December 2015 Frugal Chatter thread - all welcome!!!

[Natalka]

sweet sparrow, I don't track cash back, etc. - it's just all part of the grocery budget.

As for gifts as you mentioned - there's surely nothing wrong in getting the same things like the gift cards - they might be looking forward to them!

Just going through flyers online for next week, so I can judge if any shopping still needs to be done tonight. Seems like it will just be Safeway tonight - they have frozen raw shrimp on for a decent price, so that would be the main reason.

[Crochetlady]

IMWK: For people that don't want anything, but might be rude if you give nothing, what do you give?

For DH's parents, they're diabetics, so we've bought plants, diabetic cookbooks, lotions (for mom), gift cards, made up gift baskets with specialty food items, and aside from the WM GC, I don't think they've used any of it.

One year, we gave them a common tub of Folgers and an M&Ms GC, and that seemed to be the biggest hit with Mom.

My parents send over a bottle of wine. Apart from that, I'm out of ideas!

Everyone is different but I know I hate getting gifts that sit around or that I won`t use. Personally I would love getting gift cards to stores that I shop at...even grocery stores. Guess I`m too practical. Used to hate when mom said she didn`t need anything. I have become my mother. lol
Do they like to eat out? Maybe a gift card to their favourite restaurant.

[Angela273]

Dh and I both saw the same Facebook posts going around yesterday. It suggested for people to put 25 items for the food bank in a box and donate it as part of their count down to Christmas. When dh got home from work yesterday he asked me about doing this. I just finished putting 18 items in a box for donation, just have to get 7 more. Currently have 4 jars of pasta sauce, 6 cans of Dole fruit, 1 can of chickpeas, 2 bottles of Kraft dressing, 1 bottle of Garden cocktail, 1 box of instant chicken noodle soup, a bag of granola, and 2 big bottles of Old Spice body wash.

[Angela273]

The twins had their 4 month immunizations this morning. They are being pretty consistent in their growth, which is good. I babysat for my neighbour afterwards so that she could deal with a lawyer in regards to her 4 children and their deadbeat dad. It's really stressful for her, so I'm trying to be extra supportive.

[jasperandchar]

I don't track rebates etc as I will admit I normally forget to check the offers for the week

[jasperandchar]

Dinner was so good, enough chicken fried rice for 2 lunches and sweet & sour chicken for ds2's lunch if no one beats him to it (haha).

Need to decide what tomorrow's supper will be, it seems like we are on a routine/rotation and to be honest with my arm and the fleas....I have not been cooking new recipes but sticking to the same old stuff which is getting tiring to all but so simple (shrug).

The Christmas decorations, tree etc will be going up this weekend and hopefully dh will finally finish tidying his mess downstairs, oh well, it's a never ending battles.

Wishing everyone a great evening.

[momof5boys]

Dinner was so good, enough chicken fried rice for 2 lunches and sweet & sour chicken for ds2's lunch if no one beats him to it (haha).

Need to decide what tomorrow's supper will be, it seems like we are on a routine/rotation and to be honest with my arm and the fleas....I have not been cooking new recipes but sticking to the same old stuff which is getting tiring to all but so simple (shrug).

The Christmas decorations, tree etc will be going up this weekend and hopefully dh will finally finish tidying his mess downstairs, oh well, it's a never ending battles.

Wishing everyone a great evening.

Simple meals are good You are busy enough....

[lilo0003]

I started tracking the savings a few years ago and with the help of DH created a pivot table, I was just using a plain excel spreadsheet I had created. So I can tell you how many AM/SDM/PC points I used by month an by year. I only count them once they are redeemed. I also don't count the rebate app $ or the MIR until the cheque arrives. People suggest that saving is not worth their time, but then when I tell them we have saved or earned 3500.00 this year from my actions their job drops. In fact once DH saw what we were saving he became an active participant & he was bragging to his co-workers on Monday about the Shoppers redemption.
I will only do an offer if I actually use the product or want to try the product. I tied the Resolve liquid this year a s free offer & loved it. So the next time the free offer was out I carried the rebate form in my wallet so I would not forget to use the offer as that is what usually happens.
I just checked my Air Miles account & my Sobeys AM was credited but I also have 100 from Rexall. I have no idea when I earned that as I don’t recall shopping when such a big promo was on. But it puts my account to over 800 AM again, perfect timing for the holidays.
DH was super sick today so it was an easy eat leftovers dinner for the boys & I. I love doing this on a Thursday and clearing out the fridge.

[walkonby]

QOTD: How do you track your rebates, cash back, etc., if you participate? Or do you not keep track if it's something you purchase anyways and let it come in as a surprise?

I no longer participate in MIR, the few I have done ( only Lysol comes to mind....lol! no brain right now ) I just find them too chancy for me to hope they come. Also not that many MIR products are of value or interest to me.

Similarly many weeks the offers in my CO51, Snap and PCPlus accounts go unused because of my pickiness.
TP offers are golden! would like to see more of them, finally thrilled to see SOME fresh foods ( even if I do have to go to WM, lol ) offered on CO51
No smellies though, free or otherwise, I cannot even give them away now in good conscience.
A few products I tried ( those gawd awful Pepperidge farm cracker chips for example ) I gave them all away, did not like any flavour, so sometimes it has backfired.

In the very beginning the cash backs for the product had to be free or I would not even consider them, I did not even want to pay taxes.
But things are stricter now, coupons are less valuable, wording complicated on both the offers AND the coupons themselves, shorter expiry dates, RCSS no tax days are full of limitations, so all these factor into big questions " is this worth my effort? Do I come out ahead here " ?

There is not much to track really, one CO51 acct, 1 Snap account ( and now 1 Caddle ) along with my PC Plus and a few newly earned SDM Optimum points.

It probably takes me longer to reach the $20.00 in any of these cash back offers, but when I finally get to cash out and my cheque arrives or redemption's are made with PC points I feel good because I know MOST of the points and $ were earned from valid items we used or will use up eventually.
I read a post by a smartcanucker ( ty @amira84 ) that said " are you shopping to save money OR to get points " ? Good call! Shop smarter.

[amira84]

I read a post by a smartcanucker ( ty @amira84 ) that said " are you shopping to save money OR to get points " ? Good call! Shop smarter.

And this tells me that you keep an eye on our sdm forum. Gotcha! Lol

By the way, very nice post! Some weeks go empty if we talk about cashback apps. And sometimes it happens that there is a particular item that we use often is on sale for a very good price but then we find this item in our cloud touching stockpile that it doesnt make us want to go to store. Free or money makers are exception!

I have noticed that all this deal hunting has made me a habbitual shopper. I am trying very hard to become a very frugal shopper. What does this mean? Try not to buy items that i already have in my stockpile; try not to buy items i can live without; try to value money as compared to points. Simple! (I have said ithis last sentence with a very very heavy heart. Made me sad! This means i cant buy my bday present from sephora which was going to be make up) )

[coupon girl]

-I am trying to live that lifestyle amira -try to use up certain items in my stockpile -like bodywash and bars of soap -will not buy any the next while unless super cheap -mind you I did buy mens dove soap but its a stocking stuffer
-no more cleaners either

-like walkonby all the things I buy with points attached at p.c locations I use ,may try a rebate or if its something I use I will do it just got 6.50 cheque for dishwasher cleaner in the mail

-but hey I am with you walkonby if theres a promo for toilet paper or Kleenex(and its a good deal) I will try to always get it -cause I am always running to the toilet or blowing my nose -lol

-gonna try to put my tree up today -just did 2 loads of laundry before 7.00 a.m cause I woke up at 5.00 couldn't sleep

[sweet sparrow]

Since M&M Meats shops was a big hit get some more.

It was the can of Folgers that made all the excitement. I got another for them the year after which was met with a lot less enthusiasm.

Do they like to eat out? Maybe a gift card to their favourite restaurant.

They love to eat out, but they're in a small town and their favourite restaurants are local. I don't think they have gift cards.

I read a post by a smartcanucker ( ty @amira84 ) that said " are you shopping to save money OR to get points " ?

At first, I found I was doing that too and I changed the little tagline under my photo to "penny wise, pound foolish" to remind myself to stop doing that. It is hard though when you're faced with 10,000 points! That's my current PC offer this week, spend $50, get 10,000. I'm thinking of buying oatmeal, raisins, hot chocolate....

-I am trying to live that lifestyle amira -try to use up certain items in my stockpile -like bodywash and bars of soap -will not buy any the next while unless super cheap -mind you I did buy mens dove soap but its a stocking stuffer
-no more cleaners either

Definitely no more cleaners, body washes, soap, or conditioner for me too. Funny that I would buy conditioner if it's a really good price, but I'm very picky on shampoos. I have twice as much conditioner as shampoo! No more for me!

[sweet sparrow]

As for tracking rebates, I don't do it as well as I should. For the mail-in rebates, I write down on my calendar the last expected delivery date so I can call in if it's not received. For the cash back cheques, I leave the email that it's been sent in my inbox until it's received.

For SDM points, sometimes I forget to check. Tonight I'll try to check to be sure the points are in my account from the GC offer.

I think I used to be better at this before LO arrived, in that distant past life o'mine.

Oh, scored the last Christmas gift for the kids yesterday. They didn't have the one I wanted in stock but they did have a slightly cheaper version that they put on hold for me. LO had to wait an extra 20 minutes at daycare for me to pick her up, unfortunately. The total, including tax, for five kids came to $36.92. I'm excited about that!

My new CC just came in so I can order the necklace from the US today. I'm still hesitant because of the poor exchange rate. I really should have bought this last year or the year before!

[lizzie bargain]

I also don't track how much I save in miles, pts etc. But occasionally if I feel I have had a good month I will quickly add up what I have saved that month and it encourages me to keep at it. I don't do the mobile apps as I have a cheap dumb phone for emergencies and to increase my phone bill by $30+ per month to use mobile coupon apps does not make sense for me( if you already have a smart phone it would be worth it). We can do CO 51 on our home computer but it takes forever for me to get to $20 as we don't buy many of the things that rebates are offered on-and not worth driving all the way to Walmart to save $2.00 on my produce). Still do occasional MIR and I keep a list of these and airmiles, SDM pts owed in case I need to phone about them ( which often happens unfortunately). We often take advantage of sign up bonus offers on credit cards that waive the annual fee for the first year and these extra points can be used for travel, gift cards etc.

[saundyl]

I kept track of coupons for a year by paper and a year by dropping the savings into a can....to make a point to my family that it did add up.

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