Meal Plan Monday.....June 7th Edition w/Spending Breakdown

**This post is part of the June Food Stamp Challenge located over HERE.**

I know I haven't done a Meal Plan Monday in awhile but thought I'd get back into this week.

For all you June Food Stamp Challenge readers.....
One way to keep control on your food costs is to plan your meals ahead.  Figure out what to serve before you go to the store and buy food.  It can be a rigid per day menu or just a loose list of meals that will appear on your table at some point in the week...whichever works for you.

When you have a list of meals to serve it's easier to just buy what you need, because you now KNOW what you need!  How many times have you gone to the store and come home with bags of groceries, spending $100 or more and after emptying your bags find that you don't have the ingredients for what you want to cook?
It's happened to me in the past....but not since I plan ahead!
It's what I call my BPLS system.....Browse/Plan/List/Shop.
Browse the sale ads for the store, Plan a menu, Make a List of what you need for that menu and THEN go food Shopping.

Last Week's Menu Postmortem...
There was a very loose menu plan last week.  We had relatives visiting for the week and I hosted 2 large dinners.  We did NOT go out to eat while they were here(except for 1 2-person lunch)for a change, so it was cooking at home for the week.  2 nights we had 'fend for yourself' or leftover nights to use up bits and pieces I didn't incorporate into the dishes I cooked fresh.  We also did brinner....aka breakfast for dinner one evening which was a nice cost-efficient meal.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 5 this Week.....our household presently consists of 2 adults and 3 teens at home.  No children under 14.

MONDAY--Beef Stew ala Crockpot, Whack Biscuits
TUESDAY--Spaghetti with Meatless Balls, Tossed Salad
WEDNESDAY--Roast Turkey, Stuffing, Sweet Potatoes, Wax Beans
THURSDAY--Sloppy Joes on rolls, Tossed Salad
FRIDAY--BBQ Chicken Thighs, Green Rice Casserole
SATURDAY--Beef Enchiladas,  Mixed Greens Salad
SUNDAY--leftovers


Here are the cost breakdowns...
Beef Stew....Meat $2.32, Onion .25, Carrots .50, Potatoes $1.00, Celery .25, Green Beans .30, Stock free, Spices .10, Biscuits .50=$5.22
Spaghetti w/Meatless Balls....Pasta .50, Sauce $1.50, 'Ball' ingredients $2.10, Salad .99, Dressing $1.00=$6.09
Turkey Dinner...Turkey free, Stuffing $2.00, Sweet Potatoes $2.70, Beans  free=$4.70
Sloppy Joes....Ground Beef $2.54, Rolls .50, Sauce $1.00, Salad .99, Dressing $1.00=$6.03
BBQ Chicken Dinner...Chicken .13, Sauce .25, Rice $1.00, Spinach $1.00, Other casserole ingredients $2.00=$4.38
Enchiladas...Ground Beef .85, Tortillas $1.00, Refried Beans .50, Enchilada Sauce .79, Cheese $2.00, Onion .25, assorted Spices .30. Sour Cream .50, Salad .99, Dressing $1.00=$8.18
Leftovers.....free

Adding up what has already been spent and what I need to spend for this week's menu, I can serve this menu of 5 meals to a family of 4 adults/teens for a total of $34.60.

Leftover nights have no cost as they were already figured in when the meal was served the first time.  If you divide the meals' cost by 6 nights, you get an average cost per night of $5.77.  That's $1.15 per person per night.  And this is mostly a cooking from scratch menu.  The only 'processed foods' are the Whack biscuits & jarred Spaghetti Sauce.  To be honest, some of my ingredients are free.....the whole turkey from last fall for a "buying XX$ in groceries" promotion and the homemade vegetable stock.  Having to pay for these items would raise your costs but even with that, this is a very frugal menu.

How am I being frugal with this menu?

The Beef Stew....I am using leftover London Broil slices and a small package of purchased Stew Cubes bought on Saturday to supplement(you can check out that post for details on how I got the meat for cheap).  The stock is in the freezer, made the last time I pan roasted veggies.  I added water and pureed them for a thick vegetable stock for free.

The Beef Enchiladas...I'll take the leftover Sloppy Joe beef to put into this dish.  I've budgeted a small amount of 'fresh' ground beef to add as well in case the Sloppy Joes are popular.lol  The sauce in the Sloppy Joes means I don't need to add tomatoes to season the enchilada filling.  It will require a bit of dried mexican type spices(cumin, chili powder)only.
If the Meatless Balls are NOT popular, they can be crumbled up and added to the Enchilada filling as well to extend it.

The Turkey Dinner turkey was free.  It needs to be used while everyone is home, so it has to be this week.  There will still be leftover meat so it is a prime candidate for Saturday's Leftovers meal.  We might get a few sandwiches out of it and then a small pot of turkey chili on next week's menu as well.
The beans with this meal are also free....it's the last bag of beans from our garden last summer.

You'll notice I have us eating salad 3 times this week.  There is an excellent deal on salad this week(I can get 3 bags free!) and salad doesn't keep long so we must eat it.  Changing other add-in veggies or dressings will keep it from tasting like the same thing each time.

LAST WEEK'S FOOD SPENDING
I spent $87.91 last week on groceries(not including pet food).  I have an allotment of $410.72 to spend in June on food due to my participation in the June Food Stamp Challenge located HERE.  I have $322.81 remaining.

The only NEEDS for this week's menu are potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad greens, spinach, milk.  This should run me about $15.  I do plan on taking advantage of a few sales this week to stock-up on cheese(always needed here), canned chili(for #2 son summer lunches), frozen veggies(to get us through until the local farm stand opens) and ricotta cheese(to use next week).

FOOD WASTE REPORT
Nothing went bad, nothing wasted this week. 

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week.

Sluggy

Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway....WINNER!

There were 58 valid entries to the 3rd Boring Blog Box Giveaway.
I listed the names in order of them being received and assigned a number to each entry.
Then I plugged the parameters into Random.Org and it spit out the Winner.


And the winner is......


Entry Number 41

I'm So Pretty said... and you are so on my blogroll! ;)

Congratulations "I'm So Pretty" and please email me your snail mail info. within the next 48 hours from this time stamp and this lovely box of assorted Boring Blog Stuff will be on it's way to you!

And thank you to everyone who entered!!  We picked up a couple new readers along the way during this Giveaway and I'd like to say Welcome to them! and I do hope they stick around and keep reading and participating.

More Giveaway Fun coming soon....

Sluggy

JUNE Food Stamp Challenge....Day Five

This post is part of the June Food Stamp Challenge over HERE.

 **WARNING--This is the post where I ramble on about grocery shopping.**

This is the last day of the weekly sales cycle at my local grocery store, Weis Markets, so I headed over to the grocery store to gather some supplies for the month.

Now and again, they run Catalina Deals at Weis.  
For those who don't pay attention to this marketing tool that grocery stores use, a Catalina Deal consists of a special group of items for sale in the store.  When you purchase these items(in a certain combination or quantity and/or in a certain dollar value), the store rewards you with a special coupon called a Catalina.  This coupon is usually good on a subsequent shopping trip.  The store uses this to get you back into their store so you spend MORE MONEY there!

But sometimes, you the consumer, can use this marketing tool to your advantage.  If some of this special group of items that qualify for the Catalina are on sale and you have Manufacturer's coupons, and these items are things you are going to buy anyway, you can pay very little for the items, get the Catalina coupon and then roll the deal.

"Rolling the deal" involves making multiple purchases and using the previously received Catalina to help pay for the next purchases(after applying any coupons and the sale prices of course).  Doing this can help you stretch your food dollars even more as long as you don't succumb to buying products you really don't need/can't use that are qualifying for the Catalina deal.

This is one of the 'tricks' couponers use to maximize our dollars.
I rolled a Catalina Deal 3 times today.  More on that later.

Here is my 1st grocery store food purchase for Saturday....

2 x Hebrew National Hot Dogs on sale BOGO($5.99)=$5.99
2 x Weis Cheese 8 oz. blocks on sale BOGO($2.50)=$2.50
1 x Sara Lee Bread on sale $1.50**Rang up=$2.89
2 x Better Than Ears Dog Treats on sale $2.29=$4.58
1 x 18 Large Eggs on sale=$1.50
1 x Almond Breeze Milk on sale=$2.50
4 x Klondike Ice Cream Bars on sale $2.50=$10.00
1 x Perdue precooked Chicken on sale=$3.50
2 x 1.18lb. Ground Beef special @.99¢lb=$2.36
1 x 1.03lb. 93%lean Ground Beef patties=$5.14
1 x .81lb. Sirloin Tip Steak=$3.47
1 x .92lb. London Broil=$3.67
1 x 1.16lb. Beef Cubes=$3.82
2 x pkgs. Chicken Thighs(4lbs. total)-$4.25 & $4.07 BOGO Sale=$4.25
SubTotal before coupons with sale prices.....$56.17

Coupons Used

2 x .75/1 Hebrew National Hot Dogs manu Q(doubled to $1)=$2.00
2 x $1.50/1 Better Than Ears Dog Treats manu Q=$3.00
1 x $1/1 Almond Breeze Milk manu Q=$1.00
1 x .75/1 Perdue Shortcuts Chicken manu Q(doubled to $1)=$1.00
1 x Ground Beef patties $3.00 Discount Sticker=$3.00
1 x Sirloin Tip Steak $1.50 Discount Sticker=$1.50
1 x London Broil $1.50 Discount Sticker=$1.50
1 x Beef Cubes $1.50 Discount Sticker=$1.50
2 x Chicken Thighs $2.00 Discount Sticker=$4.00
Coupon Total....$18.50

$56.17-$18.50=$37.67+$.28tax=$37.95
And I received a $7 On Your Next Order Catalina for buying the Eggs, Almond Breeze Milk & Ice Cream Bars.


So after coupons....
The 2 packs of hot dogs came out to $2.00 a piece.   Yes, you could buy cheaper hot dogs, but Hot Dogs are marginally nutritional, so if we are going to eat them, I'd prefer we eat 'good' ones.  This is not something we eat all the time but sometimes us carnivores feel the need to pour nitrites into our bodies....if you don't eat them, good for you.  We do, so deal with it. ;-)
The dog treats were $.79 a package.
The large almond milk was $1.50.
Over 10lbs. of raw meat/chicken was $15.28 after sales and Meat Dept. Instant Discounts.**The 2 packs of chicken was awesome because I only paid for 1 pack due to the BOGO sale plus the 2 $2 Discount stickers made that $4.25 pack of chicken cost $.25...4lbs. of chicken thighs for 25¢!

**This is one of my tips on buying meat for less.  Grocery store meat departments generally have a day set aside when they discount meat products.  It's worth asking them what that day is so you can arrange your week to get to the store when they mark down the meats.  Some stores also mark down dairy in this way so check your local stores.  My favorite scenario involves meats that are on sale already(either per lb. sale discounting or a BOGO deal)additionally being reduced since they are coming to the end of their "sell by" dating.  I bring a calculator to the store to figure the per lb. cost after all the discounts are applied to see if the sale price is low enough.  I like to keep my beef purchase price $2 or under and my chicken $1 or under.  I do NOT use this trick to get seafood cheaper.....fresher is better there! ;-) 

And my loaf of bread did NOT ring up on sale as it should have.  Weis store policy is that you get a full refund of what you pay if something on sale does NOT ring up correctly, so I get to deduct the $2.89 refund from my spending today.

In addition, the Perdue precooked chicken has a rebate in addition to the coupon I used, so my $3.50 package of chicken pieces will be free(+ an extra .25¢ since the coupon I used doubled to $1 and the rebate form only takes off .75 for the coupon). **This kind of item is something I don't usually buy, due to the high cost per lb. of meat...I prefer to buy my chicken raw.  But the rebate made it free to me so I got it.
So...the OOP spending on this transaction has become $32.31.
Since the Food Stamp Challenge doesn't include pet food, I'll deduct the OOP for the dog treats(plus the tax on them), so that's another $1.86 off, for a grand total of....$30.45.


Then I took that $7 Catalina Coupon and stocked up on Ice Cream, Eggs and Whipped Cream....


1 x 18 ct. Large Eggs on sale=$1.50
1 x Redi-Wipp Whipped Cream on sale=$2.00
4 x Klondike Ice Cream Bars on sale $2.50=$10.00
Subtotal....$13.50-Minus $7 Cat coupon=$6.50 Out of Pocket & another $7 OYNO Catalina coupon.

And I rolled this same transaction again.....$6.50 & another $7 OYNO Catalina to use next week.

I ended up with 8 more packages of Klondike Bars, 3 dozen more eggs(in addition to my 1st transaction) & 2 whipped cream for an additional $13.00 OOP(=Out of Pocket).

Usually I like to use coupons to bring the OOP down lower but the items that qualified for this Catalina Deal, that I wanted, did not have coupons available.   I could have bought different qualifying products that had coupons available & paid even less but that would not have been smart with the money. ;-)

Grand Total for the day's groceries.....$30.45+$13.00=$43.45 (+that $7 Q I can use on any product next week).
Value of the food if purchased at regular retail without sales/coupons.....$125.31.
That's a savings of 65.33%.
I almost forgot.....for every $50 you spend in one transaction at the local Weis you earn 10¢ in gas rewards at the local gas station.   Today's 1st transaction earned me .10¢ per gallon discount on my next fill-up.
Not that I buy groceries to get the gas discount but it's a small perk I can use.

I am now stocked up with ice cream for the summer, have 12lbs. of protein(counting the precooked chicken and hot dogs)& some whipped cream for the local strawberry crop that will be ready very soon.

June FS Challenge Total Spent to date.....$87.91
Amount Remaining in Budget.....$322.81  

Days Down.....5
Days to Go....25

Sluggy

JUNE Food Stamp Challenge....Day Four

So I jumped into this June Food Stamp Challenge on Day Four(which was yesterday actually), when I went grocery shopping for the 1st time this month.

We have had a relative house guest this week and we opted to cook-out on the grill instead of going out to eat before she left......so I was off to the grocery store for supplies.
If we had eaten out, that cost would have gone under our Entertainment spending, but since folks on food stamps don't have the option to eat out and pay with SNAP benies, we ate in and I cooked.

For the meal on Friday, I bought......
10 ears of corn =$3.99
1 bunch of red leaf lettuce=$1.20
3.50 lbs. of london broil=$13.20--it was the cheapest cut of meat they had
2lbs. of strawberries=$4.99

$23.38 spent for this meal that fed 6 people.  (BTW...this same meal in a restaurant for 6 people would have run at least $60 not counting beverages.)
On hand already, we had other fresh veggies for the salad(cuke, red cabbage, iceberg lettuce, carrots, celery), croutons and dressing, butter and salt for the corn and steak sauce.  We drank iced tea or water.

I also bought for later in the week on that grocery trip......
3 x 1/2 gallons of lactose-free milk on sale @$2ea.=$6.00
3 x bags of frozen veggies on sale $1.33ea.=$3.99
1 x cream cheese(house brand) on sale=$.99
I used 3 x $1/1 lactose-free milk ManuQs=$3.00 off

Grand Total spent.....$34.36-$3 in Coupons=$31.46

There is enough meat leftover to make a pot of stew next week when the temperature is suppose to dip into the 60's.
There are strawberries leftover also for putting into breakfast cereal and the 2 ears of corn that were not eaten will be used in the pot of clam chowder in the coming week.

As for the 1st 3 days I missed....we had leftovers 2 of those nights(from the Memorial Day cook-out) and the 3rd night I made chicken enchiladas, using stockpiled refried beans, chicken breast & tortillas and leftover homemade enchilada sauce & shredded cheese from the freezer, and spices from the cabinet.  A can of corn was pan roasted for a side dish.  Estimated Cost of ingredients used for those 3 days.....$13.00

Add that to what I have spend in June and we are at....$44.46 for the month.

Sluggy

The June Food Stamp Challenge.....I'm Doing it!

So, a fellow member of the Compact Group, named Katy, has a blog called The Non-Consumer Advocate.  It's located over HERE.  PS...Katy lives in Oregon.....

She is conducting a month long Challenge for June called The June Food Stamp Challenge.  She is attempting to keep her food spending for her family at the federal food stamp(or as it's known by the moniker of SNAP) benefit level for a family of 4.  Well, she is using the figure of $101 per person actually to make it simpler.  You can read the whole premise of the Challenge HERE.

I thought I would play along too.  You can find links to other bloggers who are trying this as well, on Katy's website(or at the link above directly).

So first thing I need to do is figure out how much food money I will have to spend.  As assorted teens will be here and not be here at various times in June, I really need to do a per day break down for them.  $101 divided by 30 days is $3.36 per day.  The combined days for all 3 teens is 57, plus we had a live-in guest for 5 days in June, so that's 62 days--or 2 whole persons worth+2 days.  $202.00+$6.72=$208.72.
Add in a full $101 for myself and hubs and we get a grand total of..........
$410.72 for 4.06 people, which is technically how many I will be feeding. 8-)

Anybody who has been a longtime reader of my blog knows that I regularly spend less than that every month on food--including toiletries, cleaning, pet food and the few paper goods that I buy.  I may have to throw some other obstacles into my take on this challenge to, er....challenge me more.

Plus I am in eating down the freezer mode so I don't plan on spending much in June(once the kids leave!lol).  If I am using what I have, then I am not buying and it is silly for me to buy things that I already have here and eat that and not use the older items in the freezer or stockpile.
So to make this more challenging for me, when I use something I have in the freezer, I'll purchase the same item to restock my supply and count the cost of that even though I am cooking/serving the older already bought item OR I'll deduct what I paid for the already bought groceries that I use this month.  Since I have all my grocery receipts this won't be hard to find the price paid and add into my spending.  I hope that makes some kind of sense..... ;-)


I am off to do my first real grocery shop for June......I'll check in tonight!

Sluggy

TGIF!.....1 more day

Yes, one more day of relatives and counting........and 1 more day until the weekend too. ;-)
This week has been K-double R-AZY!!
House guests, a cook-out, getting the pool open for the season, college smartass son home still(but not wanting to be here-if you know what I mean!), school field trip, hosting dinners for relatives, #1 son having a girlfriend over every-single-day for 3 weeks, doctor's appointments, trying to make arrangements for camp, a teeny bit of eBay stuff, extra cooking, some organizing out in the garage, gardening and of course, a teeny bit of blogging and finding time to sit on my big fatass in front of the computer.
There was also the National Honor Society ceremony at the high school.  Here's our brilliant daughter.....

And here with her aunt and uncle....

And as always, they spelled her last name wrong.
UGH.
You would think that having been in this school district since 2nd grade they could at least get that right?!?

 Here's some pics of the garden beds from the weekend before last, when we finally were able to plant stuff.  These hopefully will have lovely heads of cauliflower some day.....

And here are a couple tomato plants and Italian pepper plants....

Under my Magnolia Tree we put the other pepper plants.....these are suppose to  be yellow when ripe I think.

This past Saturday we bought some more seedlings and have put those in, as well as sown some seeds.  #1 son helped me sew the pole beans and the lettuce mix this week amidst much grumbling and gnashing of teeth....I did the gnashing while he handled the grumbling.
We still have a few patched to sew this weekend.  Some of the seed was old so I'll wait a week and if nothing germinates, I'll lay down some fresh seed.

This weekend we need all hands outside to do yardwork.....lots of weeding/weed wacking around stuff, a flowerbed needs massive help, a dead tree needs chopping down and we need to attempt to care about the lawn and at least make motions like we are fertilizing and sewing grass seed, etc. on it.

My eBay listings/photos/sorting junk/making up Sallie's donations has been put on hold this week, as I have not been free to tear up the living areas and fill them with half filled boxes and piles of stuff.  This will resume after the weekend.

Daughter needs underwear(oh, I hope she doesn't read this!lol)and swimsuits for camp.  She has lost weight and she really needs a whole new wardrobe as everything is falling off of her...literally, falling off.  We'll do a mother/daughter consult this weekend and come up with a plan that doesn't bust the bank or the budget.

I have not been in a store at all since last Saturday and have enjoyed the break.  I think my streak will end today though as we need some groceries and there are a few 'deals' I want...mostly on dairy items....cheese at GiantPA, a diary Catalina at Weis that includes ice cream!!!, and milk at the local Shurfine affiliated market.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets some good weather so they can spend some time outside!

Sluggy

I Bought Something....but it's Going to Save me Money!

"Sometimes you need to spend money to make money" is how that old saying goes.
And sometimes, that old saying is correct!

While being frugal is all about NOT spending money, a little spent can, in the long run, make you more frugal.
This past weekend, the story all started with a cheesecake......

DH and I wanted to splurge on a gourmet cheesecake this week.  Since I didn't feel like making a cheesecake, we headed over to the restaurant supply store a few miles down the road.  This is a local go-to store for local eating establishments.  They stock not only baking/serving/restaurant containers, etc. but they stock a small assortment of foodstuffs.  Most of it is industrial sized.....mega cans of fruit cocktail, tomato products, pickles, condiments, etc. so not very consumer-friendly unless you can use up or repackage large quantities of an item.  They do also carry frozen and refrigerated goods but they are also large packages.
We picked up the cheesecake and were browsing in the containers/utensils part of the store and I saw this.....

That my friends is a heavy duty all aluminum, industrial restaurant grade cheese slicer with an adjustable blade.
And I purchased that bad boy for almost $10.
(It's the first thing I have bought for myself that isn't food or toiletries in a very long time.)

Now I can hear you thinking, "Why did she buy that thing?".
Because that slicer is going to save me some BIG Money over the course of the next year!

We eat a lot of sliced deli-style cheese here.
Our cheese of choice is Cooper's Sharp....well, I like Hoffman's Xtra Sharp too but we usually buy Cooper's as it costs less.
But Cooper's is NOT cheap, nor does it go on sale often here.
Regular price is $6.99lb.
Lowest Sale price is $4.99lb.

When #2 son is on a Grilled Cheese binge, we can go through 1-2lbs a week between his and the rest of the family's consumption.

That restaurant supply store also carries this item.....

5lb. blocks of Cooper's Sharp Cheese.
5lbs. of unsliced cheese.

5lbs. of cheese would cost me $34.95 at the deli, on sale, the least expensive I could get it for is $24.95.
I paid $16.25 for this unsliced block of cheese.
That comes out to $3.25 a lb.
With this 1 block I'll be saving between $18.70 & $8.70 on 5lbs, depending on if I had bought the cheese at the deli at regular price or on sale.
When this 5lbs. is gone, I will have already saved enough to pay for the cheese slicer.

If we go through a lb. of cheese a week(it's probably more but let's say 1 lb.), that's 52 lbs. of deli-cheese a year.  That's $363.48 a YEAR on $6.99lb. cheese at the deli....$259.48 a YEAR if I could find it on sale every week.
Buying it in 5lb. blocks and slicing it myself I would pay $169.00 a YEAR for the same amount of cheese.
$363.48  vs.  $169.00
That's a savings of $194.48 a year just on cheese!

Now if we liked cheaper brands of cheese, those come sliced but in 5lb. blocks/stacks for about $11 per block.  This is the stuff that sells regularly priced at the deli counter for $3.49lb.  Just buying a larger amount at the supply store you save $6.45 per 5lbs.with no slicer or slicing skills needed!

If you don't think you can eat it all before it goes bad, there are two other options....
1. Find a friend or neighbor who uses cheese and buy a 5lb. block together and split it.  Eating 2.5lbs. of cheese is not as opposing a feat.

2. Slice the whole 5lb. block and wrap some of it and place in your freezer.  I wouldn't recommend freezing it BEFORE slicing since the freezing process can make your cheese hard to slice when it thaws.  Frozen cheese tends to fall apart and crumble, so slice it first.

At any rate, buying in bulk can be a savings if you do your math first to make sure it's a good deal, and make sure you can/will consume all of the product and not let it go to waste.
Check locally for restaurant supply stores or warehouse club type clubs too, as some of those will carry bulk foodstuffs.

Sluggy

Who Here Speaks eBay?

So, I get a Question to Seller this morning.  Yes, it's another episode of "I don't speak/understand/read/write English but I'm going to ask you stuff via an online translator".

Our contestant today is from Brazil, and speaks either/or Spanish/Portuguese.


hello! I would like to know which the value of a of iten that wanted to buy of you.  **Ok...they want to know the value of an item I am selling, or at least this is what I THINK they are asking at this point.

- TIME FORCE Power Rangers Ranger CHRONO-SABER MIB  **This is understandable since they just copied the listing title.

Which the value that is and the items and the value of the sending to Brazil for Registrad Airmail?  **This is where the wheels start flying off the bus!   I'm thinking they mean "what is the value and the cost to ship to Brazil by registered airmail".  Now there is no such thing as registered airmail from the US.  There is express air, priority air or 1st class air.  You can insure and/or send certified via some of these shipping rates as well.  So I have no clue which rate they want a quote for.  
Do they want to know the value(for customs) or the cost of the item?  The cost is obviously right there on the eBay listing(hello!), so they must want to know what I put on the customs declaration so they know what/if any customs fees they will be charged to receive the package.
Man, that used up way too many brain cells this early in the day!lol
But it continues.....

I would like to buy out of you of Ebay,
getting rid of the commission, you would grant like this me a discount.
**Aaaaah, so now it becomes clear as mud....by "value" they mean they want to know how much it will cost them to buy it from me directly, and not through eBay.  They want a DEAL.
Oh, you naughty, naughty customer......screwing eBay out of their cut!
So they want me to sell something to someone in another country without ANY safeguards to me if/when they make a chargeback through Paypal and I lose my item, get my payment yanked out of my account and have the honor of paying the chargeback fee which Paypal will pass along to me.  tsk, tsk, tsk....

I await the return. Thank you!  **And just keep waiting until hell freezes over buddy!  




So what does our contestant win today Johnny?

I do believe he gets banned from our eBay listings for life!
And what made this one extra special is that he sent it to me TWICE!LOLOL

Thanks for watching today's episode.....now where's that Hump Day drink??

Sluggy

Merriment and Mayhem is oh-so Memorial...or is That Memorable?

I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing Memorial Day Weekend.

Here?
It was merriment and mayhem!

The relative arrived on Sunday afternoon and was soon followed by another of DH's siblings(though they aren't sleeping here).
So on Memorial Day, for our 'quiet & small picnic', we had a full compliment of 11(and 1 more later on that evening) once assorted teens brought assorted friends over. 
With the unseasonably warm weather this early in the year, DH was able to get the pool open for the picnic.  The heat on Monday raised the pool temp. to 74 so most everyone spent some time in the pool.

 I spent all day prepping, standing over the grill cooking and then cleaning up, followed by a quick dip in the pool.  By 9pm Monday I was beat and too tired even for a drink.

And I have NO photos of the day, since no one else could be bothered to pick up the camera and take some shots while I was working my hiney off.....

Not to be totally UNpatriotic, we did have my BIL, who is a Vietnam Vet at the party, so we paid homage to him throughout the day. ;-)

Besides the eating and swimming, we celebrated 2 birthdays--the nephew's birthday which was earlier in the month....

 Hide your keys and stay off the highways.....he's old enough to drive now!EEK!!lol

 And #1 son's birthday which will be next month when he is away working at summer camp.....

Don't even ASK what he is laughing at!  You would be sorry.......
Happy 19th bday a tad early kiddo!

You'll notice our elegant 'partyware' cups in the last shot.  Instead of disposables we used regular drinkware and duct taped everyone's name to their cup. 
Nothing says FESTIVE like DUCT TAPE!

I used plastic utensils, though it's my 'permanent set' that I reuse for outdoor eating every time.  I spent a good deal of energy fishing those out of the garbage since people just assume you throw those away after 1 use.....not here!lol 
I did break out a pack of my emergency paper plates however(I hide them so don't tell the kids I still have some...shhhhh!!).  It saved me a little on the clean up required.

We topped off the evening by showing #1 son's 'girlfriend' some old home movies.......specifically, #1 son at 2 yrs. old and making his 1st 'poopies in the potty' milestone.
Ah, fun times......

Yes, I am THAT kind of mom.....lolol


Sluggy

$30K Savings Challenge MAY 2010 Totals.....Not so Good but Still on Track!

I have posted my MAY End of Month $30K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have to report that we finished up May in the black!

The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with was.......$1,183.24.

Income
We had $306.68 left over of DH's salary after expenses were deducted. Add in some rolled coins amounting to $16.00, a $115.81 in Rebates &, along with the flea market profits of $744.75 and you have a deposit of $1,183.24 toward the Savings Challenge!

Seeing as our monthly target is $2,500.00 to reach our Year End Goal, we are waaaaay short this month.

Outgo
As for the expenses in May.....it was a money gobbling month!

The electric bill went down $30+.  It should have gone down more because the heat was off....except we used extra hot water having an extra person here for the month, so more laundry(I use hot for my white loads) and showers plus DH started opening the pool up which uses more electricity as well as water.
The water bill went up too due to the increased water usage mentioned above.

 The credit card bill was up over $1100 due to DH's new glasses(2 pair) and the new cd player he had installed in his car.  There was also paying for daughter's SAT exam.  Those charges accounted for $900 on that bill.  The rest was gas and some eating out charges and was within our normal range of expenses.

Out-of-the-ordinary expenses in May besides the CC Bill ones.....yearly maintenance and repairs on the 3rd car for the teens' use, in the amount of $1,636.99.  Though this car is a workhorse it is very old and the teens are running it into the ground with driving all over the place.  This car needs to last through next school year as daughter is taking dual enrollment classes at a local college while in her last year of high school, and she needs wheels to get to the school  3 times a week.  If it goes, she has no transportation so we are putting a stop to the 'fun' use of this car.  It seems like she/this car has become the way for all the kids to travel places here and that's being ended.  It is going to be for getting to her job and very limited 'fun' travel from now on.  This car is costing us around $2K a yr. in repairs/maintenance at this point.  And then you add in registration, plates, inspections and insurance and it's becoming quite the suck hole.

There was also a yearly veterinarian check-up for the 3 dogs.  That blew a $454 hole in the budget as well this month.

The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food/Toiletries spending in May was $18.04 over the budgeted $300.00 for May, but by putting the rebate money that came in last month toward that expense I can say we came in under budget there.  After the rebate money we only spent $202.23 on food/toiletries and our Savings percentage was 82.97% which is quite respectable.

Looking Ahead to June....
We have a week long visit from a relative in June, but various teens will be leaving home for weeks at a time in June  so the food spending will probably go down overall.  I have lowered the food budget for June back to $250 but will try to do better than that.
The Credit Card bill as of June 1st is already over $1,300.  More than half of this is due to a car a/c repair.  The rest is just a bunch of smaller $40-$50 purchases like clothing for the kids, plants and manure for the gardens, hubby's internet chess subscription, out of the ordinary gas purchases from retrieving #1 son from college, associated eating out charges from the trip to his school, etc.
We also have another car repair that will showing up on this month's credit card bill.  No word yet on the amount but I am sure it won't be pretty!lol  At this rate, we are looking at a $2K or more cc bill for June.

Plus I put off paying the $1K for #2 son's weeks at camp until June since May was so hard on the budget.
So, that's $3K plus the ordinary utilities and food expenses coming up in June.  All the more reason to keep an extra sharp watch on spending this month.

I am hoping but not totally certain that we will be able to meet our monthly goal of $2,500 saved in June.

YTD Standings....
We have a Year To Date Total of $16,073.74 in Savings.  To save $30K for the year, we need to put away $2,500 per month average.  Even with our lackluster May total saved, we are still ahead at this point in the year of our final goal.

So how was your May financially?  Leave a comment and share with us what you did with your money, both the good and not-so good.   Do you have any tricks or tips that help you to end your month before the money runs out?    Let us know!
If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out too!


Sluggy

Another 2010 BORING BLOG BOX of FUN GIVEAWAY is OPEN! LAST WEEK-the Box is now FULL!

This is the 2nd Sluggy's BORING BLOG BOX GIVEAWAY WEEK FOUR Post!

Just to recap, I put things in the box(mostly what I have gotten for free or almost free)each week and when the box is filled we draw a winner from all the entries received.

LOTS of stuff went into the Box today to fill it up.......

1.  A bottle a Dove Shampoo
2.  A pack of Avon Instant Manicure
3.  A pack of Revlon Emery Boards
And then I thought I'd throw in some goodies from my New Items to Sell on eBay purge pile...
4.  A Porcelain Cherished Teddies Christmas Ornament
5.  A Mouse Mat/Pad with the artwork from one of the 1st Beatles Album Covers
6.  A Wooden Plaque for you Moms that says, "When Sweetness Fails and Tears Don't Work....NAG!"
7.   2 pack of Dove Soap (Mmmm....cucumber)
8.  A bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce
9.  A Healthy Choice Mixers Instant Meal

If this is your first time, please go read all the rules for these Giveaways on THIS POST.

Time to enter.....You can enter on this Giveaway post until Sunday, June 6th at 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

1 entry per person per day on THIS POST.  Leave your name/email addy and a comment for a valid entry on THIS POST only. 
Please NOTE--You MUST be a follower to enter the Giveaway.  If you aren't one, just click on the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog to become a follower.

There are 2 ways to get extra entries....

1. Put my blog on your blog's Blogroll.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST only with the URL of your blog. If I'm already on your Blogroll, say so in your extra comment.
2.  Blog about this Giveaway on your blog or on a Message Board.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST only with a link to your blog post or the message on the board.

A quick recap of what is NOW in the box....

  A Package of BIC Silky Touch disposable razors.
  A sample sized bottle of ACT Mouth Rinse.
  A bottle of Ecotrin enteric coated aspirin.
  A Revlon Mascara.
  2 bottle of Mentos.
  4 small tubes of Sarah Michaels Body Wash.
  A Reach Dental Flosser
  A Fresh Effects Citrus Chapstick
  A Secret Deodorant Stick "Oh La La Lavender" Scent
  A bottle a Dove Shampoo
  A pack of Avon Instant Manicure
  A pack of Revlon Emery Boards
  A Porcelain Cherished Teddies Christmas Ornament
  A Mouse Mat/Pad with the artwork from one of the 1st Beatles Album Covers
  A Wooden Plaque for you Moms that says, "When Sweetness Fails and Tears Don't Work....NAG!"
  A 2pack of Dove Soap
  A bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce
  A Healthy Choice Mixers


Any questions?  Just email me at slugmama@yahoo.com

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

MAY Budget Results.....Food & Toiletries Spending TOTALS

Since I have finished my food shopping for the month I am posting my May Food Budget Totals today. I have also updated the Totals for the Year on the right sidebar.   It feels nice to be ahead of things for once... ;-)

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2010.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in May.
These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(5 at home this month) & 3 dogs. No kids under 14.

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP $144.90
Qs/Ads $110.49
Value $255.39
Savings 43.25%

ENTENMANN'S OUTLET
OOP $22.34
Ads/Sales $52.45
Value $74.79
Savings  68.80%

GERRITY'S
OOP $23.46
Qs/Ads $42.09
Value $65.55
Savings 64.22%

KEYCO(restaurant supply store)
OOP  $47.09
Qs/Ads  $67.86
Value  $114.95
Savings  59.03%

REDNER'S(local chain grocery)
OOP  $40.48
Qs/Ads  $37.47
Value  $77.95
Savings  48.07%

RITE AID
OOP $18.54 ($18.19 put on Rite-Aid Gift Card)=$.35 actual OOP
Qs/Ads $407.69
Value $408.04
Savings 99.91%

WALMART
OOP $8.88
Qs/Ads $26.72
Value $35.60
Savings  75.06%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store that doesn't take IP Qs in my town)
OOP $29.54
Qs/Ads $125.55
Value $155.09
Savings  80.96%

I don't track CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECV'D. IN MAY

Pinecone Research....$3.00
Prevacid....$24.99
Rite-Aid SCR....$74.84
Snapple.....$12.98

Subtotal........$115.81

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Rite-Aid Allergy SCR $25 Gift Card

KMart $10 Gift Card(Reese's Pieces)
Staples $9 Ink/Paper Rewards Certificate

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received..$159.81

FREE ITEMS

Kraft Mac & Cheese x 2

Neti Pot

Fresh Express Salad FREE ITEM Qs x 2(giveaway win)

Kraft

Wheat Thin Bags x 3

International Coffees x 3

Chavrie Goat Cheese FREE ITEM Q

COUPONS

$1/1 EOS Shave Gel x 2
$1.50/1 Better Than Ears

My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Rite-Aid at 99.91%, Weis at 80.96% and Walmart at 75.06%.

TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$318.04
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$869.32
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$1,187.36
TOTAL Savings of..........73.21%

TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$115.81
TOTAL OOP After  Rebates....................$202.23
TOTAL Savings of..................................82.97%

This closes out the May spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
After rebates were figured in, I stayed under my $250 budgeted amount....$47.77 under.  While I didn't do a lot of stocking up, except 'good' hot dogs and dog food, I did do much more food buying without using coupons.  The restaurant supply store is a new venue I am trying and while they don't take coupons(as most of the food stuff is NOT personal consumer sized), there are deals to be had that that end up saving me more.  I'll have a post of this later in the week.  With #1 son home for the month, we ate down on much of the meat/fish/chicken stockpile and I have not replaced much of it.

You will notice that I only frequented 1 drug store this month.  I find that I can fulfill our toiletry/drug needs working the game at Rite-Aid alone, and for basically free.  Unless I feel the need to build up the excess supply of toiletries for another yard sale or flea market venture, I'll be staying out of CVS and Walgreens this summer.  I know I can get it for almost free there too but we don't need it now and Rite-Aid is closer so why bother? ;-)

What's ahead for June 2010.....

The June 2010 Food/Toiletries Budget is set at $250 cash out of pocket since #1 son is leaving for the summer shortly and the other teens will be gone for weeks at a time during June as well so we won't be doing much eating so no need for much spending, right?
  Any rebates received this month will offset this OOP spending. I have almost NO outstanding rebates due(except for Rite-Aid)so there will not be much extra cash to offset the food budget this month.  Even with that, I feel $250 will be a generous budget.

With 5 months of the year behind us, we have averaged $172.92 per MONTH after rebates on food/toiletries spending for 2010 for a family of 4-5 adults/teens.


How did you do in May with your Food Budget?  Leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy

Last Trip to Rite-Aid for May's SCR Period & Monthly Totals

I was going through my Rite-Aid receipts since the May SCR Period ended today, May 29th, so I could post my totals.  I found a receipt/transaction I somehow forgot to report in on.  This was from May 1st.

Lost Transaction....sorry no photo.
4 x Benadryl $4.39 with 20% Wellness discount level=$17.56
4 x Rite-Aid brand Benadryl BOGO sale($4.49)=$8.98
2 x Kashi Cereal BOGO sale($4.99)=$4.99
SubTotal...$31.53

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks VV IPQ=$5.00
2 x $5/2 Benadryl ManuQ=$10.00
6 x $2/1 Any Cold/Cough/Allergy Wellness CRT Q=$12.00
1 x FREE Kashi Cereal Q(max. $4 off)=$4.00
Coupon Total....$31.00

$31.53-$31.00=$.53 put on Rite-Aid Gift Card=ZERO OOP
Value of Items....$49.90

True to form, I waited again until the end of this week to get up to Rite-Aid.
Oh well.....
I just had a few things to buy this trip(more juice and finishing off the allergy rebate) but I added the clearanced cans of tuna at .37¢ each so my total was about $1.50 more than I had planned on.

2 x Welch's Grape Juice on sale w/Wellness card $3=$6.00
4 x Benadryl  $4.39 w/Wellness 20% discount level=$17.56
5 x Bumblebee Tuna clearance .37¢ each=$1.85
SubTotal....$25.41

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $20 AdPerks VV IPQ=$5.00
2 x $1/1 Welch's Grape Juice IPQ=$2.00
2 x $5/2 Benadryl ManuQ=$10.00
1 x $1/$10 Cough Cold Allergy OTC Wellness CRT Q=$1.00
Coupon Total....$18.00

$25.41-$18.00=$7.41 total **Put on free Rite-Aid Gift Card**=ZERO OOP

This Benadryl purchase put me over the $75 purchase amount needed for SCR #553-a free $20 Allergy Gift Certificate.
Value of Items....$39.79


MAY SCR PERIOD TOTALS
Number of Transactions.....12
Out of Pocket.....$21.27--all but $.35 put on free Rite-Aid Gift Card=$.35 OOP
SCRebates due....$33.00 Cash & $90 in Rite-Aid Gift Cards/Certificates(2x #552 $25 GC & 2 x #553 $20 GCerts)


What I Bought--
8 Nivea Body Wash
24 Benadryl
2 Eos Lip Balm
1 Motrin PM
4 Rite-Aid brand Benadryl
6 Tresemme Shampoo
2 small Aveeno Lotion
1 large Aveeno Lotion
1 Toothpaste
2 Dove Shampoo
4 Ban deodorant
1 Schick Razor
2 Kashi Cereal
2 TGIFriday's Snacks
2 Cordial Cherries
2 Hershey Dark Bars
2 Snickers Dark Bars
1 Trident Gum
2 Kotex
3 Puffs w/Lotion
4 Oreos
6 M&M's
3 Grape Juice
5 Tuna
1 set of Paper Lanterns


Value of Items....$408.04
What I 'paid'--.35¢ Cash
What I'll get back--$33.00 Cash and $90 in Gift Cards/Certs.


Sluggy

Check Out SonyaAnn's CSN Giveaway!

My blogging buddy SonyaAnn over at A Mom, Money and More is holding her 1st Giveaway!

Head on over HERE for the details on entering.
She is especially excited about the Track Lighting Dept. over at CSN located HERE.  I am more of a chandelier kind of gal myself.

The deadline for entry is JUNE 4th so go enter soon....you don't want to miss out on an awesome prize..... ;-)

Sluggy

Holiday Weekend Time!

If you are spending your holiday weekend someplace that looks like this I have one thing to say to you........




TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!

Here at Chez Sluggy in landlocked Pennsyltucky, we'll be rocking the back deck with assorted relatives instead.  Hopefully the weather holds out because the house inside is a mess and as you know, my dining room table is out of commission...perhaps permanently. 8-(

I have the honor of throwing a barbeque for said relatives.  Except I really don't feel like cooking.  How come nobody else ever throws that 'que so I don't have to work it?  Maybe I'll go on strike and make the relatives bring the food.....um, on second thought I DO like to eat so nevermindthat!lolol
I just hate to go to the grocery store(since I haven't been again this week!)and spend a load of $$$ on food.  The 'sales' at the stores this week are pretty lame unless you plan on eating nothing but mustard and drinking soda.

Speaking of soda....we officially ran out this week.  All those 12 packs of soda I had accumulated over the past 6 months or so are G-O-N-E!  The teens have been reminded every month as the supply dwindled that it would NOT be replenished......now they may actually realize I mean what I said!lol
I wonder how many hours until they start freaking out......

Today I've got to take the 3 dogs to the vet for their annual.  This should be fun times, no?lol   Fun times and another big hole in my wallet...
And we get to talk to the vet about our bladder challenged beagle also.....oh goody!  I have a feeling this will not go well for the beagle.....

Then I've got more clearing out and cleaning up to do at the house before Sunday when the relative shows up for a weeklong stay.
Next week you can either find me in the garage(more cleaning/organizing), in the storage unit(more clearing and digging out)or in the bedroom closet(changing over the clothes to the warm weather stuff).    Plus it's also the last week 2 of the teens will be home before they leave for summer jobs so there is stuff to get them ready to send off.


I don't know what, if anything, the relative has planned for her week.....

And next week means the end of the month calculating to see how we did on the budget and the Savings Challenge so check back for that.

And when I went to pick up the Minivan from the $667 a/c repair the guy told me the mechanic saw my steering was leaking while he was under the car......do you hear that crappy KA-CHING sound?
I do!
Good times......

I'll be here this weekend and probably posting when I get time.  Beats interacting with the family sometimes, don't it?lolol

Enjoy your time off, relax and hug a soldier if you get the chance!

Sluggy

An Alexander Day

So have you ever had one of those days were in hindsight, it would have been better to just stay in bed with the covers pulled over your head rather than get up and face the day?

Around here, we call those days "Alexander Days".  That's in honor of one of my kids' favorite kid books called, "Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day".

We all have em....
Well mine was a doozy.
I even considered moving to Australia it was so bad!!

After we dropped the food off at the food bank at the church in town #1 son & I dropped off a package at the PO and then took my minivan up to get the a/c recharged.  The guy said it would take a few hours so we came home to finish steam cleaning the dining room carpet before the relative arrives this weekend since they will be sleeping on the inflatable bed in the living room/dining room.
#1 son went to move the dining room table.....my big lovely heavy solid oak table.....my one good piece of furniture in the house that I've had since 1989.
Well he dragged it across the room.
And I heard a bad sound.
And this is what one of the two support columns of my lovely table now looks like.....
(the table is upside down on it's top)

And here is what the other support column looks like....ignore the cobwebs please......

Yep, he broke my table.

So now I have to find someone to fix it(hahaha), or give it away to someone who wants to fix it for themselves or let DH take an axe to it and make a big pile of very expensive oak kindling.
**sigh**

Now I have nowhere to pack my eBay stuff......or seat everyone for family dinners.....


As my fuming subsided into an overwhelming sadness & tears after a few hours, I called the car repair guy.

My $89.95 a/c recharging was not to be.  My minivan needs repairs to the a/c system before it can be charged.
I now have an "estimate" of over $600 and I'd be carless for another day or more.
K-aching!
There goes the flea market profits.....

1 table.
1 car repair.

The sadness just kept coming.....

And to prove that bad things do indeed come in threes, after I cooked dinner and put it on low to keep warm unto DH came home, I left things in the teens hands and went upstairs to hide in my bed.
It was so warm I put on the a/c in the bedroom, then I went into the bathroom to close the window.  As I closed said window my hand slipped and smacked the towel rack underneath and it came flying off the wall, crashing into 3 pieces onto the floor, towels and all!

So I took 2 painkillers and crawled into bed at 3:30pm in the afternoon....or 5:30am the next morning in eastern Australia time.

sigh.......

Yep, Alexander would have been proud.....

Sluggy

We're Off to the Food Bank This Week too!

Well I dragged the leftover food items from the flea market that didn't sell and added some to it from excess in the stockpile and the result is a right decent food bank donation!

Here is what we took over this morning.....

2 x Easy Mac Bowls
2 x Corn Pops Cereal
2 x Frosted Mini-Wheats Cereal
2 x Throat Coolers
3 x Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal
4 x BC Cookie Mix
1 x Wheat Thins Crackers
1 x GG Asparagus Spears
8 x One a Day Vitamin Drink Packets
3 x Purevia Sweetener
3 x All Laundry Detergent
8 x Wacky Mac Pasta
1 x A-1 Steak Sauce
3 x Healthy Choice Mixers
9 x Frank's Hot Sauce
2 x Pillsbury Cookie Mix
9 x Jello Boxes
4 x Bumble Bee Tuna
1 x Wishbone Salad Dressing
3 x Kraft BBQ Sauce
5 x Knorr's Rice/Pasta Sides
3 x Healthy Choice Soup
2 x Pasta Sauce
2 x Pop-Tarts
5 x Bumble Bee Sardines *not pictured*...forgot to put these on the table
23 x Cat Treats *not pictured*....forgot these too...doh!

Total Items.....88
Retail Value...$169.43

Total Food Donation for the Year so far....166 Items

Sluggy

May Donation #2......Slow Going this Month

I was going Gangbusters in April with the decluttering!


My 1st donation of May saw 22 items leave the house, so we were off to a good start this month.
But May has turned out to be somewhat lackluster since I had only made that one donation all month.

I lost all of last week due to being overwhelmed with life here but I got myself together over the weekend and got together quite the large donation for Sallie's.....

4 x Lord of the Rings Figures & Weaponry--just too heavy to be worth selling online
3 x Teenie Beanie Baby Sets
1 x PM Sugar Town Train Station Light Up--too heavy also
1 x Magnolia shaped Ceramic Platter--love it but no place for it
1 x Enameled LA Rams Pen in Tin Case
1 x Reading Rainbow Wall Clock--won this at a penny auction
1 x Star Trek Sticker Book
3 x Figure Skater Paper Doll Books
8 x Hand painted Masonite Placemats--I won these at a church auction 8 yrs. ago, the church had a mission in Haiti and these were painted by a Haitian who worked at the mission.  While they are lovely folk art, I have no place for them.
And some used items.....
3 x Sets of Star Wars Sheets(used)
17 x Boys Shirts(used)
5 x Boys Boxer Shorts(used)
1 x Boys Jeans(used)
1 x Boys Cargo Shorts(used)


Total Items for this Donation....50
Add to the 22 items from earlier this month and the May total now stands at 72 Items decluttered.

April Total....96
May Total....72
Yearly Total to Date....168 Items.

Yearly Food Bank Donation Total....78

Yearly Total for all Donations so far.....246

Sluggy

eBay Question for Those Who Buy Stuff There

I have a quick question for all you eBay shoppers out there.
Have you ever used the MAKE AN OFFER feature on an item to try to purchase it?
And if you have, do you have any guidelines for how much you offer for items?

I am just trying to figure out if I am Waaaay off base as a Seller with my thinking on these MAKE AN OFFER situations.....or if I just attract all the weirdos?!? ;-)

Leave us a comment if you will.....much appreciated!

Sluggy

Rite-Aid Trips 5/21/10 & 5/22/10....& a Pitiful Picture

Would you like to see something pitiful?
Here is my Single Check Rebate for April.....you remember, the month I hardly set foot in Rite-Aid?

If you can't make it out(thankyouverymuch crappy camera!), it says.....$8.00.
Yep, 8 whole big ones!
For some folks, an $8 check at Rite-Aid rocks but for me?.....I hang my head in shame.lol

On to other things......

Have you noticed that I am so lazy this month and I keep holding off on my Rite-Aid runs until the week/sale is almost over?
This is NOT good since the good items go fast!  But I have been darn lucky with this, as I have been able to find what I want to buy....excuse me, get free most, if not all of the time anyway.  ;-)

Here is what I bought on Friday......

Transaction #1
3 x Benadryl w/Wellness discount $4.39=$13.17
2 x Oreo Cookies on sale $2.99=$5.98
1 x Gallon of Milk=$3.20  **Not Pictured** since it's GONE ALREADY!lol
SubTotal.....$22.35

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks VV IPQ=$5.00
1 x $5/2 Benadryl ManuQ=$5.00
1 x $1/1 Benadryl ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1 off $10 Cough, Cold, Allergy Purchase Wellness CRT Q=$1.00
1 x BOGO Buy 1 Nabisco Cookies and Gal. Milk/Get 1 FREE Nabisco Cookie Facebook Q=$2.99
1 x FREE Nabisco Cookie/Cracker Item Home Mailer Q=$2.99
Coupon Total....$17.98

$22.35-$17.98=$4.37 OOP * Put on free Rite-Aid Gift Card so ZERO OOP

Benadryl purchase qualified BIL for $25 Gift Card level of SCR #500.
This Benadryl purchase also qualified BIL for a $20 Allergy Gift Certificate.  This is the Allergy Rewards Program....purchase $75 in qualified Allergy meds and you get a $20 Certificate good at Rite-Aid.  BIL had some Benadryl purchases on his account from March that was within the time frame for this program so this $50 purchase for SCR #500 also got him over $75 in purchase for the Allergy Program.
So....$25 Gift Card & $20 Gift Cert. qualifed for now!

Value of Items purchased....$29.25

Why I bought what I did?
*I needed $12 and change more to get BIL to $50 in Allergy purchases to qualify for SCR #500 & get him the $25 Rite-Aid Gift Card level.

*That Nabisco Facebook Q was expiring that Day so I HAD to use it or lose it.  Combined with the FREE Cookies Home Mailer Q, I got 2 free cookies and just had to pay for the milk, which we needed anyway, so might as well buy it at Rite-Aid since it's the exact same milk/company/price as at the grocery store, and the grocery stores in town won't take the Facebook IPQ.....so there you go.lol

While leafing through the May SCR Directory Friday night,  I noticed the $2 Nabisco rebate #94-- Buy $10 of Nabisco items, get a $2 SCR.  Since I already was over halfway to $10 & Oreos are always welcomed here, I put another scenario together for Saturday evening.


Transaction #2....

1 x Welch's Grape Juice w/Wellness discount=$4.15
2 x Oreos on sale @$2.99=$5.98
1 x Colgate Pro-Clinical TPaste on sale=$2.99
6 x M&Ms on sale BOGO($3.99)=$11.97
SubTotal....$25.09

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $20 Purchase AdPerks VV IPQ=$5.00
1 x FREE ITEM Welch's Item HomeMailer Q=$4.15
1 x $1/1 Colgate Pro-Clinical TPaste ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Colgate Pro-Clinical Rite-Aid In-AD Q=$1.00
2 x B2G1Free M&Ms ManuQ=$7.98
Coupon Total....$19.13

$25.09-$19.13=$5.96 OOP  *$6.31 put on Rite-Aid Gift Card, so $.35 OOP....I had taken all but 1 Gift Card out of my wallet and it only had $6.31 left on it so I HAD TO ACTUALLY SPENT MONEY at RITE-AID!!
The HORRORS!....lol
Value of Items purchased....$43.40

Why I bought this stuff?.....Well, the cookies were to get the $2 SCR. I figure if I apply the $5 off $20 purchase Q to the cookies since I had no more Qs for them, they 'cost' me $.98.  The Toothpaste was $.99 after Qs and I wanted to try this new kind so for .99¢ it's a go.  The juice was free after Q and I love grape juice...I just hope the eating machine aka #1 son keeps his grimy paws off it and I actually get a glass!lol
6 bags of M&Ms?  Well....getting 6 bags for a total of $3.99 is awesome and almost free anyway, right?  It breaks down to $.66 & a half cents per 12 oz bag.  And we love Peanut and the Peanute Butter M&Ms here....and it's one of the few candies I can send to camp with the kids that won't melt.lol

This transacation qualified BIL's account for a $2 SCR, so we ended up with $1.65 in overage this time. 8-)


Here are the Rite-Aid MAY SCR Period Grand Totals so far......

Number of Transactions.....10
Out of Pocket.....$13.33--all but $.35 put on free Rite-Aid Gift Card=$.35 OOP
SCRebates due....$33.00 & $50 in Rite-Aid Gift Cards--making cash overage this month of $32.65!
Value of Items....$318.35

Not a bad haul so far for 35¢, huh?

I don't see anything I have to have this week at Rite-Aid but something may pop-up later this week.  I need $12+ in more Allergy meds purchases to qualify for the $20 Allergy Program Gift Certificate on my account so I may buy that this week to finish it off.

Do you have any good deals you are doing at Rite-Aid this week?  Let us know!

Sluggy

Double Dip Time!....at Redner's Markets

 If you have access to a Redner's Supermarkets, you might want to head over this week as there is a possible double dip with Kraft Products.

If you were lucky enough to send away for one of those Kraft Taste of Summer Sample and Coupon packs a couple of weeks ago, you'll see that there is a rebate form in the box.
The rebate requires a Purchase $30 of any Kraft Foods Products between 5-23-10 and 6-13-10 and you received a $10 Rebate by mail.  Check out Kraft's website for qualifying products. 

There is a Catalina Deal this week at Redner's for a whole slew of Kraft products.
Purchase $25 of qualifying products and receive a $5 OYNO Catalina.  The Cat deal runs from 5-20-10 to 6-3-10 and has to be $25 or more total of Kraft products AFTER using any manufacturer's coupons.

What I plan to do is purchase $30 or more in products and use ManuQs & some of the FREE ITEM Qs I have here for Kraft products in a combination that leaves me with a min. $25 bill at Redner's.  I'll pay my $25 bill, get a $5 OYNO Cat for $5 of free food and then take my receipt and submit it to Kraft for the $10 Cash Rebate(since I 'bought' $30 in products).

A lot of the Kraft stuff that qualifies is what I consider "junk" food but shredded Cheese is included in the Cat deal on sale for $2 a bag.  The reg. retail around here on this item is $3.29 a bag. We are always needing cheese in this house and I think I have some $1/2 blinkies laying around here to make the deal better.

So for $25 OOP,  I'll have $54.35 of products(counting the $5 in more free food from the Cat deal) and a $10 cash check.  In the end my OOP is $15 for $54.35 worth of Cheese at reg. retail of $3.29, so better than 72.40% saved.  Actually, I would NEVER pay reg. retail of $3.29 for Kraft shredded cheese so my percentage saved on sale price of $35 of food is 57.15%.

Here's the scenario....
15 x Kraft shredded Cheese on sale @$2=$30
5 x $1/2 Kraft Cheese Blinkie Qs=$5
Total OOP....$25--qualifies for $5 OYNO Cat.
Submit for & Get $10 rebate.

 Not free but not too shabby for a deal in these parts.....

Sluggy

Mommy MeltDown

What do I have in common with this place?

Besides both of us being located in PA, we both have/had experienced a meltdown.

While my current meltdown is not radioactive, I'm having a really bad week.  Not "loved ones dying kind of week" but the "nothing is working out right kind of weeks" that's left me an emotional puddle of goo.

I have like a zillion projects and things I need to attend to here.  And nothing is getting done.  Making lists won't help since there is no one to delegate jobs to, so the lists just remind me what a failure the situation is right now.  There is no cooperation from the family, just more pressure.


Plus my health is not the best and no matter what I do, it's not getting any better.  Maybe I just need to face the fact that my body is older than my mind thinks it is and it just can't do what I want it to do anymore.

Ok, so this is turning into a 'poor poor pitiful me' post and I don't want that because well, nobody wants to sit and read that, right?lol

I am at a point where I have no motivation for literally ANYTHING!  I don't want to cook or clean or tackle any projects(except the gardening and I can't do much of that myself).  "If breathing weren't automatic I'd probably die" kind of lack of motivation.

I don't even want to hunt the deals.....shocking, I know!lol

I am burnt out of eBay already(again!lol), and my decluttering has come to a standstill.  Decluttering because of the hoarding gene I possess is an emotional ordeal at best for me anyway, but add in the lack of support from my family and I ask myself, " why the hell am I  trying to accomplish this since it feels like a punch to the gut every time I try?".

Add in a situation with one of the dogs that keeps deteriorating and I am made out to be the bad guy because I don't want him here.  My house is a mess and we can't do anything about it because of this dog....a dog that was forced upon me to begin with.

Then pile on a weeklong stay by a relative that is putting more pressure on me that I don't want/need because I have a hubby who won't stand up to his family.

I just want to get in the car and drive.  I haven't felt like this since I had extremely bad post partum depression after #2 son was born, were I sat and cried for 6 months and then did actually leave home.

So keep some good thoughts for me.....


Sluggy

Taking a Teeny Break to Go Dig

My blog brain has dried up.
I blame the sunburn I got on Sunday for frying my brain as well.
I just got nothing to say lately....imagine that.....me with nothing to say! LOLOLOLOL
Crazy ain't it?

Well, it's true.
I am still feeling overwhelmed with what needs to get done here.
And today is the first nice day since Sunday so I am turning off the machine here and heading outside to work in the yard and the garage until my back gives out.
We are suppose to have another wet weekend so I have stuff to get done NOW.

I'll probably be back here by Saturday with my usual nonsense so stay tuned!
And don't forget to enter the BORING BOX GIVEAWAY every day.  See the latest post to enter(it's a couple posts down from this one)or check out the link on the top of the Right Side Bar.  Don't let Marilyn walk away with this one folks!lol
  I've got some more goodies for the box to post this weekend and then it's filled!!

Sluggy

Flea Market Redux....It's All Good!

The weather was going to be wonderful on Sunday according to the local weather guy on tv, so we loaded up the minivan and made tracks for the local Flea Market to sell my excess stockpile items.

After we got the minivan loaded I counted 13 boxes/tubs of items.  Then I had DH and kids haul out bags of lighter weight items(diapers, cereal, other boxes foods, feminine products, etc.), as well as some excess laundry detergent I decided to take at the last minute.

We arrived at 5:20am.
Here's a bad shot of the entrance of the Drive-In at about 6:15 in the morning after we had been waiting to get in for 55 mins.  Notice the street light is still on.....

This time we arrived at the flea market earlier so we learned about the 'waiting in line' to get in vendor's line.  Last fall we had arrived a bit later and they let us right in--no lines, no waiting since there were alot fewer vendors then.  This time they didn't open the gate until almost 6am to let us in.  And the line snaked along the road for what seem like a mile!

Here we are in line to get in to set up.  We have inched slowly about 1/2 a mile from where we started.  The line of vehicles behind us went on for another 1/2 mile at least.  You can see one of the movie screens in the distance...we set up 2 rows from that screen....

 The little gate house on the right was the entrance.  But the line of vendors snaked past that off to the 2nd drive-in lot to the right and looped around that lot(this is where all the parking was for the customers later) and then back over to the entrance gatehouse to actually get into the lot to set up.

Thankfully we showed up early since they let vendors in until they run out of room and I think they did run out of spaces before vendors.  It would have been horrible to have packed all this up and gotten up at 4am only to be turned away at the gate!  I think DH would have killed me....
We watched as cars passed us to get to the back of the line.  People with cars, not trucks or vans, with so very little amounts of stuff to sell.  All I can think is these folks were trying to sell off what didn't sell at their garage sales on Saturday or they live somewhere out in the sticks where you don't get enough foot traffic to have a successful garage sale, so they set up at the flea market instead.  It just seems to me that the $15 they charge for a space is a lot considering the among of used flea market type stuff these people were arriving with in their cars.

The flea market on Sunday was mobbed with even more customers than in the fall I think.  Customers were parking up on the highway as the parking lots were full.  The State Police showed up threatening to tow cars away every 20 min. or so.

Here is what sold out or nearly sold out....
Laundry Detergent-the first to go
Cereal
Boxed Mac & Cheese
Canned Dog Food
Pop-Tarts
Fruit Roll-Ups/Gushers
Shaving Gel
Mouth Wash
Benadryl

What I couldn't give away.....
Feminine Products

Everything else sold well to moderately well.
Sold a lot of shampoo and body wash, even the men's stuff which usually doesn't sell as well.
Dove, Herbal Essence, Pantene almost sold out in Shampoos while Garnier didn't sell but a few.  I even sold some low end 'poos like VO5, Prell and Suave.
Body Washes sold better this time than in the past.  Bars of soap(Dove/Olay/Ivory),except for a couple of 6 packs didn't sell much at all.
The dental stuff--toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss--didn't fly off the table like previous sales but sold steady.  What did go fast was mouth wash.

Ladies razors did better than men's razors and everyone wanted razor refills/cartridges....at $15 a pop retail and hardly EVER any deals to get those for almost free, of COURSE they wanted those!lol

I'm surprised that the Benadryl sold out(I should have brought more!)and that other OTC meds went well--like NyQuil, Theraflu, Tylenol, Rolaids, even some Vitamins.  I even sold the box of Prevacid($25 retail)for $10....the box that I paid $1 for after sales/Qs at Rite-aid and got a full rebate on from the company.  I also sold most of the high-end Olay stuff--cleansers($2.50), $30 creme stuff(for $10) & an Eye Roller($8)--all of it free or gave me overage after sales/Qs and various Olay rebates.

Last time in the fall at the flea market, my Deodorants sold like crazy....not as much went this time. I did raise the price from $1 to $1.50 with a special of $5 for 4 deos which made them $1.25 each.  Actually as I think about it, the MEN'S Deodorants sold very well, more than the Ladies.  Maybe all those ladies who bought arms of them from me last Oct. are still is working on what they have already.lol

A few folks recognized us from last fall....I guess they are regulars at the flea market.  One guy showed up who had been to our garage sale last July at our home, and remembered coming to our garage sale there.lol
I recognized a few people from last Oct. when we had set up.....especially the Russian gentlemen who kept coming over trying to talk me down on EVERYTHING. SINGLE. THING. he wanted to buy.  And in broken English.....and he wouldn't give up even when I said that's my final price.....and when I say final price, I MEAN final price.
Ugh
That got old real fast....

God love the Latin American immigrants though.   I did land office business with the ones who came to my table.  They were very good customers last fall too.  My Hispanic women customers love the beauty products and they know a deal when they see one!   And I get to pick up some conversational spanish in the equation so it's all good. ;-)

The bottom line.....
We did well.
But not as well as in the fall.
But it was the "worth going kind of well".

I didn't see any other people with toiletries set up, though there was at least 1 person selling food/grocery items there, so we didn't have competition.
But there were just so many more vendors I think it was more difficult for customers to cover the whole market or find you again if they left and were going to come back later to buy more.
And more vendors meant more ways to spend the money so less money to spend with me. ;-)

Judging from the amount of vendors, the amount of shoppers and what we took in the 1st hour, I told DH that we'd probably make $500 for the day.  We kept hopping with customers but it was never the craziness of last fall's market.
We stayed longer this time too.  Last fall the place was pretty much a ghost town by 11-11:30am.  The customers cleared out by 1pm this time and we packed up and left by 1:30pm.
The weather was gorgeous & I ended up with sunburn on my forehead, nose and chest despite keeping out of the sun as much as I could.  I hadn't counted on the sun being in a different place in the sky in the spring as opposed to fall....I had no problem with sunburning last fall due to the mountain ridges in relation to sun position.  Not so lucky this year.
Note to self....bring a hat even if you don't think you'll need one.

When we got home and I counted it all out and subtracted the bank we began with, we made $759.75.
After deducting the $15 space fee we came home with....$744.75

Last fall we made $947.25 and came home with $932.25, so we made $187.50 less but we did $244.75 better than I had expected.

Add in the Garage Sale total of $634.25 from last July and we have made $2,311.25 on stockpile excess.

Like I said we took 13 full boxes of stuff.  Here's what the back of the van looked like before we unloaded it.....

 And here is a shot of the back through the side door of all the bags of stuff thrown on top...

DH gauged the day a success.  To him, a successful sale was a sale where we did NOT run out of plastic bags to put purchases in.  If you remember last fall's flea market we experienced a severe bag shortage HERE.  DH has been saving used plastic bags since last Oct. for this day.  I was chastised on multiple occasions Sunday for doubling bags for fear we would run out before selling the last items of the day.  But as I told DH I do believe we brought MORE plastic bags than items to sell this time.lolol
We went with 13 full boxes and scads of bags(20?) of more stuff.
We left with 6 empty boxes and only 2 bags of stuff left.

If anyone is interested in my price list, just let me know and I can post what I charged specifically.
I made up a price list for DH but I figured him having to refer to it every few seconds would not be efficient.  So I marked prices on about 3/4 of the items with a permanent black marker. No fooling with price stickers just write the price right on the item.lol   I also tried to keep track of how many of what I brought with an inventory sheet but by box #7 or #8 I gave up on that.

I still have 7 boxes of items and I am not going to be doing the flea market again anytime soon.  Maybe in the fall again, depending on how I feel then.
If the community holds another garage sale this summer, I'll consider setting up for that if I get the garage in shape by then.lol

Sluggy