Monday, January 24, 2011

Sluggy's Birthday Boring Blog Giveaway Post #2...Time to Enter Again!


Time for Post 2 for the Birthday Boring Blog Giveaway!
 
If this is your first time here, get up to speed on how this Giveaway works by looking HERE.

Check out the rules.....
The Rules
1. You must be a "Follower" of my blog to enter and still be a Follower if/when you win.  Lookie on the right sidebar and press the big ol' FOLLOW button if you are not already a follower.
2.  Sorry but this Giveaway is open ONLY to those with a mailing address within the USA.  Hate to have to do that but the postal rates outside the country are KILLER.
3. 1 vote/entry per post with 1 exemption.  You can leave more than 1 comment per post but only your 1st vote/comment will count.

The 1 Exemption....You can earn EXTRA ENTRIES this way....
*If you get someone to become a Follower and enter this giveaway you can earn an Extra Entry for each person you bring on board.  You can blog about the giveaway or email people or post about it on a message board or call your neighbor on the phone....whatever way you want to recruit them, I don't care.  Just make sure that they mention in their vote/comment/entry that You(your name here)told them about the blog/giveaway and you get an extra entry that post.


As always, this is not a company sponsored or company supplied Giveaway.  Any costs associated with this Giveaway are coming out of my pocket because I'm just that kinda gal.  Please patronize our blog ads....I'm just sayin'.... ;-)


Now down to the business at hand.

Here are your 3 items to choose from today....




1. Old Spice Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant
2. Gillette Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant
3. Lady Speed Stick Deodorant/Anti-Perspirant


Just leave a comment on this post within the next 3 days with your choice of #1, 2 or 3.
Additional praise for me on the anniversary of my birth is welcomed but won't earn you any Brownie points for the Giveaway. ;-)

Sluggy

Meal Plan MONDAY.....January 24th Edition



I'm trying to get back into writing down a Meal Plan for the week.
I run my Meal Plan here at Chez Sluggy from Sunday to Saturday....just so you know.

Here is this week's plan....

Sunday--Sluggy's Beef Pie
Monday--Baked Catfish, Coleslaw, Seasoned Potatoes, Steamed Cauliflower
Tuesday--Half-Price Steaks at Logan's
Wednesday--Pasta with Meat Sauce, Salad with Walnuts/Feta/Vinaigrette Dressing
Thursday--Birthday Meal at Red Robin
Friday--Chicken Parmesan, Salad, Garlic Bread
Saturday--Leftovers

Here's why I am serving some of this stuff....

Sunday--I had a small hunk of leftover Meatloaf in the fridge that no one wanted to eat in it's present form.  I chopped it up and substituted that for the fresh Ground Beef in the Beef Pie dish.  I also had a couple of packets of Cornbread mix to use up in the stockpile.  It was Honey Cornbread so not the best choice for this dish but it was ok.

 Monday--I have half a head of cabbage and some potatoes to use up.  It will go well with the catfish I bought last week for $3.99lb.  I'll just put a bit of Mrs. Dash's Lemon Pepper on the fish and bake it.


Wednesday--We haven't had pasta in awhile here and Hubs is grumbling....he's Italian, go figure!lol  I bought a big pack of ground beef($1.88lb!)a bit ago and cooked it up into crumbles.  Half will go into the homemade meat sauce this week and the other half will go into the Pot of Chili I am planning for next Sunday.

Friday--I've got the chicken, the cheese and the Marinara sauce here.  The leftover salad greens from Wed. will serve as the base for another salad side dish tonight.  I have some whole wheat hamburger buns that are getting old so I'll use those as the base for my garlic bread.

The 2 nights eating out this week is a bit unusual for us.  The Red Robin trip is for a free birthday meal they sent me and the Logan's trip for steaks is to use some of those free gift certificates I talked about HERE.

Technically this is only a five night menu because of the eating out.
As for what I need to buy to implement this plan?  Just some salad greens and maybe a cucumber or pepper...whatever I can find inexpensive in the produce dept.*see me laugh!* at the store this week.
Other than milk, I don't need to buy anything else this week.

So what is going to be on your plate this week?

Check out Organizing Junkie's website HERE to see what other Home Cooks are whipping up this week for their families.

Sluggy

Sunday, January 23, 2011

3 Rite-Aid Trips & SCR Period TOTAL RESULTS


I crammed 3 more trips to Rite-Aid in between Friday and Saturday night.



Mostly it was more free or almost free stuff after coupons, rain checks, rebates, 20% Wellness discount and +Up Rewards.....
The Dove 'Poo was .39¢ a bottle.
The Brown rice was .35¢ a bag.
The White rice was .19¢ a bag.
The Dixie plates were .99¢ a pack.
The Sierra Mist sodas were .46¢ each.
The Skittles candy was .45¢.
The Trident gum was .50¢
The Spin N' Span items, R-A coffee, Hormel chili were all free.
The Mortin PM, Precise Cream, Reach dental floss, Pilot pens,Gas-X, R-A toilet tissue and Benefiber  were better than free.

With the overages from coupons and/or +Up Rewards gotten back, a $4 off $20 coupon and putting $2.35 OOP on my free Rite-Aid gift card, I ended up paying ZERO on all this AND with $13 MORE in +Ups than when I started!

Since these deals are past I won't go into the nitty gritty unless someone asks me to post it.
I'm always willing to share the deals if there is interest.  ;-)

Here are the numbers for these trips and the GRAND TOTALS for the January Single Check Rebate Period.

THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....3
Total Spent....$2.35 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$145.07
SCR qualified for...$3.00(BIL account)
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
Resolution Reward....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$26.00
+Up Rewards spent...$13.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$156.00

 

GRAND TOTALS--January Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......37
Total Spent....$21.00 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1477.89
SCR qualified for....$20.00
Other Cash....$0.00

Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$40.00(Resolution +Up Rewards me & BIL)

+UPS Totals for Jan. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 1/17.....$143.00
+Up Rewards spent....$373.50
+Up Rewards earned....$406.00
+Up Rewards left....$156.00 includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period



To sum up, I spent $21 on a gift card that didn't cost me anything, I'm getting $20 back in cash rebates, I have $51.50 MORE in +Ups than when the Jan. SCR Period began and I have over $1400 in items to use and/or donate.

Is it any wonder why I "heart" Rite-Aid? 8-))

Sluggy

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Rite-Aid Reminders, Bonehead Bank & Thanks!




Saturday is the last day to watch your January Rite-Aid AdPerk/Value Videos or Video Values or Whatever they are called.
The new February Videos go up on Sunday and the new Single Check Rebate Period begins Jan. 26th.
NOTE***There are no items that qualify for SCRs from January 23rd-25th.  Rite-Aid is changing the SCR period to run from Wednesdays to Thursdays instead of Sundays to Saturdays.***
So hold off buying items for Single Check Rebates until Wednesday, ok?

In other Rite-Aid news Saturday is the last day to also qualifying for the $20 Resolution Reward!  Make sure if you are close to the $100 purchase requirement that you get there by Saturday night.

A new Winter Resolution Reward is on deck starting Jan. 23rd.  It will run the same as the last one....purchase $100 or more in qualifying items marked with a "Buy & Save" logo between January 23rd and February 26th and you will receive a $20 +Up Reward.
I sure hope this one runs more smoothly than the last one....

Sometimes I doubt my own standing in the Frugal Club!
First let me say that Hubs and I have had the same bank for about 24 years now.  The bank has changed names more times than I can count on my fingers since we signed up as their customers but we've had the same accounts for 24 years.
Imagine my surprise when a few months ago I started seeing a service fee on my checking account.  It wasn't much so I didn't even call them to complain.  Yah, I am lazy that way sometimes.lol

Then last month when we had to reorder checks I found a $40 check charge on the statement.
Let me say that I've NEVER had to pay for checks at this bank no matter what incarnation/name it had at the time I ordered checks.
This was the last straw!

So we went into the bank this morning handed the gal the statement with balances and told her to close the accounts and give us our money thankyouverymuch!
The manager took one look at the balances and her eyes got wide and after a couple of sputters she said, "Oh No!  You shouldn't be paying any fees with the amounts in those accounts!  There must be a mistake.  Please, let me fix this for you."

Since we had been with this bank, which from here on out will be referred to as the Bonehead Bank, there have been many, many takeovers/mergers with other banks.  I have lost track of how many bank names we've had to memorize over the years.

  Not the current Bonehead Bank or the many incarnations before it have ever gone back and looked at the accounts they had carried forward to the current incarnation.  If they had, they would have seen all the accounts they had customers in that were no longer even offered, some being obsolete up to 3 mergers ago! 
If the Bonehead Bank had made a point of going through it's account records they would have seen and hopefully contacted customers sitting in these obsolete products and offered to move them into current savings vehicles.
You would think.....

No, this Bonehead Bank just let things go and instead of letting customers know BEFORE they were charged fees, waited until the customer noticed and complained.

Things are smoothed over here.....I got my fees returned, updated the savings product, got a better interest rate AND a free deposit box to boot.
I heart free.....

With the federal regulations recently limiting what/how much banks can charge in credit card fees and the debit overdrafts, keep an eye on the bank where you have a checking and/or savings account!  In order to increase revenues, banks are now upping their fees on other services to your non-credit card accounts to make up for their losses.  Look for anything from your FREE CHECKING ending, to check fees, imaging fees, maintenance fees as well as the terms changing on your credit cards.
It will all sneak past you if you don't seek out the information, because you can bet, My Bonehead Bank is NOT the only Bonehead-esque Bank.  One day you may open your statement or go to read it online and find a nasty fee or two you didn't know was coming!

And lastly, thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings the last day or so.  It was so appreciated and truly made me feel loved....or at least liked. ;-)
I am so bad myself about remembering friends and family members birthdays.....it's true!, go ask them!  I should try harder, I know.

And don't forget to enter my Birthday Giveaway!!  Click on the link on the top of the right sidebar. 8-))

Sluggy



Friday, January 21, 2011

It's Time for Sluggy's Birthday Boring Blog Giveaway!


Ok Peoples!!!
Par-tay Time!

In honor of my birthday I am holding a Giveaway.
It's modeled on my Boring Blog Box Giveaways of last year.  You can go HERE and see what the Boring Blog Box Giveaway was all about in 2010 if you weren't around then.

We start with a box......


As for what will go into the box as prizes, I am going to let everyone who wants to win decide that.

I will post 3 items.  You dear readers get to vote on which 1 of those 3 items you would like to see in the box.  You will have 3 days to leave a comment on that post.  That vote/comment is your entry into the drawing for the box.

When the 3 days are up, that post will be closed and I'll put a new post up with 3 more items.  Again, you will leave a comment on that post which item you want me to put into the box.

We will continue like this until there is no more room for anything else in the box.
Then I'll close the Giveaway, gather all the entries and randomly pick a winner, who will receive the box of Goodies.

But Wait!
There's an extra Bonus Prize!!!
Since we try to be Frugal here, all my prizes have either been freebies or almost freebies I've gathered in my travels, just like last year.

But I wanted to include an extra special prize that was highly coveted but still cost me nothing.
I have a credit card account where I earn points and can turn them in for FREE GIFT CARDS.
So the winner of the Boring Blog Box will ALSO get to pick a $25 Gift Card to the store/restaurant of their choice from this List.....

*American Eagle Outfitters
*Banana Republic
*Barnes & Noble
*Bath and Body Works
*Bed Bath & Beyond
*Best Buy
*Bloomingdales
*Cabela's
*CVS
*Dillard's
*Fandango (movie chain)
*Foot Locker
*Gap
*Home Goods
*iTunes
*JCPenney
*Kohl's
*LL Bean
*Land's End
*Lowe's
*Macaroni Grill
*Macy's
*Marshall's
*Old Navy
*Olive Garden
*Pottery Barn
*Red Lobster
*Red Robin
*Royal Entertainment Group(movie chain)
*Sears
*Staples
*Starbucks
*Sunoco Gas Station
*TGI Friday's
*TJ Maxx
*The Home Depot
*Walmart
*William-Sonoma

Since I have to wait until the winner picks their gift card, there will be about 2 weeks until I get the card and can mail the prizes out, so the winner will need to have a bit of patience. ;-)

The Rules
1. You must be a "Follower" of my blog to enter and still be a Follower if/when you win.  Lookie on the right sidebar and press the big ol' FOLLOW button if you are not already a follower.
2.  Sorry but this Giveaway is open ONLY to those with a mailing address within the USA.  Hate to have to do that but the postal rates outside the country are KILLER.
3. 1 vote/entry per post with 1 exemption.  You can leave more than 1 comment per post but only your 1st vote/comment will count.

The 1 Exemption....You can earn EXTRA ENTRIES this way....
*If you get someone to become a Follower and enter this giveaway you can earn an Extra Entry for each person you bring on board.  You can blog about the giveaway or email people or post about it on a message board or call your neighbor on the phone....whatever way you want to recruit them, I don't care.  Just make sure that they mention in their vote/comment/entry that You(your name here)told them about the blog/giveaway and you get an extra entry that post.


As always, this is not a company sponsored or company supplied Giveaway.  Any costs associated with this Giveaway are coming out of my pocket because I'm just that kinda gal.  Please patronize our blog ads....I'm just sayin'.... ;-)



Here are your 3 items to choose from today....



1. Sarah Michaels Rose Scented Gift Set
2. Avon Naturals Vanilla Shower Gel
3. Tone Cocoa Butter Soap 2 pack


Just leave a comment on this post with your choice of #1, 2 or 3.
Additional praise for me on the anniversary of my birth is welcomed but won't earn you any Brownie points for the Giveaway. ;-)

Sluggy