MARCH MADNESS...NOT the Basketball Kind

Ok, here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MARCH 2009.

I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March.
Grab a cup of something, this could take awhile.

These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products & tax where applicable.
We are a family of 5. No kids under 13.

CARONE'S

OOP $83.82
Qs/Ads $62.75
Value $146.57
Savings 42.82%

CVS

OOP $19.27
Qs/Ads $330.84

Value $350.11
Savings 94.50%

KMART

OOP $45.06

Qs/Ads $146.55

Value $191.61

Savings 76.48%

PRICE CHOPPER

OOP $67.97

Qs/Ads $216.61

Value $284.58

Savings 76.12%

REDNER'S

OOP $30.64

Qs/Ads $15.99

Value $46.63

Savings 34.30%

RITE AID

OOP $20.82

Qs/Ads $77.25

Value $98.07

Savings 78.78%

TARGET

OOP $25.48

Qs/Ads $63.92

Value $89.40

Savings 71.50%

WALGREEN'S

OOP $136.72

Qs/Ads $628.34

Value $765.06

Savings 82.13%

WALMART

OOP $78.37

Qs/Ads $42.45

Value $120.82

Savings 35.13%

WEIS

OOP $306.60

Qs/Ads $335.75

Value $642.35

Savings 52.27%

TOTAL Out of Pocket.............................$855.39

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings....$1940.45

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$2795.84

TOTAL Savings % for MARCH......................69.415%

I've decided NOT to track CVS ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons". Rebates will also show up in the Monthly Totals when spent, but I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.

REBATES RECV'D. IN MARCH

Gravy Train.......2x $1 Qs

Suave.................Free Item Q

CVS/Hershey....$5 Gift Card

Rite-Aid............$40.98

Samy..................$7.99

Dr. Pepper.........Free Item Q

Duncan Hines....$2.25

Walgreen's........$56.07 Gift Card

TOTAL Value.....$118.88

$855.39 is fairly good for the month. Way over my Low Spend Goal for March of $250.00 but I've already justified that.

Damn you to hell Heinz, Hormel & Kraft! lolol

My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 78.78%, Walgreen's at 82.13% & CVS at an amazing 94.50%!

This closes out the March spending.

Onward to April and let's see if I can keep it under $500 for Out of Pocket this month & break 70% in Savings.

Sluggy

GREEN & THRIFTY THURSDAY-Being Frugal AND Environmental TIP #3

Today is.... GREEN AND THRIFTY THURSDAY!

That means it's time for another small tip on things you can do to save money AND help the environment. After all, being frugal is great but saving money & time is not so good, at the expense of our Planet!

This week's Tip is a quick one because I am trying to get all my receipts done so I can close out March on the books.
So this G&T Tip is about using water in the Bathroom.

Our Little Planet is quickly running out of Clean Water for evereyone in our world. We are blessed living in this country with all the water we can ever need at the turn of a handle, while a good portion of our world has to walk many miles to fetch clean water, if they can find a source for clean water at all.

It's so easy to get clean water, that we hardly ever think about the awesomeness of that fact! Taking clean water for granted leads to Unconscious Waste of this, one of our most precious and necessary natural resources.

So next time you are in your Bathroom, washing something or flushing your toilet, think about cutting down on running/using water unnecessarily in that room.
Here are a few tips on how to cut your water usage in the Bathroom.

1. Fill & cap a jug of water and put it into your toilet tank. The water displaced by putting an object in your tank will make each flush of your toilet use less water.

2. Before you shower, put a bucket in your tub right under the spigot. During the course of your shower, you will have filled this bucket with water that would have just gone down the drain otherwise. You can use this found bucket of water to flush your toilet once(just pour it into your toilet bowl instead of using the flush handle) OR take that bucket of water outside and water some plants. Plants enjoy a bit of bath water now and again, just don't use it everyday. And if you are on a city's water system where they chlorinate your water, let the bucket of water sit for a few days so the chlorine can evaporate before pouring it on your plants. Plants don't mind the soap generally, it's the chlorine that hurts them.

3. Don't run water while you brush your teeth. Wet your brush, turn off the water and turn it back on to rinse.

If you want to take this Tip one step further, do like Sluggy does. Keep a cup in the bathroom. Fill the cup with water. Dip your toothbrush into the cup to wet it. Brush. Spit the toothpaste out in the sink, then use the water in the cup to rinse your mouth. Any water left in the cup after you are done can go into the bucket in the bathtub/shower. This technique saves the MOST water when brushing your teeth!

Remember, every gallon of water you save, saves you money on your water bill or if you have a well, puts the cost of digging a new well when this one runs dry further out into the future.
Either way you are saving yourself money AND making this natural resource go further.

Sluggy

WAGS For BEGINNERS Spend $4, Get $13 of Stuff

For all my friends out there who don't coupon &/or hound.....

Do you have access to a Walgreen's Store?

Can you make 4 quick trips through the register line.....leaving store between trips is optional.

Do you use Chapstick, Shaving Cream & Body Wash?

Do you only want to spend $4?

Yes?

Well you are in luck this week.

Here are your step-by-step instructions to go be a Hounding Maven.

These instructions are valid for THIS WEEK only-March 29th thru April 4th.

Take with you $4+however much you need for tax on $13 in your state.

Go into the store.

Pick up the Weekly Sales Flyer.

Find the Chapstick product that is on sale for $1.99 this week(100% Naturals and True Shimmer). In my store, it is hanging up by the register.

Buy one. It is $1.99.

You will get back a paper with your receipt. This paper is called a REGISTER REWARD.(Afterward referred to on my blog as an RR.) Do not throw it away...it is MONEY! This particular one is worth $2.

Go find the Edge Shaving Gel or Skintimate Shaving Gel.

Buy one or the other. It is $2.99.

Pay for it with your $2RR & 99¢ cash.

You will get back with your receipt a $3 RR for this shaving cream purchase.

Go find the SoftSoap Body Wash.

Buy one. It is $3.99 a bottle.

Pay for it with your $3RR & 99¢ cash.

You will get back with your receipt a RR good for 1 FREE Softsoap Body Wash on your next shopping trip.

Go find another bottle of the SoftSoap Body Wash you just bought.

Buy it.

Pay for it with your FREE Coupon.

Leave the store.

You have just purchased 1 Chapstick, 1 Shaving Cream & 2 Body Washes for $4 total(plus tax on it's $13 value if your state charges sales tax).

That's $13 worth of stuff for $4.

You used NO coupons-except what the Catalina Machine in Walgreen's gave you while on this trip.

Now could it be any easier to save money?

Sluggy

March Food Budget....torpedoed by Heinz & Kraft & Hormel

Ok, first off, I am insane.

Insane to think that I could anyway possibly stick to a self-imposed food budget of $250 in March for both buying needed grocery items for the weekly menu AND continuing to add to the stockpile in the pantry.

HA!

I sort of kept the weekly spending on food for the menu under $150 as planned. As reported in previous posts I only had to buy 3 or 4 items the last 2 weeks in order to prepare the dinner meals. Add to that the bread, juice & milk we run through quickly w/my 3 teenaged eating machines and you come out at around $150 for the month. That left $100 in the food budget for stockpiling deals I found for the whole month.

Then Price Chopper lured me in with TRIPLE COUPONS & awesome markdowns in their Dairy Dept. at the beginning of the month.

Then I had to take advantage of the Ronzoni Pasta coupons combined with the sale on Ronzoni at the stores in my Teeny Tiny Town to stock up on 14 boxes of pasta @ 50¢ a box.

Then I had to use those dog/cat food coupons to get Pet Kibble for cheaper, to stretch my $$ for the donation to the local Animal Shelter.

Then the chain grocery store in Teeny Tiny Town had Catalina Deals Week. Our Catalina Deals aren't as awesome as the ones at Kroger, Publix, etc. but it's all we gots here, so I had to buy those 10 bottles of Heinz and those 10 LARGE bags of Kraft Shredded Mozzarella(b/c my $1 Hellavu Cheese deal didn't include Mozzarella last month & we need italian cheese in this house, by gum!).

Then I had a stack of coupons for Hormel Chili I had to use before they expired & the grocery store's price freeze on Hormel Chili ended. We go through A LOT of chili here. the Eating Machines have to have something to go with those homemade Burritos, right?

Then the chain grocery store in TTT had boxed Green Giant Veggies for $1 & I had coupons that made them 50¢ a box.

Then that warehouse Grocery Store across the river had really really good price on Toilet Paper for which I had $2 coupons, so how could I not buy 10 packages?

Then it's time to fill those EASTER BASKETS, so finding candy cheaper is put on my radar and eventually purchased.

Then the chain grocery store in TTT clearanced their entire organic grocery dept. to $1 an item. How could I not purchase things we need/use at such low prices through the tears I shed over it's demise?

Then the hubby goes and decides to pick food things up at the store without consulting me.

Then that blasted chain grocery store in TTT said I had to use my Rewards Point last Wed. OR ELSE lose them & the 20% off one entire grocery bill shopping trip discount I had earned by buying stuff there. (This is 20% off BESIDES all the coupons I use!)

Then K-Mart had to go and have another DOUBLE COUPONS Week and I did have some coupons for things that I could stock up on.

In between all this, WAGS & CVS lured me in to get cheap or FREE Toiletries. Cheap doesn't sound dangerous to a budget, but cheap isn't Free and if you buy enough cheap, it DOES add up! Granted some of the cheap toiletries are going to find their way to the local women's domestic abuse shelter in April, but even so....

All this adds up to a combined total expenditure of $855.39 in March for Food & Toiletries.

To put a positive spin on this......

It IS $368.72 lowever than February's total.

And it IS less than the US Govt.'s food plan budget amount for their LOW COST Option of $1038-the option I decided to follow.

So I am not going to beat myself up over this mont's total. It was silly to try to stick to this little amount for 5 adults/teens especially when I was still building a stockpile.

What about April?

Well, let's see......now that the stockpile is pretty much done, I will not have to buy any of these things in April;pasta, ketchup, cheese(except parmesan), tomatoes or spaghetti sauce, chili, soup, cereal, granola bars, canned fruit, bacon, ground beef, frozen veggies, frozen fish, soy milk, sugar, toilet paper, napkins, facial tissue, paper towels(I'll rant about those another day), soap, crackers, seltzer, soda, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, razors, hair coloring, air fresheners & bandaids.

Heck, I shouldn't have to buy any of the toiletries except the paper goods for 1-2 yrs. from now!

So where does this leave me in terms of a food/toiletries budget?

I'm going to try for a $500 limit for food/toiletries for April and I'm going to post a weekly update this coming month in order to try to keep a closer reign on my spending. If I have to check in with weekly totals, maybe I'll be less likely to be suspectible to the Torpedoes the stores have aimed at my budget.

Sluggy

$60K $AVING$ CHALLENGE-March Update

I have posted my March End of Month 60K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals already. I know it's not April yet(1.5 days to go) but I'm trying to be on top of things so cut me some slack, ok?
If I happen to spend any money between now and April, I'll shake down #1 son for some cash since he has a real job. All those months of puking up everything I ate and carrying his lardass fetus around should be good for a 20 spot, right?lolol

Down to business.....
After the disasterous February Total(negative gain), I am happy to report that we finished March in THE BLACK!
Yah!!!
We lowered our MasterCard bill(which is paid off each month-NO BALANCE EVER!) to under $1K(last month it was over $2.3K). Usually when the MC bill goes down, hubby's Cash Withdrawals go up. We did Not see an increase in Cash Withdrawals this time.
We had a bit of rolled coins as usual, but you will notice there is NO eBay income for March. I have been so preoccupied with getting a food/toiletries stockpile up and organized, along with other stuff related to the kids that I let my eBay store sit vacant for almost the entire month. I am kicking myself because of the waste of money paying a store fee to eBay & an auction managemnt/photo storage fee to InkFrog for the month for NOTHING. But I find it difficult to keep myself on task w/eBay lately, since the sales when I was keeping up with it this winter were so disappointing. The economic crunch is hitting even eBay shoppers and the sellers there are feeling it. It figures in a recession-like economy I would see a large falling off of sales, since I don't sell 'needs' type items.
Back on point....
A large part of the glorious NET GAIN for March you see is the Income Tax Refund we received last week. Without that added into our Income column, we still eeked out a Gain for March of about $1K.
This $AVING$ CHALLENGE is 'my thing'.
Only 1/2 the refund is mine technically.
Hubby needs to be consulted about any potential plans for his part of that money. For now, I'm leaving it all in the $aving$ Column. I'll update after a final decision on the refund.

I was happy to see that we could still $ave this month, even though we had approx. $1400 in unusual expenses-Municipal taxes, state taxes due & Dental bills out of the ordinary.

Next month I am looking for the electric bill to decrease(less heating costs)& I'm going to look into lowering the cable costs and consolidating phone services.
I'm still spending too much on the food/household budget. I'll be updating those costs for March in an upcoming post.

It's the End of the 1st Quarter of 2009. So far we have a Savings Total of $7409.53 for the year. If we keep this up, we'll be able to $ave ALMOST $30K this year! It's not $60K like I had planned, but I'll consider it a very good result.
March had a positive outcome & I'm planning some changes to give us a better gain in April.....unless MURPHY shows up on the doorstep while my back is turned!

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday March 30th Edition

Last week's menu went as planned except for the CrabCakes. Those poor crabcakes....seems like they will NEVER get made! We ended up last week having leftovers 2 nights but #1 son worked alot and daughter had play rehearsal until 9 every night, so we still have some leftovers. I'll do my best to eat for lunch what I can, but the doggies will have to help me out this week so we can avoid the dreaded FOOD WASTE! Somehow I don't think the dogs will mind having to eat leftovers.lolol
Sunday is Hubby's birthday so I don't have to cook that day.
I've linked to the Crab Cake recipe I use. Being from Virginia Beach originally, I loves me some seafood. I like a light hand when making crab cake batter/filler. You don't want to spend all that money on crab and then not be able to taste it. This recipe is one of the best.

Again this week's menu is mostly Eating from the Pantry/Freezer. Last week, I only needed to buy 3 items to make that menu. This week I only need 4 items for the menu(salad greens, fresh mushrooms, cubed stuffing/breading & eggs).

Here's what is on the Menu at Sluggy's house this week.

MONDAY-Meatloaf, Potato Salad(leftover), Green & Wax Bean Melange
TUESDAY-Quiche & Garden Greens Salad
WEDNESDAY-Roasted Chicken w/Veggies, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce
THURSDAY-Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Spinach Soufle
FRIDAY-Crab Cakes, Fries, Harvard Beets
SATURDAY-Quesadillas(using leftover roasted chicken), Rice, Corn
SUNDAY-Birthday Dinner Out
Desserts for the Week-Apple Pie, Brownies,

My Bargain Meal this week is the Rigatoni w/Sauce & Spinach Souffle.

Rigatoni.... .50¢ box
Sauce....leftover from last week's Lasagna meal $1.50
Meat in Sauce....used 1/3lb. from ground beef chunk for Monday's Meatloaf .56¢
Salad Greens.....$1.99
Dressing.....$1.00
Croutons.... .25¢
Spinach Souffle.... $4.00
$9.80 OR $1.64 a serving(6 Generous Servings)

The largest expenses are the Salad Greens and the Spinach Souffles(2 boxes of Stouffer's side dish). I can't wait until I can plant my own salad greens and not have to pay through the nose for those until next winter! I also have a dilemna on the Spinah Souffles. I was down to ONE STORE locally that carries this particular Stouffer's item. We like this item and it's sooo convenient to buy already made up....but now that 1 store has stopped carrying it. I have made spinach souffle before from scratch(it isn't that difficult) so I'll have to start making it again. I hate not having the option to buy it instead but at the price it had risen too, every frugal bone in my body has been screaming at me to MAKE IT and NOT SPEND THAT MONEY ON CONVENIENCE! Now I have to listen to my frugal bones....lol

Organizing Junkie is the home to Menu Plan Monday. Go see what's on her and many other Home Cooks' Menus for the week at Organizing Junkie's website.

Sluggy

Absolute Power Corrupts...

I tend to not talk about politics and such on my blog.
But today, I am veering off from that course.
You see, the County that my Teeny Tiny Town is located in garnered some unwanted National attention last night.
A bigtime corruption scandal was a subject on the ABC Prime Time show "20/20".

If you haven't heard, here is the basic gist of the story.
My county, Luzerne County in Pennsylvania, is well known within the state for being one of the most corrupt places to live....outside of some major league corruption places out-of-state, like Chicago & Boston. We aren't quite up in that league...yet. But Luzerne County politics has taken a page from those Gangsters of the 1920's.

Backdoor & shady deals have always been the way around here, is what people who have lived here their entire lives tell me. You have to be related to someone who's connected to get a government job, get a permit or license, etc. for anything around here. Nepotism is the name of the game in the public schools too. Outsiders need not apply. Having moved here 8 years ago, we are outsiders.

It turns out that 2 of our county judges took this shadiness just one step too far with a little scheme they hatched about 10 yrs. ago.
Micheal Conahan was the President Judge of Luzerne County back then. Mark Ciavarella was a judge under him, and eventually when Conahan retired, Ciavarella was chosen to take over as the President Judge. Ciavarella was also the judge who ruled over the Juvenile Court cases in the County Courthouse, 5 miles from my home.

C&C had the local state's juvenile facility closed down and then threw govt. contracts to their croonies in the construction business, awarding them millions to build a privately run new juvenile detention center. Then Ciavarella ran roughshod over Justice when kids in trouble were brought before him in court. He handed down stiff sentences to EVERY SINGLE KID brought up on charges, no matter how minor the charge or the fact that for many it was a 1st offense.

Every child who went before him ended up in the new juvenile jail, for months or even years.
1 kid hit his father with a piece of meat during a family argument.
1 kid was in a fight at school(the other kid started it). No one was hurt.
1 kid made a myspace page mocking a school administrator.
All of these were 1st offenses.
All these kids, ranging from 12-16 yr. old, went to jail.

Often times these kids were taken directly from their schools into custody, without their parents being contacted first or given the opportunity to speak with their child before being carted off to juvenile detention. Allowing law enforcement into the schools without legal notice or representation for the parents, made the Schools and their Administrators duplicit in the aggregious offenses that befell these kids!
These Adminstrators also should be held accountable for their part in wreeking havoc in these families lives.

Ciavarella took all of 4 minutes with each case before sentencing kids to jail. Often the kids weren't allowed to state their case or say anything.
These kids & their parents were not informed of their right to have a lawyer. They were told by court personnel that they didn't need a lawyer.
If they brought a lawyer to court, they were told by Ciavarella that they would not be allowed to represent the kid/parents.
Ciavarella IGNORED recommendations from the Parole Dept. personnel when they advised kids should NOT be incarcerated and be remanded to their parents and put on probation & community service.

Ciavarella was God and took NO recommendations under advisement from the mere mortals who worked with him.

Conahan & Ciavarella were getting kickbacks....kickbacks from their cronies the builders and kickbacks from the people running the Detention Center for filling the beds by sending all those kids there.
$300 a day per kid for months.....years......
They admitted to taking 2.6 MILLION.
I have a feeling it was MUCH higher.

It's thoroughly disgusting that this happened. What's worse is that it was ALLOWED to happen and CONTINUE for 5 YEARS!

Why did it continue for so long?
Because everyone in that CourtHouse.....all the employees and other judges were either on the take with them or indebted to them, or pressured into staying silent or face losing their jobs. No one stood up to these two, except one judge-Ann Lokuta. She was a no-nonsense, brusk woman judge(the ONLY woman judge in Luzerne County) and not part of the Old Boy's Club down at the courthouse.

A couple of years ago, Lokuta started making noises about the goings on at the Courthouse. Last year Ciavarella brought her up on dereliction of duty charges. He got other Courthouse employees to testify against Lokuta and she was disbarred, stripped of her Judicial seat and any pension she had earned.

After her hearing, Lokuta was contacted by the FBI. Seems someone at the behest of some of the parents of those kids wrongly jailed contacted an outsider, the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Center, and they filed papers that got the FBI investigating what was going on in Luzerne County.

Feb. 12th of this year, the FBI swept into Luzerne County to announce charges against Judges C&C. Ciavarella resigned from the bench immediately and both Conahan & Ciavarella arranged for plea agreements for a reduced sentence of 7.5 yrs. each.

Yesterday it was announced that all the records of the kids tried by Ciavaralla from 2003-2008 would be expunged and all sentences adjudicated. A large group of the parents & kids he tried are filing a massive civil lawsuit as well.
I hope the kid's families leave Conahan & Ciavarella and their families penniless.
Money won't make it better but at least these people can get therapy and put their lives back together.

There is still more corruption in Luzerne County at the Courthouse. The Court Adminstrator has pleaded guilty to stealing money from illegal slot machines seized for evidence in cases....$70,000. Turns out this guy, William Sharkey, is the nephew of ex Judge Conahan. Our County's Prothonotary, Jill Moran, has stepped down from that position and is cooperating with authorities in exchange for leniency on her part in this scandal. She is a local lawyer & the business partner also of Bob Powell. Bob Powell is one of the people involved with the building & running of the Juvenile Detention Center. Jill Moran is also accused of falsifying documents for Powell in regard to some real estate tax issues. Sandra Brulo, of the Probation Dept., was fired and is facing charges of obstruction of justice. She tampered with files for Ciavarella.

Every week a new festering sore is exposed as the Putrid Stinking Corruption here is unearthed and a new player faces criminal charges.

On the bright side, Ann Lokuta may get her Judgeship back. The ruling against her was overturned and her seat on the bench was taken off the ballot for the upcoming election of judges in May.

If you want to see the piece 20/20 did, go Here. Under WATCH VIDEO, on the right side of the page, click on the clip entitled, "KIDS JAILED FOR CASH?"

I was going through some files from 2008 this morning and found this letter I received last Feb. thanking me for my service on Jury Duty in Luzerne County. I don't know if you can see it but it's signed by Mark Ciavarella.
I don't know whether to put this letter on eBay or have it exorcized and drive the 2.5 miles over to Ciavarella's house and return it to him.
Yes, it seems this Monster Ciavarella lives here in Teeny Tiny Town with me.
Just another reason to not want to live here in the Armpit of Pennsylvania.

Evil & corruption will spread if given half a chance. When you notice corruption, keep speaking out against it until someone hears you.

Sluggy