This Week on the Dining Table

  The "Ex-College Boy's Birthday" Edition....

This photo of Ex-CB was taken in the Fall of 2011 when he was in 9th grade.  No adult was there to tell him to fix his hair....really?!?

At the time I was NOT amused having to pay money for THIS school photo but now it's a funny, cherished memory. lolz

Let's all wish him a Happy 25th Birthday!

Onward to the meal planning!

Moving On-

This is what was planned....

1. Sunday--Chinese take-out V-Day

2. Monday--Rotisserie Chicken, Assorted leftover Sides, Salad

3. Tuesday--Beef/Mushroom Stroganoff, Rice

4. Wednesday--Chicken Chow Mein, Rice, Crunchy Noodles
5. Thursday--Hubs cooks(Caesar salad w/chicken?)

6.  Friday--Mac and Cheese w/Ham, sauteed Cabbage

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

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

1. Sunday--Chinese take-out V-Day

2. Monday--Rotisserie Chicken, Assorted leftover Sides, Salad

3. Tuesday--Leftover Chinese

4. Wednesday--Frozen Pizza
5. Thursday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Tossed Salad

6.  Friday--Beef Stew, Biscuits

7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 night of leftovers/planned overs or FFY, 1 night of frozen pizza and 1 night of Take-Out/Eating Out.

Mostly everything planned was cooked/served except the canned chow mein and the mac and cheese w/ham.  The London Broil I thawed for the Stroganoff was huge so I only used half of it for that and I had everything to make a Beef stew so I used the other half and made that.  Because of the timing Hubs got off without cooking on Thursday(I cooked both Wed. and Thurs. meals on Wed. and we just put the finishing touches/heated up the stew on Thursday.

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

* 1 frozen Pizza

* 1 pack Puff Pastry

* 1 carton Ice Cream

* 1 bag of Scallops

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

*  1 large London Broil

*  1 frozen Pizza

We spent $74.92 on food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods last week-2 trips to Weis and 1 trip to Walmart. This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Grand Total to $143.85 for February.  I am shocked that my food spending is so low at this point in Feb.  I may not even crack $200 at this point which would be amazing!  I know we've used many pantry old dogs and things from the freezer so it makes sense for the spending to be so low.

There are 6 shopping days left in February.  

I've earned $48.72 on Ibotta in February.

I've earned $00 on Checkout51 in February.

I've earned $4.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in February.

I've earned 5,101 points from shopping on Fetch in February.

I've earned 12,483 point from food shopping on Shop Kick in February.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in February.

My savings percentage for last week was 46.49%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for February and the monthly savings total for February comes in at 59.94%.(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week--mac and cheese, stroganoff, rice, beef stew, biscuits.  I also used leftover rotisserie chicken to make chicken salad(using for lunches).  If we don't eat all the mac and cheese/stroganoff/stew this coming week, whatever is left will be put into the freezer for use sometime in March.

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

1. Sunday--Leftover Mac and Cheese w/added Ham, sauteed Cabbage

2. Monday--Leftover Stroganoff, Rice, Spinach Souffle 

3. Tuesday--Seafood/Mushroom/Asparagus in Pastry w/Cheese Sauce, side Salad

4. Wednesday--Chicken Chow Mein w/added Veggies, Rice, Crunchy Noodles
5. Thursday--Leftover Beef Stew and Biscuit

6.  Friday--Not sure what ExCB wants for his Birthday Dinner yet on his day off, Cake

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?

Maybe a cuke, some grape tomatoes for Tuesday's meal.  And I don't know yet what Friday or Saturday will bring but that's it for missing ingredients.  So it might be a very low spend week except...I started the $10 Feb. Funds Bonus on Ibotta and I need 21 more items to finish it for the $10 extra.  If the weather cooperates and I can find 21 items we need/want for cheap I'll finish that before the end of the month.

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?  Not such great deals here unless I go to the discount food outlet.

Sluggy

 

Frugal Friday.....the February 19th Edition, on Saturday

The more I do, the behinder I get some days.  I wanted to mention the R-A deals before the week was over(and the Spend $50/Get $15 Bonus Cash Q expired)so I posted that on Friday instead.

So here is the Frugal Friday post a day later than usual.......

*  My Weis(PMITA)Markets Points were expiring last Sunday so I used 100 of them to get .10¢ off each gallon of gas I bought.  I only earned 154 pts. in the last 6 week period since I didn't shop there much and you have to use them in 100 increments so .10¢ off gas was the best I could do.

I went on Saturday and saved a whole .54¢ since I had half a tank still in my car.  Hey, .54¢ is .54¢, right?

*  I already posted about my Walmart trip....

Spent $17.37 OOP and earned back $26.65 in cash rebates there.

*  I also cashed out some Shop Kick points to purchase a $25 Walmart gift card before checking out at Walmart which brought my OOP on the previous shop down by that amount. 8-)

*  And my Rite-Aid trips.........

Spent Zero OOP and earned back $21.70 in cash rebates and $66 in Bonus Cash.

*  I found money!

After getting the discounted gas on Saturday I swung by Mickey D's for an iced tea.  When I stopped at the first window to pay I saw change on the ground so I opened my door while waiting on the cashier and scooped up this dime and quarter.  Yay!

On Tuesday I was chatting with my friend in the R-A break room while she ate her lunch and found this penny tucked under the fridge in there.

When I was leaving Walmart on Wednesday I spied this abandoned penny peeking out from under a candy rack.  He came home with me of course!

Found Money This Week... .37¢

Found Money This Year.... .89¢

*  Last Friday Hubs and I hit the P and R Outlet again since we were over that way.  Mostly we bought lunchmeats, cheese plus produce and oatmilk.

Here are the freebies they were giving out that day--bags of pork rind snacks and 8 pack boxes of kids crackers.  I think these cracker are cheese flavor so they will be eaten at Chez Sluggy or I can give them to Ex-CB.

*  I returned some items to Rite-Aid last week that weren't needed/wanted.........

They give back cash instead of BC when you have paid with Bonus Cash now so I got a cash refund of $17.08 which went into my "Refunds/Post Coupon" envelope to be added back into my grocery funds at the end of 2021.

That's about it from here.

What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?

Sluggy

Walmart & Rite-Aid This Week Between Snowstorms

We had a bright sunny day on Wednesday and I had a $3 Ibotta Bonus if I bought 15 items mid-week.

So I bought this at Walmart on Wednesday, but not without a few hiccups......

2 x Trident gum=$2.24 *not pictured*
2 x Scott tissues=$1.72-.75¢=$.97
1 x Poise pads=$4.84-$2 Q=$2.84 **
1 x Alka-Seltzer gum=$4.24-$2 Q=$2.24
1 x Core protein bar=$2.24
2 x Chobani flips=$2.44
1 x Ocean Spray juice boxes=$2.98
1 x Bic Soleil razor=$4.92 **
1 x Power-Ade Ultra=$1.00
4 x Renuzit cones=$3.88-$1/4 Q=$2.88
2 x Ritz toasted Chips=$5.36
1 x Pringles scorchin' chips=$1.48
1 x Malt o Meal Crunch cereal=$3.48
1 x Malt o Meal Spooners cereal=$4.12
1 x Palermo pizza=$5.00-$3/1 Q=$2.00  *not pictured*
2 x Mead folders on clearance=.50¢  *not pictured*

Subtotal=$41.69+.68¢ tax=$42.37

I used a free $25 Walmart gift card(earned through Shop Kick)so paid $17.37 OOP.

I earned $18.57 on Ibotta.
I earned $1.29 rebate for one of the packs of Trident on Coupons dotcom.
I earned 1300 Shop Kick points*equal to $5.20* for the Malt o Meal cereals.
I earned 1590 Fetch points*equal to $1.59* for the Poise pads.

Hiccups were.....

* I didn't read the Ibotta Poise offer correctly.  It changed from a buy 1 to buy 2 on my account so it didn't count there but I still got Points and finished a Bonus for it on Fetch.

* I had both a women's and a men's Bic razor in my order but neither of the $3/1 IPQs would scan and the cashier wouldn't push them through. waa waa  So I put back the higher priced men's razor and just got the women's razor.  I "should" have bought enough items for the mid week Bonus just at Walmart but without the Poise and the men's Bic I was two items short.

So I hit Rite-Aid and bought this................

2 x R-A insoles BOGO50%=$3.73
1 x DSC 6 blade shave kit w/Gold discount=$7.99
1 x DSC 4 blade shave kit w/Gold discount=$5.59
1 x KY lube w/Gold discount=$13.59
1 x Schick Hydro razor kit w/$3 off=$7.99
1 x Schick Hydro refills w/Gold discount=$12.79
2 x Dove mini chocolates=.78¢
SubTotal.......$52.46

Coupons Used
1 x Spend $50/Get $15 BC Q
1 x $5/1 KY lube=$5.00
1 x $4/1 Schick razor L2CQ=$4.00
Coupon Total......$9.00

$52.46-$9.00=$43.46=$1.83 tax=$45.29 paid for with a combination of Bonus Cash and free gift cards.
I earned back $28 in new BC($15 wys $50, $3 wyb2 insoles, $5 KY, $5 wys $20 Schick).
I also earned 2300 Shop Kicks*equals $9.20 for the DSC items.
I earned $10 in Ibotta(2 x $3 Schick, $1 Schick  Bonus plus the $3 mid-week Bonus).

Then I bought this on my card.........

2 x Nivea lotion on sale=$11.98
1 x Ensure shakes on clearance=$2.37
2 x Nature's Truth Melatonin BOGOFree=$12.99
2 x Nature's Truth Turmeric BOGOFree=$15.49
2 x Nature's Truth Elderberry BOGOFree=$11.99
SubTotal......$54.82

Coupons Used
1 x $15BC wys $50
1 x $2.50/1 Nivea L2CQ=$2.50
1 x $2/1 Nivea IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Ensure ManuQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.....$6.50

$54.82-$6.50=$48.32+.45¢ tax=$48.77 paid for with Bonus Cash and free R-A gift card.

I earned $38 in new BC($15 wys $50, $20 wys $40 Nature's Truth, $3 wyb2 Nivea).
I also earned $2 rebate on Coupons dotcom for buying Nature's Truth.
I earned 50 pts*equals .50¢ in Fetch total for both R-A receipts.

To recap--

I spent $17.37 OOP.
I earned back the equivalent of $47.90 in cash back between coupons and all rebate apps.

Here are my referral codes if anyone wants to join up-
Ibotta  mkaaxa
Fetch  GC73D
ShopKick  FUN260238

Sluggy

February Giveaway Winner!

Sorry for posting this so late on Thursday.  What can I say but stuff happens. 8-)

Here is what was given away this month.

There were 12 valid Giveaway comments so I put that number into Random Generator and that picked the winner......

Mountain Girl/Paula M

Mountain Girl/Paula MFebruary 14, 2021 at 7:19 PM

Something about me--I grew up in Western Pa. I left when I was 18. Most of my family still lives there. I love living in the Blue Ridge Mts. of N.C.
Mountain Girl/Paula M.

Congratulations Paula M!

You have 48 hours from when this post goes live to contact me with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize. (My email addy is on the side bar under "About Me".)

If the Boring Blog Giveaway Box is not claimed within that time I'll choose another winner for February.

Thanks for everyone who entered and the entertainment your comments provide me too. ;-)

Come back next month so another Giveaway!

Sluggy

January To-Do List Update, Giveaway Info & End of Last Week's Rite-Aid Transactions

 I forgot to include this action item I accomplished in January on that To-Do List.......

I went through all my coupon inserts.  The stack on the right are the ones to be pitched as most if not all the Qs in there had expired.
The cut coupons on the left are the still good Qs I actually cut out of the inserts and tucked them in my coupon envelope that comes to the store with me.

I also cleared out the coupon envelope of all expired coupons in there.  That's the stack above.  Boy, did my envelope feel a lot lighter after that! lol

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There are a few folks who tried entering the giveaway whom I have NOT approved/posted their entries/comments yet.  

If you left a comment and still don't see it, it means I have no contact info(your email addy)for you or it wasn't linked to your Google account on the Blogger platform.  Please email me from your email addy to have your entry count as valid/approved.  
The drawing is tomorrow so get to it! 8-)

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And here's the last batch of transactions I did at Rite-Aid on 2 different cards the end of last week......

I bought 4 boxes of low dose aspirin on each card to roll some expiring BC.  The Bayer was on sale BOGO50% off so $5.53 per pair of boxes.  Every pair also gave back $5 in Bonus Cash so I spent down the BC after new BC by $1.06 per card for 4 boxes.  That's under .27¢ per box on something we use here for heart health.  I'll take this deal all day long.

Sluggy