Saturday among the bored

I've been in a grand funk since Wednesday. Between teenagers (times 3), the windy/cold weather, the 3 dogs, the lack of action on my things up on eBay, all this tax & pre-college paperwork & my computer biting the dust YET AGAIN!!!, I just haven't felt like my peppy self.....well, not that I am EVER peppy.lol

Hubby had to go pick up his glasses today, so I tagged along just to get out of the house. I almost fell asleep in the car waiting for him to get his glasses. It was so warm in the car from the sun and it took so darn looooong!

You can't just run in and grab your glasses and go, can you? They make you sit there while they clean the lenses a couple of times and fit them onto your head, then adjust something here or there on them.....then reclean them once again.....then tighten something else, or loosen something else, or bend something, then wipe the lenses again....argh! Good lord, put them on your face and if you can see through them without falling down, just LEAVE already! ;-)

Anyway, after my snooze, we snuck off without the 3 hormonal alien zitsters we call our children for some chinese food. They switched the pans on 2 kinds of shrimp entrees and I wound up with a mouth full of Pepper Shrimp instead of a non-spicy Shrimp with Veggies. Everything tasted sort of 'eh' to me today, except the pan sauteed Dumplings. I should have just stuck to a pile of those and some soup instead of the sampling of lots of the dishes.

If you're interested in the extreme couponing shopping I did, read the next post, if not just close this window now and move along, as there is nothing more to see here. 8-))

sluggy

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what is on the Menu at Chez Sluggy this week.

Monday-Roast Turkey,Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Sauteed Green
Beans, Gravy...Thanksgiving Dinner but without the Pumpkin Pie!
Tuesday-Homemade Pizza(Chicken Wing Pizza & Veggie Supreme Pizza), Salad
Wednesday-Turkey & Rice Casserole, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach Souffle
Thursday-Hamburgers, Baked Beans, Carrots
Friday-Baked Fish, Seasoned Baked French Fries, Harvard Beets, Peas
Saturday-Pork Chop with Apricot Glaze, Carrots & Broccoli in Cheese Sauce, Wild
Rice

Desserts for the Week-Apple Pie & Chocolate and Butterscotch Cookies

Organizing Junkie is the home to Menu Plan Monday. Go see what's on her and many other ladies Menus for the week at Organizing Junkie's website.

sluggy

Nothing Says Love like Bacon!

We love us some bacon in my house, nasty old nitrites and all. I used coupons today to save a substantial amount of cash on our food bill.

My local little grocery market ran a special on a certain brand of bacon this week, $1.99 a package. I traded for 20 bacon coupons. The manufacturer published this brand of bacon coupons 2 states over but not here, thus the trading. I crossed my fingers the coupons would arrive before the sale ended tonight.

The coupons arrived yesterday, so I spent Valentine's Day morning up to the market using my coupons to buy TWENTY packages of Bacon. Remember, I said we LOVE us some Bacon. I was Not kidding!

This store doubles coupons up to $1.00 total, so my 55 cent coupons were each worth $1.00 off a package, which was on sale for $1.99 each.

$3.99 bacon x 20=$79.80 reg. retail value.
$1.99 bacon sale price x 20=$39.80 cost.
$1.00 off coupons x 20=$20.00 off.
$39.80-$20.00=$19.80 for 20 packages of bacon....that's 99 cents each.

Savings of $60.00 off of reg. retail price.

Having the freezer stocked with Hog Love=Priceless.

Happy Valentine's Day All!

Sluggy

Sluggy...OOP $1.97

I am new to this stuff but I had a pretty good day at CVS this week. You can see that our dog Peanut heartily agrees that I 'done good' on the dog food score! (Peanut is a 'Bagel'-half Beagle, half Basset Hound & all eating machine!)

It went down in 2 transactions. I had a $10/50 crt coupon so I had to do a large one, even though I didn't have some coupons to do some of the deals I wanted to do. Here is what I could do....

Transaction #1
Purina Dog Chow x 2 @$4.99 ea.=$9.98
Gillette Gamer Razor @$7.99
Tums QuickPack x 3 @$2.85 ea.=$8.55
Natural Dentist Rinse x2 @$9.99 ea.=$19.98
Bodiheat Packs @$3.99
TOTAL=$50.49

Used Coupons
2x $4/1 Dog Chow IP=$8.00
Gamer Razor $4/1 MQ=$4.00
3x Tums $2.25/1 IP=$6.75
2x Natural Dentist $2/1 IP=$4.00
Bodiheat $1/1 Peelie Q=$1.00
TOTAL Coupons=$23.75

Used Extra Bucks
$10/50
$10 EB
$5 EB
TOTAL Extra Bucks=$25.00

$50.49-$23.75-$25.00=$1.74 Out of Pocket
Plus earned $15 EB ($8 Natural Dentist/$4 Gamer Razor/$3 BodiHeat)& another $10/50 EB
And I have a $10.00 MIR for the Natural Dentist

Transaction #2
Mylanta Cherry (the one marked down, I found 1 bottle)@$3.75
2x BodiHeat Wraps @$3.99 ea.=$7.98
Hershey Bar(filler)@50 cents

Used Coupons
2x $1/1 Peelie Q=$2.00
(Wish I had a Mylanta Q with me)

Used Extra Bucks
$10 EB
My total was $9.73, after the Peelies were deducted. I had a $10 EB to use, so I was forced to buy that chocolate bar. Oh, the horrors!lolol

$11.73-$2.00-$10.00=$0.23 Out of Pocket
Plus earned $9 EB ($3 Mylanta/$6 BodiHeat)

TOTAL OOP $1.97
Used 25 EB & $10/50, got 24 New EB, $10/50 & $10 MIR
Total Value of Products $79.98
Total Value w/Sale prices $62.72

For more CVS savings, visit the "CENTS"ible Sawyer's CVS Superstars!

Be Careful What You Say...

...You may live to eat your words.

No sooner did I post & rejoice in my January $aving$ Total then some unexpected/large/forgotten BILLS started popping up in February's budget.


***Sigh***


On Monday, I remembered that I have a large CREDIT CARD bill coming due at the end of February. Yes, we have a credit card. No, we do not run a balance on it, it is paid off each month. It's used mainly as a tool to keep a record of expenses and the Gift Card Rewards we earn are an extra bonus. I had forgotten that along with the usual expenses we put on it each month, we ordered new KITCHEN COUNTER TOPS and the store charged us for them a couple of weeks ago. Yuck!

On Tuesday, the CAR INSURANCE bill arrived.

On Wednesday, we picked up my car from the AUTO REPAIR Shop, along with a bill for a tune up/oil & fluids change AND an unexpected repair that totaled almost $800.

On Thursday, the LOCAL & COUNTY TAX bill for 2009 arrived. Ok, that's not due until April 1 but psychologically, getting it when I did, it was disheartening.

I am dreading going to the mailbox today!

A quick calculation of this month's expenses and estimating expenses not billed/paid yet for Feb. and we are going to be SHORT about $250 on February's income.

BUT....
I did just sell a bunch of old toys to a guy over in Europe, so after eBay/Paypal fees, that eat it from the ass in, that will be another $175 toward the shortfall. Between the rolled change I can scrounge around the house and coming up with a little bit more eBay cash before the 28th, I will probably be able to just squeak February out without having to dip into the January $aving$!

So the February $aving$ Total may be a big 'ol $0.00.

But ya know what? I am NOT stressing out over the extra money spent this month because I HAVE that nice lump of CASH saved from January that I can dip into if I have to.
Having a cushion of Money in the Bank makes for a Serene Slug.

sluggy

And Speaking of Peanut Products....

The Hershey's Corporation does NOT buy peanuts from the Peanut Corporation of America, the company that caused all the salmonella deaths in the US lately. From what I have seen and read, the president of the Peanut Corporation of America, Stewart Parnell, is quite unethical and in very deep legal trouble for running his business as he did. Not only has he caused the deaths of now 9 people, he has sicked many more consumers, as well as caused economic loss for a lot of other businesses that used his products in their products. It's so bad that companies that NEVER used products from PCA in their foods are suffering huge losses in their sales....upward of 25% for the entire industry.

I saw a news segment last night about the LANCE company....you know, the company that makes those ubiquitous neon orange cracker sandwiches with peanut butter filling. Lance's founder claims to have invented the Cheese/Peanut Butter Sandwich Cracker in 1916, and the Lance Co. has practiced impeccable quality control since their founding. LANCE is losing about 1 million dollars a month in sales and have had to spend TONS of money on marketing ads to get the word out that Lance Crackers are okay to eat and NOT affected by the peanut butter recall.

VIDEO

Like dropping a stone in a pond & the ever expanding rings it makes, your one small action or decision can affect so many more people into infinity, in either a good way or a bad way.

I hope there is a Special Tainted Peanut Covered Circle of Hell just for Stewart Parnell.

sluggy

What does 66 Candy Bars look like?

You are getting hungry, VERY HUNGRY......



Yep! That's what's in that picture. It should be 80 Candy Bars but first things first.

I went out to run errands yesterday.....drug store, grocery store, post office, the usual stuff. I had 40 coupons for those new Reese's Candy Bars called WHIPPS. It's like a MILKY WAY Bar but with a layer of peanut butter on the top, instead of caramel. The coupons are $1 off of 2 bars. RITE AID has Hershey bars on sale this week, 2 for $1. So my mind began to plot....

I planned my errands around every Rite Aid store I could think of in the area. I hit 5 Rite Aids that way and basically wiped out their stock of 2/$1 Whipps Bars within a 10 mile radius of my house. Except for the Rite Aid located in my town, which had NO WHIPPS! Hmmph

It was so annoying buying them though, as the manager had to be called to override the register at each store. Seems the registers just don't like giving stuff away for FREE! teehee

I have since learned a local grocery chain has Hershey Bars 2/$1 this week so I'll keep the 7 remaining coupons in my purse, just in case we happen to drive by there.lol


sluggy