More Than a Little

If you’re not one of those who follow drugstore sales or have a stock of good coupons, this is a good week to stop in at Rite Aid. There’s a larger list of free after rebate items, and you can make a good profit by going. Here’s how:

First, go print at least two copies of this coupon. It’s a $5 off $25 coupon that expires March 13. (Bless the NBA!) Get coupon.

You will also want to go print a $3 coupon for Novitra, valid only at Rite Aid. (Novitra coupon.)

Here’s your shopping list.

Soothe Eye Drops, 15 ml, $7.49
Ocean Complete Nasal Rinse, 6 oz.+, $8.99
Sinus Buster Sinus and Headache Formula or Allergy Formula, 20 ml, $8.99
SnoreStop FastTabs 60 ct, or NasoSpray 40 ct. sprays, $8.99
SnoreStop Extinguisher, 0.4 oz., $12.99 0.4 oz
Novitra Cold Sore Cream, 0.25 oz, $7.99

The best way to do this is to split your items up into two transactions, like this. Hand over your $5/$25 first.

Transaction 1

Soothe Eye Drops, 15 ml, $7.49 ($3 coupon available in recent inserts, if you have it)
Ocean Complete Nasal Rinse, 6 oz.+, $8.99
Sinus Buster Sinus and Headache Formula or Allergy Formula, 20 ml, $8.99

Total:  $25.47 – $5/$25 coupon = $19.47, or $16.47 if you have the Soothe coupon.

Transaction 2

SnoreStop FastTabs 60 ct, or NasoSpray 40 ct. sprays, $8.99
SnoreStop Extinguisher, 0.4 oz., $12.99 0.4 oz
Novitra Cold Sore Cream, 0.25 oz, $7.99 (use $3 RA coupon)

Total: $29.97 – $5/$25 coupon – $3 Novitra coupon  =  $21.97 out of pocket

When all is said and done, you should have spent  $41.44, or $38.44 out of pocket.  When you submit your receipts online for the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate program, you will receive a check for $55.4. That’s a profit of $14 (or $17)!!

If you don’t want this stuff, try donating to a shelter or to friends/family!

I am also planning on buying some CD-Rs.  At $11.49 – $6 SCR, that’s $5.49, or free after my above profit is taken into account. A pretty good price for something we need anyway!

Our house is in a state of disheaval because we painted this weekend.  Because of that, and because we shifted some furniture around, some of Evelyn’s larger toys were moved.  Her kitchen is across the dining room from where it was and situated so that she can walk all the way around it.  (We used to have to get after her for trying to go behind it, in her younger, clumsier days…ahh, how times change.)

Anyway, because it’s suddenly in a new location (less than ten feet away), she is suddenly playing with it much more than she did before.  It’s like we gave her a brand new toy by drawing her attention to an old one.  It may not work with a kid that’s much older than she is, but it’s working for Evelyn at 22 months. Give it a try, you might get five more minutes of peace and quiet out of  it.

In the same way, we hide half of her toys in a tub in her closet, switching them out every now and then when she seems bored.  This is good for her because she gets “new” stuff occasionally and then will play quietly with it all for a while, but also for me because I get a break from some of her more obnoxious toys.  :)

Remember that Quizno’s sub I had scheduled for last week?  Turns out–it’s a lot easier to eat at Quizno’s if they are still in business.  We headed out the other night intending to use our coupons for free subs but there was a sign on the door saying they were under new management and would reopen in January of 2009.  (Hello, March speaking!) Anyway–oh well. You win some, you lose some!

Meal Plan
Monday: lasagna
Tuesday: cheeseburgers, vegetables of some sort
Wednesday: salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, vegetables (assuming my parents will be here)
Thursday: man-pleasing casserole
Friday: Mexican rice or homemade pizza

My husband took the baby shopping this afternoon to get her out of the house. We’re in the middle of a painting project here, and the living room was off limits to little girls post nap.  While they were gone, I sat down and finally got our taxes finished and filed.  Yay refund!

I have tried to convince M in the past that we should pay the minimum amount of tax possible through the year, save the money ourselves and then pay Uncle Sam at tax time instead of getting a large refund.  I mean, why give the government an interest-free loan?  He hates the idea of worrying about that huge expense every year, though, so we don’t do that. I must admit, though, that having a sizable refund feels pretty nice now. :) I’ll just try not to think about the interest we could have been earning all year long.  The pain will be less that way.

Things My Husband Has Suggested Spending our Tax Refund On: a woodburning stove, a beat-up old truck, hardwood floors, bathroom remodel, sunroom renovations, new living room furniture, new dining room furniture, new kitchen stove… and I am sure there’s more I’m not thinking of.

What I Want To Spend our Tax Refund On: Nothing. Money in the bank = I am a stay at home mom a little bit longer.

I took an accidental break from blogging this week.  My daughter has been in a horrible mood and therefore, so has her mother.  :)  Also, no napping and therefore not a whole lot of time.  We went to both CVS and Rite Aid yesterday afternoon and I left both places without buying a thing.  She was That Kid at Rite Aid.  You know, the one who is screaming for absolutely no reason, and throwing things to the floor repeatedly.  So, I left, even though I’m going to have to go back before the week is over to finish up one of my rebates.  She’s normally really good when we go shopping so I have little experience with Rotten Baby.  I know she’s not feeling very good. I just wish I could figure out exactly what was wrong with her.

We did eat at Arby’s for lunch yesterday to take advantage of the free roastburgers.  They were decent but bland. I wouldn’t pay for another one, anyway.  After ordering fries and drinks, we spent almost seven dollars on our free lunch, but that’s okay because if we hadn’t gone there, we’d have eaten at the Chinese place for sixteen. It still worked out in the end.

A few good deals to close out this post, just so I feel better about taking two days off:

Want a free tank top from Aeropostale? Take in your April copy of Seventeen magazine, or a printout of the Seventeen website, beginning March 3.  It’s been a few years since I’ve been a Seventeen subscriber, so I’m glad that a  printout works. :) Official rules. If I get a chance, I’ll stop by and pick one up. If nothing else, my niece, who is turning fourteen this month, adores Aeropostale and I’m sure she would like it.

Also, go get a pair of free Essential cotton panties from Express with coupon. This is also available online, but shipping on these free panties would be eight dollars. Regular retail of said undergarments is $7.50. Not a bargain there, unless you’re buying something else online anyway.  I probably won’t bother with this one because there isn’t one in this town and it’s not worth the 45 minute drive.

I guess it’s just as well that I have to go back to Rite Aid, because now I can use the $5 off $20 purchase coupon, located here. It’s valid today (2/27) and Saturday (2/28) only.

With the economy in the shape it’s in, corporate America must think we’re all very hungry.

Free sub from Quizno’s

Free roast burger from Arby’s (also: $.99 roast beef sandwiches on Thursday, no coupon required.)

Free frozen dinner from Kashi (coupon)

…and if I’d posted this early enough, I could have also mentioned free pancakes at IHOP, but sadly, that was this morning.

On a completely unrelated note, my daughter just went to town with my lip gloss while I was writing this, and smeared it proudly all over her face.  I suffer for my blog.. but not enough to let her dump all the paperclips onto the floor, which means I have to go now.

This may be obvious to everyone else, but I had never seen it until now.  I lead a sheltered life.  To eat a kiwi, slice it in half and use a spoon to scoop up the flesh.  Brilliant!  No mess, no time spent peeling–easy and convenient!  And here I have always peeled those slipper little critters and sliced them up–or rather, I never bought them because they are such a pain.  My baby loves them, though.

And did you know that that kiwis are full of vitamins and antioxidants and have lots of proven health benefits, especially for asthmatic children? Cool. :)

This is delicious and healthy. What more can you ask for?

1 pound ziti (or penne or even rotini)
zucchini
yellow squash, or eggplant, or both
1 red onion
1 can of crushed tomatoes
balsamic vinegar
Basil
Italian herb seasoning
Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Dice vegetables into smallish chunks. You don’t want them too big or they will take forever to cook. Toss with a liberal splash of olive oil and scatter on a baking pan–single layer please! Roast for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. They’re done when tender and delicious.
3. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
4. If you’re super motivated, take six or eight roma tomatoes and quarter them. Place in a baking tray and sprinkle with salt. Roast for twenty minutes and then puree.
5. Otherwise, throw the crushed tomatoes into a small pot. Simmer with a hearty splash of balsamic vinegar (to taste) and some Italian herb seasoning and a healthy amount of basil. Add salt and pepper, too.
6. When everything is done, combine. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

I sort of took a vacation last week. I didn’t feel much like doing anything, frugal or otherwise. I did a little shopping but my heart wasn’t in it. I also didn’t much feel like cooking, so we ate a little less well than usual.  So, as always, some of my meals are getting “recycled” until I actually get around to making them.

Monday Meal Plan
Monday: asparagus, fried potatoes and bearnaise sauce. yum! turns out that asparagus doesn’t like sitting in the crisper for a week and a half (darned lazy streak!) but it tasted fine anyway
Tuesday: ziti with roasted vegetables — this is (inexplicably) probably Evelyn’s favorite food.
Wednesday: macaroni and cheese, veggies
Thursday: Quizno’s – free sub!
Friday: fettucini alfredo with broccoli

Want to get a free sub from Quizno’s, too? Get your own here while supplies last. My husband and I both signed up, so it should be a cheap dinner. The coupon says that a photo ID is required, so you probably want to use your real name! I have only been there once before and honestly, neither of us were terribly impressed, but I’m willing to give them another try for the price. I still kind of hate them because of the creepy commercials they used to air, the ones with the singing rodent.

I decided to go out to Kroger and Rite Aid and to get a few Sunday papers this afternoon, by myself. I think it’s so much fun to get out by myself good for M and Evelyn to have quality time together sometimes, and M does not care for drugstore shopping in the least. So, I went out, but the gas station was out of papers so I decided to go to Kroger first (planning on using coupons from the paper at Rite Aid.) I ended up spending the entire time I was gone at Kroger because I stood in line for so long I was beginning to worry that my food would be bad by the time I got it to the car. Seriously, upwards of half an hour. I had my first ever raincheck and it was a giant pain. It was from the mega sale, buy 10 items and get $5 off your bill or 20 items and get $10 off–I bought 20.

The rain check was written out for Green Giant steamers, $1.59, but with a big “LOOK–>”" pointing to the back to instruct the cashier to take off $5 or $10 if I purchased 10 or 20 items. After trying to figure out how to process the thing to begin with, they insisted that the mega promotional pricing was part of the $1.59 and therefore, wouldn’t take the extra money off. I argued the matter, the lead cashier (who has been subjected to my annoying behavior in the past, sadly–it’s weird, but I refuse to give them more money than I owe them) came over, and finally offered to call over a manager. We took everything to the customer service desk and waited, and waited, and waited. I would have been really aggravated if Evie had been with me because she’d have been fussing loudly at sitting there doing nothing for half an hour, but since she was at home with Daddy, it wasn’t too terrible (except I was beginning to feel guilty for being gone longer than I had meant to.)  The manager finally arrived, looked at the issue, and then agreed with me. I was so happy and relieved! Not least of all, I did not look like an idiot who just didn’t understand sales in front of the guy I had been arguing with all that time.  Soo… I got twenty bags of frozen vegetables for $.09 each plus $3 (the cost of the coupons I ordered for said promotion.)  That works out to $.24 a bag.

The husband, who is in charge of stocking the basement freezer, has mandated that there will be no more vegetables purchased until we have eaten the ones we have.  I may have bought twenty more bags a couple of months ago (though many of them are gone already.)

It was sort of funny, too, because as he was scanning my coupons, he stopped to tell me that my free box of macaroni and cheese (sent to me by Kraft for getting a faulty box) was only valid up to $1.20 and so it would cost me nine cents.  I told him that it was $1.19 on the shelf…. but added that I wouldn’t quibble about nine cents at this point.  I mean, we’d already been standing there for so ages over the raincheck issue.   He just looked confused and said he’d just give it to me anyway, so the receipt has a random .09 deduction on the bottom. Just out of curiousity, I checked the price of the mac and cheese when I got home.  It was listed at $1.29, with the next line showing my card discount of .10.  Poor guy! I had him so flustered that he forgot how to read receipts! :)  And hey, yay for ten cents of overage!  That’s half a banana right there… ha. ;)

By the time I got out of there, I had lost my desire to go to Rite Aid and the vegetables really needed to be in the freezer by that point.  I spent $15.55 and saved $32.52 for a total of 67%.. according to the receipt.  My math makes it 61% but I like theirs better so I’ll go with it.  ;)