A few happenings

I apologise for my lack of posting. I'm so far behind - with everything. Holiday weekends don't help either, because they throw me off completely.

We went for a mini getaway over the holiday weekend. While we were having dinner, the power went out at the restuarant. No problem since we had already finished our meal. We didn't mind finishing our drinks in the dark, because it was still light out and the sun was streaming through the windows. Surprisingly, no generator kicked in at the restaurant.

When we left, we noticed that the traffic lights were out and power was out in the entire area. So we decided to go for a long drive. After about an hour of exploring, we returned to the hotel only to discover the power was still out. I told DH that we should just drive home, because there's nothing we can do in the dark. DS was not happy, because he was looking forward to a swim in the pool and I wanted to hit the jacuzzi and sauna. I'm just glad that we hadn't unpacked our bags yet and that we at least got to enjoy dinner out.

This has been a very spendy month. At least that's how I feel. Whether I paid cash or with gcs, I feel like I shopped a lot this month.

Spent $126.28 on some pants and tops for DS. I included some items to resell, so that should cover our total OOP cost.

Spent $93.51 on much needed bras. I absolutely hate spending a  lot of money on a bra, because its just a small piece of fabric. Why on earth does it cost so much? I never spend more than $10 on these babies. I've only paid $20 for it once, and that was with a gc. This time I decided to splurge on some really nice ones, but paying $23.37 (incl tax) still feels like a lot to me (these were clearance prices. The bras retail for $59 each). I've seen bras that were $70-100. For that price, they'd have to be spun from gold...lol. I think retailers feel like they can charge whatever they want, because it's a necessity for women. I'm curious as to what the highest price is that anyone spends on a bra. Am I just being cheap?

I really haven't done much drugstore shopping.The deals haven't been great lately.  I just stopped at CVS last week to use expiring EBs. My store no longer accepts expired EBs, so I spent $16EB and earned back $10. I should get another $3 EB Beauty reward on my next trip.

I've also decided to get back in the WAGS game. I gave up years ago when they rolled out their new rewards program. On top of that, my store managers were extremely rude. Now that we have new managers and I've figured out their points program, I'll do free or MM deals. No RR deals. That's too much of a pita. I'm not gonna write about it, because I don't plan on doing much shopping there.

Today I checked my RA account to see when my BC expires. I didn't see any BC under L2C clipped qs. WTF RA? I even checked the unclipped qs. I know that I have $13 BC that I earned at the end of last month. Ugh, I'm not liking RA's new rewards system. They should've rolled out the same system as Plenti, cause that was so easy to use. If anyone knows where the BC is located on your account, please let me know.

I haven't earned much gcs this month, because my Encraves disappeared about a week ago. I don't have the time to babysit other point earning offers. It was slow earning this month, but I still managed to redeem for some gcs.  I'll post the amounts in my May numbers post.

Used gcs to purchase a pool at Target. I saw that it was included in their toy sale (spend $100 get $25 off instantly), so I told DH that instead of just paying cash, we can use some of the gcs I have to lower our OOP. So our $100 pool cost us around $40 OOP.

Remember that DSW gc that I purchased with my Mother's Day gift? Well I made it to the score and had such fun. I love that you can score more than just shoes at that store. I always head straight to the clearance section, because they have extra discounts on all clearance. I got the $100 gc and the $25 (wyb $100 gc) was also added to this card. I also had $30 in rewards and a $60 off $199 q. I also had a $5 reward in my account. For some reason I couldn't get it to print, so I hauled the Ipad to the store with me, only to discover they don't have Wifi. Oh boy. So here's what I did.

Items total = $224.88
Less 60/199  (60.00)
Less reward (30.00)
Less gc (125.00)
Plus tax 8.09
OOP $17.97

Total Savings $549.12

Now I could've had $0 OOP, because I still have a $25 gc that I redeemed earlier this month. However, I figured that $125 was enough to cover everything and I was too lazy to print the gc. Lesson learned. Always take all your gcs with you...lol

I earned a $5 reward for my purchases and still have the other $5 in my account and $25 gc. I'll save these for a rainy day.

Now I need to get everything photographed and listed. I figure that after fees, I should make about $280. So that's turning my $100 gift into almost $300. I got my shopping fix and I would've almost tripled my money. I'm a happy mama :)

My allergies have been really bad the past 2 days, so I'm off to take a hot bath and then to bed with a good book.

A tale of the Dollar store coffee mugs

A few years ago, I decided to replace our old Pfaltzgraff dinnerware with new ones. I didn't see any Pfaltzgraff designs that I liked, so I checked Kohls. They happened to have a good sale on dinnerware at the time, so I got a very inexpensive setting for 8. Well, well, well, this was the case of 'you get what you pay for'. In less than a month, I had 3 pieces chip and/or crack. I was not happy. I continued using the rest of the items, but vowed to research for a better brand (I really don't know why I didn't just return the whole set, because we still had the old Pfaltzgraff set)

After much research, I learned that Corelle holds up well. So I added items to my cart and signed up for their emails. When they had a great discount during 2016 holiday season, I bought a beautiful set + 12 coffee mugs. The dinnerware didn't include mugs.

When the set arrived, I only opened 6 mugs and saved the rest. At first, I was gonna donate the old items. Then I thought to myself 'why not use what is left, until it breaks'. Thus my reason for only using 6 new mugs. So that's what we've been doing since.

Last week, I found that one of the Corelle mugs (these are nice solid mugs) had a big piece chipped off. Nooooo. I really like this set. Then 2 days later, I found a crack in another mug. Ugh! Thankfully, I still had the 6 extras that I saved, so I took out 2 new mugs.

About 6-7 years ago, I bought DH a very nice coffee mug at Dollar General. It is really cute and only cost $1. I got us each one for Christmas. We loved it so much, that he told me to buy more. Unfortunately, it was a seasonal item. The next Christmas, I bought a few more of those mugs. Well, we are still using those $1 mugs. We still have 4 mugs left.  I think I only 2 broke over the years. I don't know how many DH broke...lol The higher priced name brand mugs aren't even holding up this well. So I'm making it my mission to keep my eye out for new coffee mugs at any Dollar Store. Those mugs can then be saved as extras for when our current ones break. I hate running out of anything, that's why I'm gonna keep spare coffee mugs. I don't want to wait until things break and then have to pay full price for a replacement.

So yeah, the $1 mugs turned out to be our favorite ones! No more pricey coffee mugs for me.

Some shopping and this week's happenings

Haven't done much shopping this week, except for today. Earlier this week, I hit up Dollar Tree for bread. Sadly, they didn't have any bread, but I scored 2 bags Brownberry Bagel Thins. Those went straight into the freezer, since it expired the next day. I don't normally toast my bagels, but these will definitely go into the toaster cause its not super fresh.

Today I hit up the produce market. Its been 3 weeks since my last visit. I like to do a big shop there once a month. Here's what I got

3 x Avocados
2 x Beets
4 x Acorn Squash
6 x Red Peppers
11 x Yellow Peppers
12 x Orange Peppers
3 x Green onion bunches
1 lb Mushrooms
Large chunk of ginger
4 x Garlic
3lbs Grapes
6 x Limes
6 x Lemons
6 x Oranges
2 x 5lb bags Red Potatoes
2 x 3lb bags Apples
2 x Cucumbers
2.5 lbs Tomatoes

Total OOP incl tax = $45.54

Sorry, I didn't feel like staging everything for pics. The apples were really small, so I bought 2 bags. Tomorrow I will wash, slice/dice and freeze the peppers. I normally get about 12 bags out of it and these last us for at least a month. I'll do the same with the sweet and green onions. Same goes for the lemons and limes. I wash, quarter and freeze, so that it's easy to use when I need them.

The grapes will be picked from the stem, washed, dried and placed in a container in fridge. This way none of us have to wash grapes every time we want to eat some.

At Meijer I just did some cherry picking. There's nothing good is next week's ad, so I grabbed a few items that's needed for meals next week.

4 x Band aids
1 x Lipstick balm
2lb Brown rice
5 lbs Bananas
5 lbs Sweet onions
3 x 64 oz OJ
1 x Pita Pockets
Used 2 x $3 Band aid CATS and $2 Neutrogena q
OOP = $32.17

A few weeks ago, DH & DS thought it would be cool to paint their faces with my favorite lipstick...grrrr. Why didn't they just grab one of the others? So I took $10 out of DH's pocket and said that's payment for my lipstick. Thankfully there was a $2 Neutrogena q in the paper that same weekend. The q is limit one per person, so I'll go back to Meijer and grab another 2 or 3 next week, before q expires.

I got the onions and bananas at Meijer, because these items are much better at Meijer. The last time I bought bananas at the market, is was green. Two weeks later, it was still green and definitely not edible. Not cool, because we eat bananas daily. DH wanted a gallon OJ, so I just bought 3 x 64 oz bottles.

Then at Dollar Tree, I scored the M&Ms. The 6pk is free after Ibotta rebate. I paid $5 OOP and earned $5.25 (25c for any item), so a small MM. I will go back for more, once the q resets and save these for Halloween.

Received my Red Robin gcs from Sams, so 4 more Christmas gifts done. $40 of it will be used for dinner for ourselves.

Victoria's Secret sent me a pile of qs earlier this week. The same evening, they had an extra 25% off one item and free shipping. I used the 2 Free Panties q and bought 3 pairs. Unfortunately I couldn't combine the 25% off with this q, but free shipping always wins. So $11.13 oop for 3 pairs.

I really need to add more unmentionables to my shopping list. I bought some Hanes over the holidays and the quality was really crap. I've worn Hanes for years, because I love cotton and the quality has always been great. The last order was horrible. I could tell the minute I opened the package. After a month of wear, I was getting holes in these items. So no more Hanes for me. Not unless they do something about the quality.

Redeemed a $25 DSW gc.

My guys always give me cash for every occassion, because they know that I'd be able to stretch those $$$ much further. So I used my Mother's Day cash to buy a $100 DSW gc. This gc came with a $25 bonus. I really don't need any more shoes, so I'm combining the gc with my qs and rewards to make some extra cash for my $15k fund. I redeemed the $25 gc, so that I don't have any oop cost. I have a plan, but more on that once plan is executed.

Meijer & Wags shopping

If you love Dial Soap, hurry to your nearest Wags (Walgreens). Ending today, they have 8pk Dial soap/body wash on BOGOF sale. I was so happy to see a deal on my favorite bar soap, because I'm completely out since they've discontinued my favorite scent. I've discovered that I actually like the white bars, so here's what I did.

4 x 8pk soap @ $5.49 = $21.96
Less BOGOF (10.98)
Less Digital q (1.00) there's also a $1 ip that I didn't print
Tax 0.66
OOP = $10.64

Earned $2 back through Savingstar ($1 for 2 Dial bw/soap, $1 for 2 bar soap)

Total cost after rewards = $8.64 or $2.16 per pack

Then to Meijer to use my 5/$50 MPerks (MP) q. By now I should know that things never work out at Meijer. I had a list of inexpensive Ibotta items, but in typical Meijer fashion they either don't have shelf space for some items or their shelves are completely bare. How the heck do you not have shelf space for items that you advertise? And of course, they gypped me on an MP q again. They've been doing this for years, applying the q to your FREE item, so that you don't really get any discount. Ugh, over the years I've seen numerous complaints about this from other couponers, but Meijer just continues with this poor practice. So I continue to vote with my money - spend less at Meijer and buy the bulk of my items at other stores.

1 x Flower seeds packet $1.89
2 x 60ct Band aid 3.98
1 x Stayfree  3.77
2 Bananas 0.48
Onions 4.63
2 x Garden Fresh Salsa (BOGOF) 3.99
4 x 1lb strawberries 3.98 (part of 2 day sale)
1 x Sargento slices 2.79
1 x Yoplait Girl scout yogurt 0.50 (free after MP q)

10/$10 get 11th item free
1 x English cucumber 1.00
2 x Organic baby carrots 2.00
2 x Cannellini beans 2.00
3 x Chickpeas 3.00
2 x McCormick Grillmates seasoning 2.00
2 x 2lt Canada Dry 2.00
2 x Honest Tea 2.00
2 x Mushrooms 2.00
17 x Chobani yogurt 17.00
Less 3 free items (3.00)
Less Chobani MP (1.00)
Less Sargento q (0.75)
Less Onions q (0.25)
Less 5/50 (5.00)
Less $5 CAT (5.00)
Less Band aid CAT (3.00)
OOP $41.26

Earned $2.75 CK51 ($2 beans and 75c Sargento) and $4 Ibotta ($2 Salsa, 25c bananas, 25c any, 50c Canada Dry, $1 monthly bonus)

Total after rewards = $34.51 and also earned a $3 Mperks reward for spending $150 (this amount tracks).

So my 1 free item only deducted 66c instead of $1, because of Meijer math with the Chobani q. Grrr!

In hindsight, I should've bought more beans. I kept thinking it was $1 back per can, that's why I bought 5 cans instead of 10. I stocked up on Bush's beans when CK51 had this rebate last year, so I'll do the same again. I'll buy the beans at Walmart instead, because their price is much lower.

The beans will be used for falafel, moroccan lentil soup and mexican dishes (black beans are included in this rebate)

I don't see anything good in next week's Meijer ad. Only the band aids are on sale again, but I'm not gonna make a special trip for that. Or I'll just keep buying some, because I can add these to my Operation Christmas child boxes. I still have 2 CATS and the register is still printing them.

I also hit up Sams for some meat, lunch meat and bread. The Dollar Tree bread is hit or miss. I'll get bread there whenever they have it in stock. We just finished the last DT loaf (I froze it when I bought 3 loaves). I'll just buy a few loaves to freeze again next time they have bread.

I hope all moms have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow.

Christmas shopping update

This was a big Christmas shopping week. Big, because I bought gifts for 11 people and only spent $9.76 oop (out of pocket)

On Sunday I spent $40.69 on gifts for 2 of my nephews at Macys. Paid with part of my Macy's gcs

Then I bought VS bags for 5 nieces. Used a 10/$10 q and paid $9.76 oop (darn high shipping costs).

I also purchased 2 x $50 Red Robin value packs at Sams for $85.56. Each pack contains 3 x $15 gcs and a bonus $5 card. I only need 4 x $15 as gifts and we'll still have $40 to use ourselves. Paid with my Walmart gcs.

So after crunching numbers and marking gifts off my list, I realised that I'm more than halfway done with Christmas shopping.

What I still need to buy

Kohls

Need : $60
I have more than enough gcs to cover that expense. I'm just waiting on Kohls to send me a 40% off mystery discount

Target

Need $150 (might not need this much, but I like to have tax covered too)
Currently have : $50 gcs
Amount still needed : $100 gc

Walmart

Need : $300 (again not sure if I need $300. It all depends on sale prices)
Currently have : $66.66
Amount still needed : $233.34

Cash (for gc purchases and one more gc to a place that doesn't offer gcs)

Need : $263
Currently have : $348.21 (April balance from online sales less VS oop)
Nothing needed

So I only need to earn more Walmart and Target gcs. I'll use Ibotta and IGC for Walmart and Swagbucks for Target. The rest of our point earning accounts will be used to earn more gcs for Black Friday shopping.

Has anyone else gotten a head start on Christmas shopping yet, or am I the only crazy fool?...lol. The best part of shopping this way is that I don't have to worry about extra spending over the holidays and because I pay with gcs, I'll earn cash back through Ebates and rebate offers. So more cash in my pocket.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Oh my goodness. Those blueberry muffins turned out way better than expected. I bake a lot and this is one of the best muffin recipes I've ever used. It was so light and fluffy.

I used wheat flour instead of AP Flour
Used less than half the required amount of sugar, because we eat very little sugar. I also didn't sprinkle sugar on top and it was still sweet to me.
I was also out of nutmeg, so I replaced it with some cinnamon.

I planned on having only one muffin with my omelet for breakfast. However, it was so good that I had to have another. I like to cut my muffins in half, spread a little butter on each half, then microwave so butter can melt. So here's the recipe if anyone is interested in trying it. I noticed that I printed this recipe 10 years ago. I can't believe I haven't used it since. It's going into my favorite recipe section in my recipe file.

Muffin recipe

Cherry picking week and stocking up on Christmas gifts

I thought this week would just be a cherry picking week at Meijer, because we don't need much and I had $20 CATs to use. Well, that was until I checked my Mperks account and saw that they sent me a 5/$50 q. I still have one $5 CAT to combine with it and today I received store qs from them too. So I'll wait until Friday, to see if next week's ad has anything better than this week. If not, then I'll just shop the 10/$10 sale, use some store qs, ibotta/ck51/savingstar offers, to get the most bang for my buck. One of my store qs is for a big bottle of vinegar (that I use for cleaning), so that will save at least $2. Since yesterday, I've spent less than $20 oop (don't feel like hauling out the receipts now) and earned back over $7 Ibotta.

Today was a busy errand day. I'm pooped, but still have quite a few things to do for the day. I hit the Dollar Tree for bread. Unfortunately, they were out of bread :( Picked up some other items and as I got to the register, I saw Sunday papers by the front window. I told the cashier to wait and checked for q inserts. So I grabbed 2 papers. We only got the Smartsource insert yesterday. I picked up 2 papers at Meijer yesterday ($2 each), cause I figured DT wouldn't have any more papers by 4pm (when I went out). Well, now I know to check my store and go back on a Monday if I need extras.

Then for dinner I threw some chicken breast strips, onions, peppers (I bought some at Produce market 2 weeks ago and filled 12 bags with mixed peppers that I froze. I paid less than $10 for all those peppers), artichokes, potatoes and seasoning into a casserole dish and into the oven. Served over brown rice, with carrots and broccoli on the side. And just before dinner was done, DH rocked up with loads of food from my favorite Mexican restaurant. I'm not complaining, cause I love their food. The good news is that I don't have to cook for the rest of the week. There's still enough dinner left for another meal and the Mexican will last for 2 days as well. So Friday I'll make some BLTs for dinner or the falafel that I had planned (if Meijer will only stock their shelves with pita pockets).

Since the oven was on, I decided to make some blueberry lemon muffins too (I'll try to take a pic later). I haven't used this recipe in years, so I hope it tastes as good as it smells. You can just use a blueberry muffin/bread recipe and add lemon zest to it. I added zest of a whole large lemon and it paid off. That lemon smell made my mouth water.

Has anyone baked with wheat flour? I find that it leaves my batter coarse and dry, so I always have to add extra milk to my batter. I don't mind doing that, cause the muffins still turned out well. I'm just wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if this is normal.

Today I received a $10 off anything Victoria's Secret q. I haven't shopped there in years, but I'm still signed up for their emails. I read that they have extra 25% off clearance today only, so I went online, ordered 5 VS makeup bags and paid $9.76 oop. $8 of that was for shipping. Grrr. I really can't complain about paying less than $2 per gift. Remember all that free makeup we get at the drugstores? I can fill the bags with makeup and they'll make cute gifts for my nieces. Well, that's if shipping doesn't cost too much. Heck, they'd be happy just to get a VS bag without makeup too...lol

I also bought some gifts for my nephews with my Macy's gcs. They had extra 30% off and I spent $40.69 in gcs and will get 10% back through Ebates. Just my luck, cause Ebates now has 15% cash back at Macys, but I don't need anything. So I paid $9.76 oop for gifts for 7 people. That's a win in my book.

This week's happenings 4/29/18

Did another Herbal Essences transaction at Meijer today, to complete Part 1 of the Ibotta bonus. I also now have 6 items tracking towards Bonus 2 (added Sargento slices, Jolly Time Popcorn & Canada dry to the HE deal. Didn't I say I wasn't buying any more Canada Dry?...lol. The plan was to add Pace Salsa, but that rebate is no longer available). I'll buy the rest of the items as soon as I can double dip with Bonus 3.

Redeemed a $20 Gap gc through Ibotta. We rarely shop at Gap, but Ibotta is currently offering a $2 Bonus when you redeem for a Gap gc. This gc can be used at any of their stores. The bonus credited immediately.

Redeemed for $25 Target gc (Swagbucks) and $25 Kohls gc (Mypoints). I really wanted a CVS gc, but they're not available on Mypoints. I'll have to wait until I have enough points on IGC to redeem for a CVS gc

Redeemed a $31.21 Kohls gc through Ibotta. This included an 8% bonus for choosing a gc, instead of a check

Got 5 free Teddy Grahams travel packs at Meijer (free after Checkout51 rebate). There's no size restrictions on this rebate.

Picked up 2 Vince Flynn books at Ollies. I feel lost when I don't have something to read and the hardcover books are $3.99 at Ollies. Yep, I finished those last 2 books I picked up at Ollies and Dollar Tree. I'm a speed reader and can finish a good book overnight.

The green onion that I planted when I made potato salad last week, is now almost 3" tall. I just planted the ends (roots) that were cut off and stuck it into soil. So we'll have free green onions during summer.

I also planted tomatoes, peppers, brussel sprouts seeds last month. We already have 70/80 degree weather, so these will go into the ground soon. I need to get some cherry tomatoes seeds, cause I love those for salads.

That's about it for me. There's not much that looks good in next week's ads and I have most items for next week's dinners, so it will be a cherry picking week. I do still have $20 CATS (HE deal) that I will try to combine with Meijer's 10/$10 get 11th item free, next week. I hope there's some good qs available, to lower my OOP. Unfortunately, you can only redeem one CAT ($5) per transaction, so I'm gonna have to get creative.

Stockpiling items of the week

Ibotta currently has another Bonus Stack deal, which coincides with the Meijer Herbal Essence Deal that I planned on doing this week.

Get a $5 wyb $20 P&G beauty/personal care items. I wanted the Herbal Essence, because it's our favourite shampoo. I noticed that the HE is B3G1F and I know that the free item counts towards the CAT.

Also, Ibotta has 3 different HE rebates (mine is 95c each - amount varies by user). Limit 5 per rebate

So here's my transaction

5 HE conditioner @ $2.99 = $14.95
3 HE shampoo @ $2.99 = $8.97
Less 2 Free items (5.98)
OOP = $17.94 + tax

Got back $5 CAT and $7.60 Ibotta. So $5.34 for 8 bottles after rewards

2nd Transaction

5 x HE stylers @ 2.99 = $14.95
2 x Secret Deodorant = $8.98
Less Free styler (2.99)
OOP $20.94

Got $5 CAT and $8.75 Ibotta ($4.75 HE, $4 Secret)

Cost after rewards = $7.19

I don't know why I bought 5 stylers and not 4. I must've forgotten that the CAT will still print if my OOP is under $20. Silly me.

Why so much conditioner and stylers? I have naturally curly hair and during summer I go au natural. I just wash my hair, leave in the conditioner and voila, curls! I do occasionally use mousse too. The gel is for DS. I don't like how hard the gel makes my hair. I need to get more hairspray for when I blow dry my hair.

I've also been receiving $3/2 Band Aid CATs and the Band Aids are B1G30% off 2nd. So I grabbed the 60ct boxes for $1.99

2 x Band Aids = $3.98

Less 30% (0.60)

Less $3 CAT (2.89)

OOP $0.49 + 20c tax (calculated on pre coupon amount)

You'll notice that in typical Meijer fashion, they gyped me 11c on the CAT. Let's not forget they'll get reimbursed the full $3 value by the manufacturer. I don't know why the CAT was adjusted, because there was no overage. Oh well, I can't complain about paying 35c a box. I did this deal twice

I'll go back on Friday to do the HE and Band aid deals again. I also picked up a package of Sargento cheese slices for $2.99 and used the 75c CAT that keeps printing too. So 75c back through Ibotta and 25c any item. I've already claimed my limit on CK51, so I'll wait until it resets tomorrow.

Rite Aid

I haven't been there in a while, so it's still trial and error for me when it comes to Bonus Cash

2 Fig Newtons  $3.00
1 Mentholatum rub $3.00
1 Speed Stick Deodorant $2.96
2 x $25 Kohls gcs $50.00
Less SS in ad q (2.00)
Less SS man q (0.50)
Less BC (9.32)
OOP $47.50

This has happened before. When you use qs on items and pay with points, it will deduct the full value from your points and apply the coupon value to your gc. So I used $2.50 in coupons and it deducted that amount from my GC purchase. So I paid $47.50 oop for my gc.

We don't need gcs, but since I earned $10 BC, I figured I'd do this deal. I will take $10 out of our grocery fund (we use BC for household and HBA) and add it to our Christmas fund.

Earned $13 BC. ($10 Kohls, $1 Fig Newtons, $2 Mentholatum) and $1.50 Menthol through Ibotta

Cashier couldn't get Max Freeze q to deduct, so she rang that up separately.

Cost $8.00
Less $2.00 q
Less 0.68 BC
OOP $6.48 Paid with gc and earned $7 BC

And darn, I forgot to clip the CK51 Fig Newtons q before going shopping. Ugh, I might just return the cookies.

I mainly went to CVS for the cheap Clairol. I figured I'd pick up Almay too, since the qs expire this weekend. I couldn't find my 2nd Almay q (I know I clipped it for CVS last week, but didn't use it), so I used a different one that was for mascara/liner only.

1 x Clairol $6.99
1 Almay shadow $6.99 (love this shadow. It works way better than my high end stuff)
1 Almay mascara $8.49
Less Clairol q (3.50)
Less Almay CRT (4.00)
Less Almay q (3.00)
Less Almay q (2.00)
Less EBs (10.00)
OOP $1.65 tax

Earned $4 Almay EB and $3 Clairol Ibotta. I also received a $3 Beauty EB from previous purchases. I should get another one next time, because of today's purchases.

So today I got everything for $44.15 oop
Earned $22.85 Ibotta and $10 CATs

Total OOP (after Ibotta and CATs) for everything purchased today = $11.30

I now have 7 items counting towards my $2 Bonus reward and 50c monthly reward. Not a big deal, but these will also count towards the bigger bonuses that starts next week. I need 5 more items towards the First Bonus and normally only need 3 for the rest of the deal. The bonus usually totals $10 (keeping fingers crossed).

I also purchased 6 sunscreens at Target. They have a double dip deal this week. Buy 2 sunscreen get $5 gc also, spend $30 on beauty get $10 gc. So I got the 6, paid with my gcs and earned back $25 gcs. I placed order yesterday and it was delivered today. The good news is that it has 2021 expiration dates.

April Numbers

This has been a bit of a spendy month, due to the shoes I bought. Other than that, I just bought 2 pairs of running shorts for myself ($29.66), 2 packs winter socks for DS ($16.94) and swimwear.

Now onto the numbers. April wasn't too bad a month. Sales wise, we had our worst month for the year, but still managed to earn a decent amount of gift cards.

Gift cards earned

Mypoints $50
Swagbucks : $50 
IGC : $20 ($10 mine, $10 DH account)
Ibotta : $100 Walmart 
Savingstar : $14.51 (transferred this amount to my $15K account)
Total gcs earned in January : $220 (excluding Savingstar) 

So onto the gc balances:

Kohls 
Previous balance $46.57
Added : $50
Spent : $0
New balance : $96.57

Target 
Previous balance $40
Added : $10 (finally went through my emails and discovered these unused ones. I still have smaller balance in my online account. It's a little over $5 total)
Spent : $30 (shopped for Ibotta items)
New balance : $20

Walmart 
Previous balance : $50
Added : $100 (Ibotta)
Total : $150

Gap 
Previous balance : $54.54
Added : $10
Spent : $44.27 (swimsuits)
Total : $20.27

TJM
Prev balance : $50
Withdrawn to $15K fund (50.00)
Total : $0

Macy's 

Previous balance : $25
Earned $50
Credited $25 (received gc back that I spent on the shoes. Shoes ended up being free)
New balance : $100


WHBM - $50.00

BBW - $15.00

Starbucks : $15 (this does not include the teacher's gifts). The $15 is for our personal use. I'm not a Starbucks fan (I'm a Dunkin Donuts girl), but I received this credit when I ordered something online. We'll just save it for when we're in the mood for a frappucino.

That's a total of $466.84

Total earned from online sales (after fees) : $234.38
Plus previous balance $544.05
Less expenses (201.15) 
Less amount used for $15K fund ($250.00)
Plus credit from Macy's : $30.69
New Balance : $357.97

So we have a total of $824.81 in cash and gcs for holiday shopping and whatever clothing items we need for the rest of the year. I've made a nice dent in holiday shopping already and have enough CC points for a gc, but I'll hold onto it to redeem a bigger gc.

As mentioned before, I wanted to withdraw $300 from this total to start funding my $15K goal. Since I used the Target gcs, I withdrew $250 cash and $50 TJM gcs that I had. 



$15K savings goal

Starting balance : $108.80
Added : $14.51 Savingstar
Plus 52 wk plan : $289.57
Plus sales : $63.52 (Sales from items that I bought with that $300 withdrawal)
New Balance : $476.40

$1 Savings
Previous balance : $36
Added : $13
Total : $49

$5 Savings 
Previous balance : $125
Added : $30 
Total : $155

I'm now even more convinced that the Macy's fiasco is a blessing in disguise. Not only did I get free shoes and also score the rest of my shoes for much less at DSW, but yesterday I received a $30 DSW reward for the shoes that I purchased. I remember seeing 5x points when I shopped, but didn't expect to even have enough points for a $10 reward. I was wrong! Macy's is like the gift that keeps on giving (isn't that their slogan?...lol. I know some store uses that slogan). 

Since I really don't need any more shoes, I've decided to just use the reward towards my $15K fund. But there's more. Until 5/13 (Mother's Day) DSW offers a $25 bonus reward when you buy $100 gcs. So guess what I'm gonna do. Since gcs don't expire, I can save the gc for a rainy day and add another $25 to my $15k fund. Who doesn't like free money? That's $55 free to me!!