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!