Happy Independence Day Trivia!

Rerunning this post from 2013 instead of just throwing up a jpeg of a 4th of July image. 

I could have alternately ranted about how we are a nation of pussies, who don't care about freedom and have no backbones upon which to take back our country from the politicians(who are suppose to be working FOR US, not against us.

If George, Tom, John, the James and such were alive today they would surely wish to "apply their collective foots to the seat of our collective learnings".
But I am just too lazy and it's too hot out for all that.

Trivia is a bit more interesting, don't you think? lolz


Sluggy

Independence Day Trivia Quiz...Happy 4th of July!

In honor of our country's liberation from the tyranny of King George III of England in 1776, here is a little Trivia Quiz about our National celebration and assorted things having to do with this holiday.
See how much you actually know about these little known facts about our history.

1.  What is the correct date of our declaring independence from England?  Hint-it's not July 4th.

2.  Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was voted upon and signed in 1776.  What was the most widely spoken language by residents of Philadelphia in 1776?

3.  Which 3 American Presidents have died on July 4th?  

4.  Who were the "Committee of Five"....the group of Continental Congress members selected by that body to come up with a document of independence?

5.  Who designed the current version of the US Flag?

6.  What bird did Benjamin Franklin propose be the emblem for our country?

7.  It is well known that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner, our nation's anthem.  And that he wrote in his journal, what was to become the lyrics for the song, while onboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor, while British forces bombarded Fort McHenry in 1812.  But do you know why he was onboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor?

8.  How many versions of the American flag have there been since 1776?

9.  The original Declaration of Independence was printed on parchment, but the original copies, to be distributed among the citizens in the 13 colonies were printed on paper. Who printed the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and where?

10.  How many copies of the original Declaration of Independence printed in 1776 are known to exist today?

11.  How many members of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776?

12.  Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence how many also signed the U.S. Constitution?

 Answers will follow tomorrow, if anyone is sober enough by then to read them(and didn't shoot off their hands). ;-)

 

Sluggy

2019 2nd Quarter Review.....Small Finances

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


*  Rolled coins--$11.50.  Two rolls of dimes and three rolls of pennies.  Rolled coins have taken a big hit since Hubs stopped working for a living. lolz

*  Found Change--$35.25  Finding money is the best!  Nobody can argue with that, right? 8-))

*  Refunds & Post Coupons--$85.08  Mostly Weis(PMITA)Markets and Rite-Aid.

*  Cash Rebates--
   * Ibotta--$166.39(Still have $21.93 pending too from motel reservations.)
   * SavingStar--$32.25
   * Checkout51--$38.75
   * ShopatHome--$9.41(I think I need $20 to cash out of this.)

Total.........$378.63 to put toward the grocery spending come December.
6 months in and I have almost enough in small finances to cover December's food spending.
Now how cool is that?!?

Next update on the Small Finances coming at the end of September/beginning of October.


Sluggy

Income & Sending Report.....the June 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 June report---

I had 2 goals for June......
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 June in the BLACK!
The amount we ended the month of June with?.....$1733.94

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in June---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $579.33
* Stock Dividends of $109.27
* Medical payment refund of $443.36
Total "Income" for June....$6202.87

Expenses in June---

* Healthcare Premium for June was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in June came to $2064.85
* Irregular Expenses in June came to $555.41(long term care insurance premiums)
Total Expenses....$4447.93

We also had an expense we paid out of the Slush Fund instead of regular "income" in June--We had 4 trees taken down on our property.  That was one of the big expenses/improvements we are paying for in 2019.  This cost $2,600.00 out of the Slush Fund.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.(Within $2 or so).
* The c/c bill was $44.04 less than in May.
*  The electric bill was $48.15 lower than last month(still no a/c used).
*  The gas card bill was $23.70 less than May.
*  The WAM/cash withdrawals were the same as last month.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as in May.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $2.28 higher than in May.
*  I had $169.86 in charges on my Amazon card(grad dinner).
*  There was a $21.00 charge for Chester to get a shot before boarding.
*  The "Doggie Spa" charged $189.00 for Chester's stay there.
*  We had $555.41 in LTC premiums due(irregular bill).
*  I paid $79.60 to the Dentist for Hubs fillings in June.

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

So we end June "income" in the black with $1733.94 leftover putting the Slush Fund at $23,610.36.
After subtracting the $2,600 for the tree removal the June Slush Fund stands at $21,010.36.

So you could look at June as either in the black or in the red really, depending on if you are a glass half full or glass half empty type person. lolz
We had extra leftover after paying all the bills but the tree project cost us $866.06 MORE than the leftover "income" which lowered the Slush Fund in June.

The Sinking Fund goes into July 2019 standing at $468.37 since nothing was paid out of it in June.

FINAL THOUGHTS on June---
It was a good spending month  We did have some unusual and/or irregular bills in June--mainly the Long Term Care quarterly premiums, a dental bill, the cost to board Chester for 6 days, a shot for Chester and taking a little extra cash for our trip.

The kicker was the tree removal.  Had we had to take that $2,600 out of the regular "income" in June we'd have been in the red for the month. Luckily we could tap the Slush Fund for that. ;-)
Regular expenses + tree removal was $866.06 MORE than our June income.  No matter how you look at it, the Slush Fund went down by $866.06 in June but we go into July with still over $21K in that Fund.

THOUGHTS going forward into July 2019----
We have no irregular bills this month but the credit card bill is going to be B-I-G, as in buy a tv(Daughter took her tv), take a vacation, do maintenance on Hubs' car, make a charitable donation, buy groceries, eat out BIG. lolz
We may get a small blogging revenue check(after paying shipping for giveaways I keep a little of that)which will help the bottom line.
I think we'll end up being in the red when all is said and done in July.  It's just a matter of how much in the hole we'll be and how much we'll have to pull from the Slush Fund to cover all the expenses.

So how was your June financially?
  

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

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Belated Father's Day" Edition................

Since Father's Day was the day before we left town for a week I didn't make Hubs a cake until this past weekend as Ex-College Boy would have eaten it all before we got home or worse yet, he would had forgotten about it and the cake would have gone stale.

(Bonus points because I waited until a cooler day to bake it off and used off-peak electric rates too.)  ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--leftover turkey sandwiches

2. Monday--leftover Corned Beef turned into hash, eggs

3. Tuesday--leftover Stuffed Shells, Caesar salad

4. Wednesday--Chili(I'll have something else)

5. Thursday--BLT sandwiches

6. Friday--Grilled Cheese sandwiches, Tossed Salad
7. Saturday--Hot Dogs on buns, Beans, Something Green Veg from the freezer

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--leftover turkey sandwiches

2. Monday--leftover Corned Beef turned into hash, eggs

3. Tuesday--leftover Stuffed Shells, Caesar salad

4. Wednesday--Chili(I had soup)

5. Thursday--Teriyaki Chicken Breast, Corn on cob

6. Friday--Chinese take-out
7. Saturday--Hot Dogs on buns, Beans

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 1 night of Eating Out/Take-Out. 
I was able to use up the leftover corned beef and turn the leftover taco meat into chili.  The remaining stuffed shells(after dinner 1 night)went into the freezer for later.
The grilled cheese sammies didn't happen(Hubs wanted Chinese)and the BLTs did happen but at lunch not dinner.

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* 2 tubs of ice cream(Ex-CB had eaten what was here)
* 4.5 lbs. of B/SCB
* 1 meal of Stuffed Shells in Meat Sauce
* a bag of turkey meat(from the turkey I roasted awhile back)

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* Some hot dogs

A small trip to Ocean State Job Lot($27.35), the Bread Outlet($10.28), Ollie's($4.52), the Shursave Market($12.99), Malacari's Produce($52.15)and Weis($20.49) brought the weekly spending to $127.73 and my June grand total to $335.54.
I didn't plan to spend that much this week but.....
* we were out of fresh fruit totally(having been gone for a week)
* I found a good deal on chicken tenders and B/SCB
* we were out of bread
* OSJL had a great price on seltzer/soda and maple syrup
* I found my fav cream cheese/red pepper spread aat the produce market so loaded up
* I hit a clearance at Weis on kitchen bags
All the above expended my $50 cheap spending week into $125+ in food costs.  Luckily I was waaaay under bueget so far for June so it turned out Aok.

My savings percentage last week was 51.08%(without Rite-Aid trips)and June's monthly savings total comes in at 53.09%(w/out R-A). 

I have 0 more food shopping/spending days in June.  Let the July food games begin! lolz

Leftovers going into this week.....chili.  That's it..

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

1. Sunday--tv dinners lurking in the freezer

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Broccoli

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, something green, Rice

4. Wednesday--BLTs

5. Thursday--Hamburgers on buns, Pasta/Veggie Salad

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

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 3 nights of leftovers/FFY/tv dinners, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

It's not an inspired meal plan but it's something I can put into place and it's highly do-able(read easy).  It empties the freezer a bit(tv dinners bought for Daughter she didn't eat, and a bag of frozen veg)and due to the weather I'll be using the crockpot to cook the meatloaf and the grill or stove top for other foods. (I'll nuke the bacon for BLTs too.)

What needs buying for this menu? I need onions and ground beef(Ex-CB DID find my stash of burgers in the freezer while we were gone so we don't have any burgers for the 4th to grill).
I'll go to Maines restaurant supply on Tuesday to get ground beef and onions after taking Hubs to his eye Dr. appointment as it's just around the corner.

I also plan to hit Target after the 4th and pick up some drinks and meat, figuring the meat may have marked down stickers since they'll be reducing stock on grilling meats and utilizing the Qs for target gift card back on drinks and meats in the weekly ad and using some of my Target gift cards to pay.

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 Food & Toiletries Spending...........the June Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JUNE 2019.

I have posted June'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 June.  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 5(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
*****************

ALDI
OOP  $7.26
Value  $18.64
Savings  61.05%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $15.17
Disc.  $42.12
Value  $57.29
Savings  73.52%

CVS
OOP  $0.00
Ads/Qs/ECBs  $28.88
Value  $28.88
Savings  100%

MAINES
OOP  $64.13
Value  $128.83
Savings  50.22%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $52.15
Value  $87.94
Savings  40.70%

MARDEN'S
OOP  $3.74
Value  $10.98
Savings  65.94%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $51.84
Ads/Qs  $62.02
Value  $113.86
Savings  54.47%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $28.65
Value  $79.50
Savings  63.96%

RENY'S
OOP  $21.22
Value  $32.47
Savings   34.65%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/Visa Prepaid Rewards  $161.65
Value  $161.65
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKETS

OOP  $53.89
Qs/Ads $29.98

Value  $83.87

Savings  35.75%

WEIS
OOP  $37.49
Qs/Ads  $35.60
Value  $73.09
Savings  48.71%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, CVS at 100% and the Bread Outlet at 73.52%.  My worst savings rate was at Reny's with 34.65%.

I shopped at 12 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for June.........$335.54

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$379.81

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$715.35

TOTAL Savings of ................................53.09%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for June w/R-A.............$335.54
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A...................$541.46
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$877.00
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................61.74%

This closes out the June food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well under the $400 mark but not as low as I had figured it would be.  All that grocery shopping on the vacation and Weis trash bag clearance kept my spending higher than planned but still well under my $400 mark.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 11.73% in June 2019 to 61.74% compared to the May 50.01% savings average.
I found quite a few clearance deals at various stores on stuff we can use.


With 6 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $2277.29 on food/toiletries in 2018.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$2277.29

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$8970.12

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$7028.37

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............78.35%

The average per month amount spent so far is $379.55 in 2019.

LOOKING AHEAD To July 2019.......

Let's see....Nothing planned for July other than staying home and working on home projects. Eldest son and GF may be coming to visit mid month so I am sure we'll either go out or splash out on food at home.  As for grocery shopping, I don't plan on doing a lot of that.  We'll continue to eat down the freezers.  I foresee some produce buying....a big sack of onions plus when green beans come into season and are inexpensive and fresh I'll be buying a few pounds of those to freeze.
$400 is the grocery budget for July.

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 June?

*  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