Finish-ed for Another Year

If you have been at this couponing thing for years like I have, you know that every new year, for the last couple of years anyway, brings a Perfect Storm scenario for dishwashing products.
Each January the company that makes Finish products releases a really good manufacturers coupon for their brand.  They do it just once a year so you'd better get it and use it before it expires!

This year, the coupon was $2.15 off 1 package of Finish powerballs, gelpacs or quantums(excluding 10 or 12 ct. packs).  The coupon came in the first set of Sunday paper inserts of the new year on 1/1.

Then CVS drugstores puts this Finish item on sale for $3.50 during the 1/8-1/14 sales week.
Doing the math, each Finish package you buy this week at CVS comes to $1.35 OOP.
Nice, right?

To make this price even more awesome, Finish qualifies as part of the "Spend $30, Get $10 in CVS Cash" Deal CVS has going this week!

So buy 9 packs, spend $31.50, use 9 coupons, get $19.35 off, pay $12.15* and get a $10 CVS gift card.
*Before sales tax if your state charges that.

Ok, so the Finish coupons says limit of 2 coupons per transaction.
So you have to do 2 item transactions to get to the $30 spend threshold to get the $10 gift card....and you have to do this 4.5 times. lol
So you find a cashier who lets you A-buy more than 2 packs in a transaction or B-let's you do 5 tiny transactions one right after another. (Or if there is a line at the register, let's you buy 2 packs and then go to the back of the line and buy 2 more, rinse and repeat until you have purchased 9 and hit the $30 threshold.

Whatever it takes, you can buy 9 packs and get there if you have the patience. ;-)

So on New Year's Day I started going through the 1st batch of coupon inserts for the year, hunting for the good coupons, like the Finish one.
And as is MY LUCK, my region did NOT get any Finish coupons this year!
Ugh.
Ugh.
Ugh.

Did I say Ugh yet?

Then mid week(last week)I saw CVS was putting Finish on sale during the 1/8-1/14 weekly ads and was part of their $30/$10 Deal.
Poop.

So I resorted to a clipping service to get my hands on the $2.15 Finish Qs.  And since it's more cost-effective to get a quantity of Qs from this source, rather than say 9, I sourced 20 of these Qs.

After the Qs arrived on Tuesday, I spent the afternoon/evening(and Daughter hit one up as well for me)visiting 5 different CVS stores in my area, doing lots of little transactions, so as to keep myself within the coupon limits and to keep from taking more than a normal amount of packs from any one store.  Shelf clearers burn my butt......

Let me just add that when you use a clipping service(or a coupon train for that matter), you run the risk of your coupons arriving too late for whatever deal you intend to use them with.  So you need to have a plan B for them just in case.
My coupons didn't arrive until Tuesday(for a sale that started Sunday), so I was 2 days late to the party at CVS.
Luckily for me however, 2 things occured.
1st--my region didn't get the coupon.  Therefore everyone else here didn't buy the Finish at CVS this week or had to mail away for the coupon as well.  This leveled the playing field.
2nd--The 5 CVS stores I went into here?....only 1 had the sale price marked on the Finish products and none had the "$30/$10 Deal" marked on the shelf.  This meant the likelihood of someone stumbling upon the Deal while in the store was almost nil.  You had to be going into the store prepared to get this deal.

I not only bought 20 boxes of Finish, but I bought 5 tubes of Rembrandt toothpaste, as it was also part of the 'Spend $30/Get $10 CVS Cash Deal', it was on sale for $3.99 AND there were $2/1 IPQs for the Rembrandt.
Since 20 Finish didn't get me enough spending to get to 3 x $10 CVS Cash, the 5 Rembrandt tubes helped to get me to the spending threshold.

The candy bar was just a no brainer.....spend .75¢, get a .75¢ ECB back.lol

By doing the small transactions, once I got the 1st $10 CVS Cash card, I was able to use it to cover some, if not all my OOP after the Qs were applied to the orders.

I'm not going to give a play-by-play on each transaction because, frankly I'd be here all day typing it out.
Let's just do the final results, shall we?

I got....
20 x Finish dishwashing tablets
5 x Rembrandt toothpaste
1 x Snickers candy bar

I spent OOP(including tax)....$19.15  Regular retail was $96.89.
I have left in CVS Cash....$11.77
I could have had a lower OOP but I forgot to use the Cash card once...ugh.
Since this CVS card does NOT expire, I could theoretically save it until next January and use it if there is a similar CVS Deal and use it to cover the large OOP at the beginning. 
Or I could say I "spent" $7.38 here and deduct the Cash card amount from my OOP like so many others do.

I'll just call it $19.15 for 26 items.
And I'll mark having to buy dishwashing tablets for another year off my "To Do" List for 2012.
I can live with that..... 8-)

Sluggy

Why Can't Companies Do Anything Right Lately?

Yes, my life these days seems like Joe Btfsplk's.
You know....that character from the old Lil' Abner comic strip.....the guy with the dark cloud over his head who goes around spreading misfortune.

Ok, so I don't purposely spread misfortune but I don't seem to be able to get out from under Joe's cloud!
Especially, it seems, when dealing with Corporate America!

Let me say first, that I despise using the telephone.  If I go to hell when I die, it will be a big call center and I'll be damned for all eternity to make phone calls.

In December, my cell phone company billed me TWICE for one month of service....twice within 3 days.
So I had to call them and talk to "Robot John".  He talked like a robot and said his name was "John".  From what I could tell, he was in India, spoke a heavily accented English so he talked like a robot to cover up his true nationality(and went by the decidedly UN-Indian name of John).  It didn't fool me. at. all.  And I didn't care who or where he was, I just was pissed I had to call his company's call center for being charged incorrectly.

Then I bought one of those 'social coupon deals'.  It was a gift card that was to be a Christmas present.
I purchased on Dec. 2nd.  The voucher/code was delayed and not ready to redeem until Dec. 14th.  I redeemed it on the 14th and was told the card would be mailed within 5-8 business days.
It's almost the middle of freaking January and guess what hasn't arrived yet? 8-(
So that necessitated another phone call to a corporate entity's CSC(=Customer Service Center).  After 10 minutes on hold(two times!)I was informed the gift card was back ordered(would have been nice to tell me this oh.....a MONTH ago!)and would be mailed out next week.
Shall I hold my breath on this one?

Also right before Christmas, the 3 packs of Orbit gum I bought at Rite-Aid for $1 each, that was suppose to give me 3 x $1 +Up Rewards didn't.  I didn't bother calling about it until last week when I had another problem with something else at Rite-Aid I had to call them about.

I tried the new Rite-aid "electronic e-coupons" that you can load onto your Wellness card(HERE is where I talked about it).  Qs loaded successfully but didn't come off the item's purchase at the register.  After speaking with TWO different people at Rite-Aid CSC(and being hung up on and having to call back!), I was told that a high mucky-muck would be calling me to discuss the issue and work out the "kinks in the system".
This high mucky-muck is supposedly in charge of the whole new e-coupon system and as I am one of the first people to tell them that their system is NOT WORKING!, they want to speak to me and find out why.
Evidently, they really don't want to get it working properly and were just giving me lip-service, since Mr. High Mucky-Muck still has NOT returned my call a week later.
I don't give a crap at this point if their system every works.  I just want my FIFTY FREAKING CENTS BACK for that blasted e-coupon I used!
Next week, I return the item for a full refund, then call back CSC and tell them I am NOT amused and will Twitter evil thoughts about them into the Twitterverse.

And this week?
Oh, you KNOW it has to continue.....this lucky lucky gloomy streak of dispair.
First up....Rite-Aid again!
Earlier this week I bought this.....

1 tube of Ben-Gay, 2 packs of OB tampons and 2 bottles of Visine.(Daughter took one of the tampon packs already.)
SubTotal after 20% Wellness discount was $18.57.
I used a $2/1 Q for each item(either ManuQ from inserts or a IPQ), bringing my total down $10.
Then I used the Sales-Ad Qs for the Bengay($2), Visine(2x$2)and the OB($1/2), for an additional $7 off my total.
After these discounts my total was $1.57.  I had $2 and $3 +Ups to use so very bad planning on my part.lol   I put the $1.57 OOP on my free Rite-Aid gift card instead.

I went into this week with $50 toward the $20+Ups Resolution Reward.  This purchase gave me $19 more toward the $100 needed to earn that reward. (I guess they rounded up from $18.57 to $19?)
There is also a separate J&J Spend $30/Get $10 +Ups reward.  All these items count toward that goal, so I have $19 toward that reward as well.

So I am at $69 toward the $100 mark and $19 toward the other $30 mark.

I go back to R-A the next night and buy this....

2 x Clean & Clear BOGO 50%off($6.29)=$9.43
2 x Axe Body Wash on sale $4.50=$9.00
1 x Bengay w/20% wellness discount=$4.79
1 x Thermacare on sale=$3.00
Subtotal....$26.22

Coupons Used
2 x $2/1 Clean & Clear ManuQ=$4.00
2 x $1/1 Clean & Clear AdPerks/VVQ=$2.00
1 x BOGO Axe ManuQ=$4.50
1 x $2/1 Bengay ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Bengay Sales-Ad Q=$2.00
Coupon Total....$14.50

$26.22-$14.50=$11.72
I used $10 in +Ups and put the $1.81($1.72 +.09¢ tax) on my Rite-Aid gift card.
This purchase put me over the $30 spending threshold for the $10 J&J +Ups(which printed)and I received another $3 +Ups for the Thermacare, so $13 in +Ups back.

In addition, ALL THESE ITEMS qualified toward the Spend $100 get a $20 +Up Reward.
So I should be $26 closer to that $100 mark, right.
Nope.....according to my receipt I only got credit for $17 worth of purchases.
I am missing the last $9......which coincidentally is what the 2 Axe body washes add up to.
Hmmmm.....
So I notice that the bottles I bought are "50% more product" bottles.....so not 12 oz, but 18 oz size bottles.
How much do you want to bet that the "50% more product" bottles are NOT CODED AS QUALIFYING PRODUCTS???!!!
So now I either have to call Rite-Aid YET AGAIN and get them to credit my account for this Axe purchase or exchange these bottles for normal sized ones and bet my bottom dollar that the normal sized bottles WILL ring up correctly.  I would get my credit but lose the extra product in the larger bottles.

ARGH.

And to top of my week, I finally get over to Weis(pound you in the ass)Markets to do the Nestle Catalina Deal.
Spend $20 in qualifying products, Get a $5 Catalina Q.

This is $20.43 worth of Nestle qualifying products.
You will notice that there is NO Catalina Q in the picture.
That's because one did not print out.
And it's hopeless to get my Q at this store.  CS is just so clueless about this stuff.
I'm so tired of the 'deer in the headlights' looks and having to explain to them what they should know already.
So now I get the thrill of calling Catalina Corp. to get my $5 CatQ.
(I will add that these were the only 3 canisters of Nestle's Quik in the store.  So much for stocking up on it.)

And you can add in the unmitigated JOY I have been having the last 2 months with the HOMESCAN people(previously known as NIELSON).  Yes, I am one of those schmucks who scans all her purchases via a scanner and reports in to these hallowed marketing gods so they know what kind of crap to put over on sell the American consumer.
That lightning strike we suffered back in late September?  Among the items it took out was the HOMESCAN SCANNER.
Except these nimrods at Homescan don't believe that the scanner if broken and insist I keep using it.
Oh, they are another "piece of work" company which I'll kvetch about another time.

So tired of dealing with companies that suck and telephones.

What companies are on your Shit List this week?
C'mon, spill the beans!
Don't let me wallow around in misery alone....

Sluggy

With Liberty and Justice for All?......Not Always

Sometimes the World is just one big ball of FuckedUpness!

I am preempting my blog today and sending you elsewhere.  I just don't feel like being amusing right now.

Go see my friend, Mark.
He's got some serious shit going on in his life.
My heart is aching for his family today.

Go read THIS and THIS.
Then imagine that you have a sibling, a close friend, a son or daughter, or even that you are a kid and  YOUR parents were going through a similar situation.

Like I said before.....a big ball of FuckedUpness.

Want to do something?
RePost about his family's plight on your blog.
Twitter about it.
Spread the word any way you can.

But more importantly WRITE and CALL your elected officials!
Antiquated laws need changing people......

And then do me a personal favor.
If you get the chance......
Go kick Bill Clinton in the nuts and tell him DOMA was a bonehead move.

Sluggy

What Have I Done?.....The One Where Sluggy Freaks Out!

Longtime readers will remember that I held 2 Stockpile Sales(think Garage Sale but with new excess food and HBA items)this past summer.  Catch up on those adventures HERE and HERE.

I can't recall at which Stockpile Sale the following happened but it really doesn't matter I guess.

Anyway, during one of those sales, one of my customers was chatting with me and as inevitably happens in the conversation, they asked where I got all this nifty stuff I am selling.  I usually just answer that I "coupon" and that either shuts them up OR acts as a gateway for them to start plying me with questions about the whole couponing/money saving/frugal lifestyle thing.
Hey, I am always glad to share my saving ways with anyone who asks!

Well this gal seemed intrigued and after we got beyond that whole "extreme couponing" ugliness that is shown on tv which all the non-believers want to know about(lol), we had a nice little chat.

Then she sucker punched me......
Ok, she didn't actually hit me or anything, but out of the blue, she asked me to come speak at a local women's club meeting about couponing.

Turns out she is the President of said club in my teeny tiny town, which meets monthly for lunch and a talk by some speaker, on a topic of interest to said gaggle of women.
She said she's had members ask her about getting someone in to talk about coupons and saving money at the grocery store.
And I am guessing since I have more stuff, obtained through couponing, than I can use, that I must be good at this, so she asked me.

Not being someone who turns down the opportunity to run-off at the mouth to a captive audience(longtime readers KNOW this!lol), I said I'd do it.
I said yes because it was summer and she wanted me to come speak in January of next year.....which at the time seemed like a gazillion years away and I'd have pleeeeeenty of time to organize my thoughts.

Well, here it is the second week of January and I am slated to give this Epic presentation in less than 10 days and my brain is a jumble of mushy facts.
Ack.Ack.Ack.

I need to at least make myself some kind of outline to follow or my 10 minute talk will resemble a Bill Clinton press conference and I'll have hawkers in the audience selling sleeping bags and bug-out packs of 3 days worth of MREs to sustain my audience through to the end of my 'brief chat'. ;-)

Now that this thing is almost at hand I am freaking out.  Why did I ever agree to do this thing?!
I am not a public speaker.  Ok, I use to be an actress but that was eons ago and I wasn't writing my own script!lol

The club prez did confide that it's not a big deal and they don't expect a ToastMaster, a Power Point, a Steve Jobs company meeting presentation or anything like that.  Just talk about what you do and then field questions from the audience, she said.  And she suspects there will be oodles of questions since many of the women are younger moms with small children at home who could benefit from and will be eager to hear what I have to say.

So, dear readers......what would YOU cover if YOU were asked to give this talk?  How long would you speak and how specific would you get?

I am just hoping when they introduce me as "one who uses coupons" that I don't get a lot of questions about extreme couponing and "the show that shall not be named on TLC".
I sure don't want to spend 20 minutes distancing myself and what I do from that Ball of Crazy!

Whatever transpires, I hope I come off looking like this.....

And not like this.....

Yah, I guess I'd better start practicing my balloon animals now just in case.....

Sluggy

January Food Spending Week 1, Meal Plan January Week 2

*I am taking part in Precious' MONEY SAVING CHALLENGE again for 2012.  You can find her blog FRUGAL MAKES CENTS and a list of other participants and their blogs  HERE.

Check it out.  You might find some new ideas for incorporating frugality into your life there!*


I love searching around for old photos and advertisements featuring kitchens from years gone by.  These are mostly the kitchens from my youth in the 1960's or earlier.  

Today's kitchen......

The house design is one of those California style, open concept homes of the 1950's-the early1970's.  The cabinets are enameled metal with those funky colors, which put them squarely in the 1950's to early 1960's timewise.  I like that there is only 1 set of overhead cabinets  and 1 strip of the kitchen is open above the floor units.  The two tone pink and turquoise is a tad much for my eyes tho.lol 
And the unit on the far left looks like it's a washer or dryer?  Laundry facilities in the kitchen were oh, so modern back then and never really continued here in the States, once that era was over.

Enough of that, onward to the Meals and Food Spending. 8-)


Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Leftovers-Pizzas, BBQ

MONDAY--Taco Bell

TUESDAY--Ham, Harvard Beets, Mashed Potatoes

WEDNESDAY--Leftovers

THURSDAY--Rigatoni and Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread

FRIDAY--Chinese Take-Out
SATURDAY--Chicken Parmesan, Brussel Sprouts

The leftover ham and barbecue pork, along with some fresh mushrooms I didn't use after Christmas got frozen.  Everyone was tired of eating those two proteins now, so it's either freezer it for later or toss it, and we just don't toss food in this house anymore!

The food spending was high last week.

In all, I spent $109.87 last week at the grocery/drug stores.

I made 8 trips to various stores....3 to Rite-Aid, 2 to Big Lots, 2 to the local Shursave market and 1 trip to Save-a-Lot.   Reg. retail of $276.73(including the Rite-Aid items)so I saved 60.30% last week(mostly due to the Rite-Aid savings)....without R-A items it would have been 34.80% savings.
And besides Rite-Aid, I didn't use a single coupon. ;-)

1 Week in and I've spent 1/3 of my January food budget.

Going into Week 2, we have leftover penne pasta, meat sauce and some odds and ends.

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--bucket of KFC *weekend special for $11*

MONDAY--Mac and Cheese, Broccoli

TUESDAY--homemade Chili, Cornbread

WEDNESDAY-- Fish, Wild Rice, Peach Salad

THURSDAY--Leftovers-fried chicken/mac and cheese/chili or ?

FRIDAY--homemade Pizza, carrot & celery sticks w/dressing
SATURDAY--Kielbasa on rolls, Onions, Ginger Carrots

I plan on using the leftover pasta to make mac and cheese(as there is a lot left), the leftover meat sauce will go into the crockpot chili(a small container of corn that's hanging out in the fridge will go into the cornbread that evening).

Other than the chicken we had Sunday night, there is no other take-out being served here this week.....crossing fingers.

Items needed for this menu.....I have everything needed to make/serve this menu. 
There is, however, a Catalina Deal on Nesquick at Weis this week which I may run, as the stockpile needs refilling.  If I run the deal 4 times I'll net 16 canisters + 4 other items and it will cost me $56.80 for all(with a $5 Cat Q leftover).  My cost will be 40% off reg. retail(not counting the leftover Cat Q).  If I can find some coupons to use, the deal will be better.  At any rate, those 16 canisters should get us through to next year.

So what is everyone else eating this week?  

Sluggy