Sunday, April 10, 2016

Giveaway Ends Tonight

There are only about 6 more hours to enter my Giveaway so don't forget to go HERE before 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time.
Also remember to include an email so I can contact you if your email isn't included in your Blogger profile OR Blogger links to your Google profile(circles)instead.  Or email me privately your email addy(link to mine is in my "About Me" section on the right sidebar).

If I can't email you, you can not win.

Sluggy

Shopping This Past Week


Well I went to Maine Source earlier this week since they were having their Customer Appreciation Sale.  Once a year everything in the store is 10% off, even stuff that they NEVER put on sale.
How could I NOT go? ;-)
I spent $62.56, picking up 3 jugs of a favorite peach tea, a large jug of a sesame dipping sauce(we use for potstickers.....a jug lasts us about 2 years), a gallon of Russian dressing, a quart of plain yogurt, a bag of russets, roma tomatoes, asparagus, 5 lb. of freshly ground beef, a 20 lb. bag of onions, and some paper plates as we are almost out.
The produce and meat were already on sale so the 10% addition off on those was a bonus.

I also hit the Dollar Tree as we were out of potstickers and bottled lemon juice.  Also bought were egg noodles, breadcrumbs, wine vinegar and rolled breakfast sausage.  We like the brand sold for $1 at Dollar Tree plus even though it's got more fat in the mix than the premium brands at the grocery stores, it's a better deal penny for penny.  This brand is .10¢ per ounce while the average premium brands run .25¢ per ounce.
Total spent at Dollar Tree was $20 OOP.

Hubs picked up some bottled water, a cuke, grape tomatoes and slicing tomatoes this week too, at that local Shursave affiliate grocer, for $7.45.

Hubs also stopped at Target to use that $3 Catalina I got before Easter.  He picked up 2 packs of mushrooms for $3.98, so spent .98¢ OOP.  I used the shrooms in my Rustic Beef Bourguignon.

A quick run to Weis(PMITA)Markets yesterday for more mushrooms, lettuce, pearl onions, milk, 50% off green tea, 50% off bakery items(including a small cheesecake for Hubs birthday)and potato chips Hubs requested cost another $21.25.
I also picked up a small package of P&P loaf lunch meat.......



I've never had this before so I thought for .99¢, why not?  I don't make a habit of buying processed lunch meats(due to the sodium content)so this was a special treat.....well, if I like it. lolz
Surprisingly it's not as sodium-filled as I had thought at first glance.
P&P stands for pickles and pimento by the way, but looking at the ingredient list it seems the second "p" is actually for red peppers.
Hubs was shocked to learn at the store that I had never eaten this lunch meat in my youth.
His family growing up was frugal because they had no money basically so he ate whatever lunch meat was cheapest for lunches because that's what his mom bought.  Usually it was PBJ or bologna but on occasion the lunch meat du jour had been p&p loaf.

So we've spent $112.24 last week on groceries.

I also popped into Rite-Aid this week to do a quick transaction and try to use Ibotta at Rite-Aid. Using Ibotta is different at R-A since you have to unlock rebates and then link your Plenti card to the Ibotta app on your phone and verify purchases/have your phone on and with the Ibotta app open on it at the time of the purchase to get credit for those rebates.  You don't submit a receipt to the app after your purchases at home.  I was dubious it was going to work since there was nothing on the phone to scan or anything but I got an email this morning that I got that rebate. yay!
Ya is right because now I don't have to return the St. Ives. ;-)

Here's what I bought.........




2 x St. Ives facial scrubs bogo50%=$7.93
1 x large Purex detergent 50% off=$6.14
SubTotal......$14.07

I used a $1/1 St. Ives Scrub ManuQ knocking the total down to $13.07.
Sales tax added another .78¢ so my total was $13.85 and I used Plenti Points to pay this amount.

I earned $3 in new Plenti Points for buying the St. Ives.
I earned $3 cash rebate on Ibotta for buying the St. Ives. already received
I earned another $1 in Plenti Points as I activated an offer on my Plenti account online for$1 off St. Ives. already received
I also earned $5 in Plenti Points as I activated an offer on my Plenti account online for Purex(spend $15 get $5 in points-this put me over the $15 needed-I had used a rain check 2 weeks ago and bought 6 jugs of the smaller Purex jugs at $1.99, paying with a free R-A gift card). already received

So $13.85 in Plenti Points used and $12 in a combination of Plenti Points and Cash Rebates earned back, making this a $1.85 "spent down in Plenti Points" transaction for me.

1 x 150 load laundry detergent and 2 facial scrub products for $1.85 including tax isn't too bad, right 8-)

So that's about all I got here.
Did you find anything that was a good buy last week at the stores?

Sluggy


Thursday, April 7, 2016

March To-Do List....Update

So how did I do with my March To-Do List?


MARCH

*  Pick up CB from School  DONE
Duly picked up and fed for a week while on Spring Break.

*  Take CB back to School  DONE
Hubs actually took him back.  My contribution was baking CB cookies to take back with him so he doesn't starve between end of break and the end of the semester.

*  Pay Bills  DONE
I done paid them all.  Go. Me.

*  Bike 65 Miles  FAIL



As you can see I only got in 46.18 miles.  I was falling off the mark mid month but still progressing and then I got a stomach flu.  8-(  No more bike at that point......

*  Paint 2 Items  FAIL
Nope.  Didn't do it.  But I did get my paints out.  Baby steps here people, baby steps.....

*  Sew and Complete 1 Item  IN PROGRESS
I decided to make canvas grocery bags.  I have a few rolls of canvas fabric and webbing/strapping I bought on eBay about 10 years ago.  I have cut out 2 bags so far.  I'll cut all of them out before production sewing them all at the same time.  I may not finish this project before the month is out however.

*  Mail CB's Taxes  DONE
CB came home, signed the forms and off they went to the IRS and State Revenue Departments.  He has already gotten his refund as well.
Boy, my kids never appreciate me until they leave home and have to do this shit on their own! lolz

*  Finish Book DONE
Was I ever glad to finish that one....what a snoozefest! lol

*  Nag Hubs about doing Local Taxes  DONE
He was duly nagged and last weekend he got around to doing them. ugh.

*  Buy Stuff for new Bathroom  DONE
We hit Ollies(Good Stuff Cheap!) a couple of weeks ago and picked up a new bath rug and a wastebasket that is smaller and fits in the space we have for one in the room now and spent about $12 total on those 2 things.
We also hit K-Mart the week before Ollie's and I got 2 nice white hand towels and a toothbrush holder for FREE, using my Shop Your Way Points.
Nice. 8-)

*  Seal Grout in new Bathroom  FAIL  
Despite my nagging efforts this didn't get done but will happen this coming weekend if I have to get down on the floor myself and do it.

*  Get Construction Binder from Tony  DONE
Finally had the post construction inspection and product/job binder is now in the house.
rah.

*  Plan trip to LA  IN PROGRESS
I've got the route there figured out and hotels booked for the "going" and the stay in LA.  Just have to figure out what route to take home, what to see, and where to sleep.  I hope to get this finished by next week.

Now it's time to work on my April To-Do List.

How did y'all do getting stuff on your list in March knocked off?

Sluggy


Wednesday, April 6, 2016

April 1st Net Worth Snapshot


We are up $6,800.14 from last month's net worth overall(only liquid cash/investments, as I don't count housing or car values).
However, in just the non-retirement accounts(savings, cash on hand, bonds, etc.)we are DOWN $3,695.68.  This is due to paying for the renovation project we had done in Feb./March from these monies.
Oh well.....you win some, you lose some, and I am ok with this trade-off....less cash, better and functional surroundings.  '-)

We are up $104,375.25 however from one year ago, the April 1st of 2015 net worth snapshot.  This is due to the retirement account earnings and additions.
So things are still ok with me here as overall we are trending further ahead than we were a year ago.

Once Hubs retires I will miss these little monthly look backs, when we move from acquisition mode with money to spend-down mode. ;-)

Sluggy

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

2016 $38K Savings Challenge.....March Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings or these other categories.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into an interest bearing Savings Challenge account.

For 2016 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount to $38,000 this year, $10K more than my goal for last year.

I have reconsidered and changed my Goal from $40K to $38K for 2016.  With some things coming down the pike this year I thought it prudent to back up my Goal a couple of thousand.  8-)


On to the March report.....
I have posted my March End of Month $38K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers HERE.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $3,166.66.

I have to report that we finished up March with a large amount leftover exceeding my target amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of March with?.......$4947.49

Income

We had $2,803.42 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Other monies received in March totaled $2389.61.  This included interest made on non-retirement accounts, a tax refund and 2 stock dividends.

This brought us to our gain of $4947.49
Since we have no debt, this goes into savings.

Outgo
As for the expenses this March, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges, water bill, and internet were approximately the same as last month.
*  The March electric bill was actually down $63.66 from February's bill.  With electric heat this is an amazing total for heat and lights, etc. in northern, mountainous PA. February and March are generally our highest electric bill months in the year.  I will be glad to see the electric start to slowing decrease even more for the next 7 months.
*  The credit card bill was down $474.99 from last month.  No travel and little shopping=not much spending on that card, other than gas purchases.
*  The gas card bill was down $46.67 as Hubs put more gas purchases on the Mastercard.
*  We received a tax refund this month.
*  The monthly medical bills were down $1,150.29 from February's total.  Yep, we paid off all those high deductibles now for the year.
rah.
go
me.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Of course we had Real Estate taxes due in March and a sewage bill to offset all that medical bill we didn't have this month.
It's always something, isn't it? 8-(


The Food Budget costs for March are in another post, which is located HERE.

March was a pretty expensive month for us.  The regular bills were very low this month coming in at under $1800, but we had taxes and a yearly sewer bill to offset that.  Still we were able to save quite a bit even with those expenses.

With 3 month accounted for, our Savings Challenge Grand Total for 2016 is $9414.82.

Final thoughts on March---
I am happy with what we socked away in March given the irregular expenses.
And compared to March 2015 we put $1150.37 more into savings this March
.
We have $9K+ saved so far in 2016, and we are only $8.185 behind at this point in the year.
We will be catching up for sure with the financial goals in April when the first 3 paycheck month of the year rolls around.
Yay 3 paycheck months!

THOUGHTS going forward into April----

I happily await April, the first tree paycheck of the year month for us. In addition I should receive a check for blogging in April which is a happy extra.  8-)

We do have a big car insurance bill due in April(under $1K though)but even so we will be able to catch-up(and even get a bit ahead)with where we should be with our savings goal for the year in this month.
May and June we have no irregular large bills so we should gain traction if we can keep the credit card bill under control.  I can do that IF we don't travel and we are suppose to travel in May so the bills will roll in from travel in the May and June c/c statements. sigh.

Again, it's so hard to save when you want to "live" life too because that means spending something.  ;-)

So how was your March financially?
  
Did you spend less than the income you had in March?
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!

As we go forward into 2016 why not make this new year the one were you clean up your finances and pay off your debts.
Plan to set something aside if you don't already now or increase what you bank now for your future self.
Live below your means and keep some change for a rainy day....because no matter how sunny it is in your life now, dark clouds come along and you'll be glad you have that umbrella to keep you dry.

Sluggy