Weis Catalina Shoppers.....Get Your Money Back for Clorox 2

If you did the Clorox Catalina Deal at Weis Markets last week and bought a bottle of Clorox 2 as a part of your transaction, you can get the purchase price of that item back from the manufacturer.

Just go HERE.
Print the form and send in the supporting documentation(receipt, etc.).
Get back what you paid.

Nice!

Ok, so even if you didn't buy Clorox 2 last week at Weis, save the link to your computer and the next time you buy the product (from any store, not just Weis), you can send for the refund.

Sluggy 

My Personal Stockpiling Pittfalls....Only Because I Have Children

Stockpiling is a beautiful thing....once you get a system down.
My first year of extreme couponing was full of experimentation.
Figuring out WHAT to stockpile and HOW MUCH to stockpile was the most important and the most difficult mission.
I stockpiled primarily real food....still do.
You know....the stuff you use to make meals.
But I did also start stockpiling snack type foods and drinks but on a smaller scale.

Once I started getting a handle on the "how much to buy" aspect of stockpiling the savings started piling up.

Then my kids torpedoed my plan.

Oh, they loved that mom was now going to have tons of "bad-for-you" snacks at their disposal.
You know, the stuff that your kids always want you to buy.....Pop-Tarts, Crackers, Chips, Soda, Juice bags(that are mostly sugar), Cookies, Cake Mix and Frosting, Fruit Roll-Ups, etc.  The stuff that goes on sale and there always seem to be coupons available so you can buy it really really cheaply?

This was the kind of stuff I hardly ever use to keep in the house.
I'd buy it now and again, but only 1 or 2 boxes or bags at a time.
And it would get devoured before I would even finish putting away all the groceries from the shopping trip!lol

Well once I began stockpiling snack/junk foods for them, I noticed most of the items piling up.
Piling up not in a "good stockpiling and rotating your stock" way. 
Piling up meaning, that no one was eating the stuff anymore and it was sitting and inching closer to the dark side of the expiration/use by dates!

They complained and begged for years for me to buy snack/junk food for them and whatever food I start bringing it into the house in large quantities, they STOP eating it!
W.
T.
F?

#2 son loves Fruit Roll-Ups.  So I hit a killer sale w/Qs and load up on dozens of boxes for almost free.
Suddenly he stops eating them and I am now considering using them to wallpaper the downstairs powder room.

Daughter pleads for a certain brand of sugared cereal.  I head the plea and gather many many boxes to quench her hunger for it.  Like clockwork, the very day I bring in a dozen boxes, she announces that she no longer will eat this cereal. 
I begin to contemplate using this cereal as packing material for shipping my eBay goods.

The only exception to this trend was the 180 cans of Amp.

I was able to 'buy' that many over the course of 4 months due to some great Qs I found and KMart having those awesome Double Coupon Sales last spring/summer.  2 of the 3 teens begged for this stuff!  It's full of caffeine and sugar....how could they NOT want it!?

I sat them both down after I had acquired about half of the stash and told them, "Look, this is NOT something I am going to continue to buy for you once the sales/coupons run out.  Whatever I get will be IT!  So you had better not plow through them all.  If I were you, I'd make it last a good long while."

I guess they just didn't believe or hear me.....

I bought the last can in late August of '09.
The Amp stock was gone by that October.
3 months.
2 teens drank 180 cans.

I guess they each figured they had to drink them as fast as possible so that the other teen wouldn't get as many.
Have I mentioned these two don't like each other very much and do this sort of competitive/passive aggressive thing on a regular basis now that they are teenagers?

Wanna bet if only one of them wanted these Amps, most of those cans would still be sitting in my garage?!

I guess the lesson here is to KNOW the audience you are buying all your stockpiled goods for and tailor your spending to those needs.
And don't believe ANYTHING your kids tell you.

Sluggy

My 1st Blogging Award

I was given this award by Who Doesn't Love Coupons?  Well it was the end of last month but I totally forgot until last week so that's why I am sooo tardy posting about it. It took me a whole week to think of 7 interesting facts about myself as well!lol

I hope my delay doesn't mean I am a bad blogger or something.
 That's just me.....all scatter brained sometimes. ;-)

I know this will surprise ya'll (no, not really I hear you say)but this is my very first bloggy award!
Yes, Sluggy's been faithfully blogging on an almost daily basis for over a year now and nada in the awards category until now.  Sluggy obviously doesn't run in the right blogging circles it seems.


Nope....no awards for being a top frugal blog, a funny blog & no awards for being a 'pretty' blog.
So I am thrilled as pie(Mmmm....piiiiiiieeeee!)to receive this award.


The rules for accepting this award:

1.Thank the person that gave you the award...ok, "Thanks Jenn", she said as she waved wildly.

2. Pass this award on to 13 bloggers you've recently discovered and whom you think are fantastic!

3. Contact the Bloggers you pick to let them know they've won.

4. State 7 Things about yourself!

Here are the 7 things about me:

1.) I dropped out of graduate school at the NC School of the Arts.
2.)  I sang on the radio with the Chorus of The US Naval Academy.
3.) I have a confirmed ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.
4.) I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
5.) I have been a natural redhead, brunette and was born with a full head of black hair.
6.) Oprah Winfrey gave the commencement speech at my college graduation(back before she was "Oprah" & just a news reporter in Baltimore).
7.) I can touch my nose with my tongue(without using my hands to push either one toward the other).....try it, it ain't easy!

Here are 13 blogs I have discovered and love.  There are so many others that I read so this list is NOT exhaustive.  Don't feel bad if I read ya and you aren't on the list here.  These are just the blogs my pea-brain could think of at this moment.....

1--Coupons Deals and More  Ann has a delightful sense of humor wrapped around the 'deals'.
2--A Mom Money and More  SonyaAnn is my budget buddy who can be downright wickedly 'bad'...right SonyaAnn?
3-- Graceful Retirement  Great blog about a woman playing catch-up to stash away those retirement $s.
4-- The Happy(Atheist)Homemaker  A quirky young fresh face in the blog-o-sphere.
5--Things I Want to Punch In the Face  Funny. As. Hell.
6-Tight Fisted Miser  Great tips and info for your Inner Miser.
7--Yard Sale Queen's Blog  Chris has a great sense of humour and you never know what she's going to find in her thrift store/yard sale travels.
8--All Doors Considered  An interesting blog by a woman who retired early and her life adventures.
9--Real Life Living  Annie Jones cooks, practices frugality, does home improvement...a true renaissance woman.
10--Sew Not My Day!  McVal recounts her exciting life in middle America.
11--I'm So Pretty, I Fart Fairy Dust  Ms. Fairy Dust's take on life and couponing.
12--The West Virginia Surf Report   A local PA guy's very irreverent humor blog.
13--Marilyn's Money  Marilyn has frugality covered in western OH.

Ok....the following aren't 'blogs' per se, but I like these sites and they are worth checking out too.
Hoard House  This is an issue close to my heart & seems to be the mental illness du jour.
Water Cure This is an alternative health site.
Buy Less Crap  A non-comsumerist Charity site.

 Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....March 15th Edition w/Spending Breakdown

Last Week's Menu Postmortem...
Everything was served as planned except the Corned Beef.  Couldn't find an inexpensive deal on Corned Beef anywhere last week.  I found one on Sunday so we are on for Corned Beef this week.

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 14.

This week we'll be using 2 leftover proteins to make two new meals. Since alot of what I am serving is stockpiled, I'm adding a Cost Breakdown Section where I'll list 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--Homemade Pizza(stockpile)
TUESDAY--Corned Beef(bought Sunday), Cabbage(need to buy), Carrots(need to buy), Potatoes(need to buy), Biscuits(fridge)
WEDNESDAY--Gourmet Chili(using leftover Pot Roast--freezer/stockpile)
THURSDAY--Creamy Potatoes and Ham(using leftover ham--freezer/root cellar) , Wax & Green Beans(freezer)
FRIDAY--Sloppy Joes(freezer/stockpile), Cole Slaw(need to buy cabbage), Buns, Corn(stockpile)
SATURDAY--Leftovers
SUNDAY--Lemon Pepper Chicken(freezer), Rice(stockpile), Zucchini(bought Sunday)


Here are the cost breakdowns...
Pizza--Flour(.10¢), Yeast(.60¢), Olive Oil(.25¢), Tomato Paste(.20¢), Herbs(.10¢), Cheese($1.00), Onion(.25¢), Pepperoni (.50¢)=$3.00
Corned Beef Dinner--Corned Beef($3), Cabbage(.87¢), Carrots(.50¢), Potatoes($1))Biscuits(.50¢)=$5.40
Chili--Pot Roast leftovers(free), Ground Beef($1.69), Green Chilles(.32¢),Spices(.80¢), Beans($1.29), Tomatoes(.99¢), Onion(.25¢), Cheese(.50¢), Sour Cream(.25¢), Biscuits(free/leftover)=$6.09
Potato & Ham Dinner--Ham leftovers(free), Potatoes($1), Butter (.60¢), Cream Cheese($1), Cheese($1), Milk(.50¢), Spices(.30¢), Green Beans($1)=$5.40
Sloppy Joes--Ground Beef($1.69), Sauce($1), Buns($1), Cabbage(.29¢), Carrot(.25¢), Mayo/Sugar/Vinegar(.60¢),Corn(.30¢)=$5.13
Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zucchini--chicken($1.03),lemon pepper/flour(.85¢), oil(.75¢),zucchini($2.46), tomatoes(.99¢), rice($1)=$7.08


Adding up what has already been spent and what I need to spend for this week's menu, I can serve this menu of 6 meals(plus enough leftovers for a 7th meal) to a family of 4 adults/teens for a total of $32.07.

Leftover nights have no cost as they were already figured in when the meal was served the first time.  If you divide the meals' cost by 7 nights, you get an average cost per night of $4.58.  That's $1.15 per person per night.  And this is mostly a cooking from scratch menu.  The only 'processed foods' are the can of Sloppy Joe sauce and the roll of biscuits.  Who says you can't cook healthy on the cheap?

LAST WEEK'S FOOD SPENDING
$135.15 was spent on food/toiletries last week.
This is quite high for me!  But I did a lot of stockpiling necessities....ok, ok, I did buy some junk too(cereal/cookies/ice cream).lol
$98.16 at Weis(doing the Catalina Deals to stockpile items--chicken, fish, frozen veggies, pasta sauce, ketchup, bleaches, etc.), $.49 at CVS, $8.02 at WAGS, $28.14(stockpiling noodles, bacon, sour cream, ice cream, hot cocoa & rice),  and $.34 OOP at Rite-Aid on bunches of stuff.
Approx. $116 of the $135.15 spent was strictly for food.

The only NEEDS for this menu are cabbage, potatoes and carrots. Since cabbage is at a rock bottom low here this week thanks to St. Patty's Day, I'll pick up some extra cabbage this week for a Polish dish I am making for next week's menu.  I also have 2 $5 Cats for Price Chopper NE that I'll use to buy inexpensive Corned Beef this week.  The $7 Cat for Weis I might hang onto until next week as there isn't much for cheap there I want to use it on this week.
There is a good deal on shredded Sargento cheese(sale + doubled coupons)this week at the local independent grocer and we are getting mighty low.  Luckily, I still have a gift card I won in a contest that's good at this store so I shouldn't be out any cash if I get the cheese.
With the gift card and Cats for the stock-up goods I am hoping to get through the week on $10 OOP for the necessities.


FOOD WASTE REPORT
Nothing wasted this week.  All the leftovers have been eaten except last night's pot roast and Friday's ham and these are earmarked for meals this week.  There are some side dish leftovers(and a bit of chicken) from last week that the dogs will enjoy with their meals this week.

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

Sluggy

Pillsbury Sweet Rolls Giveaway....Ends March 20th! GIVEAWAY CLOSED

To start the week off right, take time out to create a sweet Sunday morning moment with your family with Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls.

Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls are warm, fresh, and ready to serve in just minutes. With an ooey-gooey texture and a delicious orange icing, Orange Sweet Rolls have a mouth watering aroma that is sure to bring your family together like no other breakfast! Packed with the love and flavor of a treat made from scratch, but without the time and cleanup, Orange Sweet Rolls are the perfect addition to your family’s Sunday morning traditions.

Now we love us some Pillsbury Orange and Cinnamon Rolls in this family!
True.

And we really enjoyed the Free Sweet Rolls last Sunday morning for breakfast that MyBlogSpark and Pillsbury sent us. Oh, they also sent a cool Photo Album too.

But I won't be posting a photo of my warm and fuzzy 'family moment' from that day.
You see, while we do have fun family moments, my kids don't photograph well.
Let me rephrase that....
My kids won't behave for photos.

They LOVED the Pillsbury rolls but here is what happens when I ask them to let me take their pictures....

And this....

and even this....

So you'll just have to trust me that we had our 'own kind' of family bonding over Pillsbury Sweet Rolls.

MyBlogSpark and Pillsbury provided me with an additional Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls gift pack that includes a VIP coupon for Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls as well as a photo album to help keep your family’s sweet Sunday morning memories close at hand to give away to one of my readers.

If you would like to win this prize pack just leave a comment that contains a favorite memory of Sunday morning breakfasts from your childhood along with your email address.

Receive Additional entries by....
1. subscribing to my blog(if you already subscribe just tell me that)and leave an additional comment for this entry.
2. follow my blog(if you already follow just tell me that)and leave an additional comment for this entry.
3. Post on your blog about this giveaway and leave a link to that post, then leave 2 additional comments for 2 more entries.
4. Tweet "slugmama is having a giveaway...http://simpleslug.blogspot.com/2010/03/pillsbury-sweet-rolls-giveawayends.html" and leave a link to your Twitter ID, in an additional comment for this entry.

This Giveaway ends on March 20th(Saturday) at 12 am(midnight) Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
I'll post the winners name on Sunday March 21st and contact them via email. If they fail to respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.
Good Luck!

***Disclaimer***This Giveaway was sponsored by Pillsbury and MyBlogSpark. I was supplied with product and encouraged to blog about the product and offered an identical product to give away to someone in my readership.  The opinion of the product expressed here is my own and I was not paid for endorsing this product.

Sluggy