Another Rant, Blogger MIA & A Reminder

To continue my little rant-let of the other day......

* I order some candles on cheap candle day from Bath & Body Works Or as Dr. Spo I believe called it "Blood & Body Works". lolz

Anyway, my candles finally arrived and what a mess.  If I had dug one particular candle out without looking first, my hand would now be a "Bloody Body Work"!

I've never had a problem before but this lot of candles must have been packed by a not-so well trained monkey.  

There was a layer of bubble wrap on the bottom of the box and some big air pillows amongst the candles.

However they used a too large box for the amount of candles in it so there was obviously a LOT of shifting during transport.

ONE candle was wrapped in bubble wrap..ok take a look at the massive hunk of bubble wrap they used.......

It's about a foot long and 4 inches wide.

Hardly seems adequate, right?

But all the others were NOT wrapped in anything, being simply nestled into these flimsy psuedo-cardboardy holes.........

Seriously!?!

Some seemed to be more hole than packaging!

And this is the result of badly packaged glass container candles............

A massive fail on this one.  The only reason it is somehow intact is the plastic label encircling the jar.

I am actually surprised that more of these didn't have a bottom blowout.

Two more jars are also chipped/broken but not like the glass shards hanging off this one!

So I go online and find the telephone # to contact them about the damage per their info.

I called the number on 3 different days and get the same message....."High call volume...blah blah blah.....can't answer your call.....blah blah blah.......call back another time...blah blah blah.

So what if these damaged goods are gifts?.....I can't exactly give someone a broken ass candle, can it?

What if they are Xmas seasonal scents and you aren't actually contactable unto after Christmas and there are no more of these items available?

Big time FAIL Bath & Body Works!!!

I guess it's more cost effective for BBW, to ship product sloppily, not let customers contact them until well after the fact and possible THEN take care of the issue and have disgruntled customers who will not buy things from them in the future, than to hire competent workers to adequately package shipped items the first time and avoid the cost of lost/damaged goods and hassle for everyone concerned.

Anybody else have a company shipping fail lately?

*  The other item is concerning blogger Linda of "Practical Parsimony".  She hasn't blogged since late November and folks are getting concerned.  I had an old phone # for her from one of our trips down South a few years ago so I called it.  Someone answered and hung up on me before I could say anything.  I called back and the phone went to voice mail so I left a message.  I have also emailed both the addys I have for her and have gotten no reply.  If anybody knows what's up please let us know.

*  And lastly, today is the last day to enter the current giveaway here on the 'ol blog.

 One entry per person per day if you didn't enter yet today.
You could win all this!............

And then one of these Christmas music CDs.........

Be sure and go to the Giveaway Post HERE if you reside in the USA and enter before 11:59 pm ET.

See y'all later!

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Disgusting Poop" Edition.........

Found this toy at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)recently, didn't buy it. lolz  It's someone's take on Play-Doh that would definitely appeal to little boys and their scatological humor.  The "dough" comes with corn kernels and flies to "keep it real".  bleck! lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice

2. Monday--Spaghetti, Meatballs in sauce, Salad?

3. Tuesday--Bratwurst on rolls, Potato Salad, Spinach

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie

5. Thursday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself or maybe Tacos?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice

2. Monday--Spaghetti, Meatballs in sauce, Salad

3. Tuesday--Bratwurst on rolls, Baked Beans

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Beef Pie

6. Friday--Tacos
7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself

Pork Tenderloins didn't happen yet(will be having it tonight).

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 night of Eating Out/Take-Out. 

 A couple of grocery trips.....2 trips to to Weis($30.99/$26.44)and a few things from Ollie's($2.32)brought the weekly food spending to $59.75 and brought the December monthly total to $100.06 so far.

I have 21 days left in my shopping month for December.

My savings percentage last week was 63.71%(without Rite-Aid trips)and December's monthly savings total comes to 64.35%(w/out R-A)so far.  

Leftovers going into this week....a LOT of rice, some spaghetti and meatballs in sauce, a lot of taco meat, a good size piece of Beef Pie(2 servings)and some Baked Beans.

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

2. Monday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries

3. Tuesday--Chicken Alfredo w/Mushrooms

4. Wednesday--Leftover Buffet

5. Thursday--Beef Stew, Biscuits

6. Friday--Pizza, Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY, 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
I have mushrooms that need using up, as well as leftover rice from the Stroganoff which got used in the Casserole on Sunday evening.

What needs buying for this menu? A bag of broccoli and pizza fixings.  Hot Pockets are on sale until Thursday and Ex-College Boy has requested some too.

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  

You Goat Me Good! A Mini-Rant

Some things just get my goat and it's time to get them off my chest.

Offers for credit cards like this one.........

The "Luxury Card".
Here at Chez Sluggy we do put all our bills whenever possible on one of our credit cards(for the points and then we pay it off every month).
This offer is a Black Mastercard for folks with excellent credit scores and high incomes who also travel by air a lot(something I don't do).

While we do have excellent credit, we no longer have what I'd call a high income being retired and living on an annuity and 401K monies.

These credit card folks don't know me very well, offering me the "honor" of having their credit card. And  I would get to pay for that "honor" to the tune of $495 a year....just to have this card??!!
Quelle Ridicule!!

*  We have two newspapers in this area.  I just discovered that they don't each carry the same coupons in the Sunday inserts....WAAAH!!!???

I bought my usual newspaper when the P&G inserts came out in the November 25th edition and the competitions newspaper.
Here are the identical inserts from each paper..........

But look inside.......

One insert has 2 Tide coupons and the other has just the artwork, no Tide coupons and the link to the website where you can print 1 coupon(which is valid for only 1 day after printing it).
WTF?!?!

Why does one newspaper insert carry the Tide Qs and the other one not? I wonder what other coupons are missing in the inserts of the newspaper I usually buy?!?

*  Why do grocery stores carry stupid crap at Christmas?  I guess it's the never ending need to find ways to take money out of your wallet, right?
Look at this winner I found for sale at Weis(PMITA)Markets...........

A pukey green colored(more teal than it looks)with sequined palm trees and a flamigo wearing a santa hat on it.
And even better, the string of Xmas lights on the flamingo actually LIGHT UP! lololz
So tacky......
I guess if you wanted to win the prize at an Ugly Sweater Party you could shell out $20 and wear this.

Ok, that's sufficient garbage to chew on...........

I am off to wrap some gifts and write some Christmas cards.

What's on your agenda today?

Sluggy

Wellness Wednesday at Rite-Aid

Last Wednesday was the first Wednesday of December thus it was Wellness Wednesday and the One-Day Coupons were used to plan my shops that day.
The L2CQ one-day Qs were stacking with a copy of the same paper Qs in the store.
I used those Qs to pick up some things we need/can use as well as utilized the hack that let's you buy gift cards up to the amount of your coupons used per transaction.

Here is what I got on Daughter's card........

1 x Finish dishwasher tabs on sale=$4.99
1 x Vaseline lotion on sale=$6.63
2 x Lipton decaf tea bags 20% Wellness disc.=$6.98
2 x Foster Grant sunglasses BOGOFree=$15.99
1 x Daylogic make-up remover pads 80ct. 20% Wellness disc.=$3.99
1 x Daylogic make-up remover pads 120ct. 20% Wellness disc.=$5.59
1 x Emergen-C packets 20% Wellness disc.=$11.19
2 x Werther's sugar-free candies on sale=$4.00
2 x Reese's pb cups on sale=$1.00
SubTotal......$60.36

1 x TGI Friday's GC=$25.00
1 x Red Robin GC=$25.00

Coupons Used
1 x Finish WWQ=$1.00
1 x Finish L2CQ=$1.00
1 x Vaseline WWQ=$1.00
1 x Vaseline L2CQ=$1.00
1 x Vaseline L2CQ=.50¢
2 x Lipton WWQ=$4.00
1 x Lipton L2CQ=$2.00
1 x Foster Grant WWQ=$10.00
1 x Foster Grant L2CQ=$10.00
1 x Daylogic 80ct. pads WWQ=$2.00
1 x Daylogic 80ct. pads L2CQ=$2.00
1 x Daylogic 120ct. pads WWQ=$3.00
1 x Daylogic 120ct. pads L2CQ=$3.00
1 x Emergen-C WWQ=$4.00
1 x Emergen-C L2CQ=$4.00
2 x Werther's sugar-free WWQ=$3.00
1 x Emergen-C peelieQ=$2.00
Coupon Total......$54.00

$60.36-$54.00=$6.36+$1.19tax=$7.55 paid with Bonus Cash(+ the GCards cost $50 in BC too).
I earned back $13.00 in new BC($1 Reese's, $3 Vaseline, $1 wyb2 Lipton and $8 wyb$50 select GCs).

The $1.50/1 L2CQ for the candy didn't come off the card and the .50¢/1 Vaseline L2CQ was unexpected(as was the $2 Peelie Q on the Emergen-C item)
4 of the WWQs wouldn't scan so the asst. manager had to put them in manually.

Then I did this on my card.......

1 x Finish dishwasher tabs on sale=$4.99
1 x Vaseline lotion on sale=$6.63
2 x Lipton tea bags 20% Wellness disc.=$6.58
2 x Foster Grant sunglasses BOGOFree=$19.99
1 x Daylogic make-up remover pads 80ct. 20% Wellness disc.=$3.99
1 x Daylogic make-up remover pads 120ct. 20% Wellness disc.=$5.59
1 x Emergen-C packets 20% Wellness disc.=$11.19
2 x RS sugar-free candy 20% Wellness disc.=$4.46
2 x Hershey's bars on sale=$1.00
SubTotal......$64.42

1 x Domino's GC=$25.00

Coupons-same as before except this time the $4 Emergen-C L2CQ and the $1.50 RS sugar-free L2CQ didn't come off(and no 50¢ Vaseline unexpected L2CQ this time so $47 in Qs made it $17.42...tack on $1.04 tax total was $18.46+ $25 GC=$43.46 paid for with Bonus Cash
I earned back $10 in new BC($1 Hershey's, $2 wyb2 Lipton, $3 Vaseline and $5 wyb $25 Domino's GC).

Lastly I did this on my son's card..........

1 x Finish dishwasher tabs on sale=$4.99
2 x Lipton tea bags 20% Wellness disc.=$6.58
2 x Foster Grant sunglasses BOGOFree=$15.99*not pictured*
1 x Daylogic make-up remover pads 80ct. 20% Wellness disc.=$3.99
1 x Daylogic make-up remover pads 120ct. 20% Wellness disc.=$5.59
2 x RS sugar-free candy 20% Wellness disc.=$4.46
2 x Reese's pb cups on sale=$1.00
SubTotal......$42.60

Same old, same old Qs were used so $5.20+$.44¢tax=$5.64 after Qs paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned $2 in new BC($2 wyb2 Lipton).

I might take back an Emergen-C and some sugar-free candy since the L2CQs didn't come off and I "paid" more than I wanted to for those items.  Whatever.  It was a pretty good trip either way.  ;-)

Sluggy


Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the December 7th Edition

Let's see what frugal goodness happened around Chez Sluggy this past week.........

*  I forgot to mention this last month--I printed out my $5 eVisa card.

This was earned from buying 4 SC Johnson items(Glade/Ziploc/etc)in one transaction earlier in November.

*  Speaking of rebates I earned $46.20 in variousIbotta cash rebates this past week.  $24 of that was for those Neutrogena lip balms(6 x $4)and a bit was on Olay(2 x $3)and waiting for that particular rebate to appear back on my list of eligible ones.  A small piece was for items bought at Weis(Life cereal and Ajax dish soap).  I earned $1 on SavingStar also. 
A good week for rebating here! ;-)

*  I found some money!

Waiting in the drive-thru line at Mickey D's on Sunday I spied 2 pennies next to the building.  The line was very sloooooow so I jumped out of the car and picked them up to give them a good, loving home. lolz
Not much change found it's way to me this week.....oh, well.  Some weeks are like that.

*  I got the Weis Friday Freebie item last Friday............

A block of cream cheese which is much appreciated in this house.  ;-)
Remember to check your grocery account at whichever store you frequent to see if there is a freebie you can use this week!

*  The clearance pumpkin flavored cereals at Weis(PMITA)Markets that were marked down to $1.88 per box are now $1 per box at my store, which means after stacked WeisQ/ManuQs they are FREE!
No photo but I picked up 6 boxes for free this past week.  Woohoo!

*  I got these items for .29¢ each at Weis recently as well..........

Unilever is revamping their Suave brands website and they sent me a link to a page of Suave Qs to print.  One Q was for .75¢ off their body wash and Weis had it on sale for $1.79 per bottle.  My Qs doubled to $1.50 so I got each of these for .29¢ each.  Not free but almost.  ;-)

*  Here's just some of the stuff I pillaged from Rite-Aid this week.........

I'll post about all the goodies I've gotten so far this week in a later post. 
Today and Saturday R-A is doing another 30% off Friends and Family Sale around here.  Not sure if this one is nationwide or not but I got a coupon for it on my first trip there this week.

*  Hubs and I finally got up to the Christmas Tree Shops in the city North of us this week.
I saw this on the shelf...........

$9.99 for a 5 oz. bottle of real Vanilla extract.  I didn't buy it.
Tell me....is this a good price nowadays for vanilla?  I have no clue.

*  I hit Dollar General last Saturday to get some discounted gift cards.

The deal was 15% off if you bought Cracker Barrel/DQ/Burger King/Red Lobster and maybe Ruby Tuesdays?
I bought $100 worth total so paid $85 for all.  Daughter's birthday is coming up this month and she wants to go to Red Lobster so that was a no-brainer. 

*  Speaking of discounted gift cards, I also sent for $300 worth of Target gift cards and paid $270 for those.  I don't shop Target much and I usually use free gift cards there acquired using credit card points but I couldn't pass up this deal.

* Not sure if you can still do this......if you have a Kmart near you(that is not closing)and you are a Shop Your Way Rewards customer, there is/was a $5 off $5 purchase coupon available via text message(the Q expires today-12/7/2018).  Go read about it HERE.
I loaded it to my phone and will go down to Kmart today if possible.

That's about it for me this week.
Remember to heed the advice of the "World's Most Frugal Man".............

Tell us what frugal wins y'all had this week!  8-)



Sluggy