Frugal Friday.....the February 9th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins this past week so here goes....

*  We had a visitor, again!

Mr./Mrs. Snowy Egret came back on 3 separate days this past week as "the river" still hasn't dried up.

We have dubbed him/her Evelyn(could be a boys' or girls' name)Egret.  Hubs saw him/her the third day as he was out in the yard but didn't get another photo of him/her.  Having something like this in your yard and being able to watch nature up close and personal is a frugal win in my book.

*  Hubs and I went to Applebee's on Wednesday and used two old gift cards to pay for lunch.  I got the All You Care To Eat Deal(with choices of Boneless Wings, Riblets and Crunchy Shrimp).  You could order/reorder any of the 3 entrées.  the meal came with Cole Slaw and French Fries.  I couldn't eat the bland Slaw as it had chopped up fresh Cilantro in it(soap gene victim here)and the FFs held no appeal to me though I ate a few while waiting for a new protein to be delivered to the table.  I had water to drink as I was tired of unsweetened iced tea and they only had Diet Pepsi.  So basically I had a protein loaded meal and water so that sufficed for my eating that day.
Hubs ordered a cheeseburger.  I ordered that once here and they incinerated the cow so I wasn't doing that again.  I have such bad luck at restaurants. lolz        

*  As for saving money last week at the grocery stores....

I did a small shop at Walmart on Monday.  These are the grocery/toiletry items I purchased that had rebates/coupons and were a good deal.  The travel size Irish Spring body washes were a $1.06 moneymaker after rebate,  the Gatsby chocolate bar was free after manufacturer's rebate, the KY item was a $1.53 moneymaker after rebate and digital coupon, the MegaRed was a $4.12 moneymaker after rebate and digital coupon, the Skinny Girl dressings were .38¢ each after rebate, the Bic razors were $2.47 after rebate and the Orowheat/Arnold's bread was $1.48 after Fetch Rewards.  I also hit my weekly bonus so got another $3 from Ibotta.

While I didn't do much at Walmart I hit a good protein clearance at Kroger this past week, plus got a freebie and cheap deals.....

This is just some of the haul from Kroger.  This Scott & Jon's seafood rice bowl dinner was marked down plus Shop Kick gave me 700 Kicks(almost $3)for buying it which made it less than $2 OOP.

Then we hit the protein jackpot.  Two marked down packages of Cod for $1.25 each.(marked down to $2.25 but were part of the Mega Sale I got another $1 off each one.)
A large bag of Pepperoni for $2.15(reduced and part of Mega Sale), a package of Lobster Cakes for $4.05, 2 boxes of  full sized StarKist Tuna pouches(each box contained 4 pouches)for $3.15 per box so .79¢ per pouch.
Not pictured are a reduced package of loose Italian sausage meat(which I combined with 2 reduced containers of sliced mushrooms at .89¢ each to make pasta sauce and served over penne pasta), a reduced pack pf 4 thin boneless pork chops and a large package of 6 reduced beef steaks.  Those have been used and/or repackaged into smaller meal portions.

A few other items on sale and that had Ibotta rebates--a bag of Siete potato chips(cooked in Avocado Oil), 4 canisters of Lay's Stax which after Mega Sale and $2 Shopmium Q were .49¢ per, a bottle of Kinder bbq sauce on Mega and Ibotta rebate made it $2.49, a free carton of 2% Milk after Ibotta rebate, 2 boxes of soft oat bars for .99¢ per box after Mega Sale and Ibotta rebate and a Tide pen for .99¢ after KCB and Ibotta rebates.

There were other items that were a good deal or I needed to stock Hubs on for breakfasts(cereal, English muffins, fresh berries, etc.)but these were the best deals.

Then we hit Aldi(my first time in this new one here)to scope it out and to buy mostly some specialty items(mostly cheeses which are cheaper here or only available here)and fresh produce which we were low on.  No photos but we spent $47.59 there.

*  While we were over near Aldi we hit Ollie's as I had a 15% your total purchase coupon to use.

Got a few food deals--2 containers of Cashews(one for snacking and one for cooking), 3 bottles of Marinade(Teriyaki and Lemon Pepper), a box of Grits, a box of Cheddar Biscuit mix, a jar of peanuts(for Hubs), 2 boxes of cereal(one for each of us)and 3x 2 packs of AirWick small spaces air fresheners.  Our master bath has a "potty closet" with no electrical outlets so instead of using my Air Wick Plug Ins I can set one of these on the window sill behind the toilet.  I also picked up a new zippered hoodie at a discount price, as I had to get rid of my 3 old ones as they are now huge on me....but that's not in the grocery budget. 8-)

*  I used a Zaxby's gift card when I was out shopping to get an Asian Zalad.  I also had recently signed up for their app/rewards program and was suppose to have a Reward of a Free Chicken Fingers Snack but it disappeared before the 2 weeks was up, so I contacted corporate and they put it back on my account.  Me thinks we'll be having Zaxby's chicken in the coming week. 8-))

*  I found Money!

I stopped in at Zaxby's for a "Zalad" on Tuesday(it was both my lunch and dinner).  I actually went into the store inside of the drive-thru.  As I stepped out of the car, I spied a penny in the parking lot(guess which one is that coin). 8-)

Inside the restaurant I found both a penny on the floor mat inside and a nickel tucked underneath the counter on the floor.

I found an abandoned cart in the parking lot at Aldi so got another quarter.

Hubs returned our cart and found another abandoned cart but he kept that quarter for himself.  It will be kept in his car to use at Aldi when we go there in that vehicle. ;-)

Total Found in last Week.... .32¢
Grand Total Found this Year.......$1.16

That's all I got.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy