Let's go Krogering

Boy is Kroger rocking the sales lately. I can't remember the last time I shopped at Kroger so often. I know it's been years. I guess they're trying to entice customers, because they're the highest priced grocery store around here (why I rarely shop Kroger). Also, Kroger only sells groceries, whereas Walmart, Meijer & Target all have many other departments. Who doesn't like one stop shopping. I stopped at Kroger while we were out yesterday.

Prices are after Mega Event Discount 

4 x Sunmaid Bites $3.96

1 x Kotex pads 1.99

2 x Wasa crispbread 4.98 (finally found it in stock)

Less Kotex DQ (1.00)

Less KCB (cash back) 5.93

Tax 0.12

OOP $4.12

Total savings : $18.33

Earned $3 CAT (WYB 4 Sunmaid bites), $2.10 Ibotta (Wasa + 10c any item), $3 Fetch ($1 Sunmaid, $2 Kotex) & should get another $3.29 KCB (Wasa)

Total earned : $11.39

If you factor in my KCB used, then this transaction was a $1.34 MM. The Kotex & Wasa are both MMs and the Sunmaid is free after CAT + Fetch.

I might go back on tomorrow to try and get more Sunmaid & Kotex, since it's a $1 MM after rewards. Just waiting on my KCB credit so that I can roll that into my new transaction. I don't know if the CAT rolls and don't want to risk not getting a new one. 

More bagels anyone?

 

Well it turns out I couldn't transfer my Kroger money to Paypal. My Kroger & Paypal accounts have different email addresses & Kroger wouldn't allow me to use a Paypal account with a different email. So I did the next best thing and added $24 to my Kroger card.

When I logged in to do the Paypal transfer, I noticed that the Daves Killer Bread Bagels have reset in Cash Back Offers. I didn't even know that the deals could reset. Well, I needed no second invitation, because I knew that the Ibotta offer was still available. So off to Kroger I went to pick up some inexpensive bagels. This limit is 5, so that's what I got.

5 x Daves Bagels $22.45

1 x Kite Hill yogurt 0.79

2 x Kind energy bars 2.00

2 x Kroger broccoli 2.00

Less Cash back reward (24.00)

OOP $3.24

Earned $14.99 Ibotta ($11.25 Bagels, $1.99 yogurt, $1 Kind, $0.75 any item) & $5.75 KCB

Total earned : $20.74

The Kite Hill was a nice MM, because it was clearanced to $0.79. 

And yuck on the Kroger brand broccoli. It was mainly stems. I always buy frozen broccoli florets, but didn't see any store brand florets. Never again!

Then I noticed that I only needed 4 more items to finish the Weekend Warrior Bonus. I got the rest of those items when I did my Walmart grocery shopping.

2 Liter Pepsi zero $1.78 (FREE)

Bottle deposit 0.10

1 x Pringles 1.48 (FREE)

2 x Butterfinger singles 1.76

2 x Breakstone doubles 2.12

OOP $7.24

Earned $7.76 (This includes the $3 Weekend Warrior Bonus)

The Pepsi & Pringles were free after Ibotta offer. I only needed one Breakstone, but decided to just get 2 since DS loves this stuff.

Total OOP : $10.48

Total Earned (Ibotta & KCB) : $28.50

And darn if I'm not 78c short of cashing out for a $25 Ibotta GC....lol

Last week's drugstore shopping

Boy do I need to get my head back into the drugstore game. Almost everything that went wrong last week, was my fault. I wasn't reading or checking coupons correctly.

Sorry, I didn't take any pics. It's been another crazy week & DS was sick too. 

Rite Aid

2 x Blister cushion $2.64

1 x Large Palmolive 2.69

5 x Small Palmolive 8.05

2 x PF lipstick (B1G2nd 50% off) 12.73

2 x Revlon eyeshadow 14.58

1 x Revlon eyeshadow 75% off 1.85

1 x Revlon kiss balm 4.99

2 x Revlon kiss balm 75% off 2.48

1 x Reese's candy 0.69 (had to get total to $50)

Less BC (34.00)

Tax 3.00

OOP $19.67

Earned $18 BC + $15.50 Ibotta ($15 Revlon, 50c February bonus) = $33.50 

Ugh, silly me thought that the $15 WYS $50 BC Q was a $15 off $50 Q. So I was rather upset that my OOP was so high. 

The blister cushion was on sale, so I figured I'd try it to see if it's part of the monthly foot care deal. My store didn't have any of the items I saw reported as working. In fact, they had limited footcare items. The KY was also much more pricier than the $4.xx ones I saw online. 

I totally messed up on the Physician's formula too. It was Spend $15 get $5 BC. Except, it was B1G50% off. I didn't want to go back to the store and spend another $8 + just to earn $5.

I had to switch up several things, because my store was OOS on the items on my list. Then I had to figure in my 10% silver discount to try & reach thresholds. I was crunching numbers in my head, cause DH was waiting in the car (he hates shopping or waiting on me to finish shopping), so I couldn't just shop at my leisure. 

Anyhoo, I ended up spending that $34 BC before they expired. 

WAGS

Store 1

2 x Revlon Kiss Balm (B1G50% off 2nd) $7.48

2 x Oral B t/b 7.98

Less Revlon DQ (4.00)

Less Oral B DQ (3.00)

Less WG reward (5.00)

Tax 0.93

OOP $4.39

Earned $8.50 RR ($4 Revlon, $4.50 Oral B)

Store 2

2 x Revlon Kiss Balm (B1G50% off 2nd ) $7.48

2 x Bic Razors 11.98

Less Bic DQ (3.00)

Less Bic IP Q (3.00)

Less WG rewards (5.00)

Tax  1.17

OOP $9.63

Earned $7 RR ($4 Revlon, $3 Bic) + $6 Ibotta (Bic)

What on earth. I knew that I had 2 Revlon DQs totalling $5.50 that didn't deduct. I still showed it to the cashier on my phone, but she wouldn't budge (I hate how WAGS can't adjust anything after the cashier hits total). So I paid my high OOP and figured I'd contact CS when I get home. When I went online to do Live Chat, I saw that the DQs exluded Kiss Balm. Grrrr. Yet again my fault. My plan was actually to just buy the razors at store 1, but they were OOS. If they had stock, I wouldn't have bothered to stop at the 2nd store. I'm not upset about the WAGS items, because I love the Kiss Balm and we use everything that I purchased. 

I ended up spending $33.69 OOP just at the drugstores last week. I'm not happy, because I'm already over budget for the month. I now have to figure out a plan to roll all these RRs next week. 

February Grocery Shopping to date

Well I'm just going to give myself a big fat F for Failing the grocery budget this month.

At the beginning of the month I just decided to do a big shop and be done with it. I knew that I could just refill the produce and dairy throughout the month. We all know what happens to those Best Laid Plans.

On the 1st I went to Sams, Dollar Tree, Produce market & Walmart

Sams $144.20

Walmart : $27.06

Produce Market : $54.74

Dollar Tree : $3.00 (bought 3 newspapers)

Total OOP : $229.00

That left me with $71 for the rest of the month. No problem...... Then the Kroger Mega event happened. I really don't feel too bad about Kroger, because I earned most of my money back. Then I went to RA yesterday to use my $34 rewards that was about to expire. What a disaster that was. I ended up spending $19.67 OOP. I'm not happy. I'll write a RA post later.

The Yogurt drinks were on sale at Sams, so I stocked up on that. Yogurt is a staple in our house, so I needed to get enough to last the month.

I also bought 2 packs of chicken tenders at Sams (around 7 lbs) to make BWW tenders (I want to try it with BBQ sauce next time). When I told DH how much I cooked, he called me crazy...lol. Silly man. I don't have to cook much for the rest of the month, because there's lots of cooked meals in the freezer. I'm loving just pulling meat or meals from the freezer. I don't have to slave over a stove every day & we don't have to get carry out when I don't feel like cooking or don't feel well. Money saved and less junk eaten. I call that a win!

Last weekend I discovered that Target had 35% Tostitos Chips & Salsa Circle offer. I'm not too familiar with Circle (I rarely shop at Target), but it said the limit was 4. When I added things to my online cart, it looked like the limit was more than 4, because I had 4 salsa and 2 bags of chips. I'm now thinking it was problem 4 per type, because I got 4 salsa and 1 queso (in store) and the discount worked on everything. I could've bought more queso, cause I love that stuff.  I paid with a discounted Target gc that I purchased in December, so $0 OOP.

I also stocked up on Kraft cheese at Meijer last week. The 16oz bags were on sale for $3.49. That's the cheapest I've seen cheese in a long time around here. So I bought 4 bags. Sneaky Meijer. I saw the sale price in the ad when it came out, but there were no sale tags on the shelves so most people were buying the 8 oz Sargento that had a $2.50 sale price sticker. I took the Kraft cheese to a price scanner to check the price. Yep, definitely on sale. 

We stopped at Aldi yesterday and stocked up on some produce items and bread. I prefer their wheat bread and it's the cheapest good bread (I'm very picky about the kind of bread I eat) around here (unless I find Brownberry whole wheat at Dollar Tree). But darn, I always find something new to try at Aldi, so I bought some protein veggie burgers for $3.99. That's why we ended up spending so much.we still have quite a bit of produce from the Market left, so I didn't need to get much produce at Aldi.

I also bought a big $2 box of lemons & limes when I was at the Produce Market and made lemon/limeade. So refreshing. 

I also made a trip to Ollie's with that lovely 15% off coupon they sent me. I mainly went looking for household items, but I always check their grocery section too.

Boy was I happy to see that Ollie's had raisins again. I haven't seen raisins there since way before the pandemic started. These bags were $3.99 each, so $3.39 after discount. At first I added 4 bags to my cart. Then I went back and got 2 more, because the shelf was full.

Now, before anything thinks that I've gone stark raving mad, let me explain. I use a lot of raisins for baking. I replace sugar in my baking whenever I can. My mother was a diabetic, so we eat low sugars. I've done this for years. I just crush the raisins so that it spreads evenly in my batter. We also use raisins in our cereal and eat as snacks with other dried fruit. I was so mad at myself, because I bought a box of raisins at Sams at the beginning of the month, because we were out. I paid $8.98 for 2 x 30 oz bags (2 bags per box), compared to $6.78 for 2 x 32 oz bags at Ollies. 

Also, Ollie's buys shelf pulls, liquidation, overstock etc, so their products vary all the time. I might not be able to find raisins the next time I go there. That's happened to me before. This is why I stocked up like this. 

The Tostitos were $4.99, so $4.24 after discount. These bags are huge and the chips were so fresh. I usually buy the big On the border bags at Sams, but it's not the round chips. The rounds are perfect for nachos. I wish I had bought more than 2 bags. I also picked up some Snickers for DS, stick cinnamon and Dill.

New February totals to date : 

Sams $144.20

Walmart $27.06

Produce Market $54.74

Dollar Tree $3.00

Kroger Mega event/Ibotta (includes all stores) $48.61

Kroger cheesecake crumble $3.99 (free after Ibotta rebate)

Meijer $13.96

Target $0.00

Aldi $23.96

Rite Aid $19.67

Ollies $33.06

Total OOP $372.25

Ibotta earnings : $59.81 ($42.32 Mega event, $3.99 Cheesecake, $13.50 RA)

Kroger cash back : 7.99

Total cash back earned : $67.80

My earnings will all be applied to next month's budget. 

I haven't been to CVS this month yet. I was planning on doing the Loreal Revitalift deal last week, but then noticed that I didn't get a $5 Skincare CRT :( I haven't been to WAGS since mid December. I just can't get myself to go. It probably also has to do with the fact that we don't need anything. We have more than enough HBA. 

We might only need a select few produce items and milk next week. I'm too afraid to set a budget for next week, because if a stock up sale or good drugstore sale comes along, I'm in...lol.

Kroger Mega Event & Ibotta Bonus

Not everything is pictured. I've already packed away some stuff by the time I remembered to take pics.

I really wasn't planning on shopping at Kroger. When I saw that there's a new mega event and that Dave's Killer Bread was included, I knew I had to shop. I knew that I had seen an Ibotta rebate for it and I also had a $10 Ibotta bonus WYB 18 items. 

Prices are after the Mega Event Discount (Buy 5 save $5 instantly)

5 x Daves killer bread bagels $22.45 ($2.25 each Ibotta & $1 Kroger cash. So $16.75 back )

2 x D Donuts cereal 1.98

1 x Post HB frosted cereal 0.99

1 x Kelloggs cereal bars 1.49 (Free after Ibotta & KC)

2 x Ore Ida fries BOGO 2.79

2 x Stayfree pads 3.98 (Free after Q & Ibotta)

1 x Bolt24 1.50 (MM After Ibotta & KC back)

1 x Oat Milk 2.79 (Free Ibotta)

2 x Chobani yogurt 2.00

1 x Fage yogurt 1.29

18ct Kroger Eggs 1.78 (Free eggs mailer)

Less Eggs mailer Q (1.78)

Less Stayfree Q (2.00)

Tax 0.24

OOP $39.50

Earned $21.73 Ibotta & $7.99 KC back

I really wanted to do the Carefree Breathe deal, because it was a MM. There's also an Ibotta bonus WYB Stayfree & Carefree, so this would've been an even bigger MM. When I took out my phone to scan the Carefree, I couldn't find the item on the app. I figured it had been pulled by Ibotta (Ibotta's known to pull select deals at any time). It turned out that I was looking at my Walmart deals, not Kroger. Ugh! I only discovered this when I got home and scanned my receipts on the various sites. 

Ibotta only credited me for 1 Stayfree. I was really not in the mood to still submit a ticket for $1. The app was messed up. After the first attempt, it told me that it couldn't find any rebates on my receipts. Got this message more than 24 hours after submitting the receipt. So I had to haul out everything and scan it again, except this time the app said $13.xx should be added to my account the next day. Boy was I fuming, because I knew I'd have to submit a ticket if I didn't get the correct amount credited. I was so happy to receive the $21.73 the next day, that I just wasn't gonna bother with the extra $1.

On my next trip to Kroger, I discovered that the Mega event was over (I hate that their sales now start in the middle of the week. It throws me off completely). So I had to figure out a new deal to complete my Ibotta bonus (only needed 5 more items). I tried scanning the FREE Philadelphia cheesecake crumbles, but Ibotta said none of the items qualified. I knew this was an error, because I made sure that I had the correct item. I even scanned all the flavors, but nothing worked :(

Kroger 

Gallon milk $1.59

Fage yogurt 1.29

OOP $2.88

Earned $0.60 Ibotta

Meijer

I had to stop here for their sale cheese, so I figured I'd just finish the Ibotta deals here

2 x Chobani yogurt $2.98

2 x Breakstone cottage cheese doubles 2.00

1 x Siggis yogurt 1.25

OOP $6.23

Earned $2 Ibotta + $10 Bonus

I didn't have to buy 2 Breakstone, but DS loves this stuff so I decided to just get him an extra since it was giving back 50c on each.

Total items purchased : 26

Total OOP $48.61

Earned $42.32  ($34.33 Ibotta, $7.99 KC)

My total cost after earnings = $6.29

I don't like counting my earnings twice, but wanted others to see just how much this trip actually ended up costing. So I'm adding $48.61 to my monthly grocery expenses.

I had enough on Ibotta to cash out for $45 Walmart gcs, which will be used at Sams. That's when I'll deduct the earnings from our budget.

I also have enough Kroger cash to withdraw to Paypal ($20 minimum). The Cash back can also be added to your Kroger card for future purchases, but I don't know how long it's good for (I don't shop Kroger often). I'd also hate to lose my card and have someone else redeem my rewards, so Paypal is the safest bet for me. Now I have $65 to add to next month's grocery budget (which I need to rein in by the way, but more on that in another post).

I was most excited about the bagels. The Dave's products are so good, but I haven't bought any in ages because it's too pricey. DH was happy with the Oat Milk. He hasn't had oat milk since I brought home free ones (Ibotta) about 2 years ago.

I was in a sugar coma just reading the sugar content on those cereals. We rarely eat sugary cereal, so we're going to add it sparingly to our Bran Flakes so that it doesn't go to waste.

January month end check in

I apologize for the lack of posts. January was a very busy month for me. 

Boy was this an expensive month. I didn't plan to spend so much. The biggest expense was undies for DS. I decided to check around since things are so scarce these days. Let me tell ya, I had a hard time finding the brand and style that he likes. When I did find it, it was at full price of $42! No way am I paying that much for 3 pairs of underwear. Even Macy's didn't include it in their sales this time. I know that it's because supply is low. Everyone's now charging exorbitant prices, because people have fewer options to choose from.

After lots of searching, I finally found the cotton ones (we only wear cotton) online. BUT, I had to spend $89 for free shipping. Ugh, I hate paying shipping. It's crazy, because as a reseller I charge customers shipping....lol

So I headed out - first to Marshalls. No underwear to be found. This is unheard of. Then I headed to Burlington. I didn't find the brand that I wanted, but I found similar ones and they were cotton. Plus they cost much less too - $7-20 per 3pk. I can live with that. I grabbed a few packages. Since I was already there, I decided to check for t-shirts for him too. Got a few of those, so I'm very happy. I also found 3 items on clearance that I want to resell. 

The next day, I decided to go back online and just order the ones I saw. I figured I might as well stock up, because it's gonna be a while before manufacturing gets back to normal, with the whole world still suffering from Covid. So I got more undies, some sleep boxers and added a clearance item to get to the free shipping amount. DS is now set for at least 2 years. However, I'm still gonna keep an eye out for a good deal on his favorites - just in case. 

Now you'll notice that I add a few extras to avoid paying shipping, but it also helps recoup some of the money spent. Yes, it's a bit of work but it helps save us some money in the end. 

When I checked our spare closet (prior to going shopping) to see if there's still any stockpiled undies left, I found some t-shirts that I bought for my nephews about 2 years ago. I found 4 shirts, so DS will get that for summer too. He & one of my nephews are the same age & size, so that was an easy fix.

I also did some gift shopping for the littles (great nephews/nieces) at Belk. I found some super cute things. Thanks to Linda for mentioning this store in her posts. We don't have it here, so I've never heard of it before. When I shopped through Rakuten, it took me to a Belk page that showed Buy $100 GC save $20 instantly. I needed no second invitation. I love deals like this. $20 free money - yes please!...lol

Well I got 6 people checked off my list and spent $89.17  OOP (including gc purchase). There are 2 items that I will resell (had to reach amount for free shipping twice). 

I also bought a new vacuum. This was on my list of household items. As much as I liked the stick vacuum at first, I ended up hating it. Our house gets a lot of dust so I vacuum daily. That stick vacuum doesn't have attachments, which I hated because I like to do a proper vacuum - floors, couch, baseboards etc. I used my Kohls gcs to pay for the vacuum, so only $0.30 OOP. However, I earned $2.03 through Rakuten and $5 Y2Y reward.

I'm now done shopping for a while. I'm over shopping and searching for deals. I really don't wanna spend anymore and we don't need anything (personal), except for a few more household items.  Now onto the numbers.

Grocery shopping (includes HBA and cleaning products) : $363.18

Clothing OOP : $197.82 earned $3.14 Rakuten

Vacuum : OOP $0.30 Earned $2.03 Rakuten

Gifts : $89.17 Earned $2.23 Rakuten

MONEY EARNED

Earned $25 GC. 

Earnings are always slow at the beginning of the year. I also found a $25 Kohls gc, when I cleaned out  my mail trays in my office.

Ibotta : I didn't cash out for any gcs this month

Personal items (things we've had listed for the past 2 years) : $42.89

2021 Closet cleanout : $15.42

Big goal : $136.24

Drugstore items : $26.21

Total earnings (excluding gc) : $220.76

I pulled & listed 35 items (already sold one) from my closet and 3 from DS's. I was on a roll...lol. Once I set my mind to something, I go all in. I still have a few more items I want to pull, but there's no rush. I'm already more than halfway to my listing goal, so I figure I can just do whatever I can find every month.

Big goal

I might have mentioned this before. I have a huge goal in mind, so I have to earn and save a bundle. Last year I decided to turn some of my earned gcs into cash. I would redeem for $25 Walmart, take $25 from the grocery budget, then use the gc for Sams purchases. Then I used the $25 at the thrift store to buy items to resell (not for business). Then Covid hit, thrift stores closed and yard sales were few & far between. Not to mention, gc earnings were down. I did  a bit more shopping once our state opened up again. I managed to buy and list around 50 items for the year. Some of which have and are now selling. So I'm back on that bandwagon again and going all in. Also, any rewards that I earn (Kohls cash, Y2Y, Rakuten, CC points, freebie coupons etc) will be used towards the big goal. 

I was gonna save my Rakuten for Christmas, but have changed my mind. Any money earned from personal & drugstore items will go towards Christmas, since we don't need any more clothing for the year. I might just stock up on some winter clearance for DS, but DH & I don't need anything. 

So that's my crazy January. I still need sports bras, but I haven't found anything suitable yet.