Frugal Friday...the August 15th Edition

 Not much frugal going on here.

*  We went to Aldi and I found these Lo Mein meals marked down to $2.00 each..........

I should have filled the freezer at that price!

*  We hit up Ocean State Job Lot after my orthopedic appt.  

Some of this was from their "Eat for free" table.  I got the cost of those items back in a gift card and I used a gift card to pay for the items that weren't on the "Eat for free" table. 8-)

*  I found money!   2 Pennies at Dollar General.

                        

 At the beer Store Hubs told the owner/cashier I collect Change I find so he dumped the change jar into Hubs hand.

Let folks know and they hand over the change. lol

That's 36¢.

I found .27¢ at the self-checkouts at Walmart.

Then I found 2 quarters at Aldi.

Found Money The Past Week.... $1.25

Grand Total Found in 2025....$5.26 

That's all I got.

What frugal things did you do this past week?

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the May 17th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins over the past week.

*  Had my first "real" PT session(which costs me no copay).  She worked me over good. lol  I hope this helps my shoulders but after last night's sleep, I am not optimistic. 8-(

*  Went to Aldi last Friday and bought some sauces, hummus, frozen veggies, carrots, spaetzle for Hubs(way over priced I might add), a bag of General Tso Chicken, pickles for me and found a large pack of BSCB for 50% off.

Then we hit the tiny Kroger near there and bought this.......

The cereals are bound for the food bank(and not counted in my food budget).  The sauces and mustard are part of the Mega Sale(buy 5 to get the discounted price)and the Veggie Craft Pasta were a deal(on sale $3.29 with $1.50 each in KCB and $1.50 back from Ibotta so .29¢ each in the end).  I had a FREE Kroger buns coupon and tried to use that but got charged $1.99 for them.

So after PT on Tuesday we were near the old and dirty Kroger so I took them back and got $1.99+tax back for them.

Then I bought 3 discounted individual salads, a carton of milk(that had an Ibotta rebate),  some marked down thin steak for steak sandwiches and these sauces(4 from the clearance bins).......

Here are the backs of them...........

The Kinder Teriyaki were on Mega Sale for $1.99 each, the other Kinder Sauce(the burger sauce)was marked down to $1.49 and also part of the Mega Sale so another $1 came off making it .49¢ and the 3 Bachan Japanese BBQ sauces were marked down to $3.82 and another $1 came off each, making them $2.82 each.  These 3 sauces also had Ibotta rebates of $1.50 each so in the end those cost $1.32 each.  Not bad when you know those cost $8.99 reg. retail at Kroger(and $7.99 at Walmart)!

I also picked up another round of RockStar drinks.......

I had a Kroger digital Q for Buy a Rock Star and get a Rock Star Focus free plus these were on sale for $2 each, so both cost me $2.00 OOP.  I submitted to Aisle for a $5 rebate making this a $3 moneymaker.  Plus these are going to the food bank as I don't drink energy drinks.

If you want to get in on this Aisle Rock Star deal which runs all year(you can do it every other week)please use my link......

discover.gotoaisle.com/referral/kq98hepHXk

That way I get to do this deal twice every other week and then you can refer someone else to do the deal after you do it.  If you shop at Walmart Rock Stars cost $1.88 each and at Dollar Tree they are $1.25(they are smaller cans though)each so either way they are moneymakers and if Kroger is running a special they are moneymakers there too.  Please and thank you. 8-)

So while in Kroger I tried unclipping that FREE BUNS offer and then reclipping it to see if that would kick it in the butt and make it work but nope.  That coupon is a dude it seems.(I have the same issue with Kroger's Cesar dog food Qs-they never come off.)

*  I hit up Walmart for this on Wednesday after my car got fixed, as I was already near there.....

I had a $10 Ibotta rebate and a $10 Shopmium digital coupon so it was a $2.02 moneymaker.  I also found some marked down bags of produce, a pack of bacon and a pack of sausages as well as a marked down individual salad.

*  I noticed that none of my KCB offers I did have been applied to my account(since the beginning of April!)so I called to get clarification on a few things.

It's difficult to keep track of KCB since as soon as you use/apply an offer and purchase the item, the offer disappears from your available account and it doesn't show anywhere as pending.  Going forward I'll track what offers I use and when so I can contact CS if they don't show up after 1 week.

The person I spoke to put a courtesy $10 on my Kroger card the first time I called about this issue  but I'll be darned if I won't be calling back on Friday(which will be a week since purchase)to get the $6 in KCB for those crackers bought last Friday. ;-)  I now have a spreadsheet for KCB offers, when I purchase those items and what date and how much I am owed back.

Beginning of the week I called about the $6 in crackers and they put $15 store credit on my account, then I called again on Thursday after $5 for an item purchased 9 days previous I was owed.  I asked that they please fix this or I'd be called every time an offer didn't work and I really didn't want to be having to do this so this CS person took more info and is escalating the issue upstairs(and didn't offer me store credit, which is fine, I just want this KCB to work properly and to get what I am owed!)  I hope I get a callback since tomorrow I will have to call yet again inquiring about $4 in KCB that was never applied to my account. lol

*  We have been using food here and eating all the leftovers.  No eating out so far this week.

*  Had my "medical safari" to the Dermatologist in MS on Monday.   I already showed the tiny bag of lotions she gave me for free.......

*  I found money!

I found a penny when we stopped at a Love's for gas and I went in to get a soda.  Found that penny on the floor at the register.

I found this penny at the Kroger the next day walking by a register and it was laying on the floor.

                                       

I went to Walmart on Wednesday for a freebie and to finish my Midweek Bonus(a whole dollar)and saw something peeking out from under a drink cooler next to my self-checkout.  So I used a paperclip to edge it out and voila! I got a nickel!

Total Found last week.... .07¢ 

Grand Total Found this Year.......$4.48 & 5.30 Euros

That's all I got.  

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

Sluggy     

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   

Frugal Friday.....the January 12th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins these past couple of weeks so here goes....

*  Had the first doctor appointment on Medicare with my Medigap policy this past week.  I was all prepared to have to fork over a co-pay but asked the receptionist before I left and she said, "Nope, you don't have a co-pay."  Sweet!

*  Grocery shopping this past week for 2024....I already posted my Monday haul at Walmart.  

I'll say we were a little 'shop happy' this first full week of January--picking up all the deep discounted Christmas stuff and replenishing our pantry.  My weekly grocery total will be large on Monday's post. 8-(

Here are some additional items I bought at Kroger last Friday......

Splenda was BOGO and had a $2.50 Ibotta on each box so $4.99 for both. (I wish that insert coupon had come out BEFORE I did this deal as it would have been even less $$!)

The chocolate(and butterscotch)chips were in a shopping cart at the front of the store and were all marked $1.00 a bag!  I showed remarkable restraint by only bringing 4 bags home. 8-)

There was also shopping at Home Goods last week....

We have been in need of a TP holder in the Master Bath since moving here.  As my right shoulder has issues(and has for over a decade now)having the tp roll in use on the toilet tank lid behind the seat was getting to me so we sprang the $14.99 on this holder of Home Goods.

Found this 2 pack of dish drying mats also at Home Goods on clearance.  We needed this so it came home with us.  Hubs also picked up some clearance jams there for his morning toast.

*  And the best shopping news....seems our town finally got an Aldi!  Shreeeee!  Seems it's near the Ollie's on the other side of town and it opened the end of November and my daughter never told me!! tsk tsk  There will be shopping there in my future........8-)

Then we went nearby and hit up World Market for some Christmas clearance.  At 60% off I got that rainbow Xmas tree, 2 holiday packs of assorted peppercorns(this was cheaper than one of their regular bag sof peppercorns!), a package of Pistachio Nougat candy(from Italy), 2 containers of tea(3 London icon containers and a big tin commemorating Queen Elizabeth 2).  I also found these dark chocolate bars filled with creamy Guinness ganache(love me some Guinness!).

We also hit a Walmart on that side of town and found some nice clearance finds at 90% off!  I can't show you more than this photo since some of it is destined for Christmas gifties for family and friends for this coming Xmas. ;-)

* We hit the Bread Outlet this week while we were over there.  We were down to 2 slices of bread in the freezer so we brought 4 packs of bread items and resisted all the cakes, pies and donut type items they have. rah.  I'd much rather spend $1.60 per loaf than $4.49 per loaf which is the regular price for these items at Kroger.  I just wish they were an outlet for Arnold's bread items instead. oh well......

I hit up a discount grocery store on Thursday and scored a few markdowns--a can of tomato sauce for .50¢, a bottle of Kraft dressing and a bag of Cole Slaw mix(not pictured) both for $1.25 and 2 bags of doggy treats, each at $1.25(Great deal on the doggy treats as those go for lots more at SRP.  They had 5 shopping carts of marked downs but we didn't need any more Cheerios or Oatmeal packs and the rest were really smushed up canned goods or Holiday candies.

*  I had Hubs use my Kroger points to bring filling his car's gas tank up down by $1.00 per gallon.

*  I received this in the mail......

A new Ollie's discount card to use before Feb. 19th.  I'll be starting a list to use that before it expires.

*  I also received a refund from the office of that horrible dermatologist I saw back in August.  I don't recall if I explained that dreadful situation but the front office insisted I had a $50 copay before this dermatologist would see me, even though I did NOT have a co-pay with my then insurance.  I figured I'd not see this refund check until well after the first quarter of 2024, even after calling and explaining and then sending a letter with documentation to their billing department in December.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw that check arrive!

Now we get to jump through hoops on our end to get that refund put back into our HSA account which is still in a bank in PA. ugh.

I found Money!

On that moneymaker Walmart trip on Monday evening I found these 3 pennies as I was leaving the store, strewn past the checkout registers between them and the customer service desk.

The next day Hubs and I hit a different Walmart to check if they had any Christmas clearance left and to pick up one freebie.  I spied this Quarter as we approached the self-checkout machines.

* I also, at another store, spied a penny at a different self-checkout register but someone walked up to it before I could hobble over there and get it.  I told the gentleman about the bounty that lay under his machine so he could grab it before leaving his register.  Because I am nice like that sometimes. 8-)

Total Found in last Week.... .28¢
Grand Total Found this Year........28¢

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy   

Frugal Friday....the January 14th Edition

So here are a few of the frugal-ish things that happened here this past week.......

*   No food waste so far. ;-)  Not much cooking either and eating leftovers happened as always.

*  I did a couple Rite-Aid transactions this week.......

Purposely spending down the Bonus Cash and converting what I can through Ibotta back into cash monies. 

*  I had 3 post coupons at Rite-Aid early in the week.........

1 x $2

2 x $1

Total of $4 in my Post Q/Refund envelope for 2022.

*  I made some returns at Rite-Aid too later in the week.......

$1.79(though the cashier gave me $1.80).  She botched the transaction right before and charged me for 3 of an item instead of two so she owed me this back.

$4.99 for a bottle of mouthwash(same cashier gave me $5.00 instead)  I'm thinking she doesn't like dealing with coinage. lol

And I returned a deodorant Thursday night and got a refund of $5.71.  I also returned two candy bars but those gave me BC back on my card.  Sometimes I get BC back and sometimes cash.....I never can figure out which. lol

*  I stayed home 4 of the last 7 days so I didn't spend anything then. Went out to R-A(of course), Walmart and Aldi when I did go out.  R-A to spend BC, Walmart to do Ibotta rebates and use gift cards and Aldi for eggs and bread as they are the lowest price in town on those.

*   I found money!

All 3 of these pennies under the candy racks by the register.

I went to Aldi on Thursday and saw scads of shopping carts un-corralled so I corralled 2 of them and got .50¢.

Then when I was leaving I handed over my cart to a lady and she shoved a coin in my hand.  I didn't bother to look at it and put it in my coat pocket.  Later I took a look at it and it wasn't a quarter but a $1 Coin!  That made my Aldi trip a $1.25 one. lol

Went to my R-A Thursday night to return something and found a nickel right when I walked into the store and a grody penny on the floor near the register.

Total Found in last Week...... $1.34
Total Found This Year......$1.70

January is looking GREAT for found money! 8-)))

That's about all I've got for this week.

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

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the May 7th Edition on May 10th

 I am still trying to get up to speed and back to blogging after my fun week away so here is the FF post for last Friday, enjoy!

While Vacations aren't necessarily frugal we had a couple of wins the past week......

* We stopped at Aldi on the way to the beach house and Kim's Sissie used $50 in Aldi gift cards(some unknown person had gifted her lol)to stock up on some food provisions for the stay at said beach house.  I think I made up the difference since we went WILD and the bill was a tad more than the gift cards.

*  During out round robin of shopping we made it to the Vera Bradley outlet on Sunday and neither Kim or Sissie would let me pay for my purchases there, gifting me with belated Xmas presents.  Then Sissie paid for a top I wanted to buy at Talbot's.  They were both very good to me and I sure did appreciate it!
And yes, your girl is no longer a Talbot's virgin.  I even have my very own Talbot's reward card now....lolz......

*  We had free use of an awesome beach house because Sissie "knows a guy".  Of course, I had a mishap with a plunger and ended up having to replace it but it's a story we will treasure. lol  Free beach house vacation versus the cost of a plunger?  I'll take that deal any day!

* Once we got back to Sissie's house we hit Mickey D's twice a day for Diet Cokes for "you know who".  On Tuesday it was free McFlurry Day if you have their app so I paid for "you know who's" Diet Coke on my mobile app but I got a free McFlurry for my efforts......

I sure needed it after being drug through a third outlet mall as well as all the little gift shops down the shore with only 1 day off from shopping. lolz

* On the way down for the vacation I stopped in lower PA and filled my car with cheaper gas.  Cheaper gas, especially lately is better than a poke in the eye with a stick, right? ;-)

* I found money!

Upon arriving at Sissie's house there was a small container of chocolate on my bed with this on top of it....

Technically it was Thursday night but too late to go onto last week's Frugal Friday.  When Kim found out what Sissie had done(giving me a head start on the Great Change Hunt)she threw down the gauntlet and the game was on!

But then when we stopped at Aldi before getting to the beach house I noticed that one of the carts chains(right in the middle of the line of carts)was hanging down and not inserted into the cart in front of it.  This meant there was a quarter to be had so while Kim marched ahead of the three of us looking for change on the floor I went over to the line of carts, plugged the thingamibob to eject the abandoned quarter and took it.

When Sissie told Kim I was now up by .50¢ she got madder than a wet hen! ;-)

On Tuesday when leaving that particular outlet mall I went into the Bath and Body Works store while Sissie had a rest on the veranda and Kim when into the Ann Taylor store.

Found a dime in there by the register area.

Then while getting out of Sissie's car when Kim drove us to Home Goods I spied this on the floor......

A nice forlorn shiny penny.  He came home with me too. 8-)))

Total Money Found This Week..... .61¢

Total Money Found This Year.....$3.39

That's all I gots for the week.

I hope everyone had a frugal week last week.

Sluggy