My Rite-Aid Buys Last Week

 **Until I get a new computer, I'll be posting when this old one let's me, so you may be seeing a deluge or trickle of posts for the next week or so, depending on how cranky my machine is.  I am trying to catch up on posts as I am soooo behind. 8-(

Last week Rite-Aid had an earn $15 in Bonus Cash when you spent $50 coupon.  This stacked on any other BC offers you also earned so a good week to find stuff to get free or cheap.

Let's take a look at the three Rite-Aid transactions I did last week....

2 x Colgate toothpaste on sale=$7.98
3 x Pantene shampoo on sale=$11.49
4 x Carol's Daughter conditioner w/20% Wellness disc.=$12.12
1 x Crest Gum and Enamel toothpaste on sale=$6.63
2 x Tampax on sale=$8.00
2 x Always on sale=$8.00
SubTotal........$54.22

Coupons Used

1 x $15 BC when you spend $50
2 x $2/1 In-Ad RA Colgate Q=$4.00
2 x $1.50/1 Colgate IPQ=$3.00
1 x $3/3 Pantene shampoo ManuQ=$3.00
1 x $2/1 Crest Toothpaste ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $3/2 Tampax ManuQ=$3.00
1 x $3/2 Always ManuQ=$3.00
Coupon Total......$18.00

$54.22-$18.00=$36.22+$1.24 tax=$37.46 paid with Bonus Cash

I earned back $37 in new BC(2 x $1 Colgate, 2 x $5 Carol's Daughter, $15 wyspend $50, $10 wybuy $30 P and G).  Not bad.

Then I bought this.....

1 x Tide pods on sale=$5.94
1 x gift deodorant on clearance=$3.99
4 x Carol's Daughter conditioner w/20% Wellness disc.=$11.48
1 x Crest 3D Brilliance toothpaste on sale=$6.39
1 x Crest Gum and Enamel toothpaste on sale=$6.39
3 x Pantene shampoo on sale=$11.49
1 x Xmas gift clearance=$2.50
1 x Men's Xmas gift set clearance=$7.49
1 x Women's Xmas gift set clearance=$4.99
SubTotal.....$60.66

Coupons Used........
1 x $2/1 Tide Pods L2CQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Crest Brilliance toothpaste L2CQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Crest Gum and Enamel toothpaste L2CQ=$2.00
1 x $3/3 Pantene L2CQ=$3.00
Coupon Total.......$9.00

$60.66-$9.00=$51.66+$2.57 tax=$54.23 paid for with Bonus Cash.

I earned back $35 in new BC(1 x $15 wys $50, 2 x $5 Carol's Daughter, 1 x $10 wyb $30 P and G).
I spent down the BCs on this transaction by $19.23 but I got $18.97 in Xmas/birthday gift items for half price which aren't pictured obviously so I can't complain. 8-)

I also placed an online order early last week and it arrived Saturday on the high end Andalou products R-A carries.  The Spend $50, Get $15 BC offer was also valid online and here is what I got........

2 x Andalou shower gel w/20% Wellness discount($6.99)=$13.98
1 x Andalou argon stem cell conditioner 20% disc.=$7.99
2 x Andalou lavender shampoo 20% disc.=$15.98
1 x Andalou lavender conditioner 20% disc.=$7.99
1 x Andalou mandarin vanilla body lotion 20% disc.=$6.99
Subtotal......$52.93

I used no coupons(shocking! lol), paid with Bonus Cash and earned back $49 in new BC($15 wyspend $50, 2 x $10 wys $25 Andalou, 2 x $7 wys $25 Andalou).

I spent down that card's BC a bit(I probably could have gotten my total closer to $50 if I had taken more time to figure out a deal-now I see 5 x $6.99 items w/disc. and 2 x $7.99 items w/disc. would have been $50.93 and that would have only "cost" me $1.93 in BC)but I am happy with how this turned out anyway.

Also I saw online that there was another $15 wys $50 coupon online with a different code than the one in the online flyer you could print.  Proof of the 2 different barcodes on the coupons........

This meant you could buy $100 worth last week and earn $30 just on those 2 coupons(not counting sale prices/discounts, coupons and other BC deals that stacked).  Sweet.

I was going to place another online order for the Andalou and work another deal in the store with this second coupon but then I saw that certain gift cards were working with the $15 BC wys $50 coupons. (Gift cards NEVER work with BC coupons at R-A!)
Our refrigerator started acting up recently so I knew I'd be spending big money at a big box appliance store soon so I got these using the second barcode coupon as the Home Depot $50 fixed price was one of the 3 specific gift cards that worked.....

I didn't relish spending $200 on gift cards right now but since I'd be spending money soon at HD why not get the extra $60 in R-A Bonus Cash to spend too? ;-)

Sluggy

Money Stuff After the 1st Quarter of 2018

Just some miscellaneous money stuff........

* Grocery/Toiletries Spending after 3 months stands at $1261.72.  That breaks down to an average of $420.57 per month.  Right about on target for us.
I've "saved" $4006.34 buying our supplies on sale/using Qs/rebates over buying all our food/toiletries at regular retail prices.  I take that with a grain of salt since I wouldn't buy some of those regular retail prices ever(would buy store brands instead)so if I take half of the "savings" it's $2003.17....that seems more realistic to me. ;-)

* Eating Out Spending after 3 months stands at $570.92.  That breaks down to an average of $190.30 per month.  A bit high but we have 2 Birthdays(and thus Birthday meals out)in the first quarter of the year and nobody in my family likes to each out for their birthday at cheap places it seems.

* As for cash rebate/savings apps/accounts here is what I've earned back in cash monies for the 1st quarter of 2018.........

 *  Weis refunds/overcharges  $16.56
 *  Rite-Aid refunds/post Qs back  $70.15
 *  Checkout51 cash rebate  $4.25
 *  Ibotta cash rebate   $25.95
 *  Saving Star cash rebate  $23.79
TOTAL.....$140.70 cash back/refunds

At year's end I'll add that Refund/Cash Rebate $ back into the grocery Budget to offset some of our spending on food/toiletries.
After the 1st Quarter I've spent $1261.72 on food/toiletriesand gotten $140.70 in rebates/refunds leaving our actual spending at $1121.02 so far in 2018(if I added the rebates in now).

* I've also counted my WAM leftover at the end of March.........

$216.00 leftover and accumulated WAM going into April.
I had $140 leftover WAM at the end of February so after getting another $100 for March that made $240 WAM to spend in March.
I spent only $24 of WAM in March which means $216 leftover WAM at the end of March.

After adding this month's WAM that gives me $316 going into April.  As is my habit I doubt I'll spend much of it on myself.  If this trend keeps up I'll need to figure out what to do with it all at the end of the year.  Hmmm, maybe something splurgy for me?

* We have a change jar and I roll change once we have enough to roll.  At the end of the year I either add it to the food budget or some other goal I've been working on.

$10.50 is what we ended the 1st quarter with in change.  Back when Hubs was working we had a LOT more spare change to roll.....but I'll take it. lolz

* Gift Cards Tally
We currently have $1557.12 in gift cards.
 Home Improvement stores....$448.79
 Big box stores.....$298.46
 Gas cards........$20.00
 Rite-Aid......$200.00(not counting the partially used one in my wallet)
 Amazon......$50.00
 Movies...........$51.40
 Restaurants....$438.47
 Visa........$50.00(gotten as a gift at Xmas)

We started the year with $2015.57 in assorted gift cards so we've used down $458.45 so far this year.
The Home Improvement store cards will be gone before Summer is over(yard stuff, paint, etc.), $150 of the Restaurant cards is earmarked for Hubs Bday dinner out so that will put a nice sized dent into what is left.
I haven't bought any gift cards this year and I don't foresee getting anymore at Rite-Aid(where I usually bought them)as the benefit(store rewards earned)isn't as good as they use to be(plus the store rewards earned expire in 2 months, so not worth it).
If  Dollar General has % off gift cards, that is where I'll pick gift cards up....but they rarely do this except around the Holidays.
Some of the cards I have are old now and I need to make a point of using them up.

I am off to pay some bills and figure out Hubs eye dr. bills which are a clusterf*ck.  They don't bill in a timely manner and then after I pay and Hubs goes in for a new visit, the office doesn't show our payments(which are mailed to a third party clearinghouse a thousand miles away in DALLAS TX!)so they make him cut a check AGAIN!!  I should have such a credit on his account there by now....argh.

What are you up to today?

Sluggy

3 Rite-Aid Trips & SCR Period TOTAL RESULTS

I crammed 3 more trips to Rite-Aid in between Friday and Saturday night.

Mostly it was more free or almost free stuff after coupons, rain checks, rebates, 20% Wellness discount and +Up Rewards.....
The Dove 'Poo was .39¢ a bottle.
The Brown rice was .35¢ a bag.
The White rice was .19¢ a bag.
The Dixie plates were .99¢ a pack.
The Sierra Mist sodas were .46¢ each.
The Skittles candy was .45¢.
The Trident gum was .50¢
The Spin N' Span items, R-A coffee, Hormel chili were all free.
The Mortin PM, Precise Cream, Reach dental floss, Pilot pens,Gas-X, R-A toilet tissue and Benefiber  were better than free.

With the overages from coupons and/or +Up Rewards gotten back, a $4 off $20 coupon and putting $2.35 OOP on my free Rite-Aid gift card, I ended up paying ZERO on all this AND with $13 MORE in +Ups than when I started!

Since these deals are past I won't go into the nitty gritty unless someone asks me to post it.
I'm always willing to share the deals if there is interest.  ;-)

Here are the numbers for these trips and the GRAND TOTALS for the January Single Check Rebate Period.

THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....3
Total Spent....$2.35 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$145.07
SCR qualified for...$3.00(BIL account)
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
Resolution Reward....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$26.00
+Up Rewards spent...$13.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$156.00

 
GRAND TOTALS--January Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......37
Total Spent....$21.00 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1477.89
SCR qualified for....$20.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$40.00(Resolution +Up Rewards me & BIL)

+UPS Totals for Jan. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 1/17.....$143.00
+Up Rewards spent....$373.50
+Up Rewards earned....$406.00
+Up Rewards left....$156.00 includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period


To sum up, I spent $21 on a gift card that didn't cost me anything, I'm getting $20 back in cash rebates, I have $51.50 MORE in +Ups than when the Jan. SCR Period began and I have over $1400 in items to use and/or donate.

Is it any wonder why I "heart" Rite-Aid? 8-))

Sluggy

Friday Randomness with Sluggy

 Here are some things fermenting in my wacky brain lately....

**Have you noticed the escalating price of bacon lately?  I hit a rather decent sales/coupons double out of the ballpark about 5 months ago so I haven't really checked in on the current going price for that porky goodness since early last Spring.
Since our supply is almost gone, I started last week to take note of the market price for bacon.
And let me say for the record....that shits gone way up!!  Regular retail here for $5 to $6 a PACKAGE!
Great Googley Moogley!!
I paid $1.00 a package the last time I stocked up and it was an amazing $2.00 straight sale price without a coupon then.
I might have to start trolling the local animal shelters for abandoned pot bellied pigs to bring home and fatten up.....ok, not really but I *did* consider that for a few moments. ;-)

**I took SonyaAnn's ADVICE and cashed out my credit card Rewards for Christmas gift cards the other day.  I have 8 gift cards winging their way to me in time for Holiday giving.  I have to dig out my gift stash and figure what more I still have to acquire/make.  I'll probably do that next week or this weekend.  I want to have everything in process or done by Thanksgiving so I only have to darken a stores door for food between Black Friday and New Year's Day.
Not to freak anyone out or anything but there are only 70 Shopping Days left Until Christmas......

**This is a photo of part of our high school's Marching Band taken 3 weeks ago.
The kid in the center playing the flute is my son.
I do think it's time for a haircut.....

**Have you noticed that Outlet Malls are no longer the place to get a deal?
Ok....maybe sometimes they are.....but over the past few years outlet malls have really become just another excuse to throw up a shopping mall somewhere and sell regularly priced stuff.  I am old enough to remember when an outlet 'store' meant it was located in the geographic area of it's manufacturing mill and carried overruns, imperfects, seconds, etc. and you could buy them at a deep discount off of the regularly priced perfects that got shipped to the regular stores.  My mom and I use to take trips to Lightfoot VA to snag deals at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory when I was growing up.  Good times.....
Somewhere about 1978 though they began renting out space there(after they over expanded and the economy tanked a bit)directly to the manufacturers they had previously bought outlet bound stuff from and resold.  Other real outlet stores followed suite.  That's when it all went downhill for the deals in my humble opinion.  The manufacturers began stocking/running their own outlets.  Seeing how successful this model was, developers began building outlet malls so you could go to one place and get deals from many different brands without traveling far.  And they located them in touristy areas to generate more revenue.  Then they started offering regular mall bound merchandise or lines created just to sell in the outlets, which raised all the prices and just bastardized the whole original concept and made outlet stores/malls mostly crap in my opinion.

The point was illustrated clearly this past week on our trip to Ocean City.  We stopped in Rehobeth Delaware at the Tanger Outlets to do some clothes/shoe shopping.  While Hubs got some deals on shoes at Rack Room shoes and I picked up a pair of Chuck Taylors for Daughter for less than full retail, no deals were to be found at the supposed Under Armor outlet store.

#2 son wanted a basic black shirt to wear under his Marching Band uniform so we went looking. Everything in that store was full retail price, unless you wanted some boys sized shirts(that were STILL $20!) or some hideously ugly pieces I wouldn't buy at a thrift store for a fraction of the price they were charging.

**I mentioned awhile back about a relative who was having a financial crisis, and that I was helping them with a plan to get them "out of the weeds", as they say in golf.....not that I play golf or anything....
I am so happy to hear that they got through September and have taken the budgeting info. and embraced it, tweeking it and making it their own.  Hopefully, they should be able to get through the next few years until their situation is scheduled to improve.

**One of the Deal Blogs(sorry, can't remember which one)had something posted Sunday about a 10-10-10 sale on 6pm, the dotcom shoe/clothing store.  Big clearance sale where everything was $10!
Luckily we have some oddball sized feet in this house, so I was able to find 9 pairs of shoes we could use...woohoo!
I am not a big fan of buying shoes online since you can't try them on, but I figured for $10 I'd take some calculated risks on styles/sizes and if some don't fit right, I can pass brand new shoes along for Christmas to friends, other family members, the local Christmas charity program or make a thrift store donation.

#2 son is a skateboarder.  He goes through shoes quickly.  He lusts after expensive skaterboarding branded shoes.  I found one of these brands in this clearance sale for $10 a pr.  Reg. retail of $65 a pr.  I bought 5 pairs(in 3 sizes) for less than what 1 pair would cost me at the mall store(not that I'd every buy them there for full retail). lolol

The downside.....now my bedroom closet looks like the storeroom in a shoe warehouse.

Anybody seen my shoe horn?

Sluggy