Our Trip to Maine August 2016......Part 1

We took a vacation to Maine Summer of 2016 and here I am finally getting around to blogging about that trip.
Sluggy once again is really on the ball, huh? lolz

We left on July 30th actually.  While traveling through New York state we stopped to do a bit of genealogy business.

My 3x Great Grandparents as well as their children(among them my 2x Great Grandfather)are all buried together in upstate NY.
So we stopped at the Walkill Cemetery outside of Middletown NY where I thought they were buried.

Two hours later we find they are buried at a different Walkill Cemetery(same cemetery name, differnt town name)so we go there and found the massive headstone.

Information recorded and photos taken we jumped back into the car and head East to Massachusetts.

I had recently, back then, gotten in touch with my cousin, Mel.  Other than across the tent at our grandmother's funeral back in 1981, we really hadn't seen/talked to each other since we were little, around 1969 or so, when my family had stopped at her house on a camping vacation to New England.

I had told her we were heading to Maine and I'd love to stop by to see her and her DH on the way and she invited us to stay the night.  Mel also told her mom(my aunt), her siblings and various of all their kids we were visiting and quite a few of them showed up for what became a nice family gathering.

Me and my only Aunt(my father's sister).

Me and my cousin Mel.

Me and my cousin Tim.

Mel, Me, Aunt Marilyn and Tim's daughter, also Mel(for Melanie).

Me and Mel spokesmodeling her latest painting creation.

It was a great visit!

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and headed out in the rain for Maine.  Bur first we got turned around on the local roads while trying to gas up the car and fuel up our tummies.  After some head scratching we got on the highway and 45 min. later we were in New Hampshire......

And 25 minutes after that we were crossing into Maine.

An hour after that milestone, we were at our first destination of the day, the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.

Actual there are two lighthouses at Cape Elizabeth.  The second one isn't really on the water and only the top part is visible from the road unless you drive up another private street.

You also can't get to the lighthouse from here(you have to wind your way down a different street)but here is a photo I snapped of Hubs with it in the background.

A shot of some interesting rock formations.

Me with the lighthouse.

Rocks and vegetation.

More rocks jutting out into the water.

There were about  200 foreigners(mostly Asian) walking on the rocks the day we were there.   Just seemed strange to encounter so many tourists there on that crappy weather day.  I didn't think this was a big touristy place to go and it was certainly NOT what I'd call spectacular scenery here.  It's just an ordinary ocean view like thousands of other's along the rocky New England coastline.  I guess it's one the first you come to by car traveling north into Maine from the NH/MA area so that might explain the crowds.

We stopped at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights for a quick snack as it was after noon.
I had a cup of Lobster Stew.  It was very runny so I dumped all the oyster crackers in the packet into it.  OK flavor but nothing great.  I can't remember what Hubs had and neither can he so it was likewise not a memorable dish. lolz

A nice shot of the lighthouse and the water.....

The rain held off as we drove up to Portland to one of the many craft breweries in that area called Bissell Brothers.

This place was so crowded and noisy!  I guess everyone in Portland goes to drink craft beer when it's a rainy, dreary Sunday.

Their website is HERE.  According to what I read there, I guess they are always crowded as the day we stopped in.

There seem to be a LOT of young children in the tap room.  I guess this is a "thing" with the younger folks, they bring their infants, toddlers and young children with them to drink beer?  I just wish these parents would also bring their parenting skills with them and actually WATCH THEIR FREAKING KIDS! while in a public space.
Geez!!!

Hubs wasn't blown away by their offerings and they were out of some types.  Not an auspicious start to our time in Maine.

A while later we drove North, passing this iconic food place, the beloved "Fat Boy" drive-in  on the way to our first motel stop.
Unfortunately we didn't stop here to eat this trip.  Our timing just wasn't right and we weren't in the mood for fast food stuff.

The first motel we stayed at was this one............

Cook's Island View Motel on Bailey Island in Casco Bay.
These environs are my old Maine stomping grounds from my Summers working Summer stock theater in 1980 and 1981 but I've never stayed on the island before.
It's a small old motel with about 12 rooms to let from Memorial Day to Columbus Day.  There is a small outdoor pool as well.

Each room has a couple of Adirondack chairs on a wooden "porch" with pots of flowers interspersed about the decking.  It's cute and not too pricey for the area but there is no breakfast provided really, just juice and coffee each morning.

They started out putting us into the wrong room.  It only had 1 bed(full sized) and I had booked a 2 bed room.  So we lugged all our stuff halfway down the length of the building near the office into this room, with the beautimous "art" work on the wall......

Ummmm.....yeah!
So we get to unpacking and then went out to Captain Mike's Restaurant a local seafood place in Brunswick, Maine for dinner.
When on vacation eat local!

They even had their own private label root beer which I gave a try.

We went back to the motel to settle in for the night but other guests had other ideas.  Seems the manager put us in the room next to the room they used as a lounge for guests and there was a rather large group that wanted to party for a few hours.  And this is when we found out that the on-site manager leaves at 8 pm. and can't be reached to enforce rules.
I'll just say that the walls in this place are paper thin and we weren't happy about being kept awake past quiet hours. ugh. 

Not an auspicious start to our Maine stay but things improved greatly the next day.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....October 6th Edition

Here's a few things I did that were frugal this past week...........

*  Most of my frugal wins were in the shopping area this week.

I went to Aldi's and found these brats on clearance for .99¢ a pack........

Uncured, no nitrites.

I picked up my e-coupon freebie at the Shursave market too........

A jar of spaghetti sauce for free.

Remember that $3 OYNO Catalina from buying 3 boxes of tea 2 weeks ago?
I used it to get 2 packages of shredded cheese.......

$5.98 reg. retail worth of cheese on sale for $2 each meant I spent $1 OOP for all this cheese($4-$3Cat=$1).

I hit Big Lots on Sunday for their last 20% off Sale for the year(they never do one close to Christmas).
Three things I broke down and bought where toilet paper, paper towels and pasta.
I know I said these were off the "to buy" list at least until 2018 but I caved.  I did however only buy 2 large packs of each paper product.
Plus I miscalculated on the pasta.  After double checking our stock it seems we were fresh out of shells and elbows but good on spaghetti, rigatoni and fettuccine.

So I found 2 lb. bags of shells and elbows for $1.60 each, marked down to $1.28 each for the 20% off Sale.  That comes out to .64¢ per lb. which is lower than any sale at the grocery stores I can find.

I also picked up canned tuna(.68¢), minced garlic(.80¢), canned clams for chowder($1), a big bag of Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats($3.60), 2 lbs. brown rice($1.12), canned corn(.52¢), black olives(.80¢).
I also picked up a Xmas stocking stuffer for $2.

*  Hubs wanted fast food for lunch one day so I gave him a "paid for last year" gift card to Wendy's to use.

*  Sold another thing that was heading for Sallie's.........

A portable dvd player Hubs was getting rid of.  He only used it a few times(except for the headphones which he used a lot and broke).
$20 to add to the envelope and one more thing we don't use gone.

*  And another trunk load of stuff went off to Sallie's this week.

That's about it for this past week.
Did you have any frugal wins lately?

Sluggy

September To-Do List Update

SEPTEMBER

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything got paid on time and no interest fees were accessed.  Go me.  Nothing fancy here, rather boring. blah blah blah

* Read 1,2 Books  DONE

The first book, "Doc" by Mary Doria Russell was very interesting.  It was a psuedo-biography of John Henry "Doc" Holiday.  Basically it followed Doc Holiday from his childhood in Georgia(as a series of flashbacks)up to his life lived in Dodge, Kansas and the people he knew both unknown and famous.  After his time in Dodge he moved to Tombstone Arizona as became embroiled in the notorious shoot-out at the OK Corral there, which is how most of the world remembers or knows him.  Doc knew some famous folks....the Earp Brothers, the Masterson Brothers as well as early entertainer and vaudevillian Eddie Foy.  One of the most interesting people Doc knew in real life was his on again/off again longtime companion/ common-law wife, Mary Katherine Horony, known to the world as "Big Nose Kate".  You can read about her HERE.
This book was very entertaining and informative and "meaty".  Very highly recommended for those of you who like American history and a good story.

This is a book that Kim leant me when I was visiting her in Idaho called "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop.  It's about a woman born into the FLDS(Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints sect), who married within that group and had children with her polygamist huusband, before realizing this wasn't the life she wanted for herself or her children and found a way to get them all out once Warren Jeffs came to power.
It was a real page turner and a harrowing(at times)account of her life.  Very sad but uplifting, she is a strong woman of faith.

* Repair LA House  DONE  The work finally was finished and we paid.  Now we just have to get this thing sold. ugh.

* Can Veggies  FAIL  Well not my fault really why I didn't get to this.  The tomatoes at the farm were ready the weekend we needed to go down to help Eldest in VA.  So no canning or relish making this Fall for me.  At least all my jars are gathered and ready to go once the harvest comes around next year.

* Declutter Spare Room  DONE  Hubs got his room organized, we got rid of 4 boxes of books plus I decluttered the hallway book shelf too.

* Donation to Sallie's  DONE  The 4 boxes of books mentioned above went bye-bye!

More stuff is slated to be donated as we clean out the garage in October.

* Paint Porch Posts  DONE

Hubs did this all by himself without my assistance.  Looks much better as they were in need of repainting.

* Seal Coat Driveway  DONE  Though we didn't do this ourselves, we arranged to have it done and paid for it.  The driveway is now good to go for another 3 years.

* Smoke Meats for Freezer  DONE

Three pork shoulders/butts were bought(at a discount of course)and I got them smoked last Friday.  Then into the crock pots and cooked down oovernight Saturday/Sunday and "pulled" when cooled off.  I ended up with 7+ quarts of meat.  6 of those went into the freezer(pictured above)-2 quart freezer bags inside a gallon freezer bag each.  Now when we get the "yen" for bbq this Winter all I have to do is thaw a bag out and whip up my famous Carolina vinegar sauce and simmer the meat in that and we be eatin' fine! 8-)

* Clean and Seal Deck  DONE   Though my contribution to this project was minimal the dog and I supervised Hubs and thanks to some stellar weather conditions it got done quickly and thoroughly.  Now the deck will be protected through another severe Northeastern PA Winter season.

* Put Garden to Bed  DONE  The garden(including my beautiful morning glories)had to be pulled up and the garden bed turned over and readied for Winter before the deck could be sealed.
I miss my morning glory vines......

* Clean Garage  FAIL  We ran out of time and energy(and enough good weather)to get this project even started in September.  This chore has moved to October's list and we have started in on the job as of Oct. 2nd.  Stay tuned for updates this month.

* Sell Stuff  DONE  I got on the stick and sold $89 worth of toiletries in September.

* Sew Stuff  DONE  I hemmed two pairs of jeans for Hubs and I started in on completing a shirt for myself that has been sitting around for ages.  Didn't get to as much as I wanted to sew but a start was made and I'll try to keep it going in October.

* Hold Giveaway  DONE  I got a giveaway up in September, drew a winner, mailed the box of goodies and said winner is happily enjoying them now(especially the tweezers it seems!lol).

* Pick Winner  DONE

* Mail Giveaway Prizes  DONE

* Go to Virginia  DONE  Life events necessitated that we travel down to visit Eldest son and lend him support and a hand in getting a few things accomplished.
We brought down 4 boxes of his "stuff" to him now that he has room for it in his apartment.  

It was fun watching him go through his junk, including old keepsakes from his childhood, and all those papers I saved from his early school years.

Though I can be a sentimental old sot I no longer feel the need to hold onto all this junk and every paper he colored on in pre-school and old birthday cards, etc.

Eldest is about as far away from being sentimental about all this stuff so we took a few photos and he pitched most of it in the garbage.(Don't look Val!)

I did however rescue a small token to keep.............

So all in all a good month for getting things done with only one major job not started in September.

I must say that one of the perks of having Hubs retired I am realizing is that not only is he home and has time to do all those little(and big)jobs I have wanted him to do around the house but he now takes his time on them(what else does he have to do since he isn't rushing off to work, right?)and tries to do a much more thorough job of it, rather than half-assing it and then me trying to fix it or complain about it. lolz

That's one of the great perks of having a retired spouse.
I knew there had to be a perk somewhere......hehehehe

So did you get your September chores accomplished?
Tell us all about it. 8-)

Sluggy

Income & Spending Report.....September Update

* As Hubs retired effective July 1, I am no longer doing my 2017 Savings Challenge.
We ended that on June 30th.  The goal was $17.5K saved for the half of 2017 that Hubs was working.
We actually saved $21,100.42 all totaled, so $3600.42 over goal!

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$(no 401K$ until October)I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.
But this money leftover at the end of each month, at least for now(as we find our new financial "normal")won't be saved toward a yearly Savings Challenge.

The issue now is to cover all the bills with just the annuity payment each month plus some liquid savings(checking account cash)until October.
October is when Hubs turns 59.5 and then we can access the 401K retirement savings.  Until then things will be tight here at Chez Sluggy, so all the leftover monthly cash will get tucked aside to pay irregular bills that will be popping up in August and September.

Got it?
OK, let's move on.

Though nothing will be put toward it the rest of 2017(probably), the 2017 $17.5K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals are still available
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

On to the September report--
I had 2 goals for September......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to apply toward irregular bills that are coming due in the next month.

I have to report that we finished up September in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of September with?.......$3145.15

Income

The income in September was the monthly annuity payment and the August overage of $562.41.

Other monies received in September totaled $5198.61.  This was interest made on non-retirement accounts, two stock dividend checks and almost $5K of that gain was a reimbursement of 3 months of healthcare premiums(paid back from our RMSA account).  (Going forward I won't include the healthcare premium paid each month on our monthly bills as it will be automatically reimbursed now.)

This brought us to our gain of $3145.15  Thank goodness that healthcare premium reimbursement came in when it did!  Had it not, we would have been in the negative and would  have had to dip into regular savings to pay all the bills that came due in September.

Since we have no debt, this will get put aside to apply to the irregular bills coming due in October--a quarterly bill for long term care insurance and a quarterly garbage collection bill and then carry over into 2018 if it's not needed to pay bills before 2017 is over.

Outgo

As for the expenses this September, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month(Within $1 or so).

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $6.54 higher than in August.
*  The gas card bill was $50.59 higher than last month.
*  The cash withdrawals were $220 higher than in August(because no cash was withdrawn in Aug.)
*  The electric bill was $9.77 higher than last month's bill.
*  The credit card bill was $807.79 higher in September compared to August
*  The medical bills were $1.79 higher this month over last month's bills.
*  School taxes were due.
*  We had a small dental bill to pay in September.
*  We had to pay the September health insurance premium of $1771.94.
*  We made two donations to charity(Houston Food Bank and Americares for Puerto Rico relief).  While these aren't "bad" things, having received our RMSA reimbursement meant we could cut two checks this month to these charities rather than having to wait until better cash flow in October to do so.

The Food Budget costs for September are in another post, which is located HERE.

So we end September in the black with $3145.15 to apply to the two irregular bills due in October.
This will be more than enough to cover those two bills.


FINAL THOUGHTS on September---Lots of bills both regular and irregular were due in September.  And most of the regular bills were all a bit higher than the previous month. 

I have to keep stopping myself from freaking out when I pay bills and remind myself that no, our bills aren't higher.  It's just that some bills were paid out of Hub's paycheck(before he retired)automatically from his gross pay, before I got his take home pay.  Now those bills are needing to be physically paid by me.  They aren't NEW bills.  They are just getting paid differently.  Maybe in a month or two I can get that through my thick head. lolz

THOUGHTS going forward into October of 2017----

I'll be setting up a sinking fund to cover our irregular costs for 2018, meaning I'll set aside a specific amount each month in 2018($650)from the annuity payment so that when these irregulars come due I have cash enough in that account to pay those bills without dipping into regular savings.

There is one more big irregular bill in 2017 coming in November--the semi-annual car insurance premium of approx. $900.  I should be able to cover that with regular income this year but I think I'll begin the Sinking Fund in October of this year anyway and get a jump on the 2018 irregular expenses so we can cash flow all the irregulars in 2018.
Other than this, all the regular bills should be about the same in October as they were in September.

So how was your September financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in September?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!

I hope this year was the one were you cleaned up your finances and paid off your debts.
That you planned to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you banked now for your future self.
Or paid extra on the principle of your mortgage if your house isn't already paid off.

Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy

American Dreamer's Blog is Back

Ok, here is the link to A.D.'s new blog............

Frugal Things Every Day

She is blogging as "Liz" now.
Go give her a warm welcome back.

I'm going back to cleaning out my garage now.
Go me.....lolz!

Sluggy