This has been another crazy busy week. My desktop computer needed to be upgraded (it still works great, but since it still used XP, I cannot get updates on anything), I needed to get a new one. Then Sunday morning DS's desktop stopped working too. It never rains, it pours. Thankfully we still had an old cpu that DS is able to use and off to the computer store for a new desktop for myself. My old computer has worked well for about 8-10 years, so I'm sad to see it go.
On Monday I did a bunch of cooking. I made 4 quiche, a dozen sausage rolls and a dozen omelet muffins. I rarely use the oven during summer, because I don't like heating the house even more when it's already hot outside. So whenever I use the oven, I make a bunch of food. I also made chicken alfredo in the slow cooker.
2 Spinach, artichoke, sundried tomato quiche this bacon flavored cheese (this was my first attempt and it was absolutely delicious. Both quiche are already gone. So much for freezer cooking...lol)
2 Ham and spinach quiche (frozen for future meals)
This was also my first time making omelet muffins. While I enjoyed the fact that it's so easy to make, I didn't enjoy it as much as I do a regular omelet. With a regular omelet, I get a taste of all the veggies in one single bite. Not so much with the muffins. I used mushrooms, spinach, onions, peppers, ham and cheese. We now have enough food in the freezer for me to not have to cook at all next week. There's still cooked fajita chicken that we can use for a mexican meal next week too. I can just make fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. I only need to buy cilantro.
I made a RA run to use my BC before they expired. The deals weren't good this week (it never is when I have any rewards that are close to expiring).
1 x Nivea Lip Balm $2.96
2 x Oxi clean $7.98
1 x Tide 4.94
4 x Stayfree (B1 get 50% off 2nd) $21.87
2 x Covergirl mascara (B1 get 50% off 2nd) 13.48
Pack of smokes 8.84
Less 10/50 mailer ($10.00)
Less Nivea mailer q (2.00)
Less 2 Oxi clean qs (4.00)
Less 2 Covergirl qs (6.00)
Less Stayfree peelie (1.00)
Tax 3.00 (ouch)
Total $42.06
Paid with $36 BC and $6.06 gc. So zero OOP for me. What the heck. I just saw that my Nivea q didn't deduct. ugh, grrrr!
Earned $4 Stayfree BC. I thought I had a $2 L2C Tide q. I haven't even had a chance to check my account.
I also stopped at Ollies to buy some groceries during their 15% off sale this week. I usually pay $3.99 for a smaller sized roasted peppers jar at Meijer. The Heinz gravy (my preferred brand) was 99c before discount. I don't know why I only bought 2 jars. I should have stocked up. If it's not too hot tomorrow, I might go get some more. DH loves that I find new foods at Ollies for him to try. I'm excited to try the Jalapeno spread. We love hot food. I also bought 2 new hardcover books. $3.39 each after discount
I also completed my Ibotta bonus stack this week. I really don't have the energy to haul out all the receipts for whatever I bought. I might do it next week, but I earned $11 or $12 in bonuses.
Bought 2 x Brownberry Flax bread at Dollar Tree. While I love the Dave's Killer bread, I can't resist buying $1 bread at DT. Both went into the freezer. Saved me from spending $5+ on Dave's bread this week.
DH and I also bought each other 50c Hallmark anniversary cards at DT this week. I'm loving that he doesn't buy the expensive greeting cards anymore. For years I've told him not to buy me cards anymore, because it's such a waste of money. Now we get to trade cards for very little OOP and the cards are lovely.
Ordered 2 x 40ct Lance cracker packs at Sams for $11.26. Got free shipping and paid with a Walmart gc. My guys love the PB ones, so they're all set until the end of the year when it expires. This is so easy to grab when we run lots of errands or take road trips. Saves us from paying $1+ per package at a convenience store.
Redeemed $30 Target gcs this week. $25 Swagbucks $5 Bing
So that was my week. It's so hot, all I want to do is go hang by the pool with a cocktail.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
This week's grocery shopping, Ibotta stack and freebies
I didn't go to any drugstores this week, cause the deals weren't good enough to make a special trip. I need to hit RA on Sunday, before my BC expires.
Ibotta currently has another bonus stack deal. I needed 4 items for my first bonus ($2) and 6 items for my 2nd bonus ($3). The first bonus's items all count towards the 2nd bonus, so this is what I got at Kroger:
Gold Peak Tea $2.00
Ocean Spray Juice 2.99
Dave's Killer Bread 5.79 (Yikes!!!! I have to get this at Sams, cause it costs way less there)
Mission Tortillas 2.29
Knorr Meal Starter 2.99
Enlightened Ice Cream 4.99
18 ct Eggs 1.18
Gallon Milk 1.19
Fage Split yogurt 1.29
Fage Crossover 1.29
Less Ocean Spray DQ (2.99)
Less Knorr DQ (2.99)
Less Enlightened DQ (3.00)
OOP 17.02
Received $6.85 Ibotta ($2 was my first bonus)
I like to save my Kroger Friday Freebie Qs, since I rarely shop at Kroger. I just redeem them once a month or whenever I'm near a store. The Ice cream was 50c after Digital Q and Ibotta.
Then to Meijer for some more Jennie O. I figured I'd just do another 10/$10 deal, before the sale ends
3 x Dove Deodorant 14.97
Sargento Shredded cheese 2.99
2 x Cracker Barrel Cracker cut cheese 7.98
2 lbs Strawberries 1.97
2 x Jennie O turkey rolls 5.26
1 x Jennie O ground turkey 3.75
Aunt Millie's buns 2.50
10/10
3 x Avocados
6 x Oikos yogurt
2 x Old Orchard Juice (one was a free item)
Less free Sargento cheese q (2.99)
Tax 0.90
OOP $47.33
Received $3 CAT (Dove) and $5.55 Ibotta ($3 bonus and $2.55 Jennie O) and $3.75 Checkout51 (Dove)
I was almost out of Dove deodorant. I saw that Meijer had a buy 3 get $3 OYNO on Dove. I didn't need 3 deodorants, but between the CAT and the CK51 deal I knew I'd be better off buying 3 deodorants
Meijer sends a q booklet once a month which always includes a free item. Last month I got a gallon vinegar. This month it's Sargento cheese. I also had a 30c Old Orchard q, but in typical Meijer fashion they applied q to the free item (eyeroll)
Boy oh boy was I excited to see the new Oikos flavors. I've been craving chocolate cake all week. I wanted to bake a cake, but we didn't have any frosting. Thank goodness, because now I can satisfy my chocolate cravings, guilt free :)
The Jennie O turkey rolls will be used to make sausage rolls for dinner next week. I didn't know that it was included in the Jennie O Ibotta offer, so it was a pleasant surprise to get extra cash back. The next time I buy cracker cheese, I will get it at Walmart. Meijer charges a whole $1 more than Walmart does! grrrr
Total OOP for everything : $64.35
Less Ibotta earnings (12.40)
Less CK51 earnings (3.75)
Less Dove CAT (3.00)
Total after rewards : $45.20
These items are all part of next week's grocery spending. If there's a good sale on certain things, I usually just shop early.
For now, I can only think of bananas, onions, puff pastry and a case of Coke that we need. Of course there will be the next Ibotta bonus stack, but I will get the cheapest available items. We also still have one rotisserie chicken left. I will dice and pick it apart today and freeze for future meals.
Remember my Bath & Body works shopping I did last weekend? I received my order earlier this week and it was missing one body wash. I emailed them about it and they decided to issue me a credit, without asking if I wanted a different item (which I would've preferred) since this fragrance was OOS. The good news is that they credited my full shipping cost and way too much tax too.
The item was $3.75 after all applicable discounts (normally costs $13. yikes!)
They credited $3.75
Shipping 5.99
Sales tax 0.58
Total $10.32
Since I paid with a gc and CC, the credit will be split. Now I have to wait until it appears on CC, to see how much of a gc I'll receive.
I should know by now that when I have problems with any order, that I always end up in a better position than I was before (remember my free Macy's shoes?). So yay for me! This credit is way better than receiving a replacement item. I'll just save the gc for the next Semi-annual sale.
I also have to say that I'm very pleased with my super cheap Kohls t-shirts. I'm gonna wait until the end of the season, to see if I can score more. The quality is really good.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Not liking Walgreens Balance Rewards
I apologise for my lack of posts. Last week was a really busy week, so the weekend I decided to just relax and unwind. I don't do this often, so I thoroughly enjoyed hanging by the pool and doing absolutely nothing.
Let me just say how much I dislike the WAGS Balance Rewards. I figured I'd do a bit of shopping to use up that $85 in rewards that I have. My pre-tax total came to $14.64 and I figured I'd just use $14 in rewards. WRONG! I could only use $10. What the heck?! But that's not all. When I checked my account afterwards, I noticed that instead of having a $75 balance, I only had $70 balance because my points value has dropped below the threshold for the next available reward. Insert expletive here. I'm not a happy camper. Walgreens has the worst rewards program!! Not even Rite Aid, with their new program, is this bad. CVS has (hands down) the best reward program. No waiting 24 hours to use rewards. Its easy to split rewards and transactions and do them back to back. Their program works, because they don't keep making ridiculous changes to it. As a serious couponer, I've shopped all 3 drugstores regularly, for the past 10 years and CVS still gets my vote as being the BEST!
So now I have to figure out some ways to redeem the rest of my rewards (you can only use a maximum of $40 mind you) on items that earn cash back.
I've done my first (non-grocery) shopping for the month this past weekend. BBW had the Aromatherapy items on sale for $5 and a 10/40 q. I always stock up on these, because the lotion helps me sleep. When I have trouble sleeping, I just rub a tiny amount on my forearms and sleep right through the night. So I bought 8 body wash and lotions, used my $15 gc and paid $23.15 oop.
Next up was Kohls. I only received a 30% off mystery discount and was able to knock out another Christmas gift. Here's what I bought
1 x gift
7 x Sonoma tees for myself
Pair sandals DS
Swim shorts DS
2 x Long sleeve shirts DS
2 x 6pk washcloths
4 items to resell (this should bring around $60-70)
Used $106.21 gcs and paid $3.96 oop
Earned $20 Kohls cash and $5.92 Ebates and should get another $5 Y2Y reward. So long story short. If I find anything good with the KC, then the items I'm reselling will pay for the entire shopping order.
I bought 7 tees, because they were $3.50 each after discount and they are the best quality. I bought some 2 years ago and am still wearing it, so these will go into my stockpiling closet for when I need it. When I find a good quality item at a rock bottom price, I like to stock up.
I also redeemed for a $25 Kohls gc (IGC) and $50 Walmart (Ibotta)
I purchased DH's Father's Day gc at RA last week and earned $16 BC, that will be used for household cleaning and/or HBA items.
Today I did a bit of grocery shopping. First stop was Sams for some rotisserie chicken. I bought 2, because there's no way I'm cooking this week. It's way too hot. 90s is too much heat for me.
Sams
2 rotisserie chickens
1 Box fully cooked beef burgers
40 ct Case water
Daves Killer bread
Bag of BLT Lays
2 Gallons Vinegar
OOP $41.51
I've heard rave reviews about the bread. DH tried a slice and said it's not as good as South African bread (we eat purer foods there), but it's really good. So Dave's organic bread it is for us in future. And yes, I'll pay more for better quality food.
The Lays was a splurge. This flavor was discontinued a few years ago, so I was very happy to see that it's available for a limited time again.
Meijer
They have a 10/$10 get 11th item free sale this week, but we didn't need much
5 x Avos
2 x 1lb carrots
3 x Bella mushrooms
1 x Cantaloupe (free item)
3lbs Bananas
Green onion
Red onion
4 lbs Sweet onions
1.69 lb Apricots
16 oz Jenny O ground turkey
Fiber One cereal
Less $1.50 Jennie O q and 50c Meijer store qs
OOP $31.02 Eaned $2.10 Ibotta (85c Jennie O, 25c any item, $1 monthly bonus)
Total OOP today : $72.53 and earned $2.10 back. So $70.43 for this week's groceries thus far.
The Jennie O is 20% off this week, so $3.75 per package. I used a $1.50 IP and earned 85c Ibotta. That makes it $1.40 per package. I pay a little over $13 for 5 lbs at Sams. I'm gonna print more qs from our other computers and do this deal again once it resets. 5 lbs will then cost me $7. Almost half of what I would pay at Sams. The downside is that Meijer only accepts 2 like couponers these days and you can only redeem the Ibotta once per day. So I'll buy 2 packages on Wednesday and another 2 on Friday.
The apricots cost 5.05! (gasp). I was really tempted to just have it removed, but I really wanted it. I grew up eating all sorts of tropical fruit (not even sure if apricot is considered tropical) like mangoes, pineapple, passion fruit/granadilla , guavas, apricots. So whenever I find these items I treat myself to them, but I was NOT happy with that price.
Dinner's this week:
Today : Chicken, potato salad, carrott/pineapple salad, brocolli
Tuesday : Chicken quesadillas, refried beans, salad
Wednesday : BLT or BSAT lol... cause I use Bacon, spinach, avo, tomato tater salad, baked beans
Thursday : Chicken wraps and choose your own sides
Friday : Burgers, baked potatoes, baked beans
We dine out weekends.
Now I need to go make my drugstore shopping lists. I also need to hit Dollar Tree for newspapers, cause I didn't get any yesterday.
Let me just say how much I dislike the WAGS Balance Rewards. I figured I'd do a bit of shopping to use up that $85 in rewards that I have. My pre-tax total came to $14.64 and I figured I'd just use $14 in rewards. WRONG! I could only use $10. What the heck?! But that's not all. When I checked my account afterwards, I noticed that instead of having a $75 balance, I only had $70 balance because my points value has dropped below the threshold for the next available reward. Insert expletive here. I'm not a happy camper. Walgreens has the worst rewards program!! Not even Rite Aid, with their new program, is this bad. CVS has (hands down) the best reward program. No waiting 24 hours to use rewards. Its easy to split rewards and transactions and do them back to back. Their program works, because they don't keep making ridiculous changes to it. As a serious couponer, I've shopped all 3 drugstores regularly, for the past 10 years and CVS still gets my vote as being the BEST!
So now I have to figure out some ways to redeem the rest of my rewards (you can only use a maximum of $40 mind you) on items that earn cash back.
I've done my first (non-grocery) shopping for the month this past weekend. BBW had the Aromatherapy items on sale for $5 and a 10/40 q. I always stock up on these, because the lotion helps me sleep. When I have trouble sleeping, I just rub a tiny amount on my forearms and sleep right through the night. So I bought 8 body wash and lotions, used my $15 gc and paid $23.15 oop.
Next up was Kohls. I only received a 30% off mystery discount and was able to knock out another Christmas gift. Here's what I bought
1 x gift
7 x Sonoma tees for myself
Pair sandals DS
Swim shorts DS
2 x Long sleeve shirts DS
2 x 6pk washcloths
4 items to resell (this should bring around $60-70)
Used $106.21 gcs and paid $3.96 oop
Earned $20 Kohls cash and $5.92 Ebates and should get another $5 Y2Y reward. So long story short. If I find anything good with the KC, then the items I'm reselling will pay for the entire shopping order.
I bought 7 tees, because they were $3.50 each after discount and they are the best quality. I bought some 2 years ago and am still wearing it, so these will go into my stockpiling closet for when I need it. When I find a good quality item at a rock bottom price, I like to stock up.
I also redeemed for a $25 Kohls gc (IGC) and $50 Walmart (Ibotta)
I purchased DH's Father's Day gc at RA last week and earned $16 BC, that will be used for household cleaning and/or HBA items.
Today I did a bit of grocery shopping. First stop was Sams for some rotisserie chicken. I bought 2, because there's no way I'm cooking this week. It's way too hot. 90s is too much heat for me.
Sams
2 rotisserie chickens
1 Box fully cooked beef burgers
40 ct Case water
Daves Killer bread
Bag of BLT Lays
2 Gallons Vinegar
OOP $41.51
I've heard rave reviews about the bread. DH tried a slice and said it's not as good as South African bread (we eat purer foods there), but it's really good. So Dave's organic bread it is for us in future. And yes, I'll pay more for better quality food.
The Lays was a splurge. This flavor was discontinued a few years ago, so I was very happy to see that it's available for a limited time again.
Meijer
They have a 10/$10 get 11th item free sale this week, but we didn't need much
5 x Avos
2 x 1lb carrots
3 x Bella mushrooms
1 x Cantaloupe (free item)
3lbs Bananas
Green onion
Red onion
4 lbs Sweet onions
1.69 lb Apricots
16 oz Jenny O ground turkey
Fiber One cereal
Less $1.50 Jennie O q and 50c Meijer store qs
OOP $31.02 Eaned $2.10 Ibotta (85c Jennie O, 25c any item, $1 monthly bonus)
Total OOP today : $72.53 and earned $2.10 back. So $70.43 for this week's groceries thus far.
The Jennie O is 20% off this week, so $3.75 per package. I used a $1.50 IP and earned 85c Ibotta. That makes it $1.40 per package. I pay a little over $13 for 5 lbs at Sams. I'm gonna print more qs from our other computers and do this deal again once it resets. 5 lbs will then cost me $7. Almost half of what I would pay at Sams. The downside is that Meijer only accepts 2 like couponers these days and you can only redeem the Ibotta once per day. So I'll buy 2 packages on Wednesday and another 2 on Friday.
The apricots cost 5.05! (gasp). I was really tempted to just have it removed, but I really wanted it. I grew up eating all sorts of tropical fruit (not even sure if apricot is considered tropical) like mangoes, pineapple, passion fruit/granadilla , guavas, apricots. So whenever I find these items I treat myself to them, but I was NOT happy with that price.
Dinner's this week:
Today : Chicken, potato salad, carrott/pineapple salad, brocolli
Tuesday : Chicken quesadillas, refried beans, salad
Wednesday : BLT or BSAT lol... cause I use Bacon, spinach, avo, tomato tater salad, baked beans
Thursday : Chicken wraps and choose your own sides
Friday : Burgers, baked potatoes, baked beans
We dine out weekends.
Now I need to go make my drugstore shopping lists. I also need to hit Dollar Tree for newspapers, cause I didn't get any yesterday.
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
More WAGS fun
On Saturday night I went back to WAGS to get more Herbal Essences, since I had another 7000 bonus points WYS $20 that expired that day. My plan was to do the Tide deal, but when I checked my inserts, I couldn't find any Tide qs. It looks like someone had removed the Tide qs from the PG inserts. This is the downside of Dollar Tree papers. I also discovered that most of the newspapers were missing the SS insert. I mainly wanted the PG inserts, so I only got 1 SS and 3 PG inserts.
4 x Herbal Essences $24.00
2 x Head & Shoulders 12.00
Less 2 x HE qs (8.00)
Less H&S eq (4.00)
Tax 2.16
OOP $26.16
Earned 22000 points ($10 PG deal, $5 Beauty reward, $7 bonus) + 360 everyday points and earned $3 Ibotta. For some reason the one shampoo didn't qualify.
Now my account says I have $85 in rewards to spend.
To recap. I bought
3 x Tide
12 pk t/p
3 pk P/t
80 ct Dryer sheets
1 Downy
12 Shampoo & conditioners
Spent $83.35 OOP (incl sales tax)
Earned $5 through Ibotta, $5 CAT and have an $85 reward (started with a $20 reward, so I earned $65 in rewards)
Total cost to me after all rewards : $8.35 ($6.42 of this was sales tax)
That's 19 items for $8.35 or 44c each
I need to submit one receipt to Savingstar, because I can earn rewards on the household PG items. It's only 1% cash back, but that's a few extra pennies in my pocket :)
Then off to Walmart for some grocery shopping. My Ibotta had a $3 bonus reward WYB 6 items. I had already planned to by the Love/Evol items, because we have a few appointments this week and I don't have time to cook and of course, I can't pass up free yogurt. My Herbal Essences already qualified, so I only needed to add 2 more items. But darned if the low priced rebates aren't available when you need them.
I saw that there were Kotex qs available, so I clipped them and off shopping I went. When I checked the qs in store, I realised that I need to buy 2 of the same items to use the $3/2 q. Ugh. So I switched up my order and got the Cottonelle, because it was almost $1 less than Kotex products
2 x Love/Evol (I still don't know which is the right name...lol) $6.96
1 x Fage yogurt 1.16
1 x Kotex 2.97
1 x Cottonelle 2.28
Tax 0.32
OOP $13.69 and earned $7 through Ibotta
Total cost $6.69
Not the best deal, but I would've had to pay for the Evol anyways, so I'm just considering the rest of the items as FREE...lol
Thursday, June 7, 2018
This week's shopping
This week I voted with my money & shopped at Walmart instead of Meijer (where I usually grocery shop). I saw a huge difference in the prices. I paid $3.97 for an 18 oz bag of Romaine salad. An 8 oz bag costs just a little less at Meijer. That's an almost 50% savings. I'm not gonna bore you with the rest of the details though.
So much for not posting about Walgreens. I kinda have their Balance rewards figured out (or so I thought). I had 2 x 7000 bonus points WYS $20 offers and a 5000 BR bonus for $20 on beauty, so I did 2 transactions. This week its spend $30 on Select PG items, get $10 BR. There's also a $5 CAT WYS $20 on select PG household items.
Trans 1
12 pk Charmin essentials t/p $4.99
3 pk Bounty p/t 4.99
2 x Tide 9.98
1 x Tide pods 4.99
80ct Bounce sheets 4.99
1 x Downy 4.99
Less 2 x Tide qs (4.00)
Less Bounce q (1.00)
Less Downy eq (2.00)
Less Pods eq (2.00)
Less Bounty eq (1.00)
Tax 2.10
OOP $27.03
Earned $5 CAT and 17340 BR (Balance rewards points) equivalent of $17.34
Trans 2
4 x Herbal Essences $24.00
2 x Head & Shoulders 12.00
Less HE q (4.00)
Less HE eq (4.00)
Tax 2.16
OOP $30.16
Earned 17200 points ($17.20)
I had a starting balance of 22520 ($20 reward)before going shopping. At the end of transaction 2, I had a new balance of 57060. However, my account says that I have $60 available to use. This is where WAGS gets tricky. I noticed that you earn bonuses when you reach certain levels. Eg, if I get to 58000, I'll have a $70 reward. No problemo, I'll just do another PG deal tomorrow or Saturday, once the HE Ibotta resets.
The only downside to their BR program is that if you use points on a points offer that requires you to buy a certain $ amount, you won't earn any new points. Now I have to wait until there's a product quantity offer (eg buy 2 herbal essences...) to use my points. It would've been nice if you could just use points on everything.
What on earth? I know that I clipped the H&S eq as well. Unfortunately the cashier couldn't help me, so I just paid and figured I'd contact CS. When I got home, it says not all my qs are available, so I couldn't check what went wrong. Well today it shows the H&S q as unclipped. Ugh! So I might just go return the H&S and buy 2 HE and use my $4/2 paper q. I also bought the wrong Charmin, so my $1 eq didn't deduct. WAGS is still trial and error for me, so I figured I did okay.
So to recap.
Total OOP for all the above $57.19
Total earned : $40 + $5 CAT
Also earned $2 HE through Ibotta
Total cost after all rewards : $10.19 (4.26 of which is sales tax)
I apologise for the lack of pics, but I hit several different stores in one day and was too pooped to take pics.
Then I stopped at Dollar Tree for bread. They were out BUT I'm always happy to find my favorite authors' books there, especially ones I haven't read yet. Notice that $28 list price. I'm not crazy enough to pay that price. I read a book in under a week, so that would be $28 down the drain
If you love chicken, I would highly recommend this product. I read many good reviews about it, so when DH was near a Trader Joe's yesterday, I asked him to buy 2 boxes. All I can say is YUM! These patties are delicious! So tomorrow night I'll make some burgers with onions, lettuce, tomatoes and avo and some tater salad.
That's my shopping for the week. I need to figure out a RA scenario. They sent me a Q booklet that includes a 10/$50 and I should still have $13 BC to use. I'm gonna have to get real creative next week.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
May numbers
I can't believe it's the middle of the year again. Where did the first 5 months go? I really need to up my game, since we are getting closer to holiday season and I still need more gcs to complete my shopping.
Here are my numbers for May. As mentioned before, Encraves have been non-existent (I'm finally getting 2 autorun ones), so I haven't earned as much gcs as the past few months.
Gift cards earned
Mypoints $50
Swagbucks : $50
IGC : $60 ($50 mine, $10 DH account)
Ibotta : $20 Gap gc (I only did this because of the $2 bonus offer)
Savingstar : $0 - not enough funds to cash out yet
Checkout51 - I requested a $20.75 check that will be added to $15K fundTotal gcs earned in January : $180 (excluding CK51)
So onto the gc balances:
Kohls
Previous balance $96.57
Added : $50 (Mypoints)
Spent : $0
New balance : $146.57
Target
Previous balance $20
Added : $90 (Swagbucks, IGC)
Spent : $40 (used it to pay for our pool earlier this week + a small gc that was still available on my account)
New balance : $70
Walmart
Previous balance : $150
Added : $0
Spent : $83.56 (Red Robin gcs. I had a $2 balance a previous order online)
Total : $66.44
Gap
Previous balance : $20.27
Added : $20 (Ibotta)
Spent : $0
Total : $40.27
TJM
Prev balance : $50
Withdrawn to $15K fund (50.00)
Total : $0
Macy's
Previous balance : $100
Earned $0
Spent : 40.69 (Christmas gifts for nephews)
New balance : $59.31
DSW
Redeemed for $25 gc
WHBM - $50.00
BBW - $15.00
Starbucks : $15
Added : $20 (was gonna use as teachers gifts)
Total : $35
I've replaced the teachers gifts with Red Robin ones. I've learned that they're not really Starbucks fans. No biggie. I've added the gcs to my Starbucks account, because it can be used to purchase Starbucks merchandise too.
Total Gift Cards : $507.59
Total earned from online sales (after fees) : $327.39
Plus previous balance $357.97
Less expenses (219.79)
New Balance : $465.57
So we have a total of $973.16 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.
I've also earned a $5 DSW reward and $10 Kohls Y2Y, but that will be used for my $15K fund
$15K savings goal
Starting balance : $476.40
Plus 52 wk plan : $285.69
Plus sales : $82.12
Less purchases : $0
New Balance : $844.21
$1 Savings
Previous balance : $49
Added : $27
Total : $76
$5 Savings
Previous balance : $155
Added : $0
Total : $155
My $15K goal is still slow going. I'm hoping that sales will pick up soon, although summer time is usually slow. I'm happy to be adding to that account, but I'd like it to grow faster. Time to buckle down and keep my nose to the grindstone.
I'm happy with our holiday shopping fund. Since we already have enough Kohls gcs for the remaining gifts I need to purchase, I will save the rest of my gcs for Black Friday shopping.
I was sorely tempted to shop the BBW semi annual sale today. I always shop this sale and stock up for 6 months. I figured I'll just use that $15 gc. Then I thought that I really don't need any more BBW and don't want to spend an extra $26 OOP (I filled my cart, so I know this was the amount still due). I decided to just stick to my old cheapo St Ives lotion when I run out of BBW. Besides, the St Ives is more than twice the size of a BBW lotion and much cheaper too.
I'm still far behind on Walmart gcs, but have almost enough in my Ibotta account to redeem another $50 gc. I'm hoping June will be a much better earning and saving month for us.
Here are my numbers for May. As mentioned before, Encraves have been non-existent (I'm finally getting 2 autorun ones), so I haven't earned as much gcs as the past few months.
Gift cards earned
Mypoints $50
Swagbucks : $50
IGC : $60 ($50 mine, $10 DH account)
Ibotta : $20 Gap gc (I only did this because of the $2 bonus offer)
Savingstar : $0 - not enough funds to cash out yet
Checkout51 - I requested a $20.75 check that will be added to $15K fundTotal gcs earned in January : $180 (excluding CK51)
So onto the gc balances:
Kohls
Previous balance $96.57
Added : $50 (Mypoints)
Spent : $0
New balance : $146.57
Target
Previous balance $20
Added : $90 (Swagbucks, IGC)
Spent : $40 (used it to pay for our pool earlier this week + a small gc that was still available on my account)
New balance : $70
Walmart
Previous balance : $150
Added : $0
Spent : $83.56 (Red Robin gcs. I had a $2 balance a previous order online)
Total : $66.44
Gap
Previous balance : $20.27
Added : $20 (Ibotta)
Spent : $0
Total : $40.27
TJM
Prev balance : $50
Withdrawn to $15K fund (50.00)
Total : $0
Macy's
Previous balance : $100
Earned $0
Spent : 40.69 (Christmas gifts for nephews)
New balance : $59.31
DSW
Redeemed for $25 gc
WHBM - $50.00
BBW - $15.00
Starbucks : $15
Added : $20 (was gonna use as teachers gifts)
Total : $35
I've replaced the teachers gifts with Red Robin ones. I've learned that they're not really Starbucks fans. No biggie. I've added the gcs to my Starbucks account, because it can be used to purchase Starbucks merchandise too.
Total Gift Cards : $507.59
Total earned from online sales (after fees) : $327.39
Plus previous balance $357.97
Less expenses (219.79)
New Balance : $465.57
So we have a total of $973.16 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.
I've also earned a $5 DSW reward and $10 Kohls Y2Y, but that will be used for my $15K fund
$15K savings goal
Starting balance : $476.40
Plus 52 wk plan : $285.69
Plus sales : $82.12
Less purchases : $0
New Balance : $844.21
$1 Savings
Previous balance : $49
Added : $27
Total : $76
$5 Savings
Previous balance : $155
Added : $0
Total : $155
My $15K goal is still slow going. I'm hoping that sales will pick up soon, although summer time is usually slow. I'm happy to be adding to that account, but I'd like it to grow faster. Time to buckle down and keep my nose to the grindstone.
I'm happy with our holiday shopping fund. Since we already have enough Kohls gcs for the remaining gifts I need to purchase, I will save the rest of my gcs for Black Friday shopping.
I was sorely tempted to shop the BBW semi annual sale today. I always shop this sale and stock up for 6 months. I figured I'll just use that $15 gc. Then I thought that I really don't need any more BBW and don't want to spend an extra $26 OOP (I filled my cart, so I know this was the amount still due). I decided to just stick to my old cheapo St Ives lotion when I run out of BBW. Besides, the St Ives is more than twice the size of a BBW lotion and much cheaper too.
I'm still far behind on Walmart gcs, but have almost enough in my Ibotta account to redeem another $50 gc. I'm hoping June will be a much better earning and saving month for us.
Friday, June 1, 2018
A few things I do to reduce food waste
Here are some things that I personally do to help reduce food waste. Growing up, we never ever had food waste. My parents weren't just frugal, it was more of a lifestyle where I lived. I remember that my dad would use veggie peels/skins and crushed eggshells, as fertilizer in the garden. So even those weren't just thrown away. I can't remember a time that we ever threw food away. The bones and whatever leftover scraps there were, went to the dog. My mom always called me wasteful, because I was extremely picky (I still am...lol). However, she would be happy to see how much I've grown, if she was still alive. So here's my list
1. Wash, dice and freeze whatever produce can be frozen. I like to do this after a trip to the produce market. Not only does it keep produce from spoiling, but it also simplifies my life. I don't have to clean and dice veggies every time I cook a meal.
2. Wash and dice (I just stick mine into the Ninja blender) a whole bunch of parsley/cilantro then freeze as ice cubes. When making soups or stews, I just add a cube or 2 to my meal.
3. Make a big batch of smoothies with produce that are close to it's expiration date and freeze as ice cubes. Need a smoothie? Just place a few cubes into a glass or container and thaw in fridge overnight. You can also save leftover smoothie this way. Same can be done with yogurt that close to it's expiration date.
4. Add the leftover bagged salad (I like the Romaine mix) to fruit smoothies. You know the leftovers that hardly has enough lettuce in the bag to make a proper salad. I use all of that.
5. When making fresh squeezed juice, I use the leftover pulp to make muffins. I just use a basic muffin mix recipe, add some essence of choice and some pulp. Easy peasy.
6. I've never liked eating the heel of the bread (I still don't). Instead of using breadcrumbs in meatloaf, I use leftover bread. In SA we have a recipe called Frikkadel (It's kinda like a fried meatball). You soak the bread in either milk or water. Then squeeze out liquid and add softened bread to your meat mix. The bread acts like a binder, so there's no need to go out and buy breadcrumbs especially for these meals.
7. Use leftover bread to make bread pudding. I'm sure many of you have done this.
8. When I cook a roast beef, I shred the leftovers and use it to make a meat pie (just add a jar of gravy and some frozen mixed veg. or I add the gravy to shredded meat and make 'burritos). Just add refried beans and meat to tortilla, top with cheese and bake.
9. Have leftover produce like onions, peppers, mushrooms. Dice it up and make omelets and freeze. I've frozen omelets before and it still tastes great when we eat it a week later.
10. Most importantly, freeze whatever leftover food that you can. I like to eat leftovers for lunch, but sometimes I cook way too much (this is from years of cooking for a large family. I don't know how to make small meals), so into the freezer it goes.
That's all I can think of for now. Have any tips to help eliminate food waste - please feel free to share in the comments.
1. Wash, dice and freeze whatever produce can be frozen. I like to do this after a trip to the produce market. Not only does it keep produce from spoiling, but it also simplifies my life. I don't have to clean and dice veggies every time I cook a meal.
2. Wash and dice (I just stick mine into the Ninja blender) a whole bunch of parsley/cilantro then freeze as ice cubes. When making soups or stews, I just add a cube or 2 to my meal.
3. Make a big batch of smoothies with produce that are close to it's expiration date and freeze as ice cubes. Need a smoothie? Just place a few cubes into a glass or container and thaw in fridge overnight. You can also save leftover smoothie this way. Same can be done with yogurt that close to it's expiration date.
4. Add the leftover bagged salad (I like the Romaine mix) to fruit smoothies. You know the leftovers that hardly has enough lettuce in the bag to make a proper salad. I use all of that.
5. When making fresh squeezed juice, I use the leftover pulp to make muffins. I just use a basic muffin mix recipe, add some essence of choice and some pulp. Easy peasy.
6. I've never liked eating the heel of the bread (I still don't). Instead of using breadcrumbs in meatloaf, I use leftover bread. In SA we have a recipe called Frikkadel (It's kinda like a fried meatball). You soak the bread in either milk or water. Then squeeze out liquid and add softened bread to your meat mix. The bread acts like a binder, so there's no need to go out and buy breadcrumbs especially for these meals.
7. Use leftover bread to make bread pudding. I'm sure many of you have done this.
8. When I cook a roast beef, I shred the leftovers and use it to make a meat pie (just add a jar of gravy and some frozen mixed veg. or I add the gravy to shredded meat and make 'burritos). Just add refried beans and meat to tortilla, top with cheese and bake.
9. Have leftover produce like onions, peppers, mushrooms. Dice it up and make omelets and freeze. I've frozen omelets before and it still tastes great when we eat it a week later.
10. Most importantly, freeze whatever leftover food that you can. I like to eat leftovers for lunch, but sometimes I cook way too much (this is from years of cooking for a large family. I don't know how to make small meals), so into the freezer it goes.
That's all I can think of for now. Have any tips to help eliminate food waste - please feel free to share in the comments.
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