Today's Fun at Rite-Aid

On the brother in-law's card.....

4 x Monster energy drinks(for #2 Son) on sale $1.50=$6.00
3 x Renuzit air fresheners on sale $1.00=$3.00
2 x Sinful nail polish on sale $1.99=$3.98
2 x Goodness granola bars on sale $1.00=$2.00
2 x Ghirardelli candy bars on sale $1.99=$3.98
1 x Phillips ear buds RAINCHECK=FREE*
2 x Scunci hair elastics RANICHECK=FREE*
1 x R-A brand facial tissue on sale=.59¢
SubTotal.....$19.55

I used 2 x $1/1 Ghirardelli candy bars IPQs=$2.00 off
SubTotal....$17.55

I paid with $17 in +Up Rewards and paid $.55 + $.11 tax=$.66 OOP
I received back $11.98 in +Up Rewards(2 x $2 Monsters, $2 Renuzit, 2 x $1.99 Sinful, 2 x $1 Goodness).

*These items were free after +Ups during the Black Friday sales, so totally free with a Raincheck now.

Then I had $3 in +Ups expiring tomorrow on my card, so I got this.....

4 x Monster drinks=$6.00
2 x granola bars=$2.00
SubTotal.....$8.00

Paid with $8 in +Up Rewards and got $6 in +Ups back.

I'll go back in the next few days and convert some cash into $50 Home Improvement gift cards.
Our house must know I am doing this, because today the front door latch decided to break.
Ugh.  We can lock the door and/or leave the house through it but we can't use it to get back into the house.
If one thing isn't breaking something else is.
It's always something, isn't it?
8-(

At least I have my fun Rite-Aid trips to keep me happy.
Yes, I AM easily amused.....

Sluggy

eBay Brings Out the Weird in People at the Holidays

I tell you folks, this year has been the WORST Holiday selling season on eBay since I have sold on there back in 1998.

Since I listed items in October(so getting on to 2 months of selling)I have "sold" 16 items.
Granted I've only listed 61 items in that time, but still, Christmas has always been the peak selling season for what I sell-new in the box toys and collectibles mostly.....gift worthy items.

I put "sold" in quotes because though I've sold 16 items, 2 persons backed out of their purchases and did NOT pay for them....both were overseas sales to people who didn't ASK how much shipping was before they contracted to buy the items.  Another sold item I am still waiting for the payment to process on Paypal....they must have paid with a check that hasn't cleared.

So really, at the moment I have 13 sales in 2 months.
Bleh.

On most listings, since the sales are so dismal this season, I have put the "Best Offer" feature and/or marked down my selling price after it's been up a few weeks.
This "Best Offer" feature has proved to be a constant source of amusement, if not surprise to me over the last 2 months.

It never ceases to amaze me how low the offers people make are.
I research my items for current selling prices online before I decide on a price, so I know what any particular thing is fetching in general.
I price my items competitively this way.....and if I just want it gone, I lower it from there.

I use to get "Best Offers" in the 75% of the items current selling price.
Not any more.
Now I am "lucky" is someone offers me at least HALF of what I am asking for it.
And those half-of-value offers are rare these days.

One not-too-bright fellow recently offered me $30 for a $29.99 listed item with a note enclosed that the $30 was for the item's cost AND shipping. 
Well, the item was going to CA so the shipping was $12.25, so basically I was offered $17.75 for a $29.99 item.
Just over half of what I was asking.

The problem was that when you make a "Best Offer", it clearly states on the page that the offer price is just for the item and shipping is additional.
So if I had accepted this offer, eBay would have sent them a congratulations email that they now owe me $30 and $12.25 in shipping or a total of $42.25.
That would have been fine by me but I know they wouldn't have paid me. 8-)

So I had to spend my time counter-offering him and enclosing a note to explain that he can't do what he wanted to offer me and how I countered a $12.00 reduction in the price of the item for him which mostly covered his shipping costs and he would owe me a total of $30.24 with shipping.
And of course I didn't hear another word from this doofus.
But that's ok because someone else made me a $22 + shipping offer which I accepted on the same item. 8-))

Here are some of the other jack wagons that make me offers I COULD resist....

*  $25 for a $150 item, which they upped to $35 when I refused it.(I sold it for $125 to someone else.)

*  $51.10 for a $125 item.

*  $15.00 for a $37.99 item.($15 is what used ones are selling for, mine is new sealed in the package.)

*  $9.00 for a $29.90 item.  They said the shipping was too high.  Well I can't control that or the fact that you live in CA.  I don't DO free shipping.  I already feel like a sharecropper on eBay so I am not paying the shipping costs buyers incur.  If you don't like shipping prices complain to the post office or better yet move closer to where your seller lives. lol

*  $17.00 for a $34.99 item.  I sent a counter offer of $20.00 and they replied with another counter offer of $15.00! LOLZ  Yes, I turned down $17 and they THINK I will accept $2 LESS than their last offer?  When I receive my lobotomy maybe. 
So I countered again with a price of $34.99......I would have sent an offer HIGHER than my selling price if the system had let me.....2 can play THAT game asswipe!

*$2.00 for a $24.99 item.  Seriously?  Whatever you are smoking I want some!!

And then there is the guy who emailed a Question to Seller and it was totally in Spanish.
I don't speak Spanish but the gist of it was "How much to ship to Mexico?"
I just told him I don't ship to Mexico and moved on.
I don't like dealing with people who can't conduct business in English(if something goes awry because of the language barrier, eBay will side with the Buyer usually)and there are security issues with the mail in certain countries, Mexico being one of those. Add the one with the other and I don't need the headaches this transaction could end up costing me.

Then I got a buyer with over 200,000 feedbacks.
WTF?
Who buys that much crap on eBay??lolz
So I did some research and the feedbacks are ALL from buying, not from any selling......most people with that high of feedback are sellers but not this one.
This User Id had bought 29 other items on the same day they bought from me and 50 items the day before.....every day they were buying tens of items for months.  This made by fraud radar go off so I dug a little deeper.

Turns out this User Id(plus a few more IDs they own)is a company in CA that has built an eBay portal in Japanese, through which folks in Japan who don't speak/understand English can buy items through this portal on eBay, pay this company and they act as a middleman by paying/buying your items, you mail it to them in CA and they freight all the purchases to Japan to the customers.
Pretty cool really and it saves the customers shipping money, even with paying fees to the middleman.

As for me and eBay.....there are only a few days left before I put my listings on vacation mode until after Christmas.  I don't want to be at the mercy of last minute Christmas shopping procrastinators 2 days before the 25th buying items from me and getting angry & leaving me negatives when the Post Office can't magically get packages to their destinations in time for Christmas morning, because the buyer waited too long to purchase something.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

I take a break after Dec. 16th until the New Year on eBay.

Anybody else get any wacky eBay buyers?

Sluggy

 

It Has Begun!

Let the carols fly.....the tubes of wrapping paper have arrived from the garage.

It's an orgy of tape, scissors, bows, tags and ribbon.
The sound of crinkling paper is in the air.
The wrapping of presents has begun!

If you are of a "certain age" as am I, this song will stir something in your soul.......





Sluggy

For All of You with That Evil Machine.....

For all you Keurig machine Addicts Users(and yes, I am talking about you Sonya)......

Now I don't know if this is an eBook of recipes to make your own K-cups or recipes of things to add to your beverage after brewing it so have a look and let me know, won't you?

The link to get the eBook is HERE.

Sluggy
 

The Rite-Aid Haul from the End of Last Week

Here's a really fuzzy photo of 2 Rite-Aid shops from last Thursday or was it Friday?
I had so much going on I can't recall at the moment.

Used my Black Friday sale raincheck to get the box of Cereal for -.21¢(they paid me .21¢ to buy it....LOVE those deals! lol)
The Dawn was on sale for .97¢ ea. and I have 2 x .50/1 IPQs(coupons dotcom), making each bottle .47¢
The Pantene.....lord the Pantene! grrrr
It was SUPPOSE to cost me $1 a bottle(like the Pantene I bought earlier in the week-it also had Peelie Qs on the bottles).
But I was downtown and went to the Rite-Aid there instead this time.

I had a Load2Card Pantene $3/2 ManQ that did NOT come off my card.
Of course when using L2C Qs I ALWAYS have the cashier check the register to see if the coupon did indeed come off my card for the transaction before I hand over +Ups or Cash to pay.
Well, THIS Rite-Aid either does NOT train their cashiers to use the register properly(as this cashier had NO CLUE on how to check if my L2C Q had been applied to the transaction
OR
this cashier was being lazy and just didn't want to bother to MAKE THE CUSTOMER HAPPY!
Either way, she picked the wrong customer to be this way with because as soon as the transaction was over and I got into my car, I was on the phone with Rite-Aid Customer Service, giving them an earful about just how unhappy I was with this store, this cashier's attitude, this L2C program and this transaction.

if Sluggy ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.....

So the CS person verified that yes, I did have a L2C $3/2 Pantene Q on my card and a Rite-Aid gift card for that amount is winging it's way to me as I type this.

Some days I just get so tired of having to fight businesses for what is suppose to happen......

I also bought a PowerAde for Hubs for the prep for a future medical procedure he is having....don't go there.....lolz

After my +Up Rewards, I spent .30¢ OOP on all that.

Then at my regular store, I picked up some more gift cards that were giving back +Up Rewards last week.
One of them is already wrapped up for someone for Christmas and another is slated for a gift as well.
The other cards are for places we will be spending $ this coming year, so just converting cash into script for later use.
I received $22 in +Ups for buying those gift cards......bonus money for me!! 8-))

I'll be waiting until the 4 Day Sale later this week to go back to Rite-Aid to roll my +Ups.
Not much I can see that is a deal and things I can use......
*  The nail polish for $1.99 giving back a $1.99 +Ups for a gift maybe.
*  The free after +Ups Reward Goodness Granola Bars.
*  Monster drinks for #2 Son--2/$3, Get $2+Ups back.
*  Candy bars are 3/$2, Get $1 +Ups back and I think I have a Q or 2 for B2G1Free
*  Ghirardelli Candy Bars are $1.99 and I have $1 off Q
*  Speed Stick(Hubs brand)is BOGO and I have a $1.50/1 Q the register spit out in November so not free but a good deal.
*  Renuzits are 3/$3 and giving a $2+Ups back
*  $50 Home Improvement Gift Cards giving $10+Ups back so I might convert some more cash

Nothing great but some little deals this week.
I just got a look at next week's ad and it's dreadful so I do hope some of those Black Friday week deal items get into my stores here this week so I can use some +Ups on those raincheck items that weren't free after +Ups, like the 3 pack of Peanuts.  Last year they did the Planters gift pack and all the stores had plenty.  This year?  Everyone was out immediately....did this area go nut happy this year? lol

What is everyone else bringing home from Rite-Aid this week?

Sluggy
 

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Egads!  Can Christmas be only 16 Days Away?!" Edition.......

 

 

It's already the 9th of December and I have yet to catch any Christmas movies or specials on the television.
How did that happen?! 8-))

 On to the Meal Planning.
Here is what was planned last week--
 

Sunday--Stuffed Shells, Salad
Monday--Leftovers-Whatever you can find night and Roasted Asparagus
Tuesday--Leftover Stuffed Shells
Wednesday--Fried Chicken, Coleslaw, Green Beans, leftover stuffing
Thursday--Eating Out
Friday--Leftover Chili and Burritos
Saturday--no clue yet, maybe use a free Pizza coupon I have

Well we ate everything listed, but not on the days planned.   Except there was no pizza bought on Saturday, as I had gotten a big package of ground beef at Wegman's so we had hamburgers and used up some veggie side dishes that evening.

As for the food spending last week....
There were 4 trips to the stores and I spent $94.92(including my Rite-Aid trips-$10.87)on $285.76 worth of groceries/toiletries at 4 different stores.  Add that to the $34.68 I carried over from Nov.(when I closed out the books on that month and did some more grocery shopping on Nov. 30th)and we are at $129.60 spent on $356.25 worth of groceries/toiletries for December so far.
23 days left in the month and $179.40 left in the food budget.
Eh.

I am still hopeful I can pull off a $300 food month.  I don't plan on spending but $20 this week on a few loss leaders to use in the next 2 weeks.  That would leave us with about $150 left for the second half of the month's food shopping.

Leftovers going into this week--Shells, Coleslaw and some Fried Chicken.  I also have that whole roasting chicken I bought on Thursday and cooked up, plus a large package of ground beef also bought at Wegman's last Thursday to do something with this week.  Maine Source had a weekend special of yellow and green squash for .89¢ lb. so I bought 3+/- lbs. of each. and 2 doz. eggs.  I also picked up more asparagus as it was still on sale Saturday at Weis.

Here's this week's meal plan---

Sunday--used leftover Fried Chicken to make Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zuke, Rice
Monday--finish the Leftovers Stuffed Shells, Salad
Tuesday--Dinner out w/a gift certificate(free)
Wednesday--Meatloaf, Squash Casserole, Asparagus
Thursday--Roasted Chicken(maybe w/BBQ sauce), steamed Broccoli, roasted Sweet Potatoes
Friday--Leftovers Medley
Saturday--No Clue yet-options of leftovers, lasagna from freezer or pizza take-out(w/gift cert.)


What I need to purchase for this menu?......a couple of sweet potatoes.  Add that to the loss leaders I'll pick up later this week if the weather makes it able for me to get to the store.


What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

Decluttering Porn Time!

Oooo Baby!

Time to get your thrills again.
It's more Decluttering Porn at Sluggy's.

This load has been sitting Hubs trunk for weeks.
We finally dropped it off this past weekend while we were out running errands.....

I blacked out parts of these book covers since they ARE pornographic. lolz

 I don't know WHAT possessed me to buy those 3 art postcard books while in Canada.  I thought I could sell them on eBay, only at that time eBay had mostly destroyed the market for these as there were tight restrictions on how/where you could sell them on their site.  Now?....they aren't worth my time to bother with to list as they sell for pennies so off to charity they go.  I wonder what Sallie's will decide to do with them...hmmm? ;-)

 I still have more tubs of stuff from storage in my garage now to go through this week.

Sluggy

So True....HeHeHe

Sluggy

Mixing Coal & Beer Can Be Tasty

Out running errands today, Hubs and I stopped by this place.....

First trip down the mountain to a tiny microbrew called Coal Breaker Brewery housed in an old Catholic church and rectory near Laurel Run outside of Wilkes-Barre.
If you know coal mining history you know about the LAUREL RUN Underground Mine Fire.  That one predates your Centralia Underground Mine Fire Judy by 47 years.

Here's your words of wisdom for the day......never buy a house that sits over coal mines because some day they will be abandoned and subside or some fool will locate a dump in an abandoned strip mine and another fool will cause a fire in the dump to ignite a vein of coal and that sucker will burn until forever.
Just sayin'.....

Anyway, back to the Microbrewery....
They are awaiting their pub license so just have a tasting room and you can fill your growlers for home enjoyment.

Interesting brews and Hubs filled 2 Growler-ettes today.
Beer brews are named for the history of coal mining in the region.

5 Whistle Wheat
Black Diamon Dark IPA
Olde King Coal Stout

They have a Chocolate and Cherry Porter concoction in the fermenter tanks now.....sounds interesting to me!

There's a write up on them HERE.
Like 'em on Facebook HERE

They hope to be open with a kitchen before the end of the year.
We'll be back....

Sluggy
 

I "Heart" My Cardiologist.....Usually

I had an appointment today with the cardiologist at 10:45am.   I arrived and checked in at 10:35am.

Here I am at 11:00am still waiting......

 

Here I am at 11:15am and still no doctor.....

Here I am at 11:25am.......guess who STILL hasn't seen the dr. yet?

Here's a shot of my "dumb phone"....note the time.....I have heard rumors that there is medical personnel somewhere in the building.....just not in the room I'm in.......

Am I agitated?
Is my blood pressure going up?
Can I make more weird faces??
You bet!

My petulant inner child had decided to storm out at high noon if I hadn't been attended to by then.

The doc finally came into the room at 11:52am.....for a 10:45am appointment.

If he wasn't such a cutie I would have bitched at him.

Not only is he a fine heart doc but he is a lover of classical Indian dance.
Doc is on the left in this photo I found online......

Who would have thunk it?!





Sluggy

Another Shopping Win Using Free Gift Cards

I had an hour to kill between dr. appointments yesterday so I picked up a prescription I had transferred to the K-Mart pharmacy and made a quick $25(gift card)for doing this.  This is the 4th gift card I have earned in the last 2 months for transferring rxs to K-Mart.

Then I went shopping in the store for some Xmas gifties.....no worries, nobody in my family reads my blog.....lol......

 

Everything I got was on sale, so this lot cost me $54.96 + .24¢ tax on the Abominable Snowman Ornie=$55.20
Regular Retail is $75.94 + .36¢ tax.
I used 2 of my Gift Cards earned from transferring rxs toward this purchase and spent $5.20 OOP and I saved $21.20 off of reg. retail.

Since I have a "Shop your way" rewards card for K-Mart, I came armed with a "Get 10,000 SYW pts. when you spend $50" Q I got in K-Mart last weekend, so I earned $10 in pts. for this transaction that were good for 48 hours(use 'em within 2 days or loose them).

My daughter is in dire need of new underthings so I went online this morning and bought all this. Unfortunately none of it was on sale but I still did well as you will see............

2x Hanes 6-Pack of Boyshorts  $9.99....................$19.98

3 x Joe Boxer 2-Pack of Bras $16.98 each.............$50.94

1 x Athletech 6-Pack No Show Women's Socks.....$5.99

SubTotal.....................$76.91

This order qualified for free shipping to my daughter as it was over $59.00
I used a $5 off $45 purchase coupon code, bringing the total down to $71.91.
Then I used my $10 in SYW points earned yesterday, making the total $61.91.
I also applied my other $38.65 in SYW points already on my card, making the total now $23.26.
$2.16 in tax was applied to my order(because it was shipping to a state with sales tax on something I bought), making the total $25.42.
I then paid with the 3rd of 4 gift cards I got for transferring perscriptions, so my OOP(put on my credit card)was .42¢.
And I earned 615 more SYW points for this purchase.

In total I bought.....
6 men's undershirts
2 men's t-shirts
1 men's l/s shirt
1 pr. men's slippers
1 Xmas ornie
12 pair of women's panties
6 women's bras
6 pair of women's socks

And I spent $5.62 OOP.

Love it!


Sluggy

My Weekly Rite-Aid Trip

Well IF the Load2Card Qs had come off like they did the last couple of weeks, this lot would have cost me $2.57 instead of the $10.57 I paid.  Yes, I had $8 in Load2Card coupons on my card that refused to budge off of it!
Ya hear that Rite-Aid??!!

 I forgot to put the Distilled Water I bought into the second photo for the order on the brother in-law's card.......

You will notice that somebody around here likes Peppermint Patties..... 8-)

As things went, the Pantene cost me $1 a bottle, the Tresemme(the more expensive fancy bottles)cost me .49¢ each, the Soft Scrub with my Freebie Coupon cost me $1.10 for both bottles(the freebie Q only paid up to a certain amount), the Axe body sprays were $1 each and the gift set cost me $2.98 after the +Up Rewards that I got back for these transactions.

The candy is a good deal.....big bags of mint patties or peanut butter cups on sale for $3.99 and give a $3 +Ups, so if you have +Ups to roll, these come out to .99¢ a bag.  Your store is probably out by this point in the week so get a RAIN CHECK for them(limit 2 deals)!

Retail value of this lot?
$100.24

I need to go back and get some gift cards since they are giving +Ups and they are for places we spend during the year anyway.
And I need some PowerAde(.57¢ each this week)too for Hubs.

So what good deals did you get at Rite-Aid or some other drugstore this week?

Sluggy
 

Duck on the Brain

Ok, I stopped at Wegman's yesterday while I was out for doctor appointments.
I had been having a Facebook conversation that morning with some folks about those Duck Dynasty guys.
Tell me the universe was NOT listening in.........

 

I went online later to confirm that this quacky stuff retails for $7.95 a package.
And it's now safely tucked away in my freezer until Dec.25th!

Sluggy

What I Did That was Frugal Last Week--Addendum

And here is something I forgot to list as a frugal accomplishment last week.

On Monday afternoon, the evening of which we were going to K-Mart to pick up our almost half price recliners, I saw a FREE PHOTOS Coupon Code for Walgreens that was only valid that day on their website.

I quick went online to the Walgreens site, uploaded a digital photo and put in the coupon code and voila!.....I got 25 free 4x6 photos.
Picked them up before we went to K-Mart that evening as there's a Wags less than a mile away from the Big K....so can I count combining 2 errands into one trip too as a frugal accomplishment? lolz

And now I have lovely photos to enclose in most of the Christmas cards I am sending out.

But while I was walking through Wags to get to the Photo counter I saw a display of DUCK DYNASTY items.
Uh oh......
How I ever lived without a DD Garden Gnome to this point in my life is beyond me!
At least I wasn't tempted by an Uncle Si Chia Pet....

Sluggy

Food & Toiletries Spending.....November Totals Update

Not that having to write THIS POST did anything to lower my blood pressure after yesterday's rant but some days it's the best one can do. ;-)
Onward to November's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for NOVEMBER 2013.

I have posted November's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2013 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in November.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
******************

BIG LOTS
OOP  $25.50
Value  $53.50
Savings  52.33%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $20.89
Value  $77.53
Savings  73.06%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $82.73
Value  $158.58
Savings  47.83%

REDNER'S
OOP  $18.91
Qs/Ads  $9.54
Value  28.45
Savings  33.53%

RITE-AID
OOP  $14.74
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $382.77
Value  $397.51
Savings  96.30%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $227.91

Qs/Ads  $

Value  $386.19

Savings  40.98%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $192.10

Qs/Ads  $

Value  $384.27

Savings  50%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN October.....$0.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 96.30%, The Bread Outlet at 73.06% and Big Lots at 52.33%.  I shopped at 7 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$582.78

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$903.25

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,486.03

TOTAL Savings of...................................60.78%

This closes out the November food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into November with my usual $400 budgeted for food/toiletries purchases.
I went over by $182.78. 
Yikes!
Now this will only be ok if I can lower my food spending in December accordingly by about $180ish.
Spend more in November?.....spend that much less in December.

As you can see my Savings Rate skyrocketed in November for the 40's to the 60's, because of my Rite-Aid shopping.
Without the Rite-Aid totals added in, my November Savings Rate is 48% which is more in line with my track record this year.  Add in Rite-Aid totals and my overall Savings Rate is 60.78%.

You will notice though, Rite-Aid shopping aside, that my savings rates in November were REALLY good!  My lowest rate was 33.53%.  Some months 33% is my best savings rate! lol  I got some really really great deals on prices in November so I am NOT going to whine about overspending too much. 8-)
 

Looking ahead to December---We are not holding a big Christmas gathering here so we won't be having much extra food spending.  And if I can keep from buying a Prime Rib Roast like I did last year, the Christmas food spending shouldn't get out of hand.  We will be doing our traditional Christmas Even dinner out but that cost comes out of the Christmas budget. 
To get to the spending threshold to earn the Thanksgiving Gift Certificate in November I have stocked up on quite a few items I won't have to spend on in December.  I am going to try to eat from the stockpile this month and keep Food Spending in December to between $250-$300. 

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far this year--
 

2013 Total Saved $3,426.65

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $7,702.36

2013 Yearly Total Spent $4,275.71

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  44.49%

 

In November, total savings percentage for the year has gone UP 3.89% over October's year-to-date total of 40.60%, to 44.49%. 
Holding steady in the mid 40%s with one more month of food spending to go.  I would be very happy to end the year with a savings rate in the 40's.

The average monthly food/toiletries spending so far this year stands at $388.70.
Let's see if I can keep the average monthly spending below $400 for the year after December is done.

 

How much did you spend on food in November?
 

Sluggy

I Just Give Up Already!

*****WARNING-Bad Word Rant!  DO NOT open this Post around your children!!*****

After sitting here for 2 hours I am throwing in the towel!
I dug out some Christmasy mailing address labels to print up from the boxes of Christmas stuff #2 Son brought down for me from the laundry room storage and decided to print up the 4 sheets into pretty labels for my Christmas cards.
Well.....or so I thought!

2 Hours later after downloading this and downloading that......then not being able to open this or that, so downloading something to open that other something....then finding out WINDOWS 8 Can SUCK my DICK......then getting up from the machine to go cool off and actually make progress at SOMETHING today......then coming back supposedly refreshed to try, try again.......then back to downloading and deleting this and that......then running a security scan or five hundred........then off to another website......and then all the downloads turned into something else I can't open......then off to the Windows App Store to actually break down and BUY something that will help me....hahahaha.....then that won't download or was it that my payment didn't go through, who the HELL knows! anything except that WINDOWS 8 Can SUCK my DICK!......then imagining myself taking a sledgehammer to this blasted machine........then letting a few choice words fly that woke up the dog and hence, she began to beg for attention and food......so off I go again to cool off and throw stuff into a bin to haul off to Salvation Army until it's full and I've regained some composure......then taking a drink(non-adult beverage variety though I could REALLY use a stiff one about oh, an hour ago!)and resuming the attempt to make mailing labels on a machine running WINDOWS 8 which in my opinion can SUCK my DICK!......and more of the same as before, rinse and repeat.....until I could feel my blood pressure zooming into "infinity and beyond"......and then this old gal threw in the towel and put these blasted labels into the Salvation Army pile for someone else to get them and drive themselves stark raving MAD dealing with it.

And that my friends is how to waste 2 hours of your life because you've got a stoopid Windows laden computer with WINDOWS 8 which is only good for DICK SUCKING.
And that will be why, if you receive a Christmas card from me there will be NO pretty Christmasy return address labels slapped onto the envelope and I will be recovering from a bad case of writer's cramp for the next week or so.


Did I mention yet that WINDOWS 8 CAN SUCK my DICK!?!?!?

Sluggy

Things I Did Last Week That Were Frugal

Well let's see....

Usually I stick pretty close to a meal plan but last week(Thanksgiving Week)I didn't even DO a plan ahead so I can't even put that down. lol

1.  Our den sofa was a wreck.  Cracked, springs gone and fabric ripped all to heck. Plus the Chihuahua use to like to LICK it so you know it smelled really bad. ;-)
We have needed to replace it for ages.  The Sunday before Thanksgiving I got a special coupon from K-Mart online offering me some really good deals plus an additional discount on some items.  And one of those items was furniture.
Now I wouldn't normally even look at K-Mart to purchase furniture but I started playing around with the online shopping cart and coupons to see what price I could get something down to.
And here is what we set up in the den on Monday evening to replace our sad sofa........

Matching His & Her rocker recliners! lol
We had been discussing just getting a pair of recliners once we pitched the sofa.  After all, we hardly ever have enough people sitting in our house together to warrant buying another big bulky sofa.  This den is quite small so these fit much better and are more comfortable.

These are $279.99 recliners.
And I paid(after discounts, coupons & K-Mart "Shop your Way" points)$302.43 for Both.
So I got them for almost half price.

We went to K-Mart on Sunday to check them out in person(because I would never buy something like this online without testing it out),came home and bought them online with an in-store pick-up.

Before I get bashed for spending crazy amounts of cash(well, for me $300 IS crazy amounts of cash!lol), let me say this--I realize that just keeping what you already have and making do is preferable to spending money on new stuff, but at some point, you do have to breakdown and buy things....as long as you have the money saved up for the purchase.
We try to not-spend until things get to that point.  We also do a good amount of research and comparison shopping before pulling the trigger on a purchase.  Buying on impulse is deadly to your financial health, even if you do have gobs of spare money laying around.  Keep being impulsive and pretty soon those gobs of money are gone. 8-))

2.  Held off buying many toiletries/HBA this year until the Black Friday sales hit at Rite-Aid.  Looking at my spending log I did NO Rite-Aid shopping between March and September of this year.  We have been using up the stockpile of toiletries/many paper goods/HBA/etc. I had gotten at R-A in the last year or two.  There was a tiny bit of Rite-Aid shopping in Jan., Feb. and Oct. but I took full advantage of the sales this past week during Black Friday week to save the most on products I buy there.  In November I spent $14.74 at Rite-Aid and brought home items which would have cost me $397.51 if bought at regular retail.  I don't buy at regular retail but even with the everyday sale prices, I still saved a large sum over sales prices throughout the year versus deep discounts for Black Friday.  Plus shopping at Rite-Aid is NOTHING like braving the hoards at the mall and big dept. stores Black Friday weekend. 8-)

Now once I use up my +Up Rewards on things we need in the coming weeks, my Rite-Aid shopping will fade away into my usual infrequent trips.

3.  I converted spare cash sitting in an account earning basically nothing in interest into gift cards at places we need to spend--home improvement/hardware stores.  This is money that will need to be shelled out anyway over the course of next year for repair and maintenance of our home. (Last year's stack of gift cards went toward purchasing the bamboo flooring we had the handyman service put down in our living/dining room.)  By "spending" the cash now instead of next year, I got a benefit greater than the 5 pennies of interest earned from leaving the cash in a bank--I got +Up Rewards at Rite-Aid that are "money" toward toiletries/HBAs purchased in that store.

4.  I needed to refill 3 prescriptions so instead of having them filled where they were, I transferred them to the K-Mart pharmacy(since I was going there on Monday anyway to get the new chairs)and
received $75 in gift cards for my efforts.   These are meds that don't have any refills so I won't need to go back to K-Mart for further refills if I want to have the new prescriptions filled elsewhere.

5.  We downsized the number of dishes and amounts prepared for Thanksgiving.   Smaller turkey, less sides, that sort of thing.  It kept us from feeling like we HAD TO overeat to get through all that food and most of us only had 1 plate of food this time.  Less food made and bought, less money spent.

And you will be shocked, shocked I tell ya!, to know that the only Cyber Monday shopping I did yesterday was 4 items on Amazon--3 Christmas gifts and 1 book that #2 Son needed.  He told me he needed a certain music theory book so I went ahead and bought 3 gifts in that order to get the free shipping....3 gifts that would have been bought at some point in the coming week anyway.

And another 3 check marks go up on my gift completion list.
Yay!

I really need to sit down this week and make out that list on paper(it's been in my head so far and getting too large to keep there!lolol)and see where I am in regards to finishing all my gift shopping.

So what did you do that was frugal last week?


Sluggy





 

This Week on The Dining Table

The "Thanksgiving is over so who even wants to think about Food?!" Edition.......

 

   

Since I never even got around to posting the Weekly Menu last week or the "How we did sticking to the previous week's menu" discussion, let's just start fresh this week, ok?

 Here is what I remember from last week's menu/meals that we ate--
 

Sunday--Leftovers of some kind
Monday--Homemade Steak Chili, Baked Potatoes, Sugar Snap Peas
Tuesday--Corned Beef, Cabbage
Wednesday--Leftovers(Sloppy Joes, Corned Beef, Chili or "whatever you can find"
Thursday--Turkey, Stuffing, et al
Friday--Taco Bell
Saturday--Turkey Day Leftovers

As for food spending last week....
There were 2 trips to the store and I spent $24.35 on $87.81 worth of groceries at 2 different stores-the local grocer and a run for bread products for the month to the Bakery Outlet.  I did the numbers on Saturday and I have spent $182.78 OVER my $400 November food budget.  (Actually I spent MORE than that since I made two quick small grocery store runs Saturday evening before the stores closed as there were some good deals ending.  I've marked those trips down for Dec. spending as I had already closed out the Nov. spending in the book.)
Wow.....just wow......nothing else to say......

Leftovers going into this week--leftover rutabagas, glop, stuffing(no turkey tho!lol), roasted potatoes, corned beef, cabbage, chili.

Here's this week's meal plan---

Sunday--Stuffed Shells, Salad
Monday--Leftovers-Whatever you can find night and Roasted Asparagus
Tuesday--Leftover Stuffed Shells
Wednesday--Fried Chicken, Coleslaw, Green Beans, leftover stuffing
Thursday--Eating Out
Friday--Leftover Chili and Burritos
Saturday--no clue yet, maybe use a free Pizza coupon I have

Looks like this is the week Sluggy won't be cooking.....go me! lolz
I cooked a pot of sauce Sunday and made the stuffed shells so except for picking up fried chicken(not cooking it)and Burritos I have no cooking duties other than reheating leftovers.
Works for me to get a break in the kitchen. ;-)

What I need to purchase for this menu?......the Fried Chicken(it's a Wed. special at the grocery store, 8 pce. for $5)and Burritos on special this week.  I have a $10 Catalina to use at Weis this week so it will pay for the chicken on Wed. and part of the Burritos.

I got the asparagus already Sat. evening.(on one of those trips I am counting in Dec.'s spending)so very little should be spent this week on food/toiletries.  I am thinking $10-$20 and that much only if I find some instant meat markdowns on Wed. when I go to get the Chicken and Burritos I am buying.

After November's food overrun, I really want to keep December's food expenditures low.
I'll be posting my Nov. food spending totals in the next day or two.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

"IT" Has Begun!

Was is "IT" you may ask?
It's the Christmas Season, of course!

On one of my four bazillion trips up to Rite-Aid this past weekend I noticed that by Saturday evening a large majority of homes I passed on the roads already had their Christmas lights hung and turned on.
WTF?

Is everyone an overachiever around here except me?!?

And speaking of overachievers......

As of Saturday's mail delivery we have received our 1st Christmas card of the season.

Who woulda thunk it, that Sonya Ann would be such an early mailer!?
Dare I call her a "premature mailer"?
bwwaaaahhhhh

I guess it would be REALLY bad form to mention that she spelled our name wrong, huh?  ;-)

So it's Dec. 2nd and I will now show y'all the entirety of my Christmas decorating efforts so far......Get ready for it.......

I put the Christmas vinyl tablecloth on the kitchen table.

Man!
Am I beat now....I might need to go lay down......

Sluggy
 

Scenes From A Thanksgiving Day

When you see this flag flying at my house, you KNOW what day it is!

Here's the "crowd"  here at Chez Sluggy on Turkey Day.
My son had to work all day so it was just Hubs and I and the Brother in-law and the Nephew....

Notice the empty living room(except for the boxes of merchandise currently for sale on eBay)and the lack of curtains on the winders.

Thanksgiving dinner this year was served and "et" a folding camping table, with the kitchen chairs used for seating.
Hey, I know how to throw a high class shindig.  ;-)

The menu this year......
*Smoked Turkey
*Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing
*Green Bean Casserole
*Mashed Rutabagas
*Glazed Roasted Carrots
*Roasted Potatoes and Onions
*Crescent Rolls
*Cranberry Glop
*Au Jus and/or Gravy-pick your poison
*Pumpkin Pie (whipped cream optional)
*Mincemeat Pie
*White Zinfandel(Californian)

My plate before I dug in.
Ooops!  Forgot the cranberry "glop".

The badass huge Silverplated Stuffing Spoon(this is the handle with a turkey on the end).
I guess you are suppose to use this to dig the stuffing out of the bird if you "present" the turkey on a platter at the table.  We cut that sucker up before it gets to the table so I just plop this spoon in the bowl of stuffing.
And I use to threaten the kids when they were little, that I'd whop them with this spoon if they misbehaved at the table.  This thing is huge and heavy and you could leave a mark if you whacked someone in the head with this! lol

 

The brother in-law and nephew.

An awkward first "selfie".  Good lord!  I look like I'd been sucking on a lemon before I snapped this.
The pursed lips remind me of my daughter's first photo in the hospital....notice the resemblance in the lips? lolz

Next time, maybe I'll brush my hair before company comes over.
Or maybe not.....

So how was your Thanksgiving?

Sluggy


 

Last of the Rite-Aid Bacchanal

 Went back last night to finish spending down some +Up Rewards on both my card and brother in-law's card.....

 *Not pictures is an 8 roll pack of Paper Towels in each photo.*

I found another online Q for $1/1 Ghirardelli so I got another 2 bags free after the purchase generated the bonus 2 x $1 +Ups for each bag.
Pay $6, use $2 in Qs, Get $4 in +Ups back and I paid with +Ups so free. 8-)

My out of pocket cash outlays for these transactions was .34¢(.05 tax)and .53¢(.03 tax).

I've got $40.98 in +Ups combined from both cards left.

This week at Rite-Aid I only plan on buying a couple of Axe gift sets(which will spend down $5.98 for 2), unless something else pops up that is an irresistible deal.  8-)
I am hoping for better weekly deals next week to finish spending/rolling these +Ups.

After the grocery shopping orgy that November turned out to be,(yes, I just finished running the numbers for the food budget spending for November and it ain't pretty!), I'll be scaling back food spending in December.....but this won't include Rite-Aid shopping if I can get what I want/need there for almost free.

How are the deals at the drug store you frequent?

Sluggy