August Frugal chatter

[MaddensMomma]

Meal plan - today (Friday) leftovers, Sat. steak w/ baked potatoe & corn, Sun. porc loin on the bbq w/ side salad corn, Monday Spaghetti w/ garlic bread, Tues. Pizza, Wed. hotdogs w/ fries, Thursday, homemade burgers, Friday - undecided. Staying away from the stores but if I do go out it will be to try and find 2 pepsi MIRs which I missed place but since we did a run to Home Depot for concrete to set the supports for the deck I don't forsee another trip out but ya never know when you are doing renos (you ladies know what I mean).

Were you able to still to your meal plan this weekend in the midst of doing renos? That is the hardest for us, especially on weekends, when we get going we just don't want to stop to cook dinner we end up ordering in something quick or running to grab fast food.

[MaddensMomma]

Enjoy your dinner tonight, it's always nice when you don't have to cook and the food in most cases always tastes better when you don't have to cook it

You should try making casseroles and taking them for your lunches as I know my dh got sick of eating those VH steamers even with the selection they have available. Or perhaps cook a roast and use the leftovers for hot sandwiches or cold sandwiches for lunches. I can't remember if it's your dh that hates eating leftovers or not. And my fav. egg salad sandwich is so easy to make ahead and so yummy. Have a good evening with your dh and his manager.

Dinner was great on Friday night, we ended up staying until 2 in the morning playing games.

I only have 2 1/2 weeks left of packing lunches for myself so I am not too worried. I take leftovers when we have them but it's not too often as we tend to cook what we know we will eat.

DH will not eat leftovers unless it's pizza, and even then he will only eat it the day after. He won't even use leftover roast beef for stew, but trust me he will learn to like otherwise when I'm home on mat leave and doing all the cooking

Luckily DH comes home for lunch most days and usually has cheese and crackers or pb&banana sandwiches... yuck lol but he likes it and it's cheap so I'm not complaining. I also pick him up those mini pizzas when they are on sale for $1 for the days he is stuck at work he keeps them in his freezer at work and can pull 1 out.

[Angela273]

There has been some new produce in my garden for us to eat in the last week. We have started to enjoy some young zucchinis and cherry tomatoes. We were already eating peas, swisschard, potatoes, and green onions (done for the season).

I stopped over to visit my neighbour across the street yesterday afternoon. She has three children, her youngest son is 10 months older than my baby boy. She is done having children, so she has been giving me clothes and toys for our son (most for keep, some to borrow). She knows that I coupon and I mentioned to her that I found infant Tylenol on sale at WM for $5, just in case she needed any. She said that she is so broke she can't even afford that. When I asked her a couple of questions, she told me that they were running low on food, but she was hoping that her long term boyfriend (father of the children, and lives with them) would see what they had left and finally step up and buy some food. With a little coaxing I managed to get her to come back to my house briefly to get some food. I was able to send her home with 3 grocery bags of food from my pantry and freezer. I know about her and his relationship and it really bothers me when a guy doesn't step up and care for his children. I don't just mean financially either, he's a bit of an absentee dad.

[Angela273]

I just checked out the NF early flier. I am planning on picking up some chicken thighs for $1.67/lb. VH steamers are on sale for $2.97. I have $2 off coupons, so I'll pay 97c each. I'll stick those in the fridge for my work lunches. I head back to work as a teacher in less than a month. My maternity leave claim is up in just less than 2wks time.

We're going to be in a bit more of a financial crunch soon. As I was saying, my EI claim will be up in just less than 2wks time. I start back to work in September as a substitute teacher because I do not have a teaching contract to return to. Since I am a substitute...I work in September, but do not get paid until mid-October. That means that I will be completely without an income for about 6wks. Dh works full-time, but it is not enough to cover all of our regular expenses. We are also currently dealing with the insurance claim for the hail damage on our house, garage, and shed...which comes with a $1,000 deductible that we will need to pay.

[sweet sparrow]

Can someone please teach my DH how to live a frugal lifestyle? I have tried many times and seem to be failing lol.

My DH needs that class too! It drives me crazy, but DH says that's just the way he is and refuses to change.

Whoops, LO just woke up because of the phone. It's turned way down, but she's got ears like a bunny.

Post pregnancy, did anyone continue to use cream on their stretch marks? I'm not sure if it's making any difference now.

[MaddensMomma]

My DH needs that class too! It drives me crazy, but DH says that's just the way he is and refuses to change.

Whoops, LO just woke up because of the phone. It's turned way down, but she's got ears like a bunny.

Post pregnancy, did anyone continue to use cream on their stretch marks? I'm not sure if it's making any difference now.

I use The Body Shop body butter during pregnancy to help prevent stretch marks. Haven't gotten a single one yet this time around. Last time I did get them on the rear-end (didn't think to put lotion there) and the Palmer's Cocoa butter worked great.

[blueeyetea]

Can someone please teach my DH how to live a frugal lifestyle? I have tried many times and seem to be failing lol.

My husband, bless him, is the poster child for being frugal. I was the problem, although I believed I was very good with my money because I didn't carry any debt, i.e. I paid my credit card balance every month, made ends meet, etc. I never seemed to have enough money to put away for savings at the end of the month.

It wasn't until I got myself the book "Your Money of Your Life" and did the steps in the book did I start seeing the light, although it took about 5 months before I started really seeing a dent in my spending habits. One of the tools used was the hourly rate, like I mentionned in an earlier post, which was an eye opener. The one step that had the most profound effect on me was asking myself every month, if the money I spent brought fulfillment to my life and would I still be making the same purchase if I wasn't working. The first month everything was a necessity. After five months, I had to ask myself why I was spending the same $$$ on my hobbies, when I already had a room full of unstarted projects. Overnight, I stopped buying supplies for my hobbies.

The whole idea of the book is to live a frugal lifestyle to save yourself from the tyranny of needing to have a job, which our consumerist society goes against by making us slaves to buying our happiness. (Just the other day, on another thread, I saw someone bragging that they rewarded themselves with buying a rolex (and already owning 5) as a reward for working so much... Why wouldn't they put the money in the bank and quit working a year earlier than they planned?)

I suggest you go and get yourself the book and do the steps with your DH, if he's willing. Only when he feels it in his heart that he wants to be frugal will it happen.

[blueeyetea]

"Your Money of Your Life" and did the steps in the book

You know, if we ever ran out of topics for these monthly threads, it would be a fun exercise to go through together and we could report on how we're doing, a bit like some of us are finding good deals. Not this month, though. I'm going on vacation this Friday and I would hate it if I couldn't participate.

[MaddensMomma]

I have looked at the No Frills, Food Basics and FreshCo flyers for next week on here... my 3 "go to" places for the best sales... nothing good on sale next week

[Frugalbigmama]

I have looked at the No Frills, Food Basics and FreshCo flyers for next week on here... my 3 "go to" places for the best sales... nothing good on sale next week

Good lol, will make me keep being creative and using up our freezer stuff.

[Giseledta]

morning all. busy day so far. lots of running and outside time. a wonderful thing. I made a wonderful roast beef last night, so we are eating roast beef for lunch today. The dc kids love roast beef,. ) not sure about supper yet... need to figure that out.
Plan is to fold laundry after the kids are gone. lol. it never seems toget done. hopefully I will be able to tackle the pantry tidy as well. maybe..... lol. have fun all no spending today.

[MaddensMomma]

Well this weekend we got all our furniture set up in the basement, it looks really good despite not having a ceiling yet LOL.

I have been busy organizing my scrapbook and crafting area. Went out to get one of those small sets of drawers to put stuff in (the one that sits on a desk or shelf) from Canadian Tire and found a huge selection of TV's on clearance! We have been saving the remainder of our wedding money to buy a second TV when the basement was finished... well we found a 46 inch flat screen LED for $300!!!!

Then second, I wanted one of those racks/shelves with 1 inch slots for storing paper, etc but they were SO expensive ($50 each at Michaels). Instead, I followed this tutorial: http://catricks-creations.blogspot.c...solutions.html and saved myself $80! I bought a similar package to the tutorial (except a bit bigger) and was able to get 2 of those shelves/racks out of one package (on sale for $20!)

[cath007]

Are you talking about the free breakfast items? I think mine took closer to 2-3 weeks.

No,the promo with the new Cherioss boxes -the fruits rool or the box of nature valley.But that give me an idea .Thank you

[Granger]

I think my issue is being afraid I'll never fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes and have to buy a whole new wardrobe. The cost of that really scares me, not to mention the time it takes to find all those clothes because my sizing is never considered average.

Can't I just stay home with LO? She doesn't care if I wear a bag, but the people at work might.

A tip from a friend that helps me too is maternity-wear is only called that with your first pregnancy, after that it is called eternity-wear. Not because you are doomed to wear it for eternity, but because who is to say you can't wear it after if it makes you feel good. She had a hard time with her body changes and is very frugal. I bought a swim suit this summer, found out later it was maternity. Tummy masking clothing seems to compliment my body type well.

[jasperandchar]

Can someone please teach my DH how to live a frugal lifestyle? I have tried many times and seem to be failing lol.

I would suggest implementing 1 frugal change/saving over a 2-3 week period or so that it gets ingraved in his brain/ways. If you try too many things at once he may be resistant as it's just too many things. So start with 1, maybe start with the easier ones such as bringing his coffee in the am from home and not Tim Hortons (example only) then move onto another task/challenge. A lot of people are resistant to changes wether large or small....so baby steps. Even things like writing notes such as I love you don't forget your coffee (lol). If you want to share what you are having challenges with I am sure the creative & frugal ladies on here are willing to make suggestions.