My Name is Sluggy......

 ...and I'm an Ibotta addict. ;-)

So I got a $1 Mid Week Bonus for 5 offers.  This is something I could do just at Rite-Aid so I hit up a different Rite-Aid which would have more inventory than mine.  Armed with a $10 off $50 R-A Q, I bought this......

2 x Unisom $10.23 Gold discount=$20.46
3 x Nivea lotion clearance $2.49=$7.47
1 x Hollywood Glam body wash Gold discount=$5.43
1 x Hollywood Glam jelly oil Gold discount=$4.79
3 x Carnation evaporated milk Gold discount=$4.29
2 x Genexa Arnica clearance=$7.48
4 x Extra gum on sale=$4.44

2 x CORE bars(1 blueberry/1 coconut-not pictured)Gold discount=$4.94
Subtotal.......$59.30

Coupons Used

1 x $10 off $50 R-AQ=$10.00

2 x $8/1 Unisom IPQ=$16.00

1 x $3/2 Nivea lotion ManQ=$3.00

1 x $1/1 Nivea lotion ManQ=$1.00

2 x $1/2 Extra gum IPQ=$2.00

Coupon Total......$32.00

$59.30-$32.00=$27.30+.65¢ tax=$27.95

I used Bonus Cash and a piece of R-A gift card to pay.

I earned $19 in new BC($4 Nestle, $10 Hollywood Glam, $5 Unisom).

I also submitted for $18.98 in Ibotta rebates plus the $1 Bonus and a .50¢ Extra Bonus so $20.48 back in cash. (They missed 1 gum pack so I submitted a ticket for that.)

I used $27.95 in BC/gift card, got $39.48 in cash/BC back.

Then I hit my R-A that evening armed with coupons and I got all this.......

8 x U by Kotex 2/$10 sale=$40.00

3 x Carnation evaporated milk Gold discount=$4.77

2 x Nivea lip balm clearance=$3.48

1 x Almay eye shadow clearance=$2.24

1 x Revlon lip gloss clearance=$2.37

SubTotal.......$52.86

Coupons Used

1 x $10 off $50 R-AQ=$10.00

4 x $4/2 Kotex items IPQ=$16.00

1 x $2/2 Nivea lip balm ManQ=$2.00

1 x $3/1 Almay eye item ManQ=$3.00

1 x $3/1 Revlon lip item ManQ=$3.00

Coupons Used.....$34.00

$52.86-$34.00=$18.86

Paid for with $18.86 in Bonus Cash.  Earned back $24.00 in new BC making this transaction a $5.14 moneymaker.

I also earned $5.30 in Fetch points on both receipts.  All that Kotex will be going to the Food Bank when we get back from Alaska.

To recap--

Spent $46.81 in BC/gift card.

Earned $43 in BC, $20.48 in Ibotta rebates and $5.30 on Fetch.

Not a bad couple of trips for my short shopping week.

And I am loaded up on evaporated milk for Pumpkin Pie making season. Woot!

Sluggy

What's Your Story Morning Glory?

It was a beautiful morning(cool for a change)on Sunday.  I happened to go out on the deck and noticed my morning glories were looking pretty darn good.

Lots of blooms!  As their name suggests they bloom in the morning and close up later in the day.  There are over 1,000 varieties of morning glory and they are related to the sweet potato.  The family is Concolvulaceae.

Can you see the pollen grains on the blooms below?

The flowers of the plant last one day before dying and dropping off.  Yet the vines produce oodles of blossoms for your viewing pleasure from late Spring to the first frost.

A close-up of a bloom with lots of pollen grains to entice bees and hummingbirds.

I tried to get a shot of a bee inside the flower above.  You can barely see their tiny bottom in the center of the flower.

Here is the bee leaving the bloom above.  

I haven't planted morning glories here in years since they just reseed themselves now and come back each Spring season.

I made a brief video below touring the vines.  No narration to ruin it but it was a nice quiet morning and the birds were singing.  Take a look....

Do you plant flowers?  Morning Glories perhaps?  They are really a low maintenance plant in my opinion except the vines will take over all your garden if you let them. ;-)

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

  The "Tomatoes-Finally!" Edition...

We finally got the first ripe tomatoes out of the garden.  rah.  Now since we won't be here soon they will all ripen while we are away.  And Ex-College Boy doesn't like tomatoes so he won't come and pick them. lol

Oh, and we are still being inundated by zukes too.....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Leftover fish and one of the zuke sides

2. Monday--BLTs

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Hot Dogs or Brats, Potato Salad, Cuke Salad
5. Thursday--Lasagna, Salad

6.  Friday--not sure yet

7. Saturday--Chinese take-out

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

1. Sunday--Leftover fish and one of the zuke sides

2. Monday--BLTs

3. Tuesday--Leftover fish, and whatever else you could find lol

4. Wednesday--Hot Dogs, Potato Salad, Cuke Salad
5. Thursday--Chinese Takeout

6.  Friday--Lasagna, Salad, Bread

7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself

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

* 4 lbs. of Ground Beef

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

* Hot Dogs

* Bacon

* Cheese

I spent $63.52 on food/toiletries/HBA last week.   This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $131.19 for August so far. 

There are 15 shopping days left in August.

I've earned $155.71 on Ibotta in August.

I've earned $2.25 on Checkout51 in August.

I've earned .75¢ on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in August.

I've earned $24.51 from Aisle.

I've earned 6,699 points from shopping on Fetch in August which equals $6.69.

I've earned 3,465 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in August which equals $13.86.

I've earned 2,367 SB from food shopping on Swagbucks in August which equals $2.36.

That's $158.71 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $131.19 in grocery spending so in reality it's -$27.52 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count until I cash out on the other three apps. 8-)))

My savings percentage for last week was 65.93%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for August and the monthly savings total for August comes in at 67.80%.(w/out R-A).

Leftovers going into this week....a little corn casserole, lasagna.

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

1. Sunday--BLTs, baked sweet potato fries

2. Monday--Grilled Steak, Corn Fritters(using corn casserole leftover, Baked Potato

3. Tuesday--Cheeseburgers, Leftover Potato Salad

4. Wednesday--Fend for Yourself + Zuke
5. Thursday--Fend for Yourself + Zuke

6.  Friday--No Clue

7. Saturday--No Clue

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  We don't need no stinkin' badges groceries. ;-)  There won't be any grocery shopping until September at this point.

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

 

Friday Shopping-Walmart, Target & Rite-Aid

 I had a dr. appointment mid morning on Friday and was attempting to get a blood test done in the same building with a lab.  I got up too early so left then and went to hit Walmart briefly for some Ibotta deals beforehand armed with a $25 free gift card earned from my Fetch account.

1 x RXBar box clearance=$2.00

1 x Glad Flex n/Seal bags=$4.48

1 x Depends Silhouette=$11.97

1 x Success brown rice=$1.96

1 x Goldfish crackers=$1.78

1 x Sensodyne toothpaste (travel size)=$1.47

1 x Pure Protein bar=$2.27

1 x Kraft mac and cheese=.98¢

2 x Super Coffee drinks=$5.74

1 x Cranberry snack boxes=$2.12

1 x Colgate renewal toothpaste=$6.96

2 x Clio yogurt bars=$2.00

2 x Bic highlighters=$3.94

SubTotal.......$47.67

Coupons Used

$3/1 IPQ Silhouette website=$3.00

$2/2 Bic Manu=$2.00

Coupons...$5.00

$47.67-$5=$42.67+.39¢ tax=$43.06-$25 gift card=$18.06

I received back $30.24 in Ibotta rebates and $1.25 in small Bonuses=$31.49 and got 12 of the 15 rebates I needed toward my Weekend Whiteboard $3 Bonus.

I texted this Walmart receipt to Aisle and got $5.50 back in my Venmo account(.50¢ RxBars, $1 Clio, $4 Super Coffee).

I also redeemed for $3 on Coupons dotcom for the Colgate toothpaste and submitted for 600 Kicks from Shop Kick(which is $2.40)for the Sensodyne and the Glad bags.

After the doctor/lab work stuff I hit Target for 2 Aisle items.  My store doesn't carry the Good Culture cottage cheese but they had the Milk protein bars so I got the limit of 5.  I also found ground beef with $5 instant savings stickers on them so got 4 lbs. total of meat for $10.06 or $2.52 per lb. for 85/15% GB.

I paid for all with free Target gift cards and received back $15 for the Milk bars through Aisle(the Milk bars cost $11.50 so $3.50 of that moneymaker helped pay for the beef.). 8)

A quick trip to a different Rite-Aid to finish my weekend rebate turned out strangely.  This is the R-A where I have had register/employee problems before.

The smallish haul......

2 x Pure Zzzs clearance $2.25=$4.50

2 x Unisom simple sleep gummies 20% gold discount=$20.46

1 x Nivea moisturizing face balm 20% gold discount=$6.39

1 x Acidil 20% gold discount=$7.99

2 x Neutrogena Hydro gel face masks 20% gold discount=$5.26

1 x Q-tips clearance=.87¢

SubTotal........$45.47

Coupons Used

1 x $10 of $40 spend Anniversary Q on this card=$10.00

2 x $1/1 Pure Zzzs(1 L2CQ, 1 ManuQ)=$2.00

2 x $8/1 Unisom simple sleep gummies IPQ=$16.00

1 x $1/1 Nivea men's item IPQ=$1.00

1 x $3/1 Acidil IPQ from website=$3.00

1 x $3/1 Neutrogena Hydro item IPQ=$3.00

Coupon Total........$35.00

$45.47-$35.00=$10.47+.30¢ tax=$10.77 paid with Bonus Cash.

Except..........the cashier hit the "payment" button for my BC before she imput ANY of the coupons!

(This store ALWAYS does this no matter the cashier....so aggravating!)  They ALL need training there.

So she used all my BC first($17.98 worth)before taking off the $35.00 in Qs and I ended up with a negative balance of $3.70

Plus one of my Unisom $8 Qs only took off $4.87 on one of the bottles..........

And she handed me a bag of stuff plus this.........

Then I tried to redeem at Coupons dotcom $3 for that second Neutrogena Hydro boost product and it said it didn't qualify(but the paper Q worked perfectly?).  I'll just returnn the second Neutrogena mask and maybe the Unisom that the Q didn't take off the full amount.

I earned $14 in new BC($4 Acidil, $5 wyspend $20 Nivea-had tracking to that one already, $5 wyspend Unisom)So I have $14 in BC and $3.70 in cash whereas if the cashier didn't screw things up(and the $8 Q had "behaved")I 'should' have $21.21 in BC instead so I was shorted $3.51.  Instead of trying to get CS to fix this(they are hopeless)or go back to the store and explain until I turn blue trying get them to understand the transaction shorted me I'll just return a Unisom and the Neutrogena mask. sigh.

But I digress.........

The Pure Zzzs, Acidil and Nivea gave me 4 Ibotta rebates(only needed 3 to get the weekend Bonus)totaling $8 plus the $3 Bonus with no money spent OOP.

The upside of all this is I spent $21.56 in Target gift cards and $18.06 in Cash OOP at Walmart and ended up with--

$42.49 in Ibotta rebates

$20.50 in Aisle rebates

$3.00 from Coupons dotcom

$2.40 from Shopkick

239 points on Fetch

And $3.70 cash at R-A.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the August 13th Edition

Sorry I've been AWOL most of this week.  I just haven't had any "umph" to post lately.  This extended hot spell has done me in and all the little things that need attending to has just been too much(returning emails I still need to get to, editing the ever growing folder of photos from old trips I still haven't posted-2017 anyone?, never did get the August Giveaway up either...., planning this trip and excursions, figuring out what/how to pack everything into one suitcase(I suppose I'll look like an idiot at the Charlotte airport on our layover wearing a hoodie when it's 100 F in August there, since it won't fit in my suitcase. lol).  Just feeling stressed and nervous about the flight to Seattle and uncertain whether they'll cancel the cruise due to Delta variant exploding. I've been wearing a mask(though it's not mandated here)for 3 weeks, taking a "just in case" Covid test tomorrow and will have to take another on Saturday at the dock  in Seattle before they will allow us on the ship.  Worries about one of our party not testing negative and then the cruise has "screwed the pooch" as they say.  I am just apprehensive and my nerves are fraying the closer the trip gets.  I haven't flown since college and it will take quite a few drinks to get me on that plane I think. ;-)

 All I can seem to do is sit in the a/c and pay bills ahead of time and go to Rite-Aid, Walmart and Weis, get blood drawn x 2 in a week(leaving me a lovely bruise on my arm)and attend a doctor's appointment earlier today which went great.  Or I lay in my bed in the a/c with my knee up and watch YouTubes.  Oh and all that stuff about cooking, laundry and some cleaning begrudgingly is getting accomplished.

I just don't feel like I have anything important to say so I am giving everyone a break from listening to me babble on about boring crap or absolutely nothing! If you can't be informative or funny then STFU is my motto.  There!  I went and broke my rule by writing all the above. lolz

Frugal wins.....a few I guess.  Not many photos though this week so please forgive me for that.

*  Brought home stuff from Rite-Aid this week using Bonus Cash(I still haven't spent it all down as it goes against my very fiber to do that but at least I am rolling it ahead. 8-)

*  I've been proactive about paying incoming bills ahead in case we end up floating in the Pacific Quarantined and I can't get home in time to pay stuff when it's due.

*  I did a couple of post Qs this week($8)and a refund at R-A(2/3 in BC back and 1/3 in cash as I used a part of a gift card to pay for something).

*  I found money!

2 dimes in the self-checkout area at Walmart last Friday.

Then early in the week I hit the Mother Lode at R-A.  Between the floor and the register counter(where folks here just leave their change after checking out)I gleaned .44¢.

Total Found This Week.... .64¢
Total Found This Year....$13.67

Besides eating every form of zucchini known to man....Blah blah blah.
That's about all I have to add to the conversation today.  Maybe tomorrow I'll be more talkative(you'd better hope not!)......

How frugal has your week been lately?
Any good wins to tell us about?

Sluggy