This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Saving Money in the Kitchen" Edition... 

Here's a blogger I just found, check her out.

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned.....

1. Sunday--Domino's pizza and salad for Lunch, FFY for Dinner

2. Monday--Breakfast for Dinner

3. Tuesday--Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread

4. Wednesday--Pecan Chicken, Roasted Veggie assortment
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Cheeseburger on roll, baked Sweet Potato Fries

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Domino's pizza and salad for Lunch, FFY for Dinner

2. Monday--Breakfast for Dinner

3. Tuesday--Leftovers or Fend For Yourself

4. Wednesday--Beer Battered Fish, Roasted Veggie assortment
5. Thursday--Chicken Pot Pie

6.  Friday--Leftovers 

7. Saturday--Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Collards

The Pecan Chicken(though the side was served along side fish insteadf)and the Cheeseburgers didn't get made.  Burgers move to this week, Pecan Chicken will wait until we get back from traveling.

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

*  Nothing

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

*  a box of Fish fillets

*  Chicken pot pies

*  Veggies for Roasting

*  Faux Breakfast Sausage

*  Garlic Bread

*  2 bags of Mozzarella

I spent $84.53 on food/toiletries/HBA the last week. This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $197.82 for March.  That was 1 trip to Walmart and 1 trip to Weis and mostly, they were to do Ibotta deals.  Though I did get some canned food goods.

There are 17 shopping days left in March.  

I've earned $84.12 on Ibotta in March.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in March.

I've earned $9.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in March.

I've earned 2927 points($2.92) from shopping on Fetch in March.

I earned 2905 Kicks($11.62)from food shopping on Shop Kick in March. 

I've earned 1504 Swag Bucks($15.04) from food shopping on Swag Bucks in March.

I've earned $0 from food shopping on Tada in February.

That's $93.12 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Tada/Fetch)on $197.82 in grocery spending so in reality it's $104.70 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

Go me!!

My savings percentage for the last week was 55.72%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)and the monthly savings total for March comes in at 54.17% so far(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week.....Lasagna and Garlic Bread.

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

1. Sunday--Domino's pizza and salad

2. Monday--Cheeseburgers on roll, Potato Salad

3. Tuesday--Veal Parmesan, Veggie TBD

4. Wednesday--Bob Evans Salad for Lunch, FFY for dinner or leftover Lasagna
5. Thursday--Eating Out

6.  Friday--Eating at Daughter's?

7. Saturday--?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu? Nothing.  I'm trying to use up stuff in the fridge before we leave town for awhile.  There are a few getting "long in the tooth" potatoes in the pantry I need to use up and some chicken stock which will get put into the freezer. Whatever is left of the Lasagna and any leftover sauce(if Ex-CB doesn't want it)will go into the 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?  Great deals(even good deals)....what's that lately? hahahaha

Sluggy

  

Frugal Friday.....the March 11th Edition on Saturday

Friday was a very crappy day for me(don't ask!). Between wanting to cry my eyes out over the way an incompetent dr. with a horrible bedside manner treated me and wanting to lash out at said person working for the medical entity I am forced to use(not at the same time mind you)and a trip to Walmart to do Ibotta deals I was just done. Then a run in with Rite-Aid customer service over ANOTHER non-working gift cards(still).  This encounter has made my HS flare(yay me!)and I sank into a depressed state. Then money issues with my daughter have me on edge.  Then I get home and there is a jury summons waiting for me.
 Like I said, not a good day.

Then I couldn't sleep, got up at 4 am, put dogs out in the pouring rain.  Rain changed over to snow between 6-7 am.

As of this photo about an hour ago, we have 8 inches on the ground(a bit of this is ice under the snow).

When I went to put the dogs out there were about 50 birds on the ground in the snow near the trees in the distance in this photo as we have a bird feeder on one of the bare deciduous trees back there.

Most of them flew up into the trees when the dogs came out of the door so here's the brave birdies that didn't flee......

I've seen Robins for about a week in the yard too and I am thinking they are saying, WTF?!, at this point.

So here are a few of the frugal-ish things that happened here this past week.......

* Bought all this at Dollar General on clearance last Saturday.....

All this plus everything else not on clearance came to $20.17

*  I bought all this at my R-A on 3/6 on in one transaction using a $6 of wys $30 coupon...

Nothing spent OOP and earned $10 BC.

*I bought all this at my R-A on 3/8 in one transaction using a $4 off wy $20 coupon......

All this plus a Twix bar, a Butterfinger bar and a 6 pack of Irish Spring soap.

Nothing OOP.

*  I got a few items at Weis(PMITA)Markets for Ibotta rebates--Beneful dry dog food, Canine Carry Outs dog treats, an brand Creamer, Chobani creamer and a Kill Cliff energy drink.  Add in the .75¢ in Ibotta rebates from Rite-Aid(Twix and Butterfinger bars and I earned $7.10 including m $3 Midweek Moneymaker Bonus.  Spent $9.57 before tax on the dog food and earned $7.10(no free gift cards used). 

*  Frugal fail--2 heads of Romain lettuce frozen in the produce drawer of my fridge so those had to get pitched.

*   I found money!

A penny near the register counter at Rite-Aid last Saturday.

Back to Rite-Aid on March 8th.........

I found .22¢ scattered down the Easter candy aisle.

Then the same day at Weis.........

I found this penny in front of the customer service desk.

Total Found in last Week...... .24¢
Total Found This Year......$3.66

That's about all I've got for this past week.

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

And have a good weekend and stay warm!  

Sluggy  

Income & Spending Report....February 2022

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals, 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?....$1,764.55

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in February---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,229.07(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $159.74

* 1/3 of Quarterly 401K withdrawal=$2,051.69

* RMSA account to pay for health premiums totaling $2,226.13

Total "Income" for February.....$7,666.63

Expenses in February---

* Irregular bills in February were $1,644.20

* Variable Expenses in February came to $2,031.75

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13

Total Expenses....$5,902.08

$7,666.63-$5,902.08=$1,764.55

Slush into February of $39,046.36 in that Fund, add $1,764.55 and we get $40,810.91 going into March 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,764.55.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The Internet was the same as last month.

*  The water bill was $2.16 less than in January.

*  The electric bill was $13.08 less than last month.

*  The Mastercard c/c was $1288.08 less than in January.

*  The Amazon c/c was $95.14 less than last month.

*  The cell phone was $40.67 less than in January.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The WAM was $150.00 higher than in January.

*  The gas bill was up $10.32 from last month.

Irregular bills were paid too.

*  We paid the annual sewage bill in January instead of in February.

*  We gave Ex-College Boy a birthday check.

*  We gave Eldest Son and his new bride a Wedding Check.

*  We had to kennel the dogs for a few days and paid for that.

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 2022---We got through the month with quite a bit leftover(mostly due to 1/3 of the 401K withdrawal).  Most of the wedding bills are due in March too.

 

THOUGHTS going forward into March 2022--Well, I predict March will see us in the RED for the month.  Thankfully we have the Slush Fund to cover any overage in bills!  Between wedding bills(hotel room, rehearsal dinner final payment)and the airline flights, gas for car to get to Lousiana, car rental out West, motel stays and dog kenneling for almost 2 weeks(don't forget eating out as well)and the Long Term Care premiums are due in March, yep, we'll be in the red.  So many bills in March!

Not to worry though as it all averages out during the fiscal year.  The $3200+ we had leftover in Jan./Feb. should cover most of the extra bills in March.

March will be a doozy of a month for bills so I'll be sitting my butt home in April and listing stuff on eBay. 8-)))

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 

Dollar General Lackluster Clearance Event

I don't go to Dollar General often but the Saturday during one of their Clearance Event weekends do tempt me.  So I went into my local DG on Saturday and scored these deals......

The Hello toothpaste was .80¢ on clearance and a digital $2/1 Q came off making that -$1.20.
The Head and Shoulders Clinical was $2.92 and a digital $1/1 Q and .25¢ of the $5/$25 Q came off making that $1.67.
The Hempvana pain relief was $7.50 on clearance and .99¢ of the $5/$25 Q came off making that $6.51.
The St. Ives scrub was $2.02 on clearance and I had a $1/1 IPQ and another .13¢ came off ($5/$25Q)making that .89¢.
The St. Ives wash was $1.67 on clearance and I had a $1.1 IPQ and another .08¢ came off making that .59¢.
The Clean and Clear wash was $2.86 on clearance and I had a $2/1 IPQ and another .11¢ came off making that .75¢.
The single Glade candle was $2.25 on clearance and I had a $1/1 digital  Q and another .29¢ came off making that .96¢.
The double pack Glad candles were $2.25 on clearance and I had a $1/1 IPQ and another .16¢ came off making that $1.09.
I bought a few other things(tea pitcher, napkins, matches, DDG shaving gream for Hubs, etc.)that got me up to $25 in spending before the $5 Q came off making all this and the other items $20.17 OOP after discounts and qs.

This particular store had can upon can of Pedigree chicken flavor wet dog food on the clearance aisle.  NOTHING on the clearance aisle was marked so  I had to try to scan those items with the app which only works about half the time in this store....can you say "bad wifi signal"? lol  Then I went over to the regular pet food aisle and saw this brand/size can was priced there for $1.95 which made me think the cans in the clearance aisle would ring up .97¢ on clearance at most. HA!

I asked the cashier to price check the items I couldn't get a price on through the app and the dog food rang up $1.95.  I told her that's strange since the same brand/size pet food NOT in the clearance section was priced at $1.95.  She proceeded to tell me the chicken flavor dog food in the clearance aisle was NOT on clearance.  It was discontinued being carried in their store(all the stores?)so they placed it in the clearance aisle since there was nowhere else to put it.  WTF?!?  

Now I probably could have called over a manager and pressed my case that I should be allowed to buy that dog food for .97¢ a can given that it was in the clearance aisle but I wasn't in the mood to assert myself as I'd just picked up that case of Kirkland dog food last week at that Liquidator store so I just put it back and didn't raise an issue about it.

Still a few good finds even so.  Did you go to Dollar General and find anything worth buying this past weekend?

Sluggy

What's on the Dining Table This Week

 The "Yay! A new Pitcher!" Edition... 

I hit the Dollar General clearance sale on Saturday and also took advantage of the $5 off wys $25 Q they have on Saturday.  I've been sorely in need of a new iced tea pitcher.  I've been checking Walmart almost weekly for months now, but this item seem to be part of their missing inventory/supply change kink here.

Well I found one at Dollar General and even before that Q on Saturday it was less expensive than the shelf price for one(if they had one in stock)at Walmart.  That's my big win from the weekend! lolz

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned.....

1. Sunday--Chinese Take-Out

2. Monday--leftover Take-Out

3. Tuesday--Lobster Ravioli Alfredo, Broccoli or Peas

4. Wednesday--Wild Rice/Mushroom Soup
5. Thursday--Butter Chicken w/rice or Calzone

6.  Friday--Lasagna, Salad, maybe Garlic Bread

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Chinese Take-Out

2. Monday--leftover Take-Out

3. Tuesday--Lobster Ravioli Alfredo, Broccoli or Peas, Strawberries

4. Wednesday--Wild Rice/Mushroom Soup
5. Thursday--Subway subs for Lunch, no Dinner

6.  Friday--Chinese buffet for Lunch, no Dinner

7. Saturday--Butter Chicken w/rice or Cheese Steak Calzone

The wild rice/mushroom soup was terrific and needed nothing else to accompany it.  I had a package mix in my stockpile of mushroom soup.  I sautéed fresh mushrooms and then added a wild rice mix too. nom nom!

The Lasagna didn't happen yet so rolls to this coming week.  I have many old Subway gift cards so using them is a good thing.  The Chinese buffet out was a last minute decision while we were out on Friday shopping.  Having a big lunch means we aren't necessarily hungry for dinner.  Gee, I HATE that I don't get to cook dinner on those occasions.... ;-)

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

*  2 lbs. of shredded mozzarella cheese

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

*  Butter Chicken dinner

*  Calzone

*  2 packs of Lobster Ravioli

*  a bag of Peas

I spent $113.29 on food/toiletries/HBA the last week. This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $ for March.  That was 1 trip to Walmart, 1 trip to that Liquidation place and 1 trip to Dollar General(on Saturday).

There are 24 shopping days left in March.  

I've earned $48.56 on Ibotta in March.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in March.

I've earned $4.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in March.

I've earned 2088 points($2.08) from shopping on Fetch in March.

I earned 10 Kicks(.02¢)from food shopping on Shop Kick in March. 

I've earned 781 Swag Bucks($7.81) from food shopping on Swag Bucks in March.

I've earned $0 from food shopping on Tada in February.

That's $52.56 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Tada/Fetch)on $113.29 in grocery spending so in reality it's $60.73 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

Go me!!

My savings percentage for the last week was 52.95%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)and the monthly savings total for March comes in at 52.95% so far(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week.....Meatloaf, Collards, Mac and Cheese, Peas and Lobster Ravioli.

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

1. Sunday--Domino's pizza and salad for Lunch, FFFY for Dinner

2. Monday--Breakfast for Dinner

3. Tuesday--Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread

4. Wednesday--Pecan Chicken, Roasted Veggie assortment
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Cheeseburger on roll, baked Sweet Potato Fries

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu? Nothing.  I'm trying to use up stuff in the fridge before we leave town for awhile.

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?  Great deals(even good deals)....what's that lately? hahahaha

Sluggy