Sluggy's Birthday Boring Blog Giveaway Post #7....Time to Enter Again!

I'm a day late with this Giveaway Post....oh well.
It's been just one thing after another around here this week!

Time for Post 7 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. 2 pack of Pilot EasyTouch Pens-blue ink
2. a pack of 65 Envelopes  *great for sending in those rebate forms*
3. an enameled collectible Betty Boop Pen


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

Done for the Week Maybe....at Rite-Aid, Where Else?lol

I hit up most of the Rite-Aids within a 15 mile radius here within the last 2 days....not all but most.
This is in addition to the trips on Sunday to my usual store.

Here's the loot.....

16 Welch's grape juice
8 Bounty basic paper towels
3 BC cake mix
3 BC cookie mix
2 BC frosting
2 Rite-Aid coffee
2 Rite-Aid soup
1 Dark Snickers candy bar
4 Gillette Body Wash
2 Dixie paper plates
13 Biotrue contact lens solution
7 Excedrin PM
1 LipSmackers lip gloss

Freebies after +Up Rewards....
All the Betty Crocker items
Biotrue  w/20% wellness disc.

Better than free after +Up Rewards....
Coffee(ringing up $1.99 instead of 2/$5)
Excedrin PM
Gillette Body Wash(after using BOGO Q found in Gillette Clinical Deo I bought a few weeks ago, paired with $2/1 Gillette BWash Q from P&G insert)

After sale and Q the paper towels were .29¢ per 2 rolls.
After sale and Q the soup was .19¢ a can.
After raincheck sale and Q the paper plates were .99¢ for 2 packages.
After sale and Q the juices were $1.50 each.  Yes, I actually spent down my +Ups to get juice. I "heart" grape juice. ;-)
The candy bar and lip gloss in separate transactions were 'filler' of sorts.  If my change is over .50¢ after using +Ups, I will add something to bring my change to under .50¢ to preserve my gift card....ie, my total was $18.69 so I added a candy bar for .50¢ to bring my total up to $19.19, using $19 in +Ups and putting .19¢ on the gift card, instead of using $18 in +Ups and putting .69¢ on my gift card.

I've got everything rolled to this point but I might get a few more SCR items to convert some of these +Ups back into cash monies. ;-)
I've got a $20 from the first Resolution Reward +Up Rewards to roll by the 21st so I might use that to buy some SCR items this week.


THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....5
Total Spent....$1.84 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$230.60
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
Resolution Reward....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...$83.00
+Up Rewards spent...$96.00
+Up Rewards left to spend....$184.99 

GRAND TOTALS--February Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......20
Total Spent....$7.39 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$1,012.52
SCR qualified for....$38.98
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Feb. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 2/6.....$197.99
+Up Rewards spent....$302.94
+Up Rewards earned....$331.93
+Up Rewards left....$184.99 includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period


Sluggy

M&M Frugality.....Baking Out of the Box, er....the Bag

Every since I was a kid, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, chocolate chip cookies have been the undisputed King of the Sweets Snacking Universe.  What could be better than a warm baked goodie with melted gooey chocolate chunks in it?
And one version of a chocolate chip cookie that has been popular for a long while is to substitute the plain chocolate morsels with M&M candies.
Not only do the cookies taste like heaven but they are a feast for the eyes with those pops of candy coating colors in them.

But using M&Ms in your chocolate chip cookies can get costly if you are buying bags of the candies for full retail price.  Around here a bag of M&Ms goes for $3.99 or more.

All you frugalistas know you can usually snag bags of Holiday colored M&Ms on clearance after a Holiday for half off or more.
But putting them away until the following year's Holiday to make cookies with can lead to less than fabulous cookies.

Here is how I get my M&Ms for cheap AND still get to use them for Holidays.....

1.  Wait until the After Holiday Clearance Sales.  Buy your Holiday M&Ms for cheap.
In this case I got 2 bags of Christmas colored M&Ms.  These were $1 a bag at 75% off at CVS.

2.  Grab 2 Ziploc or similar plastic or brown paper bags and a large bowl.

3.  Open your bags of M&Ms and dump them into the bowl.

4.  Now sort your red Ms into one bag and the green Ms into the other bag.

5.  After all the Ms are sorted, close up your bags and if they aren't see-thru plastic, label the bag as to the contents within.
**If you have small kids who could use some practice with their numbers, make a game out of sorting those M&Ms.  Be sure to allow for some "disappearing" candies however....lol

Now you have a bag of red Ms and a bag of green Ms.
When Feb. 14th rolls around next week, take the bag of red Ms and make Holiday appropriate red M&M cookies.

Then in March, around the 17th, take the other bag of green Ms and make Holiday appropriate green M&M cookies.

You've gotten your candies for cheap, used them up in a short span before the candies got old, and you had special Holiday festive cookies!

Remember to grab those clearanced M&Ms after Easter for some fun frugal baking in the summer time.
You can use those pastel candies in cookies for the summer months.  For an added frugal touch, you can bake in your own personal mobile solar oven like I did HERE.
Just be sure to denature the eggs in the recipe first so you don't poison anyone if your solar oven doesn't get above 180 degrees...

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday, Weird Weather & What I'm Working on This Week

I am trying not to grocery shop this week unless it's something I really need.  I was good with staying out of the grocery stores last week, until I hit Friday.  Had to take BIL to the store so I was forced, forced I tell ya!, to go into the store so I bought a few things.  I picked up some Kielbasa for $2.50 lb. after holding out for months to find my rock bottom price of $2 lb.....sigh.....salad greens for $1.99 a bag x 2, a carton of OJ for $1.99, some bananas, and a Quaker Deal--buy 5 items, get $3 instantly off your order.  I got 3 boxes of the new Quaker cereal for $2.50 ea. and 2 bottles of pancake syrup since I had none left in the stockpile, so $12.50 for all 5, $3 off and $3 more off because I had $1/1 Qs for the cereal.  The 5 Quaker items ended up costing me $6.50 which is very good for around here.

Then Saturday I went back to that same store...ugh....did another of the Quaker deal(cost me $6 OOP for 5 items this time), more Kielbasa(I have come to gripes with the fact that my new rock bottom price for this is $2.50lb.), got a 2lb. tub of Ricotta for $3.24 w/Q and sale price, and a 1lb. bag of mozzarella cheese for $3.50 since Hubs said I was out of that in the freezer.  Hubs picked up coffee filters since he was out and I bought the kids a container of Nestle Quik since they have been whining for it(and it was on sale, but I think they figured that out themselves lol).

Between these 2 trips and the one to pick up milk last week, I went for spending $0 at the grocery store to $44.96 spent by Saturday.
Ugh.

That is why I am trying to stay out this week and eat from the freezer/stockpile.

I'm having trouble this week coming up with a Meal Plan/Menu.
Just mental menu fatigue I guess.....

Here's what I've got so far--
Monday-Pork Chops, Rice, Veggie
Tuesday-Eat Out...my last birthday gift card
Wednesday-Fish, Crabcakes, Veggie, Coleslaw(leftover)
Thursday-Ravioli, Salad
Friday-Tacos, Corn, Chili(leftover)
Saturday-?? Maybe a big pot of Boston Baked Beans and cornbread
Sunday-Leftovers

I've got to dig around in the fridge and if I find any other leftovers I'll work them into one of my meals.
I've got some potatoes I need to use although I don't feel like having spuds.  I'm sure if I fry them up the kids will suck them down, right?lol

In other news....
The Snowpocalypse never materialized here.  We got about 6 inches of snow, then 2 inches of sleet and ice the following day, which encapsulated all the snow.
The ice was so thick over the snow that #2 Son was out in the yard snowboarding in Chuck Taylors.  He could 'skate' around on the ice and don't break through to the snow layer....

 The sloped part of the yard here was akin to a luge track.  He has pretty good balance to stay on his feet all the way down to the bottom....

Between the snow and ice and the squirrels raiding the suet feeder at the end of the deck, the Beagle was having a great week outside.....

We finally got the last piece of the tax info we needed to do all the tax forms today.
Rah!

Guess what is on my agenda for the rest of the week now? ;-)

First I have to do our State taxes, so I can get that info I need to do the Schedule A for the Federal taxes.
Then I get to calculate all the charitable donation amounts(Sallie's, Food Bank, Car Donation).
Then I get to see if we can file the Schedule A or just take the Standard Deduction.
After the taxes are finished, I get to start on the FAFSA x 2.
And on and on and on......
Are we having fun yet???!!! 8-)

I didn't get to the Food Bank to drop off the donation on Friday as I had wanted to because I had to take BIL out to do errands.  There is a very small window of time on Fridays where I can drop it off so this week, unless the weather intervenes, I'll make a point of getting there.

I'm updating my "To-Do" List on the blog this week as well.  I won't be putting more books on my list since I have tons of taxes paperwork to do this month.  Besides the paperwork, I'll be trying to finish the items carried over from January's list.

Dentist appointments are also on the schedule for this week.
Oh....and runs to Rite-Aid of course!lol

What is everyone else up to this week?

Sluggy

Are You Ready for Some Rite-Aid?......Non-Super Bowl Sunday

I have no love for football so I don't watch the Super Bowl.
Yes, I am so UN-American, aren't I?

Instead, I take advantage of everyone else being glued to the TV to go to Rite-Aid.lol

Transaction #1....

1 x Newspaper=$1.00 *not pictured*
2 x Fritos on sale=$3.98 *only bought 1/charged for 2 and it's not pictured*lol
4 x Welch's Grape Juice on sale $3 ea.=$12.00
2 x Finesse 'Poo on sale $3 ea.=$6.00
2x Excedrin PM on sale $1.99 ea.=$3.98
2 x Rite-Aid Coffee on sale $2.50 but rang up $1.99=$3.98
SubTotal....$30.94

Coupons Used
1 x $2 any Purchase Adperks/VV Q=$2.00
4 x $1/1 Welch's Grape Juice ManuQ=$4.00
2 x $2.50/1 Excedrin PM TearpadQ=$5.00
2 x $2/1 R-A Coffee Wellness IPQ=$4.00
Coupon Total....$15.00

$30.94-$15.00=$15.94+$.16tax=$16.10
Used $16 +Up Rewards and .10¢ put on free Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $8 +Up Rewards back(2 x $1 Welch's, $1 wyb 2Coffee, $5 wyb 2Finesse).

I only bought 1 Fritos.  Sometimes the scanner wand is sensitive and as they bag stuff too close to the scanner it scans again and me nor the cashier didn't catch it this time, so I had to go back in to get $2 back.  So I 'converted' $2 in +Ups to cash on that. ;-)

The Rite-Aid coffee is ringing up $1.99, so after coupons and $1+Up it's better than free!  Not sure how long that will last however....

Transaction #2....

2 x BC Cookie Mix on sale $2ea.=$4.00
2 x BC Frosting wellness disc. less than sale price $1.99=$3.98
2 x Finesse 'Poo on sale $3 ea.=$6.00
1 x Biotrue wellness disc. is less than sale price=$3.99
1 x Excedrin PM on sale=$1.99
1 x Chestal child's on sale=$4.99
1 x Coldcalm child's on sale=$6.99
1 x Oscillococcinum adult on sale=$8.99
2 x Cella cherries w/wellness disc. $.26=$.52
SubTotal....$41.45

Coupons Used
1 x $1 any Purchase AdPerks/VV Q=$1.00
2 x $1/2 BC items AdPerks/VV Q=$2.00
2 x $.40/1 BC cookie mix IPQ=$.80
1 x $1/1 Biotrue IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2.50/1 Excedrin PM TearpadQ=$2.50
1 x $3/1 Chestal child's IPQ=$3.00*
1 x $3/1 Coldcalm child's IPQ=$3.00*
Coupon Total....$13.30

$41.45-$13.30=$28.15+.04¢tax=$28.19 OOP
I used $27.98 and put the .21¢ left on my free Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $17 in +Up Rewards($5 wyb2 Finesse, $4 BioTrue, 2 x $2 wyb2 BC, 4 x $1 on select food items-bc items I bought).
I also qualified for $18.99 in SCRebates($8 Oscillococcinum, $6.99 childs Coldcalm, $4 child's Chestal).

So all totaled, I spent/rolled $43.98 in +Ups, got $25 in +Ups back and converted $20.99 of +Ups into cash(via SCRs and return/refund of phantom item I paid for).
$45.99(scrs/+ups got)-$43.98(+ups spent) means I had a $2.01 moneymaker when all is said and done.

I am down to my last .62¢ on my gift card.  But don't worry about me.....I have another $5 gift card at the ready. 8-)



THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....2
Total Spent....$.31 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$117.19
SCR qualified for...$18.99
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$00.00
Resolution Reward....$00.00
+Up Rewards earned...15.00
+Up Rewards spent...$41.98
+Up Rewards left to spend....$197.99 

GRAND TOTALS--February Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......15
Total Spent....$5.55 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$781.92
SCR qualified for....$38.98
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for Feb. SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 2/5.....$224.97
+Up Rewards spent....$206.94
+Up Rewards earned....$248.93
+Up Rewards left....$197.99 includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period


Sluggy