Wednesday Chit-Chat

Well I've showered, done a load of laundry, poured my morning iced tea(don't judge me!), printed a fistful of Qs off, cooked and had my steel cut oats, taken dinner out to thaw(salmon), read my bloggy friends musings, lined up 9 eBay listings to write and mailed a package(well it's on the porch and the mail lady is coming to ME!lol).
And it's only 10 am.
Usually I am just rolling out of bed at this hour......sometimes later. ;-)

We are on Thanksgiving Countdown here!
T-Minus 8 days and counting.
Actually, I need to get the house in order by Sunday, as one of the BILs will be arriving from SC on that day.  He is not staying through to Thanksgiving but still, the house needs to be presentable even if the kitchen will be a disaster since I'll be scrubbing out the fridge and cleaning/organizing/going through the pantry foodstuffs.  He'll sit in Hubs recliner all day anyway except when he's getting himself more coffee or trying to get me to fix him food/wait on him......good luck with that last thing!lolol

And did I mention Hubs took off all of next week from work?  At least he can keep his brother amused and stay the hell outta my way unless I need something broken mangled fixed moved around the house.

Then Daughter arrives home on Tuesday and I am sure her Beau will be arriving shortly afterwards. He may be staying here since he still doesn't have a place to live due to the flooding in September of his mom's house.  I think he is still staying with his Grandmother off and on.  Daughter is suppose to assist with the Turkey Day meal but otherwise I don't think I'll be seeing much of her....unless she needs money, then I'll be seeing her out stretched hand.....

I also have to empty the dining room so we all have a place to eat together next Thursday.
This is where I'll need assistance since the dining room is eBay Central.  I store the crap I am selling in tubs in the living room but I photograph and pack everything in the dining room.  Meaning that room is full of bubblewrap rolls, newspapers and shipping boxes.  That has to all go into the garage until next Friday.

Speaking of eBay......
I've sold 14 items in the last 10 days.  I'm not upset about the slow start since my worry/concern until Black Friday is to get my Store loaded with items.  I am striving for 10 listings a day but I've only done 8 per day the last couple of days, so I'm falling behind my goal.  I've got 65 live listings at the moment and I hope to have 75 more done by next Friday for a total of 140(unless I sell some things between now and then).  140 would be a fine goal and make me smile! 8-))

I'll be heading to Weis Markets aka The Evil Empire in a bit for......wait for it.......more gravy!!lol
I've also got a $5 Cat Q to spend and a few other good deals to pick up.

I hate having to go out after school hours, as I find my energy ebbing around the 3pm hour, but today it can't be avoided.  #2 son threw away his brand new retainer.  We've been trying to track it down(he threw it away at someone else's house)for the last week or so and were crossing our fingers it would turn up but no such luck.  Now we have to go replace it.  We had to replace Daughter's when she sat on it(lol)so we are giving #2 son a FREEBIE this time and he won't have to pay for it.  I am not happy but if it happens again, HIS WALLET WON'T BE HAPPY!lol  Having to go to the other side of Wilkes-Barre to the Orthdontist's nice, fancy, new office to have the retainer fitted after 3pm is NOT making me happy either.  Rainy weather, pre-rush hour traffic and having to race home to feed ravenous canines and to slave over a hot stove for dinner. 
I'll be using up my Cranky Cards later today.....

I have posted a Vital & Timely Poll that needs your attention, up on the top of the right sidebar.
Please exercise your inalienable right as a Citizen of Bloggyland and vote!

Sluggy

How Teens Wreak Havoc Upon Your Budget

*This is the post where I ramble on about the etymology of teenagers and their affect on your emotions and your finances.

Consider the Teenager.
The precious child you gave birth to(or not) and you guided and parented successfully for 12 or so years.
Then your child embarks upon the journey through those hormone laden years, where their brains are taken over seemingly by alien forces, commonly known as the TEEN YEARS.

And you no longer hold sway over this child.

Instead they become peer controlled.  Paramount is what other teens, their "friends" say, think and do.  This herd of hormones is also heavily influenced by everything that parents do NOT like....Like popular culture.  Teens in their core want to become what their parents are not at this stage in their development.

This is nature's way of making sure that the child does indeed separate from the parent and grow into their own person.  But this stage of life is fraught with peril for the relationship between child and parent.  The teen's frontal lobe is not fully developed, which makes them say and do things that no person in their right mind would think of doing.....because they are NOT in their right mind.
Remember that the next time your teen opens their mouth and you have a "WTF?!?" moment.

By the time the teen graduates high school and moves out of your home, you, the parent are RELIEVED.  Relieved because your teen has made your relationship so fraught with difficulties that you are so ready for them to become a grownup and be responsible for their own life. You are also so ready for them to NOT be your financial responsibility.
This is why the jacked up car insurance rates for teens is a good thing in a twisted way.  Once you have to pay for their insurance for a couple of years(especially if they ARE bad drivers!), you have one more reason why they need to grow up and be independent!

And speaking of teens and money......nice segue, huh?......let's talk about how teens can wreak havoc upon your household budget.

Since they are becoming their own person, they so want to show to the world that they are an individual so they want to dress differently.
They want to wear black clothes, or skater clothes, trucker clothes or pimped out clothes, etc.  They want strange haircuts, to dye their hair day glow colors, get tattoos and piercings and wear make-up.
Anything and everything to stand out and look different from society.

But because teens are "pack driven animals" who want to fit in with the HERD and the fact that they are all trying desperately to Be Different, their efforts to Look Different just make them all look like each other.
Why don't Teens get the irony of this?lol

Anyway, this wanting to have their own style often translates into big money out of your budget.
While a few teens do figure out to be different from their peers and society merely takes learning to sew and buying secondhand from your local charity shop, most can't wrap their brain around this concept. If they do get the concept then they still might not do this because, well, it takes effort and most of them don't want to make an effort at almost anything.

Being different and cool means dropping large amounts of cash on what is being marketed to them by corporate America.....the designers and designs that are "in" and carried in those overpriced stores in malls across our country.
If it's got a label and the teens consider it 'cool', the companies can charge anything they want and the teens will still buy it(often using the parent's money because teens can't afford much of this stuff).

While 2 of my kids have not become this "led by the fashion nose" type of teen, #2 son has.
If he had his druthers he'd have a closet stuffed with high-end name brand clothes and I'd be on a street corner begging for change in a tin cup to pay the bills.
While his sister shopped at Salvation Army with glee and his older brother was happy with Walmart jeans, only the likes of Vans clothing will rest next to his skin.
Luckily for us, there is a Vans Outlet Store on the way to visit family and on occasion Kohl's & Penney's carries some of their line at discounted prices.  Even so, because of the cost(even on sale or clearance)#2 son has a very limited wardrobe(because I put him on a budget)and his clothes are washed more frequently(and because of this, he is responsible for doing his own laundry).
This is how I deal with his looking different and not breaking the budget.

As for the food budget, the teen has certain foods he "can't live without"...many of these may not be actual "food" but that's another post for another time.  And even though I attempt to stockpile so I never buy his food wants for full price, some of these foods are difficult to find a deal on.
One such item is Nutella.

Nutella to #2 son is it's own food group.
Seriously.  Addicted.  This boy.
It hardly EVER goes on sale and coupons for it come around once in a blue moon.

I was thrilled on Sunday, when I traipsed up to BIG LOTS for their "One Day Only 20% off everything in the store Sale" and saw jars of Nutella on the shelves.
Nutella for $3.00.
$3 is an ok price for this area.  Even with the 20% off, or $2.40 a jar on Sunday it was better but it wasn't what I'd call a deal.
But sitting on a display aisle in Big Lots of imported from Italy foods was this.....

Yes, it's the Italian version of Nutella.
Same ingredients, same size jar and 50¢ cheaper.  Take off the 20% discount and it was $2.00 a jar.
Do I really have to mention that I stocked up?lol

Since my brain is always working, I have already considered what to do if #2 son balks at eating this Nutella imposter.

First I will play up that it's imported.....from Italy!
If he's like most Americans, I'll be able to convince him that since it's European that it has to be Better than what he's been eating, right?lol

If that tact doesn't work, I'll wash out an old Nutella jar and dump this Italian version into it.  If his eyes see the familiar label, his tastebuds won't know any different.

Another way the Teen will wreak havoc on your food budget is due to their lack of self-control.
I know, I know.....teens aren't alone in the not having any self-control arena, but most teens aren't capable of this trait due to the whole "not fully developed frontal lobe" issue.  Work with me here!

I've spoken before about how quickly soda disappears in this house due to #2 son's inability to limit his intake of the substance.

Well, I stocked up on 6 x 20-packs of Pepsi products this past weekend as part of doing the Pepsi Moments to Save Cat Deal at Weis.
I gave 1 20 pack to Daughter to take back to college Sunday.
That left 3 packs of Mountain Dew(#2 son's favorite soda), 1 pack of Dr. Pepper and 1 pack of actual Pepsi.
2 of the Mountain Dew packs came into the house on Thursday evening.
By Monday morning, here is what one of them looked like....

Completely empty.

Ok, so #2 son had a friend sleep over on Sunday since there was no school on Monday.
He drank 20 sodas in the span of 3.5 days!!
Even with the sleepover friend who might have had 3 of them, that's 17 sodas.
If you take away time for sleeping and time in class and having band practice after school & a football game on Friday and sleeping over someone else's house on Friday night, that leaves 45 hours he was here and awake.
Meaning he had a soda an average of every 2.65 hours while home and awake.

This is why I am forced to hide the rest of the soda in my closet and dole it out like a methadone clinic does to those addicted to opioids.

And if anyone tells him where I've hidden the soda I will personally drive him over to your house and let him eat you out of house and home. ;-)

So tell us what your teen(s) can't live without in the way of clothing and food?
And how do you deal with keeping them AND your budget happy?

Sluggy

School Photos or A Comb, My Kingdom for a Comb!

All you parents out there.....
You all know how annoying those school photos can be, right?

It's a production line of kids on Picture Day so the photographers are more concerned with getting all those photos snapped within the never long enough time frame they are given and not how the kids actually look in the photos.
It's quantity over quality, right?

The kids often look uncomfortable....because they ARE!lol
They are forced to pose unnaturally and the smiles are so fake and forced.
Blogging Buddy Mark did a piece on this very same subject yesterday over HERE.

And then the schools here started those Spring photos too.
You know, the set your kid brings home without you even knowing they took more that year!  The school/photography company figure if we give the kids a big fat envelope of photos with their sweet cherubic faces on them, the parents will not be able to resist keeping them and sending us a big fat check in return.
No thanks I say....one set of awkward poses and forced smiles is enough for my checkbook per year.

And I won't even get into the whole lame photography monopoly between the photo businesses and the school boards.

Since Daughter was a senior this year(which is a whole other way to drain your bank account with overpriced graduation photos, announcements and tchotchkes), we only had the one kid left doing the School Photo schtick.
So I filled out the order form for the smallest package they would allow and went up to the blood bank to sell some plasma so I could afford to write a check to send to school to pay for the pictures.lol

A couple of weeks go by and #2 son brings home his Freshman Year school photos.....the photos that we will keep to remember this special time in his life and cherish said photos forever.

And here is what we got for our money.....about 12 copies of this in various sizes......

Was there no adult there with a comb?....or enough sense to tell him to move his hair out of his eyes?
He is a teenager for gosh sakes....his brain is NOT always engaged!

This school feels comfortable reaching into my home and telling me what I can and can't do with my kid yet they can't tell him to get the hair out of his face for a photo?  Ooooh, that would be stepping on his rights.  We may damage his self-esteem!  And we can't have THAT!!
Puhleez......

Sluggy

A Trio of White Things Hodge-Podge

Ok, so the unifying thread that ties all my babbling in today's post together is the color white.

What is missing from this picture?

Ok.....here's a visual clue.......compared to this photo, what is missing above....besides the sunny day?

We've got a case for Unsolved Mysteries here!
About a month ago, the new, bigger RV aka The Behemoth got pulled away.  Since it was in the midst of the school year(and they have a kid)I figured the Grandparents had taken it out for a fall camping getaway, since they have borrowed it in the past for trips.
But the Behemoth has been gone for a month+ now.....and the Grandparents have never taken it out for that long before...and never this deep into the Fall weather(meaning when it's this cold).
No one has said anything in regards to the Behemoth that I have been able to overhear.
I may just have to think up an excuse to go over there and ask.....not that I don't mind it being gone!

And speaking of weather....
It's almost the end of November and we have had(I know I'm jinxing us with this)NO SNOW yet!
Not.
A Single.
Flake.
The photo above I had to dig out from last February's stash of pics, to show you some of what we ususally have.

This is northeastern PA people.....and we live on top of a MOUNTAIN....albeit a small mountain, but still....
Very rarely do we get to this point in the calendar with not at least 1 or 2 'snow events' that don't instantly disappear upon hitting the ground.
I could get use to this though since the PITA Chihuahua won't go out in snow.
She thinks she is the freaking Queen of England or something and won't go off the deck if there is a dusting of white stuff.  Guess who gets a foot shoved up her hiney to get her off the deck on a regular basis in the winter?

I'm sure we'll pay for this fluke "No Snow In Nov." thing with  lots of APRIL SNOW(which by the way is so WRONG!)on the tail end of Snow Season around these parts.

And speaking of white stuff.....
We now officially live in the "bad" part of town.....if you can call this a town.lol

Our next door neighbor rang our doorbell the other night and let us know that someone had thrown something on the teen's car earlier that evening.  His grown daughter's car, she was visiting from out of town, also was a recipient of this special honor as well.  Both cars were parked down at the street when it happened.
Neighbor's daughter called the police so there was more doorbell ringing here as the patrolman wanted to get our information for his report, etc.  No damage that couldn't be washed off.

I went out the next morning and took some photos of the *ahem*, artwork......

Hubs deduced that the 'media' used in this graffiti art was New England Clam Chowder.
WTF??!!lol
We both simultaneously said, "What a waste of a good cup of chowder."


Now I could see throwing a cup of hot coffee, or spraying a bottle of soda pop on a car.....but who the hell joyrides around with containers of clam chowder for the singular purpose of decorating someone's parked  car?
And the landlocked mountainous area of PA is not where people go around eating clam chowder much anyway, nor is it a popular carry-out food item at any restaurants here.

At least it could be washed off and didn't leave a permanent mark.
It's an 18 yr. old car for gosh sakes so who cares about how it looks, right?lol

I'm just glad the 'hooligans' who did this didn't use rocks or bricks and smash windows or slash tires....this time!
The policeman said he was going to go check up on the whereabouts of our neighborhood, as he called them....*ahem* "freqent flyers" (aka juvenile deliquents).  We've got about 4 rotten egg teens living around here who may or may not be involved.
I'm not getting myself all worked up over this until they do something like set my mailbox on fire....
Once they start destroying the holder of my free samples and coupons, then it will get ugly, I guarantee that!!

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

Teenage Fatigue

I generally am a pretty happy person.  Well, maybe not but I can usually keep my disatisfactions to myself.
But I've been having a really rough patch lately.

Have I mentioned I have 3 teenagers?

Since the oldest #1 son is off living the high life at college I can't complain too much about him, as I'm not dealing with him on a day-to-day basis.

It's the other two alien life forms living in my house.
Yes, I called my beloved children aliens....deal with it!

Because afterall, that's what teens are....aliens.
The hormones have overtaken their brains and bodies, turning them into people I don't know anymore.
And most days, that means people I would really rather NOT know!

And it's just to the point where I can't even say a word to them without being demeaned in some way....either with a look, a sarcastic tone, a negative put down.
I've.
Had.
IT!

It's parent abuse.
It's got me depressed.
And I just want to run away.

I find myself thinking as I'm doing a chore around here, why the hell do I even bother?
Doing their laundry.....why do I bother since they'll just dump it on the floor.
Cooking meals....half the time they say they don't want to eat since it's something they suddenly don't like.
Cleaning up after THEIR dogs.....it's easier just to do it because I am tired of fighting with them to do their chores.
Why do I go through all the hassle and trouble to coupon and shop strategically so I can get the things they want and not go broke in the process?
What does it get me?   A snarl, an eye rolling, a put down.

Yes, they KNOW everything and I'm just a pitiful old stupid woman who's ready to be wheeled to the nursing home.

When school lets out in the afternoon, I spend the rest of the day/evening avoiding my own children.  

Yah, I know this phase will pass but please, can it pass a little faster?
I just don't get why mothers have nervous breakdowns when they become empty-nesters!
I'll be the mom throwing a block party the day the last kid pulls out of the driveway headed for college.

Ok, I'm done with my depressing babbling for now.
Time to go get a spoon and seek out my only true friends, Ben & Jerry.....

Sluggy

What a Weekend! Proms & Cars & Poles, oh My!

The weather was beautiful here in Teeny Tiny Town this past weekend. Unfortunately, I've been fighting a massive attack of the sinuses, so my enjoyment of the weather has been taken down a notch or two.

Saturday was the Senior Prom night for #1 son's class. My oldest baby will be graduating in June, leaving for a summer job the week after that and then starting college across the state in Aug. Snapping pics of him in the yard before he left to go meet his date and take the limo to Prom was a bittersweet moment. In just over a month, he's done with high school and moving on with his life as a young adult.....and he can't WAIT to go!



And neither can I.

I mean it.

A small part of me is sad to see him grow out of his childhood.


But mostly I am glad he is ready to venture out into the world on his own as a man.

My job is done.


Well, not really....more like my old job has become obsolete.


My job has changed from raising him and instilling the things in him that we feel are necessary, to one of support. To be there when he needs advise, or direction or 20 bucks.lol


To put it into business jargon, I've moved from the manufacturing of this product to the customer support/service for this product.


Anyway, here are a few pics of our soon-to-be BMOC(=Big Man on Campus) in his Prom duds....

And ever the family comedian, here is his Captain Morgan photo....

After #1 son left for the Prom festivities, I took the daughter out for some driving practice.
It was NOT a good ride. I had her stop at the CVS, and as she was pulling into the parking place out front, her foot slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator.
And when I say she HIT, I mean HIT!!

She hit the metal pole holding the awning over the front of the store.
We had on our seatbelts and are fine.
The pole, awning and store are fine.

My car is another story......

The estimate I received from the Body Shop guy today is in the ballpark of 3 THOUSAND DOLLARS!

ACK.

Did I say 3 THOUSAND DOLLARS??

ACK AGAIN.

I think my sinuses spontaneously cleared after hearing that number.......

And it could be more once he gets the hood up and checks the frame inside. He didn't want to chance lifting the hood, as I had somewhere else to go and he might not have been able to get it closed, so we could be talking a couple more Thousand.

I'm Not liking this ballpark.

Sluggy

Walgreen's...Savings over 86%

So daughter needed me to take her to do some errands on Sat.-get a gift card for her friend's Sweet 16th birthday party & find a dress for the school play at the Salvation Army. I usually sew her costumes for the plays she's performing in, but this year I wanted to try to find something cheap at Sallie's first. I usually end up spending close to $100 if I have to make her costume. And we are already out $31 for tap shoes of all things! Daughter doesn't dance, by her own admission, and CAN NOT Tap! But she is in the chorus of this play and she has to at least pretend to tap in the dance numbers(try finding tap shoes in the right size USED at Sallie's-ha!), so I had to buy shoes that she will NEVER use again.

Back to the shopping....

So while we were out running her errands, we concluded my PRICE CHOPPER TRIPLER CAMPAIGN(see previous post) & we stopped into a new to me Walgreen's(WAGS). This WAGS was so different from my usual WAGS. It is NOT downtown, so there were hardly any shoppers in the store, the shelves were well stocked(except for a few of the month long Easy Saver Rebate items)and the clerks were actually smiling & seemed happy to see you.

Wow!

I pulled my battle plan, er....my notes out of my purse and began the hunt. Along the way, I found some clearance deals & had to send daughter out to the car to get more coupons from my box. Daughter was not pleased with me, until I found some insanely cheap Hair Coloring & allowed her to put it on my tab.
Oh, how quickly some free gum, shampoo & cheap hair dye can change the mood of a surly 16 yr. old female.

I went into the store with 3 RRs.

I came out with $197.94 of products & $21 RRs.
I spent $28.68 OOP including tax.
I used $169.26 in MQs, Instant Qs, Wags Qs, RRs & clearance prices.

Savings of $169.26($176.25 after MIR) or more than 86% (89% after MIR)!

Transaction #1

3 Slim Packs Wrigley's Gum $1.19, used 3 Free Item Qs=FREE
Colgate Max Toothpaste=$3.29 + got $3.50 in RRs
Excedrin Menstrual Gelcals $5.99, used $4/1WQ & $2IPQ=.01 overage
Vaseline Lotion $3.59, 25% off & used $1.25/1Q=$1.61+ got $2 in RRs
8 Dove Soaps $12.72, used WQ(-$4.80)=$7.92 + got $10 in RRs
Reach Toothbrush on sale $1.59, used $1/1Q=$.59

Total Value with tax=$33.48
Total Qs & Sales=$22.12
I spent $11.36 OOP including tax & Received $15.50 in new RRs

Transaction #2

6 Natural Instincts Hair Color (on sale for $2.39ea.)$14.39, used 6 $2/1 Q=$2.39
4 Clairol Hair Color(on sale for $2.99ea.)$11.96, used 4 $2/1 Q=$3.96
1 Clairol Hair Color(on sale for $1.29ea.)$1.29, used 1 $2/1 Q=.71 overage
Viactiv Chews(on clearance) $3.49, used WQ $3/1 & $2/1 Q=$1.51 overage
Excedrin Menstrual Gelcals $5.99, used $4/1WQ & $2 IPQ=.01 overage
2 Sambucol Tabs $25.98, used $10/1WQ(x2) & $4/1 IPQ=$1.98
2 Vitamin Shampoo BOGO=$6.99 & a MIR for $6.99

Total Value with tax=$138.41
Total Qs & Sales=$133.29
Total spent OOP=$5.12
Used $10 RR from the Dove Deal in the previous transaction so $5.50 RRs left
I'll send for the MIR on the Vitamin Shampoo so delayed OOP is -$1.49

The clerk let through some overage with coupons but she wouldn't let me use my 2nd $4IP Sambucol Q and kept telling me not to buy anything in this transaction that would print a RR. She IS a WAGS expert(she said!)and she said if you pay with a RR, no RRs will print on items in the transaction you pay for with a RR. I thought if I just didn't buy more Dove & pay with the Dove generated RRs I could buy other stuff, like the Colgate or Vaseline. I had a tube of Colgate in this transaction but she took it off and made me buy it separately, as well as 6 more Vaseline Lotions!lol
She was so sweet to me(and did let some overages through), so I just went along with her and bought the toothpaste & lotions separately. ;-)

Transations #3-9

Colgate Max Toothpaste=$3.29 + got $3.50RRs
3 Vaseline Lotion $3.59, 25% off & used $1.25/1Q$1.61 x3=$4.83+ got $6 in RRs
3 Vaseline Lotion $3.59, 25% off & used $1.50/1Q$1.44 x3=$4.32 + got $6 in RRs

Total Value=$26.05
Total Qs & Sales=$13.85
Total spent OOP=$12.20 + got $15.50 in RRs

All totaled, I spent $28.68OOP + I'll get $6.99 back on a MIR for the shampoo, so $21.69OOP & $21RRs to spend next time.

If you are one of those who add the RRs onto the total spent, this trip was a -$.69...Money Maker!

That's just how we Divas Roll the Savings in PA.

This was a fairly frugal trip and totally COMPACT(for all my fellow compactors). All consumables(teeth,skin,hair,medicine) and a mix of compostable & plastic packaging. I'll have to check if the lotion/shampoo/hair color bottles can be recycled.

Be sure to check out how other Thrifty Divas are saving this week at the "Cents"ible Sawyer DRUGSTORE DIVAS Page.

Please leave me a comment if you get the chance. I appreciate all ya'll who read my ...IT'S BORING Blog. ;-))

Sluggy