Official Word from Rite-Aid on Changes to The Gift of Savings Program

Here's the word directly from my Rite-Aid Corporate Mole's fingers.....

"We heard your feedback and we've changed our Gift of Savings coupon policy. To best reward you for shopping at Rite Aid, manufacturer coupons will not be subtracted from your total spend amount. Check your accounts within the next 48 hours to see your recalculated balance. We understand you have a choice of pharmacies and thank you for your continued support of Rite Aid."

That is all.....carry on......

Sluggy

The Pistaschio Nazi & Rite-Aid "Scrooge"is No More!

Ok, so she wasn't exactly the Pistaschio Nazi but I so like that episode of Seinfeld about the Soup Nazi and I just wanted to call her that.
Yes, I need a life.....

So I went to Rite-Aid last night to see if they put out the 1lb. bags of Pistaschios yet.
I heart pistachios.....

So the Asst. Manager was there and stocking the seasonal shelves.
Ugh.
Now, I KNOW she doesn't like me.......can you believe it?  Who could NOT like me?  Come on!...I am just so, so....likable! ;-)
But I like to think that it's not just me that she doesn't like...that she hates people in general!

Anyway, so I smiled real big and asked her ever so nicely if they put the "Extravaganza" bags of Pistaschios out yet.
She twisted up her face, glared at me and and snipped, "They're gone!"
And went right back to ripping a box open.....I bet she was imagining that box was my head all the while.

So because I didn't go in early on Thursday, I missed out on the Pistaschios.....*whimper, whimper*.
The Pistaschio Nazi, striking fear in my heart.
Heck, maybe I'll just refer to her as the Rite-Aid Nazi from now on. ;-)

I'll check out another R-A later today for them nuts, after I finish this post, get dressed, finish baking cookies for the band to sell at the high school play tonight and do about 15 other things first.

Here's what I bought instead at R-A last night....

3 x Dove Holiday Chocolates on sale=$8.97
2 x Hershey's Bliss Chocolates on sale=$5.98
2 x Bic Pens w/wellness disc.=$3.18
1 x Bob's Sweet Stripes  on sale=$2.88  *shhh, don't tell #2 son!*
2 x Tugaboo Diapers w/wellness disc.=$1.58
3 x John Frieda travel size w/wellness disc.=$3.57
SubTotal...$26.16

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25=$5.00
1 x $1/2 Dove Choc. AdPerks/VV Q=$1.00
1 x $1/2 Dove Choc. Flu Booklet Q=$1.00
1 x $2/3 Mars Choc. ManQ(12/6 inserts)=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Bliss Choc. ManQ(12/6 inserts?)=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Tugaboo diapers Q inside package=$2.00
Coupon Total...$13.00

$26.16-$13.00=$13.16
I used $13 in +Up Rewards and put the $.16 OOP on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $9 in +Up Rewards back(5 x $1 for each bag of chocolate, $1 for Bob's Sweet Stripes, $3 for buying 2 Bic products)
I also qualified for SCR #58($5 wyb 3 JFrieda items).
I spent $13 +Ups, got $9 +Ups back and a $5 SCR, so this transaction was a $1 moneymaker.

And in other developments....it seems Rite-Aid heard all of us customers grumbling about the way they were running the Gift Of Savings Promotion this year.
In years past, they counted any Manu Qs used as a form of payment, and thus all Qs counted toward your spending total to reach a Certificate Award of $5, $10, or $20.
This year, they were deducting all Qs you used to pay, so if you got your Out of Pocket down to pocket change after Qs, that pocket change was all that they were counting toward your Certificate Reward.
Big bummer!

I wake up this morning to find a bloggy friend & reader asking me if she should quick request her Certificate(since suddenly all her Qs in her transactions were showing in her GOS account now)before this apparition disappeared!lol

Then I checked my emails and saw that Rite-Aid had sent me an email that they went ahead and requested my GOS Certificate for me as a courtesy.
Well, thanks alot!, I thought, since the last time I looked I was barely to the $10 Certificate level.
I was hoping to try to get to $20 but heck, but not now if you've cashed me out already!!!

So I went to my account and saw my qualifying purchases had jumped from $69+ to over $340!LOLOL
Which meant I had topped out at the $20 level, so yah baby, bring on the cash out! 8-))

So if you are doing the Gift of Savings Certificate Promo, go check your account.  You might be pleasantly surprised that your Qs are qualifying now from previously Scroogey Rite-Aid.
Bless us all, everyone....

THIS TRIP
Total Spent....$.16 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$40.37
SCR qualified for...$5.00(John Frieda)
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$9.00
+Up Rewards spent...$13.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$48.00

GRAND TOTALS--December Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......11
Total Spent....$4.16  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$459.84
SCR qualified for....$10.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Gift of Savings Reward...$30.00*both me and BIL account*
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Dec. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 12/8.....$52.00
+Up Rewards spent....$66.00
+Up Rewards earned....$99.00
+Up Rewards left....$48.00

Sluggy

Chasing the 4 Day Extravaganza Sale at Rite-Aid.....Still Looking!

So Rite-Aid started a 4-Day mini Sale on Wednesday, or as they call it, their 4-Day EXTRAVAGANZA SALE. It runs Wednesday to Saturday of this week.

I hit the local store yesterday morning....
I did the Garnier Buy $30, Get a $10 +Up Rewards Deal.

I also got the $5 Maybelline +Up Reward so after Coupons and $5 in +Ups used to pay and $.20 put on my gift card, with $15 in +Ups received=$10 moneymaker for me.

Before I left the store I asked about the 4 Day Sale and the cashier ran and got me a 4-Day Flyer and said they just haven't gotten to putting out the specials for this sale yet. Since no items that were specific for just this sale were out, no signage was on the shelves yet either.

I checked out another Rite-Aid over by the grocery store I went to for milk and eggs in the afternoon. They had the 4-Day Flyers out by the door, but again, there was nothing that was special for this sale on the shelves yet(but there was a huge pallet wrapped in plastic of bins waiting to be stocked sitting in a main aisle). And nothing that was regular merchandise on the shelves already that was part of this sale was marked yet.
Looks like the 4-Day Sale is going to be a 3 or 2 Day Sale in these parts by the time the overworked employess get around to getting the signage/merchandise out.

I picked up some items anyway.....after all, it's Rite-Aid and I just had to, ya know?lol.....

2 Revlon Nail Polish $5.02 *
2 Bic Pen Packs $1.59ea. with wellness discount=$3.18
2 Colgate Toothpaste on sale $2.95=$5.90 **
1 Chloraseptic Spray on sale=$3.99
1 Airborne on sale=$4.99
SubTotal....$23.08 *

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25=$5.00
2 x $3/1 Revlon nail polish WellnessQ=$6.00
2 x $1/1 Colgate Toothpaste ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Chloraseptic item ManQ=$1.00
1 x $1.50/1 Airborne IPQ=$1.50
1 x $2/1 Airborne WellnessQ=$2.00
Coupons Total....$17.50

$23.08=$17.50=$5.58+$.09tax=$5.67
I used $5 in +Ups and put $.67 on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $13 in +Up Rewards back($4 wyb2 Revlon, $3 wyb 2 Bic, 2 x $2 Colgate, $1 Chloraseptic, $1 Airborne).
BIL also qualified for SCR #82 for $2.00.
Used $5+Ups, got $13 back & $2 rebate=$10 moneymaker.

* The Revlon nail polish was suppose to be BOGO 50%off, so 2 should have been $7.18.  But 1 rang up as a clearance item at $1.19, so the other item rang up at $3.83 which is my 20% wellness discount.  This was unexpected and made my pre-coupon total below $25 by almost $2.  I noticed and was looking for something to throw onto my bill as I handed the cashier the coupons, but before I could she just started scanning them quickly.  I tried to tell her I needed to add something to use the $5 off coupon but she waved me off and it rang up anyway.  Well, I tried....lol
If you want to know the clearanced polish color was called "Gold Get Em".

** Though the Colgate Toothpaste was on sale for $2.99, the 20% off wellness price made it lower at $2.95, so I received that price instead.

After dinner I ran back up the street to see if they put out the Pistachios yet.
That was a big nope!
So I got....didn't see that one coming now, did ya?lol.....

1 Pot of Gold Chocolate Box=$3.99
2 Tugaboos Diaper packs=$1.58
6 Hershey Candy bags(2 Kisses/2 Reese's/2 Miniatures)on sale $2 ea.=$12.00 ***
2 Purex 3-in-1 Sheets Detergent on sale bogo=$7.99
SubTotal....$25.56

Coupons totaled $22.00.
$25.56-$22.00=$3.56
I used $3 in +Up Rewards and put the $.56 on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received back $5 +Up Rewards(3 x $1 for every 2 bags of candy, $2 Pot of Gold Choccies)=$5.
The Purex purchase also qualified for SCR #50(available this week only!)=$1.00
Spent $3+Ups, got $5+Ups back & $1 SCR=$3 moneymaker.

***Ok, this Hershey's Candy Deal is sweet because if you have the right coupons, you can get 6 bags for $1 after +Up Rewards!

Check it out....
Buy 2 bags each of Kisses, Reese's and Miniatures.
Total at $2 a bag is $12.00
Now use these coupons.....
$1/2 Reese's VV/AdPerks Q
$1/2 Kisses VV/AdPerks Q
$1/2 Miniatures VV/AdPerks Q
That makes your total $9.00
Then use...
2 Buy2Get1Free any Hershey's Candy ManuQ(from last Sunday's inserts)
That takes off the price of 2 of the bags, so your total is now $5.00
Then use....
1 $1/2 Kisses bags ManuQ(not sure which insert this was from)
Now your total is $4.00
When you pay, you'll get $3 in +Ups($1 for every 2 bags of candy) which makes your Grand Total $1.00
$1.00....for 6 bags!

When I am out later today, I'll bop in and see if they got the Pistachios and put them out yet....and maybe I'll pick up some Chloraseptic drops since you can do both spray and drops SCRs.....and the John Frieda travel bottles for that $5 SCR.....and more Pot of Gold or Bic pens for, well....because it's free and I can use them!  Is there a better reason?lol


THESE TRIPS
Total Spent....$1.34 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$131.69
SCR qualified for...$3.00(Chloraseptic/Purex)
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$33.00
+Up Rewards spent...$13.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$52.00

GRAND TOTALS--December Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......10
Total Spent....$4.00  put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$419.47
SCR qualified for....$5.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Gift of Savings Reward...$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Dec. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 12/6.....$42.00
+Up Rewards spent....$53.00
+Up Rewards earned....$90.00
+Up Rewards left....$52.00

Sluggy

Penguins Love to Ski!

I was googling around last night after #2 son and I had a conversation about talented guitar players. (#2 plays the bass.)
He wanted to show me some YouTube clip of a guitarist who plays some awesome riffs.
We got to talking and one topic led to another and I in turn wanted to show him a clip of an old artist who was very popular in the French New Wave Music Movement back in the 1980's.

Since he is taking French in school and this guy sang in french(though he is Belgian and not French), I thought he might be interested in hearing some numbers.
I must say #2 wasn't very impressed.....and neither was I almost 30 yrs. later.lol

But I did find in my wanderings this cute clip to share.......
Believe it or not, this was only one of a number of these remakes of songs and they were a big hit in France and then Germany.

The title is "Me, I Love to Ski!"
You'll recognize the tune.....even if you can't speak French.lol
It's a cute clip.

Sluggy

Meal Plan Not-Monday

I am just having a devil of a time coming up with dinners this week.  I'm on Day Three of mulling it over and I just give up.
I think I'll just call it "Surprise Meal Plan", come down and throw the freezer door open each morning and see what strikes my fancy or just close my eyes and grab something out of the ol' Chill Chest.

I made a big pot of homemade Boston Baked Beans and Cornbread on Sunday.  Either my eyes are going and I can't read the recipe clearly anymore or I grabbed the wrong measuring spoon because well, those beans were like eating a salt lick to me!
Ugh....

I guess I'll have to dilute them with some canned beans before we eat them again later this week.

Monday night I just invented something from what I had on hand.  I had a big container of leftover enchilada sauce from the other week that needed using up.  So I grabbed a roll of ground turkey(that was pre-seasoned for taco filling), a can of refried beans and a small can of no beans chili.  I dumped that all together(after cooking the turkey of course!lol), thawed some cheese and made chili enchiladas.  Served it with salad and sour cream.

I've been considering all my usual meals and nothing is striking me as appetizing.  Maybe something with fish tonight?
Perhaps if I go stand out in the stockpile inspiration will hit me....if the bags of flour falling off the shelf don't first. lol

Since I am trying to keep up with ANNIE JONES this month with her No Spending/Eating from The Pantry Challenge, I'll report in here that last week I spent $35.08 on groceries.  Well, some of that was a receipt I lost & didn't find until it was too late to add to November's spending and $12.78 of it was a trip to the local market that I really didn't need, but I spent because I had to take BIL to the grocery store because he totaled his car....I was there so I spent. ugh
Some of it was for fruit and lettuce but I also bought panko on sale and deli meat.

So far this week I've spent $4.09.  I ran out of eggs so Hubs picked up a dozen and then he picked up some tortillas for last night's dinner.

So I'm off to contemplate the stockpile/freezer.....I'm thinking fish but I might do a veggie quiche of some kind....or hamburgers since I have the rolls and the ground beef.
At any rate with these 3 ideas plus a leftover night I am set until Saturday for meals now!

Sluggy