This Week on the Dining Table

The "Weird Dreams" Edition................

I've been having a slew of weird dreams lately.  The last one I was giving birth but the baby was inside a gift tin. ouch! lolz  I should write them down so I remember them all.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Spaghetti with Sauce, Meatballs, Salad
2. Monday--Leftover Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze(glaze is new), Asiago Rice, Veggie TBD

3. Tuesday--Salmon, Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrots, Mac and Cheese

4. Wednesday--Hot Dogs w/Chili, Beans

5. Thursday--Steak Ravioli with Sauce, Salad

6. Friday--Leftovers or FFY
7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY

And this is what actually happened--

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

1. Sunday--Spaghetti with Sauce, Meatballs, Salad
2. Monday--Leftover Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze(glaze is new), Asiago Rice, leftover Harvard Beets and Carrots

3. Tuesday--Salmon, Roasted Sweet Potato, Mac and Cheese

4. Wednesday--Pizza and Stromboli

5. Thursday--Hot Dogs, Beans

6. Friday--Steak Ravioli with Sauce
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.

I found some old gift certificates we won at the church auction last Fall and wanted to use them before the restaurant closed up(it happens quite a bit around here lolz)so we had take-out on Wednesday instead of hot dogs and beans.

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

* leftover Chili
* leftover Goulash

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* 12 Meatballs
* 1 hunk of Salmon
* 1 bag of Ravioli
* 1 pack of hot dogs

Trips to Weis for lots of TP and other items($57.52) and a trip to the Ocean State Job Lot($12.80)brought the weekly spending to $85.54 and my September Grand Total spending on food to $462.32.

My savings percentage last week was 51.90%(without Rite-Aid trips)and September's monthly savings total comes in at 54.50%(w/out R-A).

I have 0 more food shopping/spending days in September.  Because of the TP stock-up mostly, I went over budget this month by $62.32.
No problem as I have spare monies in the budget to cover that overage and most of the tp was 50% off and I won't have to worry about tp for about 6 months now. 8-)))

Leftovers going into this week......1 slice of pizza and 1 helping of ravioli.  These will be eaten for lunches/snacks so I've got to come up with all new meals. sigh.

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

1. Sunday--FFY
2. Monday--Lasagna Helper, Veggie from Freezer TBD

3. Tuesday--Beef Pie w/Green Beans/Carrots, Cornbread Topping

4. Wednesday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches w/Veggie from Freezer TBD

5. Thursday--Chicken Rice and Broccoli Casserole

6. Friday--Leftovers or FFY or Breakfast for Dinner
7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY

This week will see 5-6 new meals cooked, 1-2 night of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of  Eating Out.
The weather has taken a nippy turn so I've got a couple casserole type meals on tap for the week and both should yield leftovers.
Go me. ;-)

What needs buying for this menu? We have no Ground Beef so that's a need.

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 Spending Report.....the September Edition

* I am posting this a few days early as I am done food spending for September.  Anything bought between now and Oct. 1st will go on October's food budget. *

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2019.

I have posted September'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 September.  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'S
OOP  $32.70
Value  $54.61
Savings  40.12%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.89
Value  $15.96
Savings  69.96%

FARM
OOP  $18.50
Value  $70.63
Savings  73.81%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $40.28
Value  $69.76
Savings  42.26%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $100.72
Value  $221.75
Savings 54.58 %

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $249..98
Value  $249.98
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKETS

OOP  $24.15
Qs/Ads $15.89

Value  $40.04

Savings 39.69%

TARGET
OOP  $12.51
Value  $25.29
Savings  50.53%

WALMART
OOP  $47.13
Value  $70.40
Savings  33.05%

WEIS
OOP  $181.44
Qs/Ads  $266.20
Value  $447.64
Savings  59.47%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Farm at 73.81% and the Bread Outlet 69.96%. My worst savings rate was at Walmart with 33.05%.
I shopped at 10 different stores in September.

TOTAL Spent.........................................$462.32

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$553.76

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$1016.08

TOTAL Savings of ................................54.50%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for September w/R-A........$462.32
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$803.74
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1266.06
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................63.48%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well OVER my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in September.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 5.08% in September 2019 to 63.48% compared to the August 68.56% savings average.


With 9 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $3,513.76 on food/toiletries in 2018.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$3,513.76

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$13,402.46

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$9,888.70

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............73.78%

The average per month amount spent so far is $390.42 in 2019 which went up $8.99 per month due to more spending in September.

LOOKING AHEAD To October 2019.......
I will be gone for a lot of October.  Food I buy while awhile won't count against my food budget except for items I buy to bring home to use.  Hubs will be "in charge" of food spending for most of this month. It should be an interesting month because of that. lolz  I have no clue if we'll stay under $400 for October or not.  Stay tuned.....

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 September?

*  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 September 27th Edition

Here is the frugalisciousness that happened around here this past week.............

*  A trip to Rite-Aid for this stuff...

Rolled some BC and converted some to cash through Ibotta rebates.

*  I stocked up on TP............

$33.80 + sales tax for lots and lots of tp!

*  I used a snail mailed Booking dotcom code to book at motel stay for our return trip to Daughter's wedding...........

After we complete the stay I'll get a $45 rebate back on my c/c.  Actually I should count this in 2020 since we aren't going until then. ;-)

*  I also booked our 4 nights in Shreveport through Hotels dotcom.

I used a $200 gift card bought last year which meant the stay only cost $179 OOP.  I sure wish they'd let you use 2 gift cards per booking....then I wouldn't have spent any $ OOP this year on it.


*  I found money!

I went to Weis to get the Freebie but they were out so no pancake syrup for me.
But I did find this penny on the way out of the store.

When I got all that TP at Weis at 50% off I found all three of these pennies at the self-checkout.

Went to Rite-Aid on Monday too and found this .03¢ in three different places in that store...1 at register #1, another at register #2 and the third one in the parking lot next to a car I passed by.

.07¢ total for the week. 8-)))

*  I forgot to put in that we used 2 gift certificates for pizza and stromboli this past week.  These were won last year at the church auction we go to.


That's about it for the week for me.  Other than spending $$ at Weis and OSJL I stayed home and amused myself here by cleaning and rearranging stuff, doing paperwork, getting items up on eBay(and all the work that entails), reading or playing with the puppies.

What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?
Let us know!


Sluggy

Here's My Elephant.....4 Months of Progress

So here are the things that did get done once Daughter left to move back to Louisiana in May.  We've gotten a lot done in the last 4 months. 
It's been a big old game of Dominoes really. ;-)

*  Daughter's old room gets cleaned(clear out furniture/vacuum/shampoo the carpeting/clean walls/trim/ceiling/ceiling fan/dressers she isn't taking.)  Then EX-CB moves in his crap and takes that room.  He was planning on moving out within the next few months but then the new job search happened so that's delayed.

UPDATE-- The room got emptied triple quick(can you guess I was uber motivated?!? lolz
What was left in Daughter's room........

Here it is after I finished cleaning in there.......

Then Ex-College Boy spent the next couple of days moving all his stuff into the room and setting it up like he wanted it.

The only money spent on this room was new blinds on the window.
I figure once Ex-CB moves out we'll have to repaint but he'll have to live with purple walls for now.  Depending on wear, the carpet may or may not need to be replaced so I'll keep that possible expense in the back of my mind for another year.

* After Ex-CB vacates his room, rinse and repeat cleaning that bedroom(clear out furniture/vacuum/shampoo carpeting/clean walls, trim, ceiling, ceiling fan/dresser.  Then I am painting that room(hasn't been painted since 2005).  Once we get the room cleared out we can evaluate whether carpeting needs replacing.

UPDATE--EXCB vacated his room and it looked like this.............

And the closet view..........

After I got done shoveling it out and vacuuming it looked like this........

Then this room got repairs for lots of wall damage...........

 And then a coat(or five for that dark accent wall!)of paint..........

Then the saga of ordering the new carpet and install began with a trip to NH wedged in between this part.

But finally the new carpet was installed in early July to finish off the improvements in here.............

And I could begin to set up my sewing room..........

In July I put the shelving in and started sorting fabric in the tubs

The closet was were the dresser went.  It holds the toiletries stockpile reserved for the family.

A few days later I had the shelves mostly filled(the fabrics I want to use sooner rather than later)and the tub sorting/filling was finished.

And here is how it looks today......

11 tubs of fabric.  2 are stacked by the serger to act as a table for my record player.  I've been migrating my record collection into the room so I can play them finally after having them stored away for 12+ years.
A few of my slug/snail collection sit on the wall shelves too. ;-)

The closet with projects(repairs, alterations, hems, etc.)hanging on both sides of the dresser.  A tub of fabric to sell or otherwise de-clutter sits under neath the to-be finished projects with more projects sitting on top of the tub.  The 2 bins on top of the dresser hold thread, elastic, bindings, etc. for use in my sewing.
Christmas stuff is stored on the high shelf in tubs.

The expense in here were new blinds, sparkle and paint and new carpeting.


*  Once that bedroom(now sewing room)is cleaned out and up I can move all my crap into there-a combination of sewing crap and toiletries stockpile(what doesn't fit into upstairs hallway closet).  

A "before" shot of the man cave holding a lot of miscellaneous crap, books, toiletries and fabric........

And all that fabric now...........

I would have put up a third shelving unit(it's in the garage and was utilized for the stockpile sale)but I ran out of wall space for it so the bulky tubs take up too much floor space. bleh.


*  Once my crap is out of Hubs' room then we clear that bedroom out and rinse and repeat all the cleaning/fixing.  This bedroom will definitely be getting new paint and carpet(original carpet from before the previous owner we bought from in 2000 so very old and nasty rug).
Hubs puts his room back together.

UPDATE--Hubs finished emptying his man cave room and painted it.  I didn't offer to help him paint it because he refused to put a/c in that room and it was August and I wasn't about to do that sort of work in the heat and humidity of August without the benefit of a/c.  So he was on his own.
Hubs DETESTS painting but he manned up with very little whining and got it done in 3 days time(he had a LOT of wall patching to do as well as painting).  We used the same white paint in here as in the sewing room.

Then he went and ordered new carpeting and ordered something in stock so we didn't have to wait ages for it to come in and then get the job on the installers schedule.  It's a tan carpet.......

Here is the carpet we replaced.  This was the original carpet when we moved in circa 2000 and had been the ORIGINAL carpet from when the house was built in 1986..........

It was still "sort of" green in places. lolz  It was like walking on burlap. bleck.

He got rid of a lot of books, the broken blinds and the valance.  One book shelf(which was mine to begin with)relocated into the master bedroom and now holds MY books.  He moved one of the two large bookcases to the wall by the door where my bookcase was and the other one out into the hallway.
Here's the hallway in July after getting rid of a large desk and desk top computer.
Nice dirt spot on the wall where the kids use to put their feet on it while sitting at the desk *snort*.

Here's the hallway in September..........

Hubs moved 1 bookcase out here(covers the dirt spot lolz).  At least now ALL the family photos/albums are in one spot now on that bookcase.  They use to be squirreled all over every corner I could shove something into.  Still need to find a place for a few things....a suitcase, a Xmas tub, a wooden chair(Ex-CB took the trumpet next to the suitcase and will teach himself how to play that instrument too).
We didn't paint out in the hallway due to needing a professional to come due it as this also involves the stairwell walls and we can't reach.  So that is still on the Master List of things to do around here.

Hubs' small metal bookcase got moved into the closet in his man cave since the dresser that use to live in there is now in my sewing room holding toiletries.
He bought himself a proper desk, the daybed got moved into this room and we bought a new memory foam mattress for it.
Here is the man cave now.............

You can't see the one bookcase left in the room as it's to the left and I didn't photograph the closet in here.  He's still got a few things to put away.  He opted for no window coverings in here but I suspect he'll put blinds in eventually because the sun comes right in those windows in the morning.
Costs were for spackle, paint and new carpeting, plus a desk in this room.

* Once all these bedrooms are done we can attack the master bedroom, the whole cleaning deal including the furniture.  We will be getting a new mattress and bed frame(adjustable one). 

UPDATE--I don't have any photos of the master bedroom yet as it's not finished.
We have moved some furnishings out(an etagere holding fabric, my serger and table, sewing machine and table, and ironing board)which all relocated into the sewing room so it's fairly emptied out except for night stands, 2 dressers, a large rocking chair, a cedar chest and an old coffee table sitting under the window that Hubs' refuses to get rid of.

We got the new mattress and bed frame and the old ones went to the garbage man.  We weren't planning repainting or new window coverings in here and the flooring is good(having replaced it about 10 years ago).  I would like to hang some paintings on the walls in here but that's it.  If I ever get it looking respectable I'll share a photo or two then. '-)

I am still rejiggering the master walk-in closet.  The photo albums and Xmas stash boxes left but there are more things to consolidate/move around/de-clutter in there so that will be on the next update if I do one.
Expenses in the Master Bedroom were new mattress and an adjustable bed frame.

The expenses for all we got done?
Paint & Spackle.........$16.39*
Carpet & Install.......$1079.46
Bed & Frame...........$1108.23
Blinds(2 Sets)......................$0.00*
New Desk for Hubs............$50.86
TOTAL SPENT.......$2254.94

*All but $16.39 for these items was put on free Home Depot gift cards earned from cashing in credit card points.

What I consider wins........
* Doing the work we could do ourselves to save money on labor.
* Using gift cards to pay for some of the expenses.
* Replacing one bed/2 mattresses for better sleep.
* Having 4 rooms that now function better(or at all)vs. what they were before.

So that's a wrap on this Summer tine phase of the Home Redos at Chez Sluggy.

We're not planning on any other home projects until next Spring as the weather is getting too cold to replace windows now.
I've also got a main bath redo and a den/kitchen makeover on my list for the future besides windows.
But I am tired...very tired of doing this stuff for now.  This was enough.  ;-)


Sluggy

Budget Torpedoed by TP

So I have been looking to score a deal on toilet paper lately.  It's been in the back of my mind that our stockpile of tp was getting to a point where I needed to be keeping an eye out for a great deal.
I have a love/hate relationship with TP.....hate to waste good money on something I am throwing away so I get it as cheaply as I can and when I find a deal I definitely buy A LOT! ;-)

So last week at Walmart I happened upon some clearance paper towels--
1 x Scott towels(6 double rolls)for $2.50
2 x Viva towels(6 double rolls)for $3.00
$9.01 with tax OOP.
I'm not a fan of paper towels but Hubs won't stop using them so I buy. 8-(
But I was glad to find them as Dixie Belle isn't quite fully house trained yet and with 2 dogs now, there are times we NEED paper towels! ;-)
A nice score but it's not TP....

I hit Ocean State Job Lot on Monday during their Annual 20% off Sale and picked up a few food items.........

2 x pasta
4 x spices
2 x baby clams
2 x specialty coffee for Ex-CB
All this came to $12.78 after 20% off.
It's all good since I was still fitting into my $400 food budget for September.

But then I went over to the paper goods aisle.....as Scooby-Doo would say, "Rut Roh!".......

These mega-packs of Marcal tp were $7.19 after 20% discount.
Marcal is a brand I don't see around much any more, not since they released their eco-friendly/recycled "Small Steps" paper goods back in 2009. I think the last time I saw/bought a Marcal item was in 2014?
I got a ton of Marcal back in 2009 using deals and Qs(heck I even ran a guessing game/contest to see how many rolls of it I had).  Longtime readers will remember this photo of my storage unit filled with paper products from back in the day.....

I had bought 474 rolls of Small Steps tp back then and we just used up our last pack of it late last year. 8-)))

Even though the package at OSJL didn't have a sq. footage break down on it, I know the brand and that it's economical as far as tp goes so I picked up two of those 16 roll packs.

Then Weis(PMITA)Markets had the huge packs of Scott tp on a Fantastic Friday deal for $7.  I went into the store for the Friday Freebie(they were out already!)and 1 jar of Ragu and left with the Ragu and 2 packs of Scott tp.  I had 2 Qs that doubled to $1 each so my huge packs cost me $6 +.36¢ tax each OOP.

I went into this week with no grocery budget left for September but happened to hear about tp clearances at Weis were going on.

So would you NOT check out the tp deals since you are at your budget limit or would you say "the heck with the budget!" and go have a look-see?

What do you think Ol' Sluggy did? ;-)

Yep, you guessed it..........

Seeing as I had the money to stock up on tp even outside of my grocery budget and the space in the garage, I went for it.
My September spending suffered a hit for it, but we are now awash in tp.

The Scott tp packs on the bottom left of the photo were from Friday.

On Monday I got 3 packs of Cottonelle TP, 2 packs of Viva towels and 10 packs(Hubs had already taken 1 of these to use so there's only 9 in the photo!lol) of Charmin Essentials(the "cheap" Charmin-except at half off it WAS actually cheap! lol).  They also had Northern brand for 50% off but the others were a better deal with the square footage comparison so I didn't get any of that brand.
I also had both IPQ and digital Qs to use for this or that.
All totaled I spent $33.80 with sales tax at Weis for 180 double rolls of tp and 12 double rolls of paper towels.

Add that to the 168 rolls I had left in my stockpile and we will be good for quite awhile.  Not as epic as my Marcal stash from 2009 but it will get us through a year or maybe two....or maybe not(have you seen how much tp Ex-CB goes through??!). ;-)

My stockpile(other than toiletries/HBA)is looking fine when it comes to dish soap, laundry detergent, cleaning products, paper towels, soup, condiments, pasta, rice, spices, tomato products, canned chicken, chiles, mushrooms, tuna, peanut butter, oatmeal, cold cereals, some canned veggies and of course, tp. 8-)))

What good prices have you taken advantage of lately to build your stockpile?

Queen of the TP Sluggy