This Day in History

166 years ago today, Oct. 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore, MD.

Only a few weeks before his death, on September 14th of 1848, he gave the final reading of his poetry in my hometown of Norfolk, VA.  Of course I was NOT in attendance owing to the fact that I was yet to be born for another 110 years.  ;-)

This event was open to the public(at the price of a .50¢ ticket)and took place in the Lecture Room of the Norfolk Academy.
Mr. Poe's lecture was entitled, "The Poetic Principle" and the reviewer forThe Norfolk Beacon said: “Mr. Poe concluded the lecture by reciting by request his brilliant fantasy ‘The Raven.’ The audience seemed highly gratified by the intellectual repast which had been set before them”.

Just days before the lecture/reading Poe had performed the first reading of his now classic "The Raven" poem on a local resort  seaside hotel veranda of the Hygeia Hotel at Old Point Comfort(now Hampton, VA.

Poe had arrived in town a few days early and during a nighttime gathering of locals and resort patrons he had debuted his famous poem.

Edgar Allan Poe sent some time in Norfolk as a child and his parents spent time here as well before his birth.

His mother, Eliza Poe, was a very popular stage actress of that time, traveling up and down the East Coast performing in a troupe called the Charleston Comedians.  Six months after her first husband, Charles Hopkins, died in 1805, leaving her a widow at 18 years old, she married David Poe.  David had seen her performing in Norfolk, VA, fell in love and pursued her until she wed him in 1806.  He abandoned his family's plans for him to study the law and instead joined his new wife's acting troupe. A son William Henry was born 1807, 9 months after their wedding and then Edgar in 1809 in a boarding house near the theater where their troupe was performing.  It is said that Eliza performed a mere 10 days before giving birth to him.

David was no longer with the family when a third child, a daughter Rosalie, was born in 1810, while again performing in Norfolk, VA.
In late 1811 while preforming in Richmond, VA Eliza came down with TB and died a couple of months later on Dec. 8, 1811.  She was only 24 years old.

The three children were split up after their mother's death with little Edgar(not even 3 years old)going to live with John, a Scottish Richmond area merchant and his wife, Frances Allan.  They gave him the middle name of Allan but never legally adopted him.

So let's here it for Edgar Allan Poe today. 
Go read one of his works.

Sluggy


 

Grocery Shopping This Week & I am Finished

Well since Hubs went out on Sunday for a new computer mouse and was going right by the store,  I had him go back into Big Lots while that 20% off sale was going on to get 3 more jars of minced garlic, 4 more cans of tuna and 4 more cans of Spaghettio's for College Boy.

Another $8.76 spent on the food budget.

On Monday I made my grocery store rounds after PT where I picked up the items I had planned plus a few other items....

I bought 3 boxes of pasta at .67¢ each, used $1.25 in Qs and paid .76¢ for all.
I bought 4 cans of evaporated milk at $1.50 each, used $2 in Qs and paid $4 for all.
I bought 3 jars of Prego spaghetti sauce at $3/$5, used $1 in Qs and paid $4 for all.
I bought 6 large cans of Hunt's tomato products at B1 for $2.19/Get 2 more Free so they came to .73¢ per can.(They were the good 'no salt added' varieties too!)
I bought 7 cans of Homestyle soups at $1.66 each, used $3 in Qs and paid $8.65 for all.

I also found a 2lb. bag of flounder fillets 25% off($8.24)so I had to purchase that.  $4.12 a lb. for flounder?  Yes, please!
I also bought a 1lb. bag of baby carrots for $1(sale price and not pictured).
All this cost me $31.05 after sales/Qs for a savings of 28.40 or 47% off of reg. retail price.

I also submitted my receipt to Checkout 51 and have already received a .75¢ rebate into my account-.25¢ for buying the carrots and .50¢ for buying 2 cans of evaporated milk.
All those Homestlye soup cans qualify toward a $5 SavingStar rebate as well once I have spent $15 on select Campbell's items.  Only $3.31 left to spend to earn that $5 back.

Then I ran into the local Shurfine Market and bought this.......

I bought 2 cans of Furmano tomato puree(Weis was out of the Hunt's puree).  These were .88¢ per can so not as good as the Weis cans but still a good value.
I found 2 cans of Beefaroni in the clearance bin for .75¢ each.
I bought 2 containers of cottage cheese for the crockpot lasagna I made Monday night(so not pictured)on sale for $2 each.
I bought a head of romaine lettuce(again used on Monday so not pictured)on sale for $1.49lb.
A bunch of celery for $1.49(reg. price)and 3 bags of salty snacks(those were half price)rounded out this shop and brought my total OOP here to $16.09.
42.41% savings over reg. retail price and no coupons used.

I am now up to $77.90 spent on my October food budget and I am finished grocery procurement for the week.
I am still loving the price on that flounder I got..... ;-)

Sluggy


 

How Not to Do It

Well I had a plan but circumstances thwarted my plan and then bonehead moves made by ME just made a bad situation even worse.
Yet this is a happy ending when all was said and done.

What I am talking about is my Sam's Club account and credit card.
September 2014 I dug out a free membership card I received years ago in someone's blog giveaway and decided that it was time to cash this in for a free year of Sam's Club.

So I get to the store and somehow got talked into not getting my free regular account but paying extra($50 more I believe)and getting the super deluxe account that came with a Sam's Club Mastercard.  This meant not having to carry cash to Sam's to pay each time but the convenience of being able to swipe plastic at the store and then pay it off during the monthly grace period.
Remember that no matter how bad I botched this deal up, I always paid off the card each month, so I never paid any interest charges.
I just paid $50 in stupid tax by actually being talked into upgrading the membership. ;-)

So I was instantly approved for the Sam's Club c/c and they charged the additional $50 in membership fees to that card.
I was told two features with this account and the linked c/c were--
1. I got points toward a store reward when I paid for anything with this c/c.
2. If I decided at any time before the year's membership was up that I no longer wanted to be a Sam's Club member I could cancel on the spot and get my whole $100 membership fee refunded to me....so basically it was a year of Sam's Club for free.

So I swallowed this hook, line and sinker and was sure I'd cancel before the term was over and get my $$ back.
Hahaha!

                              Rotisserie chickens....Mmmmmmm

First off, it became fairly clear after 3 months or so that Hubs and I were at a point in our lives where we really didn't need/want to buy most items we use on the regular basis in massive quantities, which is mostly what Sam's Club is about.  Most goods(except for clothes, electronics, rotisserie chickens, pharmacy drugs, glasses, toilet tissue, etc.)are sold in large packages.  Other than bottled water and maybe fresh meat or fish(which we could freeze the extra)we didn't need huge quantities of what they sold/how they sold it.  Even buying frozen foods, since it was such large packages of items there was no way to fit it all into the freezer and who wants a freezer filled with Marie Callendar pot pies ONLY because all that packaging takes up a lot of space(even though MC pot pies are so tasty)?!?

                       You can't just buy 1 roll.

So this way of shopping may have worked out for us when all the kids were still home, living under our roof but for 2 people with a teen left at home(and only home on college breaks and during the Summer), this situation doesn't lend itself to this form of hunting/gathering/shopping.

        Lines for days no matter if it was a weekday or weekend.

By August I noticed that we had only used this membership sporadically.  Reasons why were because it was not convenient(you had to drive down the mountain into the city), it took a long time to shop there(because the store is massive and always crowded with long lines), and the having to buy large quantities too.
And just to drive this point home(that we never used the membership), I received my FIRST c/c reward in August(almost a full YEAR since signing up for the c/c and using it at Sam's Club).  It was for $10.  Meaning in almost a year I only spend $1000 in Sam's Club-and 1/5th of that spending was buying a chest freezer.

So it was decided to cancel the membership before mid-September when that first year was up.

But then my foot problem happened in early September and I was unable to get to the store to cancel the membership since I couldn't walk.  (As the membership was in my name only I had to be the one to cancel it).
Sigh.
So I kissed my potential $100 refund goodbye.

       Why was my store never empty like this?

I made plans to go in to cancel the membership anyway as soon as I could walk well enough to get to the store.
While being laid up and confined to my bed I checked my Sam's c/c account online and saw that they had charged me for another year of the premium level membership to my c/c.
Whoa!
I saw red and did a very irrational thing at the sight of this charge, which I had never authorized them to make nor did I know that this is the way they do it if you have their c/c.

I cancelled my Sam's Club c/c by clicking on a link from my computer.
This was just the WRONG thing to do I was soon to find out.

So a week or so after doing that I was able to hobble into the store and cancel my membership.
The Customer Service clerk swiped my membership card and saw I had I had been charged on the c/c for next year's fee so she called the c/c number to get my $100 for next year removed from the c/c.
Only she was told that since I had already closed out the c/c account that they couldn't remove it.
WTF?!?

What I had to end up doing to cancel the memberships and get my money back was the biggest PITA known to man.
First off, they couldn't cancel my membership at the store.
I had to PAY that $100 charge! ack
Then once I saw the payment had cleared(after 3 days)I had to call the c/c 24 hour line and cancel my membership.
Then I had to wait 3-4 days and see that I had a credit of $100 on my now closed c/c.
Then I had to call the c/c 24 hour line back AGAIN and request a refund for that $100 be sent to my mailing address.
And of course every time I called that c/c line I got a "Ron" or a "Cindy" in a call center somewhere in New Delhi who either I couldn't understand or they couldn't comprehend what I was asking them to do(as it usually confused them to no end when they saw my c/c account was already closed at my request).

Needless to say I lost $50 on the first part of this deal but I was victorious on the second part and did receive my $100 check from Sam's Club last week, 3+ weeks from when this whole shebang began...

So excuse me now so I can go put this check back into my bank account.

And take a few lessons from my mistakes.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "I spent money this weekend" Edition--

 

 Besides my "wild" spending spree at Big Lots this past weekend, Saturday was the annual local Church fundraising auction.  I dropped some major coin at that too!  I got some deals(I was more selective than last year's lot)and helped out a local church keep their doors open.  I also had my annual bowl of haluski there as they served lunch.
More on my auction haul later......

Onward to the meal planning!

 

Here's what was planned last week.......
 

1. Sunday--Eating Out while traveling-I had a Roast Beef Panini and Salad
2. Monday--Leftover Beef Stroganoff, Veggie TBD
3. Tuesday--Ribs, Yellow Squash and Onions
4. Wednesday--Smoked Chicken, Smoked Potato Salad, Smoked Apples
5. Thursday--Fish, leftover veggies, cheddar broccoli soup
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers

 

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Eating Out while traveling-I had a Roast Beef Panini and Salad
2. Monday--Leftover Beef Stroganoff, leftover mixed Beans or Salad
3. Tuesday--Ribs, Smoked Potato Salad
4. Wednesday--Smoked Baked Chicken, Sauted stir-fry Veggies
5. Thursday--Fish, Yellow Squash and Onions, Noodles
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Red Lobster, eating out

I basically cooked 2 days last week for 3 days worth of meals(except for the stir-fry which was made on the 3rd day of eating).  We splurged Saturday and went out for an early dinner for seafood.  Not a big fan of that chain but it was "Endless Shrimp" after all.  ;-)
 

As for my grocery spending last week......ended Sept. with a couple of small Weis shops($70.15 total) for a total of $212.25 spent for the month.  I did a shop(or two)at Big Lots this past weekend on October's food monies and spent $30.76 of my $300 Oct. food budget.

Leftovers going into this week....ribs and smoked chicken.  We ate ribs last night(and there are still 2 more servings)and I might take the leftover smoked chicken and make a garlicky broth soup with it to have for lunches this week.
 

Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--Leftover Ribs, Leftover Potato Salad, Leftover Squash & Onions
2. Monday--Lasagna, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread
3. Tuesday--Fish(freezer), Mixed Veggies(freezer), Roasted Potatoes(pantry)
4. Wednesday--Meatloaf(freezer), Collards(garden), Roasted Potatoes(leftover)
5. Thursday--Leftovers(Lasagna or Ribs)
6. Friday--Leftovers(Lasagna or Meatloaf)
7. Saturday--More Leftovers or Pizza take-out(use freebie)if we are tired of eating Leftovers


What I need to buy for this menu?......cottage cheese, Romaine lettuce.  I'll be picking up a few other items that are on sale this week besides those 2 items but it shouldn't run more than $25 total(unless surprise meat/produce specials pop up while I'm in the store).  8-)  Spending $25 will put me right around $55 spent of my food budget for October.  I have to keep reminding myself that I am only giving myself $300 this month for groceries/toiletries.  If $55 spent gets us through Oct. 10th I'll be in great shape to meet this challenge.

Cooking 3 days this week(other than making side dishes to have with leftovers)will yield me 2 more leftovers(lasagna, meatloaf)to eat up later in the week.  But I already have a premade meatloaf in the freezer that just needs a bit of thawing and then sticking in the oven so not really "cooking" that night.  It's difficult even if you make a small one to NOT have leftovers when it's lasagna and meatloaf and it's only 2 people eating those meals.

It's a compact cooking week with plans to eat all the leftovers keeping food waste at bay.
 

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?    

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy

Shopping.....More Rite-Aid Stuff & Big Lots

Well I went back and returned those 2 items on Friday that didn't give me the $20 in pts. the shelf tag said I was suppose to get.  Incidentally the shelf tags stating you get $10 in pts. for each item were STILL UP on Friday!
Way to go Rite-Aid on the old Bait and Switch Scam!!!

So Friday I learned that with this new Plenti Points scheme Rite-Aid has if you buy something using Plenti points for any part of your purchase(transaction), if you return an item for any reason, Rite-Aid gives you back points up to as many as you used on that purchase(transaction)and then gives you your cash used on whatever amount is left to refund.
So I had used $12 in points on the transaction with the 2 items I ended up returning on Friday so my $14.98 cash refund turned into $12 in points put back on the card and $2.98 in cash(which I opted to have credit put back on the gift card that was used for that transaction).
Realize that this is a change from the +Up Rewards system where you got cash/credit, NOT a return of +Up Rewards.
While this makes sense and I had used a gc so whether I have a return in points or back on the gc it doesn't matter.  But if you are expecting cash back for a return you will be sorely disappointed.

After picking up my rx refills I then bought this stuff.....

I won't do a detailed breakdown since this Deal is over now.
SubTotal was $18.94
Coupons brought it down to $7.96, using $4 in points brought it down again to $3.96 on the gift card plus I'll get $2 in cash rebates from Saving Star and $4 in Plenti points back on this Plenti/Wellness card so this deal "cost" me $1.96 OOP.

There will be no Rite-Aid shopping this week other than I may pick up a jug of Persil laundry detergent at Rite-Aid this week as it's on sale for $3.99 and there is a $2/1 Manu Q(plus one at coupons dotcom online to print), making this $1.99 a jug.  If you like this brand or want to try it out for cheap, this week head to Rite-Aid for one.


But the plan the Week of 10/11 is to head back in for the free Arizona Iced Tea Deal.........

4 cans of tea beverages for free after points, so if you have $2 in points already on your card you can get this for nothing OOP.  I just wish they carried an unsweetened version at my store. sigh

Then on Saturday while Hubs and I were out we stopped into Big Lots as I wanted to pick up a jar of minced garlic as I am almost out.  Ollie's didn't have any(where I usually buy it)last trip there and Weis(PMITA)Markets wants almost $5 a jar(hahaha!)but I remembered Big Lots carried it among their food selection.
So we go into the store and I see 20% Friends & Family signs are up.
Could this be a happy accident, stumbling into the 3 or 4 times yearly Big Lots 20% off sale??
Why yes, yes it could! 8-)

So the "just stopping in for a jar of garlic" turned into a "what are we running low on, let's stock up if it's a good deal 20% off" trip.

Food items--minced garlic(they only had little jars so I got 3), some tuna, water chestnuts, creamed corn, tomato paste, applesauce cups for Hubs' lunches, spaghettio's w/balls and peace tea cans for College Boy.  Also Q-tips for CB.
There were more items(snacking type foods for CB which I am sending him in a care packages)but I can't post photos of those at it's a surprise.  ;-)
Altogether I spent $22.00 including tax on the food and toiletries I bought.

We also picked up a calendar for the kitchen for $4.  Hubs usually buys me a calendar for Christmas and it's never something I like (you would think he would know me after 35 years!lol)so I told him buy one now and don't over pay like he does at the mall kiosk during the Holidays.  Yes, I am frugal.
I also got 2 bath scrubby brushes for $2 each after discount.
Dollar Tree use to carry good brushes for $1 but the handles got thin and they break(ask me how I know!)so these are awesome at $2.

And then I did something I don't do much anymore, I spent frivolously. 
I wandered into the Christmas section and saw these......

And I had to buy them! lolz

But that's ok, because they are so cool and bring me joy for the low price of $30.52.
Who knew joy could come so cheaply?   ;-)

The 20% Sale at Big Lots continues today so go on and get what you need.  This is probably the last Friends & Family Sale day there until after Christmas.





Sluggy