Frugal Friday.....the April 3rd Edition

This week's Frugal Friday, albeit an abbreviated one from here at Chez Sluggy.......

*  No Freebies or still even sales ads from Weis this week.  I sent Hubs to Weis yesterday for 6 items. rah
I do have to send him back this coming week for my free or reduced price Easter item(ham, turkey, etc.)using my accumulated points. Oh, that should be fun explaining to him how that will work. lolz

*  I found money(and this will be the last change for awhile)...........

Last Saturday I found this dime on the mat in front of the register at Rite-Aid.

Found Money This Week...... .10¢
Found Money This Year so far....$44.65

*  On Tuesday Hubs and I rode down to Taco Bell for free taco Tuesday at their pick-up window....

We also got something else too because 1 taco each wasn't going to cut it. lol

*  I forgot to mention that the last time I was in Weis this printed out at the register.......

I had bought Ben and Jerry's the previous trip, not that trip.  Looks like the Catalinas at Weis are lagging or something.
I used this Cat at Rite-Aid last Saturday on some coffee I bought to spend down my BC on one of my cards.

*  My online clothing order arrived, everything was correct and fit.
Still no $20 R-A debit prepaid card they owe me from February....sigh.....I guess I have to call them.

*  I earned a whole .10¢ on Ibotta this past week.

*  Gas is down to $1.99 here at two stations.  Not that it matters, as we don't need gas now because we can't go anywhere. lolz

* Since I'm stuck at home(well I am usually home anyway!)I'm working on some sewing projects and some decluttering projects.   We are contemplating getting paint to finish painting the downstairs too.  I have to keep Hubs busy and out of my hair, don't I?

*  When I had Hubs get the WAM for April yesterday I had him get $200 extra for take-out.  The only Chinese place still open here only takes cash or checks, no credit/debit cards.  I see a lot of Chinese take-out in the coming month so I'll keep an envie of cash for that.

Not much from here this week.
What frugal wins did y'all have?


Sluggy

Living In the Time of Pandemic....Being Normal as Possible

Sometimes I look out my window and think the world has gone mad.

This happened last week at a grocery store I frequent...............

This incident made the pages of that bastion of yellow journalism the NY Post, as well as was covered on the national network news by NBC and Fox.

During my last trip to the Weis(PMITA)Markets grocery store on 24 March I heard a customer in line at one of the regular check-out registers yelling, "We're all gonna die!  This thing is going to kill us all!!  Nobody will escape it!"  over and over again.  I don't know why management didn't escort him out of the store or at least duct tape his mouth shut.

The next door neighbor's wife, he reports, walks around the house and cries all day.  They are both elderly like us and the husband still goes to work now 2 days a week.  But he wishes he went more often because of how this thing is affecting his wife. Being around somebody this distressed all the time wears on a body so I'd want to go to work too. ;-)

I spent down all my Bonus Cash as of Sunday when I bought 3 bags of Robin Eggs malted milk balls, using a $2/3 ManuQ.  I had to pick up Ex-CB's Rx that day anyway at Rite-Aid.
I'll be earning new BC on 2 accounts/cards on April 5th from this Bonus Cash Challenge but R-A has gone back to having 60 days to use or lose the BC due to the pandemic.

Ex-College Boy is still furloughed until further notice.  He got paid for the first two weeks they were closed by his company but since Sunday he is now laid off.  He has applied for Unemployment this week.

The Daughter is still having to report to work in Louisiana but her husband has been given the ok to work from home so they both are still working.  This solves their dog's problem as she has not adjusted to their new house yet(and she may never adjust to being left alone because she's "special").  Daughter has been buying meal kits online or getting take-out delivered so as to stay out of the grocery stores.  I hope their budget can keep up with that expense.

Eldest, who is a teacher, is sitting home playing World of Warcraft(after he spends a minimum of time uploading lessons to some Google platform for his students)in his underwear and day drinking.
Their school district can't seem to get their shit together enough to do online classes and they aren't grading any student during this so he has little to do.

I had to send him this last week.........

A box of toilet paper.  He was down to his last 2 rolls and after going to every store in his town he couldn't secure a pack of tp so I sent him a supply.
Every time he's here to visit I ask him what he needs, to go into my stockpile and take what he wants but he rolls his eyes at me and says, "thanks but no thanks".  And all my kids use to make fun of me for having a stockpile of goods.
But who's having the last laugh now, huh?!?

Eldest and I share a morbid sense of humor so I told him I was making him a mask out of this fabric to weaar if he needs to go out in public..........

With the number of cases in our county now(almost up to 400) Hubs and I have made a decision that if anything(drugs, groceries, take-out)need picking up in April he'll go do it and I am quarantined for the duration.  With my suppressed immune system(due to being on a biologic drug)and my history of asthma/breathing problems he's our "canary in the coal mines". ;-)

Other than disrupting my weekly routine of grocery shopping/Rite-Aid shopping this shouldn't be so hard, right?  I'm usually a homebody anyway if not on an occasional trip somewhere.

But staying home and eating comfort foods snuggled in your pjs watching tv of your own volition is different than being told you can't leave home and you HAVE TO do those things.
It's in your mindset.

We all need to give ourselves permission to do nothing or to at least get less done.
We are in a crisis here and things are NOT normal even if we want to pretend they are.
We are ALL stressed in some way or another......if not financially due to less/no work and less/no pay, then our daily routines are disrupted and we are all anxious about friends and family members and about our own health.

I've been listening to a lady on Youtube for years.  She runs an organizing business in Houston Texas and calls herself the "Clutter Fairy".  She use to tape a monthly local meeting/talk and put it online but went to a weekly virtual coaching session/meeting the beginning of this year.
I found Tuesday's session very enlightening, even if you don't need organizing help.

Pay attention to the first 20 minutes or so of this vlog......


We are all facing a fire hose right now so give yourself some Grace and don't push yourself too hard!

I am trying to keep my own routines in place to give my life some structure(and trying not to kill my spouse)but I am giving myself grace too.
I got some comments on my March Grocery Spending Report about not tracking spending right now because well, pandemic!  Some may feel tracking food spending may be just too much to handle with everything else on their plate, but that's ok.  For me though, it would be a cop-out.  I need to maintain that part of my routine on the blog, as well as tracking monthly spending, meal planning(even if the plan goes off the rails)et al.

I do have to say that I am in a better place mentally now than I was going into March.  Not pandemic related directly but when Hubs signed us up for a medical plan back in Dec. for 2020 we didn't know that Cigna(our insurer)was having issues with Geisinger(the dominant healthcare system in this area-of which  ALL our doctors are part of).  Talks were ongoing until the end of February so until the 29th of that month,  Cigna would still cover all medical charges from Geisinger as in-network.
The last we heard beginning of March Cigna and Geisinger never came to a resolution so we needed to find new doctors asap.
Just trying to find a non-affiliated Geisinger doc around here was difficult but to find one that would take me and my myriad of health issues on what impossible.  I found one but he would refuse to prescribe me any opioid under any circumstance.  This opioid crisis is sad but the over reaction to it by legitimate healthcare providers around here for people with legitimate chronic pain issues is ridiculous!  I was having to choose between seeing out-of-network doctors(mine)and having to satisfy another $4K in payments BEFORE the deductible was met for the year or seeing a doctor who refused to write me pain meds.  I spent much of March hoping I didn't get sick with anything(Covid-19 or not)and need to go to the doctor.

We contacted Cigna again on April 1 and it seems they came to an agreement with Geisinger and those docs/facilities will remain in-network but neither entity contacted us patients about this!!!
So we let them both know how pissed off we were(and we still are).
Next sign-up time Cigna can kiss my fat white behind goodbye!

And I'll close with this prophetic music video of Joe Diffie, a second tier country artist and writer we lost last week to Covid-19.
He was born 24 days before me so this hits close to home.
I've always enjoyed his music may his soul rest in peace.


 

Stay home if you can, stay safe and wash your hands!

Sluggy

The Food Spending Report.....the March Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MARCH 2020..

I have posted March'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 March.  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 4(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 24.
*****************

ALDI'S
OOP  $36.48
Value  $68.20
Savings  46.51%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $5.79
Value  $28.97
Savings  80.01%

MALACARI'S

OOP  $27.99

Value  $48.03

Savings 41.72%

PandR DISCOUNTS
OOP $27.96
Value  $82.84
Savings  66.25% 

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/GCard  $453.04
Value  $453.04
Savings  100%

WEIS
OOP  $257.58
Qs/Ads  $346.01
Value  $603.59
Savings  57.33%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Dollar General at 80.01% and PandR at 66.25%.   My worst savings rate was at Malacari's with 41.72%.
I shopped at 6 different stores in March.  Over  %of my food spending in March was done at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

TOTAL Spent........................................$355.80

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales................$356.16

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$711.96

TOTAL Savings of ................................50.03%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for March w/R-A........$355.80
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$809.20
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$1165.00
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................69.46%

This closes out the March food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into March wanting to stay under my usual $400 monthly food budget last month.
Even with some extra comfort food buying and not adhering to sales and using coupons during the last half of the month because of the panic buying all around me and avoiding as much time spent at the grocery stores, we still stayed under budget.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 1.20% in March 2020 to 69.46% compared to the February 2019 rate of 68.26% savings average.

With 3 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $912.17 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$912.17

2019 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items....$3158.40

2019 Grand Total Saved...............................$2246.23

2019 Yearly Savings Total............71.12%

The average per month amount spent is $304.06 in 2020.

LOOKING AHEAD To April 2020.............
Being in the middle of self-isolating and pandemic mode who knows what April's spending will look like?!
At the moment I have no Bonus Cash so I'll be staying out of Rite-Aid for awhile(and not bringing home free toiletries, etc.).  My menu plan doesn't need me to run to the grocery store this week.  We've got some canned and frozen veg and the fresh veg will be gone by the weekend.  Freezers and pantry are still filled here so we'll remain calm and carry on at least for the next little bit.

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 March?

*  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 "Be Careful What You Wish For" Edition................

I saved this meme at the beginning of the year but what with this quarantining I just might make a dent in my fabric stash after all. lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning-

This is what was planned for last week.......

1. Sunday--Ravioli and Meatballs, Salad
2. Monday--Tacos
3. Tuesday--Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus

4. Wednesday--Chicken Enchiladas, Rice and Beans

5. Thursday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Roasted Carrots

6. Friday--small TV Dinners, Veggie TBD
7. Saturday--Broccoli Cheddar Soup

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Ravioli and Meatballs, Salad
2. Monday--Tacos
3. Tuesday--Leftovers or Fend For Yourself

4. Wednesday--Popeye's Chicken, Cole Slaw, Biscuits, Green Beans

5. Thursday--Salmon, leftover sides

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

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 2 nights of Take-Out.  No meals out obviously but some take-out happened.
I made the Broccoli Cheddar Soup but we didn't have it for dinner but it's getting eaten as lunch fare.

What got put into the freezer last week....
* Nothing

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
* 2 bags of Ravioli
* 1 bag of Meatballs

1 trip to Weis(PMITA)Markets and 1 trip to Aldi this past week  brought spending to $77.99 brings my March Grand Total spending on food so far to $355.80.

I've earned $32.25 in Ibotta rebates and $1.00 in SavingStar rebates too in March.

My savings percentage last week was 39.14%(without Rite-Aid trips)and March's monthly savings total comes in at 50.03% so far(w/out R-A).   

I have 1 more food shopping/spending days in March but I am finished for the month.

Leftovers going into this week.....green beans, potato salad, 1 biscuit and a pot of broccoli cheddar soup plus 1 helping of sizzling rice Chinese soup.

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

1. Sunday--Leftover Chicken, Potato Salad, Green Beans
2. Monday--Roasted Turkey, Mashed Potatoes w/Gravy, Asparagus, Cranberry Sauce
3. Tuesday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Veg TBD

4. Wednesday--Turkey or Chicken Enchiladas, Beans and/or Rice

5. Thursday--Pork Teriyaki and Veggie Stir-Fry, Rice

6. Friday--Ham, Corn Casserole
7. Saturday--Leftovers

What needs buying for this menu?  Nothing. I dug through the freezer and pantry and I have everything needed here.
I got mushrooms so Stroganoff is back on for this week.  I'll use leftover Turkey from Monday in the Enchiladas unless that all gets eaten, then I'll use a bag of chicken meat I froze from our last roasted chicken instead.  I pulled a boneless ham from the freezer which should be defrosted by Friday and that will give us leftover ham for next week.  I'm not a big ham fan so maybe I'll take some over to the brother in-law too since they won't be coming for Easter dinner this year.

I may have to go grocery shopping next week as we'll be out of fresh veggies by then.

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

The Quarantine Song

Our county is now under a "Stay Home/Shelter in Place" Decree.  I knew it was coming.

This is dedicated with love to Sonya Ann after she yelled at me about going to Rite-Aid and Weis..........


Stay home and wash your hands!

Sluggy