Food Spending.....the June 2023 Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for June 2023.

I have posted June'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 June.  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).
****************

OLLE'S

OOP  $20.33

Value  $47.19

Savings  58.67%

WALMART

OOP  $108.36

Qs/free Gift Cards $144.58
Value  $252.94
Savings 57.16%

********************
My best 2 Store Savings Totals were at Ollie's at 58.67% and Walmart at 57.16% .  My worse rate was  Walmart at 57.16%. 

I shopped at 2 different stores in JUNE.   8-)

TOTAL Spent in June................$128.69

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$178.07

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$306.76

TOTAL Savings of ............................58.05%

This closes out the June food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 8.51% in June 2023 to 58.05% compared to the May's 49.54% savings average.  

With 6 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $2,246.26 on groceries/HBA /paper goods in 2023.

2023 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$2,246.26

2023 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$3,844.36

2023 Grand Total Saved...............................$1,598.1

2023 Yearly Savings Total..............................41.57%

The average per month amount spent is $374.38 in 2023 so far.

LOOKING AHEAD to July 2023...I'm still on a strict low-caloric diet for July.  Grocery shopping again this month will look a bit different like in June.  Of course we weren't home for the first 4 days of June either. lol

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 June?

*  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

Frugal Friday......the June 30th Edition

Welcome to Frugal Friday!   

There are very few Frugal wins this past week and not everything here would be considered frugal but here goes......

*  Being on this restrictive short term eating plan meant we spent very little at the grocery store this past week.  The freezer is packed with food for Hubs to eat as long as he remembers to thaw something. lol

*  Got my bloodwork done.(See previous post)  Now to get approved to this special joint surgeon program through our insurance and have the appointment with my PCP in 11 days for the physical and to get med refills from this new dr.

*  We got a car port!  

Last Friday the guys who put it together arrived and they had it up lickety split!  It sort of matches the siding on the house.  

The funny thing when we went in to order it they had a whole collection of colors you could choose from, most of which were darker shades.  If I remember my basic science, dark color absorb heat and lighter colors reflect it.  Why in heavens name would you put up a dark shade colored car port if the point is to keep the sun off and the heat out of your car??  While it would be more aesthetically pleasing to have the side pieces match your siding on the house and make the top of the car part burgundy to match you fake window shutter details, it just kind of is counterproductive to it's purpose.  Now if we had a "real" garage instead of this "bubba" garage we could just keep the cars in there. ;-)

*  My  smoker finally arrived.  I had ordered it through Amazon on May 12th then  I found out they lost track of it back on May 15th and had no clue were it was, so I cancelled the sale and got my money back.

I found the same smoker(well they had redesigned it a bit so it was improved from the older version I left in PA)at Home Despot in stock and on sale so Hubs went to pick it up this past week.  Now I'm all set to do the smaller of the two slabs of beef brisket I cut into two pieces I bought awhile back for July 4th.  Yippee!  And my daughter found a sugar-free rub to use also.

*  On our trip to Walmart I found a box of Tetley decaffeinated tea bags on clearance for .85¢.  I also did lots of rebates and digital coupons this trip bringing my total OOP way down.  More on that on Monday during my Dining Table post.

*  I found money!  

One quarter on our only trip to Walmart this past week.

And notice it's a Louisiana state quarter with what looks like a whooping crane on it's back(which they have plenty of around here).  It should be a pelican as that's the State Bird but whatever.

Total Found in last Week.... .25¢
Total Found this Year.......$2.47

That's all for this past week.

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

Sluggy 

The Provocative Passions of Purple

 I had blood drawn for labs this past Monday.  I was all decked out in purple that day as is my want.  Purple dress, shoes, and handbag.  As the phlebotomist led me into the lab she commented that I looked like a queen as purple has always been the color associated with royalty.  She also said it was her favorite color and wished instead of the black scrubs she was required to wear, she could reveal her true identity as a queen by donning the royal color.

She drew the blood, removed the "thingy"(highly technical term ya know), put a gauze over where she had taken the blood and reached for the vivid blue stretchy tape to wrap around the crook of my left arm.  Then she stopped, tossed that length of blue tape into the trash can, opened a drawer saying, "Oh, that just won't do", reached in and removed a roll of purple bandaging tape to hold the gauze in place.  "You just NEED this color instead", she said and we both chuckled over this moment of bonding because of our shared love of purple!

And incidentally, being Louisiana(the home of the "Who Dat?" Nation and LSU)I should have known they would have that tape in this color. lol

Sluggy  the Purple Princess

The Secret Yahoo Life of Slugmama

 Much like that old movie "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", Slugmama had a secret life on Yahoo.

Photo I got by mistake of a Chinese New Year celebration from a complete stranger which was meant for someone else.

It started back in November of 2007.  I started getting weird emails from strangers--vu thuy, Arlene, Rowena Okumara and Melody.  Evidently some other person used the email handle slugmmama@yahoo,com.  My yahoo handle is slugmama@yahoo.com.  Her slugmmama had 1 extra "m' in her handle.  Can y'all see the different spelling??  Evidently Yahoo couldn't see it!

For some reason Yahoo kept sending me HER mail.  I contacted Yahoo numerous times over this issue, them sending her email responses to my account.
But the dimwits manning the Customer Service couldn't seem to SEE that slugmama is spelled differently from slugmmama!

So after getting no where with CS for a full month I just gave up and kept getting this other person's emails folks where replying to me and not her.

ARGH!!!

So I just stopped trying to get this straightened out and watched emails meant for slugmmama roll in....posts about the Chinese Zodiac for 2009, pics of someone's young child, a post entitled "Kung hee fat choy!" with a photo from a Chinese New Year party with a dragon(above), a dilemma about which dress to pick for her Wedding dress, an invitation to the Jessica's Traveling trunk show, a photo of Peach Pie that one of them had in Atlanta, etc.  So I just sat back and watched this parade go by.  

The last email I got was 1/1/2013 wishing "me" a Happy New Year.  I guess they actually got a competent employee on board who found the "problem" in their coding or whatever and I ceased to receive all these misdirected emails.

It was hilarious while it lasted.

Has Yahoo ever misdirected someone else's mail to your email address and then told you YOU were the insane one?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Weight Loss is Still the Focus" Edition.                                            

We went all the way to the Caribbean last December and this particular rum cake was being sold everywhere!  Who knew I would see it for sale at my local TJMaxx store here last month?   Not a fan so I didn't buy any. lol

I'm still making progress and the knee is holding up somewhat.  My doctor is on board with this way of eating to reach a short term goal so no unsolicited advice on this eating plan please.  While I appreciate the concerns I am fine.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned for last week.......

1. Sunday--a Protein Shake. leftover Brussels Sprouts

2. Monday--yogurt, maybe another Protein shake

3. Tuesday--Chicken thigh

4  Wednesday--Probably half a bag of veggies

5. Thursday--Grilled Salmon

6.  Friday--Spinach Soufflé

7. Saturday--The other half of the bag of veggies

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

1. Sunday--a Protein Shake. leftover Brussels Sprouts

2. Monday--yogurt, another Protein shake

3. Tuesday--Chicken thigh, small helping of steamed Broccoli

4  Wednesday--a cup of yogurt, A Protein Shake

5. Thursday--1/2 of a Spinach Salad with Walnuts, Cranberries and Feta Cheese w/a Balsamic Reduction

6.  Friday--a cup of Yogurt, a Protein Shake

7. Saturday--The other half of the Spinach Salad

We went out for trivia on Thursday but I found something suitable to eat there(a salad that was enough for two meals so brought half of it home).

I guess you'd call this an extreme intermittent fasting deal with many supplements to keep all my innards working and healthy.  I consulted a new PCP and my food plan was given the green light.  

What got taken out of the freezer last week...

*  3 Chicken Thighs

*  a bag of broccoli

*  Beer Bratwursts(Hubs)

*  some honey battered Chicken(Hubs)

*  a bag of mixed veggies(Hubs and I shared)

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

*  3 bags of frozen veggies

Last week we spent $9.59 on grocery shopping.

 Total comes to $75.74 for June.

There are 4 shopping days in June.

I've earned $2.10 on Ibotta in June.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in June.

I've earned $0 on Coupons dotcom in June.

I've earned $0 on Shopmium in June.

I've earned $0 on Kroger Cash Back in June.

I've earned 1,165 points from food shopping on Fetch in June.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in June.

I've earned 0 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in June.

That is $2.10 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $75.74 of grocery spending so in reality it's $73.64 in food spending after the 5 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 39.69% and the monthly savings total for June comes in at 41.23% so far spent.

Leftovers going into this week...Some bratwurst(for Hubs).

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

1. Sunday--2 Chicken strips, leftovers mixed veggies

2. Monday--Spinach Soufflé

3. Tuesday--Yogurt, Protein Shake

4  Wednesday--2 Chicken Strips or some other Protein in the freezer

5. Thursday--half a bag of Green Beans

6.  Friday--Salmon, Yogurt

7. Saturday--other half of Green Beans

I also drink, water, iced tea(unsweetened), hot tea with lemon and honey and the odd zero sugar soda or Zero sugar Powerade/Gatorade and keep my stomach full and it also keeps me hydrated.   I mostly stick with the water or unsweet iced teas with lemon added.

This one mini-meal per day where I change between vegetable matter and a lean protein and a yogurt cup when these other meals won't suffice.  There also is a regime of supplements I am currently on, either to maintain my body's condition or were already taking them for various conditions.

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Got it all here.  Might need more protein shakes this week and some lemons. Hubs will either do his own thing or supplement other foods when I do the salmon.  Right now there is plenty in the freezer he can partake of but are off limits to me right now.  Or he may go buy more tv dinners as he doesn't like to cook. lol

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?  I confess that I don't need to buy anything right now nor have I had any desire to read the ads.

Sluggy