Addressing the Elephant in The Room

The events in Connecticut last Friday.
What to say that doesn't sound like a worn out clique or someone stumbling to describe their feelings about the undescribeable?

Appreciate what you have.
Want what you have.
Take care of yourself and those around you.
Do good.

I'll leave you with this tribute to those we lost....

Sluggy

Food Spending DECEMBER Week 2, Meal Planning Week 3

 Yes, be sure to exercise your wine muscle this Holiday Season!

 

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And here is what actually got served last week.... 

Sunday--Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Salad

Monday--Chicken Parmesan, Mashed Potatoes, Beets

Tuesday--Halushki and/or Leftovers

Wednesday--Leftovers

Thursday--Daughter's Birthday Meal Out

Friday--Beef Pie with carrots, green beans and cornbread

Saturday--Leftovers or Breakfast for Dinner

 

 

Wednesday's fish didn't get served as well as Thursday's hot dogs.  Everything else was as planned.

The food spending last week was pretty average.  $70.66 in 4 trips to the grocery stores plus a trip to the Carvel store for an ice cream cake.  So $52.71 for groceries and $17.95 for the cake makes $70.66.

2 weeks and I have spent $236.04 of the month's $400  food budget. 

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Going into this week, I have leftover Beef Pie

This week's menu....

Sunday--Burger King Whoppers(BOGO 55cents Deal), Broccoli

Monday--Beef Pie leftovers

Tuesday--Salmon(Crab Cakes for #2 son),Green Beans

Wednesday--Stuffed Shells, Tossed Salad

Thursday--Hot Dogs, Beans, Potato Salad

Friday--?

Saturday--?

 

I've moved the 2 meals not served last week to this week.  Thursday has to be an easy meal as we have the Concert Band and Jazz Band concerts that evening.  The stuffed shells are in the freezer already.  Friday and Saturday I have no clue yet, but it will be something I have in the freezer already.  Since I'll be buying some of next week's goodies this week, I'm giving myself $70 for food shopping.  Daughter and I are baking later this week so that will have to include any supplies we need that I haven't already picked up.  We'll be doing fudge, maybe brownies, Hubs wants choc. chip cookies with butterscotch chips, and Daughter wants to make Cake Balls.  I'm not doing the large number of cookies this year because they end up sitting around too long.

What I need to buy for this menu so far?  Salad Greens.  Also some fresh fruit and milk.

I hope to get through this week cheaply.  I have $10 in free food vouchers for the Shursave market(from buying gift cards there last week) but there is little I want that's on sale this week there, so I'll hold them until next week's ad to use.

Not only can't I wrap my head around a menu plan for Fri. or Sat. but I can't seem to settle on what to serve on Christmas day.  Ya see, while we do the traditional turkey thing at Thanksgiving, we never really settled on a Christmas Day meal tradition.

Hubs grew up in NJ, in a family with a 1st Generation Italian father and a German/Dutch ancestored mother who only learned to cook after she married, so mostly she made Italian food.  Their holidays always involved pasta in some form....ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti mostly.  They never really did the 7 Fishes type meal.  That was probably due to the expense, as Hubs family was not well off when he was growing up.

I grew up in VA, with a Yankee father(with a very narrow food palate) and a Southern mother from a long line of Southern cooks who defined herself by her cooking ability, so we ate many traditional Southern specialties as well as a lot of meat(for my father).  Thanksgiving was all about the turkey(though it was surrounded by Southern dishes like Rutabaga and Tomato Bread Pudding, etc.) and Christmas was all about salt-cured Smithfield ham.

While Thanksgiving has been easy, It's been difficult marrying these differing Christmas traditions.  And after 30+ years together, we still don't have a routine down for Dec. 25th vittles.

 

We always go out to the Chinese Restaurant on Christmas Eve(our tradition)and family comes here on Christmas Day for dinner.  Many don't like ham, and I don't serve turkey again so close to Thanksgiving.  Hubs would be happy as a pig in mud if I just served Ravioli with Meatballs and Sausages(he grew up eating Italian food for every holiday), but I just don't find pasta "festive" enough. ;-)

I'm thinking about blowing out the food budget bigtime and serving a standing rib roast, seriously expensive carnivore fare!  $50 for a hunk of meat.  And I KNOW it will be devoured instantly. 8-))

If I do pasta and a hunk of meat it should cover all the bases.  And then I need to make Aunt Lula's rolls....pecan pie.....maybe pumpkin pie(again).....and I'll buy a cheesecake or cannoli.  This is turning into a production, isn't it?

A part of me is thinking maybe just serving snacks we can pick at all day.....platters of this and that--cheeses/deli meats, a fruit tray, deviled eggs, ham biscuits.

What are your menu plans for this week?

Heck, what are your menu plans for Christmas while we're at it?!

Sluggy

A Teeny Tiny Bit More Rite-Aid

A quickie at Rite-Aid on Sunday because my cereal Q was expiring....

2 x Post Cereal on sale=$5.00
2 x Chex snacks on sale=$3.00
2 x Cosmetic Gift sets BOGO50%($2.99)=$4.48
1 x Twin Set of Flashlights on sale=$3.47
SubTotal.....$15.95

Coupons Used
1 x $1/2 Post cereals ManuQ(expired Sunday)=$1.00
1 x $1/2 Chex snacks ManuQ(GM insert)=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$2.00

$15.95-$2.00=$13.95+.09¢tax=$14.04
I used $13 in +Ups and put $1.04 on my gift card. (I should have bought a "filler" cherry and used another $1 +Up and put a much lower amount on the gift card.  Oh well....)

I received back $8 in +Ups($1 wyb2 Chex, $2 wyb2 cereals, $5 wyb2 cosmetic gift sets).

After Qs and +Ups, each box of cereal was $1, the Chex snacks were .50¢ each and the cosmetic gift sets were free + gave .52¢ overage.  The flashlights were on sale but gave no +Ups nor did I have Qs for them.  They are a present for someone for Christmas.

I also tried buying those clearanced Pretty Woman fake nails I had price checked on Saturday evening.
They were $1.49 and 1 was $1.99 Sat. night.  Suddenly, now that they are part of a +Ups Deal this week and on sale BOGO50%, the clearanced nails are ringing up full price!
I wonder if next Sunday, when the Deal is over, if these clearanced nails will go back to being clearance priced? lol
Very weird.....

I've got a hunk of +Ups expiring on Christmas Day so I'll be going back either later this week or next week on Sunday or Monday to use those ones.  I know exactly what I am getting with them.  It will be razor time around here, involving Norelco and Qs and rainchecks and +Ups Deals.
Ho Ho Ho.


This trip to Rite-Aid--
OOP....$0.00
Value of items.....$28.53
+Ups coming into this trip....$85.00
+Ups used....$13.00
+Ups earned.....$8.00
+Ups at the end.....$80.00

*And here are my MONTHLY TOTALS*
 
GRAND TOTALS FOR DECEMBER so far.......

Out Of Pocket....$0.00  cash
Value of items bought.....$524.39
Savings Rate of  100%
Single Check Rebate due....$8.00
Other Rebates due......$3.00
After SCR applied, Out of Pocket.... $0.00
Savings Rate.....102.22 %

+Ups at beginning of month...$47.00+
+Ups used....$178.00+
+Ups received...$211.00+
+Ups currently...$80.00+  

Sluggy

Saturday Evening Rite-Aid

Just some more boring cheap stuff and bonus +Ups for my stash.  Nothing to see here, just move along.....

2 x Ricola on sale=$3.00
2 x Reach Toothbrushes on sale=$5.00
1 x Compleats on sale=$1.99
1 x Cella cherry w/Gold discount=$.26
SubTotal.....$10.25

Coupons Used
1 x $2/2 Reach toothbrushes IPQ(coupons dotcom)=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Compleats IPQ(coupons dotcom)=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Compleats Load2Card Q=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$4.00

$10.25-$4.00=$6.25
I used $6 in +Ups(expiring on Tuesday)and put the .25¢ on my gift card.
I received back $4 in +Up Rewards(3 x $1 Ricola, $1 wyb2 Reach toothbrushes).
I will also receive a $1 cash Rebate on the Reach toothbrushes from Saving Star.

So, in the end, I am "down" $2 in +Ups, but "up" $1 in cash, meaning these goodies cost me $1.

I also bought 2 more $50 Home Improvement Discover Cards(using money earmarked for home repairs), which gave me a bonus $20 in +Ups to add to my Rite-Aid +Ups stash, to spend on toiletires/food/beauty items.

I've got quite a pile of +Ups built up from these card buys so I need to sit down and figure out how to spend them before they expire.  I have too many now to just roll them from weekly toothpaste, cold meds, paper towel deals. 
The ones expiring after Christmas, I might use to pick up clearance goods ahead for next Christmas.
I have some expiring on 12/25 so I have to remember to spend them by the 24th, since even Rite-Aid won't be open on Christmas day. ;-)


This trip to Rite-Aid--
OOP....$0.00
Value of items.....$19.98
+Ups coming into this trip....$67.00
+Ups used....$6.00
+Ups earned.....$4.00
+Ups for buying Home Improvement Cards(Bonus)....$20.00
+Ups at the end.....$85.00

*And here are my MONTHLY TOTALS*
 
GRAND TOTALS FOR DECEMBER so far.......

Out Of Pocket....$0.00  cash
Value of items bought.....$495.86
Savings Rate of  100%
Single Check Rebate due....$8.00
Other Rebates due......$3.00
After SCR applied, Out of Pocket.... $0.00
Savings Rate.....102.22 %

+Ups at beginning of month...$47.00+
+Ups used....$165.00+
+Ups received...$203.00+
+Ups currently...$85.00+  

Sluggy

Friday at Rite-Aid

Here is my load of goodies I picked up Friday night at Rite-Aid....

1 x People Style Watch magazine $3.99 w/Gold discount=$3.19
1 x Scunci hair bands $5.99 w/Gold discount=$4.79
1 x Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail tabs $9.79 clearanced=$2.44
1 x Pretty Woman fake nails $5.99 clearanced=$1.49
SubTotal....$11.91

Coupons Used
1 x $2/1 People SW mag IPQ(coupons dotcom)=$2.00
1 x $2/1 People SW mag Load2Card Q=$2.00
1 x $3/1 Sally Hansen product IPQ HERE=$3.00
Coupon Total....$7.00

$11.91-$7.00=$4.91 + .06¢tax=$11.97
I used a $4 +Up Reward and put the .97¢ on my gift card.
*Now that I think about it, I should have bought a Cella cherry to get me over the $5 mark and put .23¢ on my gift card.  But I was not thinking last night.lol

I received $5 in +Ups back(for the Conair/Scunci "Spend $10, Get $5 +Ups back" Deal).
And I'll receive a $2 rebate on the magazine.

Now, before anyone starts thinking Sluggy's brain was taken over by aliens, because she just NEVER buys stuff like this!.....I did buy it.
But there is an explanation.....really!, there is. 8-)

Most magazines are drivel.  And after paging through this particular one, I can put it into the drivel category.  It's nothing but ads and more ads......and then photos of "stars" wearing high end stuff, using high end products that the magazine is pushing, so that the reader(usually young girls/teens)will be brainwashed into wanting/lusting after/coveting these goods and the lives of these "celebrities".
Gawd!  What a waste of paper.
I bought it so that I could make a profit of $2.81.
I got $.81 in overage with the 2 Qs to use toward other items in my transaction.  I'll get a $2 cash rebate through Saving Star too.
I'll find someone to give this magazine to....or better yet, I'll just recycle it.
After removing the perfumed pages that is, because if you aren't allergic to perfume, you can put these scented pages in your clothes drawers to act as a sachet. ;-)

While I try hard not to buy stuff I can't use(or find someone who can use it to give things to), I will sometimes do this to roll my +Ups if I can't find something to spend them on.

The Sally Hansen nail things are for my Daughter.  She loves pink camo. ;-)
The fake nails?  Not sure yet....might be coming to a Boring Blog Giveaway Box near you. lol
The fake nails have a SCRebate--$6 back when you buy 3.  But next week, there is a +Ups Deal on them(Spend $12, Get $5 +Up)and they are on sale BOGO50%, so you might want to wait to buy them then....IF you can find any by then.

I also bought 2 of the Home Improvement Cards(which are really prepaid Discover cards)that give $10 +Ups this week when you load at least $50 on them, so I get $20 in Bonus +Ups.

I've got a couple more items to purchase today.....1 Compleat, 2 bags of Ricola and 2 more Home Improvement Discover cards on my Wellness card this time.  All but the cards will be free after Qs and +Ups and another $20 in Bonus +Ups to add to my stack.


This trip to Rite-Aid--
OOP....$0.00
Value of items.....$25.76
+Ups coming into this trip....$46.00
+Ups used....$4.00
+Ups earned.....$5.00
+Ups for buying Home Improvement Cards(Bonus)....$20.00
+Ups at the end.....$67.00

*And here are my MONTHLY TOTALS*
 
GRAND TOTALS FOR DECEMBER so far.......

Out Of Pocket....$0.00  cash
Value of items bought.....$475.88
Savings Rate of  100%
Single Check Rebate due....$8.00
Other Rebates due......$2.00
After SCR applied, Out of Pocket.... $0.00
Savings Rate.....102.10 %

+Ups at beginning of month...$47.00+
+Ups used....$159.00+
+Ups received...$179.00+
+Ups currently...$67.00+  

Sluggy