Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway....Now CLOSED!!!

*****THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  WINNER COMING UP LATER TODAY....STAY TUNED!*****

 My Giveaway ends tonight at Midnight EST.
Here is what you can win....

 

1. 1 Pair of hunter green Men's Winter Thinsulate Gloves Size L/XL
2. 1 Box of PUREVIA(40 ct.) stevia sweetener
3. 1 Bag of Luden's Cough Drops(cherry)
4. 1 Bar of DOVE Soap
5. 1 Tin of Sugar-Free ALTOIDS
6. 1 RIMMEL Mascara
7. 1 BOGO Dozen Eggs Coupon from the Good Egg Project Facebook Giveaway(expires 3/31/10)
8.  1 Ty HALO Beanie Baby
9.  1 Bottle of DUCOLAX Balance
10. 1 Tube of AVEENO Lotion
11.  1 Mesh Bath Sponge
12. 1 set of Make-Up Brushes.
13.  2 travel size Tubes of Toothpaste(Aquafresh and Colgate Total).
14.  1 Tube of Rite-Aid brand Apricot Scrub Face Wash.
15.  A set of Stationery Folded Note cards. 
16.  3 Tubes of MENTOS Sugar-free Gum.
17.  a Sample of HEAD & SHOULDERS Shampoo.
18.  a GLADE CANDLE(Clean Linen scent).


Go check out the Original Giveaway Post HERE.

You must be a follower to enter(click on the "follow" button on the right sidebar) and still be a follower when I announce the winner.

To win, Just leave a comment on THIS POST before 12 midnight EST tonight March 2nd.

Get an extra entry for putting my blog on your blogroll if you have a blog.
Leave a separate comment on this post for this extra entry.

Get another extra entry for blogging about my giveaway on your blog or on a forum.(Leave a link to the post in your entry.)
Leave a separate comment on this post for this extra entry.

Good Luck....and HURRY!!!

Sluggy

Weis Sales Ad for 2/28-3/6...What is Worth Buying This Week?

Let's see what Weis is offering up in the way of good deals this week, shall we?


First off, there is a GORTON'S SEAFOOD Deal.  Gorton's is 50% off this week, and when you buy 2 in a single transactions(and use your Club Card)you will get $2 off at the Register.  Now the way the ad reads this looks like a straight "take $2 off your receipt total" deal and NOT a Catalina is generated deal where you use the Cat Q to take $2 off your next order.  I'll be heading up to Weis tomorrow sometime(maybe)to see which deal it really is.
Anyway, buy 2 Gorton's products for 50%, use coupons(either 2 x $.40/1 doubled from 2/21SS or 1 x $1/2 from 1/24SS or 2 x $.50/1 doubled from the 1/3SS)for a better deal and then get another $2 off.
Not a real low cost OOP but still, for a protein, a pretty good deal!

Then there is 1 lone Catalina Deal. Buy $12/Get $3 or Buy $20/Get $7.  The participating items are Ice Creams, sugary Frozen Food(pancakes, toaster strudels, scrambles), pizza, pizza rolls, 'savorings' and pricey frozen chinese food.  All of it highly processed or high calorie dairy.  Unless you have tons of freezer space this isn't the kind of Cat Deal you want to be rolling many times.  We do like ice cream though, so I'll scope out the regular shelf prices when I go in and see if it's low enough OOP to be worth doing once or twice this week.

One item you might want to do, if you are working on the Kraft Back To School $20 Rebate...the Easy Mac Cups are 5/$4(.80¢each).  You need to purchase 5 of these for the rebate.  I would like to get these for .50¢ but I may settle for this price just to get it out of the way and completed.  At any price, they will be inhaled by the minor children here as soon as they hit my kitchen.lol

PRODUCE Deals
Onions 2lbs.  $1.50
Romaine Hearts BOGO($3.99)
Fresh Express Salad Bags  BOGO($2.99+)
Grapefruit $1 each

MEAT Deals
80% lean Ground Beef $1.79 lb.(in 3lb. or more packages)...pretty much rock bottom price here

Gold Leaf Chicken Leg Quarters $.59 lb.(sold in a 10 lb. bag) so you're spending $5.90

From the Dock(Weis Brand)"Special Crab Meat" $2.99 for 8 oz.  Now I have no clue what 'special crab meat' means but this is a great price for crabmeat!  I may have to torpedo the No Spending Week here to grab some of this!  I see crabcakes and she crab soup in my future...lol

SPAM  $1.33 12 oz. can  I guess this is meat....technically.lol  There is a $.35/1 Q on the Spam website.  If it doubles, you'll pay .66¢ a can.  I hear this stuff is good in scrambled eggs.

DAIRY
Weis Ricotta 2lb. container $3.50  Not rock bottom but a good price if you need ricotta this week.

Dannon Danimals $2 a pack.  Use one of the many $1/1 Dannon yogurt ManuQs out there and get it for $1 a pack.  And what's up with all these yogurt Qs anyway??  Every week it's yogurt, yogurt, yogurt!!

OTHER STUFF
Chex Mix $1.50 a bag.  There is a $.50/1 IPQ on Coupons.com for the Chocolate Variety, doulbed at Weis will get you a bag for .50¢.

Progresso Soups-Classics $1 a can OR Traditional $1.25 a can(must buy in groups of 8 for Traditional). Lots of different ManuQs out there will get you soup for under a buck.

McIlhenny's Tabasco Sauce is still $1 for the small bottle.  Paired with the 1/31SS $.50/1 ManuQ when doubled, gets you FREE Hot Sauce.

Also a couple of BOGO Bread Deals if you don't have a Bread Outlet nearby or make your own.

That's about all I see worth getting at Weis this week.
Let us know if you see something we missed or a Coupon Match-Up that will get you a good price!

I am not really very good at doing these kinds of Deals and Match-Up Posts but I really can't find ANYONE out there blogging about Weis Markets Deals.  I guess since it's just a regional chain no blogger has much interest in providing these kinds of posts.  And you certainly don't find much on the two BIG Coupon sites Weis forums.  One is a bit more informational than the other tho....
If anybody out there who shops at Weis reads these and it helps a bit, I'll keep posting them(as I feel the urge),so let me hear from ya if you find these useful, ok?
Thanks!

Sluggy

Monday, March 1, 2010

Price Chopper Catalina Fail.....Oy! And How!!

Under the Annauls of "It's Never a Dull Moment Around My Life"--
 So remember my trips to Price Chopper early last month(Feb.) to roll my Catalinas on the 2 Cat Deals they had?
Well, I had 2 Cats that didn't print...one was due to the Q-Tips included in the Cat Deal that weren't coded correctly and the other was a Cat that didn't print due to the Cat machine being turned off.

I get an envie in the mail today, postmarked Feb. 25th, from Catalina Marketing.
It's a "sorry you didn't get your Catalina coupons" letter along with $20 in Cats.....
In the letter is this line....
"Please not that the coupon must be used by the expiration date on the coupon."

Now let's get a close up of the date on the letter.....
  February 24, 2010.
Now let's take a look at the date on the Catalinas that were enclosed....

In case you can't make it out, due to my lame camera that doesn't do close-ups, the Cat says....
"Expires 02/20/2010".

4 DAYS BEFORE the Letter was written and dated.

Let's recap....
2/20/10  Cats Expire.
2/24/10  Letter written.
2/25/10  Letter mailed.
3/1/10    Letter received.

So guess who was just on the phone to Catalina Marketing AGAIN over these Cats?

Yep.
Having.
MORE.
Fun.


"Rob" assured me this will be kicked back over to fullfillment AGAIN.
I'll cross my fingers they find me some more timely Catalina Coupons that I can actually spend!lol 

To Be Continued.....

Sluggy

My Rite-Aid Rebate Period Totals....Making Shopping Pay!


Here are the numbers for my Rite-Aid shopping for the February Rebate Period(Jan.23rd-Feb.27th)

My receipts total $81.79 for all purchases made at Rite-Aid during this period.

I used $41.94 in Gift Cards and Prepaid Visa Cards obtained in previous months at Rite-Aid, making my Out of Pocket $39.85 for the February Rebate Period.

The Value of all items purchases was $961.83.

That's a Savings of 95.85%. 

The Single Check Rebates qualified for in February was $77.98.
(I also qualified for $10 in Rite-Aid Gift Cards.  Not cash, but will use these to lower my OOP on future purchases.)

Purchases made at Rite-Aid during this period also qualified me for Olay Cash Rebates totaling $30.00.

Rebate total....$107.98 cash 

Some of my purchases in February also added to previous purchases helped qualify me for an additional $50 in Rite-Aid Gift Cards and a $35 P&G Prepaid Visa.  I'm not figuring that into my total here however.

$39.85 OOP.
$107.98 in cash Rebates due & $10 in Gift Cards.
That's an $68.13 Moneymaker!(not counting the Gift Cards).

Now who wants to argue about Rebating being worth the time and effort? ;-)


Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....March 1st Edition....Spending Breakdown & Cheap Good Food




Before I get started, HAPPY MARCH Everyone!!


Last Week's Menu Postmortem...
Everything but the Sloppy Joe's make an appearance at our house, due to 1 night of leftovers as I wasn't feeling well.  The kids told me they don't like Sloppy Joes anyway, so we are NOT putting it on this week's menu.  Gee, I kind of liked them.....

2 Straight days of steady S-N-O-W did keep me home and out of the stores for a bit last week.  I did get out to use my expiring Catalinas plus a bit more food/toiletries shopping in spite of the weather.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week.....our household presently consists of 2 adults and 2 teens at home.  No children under 13.

This week is all about using what I have and incorporating leftovers as well. Since alot of what I am serving is stockpiled, I'm putting what  I paid for the ingredients that are on hand so you can see what I spend w/stockpiling & sales versus buying it weekly when it might not be on sale. If I use a leftover ingredient I won't add that cost as it was already figured into the previous meal's cost.

MONDAY--Free Bday meal out at Red Robin for #2 son(if some choose to stay home, it's 'make your own dinner' night)...eating out comes out of the entertainment money, not food money
TUESDAY--Beef Enchiladas(3.47), Refried Beans(.89), Salad & Dressing(2.00)
WEDNESDAY--Baked Ziti(2.50), Salad & Dressing(2.00)
THURSDAY--Shrimp & Grits(4.00), Collards(need to buy)
FRIDAY--Tacos(4.05), Fiesta Corn(.30)
SATURDAY--Crockpot Chicken cooked in Salad Dressing marinade(3.50), Garlic Noodles(.25), Creamed Spinach(.50)
SUNDAY--??  Not sure yet....maybe Leftovers if we have any, if not there is always Sloppy Joes!lol
SNACKS/DESSERTS--Cantaloupe(2.00), Cheesecake(leftovers), Ice Cream(2.50), Pineapple(.80)

Adding up what has already been spent and what I need to spend for this week's menu, I can serve this menu of 5 meals including desserts/snacks to a family of 4 adults/teens for $33.76. Since I'm not sure what people will actually eat for leftover nights, I didn't add in those costs.  If you divide the meals and snacks cost by 5 nights, you get an average cost per night of $6.75.  That's $1.69 per person per night.  And this is mostly a cooking from scratch menu.  The only 'processed foods' are the Knorr's noodles with powdered sauce and the Salad Dressings.  Who says you can't cook healthy on the cheap?

LAST WEEK'S FOOD SPENDING
$33.55 was spent on food/toiletries last week. $22.47 at Weis on Catalina spending trips, $7.49 at WAGS on Toiletries only, $2.85 at Price Chopper on paper products and $.74 at Rite-Aid on bunches of stuff both food and not-food.  Some of the Weis items bought qualified me for $20 in prepaid Visa card MIRs so a very inexpensive shopping week once those come in.

The only item I need to purchase for this week's menu are eggs and collards-I'll make a big pot of collards that will stretch for at least 2 meals.  I'm figuring on spending $5 on the greens(making them the most expensive food for the week) as I am not waiting on a great sale to get them.  If they cost more than $5 this week, I'll substitute a cheaper option that I find at the store or dig around in the freezer for something we already have here. I am almost out of eggs, milk was replenished last week and we are ok on bread until next week.

FOOD WASTE REPORT
We were successful in eating ALL the leftovers last week!  Nothing went bad.  We have 1 pork chop leftover from last night and the meatballs that are being reinvented tomorrow night as Enchilada filling....that is it!

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week.

Sluggy