This Week on the Dining Table

 The "I Know How to Party" Edition...

Sorry this post is so late in the day but I've been sleeping as I started off the week Sunday evening by having a Sleep Study at the hospital. Nobody can sleep any length of time doing one of these for I've been catching up.

Go me!

My oxygen concentrator, which I owned outright, puffed out it's last O2 and went to the great concentrator graveyard in the sky back in October.  Since it had been over 8 years since my full blown study, insurance wouldn't let me do a home sleep study to see if I still need a concentratr.  As I haven't used oxygen with my BiPAP machine for almost 4 full months with no ill effect, I suspect I really don't need the oxygen support any longer(having lost 120 lbs. since 2013 probably has a lot to do with it).

But I bet insurance decides I still need a concentrator and wants to rent me one at an exorbitant rate per month anyway.  It's a good thing we've met our deductibles or this would have been a very expensive exercise in futility of not sleeping.

Glad it's over and bet your bottom dollar that I refuse to pay to rent a new concentrator!

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned......

1. Sunday--Roast Chicken, Stuffing, Roast Carrots, Potatoes

2. Monday--Pizza, Salad

3. Tuesday--Butternut Squash Ravioli w/Béchamel, Salad

4. Wednesday--Chicken Salad
5. Thursday--Leftovers? or No Clue

6.  Friday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

7. Saturday--Leftovers?

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Roast Chicken, Stuffing, Roast Carrots, Potatoes

2. Monday--Pizza, Salad

3. Tuesday--Turkey, Mashed Taters, Mixed Veggies, Brussels Sprouts

4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef Stir-Fry w/Noodles
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Leftover Roast Chicken, Stuffing, Roast Veggies

7. Saturday--Mac and Cheese w/Broccoli

Nothing very exciting here.  Used up a few of those hella inexpensive frozen meals I found at Walmart last week so moving meals not fixed because of that to this week.

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

*  8 tv dinners

*  1 bag of fake sausage patties

*  2 boxes of fish filets 

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

*  2 turkey tv dinners

*  a pizza

* 1 mac and cheese/broccoli tv dinner.ll

I spent $55.89 on food/toiletries/HBA the last week. This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $321.18 for January.  

There are 0 shopping days left in January.  

I've earned $316.48 on Ibotta in January.

I've earned $5.39 on Checkout51 in January.

I've earned $28.50 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in January.

I've earned 15,974 points($15.97) from shopping on Fetch in January.

I earned 2,255 Kicks($9.02)from food shopping on Shop Kick in January. 

I've earned 2,019 SB($20.19) from food shopping on Swag Bucks in January.

I've earned $0 from food shopping on Tada in January.

That's $350.37 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Tada/Fetch)on $321.18 in grocery spending so in reality it's -$29.19 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.  

rah...

My savings percentage for the last week was 80.55%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)and the monthly savings total for January comes in at 67.39% so far(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week.....Beef Noodle Stir-Fry, Roast Chicken, Brussel Sprouts

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

1. Sunday--I didn't eat(see above), don't know what Hubs had

2. Monday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

3. Tuesday--Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff, leftover, Brussels Sprouts, Rice

4. Wednesday--Fish, Cole Slaw
5. Thursday--Butternut Squash Ravioli w/Béchamel, Salad

6.  Friday--Homemade flatbread Pizza, Veggie TBD

7. Saturday--Leftovers

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Nothing really except dog food for the puppies.  The freezers and fridge are packed to the gills now.  February will be a pantry challenge....at least will start off as one. ;-)

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?  Other than that Walmart frozen meals surprise I've gotten no good meat/seafood deals since last Fall.

Sluggy

  

Ibotta Haul on Thursday & More Rebate on Saturday

 I had two bonuses to knock out so I used a Walmart gift card and did most of the rebates to get me there......

While I could have finished the Bonus with less OOP I decided since I had a free gift card to use, I'd get stuff we needed/could use-shaving cream(I had given my whole stockpile of this away somehow leaving Hubs with none), an almond milk for Hubs, 2 cottage cheese to make a lasagna, some healthier pasta made with cauliflower, my raisin bread I usually have for breakfast so I can take my a.m. meds with something in my stomach, a yogurt, Knorr rice sides(for Mexican dinners), 2 protein bars for when I'm out running errands so I am not tempted to stop and get fast food.  The Pita chips and onion soup mox were splurges and weren't anywhere near free after rebates.  The vitamins are useful.  The body wash was bought at Rite-Aid(which didn't cost me anything OOP and I had a Q for it too).

The best thing was finding 3 different Revlon make-up items on clearance which were free or moneymakers after rebates.  With rebates after my gift card everything cost me $15.20 w/sales tax.  Then I submitted the Revlon and the One A Day vitamin items to Coupons dotcom and earned back $13.00 in rebates making my OOP for everything $2.20.  I also got $2.92 worth of Fetch Pts. so counting that everything was free(but I don't count Fetch until I cash out for a gift card). 8-))

I got two Sally Hansen nail gloss at R-A on a free gift card so earned the last $5 Bonus + 2 x $1 for the SH so I am $7 more in rebates making all the above and the Sally Hansen cost -$4.80!!

Oh and I saw someone used my Ibotta referral code as I now have 4 more of the Freebies on my account.  So THANK YOU to RACHEL at One Day At A Time for using the code.  I hope you get all 5 of the freebies too!!

Sluggy 

Frugal Friday...the January 28th Edition

 So here are a few of the frugal-ish things that happened here this past week.......

*   No food waste so far. ;-)  

*  I had a $5 free scrip for Kohl's for my birthday and used it on Wednesday.  I also spent another $3+ from a merchandise credit I had and bought 3 items and didn't spend any cash monies.  Sorry but I can't show a photo of the items as the recipients may well read this. ;-)

*  I did a small amount of Walmart this week too.

$6.50 for all these frozen food items! Insane........ plus a little bit of Ibotta I did at Walmart to hit a bonus.(6 items I think.)
This week Ibotta has 5-6 free items if you sign up or have someone sign up under your referral code.  Mine is MKAAXA.  I haven't gotten any referrals so I only got the free pizza offer so far. 8-(

*  I did a couple of Rite-Aid transactions this week.......

In between theses two trips Rite-Aid pissed me off something fierce! ;-)

*  While I was at that second R-A on Wednesday I got gas at a place that 88% ethanol gas for $3.24.  $3..24 is unheard of around here!  $3.44 with that 5 cent discount we get at Sunoco is the lowest in our town.

*   I found money!

Found this penny under the Catalina machine at my R-A on Tuesday when I supposedly got all my gift cards "fixed". hahaha

I found this 2 cents at the drive-thru on Wednesday when I was out long time and needed an iced tea.  There was a third penny by I couldn't reach it without falling out of the car. lolz

This penny was found under a rack on a rare stop at Target looking for clearance for Xmas presents on Wednesday as well(I don't think I've ever been in this Target come to think about it!).  I had to dislodge this penny as it was stuck to the floor, then scooped it up for my money finds.

Total Found in last Week...... .04¢
Total Found This Year......$1.87

Cracking the $2 mark isn't looking doable for January unless I hit Aldi in the next few days and score a quarter. 8-(

That's about all I've got for this week.

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

And have a good weekend and stay warm!  It's been snowing all day here.... 8-(

Sluggy 

Rite-Aid Haul This Week & Rite-Aid Woes(Rant)

 First the haul, done on two cards and using the $10 off wyb $50 coupon.........

Everything from the Airwick warmer to the right was one transaction.

I spent $33.55 between Bonus Cash and gift cards and earned back $34 in new BC(the Nexxus is double dipping for a monthly deal and a weekly deal).  I also submitted the Revlon eye palette to Ibotta and got $3 in rebates back on that.

So the other 3 Nexxus, the 2 hair colors(on clearance)and the 4 Baby Ruth bars were my other card's transaction.  I spent $35.81 in BC and gift cards on that transaction and earned back $38 in new BC.

I also earned $2.00 in Swag Bucks for buying the Baby Ruths.

Rah.

Now the difficulties..............

I had a $5/2 Clairol IPQ which refused to come off saying no matching item but clearly there were TWO matching items.  The shift manager said to put in the higher of the two clearance prices for those hair colors for the price and the register took the Q....and cheated me out of .61¢ on that transaction.  My total "should" have been .61¢ lower than $35.81 or $35.20.

But that .61¢ gip is the least of my Rite-Aid problems right now.

I had amassed 12 R-A gift cards in 2021 from various promotions, most of them $50 in value and a couple worth $60.

Lately in 2022, I've been attempting to spend them and 9 times out of 10 when I slide them/scan them they don't work saying, "Bad Card Read, Try Again."  And no matter how many times I try swiping them I still get that message.  Some times a gift card will work once or perhaps twice if I don't spend the whole thing the first time and then that gift card will no longer scan.  And usually if it's not a manager working the register the cashier just looks at me like a deer in the headlights and says, "Your card doesn't work.  You have to pay another way."

Well....DUH!  You work here, you figure out what to do!!  It's ultimately MY problem, but come on Rite-Aid, FIX YOUR  DAMN GIFT CARDS!!!

Last week was the final straw when I went to a R-A in my regular rotation and pulled out a not been used before R-A gift card and I got the "bad card read, try again" message.  So I pulled out my phone and called R-A to get the balance on the card, which was $50 as expected.  We then transferred to Customer Service and the cashier transferred my $50 balance onto a new gift card and I attempted to swipe it with the CS person still on the line and it gave the "bad card read" message wouldn't work.  So the cashier took a new R-A off the rack and transferred and again, transfer the $50 onto this different gift card.  I tried to swipe that one, it beeped like it was going through, the cashier hit her button and she got the message, "This card is expired."

WTF?!?!

If you know Rite-Aid you know that THEIR GIFT CARDS NEVER EXPIRE!!!

WTF WTF WTF??

At this point the CS person had hung up on us(I think she was feeling overwhelmed by the situation and couldn't handle it anymore).  So I called back and had to go through everything so far with a new victim

CS person. So the shift manager came up and she grabbed another new gift card off the rack and AGAIN transferred that $50 onto yet another gift card.  While this was going on the first CS person called back on the other R-A phone line.  I tried the THIRD new gift card, it beeped but said the card was expired again when the cashier hit the register button.  The first CS person got in touch with the accounting dept. and they said the gift cards this store was sent were bad and to pull them all off the shelf.  I got on the line and said, "So what do I do now?  I have $50 held hostage on an "expired" gift card and I can't use it!!  CS person said I can put that $50 on your Wellness card as Bonus Cash to which I said no way!  BC expires in 30 days and I may not want to use it all within 30 days, I want my money!   She said she can't send me my money back and I'd have to go  to another R-A with working gift cards and have that $50 transferred onto a fourth gift card! (And hope that one worked correctly I might add.)

So on Tuesday I went to my R-A with a handful of non working gift cards(plus my "expired" gift card)and had the Asst. Manager transfer all of them onto new cards.  Corporate wouldn't let her transfer the funds off the "expired" gift card.  Instead they wanted my name and mailing address and phone number and they are going to send me a new gift card in the mail for that one.  And I am not holding my breathe on that!!

So on Wednesday when I went to another R-A in my rotation and bought the Nexxus, the hair coloring and candy bars I used Bonus Cash on that card, $4.30 on a working card I had used before that was STILL working, then I tried one of the new transferred "supposedly working" gift cards and it beeped and but showed it was expired! 

WTF!?@#%$%$&@$@#%^

So I tried a different card and the last $6.51 went through.

Now I have 4 gift cards that "supposedly" work, 1 that is expired and another one that was expired that Corporate is replacing via the mail.

I must say that dealing with this situation has been a clsterf%ck for me and stresssful not knowing if my gift card will work at the register for months now.  And being someone with a chronic condition where I need to avoid stress in order not to have it flare up this is not a good situation.

We are looking to move in the next year or two and one of my criteria was to move to an area of the country that has Rite-Aid drugstores.

After this stressful  adventure that criteria is no longer on the table!  Once these gift cards are spent(IF I CAN SPEND THEM!)I will think long and hard before I shop at Rite-Aid drugstores again and you can bet I will NEVER buy another RITE-AID GIFT CARDS AS LONG AS I LIVE!!!

You earn your credibility with your customers by fixing your mistakes, not by making situations worse for your customers.  The way this situation has played out has driven away one of your loyal customers.

Do something Rite-Aid.  Don't keep giving me gift cards that don't work.

FIX IT!!!

Fed Up

Sluggy

I Hit It Lucky!

 I went to Walmart Tuesday to finish 2 Ibotta Bonuses(Field Goal and Mid Week)on 8 rebates.  When I went to leave and check-out I passed by the freezer area and spied a bunch of clearance on a freezer end unit.  .50¢ for each item.  Check it out......

I got....

4 x Healthy Choice meals

2 x GV Turkey w/Mashed Potatoes

2 x Tai Pei Beef and Broccoli

2 x Scott & Jon's Mac and Cheese w/Broccoli

2 x GV Beer Battered Fish boxes

1 x Gardein Sausage Breakfast Patties

$6.50 for all this....rah me!  Well I put this on a free Swag Bucks gift card to really it was all free in that way. 8-)))

Maybe not the healthiest food but for .50¢ a great option for those times we need a quick meal.  Hubs won't eat the fake sausage but I'll use it. ;-)

Sluggy