I Have Sunk The Food Budget for June

Yes, it's official.
I have sunk my food budget for June.
With 4 more days to go, I have spent $374.77.

I was doing ok until I decided to buy fresh lobsters for Hubs and I as a belated Happy Father's Day present last week.  $42.98 later and my budget was officially shot to heck.

After that I figured I might as well do some more damage....what could it hurt, right?lol

I had 2 $7 Catalina Qs for Weis Markets that were expiring on July 2nd.  As there were 2 Catalina Promotions last week(ended 6/25)at Weis, I went ahead and rolled them instead of waiting until this week and hoping there would be a Catalina Promotion this week.
I'm glad I didn't wait as there are no Cat Deals at Weis this week! 8-)

I took advantage of a few good deals while I was there, so here is what I bought on Saturday....

One Cat Deal was Buy $20/Get $7 Cat Q.
I bought 2 large bags of charcoal(not pictured)and the Clorox Clean-Up Spray.
After the $7 Cat Q I used I spent $11.98 on these items(plus tax)and received another $7 Cat Q.

The other Cat Deal was GM products, Buy $35/Get $10 Cat Q.
I bought--2 Chex cereal, 5 Chicken/Tuna Helper, 4 Suddenly Salad, 3 Totino's pizzas, 2 Froot by Foot.
After the other $7 Cat Q and other Qs, I spent $11.50 and received a $10 Cat Q.
There was a double dip as well on the Helper....buy 5 and get a $2 OYNO off of meat Cat Q.


I also picked up 3 blocks of Helavu Good cheese on sale for $2 each.  My .50/1 IPQs doubled to $1/1, so my cheese was $1 a block after Qs.
The muffins had a 50% off sticker so were $2.25 a pack.
The bags of salad and strawberries were both BOGO.
The Perdue ground chicken was on sale for $3 and each package had an instant $1.50 discount meat sticker making them $1.50 each.
I picked up 2 bags of frozen mushrooms on sale for $1 each.  This price made them a better deal than fresh or the canned ones.

The only item I paid reg. retail for was the bag of bagels for $2.99, but by the bag they were less than buying them individually. ;-)

Reg. retail on all would have been $105.17 and I paid $47.88 after sales and Qs.
The Catalina items cost me $23.48 and I received $19 in Catalina Qs back.

Now I'm going to try to stay out of the grocery store for 4 more days.
Wish me luck!lol

Sluggy

A Musical Interlude

One of my favorite songs......Enjoy!

Sluggy

I Fear The Force!

About a week ago our 2 year old front loading washer shit the bed.
Yep, just up and stopped working.

Started flashing a code...."F-21".
Dang, I HATE computerized appliances!

So we called up a repair guy and I had to miss a doctor's appointment on Wednesday.
Because we all know, if you can get a repair person to commit to coming to your house to see about a repair then you clear the decks and make sure you can be home when they deign to come by.
Forget dental appointments, major surgery, or visits from the Queen.....cancel them all for the repair guy because face it, being without clean clothes for a week Sucks!

So the repair guy bangs around upstairs and after an hour comes down and shows you a bucket with what he found in some secret compartment hidden in the inner guts of your washing machine.....

A bunch of coins, a piece of gravel, a washer, a lollipop stick and some nasty linty pieces.
And then he shows you what he dug out of the motor that supplies the electricity to drain the water out of your washer tub.....

That's a 1/2" tall Micro Machines Yoda figure from #2 son's old Star Wars playset.
You could theorectically swallow that and not even notice when you 'pass' it 3 days later.

The following Yoda quote popped into my head when the repair guy showed me that.....

“Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”

Well Yoda, you are so wrong!
Size DOES matter you little green pointy-eared shithead.
Your size mattered to the tune of $100!

And since my family is incapable of remembering to EMPTY THEIR POCKETS before throwing their pants in the laundry, I am seriously considering sewing shut all their danged pockets!!!


Because, though it's not to say that I don't enjoy the company of Gene, the Appliance Repair Technician, I really don't care to repeat being without a functional washing machine for a week and throwing $100 away because of a stupid piece of plastic.

Yoda, stupid is.

Sluggy

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