Updating My To-Do List

Here's what actually got done(or didn't) on the To-Do List for this Week--

*  Write 2 Letters  no
*  Clean out my bedroom closet  no
*  Go through my Christmas gift box(yes I just said CHRISTMAS!)  Done
*  Finish going through stuff in garage to put on eBay or send to Salvation Army  working on it
*  Pick out some fabrics to sew into clothes when I go through the tubs.  Done
*  Go through tubs of fabric and list on Etsy  One tub Done
*  Order photo prints from relatives Shutterfly account  no
*  Clean out kitchen island and organize  no
*  Reorganize tubs of fabric I am keeping(and will hopefully use) Done
*  Go through closet in purple room and de-clutter  Done
*  Finish grocery and drugstore shopping for the week  Done
*  Put up Giveaway on blog  Done

Well the weather was cooler so I can't use that as an excuse for not doing everything.  Rats!
How about I got a little blue last week and just sat on my big ass?
Works for me..... ;-)

I am just not inspired right now to do anything, especially outdoor projects.
The yard looks like crap, the garden has been a big fat load of nothing this year and we didn't get to one of our outdoor projects yet and now I need to do some canning so that project won't get "gotten to" before the weather goes to pot.  This means it will hang over my head until Spring....fantastic.....

It isn't helping my mood that it got COLD yesterday and I am freezing!
And it's raining today.
Maybe if the sun comes out tomorrow I'll feel a bit perkier.


Did you get anything of note accomplished this past week?
Tell us about it and cheer me up.

Sluggy

Christmas Funds....Yep, It's that Time Already

                          credit Investopedia dotcom

I thought it was a good time to update where I am in regard to Christmas monies.
After all, Christmas is only 103 days away and the shopping rush begins 75 days from now...yikes!

I don't DO Black Friday btw....ok, sometimes I DO do BF online but never in a store.  I try to do a good part of my shopping by early November or sooner anyway.
Heck Dec. 26th of 2013 was when I bought my first gifts for Christmas 2014. lolz
I pick up deals throughout the year when I see them.  Having extra cash in your budget throughout the year helps you get stuff when it's cheapest.

I try to avoid going into stores(other than Rite-Aid and the grocery stores)between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I went through the "gift acquisitions in my closet" yesterday too.  Everything is now in a big box labeled "Xmas gifts" and ready to be wrapped and/or shipped once December gets here.

So far I have in gifts.....

Hubs  Stocking Stuff Done
#2 Son  Stocking Stuff Done
Daughter  Stocking Stuff Done
#1 Son  Stocking Stuff Done(He got his main present already.)
#1 Son's GF Done
Hub's Sister  Done
Brother  Done
Sister In-law  Done
Brother In-law  Done


The left to buy List....
#2 Son
Daughter
Her BF
Hubs

This short list will run me about $400 and doesn't include all the other spending categories at Christmas-food, travel, outings, etc.

I have $146.50 in rolled coins to cash in and if I redeem all my c/c points as of now I would get back $875 in gift cards.

Now the problem I have with this arrangement(lots of gift cards, little cash)is that nowadays my kids want cash, not gift cards.  Cash doesn't limit them in where they get to spend it, gift cards do.
At their ages(at least the older two), they should be glad I still buy them stuff! 8-)

I thought about cashing in the c/c points for gift cards and then selling them on one of those sites where you can do this.
But I'd get less than what they are worth(and I'm already taking a "hit" as these are c/c points)and this would require "work" on my part and waiting to see if they sell.  Too big a hassle for me.

Instead I can just request the gift cards to places Hubs and I shop and purchase stuff we need instead of buying gifts.


In 2012 I made a $1,000 Christmas spending budget.  That's for everything Christmas related from electricity for running lights, to special outings to gifts to food.

In 2013 I made a $1,650 Christmas spending budget.  We spent more in 2013 because we traveled during the holidays to go visit #1 Son and we had to pay for gas, meals and motels.

In 2014 I plan to reduce the Christmas spending budget. I have $146.50 and as much of that $875 in gift cards I choose to use saved so far.

We NEVER go into debt for Holiday spending.  And neither should you! ;-)  The best way is to have a budget, plan ahead to save or decide where your Christmas funds will come from and keep what you spend on the low side and commensurate with your income.

I have plenty to cover gifts(with the gift cards)but I need to come up with more cash.

I can yank some of the funds from selling off my fabric stash on Etsy this year.  That would give me another $450 or so.

And there is also $209.18 from blog income for this year I can pull from as well.

That gives me $805.68 in cash(not counting the $875 in gift cards).
Adding up all these sources I can readily cover the Holiday expenses whatever they turn out to be this year.

And just in case we go over I still have a piece of Hub's bonus left that I can spend. 8-)

If we don't travel for the Holidays, I'm thinking of trying for an $800 budget.  If we travel it's going to look more like a $1300 budget.
At this point we don't have plans to travel during the Holidays but that could change. 

Gregory Karp, a personal finance expert, says you should only spend as much as 1.5% of your family's gross income on Christmas gifts.
Take note.....this is for Gifts only.

I think 1.5% of gross income for Christmas spending is a good measure, but I'd say this should be for ALL your Holiday associated spending, not just for gifts.  Gift giving is only 1 piece of the Christmas spending pie.
Mmmm......pie.......

You can see a set of statistics from American Research Group, Inc. for 2013 Christmas HERE.  Note that this just includes gift spending.

So how much do you plan on spending this year for the Holidays?

Do you budget a certain amount for your Christmas spending?
Or do you just spend whatever you feel like?

And if you budget, what categories do you spend on within that budget?

Do you save all year to cover your Holiday spending?

How do you save for it?

Sluggy

The Boring Blog Box Giveaway is BACK!!!

While I've been de-cluttering and re-organizing the house since the last kid flew the coop, I've realized I need to do another Giveaway and let some lucky reader win some of my awesome deals!

So here's what's available to win......

Summer's Eve cleansing cloths
Blink dry eye tears
Pantene shampoo
Vaseline lotion(aloe vera)
Dial men's spray body wash
Gear men's anti-perspirant/deodorant
Max-Freeze topical pain relief
Yogi Bedtime tea bags
Clear shampoo sample
Crest toothpaste
Colgate toothbrush
Glade candle(clean linen scent)
Brandied Peaches from TN(from my travels this past Spring)
Scotch tape dispenser
Thera-Rinse mouth rinse samples
Snoopy note cards stationery


Here's more of a close-up of the goodies.......

I'll leave this giveaway open until September 28th, a Sunday, at 11:59pm.  The next day I'll put all the valid entries into a container and draw out a name and that person wins.

There is a limit of ONE ENTRY per Day by leaving a comment on this blog post.

To get a Bonus entry, you can do this once---

Post about my Giveaway on your own Blog or on Facebook with a link to this post, this will earn you 2 additional entries for each action.  Please leave additional comments on this blog post for each additional Bonus entry. 


 Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US or Canada only.
If you are in Canada, you will receive a smaller box of goodies, as the shipping rates internationally are ridiculous and I am not taking out a mortgage on my house to pay to ship this stuff.  ;-)
**
If you need this shipped to Canada, I'll have to change the box and it's contents a bit.  I can ship a plain box weighing up to 4lbs. via 1st class mail, which, while more than the flat rate Priority to US addys, is still affordable.  These prize boxes usually weigh 7 or more lbs. when full, so if the winner is in Canada, I'll let them pick and choose which of the items they prefer sent in their box, until the box weighs 4lbs.  I hate to have to do this(not ship ALL prizes to them)but I would hate it even more to exclude them totally from entering the giveaway.

***NOTE***
Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.  If you're not a registered Blog User please put your email or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment or something so I can get ahold of you if you win. If I can't contact you then you can't win.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy
 

More Rite-Aid This Week

I still had $5 in +Up Rewards attached to my son's Wellness card I had to use by Friday, so back to Rite-Aid I went today.....

2 x Reach toothbrushes 3 pack(raincheck=.50¢ea.)=$1.00
6 x Palmolive dish soap(on sale .99¢)=$5.94
2 x Garnier shampoo BOGO50%=$6.73
SubTotal.....$13.67

Coupons Used
2 x $1/3 Palmolive dish soap VideoValues IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/2 Garnier Sleek & Shine products VideoValues IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Garnier product IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Garnier product Load2CardQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.....$8.00

$13.67-$8.00=$5.67 + .02¢tax=$5.69

I paid with those $5 in +Ups attached to the card=.69¢ OOP

I was surprised to receive a $2 +Up Reward back on my receipt!

Evidently there is a $2 +UPs when you purchase 5 Palmolive items this week.  There was no signage in the store.

If you look closely above the Up Rewards it says, "Buy 5 Select Palmolive  Get $2+UP".
So even is you just use one of the VideoValues coupons $1/3, and buy 5, after the $2 +Ups back, the 5 bottles will cost you $1.95, or .39¢ each + tax.

As for my transaction, I paid .69¢OOP, spent down $3 in +Ups and brought home items worth $32.10.
This card now also has $6.73 toward the "Spend $15/Get $5 +Ups Garnier/Maybelline" Deal.  This is a monthly Deal.

Now I'm off to figure out how to spend/roll what is expiring next week.

Sluggy
 

Your Grocery Flyer (And Store) is a Mine Field

Every week I get out the sales flyers for my local grocery stores.
And every week I prepare to do battle with my bad habits/inclinations and what the marketing department of said grocery store wants me to spend money on.

Remember that grocery store flyers are above everything else a marketing tool for the store to make a profit on you the customer.

The only reason they have to put items on sale is to either lure you into the store with "loss leaders"(and then get you to buy high profit for them items besides the lls)or because they got a deal from a manufacturer on an item so they lower their price a little bit(but they never pass on the bulk of any savings to the customer)or because someone overbought on an item and they need to move it out of the stockroom because it's taking up too much real estate in the store.

Do any of these reasons sound to you like the store has your best interests at heart?
No, I don't think so either.

Your grocery store flyer is riddled with bad prices and/or items that aren't any good for your health and/or your pocketbook.
Browse your local sales flyer and you'll soon find that it's truly a mine field for your body and your wallet.

*Please note that this post isn't in any way, shape or form about bashing your personal foods choices.  It isn't also about making any health pronouncements on what you do or don't eat.  I am not the food police.  This is just my perception of "healthy foods" with help from the current national standards of nutrition.

I often wonder with what stores stock and push......do the choices of food stem from what their customers say they want(and vote with by spending their money on) or do stores and companies "guide" us with the foods they suggest to us, to get us to change our spending habits toward foods that they profit the most from?
It's all a fascinating subject, is it not?

Anyway, back to the mine field.....or should that be Mind Field?...... ;-)

Let's take a look at the flyer for one of my local grocers, Weis(PMITA)Markets, for next week, shall we?
(I am not singling out Weis Markets with this post.  I could do this experiment with ANY grocery chain ad.)

Items on this page......
canned beans
Manwich sauce
brownie mix
spaghetti sauce
Kool-aid
canned dog food
more canned beans
tomato sauce
veg. oil
coffee
Yoohoo boxed drinks
cat treats
toaster pastries
Slim Jim sticks
olive oil
oatmeal
Quaker cereals
cat litter

Now let's remove the stuff that isn't food-pet items and junk food, or processed foods with questionable ingredients.....

What is left is.....

canned beans
spaghetti sauce
more canned beans
tomato sauce
veg. oil
coffee
Slim Jim sticks
olive oil
oatmeal
Quaker cereals

Now let's remove the "borderline questionable" foods.....

What is left is.....

canned beans
more canned beans
tomato sauce-depending on sodium content this might not be healthy
veg. oil-many people don't consider this healthy but I left it on
coffee-this is more a vice than a food that is a source of nutrition, but I left it on
olive oil
oatmeal
Quaker cereals-depending on the cereal, this might have too much sugar to be considered healthy

Out of the 18 products on the page 8 or less(depending on who you believe)are actual food and not full of chemicals of natural things(sugar and/or salt)that aren't very good for you.

And here's another page with mostly junk food on it.....

Items on this page........

in house baked goods like cakes, pies, cookies and bread
salty snack foods
potato chips
popcorn
cookies
soda
cheese crackers w/filling
donuts
bubble gum
cookies
more soda
pretzels
even more cookies
chocolate
rice Krispies treats
flavored bottled water
bottled water

Let's remove the "not real food".....

popcorn
pretzels
bottled water

Some would argue that popcorn and pretzels aren't real food either as the bad may outweigh the health aspects(mainly salt! and we eat too many corn products anyway as it's an additive in many processed foods).
Which would just leave bottled on this page of grocery items.

Ok so some of the already prepared breads may be ok and perhaps the fruit pie are semi-healthy.
But really, can't you make that stuff yourself for less and feel better because you know exactly what went into them?
Plus prepared foods made in-house are one of the highest profit areas for the store! 

Look, I am not trying to tell anybody what to eat.
Lord knows I have my own demons when it comes to food and diet!
Plus the "experts" on eating are forever changing their views.

I'm just saying the next time you pick up your grocery store sales flyer be conscious of what they are trying to sell you!

They are in the marketplace to make a profit and they don't CARE if what they promote is good for you or not....even though a lot of markets now have dieticians on staff and make great claims that they care about your health.  If they really cared more for your well being over making a profit there wouldn't be aisles in the store dedicated to junk foods and processed foods!

They push prepared foods(their in-house bakery, deli, hot foods, etc.)and processed foods because that's where their best profit markup is.

Like the old saying, "Shop the perimeter of the store" when at all possible.  Buy foods that are the least processed and in their natural/raw state.
You pay for convenience with your wallet and sometimes with your health as well.

Sluggy


 

Net Worth Quickie....September Update

Our net worth snapshot for Sept.1st finds us up $6498.63.
Not great but better than a poke in the eye.

I'm fighting the blues this week, which proves that money isn't everything.  8-P

Sluggy

Sluggy's Solo Road Trip.....Part 3...IL to WI

Monday Den had to return to work so Sonya Ann and I were on our own to get into trouble.

So what did we do?

We went thrifting.
I found a few things.....a book and this interesting item......

A most excellent buy.....

We also got lots of clothes, Sonya Ann found some good buys for her whole family.  I found 2 l/s shirts for #2Son and a thermal nightgown for me, all marked $3.99.

But Sonya had a nifty coupon for 25% off plus since she's on their list or something so we got an additional 5% off after the 25% was deducted.  This made our finds even better!

I picked up these Picasso plates too.  I thought they were neat and might make good eBay fodder.....if not, I'd like to keep them......

Then I wandered over by the glass case where they keep the "big ticket" items at Goodwill......sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?, having big ticket items at Goodwill. ;-)

I saw this box over there......

Do you see that it's priced at $19.99.
Yikes!  Kind of expensive for Goodwill, huh?

But you'll notice the box also says "Longaberger" on it.
Hmmmm......

Now some of this Longaberger stuff is pricey and goes for good money long after it's manufactured.
My mother had some Longaberger baskets given to her by her friend that I inherited.  I am not "into" baskets per se and certainly not into Longaberger baskets so my plan was to sell my mom's baskets.
Well, of course, after researching the baskets my mother had left me, they were not worth selling. 
Sigh.
So they are still sitting in my bedroom closet.

Anyway, I saw that name on the box so I had to take a look.
It says this is a Collector's Club piece.....so you know they weren't produced in vast numbers like their ordinary baskets.
And here is what I found inside the box.....

It's a replica of an old fashioned beehive "skep".  Before wooden framed beehives, keepers kept their colonies in wicker or straw skeps. 
It sits on a solid wooden pedestal and has a metal top with a bee on it.  There are metal silver/pewter colored bees on wires that you can attach wherever you wish on the basket.  It's hand signed inside and dated 2010 and comes with the Longaberger tag still attached, another tag that was in the box and the original box and cardboard packing.  It's never been used from what I can tell.

Now I don't know what this cost new at retail and I had no clue if it was worth anything now and valued by collectors.

But......all yellow stickers were 50% the day we were at Goodwill, so it was suddenly only $10.
And the 25% off coupon plus additional 5% off made it a $7.12 + tax deal.
I thought it was cute and if push came to shove and it didn't sell on eBay I'd actually display it and enjoy it.

Sonya brought up eBay on her phone for me but we couldn't look at the closed auctions to see what these sold for, if any had actually sold.

When we got back to her house and on my laptop, I was bummed to see I would be enjoying those Picasso plates for years to come(lol), and pleased to find a closed auction where one of those Longaberger beehive baskets sold in late June for $160 or so.
Sweet! 8-)))
(More beehives have come onto eBay this Summer and the price has gone down but still enough to make it worth my while to buy and sell there.)


After sifting through the junk fine quality merchandise at Goodwill it was lunch time and the place Sonya wanted to take me for lunch was closed on Monday so we found this little Chinese restaurant.  Not crowded, nice inside and the food was good.
Chinese restaurants are often a crapshoot but we rolled snake eyes on this one!

After she got some food in her Sonya was more amenable to letting me take her picture.....

And then her true colors came flooding out.....

I got a great fortune cookie fortune......

 

 

On the way out we took a selfie......

 

 

Geez, am I really that short!?!

We went back to Sonya's house after our late lunch.
It was time for some liquid refreshment and I popped the top of this pineapple flavored hard cider.....

I give it a thumbs up!

Then I staggered wandered out in the backyard.

All this talk about how Sonya Ann has a black thumb is bogus.
Look it what she grew this Summer!
Maters....

A whole bed of tomato plants and nary a one was dead or dying.

And her herb bed next to the backdoor was just bursting with dill and basil and other green things.
She really has a very nice gardeny backyard....much better than mine, but that's not saying much. ;-)

I wandered back inside because we had to find a deal for dinner.
I went to Restaurant dotcom and found a place down by where Den grew up.  Went to their website and saw they had a Steak Dinner special for $9.99 on Mondays.
Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner!!

When Den got home I gave him the bottle of Hub's latest home brew that I had brought.  I filmed his tasting of it for posterity......




Once DJ got home we were on our way to the restaurant.
I knew we were in a classy establishment when I spied this fine art over the bar........

 

 

Poker Dogs.....the mark of a fine eating place.


Here's a shot of our table while most of us were in the restrooms.
Notice the bar to the left and 2 video poker machines on the right.

Sonya spent the whole evening waiting for those 2 people to vacant the poker machines so she could gamble.
They only got up to get change from the change machine on the wall or to get another drink at the bar.
Poor, poor Sonya.....she was stuck with our sparkling conversation all evening.

Soon our steaks showed up.......Mmmmmm.......

We left stuffed to the gills and between the Dinner special price and the gift certificate this meal didn't break the Bank of Sluggy!

As we left the restaurant I convinced everyone to pose for a group shot to commemorate our evening.
I got this shot of the Sonya Ann family.....

Sonya Ann took a selfie of all of us.....

Well some parts of some of us got into that shot! lolz
I never noticed before what lovely lips Den has..... ;-)

After that fail, Den took this group shot.......

This is a rare photograph indeed.  Everyone is smiling.  Even DJ!


This Dog & Suds was next door.   I have been promised a meal here the next time I come through this part of Illinois.

My question is....."What's a Texas Tuesday"?

On the way home Den drove us by a couple of houses in the neighborhood he grew up in.  I didn't get a picture as I was in a steak coma but he lived in some nice digs as a teen.

We kicked back at Sonya's house and knocked back a couple more drinks.


Tuesday morning I packed everything up and we attempted to load up the Sonic.

The Sonic which spent most of the time here on the front lawn.

I have to say that packing the car was like Sonya said, "a game of Tetris".
She must have been an awesome Tetris player back in the day because we fit most everything in the trunk.

There was time for hugs and one last selfie before I shoved off for points north. 
I had an awesome visit and I look sad that it was over already.

I got onto the Interstate heading to Milwaukee, WI.

Traffic wasn't bad, even though Sonya said it would be.
I cruised right into this place.......

Sprecher's Brewery

I stopped here for this.......

Really good Root Beer.
And I got Hubs and #1 Son some of their beer offerings.

3 rooms of gift shop with really good prices.
I even got a free 12 case of root beer when I bought X number of beers.

 I didn't have time to take the Brewery Tour since I still had about 5 hours of driving ahead of me this day.

I picked up some Root Beer Brats and Root Beer Mustard.

Both were wonderful!
But I have to say those brats were a PITA during the rest of the trip since I had to keep them continuously chilled, no matter where I was staying--house or motel.

This was an interesting novelty item--a Styrofoam cooler shaped like a car engine with slots for beer/soda cans on the sides so you didn't have to open the cooler to get a drink out and could keep other items cold too inside.

Loved this sign in the window of the gift shop.

I ended up buying 3 cases of soda and/or beer.  Luckily an employee used a hand truck to wheel it out to my car, but then I had to figure out how to fit it all in this tiny car! lolz

And do you like my new T-Shirt from Sprecher's?.....

Within an hour I was back on the highway and heading into the Great White North.

The skies were threatening rain off and on most of the day.  Rain clouds now....

Blue skies later......

This was the whole day.

I stopped after an hour of driving in a tiny town to get gas and something to eat.
Tiny town with grain elevators and a drive-through liquor store across from the gas station.
Now that's progress.....

My driving lunch--a protein shake(nasty and chalky!)and a leftover English muffin egg sandwich from their breakfast offerings.
$7+ for this....geez!

Only in this part of the world(or Pennsylvania)would you see a sign like this.  Too bad I wasn't stopping near here. So sad I had to miss the Polka Days.

 

 

I drove and drove.....and then drove some more.
I drove through Fond du Lac.
I drove through Osh Kosh and saw an outlet mall with an Osh Kosh B'Gosh store! lolz
I drove through Stevens Point.
And I finally got to my destination, Wausau.
Fortunately for you I didn't take any more photos while driving.

But here a picture of my friend Blanche's cute little house where I stayed for 3 days.

I met Blanche through a group of online Beanie Babies collectors.  This group had 2 conventions back in 1999 and 2000, outside of Minneapolis and outside of St. Louis, respectively.
Blanche came to the Minnesota gathering in 1999 as she lived outside of Minneapolis back then and that's where we met.
She sent an open invitation when she moved to Wausau to come stay with her.
I bet she didn't think I'd actually get the nerve to drive up there and see her. lol

Well I did. ;-)

Blanche had plans to meet up with her daughter and her family at Texas Roadhouse and treat us all to dinner.
Her family was lovely as she is and we had a good meal.

I about fell into bed at 9pm I was so worn out.
So ended Day 6 of my trip.

Until the next installment,

Sluggy