The Summer of Peace & Quiet is Over

Yes, it's true.
The summer of '09 is over.....well, at least MY Summer is over.

Yesterday was the last day of Band Camp for #2 son. 2 Weeks of peace & quiet while he was at Band Camp has come to an end.
And tomorrow.......**sigh**.....tomorrow #1 son & daughter return from their jobs at the Camp on Lake Erie.

And the house will be filled with THREE TEENAGERS again.
And 3 dogs.
And hubby & I.

So I am spending today trying to get all the rest of the stockpile moved into the new organizational schematic out in the garage and all the new acquisitions from Acme-MANIA posted about HERE incorporated into said Stockpile.

I just sent #2 son's friend home with 2 shopping bags loaded down with Powerade and Vitamin Water since we have so much I know it won't all get used while it's still tasty.

I have also started a pile of duplicates to give to the Food Bank. Moving stuff around has uncovered more than I thought I had out there so some of it will be leaving here & spread some Food Love to those who can use it in my town.

In other news....

I just found a wonderful photo online. My daughter does NOT enjoy having her picture taken. I don't know how she snuck into this family of photo hogs!lol

Last year when she was in Counselor Training at Camp, the camp directors instituted an online Photo Album. The camp has someone wandering around every day taking candid photos of the kids at camp that week. The parents of the kids can go online and view these photos every day. Now, they take a bazillion photos a day for this online album. How many photos of my daughter do you think they took in 3 WEEKS at camp?

Exactly TWO.

She was very good at avoiding the photographer.
And she is very good at avoiding them again this year while she is working there.

But I found her Facebook page and she has NOT been able to avoid the photographer totally this year!
Daughter posted a couple of photos on her page.
And I saved those photos.
Here is one....


Daughter is second from the right in the black shorts.
And she has this STRANGE THING on her face!
No, wait!
I know what that is......
it's....it's....
called......
a SMILE!!

I almost didn't recognize it, as Daughter hasn't worn one in a very VERY long time!

Ok, so I admit it.
I do miss them all.
But if you say I said that, I'll deny it.
Especially after about 2 days home, when they start to get on my Last Nerve again.....
Cause that's how long it will take for them to wear out their welcome home.
Two days...tops!

Back to the garage....land of Cereal and Pop-Tarts.
Have I mentioned you really CAN have TOO MANY POP-TARTS!?!?

So what is everyone else doing this weekend?


Sluggy

The Mother of All Shopping Trips....in the last few Months at least

I got wind a couple of weeks ago, of a great Shopportunity coming up at the Acme chain of Grocery Stores.

This was a joint Unilever/General Mills Promotional deal that ran for 2 weeks at the SuperValu owned chains of grocery stores(Acme, Albertson's, etc.), from Aug.2-Aug. 13th. When you bought $30 in select Unilever &/or General Mills items, you received $15 in Catalina Coupons at the register. That $30 was based on REGULAR SHELF PRICE. Many of the items that qualified during the 1st week of the Promotion were ON SALE. Plus, many coupons were floating around both in the Sunday inserts & online printables to pair with the sale prices and the Catalina rewards.

I was able to scoot down to the "Land of Acmes" outside of Philly for 2 days during the 1st week of the sale.
You can check out my post HERE with the details of the Rewards for the Promotion and a list of what I bought the 1st day I shopped the sale.

I finally got 'most' of the food I bought(except for the refrigerated products)onto my dining room table(note-table with BOTH leaves in it!) and took a couple of pictures before it collapsed into a heap from the weight of all that stuff!lol
Here are 3 photos.

Pictured is all the food I bought--except for....
4x 12-packs of Snapple Tea
8x 1/2 Gallons of Milk
4x 4-packs of Yogurt
2 lbs. of grapes
1 loaf of bread
1 single serve cup of Ben & Jerry's(that never made it home!lol)
2x Milkbones boxes
1x Chex Mix
4 bags of Lay's Chips
2 Bags of Bugles


Here are 2 close-ups of everything from the 1st photo.



And here is a photo of all the Toiletries/Cleaning Supplies I got. Everything is here except for 3 large Dove Shampoos that I had already taken upstairs.


Here's the list of everything I bought.

8 BC Cake Mix
1 BC Warm Delights Snack Cake
15 boxes Nutri-Grain Bars
2 Nature Valley Nut Clusters
30 boxes Pop-Tarts
8 BC Brownie Mix
7 BC Frosting
32 Skippy Peanut Butter
19 Assorted GM Cereals(HN CHeerios, Kix, Honey Kix, Cookie Crisp, Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
4 boxes Lipton Tea
4 BC Cookie Mix
9 Wishbone Dressing
10 Hellman's Mayo
10 Lipton Dry Soup Mix
2 boxes of Chex Mix Bars
1 box of Fiber One Cereal Bars
4 boxes of Bisquick Mix
3 Chicken Helper
2 Macaroni Grill Dinner Kits
6 Ragu Pasta Sauces
5 Chex Mix
4 Bugles Snacks
1 Sobe Drink Bottle
2 6-pack of Soda
4 Cases of Snapple Tea
8 1/2 Gallons of Over the Moon Milk
4 4-packs of Yogurt
2 lbs. of grape
1 loaf of bread
1 single serve cup of Ben & Jerry's
2 boxes of Milkbones
12 Q-Tips
2 Suave Body Wash
3 Degree Deodorant
2 Degree Body Mist
4 Vaseline Lotion
10 Dove Ultimate Deodorant
2 Dove Body Mist
2 Degree Men's Deodorant
16 All Laundry Detergent
8 Dove Shampoo(large size)

That's 271 Items in 10 hours of shopping.
That's 11 Transactions that contained 26 orders of $30 or more.
The first order(a triple order) cost me OOP $58.81.
The total for all orders after that was $13.24OOP.
A Total OOP of $72.05 including tax for everything.

I earned $15 in Catalinas for each of the 26 $30 orders. 26x$15=$390.
I also earned an additional $12 in Cats for 4 of those orders(double dipping or overlapping deals). 4x$12=$48
And for every 2 Skippy Natural PBs purchased I received a $1 Cat. 32 jars divided by 2=16x$1=$16.
TOTAL Catalinas earned $454.

I spent $330 Cats over the course of the trips(most of them on items that were NOT part of the Promo like the Pop-Tarts, Milk, Nutri-Grain Bar, etc), so I have $124 Cats left to spend when I go back to Acme next week.
(Well I WILL have that much once I get the $15 from Catalina Marketing that didn't print due to an item not being programmed into the computer for this sale AND the $45 in Cats that were STOLEN from me by the Customer Service Person in the Horsham PA store.)

With Coupons and Catalinas spent I SAVED a Total of $942.86.
The Value of everything I purchased comes to....
$1014.91.
A savings of 93%.

Just imagine how much I could have carted home if I didn't live 2 hours away and I had a full week down there to hit the stores?
I would need to buy a second home to hold it all.lol

This haul should keep the kids in Junk Food around here at least through the end of the year and still leave me plenty to send to #1 son at college in care packages.

Let me just state for the record that YES!....there is such a thing as TOO MANY POP-TARTS!

Sluggy

Walgreens real Cheap Baby Wipes & MAYBE FREE Dental Items!

I know you've probably already read on one of many blogs this week about the great deal on Huggies Baby Wipes at WAGS going on now.

If you haven't, let me enlighten you. ;-))

There is a pamphlet of "In-Store Coupons available at Walgreen's. I have found it either by the current sales flyers in the store or sitting in a stack on one of the other sales counters(photo, beauty dept. or the auxillary front register counter). It's called "Walgreen's Back-2-School Coupon Book" and looks like this....

Inside there is a $2 off Huggies Wipes 64-172 ct.(that would be a full-sized box or a refill bag).
If you buy more than 1 box of Wipes, you ONLY need 1 $2 In-Store Coupon. The register will take off $2 for as many boxes as you buy per transaction.

Now pair this In-Store Coupon with one of the Manufacturer's Coupons from the Sunday coupon inserts of a few weeks ago. My area got $1/2 Huggies Wipes but your area may have gotten .50¢ or .75¢ off 1 box per coupon.
Depending on the reg. retail at your WAGS for this item(the 64-72 ct. boxes) & your Manu. Coupon face value, using the In-Store Coupon WITH your Manufacturer's Coupon will make your box of Wipes cost anywhere from $.49 to $1.29. My area has the Huggies Wipes for $3.29, so with both coupons, my wipes cost me $.79 per box. Now that's a whole lot better than $3 or more $s a box, right?

If you have access to a printer, here's how to make this deal even better. Some folks will find a $1.50/1 Huggies Diaper Product coupon to print when they go to Coupons.com. Some WAGS will let you use this coupon to purchase Huggies Wipes(if they see Wipes as a 'Diaper Product').
Pairing this $1.50 Coupon with the In-Store Coupon for $2 off(and a low reg. retail price point) will get you Wipes for FREE with overage or "just" FREE.

And if your local WAGS has been cleaned out of Huggies Wipes because of the popularity of this coupon pairing, then for goodness sakes, get a Raincheck! The In-Store Coupon is valid until 8/29/09, so you still have time for a new shipment of Wipes to hit your store.

And if you bought the Vitamin Shampoo last week at WAGS, and have a $4 Register Reward to roll AND your area received a $5/any 3 Listerine/Reach products Coupon either in the recent Coupon Insert OR the Coupon Insert from a May Insert with a $5/3 WYB 1Listerine/1Reach Floss/1 Reach Toothbrush Coupon, you can get three dental products for FREE. The Listerine 500ml, Reach Ultra Floss & 2 kinds of Reach Toothbrushes are on sale for $3 each this week. Buy 3 of these products, according to which coupon you have. $9-$5 Coupon=$4. Pay the OOP with your $4 Register Rewards from last week(plus tax if applicable).
You will receive a $6 Register Reward for your purchase.
Free stuff & $6 more to spend later.
Life is good.....

Sluggy

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