Income & Spending 2021.....the May 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 May report---

I had 2 goals for May.......
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 May in the black.
The amount we ended the month of May with?.....$282.14

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in May---

* 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 $205.69

Total "Income" for May.....$5,399.92

Expenses in May---

* Healthcare Premium for May was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in May were $607.68(car insurance 6 mos.)
* Variable Expenses in April came to $2,538.11
Total Expenses....$5,117.78

$5,399.92-$5,117.78=$282.14

Slush into May of $46,882.97in that Fund, add the $282.14 in overage and we get $47,165.11 going into Mune.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $282.14 for May..

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

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

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

*  The electric bill was $24.13 lower than in April.

*  The water bill went down by $5.02 from last month.

*  The credit card bill was $407.86 lower than in April.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas bill was $5.42 higher than in April.
*  The Amazon bill was $147.06 higher than last month.
*  We had an irregular bill, the semi-annual car insurance payment of $607.68

The Food Budget costs for May 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 May---Stayed under the food budget and most other bills wer trending down(except gas and Amazon)and we had money leftover so I'll call May a win. 8-)))
 

THOUGHTS going forward into June 2021----Well we are having the main bathroom renovated and we bought a new deck swing as the old one was rusted out.  The only irregular bill in June are the long term care premiums and we got a notice these are going up by about $100 each per quarter. bleh.

So the reno will cost us a chunk of our Slush fund which is looking quite healthy for now so I am not too worried about having a month where the bills are more than the income in June,

So how was your May financially? 

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

Walmart Ibotta & Fetch Haul

 Well I held off as long as I could but I ended up going to Walmart on Friday......

1 x Soft Scrub
2 x Splash water
1 x Deer Park water
1 x Zest soap pack
1 x Poise liners
1 x Pepsi Mango
1 x Bayer aspirin
1 x St. Joseph aspirin
1 x Trolli gummies
2 x Zantac
1 x Colgate Renewal toothpaste
2 x Clairol hair dye
2 x Campho Phenique
1 x Craisins packs
1 x Sun Sweet prunes
1 x Bowery Farms salad greens

I spent $67.24 after paper coupons for 22 items and then used a $25 Walmart gift card free from Shop Kick so $42.24 spent OOP.

I earned back...

*$1.40 on Shop Kick
*$6.86 on Fetch
*$3.00 on coupons dotcom
*$40.63 on Ibotta.

I don't count the Shop  Kick or Fetch until I cash out for a gift card so between coupon dotcom and Ibotta rebates and various bonuses I earned $43.63 making this haul a $1.39 moneymaker.

A couple of things double dipped and a couple of things I didn't have coupons for plus I misread the Campho Phenique rebate(I bought two but it was a limit of 1 for the rebate so I would have been better off using the $1.50/1 Q and buying one instead).  I finished the Weekend Warrior and I am almost half way through the $10 Grand Slam bonus as well.

Whatever, I am alright with free or better than free!

Ibotta keeps luring me in....make it stop! lol

Sluggy

Frugal Friday...the June 4th Edition

 A few frugal wins from this past week........

*  We went to our favorite nursery last weekend and got a flat of assorted veggies and flowers. Hubs planted everything with my supervision as my knee and back are still wonky this week.  Not a big garden but a few favorites that the flat of plants will provide.

*  We didn't eat out and mostly ate down the freezer and leftovers from the Memorial Day cook-out.

*  And contrary to belief I didn't hit ANY grocery stores.....well, until today but my frugal week runs Friday to Thursday anyway so it goes on next week's report. ;-)

*  I watched some free movies with my Amazon Prime account.

*  I've been cleaning out stuff to get ready for my stockpile sale as my old body has allowed me to.

*  I grew a couple of my Rite-Aid accounts Bonus Cash.  I found a store near the nursery that had Sally Hansen nail polish on sale for $1.49 per bottle and it counted toward the SH polish deal this week When you buy 2/Get $4 in BC back.  After sales tax it grew my BC by .85¢ per 2 bottles purchased.

*  I found money!

On my big outing last Friday I found this Quarter tucked behind the self-checkout machine I was using.

Then I stopped in at my Rite-Aid on the way home and found this nickel in front of the register counter.

Total Found This Week... .30¢

Total Found This Year....$4.10

That's it for this week.

I hope y'all had some frugal wins too!

Tell us all about them. 8-)

And have a good Weekend....

Sluggy

The Food Spending.......May 2021 Report

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2021.

I have posted May'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 May.  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.)
*****************

BREAD OUTLET

OOP  $4.00

Value  $12.07

Savings 66.86%

FOOD LION

OOP  $27.28

Value  $37.15

Savings  26.57%

MALACARI'S

OOP  $10.22

Value  $16.20

Savings  36.91%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $7.47
Value  $16.50
Savings  54.73%

P and R DISCOUNTS
OOP  $30.41
Value  $61.72
Savings  50.72%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $1739.49
Value  $1739.49
Savings  100%

TARGET

OOP  $6.07

Value  $102.11

Savings  94.09%

WALMART
OOP  $173.50
Value  $372.15
Savings  53.51%

WEIS

OOP  $98.42

Qs/Sales  $67.68
Value  $166.10
Savings  40.75%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Target at 94.09% and The Bread Outlet at 66.86%.

The worst rate was at Food Lion at 26.57%  
I shopped at 9 different stores in May.

TOTAL Spent in May.........................$357.33

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards......$426.67

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased....$784.00

TOTAL Savings of ...............................54.52%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for May w/R-A...............$357.33
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards w/................$2,165.16
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid...$2,522.49
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items....................85.83%

This closes out the May food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into May wanting to stay under $300 on spending but I didn't quite get there(over by $57.33).  If you count the Ibotta and Coupons dotcom rebates received in May, my "real" spending was only $172.15.  Either way you look at it I am happy with the results.

I also wanted to cut back on the rebating but as you can see that didn't happen. ;-)

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by .67% in May 2021 to 85.83% compared to the April's 86.50% savings average.  So about the same really.

With 5 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $1,628.78 on food/toiletries in 2021.

2020 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$1,608.27

2020 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$10,445.07

2020 Grand Total Saved...............................$8,836.80

2020 Yearly Savings Total.............................84.60%

The average per month amount spent is $321.65 in 2021 so far.

LOOKING AHEAD To June 2021...........

Again, I am going to attempt to cut back on the rebating. (Sluggy plans, God laughs!)  I'll give it my best effort this month.  There are no "food holidays" for us in June and we are well stocked except for fresh produce so we shall see if I can succeed in my plan.  The vegetable plants are in but it will be at least mid July before anything produces.

I am not giving myself a price limit for June but there is always that $400 mark in the back of my mind yelling at me. 8-)

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 May?

*  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

Laying Off Rebates for Awhile, But First.........

 

I finished that $10 Ibotta Bonus up at Walmart last Friday.  No photo but here is what I bought--

3 x Mac's Pork Rinds $1.78
1 x Incogmeato chickn nuggets(qualified for 2 different rebates totaling $2.60)
1 x Keto yogurt cup .45¢
1 x Any Brand Pasta(got GV Rigatoni) .10¢
1 x Sun Sweet Prunes w/Essence(qualified for 4 different rebates totaling $2.20)
1 x Any Brand Pasta sauce(got GV tomato sauce) .10¢
1 x Nutella and Go! .50¢
2 x Arm and Hammer Essentials Toothpaste $2.00
3 x Clairol Nice n' Easy hair color(qualified for 2 different rebates totaling $15.00)
1 x Clairol Root Touch-Up $3.50
1 x Clairol Natural Instincts hair color $2.00
1 x Ocean Spray Juice $1.00
1 x Limitless Sparkling Water(qualified for 2 different rebates totaling $2.10)
18 rebates done.  I only needed 15 for the $10 Bonus but doing 3 extra gave me the WW Bonus too so why not? ;-)
Total spent including tax was $50.65 after paper coupons used and a $10 Fetch gift card as well as $19+ used on that hospital refund debit card we got a few weeks ago.

Plus Bonuses Earned
1 x Level 2 $1.00
1 x Yoplait .50¢
1 x $3 Weekend Warrior
1 x $10 May Flowers

Total Ibotta earned $33.33+$14.50 in Bonuses=$47.83
I also earned $6.20 worth of points on Shop Kick
I earned $6.00 on Coupons dotcom.
I got 50 points on Fetch as well.
And another .13¢ worth of points on Swag Bucks.  The only hiccup was my Arm and Hammer toothpaste rebate on Swag Bucks disappeared before I got home or that rebate would have been more.  It happens, what can I say? lol

I don't count the Fetch, Shop Kick or Swag Bucks until I cash out so I spent $50.65 and earned back $53.83(Ibotta and Coupons dotcom)making this trip a $3.18 moneymaker.

Nice.

I am going to be laying off rebating in June(didn't I say that about May though?!lol).  Just not feeling chasing down deals lately and really we don't need much right now plus I've got some physical problems to work on.  

But there is always my BFF, Rite-Aid. 8-)))

Sluggy