Thursday, July 30, 2009

FREE HAIR PRODUCTS at RITE AID until Friday!



Can you use FREE HAIR PRODUCTS?
Of course you can!
Here's how to get some.....
Take the HERBAL ESSENCE Coupon for last Sunday's coupon inserts(the one that reads Buy One/Get One) & the HERBAL ESSENCE Coupon from the P&G July 5th coupon insert(the one that reads $1 off 1 Herbal Essence Product)and go to a RITE-AID Drug Store.

The Herbal Essence Shampoo, Conditioner and Styling Products are $3 each until Saturday.
Buy 2 Herbal Essence Products(one must be a Styling Product). Use the BOGO Coupon to get the Stlying Product free & use the $1/1 Coupon to get the other Herbal Essence product for $2 instead of $3.
Go home and submit your receipt for the Single Check Rebate Program online at www.riteaid.com.
There is a $2 Single Check Rebate on Herbal Essence Products this month.
The $2 you spent on the Herbal Essence products will be refunded to you after the month is over and you submit for your Single Check Rebate.

Easy Peasy, yes?

But HURRY! The sale expires on Saturday & the $1/1 Coupon expires on Friday, July 31st. Get to Rite-Aid before closing time on Friday to get in on this FREEBIE!

Sluggy

Walgreen's Convoluted Scenario, Spend $6.19 Get $8.50RRs & Lots of STUFF


So I am up Waaaaaaay too late this evening, er....morning. Can't shut the mind off for some reason, so why not give it a work out, right?

I was just perusing the upcoming WAGS RR deals for Sunday....
  • Gum Toothbrush (2 pack) $3.49, use $1 coupon (6/21 RP) and get back $3.49 RR = $1 profit
  • Suave Deodorant (2.6 or 6 oz) 25% off sale so $1.41 each ($1.89 regular price), buy 4 and get back $2 RR, buy 6 and get back $6 RR or buy 8 and get back $10 RR. Buy six and use six $0.50 coupons (5/17 RP) = $5.46 and get back $6 RR = $0.54 profit. Buy eight and use eight $0.50 coupons (5/17 RP) = $7.28 and get back $10 RR = $2.72 profit
  • Vitamin Sham/Cond (13 oz) $3.99, get back $3.99 RR = FREE *Look for bottles with a Try Me Free rebate on them = $3.99 profit
  • Spend $10, get back $5 RR. Includes Cheez Its (7.5 or 9oz) $2, Keebler Cookies (11.5 or 15 oz) $2, Cheez Its (4.5 oz) or Keebler Cookies (5.25 - 6 oz) $1, Rice Krispies Treats $2, Pop Tarts $2, Club Crackers/Sandies Pecan Shortbread $2.50, Fiber Plus Bars $2.50, Nutri-Grain Bars $2.50 and Special K Protein Bars or Shakes $5
Here is what I came up with for a scenario....try to stay with me, it's long.lol Follow the steps, don't skip any!

You will need 3 $1/1Gum Qs, 6 $1/2 Suave Deo Qs, 2 $1/2 PopTart Qs. (You can use 12 $.50/1 Suave Deo Qs but you'll need to buy a cheap filler 2 times in this scenario.)

*Buy the Gum Toothbrush for $3.49, use a $1/1 Q & Pay $2.49OOP, Get a $3.49RR(this will probably print as a $3.50RR)

*Buy a Vitamin Poo for $3.99, use the $3.50RR & Pay $.49OOP, Get a $3.99RR(this will probably print as a $4RR).

*Buy 6 Suave Deos for $8.46-3x$1/2Qs=$5.46, use $4RR & Pay $1.46OOP, Get a $6RR.

*Buy 1 Gum Tbrush & 1 Vitamin Poo for $7.48, use $1/1Gum Q=$6.48, use $6RR & Pay $.48OOP, Get a $4RR & a $3.50RR.

*Buy 8 Suave Deos for $11.28, use 3 $1/2Qs(11.28-3=$8.28), use both $4RR & $3.50RR & Pay $.78OOP, Get a $10RR.

*Buy 1 Gum Tbrush, 5 Pop Tarts($3.49+$10=13.49), use 2x $1/2 PTarts Q & $1/1 Gum Q(13.49-3=$10.49), use $10RR & Pay $.49OOP, Get $8.50RRs(3.50 & 5)

You now have....
14 Suave Deos
3 Gum Toothbrushes
2 Vitamin Poo
5 boxes Pop Tarts
That's $48.19 worth of products.
$8.50 in RRs($3.50/$5)
And you've spent $6.19 not including state sales tax & used 11 Qs.

Not exactly free(unless you count the RRs you now have)but pretty good.

What will you do with 14 Deodorants?
Hey, that's YOUR problem!lol

So can you come up with a better scenario? Let me know!

Sluggy

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Back-To-School Shopping for the College Student

The back-to-school adventure is even more fun this year for me. Not only are all 3 of my kids going back to school next month, #1 son is heading off to college on the other end of the state. This translates into even more outlay of $$$ for him, as he will require a laptop computer and items for daily living in his dorm room.
What makes this a challenge is the fact that #1 son is living away from home this summer and after his summer job is over, he will only be home for 6 DAYS before having to leave for college, so it's been left up to me to pick out/up all these items he'll be needing BEFORE he comes home.

And you know I am all about being frugal, so the mission is to get what he needs for as little as I have to spend, while still getting him decent stuff.

He'll be sleeping on a twin sized bed at school. As he has a full size bed at home, I've been on the look-out for sheets for him. I finally found a deal on bedding.

I know these are NOT high quality luxury sheets but this is a college dorm situation for an 18 yr. old. It's highly probable that either #1 son will ruin these doing his own laundry or they will get 'lost' or just walk away at some point in the year, so I'm not wanting to spend big buck$ on sheets. I found these bedding separates at a local discount/discontinued item store.
I got 2 whole sheet sets(1 flat/1 fitted/2 pillowcased)for $18.16.....that's $9.08 per set.
I bought blue sheets. I figure this way, he won't have to deal with bleach as they aren't white sheets, so less chance of him ruining them. And the color will hide stains too.lolol
I may go back and get a couple more fitted sheets because they tend to wear out faster than top sheets.

I am all about buying used whenever possible. I was reticent about buying these WALMART Sheets, as they are made in China. But I figure buying them from a discontinued item store is as close to buying used as I want to get with sheets. Walmart got pennies on the dollar selling these items to my local odd-lot store so Walmart isn't seeing a profit on this purchase.

So I've gotten the bath towels and the sheets. I'll let #1 son pick out the comforter when he gets home.

Sluggy

Soft Soap Body Wash Update.....Success!

I finally was able to use my FREE SOFT SOAP BODY WASH COUPON talked about in the post HERE.

One of the WAGS near my home got some more in before it expired on Sat. July 25th.


5x Soft Soap Body Wash @ $2.99=$14.95
12x One-A-Day Vitamin Drink Powder clearanced $.75=$9.00
SubTotal $23.95

Coupons Used
1x FREE Soft Soap=$2.99
4x $2/1 Soft Soap=$8.00
3x $3/1 O-A-D Product=$9.00
Coupon Total $19.99

$3.96+$.72tax=$4.68OOP

I had NO RRs to use and received no RRs. That hasn't happened in months!lol
I was just going to get the Free SoftSoap Wash and the One-A-Day Powders because they were free with the last of the O-A-D Qs I had. But I had those $2/1 Soft Soap Qs so the Body Washes on sale only cost me .99¢ + tax each. I couldn't say no at that price.

I am just relieved that they had 1 for my free Q and I didn't have to go another round with the Catalina company on the phone to try to get another replacement for that Freebie Q AGAIN!
I'm so glad to close the book on this saga....

Sluggy

CVS Totals for 7/18-7/25

So after the visit Sat. the 18th to the CVS where you can get the current week's deals as well as the next week's deals(except that the next week's deals ECBs don't print!)that I talked about HERE, I made a quick trip to a different CVS last week.

2x Speed Stick Pro @$2.99=$5.98
2x Band-Aids @$3.29=$6.58
1x Duracell Batteries @$2.99=$2.99
1x CVS Pantiliners @.89¢
1x J&J Mini First Aid Kit @.99¢
SubTotal $17.43

Coupons Used
2x Speed Stick $1.50/1=$3.00
2x Band-Aids $1/1=$2.00
1x Duracell Batteries $1/1=$1.00
1x J&J Item $1/1=$1.00
Coupon Total $7.00

ECBs Used
$10

$17.43-$17.00=$.43+.06¢tax=$.49¢OOP

$.49OOP

Spent $10 ECBs.
Received $5 ECBs(for buying $10 in J&J items over the course of the week), $4 ECBs for 2 Speed Stick Deodorants, $1 ECB for Duracell Batteries, $.89 ECB for CVS Pantiliners=$10.89 ECBs

I didn't start out the week trying to get the $5 ECBS for the J&J items. I had bought 3 Mini 1st Aid Kits as I needed to get to $20 to use a CRT Q for $4/20 on Saturday and I had Qs to make the Kits free. I found 1 more Kit(free with another J&J Q)so I bought 2 Band-Aid boxes for $6.58($4.58 after 2 $1/1 Qs)to get over the $10 mark. So basically, all 4 Kits and the Band-aids were free with .42 Overage after the $5 ECBs.

Sluggy

Monday, July 27, 2009

Meal Plan Monday....July 27th Edition

Well, last week's Meal Plan went well until Tuesday. If you are a regular reader you know that my 4 yr. old glass top range decided to spontaneously CRACK while I was reheating the leftover Pork BBQ for Monday night's dinner on one of the burners.
Just cracked.
And it will be A MONTH before the replacement glass will arrive to replace.....meaning no cooking for a month.
And it will cost half what we paid for this range.
Can you tell I am NOT amused?? 8-P

Even with a busted evil stove, I was able to stick to the Meal Plan fairly well. Luckily the only meal affected was the Fish Fry.....obviously can't fry fish without a stove top, right?lol So we worked around having to use the stove top. I made grilled cheese sandwiches one night, using a baking sheet on the gas grill instead. I tried to cook the BBQ Chicken Pizza I made on Thursday on the grill too but alas, my pizza pan was too large to fit, so it went into the oven of the Cursed Stove.

Needless to say, hubby went out and purchased a new range on Saturday after I struck out finding one used locally, on Craigslist or eBay during the week.
So until they deliver the new range(thursday) we are either cooking out on the grill or using some FREE FOOD Coupons/Certificates.

Here's what our family of 3 will be eating this week...

Monday-Sausage Patty Sandwiches(from freezer/local meat), Grilled Onions, Cabbage(leftover from Corned Beef dinner last Sunday)
Tuesday-KFC Free Grilled 2 piece Meals
Wednesday-Grilled Fish, Grilled Squash(from the garden), Cheddar Biscuits(from Bisquick mix)
Thursday-Pizza(frozen), Salad(from the garden)
Friday-Rigatoni with Meat Sauce, Sauted Swiss Chard w/Bacon(from the garden)
Saturday-Ham Slices, Mac & Cheese, Veggie(whatever is ripe from the garden)
Sunday-Eating Out($4 Restaurant.com Certificate)

Desserts-M&M Cookies, Peaches

The cookies will only be made IF the weather isn't too hot. Otherwise, we'll suffer through the week with Ice Cream instead.....poor, poor us.lol
I'll be making my Meat Sauce for the pasta from scratch in the Crockpot. I'll do a play-by-play on Friday on how to make that the low & slow way w/out heating up your kitchen.

My shopping list for this week's meals consists of 1 item-hamburger buns for the sausage patty sandwiches. Hubby is stopping to pick that up so I don't even have to go into a grocery store this week.
Since the garden is starting to produce goodies, I am incorporating garden veggies into our meal plan this week. The money I am NOT spending at the grocery store this week, I'll take to the farm stand later this week to get a big mess of green beans...some for eating now and a lot more to put up for winter.

Food Waste Report.....We cleared out a lot of leftovers this past week. I dug something out of the back of the fridge that went into the trash. It was so old and bad I can't even tell you what it had been in a previous life.lol I also pitched out some old sour cream that had started to grow fuzz on the lid. ick

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy

Sunday, July 26, 2009

DOGSWELL Gift Pack Giveaway at Frugal Fairhope


There's an awesome Dog Food company called DOGSWELL. They make high quality pet foods and treats.

Frugal Fairhope is holding a Giveaway you need to check out HERE.
You can enter to win a Gift Pack of Dogswell products.
Hurry though, this giveaway ends July 31st.

Good Luck!

Sluggy

Price Chopper Steals & Deals...Olay & Clearance Food

Price Chopper Grocery Stores had a small sized Olay Body Wash on special this past week(July 19-25) at 2 for $3(or $1.50 each). I had 20 Coupons from the 7/5 P&G Sunday Coupon Insert-$2 off 1 Olay Body or Shower Wash.
So you KNOW I had to make a trip to PC this week. Mindful of being within $100 of going over my July budget & a week left to go in the month, I set out to the store. I had figured out ahead of leaving for the store that I would spend $5.15 including the tax on the Body Wash.
Piece of Cake, right?

Of course, seeing as I was trying so hard to keep within this $500 food/toiletries budget for July, as soon as I walked into the store I was greeted by 6 shopping carts full of just marked down items right at the door!
Argh!
Oh the temptation of cheap cheap foodstuffs.....
My downfall.

Here are the things I just couldn't leave the store without.

2 bags of Goya Beans @.50ea.=$1.00 (less than half price)
6 large containers of Rice Select rice @$2 ea.=$12.00(Texmati, Arborio, Jasmine) (I've seen this go for between $6-$7 ea. in stores)
6 boxes of Jasmine Rice @.50ea.=$3.00 ($2-$3 in stores)
2 Ginger Noodles @$1 ea.=$2.00 (Not such a tremendous price but daughter likes)
2 Goya large Tomato Paste @.32ea.=$.64 (reg. over $1 a can)
3 boxes asstd. wheat Pasta @.35ea.=$1.05 (reg. $1.50 a box)
1 Ginger flavored Soy Sauce @.50ea.=$.50 (reg. over $2 bottle)
2 Wild Rice Mixes @.79ea.=$1.58 (about half price)
2 Goya Rice Flour @.29ea.=$.58 (reg. $2.49 bag!)
2 A&H Essentials Cleaner Refills @.75ea.=$1.50 (reg. $4 or so ea.)
1 Bag PC brand Dog Food @.69ea.=$.69 (not sure reg. price-much more than .69¢ tho)
Subtotal $24.54

Then it was on to the items I came into the store to buy....

20 Olay Body Wash(I broke this up into multiple transactions & went through the line 4 times. I've summarized all these trips with the food item trip for clarity's sake here.)@$1.50ea.=$30.00

6 Ragu Pasta Sauce @BOGO 2/$2.19=$6.57
SubTotal $36.57

Total for all items $61.11
Tax $1.21
Total before Coupons $62.32

Coupons Used
20 Olay $2/1 (Adjusted down to $1.50ea.)=$30.00
2 Ragu $1.25/3=$2.50
Coupon Total $32.50

$62.32-$32.50=$29.82OOP

The regular retail on all this at P.C. is at least $125.00(low end actual figure is $124.64).
That's about a 76% Savings.

This(along with the $5.40 I spent at KMart this week)brings my July Food/Toiletries Spending to $415.06-still under $500 total. I have a little bit I spent at WAGS & CVS this week still to account for in upcoming posts.

I found out later that there is a printable coupon for $2/1 Rice Select. ugh! Since I had no clue it would be on deep deep discount before I got to the store, and I wasn't about to go back to see if any was left once I had printed out a coupon, there is no way I could have done better on the price of those 6 jugs of rice. I would venture further that HAD I returned with a $2/1 Q in hand and tried to get any of these $2 discounted containers of Rice for FREE, this being a Price Chopper(they are not known for being 'coupon friendly' here!), the cashier or front-end supervisor would have had some reason why they would have denied to accept the coupons. They are good at making up the rules as they go along if they see you are about to get something for pennies or for free. They gave me a big enough hassle over the Olays!lol

But it would have been nice to have had coupons to get all that Rice Select rice for FREE!
$15 for over 18 lbs. of Fancy Pants Rice is worth doing the Happy Dance over. This will keep us in rice for some time to come.

Sluggy

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Spending my OYNO CATS at KMart

I just had to go to KMart this week.
The reason?
I had a handful of OYNO Cats to spend from buying lots of Unilever items during the Double Coupons Event a couple of weeks ago. They were all expiring this week.
Can't let MONEY expire now, can we?

The crazy rules at KMart however are that you can ONLY use ONE OYNO Catalina per Transaction. So, I had to group items into Eight Transactions, as I had 8 Cats of various values.
KMart also makes you pay the Sales Tax on the full value of the items you purchase, even if your coupons bring that purchase cost down to Zero, so unless you just buy food or clothing at KMart in PA, you are going to pay sales tax.

I shopped the clearance and sale items to maximize savings and here's what I got for almost free......

2 packages of Joe Boxer Socks-only 1 pictured. #2 son needed socks. Socks were on sale. $3.50 ea.=$7.00

5 bottles of Elmer's Glue .20¢ ea.=$1.00

1 Mandoline Slicer on clearance $10.00

1 Purse on clearance $12.00

Towels for #1 son for college. Something he needed and they were on clearance. #2 son picked out this 'manly' color-black!lol 2 Bath Sheets/1 Face Towel/2 Washcloths=$23.00

1 box of Canning lids=$2.49 The only NOT ON SALE purchase. I'll be needing these very soon.

SubTotal $55.49
Tax $2.91
Total $58.40

Subtract $53 in OYNO Catalinas (3x $14, 3x $3, 2x $1)

Grand Total $5.40OOP ($2.91 of that was tax)

Sluggy

Friday, July 24, 2009

Mystery Building under Construction near Teeny Tiny Town

When we moved to this area almost 9 years ago, there was an old restaurant we use to frequent. Actually, the building was old, not the restaurant. This building had housed an Italian restaurant originally but sometime before we moved into the area it had closed and someone had opened a Chinese Buffet restaurant in that location.

Over a few years, that Chinese eating establishment had declined in quality and we had stopped dining there. I guess we weren't the only ones who had stopped frequenting this restaurant because it had closed up within a year after we stopped eating there.

Fast forward a few years to last year.
One day as I drove by this intersection, I noticed that the old building had been torn down.
Not only that, but the old bank building next door that sat on the corner of the intersection had also been demolished.
A few months later the lot was cleared and the city had begun forming concrete curbs and cut-outs on the perimeter of the lot.
Then, about 4 months ago, I saw that construction had begun on a mysterious commercial building. Here's a picture I snapped Friday of the building in progress.

Now back 2 months ago, when the only thing standing was the metal framework on this building-to-be, I told hubby that I KNEW what they were building, even though no "Future Site of XXX" signs had been erected.
It was going to be a WALGREENS!
And how did I know this??

Here's another picture I took of the building. Compare it to the photo below it of the completed WAGS building. I dare you to tell me I am wrong!lol

My Under Construction Wags....


A completed Wags.....
That telltale angled cut-off of the front 'corner' of the store design is a Dead Giveaway!!

Now I will have THREE Count' em Three WAGS in my area. This new one is on the southeastern end of Wilkes-Barre PA and the closest to my house. I won't have to venture over the river to the other side of downtown to go to Wags anymore once it opens.
Yippee!!

Sluggy-who is truly thrilled by the smallest things in life

FREE Olay Body Wash at PRICE CHOPPER

If you have a Price Chopper Grocery Store in your area(not the Midwest PC-the Northeast US PC), you can get the item pictured here for FREE!
Price Chopper currently has a 6.8 ounce size of OLAY Body Wash on special for $1.50(or 2 for $3, as it's worded in their current sales flyer). I found it on the shelf with the other body washes in the bar soap aisle at my local store. It doesn't appear to be an item they regularly carry, as there was no shelf tag for this size of Olay Body Wash. There was also no signage denoting that it was on special this week.

If you got the Sunday coupon insert for P&G a few weeks ago, there was a $2 off 1 Olay Body Wash or Shower Item Coupon. You can use that $2/1 coupon to get this Olay Body Wash for FREE. The coupon will automatically adjust down to the item price of $1.50....or at least it did at my store.

But hurry! The current sale ends Saturday and there is no way to know if this Olay item will continue at this $1.50 price past this sale period.

Sluggy

The Lettuce Fairy is Loose & A Walk Through My Garden

Yesterday I got to play LETTUCE FAIRY! With the unusually cool summer weather we have continued to have, most of my garden is still not at the harvesting stage.

Except for the lettuce and other salad greens.
Those are out of control.
Seriously!
Here's a photo I took of the salad greens about a month ago.



And here is a photo I took today.....it was MUCH WORSE than this yesterday, before I took the scissors and radically trimmed/cut back the plants.



So I picked my HUGE Pasta Colander to overflowing with greens.



I divided the bounty into 6 piles. Wrapped in a paper towel and put into a brown paper lunchbag. I had promised my favorite Post Office clerks Marie & Pete a bag each, as well as my Dr. and his Receptionist Jan some greens when I was in for my appointment on Wednesday. I had a Dentist appt. yesterday, so I took a bag in for both my Dentist and his Assistant Lorraine. Everyone very much appreciated the goodies.
I still have so much left!
I should make up more bags tomorrow morning and set up #2 son down at the corner of the road with a sign and Salad Greens so he can make some money.

So I remembered to take some pictures when I was poking around in the garden beds this morning. Though everything is behind in maturing this summer, things are ripening.
Here is the 1st summer squash....



The green pepper plants are small this year but are starting to produce....



The tomato plants seem to be catching up but slow to fruit. Here is the 1st baby tomato....look closely, it's behind the metal support pole in the center of the photo.



I finally found a cucumber too! Actually, the joke's on me because after I snapped this photo I noticed another LARGER CUKE in the upper left side of the photo I took.lol The sun glare was awful this morning so I'm shocked I even took decent pictures.



I am a haphazard 'weeder'. I do weed the obvious grass intruders but sometimes if some 'weed' appears that looks interesting I let it grow, just to see what develops.
That was a good thing last year, when I let a couple 'weeds' grow and ended up with a huge Sunflower! I've never been able to grow one here on purpose but one stray seed dropped here by some bird gave me a beautiful surprise.
This year I had some interesting 'weeds' take hold in the same spot as my Sunflower last year. These 'weeds' have spread a little too much and I went to pull and cut them back this morning. I found a big lovely Swiss Chard underneath! It's in the center of the photo....


Here is another Swiss Chard(red stalks)that finally grew. I never though this plant would get big enough to produce. This is my 1st year growing Chard. The chipmunks that rule my yard LOVED these chard seeds. We replanted it many, MANY times!lol



And just to prove that I am NOT the world's best gardener, here are my purple bush beans. For some reason, beans have NOT been good this year! So my yard is not straight out of the play, OUR TOWN. (If you are familar with this piece of literature, & you got my play on the line from the play, you may groan now.lolol)
I planted both bush type and pole variety beans. These piddly little puny bush bean plants are all that came up. The pole beans are MIA.




So that's a walk around my yard for today. I'm off to go fix some lunch without a STOVE!gggrrrrr and then to go through leftovers from the Yard Sale of last weekend.

Sluggy

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Getting Satisfaction from a Large Corporation

If you need background on this post, please check THIS ONE out first.

Does anybody have any musical talent?
Maybe I should take my complaint about FRIGIDAIRE RANGES to YouTube with a creative rant against this company for producing DEFECTIVE, SHODDY APPLIANCES!

Hey, it worked for Dave Carroll recently when United Airlines broke his $4Thousand Guitar......check out THIS.

Sluggy

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

NEVER BUY a Fridgidaire Appliance! They are Dangerous to your Health

DO NOT BUY THIS FRIGIDAIRE RANGE! It may look sleek and competent but it could be a potential killer.


Let me first say that something is terribly WRONG in this country, when you plunk down a big wad of hard earned cash for an electrical appliance and said electrical appliance has some kind of 'incident' happen with it, that renders it unusable in a short amount of time.

Here's my story....that I intend to relay to the parent company of FRIGIDAIRE very shortly. You, my lucky readers, get to hear about it first!lol

Husband & I purchased a brand spanking new FRIGIDAIRE 30" ELECTRIC RANGE-Model #FEFL79DCD from LOWE'S. The year was 2005. I'd have to go dig out the receipt(yes, I keep everything!lol)for the exact amount spent for it but I can say it was in the ballpark of $800+ dollars(Not including the new Power Cord cost, that Lowe's insists you buy, if you have their staff connect the appliance for you in your home).
It was the most we have ever spent on a range. It had some cool features(self-cleaning, expandable burner size, center warming zone, timers, etc.) and it was stainless and black which looked so sleek. I was in love.

But that love affair didn't last.
It might help to mention that this baby came with a 1 year warranty. Lowe's tried to get us to purchase an EXTENDED WARRANTY on this range, which would have bought us another 2 years of coverage. My thinking is that if Mr. & Mrs. John Q Public spend $800+ on something, they should EXPECT IT TOO WORK PROPERLY for more than 1 YEAR!
It is a SAD SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS when businesses in this country sell you shoddy goods for large sums of money. Why can't they just make them BETTER to begin with and just charge what that costs? When I buy a kitchen appliance I expect it to live AT LEAST 10 years!

Back to my sad love affair.
I noticed a couple of bad things during that 1st year we owned this Frigidaire Range.
The first one was aesthetic in nature.
The supposed stainless steel, STAINED. I kept the front stainless steel panel of the range pretty clean, wiping it down regulary to keep the fingerprints from kids and nose prints from dogs from showing. I started noticing what appeared to be RUST SPOTS on the metal front, below the glass oven window. Over time, these areas grew and now are quite noticeable.
I looked at this as a regular part of the aging process for a range. George Clooney got some distinguishing grey hairs as he matured, so my Stainless Steel Range acquired some rusty spots. But it was still hot, just like George.

Speaking of hot.....I noticed one day, about 2 years into owning this FRIGIDAIRE RANGE, that when I turned the heat DOWN on the burner I was cooking on, the stove didn't lower the heat level on the burner. I believe I was heating up some spaghetti sauce at the time. I set the burner on HIGH. After the sauce began to break a boil on the surface, I turned down the burner to MEDIUM(6 on the dial). After about 3 minutes, the burner coil was still glowing red(under the glass cooktop) and the sauce was now boiling furiously. I had to remove the pot of sauce, turn off the burner completely and continue cooking on a different burner.
After I noticed this flaw in the range, I saw that it would happen intermittenly on a regular basis at times with all the burners. This was an inconvenience but didn't render the range unusable.

Then Monday night of this week, I had a small saute pan of pork barbeque on the front right burner, reheating the meat for dinner. The burner was set on a medium heat level. As I stirred the pork, I heard a loud POP! I thought, "What the ???" and looked down at the range. I lifted the pan and saw that the GLASS COOKTOP had just CRACKED!!! The crack ran from near the center of the burner I was using & extended 6 inches or so over toward the center of the cooktop.
I hadn't dropped anything on the glass, EVER in the 4 years we have owned it. It had no weak spot from a chip or from dropping something on the cooktop in the past that would cause it to just spontaneously crack like that. The burner under where it cracked was only turned to Medium Heat and wasn't malfunctioning at the time and hotter than it should have been.

By the next morning, the crack had worked it's way over the entire glass top, like a spider's web.
FOUR YEARS YOUNG and this FRIGIDAIRE RANGE was unusable! $800+ for 4 yrs. of service is INEXCUSEABLE! That's like paying $200 a Year for the joy of being able to cook. And even if I had bought an Extended Warranty, a repair at 4 yrs. from purchase would NOT have been covered. I'm glad at least that I hadn't thrown away another $100 on a useless warranty.

Being a Compact-er, my first thought, despite it's other flaws, was to repair this range. Why send a range with what could see many more years of service to a landfill. Despite the enormous inconvenience being without a range/oven for a month or more would cause my family, we could work around this for the good of old Mother Earth.

After calling around, I find out that yes, I can get another glass cooktop BUT.....
it will have to be specially ordered.
Meaning it will be a minimum of FOUR WEEKS before it will arrive. (I've found that when dealing with a construction or a repair situation, it's best to DOUBLE the amount of you are told it will take to complete.)
After the glass arrives, you then get to wait for the repair professional to find the time to install said glass on your appliance.

So what's the bottom line on this repair?
With installation, approx. $350. (The glass alone would cost $250 + tax.)
I'm expected to shell out almost HALF what this appliance cost me to begin with to get it working again!! I've only had it 4 YEARS!
So with this repair, I'll have almost $1200 INVESTED into this Range.


Then in my search online for information about this appliance/company/repair/etc. I happened upon a review from another owner. It seems one morning, for no apparent reason their FRIGIDAIRE RANGE's glass window in the door exploded! It was NOT being used at the time and hadn't been since at least the night before when it just spontaneously burst, sending shards of glass shooting across their kitchen. After contacting the parent company of FRIGIDAIRE, ELECTROLUX, they never received any answers or satisfactory response to this incident.

As #2 son might say, Bigtime FAIL Electrolux.....

So on third and fourth thought, I am NOT going to repair this obviously defective product from an Obviously Defective Company with EVEN MORE Obviously Defective Business Practices. I don't even feel right giving this thing away to someone who wants to take the time & expense to repair it either! Who knows what may befall them in the course of using/having this FRIGIDAIRE RANGE. I would hate to be sued in years to come in civil court by someone who takes glass shrapnel to the groin when the oven glass in the door explodes while they are cooking pancakes some morning.

One thing I have decided is that I will be going back to a good old exposed coiled burners model. No more fancy pants glass cooktops for me! Those things are cash cows for the appliance parts department. Hundreds of $$s for a slab of glass. A fragile material that begs to be broken in a room with alot of hoisting around of equipment and dishware in it, not to mention the odd canned good being dropped on it at just the right angle to make it shatter. The old fashioned burners may not be something out of Better Homes & Gardens but it's one LESS THING that can break!

Does anyone have any experiences with other brands' models of range to share with me, while I research my options? Non-exploding models only please.....

Sluggy

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Saga Continues.....BEWARE!

Remember back in late March/early April of this year.....the SoftSoap Body Wash at Walgreen's was giving a FREE ITEM Catalina when you bought a bottle of that Body Wash?
Here's the ad from that week.....

I had bought a bottle of SoftSoap Body Wash the Saturday of that sales ad. Surprise of surprises, my Catalina for a Free Bottle DID NOT PRINT!
So, the Asst. Manager gives me the DREADED FORM to send to the Catalina Company, requesting the Coupon I was gypped out of.
Here's my copy of that form I sent in.....

The form says to, "allow 6-8 weeks for delivery". I mailed it on 4/6/09.
Here's my receipt from the purchase....



Approximately 3 weeks ago....June 29th.....I pulled my documentation out for this particular bit of unfinished business. 6-8 Weeks had passed some time ago and still NO FREE SOFTSOAP BODY WASH COUPON.

So I picked up the telephone and called Retail Client Service. I spoke at length with 'Danny' in Customer Service. He couldn't seem to locate any record of my Coupon being sent out.
He said he couldn't send the original Coupon out as it had expired.
How nice....
He had to find an equivalent Coupon to send me. Something that wasn't expired yet.
After a half hour on the phone, he assured me the Free Body Wash Coupon request was in the system and would be going out to me shortly.

Forward to the end of last week....Friday I believe.
Guess what shows up in my mail that day-July 17th?

It's my FREE SOFTSOAP BODY WASH COUPON!!!
Now look closer at the expiration date.....

I don't know if you can make it out but the expiration date is JULY 25th.
Just over ONE WEEK FROM WHEN I RECEIVED IT!


So I got a chance to get out to Walgreens today to use this coupon before it expires. I have exactly TWO Walgreens in my area. If I want to drive an hour away I can get to more but who wants to drive 2 hours(both ways)to spend a coupon worth $3.99?

Guess what is on sale this week at Walgreens????
Go on! You'll NEVER guess!!

SOFTSOAP BODY WASH!
And because it's on sale, guess what BOTH Walgreens are out of?????????

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I'VE BEEN WAITING SINCE APRIL 4TH TO GET MY FREE BODY WASH THAT WALGREENS OWES ME.
THAT'S OVER 3 MONTHS & 2 WEEKS FOLKS!!!
SO MUCH FOR TIMELY DELIVERY OF GOODS....

I AM SO FRUSTRATED AND TIRED OF DEALING WITH THIS. AND NOW I GET TO CALL 'DANNY' AGAIN(OF COURSE I'LL GET SOMEONE ELSE AND WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS ALL TO THEM AND HOPE THEY CAN COMPREHEND IT ALL)AND GET A REPLACEMENT FOR MY REPLACEMENT COUPON.

THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR PLAYING BY THE RULES AND TAKING THE STINKING FORM AND SENDING IT IN.

Now, you know when a Catalina didn't print after this one, I refused to take the form and send it in....it helped that the nimrod gave me the wrong forms for the items I bought that time.lolol

Argh. I could just chew nails here folks.
If I wasn't so close to having a stroke, it would be funny.

Heed my warning, NEVER agree to send the form to the Catalina company!

You have been warned.....

More to follow as this saga unfolds.

Sluggy

Potential MONEYMAKER at Rite Aid until Saturday!

I lead a sad, sad life sometimes.
My idea of fun?
Wandering the Rite-Aid Drug Store aisles, looking for Single Check Rebate shelf tags.
LOLOL
Yes, I just walk around Rite-Aid looking for things to buy to send away for SCR rebates.
But only things that would either be free or a Moneymaker!
So not so dumb after all, huh?

I found this great Moneymaker opportunity on Saturday. Was in a Rite-Aid and saw that this item has a Single Check Rebate for $14.00

It's a Doctor's Brand Night Guard for bruxism(teeth grinding). Now I don't grind my teeth in my sleep....I have other ways to relieve stress when I am awake(eating!lol).
But.....
This item is regularly $24.99. (It's the regular 'classic' one, not the deluxe model). This Rite-Aid had the 'classic' style marked 50% off at $12.49!
I bought one & submitted online for the SCR for it and YES!....it went through.
So I bought it for $13.24(tax, you know), got the $14.00 rebate.
I made .76¢.

Now before you laugh your head off at me for going to this trouble to buy something to make .76¢, remember that I can now take said Night Guard and sell that puppy on eBay!
Research shows that I can get at least $8 or so for it there.
And if I had bought it as part of a $25 order, I could have received $5 off that order.
If you need to get to $25 to use that $5 off coupon for Rite-Aid AND these are on clearance at your store, it's a great thing to buy to boost your total.

But you need to hurry, because the July SCR period ends on Saturday! If you are going to get one, get it before then.

I bought 2 btw.....1 for me, 1 for B-I-L. Made $1.48 overage and will sell both of eBay and make another $16 there.

Happy Hunting!
Sluggy

Counting Food Budget Receipts


One last quickie post for the evening.
I sat down tonight and went through my Food/Toiletries Receipts for the month of July so far. With 2/3 of the month gone, I have spent $379.84 in July.

I have Cats expiring this week too;$10 for Weis, a $5RR & a Free Soft Scrub Body Wash Cat for WAGS & a combined total of $53 in Cats for Kmart(earned during double coupons buying Unilever, etc. and Kraft Mac & Cheese). The Weis and WAGS Cats will be spent on food/toiletries but I might get some clothes &/or school supplies with the KMart Cats for #2 son or bedding for #1 son's dorm room.

My goal for food spending was to keep it under $500 this month. I am shocked to see that I actually have a shot at meeting that goal!! My best month up until now was June's $700 spending total.
I'll cross my fingers that when Weis' new sales ad comes out on Thursday, there are NO GOOD DEALS! ;-)
No temptations, please.....

If I can spend my Cats and RRs and NOT spend more than that I'll make the July goal. This will take some planning AND willpower.
Uh oh.
I'm in trouble now....lolol

Stay tuned....
Sluggy

Yard Sale...the final word


One last post about the Yard Sale last Saturday. I found a partial roll of quarters in a drawer in the kitchen island. I knew I hadn't taken all the quarters out for the sale. Hubby insisted there were no quarters in the drawer where he put the wads of cash during the sale, for safekeeping.
Found the quarters today....so the Grand Total jumps from $628.50 to $634.25.

That is all.

Sluggy

Monday, July 20, 2009

CVS & Price Chopper Quickies on Saturday

After a few hours of recuperating from my Yard Sale Trauma, I was itching to get out of the house. Well, it started because I had a $7 OYNO Cat from Price Chopper(from buying $20 Kraft/Unilever/General Mills Deal a couple of weeks ago)the that was expiring that night.
So I just HAD TO go out.
Yah.....that's my story.....

I hadn't been to CVS in Eight Whole Days!(is that sad or what?) so I went to my favorite one.
This one has the overlapping sales. They start honoring the coming week's sale on Saturday as they put the signage out early Sat. But they also honor the current sales ad prices, so you can do both sale weeks at once. Granted if there is a popular item on sale, since it's the end of the current sales week, they will be OUT of that item. But you can get first crack at the upcoming sales ad hot items.

CVS Transaction #1

2 Pencils @ $1.99=$3.98
2 Filler Paper @ $2.00=$4.00
4 Min-Notebooks(2 different sizes) @.99¢=$3.96
2 Paper-Mate Pen Packs @ .99¢=$1.98
1 Gillette Fusion Razor @ $7.99=$7.99
SubTotal $21.91

Coupons Used
1 Gillette Fusion Razor $3.00
CVS ECBs $12, $1.50, $1=$14.50
CVS $4/$20 Coupon=$4.00
Total $21.50

$21.91-$21.50=$.41+.03¢tax=$.44OOP
Received $4(Gillette Fusion)ECB.
NO ECBs for the School Supplies.
EEK!

So she calls the Manager.
This is how I learned that even though you can go to this CVS the day BEFORE a sale starts and still get the SALE PRICES, you Don't get the ECBS for those items.
Not the best way to learn a lesson IMHO.lolol

So I told the Manager if I couldn't get my ECBS today that I'd like to return everything but the razor & I'd come back on Sunday and buy the items again. I was just trying to play by the rules, now that I knew what the rules at this store were. I wasn't threatening or pissed off(more embarassed really), just matter-of-fact like.
I guess he didn't want the extra paperwork that a return generates or he didn't want his Sunday spoiled by me darkening his door again the next day, because he went over to the other register and after about 10 minutes he produced my ECBs for the stuff.
Oh, from the steam coming out of his ears I could tell he was telling me off in his head.lolol

And I learned something else another time when I had a problem with the ECBs printing.
When they 'force' the ECBs....at least this time and the last time they didn't print, the cashier uses a number to print them that isn't your Customer Care Number. So for these school supplies, there will be no record of me redeeming these ECB offers yet. So I could go back to CVS this week while they are still on sale(and a store still has some in stock)and I could get another set of them and have another set of ECBs print for my card.
Not that I would ever do that, mind you. ;-))
Just a little tidbit of info....

So Updated ECBs...$4Gillette, $14 School Supplies(he rounded the .99 on some up so it was even dollars, no cents)=$18

So I still had to buy some Tylenol Arthritis(I love this stuff!) & I had a $3 off $15 Coupon.


CVS Transaction #2

3 Tylenol Arthritis @$3.99=$11.97
3 Mini First Aid Kits @$.99=$2.97
1 Nutter Butter Cookies @ $1.00=$1.00
SubTotal $15.94

Coupons Used
3 $2/1 Tylenol=$6.00
3 $1/1 J&J Item(adjusted down to .99)=$2.97
CVS $2.50 off a $10 Pain Reliever Purchase=$2.50
CVS $3/$15 Coupon=$3
Total $14.47

$15.94-$14.47=$1.47OOP
Received $9(Tylenol)ECBs

GRAND TOTALS
Value of Items $52.25
Coupons & Sales $50.34
OOP $1.91(includes .03¢ tax)
Savings of 96.35%
ECBs Used $14.50
ECBs Received $4(Gillette),$14(School Supplies),$9(Tylenol)=$27

A quick note****The J&J Travel 1st Aid Kits qualify as part of the Buy $10 in Band-Aid/J&J Red Cross/Neosporin Items, Get $5 ECBs deal this week at CVS. So if I spend $7.03 more on J&J this week, I get $5 ECBs.

Then it was on to Price Chopper to see how far I could make $7 go.
Ok, I confess I spent an additional $3.60.
Shoot me.
Sit down for this.....I took NO COUPONS into the store with me.
Gasp.
I know!


Price Chopper Transaction

1 bunch Bananas on sale $.39lb.=$.79
1 head of Cabbage on sale $.59lb.=$2.47 Not pictured, already used
1 Half Gal. Organic Orange Juice PC Brand=$2.59
3 Containers PC Brand Ice Cream on sale $2.00=$6.00
1 Reduced Pear Cups(for hubby's lunch) half price/torn packaging=$1.25 Not pictured
SubTotal $13.10
No Tax

Coupons Used
(Scanned my card and got PC Qs at the coupon machine)
1 $1 wyb 3 PC brand Ice Cream from machine=$1.00
1 .50¢ off PC OJ Coupon from machine=$.50
2 .50¢ off Dairy Stickers on the OJ Carton=$1.00
1 $7 OYNO Cat.
Total $9.50

$13.10-$9.50=$3.60

Totals
Value of Items $15.47
Coupons & Sales $11.87
OOP $3.60(includes tax)
Savings of 76.75%

Sluggy

TARGET Last Week....Can You Follow This Crazy Deal?

Since my last trip to Target went so well(no coupon disasters! like the time before)I decided to make a trip back last Thursday with #2 son and his 2 friends. I had promised them all a free Arby's RoastBurger so accompanying me to Target first was the price they had to pay.lol

I did 2 Transactions.....






Transaction #1

10 Assorted Keebler Cookies @ $2.54ea.=$25.40
4 Milkbone Treats @ $2.99=$11.96
SubTotal=$37.36

Coupons Used
4 $1/1 Keebler Cookies=$4
4 $.55/1 Keebler Cookies=$2.20
4 $2/1 Milkbone Treats Peelies=$8.00
Total=$14.20

$37.36-$14.20=$23.16+$.24 tax=$23.40OOP
And I received 2 $5 Gift Cards. One for each set of 5 packages of Keebler Cookies bought.
My 10 cookies in one transaction qualifies for the $10 Fuel for School Rebate Here.
So I now have $10 in Target money to spend and will get $10 back from Keebler/Kellogg's for my $23.40 purchase, so the cookies & dog treats 'cost' me $11.40

**A quick note.....those Milkbone treats are some new product line-Essentials Plus. Be on the lookout at Target for $2 PEELIES on the boxes &/or bags of soft treats. I just happened to walk by an endcap display of these(it was NOT a main aisle endcap, but a backend cap)& saw the $2 peelies. They are reg. $3.29-$3.49 a bag/box and were on sale for $2.99, so the peelie made them .99¢ each! I just had to grab some at that price for our 3 dogs.

Transaction #2

2 A-1 Steak Sauce @ $2.69ea.=$5.38 **Not pictured**
10 Assorted Kellogg's Cereals @ $1.88ea.=$18.80 **NOT PICTURED**why is explained below
4 Boxes of Milkbone Dog Bones @ $2.99=$11.96
10 Bottles of Sobe LifeWater @ $1.00=$10.00
SubTotal=$46.14

Coupons Used
2 $2/1 A-1 Steak Sauce=$4.00
10 $1/1 Kelloggs Cereal=$10.00
4 $2/1 Milkbone Treats=$8.00
2 BOGO Sobe=$2.00
Used Both of the Keebler Cookie Gift Cards=$10.00
Total=$34.00

$46.14-$34.00=$12.14+$.10tax=$12.24OOP

And I received another $5 Target Gift Card for buying 10 Sobe LifeWaters.
And the 10 Cereals also qualify for the Fuel for School Rebate and I can send for another $10 Rebate for the B-I-L.
Deduct the rebate and I paid $2.24 for transaction #2.

Wait! There's more.....

The reason that the 10 boxes of Cereal are NOT pictured is because I no longer have them.
I sold all 10 boxes at my Yard Sale on Saturday!

After the $1/1 coupons, I paid .88¢ per box and I sold them for $1.50 per box & Kellogg's is giving me back $10 for buying them.
Sooooo, I actually MADE $16.70 on those 10 boxes!!lol

I paid $.88 each x 10=$8.80.
Kellogg's is sending me $10 for buying them.
$8.80-$10=negative $1.20

Then I sold them for $1.50 each=$15.50
$1.20+$15.50=$16.70 back in my pocket!!

Look at it this way.
I spent OOP on 2 transactions a total of $35.64.
I made(after the rebate)$16.70 on the cereal. Subtract that from my OOP. $35.64-$16.70=$18.94

Then I'll get another $10 Rebate for the cookies. $18.94-$10=$8.94.
I'm OOP $8.94 in the end.
I have.....10 Sobes, 2 A-1 Sauces, 8 Milkbone boxes/bags, 10 packages of Cookies($64.70 worth of stuff) AND a $5 Target Gift Card.
It all cost me $8.94.

Sluggy

Get Paid to Tell CVS What You Think July 27th

Be on the lookout for an email from CVS, about asking you to take part in an advertising survey. Click on the link and you will be asked to give a few answers to see if you qualify to take the survey.
If you do qualify, you will be emailed a link to the survey on Sunday morning, July 27th. You have until Monday morning to complete it.

"So, what's in it for me to take the time to fill out this survey", you ask?
If you do the survey, you will get 10 Extra Care Bucks. That's $10 of FREE MONEY to spend at your local CVS.

Free Money.
It works for me! ;-)

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....July 20th Edition Leftovers Galore, 3 From-Scratch Meals

This is an easy week for me, as far as the Meal Planning goes. Lots of leftovers from cooking Double Batches last week.

Here's what our family of 3 will be eating this week...

Monday-Leftover Pork BBQ, Leftover Boston Baked Beans, Leftover Cornbread
Tuesday-Leftover Alfredo Primavera over fresh Rigatoni noodles, Tossed Salad(from the garden)
Wednesday-BLT Sandwiches, Clam Chowder(from scratch)
Thursday-BBQ Chicken Pizza(from scratch), Spinach Salad(from the garden)
Friday-Leftover Buffet(whatever is still leftover at this point)
Saturday-Chinese dining out for lunch, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for dinner
Sunday-Fried Foods dinner--Fish, French Fries, Hush Puppies, Zuchinni or Squash(from the garden)
Desserts-Rice Krispy Treats(leftover), some kind of Cookies or Cake Balls(if I get ambitious and the weather doesn't get too hot to run the oven), Watermelon, Peaches

As for last week's menu....I didn't make the Pizza or Clam Chowder from scratch so I apologize for the lack of Recipe Updates in my blog during the week. We got Take-Out Chinese one night and we just ate leftovers again the other night. I've put both the chowder and the pizza on this week's menu and will attempt recipe updates for Wed., Thurs. & Sun.'s meals during the week. Those 2 meals and the Fish Fry on Sunday are the only real cooking I'm doing this week. Thank goodness for leftovers!lol
Don't write to me complaining about the Fried Food dinner & how unhealthy frying food is. We don't eat fried hardly at all(a sacrilege to my southern soul), so this is a rare treat. ;-)

Ingredients not-on-hand yet are....celery, potatoes(for chowder), red onions(for pizza), tomato(for BLTs), potatoes again(for french fries). Hopefully I'll have some yellow squash &/or zukes ready to pick by Sunday for that night's dinner.
So the shopping list is-1 bunch celery,1 bag of potatoes, 1 red onion, 1 tomato & a watermelon. There aren't any great deals in the local grocery stores that I can see(or I can use)so I'm going to try to just go to the Farm Market this week for my food shopping. I should be able to do this for about $12.

#1 son(who is off working near Lake Erie this summer) got a few days off and decided with 2 friends from work to take a trip to NYC & the NJ shore. They will be stopping here either tonight or tomorrow night to sleep a night before heading back to western PA. I'll be feeding them so I'm not sure how this will affect my Meal Plan this week. I have other proteins in the freezer so I'm hoping I can whip them up something good without having to go buy a ton of other groceries.
I'll report in next week on what I managed to do.

With all that free time I'll have NOT COOKING I'll be packing up from Saturday's Yard Sale and going through things to take to Salvation Army.

Food Waste Report.....about 1 cup of cauliflower that got pushed to the back of the fridge and became a penicillin experiment.

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy

Stinky Coupons here This Week


I would just like to go on the record as saying that my region got stinky coupons again this week.
1 insert.
20 coupons(6 are for diapers & baby wipes).
The previews listed 46 coupons.
Hmmmmm.....

No Spray n' Wash, no Mueller's Pasta, no Fiber One, no Betty Crocker, no Banquet, no General Mills, no White Cloud.
We got Diapers, Renuzit, Bic, Dannon & Tylenol.
Oh, and the ubiquitous Colgate.
We never get Electrasol or Finish or whatever-they-call-it-this-week....NEVER!
We always get high value Colgate.
Manufacturer's must think we have clean dishes already but never brush our teeth.

In addition to those 14 usable coupons(after the diaper ones), there were 2 Qs for the local regional grocery store-save $1 wyb $10 of produce & $2 wyb $20 of produce.
I don't buy trucked-in-from-1000-miles-away produce at the grocery store when the local farm stands are open in the summer & I have my garden, so not much help to me.
I do buy lemons though which don't grow around here, so I might use 1 of those Qs.

Oh, there were Quiznos Qs too.
Bleh.

If you got some good Qs, please PLEASE!-if you love me, don't tell me.
I may have to blind you by squirting toothpaste in your eye!

Off to work on my Meal Plan for the week....
Sluggy

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Welcome to SluggyMART!

Yep, it was shopping pand-i-monium!
Not MY shopping pand-i-monium......but for the folks who came to my Yard Sale yesterday.
Welcome to SLUGGYMART!

I am sooo tired from all the work from the last 3 days getting prepared & having to get up at 5:20 Sat. morning.
But considering the Yard Sale only went from 8 am-Noon(and I closed up shop 15 min. after noon when the last shopper left), I did great!
After deducting the bank I started the day with, I ended Sat. with $628.50....woohoo!!
I sold quite a bit of eBay merchandise(new in the package stuff) I hadn't been able to sell-most of it was stuff that weighed alot. eBay buyers just don't want to spend what I needed to get for it AND pay the outrageous shipping costs nowadays, so I got ok prices selling it locally with no shipping costs involved. But most of what I had(new in the package toys and collectibles)is NOT what your average yardsal-er comes to a sale to buy.

So Thank the Lord for the Stockpile!! 8-))
I'd say about 3/4 of what I sold was from the Stockpile.

Here's some random thoughts I thought I'd share as it might help someone else who is having or considering having a Garage Sale using Stockpile items. As Yoda might say, "Learn from my successes and failures, you will!" ;-))
*************************

I priced All the Stockpile goodies from .50¢ to $5.00. I had 2 etagere shelving units, a folding table, a patio table, a tea cart, plus a small bookshelf. (The non stockpile stuff when on a folding card table, boxes or stacks of Rubbermaid tubs we used as makeshift tables.) I tried to put all $1 items on the same shelves, all $2 items on the same shelves, etc. Labeling every single item was a near impossible task. I would have needed another WEEK just to sit and sticker every single item I had, but I gave it the valiant effort trying to keep up as things flew out the door. My best bet was some signage and just being accessible and anticipating when I needed to point out which were $1 shelves, $2 shelves, $3 tables, etc.

Most of what I put out to sell was either things I had bought to get something else (things that we weren't going to use), or things I had specifically bought to sell(on eBay or at a flea market/garage sale in the future). I didn't have alot of food to sell...it was mostly HBA/Toiletries.
Though I tried to put alot of items that had no cost to me after coupons & sales(the freebies), I ended up putting some other things out where I didn't make much profit after the cost of what I paid was deducted. This gave me a better mix of items for the 'store'. But even with averaging out the actual profit over the whole lot that sold, I still came out very much in the Black.

While I was too busy to think to take pics of what I was selling BEFORE the sale....that and there were already throngs of people cramming into the garage before the 8am start....I did take some photos of what was left of the Stockpile stock after it was over.
Keep in mind that the tables & shelves pictured were PACKED & FILLED with stuff! Each row of items was 5 deep and boxes were stacked 5 high. Some items like the toothpaste, deodorants, shaving cream, etc. where emptied totally once and "restocked".


This table is half-filled now. The whole thing was covered before.
A nearly empty table.
Had to mix food with toiletries at the end to make it look like there was more.lol


This tea cart is almost empty. I didn't even picture 1 small bookshelf that was totally emptied.

What sold out, the price charged & what it cost me.....

**Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Detergent $3 (.99¢)
**Spray n' Wash $2 (.50¢)
**Salad Dressing $1 (.09¢)
**Huggies Baby Wipes-both $1 & .50¢(small travel size & larger travel size) These were pure profit as it was free to me w/coupons.
**Mini J&J First Aid Kits .50¢ Ditto.
**Mac & Cheese Cups .50¢ (broke even-just wanted them gone lol)
**Kraft Shells Deluxe Dinners $1 (.29¢)
**Tuna Fish .50¢ (.19¢)
**Peanut Butter $1 (.87¢)
**Jelly $1 (.50¢)
**Crystal Light $1 (?) Had bought this for daughter and she decided she doesn't do artificial sweetners anymore
**Axe Body Wash(I had a ton of this. Son loves it but I had way more than he could use.) $2 ($1.15)

Like a store, there wasn't much profit margin in each item(except the Spray n' Wash...I wish I had a boatload of that stuff!LOL).

What sold well.....

**Razors Assorted Prices from $2 to $4 Almost sold out.
**Shaving Cream/Gel $1 Again, almost sold all of what I put out.
**TOOTHPASTE! I had a box with 150 tubes of assorted toothpastes in it. Marked them all $1 a piece(the only higher price was the Colgate Visible White) and I sold about half of them. If I had another day or another few hours, I bet I could have sold them all. The best part was anything I got for them was gravy because they didn't cost me anything!lol The clear favorite....Aqua-Fresh! Next fav-Colgate. The Crest sat most of the day on the shelf. Weird because Crest is always priced higher here. You would think people would buy that if all the prices were the same, but they preferred the smaller tubes of Colgate.
**Toothbrushes. Didn't sell out(1 left of the single packs, lots of double packs left.)but sold well and most if not all what I got was profit.
**$2 Shampoos. Except for some Massive bottles of Tressemme($3) & the small Suave 'Poos($1), I marked all the other 'Poos at $2 each. Sold almost all of those. All I have left is 1 bottle of Tressemme and some small Suave 'Poos.
**Febreeze Noticeables $4 This one puzzled me....but then again, I am not into the smelly house air stuff. I am glad others like this though.lol
**Cereal $1.50 ($1 or less) Almost a sell out.
**Froot Roll-ups & Gushers $1 These were from a Catalina Deal back in Feb. at the local store. After the OYNO Cats they cost me .25¢. If I would have stayed open another couple hours or another day, I'd have sold out of it. I just had massive quantities to sell.lol #2 son decided AFTER I bought them all that he didn't like this stuff anymore. Argh.
**Cat Treats .50¢ None sold at .75¢, so I dropped the price and 1 got rid of a full shopping bag full(still have 1 bagful left). All profit as these were free to me.
**A-1 Marinade $1
**Deodorants $1 Didn't sell out but sold a ton. A few I prices at $2(Dove, Degree finer scents or whatever it's called) and didn't sell a single one of those. But everyone was buying multiples of the $1 stuff. Most of the deos were free to me.
**Bandaids $2 This one surprised me. While I was setting up, I figured I would have to drop the price on these. But I never did and nearly sold out! The price was good and most of them cost me .50¢ so a good profitable item.
**Tylenol Arthritis $2 A great price for the customer but I still made $1.21 profit on each one.

What I couldn't GIVE AWAY!.....

**Glad Sense & Spray $3 The Noticeables sold well for $4. Not a single S&S sold at $1 less. Go figure.lolol
**Oust $2 I should have lowered this to $1.50 or even $1. It was all free so even $1 would have been pure profit. The Lysol DID sell. Oh well....
**Ecotrin $1 They bought the Tylenol for double the price but the Ecotrin didn't move.
**Bayer Crystals $1 Ditto.
**Men's Body Wash & Shampoo(Gillette & Pert) $2 All that Gillette B Wash & 'Poo I have....this failure brought a tear to my eye....lol And the Men's Pert? Not a single bottle. huh...
**Wacky Mac .75¢ I thought I'd sell a few since they are $1.79 here and we don't get good Qs for it regionally nor does it go on good sale. I wasn't going to reduce to .50¢ as I'd rather give it to the food bank than give it away at a yard sale.
**BBQ Sauce .50¢ I DID sell a few actually. I just think that with all the sales on it, everyone already had enough. Maybe if I have a garage sale in the dead of winter, I'd have a better shot at selling this.lolol
**Bayer Meters. I put a couple I have left out just on the off chance someone wandered in who needed a replacement meter. No such luck.lol

I'd recommend you keep your change ON you! Don't use a cash box. With the economy the way it is and so many more desperate people out there, having a box of money sitting there might prove too tempting for some people. If you use a cash box, velcro it to your hand. lol
I kept small bills in one pocket with some quarters. If someone paid me with a large bill, it went into the other pocket. When that one filled up or the wad of small bills got too large, I sent for hubby to come make a "Brinks Pick-Up".lol He kept that cash on him in the house until the sale was done. Don't leave your wad of money sitting out in your house....it just takes 1 minute of not being careful and some stranger in your garage could slip into your house and help themselves to your profits. It's a sad statement about the world we live in sometimes, but better safe than sorry.

While I enjoy going to Garage Sales, I am not very good at holding them. I am great at organizing and when I want I can be a very good saleswoman. I need a hand with the physical moving part(the heavy stuff)but where I fail bigtime is with the hagglers. I am a sucker.
Bigtime.
Sucker.
I don't push back on hagglers and I usually just cave-in and give them the stuff for cheap.
I was proud of myself yesterday because I did say No a few times on lowball offers. I have this need for everyone to like me so it's hard for me not to just "give the store away".
I struggle with being a hard-ass.
Unless you are a telemarketer.....then I am your worst nightmare.**snort**

So that's how it went.
The sad part(well if you ask my hubby)is that for everything I sold, you can't even tell from the size of the stockpile that is left!lolol
Barely.
Made.
A Dent.

Under orders from management(the hubby), if I bring another tube of toothpaste into this house-even if it's FREE!-I am to be shot at sunrise.
No trial.
No jury.
It's the firing squad for me automatically.

One woman asked if I had a store, or sold at a flea market. Another wanted to know where I got all this stuff(refering to the stockpile). I told her I used coupons, ALOT of coupons!lol
Some guy asked me when my NEXT SALE was going to be.
I almost blurted out, "Are you KIDDING ME?!?!" I held that in and said maybe next year.
I don't plan on making this a regular thing.
It's work.
I just want to float around the pool in July.

Sluggy