March & April Numbers

I apologize that this is so late. Life just seems so busy these days. I can now thankfully say that our entire household is fully vaccinated. Boy did that vaccine kick my butt. I was the only one who suffered from side effects (started about 5 hours after I got my 2nd shot) and it was rough. We got our shots last Saturday. I tossed and turned all Saturday night, I was so sore. I just could not find a comfortable position to sleep in. I slept the entire Mother's Day and all through Sunday night. By Monday I was slowly beginning to feel less pain. Got up, cleaned, did some laundry, cooked dinner & went back to bed by lunch time. By Tuesday I was back to my old self again. Phew!

On to the numbers, that are so late I don't even know if anyone's still interested in it.

Sams : $35.79

Produce market : $107.98

Aldi : 24.62

Kroger : $168.45

Meijer : $39.64

Walmart : $130.42

Ollies :  14.56

Walgreens : $104.21

Rite aid : $0.19

CVS : 31.99

Total OOP : $657.85

Earnings 

Ibotta : $208.70

Fetch : $25

Kroger Cash Back : $31.00

Total earnings : $264.70

Total cost after earnings : $393.15

Whoo hoo!! I'm so thankful to finally have our grocery budget under control. My $300 monthly budget is now attainable. Huge sigh of relief. I'm a 'failure is not an option' kinda person, so those high numbers from before got me down.

Boy am I glad I stocked up on raisins at Ollies before. When I went back to purchase more Tostitos, there were no raisins to be found. I knew that this would happen, that's why I bought 6 bags when I saw it in stock.

Sams OOP is low, because I used earned gcs (mainly Ibotta) to pay for it. 

We received an unexpected gift last month, so we decided to apply it to groceries instead, hence the low grocery amounts (April was almost free shopping). I still have a balance and am trying to stretch it through June. I haven't bought too much groceries the past 2 months, because we still have a big stockpile. Only Kroger is high, because I did lots of Mega Event shopping that also earned cash back. 

The produce market is always high, since we eat lots of fresh produce. I usually go once a month and leave the store with a full cart.

And then there's the drugstores who always end up making me broke (but they're so much fun...lol). Well, at least Wags does. I had to start from scratch at CVS, so I'm not concerned about that number. 

I didn't include all my RRs, WC and EBs in the money earned above, because I count it when I redeem them. 

MONEY EARNED (SIDE HUSTLE)

Earned $145 gcs  ($10 IGC, $25 Swagbucks, $100 Mypoints, $10 PG)

Personal items (things we've had listed for the past 2 years) : $78.59

2021 Closet cleanout : $23.67

Big goal : $253.56

Drugstore items : $5.38

Total earnings : $506.20

YTD Earnings :

GCs (point earning sites) : $220

Ibotta : $95 (redeemed) + $208.70 = $303.70

Personal items : $141.43

2021 Closet cleanout : $72.58

Big goal : $463.18

Drugstore items : $53.50

Total Earnings (excl Ibotta) : $950.69

EXPENSES

$292.26!!!!! None of which was planned.

My sunglasses broke in March. I cannot drive without sunglasses. I was NOT happy about it, but I knew that I had to replace it. The only good thing is that it broke at a time when that brand was B1G50% off 2nd at one store. So I bought two pairs to the tune of $143.08!! Now I have a spare pair for the next time this one breaks (which will hopefully not be any time in the near future).

The rest of the expenses was all DS. He needed new sandals and I decided to just get him a pair of quality sandals. So Keens it was. I also purchased a Christmas gift for him. I'm actually behind with Christmas shopping this year, but I don't feel too bad with everything being topsy turvy these days. I do need to keep an eye out for good gift deals though, cause this year is flying by.

I also purchased some spring stuff for DS at Kohls and used gcs to pay for it. I did earn $30 KC which I then used to buy things to sell and apply to our big goal. I still have $10 Y2Y that I need to redeem soon.

Why am I so unhappy with this number? Because our OOP cost is way more than our personal sales for this year. I can't believe we're in the red this year. Time to kick things into high gear.

I only listed 7 more items from my closet the past 2 months. That brings my total to 42. Only 18 more to go to reach my goal of 60 items for the year. 

I maxed my IRA for the year, so that's one goal I can at least check off my list.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!