It's A Special Giveaway Brought to You From Alaska!

 Who's ready for the Eighth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2021?!?

It's September already and the warm weather of Summer is going to be a distant memory soon.  I've got something different for this month's giveaway.

Let's take a look at what is in the Giveaway Box this month........it's all stuff I bought and shoved in my overflowing suitcasse or got for free on the trip to Alaska(or a travel item or in some way associated with the trip).  Since y'all didn't go with us, I am bringing the trip to y'all! 8-)))

2 x Starbucks dark roast ground coffee bags(Starbucks was available on the cruise ship--sell by Jul 28/21 but really, does coffee go bad?)

1 x Park West water bottle(the company selling art on the cruise)

1 x Park West pouch on a string(like a lanyard)

1 x travel Gillette deodorant

1 x travel Suave shampoo

1 x travel Dove body wash

1 x travel Vaseline lip balm

1 x travel Sensodyne toothpaste

1 x Nestle hot cocoa pack(from the buffet restaurant)

1 x Werther's sugar-free caramels pack

1 x NCL branded pencil(used for playing trivia games)

1 x NCL paper straw(3 sucks and these things collapse)

1 x Alaska Airlines cracker pack(Sky Bits)

1 x granite rock taken from on top of Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau

1 x NCL gaming token(use in the pusher game)

1 x NCL cruise t-shirt(size XL-I won this playing games)

1 x Seattle Chocolates(came in our Alaska Air meal)

1 x Lipton Cinnamon Apple tea bag(from the buffet)

1 x Alaska branded pencil

1 x American Airlines mini pretzel bag

1 x NCL deck of playing cards(I won these playing games)

1 x pack reg. mouth Ball canning lids(Seriously these things are like gold! lately)

1 x TEMSCO helicopter co. sticker

1 x Sanitizing wipe from American Airlines

1 x pack of Alaskan Fireweed wildflower seeds

1 x cork coaster from Ketchikan Alaska

1 x NCL drink cozie(Another of my winnings)

1 x Extra gum pack(Polar Ice flavor)hehehe the flavor

Close up shots of these goodies.....

And the front of the t-shirt

Depending on where you shop, the winnings have a reg. retail value of approximately "priceless!".

Here's how this is going to work.....

* The giveaway is open to ALL readers, previous winners or not.

* There is a limit of ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER DAY.  Come back each day to enter again.

* Only VALID entries will be posted.  A Valid entry is a limit of one per day and I MUST HAVE VALID CONTACT INFORMATION FOR YOU(either you are on the Giveaway Contact List which I maintain, your comment is connected to a Google/Blogger profile which links to your email address or you email me directly(my email is in the side bar on the Blog)your email address.

IF YOU ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AND DON'T SEE YOUR COMMENT It's because I'll be offline some of the next 2 weeks and won't post entries until I am back online.

From all the VALID entries I receive I'll pick a winner at random and the winner has 48 hours from when the post goes live to contact me with their full mailing address.

In your entries I'd like to hear where is the furthest you've traveled for a vacation, the craziest thing you did on vacation, the most fun thing you did on a vacation, your favorite place to go or thing to do/see on a vacation, some place you have always wanted to go on vacation, etc.

If you are on my Giveaway emails list just leave a comment and your name(with last name initial please)to enter. If you aren't on the Giveaway emails list make sure you leave your email in your comment OR email me your email privately after you leave a comment(my email is in the side bar area under "About Me").
I'll leave this giveaway open until September 27th, Monday at 11:59 pm Eastern  Daylight Savings Time. On September 28th, Tuesday, I'll draw the winning entry and post the Winner that evening or so.

*Please note these rules*
I'll post the name/ID of the winners on this blog on  and those persons have 48 hours from the time stamp on that post to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page, as well as on my side bar).

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.  As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten too high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies.  I pay for it all(the cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one make sure your email info is linked to your profile.

So let's get this Giveaway started. Good luck to everyone!!!

Alaska Bound Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

  The "Felt Ambitious(Sort of)" Edition...

I thought I'd try to replicate the cruise entreé of Pecan Crusted Salmon from the cruise ship I had one night.  I took a hunk of salmon out of the freezer and found a recipe and I got the taste pretty close.  Of course it would have tasted better if I hadn't had to cook it and has it served to me on a cruise ship instead. lol

I served said salmon with home grown green beans sautéed in a little teriyaki sauce.  It was a yin/yang of flavors meal. 

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Spaghetti w/Chicken Meatballs, Salad, Garlic Bread

2. Monday--Fend for Yourself or Take-out Subs

3. Tuesday--Lobster, COC

4. Wednesday--Cook-out Foods
5. Thursday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, Green Beans

6.  Friday--BLTs

7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY

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

1. Sunday--Spaghetti w/Chicken Meatballs, Salad, Garlic Bread

2. Monday--Burger King(I had a chicken sandwich and watermelon.)

3. Tuesday--Pecan Crusted Salmon, Teriyaki Green Beans

4. Wednesday--Lobster, COC
5. Thursday--BLTs

6.  Friday--BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw

7. Saturday--Chicken Quesadillas, Strawberries

I got a deal on a pork butt last week so smoked it, putting 2 bags/meals worth in the freezer for Winter eating.  The pork tenderloin sammies move to this week since they didn't happen last week.

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

* 1 pack grilled chicken strips

* Tomatoes from garden

* Broccoli crowns

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

* Chicken Meatballs

* Salmon

I spent $59.64 on food/toiletries/HBA last week at Walmart, Target and Weis.  This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $182.46 for September so far. 

Wednesday's lobster meal was our meal out substitute so I am not counting that spending in grocery but in eating out budget.

There are 17 shopping days left in September.

I've earned $112.85 on Ibotta in September.

I've earned $3.30 on Checkout51 in September.

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

I've earned $4.50 from Aisle.

I've earned 2490 points from shopping on Fetch in September which equals $2.49.

I've earned 8,120 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in September which equals $32.48.

I've earned 13,310 SB from food shopping on Swagbucks in September which equals $13.31.

That's $124.65 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $182.46 in grocery spending so in reality it's $57.81 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 61.44%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for September and the monthly savings total for September comes in at 48.40%.(w/out R-A).

Leftovers going into this week....1 helping of bbq, filling for 1 quesadilla, some grilled chicken breast(for chicken salad or on top of a salad for a lunch),some salad greens and tomatoes for days and days. ;-)

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

1. Sunday--Chinese Take-out

2. Monday--FFY

3. Tuesday--Pork Tenderloin Sammies, Broccoli

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

6.  Friday--?

7. Saturday--?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Nothing.  I'll be out of town half the week and Hubs will be left to his own devices.  I'll make a pot of spaghetti sauce out of some of the garden bounty to leave him to use as he sees fit and as long as the bacon holds out he'll be eating BLTs too.

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

 

Stacking Ibotta Bonuses & Other Rebate Apps

 I needed 7 offers to finish the $10 Sunflower Bonus and I got a $5 Weekend Bonus on 15 offers(I had bought a Genexa and a SinusCalm items at Rite-Aid on Thursday(clearance priced at $2.99 and $2.75)as part of a Spend $50/Get $10 off coupon Deal and spent Zero OOP(used Bonus Cash)so I only needed 13 more offers for the Weekend Warrior Bonus and had $4.50 worth of rebates already.

So I went to Walmart and bought this.........

1 x Daisy cottage cheese=$3.12
1 x OS cranberries=$2.08
1 x Dave's Killer Bread=$4.64
1 x Barilla pasta=$1.28
1 x Breakstone cottage cheeses doubles=$1.06
1 x Helluva onion dip=$1.98
1 x Sheila's Brownie Brittle=$2.88
1 x Softsoap hand soap=$1.98
1 x Rimmel mascara=$3.97
1 x Rimmel face powder=$3.97
1 x Revlon lipstick=$4.97
2 x Greek Gods qt. yogurt=$8.96*only 1 in photo*
2 x Degree stick men's deo=$8.54
1 x Degree stick women's deo=$4.27
1 x Finish dishwasher cleaner=$3.77
2 x Bertolli marinara sauce=$5.96
2 x Werther's sugar-free caramel packs=$2.96
1 x Breyer's cookies and cream ice cream=$3.88*not in photo*
1 x Klondike cookies and cream ice cream bars=$3.27*not in photo*

Subtotal....$73.54

Coupons Used came to $10.78(really was $10.50 but I had .28 overage for an AirWick plug in Q I used but wasn't a rebate/app deal so not pictured here).

$73.54-$10.78=$62.75
I used a $25 free gift card earned from ShopKick bringing the total to $37.76+$1.64 tax=$39.40 OOP.

I earned back $36.50 on Ibotta, $8.78 back on ShopKick, $1.46 on Fetch, $9.10 on Swag Bucks, $3.30 on Checkout51.
This meant $39.80 back on Ibotta and Checkout51 for spending $39.40 OOP.  Plus another $19.34 back on the 3 apps I get the free gift cards from.  A .40¢ or a $19.74 moneymaker depending on how you look at it.
And that's not counting the $4.50 in Ibotta rebates earned on Thursday. 8-)))

I tried to just buy things we needed/would use(well I didn't need onion dip or brownie brittle and the Breyer's ice cream is for Ex-College Boy as it's his favorite flavor).  The few toiletries I got will go into Giveaway boxes or be used as gifts(Christmas is coming in 15 weeks!).

It was a strong rebating weekend for me.
How did y'all do?

Sluggy

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

 With the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the disastrous pull-out of US forces from Afghanistan recently this song from 1967 has been an ear worm in my head........

Sluggy

Frugal Friday 2021.....the September 10th Edition

 I've been gone all day running errands and I am bushed!  So this will be a brief Frugal report.

*  We cooked/ate at home all week, except for Labor day.  Tried to use a gift card for Subway but they had the nerve to be CLOSED on Monday! humph  So Hubs got us Burger King and forgot to use the gift card.  #fugalfail

*  I did a teeny tiny bit of shopping to finish off some Ibotta rebates this week at Walmart and Rite-Aid(as always the R-A stuff cost me "nada").

*  I got a bunch of food bank stuff gathered but didn't get it up to the church where it's housed.  I suppose I'll dump it all into Hubs car before I take off for Virginia next week.

*  I jumped on a great deal with NCL and Hubs and I are off on another cruise in December to the Caribbean mon!  Ok, so it's not that frugal but we did get 4 extras and the flights to Miami thrown in so I'm calling this a win. ;-)

*  We only needed to use the a/c 1 day last week, and all laundry was done during off peak hours so the electric bill will be lighter in September(maybe). 

* I found money!

Last Friday these 3 pennies were next to my car in the parking lot of Walmart.

On Tuesday I found this dime under my self-checkout at the Walmart in the town South of here and the penny in the foyer as I was leaving the store.

Money Found This Week... .14¢
Money Found This Year.....$15.13

What frugal wins did you have this week?
Let us know what went down in your world this past week!

Sluggy