Frugal Friday...the July 30th Edition

 Frugal wins here at Chez Sluggy this past week came and went.  Here are the highlights.......

*  The Freeosk machine in Walmart was actually dispensing samples this week.....

Cinnamon mini tarts.  No one has tried them yet so the jury is still out on this product.

*  I found money!

Last Saturday I got a drink at Burger King while I was out pillaging a R-A.  These 3 coins were stuck into the asphalt next to my car at the drivee-thru.  Since the cashier was slow at running my gift card I hopped out of the car and pried them off the driveway.  There were more coins more embedded into the asphalt so next time I'll bring a screwdriver with me! lol

Found this lot around the store at my Rite-Aid and in the foyer there on Monday.

This penny was found on Tuesday at CVS by the register.

Back to R-A for Rx refills on Wednesday and found this lot of coins.

The 3 coins to the left were found again at my R-A on Thursday.  The coin on the right I don't remember where.....Weis maybe or Walmart?  It's been a long week and I can't recall....

Total Found This Week... .32¢

Total Found This Year...$12.78

*  I actually went to CVS(if you saw the penny I got there above)on Tuesday.  I had a freebie digital Q for acetaminophen or ibuprofen but their truck hadn't come in yet this week.

But I did use a $5 off any ice cream digital Q and brought home a pint of my favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor(Cherry Garcia).  It only cost me $1.29.  I'd pay that all day long for this flavor. 8-)))

And speaking of CVS this ECB printed out when I bought the ice cream......

An ECB for THREE CENTS!

Seriously?  What the hell am I suppose to do with that?!?! lolz

*  I've been trying to keep ahead of the cukes and zukes from the garden.

Last Weekend I made pickles.  I need to add more cukes to this jar once we eat these.

And the zukes have made appearances at the table(so far)as tempura spears, in a tomato based dish with lemon pepper chicken and in this......

I had leftover carrot shreds to use up so I shredded 1/3 of a zuke too and threw that into the mixture and voila!....carrot cake.  So moist and full of fruits and veg and nuts it doesn't need frosting.

I see more tempura spears, grilled zuke, a zuke gratin casserole and stuffed zuke waiting in the wings to make their appearances. ;-)

That's about it for the highlights besides some Rite-Aid pillaging(4 cans of Friskies for a $6+ moneymaker? Yes please!).

How was your week?  Any good deals or frugal wins??

Hope y'all have a good weekend!

Sluggy

To-Do List....Yikes! Has it Been THAT Long?

Has it really been April since I did a To-Do List update?  Going through my posts I can only hang my head at being a slacker with this item.

Let's just see what I actually got accomplished in the last 3 months(April, May, June).....maybe I should do this as a quarterly item going forward?

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything has gotten paid in the 2nd quarter and on time or early.

* Read 1 Book  FAIL  I don't know what it is but I just can't seem to read much, let alone a whole book.  No books were completed in the 2nd quarter.  I seem to levitate toward watching YouTube at night right now instead. ;-)

* Get a Renovation Completed  DONE  It took a bit longer but the first big house project is checked off the list.

Go HERE to read about it if you missed that post.

* Hold Giveaways  DONE  I have done two Giveaways in the 2nd quarter.  Traipsing off to have fun with the twins(Kim and Sissie)in May meant that month's giveaway didn't happen this year but we got back into it in June.

April's goodies....

June's goodies.......

* Mail out Giveaways  DONE  All mailed and received.

* Clean out Inserts/Coupon Envie  DONE, sort of.  I didn't do a thorough monthly envelope clean out in a timely manner.  Again, can I blame going off to play with Kim and Sissie for that one? 8-)

*  Plant Garden  DONE  Anybody want zucchini?  Up to my armpits in those now. lolz

* Finish Editing Old Photos  FAIL  Well, I got some of them edited so I can transfer to the new computer but overall I still have too many to do. sigh.  Will keep going with this until I am done so be prepared to see this FAIL again and again on this list. 8-(

* Post about Old Trips  PASS  I got a couple posted but I am still so far behind on this.  Another one that will keep appearing here until I am caught up or dead(which ever comes first).

* Go to Cousin's Funeral in MA  DONE  

It was a trip mixed with sadness and joys.  Met and/or reconnected with some family I haven't seen in ages and spent some time with my Aunt, my only Aunt who turns 87 in August.  Above are my only two cousins left.

* Work on Genealogy  DONE  I am ALWAYS working on something genealogically related.  Might be mine might be someone else's tree but it brings me joy to research and sharpen my skills such that they are.  While in MA for the funeral I did some digging in my hotel room online for my cousin on his paternal side(my Aunt's ex-husband's line).  He said his dad told them that his day(cousin's grandfather)was from Georgia.  Well Georgia was only a 3 generation stop for that line as I found cousin's 3 x Great Grandparents and their parents(the 4 x Greats)were from South Carolina and I found his 4 x Great Grandfather's Revolutionary war service record.  Boy was he excited about all that. 

* Roll/Spend Bonus Cash  DONE  Another ongoing item on this list.  Before the moneymaker cat food Deal appeared this week at Rite-Aid I only had BC on 2 cards.  sigh.  The goal right now is to spend it all down if possible or get it to where it's roll-able come September(as I'll be otherwise occupied in late August).

* Eat down the Freezer/Pantry  PASS  Giving myself a pass on this one.  I have been buying very little freezer foods and since a lot of my canned goods are still in boxes in the living room(moved so we could hold the Stockpile Sale in June)it's easier to see/dig through them.

* Clean out Garage  DONE  It got partially done for the Stockpile Sale but there is still work to be done out there as the weather permits.

* Organize for Stockpile Sale  DONE  got everything ready and priced the night before and just had to open the garage door at the appointed time and place a few planks of wood on chairs on the driveaway for the overflow.

* Hold Stockpile Sale DONE  Held it on two nonconsecutive Saturdays in June.  The first day was very slow(as it was the same day as the local high school graduation ceremony unbeknownst to me!)and the second sale day was the same day as a multi-neighborhood yard sale being held in y community so lots more traffic and I sold a LOT of product that day.  All in all it was a success and after talking to one of my customers, somehow the subject of genealogy came up(imagine that! lol)we found out we were cousins of some ilk as we both have a notorious person in our lineages.

* Take Donation to Food Bank  DONE  I got no photo of the bags of stuff because Hubs took it up while I was at Sissie's house.

* Put Stockpile Leftovers Away  PASS  This is still a work in progress.  I got everything back up in the Guest room....mostly.   There is a new Food Bank Donation pile started in the living room along with the boxes of canned goods that still need to go back in the garage plus the new bags of stuff on the dining room table.  My house has become a processing center for toiletries! lol

Sluggy

Haphazard Gardening at Chez Sluggy

Between unexpected trips this Summer and unexpected critters reeking havoc in the yard you've managed to put in a decent garden showing so far.

Unexpected was the Celosia we grew last year coming back(they are the light green plants).  None of bloomed yet so there is that to look forward to.

We planted striped petunias and coleus but we only got the one colorway as we were late to the nursery this year.

In the background is a decorative kale plant near the tomato plants.  We got green and red tipped ones.

This particular green one has really dwarfed everything else!  It's got to be 18 inches across, a monster!!

And at the back of the flower bed is a line of various types of tomatoes, doing well and getting heavy with fruit.

More Coleus and Petunias around the unknown shrubbery.

We have two half barrels in the back by the deck.  I found a violet plant that wintered over in the back garden bed so I moved it here when we planted the back bed.  There was some lettuce(since picked)and the Morning Glories then started expanding and taking over in here until the deer found it and have munched nearly everything down to the soil. sigh

Fortunately Hubs put a wire cage around the other barrel since I had moved my lavender plant from out front to here.  Some red lettuce came back from the seeds it shed last Summer and of course, the Morning Glories started expanding and overrunning everything.  Hubs ended up putting a netting over the barrel too as the deer found the lettuce and are eating everything that extended above the netting. lol

The lavender plant didn't bloom at all last Summer but it did in early June as you can seen above.  It smelled so great too.

Since the chipmunks dug up all the broccoli plants(making Chester exceedingly sad)the only thing in the back deck garden are tomato plants and morning glories.  The glories just started their never ending blooming late last week and we had about 6 in bloom this morning.

In the backyard garden one lone marigold has survived, along with lots of weeks and a few straggly green beans plants.  There will be no close-ups of the green beans so save Anne's sanity. ;-)

In the other bed the cukes are hanging over onto the walkway in their and the zuke plants are climbing the fence believe it or not. lol  My version of "Where's Waldo?" this Summer is "Where's the Zuke?"

If you look closely you'll see two almost ready to pick.  sigh. sigh. sigh.  Planting more than ONE zucchini plant should be against the law....am I right?  

This pot of min-petunias I bought Spring of 2020.  When Fall came I had Hubs put it in the garage in a garbage bag, thinking I'd reuse the pot next Spring.

Well we go to get it out and the plant was still alive!  I trimmed it back some and we kept it watered until the rains hit and it's growing mini-petunias again.  You can't see the color well in this shot but it was a nice surprise!

That's about all that's growing around here.

How are your gardening efforts going?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Garden is Finally Producing!" Edition...

Here is a massive jar of pickles I made on Friday using the first 4 cucumbers we got out of the garden.  We are up to our ears in Zucchini now...gave 2 away to a neighbor and 1 to Ex-College boy when he came over for dinner on Friday.  I used 2/3 of another zuke for dinner I night but we've still got 2 more zukes plus that 1/3 of one left.  Time to take out all those zucchini recipes! lolz

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Sissie's "Mustgo" dinner(leftovers)

2. Monday--?

3. Tuesday--?

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

6.  Friday--?

7. Saturday--?

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

1. Sunday--Sissie's "Mustgo" dinner(leftovers)

2. Monday--Homemade Chinese Food(soup, eggroll, fried rice)

3. Tuesday--Chinese Take-Out(I had Hot/Sour Soup)

4. Wednesday--Leftovers or Cherries(Hubs leftover Spaghetti, me Cherries)
5. Thursday--Tempura Zucchini(Hubs also had leftover rice and beans)

6.  Friday--BBQ sandwiches w/Cole Slaw

7. Saturday--Salmon, Au gratin Taters, Green Beans(from garden)

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

* nothing?

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

* 2 bags of Smoked Pork

* 1 hunk of Salmon

I spent a whopping $128.95 on food/toiletries/HBA last week.  This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $433.12 for July.   Over my $400 limit.  Oh well....

There are 5 shopping days left in July.

I've earned $259.10 on Ibotta in July.

I've earned $10.00 on Checkout51 in July.

I've earned $27.43 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in July.

I've earned 16,054 points from shopping on Fetch in July which equals $16.05.

I've earned 4749 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in July which equals $18.99.

I've earned 4,210 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in July which equals $42.10(I returned something because they denied my receipt so I deducted those points.)

That's $296.53 in rebates(not counting the ShopKick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $433.12 in grocery spending so in reality it's $136.59 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count until I cash out on the other three apps.

My savings percentage for last week was 46.70%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for July and the monthly savings total for July comes in at 52.61%.(w/out R-A).

Leftovers going into this week....1 piece of salmon, 1 helping of green beans, cole slaw, au gratin taters, 4 tempura zuke strips, 2-3 helpings of bbq.

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

1. Sunday--Subway or Leftovers

2. Monday--Pizza, Salad

3. Tuesday--Roasted Chicken, Veg TBD, leftover 

Taters

4. Wednesday--Clam Chowder, Biscuits
5. Thursday--No Clue(Hubs night to cook)

6.  Friday--Leftovers or Chicken Salad Sandwiches

7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Potatoes is all, and Hubs wants hot dog rolls(for lunches).  That's it.  Maybe I can stay out of the grocery stores this week(except for the rotisserie chicken).

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

 

And the Winner of the July Giveaway Is....

Sorry I didn't get this posted on Saturday but life......

So I used Random dot org to pick the winner and that would be......

Jen G.!

Jen G.July 18, 2021 at 8:39 PM

The pool is finally set up and so far a few inches of water! I’m turning the hose off soon but will continue filling tomorrow.

Jen G.

Congratulations Jen.  You have 48 hours from the time stamp when this post goes live to email me your full name and mailing address.

Thanks to everyone who played this month and I'll have another giveaway up early in August.

Have a great rest of your Weekend!

Sluggu