Our Trip to Maine 2016.....Part 4

Part 1 of our Maine trip is HERE.
Part 2 of our Maine trip is HERE.

Part 3 of our Maine trip is HERE.

A quick trip to the grocery store after our boat ride for some breakfast items, where I saw this soda display......

Only in New England can you see so much Moxie!
I posted this photo on Facebook and everyone(everyone who didn't know what Moxie was)thought it was some kind of orange flavored soda.
Um....no.  Hardly orange!  More like if a root beer and a licorice soda had a love child with roofing tar...that wouldn't be Moxie!! lolz

We hit a Chinese buffet for dinner(way overpriced and pretty "meh")and then headed back to the island and our motel to watch a little tv and sleep.

The next day we did a bit of exploring around the Bailey's and Orr's islands and over to the Harpswell peninsula.

First it was down to Land's End on Bailey's Island.

I first came here in 1980 while working at a Summer theater.
One of the other interns was a local gal(well she was from Augusta but knew this area well)and she had a car and she drove a couple of us down here on one of our rare days off.

It's where the road and the island ends and overlooks upper Casco Bay.

You can stay at the end of Bailey's Island in an oceanfront compound Now if you have a wad of cash to spend.

There is a substantial island off shore here called Jaquish Island. It's only accessible by boat and there is now a house with a solar array on it.  It looks like the house is connected to Bailey's Island in this photo but it's just the angle of the shot.

Anybody know what these plants are called?  They have fern-like leaves and a red stalky flower.  My mother used to call them "Shoemaker's" as that is what she grew-up calling them back in the hills of VA.

There is a large gift shop overlooking the Bailey's Island beach here called Land's End Gifts.
It's a fun place to poke around and pick up a souvenir or two.

Moxie is now the official soda drink of Maine thus someone wrote this book............

I got hungry looking at this cookbook.

Enlarge this sign and read it.....funny!

Who's the momma?
I'm the momma!
The drawing even looks like me. *snort*

WTF?!?

A poo hat.
Is it me?

I really wanted this octopus but left it behind because I didn't want to end up with many tubs of stuffed animals when I got old(like some people I know)......

More shots from the gift shop deck where we sat a spell........

And my gratuitous selfie with the lobsterman statue.
Victor Kahill created a statue for the 1939 New York World's Fair which was the centerpiece of the Maine section in the Hall of States at that Fair.
It was a likeness of a Bailey Island resident and lobsterman "Snoody" Johnson.
Shortly after Mr. Johnson's death 3 copies of the statue were commissioned and cast and placed in Augusta, Portland and here on Bailey's Island.
At some point I believe the Augusta ME statue was moved to Washington DC and graces the waterfront there, a gift from the people of Maine.

Then we set off back up Rte. 24........

And stopped at Mackerel Cove.
Mackerel Cove side vew from the road......

And the view from the beach looking Southward toward Casco Bay.

This is a much photographed place in Maine as it is a small working harbor cove and quite picturesque.

Platform for stowing traps and barrels among the fishing boats.....

A platform filled with lobster traps.....

Then it was back up Rte. 24 and over the cribstone bridge to Orr's Island

We stopped in at the Salt Cod Cafe at the lower edge of the island for a little something as we hadn't had breakfast that morning.

 We sat outside and I had a cup of chowder.

And this little guy came out of the stone wall to say "hi" and wait for me to drop something to eat.

Then we headed further up Rte. 24 to Sebacodegan Island and caught Mountain Rd. over to the Harpswell Peninsula.  At North Harpswell we took the Harpswell Neck Rd. down to Basin Point Rd. and the end of the peninsula and our destination for lunch off the wharf there.

A working fishing wharf.  The little shack on the right is a supply store and the decking on the left with the picnic table below is the front of a shack selling live lobsters.

The hard working mascot of the family businesses here.  She'd trot up the wharf to greet a new arrival and then find a sunny spot to snooze.  She'd get too hot after 10 minutes and move under a picnic table or car's shady spot.  Working hard that one! ;-)

Our dining spot du jour was Erica's.
This is the way natives eat seafood in Maine.

Dining outdoors at a seafood shack.

Here's my lunch....a box of scallops and fries.
Mmmmm......the sea air makes this the best way to eat seafood!

I just had to snap this purse at the table next to us.  A big ass Caddy unloaded 2 elderly couples, complete with sweaters tied around their necks(Preppy Alert!)....sweaters in August! lolz
Anyway, one of the blue haired women had this purse.
I looked it up and it's mighty expensive for a plastic purse.

Hubs partaking of some local blueberry ice cream.  I was too full after my lunch and a chowder breakfast for dessert.

We headed back to our motel for a mid afternoon nap but took a few photos along the way.......

Back on the island I had Hubs stop so I could get a shot of this cute Gothic cottage done in yellow with purple trim.

And the matching garage.

After a nice nap we headed back to town(off the island)for dinner and had more photograph opportunities..

Lobster traps along the road......

I can't remember what we had for dinner(something unmemorable like Applebee's I suppose as I had a gift card).
As it got dark we made our way back to the island........

Sunset afforded me more nice shots where we stopped along the way.........

We watched a little tv and read before bed on our last night on Bailey's Island.
We were headed out in the morning for new locations.

Sluggy

Income & Spending Report....February 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 February 2018 report--

I had 2 goals for February......
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 February in the black.
The extra amount we ended the month of February with?.......$9281.68

Income

The income in February---
* Monthly annuity payment of $3173.13(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1813.48
* January overage of $4604.28 that carried over into Feb. 2018
* One third of 401K withdrawal balance for Feb. of $851.10 ##
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $327.54

Total Income for February......$10,769.53

## 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 February---
* Healthcare Premium for February was $1813.48.
* Variable Expenses in February came to $2533.13.
* No Irregular expenses were due or paid.

Total Expenses for February......$4346.61

$10769.53-$4346.61=$6422.92 overage for February.
Add in the Sinking Fund(carryover from Jan. since no irregular bills were paid out of it)of $2858.76 which leaves us with $9281.68 total to carry over into March.

Outgo

As for the expenses this February, 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 electric bill was $83.90 lower than January(thank goodness!)
*  The gas card charges were $35.51 lower than last month.
*  The credit card bill was $1122.22 lower than in January.
*  The cash WAM withdrawals was $50 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THING

*  The water bill was $6.70 higher than in January.
*  The LA house electric bill was $30.41 higher than last month.
*  The medical payments were $365.79 more than in January.
*  $150.76 was due on two store charge cards.  Not bad or an unmanageable amount as these were much needed items(clothing)and priced right.

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

So we end February in the black with $6422.92 in general overage.
The Sinking Fund goes into March standing at $2858.76.
Added together that gives us a cushion of $9281.68 for March.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---No big charges I didn't know where coming in February and the "usual suspects" aka the variable bills were pretty low.
What I consider our "income" was the annuity and the partial 401k withdrawal of $851.10, so $4024.23 "income" for Februrary.  The Feb. bills(without the Healthcare premium which is covered fully by the RMSA refund)were $2533.13 so we had $1491.10 leftover from "income" when the month was over.  If we can cover the bills(variable and irregular)each month with "income" leftover, our overage will continue to grow into the succeeding month.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2018----This month has 2 different irregular bills due; Real Estate taxes and the annual Sewage bill but we have enough in the Sinking Fund to cover those fully(plus a little leftover too).  As for variable bills-The credit card bill will be higher than I like due to Hubs trip to LA to take care of some house business there and Medical bills will be lower I'd like to say but we have some pending bills still to work off the deductible....after March this line item should settle down a lot.  If the weather stays milder(knock on wood!)the electric bill will see a reprieve. Unless Murphy happens we should be able to stay under our $4024.24 "income" for March on the bills.

Financially boring months are great. ;-)

So how was your February financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in February?
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

Frugal Friday......March 2nd Edition & Snow!!!

What frugal wins happened this week at Chez Sluggy?

*  A few freebies and cheapies at Rite-Aid that I blogged about already this week....

I also used Bonus Cash to pay for some OTC drugs. Go me!

*  Last Friday I got a free box of facial tissue at Weis............

It was their digital freebie coupon and the coupon actually worked this time!
There will be no freebies for me at Weis today due to the weather.

I started getting an earache late yesterday as this infection didn't get knocked out by the first round of anitibiotics and evidently it's spread to my ear now. ugh.
So I woke this morning to snow..........

This photo was an hour after I shoveled a piece of the deck so Chester could do his business outside.
It's a heavy snow which is blowing and drifting.

The ear was worse and was only going to get even worse if I didn't get something for it.
Daughter had a chiropractor appt. so she dropped me at the Urgent Care before her appt.
Finally got in to see a Nurse Practitioner and yes, it's an ear infection. sigh.
The road through our town was gridlocked going North so we went South and drive on the road behind the main drag to get North.  We sat in Burger King while they got my Rx ready across teh street at Rite-Aid, then drove over there.
Penn DOT got caught asleep at the switch on this storm and the main roads are terrible!  Rite-Aid hasn't plowed their parking lot and we got stuck trying to get out at the drive-through window.  Daughter had to turn the car around and go back through the drive-through window going the wrong way! lolz
Got to the intersection and it was chaos!!  People stopping in the intersection, people going against the light and/or the wrong way down the road.  Still stopped heading North and 5 tractor trailers jack knifed or just stuck.  We almost got t-boned by some idiot turning around a tractor trailer who was partly in the intersection.

After we got through the intersection and heading home........

A line of traffic as far as the eye could see.
Up at the next light where we turn right to get home there was an accident in the intersection where someone was following too close and slide into the truck in front of him.
Often tractor trailers will take the road through our town from I-80 to hook up with I-81 closer to Wilkes-Barre, a shortcut as it where.
Except to do this, they have to take a windy 4 lane highway down a mountain and in bad weather they close that stretch of road(or sometimes don't close it soon enough and shit like this happens).
So yeah........don't come through our town in the Winter in bad weather, especially if you are driving an 18 wheeler.

We got home and you couldn't tell Daughter had shoveled her side of the driveway at all this shit is blowing so badly.  We made it up about halfway on the driveway and parked.  I tumbled out of the car into a snowbank(the snow she had shoveled)and somehow got to the front door.

Got to the dogs and put them out and the snow was right back where it started on the deck. ugh ugh ugh!

I took this photo after moving the snow around again and off the deck.  Just looked out the door and it's all right back where it was.
You are on your own Chester........lolz

I am off to take more antibiotics and crawl back into bed.
It's suppose to keep snowing and blowing until late tonight.
Somebody wake me when this is over.....

Sluggy

2018 Food & Toiletry Spending.....February Report

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2018.

I have posted February'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 February.  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 3-5(4 at home this month). No kids under 22.

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

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $5.00
Value  $9.57
Savings  47.75%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $36.33
Value  $58.95
Savings  38.37%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $33.48
Value  $76.89
Savings  56.46%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PP/BC  $754.21
Value  $754.21
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE
OOP  $5.17
Qs/Ads  $10.55
Value  $15.72
Savings  67.11%

WALMART
OOP  $19.20
Value  $42.00
Savings  54.29%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $308.23

Qs/Ads  $335.25

Value  $643.48

Savings  52.10%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Shursave Market at 67.11% and Ollie's at 56.46%.  My WORST savings rate was Maine Source at 38.37%.

I shopped at 7 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$407.41

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales...$439.20

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$846.61

TOTAL Savings of ..................................51.88%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for Feb.....$407.41
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1600.82
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.....$1193.41
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items..........74.55%

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I had wanted to stay at or under $200 food spending for February.  Then we all got sick so the wheels flew off that bus one week into the month.  Between unnecessary spending(popsicles, other comfort things and mega amounts of OJ bought)and sending Hubs to the store because I just couldn't, well we ended up at about double what I set out to spend. sigh.  I will say it's a good thing I had stockpiled facial tissues and cold meds as that kept our budget from topping $500 this month.  ;-)

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 5.02% in February 2018 to 74.55% compared to January's 79.57% savings average.

With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $860.10 on food/toiletries in 2018 which is a 77.46% savings rate for the year so far and averages out to $430.05 spent per month in 2018.

LOOKING AHEAD To March.......
Not sure where the month will lead us right now.  I'll say $300 for groceries for now but who knows? lolz  I would like to empty out the chest freezer a bit more in March and I really haven't gotten any discounted meat in Feb.  So $300 it is but I'd like to keep it at $200 something.

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 January?
*  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

It's Always Something at Rite-Aid!

So it's Wellness Wednesday.....again!
And I had to go up to get an Rx refilled so I finished the second "Spend $10/Get $3 BC" Deal on my card......

2 x Nestle h2o case=$6.00
2 x Hershey Gold bars=$1.38
SubTotal....$7.38

Coupons used
1 x $1/2 Nestle h2o IPQ=$1.00
2 x $1.50/1 Hershey Gold IPQ=$3.00
Coupon Total.....$4.00

$7.38-$4.00=$3.38
Except.....
1-a .50¢/2 Hershey L2CQ came off.
2-Bonus Cash jumped onto the transaction and kicked off my water Q and 1 of my Hershey Qs!

So the transaction became.....$7.38-$2.00=$5.38 and $5 in BC came off, leaving me owing .38¢ OOP.

I paid with a Rite-Aid gift card and then got back $2.50($1.50 and $1)in a "post Q" situation.
I also earned a new $3 BC for buying the h2o and candy bars(Spend $10/Get $3 Deal).

Rite-Aid emailed me a 25% coupon this morning so I paired that with Wellness Wednesday Qs and reg. manuQs and I found some items to buy that were cheap.......

2 x Fiber One lemon bars($3.29 25% off)=$6.58
1 x Flonase 60ct.($12.74 25% off)=$12.74
1 x Rohto eye drops($6.36 25% off)=$6.36
4 x Werther's candy drops(on sale 2/$4)=$8.00
SubTotal...........$33.68

Coupons Used
2 x $2/1 WWQ Fiber One=$4.00
2 x .50¢/1 Fiber One Q on the boxes=$1.00
1 x $5/1 Flonase WWQ=$5.00
1 x $3/1 Flonase ManuQ=$3.00
1 x $5/1 Rohto WWQ=$5.00
1 x $2/1 Rohto IPQ=$2.00
4 x $1.50/1 Werther's candy WWQ=$6.00
Coupon Total.......$26.00

$33.68-$26.00=$7.68 and Bonus Cash should have covered all but .68¢ of this total(w/that .68¢ going on my R-A gift card).

But.........
In order to get my ManuQs(2 of them)to come off, after the cashier scanned my 25% paper he took it off and at the end of the transaction it wouldn't go back on again! lolz

So my total were thus instead.......

2 x Fiber One lemon bars($3.51 20% off)=$7.02
1 x Flonase 60ct.($12.74 20% off)=$13.59
1 x Rohto eye drops($6.79 20% off)=$6.79
4 x Werther's candy drops(on sale 2/$4)=$8.00
SubTotal...........$35.40

$35.40-$26 in Qs=$9.40
$9 in BC came off and I paid .40¢ on my R-A gift card.

Then we figured the 5% difference on all but the Werther's and I got another $1.72 back in cash(post coupon)for the % that didn't come off.

So for all the above(both transactions)I used $14 in BC, earned $3 in new BC, spent .78¢ on my gift card and got $4.22 back in cash so I am "down" $7.56 for 2 cases of water, 2 candy bars, 2 boxes of snack bars, 1 bottle of Flonase, 4 bags of caramels and eye drops.

The Fiber One bars were .79¢ after stacked Qs.
The Flonase was $4.74 after stacked Qs.
The eye drops were a .64¢ moneymaker after stacked Qs.
The Werther's candy were .50¢ a bag and there's an Ibotta .75¢ rebates for the sugar-free variety and I bought 1 bag of that kind so after rebate each bag averages out to .31¢.

College Boy has been asking for some eye drops so that's why the Rohto was bought.
Daughter loves hard caramel candies so those are going into the Xmas box for her. Ssshhh
The lemon bars are something Daughter and I will eat.
And the Flonase is for me(plus I got $13.59 credit toward an Allergy Rewards BC....still need $15.45 to reach that $20 BC Reward).

And another thing, the message you get when you scan your Wellness Card has changed.....it doesn't say how many Plenti points you have(your receipt still shows them but in tiny numbers now)though it still asks you if you'd like to use your PPs.
Weird.
I wonder how much longer the PPs will be accepted at Rite-Aid?

They had some free samples out on the WW table today(there were no samples last week).....Breathe Right strips and Crest gum detoxify toothpaste tubes.

Did you find anything worth buying?

Sluggy