Frugal Friday....the April 15th Edition

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

*   No food waste last week. Not much cooking either. Sort of works that way, right? lol

* I finished using those free Secret and Old Spice coupons at Rite-Aid.  I had sent away for these in February from P&G due to some lawsuit where they were giving coupons for freebies if you have recalled products.  Of course I hadn't "paid" OOP monies on the defective items either.   5 free deodorants for the win!

*  I went through the chest freezer and pulled out lots of items to use up if I had other fridge or shelf items to make a meal--tomato sauce from last year's garden, ground beef, steaks, ravioli.  I got 4 meals with leftovers made with items I already had.

* I hit Walmart on Wednesday and bought all this for Ibotta rebates....

Not pictured is a Breakstone cottage doubles(it was eaten already)too.

I also bought a clearance toothpaste, 2 Jello boxes and had a .25¢ any receipt off from a Rite-Aid shop on Monday.  Nothing OOP at Rite-Aid and $4.56 OOP at Walmart after a $1/1 Sargento Q and redeeming a $10 free gift card.  I earned back $9 in regular Ibotta rebates along with a .50¢ Bonus rebate on the Jello and $5 MidWeek Moneymaker Bonus for doing 10 rebates so $10.50 back on a $4.56 expenditure.  Not bad.

*  I used another $10 in free gift cards to cover most of the other items in my order, including a few treats(fudge drizzled popcorn!!)and 4 of these frozen meals.......

Salmon dinners I found in a clearance bin at Walmart, marked down to $2 each.  Some quick and healthy and CHEAP meals tucked into my freezer.  Yes please!

*  At another store I found a slew of frozen meals marked 75% off!  I picked up 4 breakfast sandwich 2 packs, 5 Devour meals,  4 Benihana meals, 2 trays of multi-serve meatloaves and 2 bags of fake chicken w/Asian Orange Sauce.   $89.08 worth of frozen meals for $22.27 OOP.  That is at least 8 breakfasts, 17 lunch or dinners covered for under $23.  Well  I do have to add rice or noodles and veg to the fake chicken and sides to the Meatloaf but even so, great deals!

*  I got $1.50 in post Qs at Rite-Aid on April 11th.....

Forgot to bring a coupon a couple of days before when I purchased something last week.

*  A purse sized bottle of hand sanitizer for free from Rite-Aid on Wednesday...

*  I finally received my replacement R-A gift cards in the mail for the multiple defective ones that wouldn't scan.

This has been a long drawn out nightmare and I am glad it's over with.  Hopefully these will work and I will NEVER buy another Rite-Aid gift card again.  'Nuf said.

*   I found money!

A penny last Friday at the Weis self-checkout.

Found these 2 dimes at my Rite-Aid in different locations in the store on Monday.

2 pennies, one each under a different self-checkout at Weis on April 12th.

A dime in front of my self-checkout on Wednesday at Walmart.

And then a dime in the drive-thru line at Burger King on Wednesday too.  I got a Whopper with a coupon and used a free gift card too.  Free food and finding money too, can't beat that with a stick! lolz

Total Found in last Week...... .43¢
Total Found This Year......$10.34

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

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

And have a good weekend and Happy Easter if you celebrate it!  

Sluggy  

Frugal Friday....the July 2nd Edition

 A new month but the usual frugalness around here at Chez Sluggy.  Let's look at what went down this past week............

* I had gotten a "we miss you, here's $5 to spend" from Kohl's so I went in and found something that was close to that price that I could use/live with.....

a long sleeve knit shirt for kicking around the house that cost me $2.20 OOP.  It may be too big to wear in public by Winter/Fall but perfectly good for around the house.

*  I got a post coupon at Rite-Aid........

$3 for a coupon that was forgotten.  Poor little coupon.

*  Then I returned a couple of items and got money back.........

*  I got some deals at Rite-Aid, spent down to $0 on one of my cards this past week, and hit some Ibotta rebates and bonuses along the way.

* I held a stockpile sale in conjunction with a community wide yard sale day in town.  Busy, busy and got rid of lots of items and between the two sales(with a week in the middle when I was out of town)I raked in 7+ bills.  I gave some away to local friends, there is a largish load ready to go to the food bank, I've got items earmarked for relatives and friends when I go see them too.  I think I emptied at least 3 large Rubbermaid tubs of goods!

*  Hubs got Burger King for us one day using a free gift card. go us.

*  I found money!

Two pennies at R-A on Friday........

Another two pennies at R-A on Monday........

And two additional pennies at Walmart on Tuesday(forgot to take a photo of those).

Total Money Found This Week... 06¢
Total Money Found This Year...$5.68

That's about all I remember from this past week that was frugal.

What frugal wins did ya'll have this past week?
Let's here it!

And have a good weekend....

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the November 27th Edition on Sunday

  Here's what passed to frugal around Chez Sluggy this past week.  Let's get to it!

*  I forgot to mention that I got this the previous week at the Freeosk in Walmart....

A Twinings tea bag. rah.  I generally hit the Freeosk when we go there but 95% of the time it's out of samples.  I got lucky that week. lolz

*  I hit CVS this week to spend ECBs on Saturday and get some freebies.....

After paying for the gift card(and earning $25 ECB)I ended up with $3.87 OOP and I have over $45 in ECBs now.

I hit R-A too........once on the 24th and then over and over again during the 3 day Black Friday sale.  More on that in it's own post later this week.

*  I had a $5 off $25 RA Q I used on Tuesday.  Forgot to use a Q so got this as a "post coupon" on Wednesday......

*  The Coupons dotcom the app had 2 rebates when you bought Jet-Puff marshmallows and another for Cool Whip, one was for $2.50 the other for $2.00.  I bought both items at the restaurant supply store(not sure they'd honor the offer since it wasn't a "grocery" store)and I got the $4.50 in rebates on Thanksgiving day.  Both items combined cost me $2.49 OOP so a nice moneymaker.  The marshmallows are being saved for Wintertime cocoa drinking not for sweet potato casserole since we don't make that dish and if we did we wouldn't put marshmallows on it. ;-)

*  On Tuesday this arrived in the mail....

My CareGiver/Spend $25 Get a $10 prepaid Card.  Of course I didn't actually "spend" $25 since I got everything at Rite-Aid to qualify for this. ;-)

*  I got 2 freebies at Weis this past week.  I had over 500 reward points so I used 400 to get a free family sized Lasagna and then 100 to get a turkey breast at a discounted rate(.49¢ a lb.? I don't remember.).  You earn 1 point for every $ you spend there on groceries and such OR you can do a survey every 7 days and earn 100 points at a pop.  You know me so you know I did 3 surveys in November so 300 of my 500+ points were earned from surveys not spending money.  Score!

BTW-the lasagna was pretty bland so we'll jazz it up when I serve it as a leftover.  The turkey breast went into the freezer for later this Winter.

*  I've been getting very cheap cheese blocks this month at Weis(PMITA)Markets.

They've been running a special if you buy at least 2 packages of Cracker Barrel you get them for $2 a block.  Ibotta has had an offer most of the month for a $1.50 rebate on each Cracker Barrel block(limit 5 offers until it resets).  That makes each block of cheese .50¢ after sale and rebate.

It reset again so I'll run to Weis later today and get 5 more blocks. Now I have to figure out some meals using all this cheese. ;-)

*  My doctor recommended that I get a new BiPAP machine since mine is 7 years old.  Since I've hit my insurance deductible for the year and my DME company wrote it as a purchase and not a rental I got a new machine and the insurance company paid for it in full.  Nothing out of pocket on my end.  This machine goes for over $1800 so I was stoked about that.

*  I found money!

On Nov. 23nd I found a penny in front of the register counter at Rite-Aid.  My friend there, the Assistant Manager said there's a stack of change someone left outside on the ledge of the building under a window.  Went outside and found that .12¢ too!

That made .13¢ for the day/stop.

I hit the jackpot on Nov. 24th at Aldi.  I don't know but maybe everyone was in such a hurry with Thanksgiving shopping that they didn't take their quarters out of the cart slots when they returned their carts.  And these were carts deep in the line of carts(10 carts in or so), not ones left loose at the end or near the line of returned carts for someone to snag without using a quarter.

If last week was the Week of Dimes, this week's theme is the Week of Quarters. ;-)

Then when I went back in to get a refund on the 2 butters I was overcharged for(limit was 6 so no way I bought 8 but the receipt said I paid for 8), I found a dime on the floor while I waited for the Manager to come out and take care of the mistake.

Later that same day I found a nickel at Rite-Aid......

I opened my car door and it was sitting there in the parking lot.

Total Found $ This Week....$1.28
Total Found $ So Far This Year....$52.53

*  We hit the restaurant supply store on the 24th.  They had these cans of Libby brand pumpkin(the size that makes 2 pies)for $2.99.  Not a great price.

So we bought one of these #10 cans of pumpkin instead(between the creamed corn and the pumpkin pie spice blend to the right of the photo).....

For just $1 more($3.99)I got enough pulp to make 4 pumpkin pies and that only used half of the can!  I divided up the rest of the can into two Ziploc baggies and put them into the freezer for Christmas or whenever.

8 pies for $3.99 vs. 2 pies for $2.99 will win in my book every time. 8-)

That's about it from here this week.

Any frugal wins at your house this past week?
Let us know all about them so we can celebrate your wins too!

Sluggy

What I "Bought" This Past Week at Rite-Aid

The Title should be what I brought home from Rite-Aid this week and not what I bought since no cash was spent. ;-)

I got this on Sunday to get further along on a Bonus Cash Challenge on Bic...

1 x Bic Razor and used a $3/1 ManuQ, spending $3.17 w/tax using my BC.

 

On Tuesday I finished up 3 BC challenges(Bic, Nature's Truth, R-A OTC)--

2 x Bic White-Out at BOGO50% and used a $1.50/2 Bic stationery L2CQ, spending $3.48 w/tax using BC.
1 x Nature's Truth(I thought it was still BOGO this week or I would have bought 2 the previous week darn it!)w/20% Wellness discount and I used a $2/1 IPQ making it $8.29 OOP using BC.
2 x R-A brand Melatonin and D3 Gummies at BOGO making both $9.99 using BC.

Then on Friday I did my "big" transaction....

1 x Kellogg's cereal at $1.99 and used a $1/1 reward Kellogg's Q from my Kellogg's account.
2 x Carefree liners at BOGO50%($6.88)and used a $3/2 L2CQ.
2 x L'Oreal Preference hair color $7.99 w/20% Wellness discount and I used a $5/2 In-Ad Q.
2 x Schick disposable razors $5.99 on sale and I used 2 x $3/1 Schick disposable IPQs.
2 x Colgate toothpaste on sale for $3.50 each and used 2 x In-Ad $3/1 R-AQs and stacked 2 x $1.50/1 select Colgate toothpaste IPQs(from email link Colgate sent me).

SubTotal for all this was $43.83.  After subtracting my $24 in Qs(*)and adding $1.15 of sales tax, I spent $20.98 in Bonus Cash to pay.

I earned $2 in new BC(the Carefree)and I converted $15 of that BC spent into cash through Ibotta rebates--Kellogg's($1), the Carefree($2), the L'Oreal($6), the Schick($6).

I also had a ManuQ of $5/2 L'Oreal hair color I forgot to bring with me so on Saturday I took that in and got $5 in Cash for it(basically I converted $5 of BC into $5 cash since I used $5 more in BC to pay for that transaction).

Goodness knows I don't need MORE toothpaste after the past couple of months and all the toothpaste deals BUT stacking the Colgate IPQs w/the In-Ad Rite-Aid Qs gave me $2 in overage to apply to other items I bought.

So after BC spent and BC/cash/rebates earned, the cereal was -.01¢, the liners were -.11¢, the hair color was -.02¢, the razors were -.02¢, and the toothpaste was -$2.00.

Not a bad haul for the week.
Looking at this week's ad I don't see anything urging me to go to R-A though all those Bonus Cash Challenge points become "live" this week so I have lots of BC to spend again(after I spent last week spending most of them up).
What's a gal to do? 8-))

Sluggy

More Screw Ups at Rite-Aid

So I hate getting a new cashier.....and sometimes I love it!

I needed to buy 4 x $1.99 sized Hershey Gold bars to finish off my Spend $50/Get $20 in BC Deal for this week.--Buy 3 on the Buy2/Get1Free sale(transaction #1), then buy 1 more bar at 20% Wellness discount(transaction #2)=Subtotal of $5.57.  Use 3 x $1.50/1 Hershey's Gold Qs and stack a .50¢/2 Hershey's assorted R-A Q they snail mailed me with one of the IP/ManQs.  So $5.57-$5.00=.57¢ OOP
Simple enough, right?
No.

I went in on Friday and started transaction #1.
The cashier rang up 2 Hershey Gold's and 1 Butterfinger(the free one didn't use a Q so I wasn't limited to a Hershey Gold).
She scanned my Wellness card(no fear of any BC coming off I didn't want to this time).  I hit "use points" and handed her my 3 Qs(2 manu/1 stackable R-AQ)and she totaled out the transaction and never put the Qs through.
Ugh.
So now my account showed $49.96 worth of purchases toward the $50 I need to get the $20 BC.

Then she returned those 3 candy bars and we re-rang them up.  Of course, when she returned the candy bars I didn't lose my $3.98 in credit toward the $50 spent.  So "rebuying" these 3 candy bars gave me $3.98 more in credit, meaning I now didn't have to also buy a single bar in a second transaction.
Got  that?

So 3 bars=$3.98-$3.50 in Qs=.48¢ OOP.

But now the register wouldn't take 2 of the 3 Qs I tried to use.
So she put the 1 x $1.50/1 Q through....$3.98-$1.50=$2.48 OOP using my R-A gift card.

Then she did a "post coupon" for $2.00 for the other 2 Qs and I got $2 cash back.

In the end it actually "cost" me $15.46(used $5 BC too so $10.46 in PPs and/or gift card)to reach the $50 threshold and get the $20 BC.

Now this card/account has a $15 BC and a $20 BC and $79.85 worth of PPs on it.

Next week, if I do any BC Deals I'll use a different card/account and work on converting/rolling that card's PPs.....or even better I'll hope I get this cashier who can't figure out how to put a coupon through and I'll convert PPs to cash back when she has to do a "post coupon".  ;-)

Sluggy