Income & Spending Report 2022......the July Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals and social security payments, 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 July report---

I had 2 goals for July.......
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 2022.

I can report that we finished up July in the Black.

The amount we ended the month of July with?...$4,562.34

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in July---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,235.81(after tax withholding)
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $168.52

* 1/3 of Quarterly 401K withdrawal=$1,733.38

*  SS of $3,570.00

*  Moved $3,665.96 from non-retirement acct. for cruise(not really 'income' but it paid one bill-the cruise bill)

*  $180.00 cashing in c/c points

Total "Income" for July...$12,553.67

Expenses in July---

* Irregular bills in July were $3,807.49

* Variable Expenses in July came to $1,957.71

* Health insurance premiums totaling $2,226.13

Total Expenses....$7,991.33

$12,553.67-$7,991.33=$4,562.34

Slush into July of $40,570.77 in that Fund, add $4,562.34 and we get $45,133.11 going into August's 2022's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $4,562.34

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  The Internet, cell phone and WAM, as well as the Health Insurance premium were all the same as last month.

*  The Amazon c/c bill was $73.42 lower than in June.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill went up by $3.12 compared to last month.

*  The electric bill was $19.52 more than in June as a/c is needed more.

*  The gas bill was $5.35 last month.

*  The Mastercard bill was $211.45 higher in June.

*  We had 4 irregular bills due in June--

  *  a bill for $1.09 at Kohl's

  *  Hubs' Amazon c/c was $140.44

  *  Paid the Cruise in December off

  *  A month of storage for $95.40

The Food Budget costs for July 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 July 2022---It was a pretty low spend month aside from paying off the cruise.  Most every regular bill was up but only slightly.

The interest income on  the non-retirement funds was a little higher in July which was better. 

With now my SS check coming in monthly and 1/3 of the 104K quarterly withdrawal added to the income each month, unless we have out of the ordinary expenses we should be well under our means in spending.

THOUGHTS going forward into August 2022--Having said all that, well, we are moving very soon.  Moving expenses will have to covered in Aug. and Sept.  With that coming down the pike I'm not even going to guess on what the bills will end up being the next couple of months.  We've got a decent sized Slush Fund to cover almost anything.  We also have liquid savings we can dip into as needed.

Pray for us. ;-)

So how was your July financially? 

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

Food Spending 2022.......the July Report

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2022.

I have posted July'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 July.  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, Pet Food & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3(2-3 eating at home this month). No "kids" under 26. 
****************

ALDI

OOP  $24.02

Value  $43.33

Savings  44.56%

MALACARI

OOP  $21.16

Value  $30.51

Savings  30.65%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/Gift Cards  $769.49

Value  $769.49
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE
OOP  $4.99

Value  $5.99

Savings 16.69%

WALMART
OOP  $56.75

Qs/free Gift Cards  $76.69
Value  $133.44
Savings 57.47%

WEIS

OOP  $92.68

Qs/Sales  $69.85
Value  $162.53
Savings  42.98%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%,  Walmart at 57.47%, and Weis at 42.98%.

The worst rate was at Shursave at 16.69%.  
I shopped at 6 different stores in June.

TOTAL Spent in July................$199.60

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards...$176.20

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased....$375.80

TOTAL Savings of .............................46.89%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for July w/R-A..............$199.60

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards w/................$945.69

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid...$1,145.29
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items....................82.57%

This closes out the July food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....kept it just barely under $200, which was what I was shooting for. Ate a lot out of the chest freezer.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 3.27% in July 2022 to 82.57% compared to the June's 85.84% savings average.  

With 7 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $1,581.22 on food/toiletries in 2022.

2021 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$1,780.82

2021 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$9,436.63

2021 Grand Total Saved...............................$7,655.81

2021 Yearly Savings Total..............................81.13%

The average per month amount spent is $254.40 in 2022.

LOOKING AHEAD To August 2022.......Just trying to get by.  Eating more from the freezer and filling in fesh goods as needed.  No set spending limit but $200 again sounds good. lolz

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 July?

*  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

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Well Poo!" Edition....

Not my tomatoes.

I've been a little too hands off with the garden this year.  After many seeds didn't germinate I lost interest and Hubs is clueless after you plant things other than weeding. 

I went out to pick what looked like lovely fully ripe tomatoes and ever single fruit has blossom end rot. ugh

I have been able to salvage bits and pieces but this is so disappointing.

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned.....

1. Sunday--Leftover Chinese Food or FFY

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Squash Casserole

3. Tuesday--Breakfast for Dinner

4. Wednesday--Lasagna, almost new Pickles

5. Thursday--Applebee's for Lunch(no dinner)

6.  Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--?

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

1. Sunday--Leftover Chinese Food or FFY

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Squash Casserole

3. Tuesday--Lunch out w/nephew, FFY dinner

4. Wednesday--FFY

5. Thursday--Salmon, Greek Salad

6.  Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY

Opted for Salmon and salad over Lasagna as they weather was hotter.  This week should be cooler.  Breakfast for Dinner didn't materialize either as I kept forgetting to buy French Bread. duh.

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

*  2 small chicken pot pies

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

*  Salmon

*  Breaded Chicken

                                                   

I spent $37.54 on food/toiletries/HBA this last week at Weis and Aldi.

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Grand Total to $199.60 for July.  

There are 0 shopping days left in July.

I've earned $107.84 on Ibotta in July.

I've earned $4.49 on Checkout51 in July.

I've earned $4.00 on Coupons dotcom in July.

I've earned 5,825 points from shopping on Fetch in July.

I earned 1240 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in July. 

I've earned $16.89 from food shopping on Swag Bucks in July.

That's $116.33 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $199.60 in grocery spending so in reality it's $83.27 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 49.11% (without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)and the monthly savings total for July comes in at 46.89% so far(w/out R-A).  

Leftovers going into this week....1 pc. Chicken Parm.  That's it.

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

1. Sunday--Red Bag Chicken sandwiches, Squash Casserole 

2. Monday--Breakfast for Dinner

3. Tuesday--Lasagna, Salad

4. Wednesday--Caesar Salad w/Grilled Chicken

5. Thursday--homemade Flatbread Pizza, homemade Pickles

6.  Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Using chicken breakfast sausages, bacon, grilled chicken, ground beef for spaghetti sauce, pepperoni and red bag chicken patties from the freezer so proteins are covered.  Will need to fill in with a few items(cukes, French bread is all I can remember right now).

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 deals on food at your stores this week?  Every time I go to the grocery store it's more bad news(even Aldi's prices are getting high!).

Sluggy

The Third July Giveaway is OPEN!

Who's ready for the Another Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2022?!?

This is the 3rd Giveaway for July....well, a July/August Giveaway.

Let's take a look at what is in this Giveaway Box........

1 x Magnolia scented 3 piece gift set(body lotion. body wash, shower pouf)

1 x L'Oreal Elvive shampoo

1 x Nivea Sensitive and Radiant lotion

1 x KY tingling gel

1 x Ladies' Speed Stick Deodorant

1 x Werther's sugar-free drops

1 x Mentholatum cream

1 x Colgate optic white toothpaste

1 x Dove beauty bar soap

1 x Revlon eye palette(555 Moonlit)

1 x Oral-B toothbrush

1 x Revlon matte lip color(650 HD Spark)

1 x Maybelline lip balm Baby Kiss()

5 x Nail Color(Sally Hansen 359 Pretty Piggy/SH 300 Sweet Berries/Poparazzi Sugar Spun/SH 113 White on Time/SH 752 the Unred)

Close up shots of the goodies.........

Depending on where you shop, the winnings have a reg. retail value of approximately $50

Here's how this is going to work.....

* The giveaway is open to ALL readers, previous winners or not.

* There is a limit of ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER DAY.  Come back each day to enter again.

* Only VALID entries will be posted.  A Valid entry is a limit of one per day and I MUST HAVE VALID CONTACT INFORMATION FOR YOU(either you are on the Giveaway Contact List which I maintain, your comment is connected to a Google/Blogger profile which links to your email address or you email me directly(my email is in the side bar on the Blog)your email address.

IF YOU ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AND DON'T SEE YOUR COMMENT within a few days it's because I don't have your contact/email info.

From all the VALID entries I receive I'll pick a winner at random and the winner has 48 hours from when the post goes live to contact me with their full mailing address.

In your entries I'd like to hear about the best trip you ever took-where was it?, when was it?, why was it the best one?  Or what place would you like to visit that you've never been too and why?  Or the worst trip you ever took and what made it so bad?  Stuff like that.

If you are on my Giveaway emails list just leave a comment and your name(with last name initial please)to enter. If you aren't on the Giveaway emails list make sure you leave your email in your comment OR email me your email privately after you leave a comment(my email is in the side bar area under "About Me").
I'll leave this giveaway open until August 6th, Saturday at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time(EDST).  I'll  pick and post the winner on August 7th Sunday.

*Please note these rules*
I'll post the name/ID of the winners on this blog on  and those persons have 48 hours from the time stamp on that post to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page, as well as on my side bar).

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.  As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten too high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies.  I pay for it all(the cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one make sure your email info is linked to your profile.

So let's get this Giveaway started. Good luck to everyone!!!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the July 29th Edition

Lots of cleaning and clearing out this past week at Chez Sluggy.  We are in full on clean/clear mode.

*  I have packed up 4 more Giveaway boxes for the blog.  After these go up there will be no more giveaways, at least until after we move and get settled.

*  Total stuff  sent to charity in July......45 bags of fabric, 4 boxes of books, 4 bags of clothing and 3 boxes of miscellaneous.

*  Still waiting on the ceramic studio owner to decide on when to come get the molds.  If they don't do it soon I'll open the offer up to everyone locally on Facebook.  Last resort is hiring a roll off dumpster and trashing them(hate to do that but if we have to, we will).

*  I've filled two more large bags for the Food Bank but they won't go out until next Friday.

*  The ceilings downstairs are all painted.  Now we wait for Ex-CB to get back from his vacation to help us power wash the outside of the house, hopefully next weekend.  Then we can get the house listed. 8-)))  I had hoped to get it listed before July was over but oh well.....

*  I've been using frozen foods for meals and trying my best to eat down the freezer.  I couldn't resist 1/2 price wild salmon at Aldi's though and bought 2 packages home with me. ;-)

*  We've been eating lots of leftovers and odd meals as we clear out the foodstuff.  

*  I found money this past week!  

         

Found 3 pennies under various self-checkout machines at Walmart last Sunday.

          

Then I went to the produce market and found another penny.

Then on Tuesday I took my nephew to Aldi(someone had rear ended his car so he needed a ride)and got a quarter there as the guy who handed off his cart didn't want my quarter.

Total Found in last Week.... .29¢
Total Found This Year.....$13.94

*  I've been making a daily to-do list to keep me on track and to make sure I get sh*t done.  Some days it goes well, other days not so much.  But it's helping.

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 cool.

Sluggy