(This post contains affiliate links. I may be compensated for sign–ups or purchases through the links.)
I’ve been try to go (somewhat) back to my frugal roots. So I’ve been slowly collecting good deals.
Chop chop, save save
I know a vegetable slicer/chopper doesn’t scream savings, but it’s going to save me a lot in the long-run.
Last summer, I was all about the salads. And I’ve wanted to get back to that healthy eating, but I’ve dreaded the actual prep work. I’m a slow, mediocre chopper, and the cleanup can suck — (especially after my hack job with tomatoes).
So here’s where I gush in pure Adult: I am loving this $16.49 vegetable chopper. (As an Amazon affiliate, I’m compensated for orders through my links.)
I’ve only used it for chopping, but it can also grate, shred, slice and mash. Plus it’s easy to clean/store because the gray top is separate from the containers themselves.
![](https://ipickuppennies.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_9344-768x1024.jpeg)
I probably — probably — would’ve myself back into the swing of things with salads. But definitely not any time soon.
I’ve already used it twice for about six salads, which is six fewer $3.50 frozen meas. So it’s already paid for itself! Meaning no mental pressure/guilt if I got periods without using it.
Anyway, I’ll stop squee-ing over a kitchen tool now.
Savings are good for the soles
Rakuten had a ton of stores offering 15% cash back a few weeks back, and I realized my current ones (two pairs* of black Skechers) weren’t going to hold up forever.
Rack Room Shoes had a BOGO50 offer, plus a $10 off coupon. So my total was $79.97 (plus tax) — and an $18 rebate from Rakuten.
I’ll admit, it’s not as impressive a deal as I initially thought, since I found the shoe on Amazon for $40. But once you account for the rebate, I paid $67.97 (plus tax) for two pairs of $60 shoes. (As an Amazon affiliate, I’m compensated for orders through my links.)
* Why two? Letting shoes dry out for 24 hours greatly extends their lifespan.
Boring things, fun savings
Thanks to a glut of coupons and my $10 monthly CarePass reward, I got some big savings on (mostly) everday items. –
- Mouthwash: $2 off a $8.49 bottle of Crest Advanced mouthwash
- Eyeglass lens cleaner: $3 off a $4.79 bottle
- Nasal spray: $2 off a $13.49 bottle of Xlear
- Hair dye: There was $15 off $60+ of hair care/hair color products. Plus a $2-off coupon for the dye I use.
On top of that, I had the following in my account:
- The aforementioned $10 in Extrabux
- 30% off one item
- $5 off $15+ purchase
- 20% off the 6 items* in the pick-up portion of the order
End cost: $48.79 (plus sales tax) for $96.70 of products
Fry’s
Fry’s was having one of its BOGO sales on Foster Farms. Meanwhile, I had a Boost member coupon $15 off $75+ order — and the $75 was the amount before sale discounts were applied.
So four packages of technically-BOGO chicken got me 80% of the way to the threshold.
There were a few other items in the purchase, but the chicken is how I was able to get the discount. So I’m counting it as savings on the chicken directly.
Which means:
- Retail for 8.5 lbs of $6.99 chicken: $59.42 retail
- After a BOGO deal: $29.71
- After $0.75-off and $15-off coupons: $14.96 ($1.76/lb)
Honestly, there are probably others I’m forgetting — because my to-do list is essentially a Hydra* in disguise. So let’s hear from you: Any good streaks — or just one really good deal?
* The mythical one, not Marvel’s
I found a bunch of “manager’s special” meats recently (see the linked post, below). Today we had one of them for dinner: a chuck roast for $1.30 (original price $17.75). DF smoked it first, on the Weber, and then put it in the slow cooker. I mashed potatoes and cooked some of the last remaining peas from the 2023 garden.
Next up: Leftover chuck roast turned into a beef pot pie.
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Could any of this be attributable to so-called “spaving”, in which one spends more than one would normally in order to obtain a discount? This is a marketing tool that merchants use frequently. Simply put: if we spend more, then we aren’t saving! An antidote to this is to shop from a list within an allocated amount.
Hi Rose/Laura. I can always tell it’s you, even with VPNs. So, as promised in a past comment, here’s what I will always post when you try to troll:
I truly don’t know why you spend time as a troll. What do you possibly get out of this sad, sad enterprise? I have a crap-ton of free time on my hands and yet I would NEVER have time to go around leaving fake outrage comments or attacks the way you periodically do. I can only conclude that you lead a sad, sad life.
Perhaps you level nastiness at bloggers to distract you from unhappiness? Or is there something else you get out of it. I’m curious, so I’ll give it a shot:
Perhaps you never got over the “trauma” of your son’s little incident? Ya know, the one you wrote an entire, self-pitying op-ed piece wherein you had the gall to be upset that your son — who was underage and DROVE WHILE DRUNK — got a year in jail? The one where you actually said the quiet part (“I thought nice middle-class college boys like my son got a slap on the wrist.”) out loud? Meaning that you were actively complaining that white privilege didn’t allow your son to escape any punishment whatsoever? (And uh, I hate to break it to you, but 5 weeks in jail when he could’ve KILLED someone is absolutely white privilege in action.)
Hmmm… yeah mildly satisfying at best. Is this really why you have time and energy to leave nasty, often personal attacks? I truly hope you find something better to do with your time. Volunteer. Read a book. Play with a fidget spinner. Anything that stops this sad little habit practiced, as far as I can tell, by sad, grasping, embittered souls.
I’m just going to cut and paste this same comment over and over. So my other readers see what kind of small, sad little personality is leaving these comments.
Seek help, Rose/Laura. Seriously.
Those are all great deals! I especially like the vegetable chopper. I like salads when it’s hot outside, but I hate preparing them. I just might get one of those.
Yeah, that’s my conundrum for sure. Salads are cheap, easy and one of the only times I actively eat vegetables. But the chopping was always a headache. I got used to it, but it was still occasionally a deterrent. And this year, it was a full-on deterrent.
I hope you try a chopper. Obviously, I’m partial to mine, but there are some other, very affordable ones as well.