received a "Spend $4 on Candy, Get $1 off" Catalina Q too so grabbed some candy that was on sale AND gave back $1 in PPs wyb2.

Here's my purchase............

2 x Cetaphil baby wash 20% Wellness Discount=$10.06
1 x Cetaphil baby lotion clearance=$5.14
4 x Glacier bottled water on sale 2/$1=$2.00
4 x Haribo bagged candy on sale 2/$3=$6.00
SubTotal.....$23.20

Coupons Used
1 x $3 off WYB $10 skin lotion R-A Q=$3.00
3 x $2/1 Cetaphil baby items IPQ=$6.00
1 x $1 off $4 Candy purchase R-A Q=$1.00
Coupon Total......$10.00

$23.20-$10=$13.20 + .44¢tax=$13.64

I paid with Plenti Points and earned back $14 in new PPs($10 wyb3 Cetaphil, 2 x $1 wyb2 Glacier H2O, 2 x $1 wyb 2 Haribo).

So I got all this stuff for FREE and was able to grow Plenti Points on Daughter's card by .36¢.

Not a bad day's work I'd say. 8-)))

* Just so you know, the Glacier water is part of the Wyler's monthly Deal(it was NOT tagged as such in my store).  There is a limit of 4 of this Deal per card(so you could get 8 bottles of water for free with this Deal IF you can find that many bottles on the shelves and you haven't done the Wyler's Deal yet).


Sluggy