Stacking Deals at Rite-Aid, SavingStar and P&G Promo

Here are the 4 stacking deals I was working on last week.....

                    

#1  P&G, Spend $30/Get $10 BC deal this week at R-A(limit of 2 deals per card on this one).
DONE-TWICE on one card, earned $20 in BC.

#2 Parts of the R-A deal above overlap with a SavingStar offer, Spend $50 on certain P&G items/Get $15 Back at SavingStar.
DONE, earned $15 SavingStar rebate.

#3 P&G Holiday Rebate(advertised in the P&G Insert a week ago Sunday), Spend $50 AFTER COUPONS on certain P&G items/Get $15 prepaid Visa card back.
DONE & SUBMITTED, Waiting on $15 prepaid Visa card.
My total on select items after Qs was $50.37.

#4 Rite-Aid has a promo going on now until November 30th, Spend $50 on certain "Beauty" Items get a $10 R-A gift card(limit of 2 deals per card on this one). Purchase from 10/27/19 to 11/30/19 and redeem by 12/14/19.
DONE. I earned 1 $10 reward so far and have $11.83 toward a second of this reward just for buying P&G items last week.

I bought all this at Rite-Aid this week..........

                              

Total Bonus Cash spent.....$46.46
Total R-A gift card used....$10.48
Total spent.......$56.94

Total Bonus Cash earned...$28.00(2 x $10, 8 x $1)
Total SavingStar earned....$15.00
Total  R-A Beauty gift card earned...$10.00
Total P&G Holiday rebate earned....$15.00
Total earned........$68.00

I also got $2 back as a "post coupon" when the new cashier hit the payment button before imputing my coupons.
This was actually a "good" thing as that $2 in Qs doesn't show on my receipt for two of the P&G items I bought so I was able to hit the $50 after Qs spend requirement $2 earlier than expected. ;-)

There are some items on sale in the Black Friday R-A ad that will count toward this $10 Beauty Reward as well.
The Concair hairbrushes and Scunci hair products that will be free after BC earned and should count toward the Beauty Reward(so better than free), plus a lot of items will count toward this reward on the second page of the Black Friday ad.

It should be easy to get another two or three Beauty Rewards before November 30th when that promo ends.

Now excuse me but I am off to work the polls and be a good citizen.  Remember to go vote today if you are in the US.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Halloween was a Bust!" Edition................

Halloween was warm but windy and drizzling rain.  We had a total of FOUR kids at our door!  I have never had so few trick or treaters.

Funny thing is Hubs had the porch light on Saturday night(TWO days after Halloween)for Ex-College Boy's expected arrival home from work and we heard the door bell ring.  2 kids in costume stood there waiting for candy.....WTF?!?!
Gave them candy and turned OFF the porch light. lolz
So I guess we had SIX kids total.
And that's the huge bowl of candy this morning....6 kids and Hubs and Ex-CB hitting it later.

I guess Trick or Treating is now an activity of the place here. 8-(((

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings
2. Monday--Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole

3. Tuesday--Tacos

4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, leftover Garlic Bread, Salad

5. Thursday--Something TBD + Brussels Sprouts

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

And this is what actually happened at home per Hubs info & after I got home--

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings
2. Monday--Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole

3. Tuesday--Tempura Haddock, Brussels Sprouts, Cheddar Biscuits

4. Wednesday--Leftovers or FFY

5. Thursday--Leftovers or FFY

6. Friday--Fend for Yourself (The power was out all day so we had lunch out and I just had a couple pieces of cheese for dinner.)
7. Saturday--Tacos or Taco Salad

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners,  3 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.

Tacos happened but on a different day, fish was procured to have with the Brussels Sprouts but on a different day than planned and extra leftovers meant the meatballs + spaghetti didn't happen this past week.

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* 2 packs of Brats
* 2 packs of Chicken Breasts(BOGO + $3 in discount stickers)
* 1 pack of Ground Veal($2 discount sticker)
* 1 pack of Sea Legs/Faux Crab($2 discount sticker)
* 1 lb. Shoulder Steak($3 discount sticker)
* 1 lb. Haddock(we ate the other lb.)

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
* Nothing(We have been using proteins I bought last week and the week before + the fresh haddock I got on special this past week.)

Two trips to Weis, a few items from Ollie's and a small trip to Walmart brought the current weekly spending to $119.05 and my November spending on food to $119.05 for this month.

My savings percentage last week was 37.23%(without Rite-Aid trips)and November's monthly savings total comes in at 37.23%(w/out R-A).

I have 26 more food shopping/spending days in November.

Leftovers going into this week......1 helping each of chicken and dumplings and chicken broccoli casserole.  Not much in the way of leftovers.

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

1. Sunday--Rigatoni w/Sausage in Sauce
2. Monday--Pecan Chicken, Roasted Carrots and Taters

3. Tuesday--?(We are working the polls until 8+pm)

4. Wednesday--Chicken Parm w/Spaghetti, Salad

5. Thursday--Haluski(Cabbage, Noodles, Onions and Bacon)

6. Friday--No clue yet(maybe soup or chowder and cornbread as it's going to be frigid)
7. Saturday--No clue yet

As always this menu is subject to change or rearranging depending on what leftovers get eaten or not and what I am feeling like cooking(or not). lolz

What needs buying for this menu?  Salad Greens and fixings and a gallon of milk.
The ads aren't inspiring me this week so other than the Friday freebie at Weis I may be staying home.

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  

Income & Spending Report 2019........the October Edition

Now that we are living on an annuity and 401K$ withdrawals, I am still going to keep track of our monthly spending and income, and hopefully we'll still be able to live BELOW our means and I'll have some leftover monies each month to tuck aside.

Two changes we implemented for 2019 at our financial meeting in Jan.--

* Hubs wants to take $150 per person WAM(aka Walking Around Money)in 2019.  I found last year's $100 per month adequate but Hubs chafed at that little so we are upping it this year to $150 per person per month.
                                                                                                                                           
*As for our 2018 Slush Fund, this is how we are going to handle it in 2019......
We won't be taking a quarterly 401K withdrawal in 2019 until we "need" to, instead of taking one each quarter as we had planned back in 2017 when Hubs retired.  Why pull 401K monies out when they are earning more than our other regular bank funds?  Use those instead for now!

Since the Slush Fund ended 2018 with $23,164.17 in it and the Sinking Fund ended 2018 with $468.37 in it, we are, for now at least, not taking any more 401K withdrawals and using what is in the Sinking Fund and/or Slush Fund to cover all irregular bills that come up in 2019 plus a few projects around the house.

I have set up a page to track the Slush Fund.  Click on the tab marked "Slush Fund 2018-2019" at the top of the blog.

  I am trying to be as transparent as I can with how much is coming in and how much is going out.  8-)

On to the October report---

I had 2 goals for October.......
The 1st is to actually finish the month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to try to have a little cash leftover at the end of the previous month to tuck back into a slush fund.  This slush fun may be to apply toward unforeseen bills that are coming due in subsequent months, to spend on "extras/wants" during the year or to just sit there and grow until the end of 2019.

I can report that we finished up October in the black.
The amount we ended the month of October with?.....$1,282.03

Income or Funds We Can Access

The "income" in October---

* Monthly annuity payment of $3222.24(after tax withholding)
* RMSA(Healthcare account)reimbursement of $1848.67
* Interest earned on non-retirement accounts of $667.58
* $43 for car registration from Ex-College Boy that we paid
Total "Income" for October.....$5,781.49

Expenses in October---

* Healthcare Premium for October was $1,848.67(paid for with RMSA reimbursement)
* Variable Expenses in October came to $2,650.79
Total Expenses....$4,499.46

$5781.49-$4499.46=$1282.03

Slush into October $16,214.40+ $1,282.03 addition=$17,496.43

The Slush Fund on it's Page(tab at the top of the blog)shows an addition of $1,282.03 for October.

Outgo

As for the variable expenses this October,  here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

*  Phone charges and internet were approximately the same as last month.(Within $2 or so).
*  The water bill was $15.38 lower than in September.
*  The electric bill was $8.09 lower than last month.
*  The WAM was the same as in September.
*  The health insurance premium was the same as last month.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

*  The gas card bill was $22.95 higher than last month.
*  The c/c bill was $598.25 higher than in September.
*  The Chase/Amazon c/c was $245.19 higher than last month's bill.
*  I had a $5.30 Kohl's charge bill in October.
*  We had $128.98 in various medical co-pays due last month which I didn't take out of HSA funds.
*  We spent $246.00 at the church auction in October.

The Food Budget costs for October are in another post, which is located HERE.  Food costs are included in the credit card payment(mainly but sometimes our WAM cash too).

The Sinking Fund goes into November 2019 standing at $468.37 since nothing was paid out of it in October.

FINAL THOUGHTS on October----
A nice quiet financial month mostly.  Yes, the credit card bill was higher than I like to see it but that was due to charges for the trip to Ocean City/Chesapeake/Fredericksburg and it was all planned for. 8-)

THOUGHTS going forward into November 2019----

We have 1 irregular bills due this month, the semi-annual car insurance premium.
There is Chester's neutering to pay for this month as well which is an out of the ordinary/a one time expense.
The credit card will be high again due to having to replace our water heater but I'll debit that amount from the Slush Fund anyway.
We should be a-ok financially in November.

So how was your October financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in October?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
What did you do with any money leftover at the end of the month?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings, in an emergency fund or a retirement account?
Or did you blow it on a want?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check out your progress too and celebrate or commiserate with you!


Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the November 1st Edition

Sorry to be a day late on the Frugal Friday posting.
I do have a good excuse--Halloween night a tree fell on a power line down the road from us so we were without electricity for 18+ hours until almost 6 pm last evening. ugh.

A quick look around here to see what frugal stuff went on at Chez Sluggy this past week........

*  I ran Ibotta deals........

Finished off some Bonuses and regular Ibotta rebates this past week.
$32.14 in Ibotta rebates and $1 in SavingStar rebates so a total of $33.14 in cash rebates earned this past week.

* Remember that refund the Hospital sent me awhile back in July?

A medical co-pay overpayment I made.  the refund was in the form of a prepaid Visa card.
If you wanted the actual CASH back you had to request a check and then it would be another 4-6 weeks before seeing that.
So I dug the card out finally and took the card to my bank and did a cash advance and emptied that prepaid card.

* I had a $5 chit for Kohl's about to expire on Oct. 31st.  I went into my local Kohl''s last week but didn't seen anything worth buying that wouldn't have made me spend much actual monies out of pocket.  I went back this week and an item I eyed on the last trip in that was on the clearance table was marked down about.........

This tabletop fountain was marked down to $20 last week........

Now it was marked down again to $13.39.  I don't usually buy things for myself there but I had a 20% off Q+$5 chit so I got this.

It cost me $7.41 w/tax out of my WAM.
A $66.99 fountain? No thanks.
A $7.41 fountain?  Yes please! 8-)))

* I found money!

I found this slightly groddy quarter at the Weis in the town West of here last Friday.

I also found a change purse in that Weis.  Turned it into the Customer Service and the owner was standing there conducting some business and hadn't even noticed she dropped it.  The purse had her rent money in it and she couldn't thank me enough times to have it back. ;-)

And I found this quarter at Rite-Aid on Thursday right near the register.  Who drops a quarter and doesn't pick it up?!?! lolz

*  Some freebies at Rite-Aid..........

Pantene Shampoos and Conditioners, Olay body wash, Toothpaste and Dental Floss.
I'll pick up some more of this sort of thing today before the sale ends and finish out some of the various deals that stacked this week on P&G stuff.

* A new bank opened up in my town and they had an Open House last weekend.  I went in to look around, get some free food and maybe win a BMW they were giving away..............

Didn't win the car but I won this nifty coffee mug! lolz  I brought this chocolate covered rice krispies treat home along with a bottled water, a slice of nasty pizza(which Hubs ate, of course!lol)and a small container of bbq from a local bbq joint that opened up here.
The cue was good which is nice because we won a gift certificate for there at the church auction last month. ;-)

*  I sold something on eBay!

This throw blanket went for $32.  Better to sell it than have it sitting around my house for another ten years, right?  I made $22 gross on this sale(haven't figured out the net yet after fees, stupid fees).

That's about it for this week in my world.

What frugal wins did y'all come up with this week?
Tell us all about it!

Sluggy

Halloween Is Here!!!

How did I keep Halloween Trick or Treating frugal this year?

I bought bags of candy last Halloween and Christmas on clearance and threw it into the bottom of my chest freezer, digging it out a couple of days ago to thaw and be ready for tonight.
If you have spare real estate in a freezer for this sort of scheme(and the self-control NOT to raid the stash for your own eating)I'd suggest you hit the candy clearances after the Holiday and do likewise.

I'm off to set up the front porch to receive beggars this evening.


Here's a little mood music for the day.
Enjoy!




luggy