This Week on the Dining Table

The "Open Wide and say 'Ah'" Edition--

This is Chester and Cinnamon performing one of their rituals.  Cinnamon lays under my desk while I am on my computer there and lets Chester "clean" her mouth.  Sometimes he also licks her eyes. ick.
I guess it's all part of the grooming ritual some animals perform amongst  themselves.
I suppose I should sign Chester up for a dental hygienist course, huh? ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Asparagus

2. Monday--Marinated Beef w/Broccoli, Rice

3. Tuesday--Tacos

4. Wednesday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

5. Thursday--Stuffed Shells, Salad

6. Friday--Fish?

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Asparagus

2. Monday--Marinated Beef w/Broccoli, leftovers Rice

3. Tuesday--Leftovers or TV dinners

4. Wednesday--Stuffed Shells, Salad

5. Thursday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

6. Friday--Beef Pie

7. Saturday--Leftovers

Everything but the fish got served.

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Take-Out or Eating Out.  

A trip to the Bread Outlet, Weis, Boyer's and Aldi's brought the weekly food spending to $115.65 and the monthly total to $231.63.

I've got $168.37 left in the food budget for June and 19 days left in my shopping month.  

My savings percentages last week was 56.11%(without Rite-Aid trips)and June's monthly savings total so far is at 55.12%.

Leftovers going into this week......1 helping of tuna casserole, 1 pork tenderloin, a few helpings of Beef Pie and lots of Stuffed Shells(it makes a ton).

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

1. Sunday--Tacos

2. Monday--Leftovers(Stuffed Shells or whatever you find)

3. Tuesday--Pecan Chicken, Squash Casserole

4. Wednesday--Reuben Sandwiches, Cabbage

5. Thursday--Eggplant Parm, Salad

6. Friday--Chicken Tenders, Veg(TBD)

7. Saturday--?  Pizza or something easy from the Freezer

This week will see 5-6 new meals cooked, 1 night of leftovers/FFY and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

What needs buying for this menu?  More Squash, Cabbage.  That's 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

Randomness Around Chez Sluggy

Just some random things going on around here........

*  I finally got around to posting the Eating Out and updating the Totals on that page HERE,
April's total was high due to a short trip down to see Eldest son.  We paid when going out but Eldest son picked the restaurants and I have to say......he's all about expensive beer and food! lolz
Next trip, either we'll pick the places or put a price limit on him. ;-)

May wasn't bad in one way but bad in another way--Not bad since the Birthday eating out was paid for last year with gift cards bought then and we had no Trip Eating Out....Bad in that the regular day-to-day Eating Out was $170.04 for the month. Ugh.  That's a LOT of take-out!

We are still under $1K for the rest on Eating Out/Take Out so far but the year's not even half over.

*  The end of June marks the First full Year of Hubs retirement.  If things continue as they have been going now, he needs to find things to do outside of the house or we need a bigger house!!! ;-)
Some days it's all I can do not to want to put my hands around his neck and throttle him.

*  I spent very little of my WAM again in May, going into June with $306 of leftover WAM.  Add in June's $100 and I started this month with $406 in WAM.  It's June 9th and I've only got $396 of WAM left.  Whatever will I do?!?  8-))

*  I am beyond frustrated with trying to plan some travel this Summer.  I thought I'd take the 2 kids living here down to VA for a bit to see my brother and go see their sibling/my eldest but both the 2 kids started jobs right away after school let out. Then  I though Eldest was going to come here straight after his school let out(June 15th)and then we could travel down to VA to see my brother/his uncle and make some day trips to OBX but now eldest is going to teach Summer school so he's wedging in a trip here for a few days between that ending and when he has a friend coming from NY to visit him at the end of July.
We can't go anywhere in August because daughter has two trips planned then, one at the beginning of the month to TX and one near the end of the month to a conference in Boston and we have to take care of her dog because she won't board her.  Plus I had two doc appts.(one annual w/sleep doc and one semi-annual with my primary doc).  Both of them were cancelled and rescheduled for different dates so I am having to replan around those.  Add in Hubs surgery and recovery plus his eye doc appts. and shots which also need planning around.
At this point I have a small window of opportunity between June 21st and July 8th but I can't get Hubs to even agree to plan anything!
So it's looking like I am home bound until at least Sept. if we can't get anything together in the next week.  It's just not the Summer I was planning at all!


*  And the best-est thing going on around here......

Ex-College Boy's diploma arrived and I got a picture of him with it n front of the rhododendron bush while it was flowering.
Then I got this photo which is even better..........

Working Man(formerly known as College Boy)holding his first REAL PAYCHECK!!!
No more restaurant kitchens for this guy!
He's got a job working for a real company(not that restaurants aren't real companies)making a decent wage.
And he gets benefits after 60 days!!  Can you say "off our health/dental/vision premiums"?!?
And once he's settled a bit and saved up for some short term/long term goals there's a 401K with a match.

I feel relief that I don't think he'll be living in my basement the rest of his life......hehehehe

Sluggy

Doggy Love

I an quickly turning into a crazy chihuahua mama here.

I have been trawling around to find a cute long haired female chihuahua for a couple of months now.
I wanted to stud him out a few times, which would earn him a few bucks and maybe get me a pick of the litter.  I'd keep one puppy(female)and then have Chester fixed so he wouldn't breed with his daughter.
But I am having a very hard time finding anyone in this area who wants a Chihuahua stud for their bitch.

So then I thought I'd like to get another Chihuahua, breed Chester with a cute bitch with some sort of registration(akc, aca, ckc, etc.)....maybe a few times, keeping some pups, selling some pups and then having the dogs/pups I keep all fixed.
Sort of making my own little herd of  Chihuahuas.
I know there are costs associated with having(a herd)of dogs and they would certainly keep us from traveling, but the love you get back would be worth the costs.

Am I crazy?

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......June 8th Edition

Here are the wins we had this past week.........

* I seemed to find lots of cash on the ground this week.....

On Tuesday, .01¢ in the Boyer's parking lot and someone left their .25¢ in the shopping cart slot at Aldi's.

On Wednesday another .01¢ in the Rite-aid parking lot.

*  No Friday Freebie last week at Weis as it was pancake syrup which was just a lot of HFCS so we passed on it.  I'll take Log Cabin on sale w/Qs or real maple syrup for my pancakes.
See I don't always take a freebie! lolz

But speaking of Weis I forgot a couple of weeks back to mention using my Weis points on a gas discount before they expired on May 28th.......

It's difficult sometimes to coordinate when your gas tanks are low with using the gas points to their fullest advantage.
We were able to squeeze just over 15 gallons in between two vehicles and saved $9.12 on that gas purchase.

*  I made $2.50 on Ibotta on various items at Weis I bought and .10¢ on SavingStar for the cookies I got on WW at R-A.

*  Lots of deals at the grocery stores this week.......

 Aldi's

 Boyer's

Weis(PMITA)Markets

Bread Outlet

And of course, Rite-Aid

And Rite-Aid Freebies too!

*  There was no eating out this past week and the only Take-Out was Taco Bell for lunch on Monday after Hubs post-op check up using a combination of the last of an old gift card and a few dollars of my WAM so no cash spent otherwise.

*  I've been keeping an eye on our c/c bill.  We put most of our spending on it that isn't utilities, private label c/c shopping(like Kohl's, Woman Within, Amazon)and some gasoline purchases.  Most all the food shopping is put on the c/c.  It's sitting under $1K for now(billing runs mid month to mid month)and the bill cuts on Monday so I am going to try to NOT spend/put any more charges on it until Tuesday.  That means no take-out this weekend or grocery shopping.  Let's see if I can do this......

That's about it for me on the frugal front.
Did y'all have any frugal wins this week?

Sluggy

Saturday to Wednesday-A Festival of Shopping

Seems like I ran around to lots of stores between Saturday and Wednesday.

Saturday I went up to Rite-Aid.  I had gotten a Spend $40/Get $8 off Q in the mail so I bought 4 Listerine and these 4 Kimberly-Clark paper products to get over $40 "spending"........

The Listerine bottles were $4.23 each after 20% Wellness disc., used 4 x $1/1 Listerine Qs(from the dentist).
The paper products were on sale for $6.99 each, I had 4 x $1/1 Qs and every 2 products gave back $2 BC(so $4 BC earned).
The Listerine earned me a $5 BC as well.  I ended up using all of the BC left on this card plus $4.27 on one of my R-A gift cards.
BC earned back totaled $9 and the Catalina machine spit this out........

$5 good on your next purchase at R-A.

But I goofed big time.  I meant to buy the Listerine items that double dipped with this weekly Spend $10/Get $5 Deal AND a $4 BC when you buy select items which was a monthly deal.
Oops!
So I took back the Listerine and got $17.96 in BC put back on that card.  I did get to keep the $5 BC the Listerine purchase earned and the $8 off the $40 order Q, so in the end the 4 K/C paper products cost me $12.12(w/.16¢ tax)in BC or $3.03 per items which is pretty good but not great.
And I have a $5 Cat to spend in the next 2 weeks.

Monday was Hubs post-op check-up.  He's doing well, thanks for asking.  He now has the all clear to resume driving and other normal activities.
Yay!

Since we were right down the street from the new bank building that was having a Grand Opening, we swung by to claim two free $5 Dunkin Donuts gift cards but the building was empty.

There had been a big ad in the Sunday paper the day before about it all(free gift cards for stopping by, items to register to win, etc.)but the glass building was dark with nothing inside and locked up.
There was one of those fabric "flags" outside that said "Now Open".
Umm, no. lolz

After that disappointment, we ran a couple of bags to Salvation Army to donate.......mostly clothing I got rid of when I went through my closet to change out to Summer clothing.

While cutting through a shopping plaza  on the way to the Bread Outlet, I ran into Gabe's to see if they had any bras that fit me.
I came up empty there but did see some cute dresses and tops but I don't need more clothes so I left empty handed.

I also saw these cute snails for the garden at Gabe's......

Using broken tiles embedded into the concrete........

They wanted way too much for them so I left them there.

Then it was on to the Bread Outlet, spending a whole $5.50 on 1 loaf of bread, 1 package of rolls/buns, 1 package of English muffins(which look like they've been hit hard already)and 1 box of chocolate donuts......

On Tuesday we went to the town South of us to visit Boyer's, a grocery store I don't go to often........

They have a "Buy 5/Pay $19.99" selection of various meats there.  I got over 9 lbs. of BSCB(some sliced thin, some whole breasts, some tenders)for $19.99.  Not a great price but an ok price and sometimes not having to "process" the chicken is worth a few extra nickels.
I got 4 packages of breakfast sausage(2 x Hatfield, 2 x Bob Evans)for $2 each after sale and $1 off instant stickers, a package of Scrapple for $1.50(w/sticker), a pack of sirloin beef cubes for $3.24($2 sticker), a 4 pack of Butterball lunchmeat for $2($1 sticker), 2 packs of oleo for $1 each, baby carrots or .97¢ and the cottage cheese was free(w/Q).  Thus store was having a Buy1Get2Free sale on items, including the hummus(which mad them .97¢ ea.).  Also bought was 3 bags of tortilla chips and 3 bags of tater chips(not pictured).  Then the cashier gave us the 5% Senior Discount even though we told her we don't qualify(it's 62 at this store).lolz  All totaled I spent $43.97 w/tax and "saved" $51.80 or 54.08%.

Then we stopped by Aldi's and bought this............

1 x Almond milk for Hubs
2 x graham pie crusts
1 x rye bread loaf
1 x cuke
1 x strawberries
1 x sour cream
1 x apple pie
1 x hot dog rolls w/$1 sticker
1 x cherry turnovers w/$1 sticker
1 x brownies w/$2 sticker
1 x dozen eggs Not pictured
4 x refried beans Not pictured
2 x Pretzel crackers Not pictured
1 x Velveeta log Not pictured

The buns went into the freezer for July 4th cookout. The pie crusts and the sour cream were also for making desserts for July 4th.  The rye bread is for a dinner for next week.
Aldi's was another $29.85 OOP.

On Wednesday I hit Weis(PMITA)Markets in the town West of us for coffee before the B1G1Free sale ended.  This particular store seems to be the only one that stocks this variety/flavor of coffee Ex-College Boy likes.  I also found some meat deals there.

4 x 8 O'Clock Coffee $1.62 after sale and $1/1 Qs
2 x 8 O'Clock Coffee $1.12 after sale and $1.50/1 Qs
2 x Hormel pepperoni $2.50 after sale and .50¢/1 Qs that doubled to $1
2 x Coleman uncured bacon $2.25 after sale and $1.50/1 Qs
1 x Coleman uncured hot dogs $1.62 after sale and $1.50/1 Q
2 x hot Italian Sausage packs  $1.75 after BOGO sale and $2 instant stickers
Those were the best deals on this trip.
I spent $36.33 with everything else I bought there.

Then on Wednesday also, I almost forgot it was the first Wed. of the month, Wellness Wednesday so I quickly printed off some Qs and hiked up to R-A.
First off I returned the 4 Listerine bottles and got $17.96 of BC returned to that card.

Then I bought all this............

4 x Keebler cookies 20% Wellness disc.($2.39 each)=$9.56
2 x R/S sugar-free mints on sale=$3.00
1 x Hydralyte on clearance=$1.82
1 x Mitchum deodorant 20% Wellness disc.=$3.59
3 x Cadbury candy bars 20% Wellness disc.($1.91 each)=$5.73
SubTotal.........$23.70

Coupons Used
4 x $1/1 Keebler WWQ=$4.00
4 x $1/1 Keebler item(loyalty pt.)Qs=$4.00
1 x $2/1 Hydralyte IPQ=$2.00
1 x $3/1 Mitchum WWQ=$3.00
3 x $1.50/1 Cadbury bars WWQ=$4.50
Coupon Total.....$17.50

$23.70-$17.50=$6.20 + .04¢ tax=$6.24 paid for with BC
I earned back $5 in new BC($3 wys $8 on select foods-Keebler, $2 wyb2 R/S items)so all the above cost me $1.24.
And I forgot to use the $5 Catalina. Oops.....

Basically the cookies were .39¢ a package after stacked Qs and earned back $3 BC so a $1.44 moneymaker after BC, the Hydralyte was a .18¢ moneymaker and clearance and Q, the Mitchum cost .59¢ after Q, the R/S were .50¢ per bag after sale price and BC back and the Cadbury bars were .41¢ each after Q.

They also have a bevy of sample/freebies on the WW table......

Bladder control pills and Qs, Gold Bond cream, Olay cream w/Q, bandages w/Q, green pill cases and frisbees.

I think I am shopped out which is a good thing for my wallet and I won't have a car tomorrow anyway since Hubs is off to the eye doc.  I'll be a homebody for a few days at least and there is plenty to do around here(and housework to avoid with genealogy research). ;-)

Sluggy