Frugal Friday.....the Jan. 3rd Edition

Here are our frugal wins for this past week(and the week before while traveling).....

*  I love finding marked down foods at Kroger(this really doesn't happen at Walmart).  We bought salads, hummus, tuna salad and crackers on clearance to eat.  And I did a little Ibotta shopping too. 8-)

*  We also had no food waste last week.   It's hard to have food waste when you aren't cooking. lol

* I cashed out a total of $167.18 between Checkout 51 and Ibotta last week.

*  We bought gas at Kroger, using my points, when possible.

*  We used gift cards when we had to dine out when traveling.  There was one exception-we went to Cracker Barrel and Hubs had the gift card in his pocket and forgot to use it. 8-(  So instead of eating at CB twice, we had to eat there 3 times. ugh

*  I used credit card points to get free or reduced hotel rooms when we weren't staying with family.

*  Entertainment last week was free tv or socializing with family.

*  I found money! 

I found a dime and a penny when we stopped at a Buc-ee's in Georgia on 12/28.

I found a penny when we stopped at a Chili's for dinner on 12/28 in Alabama.

I found a total of .36¢ at Walmart on 12/30-a quarter, a dime and a penny at different parts of the store.

                          

I found .25¢ at Aldi on 12/31 when we went to pick up fresh produce and fruit.

And I found a fuzzy Geo. Washington .25¢ at Walmart by the pharmacy counter on 12/31 when went to pick up an Rx.

Grand Total Found this Year.......$10.70 & 5.30 Euros  I had a strong finish with a found coins streak the last week of 2024.

(And I just counted up my coinage and it came to $12 even.  I must have missed writing down $1.30 of my stash somewhere in 2024.)

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy 

Frugal Friday.....the January 5th Edition on Saturday

 There are a few Frugal wins these past couple of weeks so here goes....

*  We were able to use some old gift cards for restaurants along the way on the trip.
We had Applebee's in PA and IHop in GA, paying with gift cards.  We also mooched meals off our Hosts in PA, MD and VA.  There was restaurant spending in PA and MD without the benefit of gift cards. ouch

*  I had a $50 gift card still for Ocean State Job Lot(but they don't have stores anywhere down here).  So before we left Wilkes-Barre on Dec. 26th we hit there to use it up, mostly buying discounted Xmas stuff we no longer had(bags, boxes, bows, tissue paper and ribbon)plus some doggies treats and toys for our puppies and a few food items(sesame oil, dark chocolate, coffee filters and a monstrously larger vat of pink Himalayan sea salt.

This 5lb. containers was only $5.99!
It should last us the rest of our lives. lol

*  Grocery shopping the past 2 weeks for December--best deals........while I wasn't home to do regular shopping we bought some foodstuffs on the trip at places we don't have here.

We hit up Aldi in VA while staying at my brother's house.  Got some chili, pumpkin(long dated), crushed tomatoes, dark chocolate bars and a bag of peanut butter cups(my guilty pleasure).  The first 3 items were on clearance too.

We went to a Trader Joes also near my brother's place that same day.  I got a package of Rigatoni(hard to find here, almost as hard as shell pasta is to find), a dark chocolate bar and some dark chocolate peanut butter cups.  So many things at both of these stores we'd have loved to bring home but they required refrigeration. 8-(

And to finish off the shopping spree that day we hit Rose's discount store for these on clearance........

You are either in the Fruitcake Friend or Fruitcake Foe camp, there is no middle ground.  This is by far the BEST fruitcake there is....as Dr. Spo is given to saying, "Do not dare question this!" 8-)

$2.25 for a 1 lb. brick of this delicacy?  Heck yeah!  Claxton's has been around forever so they must be doing the fruitcake game right.  The best fruitcake is 90% fruit and nuts with only enough cake batter to hold the thing together.

*  In the "found category", at the rest stop somewhere in VA, as I walked around to get some exercise, I wandered over to the vending machine cubicle and noticed one of the drink machines was flashing "$1.00 credit" on it's screen.  I needed some water so I put the rest of the coinage needed to purchase a bottle of water into the machine and voila!, out popped a bottle of Aquafina(a very over priced brand IMHO).

So I got a discounted much needed at the time bottle of water courtesy of some kind Secret Santa who put $1 into that machine and left.

*  I found money!

These two blurry pennies were in the vending machine coin return at the Vicksburg MS Welcome Center/Rest Stop.

This quarter in a change return of a vending machine in a VA Rest Stop.

This dime in the Chinese Restaurant we had a tradition of having Christmas Eve dinner in when we lived in PA. We enjoyed the company of our nephew there.

This quarter on NYE on a trip to Aldi's at my brother's house in VA.  Some guy returned his cart but didn't hook it up and take his quarter so I "helped him". hehehe

This Penny on my Brother's Porch the day after New Year's.

This penny somewhere in NC at yet another Rest Stop.(We saw a LOT of rest areas on this trip due to my butt and knee issues.)

And this penny on the ground at the vending machines in a Rest Stop somewhere in AL.

Total Found in last 2 Weeks.... .65¢
Grand Total Found this Year.......$4.21

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy   

Frugal Friday....the November 17th Edition

There are very few(if any)Frugal wins this past week so here goes....

*  I went to PT 3 x this past week.  Man, does that wear me out and I usually need a nap in the afternoon.  Good thing I've hit all my deductibles and co-pays so I'm not shelling out cash for this service.

*  Grocery shopping this past week--Just a little bit.  Unlocked my Ibotta sides so Hubs picked those up while I was at PT and those turned out to be better than free, then we hit Kroger to finish my Weekend Bonus and unlock my free Turkey.  We used the travel stipend card funds to pay so no OOP.

*  I had an Ollie's 15% off any order coupon so we hit Ollies' on Thursday and picked up a few food items, a book for Hubs and some doggie treats.  Nothing much else we needed to we didn't spend or save a lot.

*  We had lunch at the Applebee's nearby since I still have lots of gift cards for there and the location closer to us shutdown.  The lunch was a bit disappointing as the waitress got our order wrong(or the kitchen did)and my hamburger was practically incinerated. 8-(

*  I had 1 doctor appointment this week at the pain clinic.  They scheduled me for a back MRI, this one is in an open MRI not like that brain MRI I had that wasn't in an open machine and about sent me shrieking out of the building.   At least I don't have any co-pays or deductibles.  go me.

*  I found money!

Nope, skunked again.  It's hard to look for change when you are concentrating on not falling down. lol

Total Found in last Week.... .00¢
Total Found this Year.......$3.45

That's all I got.

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

Blogging will be taking a backseat to getting me healed so there might not be many posts here for the foreseeable future.8-)

Sluggy   

Frugal Friday....the June 10th Edition

So here are a few frugal things that happened here at Chez Sluggy this past week.......

*  Not really frugal but a win nonetheless.....

I culled more items from the house to send off to charity.  4 more bags of clothing that is too big now, some handbags/tote bags, a couple of Christmas ornaments and a knee support that didn't. *snort*

More stuff out of our lives that we can't/don't use. 8-)

*  I received a Rakuten check.......

Actually got it last week but I cashed it in this week.  It's not much as the only online shopping I did was from Easy Spirit this Winter and 2 Rite-Aid online orders in May(which I didn't pay any $$ for-just Bonus Cash).  Free money back for not spending any cash at least at R-A?  Yes please!

*  The only eating out this past week was on Thursday.  We went to Applebee's for lunch and used one of the gift cards I have.  The only OOP was for the tip.  

*  I sold something on eBay!

3 boxes of limited edition Starbucks K-Cups.  I picked these up in Jan. or Feb. for $2 a box.  Sold them before their Best Buy date.  Go me.  After fees I'll net a bit over $10 profit here.

*  As we get work done in the house we will be having to purchase stuff at home repair stores so I picked up a Lowe's gift card at Rite-Aid.  This gave me $16 in BC so I'll parlay that into more free stuff from R-A. 8-)

*  Hubs and I went to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)on Thursday and used a 15% off coupon they had mailed me before it expired.  I picked up some food items....

Popcorn and Pretzels to keep me from eating worse things.  Some pasta noodles, canned soup(can't make it for this cheap), water flavoring, a graham cracker pie crust for 4th of July pie making, applesauce cups and a bag of Brownie Brittle(so I don't eat much worse in the calorie count  brownies).  All this cost me $15.57.

*  I did some Ibotta and ShopKick deals at Walmart.....

All this cost me $20.98 after tax, minus Qs and $10 in fee gift cards.  I earned back $25.05 between Coupons dotcom digital Q, Ibotta rebates and bonus and Shop Kicks earned(I also earned some ShopKicks from scanning products in store that I didn't purchase).  So a net gain of $4.07 back.

The cereals will go into my Food Bank donation box, the toiletries/HBA may be used or go into a Giveaway and the veggie dogs and raisin bread will be eaten.

*   I found money this past week!  

When I was out on Tuesday I found a dime at the Rite-Aid South of here and a penny in one of the self-checkout machine change returns at Walmart.

Not a big win but it's better than getting skunked 2 weeks in a row. lol

Total Found in last Week.... .11¢
Total Found This Year.....$13.03

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!  

Sluggy  

Frugal Friday.........the February 25th Edition

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

*   No food waste.  I didn't cook much last week as we were leaving for a few days for the wedding so we ate leftovers and just fended for ourselves a lot.  Free hotel breakfasts for 2 mornings, free wedding meal.  Let's not count the rehearsal dinner we shelled out for or the suitcase of White Castle burger my kids talked me into paying for on Saturday night. ;-)

*  I used an old Chili's gift card to buy Hubs, 
Ex-CB and I lunch on the way to NJ on Saturday so no OOP spent.  Ex-CB covered the tip.

*  I bought all  this at various Rite-Aids on Sunday and Thursday.......

Got  $5 in Ibotta rebates on the Max Freeze and Mitchum and spent BC on everything.

Bought this stuff at R-A South of town.  Nothing spent OOP and $6 in BC earned, $3 earned at Swag Bucks(Baby Ruths)and $11.75 earned through Ibotta($8 Max Freeze, $1.50 Honest, $2 Manuka, .25¢ Quaker).

I bought this stuff at my R-A.  For some reason a $2 ManuQ didn't come off and the register wouldn't take my BC to pay so I had to use a gift card.  I earned $13 in BC($3 dry skin, $3 Nivea, $1 Manuka, $5 Honest spent $15).
I earned $9.50 on Ibotta.  I also got a $1 post coupon on the Caress(forgot to use it).

* I bought all this stuff for Ibotta rebates on a trip to Walmart on Thursday....

Not pictured is a loaf of Nature's Own bread, 2 different bags of Back to the Roots Soils, a pack of BTTR seeds and a lb. of Challenge Butter.

The beans qualified for 2 rebates as did the Maxwell House coffee.  The Soft Soap refills were on clearance for $1 and gave me $2 each in Ibotta rebates so better than free,=.

The only items not Ibotta rebates was the kids Dove items.  That was a Shop Kick deal.

Spent $28.55 after coupons and free $25 gift card and earned back $34.38 back in reg. rebates and bonuses.

The Shop Kick items cost me $1.78 total after kicks.

*  I found some clearance deals at Walmart when I went to do my Ibotta haul as well.......

The 8 Nestle morsels and Fudge Kits were .50¢ each,  the Rempure rose body wash was $3.55(Rose scent is my Achilles tendon), the 2 immunity packs were $2 each, the Bic razors were -.04¢ after coupons and the probiotics were $1.

Not a bad haul overall.

*  I received 3 J&J gift cards in the mail totaling $25.......

Still waiting on that $50 R-A gift card corporate is supposedly mailing to me.  It's been 4 weeks almost and their HQ is a 2 hour drive from here.  By now I could have
walked there and gotten it in person!!!

*  I got lots of freebies at the hotel where the wedding was held..............

From mints to little bottles of toiletries to K-pods to tea bags and creamer packets to Kleeex to Tylenol to pens and notepads.  Even a dishwasher pod. lol

I also got some free sodas and water.......

*  I also got some extra sodas from the rehearsal dinner...

More on that later. 8-)

*   I found money!

I found a penny and a quarter at Walmart on Friday.

I found 3 pennies at the Burger King drive thru also on Friday.

I got .50¢ from my daughter before she flew home as she doesn't "use" money.

Silly Rabbit!

2  pennies and a crusty dime in the parking lot on Tuesday on the sidewalk outside of Rite-Aid.

And 2 pennies in Aldi and a quarter from an abandoned shopping cart in the parking lot on Thursday.

Big money this past week!+

Total Found in last Week...... $1.18
Total Found This Year......$3.27

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

Let's not even talk about the money spent this past weekend in Jersey!!(rehearsal dinner, gas, hotel, bar drinks though I am pretty good at getting men to buy me drinks lol, late night snacks, booking trips, paying to Kennel dogs, etc.

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

And have a good weekend and stay warm!  

Sluggy  

3 Frugal Fridays Reports on Sunday.......the October 3rd Edition

I've been away since Frugal Friday September 10th this is a multiple week edition so here we go!.....

*  Drove my car on the trip down to VA and MD.  It gets great gas mileage(maybe not so much on the trip home as my car was PACKED with stuff!).  I also waited to get to VA to refuel on the way down as gas prices are lower there and I made sure my gas tank was full before I left VA and again, I topped off in MD right before crossing into PA-the land of high gas taxes-which saved a few dimes or so.

*  I finished off numerous Ibotta Bonuses over the course of the 2+ weeks I was gone.  I stopped in Delaware on the way down at a Walmart(no sales tax in DE), found a freebie or 2 in VA stores, and a few finds in MD stores too.

* The aforementioned food bank donation in Hubs car from the Sept. 10th FF post got taken up to the Church by Hubs while I was in VA for the win! 8-)  And I've already started another donation box.

*  I traveled to VA via the Eastern Shore as it's the most direct route.  Leaving on a Thursday rather than Friday meant saving monies at the Tolls in Delaware because they jack them up to $3 each on weekends(Fri.-Sun.). There was the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tolls that route though but at least that hadn't gone up on price since my last trip.

*  I had some quality time with my brother, sister in-law and Sissie and her hubs on this trip for another win!!

*  I used an Applebee's gift card to pay for a lunch out with my Sister in-law.

*  I saw a childhood friend(who had come to my mom's funeral in 2000 but I otherwise hadn't seen since we moved away from my childhood home in 1974).  She took me out for lunch and it was nice to reconnect with her.

*  I bought red and white wines at Aldi in VA.  The Aldis in PA aren't allowed to sell wine/beer.  I'd rather pay $2.95 + tax for a bottle rather than the $10 the cheapest wine I would cook with for sale in PA.  Between how much I already had and the 4 bottles I bought I am good on wine for stews, soups, sauces until next year.

*  The a/c at home was not used while I was gone(though we needed it further South in both VA and MD(but those weren't my electric bills). lol

*  I picked up some Xmas presents(more like stocking stuffers)for cheap or free(Rite-Aid).  I also used a Q and Sissie took me to CVS to use it, netting me a free lip balm.  I guess that "purchase" put me over a Beauty Buck reward amount because now I have a $3 ECB to use. argh!  Here we go on the CVS merry-go-round again. lolol

*  I found money!

A penny at a Rite-Aid in Delaware.

A quarter at a Mickey D's drive-thru I stopped at to get an Iced Tea somewhere on the Eastern Shore.

2 quarters at Aldi in Va.  One in a loose cart and the other on the ground.

Another quarter lying on the floor in Kroger in VA.

.15¢ in the check-out line at Chick fil-A.  Sis in-law wanted to get drinks there so I gave her cash for that and then got out of the car and stood in front of it and scooped this up before motioning her ahead.  Kim and I are going to die by being run over in a drive-thru line I fear. ;-)

2 pennies in one of the many Rite-Aids I went in while in VA.

.27¢ at the Mickey D's by Sissie's house in MD.  I pulled the "jump out of the car" maneuver again. lol

Another quarter at Aldi in MD.

A bunch of change Sissie gave me(since she didn't put any on my bed before I arrived)at the bar.  She doesn't like change in her wallet and was cleaning it out.  I was in the right place at the right time. lol

A quarter in the soda machine outside of Walmart while I was waiting for Sissie to pick me up after she went to Kohl's and Aldi.

A dime I scooped up from the Mickey D's drive-thru when I stopped for an iced tea after leaving Sissie's house for the ride home.  There was also another dime and a nickel but I couldn't reach them while hanging out of the driver's seat of the car. Stupid short arms! 8-(

Money Found These Weeks....$2.78
Money Found This Year.....$17.91

What frugal wins did you have the last couple of weeks?
Let us know all about them!

Sluggy