What Sluggy Got For Christmas

I know, I know.  You've all been wondering what Santa brought me for Christmas and holding your breath in antici............pation(thank you Rocky Horror for that!)to see the goodies he left me under the tree.

We are pretty low key when it comes to gifting here.  No new cars with big bows, expensive jewelry, trips to exotic lands are found in our stockings.  But if that's your thing and you can afford it without going into debt, have at it!  8-)))

So without further ado, here are Sluggy's goodies........

My brother and sister in-law sent me this heated wrap.  I have gotten where I dislike the extreme cold in Winter here so it will be used.
Bonus-It's PURPLE!

Sonya sent me this framed artwork.  I need to figure out where to hang it now...somewhere I can see it often and think of her. ;-)

Back in October when Kim, Sissie and I had out girls weekend in Ocean City I had brought their Xmas presents(because I am too cheap to mail them in Dec. since I was seeing them in Oct. lol).
Well, when we hit the outlet malls down in Rehoboth they each surprised me in the Vera Bradley outlet and bought me all this--a large travel duffel bag(which got christened going to the wedding in Louisiana)a Hipster purse(because well, I am just so "hip"-or is that hippy?)and a new coordinating wallet.  The pattern of the duffel and purse is called "Batik Leaves" and it's dreamy and purple.  And the discounted prices at the outlet were really low and I LOVE it all!

Eldest son's GF's parents sent this gift basket to us when they showed up for Xmas..........

Since they were heading back there for NYE party I gave the GF a box of Russell Stover's Truffles to give them too.

A reader sent me a set of cool potholders/hotpads.

We had met in person on that Road Trip in the Summer of 2017 and had reconnected via email right before Xmas and she sent me these.  I know her mom quilts and stuff so I don't know who made them, G. or her mom.  But I love the combo of the purple and grey prints especially.
And I promise G. I WILL email you as soon as life settles down a bit here!! ;-)

I picked up this Instant Pot for our kitchen to replace my workhorse crock pot that has decided that the only setting it has now are Off and HIGH. lolz  It gave me $15 in Kohl's cash that I then used to cover some of the cost of the new sweaters/pullovers Hubs needed to replace his shabby/need to be thrown out ones.

The 3 food items on the right in the photo were from Eldest son, Biscuit mix from Byrd Mill(owned by Patrick Henry's father back in the day), a small can of pistachios and Virginia country ham slices, local to him stuff I can't get up here in Yankee land with ease.
The 2 gift cards were from Hubs-1 to Ocean State Job Lot(which I'll prolly spend on food items or dog treats)and a gift card to Amazon.
The other items on the left in the photo were stocking stuffers--a charging cord to keep in my car, a small scented candle, car air fresheners(is he trying to tell me something?!lol), 2 pencil sharpeners so I don't have to climb stairs to use the electric one and a bag of Fritos(which was odd).
He also gave me a fridge magnet of a ruby coated Cavalier King Charles Spaniel(which is the color Dixie is).
Hubs also bought me this.....

A Cavalier calendar.  Now that Hubs Sicilian calendar blogger Treaders sent him last year is finished we needed a 2020 one so in honor of the newest member of the family we are back to puppies.

But the best thing I got(and asked specifically for from Hubs)was this...........

A fellow blogger I read, Gill up in Canada got one of these car decals this past year and I just loved it!!!
I get so many people remarking on my passenger when I drive around town. lolz

I hear what with Andrew's hi-jinx and Harry and Megan wanting to step down from duties that there might be an opening soon and since the Queen is a distant cousin of mine(18th 1 x removed), well....if called to serve, how can I refuse?!?!

The least I can do for now is chauffeur her around the Colonies when she is in town. *snort*

All in all it was a good Christmas between having family here and my gifties.

Sluggy

2019 Income & Spending....the December Report

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 December report---

I had 2 goals for December.......
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 December in the black.
The amount we ended the month of December with?.....$930.64

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in December---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $756.81
* Dividend income of $109.27
Total "Income" for December.....$5936.99

Expenses in December---

* Healthcare Premium for December was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in December came to $2602.27
* Irregular Expenses(Long Term Care Insurance Premiums)$555.41
Total Expenses....$5006.35

$5936.99-$5006.35=$930.64

Slush into December $17,507.99 + $930.64 addition=$18,438.63 left in the Slush Fund to take into 2020.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $930.64 for December.

We started 2019 with $23,164.17 in Slush Funds.
We ended 2019 with $18,438.63 in Slush Funds which means we spent $4,725.54 MORE than what we had coming in strictly as "income" in 2019(Income being, RMSA monies, Annuity funds, Dividends and Interest income, Blogging revenue, Federal Tax Refund).
* I don't include as income any Sales made(eBay or local)or no Poll Worker pay. The Sales ARE included as income we report to the IRS of course.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this December,  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 $4.63 lower than in November.
*   The electric bill was $100.03 lower than last month.
*  The WAM was the same as in November.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as last month.
*  There was no Gas card bill(all gas was put on Mastercard)
*  The M/C bill was $422.08 less than November's bill.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The Amazon card bill was $571.79 higher than in November.
*  There were $73.65 in medical co-pays this month.
*  There was a $77.05 Kohl's bill in December.
*  There was an irregular bill due-Long Term Care Premiums of $555.41 due in December.

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

FINAL THOUGHTS on December----

December was financially predictable.  There was Xmas spending on 2 credit cards, there was an irregular bill due and under $100 in medical co-pays from November OVs.
Surprisingly the electric bill was LOWER than in November!  That almost never happens as we have electric heat but hey!, I'll take it! lolz
We didn't have to pull any cash from the Slush Fund in December for any emergencies.


THOUGHTS going forward into January 2020----
Hubs and I will sit down in the coming week to go over the 2019 budget and all the numbers.
There will be some tweaking of the budget for 2020 and looking at the good and bad of our finances.
We'll be running the expected expenses for the coming year at that point and will come up with what income we'll have available for 2020 to live our best life.
More to come on the report of the Budget Meeting later this month.

So how was your December financially?
  

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

Frugal Friday....The January 10th Edition

This week we are recounting TWO WEEKS worth of frugal-ness since I didn't get a chance to do a January 3rd Edition as we were away and I didn't have time to blog.

I'm still trying to catch up since getting home.  I've got more closing out of December posts, closing out 2019 posts and getting into what's ahead for 2020 posts.
Oy!

But for now, let's see what good and frugal stuff happened over the lasts two weeks--

*  I got the Friday Freebie at Weis(PMITA)Markets on Dec. 27th............

A free jar of pickle chips.  It was suppose to be dill pickles but the store was out of them(at 9 in the morning, when the deal started)so they subbed the bread and butter variety(but I had to go to Customer Service and ask first).
I missed last week's Freebie(salad dressing....didn't they just do salad dressing recently??)because we were in Alabama and Louisiana then and nowhere near a Weis(PMITA)Markets. 8-(

*  Sort of Free Lodging on our trip to LA!
We stayed at 3 different hotels(1 in TN, 1 in LA, 1 in VA)on the trip.  I booked them through Hotels dotcom and got very good rates(1 was a "secret price" Oooo!!).lolz  I paid with Hotels dotcom gift cards I had bought in either 2018 or 2017 so the money for those was already spent long ago, meaning no money OOP for hotel rooms on this 2019 trip(except the housekeeping tips).

We also shortened our stay in LA by a day.  After all, it was the day after the wedding and there was nothing we wanted to do or see there, eldest son flew home to VA that morning and the newlyweds didn't want to spend their first day married hanging out with us(wink, wink, nudge, nudge)so I changed the reservation and we left to come home after Brunch with them.
And Hubs and I stayed with friends for 3 other nights-2 along the way down and 1 back.  Those were the best nights! ;-)

*  We had to kennel the puppies since, with the hours Ex-College Boy works, there was no way to keep them home while we were gone.  We booked the doggies into a family run/owned small facility closer to our house than the one we had to use last Summer when we went to Porcfest which was quite a distance from home.  This boarding cost less and we got a break on the price having the dogs in the same enclosure and providing our own food and treats for them.

They both got lots of attention and love there(Dixie spent most of her time in the arms of the owners grown son)but were super glad to see us when we went to pick them up. ;-)

*  While I didn't brave the after Christmas shopping hoards I did manage to pick up a few things on clearance.
Here's most of my Rite-Aid, 75% off haul.........

This isn't everything(not showing items I picked up for gifting to certain folks in case they are reading this)but most of it.  It was all 75% off and paid with Bonus Cash(and a few $$s on a free gift card as well).  I still have about $40 in BC to spend down. Oy!

Hubs and I hit 2 Walmarts in the past 2 weeks too.......

This was the one near home. I got 2 window cling sheets, a bag of bows and some ornie hooks(our silver ones were too small for most of the ornies we tried to hang....green hooks don't work well on a white Xmas tree!).  We also found these Xmas themed(they were on Xmas cardboard)Farberware kitchen tools-a can opener, a peeler and a set of measuring spoons and cups.  Kitchen tools for 50% off?  Yes please!

We needed to go to Walmart for something before the wedding so I went to see what Xmas stuff was left.  I got more bows, a book of gift tags, 4 square gift boxes and a bag of those cinnamon scented pine cones that I love.  I'll put the pine cones in an airtight container until next Fall so they hold their scent until then.

*  I earned $3.10 in cash rebates.  $3 on SavingStar for buying Lindt Xmas choccies 75% off at R-A and .10¢ on Ibotta for buying "any" item at Weis.

*  I hit Weis up on Dec. 27th for clearance items............

The Holiday Starbucks coffee bags were $2 each(I got 6).  The applesauce cups were $1 each and the 4 pack boxes of cups were $3.99 per box.  The pineapple cans were .50¢ each and I used 2 x $1/4 Dole ManuQs so those 8 can should have cost $2 total but the cashier only rang up 7 cans so they all cost me $1.50. ;-)  And both Qs still went through without beeping.
Total spent at Weis=$25.48(almost half of that was the coffee).

*  I brought home hotel goodies!

Mini-toiletries, tea bags, coffee pods, finger bowl towelettes, make-up remover wipe, coffee sugar/creamer packets, hot cocoa mix and a tiny rubber ducky....wtf?!?


*  I sold something on eBay. 

Of course that was on Jan. 1st and we were somewhere on the road in TN or AL and I couldn't ship it out until we got home.  I was able to get in touch with the Buyer and she said she'd wait.  It's shipped and received now so yay me! lolz

*  I brought a stack of gift cards for food places on the trip to LA.  I think we used them twice...once at Subway in TN and once at a Burger King in MS(I also used a free Chicken Fries winning game piece at the BK).

Don't I look thrilled?  This is because I am tired and pissed off at Hubs.  I had to go through the BK line twice-once to redeem my freebie and once to use my phone to redeem a Q to use for Hubs meal I paid for with a gift card and Hubs was yelling at me because I didn't want to just use money and not get the freebie and use a Q on his meal.
The poor thing had to wait an extra 3 minutes for his food(we were the only ones in line).
Men.

*  I found money!

I went into JoAnn Fabrics with eldest son's GF on Dec. 27th and as we were leaving I spied all this by an abandoned electric cart.......

I was able to count that .60¢ in December's tally so it's part of my 2019 Found Money Total.

But this bit here was on Dec. 30th and I had already closed out the books on 2019.........

Two pennies in Rite-Aid when I went in to pick up an Rx I needed before we went to LA.

On the 31st while we were traveling to Louisiana............

Two pennies when we stopped for lunch at the Cook-Out in Harrisonburg VA.

Then later that day at a convenience store/gas station in Western VA.........

Another penny right in front of the register/counter.

After we got to the motel in Tennessee where we slept that night we got dinner at a Subway.  After eating we wandered into the convenience store connected to it and I found this..........

Another penny under a rack of embroidered with names key chains.  Of course I moved the rack to get to this coin while Hubs left the building so nobody thought he was with this crazy lady. lolz

The next day, on the way to Lorraine's house in Alabama we stopped for gas in Fort Payne AL.

This penny was right next to the car when I opened my door to get out to go potty in the convenience store bathroom.

Then I had a dry spell of  one day before finding all this coinage at the nastiest McDonald's in Louisiana connected to yet another convenience store........

Three pennies were sitting under the counter at Mickey D's, one in front of each register.  The fourth penny was found when I wandered into the convenience store to look around while waiting for Hubs to get his coffee at Mickey D's.  Sitting there on the floor right in front of the locked liquor cabinet with tons of bottles of Hennessy was the last coin at that stop.


And then I even found money at the Wedding Venue..........

A penny on the floor next to the drink station.

I found no change on the drive home but when I went to do laundry once we got home I found this in the washer..........

.38¢ which must have come out of Hubs pockets.  As per the house rules, "Whoever does the laundry and finds money, said money is deemed abandoned and it becomes the property of management".

And the last found change of the past two weeks was at Weis on Wednesday........

We were out of milk and a few things so I found this penny under the self-checkout machine I used to check-out at.

$1.11 total in change, .60¢ of which I counted in the 2019 books before closing the year out.
.51¢ of this goes into the 2020 Found Money coffers, starting the year off with a bang!

That's about all I can remember that was frugal over the last 2 weeks.

Paying for gas to drive halfway across the country and back, renting a car to do that in, paying for a night at the craft brewery for the wedding party/guests, taking the newlyweds out to a champagne brunch at the casino, gifting the newlyweds a big check, and letting Hubs go anywhere near a liquor store on a trip are decidedly NOT frugal things!
But it all balances out in the end and gets you to where you want to be financially, right?

Tell us all about your frugal wins lately!

Sluggy

2019 Food Spending Report.....the December Edition & Year End Total

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2019.

I have posted December'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 December.  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(3-4 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
*****************

ALDI'S
OOP  $16.50
Value  $28.92
Savings  42.95%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.89
Value  $45.11
Savings  75.86%

MAINES

OOP  $19.87
Qs/Ads $18.13

Value  $38.00

Savings 47.71%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $31.89
Value  $50.19
Savings  36.46%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT

OOP  $26.95

Value  $47.00

Savings 42.66%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $3.09
Value  $15.49
Savings   80.05%

P and R DISCOUNTS
OOP  $13.63
Value  $41.12
Savings   66.85%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $1208.19
Value  $1208.19
Savings  100%

WALMART
OOP  $7.62
Value  $10.88
Savings  29.96%

WEIS
OOP  $177.79
Qs/Ads  $224.44
Value  $402.23
Savings  55.80%

WENGER'S-Amish Outlet

OOP  $56.53

Value  $170.49

Savings 66.84%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Ollies at 80.05% and the Bread Outlet 75.86%.   My worst savings rate was at Walmart with 29.96%.
I shopped at 11 different stores in December.

TOTAL Spent.........................................$364.76

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$484.67

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$849.43

TOTAL Savings of ................................57.06%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for December w/R-A........$364.76
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$13073.02
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$17733.41
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................73.72%

This closes out the December food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well under my $400 budgeted amount for food/toiletries in December.
Rah team.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 7.13% in December 2019 to 73.72% compared to the November's 80.85% savings average.
Black Friday R-A sales made November better than December, as it does most years.  But hitting that Amish Discount Outlet and P and R Discounters in Dec. gave me a very good savings percentage this month as well.

Now let's add all my small pots of monies I save throughout the year to put toward groceries....rolled coins, found money, refunds and "post coupons" as well as various cash back apps(Ibotta, Saving Star, Checkout 51, etc.).  That all came to $745.77.  See my Small Economies post for the details on all that.


With 12 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $3,914.82 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,914.82

2019 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items....$17,733.41

2019 Grand Total Saved...............................$ 13,818.59

2019 Yearly Savings Total............77.92%

The average per month amount spent is $326.24 in 2019.

LOOKING AHEAD To January 2020.............
I won't actually be grocery shopping until we get back from the wedding so that leaves 24 days in January to spend on food/toiletries.
Perhaps we'll stay home/out of the food stores and eat down except for needing fresh veg/dairy.
Let's see how little I can spend in January on groceries.
Anybody want to make a guess on how much I spend on this category in January? ;-)

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 December?

*  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

It's Done!

May I introduce Mr. & Mrs. Kruithof.

More sometime next week when we get home.
Tomorrow we head back to Alabama.

Sluggy