This Week on the Dining Table

The "I Chose a Goofball Dog" Edition--

I just never know what Chester will do next.  The photo above he lugged his bed into to the doorway of his crate and it was practically vertical when he hopped in and went to sleep.

Here the bed is over by the back door and his front end has spilled out of it and he is fast asleep with his head on the floor. lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

1. Sunday--Take-Out(Hubs and I only)

2. Monday--leftover Goulash, Harvard Beets

3. Tuesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Salad or Beets

4. Wednesday--Ham & Cheese Quiche, Brussels Sprouts

5. Thursday--Tacos
6. Friday--Ham & Cheese Omlettes
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Take-Out(Hubs and I only)

2. Monday--Birthday Out

3. Tuesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Salad

4. Wednesday--Beef and Broccoli stir-fry, Rice

5. Thursday--Italian Sausage Sandwiches, Harvard Beets
6. Friday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 1 night of take-out and 1 night of Eating out.  Monday we all suddenly were going to be home so we did my Birthday meal out. The ham meals didn't happen so they move to this week or the ham goes into the freezer for another time.

2 Trip to Weis, 1 trip to Walmart and 1 trip to Maines restaurant supply(for produce and deli meats mostly)brought the shopping last week to $78.19 for all.  That brings February's food spending total to $78.19.  There are 23 days left in my shopping month.

My savings percentages last week was 46.87% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 46.87%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......ham, tuna noodle casserole, beef stroganoff and beef/broccoli stir-fry.

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

1. Sunday--pizza(one homemade, one store bought frozen)  No one was really hungry so these happened and everyone grabbed something else to their liking if they wanted more/different.  It was a strange food day.

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Tacos or Taco Salad

4. Wednesday--Fish, Veg, Potato Salad or ?

5. Thursday--Ham and Cheese Quiche, Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers, 0 night of Take-out/Eat-Out and 1 night of ?(who knows at this point lolz).  I am totally uninspired this morning about a meal plan. 
Next Sunday I hope to get back into my Soup Sunday groove.  Any suggestions of what to make?  I've got makings for a Ham and Bean, a Clam Chowder, a French Onion or a Potato Gnocchi(oh wait, I don't have any spinach for that one).

The only thing I need to buy to make these meals is salad greens and milk.

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

January To-Do List.....Update

* Pay Bills--DONE  Everything paid in full either on time or a bit early

* Read 1, 2 Books--DONE
I read this one......

Sort of a YA read though quite violent so I wouldn't recommend it to a teen with any sort of "issues".  It was a very well crafted story but didn't make for a good nighttime "before going to sleep" read if you know what I mean.  ;-)

And this one.............

From the author who gave us "The World According to Garp".  John Irving also wrote the screenplay for "The Cider House Rules"(a movie I very much enjoyed).  
I found "The Hotel New Hampshire" a bit "out there".  It was a long novel but highly entertaining.  I hear the movie they made from it was horrendous though and Mr. Irving didn't particularly like the finished product.  This makes me want to watch it though. lolz
I saw this novel in December on a list of 50 novels to read, each novel that takes place in one of the states in the US.  This was the New Hampshire book obviously due to the title(even though this novel takes place in NH, ME, NY and Vienna Austria).  I had it on my bookshelf so I moved it to the top of my reading list for 2018.

* Hold Giveaway--DONE

* Mail Giveaway--DONE  Mailed away and received(and enjoyed).  ;-)

* Load to Sallies'--FAIL  I just need to kick my ass in gear and do this one.  There is a bag of castoffs that's been riding around in Hubs' car's trunk for over a month.  Will definitely do this in February.

* Purge Files--DONE  I went through lots of our files in January and purged old papers that aren't needed any longer.  I had quite a pile to add to what was already in the shred folder.

*Shred Old Papers--DONE 

Generally this is one of Hubs' chores but I got tired of waiting on him to do this so I did it.  Filled a garbage bag too.

* Gather 2017 Tax Info--DONE
I believe we have all the forms now-W2s, assorted 1099s.  I went through and did the bank interest my profits for blog revenue and eBay sales too.  We just need to sit down and fill out the tax forms and see what we are on the hook for to Uncle Sam(that insatiably greedy Uncle!)

* Load to Food Bank--FAIL
I have a load sitting in the living room(plus some in the garage)all bagged up waiting on me to get the motivation(and weather cooperation)to go drop this off. ugh.  It will definitely go in February.

* Get back on my usual Diet--DONE
It only took about a week after New Year's to get back into my usual eating/drinking routine.  Between not as much exercising as in good weather and not restricting calories like I did this Summer I am not losing right now but I am holding steady.  I'll call that a win. 8-)

* Put all Xmas Away--DONE
The Xmas stuff got put away soon after New Years however it didn't get put away correctly(in the wrong places).  Plus a few things were forgotten.  We drug all the boxes out again and repacked and stored everything away in the proper places.....except for the rolls of .50¢ gift wrap I picked up on clearance after it was all stored away. lolz  Hubs just needs to chuck those into the bag on top of the cabinets in the garage when he feels the spirit move him.  ;-)

* Plan possible 2018 Travel--PASS
It's still early in the year so I am giving myself a pass on this one.  We have been thinking and doing a little research and planning but nothing is firmed up yet.  Hubs has a trip later this month to get done.  I trip to LA on house stuff there.  A lot of what we can/will do in the travel realm depends on what transpires on that trip. sigh.  Plus we also have a dog and his needs to consider now when we plan our trips.

* Have Financial Meeting about 2018 w/Hubs--DONE
We had our big money meeting for 2018.  Decisions were made and we'll revisit the 401K withdrawal schedule at the end of March.

* Work on 2018 Goals--PASS
I have a few goals for the year and most of them are big(drop more weight, get healthier, sell house in LA, work on the PA house in prep to sell it).   I need to come up with some smaller, filler goals.  As the year goes on I'll decide on what else to tackle in 2018.

* Work on 2018 Budget--PASS
Again, we came up with a loose budget so far for 2018 in our big money meeting in Jan.  But there are things up in the air still for the year so the budget will be tweaked and realigned as we go forward.

Not bad for January overall.  The two items I didn't do are readily taken care of in February.  Now I have to flesh out the February To-Do List.

Did you meet your goals for January?

Sluggy

Net Worth.....February 1st Update

We have gone from acquisition mode with money into spend-down mode since we are now officially retired here at Chez Sluggy.

Our Net Worth will no longer be growing so I have to stay on top of what we have and where it sits.
I shared where we keep out money and why in the first Post-Retirement Net Worth post HERE.

So here is how the money did in January......

* Checking Account #1 Went up by $5863.09(mostly this was a 401K withdrawal-see accompanying 401K account lose below)
* Checking Account #2  Went up $156.66(blog revenue and Ibotta deposit and interest)
* Savings Account  Went down $1(monthly fee)
* Online Accounts  Went up $80.36(monthly interest)
* Certificate of Deposit  Went up $254.32(monthly interest)
* US Savings Bonds  Went up $22.06(interest)
* Cash on Hand  Went up $38.21(some refunds/post coupons)
* 401K Account  Went down $3925.88(monthly interest earned offset a $6K withdrawal)
* HSA Account  Went down $115.94(We've been using the account in Jan. to pay some deductibles.)
* RMSA Account  Went down $1519.66  (The interest earned on this account offset the healthcare premium reimbursement amount by $293.82 so it didn't go down by the full withdrawal amount of $1813.48.)

Overall we are $2147.78 down from January's Net Worth.  Between the interest on all accounts and income received, weighed against our spending last month,  our holdings sank very little.  It was a good month overall. 8-)

I calculated the eBay sales I had in November and December where I can add that profit to our Net Worth but I forgot to do this(it's still sitting in the Paypal account)so I'll add it into the March Net Worth Update as I'll transfer the $ this month.

I am by no means a financial expert but I'll readily share what worked for us on our financial journey if you have questions.

Did you increase your net worth last month?
Or are you in asset spend down mode(retirement)?
Do you have a retirement plan in place?

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......February 2nd Edition

So what frugal wins did we have at Chez Sluggy last week?

* Lots of freebies(and .50¢ jars of spaghetti sauce)from Rite-Aid.

* I used a $5 e-gift card for Amazon to reduce the price for ink cartridges for Hubs printer and used a $5 e-gift card to Walmart to help pay for some groceries I bought.

*  I hit a nice clearance sale on clothing online and it all came this week............

4 x s/s knit nightgowns
2 x s/s rayon buttoned shirts
1 x l/s rayon blend knit tunic
2 x l/s knit shirts
1 x s/s rayon print dress(which I'll have to hem up a mile of it)
All for $114 w/shipping
Finding plus size clothing is almost impossible at a brick and mortar store anymore(and if you can find some it's ridiculously expensive).  All nearly impossible to find at a thrift store(big ladies tend to wear out their clothing and not donate it around here).
I am thrilled with what I got and what I paid.  And thrilled that all of it is a size(or two)smaller than I use to buy. 8-)))

*  I picked up a few groceries on Thursday at Weis(PMITA)Markets.....

Eggland's best eggs are 1/2 off until Sunday night.  I don't usually buy name brand eggs but with a $1/2 Q these came out to .75¢ per carton so the cheapest eggs around these parts for now.(Weis brand are $1.99 dozen here.)
I also picked up 3 packages of ground beef patties 85% lean as they each had a $2 instant discount sticker on them.....

After sticker these were $2.49 lb.
I also saw Weis now carries a cheap brand(Valutime)of milk but in half gallons only.  It's 50¢ less than the Weis brand so that came home with me too.
All in I spent $16.09 at Weis.
I found another Eggland's Q in an insert so I'll get 2 more dozen eggs before that sale ends this weekend.

*  This was dinner on Wednesday evening.  I had put the leftover hunk of Christmas roast in the freezer to use it later.  I took it out and shaved off slices for Wednesday's dinner and made Beef and Broccoli.  I had gotten broccoli crowns for .99¢ lb. this week/last month.

What frugal wins have you had lately?
Keep it frugal and keep it real folks! ;-)

  Sluggy

Income & Spending Report.....January 2018

Now that we are living on an annuity(like a pension) and 401K$ withdrawals(retirement savings), 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 these two sources of income and not have to dip into the regular savings(that I built over the last 10 years)to pay our month to month expenses.

Got it?
OK, let's move on.

On to the January 2018 report--
I had 2 goals for January......
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 tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2018.

I have to report that we finished up January in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of January with?.......$7169.65

Income

The income in January---
* Monthly annuity payment of $3173.13(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* December overage of $4754.49 that carried over into Jan. 2018
* Sinking Fund(carryover from Dec. + $2600 from 401K withdrawal)of $3616.74#
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance for Jan. of $851.10 ##
* Blogging Revenue of $129.14
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $334.95

Total Income for January......$14,673.03

# $2600 was pulled out from that quarterly 401K withdrawal(withdrawal was $5153.31 after tax withholding)for irregular expenses due during the 1st quarter of 2018 and add it to the Sinking Fund amount that carried over from December of $1016.74, raising the Sinking Fund to $3616.74
## The balance of the 401K withdrawal($2553.31)got divided by 3 and gives us $851.10 in January to add to the income for the month(Feb. and Mar. will also get $851.10/$851.11 respectively)for general expenses.


Expenses in January---
* Healthcare Premium for January was $1813.48.
* Variable Expenses in January came to $4931.92.  This also included some tuition for College Boy(and that's the last time we have to pay that...yay!)
* Irregular expenses paid were Garbage(paying in full for the year got us a $28 discount) of $308.00 and quarterly Long Term Care Policy Premiums of $449.98, so a total of  $757.98 paid.

Total Expenses for January......$7503.38

$14,673.03-$7503.38=$7169.65

That $7169.65 gets broken down thus----$2858.76 of that overage is the Sinking Fund and $4310.89 into general Jan. overage.

Outgo

As for the expenses this January, 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).
*  The LA house electric bill was $2.78 lower.
*  The medical payments were $30.22 less than in December

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $16.94 higher than in December.
*  The electric bill was $157.77 higher than last month's bill.(Brutal negative temps here in Jan.)
*  The gas card charges were $15.90 higher than in December.
*  The credit card bill was $1008.66 higher than last month. Some of the unusual charges that made this one higher were--$180 for cargo van rental to move CB home from school, high Xmas meal out charge, windshield replacement deductible, $$208 for 2 new tires for Hubs car, $330 for medical charges, $70 for computer antivirus renewal, $86 for car repairs on Hubs car, $74 for Daughter birthday dinner, $65 for my car registration/inspection, 100 stamps were purchased before the rate increased--over $1336 in total for unusual charges)
*  The cash WAM withdrawals were $50.00  higher than in December.(Due to Hubs wanting an extra $50 emergency cash.)
*  $223.47 was due on store cards for Hubs charges in December.
*  We paid CB's last tuition bill.
*  The health insurance premium went up for 2018 by $41.54 per month.

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

So we end January in the black with $4310.89 in general overage.
The Sinking Fund goes into February standing at $2858.76.
Added together that gives us a cushion of $7169.65 for February.

FINAL THOUGHTS on January---It was an ok month financially.  Had we not had a tuition bill to pay we would have had enough in the Annuity and about $300 of the 401K withdrawal in January to pay what needed to be paid this month.  What can I say?.....Bills were high this month.

THOUGHTS going forward into February 2018----

On the bad side of things-Electric usage will rise this month.  Feb. is typically our highest electric bill here(due to electric heating).
On the good side of things-Food spending shouldn't be over $250 if we can eat down the freezer, there are no irregular bills due in February and we have no plans to travel(there is a trip to LA in the works for Hubs but those c/c bills won't show up until March)so it looks to be a quiet month, financially speaking.
I would like a boring financial month. ;-)

So how was your January financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in January?
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!

Make this year was the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you didn't already or increased what you have banked now for your future self.
Or pay 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