CHARLIE KIRK

 

Charlie Kirk was all about non-violence and civil discourse.  I tired a similar track after the last presidential election with three, I thought, levelheaded bloggers.  I tried to engage them in civil discourse in their comments section, trying to bring our country together.

And it got me nowhere.  I got shot down, figuratively, by their commenters, to go away, any thing I had to say was not welcomed.  I lost that day what I assumed were 3 blogger friends.

Let's all pray for Charlie's family and our country.

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....the September 8th Edition

"Grossing Anne out".........

I sent this photo of a shirt I acquired.  It's a Schrute Farms shirt from "The Office" tv series.

I "know" of Anne's love of beets so I thought I'd torture her with this shirt.  And not only is it beet themed but it's beet colored!lolz

 Onward to the meal planning!  Here is what was planned for the last week.....

Here is what was planned for the this week.....

1. Sunday--leftover Stir-Fry(w/o rice for me)

2. Monday--Haddock, Brussel Sprouts

3. Tuesday--leftover Meatloaf, Cabbage

4. Wednesday--Shrimp Lo Mein

5. Thursday--Meatballs(w/ or w/o Pasta), Caesar Salad

6. Friday--Don't know yet

7. Saturday--"                  "

And here's what happened....

1. Sunday--leftover Stir-Fry(w/o rice for me)

2. Monday--Haddock, Brussel Sprouts

3. Tuesday--leftover Meatloaf, Cabbage or B Sprouts

4. Wednesday--Shrimp Lo Mein

5. Thursday--BLTs

6. Friday--Shrimp, Green Beans

7. Saturday--I had a salad, Hubs made chili

We shopped at Dollar General, Aldi, Walmart, and a Restaurant Supply Store last week.

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

*  Shrimp Lo Mein

*  Shrimp

*  Haddock

*  Brussels Sprouts

The last week we spent a whopping $151.41 on groceries and the savings rate came in at 26.99%. Spending for the month is $151.41 and the savings rate is 26.99% for September before rebate monies are added in.

Rebates earned in September--

$25.15 on Ibotta

$10.00 on Checkout51

$0 on Aisle and Misc.

$35.15 total in $$

Total spent after rebates is $116.26

for September. 

225 Pts. on Fetch 

2105 Pts. on Swag Bucks

0 Pts. on My Points

33,061 Pts. on ShopKick

0 Pts. on TaDa

(I don't count these until I cash out for a gift card or cash.)

Before AND after rebates we had a slightly low spend month for groceries at least for us.

Leftovers going into next week...chili, green beans.

Here is what is planned for the this week.....

1. Sunday--Take-out

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, leftover Green Beans

3. Tuesday--leftover take-out

4. Wednesday--Chicken BBQ, Sweet Potato Fries

5. Thursday--Meatballs(w/or w/o Pasta), Caesar Salad

6. Friday--Stir-Fry Pork and Veggies

7. Saturday--Salmon, Veggies TBD

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.

Sluggy   

Income & Spending....the August Report

**I just realized I haven't done one of these Income & Spending posts since MARCH!  What with going insane, moving halfway across the country, going on a cruise to Norway and long Covid, that will do to you!

Now that we are living on an annuity, 401K$ withdrawals, personal savings 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.

We went into retirement in June of 2017 with no debt, no mortgage nor a car payment.

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 August report--

I have 2 goals for August.....

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 fund may be applied 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 2025.

*  I do not include/report on our retirement accounts here, just the non-retirement ones.

I have to report that we finished up August in the 

The amount extra wAe ended the month of August with?....$2,633.97

Income or Fund in August We Can Access

The "income" in August---

*  Monthly annuity payment of $2,530.11

*  SS income of $4,104.00

*  Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $2,062.76

Total "Income" for August....$8,312.47

*  Irregular bills in August were $2,109.77

*  Variable expenses in August came to $2,898.02

*  Medical Premiums in August were $670.71

Total Expenses....$5,678.50

$8,312.47-$5,678.50=$2,633.97

Slush Fund coming into August of $79,350.82 and the subtraction of -$5,678.50 in August, the end of August 2025 Slush Fund comes to $81,984.79. 

The Slush Fund, on it's own page(tab at the top of the blog), shows an addition of $2,633.97

Outgo

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

Here are the GOOD THINGS

*  The WAM was the same as last month.

*  There was no Mastercard bill in August.

*  As for all the other bills I can't tell if they were better or worse than July since I didn't keep track that month as I was sick.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  Hubs Amazon bill was high.

On the Good Side--There were no "one off" bills in August.

The Food Budget costs for August are in another post HERE. Food costs are included in my credit card payments(mainly because I buy the food but sometimes these costs come out of our WAM cash too).

Final Thoughts for August 2025--we kept spending low(for us, you mileage may vary)and income was pretty normal so it left us with overage to put into our Slush Fund.

Thoughts going forward into September--Not much out of the ordinary this month.  No 401K quarterly withdrawals or LTC premiums.  Just the regular stuff and maybe a doctor visit co-pay or two.

So how was your August financially?

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

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 down/off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or retirement account?

Or did you blow all your excess monies after bills were paid on a "want"?

If you post 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!

Frugal Friday.....the September 5th Edition

   Not much frugal going on here.

*  Didn't get lobster again at Shoprite...the sale ended Monday.

*  We cherry picked loss leaders at Aldi, Dollar General, a restaurant supply store as they had the best price on Ground Beef($2.89)and BSCB($2.79).

*  Went to OT and PT to hopefully get my strength back eventually.  My supplement + Medicare pays for it.

*  I sold 2 items on eBay last week...not without some drama. ;-)

*  Something I get for my brother at Christmas had a rebate and they had the items at Dollar General so I got 4 more bags for $1.00 each and earned .50 back for each one.  Kaching!

*  Bought 2 different kinds of candy at DG and earned 960 Shop Kicks.  I'll put the candy in Xmas stockings or give to my son.

*  I found money! 

3 errant carts at Aldi abandoned in the parking lot.  Abandoned quarters retrieved!

Found Money The Past Week.....75¢

Grand Total Found in 2025....$6.37

That's all I got.

What frugal things did you do this past week?

Sluggy

Food Spending....the August Edition

Onward to August's Food Spending Report....

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for August 2025.

I have posted August's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located  and have updated the Totals there. 
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in August.  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. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
***************

RITE-AID

OOP  $45.47

Value  $92.99

Savings  51.10%

ALDI

OOP  $50.26

Value $74.76

Savings  24.74%

OSJL

OOP $47.27

Value  $104.43

Savings  54.23%

SHOPRITE

OOP  $243.92

Qs/Gift Cards  $

Value $308.80

Savings  21.01%

WALMART

OOP  $220.56

Qs/Gift Cards $

Value  $367.08

Savings  39.91%%

********************
My best Store Savings Total was at OSJL with a savings of 54.23% with a lesser amount of the grocery dollars were spent at Rite-Aid at their clearance sale, with a savings rate of 51.10%. Not a bad savings rate average overall though/

I shopped at 5 different stores in AUGUST  

TOTAL Spent in August....$550.24

TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$444.94

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased....$995.18

TOTAL Savings of........44.71%

This closes out the August food/toiletries/etc. spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....

The Monthly food spending savings percentage was 44.71%  Still over 40% savings so I am good with that.

Since we have an adequate income and food should be a pleasure in life(no way am I going to eat unseasoned rice and beans for my remaining days like some people-because I don't have to). I will buy quality food and pay the price at the register.  I may not like the price but I will deal with it.

With 8 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $1,156.03 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2025.

2025 Yearly Total Value of Items  $4,624.12

2025 Total Saved   $1,402.16

2025 Yearly Total Spent  $3,221.96

2025 Yearly Savings Total of  30.32%

The average per month amount spent is $402.75 in 2025 so far but that's before all the rebate monies are added in.

Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Shopmium, TaDa, Checkout 51, Swag Bucks, My Points and other miscellaneous rebates-Aisle, Tremendous, Sampoll  etc. and have it sent to my Paypal)at the end of the year and add it back into my food budget, so at the end of the year my food spending will go down.  I don't add in all the cashed out savings until the end of the year,

The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger Cash Back), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way.  Alexa app gave me Amazon credit onto my account but I don't buy food on Amazon(sometimes I buy dog food there)so I really don't know how to count that and it's defunct now so I won't worry about that bit.

Because I don't like to let money sit in these rebate accounts and Paypal, I send $$ to my bank account throughout the year.  So far I have sent $785.67 from various rebating programs and through Paypal to my bank(and used some of my Ibotta $$ to buy gift cards so $ is going back into the food purchases).  If you add in all that my food spending at the 8 month point in 2025 comes in at $2,436.29 or $304.54 per month.

Besides all I sent to my bank account I have more $ sitting in these various rebating programs as well as in Paypal.  This is not counting ShopKick or Fetch, which all comes out in gift cards.

LOOKING AHEAD TO SEPTEMBER 2025....

It's difficult right now with my health issues to go to the store so I am having to rely on Hubs to do much of the shopping,  Plus we don't have room to stock up much.  Sigh  What's a frugalista to do?? ;-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in August?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just keep 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 versus 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