The Universe Hears You & Provides..If You Pay Attention

So last check-up at the Orthodontist for #2 son he got called out for his lackluster brushing efforts.
I contend that people kept their teeth clean for eons without battery operated gizmos(aka toothbrushes) and I don't see why #2 needs me to shell out big money for one of these now.
He just needs to make a better effort.

But Mr. Orthodontist man succeeded in pissing me off(or rather the people working for him since he never seems to be around when we have an appointment scheduled).   He had his employee trying to sell me(at a great discounted price no less!HA)an uber expen$ive battery operated gizmo to rectify the dismal brushing results we were getting, all for the bargain price of $150.
Yah......*see me sitting there making skeptical grimaces and repeating "No way in Hell!" in my mind.*

Haven't I already paid this man a gazillion dollars to fill my kids mouth with metal & wires and cause the offspring pain every 4 weeks or so when they change and tighten said metal  & wires?
I don't appreciate the heavy handed sales pitch pressuring me to throw even more money at the kid's teeth!
And it's worth noting that Ms. Toothbrush Saleswoman kept us captive far longer trying to get me to cave in and buy a gizmo than anyone at this office has EVER spent bending my ear updating me on what is going on with #2 son's treatment.
Hmmm.....
I left that place with a bad taste in my mouth concerning Mr. Orthodontist and his business practices.

Anyway, fast forward to this past Sunday.  I spied in the SmartSource coupon insert a bunch of coupons and a Mail-In Rebate as well for Phillips Sonicare battery operated toothbrushes.
And after a quick look at my Rite-Aid November Single Check Rebate Directory I noticed SCRebate #54 for the Sonicare Toothbrush for $20.
Hmmm....

And the next things I know, I am in the car and heading to Rite-Aid to get this....

Toothbrush reg. $84.99, on sale=$44.99

Coupons Used....
$5 off $25 purchase=$5.00
$10/1 ManuQ(sunday inserts)=$10.00
$1 off $10 Oral Care purchase Wellness Q(in my wellness acct. on Rite-Aid website)=$1.00
Total....$16.00 off

$44.99-$16.00=$28.99 + $1.73 in tax=$30.72
Used $28 in +Up Rewards(which took off $1.68 in tax as well)=$29.68
$30.72-$29.68=$1.04

Since +Ups can't be applied to tax and another $1 +Up would have taken off $1.06, I paid $1.04 Out of Pocket, put on my Rite-Aid Gift Card.

I'll submit for SCR #54 and get $20.00 cash refund from Rite-Aid.
AND
I'll submit via snail mail to Phillips for the $10.00 Manufacturer's rebate.
So I'll receive $30 back and will have "spent" $29.04, making this a free toothbrush + .96¢ in overage.

Now #2 son has NO excuses for poor brushing.
I'll worry about the cost of the replacement heads for this gizmo later......

And I'm not happy that I acquiesced on this matter but at least I didn't sully my Mantle of Frugality in the process.lol


THIS TRIP
Total Spent....$1.04(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$84.99
SCR qualified for...$20.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$10.00
+Up Rewards earned...$0.00
+Up Rewards spent...$28.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$23.99


GRAND TOTALS--November Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......30
Total Spent....$16.91  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1,442.69
SCR qualified for....$40.00
Other Cash....$14.99
Additional Rebates....$31.99
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Nov. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 11/20.....$51.99
+Up Rewards spent....$156.50
+Up Rewards earned....$160.49
+Up Rewards left....$23.99

Sluggy

A Trio of White Things Hodge-Podge

Ok, so the unifying thread that ties all my babbling in today's post together is the color white.

What is missing from this picture?

Ok.....here's a visual clue.......compared to this photo, what is missing above....besides the sunny day?

We've got a case for Unsolved Mysteries here!
About a month ago, the new, bigger RV aka The Behemoth got pulled away.  Since it was in the midst of the school year(and they have a kid)I figured the Grandparents had taken it out for a fall camping getaway, since they have borrowed it in the past for trips.
But the Behemoth has been gone for a month+ now.....and the Grandparents have never taken it out for that long before...and never this deep into the Fall weather(meaning when it's this cold).
No one has said anything in regards to the Behemoth that I have been able to overhear.
I may just have to think up an excuse to go over there and ask.....not that I don't mind it being gone!

And speaking of weather....
It's almost the end of November and we have had(I know I'm jinxing us with this)NO SNOW yet!
Not.
A Single.
Flake.
The photo above I had to dig out from last February's stash of pics, to show you some of what we ususally have.

This is northeastern PA people.....and we live on top of a MOUNTAIN....albeit a small mountain, but still....
Very rarely do we get to this point in the calendar with not at least 1 or 2 'snow events' that don't instantly disappear upon hitting the ground.
I could get use to this though since the PITA Chihuahua won't go out in snow.
She thinks she is the freaking Queen of England or something and won't go off the deck if there is a dusting of white stuff.  Guess who gets a foot shoved up her hiney to get her off the deck on a regular basis in the winter?

I'm sure we'll pay for this fluke "No Snow In Nov." thing with  lots of APRIL SNOW(which by the way is so WRONG!)on the tail end of Snow Season around these parts.

And speaking of white stuff.....
We now officially live in the "bad" part of town.....if you can call this a town.lol

Our next door neighbor rang our doorbell the other night and let us know that someone had thrown something on the teen's car earlier that evening.  His grown daughter's car, she was visiting from out of town, also was a recipient of this special honor as well.  Both cars were parked down at the street when it happened.
Neighbor's daughter called the police so there was more doorbell ringing here as the patrolman wanted to get our information for his report, etc.  No damage that couldn't be washed off.

I went out the next morning and took some photos of the *ahem*, artwork......

Hubs deduced that the 'media' used in this graffiti art was New England Clam Chowder.
WTF??!!lol
We both simultaneously said, "What a waste of a good cup of chowder."


Now I could see throwing a cup of hot coffee, or spraying a bottle of soda pop on a car.....but who the hell joyrides around with containers of clam chowder for the singular purpose of decorating someone's parked  car?
And the landlocked mountainous area of PA is not where people go around eating clam chowder much anyway, nor is it a popular carry-out food item at any restaurants here.

At least it could be washed off and didn't leave a permanent mark.
It's an 18 yr. old car for gosh sakes so who cares about how it looks, right?lol

I'm just glad the 'hooligans' who did this didn't use rocks or bricks and smash windows or slash tires....this time!
The policeman said he was going to go check up on the whereabouts of our neighborhood, as he called them....*ahem* "freqent flyers" (aka juvenile deliquents).  We've got about 4 rotten egg teens living around here who may or may not be involved.
I'm not getting myself all worked up over this until they do something like set my mailbox on fire....
Once they start destroying the holder of my free samples and coupons, then it will get ugly, I guarantee that!!

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday....November 22nd Edition...Gobble, Gobble

I won't be employing my BPLS system(=Browse/Plan/List/Shop)this week.
*Most weeks, I see what leftovers I need to incorporate into this week's meals, then I Browse the sale ads for the store, Plan a menu, Make a List of what you need for that menu and THEN go food Shopping.
Since I have an overflowing freezer/fridge this week, I'll be incorporating leftovers and shopping from what I have already on hand to come up with my meal plan.  The Thanksgiving foods were all purchased last week in advance of the holiday.

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. (Except we will serve 6 on Thursday.)  No children under 14.

SUNDAY--Marinated Ginger Catfish, Garlic Mashed Taters, Stir Fried Mixed Veggies
MONDAY--Beef Enchiladas, Refried Beans, Guacamole and Salad
TUESDAY--BBQ Chicken Breasts, homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Veggie(to be determined)
WEDNESDAY--Homemade Boston Baked Beans, Hot Dogs, leftover Veggies from Sat.-Tues.
THURSDAY--Turkey Day
FRIDAY--NOT COOKING!  Plenty of Leftovers to graze upon
SATURDAY--Meatloaf, to be determined leftover side dishes we need to finish up from this week

How am I being frugal with this menu?

Sun.--The Catfish was bought on special, stockpiled taters, veggies on sale $1 a bag.
Mon.--I have leftover taco meat to use up so I'll add some fresh ground beef, onions and respice it all.  Plus I'll make my own Enchilada Sauce for pennies.  Beans from the stockpile, avocados were on special for $1 last week so I picked one up to make the guac.
Tues.--Chicken breast from Sat. on special, leftover alfredo sauce to use up I'll use as the base of the mac and cheese sauce along with shredded cheese in the freezer, pasta in the stockpile and frozen veg. also in the freezer.
Wed.--Bag of yellow eyed beans I got in Maine and stockpiled bacon for the BBBs, Hot Dogs in the freezer, Bread Outlet rolls to use up and leftover veggies.
Thurs.--Discount prices this last week on traditional Thanksgiving foods I bought along with stockpile foods make this as frugal as you can get for a big honking meal.lol
I'll be serving Turkey, stuffing, rolls(free after MIR), gravy(homemade), sweet potatoes, rutabaga, roasted fall root veggies, deviled eggs(used BOGO eggs coupon last week), pumpkin pie with whipped cream and key lime w/meringue pie.
Fri.--The ultimate in frugal cooking.....serving a leftover buffet. ;-)
Sat.--Meatloaf fixings in the freezer/stockpile and using up leftovers.

LAST WEEK'S FOOD SPENDING
I spent $85.29 last week on groceries.  I have $37.08 left in my $250 monthly food budget until the end of November.

The only purchase for this menu is possibly some bread for the stuffing on Thanksgiving.  I'll head over to the Bread Outlet tomorrow for that.

FOOD WASTE REPORT
Nothing went bad, nothing wasted last week. 

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

Sluggy

Not Much for Me To Take Home from Rite-Aid This Week & Perfume GOOD DEAL ALERT!

I finally got up to Rite-Aid after dinner on Sunday.
While last week was a BLOW OUT Week, this week is pretty slim pickings for me.
The Sunday vultures had left me a few crumbs thankfully.....lol.....

2 x Welch's Juice(no purple, just white, boo!)on sale $2.99=$5.98
4 x Tresemme 'Poo/Stylers on sale BOGO($5.49)=$10.98
1 x Planters Nut*rition on sale=$3.99
1 x Motrin PM on sale=$4.00
2 x Tugaboos trial diaper pack w/wellness disc.$.79=$1.58
SubTotal....$26.53

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25 Q=$5.00
1 x $1/2 Welch's Juice Hangtag Q=$1.00
4 x $1/1 Tresemme Flu Booklet Q=$4.00
1 x $5/3 Tresemme products AdPerks/VV IPQ=$5.00
1 x $1/1 Tresemme styler AdPerks/VV IPQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Planters nut product IPQ(from Kraft 1st Taste website)=$1.00
1 x $.50/1 Nut*rition Flu Booklet Q=$.50
1 x $2/1 Motrin PM ManuQ(from Sunday insert)=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Motrin PM AdPerks/VV IPQ=$1.00
2 x $1/1 Tugaboos item Q(from previous diaper trial pack insert)=$2.00
Coupon Total...$22.50

$26.53-$22.50=$4.03

I used $4 in +Up Rewards and put the $.03 Out of Pocket on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $4 in +Up Rewards(2 x $1Welch's, $2 Planters Nut*rition)=$4.00 back.
I also qualified for SCR #81(Motrin PM)=$2.00 cash rebate.
I kept my +Ups at $51.99 worth but I'll get $2 back.

I've rolled all 2 of the +Ups I needed to use this week.  I wanted to buy the Hash on sale but they only had 2 cans and I need at least 3 to use my ManuQs.  I'm also waiting on my Planters Qs to arrive to get more Nut*rition cans.

There is a great deal on Shakira fragrance of perfume this week if you have someone who wants this as a gift or if you yourself use this scent.
This week this is among the scents that is $10 off the reg. price.  It retails here for $28 a bottle.
Combine this instant $10 off with a $5 off $25 purchase and the $5 AdPerks/VV Q for Shakira and you'll pay $8 a bottle.
But it gets better because there is a $3 SCR on this scent during the Nov. rebate period, so in the end you pay $5!!


SUNDAY TRIP
Total Spent....$.03(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$41.31
SCR qualified for...$2.00
Other Rebats earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$4.00
+Up Rewards spent...$4.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$51.99


GRAND TOTALS--November Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......29
Total Spent....$15.87  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1,357.70
SCR qualified for....$20.00
Other Cash....$14.99
Additional Rebates....$21.99
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Nov. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 11/20.....$51.99
+Up Rewards spent....$128.50
+Up Rewards earned....$160.49
+Up Rewards left....$51.99
 
Sluggy

Saturday Food/HBA Shopping Madness

  I decided NOT to go to Price Chopper for a free turkey seeing as I'd have to spend $50 to get that 'free' bird.
I probably spent more than $50 when all was said and done however by not going there.lol

I thought Redner's had $.49lb. frozen birds and they had Coke products for $2 a 12 pack(limit 5 please)so I hopped over the river to get some things.
Hopping over the river was easier said than done since I hadn't counted on the big town in between me and Redner's having their Christmas Parade on Saturday....right around the time I tried to go from here to there.
Ugh!
It took forever to go around the parade route but I persevered and got there.

Got the Cokes but no Turkeys for cheap.
They had Dietz & Watson poultry deli meats 40% off(!!!)and Daughter wanted some lunch meats so I picked up smoked turkey, bacon lover's turkey and southern friend chicken breast.
I was so hungry I snacked on a couple of pieces once I got it out to the car in the parking lot. Mmmmm....the bacon lover's turkey is awesome!  Too bad it won't go on sale like that probably EVER AGAIN since I won't pay the reg. retail of $8.99lb. for it.

Redner's also had a deal w/coupon in their ad....buy 4 pillsbury refrigerated dough or sweet moments choc. things(which were on sale for $2 ea.)and get $3 off a gallon of milk.  I had Qs for the sweet moments things($1/1)and some packages had peelies for $1/1 also.  And when I checked out, there was a pillsbury catalina deal on the stuff.  Having bought 4 I received a $3 OYNO Catalina Q. 
So I bought 4=$8 & a gallon of milk($3.33)=$11.33-4x$1/1 Qs=$7.33, Milk Discount($3)=$4.33 and received $3 Cat=$1.33 for all after Catalina Q.
Not bad.
This Deal on the milk runs another week at Redner's(the Catalina runs through 12/26.

I also found Breakstone Sour Cream on sale for $1.25 with $1/2 Peelies, which made the sour cream containers $.75 each after Q.  Add in a few other things and I left there $44.39 poorer.....but still no turkey!

So it was off to the local independent grocer, thinking their ad is where I saw cheap birds.
Nope.
But I got celery for $.99, ice cream for $2 a tub, fruit, lettuce, a rutabaga and yogurt to the tune of $14.84.

Then it was off to Weis Markets and yes, THEY had the frugal poultry!  Picked up a nice 14.62lb. Boat Anchor masquerading as a frozen turkey.lol
I also cruised by the meat counter and found some $2.99lb. fresh catfish(I've got it sitting in marinade as I type), and a 5lb. package of marked down boneless chicken breast which came to $1.42lb. after the store Q.
A sack of Beauregard Sweet Potatoes, some cheapish butter with Qs and a bag of bagels finished up my Turkey Day shopping list for $26.06.

In between all this grocery store-ing, I managed to work in 4 transactions at various Rite-Aids.
Since that week's sales are over, I'll just show you the photos of the hauls and give you the non-itemized totals of how it went down.  If anyone is interested in the particulars, just leave a comment about that.

I'll just preface this by saying that this Fall has been epic for me at Rite-Aid and I have amassed quite the wad of +Up Rewards, along with a few SCRs/MIRs making November a real moneymaking month. 8-)

#1--After Qs, I used $9 in +Ups, put $.91 on my gift card and received $11 +Ups back.

#2--After Qs, I used $4 in +Ups, put $.98 on my gift card and received $4 +Ups back.
I also qualified for a $11.99 MIR for Tena Underwear.

#3--After Qs, I used $6 in +Ups, put $.88 on my gift card and received $10 +Ups back.
This was a repeat of the L'Oreal Make-up deal I did earlier in the week.

#4--After Qs, I used $9 in +Ups, put $.51 on my gift card and received $8 +Ups back.
I also qualified for SCR #79($3).

Altogether, I put $3.28 Out of Pocket on the gift card, used $28 in +Ups, received $33 in +Ups back.

Nothing Out of Pocket, I grew my +Up Rewards by $5 and I will get back $14.99 in cash for the 2 rebates.
Value of the items purchased.....$177.21

This week should find me being a home body and not leaving the house much.  I'll be cooking and cleaning this week in preparation for Thanksgiving and reorganizing stuff before Winter sets in.

SATURDAY TRIPS
Total Spent....$3.28(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$177.21
SCR qualified for...$3.00
Other Rebats earned...$11.99
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$33.00
+Up Rewards spent...$28.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$51.99


GRAND TOTALS--November Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......28
Total Spent....$15.84  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1,316.39
SCR qualified for....$18.00
Other Cash....$14.99
Additional Rebates....$21.99
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Nov. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 11/19.....$46.99
+Up Rewards spent....$124.50
+Up Rewards earned....$156.49
+Up Rewards left....$51.99
 
Sluggy