Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Rite-Aid--Working on the Beauty Gift Card Reward Deal


I went to Rite-Aid on Monday and used two of those Tresemme Catalinas I had leftover from all that Tresemme I bought the week before last.............


The first transaction was the two mascaras on the top of the photo.
Cover Girl mascara on sale BOGO50%=$9.73
I used.......
1 x $2.50 CatalinaQ=$2.50
2 x $1/1 CG Mascara IPQs=$2.00
$9.73-$4.50=$5.23+.32¢ tax=$5.55 paid with BC(no BOGO50% since I only bought one)=$5.99
I used.......
1 x $1.50 CatalinaQ=$1.50
1 x $1/1 CG face product IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 any CG item R-A snail mailedQ=$2.00
$5.99-$4.50=$1.49+.09¢ tax=$1.58 paid with BC

 $7.13 paid in BC, $7 in new BC earned back and this card has $21.15 in purchases toward the $10 Beauty Reward GC so only $28.85 left to get it to $50 spent.

I still have a $1.50 Catalina to use before Saturday but not sure what to use it on yet.

I also bought a few gift cards that give back BC this week to get my BC amounts up a bit before the Black Friday sales.  They were GCs I was going to buy eventually anyway so why not reap the benefit of getting some BC?

Sluggy


Monday, November 18, 2019

This Week on the Dining Table

The "WTF?!?" Edition................



This is a shot from the frozen foods section at my Weis(PMITA)Markets.
I really want to meet the marketing genius who decided to call Chicken Feet, Chicken "PAWS".
Bears have paws, cats have paws, rabbits have paws.
Chickens do not.

Moving On....
Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--
1. Sunday--Fend For Yourself
2. Monday--BBQ on rolls, Cole Slaw
3. Tuesday--Beef Pie
4. Wednesday--Salmon, Asparagus, Rice
5. Thursday--Teriyaki Beef Stir-Fry
6. Friday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--
1. Sunday--Fend For Yourself
2. Monday--BBQ on rolls, Cole Slaw
3. Tuesday--Beef Pie
4. Wednesday--Salmon, Asparagus, Mushroom Risotto
5. Thursday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Salad
6. Friday--Teriyaki Beef Stir-Fry, Rice
7. Saturday--Chicken Parm, Salad(I had leftover Sauteed Cabbage and Chicken)

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1  nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.

What got put into the freezer last week.....
*  2 meals worth of Salmon
*  2 bags of Ground Beef(1 lb. each)
*  4 bags of Barbecue Pork
*  2 bags of Butternut Squash Ravioli

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
*  2 bags of Barbecue Pork
* 1 London Broil
* 2 packages of Breaded Chicken

A trip to the Bread Outlet, Malacari's produce market, Aldi's and Price Chopper brought the current weekly spending to $110.09 and my November spending on food to $302.06 for this month.

My savings percentage last week was 49.44%(without Rite-Aid trips)and November's monthly savings total comes in at 43.26%(w/out R-A).

A bit of food waste this week--the last tomato from the garden.  It got buried on the kitchen island counter and went bad before I found it this weekend. 8-(

I have 12 more food shopping/spending days in November.

Leftovers going into this week......Fried Chicken, Beef Pie, BBQ, Beef Stroganoff, Beef stir-fry, Rice, Chicken Parm, Asparagus, Mushroom Risotto.

Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Leftover Beef Pie
2. Monday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
3. Tuesday--Hot Dog on Roll w/Chili, Beans, Squash and Onions
4. Wednesday--Something Chicken, Veggie TBD
5. Thursday--Assorted Leftovers
6. Friday--Beef Stew
7. Saturday--Chinese Take-Out

As always this menu is subject to change or rearranging depending on what leftovers get eaten or not and what I am feeling like cooking(or not). lolz

What needs buying for this menu? Nothing that I can think of.

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  

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Using My Assets on Grocery Shopping & Thanksgiving Shopping

As I have said before I have various gift cards to deploy from now until the end of 2019 to get my grocery spending lower.

$12 HeartGuard prepaid card
$15 P&G prepaid Visa
$15 in free Target gift cards
$261.23 in reduced price Target gift cards
$25 Shursave gift card
$89.69 in Ocean State Job Lot free gift cards
That's $159.69 in free and $261.23 in discount chits.

So on Friday I went to Weis to do a few deals and pick up Turkey day essentials.
Here is what I bought..............


2 x Pepperidge Farm stuffing
4 x Swanson broth/stock
4 x Campbell's soup
5 x Weis canned veggies
2 x Hanover Charro Beans
1 x Weis pie crusts
2 x Domino golden sugar bags
1 x Weis paper plates
8.5 lbs. sweet potatoes

Total before sales/coupons/instant savings........$51.65
Total after sales/couopon/instant savings..........$19.03
I deployed THE $12 Heart Guard prepaid card so my OOP was only $7.03

Nice. 8-)))

The PF/Swanson/Campbell's(2 of the soups only)was "Spend $15/Get $5 Off" Deal so $7 after sales/Qs/Instant Sav.  The other 2 soups were .60¢ can after sale/Q.
The Weis veggies were .47¢ per can if you bought 5.  The Hanover beans were on clearance for .75¢ each.  The sugar was .49¢ per bag after sale/Qs.  The paper plates were the freebie item and the sweet taters were finally down to .49¢ per lb. so I stocked up on those.

I see that Target is going to have their "Spend $50 on Food/Beverage, Get a $10 Gift Card" Deal on Nov. 23 and 24th(Sat. and Sun. of next week)only.  There is also a $5 gift card when you buy $20 Frito-Lay/Pepsi products deal that you can stack with the $50/$10 Deal(if you use that sort of thing)to make your Target chits go a little further.

I peered down into the black hole of the chest freezer last weekend and found that I have 2 hotel turkey breasts in it's depths.  So those will be served for Turkey Day along with the usual sides instead of a whole turkey.  I also have a whole eye of round in the freezer so the meat for Xmas dinner is accounted for and I don't need to buy a fancy cut of beef or a ham for that meal.

I will be getting a free turkey(which will take up the space of those 2 turkey breasts)at Weis as I have over 400 points now.  I haven't bought $400 worth of stuff during the time frame that counts but I have done a feedback survey once a week which gives me 100 points each time so 3 surveys and the limited Wes shopping got me to the freebie. ;-)

The sweet potatoes, some stock, some soup, stuffing and pie crusts from this shopping trip were for Thanksgiving(ok, not ALL those sweet potatoes lol)so the only "needs" on the Turkey day list now are celery and rutabagas.  I'll pick those up closer to Turkey Day.

How's your Turkey Day shopping going?

Sluggy


Friday, November 15, 2019

Frugal Friday...........the November 15th Edition

Here's what frugal wins we had this past week at Chez Sluggy.............

*  I got 2 more bottles of Gold Bond lotion this week using BC and gift card cred(no actual money spent), which earned me $3.10 in Ibotta cash rebate and a $10 Rite-Aid gift card as well.

See my Rite-Aid posts for more details. ;-)

*  I got the Weis Freebie last Friday...........

I snagged the last bottle of it on the shelf. Now and again  Ex-College Boy will go buy Fruit Punch at the store for himself so I got the Freebie this week for him.

*  I also got a couple of Zataran's boxed bean/rice mixes at Weis that day.  They were 50% off on clearance......

But they rang up full price so it was off to the Customer Service desk for a refund.........



* On Thursday I had a semi-annual dental check-up.  No cavities meant just a cleaning so nothing paid out of pocket.
Plus I got a goody bag of samples............



*  I found half a cooked chicken breast and a leg pushed to the back of the fridge earlier this week.  It was still good so I used the leg meat & part of the breast to add to Chester's dinner a couple of nights after his surgery to get him to eat again.  The rest of the breast got made into Chicken Salad(I had an abundance of grapes bought at Aldi this past week for .99¢ lb. and an open bag of pecans so salad was a no-brainer.)for a couple of lunches here.
Keeping food waste at bay once more is a win!

*  I found money!



This shiny dime was laying under the self-checkout as I walked out of the Weis(PMITA)Markets last Friday.


This penny was found in an aisle in Weis on Saturday when I went there to attend their Open House(food tastings).


This dime was found in an aisle in Rite-Aid on Saturday when I went to use the rest of my Tresemme coupons.


I found this penny at Price Chopper as we walked into the door on Sunday.


And this dime also at Price Chopper on the way out of the store by the registers.


And the 2 pennies in this photo were found in two different locations in Rite-Aid by the pharmacy and the quarter was by the register up front so .27¢ richer when I left Rite-Aid on Tuesday.


A trip to Rite-Aid to return something after my dentist appointment netted me this .35¢, a quarter AND a dime on the floor at the register.

Weekly total..........94¢
A very good week for change!

*  I went to Weis on Saturday around noon for their product Open House.  In order to convince you to buy their products for the holidays(and to order pre-made goodies like bakery stuff and deli platters)they had samples set out all over the store with food items.  Cold Shrimp, Hummus and chips, apple cider, clementine oranges, 4 kinds of "gourmet" cookies, 2 kinds of cake/pie, smoked sausage, Jarlsberg cheese, mashed potatoes and mac and cheese were the stores offerings.  I left not needing to eat lunch! lolz



*  One day for lunch I got a 2 Subs for $11.99 text code from Subway so Hubs took my phone up to get lunch there and he used a gift card to pay.  Making the gift card go just a little bit further with a coupon code is a win in my book.

* Cash earned this week(refunds and/or rebates)came to $22.32 ($16.17 at Rite-Aid, $2.60 at Weis, $3.55 at Ibotta).

*  Kohl's sent me a 30% off Q and a $10 off anything promo chit this past week.  Not needing anything I went with Hubs up to Kohl's so he could find a pair of shoes for wearing out in the "poop field" with the doggies.  He wanted something that would be easy to slip on and off.  He won't buy shoes online(he has to try them on first-his rule!)and the only thing we could find in the store that met his criteria were these..........

A pair of Crocs.  He likes Crocs and has 2 pair but they both have ventilation holes in them so not so great to wear in the Winter with snow and ice.
It was the only pair of these particular color/style and they were miraculously in his size......and on clearance!!
So they were, after % off and $10 free chit, $13.99 OOP.
And even better, they sorta match the Crocs I bought at the shoe outlet in Rehoboth, Delaware last month..........



That's about it from here......

What frugal wins did y'all have last week?
Tell us all about it!


Sluggy


Thursday, November 14, 2019

And the November Giveaway is OPEN!

And just like that, Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for November is open.
This makes 18 giveaways I've held in 2019 so far.


Here's what you can win if you are selected this month.........


Plus I couldn't get all the candy in the shot so this too..........



1 x Colgate toothpaste
1 x Suave shampoo
1 x Make-up Remover pads
1 x Foundation creme
1 x Revlon lipstick
2 x nail polish
1 x Cover Girl blush palette
1 x Cover Girl eye shadow palette
1 x Rimmel mascara
1 x Cover girl mascara
1 x Nivea lip balm(cherry)
4 x e.l.f. cosmetic brushes(4 different types)
20 x Hershey layer bars
15 x Snickers minis
19 x Lindt assorted truffles
20 x puffball Peppermints
27 x Dove milk w/almond chocolates

That's a whole lot of make-up and choccies!!


Close up shots of the goodies..........







It will all be around $60 worth of regular retail goodies(depending on where you shop for this sort of thing).

* This November Giveaway Box of goodies is open to any and all readers, non-winners yet and previous winners.

There is a limit of ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER DAY for this Giveaway.  Come back every day and enter though!

In order to enter you must comment with stuff like---Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?  Do you have a tradition menu on Turkey day and what does it consist of?  Cranberry-whole berry or "glop"?  Have you ever gone out for Turkey day instead of having a home cooked meal and what did you think of that?  If you've gone out for Turkey day what was the most unusual place you went to have Thanksgiving dinner?  Do you have any recipes handed down in the family that must be prepared for Thanksgiving?  What time do you usually sit down to dinner on Thanksgiving?  Do you decorate for Thanksgiving and what does that consist of?  Do you watch football games and/or parades on Thanksgiving?  Do you do the cooking and if not, who does?  Do you put out the Christmas stuff before or after Thanksgiving or do you what until December?  Do you "do" Black Friday shopping and why?  Is your Turkey day affair a large one or intimate?  What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Stuff like that.

I'll leave this giveaway open until Saturday, November 23rd at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time. On November 24th, Sunday, I'll draw the winning entry.

*Please note these rules*
I'll post the name/ID of the winner on this blog on  and that person has 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).

If I am not contacted via email, I'll attempt to contact the winner via the email they supplied with their entry(or gave me to add to the Giveaway Data Base)and if that email is not responded to within another 48 hours I'll pick another winner.

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.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I am still having to disqualify entries due to this issue and I sure don't like doing that.  Thanks!


So let's get this Turkey of a NOVEMBER Giveaway started.  Good Luck to everyone!!!



Sluggy