Bits & Bobs

I hope that everyone's doing well. Ms Goose has been sick - again! About 2 weeks ago, DS had a runny nose for days and I remember thanking my lucky stars that I didn't get sick (I normally do when he has a runny nose) and thinking about how great I felt. Well, on Wednesday afternoon I started the sneezing & runny nose mess. I thought it was allergies, because I had all the allergy symptoms. I took a Walact that night & slept like a baby. As soon as DS left for school the next day (last day before break), I went back to bed & slept the day away. My day since Friday has been, get up, shower & breakfast for both of us, back to bed. Set alarm for lunch. Lunch break for DS (I didn't have any appetite), back to bed. Set alarm for dinner, back to bed, set alarm for DS's bedtime routine, shower, Walact, back to bed. I thought I had the flu, but I don't sleep this much with flu. Does Covid still exist, because this seems like a milder version of covid (I've had it 3 times before, so I know the symptoms). My sneezing/runny nose dried up in 2 days, but my body's not up to performing. And silly me kept putting on clean clothes after my morning shower. I finally got smart & skipped the clothes altogether and threw on a clean pair of pjs. I sleep in pjs anyway, so why did I get dressed, then undressed just go get into pjs again? ..smh

Yesterday I felt a little better and decided to do a bit of cleaning after breakfast. I also stripped the beds and washed all the bedding. I always do this as soon as I start feeling better. I wash everything to get rid of the germs. I just feel better sleeping on clean linens. Okay, I'm a laundry nut 😂, but it works for me...lol I love doing laundry, just don't ask me to iron. I knew that I was overdoing things, so I hit the bed after lunch again and slept 4 hours. My body's stiff from all the inactivity. I can't wait to get in a good workout again. 

I haven't done much cooking today. I just made a pot of taco meat, fresh pico and a batch of frikkadel. We're just eating whatever's available & from the freezer this week and I'll make some sides. DS wanted to make muffins, but I was out of eggs and blueberries (he can make muffins tomorrow). I feel a lot better today and decided to run a few errands, stop for an early dinner (cause DS wanted dinner out), but I was already worn out before we left. I didn't have the energy for dinner out and promised  to take him out sometime during the week. I'm just gonna make quesadillas with some of the taco meat, add a salad and DS can have some leftover RR fries with that and throw in some Haagen Dasz if he wants. Easy peasy & no $$$ spent. Besides, I'm not even hungry. I'm gonna do dinner, pack mail & then catch more  💤😴

I feel bad for DS being stuck at home while I'm sick, so I have to make it up to him this week. We'll just go out every day and get ourselves some treats too. I have several gcs, so he can just take his pick every day. He loves getting treats and I'm looking forward to some ooey gooey chocolatey donuts. Not that I need any...lol I can already see myself gaining those pounds I lost thus far. 

What else has been happening at Casa Goose

• Firstly, I need to clarify for some people. I've been divorced for almost a year. I'm just dealing with the ex fulfilling the settlement agreement. I can still buy a house, without having the last part completed, but I'm the kind of person who likes to have all my ducks in a row. I don't like loose ends. 
  
  
• I let $12 Wags RRs expire, because I was too sick to go to the store. 
  
  
• I received a $5 Best Buy reward and might use it to purchase DS a Christmas gift that's on clearance.
  
  
• I was able to redeem $20 PG gcs over the last few weeks. They haven't had gcs available for about a year now, so I was happy to get an email that they've restocked. I had tons of points, so I got $10 Target, $5 DD, $5 Starbucks. I've almost maxed out my DD card (they limit you to $125  per card), so I have a plan B in mind. Now I have to wait for PG to reset so I can order more gcs.
  
  
• I used all those small Dawn bottles to fill a 90 oz & 24 oz bottles. Then I filled the small bottles (they had a small amount left over in each bottle) with water and have been using that. It just goes to show that you don't actually need to use the product in it's purest form. A tablespoon combined with 7 oz water still works just as well. 
  
  
• I bought some gcs at RA last week that earned me $30 BC. Yay for free money. I have another deal planned for next month. Stay tuned cause it's a big MM.
  
  
• Ordered discounted RR gcs from Sams. I do the same with Krispy Kreme gcs. Sams has the best price on them. Then I wait until KK has the BOGOF dozen deals and use my gcs to pay for it. 
  
  
• I considered buying a really cool pair of athletic shoes for myself. I was going to sell my old pair, use the money to buy a discounted gc, then buy the new pair for 'free'. I mean, I had a whole great plan worked out to get this shoes for free. Then I thought 'this isn't a need'. So I decided to not buy anything. I can still sell the old pair or I can keep it since it's in great condition and it's hard to find good quality these days. 
  
  
• I'm so frustrated. Months ago, I picked out some nautical lamps to go with DS's new bedding. I didn't buy the lamps, because I was waiting until we move. Well, the past 2 days I had this feeling that I need to just order the lamps. So I checked the site this morning & the lamps are OOS! Grrr! I signed up for new stock notification, because I love those lamps. They are a perfect fit for his room. The same thing happened with the new desk I wanted. I had my eye on it for a long time and then it sold out. Bloody hell!!!!! I'm very picky, so it's hard for me to have to go and look for something that suits my needs again. Thankfully, the desk is back in stock (I was afraid it was gone for good). Now I just need to move soon, so I can get everything I want. I will buy those lamps as soon as they come back in stock. One site said it should be back next month, so I'm keeping fingers crossed. Now you know why I already bought that vanity.
  
  
• Wags sucked me in again last week with their boosters & Ibotta offers. So here's what I did:

Trans 1

2 x Dawn $2.48

3 x O Spice b/w 21.00

Less OS DQ (3.00)

Less OS DQ (2.00)

Tax 1.41

OOP $19.89

Earned $6 RR ($5 OS, $1 Dawn) + $7 WC (WYS $22) + $7.50 Ibotta (OS)

Total earned $20.50, so a small MM

Trans 2

2 x Dawn $2.48

Less WC (2.00)

Tax 0.15

OOP $0.63

Eaned $1 RR

Trans 3

4 x O Spice spray $28.00

2 x Dawn 2.48

Less OS Q (6.00)

Less OS DQ (2.00)

Less RR (4.00)

Tax 1.83

OOP $20.31

Earned $18 WC ($8 WYS $25 Paper Q, $10 WYS $25 DQ) + $5 (OS - my RR didn't print, so manager added WC) + $1 RR (Dawn)

Total earned $24.00

Ugh, I scanned my receipt to Ibotta and it rejected the Old Spice spray. I don't know why, because it's deodorant spray. I actually tried to scan the barcodes in store before checking out, but Wags wifi didn't work. That would've given me another $10 back. I find that Ibotta doesn't work at Kroger, Wags and sometimes Walmart. Their wifi's crap!...lol

Well, it was still a MM trip, so I can't really be upset. I'm just upset that the store had so little inventory on the first day of the sale. You can't find the Captain b/w at all locations and this store only had one bottle. In fact, their site says that the Captain isn't sold in store. Scratching my head at that one. Wags also doesn't carry any of the new scents, because I would've settled for the Harbor one. Oh well, DS is just gonna have to enjoy the Deep Cleanse. It's not too bad. I actually had it confused with Deep Sea. I didn't know there were 2 different ones.  I love how the Deep Cleanse bottles say "Bigger is better". I'm like "Yeah pal. You're not nearly as big as the Captain!" 🤣🤣🤣 (notice the size difference?). 

My one account has a 20/$40 booster this week, so I need to do a small transaction first to see if it will trigger any paper boosters to add to the 20/40. Then I need to make a game plan. I already have half a plan. Okay, I have a  plan to get more Old Spice for free (not that we need any more).Wags making me broke again...lol 

Not much else happening here. I'm still decluttering and downsizing Ebay inventory. If it wasn't for Ebay, my packing would've been done for now. Seriously, I'm over all this stuff. I like to have my life streamlined. I'm still deciding about what to do about Ebay. Decisions, decisions. 

Have a great week peeps!

This & that

Aloha everyone!

I hope you're all doing well. I'm still not sleeping well. I've been so worried about someone who's very near & dear to me, that I'm up half the night then oversleep on weekends. 

I don't have much of a menu plan this week. I made grilled chicken & Italian sausage. Added salads to that. I also made 2 veggie pizzas. Not my best work, because the ex wanted to talk about legal stuff while I'm in the middle of cooking (I'm a multitasker. I normally have 2 or 3 different meals going at the same time, so I'm in the zone), so I ended up burning the pizza and forgot to add more artichokes to the 2nd one. Note to self - add sundried tomatoes once the pizza comes out the oven. I did replace those burnt pieces, but now know better for next time. The muffins turned out perfectly, because DS made them. I didn't want to bake muffins, because we still have some in the freezer. However, DS loves baking, so I let him bake away. 

Well I have some good news!

• I'm only awaiting one more document from the ex, then I can close the case. Hallelujah! I feel like I'm finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Now to just find a house.
  
  
• I lost 3 lbs last week, then ate a bunch of cookies on Sunday and wondered why I was wide awake for an hour when I tried to take a nap🤦
  
  
• For years I've been telling DS that he's sitting on a gold mine. Well, I didn't know just how much all his stuff is worth that we bought over the years (collectors items). As I was packing, I did some research and almost fell off my chair when I saw how much some individual items were worth. Holy cow! Holy smokes! Holy cannoli! 
  
  I researched one empty box we have and saw that it was selling for $100!! What?!!!! Who pays $100 for an empty box?! Thank goodness I saved ours...lol. I'm not sure if I should sell some of the items after we move or just keep them. These things will continue to increase in value as they age. The best part is that I've always purchased the items on sale. GC, catalina and store sales and paid for most of it with my earned Swagbucks & Mypoints gcs. DS also used to cash in pop cans to help offset the cost. All our hard work has paid off in spades. I haven't even checked half of it yet. I've catalogued some items so that we don't have to do research again in future. 
  
  
• I wasn't planning on going to Sams this week, but we ran out of salad mix & spinach. So off to Sams I went yesterday and as I passed the meat fridges, I saw a sign for $3 off per package on my non-GMO chicken breasts. No limit. No friggin way!! You know I couldn't resist that offer. I bought 3 package for a total of 13 lbs. I thought 'girl, you need to eat some of that ice cream to make room in the freezer for the chicken'...lol. So that's what I did & I lost half a pound overnight. I should probably go on a pizza & ice cream diet (that's what I ate yesterday), cause it makes me lose weight. I wanted to cry about not having a house and spare freezer yet. I would've stocked up, because this chicken costs more than regular chicken. 
  
  But that wasn't all. When I checked out, it not only deducted $9, but also an extra $5 instant discount. This is the 2nd time I got the discount and I have no clue what it's for (I thought it was a a Sams survey I did a few weeks ago and complained about DS's drinking yogurt my store no longer carries. The next time I shopped, they were stocked on the yogurt. Yay! No more driving to another location that's much further away). They wouldn't give me a survey credit twice. I also had a $20 Ibotta gc from all that Wags deals I did (see below), so I saved $34 on my shopping trip. What a blessing that trip turned out to be. 
  
  When I got home, I marinated one package with BBQ sauce. I also washed sliced/cubed and divided the rest of the chicken, then froze it. I baked the BBQ chicken before DS left this morning. My baked chicken turns out much more moist than grilled chicken.

• Received my $15 PG rebate reward

• I was going to buy DS new shorts, cause the brand he wears always seem to run small. Then I remembered that I bought 2 shorts at the 50% off Kohls clearance sale. A few days later, I found a sale on his favorite shorts and 10% Rakuten, so I ordered new ones so he has enough. 

Well, I couldn't resist. I went to Wags earlier last week (for a non sale item) and found a $8/25 CAT on the ground next to the entrance. There were actually 2, but one was so dirty that I didn't want to bother with it. I didn't find the item I originally wanted to purchase, but that CAT is as good as me picking up $8 cash so the trip wasn't wasted.

So I went home, checked my DQs and made a plan, because I knew that I had a $10/25 DQ that I could combine with the $8/25. Here's what I did

Trans 1

3 x Old Spice deodorant $19.50

1 x Skintimate razors 6.99

Less OS DQ (5.00)

Less Skintimate DQ (4.00)

Tax 1.59

OOP $19.08

Earned $18 WC ($10 WYS $25, $8 WYS $25) + $5 RR (OS) + $6 Ibotta (OS)

Total earned $29. So a $10 MM Deal! Whoo hoo!

My OS DQ didn't deduct, so I showed the cashier my Q on my phone and the manager came and manually entered a $5 Q for me. So the DQ was still available for another use. So in typical Ms Goose fashion, I made a further plan because I forgot to buy the Dawn that was giving RRs too.

Trans 2

3 x O Spice deodorant $19.50

2 x Dawn (small bottle) 2.48

Tax 1.32

Less WC (20.00)

OOP $3.30

Earned $6 RR ($5 OS, $1 Dawn)  + $6 Ibotta (OS) + $5 WC (OS Q that didn't deduct)

Total earned : $17

I think I figured out why the OS DQ didn't deduct both times. At the first store, they only had 2 Captain deodorants, so I had to grab a different scent. I thought I purchased 3 of the same the 2nd time around. I grabbed it from the same shelf spot, but it turned out to be 2 different fragrances - Again. Ugh. So Live Chat it was for me to add another $5. Well, this actually worked out better for me, because I was able to use $20 WC. Had the Q deducted, I would only have been able to use $10 WC and my OOP would've been higher. So it was actually a blessing in disguise.

Trans 3

2 x Dawn $2.48

Less WC (2.00)

Tax 0.15

OOP $0.63

Earned $1 RR

I was a bit hesitant to buy the Dawn, because I knew it was supposed to be $2.48 for 2 (as reported), but the shelf tag showed it as $1.49 each. Good thing I decided to try my luck, because this store didn't have the sale tags on the shelf. 

Trans 4 (DS account)

3 x O Spice deodorant $19.50

1 x Skintimate razors 6.99

2 x Dawn 2.48

Less OS DQ (5.00)

Less Skintimate DQ (4.00)

Tax 1.74

OOP $21.71

Earned $7 WC (WYS $22 DQ) + $6 WC ($5 OS, $1 Dawn - see below) + $6 Ibotta

Total earned : $19

What a cluster. No RRs printed. This was at my local store with my old cashier who has worked there about 15 years. She wasn't at the main register. So I asked her to call a manager, because CS (Live chat) can't help you with RRs. You have to submit all kinds of details to the Catalina company instead. Too much work. So a young man comes and I told him to go to the main register, since a long line had formed behind me. That way the cashier could check out the other customers. I explained to him what happened. Showed him the deal (weekly ad) on my phone (why don't Wags employees know what their own weekly deals are? ugh)  and he eventually added $6 to my account. Then I had him ring up the other 2 Dawn and still no RRs at this register either. I told him to check their CAT machines, cause nothing works. He insisted that they do work. Me rolling my eyes inwardly in exasperation and telling him that if they worked, the RRs would've printed.  I was so annoyed at this mess that I didn't even bother to stop at other Wags stores for more Dawn. It looks like the Dawn is a monthly deal, so I might pick up some more this week or next.  Maybe. 

Trans 5

2 x Dawn $2.48

Less WC (2.00)

Tax 0.15

OOP $0.63

Earned $1 WC

I wouldn't normally buy the small bottles of Dawn, but I have tons of WC to burn and Sams no longer carries the regular Dawn. I don't like all the new Dawn products. Just give me the original. I'm using the Dawn for stains on clothing. 8 bottles is more than enough, because I dilute it with water and it still works great on stains (better than shout/spray & wash). DS doesn't take good care of his clothing, so the Dawn comes in real handy. 

To recap (Wags): 

Total items purchased :19

Total Qs used : $23.00

Total rewards used : $24.00

Total rewards earned: $44.00

Total OOP : $45.35

Total cash back earned : $38.00 ($18 Ibotta + $15 PG  rebate + $5 PG gc)

So yeah, a MM deal if you figure out amounts/rewards spent vs earned $69.35 spent (OOP + rewards) less $82 earned (cash back + rewards) = $12.65 MM. Wags is definitely worth the hassle. 

Now y'all know that there's method to my madness right? No way do I need any more OS or razors. Well, my next stop was Target. I'm running low on dryer sheets and Target has the Buy 3 PG get $10 GC. So I went ahead and used those gcs I earned for purchasing all that Tide last time. Then I submitted for another $15 PG rebate. I could've just used the OS & Dawn receipts, but I want to be sure I'm way over $50 (after Qs) so P&G doesn't end up sending me a $5 gc instead. Besides, the Tide/Bounce was free. Here's what I did:

1 x Tide $12.99

1 x Downy 10.99

1 x Bounce 9.99

Less Tide DQ (3.00)

Less Downy DQ (3.00)

Less Bounce DQ (3.00)

Tax 1.50 (looks like Target charges tax after DQs. Yay!)

OOP $26.47 Paid with gc

Earned $10 gc

I bought some stir fry sauce with the rest of the gc balance. I bought one of each PG item, because they all had $3 DQs. So I paid $90 for that $100 Target gc in December. Then bought these items and the above and still have another $10 gc to use. And that my friends, is how you keep rolling gc deals. I've also submitted all my receipts to PG which was more than enough to redeem another another $5 GC. 

That's all I can remember right now. 

Have a wonderful week peeps!

Menu Plan Monday sorta kinda

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I slept late all weekend. I woke up around 9am yesterday and it threw me off completely. I'm an early to bed, early to rise kinda person. The only time I sleep so much is when I'm sick or totally exhausted. I'm definitely not sick, but I think all those sleepless nights have finally caught up with me. I've been living on coffee & stress for too long. 

DS had a runny nose all weekend (he's much better today), so no dinner out for us. I got carry out for him & I ate some leftover roti & curry. I know he's not sick (probably allergies), because he's been nagging me about vacation for days now...lol. He doesn't know that there won't be any more vacations with the ex. I'm hoping that we can move soon, so I can hopefully figure out vacation before summer's over. We're very easy to please when it comes to vacation. Just take us to the beach 🏖 🏊🩱🍹(vacation isn't complete without a drinkie poo 😉😂). It's my happy place! 

On to the menu planning. We're eating light this week, so here goes:

Monday : Pesto chicken casserole, baked potatoes & salad

Tuesday : Grilled chicken, potato salad, baked beans salad, carrot pineapple salad and BYO (build your own) greens salad. 

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same as Tuesday

Friday : Carry out for DS and I'll eat leftovers

Breakfasts : Breakfast sausage, omelets, bagels, carrot gingerbread muffins, toast, cereal or oatmeal

Lunch : Salad with protein from the freezer

Dessert : Haagen Dasz ice cream (I bought a box at Sams. I couldn't resist😁)

There's always a variety of fresh fruit, veggies & salad fixings available

My muffins didn't turn out too well. They're a bit too dense, but fine otherwise. I was out of sync from sleeping so late. 

I bought 3 packages of Johnsonville (our preferred brand) breakfast sausage when Kroger had it on sale last week. Then cooked it with onions & peppers when I got home. I always do this, then freeze portions for easy consumption.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't care much for cooking when it's hot. I'm thinking of having a grilling menu next week. Grilled Chicken, Italian sausage and maybe beef foil pockets. Then just add salads on the side. Easy peasy. Ice cream's on sale everywhere, so we could probably have banana splits and milkshakes for dessert. 

I need to go some errands in a little while.

Have a wonderful week peeps!