This Week on the Dining Table

 

The "I Am Tired After the Last Three Days" Edition....

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were a blur for me.  Christmas eve was finishing up wrapping, cooking and delivering gifts to friends, taking pizzas to Rite-Aid for all the workers there.  Christmas day was more cooking and 6 here for the day and dinner and present mayhem(well maybe not "mayhem" lolz)then all the cleaning up and then packing, more cooking to take to m son's place and taking the dogs to the kennel for 2 days before leaving for NJ for an overnight visit(where I didn't have to cook finally! yay!!).

 We got home Sunday afternoon after a quick 24 hour trip to Eldest son's new apartment for our first visit there. After we drove home Sunday with a stop at OSJL, I hit Rite-Aid(for after Xmas clearance)and Weis for a Sunday paper and a few things/deals after we got home and then it was almost time to fall into bed.  I am still tired today and moving in slow motion but getting a few chores accomplished.  I refuse to get out of my PJs and leave the house and probably won't until Wednesday when I have an errand to run.  

As for de-Christmasing the house....that's going to be much, much later if I can help it. lolz

Onward to the meal planning!

Moving On....

This is what was planned.....

1. Sunday--Butternut Squash Ravioli

2. Monday--Meatloaf, Steamed Mixed Veggies

3. Tuesday--Chicken and Dumplings or Chicken Pot Pie using leftover Roast Chicken

4. Wednesday--leftover Beef Stew
5. Thursday--Chinese Take-out

6. Friday--Baked Ham, Lasagna, Mac and Cheese, Salad, Carrots, Rolls, Stollen and Cookies

7. Saturday--Pierogies and ? at Son's apartment

And this is what really happened.......

1. Sunday--Butternut Squash Ravioli

2. Monday--Meatloaf, Steamed Mixed Veggies

3. Tuesday--Chicken and Dumplings using leftover Roast Chicken

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie using Leftover Beef Stew
5. Thursday--Chinese Take-out

6. Friday--Baked Ham, Lasagna, Mac and Cheese, Caesar Salad, Carrots, Garlic Bread, Peppermint Chocolate Cheesecake

7. Saturday--Garlic Chicken, Roasted Broccoli, Mac and Cheese(I brought the Mac)

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/planned overs, FFY, and 1 night of Take-Out.   

Basically everything planned happened and Sat. eldest's GF cooked for us.

As for Xmas day leftovers, not much as I made a point to send Ex-CB, his Roommate, the Brother in-law and Nephew home with lots of helpings of what was left.  We do still have too many peanut butter cookies here but Ex-CB will come on his day off this week and take those away to consume at his place(along with a few other things as well).

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

*  2 panko pork tenderloin slices

*  1 SL Peppermint cheesecake

*  1 Cherry pie

*  2 lb. bag Brussels Sprouts

*  1 2-pack of Incogmeato burger patties

*  1 pack diced Chicken Breast

*  1 Whole fryer Chicken

*  2 lbs. Ground Beef

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

*  a bag of Dumplings

*  1 Smoke Ham but

*  1 lb. Ground Beef

*  1 lb. Ground Turkey

*  2 packs Butternut Squash Ravioli

*  1 Peppermint Cheesecake

*  1 box CA Medley Veggies

We spent a whopping $197.49 on food last week. Yikes! There were lots of good deals and having taken the huge ham out of the chest freezer I had room to pick up some "frozen assets" at a good price.

This bring our food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods Grand Total to $474.43 for December.

Actually my OOP was $12.22 less than $197.49 last week.  On all 3 trips I made to Weis(PMITA)Markets I was overcharged on things(unattentive cashiers perhaps?)so I got that much refunded but they were giving out cash instead of credits back on cards(which I mostly use for food shopping)so instead of a lower total I got $12.22 for my refund/post coupon envelope. which get added back into the food budget so it's all good.

There are 3 shopping days left in December but I am done for the year!

I've earned $182.53 on Ibotta in December.

I've earned $00 on Checkout51 in December.

I've earned $10.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in December.

I've earned 8837 points from shopping on Fetch in December.(I have a few more receipts to scan still so this may be larger for the month.)

I've earned 11,628 point from food shopping on Shop Kick in December.

I've earned 1120 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in December.

My savings percentage for last week was 56.84%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for December and the monthly savings total for December comes in at 55.41%.(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week.....1 helping of chicken and dumplings, 1/3 pan of lasagna, 1 helping of Caesar salad, 3 slices of Garlic bread, a little bit of ham, 1/3 of the meatloaf and 1/3 of the pan of mac and cheese.

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

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself

2. Monday--Fried Chicken, leftover Mac and Cheese, Brussels Sprouts

3. Tuesday--leftovers

4. Wednesday--leftovers
5. Thursday--?

6.  Friday--?

7. Saturday--?

What needs buying for this menu?  Nothing. I planned a little but Hubs is going to fix dinner most nights as we'll eat on the leftovers or simple things like sandwiches and he's frying some chicken(which he likes to do a couple times a year)as I picked up a whole fryer yesterday for $3.22.

I don't plan to go into a grocery store again until 2021. 8-)

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

Frugal Friday Again on Saturday....the December 26th Edition

 Even though it's the Day after Christmas let's do the Frugal Friday list!

*  I always give the Brother In-Law a box of food/HBA/toiletries(mostly from my stockpile)for Christmas.  Most years this involves having to wrap and decorate a large cardboard box so the presentation is nice.  I ran out of large wicker or other baskets to use for this purpose years ago and I refuse to buy one anymore.  Add in that my hands don't work some days(arthritic and all)well enough to wrap a cardboard box well enough for it to look nice. ;-)

I came up with the perfect solution this year.  My brother had gifted us an order of Omaha Steaks 2 years ago and I still had this heavy duty styrofoam cooler in the garage from when those arrived.
I put his Christmas goodies in that and put a ribbon/bow around it.  The ribbon was found in one of my Christmas tubs of miscellany.

I recycled the container and passed it off to someone else to deal with. lol

*  I submitted all my receipts from last week to various stores to Ibotta, ShopKick, Fetch and Kellog's to earn points/kicks/rewards/cash depending on what items I bought that qualified for something.

*  On December 19th when leaving Rite-Aid I saw something shiny in a snowbank in the parking lot opposite where I was parked in a vacant parking spot.  The snow removal company from our 12 incher storm did a shitty job of clearing the parking lot so they had to hire someone in a small Bobcat to reshovel the lot that morning.  I backed up my car to the parking spot where I saw the red and gold shiny thing and found this.......

2 small bags of Peppermint Bark chocolate still sealed.  Obviously these fell out of someone's bag somewhere in the parking lot snow after the storm and ended up heaped into this snowbank.  I took a photo of them and sent it to the Assistant Manager and told her where I found them in case someone came in or called the store looking for them so I could turn them in.  So far, no one has tried to claim them so I may have something yummy to have for New Year's Eve. 8-)

*  Hubs and I used our Ollie's coupon on Dec. 18th......

Ollie's typically holds a one night special sale on the Sunday before Christmas and you need this ticket to get into the store and get 25% off toys and Xmas stuff and 15% off everything else in the store.  But with COVID this year and not wanting that sort of crowd this event causes they made the coupon good for a whole week.  Friday was the next to last day to use it so we went out.  Didn't really pick up much(mostly I bought 3 books)as there wasn't much on the list of needs lately.  I did spend $8.95 after discount on foodstuffs but I haven't taken a photo of it and can't for the life of me remember what foods I bought.

*  There was a flurry of last minute shopping at Walmart/Weis/CVS/Rite-Aid and of all places Target too! to finish off the 3 level Ibotta rebate Bonuses.  More on that later.

*  I found money!

I found a penny at Ollie's last Friday.

I found 2 pennies at Rite-Aid last Friday as well.  They were found in different locations in the store so I took separate photos. lolz

I was back at Rite-Aid the next day and found .10¢ on the floor near the register.

On Monday Hubs and I went to Walmart and found another .11¢.  Both in the self-checkout area.

The next day I hit Weis for some last minute foodstuffs and found a penny.

Back to Rite-Aid on Wednesday and I found .11¢ more. This was the week of .11¢ no doubt! lol

And finally on Christmas Eve I found a penny at Weis(PMITA)Markets again under one of the self-checkout machines.

Total Found This Week..... .37¢
Total Found This Year So Far...$53.50

That's about all I can think of for the week ending on December 24th.

What frugal wins did y'all have this past week leading up to Christmas?
Tell us all about it!

Sluggy

Merry Christmas!

I hope y'all have a Merry Christmas!

Here's a little holiday funny.........

Sluggy

Almost Christmas!

 Christmas decor sighting today.........

This is our front door.  The wreath lights up at night.

We put these doggy Holiday stickers on the storm door. 

Feliz Navi-Dog y'all! lol

Now back to make my last Christmas treat, Mexican Wedding Cookies.
More tomorrow.....

Sluggy

Shopping on Monday at CVS & Walmart

There was too much cloud cover last night to get a good look at the "star of Bethlehem" last night but here is a photo of our Christmas tree all lit up.......

Hubs and I went down the mountain to hit a few stores yesterday.

I had a couple of ECBs expiring(again!)before the end of the year which I don't want to worry about using so I did a shop at CVS..........

2 x Dove shampoo(lavender!)on sale=$7.00
2 x Tresemmé shampoo(not on sale)=$9.98
2 x Advil PM on sale=$21.98
4 x Oral-B toothbrushes on sale=$15.96
SubTotal......$54.92

Coupons Used

1 x $3/2 Dove DigitalQ=$3.00
1 x $3/2 Tresemmé DigitalQ=$3.00
2 x $1/1 Advil IPQ=$2.00
1 x $6/4 Crest/Oral-B DigitalQ=$6.00
1 x $1/1 Oral-B toothbrush DigitalQ=$1.00
1 x $3/$12 Hair Care CRT=$3.00
1 x $2/$10 CVS Naproxen CRT=$2.00
1 x $3/$10 Oral Care CRT=$3.00
1 x $1/$6 Manual Toothbrush CRT=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$24.00

$54.92-$24=$30.92

I used $30 in ECBs so paid .92¢+.01¢ sales tax=.93¢ OOP

I earned back $12 in new ECBS($2 Dove, $5 Advil, $5 Oral-B).  I earned a $3 Beauty Buck as well because the shampoos put me over $30 spent for my next BBuck, giving me $23 left in ECBs expiring in January.
I also submitted to Ibotta and earned $4 for buying the Advil putting me closer to the Ibotta Bonus.

Then it was off to Walmart to finish an Ibotta Bonus and do some ShopKicks too........

1 x Kellogg's Jumbo Packs=$4.98
3 x Suave Sleek Shampoos/Conditioner=$5.94
1 x Suave Professional Conditioner=$2.98
1 x Nudges Dog treats=$4.98
1 x Poise pads=$4.84
1 x Propel packets=$1.98
1 x Afrin nasal spray=$4.98
1 x Maggi chicken bouillion=$1.38
2 x Hall's cough drops=$3.28
1 x Delsym cough syrup=$9.88
SubTotal......$45.22

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 Kellogg's Snack Packs IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Poise ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Afrin ManQ=$2.00
1 x $1/50/2 Hall's ManuQ=$1.50
1 x $4/1 Delsym IPQ=$4.00
Coupon Total.......$11.50

$45.22-$11.50=$33.72+.95¢ sales tax=$34.67

I earned back $10.70 on Ibotta plus reached the $5 Ibotta Bonus.

I submitted the receipt to ShopKick and got 4,150 receipt Kicks for buying the Suave, Afrin, Delsym, Nudge dog treats and Kellogg's Snax box plus a Suave hair bundle bonus plus an additional 75 Kicks for scanning various items and for just walking in the store so 4,225 Kicks total which is equal to $16.90.

$15.70+$16.90=$32.60 back in rebates makes this trip an OOP of  $2.07.

.93¢ CVS + $2.07 Walmart=$3.00 OOP but deduct the $4 Ibotta rebate on the Advil at CVS and now both transactions combined are a $1 moneymaker.

Sweet!

I need 9 more rebates on Ibotta to hit the $3 Sled Bonus so I am off to Weis(PMITA)Markets shortly. ;-)  I'll probably not make it to the last Xmas Bonus there but that's ok.
Then it's time to wrap more gifts and make fudge for gifts for neighbors and my Rite-Aid friends.

What's on your agenda today?

Sluggy