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Archive for February, 2008

Office Depot

February 27th, 2008 at 05:58 pm

I totally forgot about $5 coupon form Office Depot that was only good for three days (Feb. 24 to 26). Good thing I read one of posts in HCW, and it reminded us to use it.

I stopped by three Office Depot on the way home since I had three coupons. One near my office, one right off the free way exit, and one near my house.

1st store
A case of water (24 bottles)
$5.99 + $1.20 CRV = $7.19 - $5 coupon Final $2.19

2nd store
Two 1/2 binders (I needed them for my tax document) $4.49
Gum (filler to make it more than $5) $1.29
Tax 0.04
Total $5.82 - $5 coupon = 82 cents

3rd store
A box of envelop $2.99
Brown wrapping paper for mailing $2.99
Tax $.07
Total $6.05 - $5 coupon = $1.05

There's Rite Aid next to Office Depot, so I stopped by to get cheap Halls. Rite Aid is selling them BOGO, and I had a BOGO coupon. As expected, my cashier didn't know how to handle duplication of store BOGO and coupon BOGO, so she called her manager. The value of coupon was $2.29 which is 20 cents short from the sticker price. So, I was ready to pay the difference, but the manager said "Don't even bother." Then, gave me two bags of Halls for free. Yay!

Nice dinner last night & Cheap dinner tonight

February 26th, 2008 at 01:03 am

DH and I went to nice Korean BBQ dinner last night. Ohhh, it was soooo good! I had $20 off coupon for the restaurant, and the tab was $64, and I gave $10 tip for the waitress. After using the coupon, we paid $54. ($64 - $20 + $10 = $54.) The dinner was definitely worth the money.

Since we spent quite a bit for the dinner last night, I am making cheap dinner tonight LOL

Whole chicken $2.43 and I only used dark meat portion. So, half of $2.43 is $1.22
Green pepper 58 cents
Onion I don't know.... I bought two bags of onions for $2.99. So, it's about 20 cents or less.
Two cans of diced tomato $0.12 x 2 = 24 cents
Knorr soup mix I found this in my cover that was sitting there for a long time..... I guess it was like $1 at max. knowing my shopping habit.
Total $3.24 for a clock pot full of chicken dish (Main dish)

Side dish: Green giant veggie. 57 cents + Rice Roni (free) = 57 cents

Grand total $3.81

I know we won't finish everything, so left over will be my lunch.

Sunday morning

February 24th, 2008 at 08:43 pm

I went to Safeway this morning to get my coffee and a Sunday paper as usual.

I limit my spending at this Safeway because I don't like some of their cashiers. But this morning, I found a girl who used to work at Starbucks (This Safeway has Starbucks in its store) was at cash register. She is really nice and friendly, and I like her.

So, I decided to get 25 cans of Del Monte tomatoes that I originally planned to buy at the other store. Of course, I went straight to her line, and asked her about the change of position as she was scanning 25 cans of tomato. She told me she got a promotion and now works as a higher positioned cashier.

Good for her, and good for the store!! It makes a huge difference at retail stores if employees are customer-service oriented or not. By promoting this friendly girl to cashier position, this Safeway store gained my business.

By the way, here's the deal I did this morning.

25 cans of Del Monte Tomato products
$1 each x 25 = $25
Less $1 off when you buy 12 Del Monte products coupon x 2 = $2
$25 - $2 = $23
Then, I received $20 off coupon for next shopping trip.
So, $3 for 25 cans.

Fun deals

February 21st, 2008 at 10:26 pm

I was having too much fun doing Safeway's Savings Rally deal last week. I stocked up on Rice Roni, Pasta Roni, Fruit Snacks, Potato chips, Chex Mix, Pop Corn, Cooking Oil, Bleach, etc..... My pantry is so full and the deal doesn't end till next Tuesday!! I will get some canned tomatoes that are $1 each. I think I have a couple of $1 coupons for 10 cans of Del Monte product, so I will get 25 cans of tomatoes for $3. That will last for a while.

Paying with my FSA debit card

February 15th, 2008 at 05:17 pm

I need new contact lenses (I use disposable kind), but my prescription expired. So, I went to check my vision yesterday. The exam was $109 and my co-pay was $10. And I ordered four boxes of contact lenses, two boxes for each eye. They were $147.92 and insurance covered $67. My portion for contact lenses, $80.92. I paid $99.92 with my FSA debit card.

I really like this FSA debit card system. It is so much easier than sending paperwork to the FSA processing company and wait for a check to arrive. I set $3,000 aside this year for medical expense, so I have enough fund to cover upcoming medical expenses for my family and myself. Fortunately, we do not have any major health problems, just dental and vision related items, and regular health check-up. But as you all know, these cost can add up really quickly.

Well, speaking of dental expense, I just received an estimate from my dentist for a crown I am planning to do in March. Estimated cost is $998, and insurance will cover $438.50, so my out of pocket will be $559.50. I am glad I don't have to stress about this money as it's funded in FSA already.



Fun shopping trip

February 14th, 2008 at 09:19 pm

I had a great time shopping at Safeway today.

They're running a promo called Savings Rally and you will get $20 coupon that is good towards next purchase if you buy 25 participating items.

The best deal without coupon maybe Pasta/Rice Roni that are $1 each. Buy 25 of them ($25) and you will get $20 back, makes them 20 cents each. I had six $0.50/2 coupons, so I bought 12 of them.

I also bought 2 bags of potato chips, 2 bags of Chex Mix, 1 box of pop corn, 2 package of Tava drink, 2 bottles of Clorox bleach, 4 boxes of Betty Crocker fruits snack. After coupons, the total was approx. $24 and I had $10 off coupon I got from Sara Lee deal last week. My out of pocket for this shopping was $14 and received $20 off coupon for next shopping trip.

Safeway promotion often doesn't work as advertised, so I was really happy the deal went through as I planned!

maple syrup

February 12th, 2008 at 08:42 pm

It's lunch time, and I'm eating BBQ sandwich I made.

I bought a rack of port spare ribs that were 50% off at Safeway, and paid $6.98 for it. I also bought a bag of buns (8 ct.) that was 79 cents after promotion. I cooked the spare ribs in my clock pot with a couple of onions, Cattlemen's BBQ sauce, and some maple syrup. It was our dinner last night and we still had a lot of left over, so I brought some to work for lunch.

The maple syrup I used is a gift from someone we have never met.

In December 2006, I was checking my bank account as usual, and noticed a deposit of $1,000. I asked my husband if he knows anything about it, but he had no clue. So, we called the bank and asked for a copy of deposit slip which we had really hard time to read. The only thing we could figure out was the deposit was made somewhere in East Coast (I forgot what state it was...) by Mr. A. We have no realatives in East Coast, and had no idea who Mr. A was.

We told the bank this deposit is a mistake even though deposit slip had our account number, and asked them to reverse the transfer. But the bank (BoA, by the way) could not do anything about it. They told us to take the money out and write a check for Mr. A. Well, we don't know who he is or where he lives! Plus, why do we have to go through all the trouble??? We didn't do anything wrong.

So, my husband googled Mr. A and found his phone number!! (How did we survive before Google???) DH called the guy and asked him what this money was about. It turns out the deposit was for his son who is in service and lives in CA. His son is married to a Japanese girl whose name is very similar to mine, and she has an account with BoA.

Mr. A told us he went to the bank and asked a bank teller to help him fill out the bank deposit slip. The bank teller searched in the system and found me instead of his son's wife! Well, the bank teller wrote down our account number she got from the system, and the money was transferred to our account. Boy, it's scary or what!!??

This money was a Christmas gift for their son, and this poor old couple had no idea we received the money instead of their son. Mr. A also contacted the bank after DH called him, and the bank gave the money back to Mr. A and transferred to his daughter-in-law's account. Few weeks later, we received a bottle of maple syrup from this old couple.

Grocery spendings

February 12th, 2008 at 12:33 am

I've been spending quite a bit for grocery these days. I went to a Japanese grocery store to buy a bag of rice last week. I'm very particular about rice and always make a special trip to the store. While I was at the store, I bought some other things regular super markets don't carry. At the end, I paid $48. Ouch!

Today will be no spending day. I baked some muffins yesterday, and I brought one for my breakfast. I also bought a bunch of lunch meat and sandwich rolls at Safeway taking advantage of Sara Lee/Hillsher Farms deal. Lunch meats were free, and the bread was 72 cents for 6 ct. Not bad. I made a sandwich for my lunch using the stuff I bought. It's too bad Safeway ended the promotion one week earlier than they originally advertised.

People are talking about upcoming promotion at Safeway. I need to keep my eyes on the deals. Can't wait to get new store flyers tomorrow.

$1.11 fraud???

February 6th, 2008 at 12:16 am

I found one annoying thing when I was reviewing my online bank statement. I bought a couple of pizzas last Saturday because my DD's friends were spending a night at our house. The receipt was $15.27, but the amount charged to my ATM card was $16.38 that is $1.11 more than the value on the receipt. Unfortunately, I threw away receipt after I wrote down the value in my price book/spending record. I remember someone was talking about a similar experience in his/her blog, but it was a good $1.11 lesson for me not to throw away receipts until confirming how much was actually charged. I think the person thinks nobody will come after for only $1.11, but I will say something next time this type of thing happens to me.

Yesterday was almost no spending day. I decided to go to Rite Aid and pick up a couple of feminine products that are almost free after coupon and rebate. They were $3.50 each, and I used two $2.50 off coupons, and will get $2 from rebate. Tax was 54 cents. So, actual spending for yesterday was 54 cents.

I will not spend anything today, so it will be no spending day today.

Checking off things to do

February 3rd, 2008 at 08:58 pm

Pay January CC bill. Check!

I changed my CC from United mileage to Chase reward. $850 January ending balance paid in full, and this amount includes DD's airfare to NYC/DC this summer, $650.

Organize tax related document. Check!

I made a binder for 2007 tax and organized all the tax document I obtained so far.

Some more things to do today.
- Check tax software at Staples, and free software deal
- Gather up all the recipts for my FSA reimbursement for January
- Make a shopping list for this week

January coupon/rebate savings

February 1st, 2008 at 11:08 pm

January coupon savings total $166.76
January rebate savings total $98.90
Total $265.66

$265.66 Transferred to my EF

Previous balance $1,730.06
+ Interest $5.15
+ $265.66
New balance $2,000.87 : )