Slowly getting back to myself

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I’m happy to report that the additional Vitamin D3 seems to be helping.

Improvement

Four of the last six days, I’ve had a hazy to non-existent memory of my dreams, so the vivid dreams seem to be retreating.

I’ve been less okay with the idea of just staying home by myself. I want to be social again.

And I have more wherewithal to get things checked off my to-do list now. Which is handy given how many tasks piled up while I didn’t have said wherewithal.

I feel like adulting is just taking turns being completely overwhelmed and then catching up on everything that fell by the wayside. Which can then leave you feeling overwhelmed.

Sigh.

Needs improvement

I’m still a bit disinterested in cooking, which is an issue if, like me, you need to stay on a low-sodium diet.

Sometimes this means I indulge in something sodium-rich, but I’m trying to keep those instances sparing.

Which, I guess, is why I had chicken with salad dressing on it two nights in a row this past week.

For those of you wondering how that came to pass…

I was going to cook the chicken during the day and make the sauce for a grain bowl after work. The chicken got cooked, but I just didn’t feel up to mixing up the sauce, which would involve some chopping and such.

And I had nothing else. I tried getting by with a protein bar, but my stomach was growling. So I tried to think of other ways to give the chicken actual flavor.

Then I remembered that I had some Kroger Simple Truth Rosemary Vinegarette, which isn’t too bad at 150 mg of sodium per two tablespoons.

So I cut up the chicken and poured on enough on (about three tablespoons) to cover the chicken. Since the chicken is only about 75 mg of sodium per serving, that meant my “meal” only had about 300 mg of sodium.

And since it was actually pretty tasty — and since the next day I once again didn’t make sauce — I had it again then next night.

Anyway…

All of this is to say that I’m limping along but also picking up speed.

And even when I couldn’t handle many tasks or errands, I still got some good deals.

Fiber gummies

I take Vitafusion Fiberwell gummies, which are quite tasty. (As an Amazon affiliate, I’m compensated for purchases made through my links.) Since I’m still working on putting more veggies in my diet* I take four a day, meaning I really need to find good deals.

The price had gone way up on the two back of 220-count bottles I’d bought in the past from Amazon. Eesh.

But I found a 90-count bottle that was a pretty good deal: the same as Walgreens, but with a coupon and multi-buy discount. In the end, I paid $9.05 a bottle, which was $1.05 less than even a post-coupon Walgreens deal that was being offered.

So I ordered nine bottles.

The amount was partly because I’ll go through them relatively quickly. The other reason is that as it gets hotter in Phoenix summer, having gummies delivered runs the risk of them all melting together.

But of course, I also just wanted to lock in the price.

As a cherry on top, Amazon is a category for Chase Freedom this quarter, meaning I’ll get 5% back.

*And by “working on” I mean that I occasionally think, “Gosh I should really work on that.” And then I don’t.

BevMo

I have a preferred ginger beer, Cock ‘n Bull, for my Moscow mules. But the only place I can ever find it is BevMo. Which is doesn’t have any locations convenient to me.

So for the most part, I make do with the Q brand at Fry’s.

But for reasons that now escape me, I checked the BevMo site for something else and found that the store was having essentially a BOGO sale. If you bought certain products (usually wine but apparently also Cock ‘n Bull ginger beer), the second one would be only $0.05.

I got four packs. There were six, but I wanted to leave some for other customers. The four packs are enough for 32 mules, and I really only drink them at parties. So those should more than tide me over until the next sale.

All in all, I paid $16.48, which is about half the normal price I pay for any brand.

Woot!

CVS

I’ve had a few successes here, actually.

CVS # 1

I was out of both mouthwash and a refill for my soap dispenser. (I know, my life is super exciting.) So I waited for my $10 monthly CVS CarePass credit to come in.

Just as an aside: If you shop much at drugstores, especially if you’re good with coupons, I highly recommend the CarePass.

With the CarePass Extrabux and a few more cents in Extrabux from a previous purchase, I paid just $5.18 pre-tax.

Normal pre-tax total: $15.28 (the same at Walgreens)

Paid: $5.18

Though the CarePass works out to $4 per month, so I guess you could argue I paid $9.18. Even so…

CVS # 2

My skin got extremely dry and flaky recently. To fix that, I needed not just a moisturizer, but one without alcohol. Otherwise it burned on the de-flaked skin.

So I’ve settled on L’oreal Revitalist, and it’s very creamy/non-burn-y. (I know, I should write product descriptions for a living.)

Since the first jar was working so well, I hit a CVS BOGO40 sale for two of those, since there was a $5 off coupon for buying two L’Oreal products.

I was also out of hair dye, so I picked up two of those since there was a coupon for $3 off two Clairol products and I’d get $4 in Extrabucks.

In addition, CVS was counting the purchase of two hair dyes as four for the purposes of the free box of dye. CVS gives you a free hair dye after you’ve purchased seven, so this deal got me close to the freebie faster than normal.

To those deals, I added a CVS coupon for $8 off $40.

Total value: $66.96 at CVS

Paid: $40.86 pre-tax plus received $4 in Extrabux

Pre-tax items at Walgreens (with coupons): $43.96, no $4 bonus

CVS # 3

I noticed I was out of batteries, so I got a six-pack of AA and an eight-pack of AAA. Unfortunately, the store was out of the generics, but there was at least a BOGO50 sale on Duracell.

While I’d just bought two hair dyes in the last order, there was CVS coupon for $4 off $16 of any hair and a $3 off manufacturer’s coupon. And I’ll use them eventually.

And I applied $6 in Extrabux from… I genuinely don’t know where. Some past purchase apparently.

Oh, and CVS was offering 20% off for pickup orders. So I paid $18.99 pre-tax for two packs of Duracell batteries and two $8 hair dyes.

Other wins

I’m also making a concerted effort to actually fuss with ibotta now. Very few things I buy have offers, but I’ve scored a couple times.

The first was $1.25 back on four Chobani Greek yogurts. Normally priced at $1.50, the yogurts were on sale for $1.20, and I had a Fry’s coupon for $0.75 off four.

So with the rebate, that worked out to $2.80 for the four.

There was also an offer on Skyy Vodka, which is what I get for game nights. It’s not high-end but it’s a lot better/smoother than the cheap stuff I buy to mix with juice when I go to parties.

Anyway, the vodka was already on sale for $9.99, but Fry’s had a $3 off coupon and ibotta gave me $2.50 off.

So I ultimately will have paid $4.50 for a fifth of good-quality booze.

Anyone else scoring some good deals recently?