Last Rite-Aid of The Week......Rolling All the +Up Rewards

Well you knew I had to go back to Rite-Aid this week, didn't you?
After all, I hadn't used my Wellness card to get the freebies. 8-)
So I got toothpaste and aspirin again like on Monday plus something for the doggies....

4 x Colgate Toothpaste on sale $2.99=$11.96
2 x St. Joseph Aspirin on sale $1.50=$3.00
2 x Pedigree Dog Food on sale $4.99=$9.98
SubTotal.....$24.94

Coupons Used
2x $3/1 any Pedigree dog food product IPQ=$6.00
Coupon Total....$6.00

$24.94-$6.00=$18.94
I used $18.78 in +Up Rewards to pay and put the .16¢ OOP left on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I received $14.96 back in +Up Rewards(4 x $2.99 Colgate, 2 x $1.50 St. Joseph), so I am 'down' $3.82 in +Ups for this transaction.

Here's a Couponing tip--
If you see a high value coupon available to print online and it's for an item you use or think you might need but there is no sale right now on that item to pair the coupon with, go ahead and print it.
 I had printed off those Pedigree $3/1 Qs about a month ago and was waiting for an opportunity to come along to use them.   I had time because they had a long dated expiration......2 months I think.

We use dog food and I figured even if a sale didn't come along I could use the Qs on something to get it for cheap or free.
With the sale at Rite-Aid and Qs, those bags of kibble cost me $1.99 each, but since I paid with +Ups they ended up not costing me anything.
I could have also gotten 8 cans of wet canned dog food at the grocery store at regular price with them....8 x .79¢=$6.32-$6 Qs=$.32 OOP.....but I didn't need cans at this point and I would have had to spend actual cash money!lol
So that's why I bought the kibble at Rite-Aid.

I've rolled all my +Ups for this week now.  I have a boatload expriring 2 Saturdays from now so I'm going to check out the upcoming sales flyers to map out my strategy on the most advantageous way to use them.
Check back later for what I figure out. ;-)


THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.16 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$35.92
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$14.96
+Up Rewards spent.....$18.78
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$58.91  And I have $42.17 left on my gift card.


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

Number of Transactions......8
Total Spent....$2.50 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$295.26
SCR qualified for....$0.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for June SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 6/20.....$62.73
+Up Rewards spent....$94.34
+Up Rewards earned....$102.25
+Up Rewards left....$58.91  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy
 

The Weekend That Was.....Camp, Being Child-Free & Donuts

So school ended last Wednesday here and Thursday & Friday were spent getting #2 son packed up to go to camp.  This year his 1st week there will be spent in Leadership Training.  Next summer he will do 2 weeks of Counselor Training and if he finishes at the top of his class he'll be eligible to start working at camp for some part of that summer season.  Of course he won't be old enough to be a Counselor or an Assistant but he could get a job as a Kitchen Grunt.  But we'll/he'll worry about that next summer.

So we headed across the state Sunday to camp.
First stop was dropping off stuff to #1 Son and Daughter.
The only way I got them to pose for a photo with their dad was to shame them.  They totally forgot that Sunday was Father's Day.....oops!

After that I walked across the field to the cliff to get an eyeful of Lake Erie.....

There was a nice breeze coming off the water.  Every time it blew through I caught the scent of wild lilacs on the warm air.  The smell was practically intoxicating!

The "Point" or the camping area where the older teens bunk was blocked off to car traffic this year, so all their gear had to be carried in by hand.  While Hubs helped #2 hike down to the campsite with his stuff I wandered around up on "the lawn" where the younger boys bunk.

They have a couple of massive trees on the lawn.....

Here is a "cabent" where the kids sleep.  It's a cross between a cabin and a tent, thus cabent.  It's a cabin frame and roof but the sides are canvas and roll up and down.  There are wooden bunk beds built into the structure.

These are empty but will soon fill up with eager campers.

And here are the little boys across the way arriving and settling in for a week of fun times!

Hubs and I left and had a late lunch in a nearby town at a restaurant of his choosing, before heading back down the road toward home.
It's such a long trip that we stayed overnight at our usual motel stop a few hours from home.

As we had eaten so late we weren't up for another meal before bed.
Hubs decided he wanted to go across the street to the Dunkin Donuts and get coffee and a few donuts for a snack before turning in for the night.

20 minutes later he storms into the room empty handed.  This DD closes at 9pm(well it says that on the front door).  He got there at 8:37pm and the door was locked.  The employee inside said that she wanted to close a little early tonight and to go to the drive-thru and she would serve him.  So he drives the car around to the drive-thru window but some employee has purposely parked their car across the drive-thru lane so he can't get to the window to order!
At this point Hubs has a meltdown in the room, throws his keys, pocket change and hat down on the floor and has a hissy fit that any 4 year old would admire.
Picture that "Wire Hanger Scene" from the "Mommy Dearest" movie and Hubs as a balding Joan Crawford ranting about donuts.......

I don't 'get' these made up Holidays......Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Fourth of July, etc.?
I could care less about them.
But Hubs, dear Hubs feels that he should be adored and pampered on Father's Day.  He's the same way about HIS Birthday but I digress....

The problem is that since I don't care about these faux Holidays, I don't tend to make a fuss.
Because of camp, usually Father's Day is spent driving to camp, all day.  And Hubs does most if not all of the driving.....well, because he is the Man and that's the man's 'thing'. ;-)  So he doesnt' get to do what he wants to do on 'his' day.
Add in that the kids don't do anything special for him unless I am standing over them the week before nagging them about what Sunday is.  And this year the oldest two were both already at camp during the week leading up to Father's Day, so they forgot completely until I made a comment to them.
That's how I guilted them into letting me take a picture of them with their dad.
Ooops.

I guess my letting him pick out the restaurant to eat at and not complaining about his choice, giving him a back rub and soothing his ego most of the day still didn't keep him from melting down when he was denied his donuts and coffee.
Sometimes I think I still live with a 4 year old in an old man's body.
*Sigh*

He got over it by the next morning when he got a nice hot breakfast with coffee at the motel before we left for home.

So I am behind on posts and emails this week.  My ISP decided to migrate my mailbox or something while I was away so I came home to a computer that had to download a few THOUSAND duplicate emails into my email program.  Thanks alot PennTeleData!

So what's on deck for your week?
I am child-free for the next 2 weeks....woohoo!

Sluggy

Blogger Can Suck It!

I wrote a nice little post and now blogger won't let me add photos.
So y'all will have to wait until blogger doesn't suck to see it.

Sluggy

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of June's Food Budget

Even with the Catalina stock-ups(hello 12 cartons of ice cream!)at Weis and buying the ginormous jar of local honey AND the specialty salts at the local Health Food store this month I could have stayed on or just under budget for June.

And then the Graduation Party for 12 family members happened.

* And even with the buying some stuff a month ahead for it, the store bought cake(who was I to say no to this request and make a homemade cake?) and the bags of ice for the coolers/drinks just pushed the spending over $200 by the 10th of the month.  UGLY

Ugh. 
But your kid doesn't graduate from high school more than once so I am not beating myself up over spending money for this party.  I still think I did it fairly on the frugal side.

* And at least I didn't put the expenses on a credit card.  ;-)  GOOD

I am standing at food spending of $265.61 at this moment.
I have $48.96 in cash rebates received so far this month to add to my $250 food budget, for a total of $298.96 in the food kitty(so far).
* This means I have $33.35 left before I go over my allotted June budget for food.  UGLY


* All that Graduation party food meant massive leftovers to eat all of last week, so no food shopping happened....until the 18th.  GOOD

* I had a Weis Catalina Q expiring on the 18th, so I rolled it into a newer one.....

Assorted paper products(Kimberly-Clark brand I believe)were Buy $21/Get $7 Catalina.
I bought the 2 MEGA roll packs of toilet paper above, using 2 x $1/1 Scott ManuQs and my expiring $7 CatQ, for a grand total of $4.98 OOP for both.
And I received another $7 CatalinaQ.
$2.49 each for bigass packages of TP & $7 more in Cats?  Yes please!!  GOOD


* While I was in the store rolling that CatQ, I spent another $27.21 on blocks of cheese($1.67 each)and chicken(40% off Tyson convenience chicken for when #2 son returns from camp), plus big bags of tortilla chips(BOGO) for Hubs tv-time snacking pleasure.  My Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese stores were almost depleted and at my stock-up price so I had to get them now. UGLY

* Buying the chips and the chicken in that transaction?  BAD

I haven't had a chance to check the grocery ads for this week, but I already know that unless we need it immediately or it's an amazing price, I won't be buying it......and next week is looking that way as well.
* I have $33.35 to get us through the next 2 weeks.  UGLY

* Looking on the bright side, it's down to just Hubs and I to feed for the next 2 weeks so no teens pestering me to spend on junk. GOOD
 
* I'm going to dig into the freezer and come up with meals using up what we have to put a tourniquet onto the food budget hemorrhage happening this month at Chez Sluggy. GOOD

So how is your food spending/shopping going for June?
Are you projected to stay on/under budget?
Or are you a wanton spendthrift like me this month? ;-)

Sluggy

Getting to the Rite-Aid This Week

As soon as we got home on Monday I rolled up to Rite-Aid to get the freebies with BIL's card......

4 x Colgate Toothpaste on sale $2.99=$11.96
2 x St. Joseph Aspirin on sale $1.50=$3.00
SubTotal.....$14.96

Coupons Used
3 x $1/1 any Colgate Toothpaste ManuQ(5/5SS insert?)=$3.00
Coupon Total....$3.00

$14.96-$3.00=$11.96 OOP
I used $11.60 in +Up Rewards to pay and put the other $.36 on my Rite-Aid gift card so ZERO money spent.
I received back $14.96 in +Up Rewards so I am 'up' $3.36 in +Ups for this transaction.

Even if you don't have any Colgate ManuQs, the toothpaste is free after +Ups, as is the Aspirin.  Remember that there is a limit of 4 on the toothpaste and 2 on the aspirin +Ups Deals per wellness card.
And if your stores are out of stock, get that Raincheck!!  Make sure they note the +Ups deal on the raincheck, so you can get FREE toothpaste and aspirin after the sale ends on Saturday!

And I noticed today that I hit the $1000 spending mark at Rite-Aid using my wellness card in the middle of May, so I've qualified for the 20% whole store discount already for all of 2012.
Ok, so I haven't actually 'spent' any money at Rite-Aid since last August......which makes this even sweeter, right? ;-)
BIL's card/account is almost at the $500 spending mark for 2011 so he's at the 10% discount for 2012 now and I'm fairly sure he'll get to $1K mark/20% discount by the end of this year too.

How are you doing on getting to the Discount levels for next year?
Do you think you'll get to Silver or Gold by the end of December?


THESE TRIPS
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.36 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$20.94
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$14.96
+Up Rewards spent.....$11.60
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$62.73  And I have $42.33 left on my gift card.


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

Number of Transactions......7
Total Spent....$2.34 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$259.34
SCR qualified for....$0.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for June SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 6/16.....$59.37
+Up Rewards spent....$75.56
+Up Rewards earned....$87.29
+Up Rewards left....$62.73  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period

Sluggy