Eat For Free!.....at Ocean State Job Lot

Now I knew that title would get some folks attention but seriously, it's what Ocean State Job Lot store calls this program they have.  You have to have a store loyalty card to do this deal, also called a Job Lot Insider Card(you need that card as well to partake of any "coupon" deals there as well).

Here's the info from their website..............

Job Lot Insiders Eat for Free!*

Free food! Need we say more? At Ocean State Job Lot we understand how important it can be to put food on the table for the best value possible, so we’re giving our Insiders a way to “Eat for Free!” Well, pretty close to it, anyway.

Did you know that every Job Lot location has an “Eat For Free!” section where you can find loads of gourmet pastas, sauces, cookies, crackers, beverages, condiments and snacks that you love? As long as you’re a Job Lot Insider, when you spend at least $10 on those select items, we’ll hand you a Crazy Deal™ Gift Card for the same amount you spent!

When you buy $10 worth of food, you'll get a $10 Crazy Deal™ Gift Card. When you buy $25 worth of food, you'll get a $25 Crazy Deal™ Gift Card. You could even buy $153.21 worth of food and get a $153.21 Crazy Deal™ Gift Card! The possibilities are endless!

Our “Eat For Free!” food selection is changing constantly, so check back often to see what’s available. Any questions? Ask an associate how you can “Eat for Free!” today!

So basically how ever much you spend on food items in this special section of their store they give you the equivalent amount of money on a Crazy Deals Store Gift Card.

The first time I went into our newly opened OSJL store I guess they hadn't set up this "Eat for Free" food section yet because I just noticed it on this trip and it was no where near the food aisles.

I thought from the signage on the table in my store that you only got a $10 Gift Card back so I tired to stay as close to $10 as possible but over $10 so the deal would kick in.

Here's what I bought..........

2 x cans of Porcini mushroom pieces=$2.00
1 x Indian dish mix=$2.00
2 x bamboo shoots=$1.78
2 x cranberry/orange baking "chips"=$4.00
1 x Asian Stir-Fry sauce mix=$1.00
Total.......$10.78

And here's what I got back.........

A store gift card for $10.78 good on anything in the store. As far as I can tell there is no expiration date either.  ;-)

There are rules about using a Crazy Deal gift card(can't buy gift cards with it, can't pay for Insider Deal items, can't get another Crazy Deal GC if you use your Crazy Deal GC to pay for another Crazy Deal item so you can't roll this GC into perpetuity to get free food.

As I suspected many of the items(there were a good variety of items)were close to their sell by dates so you have to be aware of that.(Ex-CB loves ranch dressing and they had lots of it in this section but as it was short dated I didn't pick any of that up.)  I didn't go crazy and buy lots but just stuff I knew we'd use and soon.
They had both unusual items(gourmet/upscale foodstuffs)and everyday use items like cooking oil, salt and salad dressing and they say the particular items change frequently.

It's a clever way for them to clear out old items and give customers a "deal" on them. 8-)

I also bought on this trip........

1 x Oyster Sauce=$2.00
1 x 8 oz. Pecans=$3.99

All totaled I spent $16.77 OOP and earned a $10.78 gift card.  There are a few food items I buy there, things I can get cheaper there than other places(see pecans and oyster sauce above lol)so I'll have no problem using that $10.78 gift card.

This could be another little way to stretch your food dollars if utilized well.


Have you ever partaken of the "Eat for Free" Deal at OSJL?
Yeah or Nay on this promo?


Sluggy

August Giveaway is Now OPEN!

Here goes Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for August.
August the last hurrah of Summer before Fall arrives next month.


Here's what you can win if you are selected this month.........

and this too........

1 x Centrum Women's Vitamins
1 x Sumer's Eve Wash
1 x Suave Shampoo
1 x Tums sugar-free Antacid
1 x Colgate toothpaste
1 x Neutrogena acne soap
1 x Hydralyte orange flavor hydration tablets
1 x Belvita blueberry breakfast biscuits
2 x Fig Newtons cookies
2 x Mentos(1 mint, 1 cinnamon)
1 x Trident gum(mint)
1 x Yes2Grapefruits vitalizing face mask
1 x Lysol toilet bowl cleaner
1 x M&Ms caramel sharing bag
1 x e.l.f. eye shadow brush
1 x e.l.f. lash/brow brush
1 x Sharpie marker(fine point)
1 x ColorMate colored pencils



Close up shots of the goodies..........

Around $60 worth of regular retail goodies(depending on where you shop for this sort of thing).

* This August Giveaway Box of goodies is open to any and all readers, non-winners yet and previous winners.

There is a limit of ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER DAY for this Giveaway.  Come back every day and enter though!

I want to hear all about your plans for September, if you have any.
Any home projects you still need to wrap up before the weather turns?
Do you vacation in September and where do you like to go?
Is there any local produce or garden produce you preserve for Winter?
Do you plant a Fall garden?
If you no longer have kids in school are you glad you don't have to go through all that Back-To-School shopping, lunch planning, kid activities and nonsense? lolz
Things like that.

I'll leave this giveaway open until Friday, August 23rd at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time. On August 24th, Saturday,  I'll mark all valid entries on slips of paper and have Ex-College Boy draw the winner.

*Please note these rules*
I'll post the name/ID of the winner on this blog on August 25th and that person has 48 hours from the time stamp on that post to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page, as well as on my side bar).

If I am not contacted via email, I'll attempt to contact the winner via the email they supplied with their entry(or gave me to add to the Giveaway Data Base)and if that email is not responded to within another 48 hours I'll pick another winner.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.  As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten too high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies.  I pay for it all(the cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with your contact information on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one make sure your email info is linked to your profile.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I am still having to disqualify entries due to this issue and I sure don't like doing that.  Thanks!

So let's get the AUGUST Giveaway started.  Good Luck to everyone!!!

Sluggy

What We Spent in Retirement-Year One & Year Two

Hubs retired the end of last June so I went through all our bills for the first full year of his retirement-July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018.

We figured our Annuity Income was going to be $38,077.56 net per year.
But in April of 2018 our tax withholding changed which meant an extra $45.03 per month in that deposit so we received $135.09 more than we were counting on so the base Annuity Income payment was $38,212.65 net.
Going forward into Year #2 the yearly base Annuity Income amount will be $38,617.92 net....unless the taxes change again.

But Hubs got a 1 week paycheck(received mid July 2017 for work performed end of June 2017 as there was a lag in pay vs. when it was earned)so we received an extra $1,382.06 in July 2017.

We also had these other sources of income for that 12 month time frame.......
* Interest income     $3,615.47
* Dividends              $366.03
* Blogging                $512.32
* Rebates/Refunds    $843.49
* Fed. Tax Refund    $5,744.00
These 5 added up to $11,081.31

In addition we took two 401K withdrawal of $6000 each(in Jan. 2018 and Apr. 2018)which netted us $10,303.50.

Adding these 6 sources of income to the Annuity Income gave us income of $60,979.52 net for the first 12 months of retirement.

I added up all our spending and bills for this same 12 month time period and it came to $39,882.33.
This was every penny we spent in that time frame--electric, phone, water, food, insurances, taxes,  internet, gasoline, credit card charges, other store cards, WAM, even a bit of Ex-College Boy's last tuition payment from January 2018.

Income of $60,979.52-$37,799.73 spending=$23,179.79 left over for the first 12 months of retirement.

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

Moving onto Year Two which ran from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

The Annuity in Year Two came to $38,630.16 net.  The first 9 months the payment was $3218.16 and then it went up to $3222.24 for the last 3 months so the total was $12.24 more than anticipated when I figured what it would come to back in Year One.

We also had these other sources of income for that 12 month time frame...........
* Interest income      $5,302.01
* Dividends                 $415.73
* Blogging                   $490.83
* Rebates/Refunds    $1,495.83
* Fed. Tax Refund    $1,465.00
* Online Sales              $233.72
These 6 added up to  $9,169.40

In addition we took one 401K withdrawal of $6000(in July 2018)which netted us $5,147.07.

Adding these 7 sources of income to the Annuity Income gave us income of $52,946.63 net for the second 12 months of retirement.

I added up all our spending and bills for this same 12 month time period and it came to $49,189.94.

This was every penny we spent in that time frame--electric, phone, water, food, insurances, taxes,  internet, gasoline, credit card charges, other store cards, WAM, Long Term Care premiums, Doc/Dentist bills(including high deductibles), Dog costs, cash gifts given, garbage fees, sewage fees, tree removal, and miscellaneous like passport costs and an auction we purchased from.

Income of $52,946.63-$49,189.94 spending=$3,756.69 left over for the second 12 months of retirement.

Comparing Year One & Year Two side by side......

Total Income
2017-2018  $60,979.52     2018-2019  $52,946.63

Total Bills Paid
2017-2018  $37,799.73     2018-2019  $49,189.94

Leftover Funds
2017-2018  $23,179.79    2018-2019    $3,756.69


So let's analyze these numbers.

First Retirement Year Income was much higher compared to Second Year due to........
* a $1382.06 paycheck(earned in June 2017 but received in July 2017)
* 2 401K withdrawals rather than 1 in the Second Retirement Year which added $5,156.43 extra
* a much higher Federal Tax Refund during the First Retirement Year($4279.00 more than in Second Year)
A Total of $8,032.89 MORE received in 7/2017-6/2018 than in 7/2018-6/2019.

A few income categories are worth noting that were bigger/better the Second Retirement Year....
* $652.34 more in Rebates/Refunds received
* $49.70 more in Stock Dividend checks
* $1,686.54 more in non-retirement account interest

These three categories of higher $2,388.58 income categories received in 7/2018-6/2019 do not go far in offsetting the $8,032.89 in more income received in 7/2017-6/2018.

It's obvious we are spending more during this Second Year of Retirement.  There are some areas we really can't change though, like various taxes, long term care premiums, sewage, garbage, phone/internet and medical costs.  There is no flexibility in the first 5 types of costs and medial costs have to be paid.

Credit card charges is were I need to take a closer look as they went up almost $6K in Year Two!!
I need to dissect those bills and see where things are going off the rails.  How much is food spending, gasoline charges, necessary bills put onto the credit card and what are eating out charges, clothing, and other possibly frivolous charges we can cut down on.

It's time to see what's hiding in that c/c bill and take action.  Another post will be further coming on what I find hiding in that little monster. lolz

Final Thoughts--

Overall we are doing alright financially.

* We have the RMSA medical account to pay for Healthcare Premiums. It won't get us to age 65 both but once it's exhausted we can buy Healthcare based on our "income" and qualify for subsidies on the premiums.  Can't qualify for subsides as long as we have the RMSA.

* We still have quite a bit in the HSA for co-pays.  That should last us well into Medicare age if we keep paying our high deductible amount each year OOP.

* We have the annuity funds every month and it continues until we die.  It does reduce once Hubs/I take Social Security but even then, we'll have more cash coming in once SS kicks in.

* We have the 401K of over $500K which we stopped tapping at the end of 2018.  We had calculated that if we tapped it at a rate of $36,000($9K per quarter)we'd still have 3/4 of the amount it started at once we started collecting SS at full retirement age of 67.  We have found that at this point, we don't need to tap the 401K for living expenses so we are leaving the $$ there until either we hit full SS age or 70 years old and then the Required Minimum Distribution(RMD)rules kick in and we have to withdraw from it.  We are still too far away from those events to worry about it now.

We have over $400K in non-401K investments/emergency fund/cash.  This is all liquid or easily made liquid if need be.....hopefully that sort of emergency never happens. ;-)

So that's a financial update on how retirement is going the last 2 years.
I can't believe it's been TWO years already and we've started Year Three.


Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Not Interested in Cooking" Edition................

We are working on house stuff lately since we haven't needed the a/c for awhile, so meals haven't been very interesting....just easy and cheap.
Moving and going through crap just zaps my energy and eating is an afterthought.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--FFY

2. Monday--Fried Fish and Zucchini

3. Tuesday--Quiche, Salad

4. Wednesday--Korean Beef, Stir-Fry Veggies

5. Thursday--BBQ sandwiches, Cole Slaw

6. Friday--Lasagna Hamburger Helper, Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--FFY

2. Monday--Fried Fish and Zucchini

3. Tuesday--Quiche, Salad

4. Wednesday--Leftovers or FFY

5. Thursday--Korean Beef, Stir-Fry Veggies

6. Friday--Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw
7. Saturday--Lasagna Hamburger Helper, Tomtoes and Cukes

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.  
Pretty much everything planned happened last week.  Imagine that?! lolz

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

* Nothing

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* 1 lb. Cod
* 1 London Broil
* 2 bags Stir-Fry Veggies
* 1 bag of Smoked Pork Shoulder meat

Two trips to Weis($43.15), the Bread Outlet($4.00)and a trip to Malacari's($18.12)brought the weekly spending to $65.27 and my August total to $116.94.

My savings percentage last week was 42.70%(without Rite-Aid trips)and August's monthly savings total comes in at 44.75%(w/out R-A). 

I have 19 more food shopping/spending days in August and $283.06 left in my $400 food budget for this month.

Leftovers going into this week......about half of a quiche, lasagna hamburger helper, Korean Beef stir-fry w/rice, 1 piece of cod.

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

1. Sunday--London Broil, Corn on Cob

2. Monday--Chicken Fried Steak, Gravy, Mashed Taters, Cabbage(I'll just have Mashed Ts and Cabbage since I don't like CFS)

3. Tuesday--Tempura Shrimp and Veggies

4. Wednesday--Lasagna, Salad

5. Thursday--Tacos or Taco Salad

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

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
Or only 4 new meals if the leftovers hold out after Hubs attacks them for lunches. lolz

What needs buying for this menu? Corn.  I've got half a cabbage(after making Cole Slaw last week)and some aging sweet potatoes and a zuke left(to tempura).  Might need lettuce if there isn't enough left out in the garden.  I might also buy a cantaloupe or broccoli since both are cheap this week.

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  

Some More Shopping/Deals Lately

I have just been so overwhelmed with life and busyness lately I'm trying to clear out all my photos and stuff.

Beginning of August I found these two items at Walmart on their clearance shelf--
A nice mix of rice for $3(this brand is expensive stuff)and a 5 lb. bag of macaroni for $1.25 which is a GREAT price!  I put the pasta into a big barrel container I have so it keeps.

I found these items on clearance at Weis on Friday--
A bottle of good white balsamic vinegar for $1.74 and 3 containers of grated Parm//Romano for $1.69 each.  Use by dates are not anywhere near time on anything.

I am also stocking up on Arizona brand Rx Stress Relief bottled iced tea at Weis this week as it's $1.97 a gallon(the lowest price here for that-it's normally $3.19 per gallon).  Unless I am drinking water or I brew my own iced tea this Stress Relief variety is my other "go to" drink.

I spent down more Bonus Cash on Friday at Rite-Aid as well---

2 x Big Win Kitchen Trash Bags on sale=$11.98
1 x Arm and Hammer toothbrush refill heads on sale=$5.99
SubTotal was $17.97 and I used a $1/1 L2CQ on the refill heads so $16.97+.72¢ tax=$17.69 paid for with BC.
I earned back $4 in new BC($2 wyb2 BW trash bags, $2 Arm and Hammer).

I was down in the valley so I hit a different R-A and did the transaction again on another card........

This store carries a $1 food section so I got these pretzel rods as well(.80¢ w/my Wellness discount).

Total after $1 L2CQ and .72¢ tax was $19.29 paid for with BC.
Again, earned back $4 in new BC.

I still need to spend more BC down this coming week but the deals are looking pretty slim at R-A.

I also hit the Bread Outlet for 3 loaves of "good" bread paying $4 OOP.  That's almost the price of just one loaf of this brand in the grocery store.  ;-)


Ok, that's all caught up now.
Onward to next week!

Sluggy