September Giveaway Time!!!

September and Fall is almost in the air so it's time for the Tenth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2018. 8-)

This one is gonna be a bit different again.  I'm letting the winner pick out what they want to receive.

A nice box of goodies will head to whomever's name is picked from the entries.
Somebody has to win and it might just be YOU!

Here are all the goodies you can pick from to fill your box if your entry is picked.

Personal care items...deodorant to body wash to shampoo to razors to dental care items to lip balm.

Laundry detergent pods, to sinus rinse to hydration to light bulbs to mouthwash to vitamins to lotions to tampons to supplements to night light bulbs to tape to shower cap to hair goods to hand soap to topical pain relievers to eye drops to baby wash.

More lotion to nail care to all sorts of make-up products(mascara, blush, eye pencils, eye shadow, face powder, lip products).

It's all about the chocolate and candy in this photo......Lindt truffles to sugar-free Russell Stover to gums to chocolate bars(from whole bags and to bars to singles).

Here's the full list of items........

Aussie spray conditioner
Aussie mousse
Softsoap body wash x 2
Irish Spring body wash
Garnier shampoo
Pantene shampoo
Suave Professionals shampoo
Tresemmé shampoo
Suave Professionals shampoo
Gillette shave cream
Skintimate shave cream
Barlow's dry shampoo x 2
Arm and Hammer toothpaste x 2
Colgate toothpaste x 3
Oral-B dental picks
Oral-B dental floss
Listerine dental floss x 2
Oral-B toothbrush x 3
Arm and Hammer battery toothbrush
Oral-B battery toothbrush
Venus disposable razors
Bic men's disposable razors
DayLogic men's refillable razor x 2
Bic Silky Touch disposable razors
Degree fragrance spray
Suave ladies' deodorant x 4
Speed Stick men's deodorant
Lady Speed Stick deodorant
Arm and Hammer deodorant
Degree men's dry spray deodorant
Lever 2000 bar soap 2 pack
Yardley honey and almond bar soap
Carmex lip balm
Carmex cherry lip balm

Cetaphil baby body wash x 2

XLEAR sinus rinse and bottle

Playtex sport compact tampons(reg.)

Arm and Hammer laundry tablets

Noxzema cream

Scuncii hair bands x 2

Conair hair brush

Emergen-C super orange supplements

St. Ives face scrub

Aveeno positively radiant cleanser

Liquid RX hydration packets x 2

Magnavox ear buds x 2

Watkins lavender hand cream

Dial hand soap pump

Conair shower cap

Thermacare back patches

GE LED light bulb

R-A night light bulbs x 2

R-A mouth rinse

Max Freeze topical pain cream

Aquaphor cream

Centrum fruit vitamins

Centrum Silver vitamins

Rolaids 3 pack

Visine eye drops x 2

Neutrogena oil-free acne wash

R-A cellophane tape x 2

Eucerin cream tubes x 2

Rimmel face cream

Cover Girl liquid foundation

Cover Girl face powder

Cover Girl lip stick

Physician's Formula bronzer powder

Sally Hansen nail strengthener gloss x 2

Wet n' Wild nail polish x 3

Sally Hansen nail polish

Revlon emery boards x 2

Neutrogena concealer x 2

Cover Girl face compact

Cover Girl eyebrow pencils x 4

Rimmel eyebrow pencil

Jesse's Girl lip pencils x 3

Wet n' Wild eye pallette

Wet n' Wild single eye shades x 5

Cover Girl lip pencil

Rimmel bronzer/shader pallette

Revlon nail clippers

Revlon tweezers

Burt's Bees lip color x 2

Cover Girl eye shadow pallette

Maybelline eye shadow pallette x 2

Almay single eye shadows x 6

Cover Girl mascara x 4

Rimmel mascara

Russell Stover sugar-free chocolates x 3

Hershey's cookie layer crunch w/mint

M & Ms caramel bag

Biscoff cookies

Perugina dark chocolate bar

Lindt Peppermint white chocolate bar

M & Ms peanut butter x 2

M & Ms regular x 2

Mentos fruit rolls x 2

Reese's fast break

Hershey's Gold bar x 2

Dentyne's Ice gum 2 x

Orbit gum x 2

Trident gum x 2

Cadbury singles caramel x 16

Cadbury singles mint x 11

Cadbury singles fruit and nut x 6

Kit Kat bar singles x 16

Lindt truffles(assorted)x 36

Lots of things you can win and the retail cost depends on what you pick.

I'll leave this giveaway open until Monday, September 24th at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone a full week to enter this one.  On September 25th I'll mark all the valid entries and use Random dotorg to pick a number and that corresponding person's entry wins.

*Please note the rules*
I'll post the name/Id of the winner on this blog and that person has 48 hours from then to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page).
If I am not contacted via email I'll attempt to contact the winner via the email they supply with their entry and if that email is not responded to within another 48 hours I'll pick another winner.

There will only be ONE way to enter this time by leaving a comment on this post.  Tell me what your favorite activity is during Autumn, your favorite Fall recipes, the best grocery deal you got recently, or the thing you most want to win.....those sort of comments.
You may enter once each day by leaving a daily comment on this post before September 24th at 11:59pm Eastern time.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.
As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten to high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies, I pay for it all(cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with your contact information on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one with those Google Circles nonsense I CAN NOT CONTACT YOU as Google Circles doesn't show your contact info.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I am still having to disqualify entries due to this issue and I sure don't like doing that.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the September 14th Edition

Let's take a look at what frugal stuff went on here at Chez Sluggy this past week........

*  I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets and got the Friday Freebie last Friday.

A bag of cheese sticks.

*  The local Shursave markets also had a freebie last week if you downloaded a digital coupon to your card..........

A 2 lb. bag of onions.

*  I spent enough at Dollar General on P&G items that I got this........

$5 Off On Your Next Order Coupon.  I've got a couple weeks to figure out how best to use it.  I'll let y'all know what I get. ;-)

*  Hubs and I went out to lunch this week.  Red Lobster has "Endless Shrimp" and I like to go once a year and get lots of shrimp.  "Endless Shrimp" for me nowadays means 4 helpings of shrimp(I eat the salad but not the other side and only have 1 biscuit)so not so "endless". lolz
I had $ left on a gift card(plus a whole 'nother gift card)I had gotten last Fall and we had used in the Spring to take Hubs out for his birthday so the meal just cost us the $7.75 tip which we paid out of our WAM.

Oh, I also used a coupon to get $4 off our dinners too. (Photo is of the lunch Q I have left that we didn't use.)
Is it just me or have the shrimp they use for Endless Shrimp gotten tiny?

*  Here's the stuff I got at Rite-Aid this week.

After sales, coupons, bonus cash and extra bonus cash for that shit show return and rebuy, all this was better than free.  8-)))

*  I've been booking motel stays for our upcoming trip.

Last month R-A had a Hotels.com gift card deal where I got $16 in BC for buying a $100 gift card.
I bought 3, 1 on each card/account and earned $16 in BC on each Wellness account.  When I booked rooms going through Hotels.com I also used my Ibotta app so after we've completed our stays at those motels I'll also get a bit of cash back.
She shoots, she scores! lolz

*  Still harvesting tomatoes out in the little garden here.........

Another 35.8 ounces of goodness.

That's about it for us this week.

What frugal wins did y'all have this week?



Sluggy

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

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

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