Frugal Friday.....the December 6th Edition

Here's what qualified as frugal in my world this past week....................

*  I got the Weis(PMITA)Markets Freebie last Friday--

A large 24 oz. bottle of salad dressing.  I got this for Hubs as he loves Blue Cheese dressing and it's something I rarely buy.  Maybe I should put it in his Christmas stocking? lolz

*  I printed out a $5 Coupon that a local brewery sends me.  These get sent about every month.  I gave it to Hubs so he can get a growler fill there for $5 less than he usually pays.

*  I got lots of goodies at Rite-Aid last Friday and Saturday during the Black Friday sale........

This isn't counting Thursday's haul and it was all with no OOP.

*  I went out yesterday and hit some more Rite-Aids to do the Nexus/Shea Moisture Deal.
Here's what I found on Tuesday.....

 2 tubes of Body Butter.

And here's what I got on Thursday..........

2 bottles of Body Wash and 8 bars of Soap.
I spent $55.43 in Bonus Cash and earned $60 back in new Bonus Cash so it was all free!

* I found money!

2 pennies at the Burger King drive-thru last Friday.

A nickel at Weis in one of the center aisles last Friday.

A dime right in front of the register counter at Rite-Aid on Tuesday.

2 Dimes by my favorite self-checkout at Weis on Wednesday.  Who ever loads the change into the checkout machine there isn't very careful getting the coins into the hopper.  Generally the days I see empty coin rolls in the little trash can by the machine I can find a coin or two.  ;-)

This penny was found at Dollar Tree on Thursday in the checkout lane.  I needed some birthday cards and wedding wrap so that put me in the right spot to pick this beauty up.

Again on Thursday I was in the R-A downtown hunting free SheaMoisture stuff and spied this penny near an end cap display.

That makes a Grand Total this week of .39¢ free money!

Oh, I also found this(not money though)..........

A greeting card in the middle of the parking lot at Ocean State Job Lot.  Even though it was spitting snow the card hadn't been sitting there long and was in good shape still.  I picked it up and looked around to see if any was in the lot(either outside their car getting in or sitting in a car ready to leave)so I could ask if anyone dropped the card but there was no human activity in the parking lot.
I guess it got to go home with me as the owner was nowhere to be seen. ;-)

*  I sold something on eBay!

This rather pricey Fitz and Floyd Xmas themed picture frame was a gift to me many years ago from a friend from Canada who use to visit me so she could go shopping in the US.  Her mom and her had eBay business where they picked up stuff like this along with other brands from a wholesale distributor in Canada and sold them.  I haven't heard from this friend in many years also.

I've never taken this gift out of the box to use and found it sitting in a box of Xmas things so put it up for sale as it's discontinued by the manufacturer......and it sold!
Something else de-cluttered from my house and a little money in my pocket besides. 8-)

*  Hubs and I didn't eat out at all this past week.....well except for that small burger at BK, while I was running errands, which I paid for with a gift card. ;-)

*  I earned $25.65 in cash rebates on Ibotta this past week.
Mostly it was from things I bought at R-A during the Black Friday sales but there was $2.50 of it earned from Weis.

*  Speaking of Weis I bought these jars of pasta sauce last Friday there............

5 jars where on sale for .99¢ each if you bought at least 4 at a time.
There was a .50¢ rebate on Ibotta on this brand so each jar ended up costing me .49¢.  We don't care for this brand though so I'll either send these to the local Food Bank or put them into my brother in-law's basket of food I give him each Christmas. ;-)

*  I went to Ocean State Job Lot(to pick up a couple of Xmas presents)and found some foods on the "Eat For Free" table to buy...........

1 x bottle of Sunflower Oil
1 x bag of matcha mochi cookies
1 x box chamomile tea bags
1 x jar barbecue sauce
1 x jar curry sauce
2 x bottles of coconut water
2 x packets of curry sauce mix
2 x Slim-fast meal replacement drinks

$26.95 spent and $26.95 earned on a gift card.
I also cashed in some free gift card points.  I bought 2 packets of Chinese soup, $11.55 in dog treats for the puppies and $9.99 spent on a gift for Hubs for Xmas.  So what I spent on gift cards I didn't use it all on food items but I'm ok with that.
I still have $62.97 on my old gift card plus a new $26.95 gift card.

* I did do some Cyber Monday shopping.  I had a $10 reward for a clothing company that was expiring Dec. 6th and they had everything in their store 50% off on Monday so I bought a few shirts and will take the cost of it all out of my accumulated WAM.  I also needed new bras and found the best price on Kohl's so I combined that purchase with a couple of Xmas gifts and bought them all on Kohl's.  I used coupon codes and $50 in gift cards so ending up paying $5.56 in cash.  I earned $15 in Kohl's Cash so I used that on Wednesday to buy another Xmas gift, using coupon codes again and a free shipping offer which brought my OOP to just over $60.  I went through the ShopatHome portal so earned 4% back in rebates on all the Kohl's purchases(about $4 total).  $4 isn't much but every little bit helps! ;-)

Ok that's all I can think of from last week.

As always stay frugal and tell us the frugal wins you had last week! 8-)))



Sluggy

This Week's Shopping

After the epic shopping last week at Rite-Aid, this week has been fairly anti-climatic.

It snowed here for two days so I didn't out to Rite-Aid this week until Tuesday.  Even so, I still found 2 Shea Moisture items on clearance..........

2 x Body Butter clearance $5.49=$10.98+.66¢tax=$11.64 paid for with BC.
I earned back $10 BC(wyb 2 Nexxus or Shea Moisture)so I spent down the BC on my card by $1.64.
The Catalina machine spit out a $2 off wyspend $15 Q too.

So on Wednesday.....what a clusterf**k!
I go in and the manager says we didn't get a WW coupon packet.  The sometimes there Wellness Ambassador who is suppose to be in charge of this stuff was called and she was told by her higher up that R-A wasn't doing a WW this month, what with Christmas and a special 4 Day ad in additional to the weekly sales ad, etc.
So I showed the manager on my phone photos of the WWQs that supposedly don't exist and showed her comments on site where folks in other states had used them already today.
The manager shrugged her shoulders and said, sorry.  So I said Corporate(or at least the Ambassador's boss)is lying! but she wouldn't acknowledge that I was probably right.(They have been known to lie about stuff in the past. lol)
Then I asked where the 4-Day ads were as they weren't out.
She responded with, "What 4-Day ad?!?" lolz
So I showed her a copy on my phone and she pulled it up too.
Yet another fail.......my store's management never got sent this sales ad information.

So I found a few things to buy and had the cashier price check to make sure that even though there were no sales flyers that the deals still worked......and they did.
So I bought this on Hubs' card..........

2 x Planters on sale 4-Day ad=$6.00
I had a $1/2 Tearpad Q so paid $5.00 in BC.
This purchase earned me back $1 in BC(Planters/Tostitos Deal).

Then I used that $2 off $15 purchase CatQ I earned the day before on my card and bought this......

1 x Folgers coffee(4 day ad sale)=$5.99
2 x Nature Made Vitamin D BOGOFree=$18.49
2 x Kinder Bueno chocolate(4 day ad sale)=$2.00
SubTotal.........$26.48

Coupons Used
$2/$15 Catalina=$2.00
$4/1 Folgers R-A Q=$4.00
$1/1 Nature Made Peelie Q=$1.00
$2/2 Kinder Bueno L2CQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.......$9.00

$26.48-$9.00=$17.48 paid with BC
I submitted the Nature Made purchase to Ibotta and earned $4 cash rebate(2 x $2) so converted $4 BC to cash and spent down the rest of my BC by $13.48.

So be sure to load that chocolate Bueno Q onto your account for some free chocolate(a free stocking stuffer if you need it).

Later that afternoon I got a FB message from the Assistant Manager at R-A(we have become friends like that)telling me they now had the WWQs.
Wtf?!?! I said.
She didn't give me details but I'll get the story the next time I go in.
I just messaged her back that "I told you Corporate lies!"
She laughed and said, "Hey!  Don't shoot the messenger."
But there was no way I was going back at 4 pm for that.  There were no freebies with these WWQs anyway and I was done for the day.

After R-A I hit up Weis(PMITA)Markets.  I wanted to do the "Buy 6/Get $3 Back Instantly" Deal.
I also lucked into some dairy and meat discounts this trip.......

The Buy 6 Deal was the Birdseye frozen veggies, the Borden shredded cheese(I also had a Q for that)and the container of Cabot plain Greek yogurt.
I also picked up 2 packs(only 1 is pictured)of Ground Beef as it was $1.99 lb. which it hardly EVER is here anymore at ANY store!.
Then I found a huge package of breakfast sausages with a $3 instant discount sticker(making it $3.06)so it was $2 lb. and a thin London Broil marked BOGOFree(if you buy one it's half price then)with a $1 instant discount sticker on it as well, making it $3.74 for almost 1.5 lbs. of beef.
The Cabot vanilla yogurt quarts were reduced to $1 per container so I scooped those up too as this brand goes for $4.85 normally around here.  It will be breakfast for me for many days to come. ;-)

Of course one of the packages of ground beef scanned twice so I had to go to CS desk for a refund(what's new?lol).
And I found money by one of the self-checkouts too but that will get talked about tomorrow in the Frugal Friday post. 8-)

I am up to 167 Points at Weis(PMITA)Markets toward a free ham/turkey for Xmas.  I'll do another survey tomorrow for another 100 Points and yet another the following Friday which means I'll only have to spend another $33 to get to 400 Points for that freebie hunk of meat. ;-)

So that's the shopping this week so far.

What stores have you been too and what deals have y'all gotten this week?

Sluggy

Income & Spending Report 2019.....the November 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 November report---

I had 2 goals for November.......
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 November in the black.
The amount we ended the month of November with?.....$1087.56

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in November---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $635.84
* Blogging Revenue of $133.73
Total "Income" for November.....$5916.91

Expenses in November---

* Healthcare Premium for November was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in November came to $2980.68
Total Expenses....$4829.95

$5916.91-$4829.35=$1087.56

Slush into November $17,496.43+ $1,087.56 addition=$18,583.99

Then the hot water heater died in November so we had to take $1076..00 out of the Slush Fund to pay for that.....
$18,583.99-$1076.00=$17,507.99 in the Slush Fund heading into December.

The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $11.56 for November.
That's how much overage in November we had after paying for the water heater, $11.56.
So basically November was a wash in terms of putting any money aside.  I am glad we didn't have to touch savings. ;-)

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this November,  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 WAM was the same as in October.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as last month.
*  The Amazon and M/C bills were less than October's bills($41.64 and $79.99 less respectively)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The electric bill was $74.83 higher than October.  It's that time of year folks. ;-)
*  The gas card bill was $23.88 higher than last month.
*  The water bill was $5.80 higher than in October.
*  The semi-annual car insurance was due to the tune of $717.28.**
*  There was a vet bill for Chester's neutering of $477.28

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

**The Sinking Fund was emptied in November of it's $468.37 to put toward the car insurance.  Using that we only had to use $248.95 of income to cover this irregular bill. 8-)

FINAL THOUGHTS on November----

It was pretty uneventful financially.  Except for paying for a broken water heat, the car insurance premium(which we knew was happening)and paying for Chester's surgery things were monetarily boring which is how I like it. ;-)


THOUGHTS going forward into December 2019----

The only irregular bill due in December are the Long Term Care premiums.
There is Xmas spending on the credit card coming up in December(amazingly Xmas comes every year!!), the electric bill will continue to rise with Winter here.
There will be some medical bills coming due as well in December for appointments in November.

On the bright side I'll be using my "small economies" cash to cover the food bill this month.
If we can have bills and income balance about even and not have to pull cash from the Slush Fund in December I'll be a very happy camper.

So how was your November financially?
  

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

2019 Food Spending Report.....the November Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2019.

I have posted November'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 November.  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  $27.18
Value  $42.84
Savings  56.55%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $11.17
Value  $55.29
Savings  79.80%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $22.47
Value  $40.54
Savings  44.57%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $10.87
Value  $20.10
Savings   45.92%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $49.27
Value  $7908
Savings   37.70%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $1,231.36
Value  $1,231.36
Savings  100%

TARGET

OOP  $47.47
Qs/Ads $17.22

Value  $64.69

Savings 26.62%

WALMART
OOP  $12.64
Value  $13.64
Savings  7.33%

WEIS
OOP  $206.27
Qs/Ads  $267.44
Value  $473.71
Savings  56.46%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Bread Outlet 79.80% and Aldi's at 56.55%.   My worst savings rate was at Walmart with 7.33%.
I shopped at 9 different stores in November.

TOTAL Spent.........................................$387.07

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$402.82

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$789.89

TOTAL Savings of ................................51.00%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for October w/R-A........$387.07
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$1673.89
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$2060.96
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................81.22%

This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent just under my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in November.
Rah team.
I used some of my free and discounted gift cards, as well as store script this month to lower the out of pocket a bit.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 19.25% in November 2019 to 80.85% compared to the October's 61.60% savings average.
That was mostly due to all the free things I got at Rite-Aid on the Black Friday Weekend sales.
Without R-A the savings rate was a presentable 51.00% so it's all good.


With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $4,295.63 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$4,295.63

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$ 15,675.79

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$ 11,380.16

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............72.60%

The average per month amount spent so far is $390.51 in 2019 which went down .34¢ per month from October's average.  That's a very slight decrease but I'll take it! lolz

LOOKING AHEAD To December.............
Ah Christmas time again!
The larder is packed full so I want to eat down pantry and freezers.  Other than family home for Xmas I don't plan any extravagant meals for December.  Daughter isn't here for her birthday so there will be no Birthday meal out then.  We've got no parties to attend and bring food to either.  I've already got a hunk of roast in the freezer for Xmas(plus 2 turkey breasts since I cooked the whole bird for T'giving)and a ham too.  We aren't a big baked goods/sweets eating family at the Holidays except for a couple of pies or cakes on Xmas and I stopped making Xmas cookies years ago as nobody ate them and I ended up throwing more than a few away. 8-(

I'll be cashing out all of my little pots of monies collected throughout 2019 so far during this month to put toward the December food budget.  I'll transfer it all to the bank account and when I buy food items with my cc I'll transfer the funds.  I hope I can cover all the food expenses in this way and not have to pull from income for it this month.

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 November?

*  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

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Feeling Grateful" Edition................

It was a low-key Thanksgiving and doing lots of cooking ahead let me relax a bit more on Turkey Day(and sneak out to Rite-Aid while the turkey roasted...hehehe).
Though two of my kids didn't make it home for the holiday I am grateful that they are both well and gainfully employed, we have good relationships with both of them and they don't need their parents to financially hold them up any longer.
We're still working on #3 kid in that regard. ;-)

Word came from SC that the sister in-law has gone down in flames again.
Count your blessings folks!  And make good decisions about your money and your life.....'nuff said.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Lasagna, Roasted Cauliflower
2. Monday--Halushki

3. Tuesday--Flounder, Veggie TBD, Sweet Potato Fries

4. Wednesday--Leftover Smörgåsbord 

5. Thursday--Turkey Day Dinner

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

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Lasagna, Roasted Cauliflower
2. Monday--Halushki

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Leftover Smörgåsbord 

5. Thursday--Turkey Day Dinner

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

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 4 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.  We didn't need to make the fish dinner because we had sooooo many leftovers! lolz

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

* 1 smoked ham
* 2 packs of shrimp skewers
* 2 lbs. of butter

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
*  1 ginormous Stouffer's lasagna

Two small trips to Weis and a shop at Target w/a discounted gift card brought the current weekly spending to $74.23 and my November spending on food to $387.07 for this month.
I did a couple of shops not shown on the November total(Aldi's, Malacari's)as I had closed out the books already so those will go onto December's tally.

My savings percentage last week was 50.12%(without Rite-Aid trips)and November's monthly savings total comes in at 51.00%(w/out R-A).

It's a new month and I have 29 more food shopping/spending days in December.

Leftovers going into this week.....turkey, stuffing, roasted carrots, rolls, rutabaga, green beans, cranberry glop, wild rice chicken soup, halushki, cornbread.

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

1. Sunday--Turkey Day Leftovers
2. Monday--Flounder, Veggie TBD, Sweet Potato Fries

3. Tuesday--Turkey Casserole(using some leftovers)

4. Wednesday--Beef Bourguignon

5. Thursday--French Onion Soup

6. Friday--Cheeseburgers, Salad
7. Saturday--More Leftovers?

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
Other than those Nov. shops getting put onto Dec. there shouldn't be much shopping 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