2019 Food & Toiletries Spending......the August Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for AUGUST 2019.

I have posted August'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 August.  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.
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BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $14.00
Value  $51.49
Savings  72.81%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $75.39
Value  $157.36
Savings  52.09%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $16.77
Value  $29.14
Savings  42.45%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $5.17
Value  $10.47
Savings  50.62%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $331.67
Value  $331.67
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKETS

OOP  $26.54
Qs/Ads $25.25

Value  $51.79

Savings  48.75%

WALMART
OOP  $19.57
Value  $36.50
Savings  46.38%

WEIS
OOP  $146.72
Qs/Ads  $152.26
Value  $298.98
Savings  50.93%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet at 72.81% and Malacari's at 52.09%.  My worst savings rate was at Ocean State Job Lot with 42.45%.  Having a worst rate of over 40% is still awesome. 8-)))

I shopped at 8 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August.........$304.16

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$331.57

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$635.73

TOTAL Savings of ................................52.16%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August w/R-A.............$304.16
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A...................$663.24
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$967.40
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................68.56%

This closes out the August food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well UNDER my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in August(almost $100 less!).  I put fewer things into the freezer in August and I spent less money.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 4.11% in August 2019 to 68.56% compared to the July 64.45% savings average.



With 8 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $3,051.44 on food/toiletries in 2018.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$3,051.44

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$12,136.40

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$9,084.96

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............74.86%

The average per month amount spent so far is $381.43 in 2019 which went down $11.04+ per month due to less spending in August.
The yearly rate went down .54% from July's percentage for the year-to-date mainly due to "buying" less items at Rite-Aid in August compared to July's haul.
May was a lower than usual savings percentage and it's been slowly rising every month since that.

LOOKING AHEAD To September 2019.......
No trips, no company coming so a usual food/cooking month.  I have a $15 prepaid debit card earned at R-A but I'll put it toward food spending in September.
I might venture into Target at some point in September which will mean lower OOP spending on food as I'll use discounted gift cards.

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 August?

*  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 August 30th Edition

Let's take a peek into Sluggy's World and see what frugal things happened this past week--

* Weis gas points were expiring so I filled up my car's gas tank plus Hubs' gas can for the lawnmower..........

$2.94 saved.  Not earth shattering but it all adds up, right?

* I earned $7 at Rite-Aid and .25¢ at Weis from Ibotta since last Friday.  I bought a corned beef at Weis put got credited the .25¢ rebate for ground beef? lolz  I guess they are both beef so what the heck!

* I received a coupon in the mail...........

A free dog treat?  Chester and Dixie say, "Yes, please!".

*  We had an Anniversary meal out on Wednesday at Outback.  I didn't have any Qs or a gift card to use but I got the Walkabout Wednesday Deal....a 6 oz. sirloin with fries and a drink for $10.99.  Hubs' 9 oz. steak, baked potato, salad and iced tea cost DOUBLE what my meal cost! Geez

*  I found money!

Another dime at Rite-Aid last Friday under the cane display in the pharmacy area.

And a dime in Weis(PMITA)Markets near the battery display on Wednesday.
August must be the "Month of Dropped Dimes" because this is my third dime I've found this month....lolz

*  I got some deals..........

Green chiles for .75¢ a can.

And free candy bars at Weis.

*  I picked more produce out of the garden...........

All these tomatoes plus 1 cucumber weighed in at 9.71 lbs.
I also picked 26.6 ounces of broccoli that I didn't get a photo of before I cooked and we ate it on Tuesday. ;-)

That will do it from here in PA.

What frugal wins happened in your world this past week?
Let us know!

Sluggy

Grocery Shopping This Week

Not much shopping this week.

I did hit the Shursave market though as they had some deals...........

They had a couple of Mix and Match Deal on General Mills products.  One of them included Old El Paso green chiles.  You bought 10 you got $2.50 off your total.
The chiles were on sale for $1 a can so I paid .75¢ per can after the additional $2.50 discount.
I was low on green chiles and go through these fairly quickly here with all the Tex-Me meals I make plus my white dipping sauce for tortilla chips calls for these as well.

I also picked up a couple of cans of beets and sauerkraut(for Hubs)there, some chips on sale and large eggs for .88¢ per dozen(I got 2 dozen.).  Total was $16.42 for everything.


I used my second "Spend $25/Get $5 off" Q from Weis(PMITA)Markets on Wednesday as it was expiring that day.

These are the best deals I found there.......

The large cans of Hanover brand Southern style green beans were 50% on clearance.  After discount they were .83¢ a can.
I found a bunch of corned beef briskets in the meat bins with $3 off instant discount stickers and got 1.  Mine was 3.22 lbs. and originally was marked 19.29 so $5.99 lb.  It had been marked down to $3.99 a lb. so $12.85-$3 off=$9.85 so $3.06 per lb.
I also found these pepper and onion sausages for $4.57 with a $2 off sticker so $2.57 for 1.31 lb. of sausage(6 pieces)so $1.96 per lb. after discount.

I also picked up a hunk of Canadian salmon on sale for $8.09. It was .90 of a lb.
Day old bakery muffins were $1 for 4(after 50% off and a $1/1 pk Weis Q and a small sheet cake(1/8th sheet)was 50% off or $6.50.  The cake was for our anniversary. ;-)
I also picked up 2 heads of lettuce and almond milk.

And I got these candy bars for free...........

On sale for BOGO Free($1 for 2)and I paired with .50¢/2 IPQs for Nestle candy bars which doubled to $1/2 so free.
Now what to do with all these.....Hmmmmm. lolz

I also hit the Bread Outlet on Wednesday and spent $10 on bread products.  Besides the deals there since I spent $10 I got a free pack of chocolate Entemann's donuts and gave it to Hubs for an anniversary present as he loves their donuts.

I think I'm pretty much done grocery shopping for the week/month.  The Weis ad is a 2 weeker so other than finding marked down meats I am not interested in anything else there until 9/6 when the new ad starts.
We may go to the farm and pick tomatoes and peppers tomorrow(and get other produce that looks good)and that will finish off my August spending.

If I hit Rite-Aid this week it will be on Friday or Saturday(there's a 30% off sale coupon for those days)as I have $14.53 left in BC to spend down on 3 cards. I used the .52 on the fourth card to help pay for an Rx Hubs picked up earlier in the week.

$56.32 spent on groceries/toiletries this week.

Anybody finding anything good at your food outlets?

Sluggy

Couponers Giveaway Winners

Ok, so I have TWO sets of the pencil case, scissors and calculator so I drew two names to win this Giveaway. (The second case is dark blue and the scissors are lime green.)

The first winner is.........

Kim N.

Kim N.August 21, 2019 at 10:39 AM

I love to win perhaps to motivate me back into using coupons. I used to be an avid couponer - now, not so much. I know it can save a lot $$$ - and now that I am retired, I certainly have more time . . . but for some reason, for the most part it has gotten away from me.

And the second name drawn was..........

Sue L.

AnonymousAugust 21, 2019 at 8:16 PM

I think this might help me to get into couponing. It is very intimidating to me, but when I see how much you and other people save, it is certainly worth the effort!!!

Now, one question, if I win, does it come with a tutorial from you, lol :)

Sue L.

Congratulations Kim N. and Sue L.!!!
The both of you please email me your full name and mailing address within 48 hours of this post going live so I can get these prizes out to you asap.

Thanks to everyone for playing along this month.  

September Giveaway will be going up in a couple of weeks. 

Sluggy

Stuff Lately

* I haven't left the house much lately.  I've been enjoying the cooler temps around here since last Friday though and not having the a/c running.  I need to pick tomatoes again today if the rain holds off too.

My hermit time will end tonight when  I go to Weis, use the $5 off Q, and get gas with my points(they expire Labor Day I think).

* We spent the weekend putting Hubs' room back together mostly(plus I've been working in the garage too).  He's dragging his ass a bit stopping to do other things so not everything is back where it needs to be and out of the way and still in my room or our bedroom.
I hope to have everything in the upstairs relocated and where it needs to be before this coming weekend is over.  Then I can share photos of it all.
Really, it's not that great of a change or a beautiful makeover or anything.  But I just want it done so I can move on to other issues.

* Tomorrow I go to the Chronic Pain Clinic.
Oh joy!

I need to stay out of ERs.  This last time was quite pricey, even with insurance because they ran a bunch of tests I didn't need.  I knew what was wrong with me but they had to rule out stuff in their minds because not being my doctor they don't know my history personally and gawd forbid they miss something, I die and they get sued. ;-)

I got two bills, the first one totaled $13,987.35 before insurance.

I added the second bill and it all came to $15,513.35 before insurance.
EEK!
And I had to pay just under $750 in co-pays. ick

And they didn't actually "do" anything to help me at the ER other than give me a valium(and the ER doc wouldn't write me a script for it either, just for a drug that didn't help and he KNEW it didn't help....so worthless).

So let's hope the CPC(Chronic Pain Clinic)is a little more helpful.  I suspect it will be A LOT less expensive than the ER. lolz

* I've almost gotten the garage cleaned up enough to hold a stockpile sale in September(depending on the weather).  I have filled the living room up with toiletries and a few yard sale type items.

Then after that happens I'll relist my diaper stash on the local tag sale site and start listing stuff on eBay for the Holiday season buying time.

*  I went and joined a Dave Ramsey group on Facebook.  Stupidest thing I ever did in hindsight!  I thought I could help some folks there with questions/issues about money and debt.  But really some of these folks are clueless and nothing but a good ass kicking will get them to see the light. lolz
This group is a bunch of prodigious posters and I have to scroll through so many posts to see anything not this group related.  As a wise woman once remarked......



* We have decided to drive to LA for Daughter's wedding instead of flying.  We ran the numbers and renting a car, gas, motels, food for the trip, extra days to kennel the dogs vs flying is cheaper than plane tickets and cabs/Uber to and from airports, etc.  The only problem may be weather in early January on our end(and would also be a problem if we fly out of and into PA).  It will be a mad dash halfway across the country and then back in the middle of Winter.
Oh fun.

* Our wedding anniversary is tomorrow, Wednesday.  37 years married.....where does the time go? ;-)

Hubs actually had HAIR back then and I had a very very bad perm. lolz

Sluggy