Frugal Friday....The July 14th Edition on Saturday

Here are things I did to be frugal this past week.........

*  My car needed an oil change so Hubs took it up to a local auto center that provides this service.
I remembered I had $50 in gift cards(won at the church auction last Fall)for this auto place so the oil change/etc. only cost $11 OOP.  My car takes expen$ive oil so it's never cheap anyway.

*  We stayed close to home and no mindless shopping.  We did get take-out for lunch one day(Whoppers!)but I used coupons and a gift card to pay.

*  Like the proper Viking descendant I am, I pillaged Rite-Aid this week......

Just some of my loot.  There were two more transactions but I've already blogged about all this.
Same with my Weis(PMITA)Deals.......

*  I submitted for a .50¢ cash rebate this past week from Checkout51 too.  Go me. lolz

*  We broke down and bought an EZ-Pass transponder this week too.  I detest the corruption that is PA politics and getting caught in their bureaucratic net even deeper than I already am, but having EZ-Pass will save us both on this road trip(a bit) and on down the line(a lot) on toll fees.  Many states in the country from IL and east of there accept it and your tolls are substantially less(to half price)what you are required to pay the old fashioned way with a paper ticket and cash.  While it won't help us once we get out West on this trip, it will save us loads of money in the future going to see my brother in VA, going down to Ocean City MD, going to ME and going to see cousin Sonya Ann in IL.
At least we'll have no more of Illinois Toll Hell. Ever. Again!

*  I got an email from Checkout51 this week.  Seems I won a prize in some sweepstakes they were holding......

I won $50!!!   I got entered just by submitting a receipt during a certain time frame and got randomly picked to win a prize.  This was so random and out of the blue but hey!, I'll take it!!! lolz

This goes to show those little money wins/rebates I submit for(.50¢ here/$1 there)actually pay off.....sometimes in ways you don't expect.  ;-)

I hope you had some frugal wins this week too.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday on Saturday

Here's some of the stuff I did that was Frugal this past week--

* I got a free toothbrush and toothpaste at Rite-Aid by combining sales/coupons/Plenti Points.

* We've been eating Leftovers/Planned Overs the last 3 days(and will continue to eat them over the weekend too)instead of cooking new food and throwing the old stuff out.

* I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets for their "Fabulous Friday" 1 Day Sale Deals this week.  Daughter has been fighting a cold/the crud so I picked up a whole chicken on sale for .85¢ lb. and using various other food ingredients I have already I made a big pot of chicken soup.  I also dug through my OTC/HBA tubs and found her Mucinex, Vitamin C and Zinc cough drops to help her fight this thing off.

* I also found 2 cheap Holiday/Christmas food idea solutions at the "Fab Friday" Sale.
1--We like to have chips and onion dip during the Holidays but I like to cut the sour cream with Greek yogurt(cuts fat and saves calories)but Greek yogurt can be more expensive than sour cream often times here.  Weis has their brand single serve Greek yogurt cups 1/2 off on Friday(.50¢ ea.)and they carry a plain non-flavored one.  There is a $1/10 Greek Weis yogurt cups Q in the Weis Q Book so I bought 10 single cups(1/2 price for $5)and used that Q making the cost $4 for 5.3 oz. cups X 10.  A quart container of plain Greek yogurt runs at least $5.49 here so I saved a bit of coin during this.

2--The bigger win were the 2 whole Eye of Round Roasts I bought.  Hubs likes to have Beef for Christmas and we usually end up buying a Prime Rib Roast for $8 or so a lb.($50-$60 total)to prepare for dinner.  With 2 more to feed this year(7 total)I can't see spending even more for 1 hunk of meat.
The eye round roasts were $2.50 lb!

I got an 8+ lb. roast for $20.40 after discounts.......

This cut is not as fatty as what I usually serve(plus it has no bone)but I am sure I can marinate and roast this baby up to be a tasty Christmas dinner.
This means I'll get the free turkey for Thanksgiving instead of the ham for Xmas at Weis with my points.

I also picked up a second slightly smaller roast to put into the freezer for another time.

* While at Weis I also got this......

There was a mostly drank abandoned Powerade sitting on the curb where I parked my car.  So when it was still there when I left the store to get back into my car, I plucked the cap off and took it home.
Why you may ask?
Because it's worth 3 points in my Coke Rewards Account! lolz  I did put it into a tissue and washed it at home before handling it to reap the code.  ;-)
I have been compiling points all year in wait for the Holiday sale on free 12 packs of Coke products.

* While at Rite-Aid I also bought a bag of Halloween candy for 50%.  This is going into a loved one's Christmas present.  Why pay full price for Christmas decorated bags when you can get it for 50% because it's Halloween decorated?  The candy inside is still the same taste/quality.

* Hubs mentioned that we were running low on wash cloths lately.  So I went to Kmart and bought a pack of 8 cloths on sale for $2.99.......

But no, these didn't cost me anything because I used part of an old gift card I had gotten for transferring prescriptions a couple of years ago.  Need met and no money spent out of pocket.


Now I am off to continue with the cleaning tear I seem to be on today.  I've already cleaned 3 floors, cleaned out my painting tubs, washed 2 walls, cleared off my desk and moved some things out of the living room to a new storage place.
I'd better get back to it before I collapse......

What are y'all up to today?

Sluggy

Frugality These Days at Chez Sluggy

I haven't talked about frugality lately, that is, if you don't count my meal planning/menu posts on Monday.

So what kinds of frugal things has Sluggy been up to?

Not much really.
Other than working the grocery stores to spend as little as possible, meal planning and incorporating leftovers into the menu, I've not done much.

I haven't been actively trying to make more money but then again, I haven't been out spending unnecessarily either.

No Rite-Aid trips except for medications.
Oh, there was an issue earlier in the week when College Boy picked up his meds.....they overcharged him because they didn't put the Rx through on our prescription plan.
So I called and asked WTF?!? and got the difference refunded.
Yay me.

Daughter used a discounted gift card I already had to get a pair of pants for work at no cost to her.
Ok so this didn't actually save me anything but it did her.

We haven't eaten any meals out since last Saturday so no Eating Out spending for a solid week.
Daughter and BF went out to eat Saturday night rather than eat leftovers but Hubs and I stayed home and ate what was here.
Rah.

Speaking of eating out.......College Boy's friend cleans the local BK at night so he gets freebies there sometimes.  He gave CB some of those new Mac & Cheetos things the other night......

If you haven't heard about this new "food"(using that term loosely)it's mac and cheese nuggets shaped into Cheetos shapes and then covered in Cheetos dust/crumbs/whatever.

They look like turds warmed over and the nibble I took told me they are not something I'd spend my good money on.

Ok, maybe if you are drunk or stoned out of your mind you'd enjoy these but keep your eyes closed while eating them. lolz
I fed the 3/4 of the one I tried to Daughter's dog and she gobbled it up and hasn't died yet.
I just wonder how many named chemicals are in those things? bleh.

I've stayed home all week except to hit the grocery store.
I've spent time moving crap around, putting other crap into boxes to take to donate, vacuuming, paying bills and figuring out how to arrange and then moving furniture in the house.
And getting Daughter to move her and BF's stuff so it's not strewn all over the house.

Remember the Salvation Army truck that didn't pick up my stuff?
Well, I took photos of all the stuff and posted it all for FREE on my town's tag sale FB page on Friday afternoon and as of 5 pm Saturday it's all gone!!

I must have had 50 people wanting various things.
Even after I posted it was all taken I had people posting wanting things.

I guess giving stuff away is really anti-frugal but this frees up space in the house so well worth getting rid of it all.
Once we get the daybed, other exercise bike and the dreadmill moved I will feel a whole lot less anxious about things in the house.


I did go out early in the week....or was it last week, I can't remember.....and bought myself these.......

Purple pint canning jars!
I have lusted after these since they came out but couldn't see myself spending a premium because the jars were purple.
So I waited and bided(bode?) my time.
Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)had them cheap plus I had a 15% my order coupon so I picked up 2 packages(12 jars)for just over .50¢ after tax.
Much better than the $18.49 for 6 they are going for currently on Amazon.
Humph.

That's about all from Chez Sluggy.
What's going on at your house?

Sluggy

What I Did That was Frugal Last Week--Addendum

And here is something I forgot to list as a frugal accomplishment last week.

On Monday afternoon, the evening of which we were going to K-Mart to pick up our almost half price recliners, I saw a FREE PHOTOS Coupon Code for Walgreens that was only valid that day on their website.

I quick went online to the Walgreens site, uploaded a digital photo and put in the coupon code and voila!.....I got 25 free 4x6 photos.
Picked them up before we went to K-Mart that evening as there's a Wags less than a mile away from the Big K....so can I count combining 2 errands into one trip too as a frugal accomplishment? lolz

And now I have lovely photos to enclose in most of the Christmas cards I am sending out.

But while I was walking through Wags to get to the Photo counter I saw a display of DUCK DYNASTY items.
Uh oh......
How I ever lived without a DD Garden Gnome to this point in my life is beyond me!
At least I wasn't tempted by an Uncle Si Chia Pet....

Sluggy

I'm an Island of Frugal in a Spendthrift Family

I swear, every time I turn around, I just can't win.
I try to be frugal.
Sometimes to the point of being ridiculously frugal....or so my family tells me.

But they sure don't help me want to loosen up on the frugality measures, when every time I turn around, they are being spendthrifts.
Or just not doing what I ask them....to carry out the small frugal measures I ask of them.

Like Hubs for instance.
He was going to Lowe's this morning for gardening supplies.....manure, seeds, plants, etc.
I had a $10 off $50 purchase card which expires today.
I gave him my list and the card with instructions to spend enough to use the discount.
Pretty simple, right?

So he comes back with most of the things on my list and hands me the receipt.
He spent $43.49 BEFORE tax....$46.10 after sales tax.
So he spent just under enough to get a $10 discount.

What part of spend OVER $50 and use the $10 discount did he NOT understand???!!!
So he gave up $10 in FREE gardening supplies.......
Unreal.

He is looking at me like, "Hey!...It's no big deal."
And he walks away....

I on the other hand just want to SCREAM & SMACK HIM!

This is what he does.....he throws away money.
He throws shit out that's perfectly useful and buys new.
He doesn't take advantage of deals and discounts.
It's "not HIS way" he says.....
He feels that since he makes a good income, he can afford to waste money.
This is the guy who was writing checks for cups of coffee while in college....lol
And the kids know how he is, so they never ask me for things.  They go to him because he will buy stuff he knows I wouldn't approve of and he will just buy at full retail too! argh

I keep telling him when his income goes away and we retire, he won't have the luxury of being a spendthrift.
I keep reminding him that if he had been more aware of wasting money throughout our marriage until this point that he could have retired at 50 like he wanted to.


This trait of his drives me insane!
I get so discouraged sometimes.....

Is your partner on board with your frugal ways or are you fighting their spending like a salmon swimming upstream too?

Sluggy

Be Careful......Frugality Can Turn You Into Sheldon!

I guess being frugal comes naturally to nerds. All that math involved in doing deals and the logical reasoning that stocking up exemplifies.

So call me a nerd.....I don't mind.

If you consider yourself a Frugalista, go watch this clip and tell me you don't "get" Sheldon.



Sluggy-who has a 2 year supply of toilet paper & would have more if she had the room for it

Frugality Quote of the Day....

"He who does not economize will have to agonize."  -Confucius

Modern Day Translation.....
"If you spend it all today, you will have nothing left for tomorrow, causing you great suffering." -Sluggy

Yeah....Confucius says it much better.lol

So what am I going to do today to save money?  Mostly, I am staying home and not going anywhere, so I won't be tempted to spend money and I won't have to put gas in the car.  I might even sew something, which means less money spent on buying clothes since I have everything already to finish this garmet.  And I'll be turning off the heat for a couple of days since we are suppose to get into the 60's here!

Sluggy

What I Did to Save Money Yesterday

* I ran my errands in a big loop, saving gas.  Have you seen the price of gas lately??!!

* I filled my car's tank while I was out, as prices are expected to keep going up.  We have 2 gas stations within spitting distance of each other.  The one on the northbound side of the road has $3.47 per gal. gas.  The one on the southbound side of the road has $3.55 per gal. gas.  The cheaper gas was on my side of the road heading out to do errands, so I filled up as I passed it.  No point in doubling back on the way home to get the cheaper gas.

* I hit the $ Store.

I got some junk foods to send in #1 son's college care package, but I did find some real food too....Lasagna noodles, Sweet Potato Fries and Scrapple.  I don't buy processed french fries usually as buying a bag of potatoes is much more cost effective.  But for what sweet potatoes would cost me at the grocery store per lb. in a 'raw' state, I couldn't make them into fries cheaper.  Lasagna noodles at the grocery store are never $1 a box here, since they are never included in any dried pasta sales.  The Dollar Store also had a few other good food deals....frozen fruit, as well as ravioli and pierogies.  I was tempted by the Hunt's 'No HFCS' Ketchup but I have quite a supply of Ketchup already so I passed on that one.
The local $ Stores stock these Airwick brand solid air fresheners.  I don't usually buy air fresheners(unless I get them for free from Rite-Aid and then I sell or give them away).  I do buy the pet odor ones in the warm months to use near the dog crates since they can get smelly.  But these LILAC scented ones were irresistible....oh, they smell sooooo good!  Lilac makes me think of Spring and I am so ready to think Spring. ;-)
Anyway, I spent $9.12 w/tax.

*Then I hit the bread outlet.

I haven't been in about 4 weeks and we were down to our last few slices of bread.  I chose a very good day to go since they had alot of items on the discounted racks for $1 or .89¢.  I spent $14.23 for $70.04 worth of bread/bakery products.  I got an assortment of bread, bagels, rolls as well as some danish and doughnuts. This should last us about 3 weeks or so.  I store them in the frigid garage(almost as good as in the freezer)so they will keep 3 weeks or longer.  What doesn't get used by then will go into the freezer.

* I made my own Sloppy Joe Sauce for dinner.  I could have used a can of sauce(I have 1 or 2 left that cost me $1 a can) but wanted something less sugary.  I find the canned stuff is too sweet for me so I've taken to concocting my own so I can control what goes into it.  There are tons of different recipes out there you can use as a guide to making your own.  None of them are difficult...most just are a matter of dumping ingredients in a pan and heating it up.  I use some tomato paste, tomato sauce, a touch of vinegar, a dash of garlic powder and if I want some sweetness I'll squirt a bit of ketchup into it or add a little hunk of brown sugar.  I dice some onions and fry that up with the ground beef as well.  If I have some peppers, I'll add that if I feel like it.  The point is that it takes very little effort and even less money to combine a few things in your pantry to make your own sauce.  Heck, you can even use BBQ sauce as the base if you have an old bottle of it malingering on your shelves.  Why spend for a new can of Sloppy Joe Sauce when you have everything you need to throw together your own custom blended sauce.  I won't be buying Sloppy Joe Sauce again since it's not a multi-tasking product, unless some deal comes along and the store wants to pay me to take a case of it home. lol

* My Netflix DVD arrived.  I watched that, as well as another movie instead of renting 2 movies at $1 a piece or instead of going to the cinema and plunking down $6 per movie for a couple of matinees.  4 hours of entertainment on the cheap.

* Worked on my Meal Plan for the week.  Yes, I am very late getting it finished.  We've had Spaghetti w/Meatballs and Garden Salad, Subway sandwiches on a crazy schedule night and Sloppy Joes w/Corn so far. 
Tonight is Fish, Sweet Potato Fries and Spinach Salad.
Thursday is Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes. 
Friday is homemade Pizza w/Pepperoni, Onions and Peppers.(Plus Olives on my pieces.)
Saturday is Chicken & Broccoli Casserole.

* I washed a full load of laundry in my HE washer, using 1 tablespoon of detergent I got for free at Acme in Aug. 2009 and 8 squirts of Spray n' Wash.  I hung the clothes to dry on racks in the upstairs hallway. 

*As it was a bright sunny day, I opened the drapes on the southern facing side of the house to let in sunshine/warmth and closed them after the sun moved to the other side of the house.  With the nice sunlight I kept all lighting off during the day except for the task light on my computer desk when I was working at my desk. 

What did you do to save money?

Sluggy

Musical Wednesday......Sweeney Todd is My Food Waste Role Model

Once you get past the darkness of the subject matter, Sweeney Todd is a great show and some of Stephen Sondheim's best writing!
I've seen clips of the recent film adaptation but I much prefer the stage version.
Nobody plays the part of Mrs. Lovett better than Angela Lansbury did.
Both George O'Hearn and Len Cariou were great Sweeney's on the stage.

Over here at Don't Read This; It's Boring! we are all about frugality.
I am offering up this musical clip today since it gets to the heart of 2 subjects near and dear to my heart.....frugality and food waste. ;-)

The amount of perfectly good food thrown out in this country is staggering!  While you can't readily change the health laws that govern why businesses are often forced to discard palatable food or the businesses that would rather throw out food than give it away to those in need at the end of the day all in the name of profits, you can keep an eye on YOUR own Personal Food Waste!

Don't buy what you won't/can't eat before it spoils.
When you have leftovers, be sure you find something to do with them besides pitch them into the garbage can.
Reheat and eat......remake them into new dishes......give them away to someone who will eat them......feed your pets......and compost the compost-able materials(not meat or diary).

Here at Chez Sluggy, we use up our Leftovers.  It is very rare for us to have Food Waste like we did 2 years ago when I started my blog.  I am very proud of that fact!

In honor of the concept of Zero Food Waste in this country, I present today's Musical Selection......

Sluggy

Saturday Food/HBA Shopping Madness

  I decided NOT to go to Price Chopper for a free turkey seeing as I'd have to spend $50 to get that 'free' bird.
I probably spent more than $50 when all was said and done however by not going there.lol

I thought Redner's had $.49lb. frozen birds and they had Coke products for $2 a 12 pack(limit 5 please)so I hopped over the river to get some things.
Hopping over the river was easier said than done since I hadn't counted on the big town in between me and Redner's having their Christmas Parade on Saturday....right around the time I tried to go from here to there.
Ugh!
It took forever to go around the parade route but I persevered and got there.

Got the Cokes but no Turkeys for cheap.
They had Dietz & Watson poultry deli meats 40% off(!!!)and Daughter wanted some lunch meats so I picked up smoked turkey, bacon lover's turkey and southern friend chicken breast.
I was so hungry I snacked on a couple of pieces once I got it out to the car in the parking lot. Mmmmm....the bacon lover's turkey is awesome!  Too bad it won't go on sale like that probably EVER AGAIN since I won't pay the reg. retail of $8.99lb. for it.

Redner's also had a deal w/coupon in their ad....buy 4 pillsbury refrigerated dough or sweet moments choc. things(which were on sale for $2 ea.)and get $3 off a gallon of milk.  I had Qs for the sweet moments things($1/1)and some packages had peelies for $1/1 also.  And when I checked out, there was a pillsbury catalina deal on the stuff.  Having bought 4 I received a $3 OYNO Catalina Q. 
So I bought 4=$8 & a gallon of milk($3.33)=$11.33-4x$1/1 Qs=$7.33, Milk Discount($3)=$4.33 and received $3 Cat=$1.33 for all after Catalina Q.
Not bad.
This Deal on the milk runs another week at Redner's(the Catalina runs through 12/26.

I also found Breakstone Sour Cream on sale for $1.25 with $1/2 Peelies, which made the sour cream containers $.75 each after Q.  Add in a few other things and I left there $44.39 poorer.....but still no turkey!

So it was off to the local independent grocer, thinking their ad is where I saw cheap birds.
Nope.
But I got celery for $.99, ice cream for $2 a tub, fruit, lettuce, a rutabaga and yogurt to the tune of $14.84.

Then it was off to Weis Markets and yes, THEY had the frugal poultry!  Picked up a nice 14.62lb. Boat Anchor masquerading as a frozen turkey.lol
I also cruised by the meat counter and found some $2.99lb. fresh catfish(I've got it sitting in marinade as I type), and a 5lb. package of marked down boneless chicken breast which came to $1.42lb. after the store Q.
A sack of Beauregard Sweet Potatoes, some cheapish butter with Qs and a bag of bagels finished up my Turkey Day shopping list for $26.06.

In between all this grocery store-ing, I managed to work in 4 transactions at various Rite-Aids.
Since that week's sales are over, I'll just show you the photos of the hauls and give you the non-itemized totals of how it went down.  If anyone is interested in the particulars, just leave a comment about that.

I'll just preface this by saying that this Fall has been epic for me at Rite-Aid and I have amassed quite the wad of +Up Rewards, along with a few SCRs/MIRs making November a real moneymaking month. 8-)

#1--After Qs, I used $9 in +Ups, put $.91 on my gift card and received $11 +Ups back.

#2--After Qs, I used $4 in +Ups, put $.98 on my gift card and received $4 +Ups back.
I also qualified for a $11.99 MIR for Tena Underwear.

#3--After Qs, I used $6 in +Ups, put $.88 on my gift card and received $10 +Ups back.
This was a repeat of the L'Oreal Make-up deal I did earlier in the week.

#4--After Qs, I used $9 in +Ups, put $.51 on my gift card and received $8 +Ups back.
I also qualified for SCR #79($3).

Altogether, I put $3.28 Out of Pocket on the gift card, used $28 in +Ups, received $33 in +Ups back.

Nothing Out of Pocket, I grew my +Up Rewards by $5 and I will get back $14.99 in cash for the 2 rebates.
Value of the items purchased.....$177.21

This week should find me being a home body and not leaving the house much.  I'll be cooking and cleaning this week in preparation for Thanksgiving and reorganizing stuff before Winter sets in.

SATURDAY TRIPS
Total Spent....$3.28(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$177.21
SCR qualified for...$3.00
Other Rebats earned...$11.99
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$33.00
+Up Rewards spent...$28.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$51.99


GRAND TOTALS--November Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......28
Total Spent....$15.84  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1,316.39
SCR qualified for....$18.00
Other Cash....$14.99
Additional Rebates....$21.99
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Nov. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 11/19.....$46.99
+Up Rewards spent....$124.50
+Up Rewards earned....$156.49
+Up Rewards left....$51.99
 
Sluggy