Frugal Friday......the April 5th Edition

Here's what passed for frugal around here this past week. It was a good week except that I found NO change last week.....Kim must have beat me to all the money laying on the ground. lolz
But here is what we did manage to do........

*  I picked up the Weis Friday Freebie last Friday.......

A box of pizza bagels for Ex-College Boy.

*  I brought home an array of freebies from our vacation............

The booty consisted of travel sized bottles of toiletries, bar soaps, pens and paper, plus tea and coffee, jams, hot cocoa and oatmeal packets.  I love the tiny Nutella packs. lolz

*  I also did some pantry shopping on vacation..........

Everything here was 75% off reg. Ollie's price(except for 1 of the bags of chocolate which was 50% off).  Most of it was snacks and junk.  I was especially excited to find a bottle of Mega Red supplement for 75% off or $1.74!

*  I used that Free Dog Food Coupon Purina sent me before it expired............

And got this..........

It wasn't free since it cost $1.99 more than the value of the coupon but a good deal at that price.  I could have gotten a smaller bag of this totally free but that size bag was on sale for only $7 which would have meant losing $3 in value on the Q. ;-)

*  Then on Saturday while he was out running errands Hubs went to Petco and got this for Chester......

I guess Petco is pushing their grain-free dog foods and automated shipping(to compete with Chewy)thus this freebie promotion.   We'll see if he likes it....Chester, not Hubs. ;-)

*  There was no Wellness Wednesday pillaging this past week as Rite-Aid didn't release their WWQ digitally(so there was no stacking the paper WWQs w/the digital WWQs *sad face*)but I did find a few things to bring home for better than free anyway..........

The Yes To! masks are on sale for 30% off this week so the $2.99 ones are $2.09 each(except I screwed up and bought 1 $3.99 mask ack!).  Plus there is a $2/2 RA L2CQ making two of them $2.18 + tax and you earn $3 Bonus Cash back for buying 2 so an easy moneymaker with the L2CQ.

The Neutrogena Hydro masks are between $2.99-$3.49 plus your Wellness discount(my store they are $3.49 so $2.79 after Gold discount).  Buy 2, pay between $4.78 and $5.58 + tax and earn $6 Bonus Cash for each pair you buy so another moneymaker.  I believe this Neutrogena(Buy2 items/Get $6 BC) is a monthly deal so you can do it 4 times this month.

*  I got a few deals at Weis(PMITA)Markets this past week.....

I had 2 x .75¢/1 for Ken's vinaigrette dressing which doubled to $1.50 each.  2 of the Ken's bottles had .50¢/1 peelie Qs that doubled to $1 each.  The dressing was on sale for $1.47 per bottle, so I paid $2.35 for all 5 after sale/Qs.
Then I submitted for an Ibotta rebate(.75¢ back, up to 5 bottles)and got $3.75 back so these were a $1.40 moneymaker.

The Walker's shortbread cookies were on clearance, reg. $3.99 marked down to $1.99 per box.  I had $1/1 Qs from inside boxes I previously got on clearance after Xmas(the Xmas shaped cookies)so I paid .99¢ per box for these.  Short of making my own shortbread, these are really good. 8-)

Weis also had pork loins and chops Buy 1/Get 2 Free last week.  The chops were $1 per lb. More than the loins so I bought 3 pork loins and paid $12.92.  I got 7.75 lbs.of pork so this all cost me $1.66 per lb.
Why pay $1 more per lb. buying the chops when I have a knife and can cut the loin hunks into chops myself? lol

*  I finally got my PandG $15 Mastercard rebate deal from last year..............

I was shocked it came after the last time I did one of these and they denied it!  Glad to have it since buying the items for it at Rite-Aid didn't cost me anything. lolz

*  And don't forget that Saturday and Sunday at Big Lots...........

It's another Friends and Family sale there.  20% off everything in the store.  Print off the coupon HERE.  You need a Rewards card on Saturday to get the discount, the coupon on Sunday.
Go through your pantry today and make your list.  My brother always hits this sale up for toilet paper restocking at his house. ;-)


That's it from Chez Sluggy this week.

What frugal wins did y'all have this week?


Sluggy

1st Quarter Review.....Small Finances

The first quarter of 2019 is in the books now.
Let's see where some of my small pots of savings look like 3 months into this year.


*  Rolled coins--$5 in dimes.  That's it.  Rolled coins have taken a big hit since Hubs stopped working for a living. lolz

*  Found Change--$22.78   So $20 of that was a Twenty dollar bill I found on the floor at Rite-Aid and haven't done anything with it yet.  ;-)

*  Refunds & Post Coupons--$75.58  Mostly Weis(PMITA)Markets and Rite-Aid.

*  Cash Rebates--
   * Ibotta--$94.03
   * SavingStar--$23.50
   * Checkout51--$31.25

Total.........$252.14 to put toward the grocery spending come December.
Not a lot, but better than a poke in the eye, right?  ;-)

Next update on the Small Financescoming at the beginning of July.


Sluggy

Being Generous While Staying Frugal

Kim and I had a conversation this past weekend.  She accused me of being generous even though I see myself as frugal and sometimes downright cheap.
Well, I do love to give gifts but I don't do "over the top" gifting.  I am frugal in that realm as in most other aspects of my life.

So when Kim and her Sissie surprised me for my 60th Birthday in January by coming here I knew I had to send them each a box of goodies when their Birthday rolled around at the end of March.  It wouldn't be as thrilling as a surprise visit but I thought I could brighten their birthdays a bit.

So I set about compiling them each a box of goodies tailored to each of their personalities while keeping an eye on the money because, well, that's how I roll.........

Since I knew I had to mail these goodies I took that cost into consideration.  Mailing stuff has gotten quite expensive if you haven't mailed anything in awhile!  My go-to box is the Priority Regional Rate A Box--you can cram quite a bit into it but the most I've had to pay to mail one of these is approx. $14(and that is clear across to the West Coast).  Regional Rate boxes may save you money if you ship Priority Mail a lot, so check them out.

First Sissie's box...........

I included a few personal grooming/toiletries in her box.....toothpaste, a nice shampoo and Neutrogena facial soap.  These things came from my Rite-Aid stash so nothing OOP.
Then two cat themed items-a tote/grocery bag and a birthday card. 
I picked up a grocery bag for each of them at JoAnn's in February as I had a coupon so they cost me less.
Sissie's bag says, "One Cat Short of Crazy". hehehe  The birthday card was also cat themed and from Dollar Tree.
The strawberry Lindt Truffles came from Rite-Aid so free.
Sissie is a coffee drinker(big time)so I pulled this nice Pfaltzgraff mug out of my stash for her......

I had gotten this mug plus another one I have since gifted to my eldest son(which is beer related)at Macy's during their Christmas sales 2 years ago.  After my $10 off any thing in the store Coupon both mugs cost me something like $1(mostly sales tax).  It was just waiting for the right person to give it to and Sissie became my victim du jour.  8-)

I also enclosed a pair of socks I found online that were perfect for Sissie!
The bottom of one sock says.......
"If You Can Read This"
and the other.....
"Bring Me A Glass of Wine"
lolz
These were the priciest item I sent but well, she is worth it....

Onward to Kim's Box..........

She's got the bigger sweet tooth of the two so she got a bag of Strawberry Lindt Truffles(that were free after sale/Q)but in addition, I put a small heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolates in(bought at 75% off after Valentine's Day).
Her bag from JoAnn's had a sewing theme.

Sew perfect for her.....lolz

Kim's toiletries were 2 boxes of root touch-up hair color(gotten free after sales/Bonus Cash/Qs at Rite-Aid)and a blush/shader palette(also free from Rite-Aid).  This one is a Cover Girl variety so she could try a different brand than I gave her before.
She showed the card I sent on her blog already so you know it's appropriately snarky. Her card came from Dollar Tree as well.
The snarky note cards were found at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)in early March.
I also enclosed a bag of Nestle's baking chocolate(75% off at Ollie's in February)since she is always destroying her kitchen by baking.  ;-)

The best thing is I put a loose penny in Kim's box(see it in the photo above?).  Well I don't think she noticed/found it since she hasn't said anything about it yet.  I thought that would be the first thing she'd mention when we talked on the phone......she found a penny!! lolz

Altogether I spent under $34 OOP on theses birthday boxes.
And the shipping was over 50% of that cost!

My only regret is that I couldn't mail these boxes to show up the day before their birthday and I had to give them each a heads up that they were coming so it wasn't a surprise.
But I did write on the envelope of each card that they were NOT to open anything until their actual birthday, under penalty of death!  One of them needed threatening......can you guess who??  *snort*


So call me cheap if you want for spending so little and then blogging about it.
Not everyone "gets" being frugal.

I just wouldn't be "Sluggy" if I didn't stick to a budget(or at least try to). ;-)



Sluggy

2019 Income & Spending Report......the March 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 taking any more 401K withdrawals and using 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 March report---This won't be pretty, like me. lolz

I had 2 goals for March.....
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 March in the RED. *whomp whomp*
The amount we ended the month of March with?.....-$2,845.44

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in March---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3218.16(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67 *
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $517.13
* Dividend income of $108.22
* Deposit into checking for M/C of $127.00
* Federal tax return of $1465.00
Total "Income" for March....$7,284.18


Expenses in March---this where it gets ugly. 8-(

* Healthcare Premium for March was $1,819.54(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in March came to $3,164.37
* Irregular Expenses in March came to $5,145.71
Total Expenses....$10,129.62

** The folks holding our retirement medical reimbursement account screwed up reimbursement and shorted us a bit a couple of months ago and are still figuring this out.

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


We went into March with $23,518.82 in the Slush Fund.
Deduct March's shortfall of $2,845.44 and the Slush Fund goes into April at $20,673.38.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this March, 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 February.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $10.25 lower than last month.
*  The electric bill was $109.10 lower than last month.
*  The health insurance premium was $29.13 less than in February.
*  The c/c bill was $529.27 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* There was $22.80 in charges on the gas card(last month nothing was put on it.)
*  Cash withdrawals were more-WAM was the same amount but I gave the kids cash for watching Chester while we were gone and some food money they spent on take-out, so $135 more used in March.
*  Hubs had $2152.50 doctor bill(haven't met the deductible yet).
*  I had $66.05 in charges on my Amazon card.
*  I had a $206.43 Kohl's bill-bought under garments, a comforter, etc.
*  I had a $35.27 fat lady clothing company bill.
*  We paid a combined $312.00 to PA and LA-2018 state taxes.
*  County/municipal taxes for 2019 of $1,371.85 were due.
*  Annual sewage bill of $446.20 was due.
*  Long Term Care quarterly premiums of $555.41 were due.

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

It was the perfect storm of bills in March.......3 irregular bills plus a large medical bill as we hadn't met the healthcare deductible yet came to almost $5K alone.  And then there was the MASSIVE credit card statement...over $500 for vacation related charges(more coming on April's statement!eek), an EZ Pass reload of $35, $100 for June event tickets bought, Hubs spent $87 on chess equipment, $104 Birthday meal for ex-college boy, $76 spent online at JCPenney's clearance sale(I got almost ALL my 2019 Xmas shopping done there!), $137 in CBD oil for my pain management, plus the usual food spending and cellphone bill.
*sigh*

So we end March in the red with a shortfall of $2845.44, which was pulled from the Slush Fund overage, leaving the Slush Fund at $20,673.38 heading into April.
The Sinking Fund goes into April 2019 standing at $468.37 with no deposits made into it in March.

FINAL THOUGHTS on March---
I wasn't mentally prepared for it to be so much money leaking out in one month.
bleh.  I knew it would be ugly but still.........
Thankfully we had that large pile of extra cash saved up from last year so no worries.
April is time to pick myself up and soldier on financially.

THOUGHTS going forward into April 2019----
No irregular bills in April thank goodness.  Only another LTC premium and semi-annual car insurance the 2nd quarterly of the year so we should be able to sock away a bit of cash in the next 3 months plus not have to pull cash from last year's Slush Fund either.  That would be nice. 8-)
I will remain vigilant about meaningless spending in April. ;-)

So how was your March financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in March?
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

I'm Done!

That's it.
I am shutting this blog down.

Goodbye everyone.

I just can't do it anymore............










































APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!! hehehe

Sluggy