Love the Savings Feburary - 2015 Frugal chatter

[saundyl]

I for the life of me can not find my January resolutions or nor could I remember if i made any financial ones for 2015! I found the latter in the New year financial resolutions thread.

So far I'm well on my way with the 52 week savings challenge however I've adapted it. I'm saving Double the week number for the first 26 weeks up to $52 and then reversing the savings for the next 26 weeks so week 27 will be 52, 26 will be 50...down to 2 dollars. In the end it works out to $1404 dollars saved rather than $1378 AND the higher $$ saved are not at christmas time.

My goal for this month are to get my income tax filed and to not accumulate any more car problems!

[Ciel]

I borrowed the e-book, It's Your Money by Gail Vaz-Oxlade, while I still have home Internet this week. I seem to be a few different money types. Want to send in credit report changes this week and pick up tax return package at the post office.

It'd be great to get up to 20000 PC points either by month's end or next month and just redeem them. 1000 points for Weetabix this week--have to find out if a grocery trip will happen in a couple of days' time.

Last night, I shovelled three times (about 2h apart) and seriously would have loved to have snow fencing in four different spots. The wind changed direction between efforts 2 & 3, covering one downspout and getting close to the doing the same with the other one. Was surprised that a knee-deep drift was within 1/2m of one wall so I cleared it away. This week is really one for snowblowers!

[sweet sparrow]

@Angela273 -we trained DD#1 at 2.5 years...and found she is finally independent now at 4 years. DD#2 we just started training, she will be 3 next month, and she is almost as independent as DD#1. I think some kids need you to do it for them (we did the timer for the DD#1 every 20-30 min). The hope I can give you is the DD#1 was eventually able to stretch her bladder to 1.5 hours and then 2 hours so it became less labour intensive for us over time.
@sweet sparrow - our gas bill was higher than it has ever been (GTA Ontario), BUT we are in a 3000 sq foot bungalow and used to be in a 1300 sq foot townhome. Dec was an estimated month and Jan was read, so we are paying the difference, meaning that we probably used more gas than was estimated in Dec. Feb will be another estimate so we plan to put in our metre reading online. Our bill is around $300 not including our water heater rental and we have never had it over $200 before, even in the new house. We plan to do equal billing once we have been here a year.

How do you ladies know when your LO is time to potty train? Five months ago, I stuck LO on the potty every two hours, except overnight when she slept for 9.5 - 11 hours. She always pooped in the potty and she would have a few dry diapers a few times a week. Then she entered daycare, when they never stuck her on the potty. Now, she's telling us when she has to poop, but a few seconds before she actually does it. It's not nearly enough time to gather her to get to the potty, but is this a first step?
@Gra inger: Thanks, ours was nearly $180 for a >1700 sq. ft. home and we keep it quite chilly in the evenings. Last year in January, it was $153 and the year before that, it was $127. We haven't changed our thermostat settings! According to our bill, last year was colder too.

A lady in the UK survived on $1.25/day (80 pence)
menu

That's a lot of potatoes, onions and carrots!

This weekend, I returned a few things to Target and just noticed that the cashier forgot to scan one of the cups. Two were nestled together and she only scanned one. I wonder if I'll be able to get my money back this week.

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Up extra early to get ready for the stress test (Mother Nature is an absolute witch - by the time I get to the hospital with all this sn*w slowing me down, I'll be too exhausted to even climb onto the treadmill ). Wondering whether I should start training Quincy cat to run the Iditarod?

Still have to wake the sleepyheads.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[lizzie bargain]

Yes SS telling you just after or just before she goes is one step in potty training. It shows she is aware of the sensation-in time she will give you more warning.

[Granger]

@sweet sparrow I agree with @lizzie bargain. Once they can start telling you they have pooped or peed that is a good first step. I know you are looking for new child care, perhaps having one that is on board with whatever you are doing at home will be another good change that comes out of the current stress of finding a new one. Both my LOs (3 and 4) wear pull-ups at bed time. There is a whole spectrum of beliefs on pottying, just like everything else to do with parenting. I believe that you can train anytime, even in infancy, but the earlier you start, the more dependence on you. I think night training is largely developmental, so we have not been pushing it.

It is a snow day for me and I couldn't be happier. Frugally, one less commute to work this week stretches my tank of fuel too. We are watching Frozen as LOs are a little under the weather. There is so much blown snow stuck to our windows, we can't even see out of the house. Best part, I used to do all the shovelling in the town home, but now we are country and have a machine to do the work for 6x the amount of driveway...DH does that job now. It is amazing how a motor will motivate men. We bought our blower new in the summer, on sale, from a local company that was liquidating. So that is a frugal win for us. Paid cash, off-season, local.

[lizzie bargain]

Good read by Robb Engen on budgets-a subject dear to most of our hearts!


http://www.boomerandecho.com/a-savin...can-live-with/

[MrsSunshine]

snow day here too. at least for ds. dh may only have his regular job tonite.
as long as the roads are clear im stil getting my hair done.

not much else planned.

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! Happy to say I started the work week off right! Made egg mcmuffins for everyone for breakfast. Brought coffee to work from home, (we have free coffee here but sick of it) and brought leftovers for my lunch (pasta from Sat night). Think I will pop out to Walmart on my lunch on the hunt for the Astro pins for that lug bag. I've decided I want one Will use up the yogurt for my snacks and freeze some for smoothies for the boys. (I don't like yogurt in mine)

[lilo0003]

Snow day for us too, but since I work in the city on Monday & I had an important meeting I thought it best to make my way in. I take the GO train & today used the city bus to get to the train station. It was not taht bad, but then the train ride was so slow and the meeting was cancelled.
The best part about the snow day...We live 800 metres from Logan's school. Oh well I am glad as keeps our teachers off the crappy roads.

[Frugalbigmama]

Tonight I will boil eggs and make oatmeal for my breakfast/snacks for the next few days. Will take out cooked taco meat for kids dinner Tuesday night since I have lettuce/cheese and sour cream to use up. Have wraps too! If any leftover taco meat will send with youngest for his lunch on Wednesday (and oldest if he wants them).

[Natalka]

Hope everyone stays safe with the influx of snow.

I got The Flu yesterday

[thriftygranny]

Feel better soon Natalka, stomach or the real flu? Either one is crappy.

[Frugalbigmama]

Hope it passes quickly Natalka. I'm hearing of people getting it around us and hope we don't!

[Frugalbigmama]

We have lots of fresh bread (2 X Wonder (free with Oasis coupon) bagels and English muffins (on for .99 cents at GT)
Think I will make up French toast and freeze it for my oldest He can eat after school.