This Week on the Dining Table

The "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" Edition--

Maybe I should have picked up this magnet I saw in the clearance section at a Walmart in WV a couple of weekends ago.  Money seems to be flying out of my wallet lately. lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Roasted Chicken with Roasted Veggies

2. Monday--Tuna Noodles Casserole, leftover Cabbage

3. Tuesday--Beef and Broccoli over Rice

4. Wednesday--Something with Ham, Roasted Asparagus

5. Thursday--Mac and Cheese w/Ham, Sugar Snap Peas
6. Friday--Leftover Pork Tenderloin, Leftover Cauliflower
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Roasted Chicken with Roasted Veggies

2. Monday--Tuna Noodles Casserole, leftover Cabbage

3. Tuesday--Beef and Broccoli over Noodles

4. Wednesday--Leftover Pork Tenderloin, Leftover Cauliflower

5. Thursday--Leftover Ham, Roasted Asparagus, Pierogies
6. Friday--Pizza
7. Saturday--Mac and Cheese w/leftover Ham, Sugar Snap Peas

The beef and broccoli was served over noodles not rice, and I used some of the pierogies in the freezer that have been in there quite awhile.  the last of that ham Daughter cooked a few weeks ago went into a pan of mac and cheese.  Friday night Hubs and I were on our own so we cooked a small frozen pizza from the freezer instead of going out or getting take-out or cooking a big meal.

Last week saw 5-6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1-2 nights of leftovers and zero take-out or eating out.

Most of last week's grocery spending is contained HERE in the month end tally but we did a fair amount of spending during the weekend which goes on October's tally.  The amount spent for Oct. is $79.93 at various store.

My savings percentages last week and for the month to-date?   Last week's percentage was unusually high at 82.09% and the monthly ends up at 82.09% as well(without Rite-Aid trips added in)since it's only the first week of October. 

Leftovers going into this week.......Halushki, Potato Salad, Sauteed Cabbage, Cauliflower in Sauce, Tuna Noodle Casserole and Mac and Cheese.  We only have small amounts of each of these so I am reserving them for Hubs & my lunches instead of working them into the dinner plan.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Butternut Squash, leftover Mac and Cheese

2. Monday--BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw

3. Tuesday--Fish, Squash Casserole, Cole Slaw

4. Wednesday--Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zuke, Rice

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating-Out.
With the weather cooler finally I am running the oven more now though Thursday is suppose to be warm again so we'll do leftovers(reheated in either the microwave or the toaster over)that night.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Rolls and Cole Slaw fixings is about it.

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

Mattress Love

Ok, so Hubs and I ordered our temper-pedic type foam mattress 10 years ago from Overstock dotcom.
The particular one we bought is out of stock and I don't think they make it anymore but Overstock does still carry the brand we purchased.

Here is the LINK to the brand we bought on that website. 
It's a Comfort Dreams brand and we bought the 14 inch mattress.
Back in 2007 you didn't have a choice of a "soft", "medium" or "firm" foam mattress like you do now.  I suspect you could try out the firmness at a brick and mortar store
You can use a foam mattress on a platform type bed frame or on a traditional box spring.
I would suspect that putting it on a box spring would cut down on one of the major benefits of a foam bed-the absence of pressure points.

The bed Eldest son got is THIS ONE.  He is mad in love with it so far.  Best money he ever spent I believe he said.

I couldn't believe the prices the brick and mortar stores were charging for memory foam beds, even ones with just a thin top layer of memory foam on a traditional mattress!(But then again I haven't shopped for a mattress in a store since the 1990's.)  One place wanted over $5K for a mattress, a boxspring/foundation layer and an adjustable frame.  Those frames that raise and lower add about $1K onto the cost of the bed so I guess the actual pieces you lay on top of were abotu $4K.  Yikes!

And stay away from Temper-pedic name branded mattresses unless you really like spending extra money for a name.  The same materials go into any memory foam mattress.  True there are levels of value depending on the foams used but Temper-pedic doesn't seem to have anything proprietary except the label they slap on the bed.


The only issue I have with a memory foam mattress is that it's darn hard to get up out of since there is no metal framework within or underneath it to push against you as you rise like a traditional bed w/or w/out a traditional box spring underneath it.   I would trade that in any day to lose having pressure points in my bed.

Plus I find that when I travel and have to sleep on traditional beds in motels and such now I am spoiled and can't wait to get back to my memory foam bed. 8-)))

Has anyone tried a purely memory foam type mattress or are you still in the traditional mattress camp?

Sluggy

2017 Food & Toiletries Spending.....September Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2017.

I have posted September'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 September.  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.

*****************
DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $2.00
Value  $4.98
Savings  59.84%

MAINES
OOP  $50.36
Value  $83.39
Savings  39.61%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $146.17
Value  $146.17
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $135.58
Qs/Ads  $105.87
Value  $241.45
Savings  43.85%

VA TRIP(various stores)
OOP  $36.12
Value  $42.98
Savings  15.96%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $143.93

Qs/Ads  $129.44

Value  $273.37

Savings  47.35%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Dollar Tree at 59.84% and Weis Markets at 47.35%.  My WORST savings rate was at the Various Stores in VA shop at 15.96%.

I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$367.99

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$451.58

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$646.17

TOTAL Savings of ..................................47.26%
Total Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$792.34
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items..........53.56%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I wanted to stay under $350 spent in September and I ended up $17.99 over that mark for the month.  I blame 1 of those 3 pork butts I bought to smoke for later.  ;-)

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 1.73% in September to 53.56% compared to August's 55.29% savings average.  We still have over a 50% savings rate so it's all good.

With 9 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3128.33 on food/toiletries in 2017 which is a 68.09% savings rate for the year to-date and averages out to $347.59 spent per month so far in 2017.

LOOKING AHEAD To October........with the various deals for the Holidays coming up I am going to give myself $400 for food shopping this month.  If I go over a bit($50 or so)I won't be too upset.  With 3 smoked pork butts going into the freezer I won't have much room for stocking up on frozen items so I don't think we'll go over the $400 limit but you never know. ;-)
Since I buy 99% of our food on sale/discount/use a few coupons too, I always look to the "long game" because day to day you never know what will be a deal so I try to be prepared.  Sometimes this means going over budget on food in one month but eventually I have a inexpensive food month and it all evens out in the long run to give me a nice grocery savings overall.

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 Spetember?
*  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.........the September 29th Edition

Let's see what frugal things happened around Chez Sluggy last week..............

*  I turned this........

Into this.........

 As the 'poo was free or a moneymaker after Plenti Points/sale/Qs that $9 was all profit.  8-)

*  I received a liquor rebate.......

$5 back for drinking.  Getting rebates on liquor is really hit or miss in PA thanks to the draconian laws surrounding alcohol so I was glad to actually get this one.

*  We got the deck cleaned and sealed before the cold weather set in..............

"Before" shot of it after cleaned, bleached and sanded.  I forgot to get a "real Before" shot with the mold and grossness on the wood.
Yes we could have hired someone else to do this but Hubs has nothing but time on his hands(and two good knees)so we kept our money in our pockets.
The sealant was purchased using free Lowe's gift card earned from c/c points and the few sundry items he needed(like sandpaper)were purchased at the local hardware store for $14 and change.

The "After" shot.

Luckily we had 4 days of unseasonably warm(highs near 90F)so it dried the wood out quickly and then the sealant too.
The dog now has her backyard back(She's had to do her "business" out on the front lawn while this project was in progress.).

*  I already shared my few grocery deals.........

Loving my 3 boxes of decaf tea bags for .97¢ after the $3 Catalina that printed out! ;-)

*  And not frugal yet but I got this flyer while out yesterday..........

Big Lots is having their Friends & Family Sale this weekend.  It is the last one of the year as they don't do this around the Holidays.
You need to be a Buzz Club member(have their loyalty card)to avail yourself of the 20% off on Saturday and use the flyer on Sunday(don't have to be a member of the Buzz Club on Sunday).  Usually Big Lots will advertise/have a coupon in the Sunday sale in the Sunday newspaper locally too.
I know my brother likes to buy all his paper goods for a few months at a time at these 20% off sales.  Big Lots prices on those items are generally good plus another 20% off makes it even better.  I have been known to pick up pantry staples and usually slippers during one of these sales so Hubs and I will head over sometime this weekend to see what's worth stocking up on.

Have a great weekend and stay frugal my friends......

Sluggy

Making a New Asian Recipe

I got a great deal on broccoli late last week at the Shursave market so what to do with it?
I decided to try my hand at Beef and Broccoli for the first time.
Even though I am not a fan of her cooking usually I tried the recipe HERE.

                        Picture from the Food Network website.

The worst thing time wise with making this was all the prep work.  The beef has to be sliced thinly and a marinade/sauce put together and the veg has to be chopped.
Actually cooking time was minimal plus it only used one pan on the stove top so good here on Tuesday when the weather was unseasonably hot.

I served it over ramen noodles since we have quite a few packets of that here and I put the water on to boil for that when I started quick cooking the broccoli.
I didn't put the beef stock in my version but just water as the recipe called for so much cornstarch that the sauce tightened up too much.

I didn't have mine over noodles as it was hearty filling enough without and it was tasty.
Even though I used a low-sodium(sort of an oxymoron, isn't it?lol)soy sauce I still thought this was way too salty for me!   Hubs thought it was borderline salty(his tastes have changed to be more sensitive to sodium since I cook everything he eats)but Daughter thought it was fine as to the saltiness.

I plan to keep this in the meal rotation but next time I'll use/do one of 3 things instead of soy sauce........1-try coconut aminos(gives you that umami quality w/out any salt), 2-make a soy sauce substitute to use or 3-sub half the soy sauce(still using low-sodium one)for rice wine vinegar, water or more sherry.


Sluggy