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!