"Fall" into September Savings

[saundyl]

Good morning. Made ds eggs and toast for breakfast. We leave soon for the arena. Hockey. Making a batch of pasta sauce for the freezer this afternoon. Then will clean out the fridge and make grocery list. We don't need much it appears. Been invited for steak dinner with family so that saves cooking/ mess here which is nice. Better toss a load of laundry on now. Have a great day

Hockey is not started here yet We only have one in again this year. Possibly not doing it next year as our youngest wants to do cadets as well instead. (hockey is sooOOOO hard on being frugal!)

[jasperandchar]

sweet sparrow thank you for being so honest first off that's hard to do sometimes( I feel like sharing now)
-my hubby and I went thu hard times when our adults kids were little he was laidoff or on strike about 6 times -we even put off having our daughter til the strike was over in 82-guys lost their homes- we just focused on day to day-in fact when my son was 4 hubby was off for almost a year-so I went out and got a job at k-mart(if you remember that store)and he was mr.mom for 10 months (mind you he could never do pigtales right (my daughter would tell me when i got home) but hey he went on school bus trips-you step up and we traded roles for those 10 months- i think the kids loved it

-see marriage has ups an downs-financial and other wise -just when you think everything is okay -It takes a turn
-my life may take a finincial hit next year(the job where my hubby put in a hard 30 years )we may lose some benefits and even money from his pension -I dont want to dwell on it but still thankful I coupon get deals ,shop year round for xmas

-man this is nothing compared to what my dear mother went thru -she lived thru the depression-didnthave a doll as a little girl or xmas stocking ( I made sure i filled her stocking the almost 7 years she lied with us-she was like a little kid opening that stocking ,lost her mom at age 2( in childbirth)my mom lived with the odd rat when she had 2 boys from her first marriage(and her first hubby died-back then they got 10.00 a week-but hey i just talked to her old girlfriend last month she is 89-and se had told me mom was so creative back th -she made earrings from beads,crocheted dish cloths an sold them for money -not that I am comparing my mom's life to ours -but take one day at a time

coupon girl thanks for sharing, yes you are correct we all have our ups and downs and yes some have them worse than others.

Hope things work out in your dh's favor for his pension benefits,

It's funny that when things are tight and I'm speaking from experience, you tend to get the creative juices flowing, think of ways to repurpose things, make batch dinners from your fridge or freezer or the bargain groceries of the week and always be grateful for what you have and acknowledge that things can always get worse & always be humble is how I now live my life. I am filled with gratitude from simple things but yes I still get sometimes consumed with sh*t luck and things get me down at times but there is ALWAYS someone WORSE of THAN me and that is an eye opener.

[Andit]

Mrs S, so sorry to hear about the disrespect from the friends.

I went through something similar a few yrs back. A 'friend' I was still in the getting-to-know stage was 'temporarily' using my parking spot (valuable commodity in downtown Toronto). It went from 2 weeks to 1 month to 3 months to just under a year, before I finally had to have words with her and put an end to it. I only have it so that when I have company over there is somewhere to park (idiot former mayor didn`t think that folks downtown needed cars so set out bylaws reducing the number of spots condos can have - grrrrr). Long story short, she kept promising to do things for me, take me shopping, take me to dinner, help me with things, but somehow she was always busy or would forget. She had considerably more money than me, but kept whining about how money was tight. At first it seemed like she was using me and blowing me off, but the more I got to know her, the more I realized she was just very disorganized (work life was perfect, personal life was a kerfuffle). Once I realized that, I swallowed my pride and re-evaluated a few things. Figured I could always use another friend, just had to realize her limitations.

Not sure of your situation, Mrs S, but wondering if maybe the 'friends' were projecting their frustrations on you and pride got in the way of admitting they were wrong? Again, I`m sorry this happened, & I do hope things turn out for the best for you.

[Andit]

Things are tight here too, so you`re not alone. I went from making nearly $40K & now I`m on ODSP (weird complications from dialysis, even tho I`ve had a kidney-pancreas transplant, other things are going on to mess with my stamina), so a little over $1K/month, which goes fast when paying the equivalent of market rent). Right now, I`m also trying to help out 2 other households with food, so even less $ here (not to mention, I used to work 3 hrs a week which gave me some fun $, but haven`t been able to due to some weird health probs I`ve had since Nov - 3 emergency surgeries, 4 trips by ambulance, a few overnight stays in hospital, etc). Still, I know I have it good, compared to others.

I grew up hearing stories about my folks growing up during WWII in Europe (they were on the 'other' side, so remember bombs crashing down near them and food shortages). Sometimes dinner consisted of breadcrumb soup (toast some breadcrumbs in oil/lard/whatever is available and when toasted, fill the pot with water and simmer for an hour). They would go months without eating meat. Then, after the war, the Soviets (who controlled the other Communist countries) would take all the crops. All that was left in the country was cornmeal. To this day, my Mom refuses to eat anything with corn (she`ll have 1 or 2 fresh corn on the cob meals a year, but that`s it). Guess that`s what happens when you eat corn porridge, corn bread, corn cake, corn everything 3 times a day for the better part of 2 yrs.

So, just know you`re not alone and it could be worse (helps me when I get frustrated).

[jasperandchar]

oh Andit sorry to hear about your health issues and so very generous of you to help others that are needing a helping hand along the way as they say actions speak louder than words.

[jasperandchar]

Andit sent you a personal message

[Frugalbigmama]

Back from family dinner and feel done for the day. Switched over the laundry and the 2 loads done today are folded and waiting to be put away. Going to snuggle on the couch with my sweetheart . Youngest is tucked in bed

[Natalka]

J&C - made the recipe you posted for the Cinnabon cake. It's yummers! I can only have a bit because there is so much sugar and marg in it! I used only 1/2 the icing amount, too - I knew it would be too much for us. Husband loves it too - and he can have as much as he wants because he need to gain more weight!!

[thriftygranny]

J&C - made the recipe you posted for the Cinnabon cake. It's yummers! I can only have a bit because there is so much sugar and marg in it! I used only 1/2 the icing amount, too - I knew it would be too much for us. Husband loves it too - and he can have as much as he wants because he need to gain more weight!!

I have been looking at this recipe for a while!!!When the cake cools do you think is sturdy enough to wrap up for lunches for school or is it too gooey. Sounds delicious.

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I made another jar of pickled beets, so that's 4 cups' worth. And yet it seems like I've barely made a dent in the 10lb bag (I didn't have the courage to cook them all up at once!). The second batch I diced, so it became more of a chutney - going to have it on crackers, I think, as a snack.

I also made a big pot of my fav dish, potatoes paprikas (that was after going out and schlepping home 10lbs of potatoes - luckily I already had onions at home). Enough for 3 meals on days I'm not up to cooking, so my freezer is getting full (ok, so it would have been more than 4 meals, but I did have to have dinner and what chef doesn't do taste tests along the way to make sure there's enough, uh, paprika to make it yummy? ). Once I dig out a few more freezer containers, I'll make another batch.

Lily dog was in heaven - not only did she get to taste test everything, but I discovered that the peels from the beets are the bestest yummiest doggy treats ever. Only Lily, I swear.

Off to play pincushion, and hopefully get a few answers. If not, well, I have lots more beets to cook.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[coupon girl]

-andit so nice of you to help others -lets hope your health issues get better time

[coupon girl]

-hey everyone today is my birthday -55 and 35 th anniversary-I don't feel older -just with I could get rid of this darn bug 9 days now
-had a lovely day seeing my daughter/hubby yesterday- they took us to "pizza libretto"nice pizza,then we went to the fruit market,kitchen plus(I bought myself a pepper grinder(you put the pepper in the top)and kitchen twine it was on sale 4.99)
-then she took us to baskin robbins-tiny ice cream sundae
-is so nice to just chat in person instead of always on the phone

[thriftygranny]

Happy Birthday/ Anniversary Coupon Girl!! Hey we are the same age!!Hope your day is perfect.

[Natalka]

I have been looking at this recipe for a while!!!When the cake cools do you think is sturdy enough to wrap up for lunches for school or is it too gooey. Sounds delicious.

Yes, it's fine for that - but for the glaze, I only used 1 cup icing sugar with 2T milk and a bit of vanilla.

[Natalka]

-hey everyone today is my birthday -55 and 35 th anniversary-I don't feel older -just with I could get rid of this darn bug 9 days now
-had a lovely day seeing my daughter/hubby yesterday- they took us to "pizza libretto"nice pizza,then we went to the fruit market,kitchen plus(I bought myself a pepper grinder(you put the pepper in the top)and kitchen twine it was on sale 4.99)
-then she took us to baskin robbins-tiny ice cream sundae
-is so nice to just chat in person instead of always on the phone

Wow, double celebrations!