Thursday, September 13, 2018

Shit Show at the Rite-Aid Downtown

Monday was a heck of a day at Rite-Aid......and I mean that in a BAD way.

But not at MY Rite-Aid.  My Rite-Aid was out of products I wanted to get so I ventured to the downtown store.
It was reported that there were a bunch of clearance items in the pet care section at R-A so I printed off some Qs and went downtown.  I figured people who live downtown were less apt to have pets so there may still be pet clearance items left there.

I don't usually go there but when I did in the past it hasn't been too bad.  The people who work there are well known to have shitty attitudes and be unfriendly toward customers.

Now that's all in the past however because this trip was a major shit show.  It reminded me of the trip to Acme back in 2009 where the manager took the $45 in OYNO Catalinas that rightly printed out for my transaction from my cashier and refused to give them to me.  Story HERE if you don't remember that one.

So I went to the downtown R-A and attempted to buy this stuff..........


4 bags of cat/dog food.
1 Garnier shampoo
2 small household items on 75% clearance.
Also attempted were 2 Rimmel make-up products*not pictured*.

If you shop at R-A you know the drill at the register.  Present your Wellness card and then you choose yes or no to use any BC on your card to pay.  Cashier rings up items, you hand over any coupons, cashier rings those in and then cashier totals you out and you pay w/BC(or not).
Right?
Wrong!!

Cashier asks for Wellness card, I choose use my BC on the screen, cashier rings up items and she totals the transaction out.
WTF?!?
I am standing there holding out my coupons to use and she totals the transaction out!

Then I say, "You didn't take my coupons", continuing to hold them out to her.
Cashier says, "You didn't spend any 'money', your BC paid for it all so what's the problem?" and she tries to hand me the receipt.
I say, "NO, I want to use my coupons BEFORE the BC."
Cashier gets an attitude, "Well you pressed use your BC on the screen....why did you do that?"
Me, "Because I WANT to use my BC AFTER my coupons are taken off.  And you made me scan my Wellness card before you'd ring anything up. So now I want to return everything please and we can redo this transaction the right way."

*Cashier eye rolls big time and sighs.*

Then the Cashier attempted to do a return and had no clue what she was doing.  The manager(or I like to think she was an acting manager because she was almost as CLUELESS as the cashier about doing a return/refund)comes over and tries to help the cashier.

Every other time I do a refund/return, the cashier gives me the refund receipt and I can see that my BC is credited back to my card.

Well this cashier and manager wouldn't give me the return receipt or even let me see it, probably because it was such a clusterf**k so I had no proof that my BC was returned to the card and basically seeing these two nimrods,  I had no confidence that it was.

All I can figure is that instead of returning everything(I've seen my store's cashier do this a bazillion times.....they scan the items UPC, hit a key on the register, then scan the bar code on the receipt, then imput the refund price), she scanned each item then hit 2 keys on the register and scanned the item again-never scanning the receipt barcode.  It appeared like she was ringing each item up again then scanning it again to "return" it which basically took it off this "new" transaction and didn't have anything to do with the old transaction, so she ended up with a receipt 4 feet long that made no sense.

Anyway, cashier finished that nonsense and then started a new transaction to rering my items and with the manager standing over her she took "some" of my coupons this time-$8 worth.  She didn't ring up the $4/$20 transaction R-A Q I had first so my total was below $20 at that point(a second cashier standing nearby and listening in, at this point, chimed in that you can't use a $X off $XX transaction CatalinaQ with other coupons and then she said, "You aren't suppose to use coupons in a transaction where you use BC to pay.".

WTF?!?!
What planet are these people from!???!

And the Rimmel Qs always beep and have to be pushed through as they aren't coded correctly(a long time known problem among couponers)so cashier and manager wouldn't take them and the cashier "flung" them back at me.
At this point I just wanted to get the Freak out of there(because in my head the little voice was screaming "Bitch PLEASE!" and a few choice other things)so I didn't say a word and let them finish this transaction.
Total was $12.87(should have been $2.87 total if they had taken ALL my valid coupons)but now I couldn't use the card I had originally used because it only had $2.79 in BC left on it so I had to use son's card.  That's ok because it meant I got $8 in new BC on daughter's card for buying the Rimmel and 2 bags of dog food(the first card I had used)and another $8 of BC on son's card for rebuying everything.  $8 in BC I really didn't earn was the LEAST they could give me for enduring these morons.

So as the cashier bagged my items up, again!, I turned to the manager and said I need a copy of that return receipt in case my BC isn't back on my card tomorrow am.(BC refunds don't appear on your account until the following morning.)and I have to contact Corporate.  Manager again refused to give me a copy of the receipt saying, "I can't give you this, it goes in the daily paperwork."  I tell her I have NEVER NOT been given a copy of my refund receipt before and this is highly irregular!
Again she refuses so I take their names and tell them if I don't get my BC back and since I have no proof when I call Corporate I'll be coming back here to get a copy of that receipt and escalating this matter to your district manager.
The looks on their faces told me that didn't give two shitlets about any of this.

But the manager, believing herself to be ever helpful, took a green marker and hilighted what I was suppose to get back off my Bonus Cash.......

Wasn't that just nice of her?
No shit Sherlock.....I am not a moron like the rest of you.......

So I just KNEW my BC wouldn't be back on my account the next am. and guess what?....it wasn't.
Grrr.

So I called Corporate at 8 am, ready for a fight.  Explained to the CS person on the phone the problem and gave her the Store #/Date/Transaction numbers for both receipts and said they refused to give me the Refund Receipt as well.
CS person seemed very blasé about the whole thing, didn't ask any questions or anything and just asked for the Wellness card number then said your $21.00 would be back on the card tomorrow.  To which I said, "It was $21.35 specifically."  CS person said they can only credit in whole dollars so it would be $22 put back on my card.  I said fine and thanked her and hung up.
And yesterday morning my $22 did appear back on my card.
Hooray!

But when I got into the car and looked at my receipt I saw that the "Bitch Please! Cashier" didn't scan the $1 off peelie R-A coupon on that bag of Dog Chow(see it in the photo on the bag?).  So I went back into the store(UGH!!!)with the new receipt and that bag of dog food and told her she forgot to take off that $1.  BPCashier immediately calls for the manager to handle this $1 problem.  Manager plays around on the register for about 3 minutes(I am assuming she is trying to figure out what to do)and then just opens the register and hands me $1.
I take it and leave, shaking my head.

And yesterday I went and returned the 2 Rimmel items which the "Bitch Please! Cashier wouldn't take the coupons for as well(returned at MY store, no way I was going back downtown!), so what is pictured above it what I got and kept making my total BC spent $6.45 instead of $12.87 plus I earned $8 back in new BC AND $8 on a second card.
Was it worth it?  Yes and no.  I have to look at the upside.....I got 4 bags of dog food for nothing to take to the animal shelter.

Luckily there are 8 other Rite-Aids in my area(within a 30 min. drive)so I never have to deal with these imbeciles in that store again(unless I am feeling masochistic).



Sluggy

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

To-Do List.....August Update

Here's how we did with our To-Do List for August........

* Pay Bills  DONE  First thing I make sure gets done each month.  Don't pay your bills and you are in for a world of hurt.  I don't like to hurt.  ;-)

*  Read 1, 2 Books  DONE  The second book was monstrously long and I didn't finish it until 3 days into September but I am still counting it done. lolz


The first book was "Immortal Irishman" by Timothy Egan.  I haven't to this point in my life done much reading about Irish history, specifically about the 1800's and the time of the Great Famine and all it's fallout so this was a great place to start delving into that subject.  But that's just the beginning of the book!
Timothy Egan is a great storyteller IMHO and this was a great read.  I knew nothing about the person detailed within, Thomas Francis Meagher, before picking up this book.  Meagher lived about 4 lives during his time on earth.
The most interesting(oh to just pick one!)fact I garnered from this book was that Thomas Meagher had an unrequited love/infatuation with a woman named Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee while they were both a part of the Young Irelanders-a revolutionary movement in Dublin during 1840's/1850's.  Jame wrote under the psuedonym of "Speranza".  She would go on after this period in her life to marry Sir William Wilde, a Dublin ear and eye surgeon.  They were to become the parents of famous Irish writer, Oscar Wilde.
But I digress.......this is a good book about a fascinating person's true life, go give it a read.



The second book I read was Alex Haley's "Roots".  It was a groundbreaking book back when it was published.  I, like almost everyone on the planet, had watched the TV miniseries they made from the book back in 1977 but had never read the book so I finally picked up a copy and did read it.  
The tv show pales in comparison especially the original show from back in the day, which was jammed with "stars of the day" over quality of actors to tell Mr. Haley's story(such a bad tv production!).  I also watched the remake of "Roots" the tv show that the History Channel remade a couple of years ago and found it amazing how the two productions can be so different and take the story in unique ways that almost have nothing to do with the other and veer from the book quite a bit!

Anyway, I highly recommend this book and if you saw the original or the remake of the tv series try to wash that from your consciousness before you read the book.  It is a VERY long tome and at times your going will be slow as Alex Haley writes in the vernacular of his characters(especially slow I think if you didn't grow up listening to Southern accents and colloquial speech).  And I don't recommend this book because I have an ancestral connection to his family either.  It's a jolly good read......well maybe not "jolly" given the subject matter.  ;-)

*  Close CU Account  DONE  We closed out one of our bank accounts, the one at the Credit Union.  I always heard such good things about CUs so we moved our main account to one back in 2008-9 after the housing collapse/recession because away from a reg. bank that took TARP funds during the bank bailout.(It was Wells Fargo and you have all seen what a disaster they have been lately....)Anyway, this CU must have been a dud(unfriendly as hell tellers/staff, bad business hours, constantly sending us spam snail mail about loans/life insurance/etc.).  We also simplified our banking life by consolidating all our accounts/funds into one brick and mortar bank(we also have a few online banks).  We are quite happy with this decision.

*  Cash in Matured Bond  DONE  Another Savings Bond matured and cashed out.

*  Move Some $  FAIL  I am still waiting on Hubs to decide when to do this.  He keeps waiting for the interest rates to ratchet up again but I say just put it somewhere for now where it will earn something! Men.

*  Cell Phone  DONE  Got my new cell phone and I am still learning it.  What can I say?  I am an old lady who is set in her ways...lol

*  Hold Giveaway  DONE



*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Rhitter won and received her box o' goodies.

*  Harvest Garden  DONE  Lots of squash and tomatoes this month and I've put up 11 quarts of tomatoes, made 14 pints of relish and frozen some zuke too.

*  Survive the Heat  DONE  I've made it through August pretty much intact and the temps are slowing starting to go down which pleases me a lot.  I am not a hot weather gal, never was, never will be........

*  Survive the Rain & Build an Ark  DONE  And it's raining again today. as remnants of Hurricane Gordon depart. Ugh.  We'll get more rain next week from Florence's visit after she wreaks havoc on the Carolinas, et all.  No ark in sight.....yet. lolz


How did you do on your To-Do List for August?


Sluggy

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Weis Deals Lately

I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets on Friday to get the Freebie.
Since I was there might as well take advantage of a few other deals.

Weis has returned to the 1 Day Friday Deals as of last Friday.....they use to do a 2 or 3 Day over the weekend Sale but stopped during this Summer.  I am glad to see them reinstitute this Sale if for only 1 Day.


There were 2 $1/2 Cereal digital coupons.  One was for Honey Bunches of Oats varieties, which is what my Daughter wanted me to get her.  The other Q was for a few different sugary cereals which ECB will eat.lolz
One Day sale price was $1.50 per box so $1 per box after the Qs.

The Ragu sauces were 3 for $4 and included the new Ragu "Simply" sauces.  I had $3 worth of Q for this stuff which doubled fully so $6 in Qs off 6 jars.  $8 for 6 jars-$6 in Qs=$2 for 6 jars or .33¢ per jar.  Can't get much lower than that outside of free!  One of the few meals Hubs will cook is pasta but he won't/can't make pasta sauce so I like to have these jars of sauce here. ;-)

They also had Dole jarred fruits BOGOFree.  I love mandarin oranges but not from metal cans(they take on a metallic taste)so I always look for deals on these in plastic or glass containers.  $2.99 per jar and BOGOFree meant $1.49 each so I picked up 4 even though I didn't have any Qs for it.

The San Giorgio and Ronzoni boxed pastas are .67¢ per box this week so I grabbed 2 boxes-one of cavatappi corkscrews for mac and cheese and one of orzo for the coming soup season.

$9.32 for everything pictures above after sale and Qs.

Weis also have some good meat deals on Friday...........


Twin packs of Whole Roaster Chickens for .78¢ lb.  I bought 1 pack.
And twin packs of London Broils for $1.98 lb.  Haven't seen a price that low on LB in a few years here.


The LBs have been repackaged and 3 put into the freezer.  Once I make a roaster this week the other chicken will get repacked and put into the freezer as well.

I also bought a piece of pork belly for 50% off w/an instant discount sticker on it and shredded cheese 8 oz. bags were BOGOFree plus I had a .75¢ WeisQ so $1.83 for a lb. of cheddar cheese.
$44.52 all in and a savings of 62% over reg. retail price.

Only a couple more things to pick up at Weis(PMITA)Markets on Wednesday before the sale week ends....some Celentano frozen pasta(BOGO and I have 2 x $1/1 Qs and a $1/1 SavingStar offer), a Pillsbury Offer(Buy 5/Get $3 Back-items are $2 each this week and I have 2 Qs that will stack so $2 off plus a $1 Saving* offer so 5 will cost me $4), and some Hormel chili(I think EXCB bathes in this stuff!lol)in a Spend $20/Get $5 Off offer if I can scrounge 5 Qs up for that stuff).

That's all I'm up to at Weis until the new sales cycle begins on Thursday.


Sluggy

Monday, September 10, 2018

This Week on the Dining Table

The "A Milestone for Ex-College Boy" Edition--



Ex-College Boy bought his first car last week.  He's been squirreling away most of his paychecks for the last 3+ months and finally had enough to buy a car.
Hubs ECB and I have been sharing my car the last 3 weeks, since Hubs car went into the shop for extensive work.  It's nice to be able to use my car again when I want. lol
ECB is very proud of his new-to-him "baby".


Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This  is what was planned--
1. Sunday--Fish, Coleslaw, French Fries
2. Monday--Steak, Corn, Deviled Eggs
3. Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(freezer), Salad, Garlic Bread
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--BLTs
7. Saturday--Eggplant in Hoisin Sauce, Rice

And this is what actually happened--
1. Sunday--Fish, Coleslaw, French Fries
2. Monday--Steak, Corn
3. Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(freezer), Salad, Garlic Bread
5. Thursday--Roast Chicken, Squash Casserole
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--BLT sandwiches

Last week saw 4-5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1-2 night of leftovers/fend for yourself/tv dinners, 1 night of Take-Out or Eating Out.  

Three trips to Weis and 1 trip to the Restaurant Supply brought the weekly food spending to $189.47 and the monthly total to $189.47.
I have 20 days left in my shopping month for September and have $210.53 left in the food budget.

My savings percentage last week was 49.37%(without Rite-Aid trips)and September's monthly savings grand total came to 49.37%.

Leftovers going into this week......chili, small piece of London Broil, squash casserole, small bit of Fajita filling, 2 ears of corn, a little bit of spaghetti and 1 meatball, roast chicken.

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

1. Sunday--Chinese Eggplant dish, rice
2. Monday--Lasagna, Caesar Salad
3. Tuesday--Chicken and Dumplings
4. Wednesday--Leftovers or Corn Chowder and Bread
5. Thursday--Fettuccine Alfredo, Steak Tips, Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers or FFY
7. Saturday--Beer Can Chicken, Veggie TBD, Potato Salad

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY, 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
If Hubs doesn't eat the London Broil I'll put it into the freezer or into the Fettuccine dish.

What needs buying for this menu?  Romaine, Milk, Lasagna Noodles(though I had some but don'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

Sunday, September 9, 2018

End of the Rite-Aid Porn for Last Week & Grand Totals

Last week was a Fabulous! week for Rite-Aid Deals!!!
I basically rolled all my Bonus Cash forward on 3 cards/accounts so now I don't have to worry about loosing any for another 60 Days.  That's always a good thing.  But better yet, I did this, plus brought home a metric ton of goodies AND I got paid to do it.
Nothing better......

So I had to go off the mountain on Friday.  Before leaving I hit my Rite-Aid, procured a few Spend $X/Get $X Off Catalinas and bought this on my son's card..........


4 x Suave shampoo on sale=$12.00
2 x Cremo men's body wash on sale BOGO50%=$11.98
2 x R/S pumpkin candy on sale=$1.00
SubTotal.......$24.98

Coupons Used
1 x R-A Spend $20/Get $4 OYO CatalinaQ=$4.00
2 x $2/2 Suave shampoo In-AdQ=$4.00
2 x $1/1 Cremo any item IPQ=$2.00
Coupon Total......$10.00

$24.98-$10.00=$14.98+.80¢ tax=$15.78 paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned back $10.00 in new Bonus Cash(2 x $2 Suave wyb2, $5 Cremo wyb2, $1 Russell Stover).
I also earned $7 in Ibotta and SavingStar cash rebates($4 Suave/Ibotta, $3 Cremo/SavingStar).
$15.78 spent, $17 earned so a $1.22 moneymaker. 8-)

I saw online that the smaller packages of Always incontinence pads and liners are part of the Buy 2/Get $7 back in BC Deal(even though the ad only advertises that the larger/expensive packs of these products give the $7 BC-this is a MONTHLY Deal, Limit 4 per card)and buying those it a moneymaker after BC so I clipped those Qs onto the Load2Card account on daughter's card.  Daughter was also nagging me to buy her some cereal since I stopped buying types I didn't eat(she wanted Special K specifically and Honey Bunches of Oats)so I bought all this.......


4 x Special K/Cascadian Farms cereals BOGOF=$10.28
1 x Always Discreet liners 20% Wellness disc.=$5.43
1 x Always Discreet pads 20% Wellness disc.=$5.43
1 x Garden of Eatin' blue corn chips on sale=$2.50
1 x Skinny Pop popcorn on sale=$2.50
SubTotal.......$26.14

Coupons Used
1 x Spend $20/Get $4 OYO CatalinaQ=$4.00
1 x .50¢/1 Special K IPQ=.50¢
1 x $1/1 Cascadian Farms IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Always Discreet liners L2CQ=$2.00
1 x $3/1 Always Discreet pads L2CQ=$3.00
1 x $1/1 Skinny Pop ManuQ=$1.00
Coupon Total.......$11.50

$26.14-$11.50=$14.64(no tax)paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned back $11.00 in new Bonus Cash($3 WYS $10 Cereal, $7 wyb2 Always Discreet, $1 wyb2 Healthy Snacks).
I also earned .75¢ for the Skinny Pop in Ibotta rebates and $1 for the Cascadian Farms cereal on SavingStar so this transaction "cost" me $1.89.

I then went off the mountain to run some errands and hit the R-A downtown and bought this on my son's card......


4 x Special K/Cascadian Farms cereal/bars BOGOF=$10.28
2 x Suave men's body wash BOGOF=$2.49
1 x Always Discreet liners 20% Wellness disc.=$5.19
1 x Always Discreet pads 20% Wellness disc.=$5.19
SubTotal........$23.15

Coupons Used
1 x Spend $20/Get $4 OYO CatalinaQ=$4.00
1 x .50¢/1 Special K IPQ=.50¢
1 x $1/1 Cascadian Farms IPQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 R-A Peelie on Cascadian Farms box=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Always Discreet liners L2CQ=$2.00
1 x $3/1 Always Discreet pads L2CQ=$3.00
Coupon Total......$11.50

$23.15-$11.50=$11.65+.12¢ tax=$11.77 paid for with Bonus Cash
I earned back $12 in new Bonus Cash($3 WYS $10 Cereal, $7 wyb2 Always Discreet, $2 wyb2 Suave).
I also earned a .50¢ cash rebate on the body wash at Ibotta.

Then on Saturday since the Playtex rebate reloaded on my account on Ibotta,  I did one last transaction at my Rite-Aid.....


3 x Playtex tampons on sale=$20.97
2 x Suave doedorant BOGOF=$2.29
SubTotal........$23.26

Coupons Used
1 x Spend $20/Get $4 OYO CatalinaQ=$4.00
3 x $2/1 Playtex tampons In-AdQ=$6.00
3 x $2/1 Playtex tampons IPQ=$6.00
Coupon Total.....$16.00

$23.26-$16.00=$7.26+.12¢ tax=$7.38 paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned back $2 in new Bonus Cash($2 wyb2 Suave).
I also earned $8.50 in Ibotta rebates(3 x $2.50 Playtex, 2 x .50¢ Suave deodorant)making this transaction a $3.24 moneymaker.  8-)))

I took a photo this morning of everything I bought home from Rite-Aid last week..........


And I didn't even max out a couple of deals. lolz  And I made a couple of mistakes/miscalculations(bought an extra set of pumpkin candies that I didn't get BC for to be specific)but I still came out waaaaaay head.

Grand Total of Bonus Cash Used.......$130.73

Total of Bonus Cash Earned...$106.00
Total of Ibotta Cash Earned......$39.75
Total of "Post Coupon" Cash.....$2.00
Total of Saving* Cash Earned...$6.00
Grand Total of Cash Earned..............$152.75

Cost of Everything I bought this week at R-A....-$23.02  

I love getting paid to shop! 8-)))


Sluggy