Last minute Christmas deals

Hi everyone!

It's been a crazy week. I had no meal plan for this week.  I just made some chicken curry and banana muffins for the week. We ate curry & rice for 2 nights already. Tonight it's just Sam's pizza from the freezer and salad.

 

Just a few good deals I picked up this week (I couldn't resist). I offered to get cupcakes and pop for DS's class. I do this every year and every year I wonder why I torture myself with going to the stores during Christmas week. While I was on Mypoints the other day, I noticed a deal for Coke products at Sams. Buy 2 x 35 ct Coke or Sprite, earn 24xx points (equals $19.50). No way!! I was already planning on buying a case for school, so I figured I'd just get an extra case for ourselves too. I also had a $20 Walmart gc (Ibotta). I had ordered 30ct Christmas cupcakes, so I figured I'd just get another 30ct package since I'm getting such a good deal, but alas. No more cupcakes to be had. They did have trays of holiday brownies, so I added that. Here's how the deal went

2 x 35ct Diet coke $35.16

1 x 30ct Cupcakes 15.98

1 x Brownie tray 18.44

Bottle deposit 7.00

Less GC (20.00)

OOP $56.58

Earn $19.50 Mypoints. So $37.08 will feed at least 30 kids and we get a case of Coke too. Plus I'll earn back $3.50 bottle deposit. 

I always circle the qualifying items on my receipts when I submit to select sites. Well, I got some ink on my hand and ended up smearing the date with ink. So Mypoints said they can't read my receipt. Ugh. So that's under review. Then I remembered that you can view all your purchases at Sams online. So I took pics of that for when Mypoints contacts me. I already have more proof of that purchase. Please excuse the pics. When I view it on my computer, it's right side up. For some reason it displays sideways on Blogger and I can't rotate it. I took the pics outside in the cold, that's why it's not clear. 

Meijer & Kroger has Spinbrush BOGOF this week and there's a $2 Ibotta rebate (limit 5). Meijer's price is 70c less than Kroger (no surprise as Kroger is the most expensive grocery store around here).  So I stopped at Meijer on Sunday and did this deal

6 x Spinbrush @ $8.29  $49.74

Less 3 BOGOF $24.87

Tax 1.49

OOP $26.36

Earn $10 Ibotta. So $16.36 for 6 Spinbrushes. That's a good deal.

Today, I stopped at a different Meijer, cause my store only had the Soft ones left on Sunday. No Spinbrushes at this store, but they did have the 2pk replacement heads. The deal is the same as above, so I bought those.

I also purchased blueberries that's BOGOF this week. My store price was $2.75 each. The store I went to today (not far from me) charged $2.95. So weird, but I'm happy to have my favorite berry.

Let me tell ya. It's a zoo out there. The stores are all packed with extra long lines. Not my cup of tea, but I got my shopping done. 

DS had a runny nose last night. I tend to get sick when he just has a runny nose. So I gave him a Wal-act (Wags flu/allergy pill. It's about all we use as it works fast. I do keep Robitussen too for anyone who coughs) that knocked him out for the night and he's much better today. Phew! I don't like when my loved ones are sick. I pamper them and make sure they're comfortable and pray that they heal fast. Nothing like some TLC to help you feel better. We're on a Vitamin C diet this winter (OJ, Guava juice, oranges, kiwi and blueberries - okay, I just love blueberries, but they're rich in antioxidants anyway). So many people are sick lately. I'm praying that everyone who's ill will be right as rain in time for Christmas. 

I'm going to mix my cookie dough now so I can bake tomorrow. I'm not making much this year. I'll just freeze half of it. I need to wrap DS's gifts as soon as he leaves for school tomorrow (last day before break). I was going to do it today, but decided to just pick him up when I dropped off the cake. 

The winter storm should be here by Friday. We're not expecting much snow, but ya never know. 

I'd like to wish everyone a Blessed Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and prosperous New Year. I'll be back the first week in January. 

Stay healthy, safe & warm peeps. Have a wonderful holiday break!

This & That

Boy was Wags fun last week. I did 4 more transactions and earned a total of $120 free Wags gcs! Score!It's been years since I had such a good run. Years ago Meijer had a deal for Buy $100 Visa gc, earn $20 Cat. My friend & I hit up multiple stores and I ended up with $360 Cats and she had slightly less. Then we rolled some of it into the Meijer Spend $100, save $10 on groceries deal. You could combine this with manufacturer Qs. The Cats were only good for 2 weeks and I found a huge clearance sale on something that was popular at the time, at my store. So I used the rest of my Cats on those and made a big profit selling the items. I miss those fun coupon days. 

Yesterday, I decided to just hit up the stores and buy the rest of the gcs and whatever else we needed for Christmas. I'm a planner and normally have everything done by December 1st. So not having all the gifts done, bothered me. I figured if I get everything done, then I don't have to worry if anyone else gets sick or there's some incident that prohibits me from shopping (well I'm hoping nothing happens). I'm just happy to have everything taken care of. Most of the teachers asked for Amazon gcs and I couldn't find them at any store. Then I remembered that I bought one at Wags before and decided to make a Wags run today. I knew that I needed a game plan for Wags, because I had 2 more $9 WYS $40 paper Qs and $5 WYS $20 Digital. So I decided to save Wags until today. Here's what I did. I just noticed that one t/paste is upside down and it drives me nuts. However, I don't have the energy to haul everything out for a pic again. Please excuse that and the glare. 

Trans 1 

2 x Loreal cleanser $13.98

2 x Loreal cleanser B1G50% off 2nd 6.98

2 x Loreal shampoo 9.00

3 x Crest t/p 12.00

2 x Pringles BOGOF 2.99

Less Loreal DQ (5.00)

Less Loreal IVC (2.00)

Less Crest DQ (5.00)

Tax 2.52

Less $20 Wags GC (20.00)

OOP $15.47

Earned $19.42 WC ($9 WYS $40, $5 WYS $20, $5 Crest, $0.42 everyday points)

I added the Pringles, because after the cashier scanned everything, she said I couldn't use the 9/40. Then I remembered that the IVC lowers your OOP cost, so I was short a few cents. So I just grabbed the Pringles as a filler, cause it's something we'll eat. 

Trans 2 

2 x Loreal cleanser $13.98

2 x Loreal cleanser B1G50% off 2nd 6.98

2 x Loreal shampoo 9.00

3 x Crest t/p 12.00

Maybelline eye set 7.49

Less Loreal DQ (5.00)

Less Loreal IVC (2.00)

Less Crest DQ (5.00)

Less Maybelline DQ (5.00)

Tax 2.97

Less $20 Wags GC (20.00)

OOP $15.42

Earned $19.47 WC ($9 WYS $40, $5 WYS $20, $5 Crest, $0.47 everyday points)

At the first store I only earned $14 points. I knew that something was wrong, but Wags no longer gives you a breakdown of your earnings. Ugh. At the 2nd store, I saw that I was supposed to earn a $5 RR, so I figured the cashier forgot to hand it to me. However, no RR printed at the 2nd store either, but the machine printed other Ad Cats. So I went to the shelf, took a pic and back in line to explain. The manager added $5 points to my account. When I got home, I contacted CS and the added $5 to my first transaction's account too. I'm happy with that, because I'm not obligated to run to Wags to redeem RRs. 

At the 2nd store, I noticed the Maybelline on an endcap and remembered that there's a $5 DQ. This was a better deal than the Pringles. Silly me didn't think to grab 2 sets and purchase one on my account too. 

I only used 2 GCs per transaction, because I didn't know if Wags has a limit. This is Wags after all. 

Total OOP : $30.89

Total earned : $38.89

Retail value : 116.79

I guess this is an $8 MM deal, because the GCs were free money after all. Score!!!

I needed the cleanser. I just opened my last one last week. I was going to buy some at Target since they have a Spend $30 get $10 gc deal. However, Target has NO Loreal cleanser. What on earth?! I've used this brand for almost 30 years and now I can hardly find it. I don't like using scrubs every day, but I picked up what I could find at Wags. I sure hope this hasn't been discontinued.

Well Target has been no slouch in the savings department either. When I checked for the Loreal Qs on Sunday morning, I saw that select beauty gift sets were 50% off and it was part of the Spend $30 get $10 deal. And they had Old Spice sets on sale for $9.99. Say no more! I bought 6 sets. I know what you're thinking. I just bought a truckload of Old Spice Captain not too long ago....lol Well, the price of the b/w has increased again. It now cost $6.29 each. The set (b/w, shampoo & body spray) was 50% off,  so $4.99 each. Then you earned $10 gc WYS $30. This was a no brainer. I've been shocked by prices later (more on that below). This deal was so hot, it sold out within hours. Fiji is the first scent the guys tried when I first got these items for free. So I already know that it smells good - not nearly as good as the Captain, but DS isn't picky. My goal is to ensure that we have 2 years worth of HBA again. My stockpile has been dwindling. 

On a deal site, I saw that one of the gifts I purchased for DS, was $28 less somewhere else. Someone mentioned getting a price adjustment at Target, so that's what I did too. I did live chat and received my credit within minutes. I only received $19 back, because I bought the item during a BF sale (it cost less then). I'm so very happy with that extra $19. It helped pay for the Old Spice sets. This is the 2nd item of DS that I got a surprise price adjustment on. I'm very pleased with the shopping I did for him this year. All his gifts combined cost less than the retail value of the laptop. I'm so thankful for the unexpected blessings. 

Every year I purchase a Sams cheesecake for Christmas dessert. I haven't seen cheesecake at Sams in months, so I decided to make a no bake tiramisu, cause that's my absolute favorite dessert. While at Meijer yesterday, I added all the ingredients to my cart, but boy was I shocked by the prices. Either I'm getting cheap or the price of everything has quadrupled for the holidays. Heavy cream quart was over $6. I used to pay $1.99 for it at Walmart. Graham crackers was $4.79. The last I bought some, it was 99c. After I totaled all the ingredients, it was over $30!!!! This is more than the ham I bought. No frigging way! I don't need tiramisu that bad. So I placed all the ingredients back on the shelf. I only kept the cream and graham crackers and will make our traditional SA dessert - peppermint fridge tart since I already had the rest of the ingredients in my pantry. Wowzers! I couldn't believe the price.

I caved & bought butter at Sams. I'm not going to bake much - just 3 different cookies. 

I was going to purchase jalapeno cranberry meatballs as the main dish (Sams or Costco). I had it before & it's delicious. Then I realised that I'm going to spend $16 for a few meatballs, whereas a small ham cost around $20 at Sams (I checked prices before). So I bought a ham at Sams ($22) and will slice the whole thing tomorrow. I'll divide the slices into freezer bags and freeze for whenever we need some. Easy peasy. 

I'm really thinking about how we are spending our money these days. Everything just seems to cost so much more. We're still eating well, but I'm making smarter choices for the same amount of money. 

We had an early dinner and I'm going to sleep for an hour or 2. I'm feeling much better, but by late afternoon I start feeling rough again (normal for when I have the flu). I'm just thankful that I have all my shopping done now. I don't want to spend any more money. I just want to go into saving mode. The holidays always make me feel this way. 

Have a great week peeps!

Meal Plan Monday 12/12/22

Well, it looks like the flu germs finally made it to our home. I woke up feeling really poorly yesterday. All I wanted to do was go back to bed. However, I managed to putter around, do laundry and cook our meals for the week. By the time that was done, I was ready for bed. My whole body, including my chest hurt. So I slept for 2 hours, got up for dinner, then slept for another 2 hours. Then back to bed just after 9 and I still need more sleep. I don't really have cold/flu symptoms like a runny, sneezy nose or coughing. It's very,very mild. So I don't even know what I have right now. I just want to sleep. This is not like the covid fatigue. It's more like the achy, tired flu body. So I'm going to do a few more things, then head back to bed. I've kicked our vitamin C intake into high gear. Nobody wants to be sick over the holidays. We've been there before. It's times like these that I'm thankful for freezer cooking & stockpiling. I don't have to worry about food or anything else (except those gcs I still need to buy for teachers), because everything's cooked and we have everything else in stock. I'm so glad I hit Sams, Aldi & the produce market on Friday. I just bought bagels on a whim at Aldi, but it sure came in handy this week. On to the menu:

Monday : Baked ravioli & salad

Tuesday : Garlic parsley chicken patties, mashed potatoes & veggies and/or salad

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same as Tuesday

Friday : Beef burritos & salad

Breakfasts : Cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese, cereal, omelets

I also made 'sausage rolls' for DS. I had 2 freebie Oscar Mayer Qs from Kroger (last month & this month), so I bought 2 packs of Smokies. I added to smokies, cheese & jalapeno to puff pastry to make 'sausage rolls'. I do know how to make real sausage rolls, but this is a nice snack for him. 

We always have a salad fixings and a variety of fruit, so it's just a matter of taking your pick.

I didn't even bother to make muffins this week, because I just didn't have the energy. Bagels saved the day. 

I was going to make spaghetti & meatballs, but decided to use the ravioli to free up some freezer space. The baked ravioli, is just frozen ravioli that's been cooked, then topped with meat sauce (you can use regular pasta sauce too. I prefer meat sauce, since there's not much protein in ravioli) and mozzarella cheese and baked until cheese is melted.

The chicken patties can be turned into chicken sandwiches too. We have brioche rolls and all kinds of toppings (spinach, leafy greens, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes).

I made a big pot of taco meat. Then cooked some beans in the instant pot. Added salsa and cheese and made enough burritos for the freezer. I'm not even bothering to cook next week. There's enough food in the freezer to feed us for another week. 

I'll be back with another post about other things in a day or two. I'm off to putter a little more, then back to bed.

Stay safe, warm & healthy peeps!

WAGS for the win!

 

Whoo boy, is Wags fun this week! It's been a minute since I've posted any deals, cause I haven't done drugstore shopping in months. Last week my friend K text to ask me if I'm still doing drugstore couponing. I explained that I haven't and she mentioned that she started again and bought lots of Christmas gifts for her kids at CVS. We met through couponing years ago and now we're BFFs. I told her to try Wags too (got her linked to my Wags group. I'm such a bad influence...lol) and I checked the ad. I only saw the Softsoap b/w, so I bought that on both accounts and earned 2 x $5 RRs (per account) and 2 x $9/40 boosters. I also had $5/20 Digital boosters on both accounts.

I was out of moisturiser and decided to compare prices. My plan was to buy it at Target (it costs $5 less than the drugstores) with a discounted gc, but they didn't have any Qs or promos on it. Wags has it B1G50% off 2nd this week and I only had a $2 DQ on my account (weird). So I made my list and off to the store I went. You already know that it was a s_*&t show. This is Wags after all...lol. I went to 4 different stores and did 2 transactions per store.

Trans 1

2 x $20 Wayfair gc $40.00

1 x $10 Wags gc (free WYB 2 gcs)

OOP $40.00

Trans 2

1 x Moisturiser  $19.99

1 x Moisturiser 50% off 9.99

2 x $25 Red Robin gc $50.00

4 x Palmolive 11.96

Less RR (Softsoap) (5.00)

Less Palmolive DQ (0.75)

Less $10 Cash - see below (10.00)

Tax 2.52

OOP $78.71 ($50 GCs and 28.71 the rest)

Earned $20.41 WC ($9 WYS $40, $5 WYS $20, $6 Palmolive)

During the first transaction the $10 Wags gc wouldn't apply. The cashier wasn't even aware of the promo, so I had to haul out my phone and scroll scroll scroll to get to that part of the ad. So the shift manager comes over and explains things to her and also brought a different Wags gc. Wags has always only allowed you to only use their white & red logo gc for these promos. This store didn't have any, so I grabbed a different Wags card that didn't work. I assumed any Wags card would work, cause that's what I read. 

With the 2nd transaction, I asked her why she was deducting $10 cash. She explained that it's for the gc. Huh?! So I figured she applied the earned gc to my order and thought that was pretty neat, cause it lowered my OOP. So I get to my car, study the receipt and see what she did. Except, I still have the Wags gc that I earned. The downside is that you can't check any balance online, so I don't know if this card was applied or if the cashier didn't know what she was doing. Oy vey. I'm not trying to rip stores off, but I don't even know if this card has a $0 balance or not. Time will tell. 

Trans 3

2 x $20 Wayfair gc $40.00

1 x $10 Wags gc (free WYB 2 gcs)

OOP $40.00

Trans 4

1 x Moisturiser  $19.99

1 x Moisturiser 50% off 9.99

2 x $25 Red Robin gc $50.00

4 x Palmolive 11.96

Less RR (Softsoap) (5.00)

Less Palmolive DQ (0.75)

Less Loreal DQ (2.00)

Tax 2.52

OOP $86.71 ($50 GCs and 36.71 the rest)

Earned $20.41 WC ($9 WYS $40, $5 WYS $20, $6 Palmolive)

Hold it! The darn Wags gc didn't even show up on my receipt, nor did it print an activation receipt on either transaction. So we got a shift manager at this store too and the white/red logo gc wouldn't work. WTH Wags?! Grrrrr. So we tried different white/red ones and none worked. So I asked her to try the same one that I got at the previous store and that worked. Except, she had to redo both transactions. So we hauled everything out of the bags, pulled RRs and cash from register.  Then it took forever for register to download my DQs, but it finally worked. Then I asked cashier about my change, cause I paid with a $100 bill. Now she's not sure if I needed change or not. So I looked in my purse and see $13 rolled up and told her I did get change. I stayed there to make sure everything was added to my receipt and I earned all the correct points. A long line had once again formed behind me. When I left the store, I was in a daze from all the activity. Why can't Wags clearly mark the gcs that work for this deal? This has been happening for years. Their cashiers are all clueless about the weekly deals too, so you have to explain it to them. Ugh!

Trans 5

2 x $20 Wayfair gc $40.00

1 x $10 Wags gc (free WYB 2 gcs)

OOP $40.00

Trans 6

2 x $25 RR gcs $50.00

1 x $10 Wags gc (free WYB 2 gcs) 

OOP $50.00

Trans 7

2 x $20 Wayfair gc $40.00

1 x $10 Wags gc (free WYB 2 gcs)

OOP $40.00

Trans 8

2 x $25 RR gcs $50.00

1 x $10 Wags gc (free WYB 2 gcs) 

OOP $50.00

The last 2 stores went slick as snot (probably cause I knew which Wags gcs work). Thank goodness. I stopped at Kroger & Meijer in between too. By the time I got home, I had a monster headache. What should've been a 1-1.5 hour trip, turned into an almost 3 hour trip. I'm so glad dinner was ready, cause I didn't have the energy for anything. All we had to do was heat & eat. 

So to recap

I purchased $360.00 gcs (RR & Wayfair) and earned $80 free Wags gcs on these purchases. So $440 worth of gcs for $360.00 OOP. Here's reason #2 why I didn't feel like doing RA BF gc deals. RA offers rewards on their gcs, that are only good for 30 days. Wags gcs don't expire, so there's no pressure to use them. 

I also purchased 4 moisturisers and 8 palmolive 

OOP $65.42

Earned : $40.42

Retail value : $100.90

I only photographed one gc lot. I didn't want to mix it all up (they were in separate bags with their receipts. When I got home, I wrote the value on each gc, then stapled the activation receipts to the cardboard section of each card. I'll take the whole thing, plus receipt with me when I'm ready to use it. That way I have proof of purchase if something doesn't work. I split them all by store and placed each store into a separate ziploc bag and everything went into my gc folder. I'm such a geek....lol. I just like having my life simplified. With digital gcs, I write the date, purchase amount and balance on the back of each gc. That way I know what I spent and what's still left. I just write the date and amount spent on the physical ones (with a marker), cause there's not much room to write. 

I'm debating doing another GC run tomorrow or Friday. It's so tempting and it will be nice to have extra cash (gcs) for future Wags shopping. The palmolive is buy 2 get $3 off. I actually only had 1 bottle left and was hoping for a good Wags sale again. I didn't buy too many, cause I don't want to have too much stuff to pack. 

I need to make a CVS plan too. They have another gc deal. Spend $50 get $10 EB (limit 1 - phooey). I'm taking free money on whatever places (gcs)  we normally use. We were gonna spend the money anyway. I haven't been to CVS since that big lottery draw in July. I actually need to go cash in my ticket. I didn't win much. I rarely play the lottery, but as I walked into the store, the number 14 popped into my head. It's not a number I would choose at all. So I added that number as my 6th number (that single number - can't remember what it's called). I bought a multidraw ticket (3 draws) and only used that number on one of the 3 lines. Whaddya know. Number 14 ended up being the 6th number 2 weeks in a row. Yay me! Years ago, I played the lottery in South Africa too. I remember dreaming about the lottery numbers. I couldn't remember it all, but played what I knew. I was feeling lucky. I think 4 of my numbers were drawn. So crazy! I should probably get a new ticket when I redeem this one. Man I'd love to just win the big jackpot. A girl can dream :)

It's been a crazy busy week. I spent half the day talking to my realtor on Monday. Then the shopping fiasco yesterday. I'm staying home and trying to list today. 

Have a great day peeps! Happy shopping if you're hitting up Wags. 

Meal Planning Dec 5-10

Hi everyone!

PSA - Target store gift cards are 10% off today only!!! Limit up to $500. Clip the Circle Q (you will only receive discount if you clip the Q). You can customize the gc amount if you don't want the amounts that are listed. Just scroll to the end of the value boxes and select custom. Then type in the amount you want added. Deal can be done online & in store. You can purchase both digital and physical gcs. Mix & match

Brrrr. It's so cold and we only have 2 gas fireplaces working. We're without heat again. Sigh.  I'm trying to warm up as best as I can. Most blinds closed, extra comforters on the bed. I just don't like wearing layers though. I like to be free to move easily. I can't function with cold feet though. I can't even fall asleep if my feet are cold. 

I'm trying not to cook as much. We finished most of the leftovers, but since it's only 2 of us there's always too much food to eat. I woke up extra early again, so I decided to be productive again after my shower & coffee. By the time DS got up (just before 10), I already had most of the food done. Here's what I made today:

Monday : Chicken pot pie. Pick your own veggie sides & salad

Tuesday : Artichoke pesto chicken casserole and veggies

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same at Tuesday

Friday : Italian sausage on rolls/buns, baked potatoes, baked beans and/or salad. Or I'll pull some Sams chicken from the freezer and add salad to that. 

We always have salad fixings and I cook several different veggies. This week we have grilled brussel sprouts, broccoli, baked & mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, butternut & beetroot salad. 

I had some leftover pie filling, so I made some mini chicken pies for DS's lunches. 

I also made my Korean beef & broccoli stir fry. Sometimes DS will have it in a wrap with spinach & mozzarella cheese. So good!

Breakfasts : Bran apple muffins & cranberry pancakes. 

I didn't do much shopping for this week. I stopped at Kroger (Friday) for their Mission tortilla chips that's on sale. I needed eggs too and had a 40c mailer Q. Well, the 18ct eggs were $4.87!!! WTH?! I'm so used to buying the Kroger 18ct sale eggs (approx $1.49 - I can't remember the new sale price), so this was a huge shock to me. At Sams I saw 2 doz eggs for $6. Okay, not too bad but I figured Aldi would have a lower price and I needed to pick up bread there since Sams hasn't had my Milton bread for over 2 months now. Well a dozen eggs was $3.67 at Aldi!!!!!! No friggin way!! So much for Aldi's lower prices. I've noticed that their bleach (used to be $3.xx)is now over $5 too. I don't need eggs that desperately. I'll just pick some up next time I'm at Sams or Kroger. I never thought that it would be cheaper for me to buy beef than eggs. I know that there's bird flu in the UK, so that probably affects the egg prices, but we don't import eggs from the UK (at least not as far as I know).

My grocery spending for the first week of December came to around $100 overall. Not too bad, since everything is expensive these days. After seeing our carry out bill for last month, I decided that enough was enough. DS is just gonna have to get used to eating homemade food on Fridays.  Besides, my food tastes a lot better and is much more healthier. I'll splurge on him every other week, but our carry out bill was almost as much as our grocery budget for last month. Crazy! So I pulled fajita chicken from the freezer on Friday, cooked beans in the instant pot and made nachos with the tortilla chips I bought. I forgot to buy cilantro to make pico :( I added a salad to that and it was good! Easy peasy & our bodies didn't get any junk.

I also stopped at Wags for some Softsoap b/w that was on sale. 

I've been working on ordering photo books, so I can clear all the pics from my electronics. 

As mentioned before, I only bought bras and an electric razor at Kohls BF sale. I paid $173.54  for 8 bras and the razor. I earned $45 KC and $25 Y2Y rewards and submitted a $15 rebate for the razor. I bought DS 2 pairs of athletic shoes and some household items earlier last month, so my Y2Y had a good reward. Then I used the $70 to buy items to resell. This will recoup all my OOP cost. Yay!

I bought 3 more bras at Macy's when I ordered an item for DS's Christmas project and paid with a gc. I had some money left over, so I figured I might as well buy the bras, since the sale price doesn't happen often. I will say though that the quality is not what it used to be. You will notice quality issues with most things, since the world has been such a mess for the past few years. We are paying far high prices for inferior products these days. 

I also saw that Kohls had my favorite running shoes in wide sizes only on BF sale. This was very strange to me. I decided to check Meijer's BOGOF BF sale for the shoes and noticed the same thing. Only wide sizes available in that brand. Then it hit me. Remember that huge backlogs we had at the ports last year? I'm guessing that this is old inventory that they are now trying to move/get rid of (Earlier this year I read that some stores were having big sales on Halloween items and I thought it strange that they were selling halloween items that time of year). So why not let consumers think that they're getting a good deal. Sneaky, sneaky. Lucky for me, I understand a bit about manufacturing & retail. This is why I stock up during a good sale & don't fall for those phantom sales.

I did my annual makeup splurge at Macy's. I normally use drugstore makeup, but will buy the nicer brands once a year. Why? Because it comes with free bonus gifts (usually a gift bag filled with travel size makeup - sometimes full size makeup). Then there's the 15% cash back. I earned $10 Macy's rewards after purchasing the bras & DS's item. The reward was only good for a limited time. My favorite makeup brand then had Free gift with $37 purchase and they had huge discounts on that brand. No problemo. I added a bunch of stuff to my cart, used the $10 reward and paid $30.28 (incl tax) for the items. Then I earned $5.70 cash back through Rakuten. I took out all the items that I'll use and listed the rest. I will make back more than $30 and have a bunch of new makeup items to use. Win-win!

I've decided to sell all the birthday freebies I got. Okay, I'm keeping the WHBM shoes...lol. I bought another pair of shoes, because it was really hard to spend my birthday reward. This has never happened before. Normally I can walk away with at least 3 items for that $25. Not this time. I didn't need or want another pair of shorts, so I opted for some sale shoes. It's genuine leather anyway, so I'm a happy camper. 

To the new readers or those who haven't been following my blog for a long time. Please understand that I'm not a cheapskate nor am I broke. I enjoy playing the retail game. It's fun beating the stores at their own game. Everything is crazy expensive these days, especially groceries. By saving in certain areas, we are helping to offset the high cost of inflation. Everybody needs to eat, so there's no getting around high food costs (actually there is a way. Save in other areas, but you get the idea. We can't keep up with the rising food costs). In most cases you will find that people who are frugal are financially independent. They know that by being frugal, they are keeping more money in their own pockets and increasing their net worth this way. I know that there's a misconception about frugalists. I try to save on whatever I can, but also splurge on things that make me happy without paying the high price tag. Sure, it takes a bit of work but my son & I can still enjoy nice things without breaking the bank. 

My coffee machine carafe broke. I have the worst luck with these carafes. I don't even know how they break. I will just notice a crack when I clean them. I do know that I knocked it against the kitchen sink once before and broke it in the process. The first time this happened, I looked for a replacement online. Found one at Kohls and have kept a spare in the pantry ever since. So I went to the basement, got my new carafe & voila! Fresh coffee again. Now I have to wait until Kohls sends me a 40% off Q again so I can buy a new replacement carafe. See how my crazy shopping eventually pays off?...lol

I'm practically done with Christmas shopping. We normally spend a lot of money on DS for Christmas. We only have one child so we go all out. However, he doesn't care for everything that we buy. He mainly wants electronics, so that's what I got him. My latest Rakuten check paid for 2 of his gifts. I still need one more thing, but I have gcs for those (Ibotta, Target circle bonus, IGC). I'm just waiting on Target to do annual sale on that item. So this year, I spent 60% of what I normally do & that includes a new laptop for him. Go me! :)

Some of the items I purchased for him are collectibles. I've known for years that some of the stuff I purchase will eventually be good resellers for him. I've told him before that he's sitting on a gold mine...lol. So when I saw the latest items, I bought 2 of each. Boy am I glad I did, because the items were sold out 2 days later. About 2 years ago, I started a storage tote with the extra collectibles for him. This is not like the beanie baby craze. This is something that will never go out of style. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about. So I've been filling the tote with the extras that I buy. The used ones are already worth good money for him. However, I know that brand new in packaging items sell for so much more. Just call it an investment for DS :)  Buy low, sell high. Especially, since the ones I got are limited edition items. I already saw that someone had one of those items I bought, listed for $1500.00!!! Yes, that's One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars. I paid $13 for the item, but it's been discontinued, so rare now. 

Some free friendly advice. If you purchase Apple items, always save the boxes. Do not throw them away. People will actually pay good money for the Apple boxes, because it increases the value of their used items. I still have the boxes of our Ipads. Gosh, I just realised that I bought them in 2013. I can't believe we've had it that long. My screen is cracked, cause I never bought a case for it (I don't know why...lol), but DS's one is still in perfect condition. 

I paid my CC early. My payment is only due in January, but I just wanted to get that done since I'm ready to be back in savings mode and I'm practically done with shopping. I've already started my $1 & $5 bills savings for next year. It's never too early to start saving for next Christmas.

I'm saving some of my discounted Target gcs for next Christmas too. They usually have good sales on all kinds of things, so the gcs will come in handy if I need anything. 

Now I'm ready for a nap. I feel like I've put in an 8 hour workday already...lol

Have a great week peeps! I'll try to write another post later this week.