Frugal Friday....the October 2nd Edition

 Here are the very few things we did around here this past week that were frugal........

*  When I went to the town South of here to their Walmart I passed by a gas station that had been closed for awhile(remodeling, new gas tanks, etc.)and saw that it was open again and the price of the gas was $2.199 gal.
That may not sound like a GREAT deal where you live but for here, the state with the highest gas taxes in the nation, it was well below what we currently pay in PA, which varies between $2.45 to $2.36 per gallon currently in this part of PA.

Even though I was nowhere near needing gas I couldn't resist that price so I topped off my tank.  I got  just over 4 gallons so not that great a savings but.....why not I told myself?! ;-)  .60¢+ is .60¢+ saved.

* I found money!

On Monday at my R-A I saw a shiny penny peeking out from under a display rack near the pharmacy so I bent down and pulled it out and into my pocket it went.
Then on the way out I looked down on the floor near the door and that equally shiny dime was smiling up at me whispering, "Pick me up! Pick me up!".  So I did.....

Then on Wednesday morning I went through that box in the living room of cast-offs that were headed to Salvation Army later that day.

I saw this laptop bag from Hubs old work that Ex-College Boy had taken to use about a year ago but he had pitched it into the box when he left home the end of July.
As I picked it up to check all the pockets in it, I heard a tinkling sound.........

There was .75¢ in change in one of the pockets.  woohoo!

Now this is the second time I've found money in a discarded laptop bag from Hubs.  Last Fall I grabbed another old laptop bag that had been Hubs that he threw into our donation box to bring my computer to Ocean City MD on my girls trip with Kim and her Sissie and there was money in that one too!
(Which reminds me, I need to blog about that trip too, but first I have to finish the Summer 2017 Road Trip and then the October New England 2018 trip with Kim and her Hubs too.  I am just soooo far behind!!!

Found change this week..... .86¢
Found change this year so far...$49.14

*  We harvested the collard greens from the garden this past week.  

Here's my lunch of champions from yesterday.....a bowl of home grown collards. Mmm!
4 plants gave us so much that I still need to cook two large Ziploc bags worth up or maybe I'll blanch them and stick those into the freezer for later this Winter.

*  The only other frugal things were my shopping trips at Walmart and my Rite-Aid scores which I already recounted for the week.

There was Walmart......

And Rite-Aid on Sunday...

And Rite-Aid on Monday

And a different R-A on Wednesday...

That's all I have this week.  

Stay frugal my friends.
And tell us all about your frugal wins for the week.

Sluggy

Food Spending 2020.....The September Report

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2020.

I have posted September'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 September.  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(2 at home this month). 
*****************

CVS
OOP  $5.48

Qs/Ads/ECBucks $125.40
Value  $130.88
Savings 95.81 %

MALACARI'S

OOP  $18.55
Value  $28.87
Savings  35.75%

PandR OUTLET

OOP  $24.76

Value  $53.00

Savings  53.28%

PRICE CHOPPER

OOP  $42.06
Value  $60.39
Savings  30.35% 

RITE-AID *
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/GCard  $355.53
Value  $355.53
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP   ($0.00) used free gift card
Value  $4.99
Savings  100%

WALMART
OOP  $95.95
Value  $203.78
Savings 52.92%

WEIS
OOP  $166.93
Qs/Ads  $169.91
Value  $336.84
Savings  50.44%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Shursave at 100% and CVS at 95.81% .   My worst savings rate was at Price Chopper with 30.35%.  Lots of great savings rates this month!

I shopped at 8 different stores in September.

I also earned $227.30 in cash rebates in September(Ibotta/SavingStar/Checkout51)which helps offset the spending once I cash those in at the end of 2020.

TOTAL Spent(without R-A)...................$353.73

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales................$465.02
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$818.75

TOTAL Savings of ................................56.80%

Add in the Rite-Aid purchases and we get.........

TOTAL Spent........................................$353.73

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales................$820.55
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased........$1174.28

TOTAL Savings of ................................69.88%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....I wanted to do a 50% lower with the grocery spending but worries about Fall shut downs and shortages had me buying a lot of long term storage foods and refilling the freezer. So no way did I do a $200 spend in September.  Even so I still stayed under my budgeted $400 for the month so it's all good.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 2.01% in September 2020 to 69.88% compared to the tremendous August 2020 rate of 71.89% savings average.  

With 9 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $3505.76 on food/toiletries in 2020.

Going into 2020, before the pandemic blew the wind out of my sails, I wanted to stay at or under $4K for the yearly food spending.  At this point I don't think that will happen but we'll keep plugging along anyway.

Once I add in all my rebates/refunds/post coupon/found money pots into the grocery spending category I do still have a fighting change to stay under $4K spent.  The next 3 months will determine if this goal becomes a reality.


2020 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,505.76

2020 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$10,585.06

2020 Grand Total Saved...............................$7,079.30

2020 Yearly Savings Total............66.88%

The average per month amount spent is $389.53 at this point in 2020 which went down some from August's average.  As long as I'm around $400 per month with 3(now 2)people in the house, it's all good.  While it's just Hubs and I now I will also be supplementing Ex-College Boy's food needs for awhile.

LOOKING AHEAD To October 2020.............

Not sure what October will bring in terms of food spending.  We're going to have a visitor in October and we are going on a short trip so those are the variables.  At home, I want to start eating from our stockpiled meats/veg in the freezer and use a few "old dogs" up in the process.

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 September?  Are you happy with that amount and did you get good value for your money?

*  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 Finished the Mid Week Ibotta Bonus...BOOM!

 So I still needed 9 more rebates after Monday's trip to R-A where I did 3 Ibotta rebates to hit the 12 rebates for the MidWeek Bonus.  I earned $8.50 in Ibotta rebates that trip.  See previous post for that transaction.

I also still needed a tube of specialty Crest to reach the $30 spent to earn the $10 Bonus Cash.  So I hit a different R-A Tuesday morning that carries the last type of Crest which I had a $3/1 L2CQ for.....

1 x Crest Whitening Therapy toothpaste 20% discount better than sale price=$6.39
Used that $3/1 L2CQ.

1 x Throat Calm tablets on clearance=$2.99

Total after Q for both was $6.38 paid for with Bonus Cash so no OOP.

Earned $10 in new BC and submitted the Crest and the Throat Calm both for 2 separate $3 rebates on Ibotta.  The ThroatCalm was a penny moneymaker.

Now I had 5 rebates toward that 12 rebate threshold for the Bonus and $14.50 in regular rebates on Ibotta.

I went to Walmart and bought these items....

I did 8 rebates instead of the 7 I still needed....oops! lolz

The Morning Star fake chicken nuggets were $5.27 and I earned back $5.50 for 2 different rebates so better than free.  The Bolt 24 drink was also free after rebate(that's for Ex-CB). The cereal was about .70¢ after Ibotta and ShopKicks points, the Chobanis were BOGO after Ibotta, the cocomut milk "yogurt" was .46¢, the Powerade Ultra was .70¢, the 2 diet Powerades were .47¢ ea. and the Ritz chips were $1.88 after rebate.

I spent $19.65 using a $25 Walmart gift card earned on SwagBucks.
I earned $11.59 in regular rebates and hit the Bonus threshold so another $5 earned too so $16.59 back in rebates.

Total spent OOP....$0.00

Total in Ibotta rebates earned...$31.09 at R-A and Walmart since Monday.

Not a bad way to close out the September grocery shopping. ;-)

Sluggy

Rite-Aid This Week and Another Bonus on Ibotta?

 I had 2 items to buy for a Level 3 September Bonus from Ibotta so I went to R-A on Sunday and bought this.....

Reg. sized boxes of select Kellogg's cereals are 2/$5 and give back a $1 BC this week.

These 2 were part of that deal

I used 2 x $1/1 any Kellogg's cereal IPQ purchased using points from my Kellogg's account so paid $3 in BC and earned $1 BC back.

I submitted for 2 Kellogg's rebates on Ibotta totaling .95¢.  I also reached the Sept Level 3 Bonus on Ibotta so I got another $2.00 in cash rebates.  All together this made the cereal a moneymaker.

Then on Monday a $5 Midweek Bonus showed up on my Ibotta account when I buy 12 items before Friday.
A $1 Bonus I could pass up but $5?  I am going for it! lol

I did this transaction on Monday at Rite-Aid....

All but the Jason body wash are part of the "Spend $30/Get $10 BC Deal" this week.  To finish it off I need to find a store with the Crest Whitening Therapy toothpaste(my store no longer carries it).  I have $25.14 spent toward that Deal right now.  Using $10 in L2CQs I've spent $15.14 on those 4 products plus both toothpastes got me 2 x $3 Ibotta rebates so $9.14 spent actually(but in BC not real money). ;-)

The Jason was marked down to $4.17 on the clearance shelf and there is a $2.50 Ibotta rebate for that so $1.67 in BC spent on that in the end and I have 3 Ibotta rebates completed toward that Midweek Bonus.  If I can find the other Crest specialty toothpaste it will finish off my R-A Deal and give me another $3 Ibotta rebate and  bring my total to 4 rebates so only 8 more to go to capture that $5 Bonus.

I'll be hitting up Walmart and maybe Weis(PMITA)Markets to finish that Bonus as cheaply as possible.  I've got $35 in Walmart gift cards to use as well so I am hoping for no more cash spent OOP to get there.

Wish me luck! 8-)

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The  "End of the Garden" Edition.....

We harvested the collards on Friday and other than a few tomatoes that are still green thus ends our garden for the season.  I still have collards uncooked in the fridge and need to blanch and freeze or cook them this week.  The only thing is to pull up the remaining plants and work some nutrients into the soil before we leave the beds to winter over.

The front flower bed is still going strong however......

This photo is from July so it's really filled out since then.
I really need to put that lavender plant in the pot in front into the ground but can't decide where to locate it yet.

Onward to the meal planning!

Moving On....

This is what was planned.....

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers, Fries
2. Monday--Chicken Thighs, Collards
3. Tuesday--Salmon, Spinach Salad

4. Wednesday--Leftovers and Odds and Ends
5. Thursday--Domino's, Salad

6. Friday--Fajitas
7. Saturday--Breakfast for Dinner

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

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers, Fries
2. Monday--Teriyaki Chicken Thighs and Stir-fry Veggies, leftover Rice
3. Tuesday--Salmon, Sweet Potato Wedges, Brussels Sprouts

4. Wednesday--Fajitas
5. Thursday--Domino's, Salad

6. Friday--Collards and Cornbread
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Last week saw  nights of home cooked dinners,  nights of leftovers/FFY/TV Dinners, and 1 night of Take-Out/Eating Out.  We had Ex-CB and his roommate over for pizza on Thursday and I made a tossed salad to go with it.  No Breakfast for Dinner as the collards needed picking and eating.  I made some cornbread to go with the greens.

This week I need to use or lose 2 sweet potatoes.

What got put into the freezer last week....
* 2 servings of salmon

* 1 package of 4 ground beef patties

* 1 package of thin sliced chicken breast

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

* 2 ground beef patties

* 1/2 lb. of pepper strips

* 1 package of b/s chicken thighs

* 1 package of diced chicken breast

* 1 package of stir-fry veggies

* 1 package of Brussels Sprouts

We spent $61.36 last week(Weis, Malacari's produce and CVS), bringing our food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods to $351.52 for September so far.
There are 2 shopping days left in the month.  

I've earned $186.21 on Ibotta in September. WOW!

I've earned $10.00 on SavingStar in September.

I've earned $2.50 on Checkout51 in September.

I've earned $2.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal(for a digital Q).

I've earned 8281 points from food shopping on Fetch in September.

I've earned 3355 points from food shopping on ShopKick in September.

I've earned 3625 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in September(not counting the $6 in points missing).

My savings percentage for last week was 68.54%(without "regular"Rite-Aid trips but with CVS)for September and the monthly savings total for September comes in at 55.35% so far.(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week.....some Fajita filling, Collards and Cornbread.

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

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself
2. Monday--Steak, Spinach Salad, Sweet Potato
3. Tuesday--Quesadilla(using Fajita filling)

4. Wednesday--Pigs in a Blanket, Veggie TBD from Freezer
5. Thursday--Chinese Take-Out

6. Friday--hot Tuna Subs w/Spinach and Tomatoes
7. Saturday--Leftovers or BLTs

What needs buying for this menu?  Sub Rolls and we are low on milk.  I'll pick both up on Friday which means these go on October's grocery tally.

What's left on my master list of meals we can make from what's at home.
* Tuna Casserole
* Roasted Chicken
* Shrimp/Crab Ravioli
* Cheese Ravioli

* Haddock Fish Dinner  

* Beef Liver  

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