Rite-Aid & Weis on Saturday....and Shopping Plans for This Week, Anyone?

After I snapped out of my funk from Fridays happenings I still had $30 in expiring +Ups to roll/convert/burn by Saturday evening.
So Hubs went with me up to Rite-Aid and then Weis Markets.

I did 2 transactions at Rite-Aid....one of my card for the Biotene/Aquafresh Deal and one on BIL's card for the Colgate 360 toothbrushes Deal.
Here's everything together....

I did the Biotene/Aquafresh Deal twice(Buy $15/Get $5 +Ups) and used my $1.98 extra from the 1st time I did that deal earlier in the week, so I only had to buy $28.02(2 x $15 for each deal-my overage from earlier in the week).
After coupons/sales the 1st total came to $7.46.  I used $7 in +Ups and put the .46¢ on my gift card.
I received $10 in +Up Rewards back(2 x $5 Biotene/Aquafresh).

The 2nd transaction which included everything else(along with 5 12-packs of soda which is not pictured), came to $33.49.  I used the last of my raincheck on the Glad trash bags, but the soda, cookies, chips and toothbrushes(or so I thought!)were all on sale and the only coupons I used were the in-ad Q for the soda and 2 $1/1 ManuQs for the toothbrushes.  I used $33 in +Ups and put the .49¢ on my gift card again.
The $10 in cookies qualified for SCR #48 for $2.00.

This transaction was all screwed up.  None of the 360 toothbrushes were marked(only 1 kind was part of the +Ups deal)and I bought the wrong kind since they were out of whatever was on the other peg hook.  These ones weren't on sale, so my total was higher and they didn't produce the $2 +Ups.

So after I returned the toothbrushes, I got $8.96 credited back onto my Rite-Aid gift card.
The end result for all was $.95 off my gift card, $8.96 back onto it, I used $40 in +Ups, got $10 in +Ups back and a total of $120.28 worth of stuff.
So of the $46 in +Ups I used this week, I converted $8.96 into gift card 'cash', converted $2 into SCR cash, rolled $10 worth, which leaves $25.04 worth that I burned through.


THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....2
Total Spent....$.95 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$120.28
SCR qualified for...$2.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$10.00
+Up Rewards spent.....$40.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$57.00  And I am back up to $47.72 left on my gift card.


Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--MAY Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......17
Total Spent....$8.74 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$826.70
SCR qualified for....$14.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for May SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 5/18.....$87.00
+Up Rewards spent....$103.52
+Up Rewards earned....$109.52
+Up Rewards left....$57.00  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period


I had a $5/$50 Weis Q and a $1/1 any Full Circle Product item Q.  I also had a $6 Cat from last week's trip to Weis(when I rolled my $8 Cat by buying Pizza Rolls and Suddenly Salad....don't judge!).
Saturday was the end of the sales week there with 2 Catalina Deals-a Unilever and another one featuring Glad/Kingsford/Clorox/etc.
So I went with plans to roll my $6 Cat into 2 Cats worth $12, and find enough other things we needed on sale so my total was $50 and I could use the $5/$50 Q and get some gas points.

I have no photo for y'all but I found 6 packages of bacon on clearance for $.99, marked down from $4.99 each, 2 packages of Smithfield lunchmeat for $.99, marked down from $3.99 and 2 dozen free eggs with the Free Egg tearpad Qs wyb Hungry Jack hash browns(dehydrated ones and they were also on sale)I found in the store.
I ended up paying $36.47OOP for $97.10 worth of groceries AND have $12 in Cats to roll/use.  Hopefully, Weis will have another Cat Deal in the next 2 weeks so I can continue to roll these Cat Qs.
That's my problem with Weis Markets Cat Deals....they hardly ever have subsequent Cat Deals within the 2 week expiration timeframe.  Most of their Cat Deals are staggered at least 3 weeks apart which keeps you from getting full value for your shopping dollars.

This week is a light Rite-Aid week for me as I only have $16 +Ups expiring on Saturday.  This seems to be a good thing as there is not much to roll your +Ups with this week.
Besides the Degree/Suave/Dove/Vaseline Deal, what is everyone else planning on buying at Rite-Aid?


Sluggy

Monday Chatter....the Wrecked Car Edition

I have decided that I should never ride in a car as a passenger if my daughter is driving.
The last time(before Friday's accident)I rode in a car with her driving, she ran into the pole outside of a local CVS.  Not that she is a bad driver or anything because clearly this wreck was not her fault.
Every time she drives me some place, the sound of steel & plastic crunching follows us. 8-(

Since the high school had a half day on Friday, we were going to close her bank account at the local bank and then go to the statewide bank and open a new account there in preparation for her leaving for college in August.
Well, we finished errand #1 and were on our way to the other bank to open an account.  We were at the intersection they call "The Triangle" around these parts.  It's a 4 way intersection but one of the roads comes in from an angle, so there is a piece of land there that is triangular shaped.
Get it?
Good.

So we are sitting waiting for the light to turn green....we are pointing to the west.  A semi-truck blows through the intersection on the road perpendicular to ours, while their traffic light is yellow....you can see their light from my angle in the car.  I make a comment about that truck going so fast and through a yellow light.
Then our light turns green.
And the daughter stars out into the intersection, heading to turn to the left, to proceed southbound down the road, in the direction that the semi just came from.
I had my head turned to the left, looking at daughter and daughter was looking ahead but a bit to the left, in the direction she was pointing the car in.
I saw the car coming right at us past daughter's profile....it wasn't slowing down and it was going at least 40 mph.
I made a noise or said something like "Look!" or "Oh!"
Daughter looked and I said "Brace!" or at least I was thinking that and trying to get it out before the car hit us.
It was like a dream.....seeing the car come right at us and it seemed like everything slowed down in time....the car took forever before it actually hit.

While I was trying to spit some warning out I braced myself on the dashboard with my right arm/hand and with my purse strap on my left arm I grabbed for my daughter to hold onto her.  I guess it was my maternal reflex to protect my kid kicking in.

Everything appeared to continue at a slow motion rate of speed until we stopped moving.
The car hit us on the front corner and left front side of the car, just in front of the driver's side door, as the driver tried to swerve to the left of us.
On the initial impact, daughter's head hit the rearview mirror and it fell into her lap.  I also hit something as we were flung to the right...maybe the latch were you click the shoulder harness of the seatbelt into the door frame.  Whatever it was I hit into it twice eventually, because I have 2 matching monster bruises next to each other, with a strip of non-bruised arm flesh between them.

Here's the right side of the car....the side that didn't get hit directly!  Hubs had to go remove some things of ours from the car and I had him snap some photos....

And here's the front of the car.....you can't see the damage to the impact site very well but everything is pushed to the right, the front left bumper is pushed up into the headlight and the frame is pushed toward the windshield.  But hey, the windshield wipers still worked!lol....

After the initial impact we got thrown to the left.  Daughter hit her head again on the front this time.  I banged my left shin into the floor gear console.  I also banged my left knee into something as I have a huge bruise on the side of my knee as well.
Our car was pushed a few yards and then got spun 180 degrees, so we were pointing directly opposite the direction we were headed before the impact.

After we came to a stop on this not so fun amusement ride, we looked at each other and asked if the other was ok.  Daughter picked the rear view mirror off the floor, where it had rolled after it fell off her lap and said, "Well this won't be useful now."
Well...duh!

The car's motor was still running so I told her to shut the car off.  I looked down and the gear shifter was laying sort of sideways.  Daughter couldn't get the key out of the ignition because she couldn't get the car out of drive.  Shifters don't work very well when they are sideways it seems.

I then pushed my door open(it was jammed and didn't budge at first)and jumped out of the car and told Daughter to get out of the car immediately....in case it decided to blow up or something.lol
The car that hit us, after impact had continued to travel around us, into one of the opposing traffic lanes and then she steered back to the right and stopped in front of us on the road.

We stumbled over to the right edge of the road away from the wreck site.
And I began to make phone calls.
Called Hubs, got voice mail.....of all times!
I called the insurance agent.....his office was 2 buildings away from where I was standing.  I walked a block down the road so I could read his phone number off his sign and call him.
So I'm talking to the cop, the tow truck guy, the fire truck guy(they had to clean the roadway), the other rescue squad guy who stopped to help, while trying to get Daughter and the 16 year old new driver who hit us to exchange the proper information.
Being the older, wiser mom, I had to remain calm.....or at least appear so.....and keep these two teens from falling apart.

Since this 16 yr old driver of the other car was alone....after the friend she was taking home got out of the car and walked home and left her there alone....I tried to settle her down, ask her if she was ok and told her that even though she could move her car off the street after the accident that it was a good idea to have her parents have someone look at the car since it seemed to be leaking something from under the hood.
Always a mother to somebody..... ;-)

#1 son came to pick me up after the ambulance took daughter to the ER.  She's 18 so I didn't have to go with her and Hubs left work early to go to the hospital to be with her. At this point, after the site was cleared and the teens were being looked after, my nerves started getting the best of me so I thought it best I get home.


About an hour after getting home and icing my huge leg bruise my muscles started to relax and I started to feel very sore from all the tension in my body.
I took a painkiller and went to bed.
I woke up Saturday even more sore with more lovely bruises.  While my neck was fine every other muscle in my body was aching.
Luckily, daughter checked out fine at the hospital with only 2 bumps to her head.
I'm not experiencing more soreness so I think I've turned the corner to feeling better now.
Daughter wanted to go out with her friends that same night!  Kids.....too resilient for their own good.

Some things that happened here that were 'good'.....maybe I don't mean good since being in an accident has no good parts, but if it did, these would be the good things about it.

*We were wearing seat belts.  When we left the house to drive to the first bank, daughter had chided me about not putting on the seat belt....so I had.  She always wears hers because she knows I'd kill her if she didn't.
Sometimes if I am just driving around our teeny tiny town I forget to put it on.  Those days are over! ;-)

*The car behind us at the light was driven by a rescue squad guy.  Not only did he see the whole thing and serve as a witness that that light was green(since the teen driver of the other car kept claiming that her light was still yellow and that she didn't run a red light!), but he pulled into the intersection behind our car when we stopped and turned on his flashing bar, donned his reflective vest and began directing traffic so no one got run over too.

*That the semi-truck that blew threw the yellow light wasn't a little bit slower and had come through the intersection 5 seconds later.  If it had, we most certainly would be pancake ex-people at this moment.

*I felt something when we got hit.....like someone holding us from behind and pushing us down into our seats.  Maybe it was centrifugal force or the G-force or something equally scientifically explained away but I think it was my mother's spirit keeping us from becoming human projectiles at that moment.  This had been her car originally that we were in and since she died, I've always felt her presence in it.
Whatever it was, I am thankful for it and that I am still here today to bitch and whine about my life. 8-)

The car, on the other hand, is toast.
We are still waiting to hear from our insurance adjuster guy, but the tow guy said from his experience given the age of the car, it will be totaled.
And we won't get enough money for it to buy another car similar to it...even if we could find a car this brand, this old, in this good shape with only 90K miles on it.
We had hoped that this car would get through another 3 years, since #2 son turns 16 next Feb. and needs a car to learn to drive on and then get to and from his part time job that he will get after he learns to drive.

This was also the car that #1 son was leaving for his summer job in on this coming Friday.  Now the older two teens have no car to get to and from their summer employment, which means Hubs and I will have to make even more trips across the state this summer as they come and go between home and the camp they work at.

Since we won't be needing a car for another 6 months or so, there's not much point to buy & insure another car right now.  If we had a car, the teens would use it this summer but after summer is over it would sit until next year sometime.
We'll probably put whatever we get from the insurance company in the bank for later when/if we do need to replace the car.

And yes, I got right back in a car on Saturday...my version of getting back on a horse after you fall off.   ;-)

Sluggy

Things Can Change At A Moment's Notice

Forget the post I planned for today.
I'm too shook up to write it.

Hey SonyaAnn!
I see your van's bumper and can raise you a totaled car......

Unfortunately my phone doesn't download photos to the internet so I'll show you a picture of a different wrecked Toyota.  Ours looks even worse at the moment.....

Some teenager plowed right into my daughter and me through a red light at the intersection in town.
She didn't even slow down....well, until she hit us doing 40 mph, then she had no choice.
We are ok, just a bit banged up, bruised and emotionally shook up.
The teenager is fine too.

Our car is totaled according to the towing guy.
This was the car #1 son was suppose to drive to his summer job next Friday.

It helped that we got hit within spitting distance of our car insurance agent's office.
It helped that a rescue squad guy was in the car behind us and immediately pulled his car into the intersection, put his flashing bar of lights on the roof on, donned his emergency reflective vest and started directing traffic....and that he witnessed the whole thing.

It's a good thing we were wearing seat belts too.

While I am thankful that we didn't become roadkill today, this does put a crimp into our lives.

Please drive safely!

Sluggy

Coming Clean with Another Frugal Life Hack

I hate to pay money for some things.....like liquid hand soap.
And since I can't always get it for free at Rite-Aid, I do weird things, like this.....
I buy clearanced gift sets after Christmas.
You know, those fragrancey shower gels and gift set stuff that go 50% off and even more off if they sit on the shelf long enough after the Holidays.....

Here's a bottle from a set of 8 shower gels I got for 75% off after Christmas 2 years ago.  The whole set of 8 had been $14.99 and was marked down to $3.75 or something equally ridiculous.
Comparing the ingredient labels, I found that the liquid hand soap and the shower gel were composed of the same stuff.

So I took this.....

An almost empty bottle of hand soap and did this......

Added the shower gel and left a little room to add about a 1/3 cup of water since the gel was thicker than the hand soap had been. Since the hand soap had a little left I couldn't use the whole bottle of gel so I put another 1/4 cup of water in the shower gel bottle and refilled the hand soap container later as it emptied.
By slowly tipping the container up and down, the water and old hand soap mixes with the shower gel without a mass of bubbles.  The old hand soap floated to the top but eventually it emulsified with the gel.

Voila!....you have a full bottle of liquid hand soap for far less than buying more hand soap, even a refill sized jug!
Those 8 bottles of shower gel were each 8 oz., so that's 64 oz.  Add 1/2 cup of water per bottle to thin to hand soap consistency is 32 oz. more, so a total of 96 oz. of new hand soap for $3.75.
That's about 10-12 bottles of hand soap for under .40¢ each.

Sluggy

Looking for Some Help for a Fellow Blogger in Alabama

I met Linda on the Compact list a few years ago.  She started her own blog about a year ago(ok, I could be wrong about that).  It's called Practical Parsimony and she's all about frugality, simple living, etc.
Recently a tornado ripped through her small town outside of Birmingham Alabama.  You've all heard about the devastation to this area of the South by now.  The photo above is an ariel view of a part of her town.

Linda doesn't know I am doing this and she'll probably kill me, but here I go anyway.......

Linda has limited means and is a woman of "a certain age" with no steady income.  Without going into details, she has made due for years now.  However her home has some problems which she has recounted in her blog over the past year.  Due to various reasons she hasn't had the resources (financial and physical)to make adequate repairs to her house.  Most tenuous is the condition of her roof.  It's disrepair has also caused additional damage to the interior of her abode and continues to do so.

Then the tornado came through last month and caused further damage to the roof....not alot but some.

Since her roof was already in a sad state pre-tornado, FEMA will not help her with repairing any of the damage-either with labor or monies. Nor will any of the local church or non-profit organizations in her town help her.
Now the situation has gotten to a desperate point.  Her local officials have served her with a condemnation notice unless she fixes her home(the roof seems to be the sticking point).
You can read the post specific to this event HERE

I am sad for my blogging friend.
Sad that I don't live nearby so I can hold her hand as she goes through this.
Sad that I can't pick up a hammer and put some nails into new shingles for her.
Sad that I don't know anyone who could assist her so she can keep her home.

So I am doing the only thing I know how to do.....blogging about this problem and hoping that there is someone out there--

*Someone who has the home repair skills and compassion who lives in her area or will be traveling to her area(possibly to help with tornado victims repair needs through their Church?).
*Someone who knows someone who will be in this area of Alabama soon who can repair a roof for her.
*Someone who knows how she can find the funds to get the supplies for the roof repair.
*Someone who knows what governmental channels she can go through to get help to repair &/or pay for the supplies.

If you are reading this and you have any ideas, or you can blog about this situation to spread the word so that we can reach someone, ANYONE out in cyberspace who would be a resource, please pass this message along.
Linda can be contacted directly on her blog.
Or feel free to email me and I'll pass along any help you can give or find for her.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this.

Sluggy