Frugal Friday 09/26/25

 

Happy Friday Everyone

It's been a rather frugal week for me. I hardly did any grocery shopping and haven't been to the drugstores in weeks. I know. Shocker! 😂

Here's my list of frugal things for the week:

• Picked up 2 free BBW b/w with rewards. 
  
  I've been diluting my BBW b/w for a few years now to stretch it. I've loved BBW for many years, but they've gotten wayyyyy too expensive to pay regular price for anything. So I dilute the b/w and it still smells great. Diluting doesn't work on all brands though. I tried it with the Old Spice and that didn't work well.
  
  
• Got a free shirt from Chicos with rewards.
  
  
• Got a free RR cheeseburger & fries with reward
  
  
• Redeemed Fetch points for a $25 gc
  
  
• Redeemed Microsoft points for a $10 gc
  
  
• We have lots of leftover food, so we're not getting any carry out this weekend. We'll just eat whatever's in the fridge to combat waste. 
  
  

As you can see, it's been a slow week for me. 

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

Frugal Friday 09/19/25

Here's some frugal things I've done lately

• Redeemed CC points for $250 gcs that were 15% off. That saved me $37.50 in points
  
  
• Used one of those gcs to purchase something for myself and earned 15% back at Rakuten. I love when free money earns me more free money 😂
  
  
• Saw a post that IGC was working again, so I redeemed for a $25 gc. The site has been down for about a year and I had points to redeem. 
  
  Redeemed for another $10 gc on my other account.
  
  
• Redeemed Swagbucks points for a $25 gc
  
  
• Purchased a gift for DS for a brand that never goes on sale, nor offers any discounts and/or coupons, at 10% off. 
  
  
• Purchased RR gcs at 20% off. I still purchase the $10 burger & fries for DS, so that $14.99 burger costs us $8 after all discounts. That's an almost 50% discount on his favorites.
  
  
• I ran out of iron pills (something I need to take daily), so I searched for the best price online. Sam's had the lowest price, but the item was only available online. So I headed to Costco and got the pills for 49c less. I bought 2 containers. This is why I have a membership for both stores. Sams has moved many items to online only and shipping starts at $8. The Costco membership more than makes up for all these shipping costs.
  
  
• I decided to stop at the produce market (it's near Costco) to get minneolas for DS. The minneolas were 99c each and I was going to pay that price, until I spotted bright orange bags in their markdown section. Whaddya know! They had bags of minneolas for $1 per bag. I bought 2 bags. This bag contained 13 minneolas and 2 lemons. That save me almost $14 per bag. I wanted lemons too, but didn't want to pay 89c each. What a blessing this turned out to be. 
  
  
• Received a $30 WHBM reward. I let my last $15 reward expire, because the quality of things are so poor these days and I didn't want to spend extra money. I'm hoping I can find something good.
  
  
• Got BF some free athletic shorts with Kohls rewards.
  
  
• Saw that Jockey had my favorite undies for $15.99 (6 pack). I only wear cotton, so I bought 8 packs. I purchased enough to qualify for free shipping. I also earned a $5 reward and used it to order another pack. 
  
  I knew that I bought quite a bit the last time (a year or 2 ago) I posted about it, but with the poor quality and tariffs, I knew that I needed to stock up again. I'm so thankful I did that, because it's now sold out.
  
  
• Discovered that Aldi offers triple the amount of green onions that the grocery stores have, for the same price. I bought a package, used what I needed, then diced and froze the rest. I've been using it in our omelets every day. 
  
  
• I have quite a few rewards from various retailers available, but only take advantage of free shipping ones. I also don't want to spend extra money (we don't need anything), so I only purchase items that I can get for free or near free.
  
  

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

Stockpiling item of the week - Detergent

Hi everyone

I had a different post planned, but wanted to share this one before the deal ends tomorrow (09/16/25)

Kroger currently has a weekly digital deal (limit 5) on Persil detergent - $8.99 with digital Q (must clip Q before going shopping).

Ibotta also has various rebates (cash back) on Persil:

$3 on 84-100 oz Persil (exludes Activewear) - limit 2

$4 on 84-100 oz Persil Activewear - limit 2

$4 on Persil Ultra packs (pods) - limit 2

Here's what I did

2 x 84 oz Persil Oxi $17.98

2 x 84 oz Persil Activewear 17.98

OOP $35.96

Earn $14 Ibotta ($6 Oxi, $8 Activewear)

Total cost after rewards = $21.96

This is the Best price I've ever seen. Sams currently has the 201.6 oz bottle on sale (monthly Q discount) for $20.98

Sams sale price per ounce = $0.10

Kroger sale price per ounce (after Ibotta ) = $0.07 (0.065)

My total savings = $11.76 compared to if I had purchased this at Sams (which was my original plan). These bottles retail for $13.99 each at the grocery stores. Yikes! I'm so used to purchasing everything on sale that I tend to get sticker shock when I see what things actually retail for. Paying $4.99-5.99 per bottle is wayyyyyy better than that $13.99 price tag.

I'm stocking up, stocking up, stocking up on all the great deals, because grocery prices continue to increase. I looked at our YTD grocery expenses and saw that we are $119 over per month (I average our monthly cost). This is not good! It gets worse, but more on that later. 

Please do yourselves a favor and stock up on the good deals, because prices will keep getting worse. Stay tuned for more.

Happy shopping peeps!

Great snacks deal!

Hi everyone!

Guess who's back! 😊 Summer was busy and just flew by. Life is still busy, but I'm making progress with everything that I need to accomplish.

So let's start off with a good national snacks deal. I actually discovered the rebates in my Meijer ad and worked on scenarios that works best for us. 

First up is this Kellogs Snack to school rebate. Spend $25 on participating items, earn $10 digital gc (ends 09/30/25). I needed to purchase snacks for DS, so this is what I did at Sams.

1 x 42ct Cheez it snap'd $13.98

1 x 36ct Pringles 13.98

Less Pringles instant Q (1.00)

OOP $26.96

Earn $10

This rebate has a limit of 5, so you can submit for this one up to 5 times. Please see the site for participating brands. All flavors & sizes are included. You can also purchase it at any grocery store. 

Then there's this Quaker rebate (ends 09/19/25) that ties in well with the current Meijer ad. Spend $20, earn $10 gc. Limit 1. Select sizes and products are included, so please see their list for more details.

Meijer

1 x 42ct Fritolay multipack chips $19.89

1 x Quaker instant oatmeal 2.69

OOP $22.58

Earn $10

Total OOP for 3 boxes of snacks = $29.54

Needless to say, both DS & I are happy. He got his favorite snacks and I saved money on it. Win-win!

I'll be back with more deals in a day or two.

Have a wonderful evening peeps!

Frugal Friday 06/13/25

Hi everyone

I'm still here. I have so many posts written in my head, but no time to just sit down & write. 

Here are some frugal things that have happened around here.

• I keep receiving rewards and coupons from retailers. Everyone wants me to shop and who am I to say no to free money 😂 Last month I received $125 in free money and $50 for this month to date. I don't even need anything, but I still put the money to good use. One store sent me 2 x $15 just 2 days apart. First it was 'we miss you', then 2 days later it was 'happy half birthday'. I was shocked, but I'm thankful for all the blessings. 
  
  
• Earned $4 in gas money at Meijer. My Fetch account has an offer for 2000 points (approx $2) when you purchase gas at Meijer 6/5-6/21. Limit 3. I just filled my tank at Meijer on the 3rd, but decided to top up my tank when I went shopping this week. Well, I pulled up to the pump and saw that the previous customer had left their receipt behind. Score! So I scanned that receipt too and got my points. I'll top up my tank again next week to complete that offer. 
  
  
• We ran out of toothpaste, q-tips, kleenex (in my office), paper towel, body wash and band aids this week. I pulled replacements from my stockpile, so $0 spent. 
  
  
• I skipped Red Robin this week, because they skimped on the fries again the last time (post coming soon). We ate our own food instead, so more money saved.
  
  
• I'm cooking less and we're eating leftovers until we get tired of it and our grocery budget has actually been lower the past 2 months. Huge sigh of relief, because the prices are shocking (I have another post to write about that). 
  
  
• I needed new books to read and Target has B1G50% off 2nd this week, so I used Circle rewards and a few $$ on an old gc to purchase 4 books for free. 
  
  
• Found family packs chicken breast 30% off at Aldi and bought 3 packs. It had a short expiration date, so I baked some in the oven when I got home and made fajita chicken with the rest. The crazy part is that I've been struggling to find these non GMO packs for 2 weeks at Aldi. Then I finally find it on sale. That save me $10.xx, so I was very happy. 
  
  
• Found 59 oz bottles of Simply OJ reduced to $2.50 at Walmart and bought 2. This was a shock, because I never find markdown foods at Walmart. They also had big Johnsonville summer sausage reduced to $2, but I still have Hickory farms sausage, so I didn't buy more sausage. 
  
  
• Found OS Captain spray (which has been discontinued) on rollback for my guys and was pleasantly surprised to see an Ibotta rebate for it. $3 per item, so I earned back $15 and then earned another $1.50 on Fetch. The rewards saved me approx 50%, so I'm very pleased with that. 
  
  

That's all I can think of for now. 

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

Bits & Bobs

Hi everyone

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I've blogged. I've just been in a slump and had no desire to write. I'm in desperate need of a vacation. 

What's been happening at Casa Goose? Well, I'm trying to keep up with the never ending price increases. Things just keep going from bad to worse, so changes needed to be made. This past month I realised how much we were spending wasting on fast food again. Well, it's all fun & games until you crunch the numbers. We've been ordering Chick Fil A every single weekend. Now I have to admit that we haven't had CFA in our state until recently, so we took for advantage of finally having it on our doorstep. I love their sandwiches. But then I realised that it costs $38 p/w. That's $152 per month. That $152 can easily cover our grocery shopping for one week. So I decided to switch things up. 

I normally get DS Red Robin every weekend. Then I discovered their $10 Cheeseburgers on Tuesdays (at select locations only) and decided to switch to Tuesday RR instead. I still have the 20% off gcs, so this is a far better deal for us. On weekends he can get CFA every other week. I'm keeping my CFA consumption to once a month. The other weekends we can eat our own food. I did that this weekend and he was very happy. I made taco meat, beans and pico and we had nachos. I also made Italian sausage that was on sale at Meijer last week. We always keep rolls/buns and salad fixings, so it was easy to fix a sausage sandwich and added baked beans (also on sale). No junk food eaten, no extra money spent and we were happy with the food. 

On the other hand, I keep getting free money from retailers. I received $90 this month (that's like giving me $900 to shop 😂). I keep telling BF that I don't need anything, but I'm not going to throw away free money (especially when I get free shipping). I'm taking advantage of the freebies, because things are still going to continue getting worse. That's my gut feeling. A few weeks ago, I read about Goodwill closing 13 locations. That's a very bad sign. People are either not donating as much (I can't blame them, because it's actually better to use what you currently own, than pay overinflated prices for cheap junk that don't last) or people aren't shopping as much (because everyone's just trying to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table) or both. You know things are bad when thrift stores are struggling. 

I bought a clearance blazer at WHBM with a reward last month and was so disgusted with the poor quality. I could see that it was cheap fabric the minute I removed it from the box. I would've returned it if it wasn't a Final sale item. So I went through my Ebay inventory again and pulled a pile of items for us to use. Everything's still brand new and of great quality. I'm especially happy with some jeans for myself that were manufactured in 2015. I'm happy, because I know that older items have much better quality. The guys ended up with lots of designer shirts that will last for years. 

I also bought some fabric to make quilts for ourselves. Now, I'm definitely an amateur. I have a fancy quilting machine that I bought during the pandemic at 50% off. I figured it's better to make our own, because I know the quality of the fabric I'm purchasing (I'm a cotton girl). Hobby Lobby has 40% of their fabric every fortnite (every other week). No paying hundreds of dollars for polyester or microfiber junk. Jackie was definitely smart to make bedding and other crafts for her family. So here I go trying my hand at this sewing thing. As long as it's straight lines, I'm good 😂

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

Ways I try to recession proof our grocery shopping

With the mess in the world continuously getting worse, I've decided to get even more creative with our grocery shopping. Prices keep skyrocketing and there's not much we can do about it. At least that is most people's mindset. I've decided to look at things a little differently. Take advantage of whatever good sales are available & get creative with paying for it. My new mindset is 'if it's a rock bottom sale, stock up (whether we need more right now or not. this is only for items that we use). Why? Because it's going to take a VERY long time for things to get better in the world. I'm going to make sure that we still have everything we need without breaking the bank. 

I've seen signs that reminded me of the last recession for quite some time now and my gut keeps telling me that things are going to get a whole lot worse. I've recently read an article about one of the Big 4 accounting firms laying off over 900 people. I told BF that this is a very, very bad sign, because accountants are always in demand. I worked at one of the Big 4 firms before moving here and that was one of the places where you actually had job security. So for them to start retrenching staff is bad news. People who have read about this might argue that it's due to government cuts, but I beg to differ because the government isn't their only client. Most big businesses use the top accounting firms. 

So how am I stocking up? I take advantage of all the great deals. There's nothing I can do about Aldi. I only cherry pick there anyway. Sams & Costco have monthly booklets. Wags sales have gotten more scarce, but I still try to stock up on what's available, so I make the most of the other grocery stores. They always run sales. Here's what I did this week.

Target

I was planning on stocking up on Dove deodorant for myself with Target's $10/40 Beauty deal last week. I had everything in my cart and just needed to check out. Then it wouldn't give me free shipping (despite my total being over $35 before the discount). I needed to add 2 more deodorants ($13.98 total) to score free shipping (shipping is 5.99). Just before going to bed on Saturday night, I told BF that I didn't have peace about purchasing the items, so I didn't. 

Good thing I decided to trust my instincts, because a far better deal presented itself on Sunday morning. I had a $20/100 Circle Q and checked to see what good gc offers I could combine it with. Here's what I did

3 x 149 oz Tide @ $22.99 each $50.09 (crazy Target math)

3 x OS deodorant 20.97

3 x Degree deodorant 14.97

1 x Dove deodorant 6.99

Less OS DQ (2.00)

Less Degree DQ (2.00)

Less $20/100 (20.00)

Tax 3.78

OOP $72.80 - Paid with Target GC (10% discounted gc, so that's another $7.28 savings) so no OOP for me.

Earned $10 GC ($5 OS, $5 Degree) and will submit for $15 P&G rebate. 

Total earned $25.00

The detergent is B2G1F, but Target always has some crazy math (you don't get the full value) when it comes to gc & Circle DQs. I still can't figure it out. My plan was to purchase the $19.99 Tide, but they were OOS. No problemo, cause the price per ounce is the same no matter what size bottle you purchase. My guys & I are now stocked up on deodorant for 2 years. 

Kroger

Select items are Buy 2 get $10 off instantly thru 4/15. My store sign said Buy 2 or more save $5 each, so you can probably purchase more than 2 boxes per transaction. This is great stock up deal, because it comes to $1 per box. We haven't seen that price in ages. 

2 x 6 pk Kleenex @ $10.99 = $21.98

Less discount (10.00)

OOP $11.98 + tax

I usually purchase the highest count boxes (I'll never understand why people buy the cubes, because it contains far less tissues for the same price), but DS was not in the mood for shopping, so I was distracted & only noticed that one pack had 120ct boxes when I loaded it into my car. 

Meijer

Whoo! Meijer totally rocked this week. I had a plan to just do the Spend $50 save $15 P&G deal, because I needed dryer sheets. Then I noticed that there's also a DQ for Spend $30 on Oscar Mayer & Kraft products, save $10 instantly. Kraft cheese & dressing is part of the Buy 5 or more save $1 each deal. Double/triple dip you say? Count me in! 😂  Here's what the deals look like. 

P&G

1 x 154 oz Gain $15.99

1 x Tide 12.99

1 x Downy softener 12.99

1 x Bounce dryer sheets 10.49

Less Gain DQ (3.00)

Less Downy DQ (3.00)

Less 15/50 (15.00)

OOP $31.46

These items also qualify for the P&G rebate. Well, I had a huge pile of pop cans that I cashed in to pay for this deal. My bottle slip was $38.80, so free P&G for me. 

OM/Kraft deal

16 Kraft cheese/dressing @ $1.99 each (mix & match) $31.84

Less $10/30 (10.00)

OOP $21.84

There's also a $3.19 Ibotta rebate WYB 2 Kraft cheese. 

Total cost after Ibotta = $18.65 or $1.17 each

I bought a bunch of other groceries and my total came to $115. After discounts and my bottle slips, my OOP was $44.84 Three cheers for Meijer!

Total OOP : $57.54 for all of the above and a bunch of other items at Meijer

Total earned : $28.19

So you see, there's still good deals to be had. 

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!