This Week on the Dining Table

The "A Lot of Food Shopping Happened This Past Week" Edition................

No photos because I shared a lot of them on Frugal Friday.

Then we hit 3 stores on Thursday/Friday and those totals will go on May's books because I closed out April before then.

sigh.

All this low food spending is getting wiped out in May.

It is what it is..........

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning-

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Parm, Salad
2. Monday--BBQ Sandwiches, Cole Slaw
3. Tuesday--Shrimp Scampi, Salad

4. Wednesday--Tuna Noodle Casserole

5. Thursday--Beef Pie

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

And this is what really happened........

1. Sunday-Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese
2. Shrimp Scampi, Salad
3. Tuesday--Chicken Parm, Leftover Broccoli

4. Wednesday--TV dinners

5. Thursday--Beef Pie

6. Friday--BBQ Sandwiches, Cole Slaw
7. Saturday--Chinese Take-Out

Last week saw 5-6 nights of home cooked dinners(depending if you consider TV dinners home cooking lol),  1 night of leftovers/FFY, and 1 night of Take-Out(Chinese).
Pretty much what was planned was served except the Tuna Casserole and Take-Out took the place of Leftovers on Sat.

What got put into the freezer last week....
* 4 bags of petite steaks
* 5 tv dinners

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
* 2 containers of breaded chicken patties
* 2 lbs. of raw shrimp
* 1 quart of smoked pork
* 1.25 lb. ground beef
* 3 tv dinners

3 trips, 1 each to Ollie's, Malacari's produce and Ocean State,had me spending $73.47 this past week and brings my April Total spending on food to $297.45.  After this past weekend food shopping May's totals will be bad, very bad. 8-(

I am at $0.00 earned in Ibotta rebates in May.

My savings percentage last week was 42.21%(without Rite-Aid trips)for April and the  monthly savings total comes in at 39.59%(w/out R-A).  

I have 27 more food shopping/spending days in May.

Leftovers going into this week........2 small baked taters, squash casserole, pierogies, au gratin potatoes, cauliflower, beef pie, a little bit of bbq and shrimp scampi.

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

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers, leftover Veggies
2. Monday--TV dinners
3. Tuesday--leftover Ham Steaks, Asparagus, leftover au gratin Taters reworked

4. Wednesday--Halushki

5. Thursday--Assorted leftovers

6. Friday--Quiche, Salad
7. Saturday--?

What needs buying for this menu?
Don't know, don't care right now.
It's a half-assed menu because I am not feeling like making one. 8-P

What's left on my master list of meals we can make from what's here...........
*Shrimp Tempura
*Roasted Chicken
*Kielbasa sandwiches
*Tuna Casserole
*Hot Dogs, Beans
*Chicken and Dumplings
*Shrimp Ravioli
*Breakfast for Dinner
*Spaghetti and Meatballs
*Goulash over Noodles
*Quiche
I can also make.......
*Halushki-large amount of cabbage leftover from making Cole Slaw
*Stuffed Shells(found in freezer)

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

2020 Income & Spending Report........the April Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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.

  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 April report---

I had 2 goals for April.......
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 2020.

I can report that we finished up April in the black.
The amount we ended the month of April with?.....$1,685.86

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in April---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,883.76
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $793.14
* Refund from landline/credit finally! of $10.82
Total "Income" for April.....$5,909.96

Expenses in April---

* Healthcare Premium for April was $1,883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular Bills in April came to $61.00(State Tax Bill)
* Variable Expenses in April came to $2,279.34
Total Expenses....$4,224.10

$5,909.96-$4,224.10=$1,685.86
Slush into April of $22,352.51 in that Fund to take into May with the $1685.86 overage brings Slush to $24,038.37. going into May.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,685.86 for April

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this April, 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.
*  The electric bill was $18.99 lower than in March.
*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.
*  The gas bill was $5.18 less than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The Amazon c/c bill was $23.37 higher than in March.
*  The Mastercard c/c bill was $190.89 higher than last month. $350 of that bill was car registration and car repairs.
*  We took an additional $200 out in cash to pay for take-out at the lone Chinese restaurant still open in our town as they don't take c/c.
*  We paid $61.00 in state taxes owed to PA(an irregular bill).
*  I bought $134.92 in clothing in April.  Was going to take that out off my accumulated WAM but Hubs says we don't pay for our clothing out of WAM so I didn't and it goes on the balance sheet here. lolz

The Food Budget costs for April 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 April---
April was a quiet and boring financial month.
We don't have jobs to lose and our annuity is a guaranteed source of income so we don't have financial woes from this pandemic and we know we are blessed AND lucky.


THOUGHTS going forward into May 2020----
More stay at home orders here in PA so we sit here making no travel plans for 2020 so I can take care of life/money issues elsewhere and make plans to relocate.

Financially, we have one irregular bill due--semi-annual car insurance in May.  The electric bill should continue to go down as the weather gets warmer.  All other bills should be about the same.

We'll have to pay Ex-College Boy's portion of the car insurance until he gets some $$ flowing in.  He is broke after being without work for 6 weeks and is waiting on his first unemployment check still(applied in mid March), no clue on where or when his Stimulus Check will arrive(might be July before he sees it?!)and his Federal tax refund is also MIA so we'll be fronting him the car insurance cost until he gets something because we have the funds to help him short term.  Before all this started he had money saved to move out into his own place this Summer but that's all gone now with having to pay other bills along with having no paychecks/employment.
Our car insurance Pandemic discount won't show up until November either.   yay.

So we just "keep on keeping on" here, as the saying goes.

So how was your April financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in April?
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 May 1st Edition

Well I did go out this week grocery shopping on Wednesday to Weis(PMITA)Markets and then to Rite-Aid, then after I posted my food spending totals on Thursday we went out to PandR discounts and Maines the restaurant supply store(so I'll put those 2 shops into May's total).

So let's see what was frugal(or approaching frugal)this past week..........

*  I went to Weis this week after 5 weeks of avoiding it like the plague(pun intended).  Here are the best deals I got there........

The OEP items were "Buy 4 boxed or canned items/Get a free bag of cheese". The 4 items were $5 total so $5 for all 5 items.  The cheese is almost $3 a bag here if bought alone so I'm ok with this deals.
The organic Francesco Rinald sauce was on clearance $1.50 per jar.  I redeemed a .50¢/2 Ibotta rebate so 2 jars cost me $2.50 total.
I had a coupon for .75¢/1 Domino golden sugar that doubled to $1.50 off so it cost $1.19 OOP.
I bought lots more including 5 tv dinners and a bag of croutons which were part of a Mix and Match Buy/Get $3 Back Deal.  I got a piece of Salmon(it was $1 more per lb. than last month), my Stress Rx tea was on sale 2/$5, 2 lbs. of butter for $2.50 each, etc.

*  I finished my Allegra SavingStar Deal at Rite-Aid this week..........

Earned $21 between Ibotta and SavingStar and paid with BC so Zero OOP on this.

*   I found money!

Rite-Aid was a jackpot for me this week!

This penny was found in the parking lot, worse for the wear but still spendable.

These 3 pennies where found by the  registers.

And this slightly out of focus dime was found in the greeting card aisle(which I detoured down to avoid other customers).  Lucky me!

Found Money This Week...... .14¢
Found Money This Year so far....$45.05

I also found this penny..............

I thought it was a fifth penny for the day but when I dug it out from behind the floor mat it was one of those souvenir "squashed" pennies.  This one is from Ohio and has the state bird, a cardinal, on it.

I laughed at this because I sort of collect these!

Here's the one I "squashed" from Buc-ee's in Alabama Lorraine took us to in January.

Here's the one from the amusement park we took eldest and his GF to last Summer-that's the ride we all went on.

Here's the Mad Elf penny from when Hubs and I went to Troegs Brewing last Spring after my medical appointment at Hershey Medical.

And here's the penny I squashed when we went to see "Carhenge" in the Summer of 2017.
(This reminds me I STILL have to recount our 2017 Summer Road Trip for the blog.)

*  I found a few deals yesterday at the restaurant supply store and the discount food store.......

Liquid whole eggs for .50¢ a quart and 4.5 lbs. of sour cream for $3.99 at the restaurant supply.
The asparagus was $1.29 at the discounters.  Now I have to find containers to put the sour cream in and ways to use it up! lol

We went to the restaurant supply to see if they had any more of those small steaks I got earlier in April.  Something they called "Coulotte" Sirloin steaks........

They had 3 packages left so I bought them all as these are the most tender steaks we've ever had.  The price wasn't bad either at $5.99 lb.
I've repackaged them and we have 4 meals for the 3 of us out of this buy.  I also had 1 small piece left I can make a steak sandwich out of for a lunch for myself. ;-)

I found a loaf of PF oatmeal bread at the food discounters for $1.29.  My discount bread store is still closed so after this is gone I am going to have to pay full price at the grocery store for bread. *sob*

*  I earned $6.50 in Ibotta this week.(2 x $2 Allegra at R-A and .50¢ at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

*  I got a freebie at the food discounters.............

3 bags of Garden of Eatin' grain-free tortilla chips.  Only 2 are pictured because Hubs opened/ate most of the third bag before I got around to taking this photo this morning.

The store was giving these out to anyone who bought anything in the store.  The cashier said we could have as many as we wanted because they had pallets of it in the back(and the sell by date was past).  They aren't bad(aren't good either)but will be nice with a dip like hummus. ;-)

*  There has been no take-out this week so far.  We tried on Thursday to use a gift card and get take-out at Applebee's(they make a good Asian salad w/chicken)but we decided against it finally and just came home and had leftover Shrimp Scampi.
I think there will be some Chinese take-out this weekend however(if I have anything to do about it-and I will! lol).

That's about it from here.................

What wins did y'all have this week?


Sluggy

Food Spending Report........the April Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2020.

I have posted April'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 April.  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.
*****************

MAINES
OOP  $100.79
Value  $153.30
Savings   34.25%

MALACARI'S

OOP  $73.64

Value  $113.70

Savings 35.23%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $33.63%
Value  $49.09
Savings  31.49%

PandR DISCOUNTS
OOP $30.70
Value  $74.02
Savings  58.52% 

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/GCard  $105.94
Value  $105.94
Savings  100%

WEIS
OOP  $47.48
Qs/Ads  $25.38
Value  $72.86
Savings  34.83%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, P and R Discounts at 58.52% and Malacari's at 35.23%.   My worst savings rate was at OSJL with 31.49%.
I shopped at 6 different stores in April.

TOTAL Spent........................................$297.45

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales................$194.95

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$492.40

TOTAL Savings of ................................39.59%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for April w/R-A........$297.45
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A....................$300.89
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$598.34
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................50.29%

This closes out the April food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into April not knowing what to expect on the food/toiletries spending front.  Having to send Hubs to Weis(PMITA)Markets and the lack of sales there in April I knew we'd spend more on items and we did. I went to smaller stores(the produce market and restaurant supply store)and saved about what I usually save buying items there(which is better than I can do on those items at grocery stores.
By using some stockpile items instead of relying on the stores I was still able to stay way under budget($102.55 under)but the stockpile has taken a hit.  Regular grocery store prices(from my look around on Wednesday-my first foray out into one in 5 weeks)seem to have risen significantly for me to notice.  Is this the new normal in pricing and for how long?
This unknown means we all need to watch closely what we spend on food, budget better where we can and to make sure we eat our leftovers and not throw food away!

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 19.17% in April 2020 to 50.29% compared to the March 2019 rate of 69.46% savings average.

With 4 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $1209.62 on food/toiletries in 2019.


2019 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$1209.62

2019 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$3756.74

2019 Grand Total Saved...............................$2547.12

2019 Yearly Savings Total............67.80%

The average per month amount spent is $302.41 in 2020 which went down a couple of dollars.

LOOKING AHEAD To May 2020.............
Who the F&*k knows!
The stockpile/pantry is looking a tad ragged and thin after April.

I don't even want to hazard a guess.....do you? lolz


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 April?

*  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

I Went to Rite-Aid Today!

So I have been working on a $15 when you spend $75 Allegra rebate on SavingStar so I went to Rite-Aid today and finished it when I went in to pick-up Rxs.

I haven't step foot in Rite-Aid in almost 2 weeks.

I got 2 x Allegra-D(the ones behind the pharmacy counter).
Reg. price of $15.99 cost me $12.79 with 20% Wellness discount so $25.58 subtotal

I used one of the $5 wyspend $25 RA in-ad Qs which brought it down to $20.58.
Then I used a $5/1 ManuQ on one and a $4/1 IPQ(Allegra website)on the other so another $9 off making my total $11.58 which I paid for in Bonus Cash earned in March on those Bonus Challenges.

When I got home I submitted to Ibotta for $6 in rebates(2 x $3 Allegra)and am waiting on the $15 SavingStar rebate since this purchase put me over $75 "spent".

So nice to get back money to bring stuff home from Rite-Aid still, even though I am finding less to bring home for free nowadays.
I think I "spent" just over $105 at Rite-Aid in all of April.
Other than months when I take a break purposely and don't shop there this has got to be a new low record for purchases there.  8-(

After converting this $11.58 in BC to real cash(plus a bit more in cash rebates)I have $7.92 left on this Wellness card.  Having 60 days again to spend BC is nice even if it's during a pandemic.


Sluggy