I'm Afraid I've Been Neglecting My Duties Here

I've had a lot of time taken up in caring for my dad. I have to drive him everywhere and see to it that he gets to all his treatments and doctor appointments. I haven't been paying attention to my grocery budget, which, as you will see, is hurting me.

So far this year, I have spent $507.82 less $122.35 in rebates for cash outlay of $385.47. I have used $949.29 in coupons, bonus cards, and store-specific gift cards. It comes out to 65% Q use year-to-date.

I'm going to have to make a better plan to minimize my spending. At this point, I need to downgrade my monthly expense to $75.00. I really feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of working out of my stockpile. During March, I did stockpile several Hormel entrees. They were $4.99 all month and I had a Q for a free Hormel Compleat with each entree purchase. I think I bought 8, which comes to about $40 plus tax. There's also the matter of my cats. It's spring and the females are looking for a food source during gestation and birthing. I've had my 5 cats altered, but, there's a bunch of others that hang out here.

I've just got to get energized and motivated to get this job done.

I May Have Something To Be Nervous About

My favorite, double coupon, and super coupon friendly store, Bi-Lo, has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They are saying that they expect to survive and come out of bankruptcy protection. My question is this; how will this affect double coupons?

The only other store in my area (that I know of) that doubles is Publix and only up to .50. Publix is pretty and glitzy and shiny, but, I don't think I want to have to change stores.

Anyone with any information about Bi-Lo, please let all of us know.

I'm Over The Hump

Well, I've convinced myself to ignore Harris Teeter triples. There will be more. I'll go next year and then live off of that for the next year!

Have you signed up with SwagBucks? You collect points by performing searches, recycling cell phones, and inviting your friends. I've earned enough to get about $20 in Starbucks GC so far. You can sign up through my link on my blog page. It's just one more place to collect points that will earn something of value for you. I know I've gotten quite a few GC through MyPoints and several survey sites. It adds up!

Major Speed Bump!

Yikes! Harris Teeter is having triples up to .99 starting next Wednesday for 4 days. There is one 130 miles away (I know, I sound crazy to even talk about going that far to triple) and I have enough hotel points that I could redeem for a free night so that I could do a 2-day spree. This is really hard to ignore. There's nothing I really need, but, it's TRIPLES!!

Help me. Talk me down off the ledge. I need 3 reasons to ignore this sale.

Some Freebies At My Local CVS

I was in my local, tiny, old CVS a day or two ago. It's closest to my home and in addition, I have a very good relationship with the manager. I found some Stacey's pita chips 1/2 price and had a Q. Never tried them, but, for a few cents, it was probably worth it. When I went to check out, the manager was manning the cash register. I asked him to price check the pita chips to make sure I had picked up the ones that were on sale. He pointed out to me that the expiration date was 2/09. He asked if I still wanted them. When I said yes, he just put them in my bag without scanning. He then offered me a free package of Dunkin' Donuts coffee with an expiration date of 3/09. Oh, yeah, like coffee's gonna go bad!

I guess my point is, make friends with the manager and staff at your favorite store. Be considerate of others when you are making multiple transactions. Don't sign up for additional bonus cards for which you are not eligible. If you use your Qs in a legal, legitimate, and moral manner, you will be a valued customer. It is better to be remembered as, "Oh, the coupon lady!" rather than, "Oh, no that coupon woman; you take her, no, you take her."

Just a quick side note. My dad is holding his own. He has had 2 chemo treatments and is taking a pill by mouth every day. He seems to be in less pain, although the doctors have promised unlimited narcotics. There has never been any discussion about the possibility of becoming addicted. His pretty blonde hair has turned mostly white almost overnight. I will keep you posted.

I Tried A Wainchai Ferry Dinner Kit Today

As you know, these have been heavily advertised with many Qs issued when it hit the store shelves. My store had it 1/2 price a couple of weeks ago, I had a $1 Q, and there is a rebate on it, as well. I gave the spicy garlic chicken a try today. First of all, I walked away too long from the chicken and burned it into a huge black lump. Threw it out. Thought about canned chicken, salvaged the dish with a can of that. It was pretty good, although they say to add 1/3 c. water to the sauce and I thought it made it much too thin. One thing is sure; I would never pay full price for one, $4.79, when you have to add your own meat.

Guilty As Charged: Stockpiling

If you are reading this, then you are an avid couponer as am I. It should come as no surprise to you that even though I was trying hard to live off of stockpile this year, I have succombed to some stockpiling lately. My store had a great deal on Hormel entrees and I had a Q for a free Hormel Compleat. I bought 6 of each. Ouch! I also had a BOGOF Q for Lysol Neutra Air and found a bundle of 2 for the price of one. Bought 6 of those. I don't think I'll ever need air freshener again! Found one "flavor" of Olay Ribbons on clearance for $2.04, had $1/1 Qs, grabbed'em. I'm a bad, bad girl. I needed all of that like I need a hole in the head. Well, the Hormel entrees were a sensible buy and getting a free Compleat with each one was really a bonus. The other stuff, though, I should be flogged for buying them. If I weren't so short, I'd kick myself in my own a**.

I missed free burger day at Arby's yesterday. I hope many of you took advantage of it. I think it was mostly advertised on Facebook. I don't know anything about those kinds of sites. I'm an analog living in a digital world!

Remember those free tote bags several months ago from Stouffer's for contributing 20 dinner points to charity? Well, I never received mine and I shot off an email the other day. Yesterday morning, about 8:30 (I was barely out of bed!) a nice lady from Nestle called to tell me that my tote bag had been shipped and should arrive shortly. Great customer service!

I may have mentioned an incident about 2 weeks ago when the Walgreens cashier refused to scan my Reynolds Q because she said, "You're already getting a good deal." I sent an email off to customer service at corporate. I asked that I not be called, that I receive an email or snail mail to document the transaction. They did neither. I moved $7,000 in annual prescriptions from Walgreens to CVS. I sent Walgreens an email today. I told them that all I wanted was something from them that said the cashier was not doing her job correctly and would be retrained. I also told them that they lost $7,000 from me. I don't know if that makes an impression on anyone at corporate, but, it would certainly get my attention if I was in charge of things!

Oh, yeah, here's something. I was at CVS getting a prescription filled today. The pharmacist said to me that he noticed that I moved my prescriptions around a lot to get gift cards. He said that I didn't need to move them from CVS anymore, that he would honor any competitor's Q that I brought in. I guess then that means I'm getting a GC every month. Huh? Just to clarify, the $7,000 annual are paid by Medicare Part D. I have 2-3 others that are not on the formulary and I have to pay out of pocket for them. Those are the ones he was talking about. If I understand him correctly, I have just hit the jackpot!

I think I told you about the Easter ham promo at my store. Buy at least $35 7 times before Easter and get a free ham. Now, I never spend $35 at once. I have been using a lot of free Qs and GC lately, spending no more than $18 each time and getting the bonus point. I have 6 so far. I guess I'll get that free ham after all!

What great deals are you getting lately? Tell!

Scoring Gift Cards

I had an opportunity yesterday to pay for a year's worth of home newspaper delivery and receive $30 in Bi-Lo GC. I order the paper anyway, although I don't usually pay for it a year at a time. Today, I transferred a prescription to CVS for a $25 GC. I'm hoping my free 12-pack coke Qs come in the mail this week. CVS has a deal on cokes to get $3 in ECBs when you buy 4. I'd like to be able to get them free AND get the ECB. Oh, the free coke Qs are from MyCokeRewards. I cashed in some points to get them.

I've taken dinner to my parents' house a couple of times this week. I will be spending more in order to do that more often. My dad is having difficulty eating and I want him to have enough choices so that hopefully he can find something that will go down well. He began his chemo on Friday. That will go on for 8 weeks and then 5 weeks of radiation. He's doing pretty well right now.

What are the great deals going on right now? I'm afraid I've neglected looking for them due to the time I'm spending with my dad. One thing I did find for you who have access to a Bi-Lo is that for this month, they have the Hormel entrees on sale for $4.99, reg. $6.99. In their monthly saver booklet, there is a Q for a free Hormel Compleats when you buy a Hormel entree. Not a bad deal at all. Bi-Lo stores can be found in NC, SC, TN, and GA. I think that's about all of their range. I may be missing a state.

I've got to get my head back in using stockpile and quit looking for ways to spend my money! I am going to take advantage of the Hormel deal, I think, but, I'm really trying not to do much of that. You gotta help me stay on track.

I Blew Out The Budget Today

As you know, my dad has pancreatic cancer. He's lost about 10 pounds in the last week or two. The doctor today told hin to eat, eat, eat. So, I blew out the budget and bought several things for which I did not have a coupon. Horrors! I made Andra's chicken pot pie and an apple pie for my dad. There's enough of that for a couple of days and then I think I'll make him a meatloaf and all the "fixin's." I'm going to do my best to fatten him up.

I've really got to learn how to make a pie crust. The pie crusts for all that I cooked today were $9 minus maybe $3 in Qs. Still a lot of money. I went for the expensive whole baby carrots. No coupon for that. My cashier almost had a heart attack when he saw that there were 3 items in my cart with no Q! He said it might not be a heart attack, but, definitely a triple bypass.

Dad starts his treatments on Friday. I feel like the doctor is just placating him with treatments. He gave no indication that it would extend his life with any significant time. I guess I'm hoping for the best, but, preparing for the worst.

I don't usually find a lot of mail-in rebates for stuff I use; however, so far this year, I've gotten over $100 back in rebates. I'm on a roll! If you hear of any good ones, please let me know. This has been fun!

I Retired The Spaghetti Sauce

I had spaghetti one more time and then "retired" the rest of the sauce. It turns out that my animals like tomato sauce and noodles. Very strange cats.

The big meal I made Friday? Well, I have 2 of those microwavable divided dishes and I made 2 dinners out of the leftovers, so, all parsed out and ready to be nuked. I can stand to eat it again twice before I get tired of it.

My dad really liked a chicken pot pie that I made for him a couple of months ago. I will have to purchase a couple of ingredients for it, but, his time is short and certainly he is worth buying a few things at the grocery. Actually, I believe Andra from HCW gave me that recipe. It was fantastic! She's an excellent cook and I often turn to her for cooking advice. She's probably won some cooking contests but just too reticent to brag on herself!

My dad is failing quickly. I can't believe the difference in him in just 2 weeks. He seems calm about the whole process. I hope I can be as strong as he.

Do you know of any good deals you'd like to share? I'm always open to whatever you wish to contribute.