May the Savings be with you - May Frugal Chatter

[SassyAshley]

I am going to be doing this soon, figuring out what foods my guy eats (can eat, he is still getting his body used to eating again) and stocking up on these items so when he is over I have foods he eats in my stockpile. Also going to start him a little stockpile with stuff I eat at his house as we have a bit of distance between us (2.5 hours) so we will be spending weekends together, where we are will depending on who has to work (once he returns to work, not sure if he will be on call some weekends, I am sure he will be just hoping they are not the same weekends I am working since I already have my summer schedule) and also where we need to be based on commitments.

I know there are many things we both eat but at the same time we are very different, he is from PEI and if a huge seafood fan where is I only eat fish and chips and shrimp. I know there are things I eat he does not, but we have agreed to try things the other eat, unless we know for a fact it is something we do not like.

Today I took the time to go through my coupons that i have. I've found that my products i use, buy or dont buy these days have changed from a year ago. This being because I've moved in with my bf and his two sons back in september. As a household we now buy more male orientated and schoolage orientated products than I did as a single female. Some of the things i would have bought on a regular basis (like dare cinnamon danish cookies or Sunlight lemon scented) I no longer buy because of allgeries of others. They in turn have had to not buy purex or eat seafood in the house because of mine.

I went to smartsource.ca and printed out a bunch of coupons for things we do use, arranged my current unexpired coupons in a new photo album - i wore my business card album out after 4 years of use. Now I'm browsing through printables and considering filling out some forms for free samples. I love Free samples of shampoo, scope, toothpaste for travelling. We can sent that all quite easily on a school trip and the boys bags dont end up over full for 2 days.

I agree I so need some quality time with my coupons. I keep hoping once I get over my current project things will slow down and I can find more me time but it looks like things aren't going to slow down. Little scared that I do not have my coupons in order and we are going into our busy season at work.

Product purchases definitely do change under situations and circumstance, great that you have worked this all out.

I'm jealous I need to take a couple days to re-organize my personal coupon stash & trading list/binder, my coupons are currently a huge messy drawer.

I absolutely love love love samples (lol).

It is great that your DH understands.

It is funny how different cooking for one is.

So today was not a frugal day what-so-ever but it was budgeted for phew, we went to the Ottawa Glebe Garage Sale as a family, spent alot of $ but got alot of new treasures - things that we needed or wanted for a long while but couldn't afford to purchase new. New is not always the best choice in my opinion or sometimes just is not practical for certain reasons (new puppy) lol.

DH and the boys are gone to a friends tonight for a bbq and hunting planning discussion. I was supposed to go but with my depression I tend to not do very well around people for a longer period of time. Last weekend we had people over for dh's birthday celebration and 2 couples with kids stayed in trailers and to be honest I have been dragging my bum all week, just exhausted physically & mentally. Dh said to me before we were going to leave if you are not up to being around people I understand how it affects you and so I stayed home. I didn't want to have another unproductive week this week as I am scheduled for day surgery on Thursday (nothing serious).

Since I am alone I am finding that it is difficult to make dinner as I don't have any quick "foods" if you will, stopped buying sidekicks and such which is what I would eat if alone. Oh well I get I will have to settle for a Tuna Sandwich (lol).

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

[SassyAshley]

Went and did our shopping today, it was supposed to be a small little shop . Mom completely jinxed me, she said lets not shop this week and I was game until we saw the flyers and saw so many things we needed. I am hoping now we can just maintain. I would like to be able to start buying a few of each thing when it is on sale instead of stocking up and just maintaining out stockpile.

Got quite a few amazing deals, got some IOGO drinkable yogurts for $0.04, picked up some more free toothbrushes, got some Ahoy Extras for $1.00 (Oh my normally we only buy peak freans all other cookies are homemade but the peanut butter ones are AMAZING ).

I have started to slowly go through out house and try to start sorting things. My mom want the house clean but doesn't want to do it o I am really trying to not fight with her. I know she has a hard time with the manual work because of her back and hips but every time we try to work together we fight so she hired one of the boy next door to help her but he keeps backing out on her. Plus I just cannot find the time to help her. I work all week and by the time I get home I do a few things but cannot put in hours of cleaning (2 seems to be my tops and this includes things like cleaning up from dinner and getting ready for tomorrow) I am just too tired and Saturdays we do our shopping (it is my relaxation) and Sunday I do all the cleaning I cannot get done during the week so I just do not have the time and work is only going to get busier.

[dreamcatcher1962]

Did anyone do the Shoppers 20x today?

We didn't need much but wanted to build up points.

8 x Herbal Essences (hair spray, mousse, shampoo, conditioner)
7 x VH Steamers
2 x Pepsi case

Spent just over $50 before coupons and taxes

Only spent $24 after coupons and taxes and made $21 in points (bonus redemption day)!!!

You did well
I did this event as well but actually spent $50+ , Milk, Eggs, Peanutbutter & Tylenol Arthritis.
Does anyone know if there are coupons out for Tylenol Arthritis? That stuff is really expensive. Had to pay full price

[Insane]

You did well
I did this event as well but actually spent $50+ , Milk, Eggs, Peanutbutter & Tylenol Arthritis.
Does anyone know if there are coupons out for Tylenol Arthritis? That stuff is really expensive. Had to pay full price

What about J&J call in for $2? Or healthyessentials.ca

[Angela273]

You did well
I did this event as well but actually spent $50+ , Milk, Eggs, Peanutbutter & Tylenol Arthritis.
Does anyone know if there are coupons out for Tylenol Arthritis? That stuff is really expensive. Had to pay full price

There are the $2 off any Tylenol coupons J&J call-ins.

$2 off MC Benylin, Motrin, Tylenol, Splenda, Actifed, Benadryl, Sudafed, Fleet, Nizoral, Anusol, Pepcid Complete, Combantrin, Lactaid, Imodium, Nicoderm, Nicorette, Reactine, Rolaids, Sinutab, Zantac, exp June 30, 2014

[Caseythegoalie]

I wanted to but we really needed nothing! Way to go!

Did anyone do the Shoppers 20x today?

We didn't need much but wanted to build up points.

8 x Herbal Essences (hair spray, mousse, shampoo, conditioner)
7 x VH Steamers
2 x Pepsi case

Spent just over $50 before coupons and taxes

Only spent $24 after coupons and taxes and made $21 in points (bonus redemption day)!!!

[Caseythegoalie]

Hello all! We set up our lemonade shop yesterday from 8-12 and the kiddies did great. We made $95 and had another two purchases after the fact for $20 and $10 so grand total selling was $125! So awesome considering cookies were $1 and lemonade only .50!

[macw1960]

I'm back wow it's cold here compare to Florida everyday was in the 80's,i had a fabulous time .My youngest DD says it's been raining here on and off for the last week. The sad news when arriving home is a friend of my DD ,her daughter was killed by a car while jogging in Champlain NY.She was only 27 and leaves behind 3 small children.I have to go get some groceries back later to catch up on all the posts i missed

So sorry to hear about your daughter's friend.

[macw1960]

So glad to have back on here - you have been missed!

Great spending on the groceries for the month!

Thanks.

[macw1960]

Decided to pass on the SDM shop as I just didn't feel like it so I stayed home and did odds and ends of stuff around the house instead. Semi productive day.

The sun is shining here again today but is a little chilly out still. What has everybody got planned for today?

No plans as of yet today other than baking some cookies for DH's lunch...not sure what kind yet. He always seems to want the same ones and I am getting bored with that.

[Crochetlady]

You did well
I did this event as well but actually spent $50+ , Milk, Eggs, Peanutbutter & Tylenol Arthritis.
Does anyone know if there are coupons out for Tylenol Arthritis? That stuff is really expensive. Had to pay full price

I hear ya. DH and I both use Tylenol Arthritis so a bottle doesn`t last long. I loved the $5 coupons that were out before.

[lilo0003]

I also skipped the SDM event. I really did not see enought to make it worth while. Yesterday was not very frugal. I bought new shoes and two tops for me. Cleo has 40% off the tops and I need some current colours for work. I would live in black if I could.
Today I need to buy a wedding gift for a coworker. But it is a group gift so not too bad cost wise
the plan for the day is get out and ride. I am hoping to do 40 km but with so much to do I may cut it short. I wish it would get a bit warmer.

[dreamcatcher1962]

What about J&J call in for $2? Or healthyessentials.ca

Thanks very much.
I hadn't been on the healthyessentials.ca website until now.
It has now been bookmarked
Thanks very much

[dreamcatcher1962]

I hear ya. DH and I both use Tylenol Arthritis so a bottle doesn`t last long. I loved the $5 coupons that were out before.

I couldn't believe the price of it $15.99 for a bottle of 100 tablets.
That almost hurt more than the arthritis, lol.
I'll definately be keeping an eye out for sales on that stuff.

[SassyAshley]

I have never done an SDM, I only ever buy stuff that is on sale as I find them SO expensive and even than I usually price match them at Wal-Mart or RCSS. Our local SDM is wonderful and great staff but we do not have a grocery section. The closest location with a grocery section does not have good staff, I have ended up in 2 fights well shopping, the first time I bought a bunch of items on clearance and they rang up at full price. I pointed out they were on clearance to which the cashier said well nothing I can do, I cannot do overrides so I can cancel your order or you can buy it at all full price, I asked for a manager who was worse than the cashier, even after I showed her were there still 5 to 10 more of the same item on the cart I got told they are not on clearance and someone just put them there and I should have known they were not on clearance, when I asked how I was supposed to know those were not supposed on the clearance shelf when there were a bunch of items on the a shelf that said everything on this shelf $1. I was told "shut up and listen you are wrong". I emailed their head office and got bonus SDM points which took 4 phone calls for them to actually be added to my card.

After months of refusing to go into that location I went in to get some hair dye that was on sale (our location did not have the colour my mom uses and I was right there at another store). It was in their flyer and the shelf was labelled with the correct sale price but it rang up at regular price. When I pointed out that the price was wrong the cashier roller her eyes at me and said "so your point". I explained they were on sale it is in your flyer and there is a tag on the self with the sale price her response "so what do you want as the computer says they are $$$", so I ask for a manager who comes up and was the same one from last time, as soon as she saw me she rolled her eyes at me and said "let me guess another pricing problem". I explained the situation and after being asked "can you ever check out without an issue" she agreed with me and gave me the sale price. One would think this would be good and the end of our fight but than when I presented my coupons there became another fight as they were on sale for $4.99 and I had a buy 2 save $5 which would make one box free to which I was told was not allowed as my coupon was not a FPC or BOGO so I could not get one box for free. I did not want to fight anymore so I just asked for my coupons back and to cancel my order at which I was told "we will do it this time but only this time and in the future I will need to follow the rules and lets hope next time I am in a manager will not have to be called to referee a disagreement between me and a cashier". I paid I left and have not been back.

So now for me to shop at SDM unless it is something my local location stocks I need to drive 30 to 45 minutes to get to a store that has groceries.

Sorry my rant.