Frugal Friday...........the November 2nd Edition

Let's see what frugalisciousness went on at Chez Sluggy this week...........

* I found more change last weekend while we were out shopping!

1¢ in the Ollie's parking lot and 1¢ in the Rite-Aid parking lot.  At this rate, if I live to be 250 years old I may amass a million dollars. lolz

I almost didn't get the penny at Ollie's.....there was only one checkout open and a very long line and I had spied the penny waaaay ahead.  They opened a second checkout which we were shunted over to so I couldn't just get to the penny and surreptitiously pick it up.  After we checked out I had to walk back up the first checkout line and bend over in front of everyone and pick it up. I have no shame evidently,....Kim is rubbing off on me. lolz

*  I am still harvesting garden goodies!

Everything is dead out there except my oregano as we haven't had a good,, hard frost yet.  Here is what I've dried so far in a quart jar.  I doubt if I'll get this jar filled up but I'll be picking/stripping/drying some more oregano this weekend.

*  I earned $17.38 in cash rebates this past week.
$13.38 on Ibotta(including $3.50 in bonuses)and $4 on SavingStar.(I've pretty much given up on Checkout51.)

*  I got the Weis Freebie last Friday.........

Or rather I sent Hubs to get it.  A free whipped topping aka fake whipped cream.  I prefer the real stuff but Ex-College Boy will be more than happy to put this on his pumpkin pie come Thanksgiving.  8-)

*  Last weekend at Walmart I happened upon 5 items of garden food for $1 each.

It's all tucked away in the shed until Spring and will save me lots getting the garden going next season.

*   While we were in New England somewhere, our mailbox at home was run over and demolished.......

A neighbor's pick-up truck was idling in his driveway, the gear somehow slipped into neutral and his truck rolled down said driveway into the road, crossed the road, went between our street sign and a tree on our property, collided with our mailbox, swerved and just missed Hubs car(which we had gotten back just before leaving on this trip from the accident our son had with it)then crossed our street and hit the large pine tree on another neighbor's property across our street and next to the neighbor directly across from us.
Yikes!

So after Hubs and Kim's Hubby tried to fix the post(it didn't work), Hubs went and got a new mailbox and post and put installed it all.
The neighbor responsible for the carnage has a bad back so he couldn't help to do the work.

Said neighbor came over this past week and paid for the new mailbox.......

This will go right into the bank to cover those costs on our credit card this month.
And then said neighbor gave Hubs this...........

A $50 gift card because he couldn't help do the work and as an apology for being a bad neighbor. ;-)

Ok, that's about it this week other than the usual frugal stuff we do every week.

Tell us about the frugal wins  you had this past week?

Sluggy

Food & Toiletries Spending.......the October Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2018.

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

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

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.95
Value  $47.49
Savings  76.94%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $2.09
Value  $4.00
Savings   49.99%

GIANT
OOP  $36.63
Value  $91.89
Savings  60.14%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $30.02
Value  $49.97
Savings  40%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $61.87
Value  $236.29
Savings  73.82%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $449.35
Value  $449.35
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE
OOP  $13.16
Value  $21.24
Savings  54.07%

WALMART
OOP  $15.94
Value  $23.26
Savings   31.17%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $110.20

Qs/Ads  $82.62

Value  $192.82

Savings  42.85%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 76.94% and Ollie's at 673.82%.  My worst savings rate was Walmart at 31.17%.

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for October..........$308.46

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales............$435.97

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$744.43

TOTAL Savings of ................................58.56%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for October.....$308.46
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales....$885.32
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid.....$1193.78
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items........74.16%

This closes out the October food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
October was a decent month, lots of savings on groceries bought and I stayed well under $400($91.54 under).  I could have bought less but am pleased at how the spending turned out this month.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 2.19% in October 2018 to 74.16% compared to September's 76.35% savings average.
The free stuff from Rite-Aid skewers my averages but without R-A I am at a 58.56% savings.  So even without R-A we are doing well on the "savings" front.

With 10 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $4264.09 on food/toiletries in 2018 which is a 73.70% savings rate for the year so far and averages out to $426.40 spent per month in 2018.  Back down to within $26.40 for my monthly spend goal of $400.  I am not complaining about that! ;-)

LOOKING AHEAD To November.......
Let the Holiday games begin! lol  Lots of baking and other food deals coming up.  I need to take a pantry/freezer inventory before I go shopping for Thanksgiving goodies, etc.  I know we'll need a turkey but otherwise not sure on what else.
I hope to keep it at or below $400 spent for the month.

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 October?
*  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

When Being Frugal Is Not

When it comes to spending money, sometimes doing supposedly frugal things can be anything BUT frugal.

1.  Buying stuff just because it's free or cheap that you won't use.

All those "Deal" blogs out there laying out scenarios on how to get stuff for free or cheap are tempting, aren't they?  But really, it's NOT a deal if it's something you can't or won't use.  Buying items you have no plan/use for is just tying up your money with items that A-you then have to figure out how to dispose of and B-will take up space in your house and cause *gasp* clutter.  These unneeded items just cause more work for you.
Not every "Deal" is a "Deal" to everyone.
I know it's difficult sometimes, but just pass up the ones that don't suit your lifestyle and your needs.

2.  Spending large amounts of time hunting down a "Deal".

Time is money as the old saying goes.  If "Deal Hunting" and the associated prep time to find deals is taking up too much of your time each day/week/month, maybe in the end, these Deals are not such a Deal for you.
There are Deal Blogs and Forums where you can find good prices on just about everything and at every store.  If you tried to go after all the Deals out there you could spend most every waking moment on Deal Hunting.
If Deal Hunting is your whole life then more power to you!  But most of us neither want to or can let researching and implementing The Hunt take over our lives because frankly, we have other goals in life(and other people in our lives to deal with).
Unless you are making a living scoping out deals(getting paid to find deals for others)don't let this activity consume your life.

3. Trying to do ALL the Deals at ALL the stores.

Concentrate your Deal Hunting efforts on a couple of stores, find one or two Deal Hunting sites you can trust and stick to what you can get there. (Unless some really, really awesome Deal comes up, like This Staples Paper Deal in 2009.  I'm still using the paper I got back then! lolz)

When I first started hunting deals years ago I went everywhere......and I mean Everywhere!  I hit the deals at ALL the drugstores, ALL the grocery stores in my area.  Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS, Weis, Price Chopper, Wegman's, Giant, Sav-A Lot, ShopRite, Kmart, Target.
I was exhausted and had no time to get other things done sometimes.
I found that concentrating on just a couple of stores, ones were you get overall the best prices and the staff is friendly are the ones to limit yourself to.  Get to know "the system" at just a couple or a few and work those stores.  Nowadays I mostly do Rite-Aid and Weis, but I have been known to shop at Wegman's, ShopRite and Target infrequently still.


4.  Driving miles out of your way for a "deal".

Another rookie mistake is going too far afield from your usual environs just for a Deal.  All that time driving and extra gas will negate any savings you get from the Deal, unless it's a monstrously large Deal.  I would never go out of my way to say Target, to get a free mascara or a cheap package of toilet paper.  The Deal has to be much larger than one or two things and the savings has to be more than say $10 to get my attention and make me want to drive more than 5 miles out of my usual routine.
That happened in the Summer of 2009 when the Acme chain kept having tremendously good brand name deals and I drove all the way to the 'burbs of Philly on a couple of occasions.  Read about one of those trips HERE.

*Side Note* I sure miss 2009, after the Recession hit, when grocery chains were offering Killer Deals to get folks into their stores to spend money.  I sure miss the days of  doubling coupons up to $2 everywhere, R-A Single Check Rebates where you got back MORE than you spent on most anything and spending under $2K a YEAR for groceries for a family of 5.......

That being said, I have been known to frequent a far away store just for a change of scenery or to take a ride out in the country.  The trip to the particular store is just a side benefit.  I go to a ShopRite once or twice a year which is 45 minutes away from here.  What leads me to change my shopping pattern such?  When that store has a killer(for me)sale on enough items to make it worth the trip, and the weather is beautiful and the route I take is very serene and lovely, especially in the Fall when the leaves are at their height of color.  If I had to fly down a crowded interstate to get there I'd probably pass.  The journey is the primary focus, not the deals.

Now if I happen to find myself going somewhere I don't grocery shop at for another reason other than to be going there I'll stop in and do a bit of hunting.  Like when we take Hubs out to a brewpub he likes that's in a not too nearby town.  Since we were in that town it made sense to stop in to the local Amish Surplus Grocery outlet and see what we could use. But I only go there a few times a year if we are already planning to be in that area for something else.  And when we are traveling on vacation I am often seen checking out grocery and outlet stores and subsequently bringing home food "souvenirs" for the pantry and stockpile. 8-)

5.  FOMO with Deals

If you read the big Deal Hunting blogs and forums they seem to cover it all.....all the retailers near you, all the retailers not-so-near you and all the retailers at great lengths from where you are based and ALL their supposed deals.
You'll also see "brags" on these sites about specific shops that someone did and all the great things they got for pennies on the dollar.

And then, since we are all human, the anxiety and jealousy starts creeping in and the "Fear Of Missing Out" takes over.  Suddenly we get the urge to go to those stores and get the deals they got even if we have no use for those specific deals and we live nowhere near those stores and most importantly we don't have the financial resources to spend on all that stuff.
FOMO is much like "Keeping Up with the Joneses" in my book.
Keep an eye on yourself and when these feelings creep in and recognize them for what they are and check yourself before you spend money you shouldn't on stuff you don't need/want.

Do you deal hunt?
What rookie mistakes have you made in deal hunting?
What's the best deal you've gotten recently?


Sluggy

Saturday Shopping

Hubs and I hit the town South of us for a little shopping on Saturday.  We don't usually go out on the weekend to stores but the weather was so crappy we figured not a lot of folks would be out as usual.....plus we were getting a bit stir crazy.  '-)

After the first two stops below we hit a Chinese buffet place for a cheap lunch out that we haven't been to in years.
While Hubs paid the bill before we left, I wandered over to this fountain in the lobby..........

I resisted dipping my hand in and scooping up a load of change, but if KIM had been with me, I doubt I'd have been able to hold her back from wading in said fountain. lololz

On to the shopping!
First we hit Giant and here are the best deals I got there.........

They had Eight O'Clock coffee BOGOFree($5.19)so I got 4 bags=$10.38
I used 2 x $2.25/2 IPQs so $4.50 off=$5.88 for all 4 bags or $1.47 per bag.
I would have gotten up to 12 bags but they didn't carry the variety that Ex-College Boy likes and since these Qs don't expire until 12/31/18 I'll wait for this coffee to go on sale at Weis and used them there.

They had a special over the weekend, buy up to 4 boxes of select types of Cheerios for .99¢ per box.
These maple ones were part of that special so I got 2 boxes to try them so $1.98 for both.
But I also used a $1/2 Cheerios digitalQ attached to my Giant card so they were .98¢ for both or .49¢ a box.  8-)

There was a coupon for London Broil at $1.99 lb. if you spent $15.  I spent $15 so I picked up the largest prepackaged LB they had(almost 3 lbs.)and paid $5.81 for a hunk of meat regularly marked $21.87.
They also had Giant brand cheese marked $1.77 over the weekend so I got 3 bags at $5.31.  I had a digitalQ attached to my card for $2 off wys $5 on store brand cheese so all 3 cost me $3.31 or $1.10+ per bag.

Total OOP at Giant was $36.63 on $91.89 reg. retail of products.


Then we hit Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)and I hit the mother lode of 75% clearance items!!!

Everything I bought was 75% off!

2 x Avelina oatmeal .42¢ each
2 x Pop-Secret popcorn  .47¢ each (These are huge boxes!)
2 x Velveeta mac and cheese kits  .37¢ each (The kids will like this stuff)
2 x Velveeta skillets kids  .40¢ each(ditto)
1 x OEP taco shells  .25¢ each
4 x Marie Callender cornbread mixes  .32¢ each (I can't even make cornbread from scratch for that price.)
2 x Jello pudding  .20¢ each

3 x LOL Cappuccino K-pods  $1.00 each
2 x Maxwell House flavored coffee mix  .65¢ each

All the above came to $9.55, 75% off $38.20 Ollie's prices($61.30 reg. retail if bought elsewhere at full price).
I've hit my local Ollie's since Saturday at the above Ollie's and none of this stuff is on clearance there?????
So weird to find it 75% off at one store and not another......

We also hit Walmart for a few items of --a 2 lb. block of cheese, almond milk, frozen burritos x 2, coffee creamer.  $15.94 worth of food.  This stuff wasn't worth taking pictures of. lolz

They also had a mobile shelving unit of garden fertilizers for $1 per item by the door..........

I spent $5 on all this for next year's gardening.  Heck they were each marked $5 on clearance(before the $1 sale)so I know I got a great deal here!
It's all safely tucked away in the shed for next year.  ;-)


Sluggy

Here's What I Got From Rite-Aid Last Week

I had a $5 Catalina(gotten for buying Goodnites on 10/12)to use before Saturday when it expired so here is what I put together to buy last week.........

3 x Huggies GoodNites  on sale=$26.97

I used 3 x $2/1 GoodNites Q Cats to pay and that $5 OYNO Cat so $11 off=$15.97 paid for with BC.
I earned another $5 OYNO Catalina too.

Then on Saturday I went back to R-A and bought this..........

1 x GoodNites on sale=$8.99
2 x Huggies diapers on sale=$17.98
SubTotal.....$26.97

I used 1 x $2/1 GoodNitesQ and 2 x $1/1 Huggies Qs and the new $5 OYNO Cat so $9 off=$17.97 pad for with BC.
I earned another $5 OYNO Catalina too.

Then I bought 1 more pack of Huggies,  using the $5 Cat and a $1/1 Load2CardQ=$2.99 paid for with BC.
No more $5 OYNO Cats but I earned $20 in new BC(2 x $10 wys $30 on Huggies).

In the end I "spent down" my Bonus Cash on this card by $16.93 but after selling these 7 packs of diaper/overnight pants I'll have $35+ in new cash making me $18+ "up" overall.

I also got a $8 off wys $50 Catalina on that last transaction.  Unfortunately it expires Saturday so I have to use it this week or lose it and this week isn't a very good week at Rite-Aid.  I'll have to play around and see what I can do with it.  ;-)

I did lots of shopping on Saturday...a trip to Ollie's and a trip to Giant, reports coming up later today.


Sluggy