This & That Boring Stuff

* Since Sue L. asked.........My Taco Con Queso Casserole on my meal plan this week is simply a Velveeta boxes dinner(Sluggy hangs her head in shame that it wasn't a cooked from scratch meal but a 75% off boxed dinner from Ollies lolz)......noodles, cheesy spicy cheese sauce and chicken.  We didn't end up having it yet this week but when we do prepare it we will add veggies(corn, red bell peppers or green chiles, that sort of thing).  You can probably make something like this from scratch....just google it.
Mostly I see it served with or cooked with rice rather than pasta.

* About couponing since a couple folks asked.........
Digital coupons are those that attach to a loyalty card.  Most grocery stores have them so check with your store's website and/or app.  Weis(PMITA)Markets as well as Rite-Aid have digital Qs(known as Load2Card at R-A).  Other than checking with your store or checking out the the Coupons dotcom app on your smartphone I don't really have much more info on that whole arena.  If anyone reading is a digital coupon Goddess please give us from tips!

About coupon lingo and shorthand, go HERE for a pretty comprehensive list of coupon abreviations and explanations.  I'll add a couple Rite-Aid specific abbriviations--L2CQ(Load to Card coupon), WW refers to Wellness Wednesday(the first Wednesday of each month when one day Qs are available)so a WWQ is a Wellness Wednesday coupon.

* Friday and Saturday are 30% sale days at Rite-Aid.  You need a catalina or a coupon for it that printed out on your receipt in the last 10 days or so or if you are lucky, you store will have coupons available at the register or somewhere in the store(sales flyer kiosk, by the pharmacy, etc.)  Let me just say that having/getting/using a 30% coupon is a YMMV(Your Mileage May Vary)situation.  Some stores will be pretty aggressive with handing the Qs out, some stores will have a stack at the register or one taped to the register and automatically give you the 30% off(if the items is on sale for BOGO50% or at a sale price that is GREATER than a 30% off discount the 30% off won't apply).
Other stores........*whomp whomp*.....other stores don't give a rat's ass if you know about the Friends and Family sale, won't mention it, won't KNOW about the sale(depends on that store's management)and might even look at you suspiciously if you hand them a coupon for it.
If you didn't get the Q go on the Rite-Aid website and there should be a link somewhere there to either print it out or show at the register from you smartphone. 8-)

* Since Teddie asked........... My Korean BBQ from Sunday was using a bottled sauce for the marinade rather than making it from scratch.  Again, I got the sauce/marinade very cheap at a discount outlet.  It's called Bulgogi sauce and you can find recipes for many versions of the sauce online.
A tip that really helps is that you slice your beef(against the grain)when it's frozen so you can get it really, really thinly sliced.(Next time I'll also add pineapple juice to the marinade as it adds in breaking down the connective tissues in the meat....oh, I am so smart!lolz).
Anyway, proper Korean BBQ is cooked on charcoal grills but being February in Pennsyltucky I high heat cooked the beef in a cast iron pan to get the crispy bits on the meat like from grilling it.  Then stir-fried the broccoli with some of the marinade and dumped it all together with ramen noodles and called it dinner. ;-)

* The last few days of February have seemed to have taken weeks to finish.  Ok, so maybe it's because we cashed out a CD a few days ago and are waiting for it to fully process and set up a new, higher interest CD at a different financial institution.  It was heart stopping yesterday to go online and see the CD account was close with a ZERO balance but the monies hadn't showed up in the bank where it was suppose to go!!!  That's a whole boatload of cash to have suspended in the ether somewhere and freaked me out a bit.  Hopefully everything will get to where it needs to go and I can fund the new CD before we leave for down South the end of next week.

*  I am in full-on planning mode for this coming WW(see what I did there?)sale.  The WWL2CQs are now available online.  Load all the WWQs to your account(s)as they come off ALONG with the paper WWQs in the store that day.  There are suppose to be RMNQs in the inserts this Sunday(of course I don't get these here!)for Centrum and Enmergen-C that will pair with the double dipping R-AQs making these items a MM.
A Werther's candy Q just popped up on Coupons dotcom too which would make this an even bigger MM too. ;-)

Ok, that's enough outta me for today.
Time to go close the books on February here(except for the interest which doesn't come through until tomorrow).
Hope everyone out there is ready for March......because it's coming if you like it or not!  8-)))

Sluggy

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Rite-Aiding....But Were Afraid to Ask

 So you want to be a Rite-Aid Diva but you aren't sure about how to go about it.
I'm here to tell you that you CAN learn the Rite-Aid version of the DrugStore Game!
Now I know lots of you already know all this.  This post is for anyone who wanders over here who is just getting into couponing at the Drug Stores.


2010 was a great year to shop at Rite-Aid!
Why?
Because besides having a rebate program in place, they rolled out another chainwide program call Wellness Plus.
Between these 2 programs, it was kind of like Walgreen's back when they had Mail-in Rebates(MIRs) AND Register Rewards(RRs).

Plus 2010 was the year Rite-Aid released all kinds of $X off a $XXX purchase coupons.

And they started the AdPerks/Video Values Program which gave you either $X off $XX purchase coupons or coupons for specific items that you could stack with your Manufacturer's Coupons(ManuQ).




First let's cover some basics........like some Common Couponing Abbreviations.

Coupon Lingo
Q=coupon
IPQ=internet printed coupon 
ManQ or ManuQ or MQ=manufacturer's coupon 
CRT=Cash Register Tape=your store receipt
RA or R-A=Rite-Aid
MIR=Mail-In Rebate
SCR=Single Check Rebate
Wellness=Wellness Plus(or Wellness+) Program
+Ups=+Up Rewards
AdPerks/VV or AdPerks or VV or ValVid=AdPerks/Value Videos Program
AdPerkQ or VVQ=a coupon earned from the AdPerks/VV Program
WellnessQ=a coupon that either prints on your cash register tape(CRT) when you use your Wellness + Card OR a coupon Rite-Aid emails you if have joined Wellness + and link your Wellness + Card to an account on the Rite-Aid website.



Rite-Aid currently has available these Programs.....

*Single Check Rebate Program.
   Each month Rite-Aid has available a rebate catalog(both a paper on you can pick up in the store and one online at their website HERE).  Their are Rebates you can earn on certain products you purchase that month.  The items with rebates will be marked both on the shelves at the store and in the weekly sales flyer.  You purchase a rebate item and you have 2 options to apply for your rebate.....
1. You can mail your receipts in to Rite-Aid when the month is over.
OR
2. You can submit your purchase information online at the Rite-Aid website.


Personally, I prefer the online submission for 3 reasons.
1. It is faster and easier than waiting to mail in a submission.
2. It is cheaper since you don't have to buy envelopes or stamps.
3. If you purchase 2 or more items on the same receipt that qualify for a NON-Rite Aid MIR as well as a RA rebate you can submit for the RA rebate online and use your CRT for the other Non-Rite Aid MIR submission.

It's called a Single Check Rebate because you get one check back no matter how many rebates you apply for.  1 check instead of a stack of checks, one for each qualifying item.


SCR items can be either a cash refund, a gift card or a special promotional item.   It's not unusual for me to get a SCR check, a gift card and a promo item in the same month.  It all depends on what I decide to buy.

You can cash your SCR check at Rite-Aid or use it like cash to pay for purchases.
I take mine to the bank.

* Wellness +Up Rewards
   To get the rewards, you need to sign up for this Wellness Program.  It's free.  You give them your contact information and they give you your very own Wellness Card.  You have the cashier scan it every time you buy something at R-A.  It automatically gives you the discount prices on sale items in the store.  If you don't use your card, you won't get the sale prices.  Every week there are certain items in the sales flyer that generate +Up Rewards.  +Ups are coupons that are worth $ at R-A that are printed at the bottom of your receipt.  You cut them off your CRT and use them like cash to pay for more items you purchase.  Each +Up has an expiration however.  The weekly sale items +Ups are generally good for 2 weeks.  Items that are month long +Up deals generate +Ups that are good for 2 weeks beyond the expiration of the month long deal. (IE-Pilot Pens are a month long deal until Jan. 22nd.  They generate an +Up that is good until Feb. 2nd, which is 2 weeks after the monthly deal expires, no matter when during the month you buy the pens.)

*AdPerks/Video Values
   This is a program where you watch short videos online to earn coupons.  They can call them videos but what they really are are commercials.  You can access this site through the Rite-Aid website or directly HERE.  You will need to sign up for this in order to use it.


The coupons you earn watching these videos are Rite-Aid Qs and can be stacked with a ManuQ to lower the price on an item even more.  You sign up for an AdPerks/VV account on the R-A website.  Besides Qs for specific items, there are also Qs available for $X off your total purchase at R-A if you watch those particular commercials/videos.  Most(if not all at this point)of the AdPerk/VV Qs are serialized.  This means they have a barcode and a unique to that Q serial number on it.  Don't bother printing multiple of these Qs out as you will only be allowed to use it once.  On occasion an AdPerk/VV Q will NOT be serialized.  You can tell because the last numbers under the barcode will be the end date for that SCR period when the Q is earned. (IE-if the AdPerk/VV Q is available to watch for the Jan. SCR period and is NOT serialized the last numbers on it will be 1222011....Jan 22, 2011.)

AdPerk/VV Qs are generally valid for 2 months or 2 SCR periods. (IE-Qs earned/watched from Dec.26/2010 until Jan.22/2011 will have an expiration date of Feb.26/2011.  They can be used during the Jan. SCR period and the Feb. SCR period.)
But you must watch the Video during the month it's made available.  The videos disappear on the last day of the SCR period when they were released.  You don't need to print the Q until you need it....the Q will sit in your account until you need to print it.  But be sure and watch the video before it's taken down.


You can save additional money by utilizing any or all 3 of these Rite-Aid Programs.



Sluggy