Frugal Friday.....the November 23rd Edition

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Here's this week's look around Chez Sluggy to see what frugal wins we had this week.........


* I turned a fail into a win...

Dollar General had certain gift cards last week on special, including Taco Bell.
$5 off when you bought $25 worth and $10 off when you bought $50 worth.
I bought $100 worth but they didn't ring up $20 off.
With a little patience waiting for the manager to make this right(which he did by  handing me $20 cash)I got my deal.

I promptly took this $20 to the bank to put into our checking account, so I can apply it toward the credit card bill when it comes in next month.  Keeping it and spending it on something else would negate the "deal" I got.
I hope the 20% off select gift cards for BF at Dollar General actually work now.

* I found money!

I found a penny(no photo)this week but for the live of me I can't recall where I found it. ;-)
I also found a dime while waiting at the Burger King drive-thru.  I spied a dime next to the building so while we waited I unbuckled, got out of the car and picked it up. I may have done a small happy dance and waved that dime to the cars behind me before getting back into my car......8-))

Then on Thursday when I ran up to Rite-Aid after getting the turkey into the oven and the rolls were rising I went in to get some freebies and such.  I saw this change sitting in the parking lot behind my car.......

.21¢ came home with me too.  Even though this change was encrusted in rock sale it will still spend just as good as clean change. 8-))

.32¢ in one week.  8-)))

*  I turned another fail into a win........
Keebler crackers were $1.87 a box this past week at Weis.  I cashed in Kellogg's points to get 3 x $1/1 Keebler cracker Qs.(I paid .87¢ a box and then got 3 x .75¢ cash rebates on them at Ibotta so they were .12¢ a box in the end.)  The last link they sent me for the Qs didn't print so I contacted their chat CS.
They refunded 1 Qs worth of points so I could rebuy that Q and also sent me an email with recipes, tips and a link to a $1.25/1 Keebler/Kellogg's/Etc. item that I could print twice.

* I got lots of good food deals this past week..........

 Free items like butter, eggs, potatoes, pumkin and stuffing at Giant

Cheap foods, plus 2 lasagnas(1 free, 1 for .99¢), a cheap Butterball turkey, turkey breast and smoked ham shank.

* I got the Weis Friday Freebie last week.....

A photo of nothing because we ate it before I got around to taking a picture. lolz
It was a loaf of frozen garlic bread.

* I received a rebate in the mail this past week..............

The Alka Seltzer full price rebate on the new Power Max capsules or something like that.
This was even better because the rebate was on the price you paid(after using a coupon)but my cashier had forgotten to put my Q through before she hit the total button on my transaction, so I paid $7.99(instead of $4.99 with the Q)and then she did a "post coupon" and gave me $3 in cash for the Q she forgot.  This meant my receipt showed I paid $7.99 instead of $4.99 so my actual rebate received was better than FREE! woohoo

* My eldest son and his GF came here for a visit for a couple of days last weekend........

We took them to a craft brewery in town nearby but we didn't eat there(other than a few pretzels).  I cooked a nice meal afterwards at home.  We hit up Giant in that town since we were there and found 2 of the freebies too.

So what frugal wins did you have this week?

Sluggy

The Weekend...Good, Bad & Ugly

I went out on Thursday looking for those Wendy's gift cards other Dollar Generals in my area.  Found them at one, took a handful up to the register and the cashier couldn't get them to activate. ???
I hit the Bread Outlet while I was out and then grabbed a burger at BK on a gift card and headed home.

On Saturday it was a cold but sunny day so Hubs and I decided to head South of here to use a gift card I won at the Church auction last Fall for a local diner.
Diners in PA are most usually owned/run by Greek descent folks.  The menus are vast, the prices are good and the food in plentiful.
This is one we like Walnut Bottom Diner in Carlisle PA and this one, The American Star Diner in North Wales PA.  Both Greek American run.
Diners offer great deals and food except if you go to a diner it seems in the town we refer here to "Little Havana".  This isn't a negative reference,  It's just that after 9/11 Hispanic NYC dwellers moved here in record numbers to this little PA town.  It's now populated 50% at least by those folks.  You are more likely to see store signs in Spanish than English there or bilingual signage.

Anyway, this diner, both clientele and staff are Hispanic from what I could tell.  The menu was vast, the food plentiful but the prices were a bit higher(probably because being NYC refugees they are use to paying/charging higher prices anyway).
But the food.....sigh.....the food was not what we were expecting.  Not as good and some menu Greek staples which we tried were NOT authentically Greek.  Instead of real Greek olives on Hubs Greek Salad they were canned black olives, like you'd get on a pizza.
Ack!

So at least we didn't pay full price for the meal as the gift card cost me at the auction less than face value and we paid an additional $9 and change for the check.
Oh well.....you live and learn and remember not to go back there again.

On the way down to this diner we stopped at a Dollar General along the way to check for Wendy's gift cards and they had them.
Another attempt to purchase a stack and this cashier also could not get them to validate. ???  This store I had also tried to buy different discounted gift cards at back last Fall before Christmas and at that time the cashier also couldn't get those gift cards to scan.

So we stopped at another Dollar General right near our diner destination and I tired again to purchase the Wendy's gift cards.

Success!!!!!!
Why on earth do they scan correctly at one Dollar General out of the three I tired to buy these gift cards at?
I think it has something to do with the cashiers not knowing how to ring them up or not.
I now know where to avoid getting gift cards from.
This would have been so much easier if my town's DG carried the Wendy's one.

We've gotten a couple of warm days this past week.  Yesterday it hit the mid 60'sF here.
Here is what is left of our snow pack........

 Mostly the backyard is clear but the deck is still covered.

The front yard gets full sun most of the day so we just have some mid-sized piles left.

I cleared my bookshelf area, filed papers away, reorganized my gift card box and list yesterday.
Hubs finished and filed the taxes electronically yesterday.
We had to do FOUR tax filings for 2016....Federal, PA state, LA state and the local PA taxes.

We got a moderate refund on the Federal(which was our money we were FORCED to loan to the government for 12 months interest free!), we owed $2 on the local PA taxes and then we got pounded in the ass on the PA and the LA state taxes!!

Since the house we own and rented out is in Louisiana we have to declare this income in LA.
We also had to declare this income on our PA taxes for some reason with the caveat that we would get a "credit" to offset the LA income on our PA form.

Well that "credit" only amounted to half of what we paid to LA so basically we got DOUBLE TAXED on half the LA income in PA too!
Taxation is theft and doubly so if you pay it twice!!!

It's no wonder people LIE all the time about their income to the government and I don't blame them.
I am so tired of being made to pay for shit I shouldn't have to and supporting irresponsible people's financial irresponsibility.  And then you get made to feel guilty if you don't want to let the government pick your pocket constantly.

*Putting Libertarian Soapbox away now*

So I am off to make "Sunday gravy" and cook meatballs for Hubs' dinner and mellow myself out.

What are you up to today?

Sluggy
"Taxation is theft"

My Wednesday out Shopping

I did a small grocery shop yesterday at Weis.

2 x Balance bars on sale=$2.
I used my last $1.50/2 Qs gotten from Rite-Aid so .25¢ each.

2 x Sea Best Haddock BOGO sale=$8.99 for 2 lbs. so 4.50 per lb after sale.

I also picked up 6 packages of fresh breaded chicken cutlets.
They were on sale for BOGO(reg. price $4 per package, so $2 per package)=$12.00
I paired these with 2 x $1.50/3 IPQ Perdue fresh breaded chicken items so $12.00-$3=$9.00 for all or $1.50 per package.

These keep for a long time in the fridge or throw them in the freezer to keep them for a year or so.
I like to have these on hand for various meals......chicken parm, chicken piccata, chicken w/fettucine alfredo, chicken marsala or even chicken sandwiches.  They are an easy shortcut to those meals when I don't feel like making a meal from scratch or someone else here has to do the cooking or someone wants a quick snack.

A 1/2 lb. of lunchmeat for Daughter's lunch rounded out this small shop and brought my total to $20.99.

I saved 55% over regular retail on the items and put the total on my Weis gift card bought last Fall so no OOP this year.
I have $45.01 left on that gift card.

I also made a stop at Dollar General.  4 specific food gift cards are 15% off purchase price this week there.

They only had the Domino's Subway and Taco Bell ones at this location, but no Wendy's.
I picked up $105 worth of gift cards for $89.25.  A savings of $15.75 on food we will be purchasing anyway so why not?
I might go out to a different Dollar General before Saturday evening when this sale ad ends to find the Wendy's gift card too as that brand rarely goes on sale around here.

Have you found any good deals this week?

Sluggy

Deals I Did This Past Week

Here are a few of the best grocery deals I purchased this past week or so(besides moneymakers at Rite-Aid)......

3 x Soup on sale .77¢ each=$2.31
I had a $1.20/3 ManuQ, making them $1.11 total or .37¢ a can.

3 x Facial Tissue on sale .88¢ each=$2.64
I had a $1/3 IPQ, making them $1.64 or .55¢ a box.

9 x Spaghetti Sauce on clearance for $1 per jar.
Total OOP for these was $9.00 as I had no coupons for it.
I just happened to spy these two varieties at the store were being discontinued.

4 x Butter on sale $3 each=$12.00
I had 4 x .50¢/1 Land O' Lakes half sticks variety IPQ(which doubled to $1 off), making them $2.00 each or $8.00 for all 4.
The cheapest that butter had gotten this Season is $2.37 a lb. and that was 1 store for 1 week, weeks ago.
Using these coupons helped me get butter for $2 a lb.  The best price I can find around here.
Oops! Spoke too soon...Price Chopper had store brand for $1.88 until Saturday.


I also did a "Mix & Match 6/Get $3 Off" Dealat Weis.....

2 x Chicken Broth on sale $1.99 each=$3.98
4 x Chili on sale $1.49 each=$5.96
Subtotal......$9.94
I had 2 x .50¢/1 IPQ(which doubled to $1)for the Broth plus another .50¢ Weis mailed Q(this doesn't double).
I had 2 x .55¢/2 IPQ(which doubled up to $1)for the Chili.

Total now became $5.44 after Qs and then another $3 off for doing the Deal, so $2.44 OOP for all 6 items or .41¢ per item.

I wish I had printed off more of these broth coupons while they were still available on coupons dotcom and then I could have gotten 4 broths and 2 chils and paid the same $2.44 OOP.  I'd rather have more of the broth than the chili but either way this works for us.

I also picked up 2 dozen eggs as they were .67¢ dzn.

But the best "score" I made this past week was this one......

Weis(PMITA)Markets had Fiora TP and Paper Towels half price on their last Fabulous Friday one day sale.
Reg. price of $6.99 so these were $3.49 each on sale.

I found Fiora IPQs on their Facebook page(.50¢/1 package, which doubled to $1 at Weis), so after coupons I paid $2.50 per package.
Then I jumped on Ibotta and claimed 2 x $1 cash rebates for each of these, making my OOP $1.50 for each.
8-)))

Besides the grocery stuff I also went up to my local Dollar General to do the Gift Card Deal that blogger American Dreamer clued me into.

I wanted to get Burger King gift cards but my store doesn't carry those but they did have a Taco Bell ones that qualify for the $10 off wyb2.
I chose to make them worth $15 each so $30 of gift cards cost me $20 or 33% off.
College Boy loves him some Taco Bell so don't tell him these are going into his Christmas gift pile. ;-)
If Hubs and I go out this weekend and we pass any DGs I'll stop and see if I can locate the BK gift cards too.

I hope you've found some good deals when out shopping in your part of the world.
Feel free to brag about your scores in the comments.

Sluggy