Giveaways Galore....Go Check Them Out!

Lots of Giveaways out in BlogLand to tell y'all about today!

*First up there is Noreen over at Silly Mom Of 2 Silly Girls.
She has a bunch of Giveaways running.  My favorites are.....

Old El Paso Family Taco Night  Ends 12/1

Fiber One Bars/Cereal & Safeway Gift Card Ends 11/25

Lawry's Marinades and Mixes Ends 11/22

*Then there is Marilyn over at Marilyn's Money.
She has the OEP Taco Giveaway as well....

Old El Paso Family Taco Night  Ends 11/24

*And I just saw A. Marie over at My Money Mission Online put up a couple of  Giveaways too.

Hamburger Helper Show Your Helping Hand  Ends 11/27

MOZAIK® PartyWare   Ends 11/27

Go check them out and tell em  I gave them some Linky Love! 8-)

Sluggy

Saturday at the Grocery Stores....Meat & Menus

I hit Weis Markets on Sat. to check for clearanced meats and found a few good buys.....

2 packages of marked down chicken breast(bone-in but very little bone actually)with $3 Store Coupons on the packages.
2 packages of ground beef with $3 Store Coupons on the packages.
2+lbs. of frozen Catfish for $3.99lb.  A good price that got even better after another shopper asked me, while I was contemplating the meat counter, if I could use her $3 off a $15 purchase of fresh meat coupon, since she wasn't going to use it.
Heck yeah!!lol

All totaled I bought 13.63lbs. of meats.
Regular retail on all was $45.94
The chicken had an additional markdown of $9.91.
Made it $36.03.
The $15 in Store Coupons/Catalinas brought the price down to....
$21.03.
My per lb. avg. price ended up being under $1.50 per lb.
Nice!

I had Hubs pick me up a Pork Loin Tenderloin at Price Chopper as well on Saturday.  They were $1.99lb. so my $17.81 bought us a 9+lb. hunk which I'll cut into boneless pork medallions and freeze.  I've been holding out for a deal on boneless pork chops for ages and this looks like as low as it's going to get around here, now that inflation has started to take hold on the commodities markets.
Ugh.

As noted in a previous post, I went to the local independent grocer & spent $39.96 on staples and sale items and fell way short of spending $300 to get a $15 gift certificate.  I also hit the Bakery Outlet and Ollie's(a regional discounter) for a grand total spent last week of $100.94 from the food budget. Not counting Rite-Aid purchases because, well....I don't actually spend money there.lol
All totaled I have spent $127.63 so far in November on food/toiletries.  12 days to go and I have $122.37 left to spend this month.

So far this week I have stayed out of the grocery stores, but that will end later today or tomorrow, since I do need to pick up a few things for the Thanksgiving meal.  I don't plan on making a ton of food since there will only be 6 of us for that meal, and 3 of those 6 are teens who have mercurial appetites.  I do need celery, bread or dried stuffing mix(unless I decide to bake my own bread to use), eggs and sweet potatoes.  Oh, and a turkey....almost forgot that....duh!lol
And I may pick up a rutabaga for Hubs since he loves it and never gets that veg. since nobody else here eats it. 8-P

Does everyone have their Turkey Day menu set yet?
I am still tinkering around with mine.
I probably won't settle on a menu until Thanksgiving morning.
Turkey of course, stuffing, rolls, cranberry glop, 2 veggies but to do reg. taters and sweet taters both?
We'll see....
And pumpkin pie but what other pie?....or will it be cake?
Only the shadow knows at this point.....
And do I put out appetitzers.....cruditees?.....chips and dip?.....deviled eggs?......a relish tray?.....cheese and crackers?
Decisions, decisions....

I have stuff in the stockpile and freezer so I can just go with what I feel like, depending on how I feel and how ambitious(or not!lol)I want to be in the kitchen.
I do like to make some things from scratch but trying to make it all from scratch is just too exhausting for me because nobody helps out.
I am making the pies from scratch(even the filling)so I'll not make the rolls from scratch and use all those frozen and refrigerated ones I have because......because that's just how I roll......Oh, you KNOW I had to say that, didn't you? ;-)

Sluggy

Simplifying the Holidays...Christmas Cards

                        (Card courtesy of HoHumCards)

To send or not to send.....that is the question!

One of the widespread traditions of Christmas is the sending and receiving of Holidays Greeting Cards.
Americans shell out big money throughout the year, but especially over the Winter Holiday Season buying and sending Greeting Cards.

Not only does there seem to be a Hallmark store on every corner, but even Grocery stores are now selling greeting cards.  You know it's got to be a lucrative product if a grocery store starts selling cards along with all the other non-food items they now stock.

Depending on how extensive your card sending list, this tradition can be more draining on your wallet than you realize.
First there is the cost of the actual cards and envelopes.  Have you looked at the price of premium cards lately? ECK!
Then there is the cost of the postage....1st class stamps seem to go up in price every year nowadays.  And if you buy those expensive fancy oversized cards, you'll pay almost double for postage.
And don't forget to figure in all the time you need to shop for the cards, address the cards and mail the cards.  And if you write a personalized message or enclose the dreaded Christmas Letter, the labor/time factor gets even bigger.

So let's step back and ask ourselves a few questions.....

Why are we spending money and time on this traditional activity?
1.  Do we send cards because we always have so it's an automatic Holiday chore?
2.  Do we send cards because it's something that others just expect of us?
3.  Do we send cards to connect with friends and family who live some distance from us?
4.  Do we send cards to "show-off" to our friends and family?

Ascertaining our motivations behind sending Holiday Cards is key.  If we want to participate in the ritual of Christmas Cards we need to be doing this for the right reasons.  The only 'right reason' to be sending cards, seems to me to be #3.

If we find that we need to continue this tradition, we then need to ask ourselves this question....

Can we change anything about this activity to make it cost less, take less time, and/or make it less stressful for ourselves?

To bring down the expense of the "old way" of doing Holiday cards we might consider these points....

Cutting down on the number of cards we send out.
    If we are using Cards to stay connected to loved ones who live distant from us, then only send cards to those people and not the folks we see often or live close by.  Cut the cost of cards/postage by giving loved ones who we will be in physical contact with during the season an in-person Christmas Greeting only and ditch the cards and their costs.
   Another way to cut the card sending list is to only send cards to people who send us cards back.  I know it sounds childish....a bit of "well if you don't send me a card, I won't send you a card!"  Face it, some people just don't care about cards and those people are usually those we send cards to every year but never reciprocate by sending us one.  If we take them off our list it might actually prompt them to contact US, if only to ask why we don't like them enough to send them a card anymoe....but at least it will get them to take the initiative and get in touch with us first!  And the point here is to reconnect so that still would be a win/win in my book.lol

Find cheaper or frugal ways to "do" the Cards.
   If you can't bring yourself to ditch the Card Thing, then consider ways to make this tradition hurt less in the wallet.
  
    Consider spending less on the cards.  Figure out how much of your Holiday Budget you can allocate for Card sending, deduct the postage you need to purchase and that will tell you what your card buying limit should be.  Stop trying to out "shine" everyone else's card choices by getting the glitziest and most expensive cards and the ones that are over-sized and need extra postage to boot.  Look for the card bargains instead.  Always buy your cards by the box and not the individual ones since those will cost you much more.
Shop for cards at discount retailers(the "Marts")and Dollar type stores.  Even better hit up true Outlets and Clearance stores(Odd Lot, Big Lots, etc.), Thrift Stores, Yard/Garage Sales and  Estate Auctions. 
   The best place to find cards is always the free places....ask on a Freecycle type group or ask family who save stuff because "you never know when you'll need 'insert an item here'".  I bet you have a packrat relative who has a big stash of cards who would love to supply you with cards!

In addition, if you can think ahead for next Holiday Season, shop for your cards during the After Holiday clearance sales when items are marked down from 50-75% off.  Or save the Christmas cards you receive this Season, remove the front of the card(as long as there is no handwriting on it's reverse side)and turn it into a Postcard.  Sending a postcard Greeting will also cost you less in postage so it's a double win!

   If you are crafty and enjoy spending your free time on that sort of thing, try your hand at making your own cards.  Try to source cardstock paper for cheap or free.  If you have an assortment of pens, paints, markers, glitter, glues, rubber stamps and ink pads at hand already, create your own one-of-a-kind card creations.
Or design a card and using computer software, print out your own cards. 
Also, consider getting your kids to make the cards.  This will give them a creative outlet, give them an activity to participate in and all your friends/relatives will LOVE to receive a kid-made card, especially any grandparent types in your life.  But make sure you are around to supervise any card making session, especially if you don't want your dog, couch or expensive dining room table "decorated" too.

With both these suggestions, be sure to keep an eye on the cost.  If these alternatives will be higher than buying store made cards, perhaps craft cards for loved ones instead of purchasing gifts for them.  If the cards and gifts will be prohibitive to your budget, do one OR the other, not both.


Find alternatives to traditional Cards.
   Reinvent the card ritual.  Like I mentioned above, try sending Christmas Postcards instead of traditional "in an envelope" card.  Cost less money to mail.

   Or don't send actual physical cards.  In this electronic age, if your intended card recipient is "computer savvy" and has an email account, how about an e-card?  There are quite a few e-card sending sites on the internet, both ones that charge and ones that don't.  Since free goes further to keep you on budget, check out these free card sending sites....
*123Greetings.com
*Egreetings.com
*Hipstercards.com  --my personal favorite

There are other sites if you search around, as well as sites that charge a modest monthly or annual fee to belong and send cards: Hallmark, Blue Mountain and American Greetings are among the most well-known ones.
While some Christmas Etiquette guides warn against sending e-cards as a substitute for a real life card I disagree.  I have a sneaking feeling that those guides are sponsored by the folks behind the big name Greeting Card  businesses.  After all, they are the ones who have something to lose if the card buying public stops spending those billions of dollars on cards.   ;-)


So get your head wrapped around the whole Christmas Card issue and see if this is one area where you want to make a change this Holiday Season.
And be sure to...ahem..."address" it soon because the US postal system volume swells starting the day after Thanksgiving and if you elect to send cards, you want to mail them so that they arrive before Dec. 25th(or the 1st Day of Channukah if it's a Channukah Card, etc.).   Personally I try to mail all cards by the 15th of December.  If you are making up a master list for "Things To Do" for the Holidays, get your Take Care of Greeting Cards on that list early!

Do you have any tips or ideas about Holiday Greeting Cards?
Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Sluggy

More Rite-Aid....L'Oreal Deal

This week at Rite-Aid when you buy $15 in select L'Oreal cosmetic products, you get a $5 +Up Reward.
L'Oreal cosmetics are also 30% off this week.  Add in some stacked coupons and you've got yourself a possible moneymaker.

So we went up and did this....it requires access to 2 flu coupon booklets, 3 IP coupons, a $5 off $25 coupon and at least $7 in +Up Rewards to roll.
The 2 tugaboos purchases is optional(don't "need" them for the deal)but if you don't buy them & have a 20% wellness discount(and use $1/1 coupons from inside previous tugaboo packs), your OOP will be slightly higher.  Leave off the Tugaboos and your OOP is $.74 after sales/coupons instead of $.29.
*Also note that store prices on specific products can vary so your 30% off these particular L'Oreal items may be either higher or lower.  Take your calculator and be sure to pick the items that get you over $30 after the discount.

1 x Lash Boosting System reg. $24.95 30% off=$17.46
1 x Infallible Lipstick reg. $9.99 30% off=$6.99
1 x Lip Liner  reg. $8.95 30% off=$6.26
2 x Tugaboo Diaper packs w/wellness disc.$.79 ea.=$1.58
SubTotal.....$32.29

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25=$5.00
1 x $2/1 Lash Boosting System IPQ=$2.00
1 x $6/1 Lash Boosting System Flu Booklet Q=$6.00
2 x $2/1 L'Oreal Color Cosmetic item IPQ=$4.00
2 x $3/1 L'Oreal Lipstick or Liner Flu Booklet Q=$6.00
2 x $1/1 Tugaboo item Q from inside previous diaper purchase=$2.00
Coupon Total....$25.00

$32.29-$25.00=$7.29
I used $7 in +Up Rewards and put the $.29 OOP on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I bought $30.74 in L'Oreal so I received 2 x $5 +Ups=$10.
I spent $7 and gained $10, so I am 'up' $3 in +Ups=FREE Cosmetics & more +Ups to roll!


TUESDAY TRIP
Total Spent....$.29(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$45.87
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$10.00
+Up Rewards spent...$7.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$44.99


GRAND TOTALS--November Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......23
Total Spent....$12.00  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1,087.69
SCR qualified for....$12.00
Other Cash....$14.99
Additional Rebates....$10.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Nov. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 11/15.....$41.99
+Up Rewards spent....$93.50
+Up Rewards earned....$118.49
+Up Rewards left....$44.99
 
Sluggy

My Thanksgiving Survey Replies...

1. What is your preferred menu for Thanksgiving dinner and why?
*Crispy Roasted Duck, homemade stuffing(with sausage meat/walnuts/mushrooms), sweet potatoes, green beans, roasted fall veggies, au jus rather than gravy, Aunt Ollie's recipe potato rolls, cranberry glop from the can, sparkling cider, pumpkin pie and cheesecake.

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?
*I cook.  If I can get help cooking, all the better but I don't expect help or anyone to bring any food.
Since the kids are teens with jobs, they may or may not be here when we eat the meal.  The most if family is in town is 9, the least is 3.  We usually have about 6-7.


3. What time do you generally sit down to eat?
*Since I don't relish getting up at the crack of dawn to start cooking for the day, we try to eat around 1 or 2(usually more toward 2).  We'll have a light late breakfast so we are hungry by 1.  Dinner is "go grab something for the fridge" at whatever time you want it.

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.)
*The jellied cranberry glop in the can is traditional from when I was a wee one.  #2 son likes it so we keep it, even though I've tried to serve 'better' versions of this dish over the years.  The family just doesn't take to them.
The other family traditions are my stuffing(my mom's recipe which I have changed over the years and made my own)and my Great Aunt Ollie's potato roll recipe.  Aunt Ollie left this Earth about 10 yrs. ago at the age of 98.  She was a good old country cook, who cooked on a wood cookstove until she was 96.  Have to have the potato rolls....if not on Turkey Day then on Christmas.

5.  Do you have any non-food Thanksgiving traditions?
*I've tried a few activities but nothing catches on.lol  The last one was to pass out paper and pencils and have everyone write down something they are thankful for.  Someone reads them all out loud before we eat.....this way we keep from embarrassing the teens since the 'thankfuls' are anonymous.
The only other tradition is to play board games after the meal, while the testosterone laden people watch football....**Sluggy rolls her eyes....**lol


6.  If you could only have 5 food/beverage items at your Thanksgiving meal, what would they be?
*Pumpkin pie, stuffing, potato rolls, roasted fall veggies, duck...then hook me up to a cardiac monitor. lol

7.  What was your worst and/or best Thanksgiving day and why?
*I can't think of a Thanksgiving day that sticks out in my mind as being the 'best', but any from when my mom was alive and we had extra relatives &/or friends there would qualify.
 
I do have a worst Thanksgiving however.....this was during my sophomore yr. in college.  I was 19. My family life was non-existent at this point so there was no going home for Turkey Day....besides, I couldn't even afford to take the Greyhound bus there.  So my BF(now Hubs)asked his parents if I could come home with him for Thanksgiving.....and they said no!  As BF told me, they didn't want 'strangers' at the house for Thanksgiving.lol  And yes, I had been to their house before at least twice before this time.
So BF did NOT stay at school with me, he went home and left me there alone.  It's a wonder I stayed with him and married him after that, huh?lol
I remember my Thanksgiving that year was spent alone in my apartment, watching the parades on a tiny 10" screen tv I owned.  I walked down to the A&P and bought myself a Thanksgiving meal...one of those turkey roll things, a frozen Stouffer's spinach souffle and I stopped at the bakery on the way home with my cart and bought a slice of something sweet...it wasn't pie because they didn't sell them by the slice and I couldn't afford a whole pie, and I might just have eaten the whole thing if I could have afforded it...I was that depressed.lol
I was approached by an old drunk on the way home from the grocery store and he panhandled me for a dime to "buy a cup of coffee".
Frankly, I couldn't spare a dime for him and I was in shock that someone had actually asked me for money, since I was destitute enough myself to be doing the asking.lol
After I got home, I just sat down and cried big time.
Alone and being accosted by bums on Thanksgiving. lol
I sure felt low and sorry for myself...


I am happy to say that things have improved since then. 8-)


Sluggy