Serious September Savers Frugal Chatter

[Frugalbigmama]

Kitchen is clean again! Should clean out the fridge now and empty all the garbage cans in the house then shower time!

[jasperandchar]

My box full of garden tomatoes are ripening very quickly. I will need to do up another dozen or so tomorrow. Just make them into tomato sauce and freeze them. This is somewhat difficult at the moment because I do not have a food processor and LO has been sick for the past thee days. He has cut 2 teeth since Thursday. He also might not be feeling good because he had his 1yr immunizations on the 19th. I was told that he could run a fever 1-2wks after and even break out in a rash from it. He was certainly running a high fever last night...102ish+. Poor little guy. I hope that he starts to feel better soon. I should head to bed because he is currently asleep in his crib. The last two nights have been rough, so I don't know how soon he will be calling for me.

Hope your little guy feels better soon and you and he both get some well deserved sleep and of course your dh too.

[jasperandchar]

Unfortunately I don't have any couponing friends lol. Actually my coworkers make fun of me but I think some are secretly jealous! I don't care how much you make, a dollar is a dollar! Especially when I come in with my full size choc bars come Halloween!

I don't have any couponing friends either (only you ladies on here). If people want to laugh because I coupon or get jaw dropping deals sometimes let them . I can't afford to pay full price for much these days and choose to pick what I purchase based on sales, price matching and of course my beloved coupons. Atleast you don't have someone trying to compete with you over the sales and coupons at work just smile and wave boys....

[jasperandchar]

Good morning all! I've been up for several hours already-I'm in Amherst, NY with my girlies. Not much shopping, picked up some packages, did some exchanges, not very frugal but we have been good. Saw Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 in 3D it was so cute! I'm on my way home this afternoon after the last of my errands. Wrote a blog post, had breakfast, going to slowly pack up and gather receipts together. Oh, and going to snag this deal at Tops (grocery store chain). Get this girls: buy 1 chuck roast, get all of the following for free: 3 lbs potatoes, 2 llbs yellow onions, 1 lb carrots, bag of green beans, bag of dinner rolls, 2 L of pop and a 12 ct mini decorated cupcakes. For real!

glad you had a wonderful time with your girlies, that's totally outrageous grab many chuck roasts that's unbelievable, great job and you are being frugal, see ya back in Canada

[cath007]

Pfew had brother came in even I said no,and said to me things not trues very intrusive brother (*?****,called my uncle explained I dont want him here and goodbye...he will have him

[cath007]

Inquiring mind: Anyone still have mir form for the Moisson Santé Tomatos sauce MIR x3...I was not aware it was not finish and I would like to do it too,it finish the december 2013.Thank you

[cath007]

I don't have any couponing friends either (only you ladies on here). If people want to laugh because I coupon or get jaw dropping deals sometimes let them . I can't afford to pay full price for much these days and choose to pick what I purchase based on sales, price matching and of course my beloved coupons. Atleast you don't have someone trying to compete with you over the sales and coupons at work just smile and wave boys....

I dont have couponning friend appart 1 meeted in here and we live same city 3 Streets away 5 min away so its great,I am very happy to said I compared my bill grocery with brother one and for 60$ he have nothing no pm no coupon...and he make remarks I have so much stock lol

[Crochetlady]

I don't have any couponing friends either (only you ladies on here). If people want to laugh because I coupon or get jaw dropping deals sometimes let them . I can't afford to pay full price for much these days and choose to pick what I purchase based on sales, price matching and of course my beloved coupons. Atleast you don't have someone trying to compete with you over the sales and coupons at work just smile and wave boys....

None of my friends coupon unless I find and give them coupons. Had one laugh and call me the coupon lady but she couldn`t wait to take the 20 dog treat coupons I had for her.

[PammieD]

I have a question for all you smart ladies .
If you had a choice of receiving in a trade $100 worth of wishlist coupons or a $10 GC, which would you choose?
I am just wondering which is really the better value (that is assuming you had a choice, I realize this is not always possible and that is why GC's are sometimes offered instead of coupons)

My shopping last week consisted of 3 x 4L Milk , 2 dozen eggs & 1 loaf of bread.
I can't believe I got out of the store with only that, but we were well stocked up on everything else . I may possibly have to pickup something for lunches for ds and dh, but I am hoping to get creative and find something in the house without having to go shopping until the weekend.

Yesterday I made Flour Tortillas (wraps), Peanutbutter Banana Muffins and Blueberry Cake Squares.
The muffins can't go in the school lunches but I still have more bananas to use up so will make some Banana Bread Muffins for ds lunches today.

Menu planning does not seem to work in this house there's always someone who doesn't feel like having what's on the menu,lol.
The best I can do is have a general idea of what kinds of meals to make with what we have on hand and try to keep track of the meat supply.

I would go for coupons if they were long expiries and things that I would ACTUALLY use....For example, I have A LOT of laundry detergent at the moment, so I used my September 30th Sunlight coupons, but didn't trade for more. The 3 I got on my own were enough. If it were for perishable foods or things we consume more quickly, and I'm going to have time to use them....My rationale is that saving $100 is more than $10, but where I have to SPEND more money to use that $100, it's not worth it if it's not money I'm not going to be spending anyway.

Just received an email for our 1st hockey tournament in November. 3 days long and 3.5 hours away! So much for staying local. Oh well. I wanted to take the kids away for a weekend in the Fall to a hotel with a pool so I guess this will be it. But don't want my highschooler missing school (or my hockey player but what can I do) so hoping Grandma will bring him to me on the Saturday. Will pack a cooler with drinks and snacks and breakfast food etc. and lunch stuff so I'm/we aren't eating fries at the arena lol And enjoy at least 1 nice dinner out! Looking forward to it now

I'm totally hoping my daughter doesn't want to get into sports competitively...or at least nothing that interferes with going to the cottage skiing in the winter. Maybe she'll want to play soccer like her daddy...here's hoping!

Good for you! I'm at a point where I really need to stop shopping and start using up what we have! Planning on just buying fresh fruit and veggies the next while and start cleaning out the cupboards and freezer. Will buy good sale items but feel like I have really been shopping the last few weeks since I found so many good deals! (but didn't overspend so all good )

That's been my goal for September...quasi fail, but the last 2 weeks have been more successful...I have a fully stocked chest freezer as well as my regular fridge freezer so there's no excuse. I actually tried making a meal plan for the week (Don't think it's going to work too well), but now that my daughter is in daycare, I have no excuse for not cooking since I'm home alone all day. I also have to send food with her to daycare every day because she's on a special meal plan (they can't accommodate a gluten free diet for her allergy so I'm SOL). So annoying. Everything has to be labelled in detail etc. so it's not really something I can throw together last second.

Why must everything take 3x as long to accomplish when you have a baby?? Wanted to take pictures and post my maternity clothing on kijiji this morning and it took me over 3 hours between feeding and calming her down I don't ever remember DS being this fussy.

Anyways they are finally posted and I am hoping someone will be interested in the entire lot as I'm only asking $200 for 7 dress pants and jeans, 5 capris, 3 shorts, 1 leggings, 6 tops, 4 tanks and a tankini. Over 3/4 is in like new condition and 95% is from Thyme or Motherhood which we all know how expensive those stores are!

My parents say if my younger brother born first then he would have been an only child. We're torn because Alexa is truly an 'easy' baby, but she's also full of rage-oh-hol. She's super happy, until she's not. When she's not, she's a psycho.

GreetingsSeptember got me $5.00 off my $30 order and i got free shipping.

Did you use ebates? This is my new favourite thing! I have no idea how I've never used it before!

Morning! Did most of the laundry last night but put in another load so I'm not finished yet (but I guess we never are!) Made taco meat (sent both kids with tacos in their lunch today) Fried up eggs last night to make fast Egg mcmuffins this morning for breakfast. Will have to deal with my 3 family packs of beef tonight after parents night at school. Baked chicken breasts last night and cut up broccoli so all I have to do is steam it and make us a quick dinner. Will be organizing the freezer tonight so will take out pork chops or something for the crockpot for tomorrow nights dinner. Brought all my food needed for work today including my morning coffee so no spending $ today at all

The no spending on stuff like Timmies and making breakfast at home etc has been a major goal of mine this past month. I've been doing OK with it.

Goals:
1) a part time job with a shift or two a week OR an entirely new higher paying job. --- Success!

2) find 3 or 4 meals for a slow cooker that the boys like for hockey nights. - Still looking.

3) I'd like to get the bills and spending back in check. - The power bill was less than i thought it would be even with the late bit that wasnt in last months budget!

4) a goal for earning $40 on swagbucks cashed out towards amazon.ca - Have $30 in Amazon cards - and can order 2 more on the 1st of October.

5) eat healthier & hopefully loose a few summer pounds. -- Weighed myself today **shudder** Started my raspberry Ketone/Garcinia Cambogia (made a mistake when i ordered and it ended up being alot more expensive than planned but have now cancelled any future shipments) Will be trying this for 1 month.

6) sell some scrapbooking paper/albums and punches that i haven't touched since i moved up here a year ago -- advertised...no bites
7) Ordering Christmas gifts & Creating a budget. - Budget designed. 2 scarves complete, 4 gifts ordered 1 of the 4 has already arrived at its destination. 2 gifts pre-ordered - release date is the end of October. I'd like to have all gifts ordered/purchased/shipped by the 30th of November.
8) Ipad repair - when complete will net me $100 for the parts and labour. Working on removing the screen and digitizer today. Will hopefully be complete by the 30th of the month. I'm slow as people keep puting junk on my work space when i walk away.

Slowcooker meal ideas (my new year's resolution was to use mine at least once a week....lasted for about...a week? maybe two...FAIL!). I've made a great Cashew Chicken in it (Pinterest Win), and I started using Epicure's Pulled Pork seasoning (Disclaimer - I sell Epicure so I guess it's kinda a plug, but still....I'll be the first to say when I don't like one of the products). This one was a winner. I used half a pack, a bit of vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar and I think water? Mix it up, throw in a pork roast and let er go. I found it to have a bit of kick (but apparently I'm weak because Alexa looooved it and she's not even 1) and my husband is a pulled pork freak and loved it. Said it's his favourite thing I've ever cooked...bahahahaha. I'll let you know if I find anymore keeper recipes. I'm kinda picky because I don't like using a lot of prepared ingredients in my recipes these days (even adding Ketchup to the pork seasoning kinda bugged me...but really, I love ketchup). We tried a sage/mushroom chicken thing last week but didn't like it because it was 'too earthy' and the rice didn't cook very well. I'd love any 'tried and true' slow cooker recipe suggestions though.

Who makes frugal vegetable broth? I can never seem to keep chicken broth in my freezer, so it's time to expand my horizons? Do you just use vegetable peels and such?

I gave up on making broth. I always ended up failing pretty phenomenally when trying to make it for no apparent reason. It's not like it's brain surgery. I also have to stay away from all of the weird chemicals in bouillon cubes though because of some pretty severe allergies so I just use my Epicure broths now. 1 tsp/cup of boiling water. I'm good with it.

Kitchen is clean again! Should clean out the fridge now and empty all the garbage cans in the house then shower time!

I did mine too! I also hit the kitchen cupboards and filled three bags with food that I'm donating to the food bank. We've just had them sitting around for a while and either can't use it because of allergies (like Alexa to wheat and/or gluten) or we didn't like it (Bistro Express nastiness). Gave me a chance to get stuff up off of my counter and put away.

October Goals:
1. Attack one room/section of the house per day now that Alexa is in daycare.
2. Get at least 20 hours/wk of consulting work (or a FT job).
3. Book 4 Epicure fundraisers to happen by Christmas time (at $5/kit profit for the organization, I can't see it being too hard to complete this goal because the kits are great for xmas etc, but I'm a HORRIBLE introvert when it comes to selling people on something and cold calling etc so...). We'll see.
4. I feel like I need a fourth goal...I'll come back to this!!!

[cath007]

being so pissed you want to cry and scream
My brother is on break with is 6 months now girlfriend,and if they comeback togheter they want a life and a baby in 2-3 months,at least get a cat or dog to see responsabilities if you are able or not,2 it is a big decision to make not just like that..I am fine with that not my choice of business,but brother own me money,even if he dont make up on his budget I want to get refunded at least a little bit,it is more important than a baby ....ewwwwwww...sorry but I just said that to him very rude because it is the only way it is to catch something,me,me,me me,my girlfriend...hey...hi....I am there,so frustrated,noneless to said no goodbye and all those nice things where said by me.


I have no familly now,by choice because it was the problem and that it,no head people dont deserve to be in my life,the others will suffer the conséquences,I suffer enough..

[cath007]

October goals: being organisated and HAPPY

[jasperandchar]

Pfew had brother came in even I said no,and said to me things not trues very intrusive brother (*?****,called my uncle explained I dont want him here and goodbye...he will have him

cath sorry to hear your brother gave you a hard time, hope things turn around, sounds like you are doing awesome with all your cleaning up and organizing, great job

[jasperandchar]

I dont have couponning friend appart 1 meeted in here and we live same city 3 Streets away 5 min away so its great,I am very happy to said I compared my bill grocery with brother one and for 60$ he have nothing no pm no coupon...and he make remarks I have so much stock lol

cath you're a smart shopper and it shows, people notice

[jasperandchar]

October goals: being organisated and HAPPY

I 2nd that cath great goals indeed

[MrsSunshine]

October goals.. hmm
organize pick up of all items needed for upcoming event
make project for it myself.
finish shopping for and make 5 other baskets for event.
conquer paperwork regarding son's OSAP.
get front yard/backyard ready for winter.
clean out car/vacuum one last time before winter
clean all house windows.
hopefully cleaning BOTH duvets (2 in 1) at the same time.
work on getting a few more gifts and SS.