Let's go Krogering!

If you have a Kroger or Affiliate store, run and get your MM cookies. The Chips Ahoy golden candy chip cookies (only this flavor works for rewards) are on sale for $1.88 this week. There's a $1 Ibotta rebate & $1 Kroger Cash Back (KCB), which makes it a 12c MM per package. Limit 5. I think the sale price ends Tuesday, so be sure to get yours soonest. Look for it at end caps or special displays. 

Here's what I bought :

5 x Chips Ahoy golden candy chip $9.40

5 x Fiber One bars 12.45

2 x Red Gold Tomato Love 2.00

Less Fiber One DQ (Q works on up to 5 items) (5.00)

Less CAT from previous Fiber One deal (3.00)

OOP $15.85

Earned $6.19 Ibotta ($5 Chips Ahoy, $1.19 Red Gold), $5 KCB (Chips Ahoy), $3 CAT (Fiber One). 

Total of $14.19 earned

I love how grocery store CATS normally roll. I bought 5 Fiber One packages earlier this week (on sale for $1.99). Paid $9.95 and got back the $3 CAT. Then used that CAT to buy 5 more boxes. I'm now done buying Fiber One bars. 

As I did with the Oreo cookies, I will donate 3 packs of Chips Ahoy. My donations are always well received. 

This week's drugstore shopping

I had to shop both CVS & WAGS this week, because I had rewards that were expiring. Well, just one WAGS reward, but my CVS EBs are all expiring this weekend. How did that happen? We're talking about a girl who shopped at CVS weekly. I think I'm just plain burned out from shopping & the pandemic. 

WAGS once again surprised us with some good items this week (the ad doesn't always look that great, until the new DQs are added on Sundays). I only had $5 RR expiring this week (I still have $25 expiring next week), so here's what I did.

Store 1 (DH's account)

5 x Old Spice b/w $30.00

Less Old Spice DQ (10.00)

Tax 1.80

OOP $21.80

Earned $21.30 WC ($5 WYS $25 on Old Spice, $8 WYS $25 Paper Booster, $4 WYS $20 Digital Booster, $4 When you make 3 purchases over $15. I'm thinking that one cancelled Tide order still counted towards the last reward). 

I could have used RRs, but I was afraid it would affect my Boosters. I really didn't want to lose out on $12 Boosters. 

Store 2 (my account)

5 x Old Spice b/w $30.00

Less OS DQ (10.00)

Less RR (5.00)

Tax 1.50

OOP $16.50

Earned $8.25 WC ($5 WYB $25 OS, $3 WYS $12 Digital Booster). 

The few odd cents are just 1% everyday points you earn on all purchases. 

I'll also submit the Old Spice & Tide receipts for a $15 PG rebate. 

As mentioned before, this is one of our favorite scents. I seriously think it's being discontinued, because not all WAGS locations carry it anymore. Meijer also doesn't carry it (Meijer usually has everything under the sun). Old Spice is also well known for constantly adding new scents/fragrances, so they end up discontinuing many of the old ones. This is why I'm stocking up whenever I can find a good sale. We also have $10/5 OS deodorant DQs, so I'm considering going back and getting the Captain deodorant too. I don't know why DH always gets better boosters than me, but I'll take whatever I can get. The RRs are Thankfully not tied to a specific account. 

WAGS also has a good sale on Softsoap this week, but I decided not to get any. We are currently swimming in Softsoap, so I'm saving my rewards/money instead. 

CVS

I needed a game plan. There weren't many good items giving EBs this week, so I had to make do with what I could.

2 x Herbal Essences $12.00

3 x Pantene 15.00

1 x Tide pods 4.94

2 x All detergent 5.98

3 x Schick razors 17.97

Less Herbal Essences DQ (4.00)

Less Pantene DQ (5.00)

Less 3/15 Hair care DQ (3.00)

Less Tide DQ (2.00)

Less All Q (1.50)

Less All DQ (1.50)

Less $2/2 All DQ (2.00)

Less Schick Q (3.00)

Less Schick DQ (3.00)

Less 3/12 Schick DQ (3.00)

Less EBs (23.00)

Tax 2.93

OOP $7.82

Earned $15.10 EB ($10 WYB $30 PG (1st 3 items above), $5 Schick, 10c see below)

Should earn another $4 Ibotta (Schick) and $3 Beauty)

I just noticed that my $2/12 Pantene DQ didn't apply. This is why my total was a bit higher. The Schick IP Q said "limited reached" after printing just one q, and I didn't have time to kick DH off his computer to print another Q.  Oh well. I'm just happy to have rolled those EBs. Lisa, I always think of you when I buy the Pantene spray, because I know you like it too :)

Well it looks like CVS now gives your 2% after every transaction, instead of quarterly. This is just silly, because it's a waste of paper to print a 10c EB. Oy vey!

I don't need more detergent, but the All was $1.00 for 2 bottles after coupons. Can't beat that price!

I also received a $8/40 Q. CVS trying to lure me back in. We shall see. 

Total OOP : $46.12

Total rewards earned : $51.65

Total rewards used : $28.00

Total Qs used : $48.00

Retail value : $155.59

I still need to submit my receipts to Fetch & PG. I wish PG would add new GCs, because I have enough points to redeem for $15 GCs. 

Please excuse the one poor pic. My camera needs to be replaced, because the focus doesn't work well anymore. Yet another expense. I'm over spending money. 

I wrote another post about stockpiling and shopping, but I'll post it separately. This post is already too long. 

WAGS wore me out this week

Well, so much for the ad not looking good this week. But first, the disaster or disasters because there was more than one.

That 2nd WAGS online order was a serious cluster. I added the same items as before, minus the Revlon (store was OOS). So I placed my order then ran some errands. I figured the order would be ready before I'm done with errands, so I can just pick it up on my way home. But nooooooo, 2 hours later there's still no notification. Since I was already out, I decided to just stop at the store and ask. The cashier didn't know anything and called the manager. Manager looks at some electronic device (whatever it is they use for online orders or maybe it's a scanner), ask if the order is for DH's name. I said yes. In my mind I'm thinking "why the heck haven't you guys fulfilled my order if you have the details? The store is empty and the order was placed 2 hours ago". Polite me instead asked the manager if he would honor the 25% off online discount if I just purchased the items in store. He said Sure. So I got a cart and loaded up my haul. He meanwhile cancelled my online order. So I check out and my total is way higher than it was online. Then I realised it's because my DQs disappeared when he cancelled the order. So I told him that and he just manually deducted it, including 25%. Price is still a little more, but by this time I was already frustrated. I just paid and thanked him.

When I got home and studied my receipt, I realised that I forgot to use the $5 WC that I used online. But wait, the $5 WC is missing on my receipt balance so I wouldn't have had enough to redeem anyway since there was only $1 left. Ugh. I go online to do Live Chat and after logging into my account, noticed the $5 was finally added back. Phew!

I was frustrated in store, because they didn't have all the items in stock for my deals. The Tide was easy, because I just switched to a different fragrance. The Oral B was the kicker, because only 2 items worked for the double dip RRS. I only found 2 of the 4 toothbrushes (mind you it shows enough inventory online. or maybe someone purchased more after I placed my order). They had other $3 Oral b t/b, but I didn't know if it would even work for one RR. So I picked up 2 floss packs that's supposed to work too. I only got one $5 RR, but I was just happy that I at least earned one. 

Afterwards I thought it was a good thing I just shopped in store, because they would've replaced it with the wrong items and I would've missed out on some rewards. So it was a blessing in disguise. 

I spent $33.27 OOP 

Earned $24 ($10 Tide, $5 Oral B, $4 Colgate, $5 booster). 

I really can't complain about getting 3 large bottles of Tide for $9. 

THIS WEEK

I had $15 RRs expiring this week. I know that I can't roll the RRs into the same deal, but I learned that the Oral B t/b double dip was still working. Of course I had to keep an eye out for it...lol Then there were the $8 & $9 Revlon DQs. Oh boy. 

Trans 1

4 x Oral b t/b $12 

1 x Revlon mascara $8.99

1 x Revlon mascara B1G50% off 4.49

1 x Aussie shampoo 3.99

1 x Aussie shampoo B1G50% off 1.99

2 x Colgate t/p 7.98

Less Revlon DQ (8.00)

Less Aussie DQ (3.00)

Less RR (10.00)

Tax 2.37

OOP $20.81

Earned $30 ($4 Revlon RR, $10 Oral b RR, $4 WC Booster, $8 WC Paper Booster, $4 WC Colgate) + $3 Revlon Ibotta. So $33 earned

I read that the Aussie would give $2 WC, but it turns out the deal didn't work for anyone. I'm bummed, because I did the Aussie deal twice.

After I got home, I learned that if you bought 4 Oral b & 2 Dial soap, you'd get 3 x $5 RRs. Ugh. I would've done a totally different deal then. I wish I had seen this before I went shopping.

Trans 2

2 x Aussie conditioner B1G50% $5.68

1 x Revlon face 9.99

1 x Revlon face B1G50% 4.99

Less Aussie DQ (3.00)

Less Revlon DQ (9.00)

Less RR (5.00)

Tax 0.94

OOP $4.60

Earned $3 WC Booster, $3 Revlon Ibotta

I was supposed to earn a $4 Revlon RR, but nothing printed. Grrrrrrrr

Contacted CS and I was online with them for about 10 minutes. The CS rep gave me all kinds of wrong answers, telling me how the free item doesn't count. Yeah, she's talking about the 50% off 2nd item, which is wrong. She was confused with the BOGOF deal, which has a completely free item. The B1G50% off 2nd, make the 2nd item half price. I just thought 'Did she really just pull that s*&^  out of her a@#%. Pardon my french). There was no getting through to this girl, so I eventually gave up.  My time is worth more than that $4. Then later, it hit me. That damn RR was a store coupon and that decreases your item total for a spend deal. The Revlon was Spend $12, get $4. I spent $15, but because of that stupid RR, the register thinks I only spent $10. Stick a bloody fork in me. I can't keep up with WAGS' constant rewards changes. 

A few days later

By now, I still have 2 x $5 RRs expiring this week so I needed to get that used. I used $10 RR in the first transaction, because I was afraid my Oral b RRs wouldn't print if I rolled it into the same deal.  I had a plan & a backup plan and this time things worked out even better than expected. Shocker! This is WAGS after all....lol

Trans 3

3 x 8pk Dial bar soap $12.00

Less Dial DQ (2.00)

Less 2 RRs (10.00)

Tax 0.48

OOP $0.48

Earned $5 RR. Huh? I didn't expect to earn another RR, because it's the same deal (Oral B and different items are added weekly) as the RRs I was using. Well, I learned that if it's a store RR, the deal will roll. Happy Dance.

Trans 4

Same deal as Trans 3. Dial is our preferred bar soap brand, so I'm stocking up.

Trans 5

3 x 8 pk Dial soap $12.00

4 x Oral b t/b 12.00

Less Dial Q (2.00)

Less WC (20.00)

Tax 1.44

OOP $3.44

Earned $15 RR (3 x $5 RR). 

I bought 3 Dial soap, because I wanted my total over $20 so I could redeem WC. If my total was under $20, I could only redeem $10. Crazy WAGS rules. 

When I checked for the t/b, I only found 3. Ugh. Well, I was determined to find a 4th one for the triple dip deal, so I checked behind all the others and whaddya know. Someone actually hid the 4th one, behind some other Oral b t/b. Sneaky, sneaky. 

The stars just aligned for me with the Dial. I don't even know how many RRs I currently have. I have to go through it all, because there are still some from last week and earlier this week. 

I'm very happy to have the Dial. I was gonna order some from Target a few weeks ago, because I noticed that we were running low. My gut just told me to NOT place the order. Now I know why. It's amazing how God always brings the right sale my way, whenever I run low on something. Now I just need to pray for a face wash deal, because guess who's on their last bottle. I don't know how that happened. 

I'm plumb tuckered out from WAGS shopping. I don't even know how many RRs I now have. I need to check and make a plan for next. I can go back and get more Dial this week, but I just don't have the energy.

So between last weekend's Tide deals & this week's shopping, the numbers are : 

OOP $90.03

Total earned : $110 + $6 Ibotta

I keep rolling my rewards into new deals, so I don't really count them until I redeem it. All I keep thinking is 'WAGS is making me broke'...lol

I still need to submit all my receipts to Fetch & PG and need to check CK51 (I doubt there's anything on CK51 though). I missed out on the Dial Ibotta, but I'm not too upset about that. 

I apologize for no pics. Between yard saling & couponing, I'm just worn out.

Now, I need to focus on work. I realised today that 4th quarter will be here before we know it. 

Two weeks of WAGS shopping

I really wasn't in the mood to do drugstore shopping last week, but I had $16 (4 x $4) RRs that were expiring and didn't want to let it go to waste. Most weeks the ads don't look promising, until some couponers go shopping. Last week we discovered that if you bought 3 or 4 select Oral B items, you'd earn 2 x $5 RRs (one store & one manufacturer RR). I needed no second invitation. I stopped at several stores and did 2 transactions per store, because I don't like holding up the line. 

Trans 1 (DH)

2 x Colgate t/p $7.98

1 x Kit Kat 0.88

Less RR (4.00)

Less Colgate DQ (2.00)

Less Colgate DQ (1.50)

Tax 0.26

OOP $1.62

Earned $4 WC (Colgate)

Trans 2 (DH)

3 x Oral B t/b 9.00

Less Oral B DQ (5.00)

Less WC (4.00)

Tax 0.54

OOP $0.54

Earned $5 RR  Mmm, it's supposed to have printed 2 RRs if you purchased 3 t/b too, but I only got one.  I wonder if it printed after I left the store, because I noticed a delay at 2nd store. Oh well, items were still free.

Trans 3 (DH)

4 x Oral b t/b $12.00

Less Oral b DQ (6.50)

Less WC (5.00)

Tax 0.72

OOP $1.22

Earned $10 RRs (Success!)

Trans 4 (Me)

2 x Colgate t/p $7.98

1 x Kit Kat 0.88

Less RR (4.00)

Tax 0.26

OOP $1.62

Earned $4 WC (Colgate)

Trans 5 (Me)

2 x Garnier shampoo $7.00

Less Garnier DS (3.00)

Less RR (4.00)

Tax 0.18

OOP $0.18

Trans 6 

2 x Garnier Whole Blends $7.00

Less Garnier DQ (3.00)

Less RR (4.00)

Tax 0.18

OOP $0.18

I couldn't find any Oral b sale items at the 3rd store, so I just bought the Garnier to spend those RRs. The Kit Kats were added as filler items, so that the RRs could attach to it. Your number of coupons cannot exceed your number of items purchased. 

Total OOP : $5.36

RRs used : $16

RRs earned $15

Wags Cash points (WC) used : $9.00

WC earned : $8.00

So I basically spent down $2 rewards (RRs & WC) and $5.36 OOP 

Submitted my receipts to PG & Fetch.

I had zero plans to shop this week, but then read about all the good online deals. I'm hesitant to do online (store pickup) deals, because they totally messed up my previous orders. When they substitute your items or don't add everything, you end up losing out on rewards and/or all your DQs don't deduct. Not to mention, it takes my store all day to process your order. So you're lucky to get it 5-8 hours later.  However, the deal was too good to pass up, so here's what I did. 

3 x 92 oz Tide $35.97 (only 2 pictured)

4 x Oral b t/b  12.00

2 x Colgate t/p 7.98

1 x Softsoap b/w 3.99

1 x Revlon eyeshadow 5.19

1 x Revlon eyeshadow B1G50% off 2nd 2.59

Less Tide DQ (5.00)

Less Tide DQ (3.00)

Less Oral b DQ (6.50)

Less Colgate DQ (4.00)

Less Softsoap DQ (3.50)

Less Revlon DQ (7.78)

Less 25% off promo code (9.48)

Less WC (5.00)

Tax 3.49

OOP $26.95

Earned $10 RR (Oral B), $17 WC ($10 Tide, $4 Colgate, $3 WYS $12 booster) + $1 Rakuten

Total earned $28

Who doesn't love free Tide?...lol

When you pick up your order in store, they scan the digital receipt and the RRs print. However, my Tide RR didn't print, so the manager added $10 to my account. I'm happy with that, because I don't have to worry about spending that $10 within the next 2 weeks. 

I have another $3 Tide pods DQ, but opted for the liquid instead. There are only 21 or 32 pods per container (depending on fragrance you choose), whereas I can get at least 70+ loads out of a bottle. Heck, I could probably squeeze 100 loads out of the bottle. I just dilute it with water and it still works great. Clothes still turn out clean. 

And darn if I didn't forget my receipt in store. I hate that you have to collect online orders at the photo counter. There were several other customers getting photos and I left the receipt on the counter for the manager, so he could add my $10 points. Then I picked up the 4 paper bags of goods (one bag broke as I got to my car, but thankfully the detergent didn't break). They also have a load of photo products on the counter, so it was easy to miss the receipt. I'm bummed because that's 250 PG points, but there's no way I'm gonna drive back to the store for just a receipt. Pity you can't submit online receipts, because I have that on my account. 

I also dropped one of the eyeshadows as I was getting it out to take pics, so I can't gift that one. I'll just use it myself. 

I'm seriously considering doing this deal on DH's account tomorrow too, but my store doesn't have enough Oral B inventory. He has a $5 booster on his account, so I could get Tide, Colgate & Softsoap and earn back $19. Decisions, decisions. 

I'm really happy that they fulfilled my entire order and in record time too. Less than half hour after placing my order, I received notification that it's ready for pickup. So $77.28 worth of Tide & other goodies for a $1.05 MM. I'll take it!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

June month end check in

It's hard to believe half the year is gone already. At this rate Christmas will be here before we know it. 

Here are my numbers for June.

Groceries/HBA/Cleaning

Produce market : $67.13

Aldi : $14.76

Costco : $42.71

CVS : $3.42

Kroger : $95.66

Meijer : $47.23

Target : $59.80

Walmart : $25.36

Walgreens : $41.68

Total OOP : $397.75

Earnings 

Ibotta : $82.19

Kroger Cash Back : $47.03

Total earnings : $129.22

Total cost after earnings : $268.53

My earned drugstore rewards are not included in this amount. I also earned a $10 Target gc that I keep rolling into new gc deals.  I count them when I spend it. 

Oy Kroger. The store I used to do the least shopping at...lol. The deals are just too good to pass up there. I'm just loving their mega event sale and cash back. I like to roll my cash back into new deals. So fun when you have a low OOP.

I haven't done much drugstore shopping. I'm just not motivated to do drugstore shopping (although WAGS sucked me in this month already...lol). I seriously think I'm burned out from shopping. I really don't mind taking a break.

MONEY EARNED (SIDE HUSTLE)

GCs Earned $45 ($25 Mypoints, $20 IGC)

Personal items (things we've had listed for the past 2 years) : $117.01

2021 Closet cleanout : $71.59 (2 of the items were DS's)

Big goal : $9.25

Drugstore items : $23.46

Total earnings : $266.31

I've listed another 3 items from my closet and 7 from DS's. Now I'm up to 51 of my own items listed. 9 More to go. The sales were super slow this month. I know it's the summer slump. Things will start picking up again in August when people prepare for back to school.

YTD Earnings :

GCs (point earning sites) : $340

Ibotta : $413.69

Personal items : $423.50

2021 Closet cleanout : $209.22

Big goal : $593.19

Drugstore items : $93.55

Total Earnings (excl Ibotta) : $1407.86

YTD EXPENSES (Clothing/shoes/accessories, Christmas gifts)

OOP  (June) $239.36

This was from replacing DS's rain jacket. I also got my shorts & sports bras. I'm using half the shorts & bras now and the rest went into spare closet stockpile

YTD OOP : $1045.96

YTD side hustle income (personal, closet cleanout, drugstore) : $726.27

YTD clothing/christmas gifts expenses : $1045.96

YTD Balance ($319.69)

Ugh, I hate still being in the hole. However, I'm done with apparel shopping until the holidays. I have Kohls gcs earmarked for DS's sweats. It's gonna be hard with all the Independence day sales, but we don't need a single thing. I'm going on a shopping fast. That will really help my wallet.

I'm doing the same with grocery shopping. Firstly, I'm increasing my monthly budget to $400, no thanks to the constant food price increases. I might lower it to $350, but I'm doing a trial run this month to see how things go. 

I've already made a Sams, Costco & produce market trip (more on that later). As long as we have fresh meat & produce, I'm happy. So for the rest of the month I'm just gonna try to fill in the gaps (weekly salad, spinach, frozen broccoli, bananas, onions, bread). I'm also earmarking $10 per week to replenish some stockpile items I'm low or out of. So groceries should cost no more than $30 per week. Now if Kroger & the drugstores can just hold off on sales for this month, then I might be able to stick to my $300 monthly budget. Fingers crossed. 

Happy Independence day everyone. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.