Let's Talk Turkey & T-Day

I so love Thanksgiving!
Of all the holidays we celebrate this is about the only one that is basically secular.  Everyone, no matter their religious beliefs(or lack thereof)can/will celebrate it on an equal footing.  It's all about thankfulness and appreciating family ties and those pretty much transcend the ideological differences that our chosen religions possess.

I have a confession to make....
I am not a big fan of turkey as a food myself. 
Ok, I DO love fresh hot roasted turkey slices right from the bird.  But once it has sat for awhile or has been refrigerated, I don't want it.
Now, it's not about having an aversion to leftovers.

It's the smell of turkey.
Maybe it's just me and my strange sense of smell but "not-just-out-of-the-oven turkey" has an odor to it that I can't abide.
So every year I pack off as many turkey leftovers  as I can  get away with to the BIL and I eat some other protein or just eat the side dishes whenever I have to serve the leftovers from Thanksgiving.
But another funny thing about me, while I can't abide " NOT fresh hot turkey from the bird", I can eat SMOKED TURKEY until I burst!
Maybe it's the southerner in me....loving a food smoked that I can't stand not smoked.lol

I continue to prepare/serve turkey at Thanksgiving because well, it's pretty much expected and traditional.  And the family likes it.
And it's the most frugal meat protein around at the Holidays.

I would much prefer having "Chinese Turkey"(aka duck), like the family in "A Christmas Story" have on Christmas....minus the head.

With Thanksgiving right around the proverbial corner I was curious about everyone else's Turkey Day meal and traditions.
So I have a little survey for y'all.  Please leave a comment with your thoughts on today's topic.

1. What is your preferred menu for Thanksgiving dinner and why?
2.  Do you cook/host the meal or do you gather at someone else's house for dinner? If you cook, how many will gather around your table to eat?
3. What time do you generally sit down to eat?
4. Do you have any traditional dishes you serve/have served and what are they?  (These can be regional dishes or family traditions or what you feel are the national dishes everyone eats.)
5.  Do you have any non-food Thanksgiving traditions?
6.  If you could only have 5 food/beverage items at your Thanksgiving meal, what would they be?
7.  What was your worst and/or best Thanksgiving day and why?

Next time I'll give you my survey answers.

Sluggy

Putting a Transaction Together From Odds and Ends at Rite-Aid

So I went in search of the Flu Coupon Booklet today at a different Rite-Aid today with my newly printed off  Value Videos coupon in my hot little hand.
After I go talk to the pharmacy gals I find out that this particular RA only did the Flu Shots 1 day in Oct. and the 1 day in Nov....and the Nov. day was yesterday.....so the flu booklets are gone!  Either the gal who came to do the shots took the leftover booklets or they got thrown out at the end of the night.
UGH!

Not to have this trip be a total waste I wandered around and patched together a $25 transaction from drips and drabs of coupons and sales.

My store was out of the lower prices Ester-C products that were BOGO this week, but this RA had some.
I wanted to get 4 bottles of the Sun Down Vitamins that are BOGO and give a $2 +Ups WYB2 this week, but none of the stores around here have much of a selection and what there is, they have very few bottles.  It looks to me like RA is doing away with carrying this brand of vitamins....

So here is what I worked up.....

1 x Lipton Tea-I was parched!lol w/Wellness 20% disc.=$.79
1 x Tugaboos Diaper Sample w/Wellness 20% disc.=$.79
2 x Ester-C Gummies on sale BOGO=$6.49
4 x assorted Sun Down Vitamins on sale BOGO($4.99, $4.49)=$9.48
1 x Color Silk Hair Coloring on sale=$2.50
1 x Summer's Eve Fem. Wipes w/Wellness 20% disc.=$2.39
2 x RA Plastic Wrap on sale BOGO=$2.99
1 x Ace Cold Pack w/Wellness 20% disc.=$1.03
1 x Compleats on sale=$1.99
SubTotal.....$28.45

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25=$5.00
2 x $2/1 Ester-C Flu Booklet Q=$4.00
2 x $1/1 Ester-C AdPerks/VV Q=$2.00
2 x $3/2 SunDown Vitamins IP ManuQ=$6.00
2 x $1/1 SunDown product AdPerks/VV Q=$2.00
1 x $1/1 any $10 vitamin purchase Wellness IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Color Silk item Wellness IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 any Summer's Even product Wellness IPQ=$2.00
1 x $1.50/1 Ace product IPQ=$1.50*I told her to adjust it down but she didn't bother lol
1 x $1/1 Compleats Flu Booklet Q=$1.00
Coupon Total...$26.50

$28.45-$26.50=$1.95

Used $1 +Up Rewards so $.95 OOP put on my free Rite-Aid gift card.
And I received $5 in +Up Rewards for this transaction(2 x $2 WYB 2 SunDown Vitamins, $1 Compleats)=$5.00
Used 1, gained 5 means I am "up" $4+Ups for this transaction.

I used NO manufacturer's coupons from the Sunday paper, just Wellness Qs that the PDFs were emailed to me from Rite-Aid,  Video Values Qs, Flu Booklet Qs and a few IPQs from various sources.
If I hadn't been thirsty and bought the bottle of tea, my total would have been $.16 after coupons and I wouldn't have had to use that $1+Ups in payment.

So if you have a wellness card, register your account on the Rite-Aid website, watch the AdPerks/Value Videos, get a hold of a flu coupon booklet and can print coupons from online, you could very easily do a moneymaking transaction like this.

I may go back on Sat. and do the cracker deal.  Buy 10 boxes of the Keebler products that ar on sale for $1.99 and give a $1 +Ups back per box.  Add in a small filler and use your $4 off $20 Q.
Here what the deal looks like...
10 x $1.99 Keebler items=$19.90
1 x Tugaboo trial pack w/20% wellness discount=$.79
(You could also use a Renuzit cone freshener for $.88 if you have the $1/1 Q)
Subtotal...$20.69(w/out 20% disc. $20.90)

Use the $1/1 Q inside the Tugaboos package and your $4 off $20 Q=$5.00 off
With no other Qs, Pay using $15 in +Ups=$.69 or $.90 OOP and get $10 +Ups back.
Then submit for the Keebler $10 rebate(forms found in booklet on displays in grocery stores)and that turns this into a $4+ Moneymaker.

If you have the $1/2 Keebler Qs from that booklet mentioned above, use 5 Qs with your $1 Tugaboos Q and the $4 off $20 Q=$10.00 off your $20.90 transaction=$10.69 or $10.90 total.
Use $10 in +Ups to pay, OOP is still $.69 or $.90 and you get 10 $1+Ups back PLUS apply for the Keebler Rebate.
Which makes this deal a $9+ Moneymaker.
Remember though that you have to buy the 10 boxes in ONE SINGLE Transaction for the Rebate.
Finding a Rite-Aid with 10 boxes on the shelves is the challenge here.lol


THIS TRIP
Total Spent....$.95(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$50.56
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$5.00
+Up Rewards spent...$1.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$31.49

GRAND TOTALS--November Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......17
Total Spent....$9.05 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$828.47
SCR qualified for....$12.00
Other Cash....$14.99
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Nov. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 11/7.....$27.49
+Up Rewards spent....$63.00
+Up Rewards earned....$71.49
+Up Rewards left....$31.49
 


Sluggy

It's All About A. Marie Today.....Go Enter Her Giveaways!

My bloggy buddy A. Marie over at My Money Mission Online has two giveaways that are ending tonight so head on over to enter before it's too late.

First we have the Old El Paso Family Taco Night Giveaway HERE.

Second we have the Butter Bell Crock Giveaway HERE.

Both Giveaways end tonight, November 12th.
So run, don't walk over and say Hi to A. Marie now!

Sluggy

Final Garden Update for 2010

I got the remaining collards picked so now the garden is done for the year.
Here's a pic of the greens before I blanched them and froze them....

That's 2lbs. 9.3oz.

And here is my 'frugal hothouse' eggplant.....get out your magnifying glass first...lol.....

This behemoth tips the scale at 3.2oz.

Combined total....2lbs. 12.5oz


Garden Harvest Weight Grand Total for 2010....93 lbs.  15.52 oz.

I am sure that if I had kept up on the garden better(not let so much of it rot because I was too lazy to get out there and glean or pick in the heat some days), we would have topped 100 lbs. of food.
But I am more than happy with the 93+lbs. we ate or will eat this winter.
I believe I spent right around $50 on seeds/seedlings/dirt/manure on the garden this year.
Not a bad ROI(=return on investment) for my $50 bucks, huh?

Maybe next year I'll hold a little contest where you can guess what my final Garden Harvest Weight will be....maybe with a cool prize of home canned jelly, relish, pickles and tomatoes?

So what is stopping you from having a garden?  I am a half-assed gardener so if I can do this, you can too! 8-))   That should be encouragement enough, right?lol
Just find a little piece of dirt and do it.  Heck, that little piece of dirt can be in a pot even! 8-)  At least try growing some tomatoes if nothing else because a 'real' tomato tastes nothing like that red thing they sell in the grocery store....

Now to put the garden to bed.  The planning for next year will have to wait until January at least.
I've got more decluttering, eBay selling and the Holidays to contend with now.
Oh, and the family too.... ;-)

Sluggy

The One Where I Rant on Consumerism, Shopping, Frugality and Deal Blogs

Before you jump in the car today and hit the stores have a lookie here.

Is is just me or has the shopping madness just gone too far?
Yes, everyone acknowledges the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, as the beginning of the Mad Shopping Dash for Christmas.
And Stores no longer wait until after Halloween is over to start putting up their Christmas displays and merchandise.  That's been true for years.....

But now, Stores have extended the Holiday shopping frenzy to include Veteran's Day!
Use to be advertisers would run Veteran's Day sales for things like mattresses and some housewares(since Thanksgiving was right around the corner and you might need dishes/cooking stuff for the big day's meal).
Throw in a little winter clothing and you'd have a smallish special ad to snag shoppers who were off from work for Veteran's Day.

At least to me, is seems like the major retailers are using Veteran's Day to start the Christmas selling season instead of waiting until Black Friday.  ToysRUs has HUGE ads/deals for Veteran's Day.  They sell toys, so they depend on the Christmas season revenues to stay in business the other 11 months of the year.  But when did Veteran's Day become a time to go spend large sums of money on toys?
The line on the highway to get into the TRU parking lot is insane on Veteran's Day.....same madness can be seen in the Wal-Mart here around the toy aisles.

I am a frugal person.
I use coupons and shop sales, etc.
I check out the "deal" blogs often all year long....not talking about the grocery deals, just the 'stuff' deals.
I will tell you I've gotten a few good deals by finding offers on "deal" blogs.
Many deal blogs think of themselves as frugal blogs as well....because they are saving their readers money when they take advantage of the deals they tout.

But.....frugality is NOT only about saving money because true frugality is NOT about spending money!
And I feel that many of these "deal" blogs have the reverse affect and encourage some people to spend MORE money.  People who don't NEED an item but see it for a steal from a "deal" blog post will go and spend money, when they would not have w/out that post or that special price.
And theses people would have continued to lead their lives just as well without that item/deal.

Deal blogs have a place but I truly believe that they are fueling shopping addicts need for a "sales high".
And I know what I am talking about because I use to wander around in stores looking for clearance signs/racks and I brought many an item home for cheap that I didn't need.  I have felt the "shopping high" and it's quite a drug....

But from this point until the end of Dec. I am better off dumping almost every deal blog out of my favorites and not visiting them.
Because when I do go to them, all I find is massive quantities of "deals", so many that it overloads my senses.  And I find it difficult to weed through this huge crush of deals to find the one or two nuggets that I want or need.
Because I don't buy massive quantities of stuff for the Holidays anymore.
Just a few choice things.
And the bulk of what is being hawked on the deal blogs is not a deal for me.
And the deal blogs start to all look the same(same deals)and it's hard to distinguish them from the major retailers ads/deals either.

And another thing......if you are buying "deals" online from a faceless business and the items you are buying are being made halfway around the world and being shipped from this same place and no one in your local community is prospering from your purchase, it may still be a deal for your wallet but it's no deal for the planet nor a deal for your local businesses, that employ your local citizens, as long as they stay in business.  And if you don't support your local businesses at all by spending your money there, they will go away.  And the jobs will go away.  And the jobless will put more stress on your government supported safety nets(food stamps, unemployment, etc.).  And then your taxes will go up.  And that online deal that saved you so much money will cost you more in other ways, than you ever thought in the end.

I'm not saying you need to stop buying from anyone EXCEPT a local business.  No, I am not a tree-hugger, extremist.
I think life is all about balance.
And even when you shop, you can find balance.
So go get some "deals" online(but only things you truly need/want!)but also spread your consumer net wide.....go spend money with local merchants too.
We have 2 Chinese/Japanese restaurants in our teeny tiny town.  Some things are prepared better at one, other things at the other.  Both are locally owned small businesses.
So we alternate which restaurant we eat at and spread our consumer dollars out between them.
That way we support both and neither goes out of business.
And we continue to have a choice in where we want to dine when we want Chinese/Japanese food.
Having choices is cool and so is keeping jobs in your neighborhood.

Just some food for thought from what spills outta my brain....

Sluggy