Well part of the living room is done and presentable.........
The tree is fully decorated and the corresponding tubs are back upstairs.
And the wall of tp and mailing boxes are gone. I still have to move crap from the other side of the room, then vacuum the rug and clean the wood floor in here.
No progress on the dining room as it is wrapping central right now. I should have everything boxed and bagged by tonight so I can clear that room out and set it up for dinner.
All the food has been procured and I am about to start the boiling of the ham(a long slow procedure)so I can bake it tomorrow so it's nice and chilled for Christmas.
More tunes to get y'all into the Holiday Spirit........
This "Messiah" aria was in my performance repertoire during my short lived career as an operatic/choral singer and is still a favorite for Christmastime.
And now for my personal tradition due to my redneck Southern roots......
And now from the ridiculous to the sublimey fun......
So here are a few of the frugal-ish things that happened during the last 2 weeks, both here and while we were away being "tortured" on a cruise. lololz
* I haven't cooked a single meal in 2 weeks. How is that frugal? Well, I've been using up some of my free food gift cards and doing intermittent fasting as well. I've taken off nearly all the weight I gained on vacation. Yay.
* We won lots of "plastic prizes".......
The wooden pens are very nice. Just call us Trivia Sharks....
* We got a free bottle of champagne on the cruise which I gave to my brother to bring home. Instead of carefully packing it in his checked luggage he decided to put it in his carry on bag and TSA confiscated it. Had I know he'd pull that bonehead move I'd had packed it MY checked bag then given it to him when we got to his house. Oh well....
* Speaking of champagne I played a group game in the Atrium one night and I made a fan, some random women watching the game and she gave me an even bigger bottle of champagne as she enjoyed my performance. Luckily I didn't give that bottle to my brother and it made it home with me. ;-)
* I saved over $600 on the cruise due to a bad incident(more on that later).
* We brought my brother and his wife their Christmas presents when we drove down to VA to take the plane so we didn't have to pay to ship them later. ;-)
* I took advantage of free ship credit offer on a future cruise while on the ship. We have 4 years to use the deposit monies on this offer. I think that's doable....what do you say Kim and Sissie?
* We took snacks with us on the airport days to save on food. Airport food prices are ridiculous as you are a captive audience.
* I found money!
This two weeks worth(and we were traveling for one of those weeks). I can't recall exactly what was found where....multiple Rite-Aids, at Mickey D's Drive throughs, in Airports, on the Cruise Ship at Casino Cashier area, Walmart at home, R-A at home, etc(I'll try to remember when I blog about the vacation later)so here's a photo of it all......
Total Found in last 2 Weeks...... $1.17 Total Found This Year......$21.32
That's about all I can remember and my phone has been acting up(I think it's phone Tourette's)so this will have to do.
Any frugal wins for anyone else out there?
And now, another Christmas song of the day , favorite version of this song..........
Incidentally, the lyrics to this song were written by someone who lived in my neck of the Pennsylvania woods, Richard Smith. A Honesdale, PA native.
He was being treated for TB in the West Mountain Sanitorium in Scranton, PA in 1934 where he wrote the lyrics. Dick Smith relapsed and died of the disease in 1935 on his birthday in NYC. He never lived to see the classic his song would become.
I jumped back into Ibotta rebating this week at Walmart(and used some Bonus Cash at R-A to get rebates as BC was expiring). I spent $32.55 OOP at Walmart on all this. I had $40 in free gift cards as well that I used. I earned $37.90 back on Ibotta counting Weekend Bonus, 5,415 pts.($5.41)on Fetch and ? on ShopKick(the app won't open right now but it was about 500 pts.).
I used 1 coupon and get a pair and complained when the app and shelf price was $1.97 on the baby wipes but they rang up $2.12. Got the difference back so the total spend was a bit lower than I am reporting. ;-)
$32.55 spent and $37.90 back in Ibotta rebates works for me! lol
Onward to the meal planning!
1. Sunday--No Plan
2. Monday--No Plan
3. Tuesday--No Plan
4. Wednesday--No Plan 5. Thursday--No Plan
6. Friday--No Plan
7. Saturday--No Plan
And this is what really happened.......
1. Sunday--traveling, a shake at Shake Shack, small box of granola in airport somewhere
2. Monday--Stargate Diner in DE(traveling some more)
3. Tuesday--Chinese take-out(I had soup.)
4. Wednesday--Fend for Yourself 5. Thursday--Red Lobster(shrimp lunch)
6. Friday--Taco Bell(cheesy Gordita box which lasted me 3 meals)
7. Saturday--leftover Taco Bell or FFY
What got put into the freezer last week....
* 2 pints of Ice Cream
* 1 bag of Brussels Sprouts
What got taken out of the freezer and used...
* Nothing
I spent $92.35 on food/toiletries/HBA the last 2 weeks(half of that total was a Virginia salt cured ham for Christmas). This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $92.35 for December. That's what happens*a low spend*when you leave town for half that time and don't cook. lolz
There are 12 shopping days left in December.
I've earned $57.22 on Ibotta in December.
I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in December.
I've earned $0 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in December.
I've earned 5,926 points from shopping on Fetch in December which equals $23.70.
I earned ? points from food shopping on Shop Kick in December which equals $?. The app keeps closing on me this morning.
I've earned 1,116 SB from food shopping on Swagbucks in December which equals $11.16.
I've earned $4.20 from food shopping on Tada in December.
That's $57.22 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Tada/Fetch)on $92.35 in grocery spending so in reality it's $35.13 spent after the 4 rebate apps I count. Yay me.....
My savings percentage for the last 2 weeks was 42.77%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)and the monthly savings total for Decembercomes in at 42.77% so far(w/out R-A).
Leftovers going into this week....nothing.
Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--take-out Pizza and Salad
2. Monday--FFY as we are going to Red Lobster for lunch
3. Tuesday--?
4. Wednesday--? 5. Thursday--?
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?
I am flying by the seat of my pants this week and may actually be forced to cook something. Oh the horror! ;-)
What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu? No clue. I'll try to dig through what is here and come up with some odd meals to use stuff up.
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?
I may go back today as I have a purchase based coupon($9 off $45)to use before the 23rd, but here is what left Rite-Aid this week and ended up at Chez Sluggy.....
2 x bags of Jordan Almonds 6 x 3 packs of Irish Spring soap 1 x Vera Wang Cologne 2 x Suave shampoo 1 x Refresh shampoo(on clearance) 1 x Sky Organics Bentonite Clay mask 3 x Lipton iced tea w/lemon packets 4 x Red chocolate bars 3 x Twix candy bars 1 x Reese dark chocolate cups 16 x R-A batteries 2 x Diet Cokes(not pictured)
This was all done over 4 cards(well 3 cards except I used the 4th card to do the batteries again). I had 3 x $3 off $15 spend on various cards so those were used as well. The only other Q I used was on the Refresh shampoo($2.50/1).
Total spent.....$102.98 paid with Bonus Cash Total earned back.......$84.00 in BC, $4 on Ibotta(Vera Wang, Sky Organics), $4 on SwagBucks(Red chocolate bars), 360 pts on Fetch($3.60)equaling $95.60 back in various rebates. This means I "spent" BC of $7.38 on all the above.
Most of this is Xmas fodder or food bank items, but not the Jordan Almonds or Vera Wang as I love me both of those things. ;-)
Remember that your couponing stockpile is a great! source for small gifts, making gift baskets of items or stocking fillers for the Holidays(as well as for donation items like food banks, shelters, angel trees, etc.). No need to hand over that green cash when you have a giving heart and a stockpile. Just sayin'...
Here is one of the Youtubers I follow, "Couponing with Crystle". She hit the nail on the head with this video HERE
One week to go but don't stress out if you are behind. Give yourself some grace and just scale it back this year.
Now here is the daily Christmas song and have a great day no matter what is on your plate today(I am still working on the living/dining room myself here). 8-)))
