The Dove Sweepstakes Tale

I just had to come in for a while from the garage to cool off in the A/C. I've been spending the day organizing my stockpile out there.
Let me think of something to talk about....hmmm.
Oh, I know! I can tell you all about the Dove Giveaway I won!!

Back in late April....at least I Think it was late April. It's so hard for my menopausal brain to remember that far back.lol
Back in late April alot of ladies received this full sized sample of a new Dove Deodorant in the mail. Remember?


After I got my 1 Deodorant I received an email from the Dove Team or something. Marketing stuff.....blah, blah, blah....you know the deal. The email mentioned that Dove set up a Facebook page for this new product-the Dove Visibly Smooth Facebook page-and they were holding a Sweepstakes there. So I headed over to check it out the beginning of May. I left a comment about the product on Dove's "wall" and sent some emails to friend's telling them to go enter the contest.

Forward to about a week later, I receive an email from a marketing person from the company that Dove hired to run this promotion.
Guess who won Day 3 of the weeklong giveaway?

Yup.....yours truly! 8-))
Then began the long, drawn out saga of me trying to get my prize.
Why does EVERYTHING with me turn out to be a Long, Drawn out Saga??

The Marketing Firm & the Dove Company lawyers require all winners to sign a release. It basically says you are eligible to win the prize(don't work for the company or related to some one who does, legal age, etc.), requires you to report your prize winnings to the government so they can tax you on the value, and if somehow the prize causes you pain or death that they can't be held responsible. That kind of "covering their own butts" stuff.
So, the marketing gal says she mailed out the form. I wait.....and wait.....AND WAIT....somewhere around 3 weeks for it to arrive. I email her and she says that the form(sent USPS certified/return receipt)came back undeliverable. I confirm that she has my mailing address correct. Marketing gal sends it out again, this time via Fedex. It gets here in 2 days.
I open the Fedex envie and the original letter still has the USPS return receipt card on it and is marked "Return to Sender"....and my mailing address IS correct on it. The mailman delivers mail here every day but the USPS couldn't seem to find me to deliver this Particular letter.
And our Congress & President now want us to get our Healthcare from a Government run Program, like the FINE "can't find me suddenly to deliver a letter"/hemorrhaging Money Agency that the US Postal Service is??
Hmmm....

So I open it up, sign the form, slap it in a new envie and take it down to the PO to return it. Just in case the USPS thinks they might lose it, I send it certified/return receipt back to Chicago to the address the marketing gal gave me.

So I wait a week, then 2, figuring my prize should be on the way by now, right?
Nope.
2 weeks after mailing the form I go to the mailbox and what do I find?
The certified/return receipt envie I sent to Chicago, returned to me as Undeliverable!
What in the pan-fried hell is going on??

So I email the marketing gal and get a response 3 days later.
Seems this Marketing Firm MOVED to a different building in Chicago between the time she gave me their mailing address and when I mailed the form back.

Was she unaware that her office was packing up shortly and moving? Probably not....
Was she an airhead? Maybe.....

At this point it is mid June and I'm losing faith I'll ever see this prize. The marketing gal emails back with a PDF attachment. It's a legal release form in PDF form I can sign and return via email.
Now why didn't they just do this to begin with?lolol

So I sign and return it and start the wait....AGAIN!

And about 2 weeks later(the end of June sometime), Fedex comes back to see me, this time with a small package.

There was a note card congratulating me on winning the Giveaway.



And $125 in gift Cards to Kohl's. I guess I'll have to go shop there, huh? Not really my kind of store but #2 son loves anything Van's and they do carry Van's shoes and clothes. He is Thrilled!lol



And there was a cute lucite Razor with the Dove Logo on the handle. Not sure if I can change blades on it or what kind it would take. It would be a shame to have to just throw this out when the blades got dull.

I was also suppose to receive a One Hour Phone Consultation with some well-known "Transition Life Coach" person, Kathy Caprino, whom I've never heard of. There's been no further information or communication from Dove or the Marketing Company about when & if I'll get this part of the Prize Package.
No big loss.
But I do have a feeling that if Dove sends me a 1099 tax form at the end of the year, saying they reported my 'prize' value to the government, that the value reported will include the value of that consultation I never received. Yah, I just have a 'feeling' since things have already been screwed up with this whole Saga and I've got that grey cloud over my head anyway.lol

So that's my big "I won a prize by someone who never wins stuff" Story. I didn't want to talk about it until I finally got the prize. It took from May 1 until June 28th-TWO MONTHS to get it.
You know what would have REALLY been awesome? Winning $125 in Gift Cards to the Grocery Store, Wags or CVS!lolol That's me, a GROCERY & DRUG STORE DIVA to the end. ;-))

Now off to feed the doggies and then go jump in the pool. The garage can wait for more organizing until tomorrow.

Sluggy

TOOTHPASTE Coming Out of Your Ears this Week at Rite-Aid

Gee, I have really been on a Rite-Aid tear lately, huh?

If you need Toothpaste & Toothbrushes in your home, then Rite-Aid is the place to be this week.
Not only can you get Toothpaste & Toothbrushes there this week, you can get it for F-R-E-E!
Here's how.....

Grab the sales flyer from this week at Rite-Aid. If you don't have one already from your Sunday newspaper, pick it up at the store.
In the Rite-Aid sales flyer there is a Rite-Aid coupon for $3 off 2 Colgate Products(toothpaste & brushes). Certain Colgate products are on sale for $3 each this week. Here's a photo of the page from the sales flyer. The coupon is in the upper right hand corner.



Go HERE and find the Colgate Toothpaste/Toothbrush Coupon. It's worth $3 off the purchase of a tube of Colgate Toothpaste(5.6 oz. or larger) AND any Colgate Toothbrush(except Plus, Extra Clean & Wisps). Print it out. (You should be able to print it twice, so get two or 4 if you have access to 2 computers with printers....more on that later.)

Go to the store with your coupons.
Get 2 Colgate products that qualify for both the sale and your coupons. (I got the Colgate Max Fresh Toothpaste, 6 oz. tube, & a Max White Toothbrush.)
Use BOTH the Manufacturer's Colgate Coupon AND the Rite-Aid Coupon on your purchase.
Buy 2x$3 Colgate=$6.
Minus $3 for the Rite-Aid Coupon=$3
Minus $3 for the Manu. Coupon=$0!
Well, you may have to pay tax, depending what state you make this purchase in.
**Note**
The Internet printed Coupon has the 'Walgreens' logo on it. If the cashier is anal(lol)he/she may try to tell you that Rite-Aid can't take this coupon, because it has a Wags logo on it. But the coupons does NOT say "redeemable ONLY at Walgreens" anywhere on it. Further, if you READ the coupon, it says "Redeemable at Food, Drug, Discount and other Stores accepting coupons."
Can you guess who got an ANAL Cashier who said she couldn't take the coupon and had to call the Manager and he actually READ the thing and said it was fine? 8-P


Now if you were able to print more than one $3 off Colgate coupon from the website, cut out another Rite-Aid coupon from the sales flyer and do it again.

Or try doing this.....
Print out 4 Colgate $3 Coupons from Coupons.com(you'll need access to at least 2 different computers w/printers).
Cut out 4 Rite-Aid $3 off Colgate Coupons from the sales flyer AND print a $5 off $25 Rite-Aid purchase coupon from HERE.
Go to the store.
Get 8 Colgate Toothpaste/Toothbrushes, on sale for $3 each, for a total of $24.
Get $5 worth of additional items you want/need.
Take it all to the register to pay.
Total comes to $29(+tax in some states).
Hand Cashier your $5 off $25 Coupon.
Then hand over your 4 Rite-Aid sales flyer coupons & the 4 Colgate IP coupons.
$29-$5=$24.
$24-4x$3off RA Q($12)=$12
$12-4x$3IP Q($12)=$0.00(+tax).

Congratulations....you just got 4 tubes of Toothpaste & 4 Toothbrushes Plus $5 of other items for ZERO money(if you don't count the sales tax, if it's due in your state).

But it gets even better!
In addition....there is another offer from Rite-Aid in the Single Check Rebate flyer you can submit for. It's #501--Purchase $15 of ANY Variety of Oral Care Products(Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, Mouth Rinse, Floss, Whitening Products, etc.) and receive a FREE Summer Fun Tote Bag. The bag comes packed with over "$10 in free items". Pictured in the flyer are magazines, gum, vitamins & a bottled water. I received one of these FREE bag type deals in June for some skin care items I bought and it had tons of little samples of other products plus 2 Coupons for FREE full sized items. Personally, I wouldn't go out of my way & actually spend $15 to get this bag of stuff, but if I "spent" $15(before coupons)to get free toothpaste & brushes and they want to give me this bag of goodies too for FREE, that's fine by me!lolol

If you would like the Summer Fun Tote Bag and you don't want to buy 8 brushes & pastes to get it OR you can't print out enough coupons to get 4 sets of paste/brush, there are other qualifying products with MONEY Rebates as well this month that would also get you the Tote Bag once you hit $15. They are SCR#119-#126(though the valid purchase dates for #124 is past). You can pair your 2 or 4 pastes/brushes with some of these other Oral Care Rebates and if you 'spend' $15, you'll qualify for the FREE Tote Bag too. The Week of 8/23-8/29 there is a Colgate Advanced Whitening Rebate FREEBIE...spend $2.49 that week, get the whole amount back. That would be a good one to help get you to $15 of products for the Free Tote Bag.

Also, In the Oral Care area it's worth checking for Clearance prices on the Classic version of THE DOCTOR'S Night Guard product. I found a Rite-Aid around here last month that was clearancing this version of the product out for 50% off. The SCRebate last month, as well as this month on either version is $14(SCR#122). I spent $12.49+tax on clearance and got $14 back....plus I have the Night Guard to sell on eBay for about another $8. That will put me about $4 ahead after sales tax and eBay fees on this one item. So check the shelves for this item on sale while you are over in the Toothpaste aisle anyway.

Sluggy

What are you waiting for? Join the Revolution!

It seems to be the "IN" thing, getting out and being out of debt.
With the path our national is currently on, getting debt free is the ONLY option that makes sense to live the best life you can.

My sign says....
" DEBT-FREE including the Mortgage, paying Cas$h for College x 3 kids & saving MORE for an Early Retirement!"

What are you waiting for?
Get with the IN Crowd.
Get Debt-free.
You'll like it here. ;-)

Sluggy

Real Cheap Johnson's Baby Products became FREE at Rite-Aid on Saturday

Remember my post on Saturday, located Here, where I talked about how to get Johnson's Baby Wash/Oil/Powder for REAL CHEAP?

Well I had an inspiration about 7 pm that evening, right before I was going to head up to Rite-Aid to finish off purchasing the second half of the products for my $25 level Rebate.

I had already bought these on Friday....
7 Johnson's Baby Products @ $3.50=24.50(just .50¢ short of the $5 level of SCR #97)
1 Ez Start Duck Tape @ $1.49(freebie after $1.49 SCR)
1 Tag Body Spray @$2.99(.99¢ after $2/1 Q)-this was for #2 son, I didn't have to buy it to get to $25 total so I could use the $5/$25 Rite-Aid Q

Total was $28.98
Used Coupons....
$5 Rite-Aid (on a $25 purchase)
7 $1/1 Johnson's
1 $2/1 Tag
Q Total=$14.00

$28.98-$14=$14.98+tax

So for SCR #97, I needed to purchase an additional $25.50($24.50 already spent on Johnson's) to get to $50 spent & qualify for the $25 Rebate check.
I WAS going to buy 8 more Johnson's Baby Products to get over $50, and be OOP $2.50+tax for all that Johnson's after the SCRebate came in.
But I thought of another way to get to $50 and have an OOP of ZERO after the Rebate.

Instead of the 8 Johnson's, I bought....
5 Johnson's @$3.50=$17.50
2 Benadryl Gel @$4.50=$9.00--the Benadryl/Cortaid Anti-Itch items were also on sale last week AND they also qualify for the SCR#97 AS WELL AS there own SCR #52($2 SCR on purchase of 2 items). I had $1/1 Qs for all the Johnson's and for the Benadryl too.
So after the Qs(14x$1 coupons+2x$5 Rite-Aid coupons=$24 off) & sale prices I am OOP $27 on $51 worth of items that qualify for SCR #97 & #52 and I'll get $27 back($25+$2) on these $51 worth of items in the SCR. Technically OOP Zero before sales tax.

Yes!!!
Doing the Happy Dance.

Afterwards I also saw that SCR#52 could be done 3 times and you could have turned this into a small Moneymaker if you had bought in 2 transactions....
7 Johnson's @$3.50=$24.50
6 Cortaid or Benadryl=$27.00
SubTotal of $51.50
Used 13 $1/1 Qs & 2 Rite-Aid $5 off Qs=23.00
OOP=$28.50
Submit for SCR#97($25), #52 x3($6)=$31 Rebate...$2.50Moneymaker!
The $2.50 could have covered your sales tax OOP and made this a true FREEBIE.

I'm sorry I didn't figure this way out sooner in the week so I could have alerted everyone.
UGH!

Sluggy-the slow one

Meal Plan Monday.....August 10th Edition Back in the Saddle, Sort of

Well last week I didn't have a Meal Plan. Since #2 son was at Band Camp from 9am to 8pm and ate all but breakfast away from home, I didn't even bother with writing down a weekly menu. I just shot from the hip! Just call me Ms. Spontaneity!lol

Each morning I'd open the pantry/freezer/fridge/garage storage doors and peer in and wait for the Inspiration to hit me.
And most mornings, it did and I pulled together something darn tasty and simple. Hubby loves leftovers so we used some of those up last week....which is always a GOOD thing!

Having produce in the garden ready to pick each morning was a great inspiration last week. Whatever was ripe it what we had, along with a protein/meat. We dined on Yellow Summer Squash(Battered & Fried), Swiss Chard(sauteed with bacon), Salad Greens(still harvesting those this late is crazy good!), Cucumbers(made into 'New Pickles'). I used up some meats from the freezer....ham slices, a London broil, kosher hot dogs, ground beef & turkey in meat pasta sauce, & a frozen pizza. I also dug some corn on the cob out of the freezer from last fall & served it. It tasted as good as it did last September!

Since #2 son will be away for meals this week as well, I'm going to stick to what I did last week, BUT I will write out a tentative Menu. The meals will be served but not necessarily in the order presented here. After regularly having a Meal Plan each week posted for many months now, I just felt weird NOT having one last week.


Here's what our family of 2(+ 1 more for the weekend) will be eating this week...

Monday-Hubby out of town, I'll eat whatever is leftover in the fridge
Tuesday-Veggie Burgers(in freezer),Summer Squash Casserole(from garden)
Wednesday-Grilled Chicken, Deviled Eggs(I have eggs to use up),Fried Zucchini(from garden)
Thursday-Ravioli in Meat Sauce(sauce is leftover), Salad Greens(from garden)
Friday-Band Picnic-will take a dish to share, not sure what yet
Saturday-either Chili or Beef Stroganoff(using leftover London broil)
Sunday-Chicken Parmesan(using chicken from freezer), Swiss Chard(from garden), garlic bread(using homemade loaf)

Desserts-French Apple Pie(using frozen apple pie mix I made last fall), Watermelon

My shopping list for this week's meals consists of....hamburger rolls, watermelon & ravioli. I am going to try to stay out of the grocery store this week besides these 3 items.....I really need to stay out for a bit after hitting Acme's Unilever Deal hard last week, as well as Price Chopper's Deal Saturday night. With those 2 Campaigns I got a TON of groceries/toiletries(over $1400 worth) but I've spent approx. $170OOP out of my Food Budget already for August.
I never did get to the farm for the bushel of green beans 2 weeks ago, so I'll try to get there this week. I might NOT get a bushel though as there isn't alot of real estate open in the freezer just yet.

Food Waste Report.....not much food was made the last 2 weeks(besides the metric TON of meat sauce!lol), so not much in the way of leftovers. Tonight I need to do a sweep in the fridge and see what got pushed to the very back on the shelves. Hopefully nothing is growing fuzz yet and there's something the dogs can eat back there. I have been faithfully using my compost bucket by the sink for anything that can be put on the pile out back.

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!

Sluggy