This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Woman Day" Edition....

Today is International Woman's Day so here's a little musical entertainment for you to enjoy.......

Onward to the meal planning!

Moving On-

This is what was planned....

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Tossed Salad

2. Monday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Broiled Salmon, Sweet Potato Wedges, Veggie TBD

7. Saturday--Cheeseburger, Fries(maybe), assorted leftover side dishes or a Salad

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

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Tossed Salad

2. Monday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Chinese Take-Out

7. Saturday--Fend For Yourself

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/planned overs or FFY, and 1 night of Take-Out/Eating Out.

Mostly everything planned was cooked/served except the  

What got put into the freezer last week....

* a whole chicken

* 1 bag of shredded cheese

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

*  ground turkey

*  ground beef

*  1/2 bag of meatballs

*  1 lb. breakfast sausage

*  1 pack of Hot Italian sausage

We spent $71.52 on food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods last week-1 trip to Weis(PMITA)Markets and 1 trip to Walmart where I used a free $25 gift card earned from Swag Bucks points. This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Grand Total to $71.52 for March so far.

There are 23 shopping days left in March.

I've earned $50.31 on Ibotta in March.

I've earned $00 on Checkout51 in March.

I've earned $0.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in March.

I've earned 25 points from shopping on Fetch in March.

I've earned 3075 point from food shopping on Shop Kick in March.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in March.

My savings percentage for last week was 49.74%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for March and the monthly savings total for March comes in at 49.74%.(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week--Chicken n' Dumplings, Beef Pie.

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

1. Sunday--Broiled Salmon, Sweet Potato Wedges, Asparagus

2. Monday--Chili, Spanish Rice

3. Tuesday--Leftover Chicken n' Dumplings

4. Wednesday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwich, Sauteed Cabbage
5. Thursday--Leftover Beef Pie

6.  Friday--Pizza, Salad

7. Saturday--Cheeseburger, Fries(maybe), assorted leftover side dishes or a Salad

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  

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?  Not such great deals here unless I go to the discount food outlet.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday 2021....The March 5th Edition

 Here's what passed for frugal around Chez Sluggy this past week.........

*  I have done NO Rite-Aid shopping this week!  No good or free deals for my needs and none of my Bonus Cash is expiring until 3/17 so I'll wait for better sales next week.

*  I haven't grocery shopped yet this week/month as we don't "need" anything but milk.  Might go to the Discount Outlet later today, might not. ;-)

*  I had a dr. appointment on Tuesday a.m. so since it was lunch time afterwards I went to Applebee's to pick up a  salad w/chicken.  I used a free gift card to pay. 

* On Sunday I got an email from Easy Spirit about a clearance sale on select styles of shoes.  Because of foot issues I need to wear shoes at all time.  Because of having very wide feet I wear Easy Spirits almost exclusively.  Easy Spirits are NOT cheap though!  So I jumped on this clearance deal because my last two pair of indoor shoes(they are about 6 years old-I alternate between 2 pair at a time so I've been wearing these 2 for the last 3 years)were about worn out and causing me discomfort.  I found a pair of the above style(can't get the old style I was using as they don't make it anymore)75% off in my size in a pretty ugly fabric(thus why they were on clearance).  I really don't care what these house shoes look like and for $14.75 a pair they were a great deal!  I bought 4 pairs and got free shipping as well.  These should last me another 6 years. 8-)

*  I found money!

I found this penny hiding under the candy rack next to the self-checkout I used at Walmart last Friday.

I found this dime at Rite-Aid last Saturday by the pharmacy counter when I picked up an Rx.

That same day/trip I found a nickel and a penny at R-A, one in front of the check-out counter in front and the penny tucked under the candy rack next to the counter.

Tuesday I found this dime in the parking lot next to my car at Applebee's.  I didn't see it until I went to get back into my car and the sun hit it just right.

On Wednesday Hubs and I were doing a little deep cleaning(Spring anyone?)in our bedroom and I found this dime under the bed on my side.  My side equals my dime. lolz

I was a big week for FDRs! ;-)

Found Money This Week.... .37¢
Found Money This Year....$1.28

That's about it from here this week.

What frugal wins did y'all have lately?

Sluggy

Be A Goat & Other Random Silliness

 

Let's all "goat" for awhile. Ok?

Y'all be proud of me as I haven't set foot in a grocery store all week(so far).  I might hit the discount outlet Friday as I am going a little stir crazy and I am out of milk for my tea.
I didn't even do a pretty good Ibotta Bonus($5 on 15 rebates)this week as it would have meant going to Walmart to get that sucker done and the thought of Walmart during the first week of the month(EBT crowds)just had me say in my head, "Nah....I'm good."  I just don't want to be around random people right now.

I'm working on about 6 different blog posts but nothing is at the point where I feel it's presentable for public consumption.  This just popped into my head.......

 

I wonder how much that company had to pay Orson Welles to do those commercials.  I am sure it wasn't cheap(like the wine was). lol

I have so many projects(besides the blog)rattling around in my head it's not funny.  Ok, it  IS funny!  Maybe because the snow is FINALLY melting I can sense Spring is around the corner.  Of course after I wrote that I put Chester out and there are snow flurries again. argh!

I kept track and in February we had 5 WHOLE DAYS where it did NOT snow!  That's 23 days where it did snow....from flurries all the way to 18 inch days.  And it didn't warm up enough to melt anything until this past weekend so there are still piles around the yard.

We may not have gotten the usual 100 inches of snow per Winter like when we lived in the Poconos before here but it's been a hard Winter season anyway.

I got word that my only Aunt who got Covid and ended up in the hospital is now better and back home.  My cousin told me she was sick and going into the hospital early in Feb. and then I didn't hear anything for a long while(I figured no news was better than bad news, right?)so I finally messaged her again.  Her mom is out of the woods and recovering at home now which is great!  Auntie is 85, the same age as my mom would be if she was still alive.  Us Bowmans are tough old birds and it takes a lot to kill us off I suppose. 8-)))

And tell me what the hell is this and why?

This was at Rite-Aid for Halloween.  A skeleton with a mermaid tale.  WTF?! I guess the people who design this seasonal crap are running low on ideas.  No wonder they had multiples of this leftover once the Halloween stuff hit 75%....or was it 90%?, I can't remember.

Strawberries are starting to appear in the stores now(and not those tasteless out of season and overpriced ones).  I got 3 containers last week at the Produce Outlet for $1.99 each.  I think I'll eat the last one for lunch today.  

I am so ready to go somewhere but still no Covid shot for me even though I am 1A due to health issues.  The set up in PA is ridiculous!  90% of places offering the shots don't even have a waiting list and the ones that do, their lists are so full they aren't even accepting folk onto the waiting list for an appointment.  I spend at least an hour every day having to check each individual vaccination site for an appointment slot.  It's so frustrating!  Even the health system I use is NOT vaccinating their patients.  It's a massive organization so all their vaccine is still dedicated to getting all their staff inoculated.  I am SOOL for the time being.

My PCP isn't advocating for me(and really if  you are a high risk patient your PCP should be advocating for you!)and the organization's website and my PCP constantly say there are no available appointments as they have no vaccine.  So I go to my specialist yesterday and she tells me no, they ARE vaccinating patients at a certain facility you just have to go to the website(but you go there and it's just a "sorry, no vaccine available" message).  It's maddening as you can't get a straight answer out of anyone!  And I really don't know if one hand knows what the other is doing....

Ok, I didn't mean to turn this into a rant so I'll stop now.

I'm off to go work on something easy...maybe I'll clean out my q envie as that won't take long and I'll feel like I accomplished something. lolz

What's going on in your world?

Sluggy

Sluggy

Income & Spending 2021.....The February Report

 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 February report---

I had 2 goals for February.......
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 2021.

I can report that we finished up February in the black.
The amount we ended the month of February with?.....$12,326.90

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in February---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,971.99
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $393.51

* Blog Revenue check of $118.67

* A 401K withdrawal of $10,441.79(after taxes taken out)

Total "Income" for February.....$16,148.20

Expenses in February---

* Healthcare Premium for February was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in February were $0.00
* Variable Expenses in February came to $1,849.31
Total Expenses....$3,821.30

$16,148.20-$3,821.30=$12,326.90

Slush into February of $34,645.48 in that Fund, add the $12,326.90 February overage and this brings the Slush to $46,972.38 going into March 2021.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $12,326.90 for February.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this February, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet and cell phone were the same as in January.

*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.

*  The Amazon card was $1,243.61 lower than in January.

*  The water bill was $4.72 less than last month.

*  We took a 401K withdrawal of over $10K at the end of February even though we didn't need it to cover any bills.  This in advance of our property tax bill coming due on April 15th(I'll probably pay it in March just to get that over with)and the bulk of that withdrawal is for having work done on the house so it's earmarked.  Instead of allocating a portion of it each month for the next quarter and reporting that chunk of it as "income" each month I'm just getting it accounted for in one fell swoop in 2021. '-)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

* The electric bill was $36.81 higher than last month's bill. Considering how much colder and snowier February was over January I am ok with that amount.

* The gas bill was $9.76 higher than in January.

*  The Mastercard was higher by $447.96 than last month's bill.  But that was because we had to use the Amazon Chase card when our credit info got stolen in December.  The Amazon card this month was over $1200 less than January's bill so we are down on c/c spending by $1,121.72 between all three c/cs(our joint, mine and Hubs).

The Food Budget costs for February 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 February---
It was a good month overall financially.  Our expenses were VERY low with no irregular bills coming due and no surprise bills.  I like boring finances. 8-)

We sat down in February and figured out some of our financial game plan for 2021, thus the 401K withdrawal.  Even without that withdrawal we had $1,885.11 leftover in income after paying February's bills.

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2021----Hubs did a draft of the taxes and since he sold stock in 2020 we took a bit of a hit on the preliminary Federal return and will only get back $200+(and as always we'll owe the state a hundred or so).  We may do another post 2020 HSA deposit which will bring our taxable income down a bit and we can always use more $$ in our HSA. We'll run the numbers and decide in the coming weeks before we send off the tax return.

We do have an irregular bill due in March-the sewage bill which we pay annually to get the 3% discount.  That bill amount didn't go up from 2020's bill amount which is always a good thing.  The long term care premiums are due as well in March but between those and the sewage bill the total amount is under $1K so not a big concern within the monthly budget and income.

If I can spend another month staying away from the grocery spending in March that will help keep the spending for the month pretty low again so I am crossing my fingers. lol

So how was your February financially?
  

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

2021 Food Spending Report....the February Edition

 Onward to February's Food Spending report......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2021.

I have posted February'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 February.  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(2-3 eating at home this month). No "kids" under 25. (I don't count all the "freebies" I get at the Discount Outlet in my totals either.)
*****************

AMAZON

OOP  $0.00

Value  $65.02

Savings 100%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $12.27
Savings  67.40%

CVS

OOP  $2.30
Qs/Ads/ECBs  $22.85

Value  $25.15

Savings 90.85%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $21.09
Value  $33.89
Savings  37.77%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $4.12
Value  $8.25
Savings 50.06 %

P and R DISCOUNTS
OOP  $44.05
Value  $95.77
Savings   54.00%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $893.36
Value  $893.36
Savings  100%

WALMART
OOP  $28.30
Value  $114.10
Savings  72.20%

WEIS

OOP  $108.11

Qs/Sales  $51.41
Value  $159.52
Savings  32.23%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Amazon at 100% and CVS at 90.85%.   My worst savings rate was at Weis with 32.23%.
I shopped at 9 different stores in February(and one of those was online).  

TOTAL Spent in February......................$211.97

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$302.00

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$513.97

TOTAL Savings of ................................58.76%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for February w/R-A........$211.97
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A.................$1195.36
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid...$1407.33
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items...................84.94%

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into February wanting to have a lower spending month and I did. ;-)  Most of my lack of more spending was due to a lack of good sales and then bad weather for most of the month so I wasn't going to stores.  I still got some good deals and kept the OOP fairly low considering.  We ate more from the freezer/pantry than we did in January which is a very good thing.  The freezer is getting less full by the week now and it's noticeable.

Even with this low of a spending month we still had things to give to our youngest son and for donating to the local food bank.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by .88% in February 2021 to 84.94% compared to the January's 84.06% savings average.  I'll take an almost full percentage point rise any day! lol

With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $507.19 on food/toiletries in 2021.

2020 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$507.19

2020 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items....$3259.70

2020 Grand Total Saved..............................$2752.51

2020 Yearly Savings Total............84.44%

The average per month amount spent is $253.6 in 2021 so far.

LOOKING AHEAD To March 2021...........

Well I really haven't thought about March yet.  Still recovering from February. lolz  I guess we'll continue to try to eat from the pantry/freezer.  For us that means only buying something if I run out and need it, buying fresh produce and dairy as needed and buying if I find a stellar deal on items we use(not including Rite-Aid where I buy "the deals aka the freebies or almost freebies" and pass on what we can't/don't use to the Food Bank, Ex-College Boy and into Giveaways).

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 February?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just have your receipts and either track it in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.

*  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