Frugal Friday......February 16th Edition

Let's see what the Frugal Fairy brought us this past week..........

*  I had Hubs pick up this freebie since he had to go by Weis(PMITA)Markets last Friday anyway.

I clipped a digital Weis Q in my account for a free jar of sauce.  Of course, the Q didn't come off when he used my card so he had to pay $1.50 for it and then go to the Customer Service desk to get his $1.50 back.  Management doesn't let CS know there is a freebie on Fridays so they hadn't a clue what he was talking about.
Get your shit together Weis Markets!!

*  I sold a lot on eBay for $40 on Sunday.  Two tubes of fancy pants shampoo that is no longer made-$20 a tube.  I got it at Rite-Aid awhile back for free after sales/Qs/PPs or +Up Rewards or whatever thing was given out at that time so pure profit after eBay/Paypal fees.

*  I  turned on F/B notifications for the Hershey Olympics promotion so every time Team USA wins a gold medal you can access a link to print off two copies of a Q for a free Hershey's Gold candy bar!
I also emailed the link to myself, ran upstairs, accessed my email up there and printed the Q 4 more times, twice from two different computers upstairs.  8-)))

The Q is for $1.50 off a bar not a FREE Q so if you find it for less then $1.50 make sure you have something else in your transaction to absorb the overage......which also means something else for free or cheaper.  ;-)
The problem now is to find any of these candy bars on the shelves around here before the Qs expire. lolz

*  Lots of freebies or better than free after sale/qs/bonus cash earned at Rite-Aid on Wednesday--bags of sugar-free chocolate, Orei candy bars and light bulbs.

*  Here are the best deals I got at Weis(PMITA)Markets this past week.....

L to R--
-Gorton's seafood was half price and you got an instant $2 off wyb3. Shrimp was $3.99, 2 x fish bags were $3.49 each so $10.97 subtotal.  After the $1/1 Gorton's Shrimp Q and $2 off instantly I paid $7.97 for all 3 items.

-4 x Huggies wipes, frozen Weis french fries(wanted a bag of veggies instead but they were out)and Polly-O string cheese sticks(so Daughter can make a stuffed crust pizza w/them)were $7.44 for all 6 items after instant $3 off wyb6 items, plus $2.50 in coupons I used-one .50¢ Q doubled/3 did not(and a digital .50¢ Q that doubled and also came off).

-The Yes! soup was on sale 3/$5 and I used 3 x .75¢Qs that doubled to $1.50 each so $5.00-$4.50=.50¢ for all 3 cans.

-The cashier didn't ring up my mushrooms(which I didn't know until I checked my receipt when I got home)which were on sale for $2 a carton.  This explains why the register wouldn't take the .50¢ Q I had for them and she had to put it through manually.  So I got paid .50¢ to buy those free mushrooms. lolz

-I had a Weis Q that was expiring that day for .75¢ a bag of Weis brand shredded cheese.  It wasn't on sale so would have cost me $1.19 after Q.  When I went to get a bag there was a sign that if you bought 2 cans of Hormel chili and the cheese you got $1.50 off the bag of cheese instantly.  I went round to the chili aisle and the Hormel chili was on sale for 2/$3....AND I had a .55¢/2 Hormel chilis Q(which doubles to $1.10 off).

So cheese $2.69+2 cans chili at $3=$5.69-instant $1.50 off cheese and .75¢ Weis cheese Q and $1.10 off chili=$2.34 for all 3 items total BUT I also had a digital Q for the chili evidently because another $1.10 came off(a .55¢ digital Q that doubled)so my 3 items cost $1.24 OOP in the end. ;-)

-I also had a Weis Q expiring that day for .50¢ a loaf of bakery French bread.  I snagged a 50% loaf on the day old rack for .95¢-.50¢Q=.45¢ for the loaf.

Plus these items I couldn't fit in the photo above---

-2 x 8 O'Clock coffee was BOGOFree so $2.74 a bag.  I used 2 x $1/1Qs so $1.74 a bag OOP.
Plus I received a $1 cash rebate on Ibotta for buying the Infusion type of that coffee so I am OOP $2.48 for both bags total.
They were out of the Caramel Macchiato College Boy likes so I got a rain check for more and held onto some other Qs I had for the coffee for later use when his flavor is back in stock.

-I had a $2.50/1 Nutella 13 oz or larger Catalina I had gotten at Xmas time expiring that day so I picked that up too.  It was on sale for $2.99 so it cost me .49¢ total after the Q.

My coupons were all messed up and I was credited with $24.30 in Qs even though it should have been only $21.70 in Qs.  I had 2 digital Qs come off(and double)plus  another wipes Q doubled(even though they say on them do not double)plus I got .50¢ off for mushrooms I "didn't buy". lolz
I guess it all evens out in the end as sometimes I get shorted on my Qs because of cashier inattentiveness and I just don't feel like going to CS that day and dealing with getting it made right.  Some days it's a big enough hassle just DOING the shopping and not having to also FIX the shopping. sigh

I also got another .25¢ cash back on Ibotta for buying anything in the store so $48.54 spent on $117.33 worth of groceries make a 58% savings rate plus $1.25 cash back so I am OOP $47.34 for everything I bought on Wednesday.  Pretty good considering I didn't get any Instant Discount meats this trip either.  8-)))

What's frugal wins have you had lately?

Sluggy

Wellness Wednesday #2 for February

I am feeling under the weather(Wednesday's post went live quite late yesterday evening)but still found the strength to hit Rite-Aid on Wednesday since they seem to be doing the Wellness Wednesday one-day coupons deal every Wednesday in February.

I am just combining everything bought on various cards/accounts and transactions into one.  The trip was messy and being not quite right in the head yesterday(don't even say it Kim!)I am not going to even try to lay it all out in a methodical way.

Also bought but not pictured were 3 x 12-packs of Coke.  They were 2/$6 and I had a R-A mailed Q for $1.50 off 3 so bought those too 3 packs for $7.50 total.  I just don't feel like hauling them out of the garage for a photo.

1 x Emergen-C packets
3 x Head and Shoulders shampoo
1 x Kleenex facial tissue
1 x Irish Spring body wash
1 x R-A brand diced tomatoes
8 x Russell Stover sugar-free candy
6 x R-A brand nightlight bulbs
6 x Oreo candy bars

Some things worked as planned and others didn't.
I spent $19 in various Bonus Cash, $2.99 on my R-A gift card and $4.92 in Plenti Points(finally! I got to use PPs!!!).
I earned back $15 in new Bonus Cash.

What worked.....
* A Deal this week is R-A light bulbs-they are BOGOFree and you get back $2 in BC for purchasing one(limit of 2 Deals so 2 packs of bulbs per card/account).  The nightlight size bulk packs are reg. $3.49, buy two, pay $3.49, get back $4 in BC so a .51¢ moneymaker when you buy 2 packs.

* The Oreo candy bars are 2 for $1 this week and give back $1 in BC, so straight up free with your card/account.  If you clipped the Load2Card for $1 off wyb2 Oreo bars awhile back this was a $1 moneymaker so even sweeter!....See what I did there?  ;-)

* The Russell Stover sugar-free chocolates were a WW deal.  They are on sale this week 2 for $3.  There was a WW Q for $2 off 1 bag, so a $1 moneymaker if you purchased something else with this candy the extra $1 off applied to the other item(s)in your order.

What didn't work.......
*  The Head and Shoulders on WW there was a $2 off 1 Q and I had $2/1 Load2CardQ attached to each Wellness card.  Take the $7.49 reg. price in my store, discount the 20% Wellness Gold discount and it's $5.99 a bottle.  Take the $4 total of the 2 Qs that stacked and each bottle comes out to $1.99 per.
Except for one of my bottles on one of my cards, the L2CQ didn't come off so I paid $3.99 for it.
This bottle will be going back to the store shortly.

*  Also I had paired a $1/1 Kleneex WWQ with another L2CQ for .50¢ additional off of it.  $2.69 reg. price-20% Wellness discount=$2.15-$1.50 stacked Qs=.65¢ OOP.  Except the L2CQ didn't come off so it was $1.15.  That's more than I like to pay for facial tissue so that will be going back as well.

I'm not sure if they will refund BC, PPs or Cash but there will be $5.21 back in some form of payment.

The Irish Spring is on sale for $3.99 this week.  There is a $2/1 Q in the ad plus there are both ManuQ and IPQ available for $1/1 so this is 99¢ after sale/stacked Qs.
The Emergen-C was a WW deal.  $5.03 after 20% Wellness discount.  There was a $1.50/1 WWQ and I had a $2/1 L2CQ so $3.50 off=$1.53 a package.
The diced tomatoes was an impulse buy.  Reg. $1.29, $1.03 w/20% Wellness discount and had a .50¢ instant discount sticker so .53¢ for the can.

I had wanted to stock up on cases of H2O(Buy 8 for $20, use 4 x $1/2 IPQs, pay $16 in BC or PPs and get back $5 in new BC)but my store had 1 case of water.
* Insert "Wha Whaaaa" sound effect here.*

Ok, I am heading off to bed now.  I just got back from taking College Boy to the Urgent Care.  It's confirmed he has the flu and I ain't feeling so great myself either.
I'll be back online when I feel better.

Sluggy

Our Trip too Maine August 2016....Part 2

* Part One of our Summer Trip to Maine is HERE

We slept well(after the party next door broke up).  No a/c needed usually in Maine in August(except for a 2 week stretch that month from past experience)and the motel had no a/c anyway.  This motel is on a small island and the ocean bay breezes plus a room fan are enough to keep you cool most days/nights.

So what did we do on our first full day in Maine?

 Well we drove back over all those bridges back to the mainland to town to pick up some provisions.
The motel did not provide a free breakfast.  They had juice and coffee only.
We hit Dollar Tree and Walmart and picked up some snacks, fruit and drinks.

I did however leave this questionable item in the store.....Larry the Cable Guy endorsed frozen Biscuits & Sausage Gravy.
Ick.  Note the "open GRUB here" tab on the package. lolz

We saw a Goodwill store in town so we decided to wander around in there since we had time to kill before our big activity of the day.

This is one of the strangest items I've ever seen in a thrift store.  A handmade miniature replica of Stonehenge.
WTF?!?

I also saw a really big teapot that declared that "one cup is never enough".
Indeed.
Truer words were never spoken.....

We decided to head back onto the island for an early lunch as we hadn't had breakfast.

 Some spare floating dock pieces along the side of the road.

 A cute little old fashioned schooner bobbing in the water.(More on that boat later.)

A big passenger ferry cruising through the bay.

 We decided to have lunch at Cook's Lobster House Restaurant in Garrison Cove on Bailey's Island.  It's been here since 1955.  It began life as a take-out shack like so many others that dot the coast of Maine, started by Maurice Cook.  By the time I spent Summers around these parts it was a full fledged restaurant.  New folks bought the place the year before our visit and renamed it Cook's Lobster & Ale House.  (Ale Houses are just so trendy now.)

 We sat in the "pub" aka the bar and ordered a seafood lunch.

 Of course, because it's now an "Ale House" Hubs had to get a flight of local brews.

Here's me and my new BFF.  I wonder what this fella weighed when he was caught? lol

So after eating we had to hurry down to the shore.  Hubs had to move the car and then we walked over to the wharf.

This was where we got on that schooner I showed you before.......

Because our activity for that day was to take a cruise on a old fashioned schooner sailing ship.
Pretty cool, huh?

I have been on a lobsterman's boat before(one of the local actors at the Summer theatre also was a lobsterman)but never a wooden schooner......well except for that time when I was little and they had a replica schooner in the Norfolk Botanical Gardens which was part of a pirate adventure deal for kids.

We booked a 2 hour cruise on Schooner ALERT.

I love this shot I took on board.

More on the schooner cruise next time.


Sluggy

It's All About the Bass, er Bonus Cash

I have figured out that pretty much I can never spend down all my Plenti Points as long as I have Bonus Cash.
I am trained to just buy items at Rite-Aid that are A-on sale, B-give a reward(now it's called BC), and C-have coupons for the item.  Using this formula I have gotten so much merchandise at Rite-Aid for free or pennies on the dollar.

But currently, the way their system works at R-A, "my" system utilized within their system will never let me spend Plenti Points.
As soon as you scan your Wellness card, the register takes off Bonus Cash on your card to put toward the total you owe OOP.  Cashiers are now ringing up items, then scanning through your paper coupons BEFORE they scan your card(to avoid having to do "post coupons" for every single paper coupon if you have coupons to apply but have lots of Bonus Cash too.  Doing transactions this way also means whether your Load2CardQs come off appropriately is a crapshoot too, but that's another problem.

For me, it means I have problems spending accumulated PPs on my cards/accounts.
So what I need to do is plan transactions that spend down my Bonus Cash temporarily until I use up my PPs.

This point was driven home to me on Saturday at Rite-Aid.  I went in to pick up an Rx and saw they restocked the Arm and Hammer laundry tabs and scent boosters.  I had a $3 off wyb $15 Catalina I didn't get to use on Wednesday since the new cashier didn't know when/how to scan it for my order that I wanted to use and one of the "pro" cashiers was manning the register so it was the opportunity to now use it if I could come up with a transaction on the fly.

Here is what I put together........

4 x Arm and Hammer laundry tabs on sale=$7.96
4 x Arm and Hammer scent boosters on sale=$7.96
2 x GE led light bulbs on sale BOGOFree=$7.99*not pictured*
2 x Nature's Truth Turmeric bottles on sale BOGOFree=$18.99
(I bought the chocolate candy hearts separately later.)
SubTotal.....$42.90

Coupons Used
4 x $1/1 Arm/Hammer laundry tabs ManuQ/IPQs=$4.00
4 x $1/1 Arm/Hammer scent booster ManuQ/IPQs=$4.00
1 x $2/1 Nature's Truth item ManuQ=$2.00
Coupon Total........$10.00

$42.90-$10.00=$32.90

When the cashier scanned my card, I had a $5/1 GE led lightbulbs L2CQ that did NOT come off but $31 in Bonus Cash attached to this card DID come off(2 x $10, $8, $3), leaving 2 x $2 and $5 in BC on that card.

If the L2C had come off then my total owed would have been $27.90 and a different combination of BC could have come off totaling $27($10/$8/$5/$2/$2), leaving me owing .90¢ on my R-A gift card and leaving $3/$10 in BC on that card.
At any rate, this proved to me that your BC is NOT being used oldest first, then newer ones earned(with longer times until expiration)but whatever combination the computer sees fit to use to get close to your total owed.  Basically you the customer has NO control over what BC gets used!

So after putting the $1.90 owed after BC came off on my R-A gift card(still couldn't use any PPs for this as the remainder was under $2)I saw that the light bulb Q hadn't come off.
Plus the cashier didn't put my $3 off wyb $15 Catalina as that would have meant having to scan the Wellness card first(the register won't take off Catalina spend X/get X without a Wellness card first and then having to do a "post coupon" for ALL the other coupons.....and the L2C still may not have come off.

In the end I used $31 in Bonus Cash, $1.90 on my Rite-Aid gift card and I got $15 in new Bonus Cash(I bought $42.90 in qualifying Bonus Cash items so over $40 threshold to receive $15 in BC).

So after I finished the transaction, the cashier gave me $3 back in cash for the SpendX/GetX catalina doing a "post coupon".

Then when I went over my receipt I saw the L2C for the light bulb didn't come off(and a cashier can't fix that and give you money back for it)so I returned them.
The register made the cashier give me back cash for that return, $8.47, even though I hadn't used but $1.90 in cash/gift card AND told her to return .48¢ in tax in that amount back, even though I hadn't been charged any tax on the transaction when it rang up the first time.
Huh???
I guess the system at R-A doesn't like/want to give money back as Bonus Cash even if you used some?
And the $15 I earned on this transaction?  Even though I returned the lightbulbs, as of this morning, I still have that $15 BC in this card's account.

Hmmm, I see lots of folks buying and returning stuff in the future if the system doesn't take back the BCs earned and gives you cash instead.  There will be a flood of folks converting Bonus Cash to actual cash in this way.

I just don't know....this whole new system baffles the mind and any sort of logical thinking. lolz

You'll notice, in the receipt above, this card has $98.22 in Plenti Points still attached to it and even though I've used it a number of times since the new BC system came into being I haven't been able to spend ANY of it down since the cash due is always under the $2 threshold for using PPs.

So now I have these BC amounts on this card....2 x $2, $5, $15(in order of when they were earned).

Oh, and I remembered to get those free heart chocolates before leaving the store........they were 2/$1 and I had a $1/2 Load2CardQ loaded on this card/account, so free chocolate.  8-)))

I left Rite-Aid Saturday with all the things in the photo above, spent $31 in BC/got $15 in new BC and $11.47 in cash in my pocket.  Technically I "spent down" my BC when all was said and done by $6.43(well technically $4.54 in BC and $1.90 in R-A gift card monies).

So basically I'll need to spend down to zero all the Bonus Cash on each card, then use up the Plenti Points on each card and try to earn new BC on the last transaction I have where I am spending down my PPs even though this goes against every fiber in my being. ;-)
Got that?
Good.

And this is how I have to keep track of the Bonus Cash......

A sheet of paper where I put down what I earn in appropriate amounts and scratch off what I use.
You are suppose to be able to log into your Wellness account on the R-A website and all your BC earned are at the top of you list of Load2Card coupons(when you go to L2C area)but........A-people are not having some BC show up there(even though if you get your cashier in the store to check after scanning your Wellness card they do show up on their screen)and B-if you have duplicate BC of the same amount(you've earned more than say, 1 $3 BC)only 1 of each amount shows up on your account on the R-A website).  Using pen and paper I can see at a glance what's left AND more importantly which one is expiring sooner so I can craft a transaction to use that one before it can no longer be used.  If you are participating in the Bonus Cash thing and you don't shop at R-A often(at least a couple times every 2 months), you could be in jeopardy of not using your BC in time before it expires now as BC is only valid for a 2 month window of time.

There was a young mother with her daughter who is a new coupon user playing the drugstore game and also new to R-A's BC system who was checking out at the register next to me on Saturday and things were not going well with her.  I overheard that she thought she had a $20 BC on her card/account but it didn't come off and she said nobody else would have used her card and used that $20 BC and she hadn't used it yet.  The cashier even checked her card/account on the register and didn't see a $20 BC there.  That customer was NOT happy!   Totally possible she used it already and didn't remember ,but at any rate, it shows you need to stay on top of your game especially as this BC system still has lots of kinks in it that need working out.

And if you read all the ways down to here, you must need help learning the new Rite-Aid system or are a masochist or you need a life as much as I do.  ;-)

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Wacky Winter Weather" Edition--

The photo above it was a typical Winter in the Poconos where we use to live looked like.  This was taken standing in our circular driveway from about 20 feet away from the house The high "pile" on the right?   One of our cars is actually under all that snow. lolz
Ah the good old days.....

We don't get nearly as much snow at our current location in PA but we do get a whopper storm every couple of years.
Last week has been crazy Winter weather with it not knowing what it wants to do.  Cold a couple of days then it warms up, snow melts and then it rains some?  It was 50F degrees here last night!  The yard is now officially a swamp.  It's suppose to hit almost 60F degrees later this week, at which time the yard will be Lake Poop(since Daughter never cleans up after her dog and the dog is large and poops three times a day!lol).

So all you folks who get a few inches of snow each Winter, I don't want to hear the bellyaching. ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

1. Sunday--pizza(one homemade, one store bought frozen)  No one was really hungry so these happened and everyone grabbed something else to their liking if they wanted more/different.  It was a strange food day.

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Tacos or Taco Salad

4. Wednesday--Fish, Veg, Potato Salad or ?

5. Thursday--Ham and Cheese Quiche, Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--pizza(one homemade, one store bought frozen) or FFY

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Tacos or Taco Salad

5. Thursday--Salmon, Au Gratin Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts
6. Friday--Manicotti in Sauce, Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers of Fend For Yourself

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 night of take-out and 0 nights of Eating out. 

1 trip to Weis and 1 trip to Ollies(Good Stuff Cheap!),brought the shopping last week to $65.78 for all.  That brings February's food spending total to $143.97.  There are 16 days left in my shopping month.

My savings percentages last week was 58.80% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 53.08%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......some ham chunks, beef stroganoff, manicotti(2) and a little taco beef.  I've put the rest of the ham chunks into the freezer(except for some for Sun. and Tues. night's meals).  All the leftovers will be eaten as lunches as there isn't enough of any of them to be dinners.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--ham and cheese quiche

2. Monday--hot dogs on rolls, beans

3. Tuesday--ham and bean soup, cornbread

4. Wednesday--leftovers

5. Thursday--chicken fajitas
6. Friday--Italian pork roast, potatoes, onions and carrots
7. Saturday--leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers, 0 night of Take-out/Eat-Out.  I am trying to get my soup mojo back though it didn't happen on Sunday this week(Tues. will be soup night for now).

The only thing I need to buy to make these meals is some chicken breast and carrots as I am all out of those items.  I dug through the freezer and there is no chicken in there.  I'll go out there the day it hits 60F and look more closely for some chicken but until then I ain't spending that sort of time in the garage! lolz

The pork roast, hot dogs and ham bone along with some frozen veg to have with the hot dogs are in the freezer.  Baked beans, corn bread and pie crust(quiche)makings in the pantry, potatoes and onions in the root cellar and peppers in the fridge.

I shouldn't have to spend much this week at the stores and hopefully I WON'T! ;-)

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