Frugal Friday....the November 8th Edition

Here's what passed for frugal this past week in my world........

* Hubs and I used a coupon when we went out to lunch last Friday.

$5 off our lunch?
Yes please!

* I got a freebie in the mail last week..........

Saturday's mail brought a free notepad and return address labels to entice me to donate to St. Jude's Hospital.  Good timing as we were running low on address labels.

* I used a 15% everything in the store Q Ollie's sent me a week ago and forgot to show the food/HBA/toiletries stuff I bought last week..........

1 lb. of cashews, 2 boxes of instant au gratin taters, 2 cans of tomatoes and a box of pasta noodles.
Prices were already low/discount but take another 15% off and now it's "Sluggy Cheap" at $8.88 for everything in the picture. ;-)

* I found money!

Hubs and I went out to lunch and I found a nickel in Bob Evans.

Then I found 2 quarters in the coin return of the newspaper box outside of Bob Evans.

After lunch we stopped in Dollar Tree for a few things and I found these two pennies on the floor, one by the register and one beyond the register as I was leaving.

.57¢ in one day.....sweet!

Then I found a penny at Rite-Aid on Wellness Wednesday.............

.58¢ total for the week and for the win!

* I got the Weis freebie last Friday.........

A roll of paper towels.  With Dixie puppy around we can always use this item. lolz

*  I picked up two clearance items at Weis on Friday as well......

.79¢ a box.  Add some of that clearance canned chicken I picked up a couple of months ago and you've got a quick and cheap few meals. 8-)

* Speaking of Wellness Wednesday I got these for free........

The Robitussin was $5.99 on sale this past week.  There was a WWQ for $2 off which I paired with a $1/1 IPQ on the manufacturer's website(Unfortunately we no longer received RMN Q inserts in our Sunday paper here because there was an insert $3/1 Q. 8-((( ).
So $2.99 out the door paid for with BC.
Then I received a $3 SavingStar rebate so a .01¢ moneymaker when all was said and done.
The L'Oreal samples were also given out on WW at my store.

*  I worked the polls on Tuesday.  It kept me out of the stores and spending $$ AND I earned a whole $125.  Even better that "pay" is TAX-FREE! 8-)

*  I received coupons in the mail from both Rite-Aid and Weis(PMITA)Markets this week.  The Rite-Aid mailer also had a $4 when you spend $20 Q in it.
The Weis mailer had personalized Q and this too............

A reminder to clip the digital Q for a large Stouffer's party size lasagna(making it .99¢ OOP)that was in our account.  I would have found the Q eventually anyway but still.  It's been duly clipped now and ready to use before when it expires on Nov 28th.

That's about it from here.  I haven't been back to the grocery store since last Friday so I am off to
get a few things today.

What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?
Tell us all about them!


Sluggy

Remembrances of Working an Election

A few weeks ago we got a phone call from the Grand High Poo-bahs who run elections in our county inquiring if we were free to work the polls on Election Day this month.
Hubs took the call and told me about it and how he never remembered signing up to do this and told the woman "no thanks!"(his immediate response to anyone who wants him to do anything lolz).
So I remembered I had signed on a Volunteers Needed List when we voted back in the 2016 election and that's why she called us.
Hubs rolled his eyes at me and I said well YOU don't have to do this but it would be A-a way to get you out of the house for a day and B-a way to put your political philosophizing(he can yammer on ad nauseum about politics if given a chance)into action and fulfill your civic duty.
So I shamed him into working the polls basically.  ;-)

We attended a training session back in late October which lasted 2+ hours.  This election the county moved from a physical paper book of registered voters to an electronic iPad system.  The voting machines were already of the electronic type(since before the 2012 election cycle).  I got trained on the iPad voter registry book and Hubs got the big training on the voting machines(which wasn't has involved as my training but it was an overview of all the jobs that need doing on Election Day).

So we showed up a bit after 6 am yesterday morning for a very long day of work.

There were 2 of the 4 districts in this new polling place.  Turns out this township had broken up the voting population from 1 district into 4 for this election(after the tiny polling station in 2016 was so inundated by voters that the line was 500 people deep at times and it took until 11pm to get everyone's vote in that time).   So there was a lot of confusion among the voters where they were to report to for voting.  One person showed up after showing up at two other locations(first the municipal building-where there was NO voting being done, I guess she just assumed to go there, then to the old location where the whole district use to vote at and then they sent her to our location).  Had she known where to go the first time she would have saved a load of time and driving as the actual polling place was the closest to her house of the three places she went to. ;-)

Most people, even though everyone got a notice of where their voting location was in the mail a month ago, had no clue what district they were in and/or where they needed to vote at.
So we got a lot of practice on the machine looking up where someone was suppose to report and it was convenient that most of them we just sent across the room to the other districts table/polling location.

Of the two sets of election workers teams, ours was made up of "virgin" workers.....from the Judge of Election down to the Clerk of Elections all 5 of us were new to the process of working a polling site.
I was elected the Majority Inspector and worked on the electronic polling book with my fellow Minority Inspector Dan.
To lighten the mood I told our Judge of Elections that I was disappointed I wasn't selected as the "Modern Major General" instead and launched into the song...............




Dan and I had gone to the same voting registry book training class and shared a machine there so we felt comfortable working together and he was a hoot.  Our Election Clerk was a chatty dear as well and the three of us made the day fun inside of a 15 hours slog. 8-))

We three places bets on how many voters we'd get(the clerk won that one), we had a race with the other district on who got the most voters(they did)and we secretly ate snacks that the other districts workers brought(being new, nobody told us to bring food).
We showed "Come on Down!" to folks standing in the entrance who were unsure of where to go. And everyone was given a "lovely parting gift"(an "I Voted" sticker)along with their "Magic Voting Ticket" to take to the machine operator.
Between the clerk and the minority inspector they seemed to talk about food All. Day. Long!  There was much laughter among the serious business of democracy.

There were a few snafus throughout the day--I got trained to load the ballot thing into the voting machine as a back-up person too and on one occasion my finger slipped and I marked that the voter wanted their ballot to appear in Spanish instead of the English option they wanted.  Oops.  No harm as the other teams Judge knew how to back out of that one.

The biggest issue was that our electronic voter book started losing batter power quickly in the last hour(suppose to be a 20 hour battery life and we should have been fine)and the cord to plug it into the outlet(so it didn't run off the battery) wasn't working.  It was a race to 8 pm and then to have enough juice to print off the two reports I needed to do to enclose in the paperwork.  We squeaked by on that one.

We had one person show up after 8 pm who didn't get to vote.........the book was closed and the machines were shut down promptly at 8 and they showed up a minute or so later.  A flurry of phone calls to the higher ups about what to do but it was a case of too late, sorry, you should have gotten here before 8pm.

There were quite a few older folks who needed help with the electronic machines because they weren't techno-savvy but everyone who needed assistance got it.

My iPad book would sometimes indicate I had to ask someone to Show ID before they checked in and some folks took offense at this.  The Judge thought it was because they hadn't voted in a number of years(but weren't marked "Inactive" yet) but it seemed to be a random pattern.....maybe to see if the operating of the book was paying attention or something. lolz

I got a person who wanted to vote in German when I was manning the voting machines once but that was not an option. ;-)

A lot of folks asked about the voter turn out...whether it had been heavy or light or somewhere in between.  Being an "off, off" year turn out was light as I had expected.  Our district had a 30% turn out rate.

There were also comments made by some voters about using a church as a polling station.  Some expressed certain that churches were not appropriate places to vote(sighting separation of church and state-though they were totally misconstruing that issue here!).  Some said being in a church made some people uncomfortable(for whatever reason)and bitched about it to us.  I told them to be thankful they weren't in some districts in CA where you go to your neighbors garage to vote on election day and to contact the Grand High Election Poo-bahs if they had an issue with the location. 8-)

We where there almost an hour after the polls closed helping to finish up the paperwork and break down all the equipment. 
It was a very long day but I feel good about the job we did to keep American democracy chugging along.
And I made a couple of new friends in the deal too! 8-)

Sluggy

Stacking Deals at Rite-Aid, SavingStar and P&G Promo

Here are the 4 stacking deals I was working on last week.....

                    

#1  P&G, Spend $30/Get $10 BC deal this week at R-A(limit of 2 deals per card on this one).
DONE-TWICE on one card, earned $20 in BC.

#2 Parts of the R-A deal above overlap with a SavingStar offer, Spend $50 on certain P&G items/Get $15 Back at SavingStar.
DONE, earned $15 SavingStar rebate.

#3 P&G Holiday Rebate(advertised in the P&G Insert a week ago Sunday), Spend $50 AFTER COUPONS on certain P&G items/Get $15 prepaid Visa card back.
DONE & SUBMITTED, Waiting on $15 prepaid Visa card.
My total on select items after Qs was $50.37.

#4 Rite-Aid has a promo going on now until November 30th, Spend $50 on certain "Beauty" Items get a $10 R-A gift card(limit of 2 deals per card on this one). Purchase from 10/27/19 to 11/30/19 and redeem by 12/14/19.
DONE. I earned 1 $10 reward so far and have $11.83 toward a second of this reward just for buying P&G items last week.

I bought all this at Rite-Aid this week..........

                              

Total Bonus Cash spent.....$46.46
Total R-A gift card used....$10.48
Total spent.......$56.94

Total Bonus Cash earned...$28.00(2 x $10, 8 x $1)
Total SavingStar earned....$15.00
Total  R-A Beauty gift card earned...$10.00
Total P&G Holiday rebate earned....$15.00
Total earned........$68.00

I also got $2 back as a "post coupon" when the new cashier hit the payment button before imputing my coupons.
This was actually a "good" thing as that $2 in Qs doesn't show on my receipt for two of the P&G items I bought so I was able to hit the $50 after Qs spend requirement $2 earlier than expected. ;-)

There are some items on sale in the Black Friday R-A ad that will count toward this $10 Beauty Reward as well.
The Concair hairbrushes and Scunci hair products that will be free after BC earned and should count toward the Beauty Reward(so better than free), plus a lot of items will count toward this reward on the second page of the Black Friday ad.

It should be easy to get another two or three Beauty Rewards before November 30th when that promo ends.

Now excuse me but I am off to work the polls and be a good citizen.  Remember to go vote today if you are in the US.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Halloween was a Bust!" Edition................

Halloween was warm but windy and drizzling rain.  We had a total of FOUR kids at our door!  I have never had so few trick or treaters.

Funny thing is Hubs had the porch light on Saturday night(TWO days after Halloween)for Ex-College Boy's expected arrival home from work and we heard the door bell ring.  2 kids in costume stood there waiting for candy.....WTF?!?!
Gave them candy and turned OFF the porch light. lolz
So I guess we had SIX kids total.
And that's the huge bowl of candy this morning....6 kids and Hubs and Ex-CB hitting it later.

I guess Trick or Treating is now an activity of the place here. 8-(((

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings
2. Monday--Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole

3. Tuesday--Tacos

4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, leftover Garlic Bread, Salad

5. Thursday--Something TBD + Brussels Sprouts

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself

And this is what actually happened at home per Hubs info & after I got home--

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings
2. Monday--Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole

3. Tuesday--Tempura Haddock, Brussels Sprouts, Cheddar Biscuits

4. Wednesday--Leftovers or FFY

5. Thursday--Leftovers or FFY

6. Friday--Fend for Yourself (The power was out all day so we had lunch out and I just had a couple pieces of cheese for dinner.)
7. Saturday--Tacos or Taco Salad

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners,  3 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.

Tacos happened but on a different day, fish was procured to have with the Brussels Sprouts but on a different day than planned and extra leftovers meant the meatballs + spaghetti didn't happen this past week.

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

* 2 packs of Brats
* 2 packs of Chicken Breasts(BOGO + $3 in discount stickers)
* 1 pack of Ground Veal($2 discount sticker)
* 1 pack of Sea Legs/Faux Crab($2 discount sticker)
* 1 lb. Shoulder Steak($3 discount sticker)
* 1 lb. Haddock(we ate the other lb.)

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
* Nothing(We have been using proteins I bought last week and the week before + the fresh haddock I got on special this past week.)

Two trips to Weis, a few items from Ollie's and a small trip to Walmart brought the current weekly spending to $119.05 and my November spending on food to $119.05 for this month.

My savings percentage last week was 37.23%(without Rite-Aid trips)and November's monthly savings total comes in at 37.23%(w/out R-A).

I have 26 more food shopping/spending days in November.

Leftovers going into this week......1 helping each of chicken and dumplings and chicken broccoli casserole.  Not much in the way of leftovers.

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

1. Sunday--Rigatoni w/Sausage in Sauce
2. Monday--Pecan Chicken, Roasted Carrots and Taters

3. Tuesday--?(We are working the polls until 8+pm)

4. Wednesday--Chicken Parm w/Spaghetti, Salad

5. Thursday--Haluski(Cabbage, Noodles, Onions and Bacon)

6. Friday--No clue yet(maybe soup or chowder and cornbread as it's going to be frigid)
7. Saturday--No clue yet

As always this menu is subject to change or rearranging depending on what leftovers get eaten or not and what I am feeling like cooking(or not). lolz

What needs buying for this menu?  Salad Greens and fixings and a gallon of milk.
The ads aren't inspiring me this week so other than the Friday freebie at Weis I may be staying home.

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  

Income & Spending Report 2019........the October 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 plus a few projects around the house.

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 October report---

I had 2 goals for October.......
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 October in the black.
The amount we ended the month of October with?.....$1,282.03

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in October---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $667.58
* $43 for car registration from Ex-College Boy that we paid
Total "Income" for October.....$5,781.49

Expenses in October---

* Healthcare Premium for October was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in October came to $2,650.79
Total Expenses....$4,499.46

$5781.49-$4499.46=$1282.03

Slush into October $16,214.40+ $1,282.03 addition=$17,496.43

The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,282.03 for October.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this October,  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 water bill was $15.38 lower than in September.
*  The electric bill was $8.09 lower than last month.
*  The WAM was the same as in September.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas card bill was $22.95 higher than last month.
*  The c/c bill was $598.25 higher than in September.
*  The Chase/Amazon c/c was $245.19 higher than last month's bill.
*  I had a $5.30 Kohl's charge bill in October.
*  We had $128.98 in various medical co-pays due last month which I didn't take out of HSA funds.
*  We spent $246.00 at the church auction in October.

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

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on October----
A nice quiet financial month mostly.  Yes, the credit card bill was higher than I like to see it but that was due to charges for the trip to Ocean City/Chesapeake/Fredericksburg and it was all planned for. 8-)

THOUGHTS going forward into November 2019----

We have 1 irregular bills due this month, the semi-annual car insurance premium.
There is Chester's neutering to pay for this month as well which is an out of the ordinary/a one time expense.
The credit card will be high again due to having to replace our water heater but I'll debit that amount from the Slush Fund anyway.
We should be a-ok financially in November.

So how was your October financially?
  

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