This Week on the Dining Table

The "WTF?  It wasn't me!" Edition.........

At least once or twice a week here, the local news has a report about a car driving into a building.....a business, a house, same difference.  A few years ago I had gone to my Rite-Aid about 10 minutes after a customer's car plowed into the building on the other side/front of the store.  A friend/worker was standing at the register when it happened and the racks of cigarettes against the window/wall fell on him.(He was fine, just a little shook up.)
So it was NO surprise when I went up to Rite-Aid last week and saw this.......

The side of the building clearly had been hit, by a blue car due to the paint marks left on the lower part of the wall.  I don't usually park on this side so no, it was not me.  Besides my car isn't blue. lolz
I am surprised that this incident never made it onto the local newscast.  I guess there were other building/car accidents that did more damage that week.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Korean Beef BBQ, stir-fry Broccoli, Ramen Noodles

2. Monday--Dirty Rice w/Andouille Sausage and Red Beans

3. Tuesday--Lobster Ravioli in Alfredo Sauce, Tossed Salad

4. Wednesday--Pasta w/Turkey Italian Sausage Sauce

5. Thursday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Sweet Potato Fries

6. Friday--Assorted Leftovers
7. Saturday--Taco Con Queso Casserole

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Korean Beef BBQ, stir-fry Broccoli, Ramen Noodles

2. Monday--Dirty Rice w/Andouille Sausage and Red Beans

3. Tuesday--Lobster Ravioli in Alfredo Sauce, Tossed Salad

4. Wednesday--Lasagna Hamburger Helper, Green Beans

5. Thursday--Tempura Shrimp, Crab Cakes, Cole Slaw, Baked Sweet Potato Fries

6. Friday--Rigatoni w/Mushroom Pasta Sauce
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out. 
Everything as planned until Tuesday then the wheels fell off the bus. lolz
I had fresh mushrooms to use up and found a hunk of ground beef and some shrimp in the freezer that were older than the pork chops and Italian turkey sausage I planned to defrost and use.  By Saturday we had lots of leftovers so no taco casserole that night.  Everything planned and not used will move to this coming week's plan(unless I feel like cooking something else lol).

What got put into the freezer last week.....
*  1 lb ground Chicken
*  1.5 lbs raw Shrimp(meat discount sticker deal at Weis)
*  2 bags of Perdue Chicken strips

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.......
* A small London Broil(for Korean BBQ Beef)
*  Frozen Broccoli
*  Andouille Sausage(for Dirty Rice/Beans)
*  3 packs Lobster Ravioli
*  Green Beans
*  small "hunk" of Ground Beef
*  half a bag of  raw Shrimp
*  4 handmade Crab cakes

 Lots of little grocery trips..... smallish trips to Weis($15.79), a trip to Ollie's($4.01), a trip to Big Lots($9.37)brought the weekly food spending to $29.17 and brought the February monthly grand total to $348.86.
Two trips to Weis at the end of the week in March brought the March monthly total to $66.70 so far.

My savings percentage last week(March)was 47.02%(without Rite-Aid trips)and March's monthly savings total comes to 47.02%(w/out R-A).  

I have 27 more spending days in the month.

Leftovers going into this week....Dirty Rice w/Sausage and Beans, Korean Beef BBQ Stir-fry w/Ramen, Rigatoni w/Mushroom pasta sauce.

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

1. Sunday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Mushroom Risotto 

2. Monday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

3. Tuesday--Taco Chicken Casserole, a Veggie TBD

4. Wednesday--Corned Beef, Cabbage, Carrots, Taters

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Chicken Strips, Mac and Cheese, Tossed Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
I am doing the Corned Beef this week since Hubs and I won't be home on St. Pat's day week.  The kids will have Corned Beef dinner leftovers they can heat up or remake to eat then.
Lots of cooking but hopefully the 2 nights of leftovers will use up most everything so I don't have to worry while we are gone that the kids let food rot(since they don't generally eat leftovers).

What needs buying for this menu? Cabbage and milk basically.  I'll get some free yogurts(w/sale and Qs) and a head of cabbage before Thursday's ad change and then the Weis freebie and some cheap(w/sale and coupons)Birds Eye chicken dinner kits on Friday-easy kid's food(just add chicken).  Mostly I'll leave them some cash for buying what they need/want while we are gone and hopefully they won't just go buy pizzas with it. lolz

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  

2019 Income & Spending Report......the February Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals, 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.

Two changes we implemented for 2019 at our financial meeting in Jan.--

* Hubs wants to take $150 per person WAM(aka Walking Around Money)in 2019.  I found last year's $100 per month adequate but Hubs chafed at that little so we are upping it this year to $150 per person per month.
                                                                                                                                                           
*As for our 2018 Slush Fund, this is how we are going to handle it in 2019......
We won't be taking a quarterly 401K withdrawal in 2019 until we "need" to, instead of taking one each quarter as we had planned back in 2017 when Hubs retired.  Why pull 401K monies out when they are earning more than our other regular bank funds?  Use those instead for now!

Since the Slush Fund ended 2018 with $23,164.17 in it and the Sinking Fund ended 2018 with $468.37 in it, we are, for now at least, not take any more 401K withdrawals and use what is in the Sinking Fund and/or Slush Fund to cover all irregular bills that come up in 2019.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018-2019" at the top of the blog.

  I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)

On to the February 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 2019.

I can report that we finished up February in the RED. *whomp whomp*
The amount we ended the month of February with?.....-$55.12

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in February---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1863.84
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $374.59
Total "Income" for February....$5,456.59


Expenses in February---

* Healthcare Premium for February was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)**
* Variable Expenses in February came to $3,663.04
Total Expenses....$5,511.71

** The folks holding our retirement medical reimbursement account screwed up last month's reimbursement and shorted us a bit.  This month we got that shortfall back so that amount is a bit higher than it usually is.

Sinking Fund--The balance in the Sinking Fund coming into February at $468.37. Nothing was paid from this fund so it goes into March at $468.37.


We went into February with $23,573.94 in the Slush Fund.
Deduct February's shortfall of $55.12 and the Slush Fund goes into March at $23,518.82.

Outgo

As for the variable 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 in January.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was approx. the same as last month.
*  WAM monies was the same as in January.
*  The gas card bill was $30.61 less than last month(actually we didn't use the gas card last month).
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in January.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was up $67.84 from than last month.(Have I said how much I hate Winter and will      be glad when the kids move out yet?)
*  The c/c bill was $549.72 higher than last month.
*  Hubs had $27.71 in charges on his Discover card in February.
*  I had $30.16 in charges on my Amazon card(for a health supplement).

The Food Budget costs for January are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are covered in the credit card payment(sometimes our WAM cash too).

So we end February in the red with a shortfall of $55.12, which was pulled from the Slush Fund overage, leaving the Slush Fund at $23,518.82 heading into March.
The Sinking Fund goes into Marcy 2019 standing at $468.37 with no deposits made into it in Feb.

FINAL THOUGHTS on February---
I was prepared for it to be worse financially than it turned out to be.  While the c/c bill was higher than last month there was a lot of unavoidable spending on it.  Usual grocery spending and the monthly cell phone bill were on there but then we had ex-College Boy's birthday meal out, my new 2 pr. of glasses(could have been MUCH more $$$ if I had bought them at VisionWorks)and then there were three, count 'em three car expenses......1-my inspection and 4 new tires(and balancing), 2-Hubs' car inspection and 3- he needed new brakes/pads/etc. at a cost of $417.14.  So just those 5 irregular expenses came to $1,374.34.  Add in Hubs paid his chess subscription and then made a contribution to the Libertarian Party(which I contend he should pay for out of his WAM!loz)and we ended up with a rather high c/c bill for a non-Holiday spending month.
bleh.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2019----
March........March will be ugly.
Besides a $2,152.50 eye doc bill(haven't met our medical deductible yet for 2019)I have to pay this week, we've got 3 irregular bills due in March; a quarterly long term care premium, county/municipal taxes on the house and the yearly sewage bill.  If none of these have gone up since 2018(don't know on two of them yet)we're looking at $2,357.94 for those 3+ the eye doc bill =$4,510.44 besides the usual suspects(reg. monthly bills).
These 4 bills will all be coming out of the Slush Fund.
Otherwise the all the regular bills should be about normal except for some trip eating out/travel expenses(gas/tolls/motels/etc.).  Again anything out of the ordinary we can pull from the Slush Fund to cover it if needed.
On the other hand.......there will be some dividend interest in March(not that that little bit of $$ will offset $4K in bills but it's "something" lol).
Any way I can keep spending in check in March I'll attempt it.  I'd like to keep the spending below our income level(except for those 4 irregular bills).  That will make me feel much better when March is over.

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!


Sluggy

Rite-Aid Pillaging This Week

A little Rite-Aid info first..........
I currently have 4 Wellness cards/accounts in play.  1 account/card doesn't have access to the Load2CardQs nor has 20% Wellness discount as I didn't use that card at all in 2018(so it accrued no Wellness Points).
With Daughter moving out I am trying to transition the BC/Pts. from her card to this 4th card. I will give her "her" card when she leaves in May so if she wishes she can still use it for the rest of the year as it has the Gold Level discount(20%)attached to it for 2019.  If she uses it and maintains the discount going forward it will be at her prerogative.

I will then go back to using/having 3 Wellness cards/accounts here to use.  I really don't want 4 cards either.....it's too much work to keep on top of things with that many accounts.

Onward to what got pillaged from Rite-Aid on Friday!! ;-)

* First I bought these packs of cookies..........

5 packs of Belvita and 5 packs of Newtons.
These are 2/$1 this week until Saturday night when the sales week ends.
10 packs came to $5.00 and I used $5 in Bonus Cash to pay(no tax on food in PA).

I then applied for 2 Checkout51 cash rebates...........

Belvita cash back .75¢ x 5(limit of 5 of this rebate)=$3.75
Newtons cash back .75¢ x 5(limit of 5 of this rebate)=$3.75
Total cash back=$7.50, making these cookie packs a $2.50 moneymaker.
Better still, this puts me at the $20 threshold to cash out on Checkout51(I haven't hit that in a couple years there!).  8-)

* Then I did two separate transactions on two other cards............

I bought--
2 x Speed Stick deodorant(30% F&F discount on Friday)$2.44 each=$4.88
1 x Crest toothpaste on sale=$3.00
SubTotal.......$7.88

Coupons Used
1 x $1/2 Speed Stick Deo ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Crest toothpaste L2CQ=$2.00
Coupon Total......$3.00

$7.88-$3=$4.88 + .24¢ tax=$5.12

Then rinse an repeat I did the same transaction with the same Qs but buying the women's Speed Stick deodorant, same $5.12 OOP.

Except.......I didn't mean to spend $5.12.
I FORGOT to use the $2/1 Speed Stick R-A In-ADQ!!!
So I got $8 cash back for those Qs...which meant I just converted $8 of BC/Prepaid Visa to $8 cash.

Total before cash back....$10.24 paid for with combination of BC and R-A Prepaid Visa card monies earned in Jan.
After $8 cash "post coupon" these 2 transactions "cost" me $2.24.
But then I also earned back $1.00 in BC for each toothpaste I bought so now all the stuff pictured above "cost" me .24¢ in BC/prepaid Visa monies.
Got that?

Then I bought two more Crest, one on each of the other two accounts/cards.........

$3.00 on sale-$2/1 Q=$1 paid in BC and earned back $1 in new BC so free.  One was bought on the account that doesn't have access to L2CQs so I used the $2/1 Crest ManuQ from last week's P&G insert on that tube.


Items Bought......
10 cookies packs
4 deodorants
4 toothpaste

Total Spent......
$5.24 in Bonus Cash/Prepaid Visa

Total Cash Back Earned......
$7.50 Checkout51 rebate

Overall I got paid $2.26 to bring all this home.  8-)))


Sluggy

2019 Food & Toiletries Spending.....February Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2019.

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 4-5(4 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
*****************

ALDI
OOP  $14.55
Value  $20.77
Savings  29.95%

BIG LOTS
OOP  $9.37
Value  $17.37
Savings  46.06%

MAINES
OOP  $14.17
Value  $23.92
Savings  40.76%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $23.40
Value  $49.15
Savings  52.39%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $14.72
Value  $61.19
Savings  75.94%

P&R Discount
OOP  $4.36
Value  $11.47
Savings   61.99%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/Visa Prepaid Rewards  $794.30
Value  $794.30
Savings  100%

WALMART

OOP  $10.94

Qs/Ads  $20.36

Value  $31.30

Savings  65.05%

WEIS
OOP  $257.35
QsAds  $374.78
Value  $632.13
Savings  59.29%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Ollie's at 75.94% and Walmart at 65.05%.  My worst savings rate was at Aldi's at 29.95%.

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for February.........$348.86

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$531.47

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$880.33

TOTAL Savings of ................................60.37%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for February w/R-A.............$348.86
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A...................$2907.62
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$3697.10
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................90.56%

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
Well I did manage to empty the freezer a bit in February but then the "Great Ice Cream Clearance of Feb. 2019" happened at Weis(PMITA)Markets. lolz  So much for the room I made.
Even with the ice cream binge I did manage to keep the spending under $400 last month....under budget by $51.14.  I'll call that a win.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by a massive 12.35% in February 2019 to 90.56% compared to the January 78.21% savings average.

90.56% rate.I went back and redid the figures four times before I believed that percentage was correct. Holey Moley.  I guess buying lots of food stuffs at 50% and 75% off plus all that free stuff from Rite-Aid adds up to a large savings percentage, huh?

With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $789.48 on food/toiletries in 2018.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$789.48

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$5719.57

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$4930.99

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............86.20%

The average per month amount spent so far is $394.74 in 2019.

LOOKING AHEAD To March 2019.......
Hubs and I will be road tripping in March so not home to cook/eat for about half the monbth.  I'll spend some grocery money on the trip however, plus leave the kids some cash to pick up stuff they need/want.
No clue what will be spent on groceries in March at this point.  Will try to keep a lid on the food spending.  I'll say $300 or less.  I hope this low ball amount doesn't come back to burn my ass when March is over. lolz

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 February?

*  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

Frugal Friday....the March 1st Edition

Here's the stuff that went on around here last week to could be considered "frugal".

*  I haven't bought anything at Rite-Aid yet this week(that may end later today)but I did go to pick up an Rx on Sunday and found this...........

a dime.  woohoo!

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

Free trash bags?
Why, yes please! lolz

*  I did some shopping online at JC Penney's on the 14th during a big clearance sale.  I picked up the goodies last week.  Good thing I brought Hubs with me since I wouldn't have been able to carry it all to the car. lolz
I bought 14 items for Xmas gifts next year and it cost me $69.90.  Free shipping to the store and it all would have cost $476 if bought at regular price.  Besides some cash I am mostly done Xmas shopping now for 2019.
Yay!

I can show you these knit shorts/sleep pants that I got for myself.  Less than $7 for both and I used some of my WAM to buy them.  The dark gray ones have bulldogs on them and I LOVE these turquoise ones with beagles wearing tropical shirts....reminds me of our two goofy beagles we had. ;-)

* Hubs and I ate lunch out at the Chinese buffet at the mall the day we picked up the Penney's order.

See all that change Kim?!? bwaaahh
On the way out I sat by the indoor koi pond while Hubs went to get the car.  I spied this.......

Behind the potted palm next to the pond was a penny.
I shimmied near the coin and used my foot to drag it into range so I could pick it up.....woohoo!

*  Last Friday I went to the town South of here and stopped at a Wendy's along the way.  I got a 4 for $4 meal thing plus a free jr. Frosty(free with my adoption key tag all year).  Abut 5 miles down the road I realized the cashier never gave me my drink. ugh.  Well, I had to Frosty so I didn't need a drink really.

So when I got where I was going I called the Wendy's I stopped at to let them know I was drinkless.  The manager was very nice and offered me some coupons and mailed them to my home. Of course she spelled my name wrong(even after I spelled it for her on the phone!lolz)but the Qs will mean free food just the same!

2 free burger, 1 free fries and 2 free cookies.  Not a bad return for my $1 drink.....I find it funny there are no drinks coupons here. lolz

* I went through some papers on my desk and found something Rite-Aid had sent me about a savings program for one of the drugs I take.  I signed up for the program with that manufacturer, then refilled that particular drug and had Hubs do take the paperwork into R-A to the pharmacist and then pick up the Rx.  This savings program now means this drug is $0.00 monies out of my pocket(well, out of the HSA really)instead of a $45 drain every month.  Go me!

*  The best deal at Weis(PMITA)Markets last week was this.......

I still had 6 x .75¢/1 Ragu IPQs to use before they expired on Feb. 28th so over the last week I got these 6 jars of sauce.  Regularly priced at $1.89 each with my Qs they cost me .39¢ each, so $2.34 OOP for all.
I believe the Q reset now for March on Coupons dotcom so if your store doubles this means $1.50 off a jar(heck even at just .75¢ off a jar if you find this item on sale would be good too).  Print some out to use in March.

*  While at Weis getting sauce I found these too.........

2 more pennies to add to the change envelope. 8-)))  That makes .13¢ found change this past week.

*  I went into the state run alcohol store next to Weis after Daughter went there and told me about a clearance sale on Sangria.

This brand of sangria was on clearance for $5.39 a box(each box was equal to 2 bottles?).  This stuff was regularly priced at $8.  I bought all 5 they had left.  Summer is coming(at least I HOPE it is at this point!)and I love me a nice fruity Sangria to drink on the deck.
Some of this will be accompanying me on our trip South as well.  ;-)

*  Speaking of going down South.......Hubs went to the local library to get a few books to read.  They have a table out in the foyer there with free books to take.  He picked this classic up for free........

A book everyone should be required to read in high school but sadly I doubt any public schools require it.

He also got me a book he through I'd like to read, which I do. 8-)  It will be going South with me on this trip along with the wine so I'll wait to show it to you after I read it and review it.  The title is something I am always calling the Federal Government to give you a hint until I read it. lolz

Ok that's about it here for the past week at Chez Sluggy..
What's been going on at your house?

Sluggy