Rite-Aid 4 Day Sale Freebies

Be sure to get up to Rite-Aid by Saturday for the 4 Day Sale running Wednesday through Saturday.

Here are the freebies you can score......

Regular sized Kit-Kat and Reese's candy are on sale 3 for $2.00 and they give back $2 in Plenti Points=free chocolate!!!


Plus while you are there ask a cashier for a Friends & Family Sale coupon.....

Saturday is the F&F sale day and with this coupon you get 30% off everything(exclusions apply)unless the sale price is lower than 30% off.

If anyone needs Fragrance Gift Sets for gifts this Christmas this is the week to buy them at Rite-Aid.

Select $15.99 and over ones qualify for a Spend $50/Get $10 back in Plenti Points.

If you purchase them on Saturday you get 30% off each set but that's just the beginning.

Here's what the deal looks like--

Buy 2 x $15.99=$31.98
Buy 2 x $21.99=$43.98
Subtotal.$75.96

30% F&F discount off on Saturday=$53.17 + tax

Use 4 x $2/1 IPQs from coupons dotcom(Stetson, Nautica, Vera Wang, Addidas, Beyonce, etc.)
$53.17-$8 Qs=$45.17 + tax

Then you get $10 back in PPs so $35.17 + tax OOP

Submit for $8 in Ibotta cash rebates(make sure you only buy 1 of each qualifying fragrance set as there is a limit of 1 rebate per fragrance brand), so $35.17-$8 rebates=$27.17+ tax.

Plus if you have your Rite-Aid card linked to SavingStar there is a $5 Refund when you buy $30 of select Coty fragrance sets(some of these are the ones that qualify as part of the Spend $50/Get $10 in PPs at Rite-Aid Deal), so if you buy the right sets you could get another $5 off making this $22.17 + tax OOP or $5.54 + tax per gift set.

That's an amazing price if you need fragrance sets!

Sluggy

2016 Food & Toiletries Spending.....November Update

* Posting this a day early as I am finished spending on food for November.*

Onward to November's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2016.

I have posted November's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2016 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.  I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in November.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(4-5 at home this month). No kids under 20.

******************

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $3.00
Value  $5.00
Savings   40%

KMART
OOP  $0.00
Value  $8.94
Savings  100%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $522.04
Value  $522.04
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $188.71
Qs/Ads $99.80
Value  $288.51
Savings  34.59%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $330.38

Qs/Ads  $477.68

Value  $808.06

Savings  59.11%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Dollar Tree at 100% and Weis at 59.11%.  My WORST savings rate was Shursave Market at 34.59%.
I shopped at 5 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$522.09

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1,110.51

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,632.60

TOTAL Savings of ..................................68.02%
TOTAL Savings w/o Rite-Aid of ..............52.99%


This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into November wanting to do a $400 food budget for the month.
I actually spent $522.09 which was $122.09 over my limit.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went up by 12.62% in November to 68.02% compared to October's 55.40% savings average.
A killer savings rate  brought about by a lot of free items at Rite-Aid during the month.  Even without all the freebies at R-A the month ended overall with a 52.99% savings rate which is not too shabby either.

With 11 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $4,696.81 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $426.98 per month spent.  This is $9.51 MORE per month than October's average.  My savings rate for the year is holding now at 61.92%.

LOOKING AHEAD To December 2016........

I have implimented a plan to spend only grocery and Visa gift cards and cash rebates received and not spent so far this year, to pay for all the groceries in December.  If I can succeed at this that means my 2016 total spent on food & toiletries will remain at November'syear to-date total of $4,696.81.
Add in that I stocked up on many items in Novemeber(to get a store reward)so some things I'd buy in December are already in the larders, including Holiday goodies and a big hunk of meat for Christmas dinner.

Stay tuned in December to see if my plan works or if I crash and burn the food budget. ;-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in November?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

My Frugal "Me" Day

This post is subtitled "My Day with Brad Pitt", because, well, why not?  ;-)

Monday was a rare "Me" Day at Chez Sluggy.
The weather was good so I hit the road to the town South of here for a bit of fun.  Hubs was back to work and Daughter back to school but she would be home by noon so I got a reprieve from watching the dog.

First off was a movie at the actual movie cinema.  I used that movie ticket I got free for buying M&M's at Rite-Aid back in October.  Post about that Deal is HERE.

I saw "Allied", a little touted release this month about spies during WWII.  It was pretty good and even if it wasn't, Brad Pitt is easy on the eyes.  ;-)

You can save yourself $12 on a movie ticket and just watch this trailer and you'll have seen the best moments of this flick.


It was a rare 10:30 am showing, I guess because the local public schools were still not in session due to the Thanksgiving break.
That being said this is not the kind of movie kids would want to see(history? Ewwww!)so I had the entire movie theater to myself.
Loving that!!!

Then there was a quick stop at Aldi to see what mushrooms were going for there this week, as I needed them for Stroganoff making this week. $1.97 for an 8 oz. package?!?  Egads, and no thanks!

But while in Aldi I perused the German Christmas treats.  Being a German company, they always have a nice selection of German made goodies at the Holidays and at a decent price.
I just had to pick this one up.....

Cherry Stollen for $4.99
A yummy splurge.

Then it was over to Bonanza to use the last Free Lunch/Dinner Buffet certificate we won at the Church Auction in October before it expired on the 30th.
Ok, I had to pay for my iced tea drink but  leisurely lunch for $2.43?  I'll take it.

Between eating I had brought a piece of paper and pen and started writing up our Christmas card list.  Yes, I am one of those people who still send cards in the mail. 8-)

Feeling quite stuffed(but not too stuffed)I stopped at a local grocery store to see what deals I could find before heading home.
Since I've closed out November's food spending anything I bought on Monday goes on December's tally.

I found 1 lb. packages of bacon with $2 off stickers making them $1.97 each!  If I had had more room in the freezer at home I would have bought them all(there were at least 15).  I had to settle for 4 packages coming home with me. 8-)
I found mushrooms for $2.50 per 12 oz. box so picked those up for the Stroganoff.

Another find were these packages of mint chocolate chip cookies marked down to $1 each due to quickly approaching sell by dates.  These will go into the freezer to be baked off once Christmas is near and the cookie making commences.

And I even picked up 2 stocking stuffers for College Boy for free after coupons......

Then I headed home and did some Cyber Monday shopping for myself--
A Vera Bradley purse for 50% off and free shipping and some Bath & Body Works candles for cheap.
There may have also been Christmas presents purchased as well. ;-)

All in all a nice relaxing "me" day and it didn't break the bank.

Sluggy

This Week On the Dining Table

The "College Boy Came Home" Edition--

For the first tine I didn't have to go pick-up College Boy from school for Thanksgiving Break.  His sister did it for me after I agreed to pay for the gas for the trip and lunch.
That worked for me! lolz
And I think in the 4 days he was home he ate his weight in pie......

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Tacos(using leftover beef I had cooked up)
2. Monday--Fish, Cauliflower, leftover Mac & Cheese
3. Tuesday--Kielbasa, Sauted Cabbage
4. Wednesday--Leftover Buffet
5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner
6. Friday--T'giving Leftovers
7. Saturday--maybe Take-Out? or Homemade Pizza

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Tacos(using leftover beef I had cooked up)
2. Monday--Fish, Cauliflower, leftover Mac & Cheese
3. Tuesday--Kielbasa
4. Wednesday--Leftover Buffet
5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner
6. Friday--T'giving Leftovers
7. Saturday--

5 meals cooked at home, 2 of them a night of leftovers, and 0 nights of Take-Out. 

As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis and 1 trips to the Shursave market to use my $10 Reward chit brought my weekly spending to $19.95 and my November food spending Grand Total to $522.09 as I am done grocery shopping until Thursday.
I did use a $20 gift card at Weis last week(instead of waiting until December to spend it)too.

With using a free gift card and getting a free turkey my savings percentages this week was 85.13% and the monthly savings rate stands at 52.99%.
That's a goodly percentage even for me!  I just wish I could do that all year long.  ;-)

Leftovers going into this week.......meatballs, sausage, taco beef, mac and cheese, kielbasa, assorted Turkey day dinner foods.

Here is this week's "food plan".
1. Sunday--Subway using a gift card
2. Monday--Leftover Kielbasa, Pierogies or Leftover Spaghetti
3. Tuesday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Green Beans
4. Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Salad, Fried Mac/Cheese Balls
5. Thursday--Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner 2.0
6. Friday--Meatloaf, Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 1 nights of Take-Out and 2 nights of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Mushrooms and we are almost out of milk.

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 last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?


Sluggy

All About Thanksgiving

Since the Daughter was working on Thanksgiving we planned dinner for later in the day than we usually eat.  This meant I didn't have to rise at the ass crack of dawn. Yay!
I could do all the prep and cooking at a more leisurely pace and even take an hour to go out to Rite-Aid to get a jump on the freebies there.

Here is the stuffing going into the large oval crock pot early in the a.m.
I pressed all 3 of my crock pots into service for the Turkey Day meal.  The black one in the background ended up being used for the mashed potatoes(both red and white)and the white small crock pot held and warmed the rutabaga.

Since there were 7 for dinner this year(me, Hubs, college boy, daughter, brother in-law, nephew and daughter's boyfriend)we had to add a card table onto our ersatz dining table(aka a camping/fold-up table)so everyone could sit down to eat together.
With so many for dinner I set up the food in the kitchen buffet style from which we served ourselves before taking our place at the dinner table.

Here are the mashed potatoes, carrots, stuffing(plus what was cooked inside the bird in a serving bowl)and extra rolls.....

The rutabaga on the counter behind Hubs and the platter of turkey on the island with the big bowl of gravy(you can't see in this picture).

Rolls, butter, salt/pepper and cranberry glop were table side.

Let me talk a little about the table.
Earlier this month blogging friend Kim over at Out My Window sent me a package......

I hadn't a CLUE why or what this could be!
Inside was a beautiful hand sewn tablecloth and matching cloth napkins Kim had made for me. 8-)
Also were 4 cute little birdies(quail maybe?)with a metallic copper finish.

With all the stuff going on in her life that she took the time to fashion all this for me was awesome.
She is one special lady is all I can say. ;-)

So I dug that box out of hiding and set my Thanksgiving table Thursday morning......

I had a couple of Autumn swags I intertwined and laid out straight in the middle of the table and put small tea light type candles and those little birdies randomly among the foliage.

Here are the matching napkins.

Well between the chaos of getting the meal on the table and the hungry heathens who couldn't wait to start eating I didn't get a shot of the whole table properly set for dinner.

Here is the crew that chowed down on the vittles here at Chez Sluggy for Thanksgiving(minus Yours Truly who was taking the photo).

I scaled back the side dishes this year(no sweet potatoes or green bean casserole)but still there was more than enough to keep this swarm of locusts busy.
I am sure three kinds of pie helped satiate them as well. ;-)

And we kept it civil and politically-free(though not alcohol-free). 8-)))

I hope you had the type of Holiday you enjoy.

Sluggy