Frugal Friday.....November 10th Edition

In terms of making $$ it was a good frugal week here at Chez Sluggy.

* I received two liquor rebate checks in the mail this week.  Actually receiving liquor rebates you send away for in PA is hit or miss on whether you actually get them.  I bought some booze in Wisconsin while visiting cousin Sonya Ann this Summer that had rebate hang tags so I sent away for the rebates and I actually finally received two of the three sent away for.  (The other one was received in September.)

* I listed some Box Tops for Education points on eBay and they sold within 3 days!  I listed them as a Buy It Now item but I also received Best Offers.  I got a Best Offer the first day of HALF the price I listed the items for, which I declined.  Then I got a 60% of my price Best Offer and considered it.  Then I looked and found that the person offering me this deal was also selling BTFE points on eBay for the same price I was selling my lot for!  My first thought was that they wanted my listing gone(and they'd turn around and resell my lot for a teeny tiny profit).
So I declined that offer as well.  A few hours later someone bought the lot for full price. Yay!
Thanks to fellow blogger Belinda for her advice and help with this as I've never sold this sort of thing on eBay.   8-)

*  Remember those TRU gift cards I got for free?  Well instead of trading 2 of them for Amazon gift cards I went ahead on a different gift card exchange site and sold them for cash.  The price to sell them immediately to the site was $18.75 but I could list them on the site at the price I set(I chose $21 each)and wait for a buyer.  Since there were no TRU gift cards listed at that time on the site I had no competition and within 1 hour of listing them I had sold both.  I'll get a check for $42 in about a week as the website has mailed the check this week.  So now I can maybe purchase the coffee grinder elsewhere if I find a lower price or I'll have more cash than I thought and can purchase it on Amazon as planned.  Gotta keep those options open, right?

*  I got a set of coupons for Kohl's in the mail.....an $8 off any priced purchase(so $8 free)and a $10 off a $25 purchase good on Nov. 10th only.  I'll probably take my daughter Friday evening to Kohl's to see if we can find her something to wear for right around $25.  I also have a 20% Q when I use my Kohl's card to pay so we'll be able to reduce the price of whatever she finds a better deal.
Of course this frugal thing means spending $ but by using all the possible tricks to not spend as much it helps me feel better about having to spend.

*  Hubs and I went out for lunch to our usual spot, Bob Evans, on Thursday since we were out running errands.  The waitress was a bit unorganized and forgot to get our drinks so after bringing this to the attention of management we got our drinks for free and I didn't have to pay for the upgrade to substitute a salad for a side dish.  I also used a 20% Q for the meal.

What frugal things did you attempt this past week?

Sluggy

More Famous Cousins!

Since the CMAs were last night I thought I'd share this genealogy stuff today.

I finally got around to doing the charting and I found this guy hanging on a branch of my family tree..........

Blake and his music really wasn't on my radar until he started appearing as a judge on "The Voice" TV show.

I do like this song he did......



Blake and I share 8 x Great Grandparents, Abraham Soblet and Susanne Briant, French Huguenots who arrived in 1700 to Virginia on the ship "Mary and Ann".
This makes us straight on 9th cousins.  I am descended from Abraham and Susanne's son, Pierre Louis, who married Marte Martin/Martain, and Blake is descended from their daughter, Anne, who married Pierre Chastain.  This also means we are both related to actress Jessica Chastain and Women's 1999 World Cup soccer player Brandi Chastain, as well as Hollywood icon Joan Crawford(aka Lucille LeSueur) as most every Chastain surnamed person in America(unless they are modern day immigrants)are descended from Pierre and Anne Soblet Chastain.

So this means if Blake and Gwen Stafani ever have a baby I'll be it's 9th cousin 1 x removed. ;-)

While working on the Blake Shelton connection I also turned up another country singer among the twigs of my tree.

William Kenneth Alphin

If you are "into" country music you know him as Big Kenny, the taller half of the country duo "Big & Rich".

Here's a neat music video for one of Big & Rich's songs that like a mini-movie......(Kenny plays the drunk)



Kenny's also quite the prolific songwriter for other country artists.......

Like Tim McGraw.........



And Gretchen Wilson.........



I haven't nailed down the best relationship to Big Kenny yet since there are mutliple lines I can persue that we'll share a kinship on.

I've been a fan of Big & Rich for years going back to their "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" days.  Here's one of my favorite numbers of theirs....incidentally this video was filmed in Deadwood, SC, a place near and dear to Kenny and John's hearts and a place I was in on my trip this past Summer.....


Big Kenny's mother was born a Tinsley in Culpeper Virginia.  Her great grandparents were Joshua Tinsley and Elizabeth Hudson.  Elizabeth Hudson's parents were Abner Hudson and Elizabeth Mason.  I have many Tinsley, Hudson and Mason ancestors in Virginia going back to the 1600's on my maternal lines.  Multiple maternal lines are lousy with Hudsons and Masons so I know there is a relationship closer than through marriage(which is the first one I found) somewhere in the macrame I call a family tree.

You can read more about Kenny HERE.  He is quite the philanthropist too.

So now I am up to three famous country singers in my family tree....Blake(9th cousin), Big Kenny(closest relationship still TBD)and Phil Vassaar(my 3rd cousin).

Let's close with one of cousin Phil's hits.......



Sluggy

A Little Rite-Aid Shopping

I went into Rite-Aid on Tuesday and got a few little things by spending down my points by $1.55 in total......

On my card I bought a jug of Purex laundry detergent and 4 Jesse's Girl brand lip and eye liner pencils.
After my $2/1 Purex Load2CardQ, the sale price of $2.99 on the Purex and my 20% Wellness discount on the cosmetics this lot came to $7.35 + .45¢ tax=$7.80.  I used Plenti Points to pay for all.
I earned back $7 in new PPs($1 Purex-I had a snail mailed Plenti Points offer, 2 x $3 Jesse's Girl wyb in lots of 2 products)so I spent down my PPs by .80¢.  I now have a jug of Purex to take to the food bank and 4 liner pencils to tuck into future Giveaway boxes. 8-)

Then I bought this lot on my son's card.......

4 x Lip Smacker lip balm reg. $1.99 were $1.59 each w/20% Wellness discount=$6.36 + .39¢ tax=$6.75.  I used Plenti Points to pay for all.  I earned back $6 in new PPs(2 x $3 Lip Smackers wyb in lots of 2 products)so I spent down my PPs by .75¢.  Another 4 items to tuck into future Giveaway boxes. 8-)

The Jesse's Girl and Lip Smackers are part of the same deal(also includes the Julie G's nail polish but nothing in that line was as inexpensive)so you can only do it twice per card/account.  The single tubes of Lip Smackers and the Jesse's Girl pencils are both $1.99 reg. price so if you have the 20% Gold Wellness discount on your Rite-Aid loyalty card you can get these items for pennies after discount and Plenti Points.
Get on down to your Rite-Aid before this sale/deal ends on Saturday evening.

Sluggy

4 Months Into Retirement

So we've passed the 4 month mark with Hubs retirement and things are humming along.

I am no longer freaking out by all the "extra" bills we are paying....because they aren't extra really, they were just paid before I got the paycheck before retirement.  Silly me.

We were slated to start tapping the 401K account in October, as Hubs turned 59.5 this month, to add to our annuity income.

But we've found we haven't had to last month.  Even with forgetting about the $450 Long Term Care premium which was due in October, taking out $650 of income to create the Sinking Fund for irregular bill payment and spending $270 at a local church auction.  We had enough of a cushion after paying all the bills to have a $2.37 leftover from our annuity income this month.

Any month we don't have to access the 401K funds is a bonus, as that means it will last just that little bit longer than we have planned. 8-)))

Hubs had a "wtf?!" moment in September(his/our first full month retired and home from traveling).  We got the WAM(aka Walking Around Money)the first of September.  Two weeks later Hubs tells me he's going to the bank to get $100.  I asked him why and he said he needed more WAM.  Even though we sat down in June and wrote down our monthly budget in which we agreed on $200 per month of WAM w/each of us getting $100, he was under the assumption that he got $200 to himself.  He had run through his WAM halfway through the month.  When I asked what he had spent it on he had no clue, other than coffees.  Later we figured out that he had bought take-out with some of it, instead of putting that on the c/c so I gave him part of my WAM for the month, which I had not even spent a dime of it yet.
And now he is more cognizant of what he spends his WAM on......personal small expenses--good, picking up groceries, buying gas or take-out--bad. lolz

Hubs is taking it easy still and not wanting to "engage" with friends/work friends, join any groups or "do" volunteer work.  He may not ever do any of these things.  We are both pretty much homebodies.  We don't "need" to socialize much and are perfectly happy to stay home and read, putter online and play chess(Hubs not me).....at least for now.  Just staying on top of house stuff, financial stuff and the day-to-day chores keep us busy.

And of course the new member of the family and training him keeps us busy now too. ;-)
Hubs had been saying for years that once he is retired and home full time he wanted to get another dog.  So since I have to have a dog "I" got to pick which one out.
We had been without a dog since our old female beagle passed right after Thanksgiving in 2014 so it's an adjustment for sure and getting a puppy has been even more of a challenge.

Our food waste has also gone down, not that it was bad to begin with, but still it's been reduced to nonexistent with Hubs home.  He LOVES leftovers and he'd rather eat those for lunches than a sandwich like he'd take to the office when he worked.  I like leftovers on occasion but not as a regular "thing" for lunch time.  I often don't eat a proper lunch anyway as long as I get a good breakfast meal.
No food waste means less spending on food......well it would if I didn't keep going to the grocery store and stocking up on food. lolz

The biggest retirement "glitch" we have encountered is financial--the RMSA account which reimburses us for our healthcare premium payments.  It's administered by United Healthcare and frankly they are dropping the ball big time when it comes to handling our account!

We pay OOP for healthcare premiums each month and then submit for reimbursement to United Healthcare from our account there.
The November premium was $1771.94, which we paid already(it's due the 1st of the month).  We have an automatic reimbursement now once UH receives payment.
So we get the reimbursement check last Saturday not for $1771.94 but for $125.90.
WTF?!?
Incidentally $125.90 is the amount of Hubs' life insurance premium per month if he had elected to have that once retired.  Hubs elected NOT to keep the term life insurance policy.
So we pay a health insurance premium and they reimburse us for a life insurance payment......really??
Let's not even "go there" about how it's ILLEGAL to pay life insurance premiums out of our RMSA healthcare account.
Yeah, United Healthcare so far has pretty much sucked at doing their job.

So another phone call to UH Customer Service(ha!)happened last week.  If I could move that RMSA account I would at this point.  They've had four MONTHS to get it right and still they are incompetent. Ugh!

*  Another point that we were just notified about is our HSA.  Well it's not really just a retirement issue as it affects all the employees of Hubs ex-employer.  The employer is no longer affiliated with the HSA company/administrator so now instead of a company product it's a retail product, which means we all get charges fees for it's use.
Well crap.
So at least we have to pay $3 a month service fee so $36 a year.  The money is earning .14% so any pitiful earnings on it is negated. 
I was saving the HSA funds to use later on in retirement but it makes sense now to drain that account asap.  I'll be able to use about half of what is in there per year meeting our yearly high deductible($3K for next year and who knows how much the following year)plus a year of co-pays(which I had been paying out of regular income, now the annuity income)on blood work, dr. visits and prescriptions.

That's about all I can think of to talk about as far as how the retirement is going so far.
Besides Hubs is driving me nuts being home all. day. long.  Having him be in charge of Chester's potty training is helping on that score though. ;-)

If anyone has any questions on some aspect of retirement and how we are handling it, feel free to ask.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Stuff Going On" Edition--

College Boy's Senior flute recital partner posted a slew of photos of the two of them on Facebook last week.  We are talking flute related photos taken by a professional photographer.
Who knew college recital photos were a thing?!?

This one should be captioned something like "Oh, you saucy wench!  Let us go make beautiful flute music together!!". lol

So we've got lots to do in November......besides a Thanksgiving gathering and the fetching and returning of College Boy to school, we've got assembling a piece of furniture(think Ikea hell), finishing moving stuff out of CB's room and then Hubs gets to drive to IL to move his sister's belongings along with his sister to SC to live with their oldest brother before she becomes homeless(along with being destitute)and then drive home to PA.  The next day after Hubs returns home we drive to college for CB's recital.  Not even two weeks after that in Dec. we rent another cargo van and move CB back home as he ends his college career.  Then it's Christmas!
I'd really prefer to sleep through November this year.......
The last thing I want to be doing is meal planning and cooking but alas!, it needs doing.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Ham slices, sauteed Cabbage, Cornbread

2. Monday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Brussels Sprouts

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Roast Chicken w/Veggies

5. Thursday--Asian Chicken Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Ham slices, sauteed Cabbage, Cornbread(I had cabbage and cornbread.)

2. Monday--Hot Dogs on rolls, leftover Baked Beans and Harvard Beets

3. Tuesday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Brussels Sprouts

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Roast Chicken w/Veggies, Stuffing, Gravy
6. Friday--Chinese Take-Out
7. Saturday--Jerk Pork Loin w/Peppers and Onions, Au Gratin Potatoes

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers and  1 night of take-out.  The Asian Chicken Salad didn't happen but Jerk Pork Loin did.  And Hubs and I splurged out on take-out on Friday since Daughter went out for the evening.

Last week's grocery spending at Weis and Shursave Markets came to $55.41.  That brings November's food spending to $55.41.  There are 24 more days in my shopping month.

My savings percentages last week was 48% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 48%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......lasagna, roast chicken, pork loin w/peppers and onions and I think a little bit of stuffing and gravy.

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

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself

2. Monday--Asian Chicken Salad

3. Tuesday--Olive Garden Gnocchi Chicken Soup

4. Wednesday--Rigatoni w/Meat and Mushroom Sauce, Salad

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Calzone or Stromboli(homemade)
7. Saturday--maybe Eggplant Parm in the freezer?

This week will see 4-5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers and 0-1 night of "I haven't got a clue". lolz
Leftovers carried forward into this week will be lunches for Hubs(and maybe me if I eat lunch). The leftovers roast chicken will make an appearance in the Asian Chicken Salad and the Gnocchi Soup.
When Hubs made lasagna he opened a third ricotta container and just used a smidgeon so that's why there is calzone/stromboli on the menu(I have two hunks of pizza dough in the freezer as well for that.).

The only thing I need to make these meals is some salad greens.

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