Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE. Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE. Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE.
So after a hotel breakfast(not bad)we headed back out onto the highway out of Columbia, Missouri into I-70 West.
Not a lot to see along this stretch of highway except billboards and greenery.
Lots of Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion signs, large American flags and signs for competing custom footwear dealers(Kleinschmidt's and Boot Barn).
Each store sign claimed to have an every increasing inventory of boots at fantastically lower and lower prices but we didn't feel the need to stop and see.
Other than this exit sign for a place called "Knob Noster", I did see a sign on I-70 that peaked my interest-a sign for a surplus grocery dealer near Odessa MO.
I think the sign at the exit was handmade and we turned off onto highway "M" and evidentially we shot past it and made a 10 mile detour. The pole building that housed the outlet was right off this exit but was hidden from view by a lush jungle of trees and vines(it was July after all)but the building was visible coming from North on "M" back to the interstate exit.
Found it!
We had been on the road for an hour already and it was sunny and already almost 100F degrees outside at 10 ish in the morning. So we took a break and walked around inside the Surplus Grocery Warehouse.
This bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows came home with us(I knew Ex-College Boy would love them!).
Rite-Aid returns.....anybody need an enema? lolz
I had no clue what this was(and if we hadn't been so far from home I might have bought a can to see).
It's native to West Africa, quite popular in Jamaican cooking and is a fruit related to the Lychee fyi....
Where else could you find a menorah....
sitting right next to a Catholic Saints candle with Spanish writing on it?
Hmmm, I wonder if they would have let you redeem those Rite-Aid instant coupons on that mac and cheese?? ;-)
I wonder how stale these fortune cookies were? I don't know, but the "fresh" ones I get for free when I order Chinese take-out are pretty stale already.
This place was massively large. It was also very dark inside(which was a plus given the outside temperature that day). This is the best shot I got to show you how big this warehouse was. This was one aisle out of 7. And they had a second "room" as well as a refrigerated 18-wheeler car connected to the buildings(which you could see part of in the outside shot I took).
I didn't buy much(the bag of marshmallows, 2 small tins of mints and a couple of big jars of candy sprinkles to give to Kim for all her baking needs are all I recall). It was an interesting stop but we had to get back onto the road.
Back on the interstate we kept seeing signs like this.............wtf?!?
So after driving a bit more and a stop to gas and pee we were hitting the Kansas City metro area. One of our "Things to Do" on this trip was to hit a barbecue joint in KC.
And man, did we have a LOT to pick from! You can't spit in KC without hitting a BBQ place. lolz Wanting to avoid downtown we settled on a place that was in North KC near the airport.
So we had an early lunch at Hawg Jaw BBQ.
On the other side of the building was a brewery called "Big Rip" but it wasn't open until later.
Their website is HERE if you are ever in the area and get a hankering for good 'cue.
My plate-2 meats, cheesy corn and smoked mac and cheese with an unsweet tea.
Hubs' plate-2 meats, chili and cheesy corn with a local beer.
The ordering window
The menu
The early lunch crowd in the dining area.....
And me outside posing under the sign with my leftovers.
Back on the road again heading north on I-29 toward Nebraska. But first we had to find our way out of this industrial area of KC. We traveled through some sketchy areas before we got outta Dodge. This shot was past the worst of the urban blight.
And soon it was back to fields and farms along the highway......
Two hours outside of KC we needed to stop for gas again....
I got out of the car and walked around to stretch my legs while Hubs filled the car's tank. The gas station was up on a "hill"(or what passes for a hill in this part of the Midwest)and you could see the other businesses off that exit below.
.And there was a dinosaur statue on the grounds of the gas station. This was a Sinclair station.
DINO the Apatosaurus(formerly a Brontosaurus), the Sinclair Co. mascot and me in a selfie....
The last time I saw a DINO or a Sinclair station was in 1998 when I went to a Beanie Convention in Minnesota. We saw it driving back to Illinois from Minnesota. It was somewhere in Eastern MN or in WI.
The Sinclair company celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2016. I guess DINO got a makeover then so he was still lookin' good in 2017 when we happened upon him.
There was a convenience store attached. I liked their sign/slogan...lol
Back on the road and our constant roadside companion views of fields of corn....
A granary with silos in the distance.....
The first sighting of a windmill from the interstate.......
The ride North on I-29 took us along the Missouri River on the Iowa side.
An abandoned Sapp Bros. sign in Iowa........
You could see Bluffs along the river here off in the distance........
Another big flag.....
Part of an art installation called "Paley's Odyssey" on the 24th St. bridge as you enter Council Bluffs from the East. More info HERE.
As we got near the casino in Council Bluffs....
Free drinks were tempting but we were on a tight schedule. lolz
Yet another big ass flag.
And just like that we were in.......
And if you would have blinked you would have missed the "Welcome to Omaha/Kenefick Park" sign and trains.......
And then we were fighting rush hour traffic on Rte. 275 heading Northwest of Omaha and back to our view of fields of corn....
A rare billboard on this leg of the road. Too bad we weren't going to be in town the end of July for that Scotty McCreery concert during the Washington County Fair.........*sad face*
About 45 minutes drive from Omaha we got to the hotel for the evening in Fremont NE.
A nice little place right off the interstate in small town Nebraska.
Our room was pretty nice too.
After unloading our luggage we needed to find a place to eat dinner.
This place was right in front of the hotel.....
We would have been smarter to have eaten at this Mel's Diner......
The diner proved that all that glitters is not gold.
The place was packed and the only reason I can think of why is because it's the only restaurant in town. lolz
Seriously, the prices were high. We each got a salad and a sandwich.
Here is hubs trying to finish his meal and not laugh while I rolled my eyes and tried to chock down mine.
The "salad" was a plate of shredded iceberg lettuce like you'd put on a sub sandwich.....that's it! Oh and salad dressing. I didn't even try to eat my "salad".
I didn't want anything heavy so I ordered a tuna sandwich..........
Here is what was left after I ate half of my sandwich. Honestly, there was MORE shredded lettuce on the sandwich than tuna(along with an anemic slice of tomato). The pile of lettuce on the plate was what I took out of the sandwich half I ate. It was nearly impossible to remove the lettuce because they had mixed the lettuce in with the tuna and mayo before putting a glop of it on the bread!! It was a lettuce sandwich with a little bit of tuna fish.
And just what I wanted after being served a big plate of shredded lettuce"salad".
It was just ridiculous for what we paid for this meal!
I wanted to tell then to "Kiss My F&*%^ Grits!" after being robbed for that dinner.
On the short walk back to the hotel I noticed this near where we parked our rental car.......
A nice decorative fir tree with it's top half missing. ;-)
I guess some local yahoo sawed it off to use for their Christmas tree the previous December.
Petty theft at it's finest.....but not as fine as the theft going on in Mel's Diner next door. 8-)
Thus ends Part Four/Day Three of our Western Adventure.
4 little collard plants sure do produce a LOT of collards! Hubs and I will be finishing off the collard greens leftovers tonight but I'll be cooking 2 large Ziploc bags more of collards today so we'll have more collards to eat this week. Between salad greens and collard greens we are set for fresh veggies this week. I don't think I will want to see collards again in quite awhile though. lol
6. Friday--Pigs in a Blanket, Broccoli 7. Saturday--Leftovers(I had Clam Chowder)
Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY/TV Dinners, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
We didn't get Chinese take-out since I had a big can of clams to use so I made clam chowder last week. We have enough leftover of that for about 3 more servings for lunches.
What got put into the freezer last week.... * 2 packages of pork chops
What got taken out of the freezer and used...
* 3 petite steaks
* 1 pack of hot dogs
* bag of broccoli
We spent $58.92 last week(all at Weis(PMITA)Markets), bringing our food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods to $58.92 for October so far. There are 26 shopping days left in the month.
I've earned $11.65 on Ibotta in October.
I've earned $0 on SavingStar in October.
I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in October.
I've earned $0 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal(for a digital Q).
I've earned 100 points from food shopping on Fetch in October.
I've earned 0 points from food shopping on ShopKick in October.
I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in October.
My savings percentage for last week was 49.80%(without "regular"Rite-Aid trips but with CVS)for October and the monthly savings total for October comes in at 49.80% so far.(w/out R-A).
Leftovers going into this week.....Collards and Cornbread, Clam Chowder, 4 Biscuits and 3 Pigs in a Blanket.
Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Pork Chops, Green Beans 2. Monday--Spareribs, Collards 3. Tuesday--Beef Pie
I've got BC points to use/roll/convert to cash on various accounts at Rite-Aid from the Bonus Cash Challenges I did in August/September so I bought some things over the weekend to use the BC before it expires.
I picked up two body wash, this Jason brand that is quite pricey. These scents were 75% off($4.17)on clearance so $8.34 spent in BC. I submitted the receipt to Ibotta and got $5.00 in rebates(2 x $2.50)so after rebates I "converted" $5 of what I spent to cash and "spent down" $3.34 of my BC.
On Saturday I did the Nivea Men's items Deal(Spend $15/Get $4 BC).
2 x Nivea shave gel $3.99 w/20% discount=$7.98
2 x Nivea body wash $4.63 w/20% discount=$9.26
SubTotal...$17.24
I used
1 x $2/2 Nivea shave gel ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $3/2 Nivea body wash ManuQ=$3.00
Coupon Total...$5.00
$17.24-$5.00=$12.24 paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned back $4 in new BC.
I also submitted the shave gel to Ibotta and earned $4.00(2 x $2)so "converted $4.00 of BC to cash and "spent down" $4.24 of BC.
This week will be rolling BC with Oral Care items(Crest/Oral-B). After sale prices/Qs/BC earned they will be free(or a little more than free if I can A-find the cheaper toothbrushes and B-submit those to Ibotta for a $1 rebate).
This week's R-A add is pitiful....4 whole pages of a flyer! lolz
Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ 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 September report---
I had 2 goals for September....... 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 September in the black. The amount we ended the month of September with?.....$1,408.76
Income or Funds We Can Access
The "income" in September---
* 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 $459.94
* Stock Divident of $18.27
*401K Withdrawal of $2556.20(net)
* Blogging revenue check of $128.07
Total "Income" for September.....$8270.48
Expenses in September---
* Healthcare Premium for September was $1,883.76(paid for with RMSA reimbursement) * Irregular bills in September were $2981.44 * Variable Expenses in September came to $1996.52 Total Expenses....$6861.72
$8270.48-$6861.72=$1408.76 Slush into September of $28,633.63 in that Fund, add the $1408.76 September overage brings the Slush to $30,042.39 going into October. The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,408.76 for September.
Outgo
As for the variable expenses this September, here are the good and the bad side of things....
HERE are the GOOD THINGS
* Internet were the same as last month.
* The water bill was $21.41 lower than in August.
* The electric bill was $30.51 less than last month. * The cell phone bill was $4.99 lower than in August.
* The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.
HERE are the BAD THINGS
* The Amazon c/c bill was $113.85 higher than last month.(It was $0 in August.)
* The gas c/c bill(Sunoco) was $14.10 higher than in August. Sunoco is generally higher than other gas stations' prices(even after a .05¢ gal. discount)so we use it sporadically.
* I had to pay the lawyer in Virginia $250 last month.
The Food Budget costs for September 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 September--- It was a good month overall financially. Regular variable bills were quite low. Two irregular bills were due(one small, one large)in September and we withdrew $3K from the 401K monies to cover the larger of the two bills. Turns out we only needed about half of what we withdrew to cover the school taxes but it's all good. The "leftover monies" just go into the checking account and will absorb any excess bills in the coming months. If we don't need to draw from those leftover funds Oct. through Dec. then it will go into paying toward our high deductible plan health insurance costs which resets on Jan. 1.
THOUGHTS going forward into October 2020----
No irregular bills are due in October. rah.
The electric bill will start it's seasonal rise as the heat gets turned on for Fall/Winter which is expected. We have company coming for a few nights and a short trip later in Oct. The trip will mean some lodging costs, take-out and kennel fees for the doggies. So a few extra bills in October but nothing that will seriously impact our budget for the month.
So how was your September financially?
Did you spend less than the income you had in September? 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!
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.
