Frugal Friday....the May 17th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins over the past week.

*  Had my first "real" PT session(which costs me no copay).  She worked me over good. lol  I hope this helps my shoulders but after last night's sleep, I am not optimistic. 8-(

*  Went to Aldi last Friday and bought some sauces, hummus, frozen veggies, carrots, spaetzle for Hubs(way over priced I might add), a bag of General Tso Chicken, pickles for me and found a large pack of BSCB for 50% off.

Then we hit the tiny Kroger near there and bought this.......

The cereals are bound for the food bank(and not counted in my food budget).  The sauces and mustard are part of the Mega Sale(buy 5 to get the discounted price)and the Veggie Craft Pasta were a deal(on sale $3.29 with $1.50 each in KCB and $1.50 back from Ibotta so .29¢ each in the end).  I had a FREE Kroger buns coupon and tried to use that but got charged $1.99 for them.

So after PT on Tuesday we were near the old and dirty Kroger so I took them back and got $1.99+tax back for them.

Then I bought 3 discounted individual salads, a carton of milk(that had an Ibotta rebate),  some marked down thin steak for steak sandwiches and these sauces(4 from the clearance bins).......

Here are the backs of them...........

The Kinder Teriyaki were on Mega Sale for $1.99 each, the other Kinder Sauce(the burger sauce)was marked down to $1.49 and also part of the Mega Sale so another $1 came off making it .49¢ and the 3 Bachan Japanese BBQ sauces were marked down to $3.82 and another $1 came off each, making them $2.82 each.  These 3 sauces also had Ibotta rebates of $1.50 each so in the end those cost $1.32 each.  Not bad when you know those cost $8.99 reg. retail at Kroger(and $7.99 at Walmart)!

I also picked up another round of RockStar drinks.......

I had a Kroger digital Q for Buy a Rock Star and get a Rock Star Focus free plus these were on sale for $2 each, so both cost me $2.00 OOP.  I submitted to Aisle for a $5 rebate making this a $3 moneymaker.  Plus these are going to the food bank as I don't drink energy drinks.

If you want to get in on this Aisle Rock Star deal which runs all year(you can do it every other week)please use my link......

discover.gotoaisle.com/referral/kq98hepHXk

That way I get to do this deal twice every other week and then you can refer someone else to do the deal after you do it.  If you shop at Walmart Rock Stars cost $1.88 each and at Dollar Tree they are $1.25(they are smaller cans though)each so either way they are moneymakers and if Kroger is running a special they are moneymakers there too.  Please and thank you. 8-)

So while in Kroger I tried unclipping that FREE BUNS offer and then reclipping it to see if that would kick it in the butt and make it work but nope.  That coupon is a dude it seems.(I have the same issue with Kroger's Cesar dog food Qs-they never come off.)

*  I hit up Walmart for this on Wednesday after my car got fixed, as I was already near there.....

I had a $10 Ibotta rebate and a $10 Shopmium digital coupon so it was a $2.02 moneymaker.  I also found some marked down bags of produce, a pack of bacon and a pack of sausages as well as a marked down individual salad.

*  I noticed that none of my KCB offers I did have been applied to my account(since the beginning of April!)so I called to get clarification on a few things.

It's difficult to keep track of KCB since as soon as you use/apply an offer and purchase the item, the offer disappears from your available account and it doesn't show anywhere as pending.  Going forward I'll track what offers I use and when so I can contact CS if they don't show up after 1 week.

The person I spoke to put a courtesy $10 on my Kroger card the first time I called about this issue  but I'll be darned if I won't be calling back on Friday(which will be a week since purchase)to get the $6 in KCB for those crackers bought last Friday. ;-)  I now have a spreadsheet for KCB offers, when I purchase those items and what date and how much I am owed back.

Beginning of the week I called about the $6 in crackers and they put $15 store credit on my account, then I called again on Thursday after $5 for an item purchased 9 days previous I was owed.  I asked that they please fix this or I'd be called every time an offer didn't work and I really didn't want to be having to do this so this CS person took more info and is escalating the issue upstairs(and didn't offer me store credit, which is fine, I just want this KCB to work properly and to get what I am owed!)  I hope I get a callback since tomorrow I will have to call yet again inquiring about $4 in KCB that was never applied to my account. lol

*  We have been using food here and eating all the leftovers.  No eating out so far this week.

*  Had my "medical safari" to the Dermatologist in MS on Monday.   I already showed the tiny bag of lotions she gave me for free.......

*  I found money!

I found a penny when we stopped at a Love's for gas and I went in to get a soda.  Found that penny on the floor at the register.

I found this penny at the Kroger the next day walking by a register and it was laying on the floor.

                                       

I went to Walmart on Wednesday for a freebie and to finish my Midweek Bonus(a whole dollar)and saw something peeking out from under a drink cooler next to my self-checkout.  So I used a paperclip to edge it out and voila! I got a nickel!

Total Found last week.... .07¢ 

Grand Total Found this Year.......$4.48 & 5.30 Euros

That's all I got.  

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

Sluggy     

Life Lately

Last Friday I attempted to go spend money at Dollar General as they were having one of there Clearance Events were all the discounted goods were 50% off of the discounted price.  I see all these folks on Youtube posting about all the wonderful things they get at DG for dirt cheap but unfortunately that doesn't happen in these parts.  The DGs I have here either have like one folding table of goods up front and the prices even at 50% off are nothing to write home about or, if a particular store(yes, I am calling out the DG #7733 Dixie Blanchard!)has good stuff, the employees hide it all in the back and they come in when they aren't on the clock and buy it all.  Last year during one of these Clearance Events I witnessed an employee buy TWO CARTS FULL of breakfast cereals and cookies that were marked down and then discounted and these carts came wheeling right out of a backroom or breakroom and were never on the sales floor.  This has turned me off of even going to DG anymore around here, unless I am getting a discounted gift card deal.

So on Sunday I had to go up to Walmart.  I parked in a handicapped spot, using my hangtag.

I came back out and some jackass had parked next to me, in another handicapped spot but look at how close they parked to me........

This big ass pickup truck was parked on the line and their front wheels were over their spot.  Let it be known that their parking spot had a crosshatching space on the driver's side as well so they could have parked further away from my little car.

As it was I could not open my driver's side door 12 inches and even with all my weight loss I couldn't have possible squeezed into my car. @$%$%&%$$#@$Q#W$#%Y

So I had to get into my tiny car on the front passenger's side then remove my shoe and get my ass into the driver's side seat and drag my right leg over the console and into the space where the pedals were located.  This took quite the effort and jacked my back up to boot(already having issues with a lower back muscle didn't help things).  My back muscle is still out of whack over this.

Here's the license plate of the truck belonging to this jackass.  Blog shaming should be a thing, right?

Someone may or may not have keyed their truck with the wording "Asshole".  I'm just saying.

Not that it would matter since this truck was already dented and ding and beat to shit.

I spent that evening laying in bed and taking a muscle relaxer and ice trying to get my back muscles to stop yelling at me.  I should have beat that truck with my cane until my cane disinegrated....it would have been worth the price of a new cane. lol

On Monday I had a dermatologist appointment in Mississippi.  We had a forecast of thunderstorms for Monday so Hubs didn't want me going that far by myself, plus when I got in mu car on Sunday to go to Walmart, my check engine light went on, so another reason he felt it best not to drive myself 3.5 hours away into another state(plus I can't drive his car due to my shortness.). Not having anyone to watch our dogs(since my lovely daughter can't be bother to watch them or even talk to us, and it's a 7 hour drive, not counting the time the actual appointment takes)we had to bring them along in the car.  I had to sit in the backseat with one of the dogs to keep her calm and that backseat was hell on my back, as Hub's car hit every danged pothole in two states.  Even with taking the medicine I had for my back issues it was not a fun 7 hour ride for said back.

The dogs are great travelers and there was a man-made lake and a greenbelt across from the dr. office so Hubs and puppies happily walked, sniffed and peed on stuff(well, Hubs didn't do anything but walk lol).

Luckily my Dermatologist after discussing a possible medicine change which we decided on not pursuing, she wants me back in 6 months instead of 3 months, as I told her traveling that far ever 3 months was a bit of a hardship for us and she agreed.  My HS is stable at the moment so there is that(good news)and still in remission.  She gave me this little bag of goodies..........

Not that these have anything to do with my medical condition but I guess she feels bad I drive so far to see her so I get a consolation prize of tubes of facial cleansers, etc. 

I saw this sign on the back of the door while waiting on her..........

The mole check sign below makes sense for a dr. practicing medical dermatology but the one above touting "Botox Days" coming up was kind of out of place in my mind.  They have a separate office downstairs that deals with the Cosmetic Dermatology issues(what I call the Vanity Dermatology)and would fit right in, in that office.  All I can think is the department at the University Hospital is is affiliated with makes her drum up business for the Cosmetic Derm office.

Tuesday was "another day", as Scarlett said in that movie, and I had my first PT appointment for my impinged shoulders in the afternoon.  My intake was last week and I was given and had been doing the 3 shoulder exercises the therapist had given me to do as homework.  I didn't do them on Monday(needless to say as I was in a car all day)but I did do them all the other days.

So I had the in person therapy session on Tuesday but it was scheduled for late afternoon and by the time we were done my shoulders and arms were tired as all get out.  I think all my other sessions are scheduled for morning which will be much better for me.

After PT we hit the crappy Kroger as it was the last day of the current sale and I wanted to pick up some items.  I got some great deals, clearance items that also were part of the Mega Sales Event, which I'll talk about on Friday.

Speaking of Kroger, is anyone else having issues with Kroger Cash Back being credited to their accounts??  I am having a devil of a time getting it to work.  It started in earnest back in March and my balance sat at $31.20 forever.  We went away and when we returned nothing had still been added even though I had bought items before we left that should have been added to that balance.  The problem with KCB is that as soon as you use an offer it disappears from your account and there is nowhere to see that it's pending(I have asked Corporate about that and no)so what you need to do to keep track of KCB you are missing is to keep a spreadsheet of some sort of the date you used the offer, what it was for and how much you are missing.  I did get an answer that KCB "should" credit in 7 days to your account.  So today will be the third time I call Corporate and complain about an offer that has not been credited to my KCB.  And this stuff adds up!  Today's missing KCB will make over $21 they have not credited to my account.  What a PITA!

Wednesday was a lay on sort of day.  Hubs is waiting for the dealer to come pick up his lawn tractor so they can tune it up(suppose to come today....but knowing how things work/don't work around here, I am spectical).  I called Kim and Sissie as I knew they were moving Sissie out and wanted to how A-if Sissie had killed Kim and buried her in the backyard and B-how it was all going as they have been out of communication with me since last Friday.

I went up to Walmart on Wednesday to get Hubs colonoscopy prep(oh, the good times just keep on coming-at least for him!lol)and pick up a freebie or two(more on that Friday).

Later on Wednesday I had a phone call from my wonderful NP, my first PCP down here.  Seems even though all the folks and state governing boards I wrote that complaint letter about the rural health clinic we were first attending with the horrible and lack of medical protocols didn't get me any satisfaction, it got some people investigating what was going on there and now the wheels of justice are rolling, albeit slowly.  Unfortunately this PCP who has since left that health clinic is being thrown under the bus and having to defend herself legally with the licensing board(because it's easier to blame someone who is no longer working there than to own up to shaky practices by the people in charge of the corporate entity)so I am keeping in touch with her in case we get drug into this morass or she needs us to testify in her defense.  What a mess!!!

Today I'll be babying my back still, maybe making a run to Kroger, except I like to go on Fridays for 4 x Fuel points but I have a PT at noon on Friday and it might wipe me out and the Kroger I prefer is on the other side of the river in the next town over from where PT is.  I just have to decide what to do.  I don't have much on my shopping list so might wait until Friday plus Hubs will be with me Friday so he can help me get stuff on high shelves(which hurts my shoulders when I try to do that).

We'll have some hot(in the mid to high 80's)days but it's been uncharacteristically not humid here so we've had some days without a/c and open car windows when we are out.

I noticed a tiny bird's next perched on the steel beam on our car port when we returned from our cruise.

And a week later I got a shot(albeit not great)of mama bird sitting on that tiny next.  No eggs have hatched yet but she's still up there.

A week after we got back from Europe I noticed that the cactus was blooming.

Evidently the wife of the couple who owned this place was originally from Texas and she brought a cactus here with her and planted it.

I don't think it bloomed last year but I could be wrong, as it is a ways out from the house and I wasn't very mobile last Spring/Summer with my knee and the "yard" is not a "yard" and full of dips and holes so I didn't notice it.

But it was in full bloom this Spring.......

Does anyone know what kind/variety of cactus this is?  I am clueless.  The only succulent I know is Jade plant.

I do need to trim back that bush of unknown origin back that is taking over the cactus's space too.

That's all I got today.  I am off to call Kroger(again). ugh  And then fill out medical record transfer forms(more on that another day).

What are y'all up to today?

Sluggy

Famous Distant Sort Of Relative

 I come from a long line of Holt family on my maternal side.

My 8x Great Grandfather was Richard Holt(1641-1693).  Through him my Seventh Cousin 2 x Removed is a William Tatum "Buster" Holt, Sr.(1987-1963).

At some point before he died "Buster" Holt went and married Jackie Jean "Georgia" Crouch.  "Georgia" Crouch was known as "Georgia" Holt.  Georgia Holt was the mother of Cher.

This makes Cher the stepdaughter of my 7th Cousin 2 x Removed. So I got you babe. lol

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table.....the May 13th Edition

The "Went to Aldi" Edition.....

I picked up these Peanut Butter Puffs for a treat at Aldi.  I found them tasteless and nasty, not peanut buttery or sweet at all.    These have been relegated to dog treats now.  Anybody else ever try these?

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned for last week...........

1. Sunday--Leftovers(I had Stir-Fry)

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Lobster cakes, Cole Slaw, Something else?

4. Wednesday--Salad, Soup?  Kind of warm here now for soup tho....

5. Thursday--Fish, leftover Cole Slaw, Sweet Potato Fries

6. Friday--Late Lunch Out, no Dinner

7. Saturday--???Whatever I pull out of the freezer

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Leftovers(I had Stir-Fry)

2. Monday--Leftovers(I had an ear of corn)

3. Tuesday--Catfish, Cole Slaw, Corn

4. Wednesday--Chicken Salad w/Crackers

5. Thursday--Lobster/Seafood Cakes, leftover Cole Slaw, Caesar Salad

6. Friday--Late Lunch Out, no Dinner

7. Saturday--Shrimp, Veggie & Garlic Pasta meal, Garlic Bread

What got taken out of the freezer last week....

*  a pack of Catfish Fillets

*  some Roast Chicken Pieces

*  Lobster/Seafood Cakes

*  Bag of Shrimp/Veggie/Pasta Meal

*  2 Slices of Garlic Bread

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

*  3+lbs. Chicken Breast

*  bag of Stir-Fry Veggies

*  bag of Green Beans

*  bag of Spaetzle 

*  box of Stuedel

*  bag of General Tso Chicken

Last week we spent $84.34 on grocery shopping for May. 

Total shopping comes to $150.72 for May.   There are 11 shopping days left in May.

Rebate monies earned this month so far.....

I've earned $61.10 on Ibotta in May.

I've earned $6.50 on Shopmium in May.

I've earned $0 on Alexa app in May.

I've earned $15.00 on Kroger Cash Back in May.

I've earned $6.56 on TaDa in May.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in May.

I've earned $5.49 on Aisle, etc. in May.

I've earned 1,825 points on Fetch from food shopping in May.

I've earned 39 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in May.($)

I've earned 0 Points on My Points in May.($)

I've earned 0 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in May.

That is $67.60 in rebates(not counting Shop Kick/Fetch/TaDa/MyPoints/KCB/Alexa)on $150.72 of grocery spending so in reality it's $83.12 in food spending after the rebate apps I count. I now separate out the Food Bank donations and don't count those in the grocery spending.

My savings percentage for the last week was 65.68% and the monthly savings total for May comes in at 60.88% spent so far. 

Leftovers going into this week...Stir-Fry Beef & Veggies w/Noodles, Pasta/Shrimp/Veggies meal, Cole Slaw and Pasta w/Spaghetti.

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

1. Sunday--Steak, Salad, Sweet Potato Fries

2. Monday--Leftovers or food out as we are going to Jackson

3. Tuesday--Scallops, leftover Cole Slaw, Au Grating Potatoes

4. Wednesday--Caesar Salad, Chicken Parm, Sauteed Cabbage

5. Thursday--Kielbasi, Squash, leftover Potatoes

6. Friday--Salmon, Veggies TBD, whatever leftovers

7. Saturday--???Whatever I pull out of the freezer

Just mentally thinking of what is in the freezer and what pantry and produce I have on hand.  These might be unusual meals to some folks but it is, what it is.

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 deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy      

Northern Lights

 Here is a photo of the  Northern Lights from last night down in Louisiana........

Sluggy