Powder Room Reno........Done!

We got another item ticked off our list toward getting this house on the market.  The half bath downstairs got a complete makeover!  Our handyman had it done in 4 days last week.

I forgot to take before photos but I snuck in the room and took these.........

The medicine cabinet/mirror and sink(which hung off the wall) were already removed.  The mirror had a 1980's oak frame around it and the sink was off-white.

Here is the other side of the room where the toilet had been located.  Again, a small/low off-white color.  The walls had been repainted by Daughter years ago and had been builder's white to begin with.  The floor was rolled linoleum, also original to the house.

Here is the new flooring, a wood grained plank laminate that matches the color of the hallway and kitchen porcelain tile floor we put in years ago........

And here is the finished product......

We had him paint the room the same neutral color as what the whole downstairs plus stairwell and upstairs hallway will be.  The heat is new as is the higher elongated toilet.  Disregard the free standing toilet paper holder as we put a holder on the wall that matches the towel ring.

New pedestal sink and Moen faucet set......

New mirror/cabinet and light bar fixture too.

I wanted something clean and minimal as it's a small powder room.  I may hang a decorative item/picture at some point on the large wall to the right in the photo.

It cost more than usual since the handyman painted and we didn't so we paid construction/carpenter wages for that part of the job but still, the total OOP was under $3K for all materials and labor(except we had provided the paint).

Now it's onward to having the kitchen backsplash replaced and the drywall behind a part of it repaired too.  Then it's window time. ugh.

But I am thrilled to have all three bathrooms completed now!

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Talk Like A Pirate" Edition...

Leaving Rite-Aid last week, waiting at the light to turn I was behind a car with this license plate.  

A modern day pirate?  Argh No.  Notice the frame around the plate...merely a Steelers football fan.  Should have been a Pirates baseball fan, right?

Still it was funny.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Manicotti from the freezer, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread

2. Monday--Tempura Scallops, Fish, Brussels Sprouts, maybe Potato Wedges

3. Tuesday--Broccoli and Cheese Soup, Cornbread

4. Wednesday--BLTs
5. Thursday--Leftovers + Cuke and Tomato Salad

6.  Friday--Beef Pie

7. Saturday--FFY

And this is what really happened.......

1. Sunday--Manicotti from the freezer, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread

2. Monday--Tempura Scallops, Fish, Brussels Sprouts, French Fries

3. Tuesday--Broccoli and Cheese Soup, Biscuits

4. Wednesday--BLTs
5. Thursday--Leftovers 

6.  Friday--Smoke Sausage on roll, Cuke and Tomato Salad

7. Saturday--Beef Pie

I pretty much stuck to the planned menu(shocking, no?).  A few deviations(sausage sandwiches)but basically the plan stuck.

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

* Just 2 bags of tomato puree from the garden

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

*  1 bag Brussels Sprouts

*  4 Fish filets

*  1 lb. Scallops

*  1/2 bag French Fries

*  1 bag Broccoli

*  2 Smoked Sausage Links

*  1 lb. Ground Beef

I spent $52.46 on food/toiletries/HBA last week.  $50.88 on the 1st at Weis(PMITA)Markets and $1.58 I forgot to include in September when I bought 2 cans of chili at Lidl to bring home for Hubs  This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Grand Total so far to $52.46 for October.

There are 20 shopping days left in October.

I've earned $53.75 on Ibotta in October.

I've earned $1.00 on Checkout51 in October.

I've earned $0 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in October.

I've earned $0 from Aisle.

I've earned 845 points from shopping on Fetch in October which equals $.84.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in October which equals $0.

I've earned  50 SB from food shopping on Swagbucks in October which equals $.50.

That's $54.75 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $52.46 in grocery spending so in reality it's -$2.29 spent after the 4 rebate apps I count until I cash out on the other three apps. 8-)))

My savings percentage for the last week was 28.29%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for October and the monthly savings total for October comes in at 28.29% so far.(w/out R-A).

Leftovers going into this week....Broccoli 

Cheese Soup, a couple of Manicotti, 2 Biscuits, 2 Smoked Sausage pieces, half a Beef Pie.  Most of this will be lunch fodder for Hubs.

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

1. Sunday--Breakfast for Dinner

2. Monday--Homemade Pizza, Salad

3. Tuesday--BLTs

4. Wednesday--Apricot glazed Pork Chops, Acorn Squash
5. Thursday--Meatloaf, Mashed Taters, Veggie TBD

6.  Friday--Korean Beef/Veggie Stir-Fry w/Noodles

7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY

I've got some flat breads to use up(pizza)and we'll use the last of the garden tomatoes in Salad and BLTs this week.(I never thought I'd ever get tired of BLTs but we've had sooo many tomatoes this year I'm about at that point. lol)

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Maybe a loaf of bread, we are low on that.

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?  

Sluggy

  

Downsizing Time But First Organizing

In our journey to move into a smaller house it's time to get serious about downsizing.  

I got rid of 75 items in September.  Of course they were all food bank donations but I am counting them. 8-)  Today I am searching through all my Rite-Aid/Walmart/etc. buys/freebies that are candy and I have all this to give out for Halloween......

My bread mixing bowl filled plus 2 more bags of fun size bars/treats.  I also have about 50 full size candy bars and bags of gummies I can give out too if the bowl runs empty. 8-)))

A win for all the kiddies plus getting rid of ?? items in the house come Oct. 31st.

I have another food bank donation started.

That's another 50 items leaving the house this month.  I suspect I'll add to this before it gets hauled to the church on Friday.

Add that to the 75 item food bank donation Hubs took up in September.

Tomorrow I'll start gathering all the things in the house I will be listing on eBay and Facebook soon.

But first, I need to tame this mess.........

The right side of the room

The left side of the room.

Yep, that's all the leftovers from the stockpile sale plus everything I've gotten since then.  Some of this is Xmas presents too so not all stockpile items.  I just need to sort and put things away and add some of this to my food bank donation.

So besides washing and grooming the dogs, that's what I am up to lately.
What have you been up to in your corner of the world?

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the October 8th Edition

Well I didn't go much of anywhere this past week, just Rite-Aid, the dentist and the bank.  I lead such an exciting life, don't I? ;-)

Here are the few frugal wins at Chez Sluggy......

* I had BC expiring plus I had gotten a few(4 exactly)$X off $XX coupons for Rite-Aid so I paired them with deals and coupons to pick all this up on the 2 cards I have with BC still attached to them.....

I believe there were a few more candy bars(4)left out of this photo but otherwise it's all correct.

The Cetaphil were 75% off and I had Qs that made it $1 or less each, Neutrogena Qs that made those items moneymakeres and I had tracking toward a second Nivea deal from last week so I finished that(plus the Nivea men's stuff have Ibotta rebates).  I returned 2 Tresemmes since the in-ad Q didn't scan for those 2 and a Colgate mouthwash since my L2CQ didn't come off so those 3 items are in the photo and not counted.

Total came to(including sales tax)$113.00.  BC and Qs used was $99.50(not all at once since I did multiple transactions and rolled it)so R-A gift card cred spent was $13.50.

I earned back $42 in new BC and $15.85 in Ibotta rebates so a $44.35 moneymaker. 8-)

*  I had a dentist appointment Thursday for a cleaning.  Need to go back in November for 2 small chips that need filling.  While I didn't ask for any samples this time(I'll do that in November if I remember to), I did raid the office's coupon stash......

Lots of Listerine brand Qs came home with me.  These don't expire until June or July of 2022.  R-A generally has some Listerine freebies and deals after BC during their Black Friday sales so maybe I can pair them up with some of those.

*  I found money!

Last Saturday was a stellar change finding day at my Rite-Aid.  A quarter, a dime and a penny at various places in the store(quarter under candy racks, dime under freestanding rack of more candy and penny wedged under the baseboard of the pharmacy counter.

A shiny penny sitting on the side of the "healthy candy" rack(protein bars)and a grody penny outside behind the trash can.  Sorry for the blurry photo....

On Wednesday I spied another dime back in the pharmacy area and it came home with me.

Money Found This Week.... .48¢
Money Found This Year.....$18.39

*  No grocery shopping happened this week.  I know it's shocking but it's true! lol  I haven't gotten an Ibotta Bonus since September Leaves one ended last Sunday.  No Midweek or Weekend ones either.  What the heck is going on?  Did Ibotta and the Universal hear me when I said I was going to try to stay out of the grocery stores in October??lol

That's about it for me for the week.

What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?

Let's hear all about it!

Sluggy

Income & Spending 2021....the September Report

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals(some months), 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 September report---

I had 2 goals for September.......
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 September in the red.
The amount we ended the month of September with?....-$1,092.83

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in September---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3,222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1,971.99
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $486.87

* Dividend check of $18.27

Total "Income" for September.....$5,699.37

Expenses in September---

* Healthcare Premium for September was $1,971.99(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Irregular bills in September were $3,303.04(school taxes, long term care premiums)

* Variable Expenses in September came to $3,489.16
Total Expenses....$6,792.20

$5,699.37-$6,792.20= -$1,092.83

Slush into August of $39,033.52 in that Fund, subtract $1,092.83 and we get $37,977.07 going into September's Slush Fund.
The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows a subtraction of $1,092.83

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Internet was the same as in August.

*  The WAM was the same amount taken as last month.

*  The electric bill was $4.52 lower than in August.

*  The gas bill was $92.58 lower than last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The water bill was $3.87 higher than in August.

*  The cell phone went up by $31.83 from last month.

*  The MC c/c was $876.17 higher than August.

*  My Amazon Visa was $127.96 higher than last month.

*  2 irregular bills were due in September--School tax bill(paid early for a small discount, quarterly Long term Care Premiums

The Food Budget costs for August 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 September---I knew it would be a "negative" month going in because I paid for some of the December cruise stuff early but I didn't take money out of the non-retirement accounts to cover that until October 1st because I wasn't home until Oct.  Once we get to October's numbers it will all even out. ;-)
 

THOUGHTS going forward into October 2021---No irregular bills coming due in October. yay!  Trying for a low spend on everything(food, misc., etc.)in October too.  I've already bought candy for the Trick or Treaters too.  No trips planned. Just blah, blah, blah.....stay home and putter when not trying to eBay stuff and cart stuff off to the food bank.  October should be stellar once the cruise $$ hits the account and we sit our butts home. ;-)

So how was your September financially? 

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