Food Spending 2022........the December & Year End Reports

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2022.

I have posted December'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 December.  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. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
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SUPER 1 FOODS 

OOP  $91.04

Qs/Ads  $54.75

Value  $145.79

Savings  37.55%

WALMART
OOP  $97.47

Qs/free Gift Cards  $88.49
Value  $185.96
Savings 47.58%

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My best 2 Store Savings Totals were Walmart at 47.58%, and at Super 1 Foods at 37.55%.

I only shopped at 2 different stores in December.   8-)

TOTAL Spent in December................$188.51

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$143.24

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$331.75

TOTAL Savings of ............................43.18%

This closes out the December food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....not much spent in December as we were gone most of the month so not much grocery shopping here.  I did hit up a couple of stock-up deals before we left town which accounted for most of the December spending.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 4.26% in December 2022 to 43.18% compared to the November's 38.92% savings average which is a tad better.  A savings perceentage in the 40's is nothing to sneeze at. ;-)

With 12 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3,629.94 on food/toiletries in 2022.

2022 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,629.94

2022 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$12,976.28

2022 Grand Total Saved...............................$9,346.34

2022 Yearly Savings Total..............................72.03%

The average per month amount spent is $302.50 in 2022.

Now when you add back all the rebate and refund cash I received from all my grocery shopping(not counting Fetch, Shop Kick or SwagBucks since I cash those out into gift cards and count that when spent)I had these additional funds to put toward the grocery bills.........

* Ibotta  ........$1,552.69

* Checkout 51....$50.94

* Paypal ..........$476.71

TOTAL......$2,080.34

So take $3,629.94 and subtract the addition of $2,080.34 in rebates/refunds back into my budget and my grocery spending for 2022 becomes $1,549.60 for the year or $129.14 per month.

That's a super low amount spend for the year/month for a family of 2!

LOOKING AHEAD to January 2023...

I am still adjusting to a new state/home/slate of grocery stores here in our part of Louisiana.  We are adjusting/fine tuning what we eat as well.

There is a learning curve for sure plus inflated prices on just about every grocery item is not going away so I'm trying to get use to things being the way they are now for the foreseeable future.  Plus I am still mourning the loss of my Rite-Aid. sniff, sniff  Life will go on and I'll see my way to a new way to grocery shop.  I'll still do all the things I used to do in PA-- keep a price book, shop loss leaders, stock up on great deals as they come along(IF they come along), utilize coupons and grocery apps to get a better deal on stuff we use, think outside of the box on how to save money on groceries, garden, etc.

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 December?

*  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 "Here's Hoping for a Great New Year in 2023!" Edition.....

We are currently under a tornado watch and we've had torrential rain this afternoon so not such a great start to the year in our neck of the woods.  Everyone stay safe out there.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned.......

1. Sunday--No Plan

2. Monday--No Plan

3. Tuesday--No Plan

4. Wednesday--No Plan

5. Thursday--No Plan

6.  Friday--No Plan

7. Saturday--No Plan

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

1. Sunday--Prime Rib, Salad, PopOvers and Wine at Sissie's house

2. Monday--I had 1/2 of a Buccee's brisket sandwich on the drive home from Dallas

3. Tuesday--Frozen Fish, Broccoli, Mac and Cheese

4. Wednesday--Frozen Chicken Parm, Green Beans

5. Thursday--TV Dinners(I think?)

6.  Friday--Apple and Peanut Butter

7. Saturday--Appetizer bits at Daughter's House, Champagne

Not able to stand and cook here yet and not having much of an appetite.

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

Nothing

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

*  2 TV dinners thank goodness for frozen dinners!

*  6 Fish pieces

*  6 Chicken Parm pieces

*  bag of Broccoli

*  bag of Green Beans

*  1 cream pie to Daughter's house for New Years Eve                                 

Hubs hit Walmart a few times for various items to the tune of $55.50 last week.

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $188.51 for December.  

There are 0 shopping days left in December.

I've earned $56.50 on Ibotta in December.

I've earned $1.00 on Checkout51 in December.

I've earned $15.00 on Coupons dotcom in December.

I've earned 2,688 points from shopping on Fetch in December.

I earned 4,770 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in December.

I've earned 1,177 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in December.

That's $72.50 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $188.51 in grocery spending so in reality it's $116.01 in food spending after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 53.06% and the monthly savings total for December comes in at 43.18% so far.  

Leftovers going into this week.....2 helpings of green beans.

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

1. Sunday--Whopper from Burger King

2. Monday--Fried Chicken, Cole Slaw, Mashed Taters, Biscuit

3. Tuesday--No Clue

4. Wednesday--No Clue

5. Thursday--No Clue

6.  Friday--No Clue

7. Saturday--No Clue

I am still not suppose to stand/walk if possible so Hubs has been "cooking".  You'll see he got take-out the last 2 nights as all the easy meals are gone except for the 2 last tv dinners.

I took a whole chicken out of the freezer 2 days ago but it's still not thawed.  The only fresh produce I have is a couple of onions and half a bag of carrots.  Perhaps I'll be able to roast the chicken later this week and get back into some kind of routine.

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Not planning but I'll buy what we need when it's needed.  I haven't set foot in a grocery store since Dec. 6th.

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?  

Sluggy 

How Not To Do Christmas Eve

We got back from the cruise on December 21st, back to Sissie's house.  We enjoyed a couple of low key days, Sissie did a ton of laundry for various cruisers, we had some good dinners and a few laughs.  I had planned to have Kim take me out in Sissie's car on Christmas Eve to fill in some presents I wasn't able to acquire on the cruise like I wanted to but then I pulled an "oopsie".

Sissie has a very tall bed which she had put Hubs and I into to sleep while at her house.  The first night back I begged off that bed as I was feeling sick still(I totally missed Mexico and never left the stateroom while in port thre)and sleep deprived after sleeping on the cruise ship with the 3 Snoring Caballeros. Our last night I slept not a wink so I was feeling under the weather and sleep deprived so I begged to sleep in the tiny bed in the "Sluggy Memorial Bedroom" by myself.  After 1 night of recovery in there I joined Hubs in the tall bed.

Sissie had generously purchased a small collapsing stool to help me ascend and descend her bed.  All was well until the morning of December 24th.  That's when I tried to use the stool to get out of the bed but my foot was not well placed on the stool and as I leaned forward my right foot slipped off the stool and I stumbled to the floor with my left foot/leg.  Luckily Sissie had a luggage rack near my side of the bed and my suitcase was open on on it.  As I fell I reached out and braced my arms/hands onto the open suitcase, otherwise I would have tumbled headfirst onto the floor and may have concussed my head into the wall or floor.

After regaining my balance I noticed a searing pain in my right lower leg(shin).  I looked down to see blood spurting from my shin and forming a lovely red puddle around my foot on Sissie's fairly new carpeting on her Master bedroom floor. ugh

Having a flash of brilliance I grabbed my phone off the dresser and quickly as I was able stumbled into the bathroom, leaving a trail of blood behind me on the carpet.  I figured if I bled out I'd do less damage on the bathroom's linoleum floor. 

I quickly called Hubs on my phone and it just rang and rang.  Then I called Sissie's phone and got her voicemail.  All the while I could hear everyone below me in the kitchen yakking up a storm.  As the blood continued to pour out of me I began screaming "Help!" at the top of my rather hoarse lungs.  
Damn Karaoke on the cruise made me hoarse!!

About the 4th "Help" someone heard me and Hubs ran up the stairs and saw me on the toilet and the growing pool of blood around my foot.  He rushed to the stairs and called out for Sissie's Hubs to come up to assist me.  Sissie's Hubs was a retired medical corpsman in the military so that was luckily for me.  He came up, assessed the situation, told Hubs to called down for someone to call an ambulance then got to work to staunch the bleeding.  My Hubs found a rolled up bandage wrap so they used a hand towel and wrapped it tightly into the bandage as the EMTs arrived.

**If you are queezy at the sight of blood you may want to skip the rest of this post.**

Since I was still holding my phone I had the presents of mind to snap this "money shot" as I calmly sat there as Sissie's Hubs put pressure on the wound.

If I hadn't braced myself on the open suitcase I could have hit my head and been knocked unconscious and laid up there bleeding for who knows how long, possibly passing out and then knows what would have happened. 8-((

The ambulance arrived in about 7 minutes and I was able to hobble downstairs onto the gurney and got whisked away to the ER.  There the injury was accessed, rewrapped and I was banished into the waiting room.  Once the bleeding was relatively controlled(or at least buried inside a bandage wrapping)Hubs and I waited in that waiting room for hours.

The waiting room was another ordeal.  Most of the folks waiting there seemed like flu victims except for one guy we called "ranty man".  He had been there since 1 am as he loudly told whomever was on the other end of his phone.  He proceeded to curse out the hospital staff, threaten to call his lawyer, etc. but no one threw his ass out.  He sounded like a drug seeker but how knows, I was in no condition to pay that much attention to him.  He was at the least annoying and ratcheting up the uncomfortable feeling among us waiting room folks.

After a few hours they called me back to take a look under my bandage job.  The wound was still gushing when pressure was taken off so they rewrapped it with fresh bandaging material and sent me back to the waiting room.

Finally they took me back for good.  The rewrapping wasn't tight enough so as I dragged my leg/foot across the waiting room back into the ER I left a trail of blood on the floor, soaked the wrapping more and bled into my shoe.  Lovely.

It took hours to stitch the wound up.  I think I went back around 5 pm and was released around 8 pm, with 24 lovely stitches.  Then we had to find a pharmacy on Xmas eve that was still open to fill the antibiotic prescription as well as obtain gauze and rolled bandaging to change the dressing.

Here is the wound early Xmas morning..........

The nurse said I should get a sharpie pen and make two dots for a smiley face. 8-)

I was told to keep my leg elevated which I did on Christmas but we left Sissie's house the day after Xmas and that day was spent in airports, on a plane and walking to get a shuttle bus back to our car and then a 3 hour drive home.

Here's the wound the morning after we got home with a lovely hematoma.

And here it is from the 28th.

Still trying to keep it elevated and not walk.  I am suppose to get the stiches out on the 3rd of January.  Go me!

I'll be fine but please keep Kim in your prayers as well as reader Hilogene as I saw in the comments her husband also passed away on Christmas Day.

Sluggy

Very Sad News

After a marvelous trip to 6 Caribbean/Central American countries we all got the shock of our lives once we returned to Sissie's house.  

On Christmas morning, Kim's husband, Joel, very unexpectedly passed away from a massive heart attack.  Everyone is still in shock over this.  Kim requested me to say something on the blog but words fail me other than to say life can change in an instant so enjoy your loved ones while you can.

The love birds hanging in the lounge.

Sea day at the pool.

Kim talked Joel into playing a game.

He was so proud of the shirt he won!

Kim and Joel with their "Diet Coke Connection".

Our last dinner at the Summer Palace restaurant.

Kim obviously won't be online for awhile but please keep her and her family in your prayers at this time.  You can leave well wishes here which I will approve as I am able or leave messages on her blog Out My Window.

Sluggy

Today's Activity, Not Recommended

 Well I felt we were all getting complacent and bored on Christmas eve so I decided to fall off the bed and bleed out.

So we'll be sitting in the ER waiting room for Christmas 🎄 Eve.

I hope your day is merrier and you're brighter than Sluggy.

Sluggy