Half Year Small Finances Review

So we are halfway through 2018.
How did that happen so fast?? lolz

I went through the various small pots of monies and here is where it all stands as of June 30th.
I save up all my rebates/spare change/refunds to apply toward the food bill in December.
(I don't put monies from things I sell during the year into this kitty.)

*  The spare change was rolled and counted June 30th......

$38.50 to put toward the food budget come December.  Now that Hubs isn't working and doesn't have as much WAM we don't get as much change accumulating at Chez Sluggy.

*  Here are the current cash rebate app totals for 2018 thru the end of June.......
   Ibotta  $55.40
   Checkout 51  $6.25
   Savingstar  $26.25
A total of $87.90 in cash rebates to put toward food spending in December.

*   My Weis Refund envelope has $19.81 in it.

*   My Rite-Aid Post Q/Refund envelope has $98.47 in it.

Altogether I have $244.68 at the halfway point in the year to apply toward food spending in December.  If this pace keeps up I may be able to fully cover food shopping in December with these odds and ends I save up.  8-)))

*   Not part of the grocery monies but here is my leftover WAM from the first 6 months of the year.....

I've still got a little over half of my WAM for the year so far, $366.
Almost enough to buy a plane ticket outta here! lolz

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Starting to Produce, Produce" Edition--

The veggies in the garden are starting to ripen and be ready to pick.  I've harvested lettuce three times now and there is more out there.  Usually by this time it's gotten too hot for lettuce but it's still going gangbusters this year.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Chicken w/Queso and Noodles Casserole, Salad

2. Monday--Garlic Pork Roast, Brussels Sprouts, Stuffing

3. Tuesday--Pizza

4. Wednesday--Cook-Out Foods

5. Thursday--BLTs

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Chicken Tenders, leftover Cook-Out sides

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Chicken w/Queso and Noodles Casserole, Salad

2. Monday--Garlic Pork Roast, Brussels Sprouts, Quinoa w/Kale

3. Tuesday--Pizza(take-out)

4. Wednesday--Cook-Out Foods(burgers, dogs, sides, corn)

5. Thursday--Chicken Tenders, Grilled Squash, Mac and Cheese

6. Friday--BLTs
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Everything planned was served pretty much.  I used up a boxed meal thing and reserved a bit of macaroni I cooked up for the mac salad to make a small pan of mac and cheese(also using up leftover cheese sauce).

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 1 nights of Take-Out or Eating Out.  

A trip to the Bread Outlet, a Produce Market and two trips to Weis brought the weekly food spending to $78.96 and the monthly total to $78.96.
I have 22 days left in my shopping month for July.  I went to Big Lots this past weekend and got some food items but I haven't had time to go through the receipt to separate the food from non-food and add it to my food tally for July so that will show up on next week's report.

My savings percentage last week was 55.14%(without Rite-Aid trips)and July's monthly savings total comes to 55.14% so far.

Leftovers going into this week......Chicken Casserole, Garlic Pork Roast, 4 Hot Dogs, Potato Salad and Macaroni Salad.

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

1. Sunday--Hamburgers and leftover Cook-out sides

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad

4. Wednesday--Eggplant w/Garlic Sauce, Rice

5. Thursday--Mushroom Parm(and Chicken Parm for someone), Salad

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Something w/Pasta

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

What needs buying for this menu? Portabello Mushroom caps, Ground Beef, maybe Eggplant.
Don't need much but I'm going to Wegman's and there's the Big Lots trip too to add into this week so spending will top out at $100+.

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

Chester Porn

Here's a little video of Chester as I have nothing ready to post today and I am running out to Big Lots soon so no time to write something up.


I was refilling the drink fridge and Chester grabbed the plastic outer wrapper from the case of water and was having a grand old time playing with it.
At one point he got his whole body stuck inside it but I missed that part. lolz



Sluggy

Presidential Genealogy Update

Back in April, in This Blog Post, after Barbara Bush died, I figured out that husband George Herbert Walker Bush was my 10th cousin.  This relation is through his paternal grandmother's line, Harriett Eleanor Fay on back to my Stith family line.

But I have now found a closer tie.  We are related through George's mother's side as well back to my Soblet/Sublett family line.

George Herbert Walker BUSH (1924 - )
9th cousin
Dorothy Wear WALKER (1901 - 1992)
mother of George Herbert Walker BUSH
Lucretia Lulie WEAR (1874 - 1961)
mother of Dorothy Wear WALKER
Nancy Eliza "Nannie" Holliday (1847 - 1942)
mother of Lucretia Lulie WEAR
Lucretia Green FOREE (1822 - 1847)
mother of Nancy Eliza "Nannie" Holliday
Peter G. Foree (1793 - 1838)
father of Lucretia Green FOREE
Elizabeth Ann GEVAUDAN (1754 - 1823)
mother of Peter G. Foree
Magdalene Chastain (1735 - 1771)
mother of Elizabeth Ann GEVAUDAN
Pierre Louis Chastain (1707 - 1756)
father of Magdalene Chastain
Anne Briant SOBLET (1664 - 1723)
mother of Pierre Louis Chastain
Abraham Soblet/Sublett (1648 - 1719)
father of Anne Briant SOBLET
Pierre Louis Soblet (1685 - 1754)
son of Abraham Soblet/Sublett
William Abraham Sublett (1723 - 1780)
son of Pierre Louis Soblet
Martha "Patsy" SUBLETT (1752 - 1829)
daughter of William Abraham Sublett
Elizabeth "Betsey" WEATHERFORD (1778 - 1854)
daughter of Martha "Patsy" SUBLETT
Sarah "Sallie" MASON (1805 - 1854)
daughter of Elizabeth "Betsey" WEATHERFORD
Mary Agnes DRISKILL (1837 - 1894)
daughter of Sarah "Sallie" MASON
Robert William HARPER (1881 - 1961)
son of Mary Agnes DRISKILL
Wirt Ross HARPER (1909 - 1968)
son of Robert William HARPER
Carole Frances HARPER (1934 - 2000)
daughter of Wirt Ross HARPER
ME

We share 8th Great Grandparents in Abraham Soblet and Susanne Briant.  George's 7th GGrands are Pierre Chastain and Anne Soblet(who is my 8th Great Aunt and the sister of my 7th Great Grandfather).  This makes George and me 9th cousins.

And that makes me double cousins with George and Laura's twins, Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Welch Bush Hager, my 8th cousins through their mom Laura Welch Bush.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....July 6th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had this week........

*  I had Hubs pick up the Weis Friday Freebies last Friday...........

A free box of Saltines.  Come Winter and we are in the throes of Winter and soup weather, these will come in handy.

*  Hubs and I hit the Bread Ouutlet since we were down to our last half loaf.....

4 loaves of bread, 2 packages of rolls, 1 package of English muffins, 2 boxes of chocolate donuts and for spending over $10, we also got a free box of donuts....woohoo! lolz

*  Lots of stuff for free from Rite-Aid which I posted about already this week....

*  The Weis gas points expired on July 4th so Hubs and Ex-College Boy took both cars up and filled them up on the 3rd.

Only saved .30¢ per gallon but still, $4.82 saved is $4.82 saved. ;-)

*  While on FB Wednesday evening I saw a Q for free Heinz mayo pop up on my feed so I printed 2 of those coupons off.

When at Weis on Thursday I picked up better than free mayo.......

It was on sale for $3.99 this week but the cashier put in the full value of the Q($4.50)so I got paid $1.02 in other groceries to bring these home. ;-)
Then I got another .50¢ in cash rebates on Ibotta for buying these.  Sweet!

While at Weis I also picked up these for the kids at their request...

DD creamers are $2.99 this week at Weis.  I earned $2.25 in cash rebates(.75¢ per bottle)at Ibotta for this purchase so they cost $2.24 each after that.

I also found a pack of thick pork chops with a $3 off sticker plus these are BOGOFree this week so I picked up another similar pork chop pack.  I paid $3.30 for 2.12 lbs. of chops.
Then these value packs of bacon had .50¢ discount stickers on them, making them $2.77 each.  $3 is my buy price currently for bacon so I bought 4 packs.

I also did the Mix and Match buy 6 Items/Get $6 Off.......

2 x 8 pack Gatorade for ex-College Boy on sale=$10.00
2 x Breyer's ice cream on sale=$5.98
1 x Ben and Jerry's slices on sale=$3.99
1 x Hanover frozen veg on sale=$1.99
SubTotal....$21.96

Coupons Used
1 x $1/2 Gatorade 8 packs HangtagQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 BandJ slices IPQ=$2.00
Coupon Total....$3.00

$21.96-$3-$6 Offer=$12.96 for all 6 items
Not a bad price and then at the register this Catalina printed off......

$1 off my next order for buying 2 Breyer's ice cream.
I have a feeling I'll be going back to Weis this week for more ice cream.  ;-)

Hubs went out to buy a back-up filled propane tank for the grill this week.  I gave him $29 in Home Despot gift cards to use toward that so it only cost us $22.99 OOP.
Good thing he bought one because the current tank ran out of fuel right in the middle of cooking during the 4th..

That's about all I have for this week.
What frugal wins did you have this past week?

As always, heed the words of the "Most Interesting Man in the World"..........

Sluggy