This Week's Weis(PMITA)Markets Trip(s)

So I went on Tuesday to do my shopping at Weis this week, on Senior Citizens Day.  When Hubs turned 60 a few weeks ago we both went up to the grocery store so they could attach the Senior Discount onto our loyalty card.  I had visions of lots of good buys in my head due to the touted 10% discount for the old folks if you shopped on Tuesday.  Turns out I was mislead.....the 10% off is only on Weis branded products.  You know....the stuff that there is never a coupon for. lolz
Oh well.....

There wasn't much I planned to pick up this week, a few odds and ends.
Once I got in the store I found a few deals..........

They had fryer chickens packaged up in half sections and these had $1 off instant discount stickers on them, which made them cheaper than buying a whole chicken(.63¢ lb. vs. .98¢ on sale)so I bought 2 halves and I'll scotch tape my bird together. lolz

Weis also has advertised that this coming 3 Day Deal includes leftover St. Pat's day stock of Corned Beef briskets for $2 lb. but they had the briskets out and marked down already on Tuesday so I went ahead and got three.

I had to really hunt among the packages to find a few that weren't mostly juices.  I was not about to pay $2 lb. for juice!

I found this container of 16 mini croissants on the 50% Bakery rack for $3.

And I but this Mix and Match Deal together on the fly in the store.
I had 2 x Coffeemate Qs(which doubled to $1.50 each).
I got 2 bags of salad mix, 2 Coffeemate creamers and 2 jars of Kraft mayo.  After sale, Qs and $3 Mix and Match discount all 6 items came to $11.94 or $1.99 per item.  I also got $1.70 Ibotta for the mayo so $10.24 for all 6 items.
I also bought some Weis brand chili(extra .15¢ off a can for buying it on Tuesday)to try to see if Hubs likes it.  Hormel gets pricey if it's not on sale/don't have Qs for it and College Boy has been nocturnally eating all the chili in the house.  I told Hubs he needs to start putting notes of foods he wants to consume like I do so the kids don't take it first. ;-)

I also picked up 2 bags of 8 o'clock coffee as it's BOGOF at Weis until Wednesday night and I had 2 x $1/1 IPQs, making it $1.74 a bag after sale/Qs.

But here's my best find on Tuesday..........

Weis was getting rid of all the leftover Passover foods and I snagged this 5 lb. box of matzos(imported from Jerusalem...Ooo!)for a quarter.  Who do you think I am that I'd leave this on the shelf for a quarter?!? lololz
Regularly it goes for $9.99.

Besides grinding them up to make Matzoh balls for chicken soup I've got to get creative finding a way to use these up but Google is my friend and I've already found a few ways to incorporate matozh into some dishes.  8-)))
Let me know if you have any good uses for matzoh.
There is always PBJ on matzoh......I'd be more than happy to use them up that way as a good PBJ cracker every now and again hits the spot. ;-)

All totaled I spent $56.02 on Tuesday at Weis with the additions of the Gatorades I got CB, some lunch meat, 2 cans of chili a bottle of mustard and a bag of grapes.

So I saw a $1.50/1 Q for 8 o'clock coffee up on Coupons dotcom this morning and printed it off x 6 times(2 x via 3 different computers here)before the prints run out. 
I wanted to hit a different Rite-Aid this week to use the Rimmel face item Qs I have(my Rite-Aid doesn't carry any face products, just the eye products)so I hiked up to the town NW of us to hit the Weis too(as they have a wider variety of 8 o'clock coffee than my Weis does and they are always out of College Boy's favorite variety.

Here's the small shop I did this morning.........

I found assorted meats with discount stickers on them--the top Cab Round Roast was $7.81($2.88 lb), the Jimmy Dean hot sausage was $2.50, the Bob Evans links was $2, the Jimmy Dean turkey sausage was $2.50 and the Coleman uncured bacon was $1.50 after $2 off sticker stacked with a $1.50/1 IPQ I had(woot!).  I picked up the OJ to make sure we didn't run out before I got around to doing a bigger shop(or a name brand went on a good sale)and I used all 6 8 o'clock coffee Qs and got 6 more bags of College Boy's preferred variety and those cost me $1.24 a bag after sale and Qs.  Sweet.
A pack of 50% bakery muffins rounded out this shop for $31.26.

I believe I am done food shopping for the month now and I do believe I stayed under $400 for April(with $30 or so to spare).  I 'll get around to posting the end of the month grocery tally sometime this weekend.


Sluggy

A Little Rite-Aid As They Transition

Since Rite-Aid has come out as it where with the news of discontinuing the Plenti Points Program(say that 10 times quickly)and I even got an email from Rite-Aid yesterday informing me of the demise of Plenti on 10 July, I thought I'd go in and "buy" a few things.

But first here is my R-A "cheat sheet" with all my PPs, Bonus Cash and Allergy Rewards tracking totals.......

On D's card I have 5 x $5 and a $3 BC.  That card also has $27.09 in Plenti Points and $56.92 tracking toward an Allergy Reward.

So here is what was bought on that card.........it was two transactions but I photographed it all together.........

First Transactions was--
3 x Visine $4.63 w/20% Wellness discount=$13.89
2 x Rimmel mascara BOGO50% sale($5.79/$2.89)=$8.68
2 x Rimmel eyebrow/eye shadow BOGO50% sale($3.89/$1.84)=$5.73
1 x Burt's Bees lip shimmer stick 20% Wellness discount=$4.39
2 x Burt's Bees lip tint 20% Wellness discount($3.99)=$7.98
SubTotal....$40.67

Coupons Used
3  $2/1 Visine R-A ad Q=$6.00
1 x $2/1 Visine CatalinaQ=$2.00
2 x $1.50/1 Visine IPQ=$3.00
4 x Rimmel $3/1 eye product IPQ=$12.00
3 x Burt's Bees $1.50/1 lip color product IPQ=$4.50
Coupon Total.......$27.50

$40.67-$27.50=$13.17 +.11¢ tax=$13.28

$13 in BC came off(2 x $5, $3)leaving .28¢ left on my bill.

It seems that even though I have $20+ in PPs left on that card AND that my total owes was under $2 the register still applied my .28¢ owed to my PPs total.........

Of course this transaction was fraught with problems(as is usual at R-A).
The register took off all 3 of the R-A add Qs, one of the $1.50 Visine IPQs and then started beeping and not scanning the rest of the Qs(even the other $1.50/1 Visine IPQ which was strange because it took the first one no problem).
Qs the register scanned are listed with the item applied to on the receipt(don't know if you can see that)........

But Qs that have to be manually put through appear on the bottom of the receipt after all items are rung up.........

The manager mentioned something about the registers now won't take/scan more than 4 or 5 Qs before refusing and Corporate doesn't want the stores manually putting Qs through....even though the Qs are valid and match the item being bought. Ugh.
So now in order to not have to have Qs manually put through we need to start breaking up transactions so that we don't use more than 4 or so Qs at a clip.  What. A. Hassle.
I offered at that point to cancel this transaction and break this transaction into 2 or 3 smaller ones to comply with this policy but the manager said no, just get it done and move on. ;-)

So after manually putting the other $1.50 Visine Q through(with the manager standing there watching)the cashier tried scanning one of the Burt's Bees Qs again and it went through....huh?
We got all 3 of the $1.50/1 Burts Bees Qs scanned but the register still wouldn't scan any of the $3/1 Rimmel Qs or the $2/1 Visine Catalina Q.

So after those were put through manually, 2 x $5 and 1 x $3 Bonus Cash came off and .28¢ was applied to my Plenti Points total.
Here's the strange tally now where my Rewards are shown on the receipt.............

Where it says "Available BonusCash Rewards is the $1.72 balance of the $2 in PPs that came off my PPs total to cover the .28¢.  And notice my PPs total is now $2 less than before the transaction(Was $27.09/Now $25.09).

So according to this receipt I "only" have $1.72 in BC and earned $10 in new BC($6 for the Rimmel items and $4 for the Burt's Bees items).

But actually I went into this transaction with $28 in BC, used $13 in BC/earned $10 in BC so I now have $25 in BC + $1.72 in BC(converted from PPs)so $26.72 in BC.
Got that? lololz

I then bought 3 more of the Burt's Bees(I wanted to see if the Q would work on a color product besides the $9 one before I bought all 6 Qs worth that I had....and it did)...........

1 x Burt's Bees lip shimmer stick 20% Wellness discount=$4.39
2 x Burt's Bees lip tint 20% Wellness discount($3.99)=$7.98
Subtotal......$12.37

I used 3 x $1.50/1 Burts Bees lip color product IPQs so $4.50 off making my total $7.87 +.18¢ tax=$8.05.

A $5 BC came off so $3.05 was due and the register used $3.05 of my Plenti Points total to cover it.

Now this receipt shows I have $22.04 left in PPs, the new $4 in BC I earned on the Burt's Bees items and I have $1.72 Available Bonus Cash(which was from the last transaction).

The word on the street was that as of last week you could choose what to use to cover your total-Bonus Cash and/or Plenti Points.  But at my store, after you Wellness card is scanned you get a screen that says "Do you want to use your Reward Savings" today? and you hit the yes or no button.
No mention of Plenti Points OR Bonus Cash.
I remember I looked at the cashier and said, "What the hell is a Rewards Savings?".  She shrugged and said, "Beats me.". lololz

So what I am concluding here is that the R-A system is Firstly applying Bonus Cash to your total, then if you have PPs and a balance, your PPs get applied BUT, if your total owed is less than $2, the system takes at least $2 off your PPs balance and converts any leftover PPs not used on that transaction to BC.

Got that? 8-))

So now I have on this card..........
$25.72 in Bonus Cash(the leftover $10 from before today, the $1.72 converted from PPs, the $14 total earned in BC today)
I have $22.04 left in Plenti Points.
I have $70.81 tracking toward the Allergy Reward(didn't update that one before I took the photo).....

Also notice at the bottom of the receipt that where it tells you you earned a BonusCash reward it no longer tells the amount you earned.

And another thing, see this coupon in the ad?........

The Q is worth $2 off 1 Visine item(which you can stack with a ManuQ/IPQ).  Fine, but you can also earn a $10 BC if you purchase $40 in Visine items this week.  I don't know about you but that is a BUTT LOAD of Visine and my store doesn't even have enough bottles of Visine on the shelf every week for you to find $40 worth to purchase. lolz
After my 20% Wellness discount I'd have to buy 9 bottles of Visine to reach $40(using the lowest priced Visine products here).  Sure, it would be a .33¢ moneymaker deal after earning $10 in BC and IF I could find 6 more $1.50/1 Visine IPQs AND 6 more bottles on the shelves. 
But seriously?  Who needs 9 bottles of Visine in one fell swoop? ;-)

When all was said and done I spent down $5.31 total in assorted points/rewards on these 13 products I bought.

I don't know about you but I will be so GLAD when Rite-Aid finishes transitioning from Plenti to this BonusCash system fully!


Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Can We Talk About the Weather Again?!?" Edition--

 Last Tuesday I woke up and put Chester out to do his "business" and saw this on the deck furniture/grill.....

Evidence that it had snowed overnight lightly.
Then it proceeded to snow all. day. long.  On April 17th!  And it happened again on April 19th and some of it stuck to the ground too.
Ugh.
Then this weekend we had two days in the high 50's and this week looks like no 30's or 40's weather(at least during the day)and we may hit 60F. Woohoo!
This Winter weather just hasn't wanted to let us out of it's grasp this year.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Rigatoni and Mushroom Ragu

2. Monday--Fish, Squash Sauté, Corn Casserole

3. Tuesday--Homemade Pizza, Salad

4. Wednesday--Meatloaf, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Brussels Sprouts

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--?

7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Rigatoni and Mushroom Ragu

2. Monday--Fish, Squash Sauté, Corn Casserole

3. Tuesday--Homemade Pizza

4. Wednesday--Hamburgers, leftover Squash Sauté

5. Thursday--Meatloaf, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Sugar Snap Peas

6. Friday--Leftovers(I had a BLT)

7. Saturday--Chicken Thighs, Stuffing, Carrots

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Take-Out or Eating Out.

4 small grocery trips(2 x Weis and Bread Outlet plus items I bought at Big Lots during the 20% off sale I forgot to add that week)brought the shopping to $80.52 for the week and brought April's food spending total to $273.42.   The "regular" shopping was $50 and the Big Lots forgotten foods were $30.

I've got $126.58 left in the food budget for April and 8 days left in my shopping month.

My savings percentages last week was 53.95% and April's monthly savings total so far is at 58.42%.

Leftovers going into this week....... chicken thighs(I made an XL batch so we had leftovers for this week), stuffing, sugar snap peas, a lot of meatloaf, a lot of rigatoni and a little sauce.

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

1. Sunday--leftover BBQ made into a Taco Ring thing

2. Monday--Take-out(getting it at Lunch prices, reheating for dinner)

3. Tuesday--Baked Rigatoni(using leftover pasta), Salad

4. Wednesday--Tacos(using leftover meatloaf)

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Fish, Coleslaw, Mystery Veg(because I don't know what it is yet)

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY and 1 nights of Take-out/Eat-Out.
I am using 3 food items of leftovers from previous weeks to make new recipes this week.

What needs buying for this menu?  Salad Greens and Cheese.  We are getting a tad low on cheddar and mozz.  We also haven't had salads for awhile due to the romaine e-coli scare around here....the lettuce shelves have been a bit bare.  I also need to pick up some cabbage to make coleslaw and the produce drawer is getting quite empty(aside from tomatoes and sweet potatoes).

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

I Don't Fit In with my Non-Frugal Family....Eating Out Edition

The fact that I am much more frugal than my Hubs and kids is always brought home to me when we go out to eat.

I remember when we first moved to this area in 2000.  It was a game changer for us....we finally lived near civilization(stores, doctors, etc.)and had many choices for eating out(old house there was a pizza joint and a Chinese take-out) and that was also about the time Hubs got a big promotion and raise at his work so we had more discretionary income at this point AND more ways to spend it.

One of those ways was to eat out.
One of our favorite places to go for something other than fast food type stuff was Lone Star Steakhouse.  We like a good steak.....plus they had a kids' menu so we didn't have to spend a lot on them when they were younger(and wanted chicken strips anyway over steak).

As soon as the waitress/waiter came to the table the four of them would each order a soda or iced tea.
That's when I'd give each of them the "mom look"......mom look=that look that says "Oh no you didn't!" without opening my mouth.
Hubs would give me a look right back that said "let them order a drink and lay off"!
BTW, I always ordered water(sometimes with a lemon wedge)for my drink.

Then I'd start a discussion at the table about the value of money and the cost of things.  Kids being kids have no clue what things cost unless you talk to them about it.  And even then, they really don't care or have any concept about "money" unless you make it real for them.

Back then a soda ordered at this restaurant was $1.69.
4 x that amount was $6.78 and if I had also ordered a drink other than water that's $8.45 before we even got any food!  The cost of a soda or iced tea at most places here is now $2.69 so over $13 for a family of 5 to order a drink each!!!

That's a whole honking lot of $ for a drink without alcohol and to me, just not frugal, even with free refills because really, who needs to drink 4 or 5 glasses of soda at a time.

You're there to eat a good meal not fill up on sugar water I'd say and then go on to give them the facts about the costs of this meal.
And how this spending would keep us from paying for other things.....like birthday money, toys at Christmas(nobody believed in the Santa myth at this point), or their beloved Summer camp weeks.
Yeah I was a real killjoy......lolz

They eventually got the idea that they didn't NEED a soda at every meal out.

But really, when we went out for College Boy's Birthday meal you'd have thought I never tried drilling frugality into them for all those years!
That or they just don't care since we were footing the bill.  ;-)

All 3 of them ordered alcohol!
This is something I NEVER do(unless someone else is paying for it or that's the main point of the night out-drinking)....order alcoholic drinks out.  Alcohol out is just the opposite of frugal!!
And Daughter....not only did she order a drink, she freaking ordered a PUNCH BOWL of alcohol!

Really!?!?

And then, after the drinks came, each of them ordered a big ass appetizer....a special roll costing between $8.95 and $11.95 each.
We were up to $50 of spending on just drinks and appetizers and we hadn't even ordered our entreé yet!!!

By the time you had consumed all this alcoholic drinks and appetizers who is really still hungry!?!?

Now Hubs after 40 years of being together knows this sort of thing irks me to no end and when we are out alone I can "control" him somewhat.
But he just hid in the crowd that day and let his spending fly!

With tip the birthday meal was $107.60.

So I told them all, "this is why I  don't want to go out to dinner/lunch with any of you if I/Hubs are footing the bill!".
It's like they can't control themselves, any of them.

Here's an adventure we had the end of March.....
I got Hubs a 50% voucher for a new brewery in a tiny town South of us.
The deal was I paid $10 for a voucher worth $20 spending at this brewery.
It's really a tasting room since there is no food available.

We offered to take the two kids too and Daughter went.

We were there for about 1.5 hours.
I had 3 drinks-a reg. sized drink and then 2 tasting size(5 oz.)drinks.  I did drink a bit more than I usually would in this situation but it was by no means excessive.
The cost for my drinks?  $12.50

The cost of Hubs and daughter's bill?  $49.00
And then there was a nice tip to add to our total.

See what I mean?
My family has no self-control. 8-)

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....April 20th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had this past week.........

* I did a $40 shop at Weis this week.  Here are the best deals I got.........

 VO5 products were .77¢.  I used 2 x .50¢/2 Qs that doubled to $1 and bought 4 bottles.  OOP cost was .22¢ per bottle.  I don't use this brand on my hair(I get moreexpensive shampoos for free at Rite-Aid)so I'll use these watered down to refill hand soap container.  I should be able to get 2 refills from each bottle so 8 refills total.  8 bottles of hand soap even at the Dollar Tree cost $8.  I'll take $1.76 spent OOP over $8 any day.

 These ready-to-use pasta bags were on sale $1.50 each. I used 2 x $1/1 Qs plus a digital e-coupon came off my loyalty card so I paid $0.00 for both.

4 x Hormel quick wraps have been a monthly deal at Weis when you buy 4 they are $1.25 each so $5 for 4.
I used 4 x .50¢/1 IPQs that doubled to $1 each so $5-$4Qs=$1.00 for all 4 packages so .25¢ each.
College Boy has been eating these as they are a quick to grab meal when he is rushing off to the music studio.

* Last Week's Freebie at Weis(PMITA)Markets.....

A box of popcorn.  Again, Customer Service had no CLUE this was Friday Freebie freebie.  Good thing I sent Hubs because he's got a knack of getting them to give him the freebie without a hassle(maybe because he's a man?lol).
This will get used and saved me from spending money on it so it's a win!

*  I tried a new side dish last week-Zucchini with Anchovies and Capers.  Recipe HERE.
I don't usually keep anchovies in our pantry so had to buy them to make this dish.  Luckily the anchovies were on sale at least.  ;-)

Afterwards I was left with 1/2 a tin of salty fish to use up.
So I decided to put homemade pizza on the menu this past week to use them up.

I got out about 6 bags of partially used shredded cheese(why don't these people here use up a bag before opening a new bag?!?), 2 cans of pizza sauce I picked up at the grocery outlet last Summer, a small bag of pepperoni from the freezer, a can of olives and an onion in the pantry and that half tin of anchovies.  I made enough dough for 3 pies(one XL)--a pepperoni and onion, an anchovy and olive and onion, and a pepperoni and olive pie.  I forgot to take a photo of the anchovy pizza and this is all that is left after the meal(and College Boy hitting the leftovers for two late night meals. 8-)

*  I found a penny in the Weis parking lot.

Hey!  It's a small win but picking  random change that gets abandoned in a parking lot adds up.
I also found someone's key in a different parking lot with nobody around to ask if they lost it, and turned it in to the store.

*  I sold this on eBay last Friday..........

"Would you believe?" It's a complete dvd set of the 1960's series Get Smart(see what I did there?lol).
Hubs dearly loved this tv show as a kid so when they came out with this boxed set of the series I got it for him for Xmas about 10 years ago.  I think he watched 3 episodes and put it away. He said the show didn't "age" well and wasn't so fun to watch now.  I bit my tongue about saying how some PEOPLE don't age well either. hehehe

I took a lower offer on it just to get it out of the house and I am trying not to think about the sunk costs and instead about how this dvd set will make someone else happy.  Considering what I paid for it I lost money here but it's gone and I've got $44.30 after fees back in my pocket.

* And there was a small trip to Rite-Aid this week......

I should have been able to use $2 in BC or PPs on this(as my total should have been $2 after Qs)but 2 of the toothpastes were less than $3.50 with the 20% Wellness discount($3.43)so my total was at $1.86 instead of $2(A rookie mistake but even I am not at the top of my game some days.)
So I put the $1.86 on my R-A gift card.

*  Cheap Mouse for the Win!
My computer mouse went KAPUT! about 10 days ago so I went and got a new wireless mouse.....

It was a choice between this or a purple one with geometric shapes on it.  This one was a bit less expensive of the two on Amazon(an unpopular design they were clearancing out?).  It was free shipping with Prime, cost me $11.61 w/tax which was less than any brick and mortar wanted to just a plain boring black or blue name brand wireless mouse.

*  The federal tax refund hit our bank account.  After $381.03 in fees(for tax software and monies we had to pay the states of PA and LA and mailing costs for 1 state return we banked $5362.97.  Likely the fed. refund was so high due to Hubs working 50% of the year and having such high withholding in his checks so that when we dropped down to the retirement income level we had a large credit of withholding.  That doesn't sound quite right but I can't figure out how to say it right now. lolz
Anyway, we didn't go blow that check on a down payment on a car(people do that with tax refunds, use it to get a car but it only covers a down payment and then they are saddled with a new recurring car paymentbill), or spend it on something else that was a want.  If we had debt we'd have thrown it onto that bill but we don't thankfully at this point in our lives.
So we will transfer it to our online account(which will earn a tad more than at a brick and mortar bank)and just let it sit for now until we make a plan for that money.

*  While Hubs was out running an errand I had him hit the Bread Outlet since he was going right by there.........

I gave him a list with options.  He picked up 3 3/$3 items and 3 3/$4 items. (A package hamburger rolls is missing because we used them that evening before I thought to take a photo.)  He spent $7 on bread products that would cost $24.14 at the grocery store(not on sale, but even on sale it would have been at least $12+).
That blue labeled bread is Organic and goes for $5.99 a loaf!!
With that 5 lb. log of Cooper Cheese I bought College Boy is eating a LOT more grilled cheese sandwiches(he will eat 3-4 at a sitting!)so the bread was very low so I am glad we got restocked.

So tell us what Frugal wins you had this past week?

Sluggy