The Big Things I Accomplished in 2018

Here is a list of the main things I actually accomplished in 2018.  

Some were written about/identified in my Yearly Goals(such that they were)and some in my Monthly Goals.

I have put them in order of how much satisfaction achieving them gave me. 8-)

#1 Deal with the house in Louisiana.  

We sold it in June and it is gone!!!  It was the largest source of anxiety in my life for the 1.5 years before it got sold.

'Nuf said.

#2  Continue to drop some weight. I lost and have kept off 11 pounds in 2018.  Add to the 30 I lost in 2017 and I am 41 lbs. lighter in 2019

#3  We took 3 trips in 2018.
A short weekend trip to VA in April to see our older son and meet his GF.......

A medium sized one to New England w/Kim and her Hubs in late September/early October......

And a short excursion down to the Outer Banks of NC later in October........

Bonus points because we got too have lunch with our son on the way back home from that one.....

Not a lot of traveling in 2018 but what we did was greatly enjoyed!

#4  I got my new passwords book done........

#5 Sold some things........

22 bags of diapers got sold on the local FB site.

And 6 items left the building from eBay.

More would have been better but this was enough in 2018.

#6  I broke down and got a smart phone.........

Alert the media-Sluggy joins the 21st Century.....lolz

#7  We consolidated our banking and cashed in bonds.

Having both a B&M bank and a credit union account was just too complicated so, being unhappy with the CU we closed the account there.  Now we just have a B&M bank and an online bank.

We stayed on top of maturing Savings Bonds and cashed them out in a timely fashion.

#8  Gardening and Preserving the Harvest

 The infamous Basil Tree....lolz

 Tomatoes out our ears by September!

I dried oregano and basil we grew.

I also made pesto out of some of the basil and froze that.

 I canned pepper relish(mostly from farm produce Hubs and picked-we didn't grow this stuff).

 I canned peach jam from farm produce.

I canned tomatoes from out harvest.

 Grew lots and lots of Morning Glory vines......

 And saved a large amount of seeds from those.

The Grand Total output of our very little garden was 104.275 pounds of food!

#9 I got around to reading 22 books in 2018(plus 2 more I started but haven't finished yet.)  

At the moment I'd say these 5 were my favorite reads of 2018......

#10   2 Sewing Projects Completed.

  One was an unfinished languishing project.

A pair of jams for the my brother.

The other was a major lengthening/hemming job on two pairs of pants for my daughter.

#11  Giveaways Held-16

16 boxes of goodies left Chez Sluggy in 2018.  

That's an average of 1.33 giveaways per month.

#12  Food Bank Donations

This was what went to the foo bank in early November.

Another small donation made it's way there as well earlier in the year but I can't lay my hands on a photo of it right now.

#13  I got my Passport.

It happened in July after sending for my birth certificate in June.

#  14 House Projects Completed

Mostly this was Hubs accomplishments in 2018.  Some long neglected maintenance and repairs were achieved.....replacing 2 doorbells, buying and installing new blinds in the kitchen and the master bathroom, patching and repainting the pillars and trim on the front porch and cleaning/dehumidifying the crawl space under a part of the house.

#  15  Decluttering

Not much left the house in 2018 to go to the Salvation Army.  Yes, a lot of trash left and lots of toiletries/stockpile items went to relatives/giveaway boxes/got sold/food bank donations, but we didn't have much "stuff" to give to charity last year.  Maybe 4 or 5 garbage bags of items/clothing.  I don't really keep records of that anymore as we don't itemize charitable donations anymore.

#  16  Keeping Paper Under Control

I spent a good amount of time each month purging/shredding/filing paperwork in 2018.  I was able to keep anything from stacking up by doing this monthly.  This included all my coupon insert work too.

Now the state of my desk was another matter...EEK!!!

Let's close the book on 2018 and not dwell on the stuff I didn't get around to doing last year(and there was quite a bit).....let's celebrate the accomplishments and move on into 2019!

Sluggy

2018 Christmas Budget/Spending Autopsy

Ok, so calling this an Autopsy is not very festive or cheerful.
So call it "The Post Where I Talk About What I Was Going to Spend for Christmas and What I Actually Spent for Christmas".
Whatever works for you.....

I budgeted $850 for Christmas spending in 2018.  Except for what Hubs spends on gifts for me, this is our entire spending budget for Christmas(except for food for Christmas meals-which is accounted for in the food budget).

Last year I budgeted $850 and we spent $845.62.
So I based this year's Xmas budget on what was spent last year as we were pretty close to the targeted amount.  We weren't going to be traveling anywhere for the Holidays so this amount seemed adequate to me.

I have been tracking our Christmas spending since 2010--
2010.........$1000 planned/$881.64 spent
2011.........$1300 planned/$851.32 spent
2012.........$1000 planned/$1020.48 spent
2013.........$1650 planned/$2164.77 spent

2014.........$1900 planned/$1742.87 spent
2015.........$1800 planned/$1583.94 spent

2016.........$1600 planned/$793.72 spent
2017...........$850 planned/$845.62 spent

How do I arrive at a budget for Christmas?  Nowadays I look at what we spent the previous years(because I have a full accounting for the last 6 years or so on the blog)and see where we did well and where we did "not-so-well" with budgeting and add in any unusual things we plan to do and after some papers are balled up and thrown away and there is one sheet left with lots of writing on it(as well as writing scratched out on it), we have a plan and a budget. lolz

No, really.....I look at possible spending categories and what I think we will use in each one.

I generally use c/c points to get gift cards for free(to either give as presents or use to buy the presents to give)plus I buy a bit here and there during the year when a deal presents itself and those items are cash flowed from our regular monthly income.  I have been known to reserve blogging revenue, rolled coins and/or cash rebates from grocery purchases during the year to pay for Christmas expenses.
I generally don't set money aside each month throughout the year(like a Christmas club account or actual money in an envelope earmarked for Christmas spending)since we had a large cushion of cash in our checking and savings accounts and I can just pull from those sources when I need money to spend on Christmas stuff.  Since Hubs retired mid-2017 I will have to budget for Xmas better in the future.

But if you don't have extra cash lying around it is a good idea to take funds during the year and earmark them for the Holidays.
There are many ways to save ahead for Christmas.....make regular deposits to a dedicated account or a Christmas club at a bank, use a one-time windfall like a bonus or a tax refund, etc........so use whatever works for your situation.

The only unacceptable plan is to GO INTO DEBT for Christmas!
Better to not spend on Christmas than to endure the grief/angst/anguish/stress by going into debt buying crap at Christmas you can't afford and having to pay off the bills incurred sometime in 2019, or 2020 or beyond.

So we went into the Holidays with $850.00 budgeted to spend.

Here is where the funds were allocated.......

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $40.00
Gifts for immediate family(includes any cash gifts)  $600.00

Gifts for extended family & friends  $50.00

Electricity for lights   $10.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie   $150.00
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)   $0.00
Charity  $0.00

And here is where the money actually went.....

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $38.85

Gifts for immediate family  $640.46

Gifts for extended family & friends  $71.00

Electricity for lights  $10.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie  $84.72
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)  $0.00
Charity  $0.00
TOTAL SPENT...$845.03

Here are the Spending Details....

$38.85 *Shipping/Mailing Holiday Cards & Gifts----$1.15 UNDER budget
We sent out 23 cards(3 were put into packages and not mailed separately in envelopes) and mailed 1 package to my brother and his wife and 2 packages to 2 friends.  Stamps cost $10 and the cards I had already from previous Christmases.  The postage for two packages was $28.85 and the stamps cost $10.00

$640.46  *Gifts for family---- $40.46 over budget
Last year I spent $567.90 on gifts for family so I spent $72.56 more this year on the family's gifts.  Family included 5 people--Hubs, 3 kids, eldest's GF.  $150.00 of that $640.46 spent was on cash gifts.  We had 1 more person to buy for this year(Eldest son's GF).  If the GF wasn't here I would have been closer to target by $29.06.

$71.00  *Gifts for extended family---OVER budgeted amount by $21.00

Nephew's gift cost what I wanted to spend,  his dad's food basket was foodstuffs I used sales/coupons to get so either free or accounted for in the yearly food budget.  I spent $50 on my brother and the sister in-law's gift which was what put me over.  I sent cousin Sonya hair care stuff for free at R-A and a CVS gift card(that girl is all about the CVS!lol)but I got that free with credit card points. 8-)))

$10.00  *Electricity for Lights----ON Budget
We used the smaller tree again this year(less lights than a full size tree)and Hubs was able to do the outdoors lights too using the same stuff we usually hang outside.  No big Battle of the Xmas Lights here! lolz

$84.72  *A Christmas eve meal and show or movie----UNDER budget by $65.28
Dinner for 3 this year plus a to-go order for Ex-College Boy(who was working).  Eldest and GF weren't here and nephew and BIL didn't come so a small crowd.  Nobody drank liquor this year but we did all 3 get appetizers.
After tip we spent $84.72

$0.00  *Charity----NO Cash Spending on Charity this Holiday Season(still coasting on the "Rescue Mission last year to SC") but I did give a very large donation to the town's food bank of toiletries, laundry detergent and foodstuffs.  All that was either free with Bonus Cash at R-A or accounted for in the grocery budget.

$0.00  *Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze, cash incidentals)----NO Spending We didn't travel this year again as the Eldest came home for Christmas with his GF in tow.

All totaled, this year I budgeted $850 and we spent $845.03, so $4.97 under budget overall.


Thoughts for 2019--
I think I'll keep our budget at $850.00 for next Christmas.  We aren't hurting for money but we are on a fixed income with Hubs retired now.  Plus all of our kids are 22 or older(and 1 is established in a career and 1 gainfully employed now)so I don't feel the need to spend so much on them as when they were younger.
For our income and our needs, I think this is just the right amount to splash out on Christmas celebrating.
Unless our plans change and we travel for the Holidays, $850 seems a good target amount for spending.

If you kept track of your spending for Christmas, how did you do?
Did you spend more. less or right about what you planned on spending?
Did you have any money epiphanies when you look back at the Holiday plan?
Do you see anything you'll change about your spending for Christmas 2019?

Leave a comment and let us know how you did and what you learned about yourself & money this year!

Sluggy

Last of the Rite-Aid Shops for Last Week

Other than Wellness Wednesday I only made 1 more trip to Rite-Aid last week.

I did the "Spend $30/Get $10 Bonus Cash" Deal on select P&G items...........

2 x Pampers=$19.98
2 x Secret/Gillette spray deo BOGO50%=$11.05
SubTotal.....$31.03

I had 2 x $3/1 Pampers CatQs and $1/1 Secret and $1/1 Gillette deo Qs, so $8 off, but the Secret Q didn't come off so I got $1 back in a "post coupon" situation.

$31.03-$7=$24.03 paid with Bonus Cash.
I earned $10 in new BC back(the $1 for post Q)and submitted for a $5 Ibotta rebate(wyb both Secret and Gillette-or Old Spice-in a single transaction).
I can also sell those diapers, giving back $10 cash in my pocket so after all the chips have fallen this will be a $1.97 moneymaker(even with the tax).  ;-)

Then I spied a bunch of candy bars on sale for .69¢ last week with .50¢ off instant discount stickers on them.....these same bars also were part of a "Spend $12 o select food items/Get $3 BC" Deal.
Hmmmm.......Ex-College Boy's birthday is coming up next month and this would be lovely to stick in his gift box............

18 x candy bars on sale=$12.42
18 x .50¢ stickers=$9.00

Total of $3.42 paid with BC.
$3 in new BC earned meaning all these cost .42¢ total.

I am still on the fence whether to get anything at Rite-Aid this week since I have no BC expiring in the next 2 weeks.

It's being reported that the $5 Catalina for buying Huggies this week isn't working and that would have been the main thing I would have brought home.

We also didn't get either of the RetailMeNot inserts(aka Red Plum inserts)in our Sunday paper which means I didn't get any of  the make-up, fancy shampoo, etc. Qs that were in them.
sigh.
The only other thing I can cobble together to qualify for the "Spend $50/Get $20 GC" Deal is a 4 cold/flu items(which I have L2CQs for), 2 Visines, 2 Finish dish tabs, 2 Aleve and a couple of the cheap new Snickers bars.
That would "cost" me $50.03(before tax)-$26 in Qs=$24.03 in BC and earn me the $20 GC and $12 in SavingStar cash rebates and there is a $2 rebate for the Advil cold symptom on Ibotta....so a moneymaker after the cash rebates back.

I'll let y'all know if I do go to R-A later this week.  Maybe they'll get that Catalina issue fixed.....

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Eating Down the Freezer" Edition.........

This is a shot of my chest freezer after this past Friday's shop.

I now need to stop buying food to stick in here and eat what is already there for January.  I was doing well on this mission until.............
until I hit a meat sticker sale at the Weis in the town South of us when Hubs and I went for a day out down there last week.
Almost 18 pounds of meat and chicken w/a reg. retail of $83.06 for a mere $38.04.  How could I resist?!? lolz

We had eaten down some of these frozen assets but after I put the new meats in I am full up again! ;-)

I am done and now committed to eating down all this food.  I'll take another shot next Monday so we can see if there is any progress on this mission.  8-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--Apps and Finger Foods for NYE

3. Tuesday--Teriyaki Pork, Asian Veggie Medley, Rice

4. Wednesday--Country Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Veggie TBD(I'll have Taters and Veggie only)

5. Thursday--Pasta of some kind, Salad

6. Friday--Seafood Buffet(catfish, salmon, shrimp, clams), Veggie TBD
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--Apps and Finger Foods for NYE

3. Tuesday--Teriyaki Pork, Asian Veggie Medley Stir-Fry, Rice or Riced Cauliflower

4. Wednesday--I "think" it was a Fend for Yourselves Night

5. Thursday--Seafood Buffet(salmon, shrimp, clams), Mac and Cheese, baked Kale

6. Friday--Beef Fajitas w/Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions
7. Saturday--Lasagna, Tossed Salad

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.  

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.......
* 1 bag of barbecue
* 1 Teriyaki pork loin
* 2 bags of Asian veggies 
* 1 bag of rice
* 1 bag of cauliflower rice
* 1 box of clam strips
* 1 box of shrimp
* 1 bag of red bell peppers
* 1 Party size Lasagna

What got put into the freezer last week.....
* 1 whole chicken
* 2 London Broil
* 2 packs of BSCB
* 3 packs of ground beef
* 1 pack turkey meatballs
* 6 bags frozen veg
* 2 packs turkey bkfast sausage

 A couple of grocery trips.....2 smallish trips to Weis($29.84/$40.04) and a small trip to Aldi($16.82)brought the weekly food spending to $86.70 and brought the January monthly total to $86.70 so far.

I have 24 days left in my shopping month for January.

My savings percentage last week was 49.04%(without Rite-Aid trips)and January's monthly savings total so far comes to 49.04%(w/out R-A).  

Leftovers going into this week....1 helping of teriyaki pork stir-fry, some breaded shrimp and clam strips, beef fajita filling, some crab dip and 2 servings of lasagna.
Not enough here for a dinner but several lunch meals or a FFY where everyone has something different. ;-)

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

1. Sunday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Roasted Rainbow Carrots

2. Monday--Large Salads w/Grilled Chicken 

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, Saute Cabbage

4. Wednesday--Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zucchini, Rice

5. Thursday--Chicken and Dumplings

6. Friday--Ham and Bean Soup, Cornbread
7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY

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

What needs buying for this menu? I bought produce on Sunday(carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, zuke, salad greens-this will be on next Monday's grocery tally)so we are good now.  Milk isn't needed either....yet.

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  

To-Do List....the December Update

*   Pay Bills  DONE  Boringly paid on time or early and no interest charges.  Boring is good sometimes.  ;-)

*   Read 1, 2 Books  DONE  I actually read THREE Books in December.......

"Grover Cleveland-The Forgotten Conservative" by John Pafford.
The one review on Amazon dumps on the book and it's author.....I agree that the book is way short but to rag on the author because he's obviously politically conservative?  Um, who else would write a book on a conservative POTUS?....certainly not someone with extremely liberal views! lolz
Short but very informative.  Grover Cleveland is truly one of the "forgotten" presidents even with him serving 2 terms.  Forgotten nowadays because of his unwavering conservative principless in office and that US modern society thinks "conservative" anything is a dirty word.
One of the few late 19th century and 20th century POTUS who did NOT usurp the Constitution and use his office to garner power to upset the balance of justice over the other 2 branches of government.  
A man of his convictions and a lot of common sense....not something you see much in politicians nowadays.

A short read but worth taking a look at to get a sense of the man.

Then I read...........

"Mary Boleyn-The Mistress of Kings" by Alison Weir
I thought going in that this book would be a fictionalized novel drawn from the little we know of the historical person of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn.
But no, I was pleasantly surprised that the book, written by a well known historian and author, 
deal with the facts that are known of Mary's life and then posited possible rational suppositions from there.
No great surprising outcomes/facts were reached.  The reader is given the facts and suggestions of possibilities and left to draw their own conclusions.  It was thought provoking and would make a good Book Club selection...but of course I am biased here, because Mary is my 3rd cousin through marriage.  ;-)

And lastly I read this one............

"Death Come To Pemberley" by P. D. James

Not being a big Jane Austen fan I wasn't greatly invested in this read but it was enjoyable.  James is a well-known crime/mystery writer in the UK and abroad.  She used Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" as the jumping off point for this book.  It will help your enjoyment of this novel if you have read/are familiar with the P&P world/characters and the Jane Austen style.
I think P.D. James nailed the Austenesque style but with staying true to her own voice.
This book was made into a PBS show a couple of years back too.


*  Make Xmas Card List  DONE but a little FAIL too
I made my list but realized after mailing out my Xmas cards that I neglected to include a few folks.   Sorry about that! eek  I will be writing letters to them in January instead.

*  Write and Mail Xmas Cards  DONE but a little FAIL too
Ditto what I said above.

*  Get Out Xmas Dishes  DONE
Got them out, washed them up and used them for a few meals at Christmas.

*  Put up Xmas Tree  DONE
Got it up but the decorating took waaaaay too long since the kids didn't help. grrrr

*  Decorate other than Tree  DONE
I ran out of energy on this and we only also got the banister garland-ed(not a word), 3 of my Santas put out, the Xmas runner and the Crystal reindeer and sleigh put on the buffet and my Bavarian Whirligig set up.

*  Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE

The winner received it in a timely manner even though it went out right before Christmas. ;-)

*  Sew 1 Project  DONE

I actually got an unfinished sewing project completed in 2018!!!  I know it's shocking. lolz
I put myself under a deadline for it so it got done....otherwise it would probably still be sitting up on my machine table.
I had these jams for my brother to finish.  I told him about them, took them to VA in October so he could try them on and I could mark them to hem and put the elastic in the waist and gave myself a Xmas deadline so he could unwrap them for the Holidays.

Hubs is holding them up for the photo.

I even put this Vogue Menswear tag in them....I got those years ago when I bought a Vogue Menswear pattern or two.  After my brother opened them he was confused because he didn't remember trying them on in October when we were down in VA and he thought I had "bought" them for him since it has a Vogue label in them.  Hehehe  Maybe my sewing skills are so good the jams appeared to be factory sweatshop produced? lolz

*  Clean the House for Company  FAIL  Well a little cleaning got done(bathrooms mostly and some dusting)but I hurt my leg right before Xmas and Hubs made me try to stay off it and nobody else here did much of any cleaning in my absence.  sigh  The house was clean enough I suppose.

*  Purge Inserts  DONE  Got the old inserts purged and purged my clipped coupons out of my coupon case(aka pencil case).  Only about 6 inserts left in the stack.

*  Go Through Xmas Gift Box  DONE  Got if gone through and all the gifts in there wrapped or put into the stockings.

*  Finish Shopping  DONE  I really didn't have much to buy coming into December(I'm a shop ahead person for the Holidays.)  There was no pressure to hit the stores for another.  Hubs always waits until the last possible minute to give me his list and then it's scramble time to get something he wants...drives me crazy.  I usually do that shopping online so I don't have to face the crowds in the stores.  Hubs and I did shop a little store browsing/shopping at our leisure.  No pressure, just the way I like it.

*  Wrap Presents  DONE  Everything got wrapped/bagged.

*  Mail a few Xmas Gifts  DONE  Only had a few items to mail out and I got them all out in the post in time to be received before Xmas.

*  Plan Winter Holiday  PARTIALLY DONE  Well I did some thinking and planning on this but Hubs has been dragging his feet with imput or ideas.  Nothing is booked yet so still up in the air.
Sonya is not ready for a visit yet so the SW is out so we have less ambitious ideas for where to go/what to do.  I really do want to go somewhere out of the snowbelt in February so I'll continue to work on this in January.


So that's it for what got done in December.  Nothing very ambitious and mostly having to do with Christmas time.

I hope y'all got everything you needed to do done last month!
I'll be back in the coming days with my Yearly 2018 Goals and how all that turned out too.

Sluggy