Stretching Those Eating Out Dollars

Here's a tip to file away to use next Holiday Season.
It's something I do that stretches the money we will spend anyway.

One of our splurges is going out to eat.
Nothing better for a worn out "cooking machine", a.k.a. MOM, like me, than sitting down at a table and not having to jump up to finish cooking something AND having someone else serve MOI!

We don't go out nearly as much as we use to but when we go out I still want to get a good deal.
Lots of eating establishments offer deals on Gift Cards around the Holidays.  They want you to spend all those gift-buying dollars with them!
Deals like "Buy $X worth of our Gift Cards and get an extra $X worth of Gift Cards to keep and use on yourself."

These silly businesses "assume" I'm buying gift cards to give as gifts.
Au Contraire!

I wait all year long until they offer these deals on their gift cards and then I buy a stack of 'em......to keep and use through out the year when we want to go out!

I figure it this way....
I'm going to eat at their restaurant during the coming year.
And I have some spare money not tied up in other venues besides a checking account.
So I might as well take that spare cash and tie it up into gift cards if they are also going to give me more than my money's worth.

So I bought $100 worth of Gift Cards and got an extra $40's worth for free!

Now the dark side of doing this....
*Make sure you don't buy more than you will use and only buy them for places you KNOW you will go and you like their food.
*Don't lose your gift cards.  While cold hard cash stays safe and snug in your wallet, gift cards tend to wander off and get misplaced.  If you lose it, you are screwed.
*Make sure you are aware of any terms or conditions the company places on their gift cards.  Are there expiration dates or fees if you don't use them within a certain time frame?  Get the straight poop before you hand over your cash.  My $40 in free cards have conditions but I knew it from the start and I can deal with those terms.
*Do NOT do this and pay for the Gift Cards with a credit card(unless you are one of those rare individuals that pays off your statement completely each month).  If you don't and you are paying interest on a gift card purchase, you are negating any savings you sought.

And of course, not only am I eating cheaper each time I go to the restaurant, I also take a coupon with me to make my meal even more frugal!

Now if ONLY our local Asian Restaurant would offer a deal like this!!lol
 

Sluggy

Christmas 2010 Budget/Spending Autopsy

Super Nerd Girl here again.....

Ok, so calling it an Autopsy is not very festive or cheerful.
So call it "The Post where I talk about what I was Going to Spend for Christmas and what I Actually Spent for Christmas".

We budgeted $1000 for Christmas spending.
$1000 in money we HAD already, so no putting Christmas spending on Credit Cards to pay off in June or January 2012.lol

Here is where the funds were allocated at the start.....

Traveling to visit with Family.  $300
Sending a few Holiday Cards.  $10.80
Shopping for and exchanging gifts with family.  $400
Cooking Christmas dinner.  $30
Charity.  $100
Baking cookies and pies.  $20
Christmas Tree.  $5
A Christmas eve meal and show or movie.  $125


And here is where the money actually went.....

Traveling to visit with Family.  $0
Sending a few Holiday Cards.  $4.40
Shopping for and exchanging gifts with family.  $695.89
Cooking Christmas dinner.  $0
Charity.  $100
Baking cookies and pies.  $0
Christmas Tree.  $5
A Christmas eve meal and show or movie.  $76.35 including tips



Here are the Spending Details....

$0  *Traveling to visit with Family----
The travel plans didn't work out so we didn't spend on this.  Not being able to visit however did mean we had more shipping costs to get the gifts we were bringing with us to their destination.  Shipping were put under the Gifts heading.

$4.40  *Sending a few Holiday Cards----
We sent out 13 cards. 10 were mailed and the others were hand-delivered or put inside of mailed gift packages so no stamps needed.

$695.89  *Shopping for and exchanging gifts with family----
WOW!  Ok, so $300 of this figure was the $100 cash we give each kid, so $395.89 was spent on gifts and shipping.  This does NOT include what Hubs spent on my gifts.
I kept an itemized list of who got what and how much it cost.  I about blew a gasket when I saw how much it all added up to!  You don't think you are spending, even if you are frugal, but boy oh boy!!!


Keep in mind that this spending number doesn't include the $200 in FREE Gift Cards I obtained from my credit card points program that I gave as gifts.

Looking back over the items, the least frugal thing has to be the Stocking Stuffers!  Even though I got most of mine this year for free at Rite-Aid, after using +Up Rewards and free Rite-Aid gift card to pay, those little "filler" type items will kill your budget!

$0  *Cooking Christmas dinner----
I didn't buy any extravagant meat or other gourmet type food.  My usual monthly grocery spending covered the Holiday meal.

$100  *Charity----
 I didn't involve the kids in a charity activity this year.  There was just nothing I could find that worked out with their school/work schedules so I just gave cash to a local Holiday charity organization.

$0  *Baking cookies and pies----
Again I was able to cover ingredients in the monthly food budget for December.  Everything but the pecans I had to buy was already procured before the month began using previous month's food funds.

$5  *Christmas Tree----
Hubs strung 2 strings of lights outside and lit the Wreath on the door.  They were only up 2 full weeks and lit for a few hours each night. 

$76.35  *A Christmas eve meal and show or movie----
We didn't have any extended family come this year so it was a smaller bill.

And the grand total we spent for Christmas 2010?

$881.64

$118.36 UNDER Budget!

Yay us.....

So looking forward to Christmas 2011 for me--
*I'm basically happy with what I ended up spending, though next year I may redistribute the amounts spent in individual categories.
*We spend way too much on gifts, even if they are money or non-stuff gifts.
*We need to be more actively involved with the charitable spending, not just throwing a check at some group.

If you kept track of your spending for Christmas, how did you do?
Did you spend more. less or right about what you planned on spending?
Did you have any money epiphanies(epiphany? epiphani?)when you looked back at the Holiday plan?
Do you see anything you'll change about your spending for Christmas 2011?

Leave a comment and let us know how ya did and what you learned about yourself & money this year!!

Sluggy

About Those NeverEnding Receipts.....

As for my Sunday shopping....
I am not even going to attempt to do my usual rundown with prices/values/coupon specifics/etc.
At this point, my head might explode if I tried.
Seriously.
Explode.

I dumped it all out on the table and took 1 shot.
Please note: no shelves were cleared in the making of this haul unlike some people on certain extreme tv reality shows.....*wink wink*.
This is the result of 5 different trips to 5 different Rite-Aids.  I could have spread it out over more stores because we have a ridiculous number of them here, though none of them are EVER fully stocked with sale merchandise.  I could have done more but I didn't want to be, oh, I don't know.....greedy?lol
Ok....to the photo.....

2 Bags Pistachios
6 cans of Coffee
4 cans of Soup
8 boxes Cereal
4 boxes Tylenol Precise Cream/Patches
6 packages of Pencils
4 packs of Pilot Pens
2 Spic n' Span Microfiber Cloths
4 Dishwashing Detergent tabs
2 packages of Maxi-pads
2 Darice Craft Kits
6 cans of Diced Tomatoes
6 cans of Spaghetti Sauce
16 boxes of Pasta
1 bag of Rice(2lb)
2 boxes of Motrin PM
29 Hormel Compleats
2 Simply Asia Noodles

I 'spent' $4.45 on my free gift card.
Used $127 +Ups, got $133 +Ups back so a $6 moneymaker.

Rite-Aid paid me $6 to fill my kitchen table with food and hba!
Have I mentioned how much I "heart" Rite-Aid lately?lol

Highlights for shopping at Rite-Aid this week.......

If you like Pistachios, grab the $1/1 Pistachio Q Here(print it twice).  If you can find a store with the Pistachios on sale for $2.50, get 2 bags.  Use your Qs and after you pay you get a $1 +Ups wyb 2, essentially meaning you pay $1 a bag after +Up.

The Barilla Pasta is on sale $5 for 4 boxes.  You'll receive $5 in +Ups back($1 this week for buying 4 and 4 x $1 ones as this item is a month long food item that generates a $1 +Up).  Free pasta!
Unfortunately it will be hard to find 4 boxes in any one store, as with alot of the food Rite-Aid stocks.

The Hormel Compleats are likewise free this week after +Ups.  Each one is on sale for $1.99 this week and gives back a $1 +Up and is a month long food item that generates another $1 +Up. Pair it with a Q and better than free!

The Special K cereal is BOGO this week.  Use the IP BOGO Q and get 2 boxes for free PLUS it's a month long food item that generates a $1+Up so you'll get $2 in +Ups for 2 boxes....a $2 moneymaker.

The Tylenol Precise is also free or better than free after +Ups.  On sale for $5 each, use the $3/1 or buy 2 and use the $5/2 ManQ, pay $2 or $5(w/the $5/2Q) and receive a $3 +Up for each one you buy.  Depending on the Q you use it's either free or a $1 moneymaker(on 2)after +Ups.

The Coffee is free after the $1 +Up and the $2/1 Rite-Aid Qs available.
The Rite-Aid soup is .19¢ a can until Feb. something-or-other after $1/2 Q as mentioned in a previous post.

The Sauce and Diced Tomatoes are 4 cans for $4 on sale and after the $1 +Up wyb 4 cans.  These are NOT producing a monthlong $1 +Up per can, nor is the soup on sale 4/$5.  A buck a can for tomatoes while not free is a good price for here.

The Stay-free is better than free on sale 2/$5, combined with the BOGO Q and a $1/1 Q after the $2 +Ups wyb 2 packages.

The pens and pencils are a previously mentioned deal as well, though none of my pencils produced the $2 +Up on Sunday.  Anybody else having problems with that +Up?

Some Rite-Aids have the Spic n Span branded cleaning aids/tools 50% off(.50¢ per item)and there is a $1/1 Spin n Span Q on coupons dotcom so you can pick up free cleaning tools.

It's difficult to see on top of the pasta boxes but there is a 2lb. bag of white rice.  It and the brown rice are producing a $1 monthlong +Ups.  With my 20% Wellness +Discount the $1.49 per bag is $1.19, so after +Up it cost me .19¢.  The brown rice is higher at $1.69 so after 20% off it will cost you .35¢.

If anyone needs an particular(about stacking Qs or location of Qs)just leave a comment.

And that's just what I deemed worthy of buying for my family.  There are even more deals this week to be had but I didn't want to just buy stuff for the sake of buying it.
This is all part of my "Intentional Purchasing Plan" for 2011.  Having a plan for everything I bring home, be it using, giving away, donating.  No more buying stuff just because it's a moneymaker unless I have a plan for it ahead of time.

It was a sweet day of deal shopping on Sunday, except for the new fly in the Rite-Aid ointment.
Word is that register receipts are now printing out a limited number of +Up rewards per tape.  The number is somewhere around 24 or so.  If you are due back more than around that amount of individual rewards, some may not print.
My advise.....Keep your transactions shorter to avoid having this happen!

I fell victim to this new glitch twice on Sunday.  I was just trying to get it all done and quickly since I didn't need to break the shops into $25 lots to use a $5 off $25 Q on each order.
That's what I get for being efficient and helpful to my cashiers......argh!

Being the super nerd that I am, I measured my receipt tapes before I cut up the +Up Rewards.
1 tape was 6 feet long, 2 tapes topped off at 8 feet long, 1 came in at 8 feet, 10 inches and 1 was 9 FEET LONG!
Here it is next to the yardstick....mind you the receipt is folded twice so 3 layers deep.  8-))

They looked like those rhythmic gymnastic ribbons you see on the Olympics.

Just dye the register tape pink and learn how to hoist my leg up over my head and I'm alllll set! lol


Here's the big ol' numbers round up--

THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....6
Total Spent....$4.35  put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$312.94
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
Resolution Reward....$40.00(1 Me, 1 BIL)
+Up Rewards earned...$133.00
+Up Rewards spent...$127.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$138.00

 
GRAND TOTALS--January Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......24
Total Spent....$12.48 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1086.51
SCR qualified for....$12.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$40.00

+UPS Totals for Jan. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 1/7.....$132.00
+Up Rewards spent....$287.50
+Up Rewards earned....$312.00
+Up Rewards left....$138.00 includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy

Just a Fine Mess

I don't have time to post Sunday's Rite-Aid Rampage today but here's a sneak peek at my mess of register tapes.......

5 receipts......
4 of which are taller than me and have +Up Reward errors that I got to chat with Customer Service about this morning.
So much fun!....yah......you're not buying the "fun" crack, are you? lol

I need to do some post writing tonight that doesn't involve Rite-Aid so I have something for folks to read on the blog tomorrow.
I also need to put away a lot of stuff taking up my whole kitchen table at the moment so I can serve dinner.
Come back tomorrow!

Sluggy

Giving to Others......Friday at Rite-Aid

I don't know what possessed me, but I went back to Rite-Aid on Friday to do the Spend $20 on Aquafresh and get $10 +Up Rewards.

Ok, I DO know what possessed me.

I dropped off a load to the tiny little local food bank in my town on the 31st.  The 'food bank ladies' were there and I got to meet them finally.  Every time before the food bank wasn't open when I had goodies to drop off and I dealt with the church secretary.

So I popped me head into the food bank room and asked if I could drop some bags of stuff off.
As I brought in bag after bag, one of the ladies asked me if I was 'that lady who shops a lot of great sales and gets stuff for free and brings lots of food to the food bank'.
Um....I guess that would be me.lolol
The church secretary had been telling them tales about me and my escapades apparently over the last year, so they were happy to put a face to the "legend". ;-)
They gushed and gushed over me until frankly I felt like Garth..."totally not worthy".

So I've had that meeting in the back of my head lately.  It's pushing me to try to do more and give more to the food bank.  For me, 2010 was so NOT about getting much food for free or real cheap so most of what I brought them wasn't food but toiletries and paper goods.  I'm crossing my fingers that the food coupons get better in 2011 so I can have more actual food in the bags I take in to them.

Now the last thing we need is another tube of toothpaste, but this Aquafresh deal was so easy, didn't cost me anything but my time, some gas to get to the store and some ink and paper to print the necessary coupons.

8 tubes of Aquafresh a $6 moneymaker at +Ups.
6 cans of soup at .19¢ per can with Q.
2 packs of Angel Soft TP for .70¢ a pack after sale and $1 +Ups wyb2.
1 can of Cranberry Glop on clearance for .32¢.
I ended up using $9 +Ups, getting back $11 +Ups and it cost me .85¢ off my free Rite-Aid gift card.

The Toothpaste and soup will go into the food bank donation pile.
The TP will go to BIL and I'm keeping the Ocean Spray Glop. ;-)

Which leads me to a food bank donation dilemma I am having.

If you've been reading here for awhile you know I have been donating food/hba to a relative that is having financial problems.   This help has pretty much been on a regular basis since the fall(and irregularly before then).
This relative frequents this food bank as part of other help they receive.
Should I just give my donations to them since they are family?
Should I give my donations to the food bank and have the relative get stuff from there instead of from me directly?
Should I divide up what I have and give to both?....and if so, how much to each?

When I give to the relative directly they still go to the food bank as well....it's not like my donation directly to them keeps them from using the fb.

I don't know....I was letting the relative choose from my donation stash first and then taking what they didn't want to the food bank.  I'm thinking this is probably the best way to handle things.
Let me know if you have any thoughts on this.

Anyway, here are my updated Rite-Aid totals for this shop.....


THIS TRIP
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.85 put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$43.99
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$11.00
+Up Rewards spent...$9.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$132.00

 
GRAND TOTALS--January Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......18
Total Spent....$8.13 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$773.57
SCR qualified for....$12.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Jan. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 1/6.....$130.00
+Up Rewards spent....$160.50
+Up Rewards earned....$179.00
+Up Rewards left....$132.00 includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy