October Frugal Chatter - Harvest the Savings

[jasperandchar]

The boys are excited to watch the Walking Dead tonight, Jaden will be watching last weeks episode at 8PM and then the new show at 9PM, I am not a fan, I find it gross, I don't mind blood but it's the other stuff (if you've seen the show or watch it) you know what I am it's just eeek.... Does anyone know the conversion from 1 pack of bread yeast or yeast pack vs. the loose stuff in a bottle? I've thinking of trying out buns or bread but don't by the yeast packs.

[Insane]

Last week I finnally bought a kitchenaid mixer and I think I am in love. So far i have made chocolate chip cookies, pancakes and now DH is trying his hand at bread. I think it will turn out to be a wise investment.

We got ours as a wedding gift 8yrs ago and have been in love ever since (hee hee hee with each other and the mixer!) I used to have a bunch of attachments. But then about 2.5yrs ago I impulse bought the Kitchenaid Food processor on the shopping channel. OMG! I thought I was in love before, but it was nothing compared to my love for my food processor. I use it daily. In fact, I often have to wash out the bowl to use multiple times in a day. Honestly, greatest Kitchenaid invention EVER!

I have been toying with the idea of upgrading my mixer to a bigger one. I have the Artisan and thinking of going bigger. Hubby salvaged an old one and fixed up adn I tried it (before we donated it to the daycare) and it was much better. But it had its pitfalls too. I wouldn't be able to use it for small tasks. And I'm not sure how I feel about the lift mechanism.

[lilo0003]

Wow that's a fabulous price, I think I seen someone posted that somewhere on SC last week or the week before, can't go wrong with the price. Were the rolls like and fluffy?

It was from the post Torotogal did on Monday I would never had noticed it. And I got HBC points. They were dense but still yummy. We will have to toy with it to find the perfect recipe.

[lilo0003]

The boys are excited to watch the Walking Dead tonight, Jaden will be watching last weeks episode at 8PM and then the new show at 9PM, I am not a fan, I find it gross, I don't mind blood but it's the other stuff (if you've seen the show or watch it) you know what I am it's just eeek.... Does anyone know the conversion from 1 pack of bread yeast or yeast pack vs. the loose stuff in a bottle? I've thinking of trying out buns or bread but don't by the yeast packs.

we only had the jar as well and it is 2 and a quarter teaspoons to equal I packet

[coupon girl]

oh boy just got back from seeing"captain Phillips" an Oscar contender for sure -excellent movie-had a burger at a burger shop -ate it in the car with hubby -I had brought my own water bottle-cost 10.00-then bought us at shoppers buy 1 get 1 chocolate bar -so .49 each -show free tickets form icoke from last year-oh I so needed a date night -so happy

[avoncallingu]

That's a great savings method! And when you see an upcoming expense like driving school lessons, I'm happy that you might be able to approach it "painlessly."

Do you have a budget amount for utilities? (if you pay them)
I budget $170 a month for Gas (Enbridge) and Power.
I started transferring the difference (I'm usually under) to a savings account so on the few months when I'm over budget I have the excess $ there and ready and it doesn't affect my monthly budget. (in the summer I have a few high power bills due to the A/C on 24/7. My goal for my utility account is to get to a $500 balance (I'm almost there) and then will have to decide what to do with the difference after I get to my goal. Maybe put the difference in an account to save up for driving school for DS?
This month my gas bill was $53.14 and power was $69.84 so transferred $47.00 to my utility account.

[avoncallingu]

I'm the same with "The Long Island Medium" - even if I've seen it, I love watching her "antics!"

Hiya ladies, watching extreme couponing marathon on TLC channel 521 on the bell sat. Even though I've seen them all I still like the excitement, I know it's not real but it's a pass time

[Frugalbigmama]

Inquiring Minds - when will you start your Christmas Decorating? Will it be earlier than last year or the same?

This year we are totally decorating November 30th weekend And all Christmas shopping is to be done and wrapped and ready! We are enjoying the holiday time walking in the snow, entertaining friends and family and not being stressed doing last minute shopping etc

[cath007]

I am done with couponning ,I lost my only passion and hobby for now..and trying to argue with people who dont want to heard nothing and break me,thank you very much familly for losing my confidence,the good person I was and break me....it is so appreciated,to be yell at each day no mather what and you are always the problem and those people just disapear after all the hurt they do....yeah

[cath007]

....How you can just kept hurting the people and just walk away .....

[cath007]

Have a good night everyone,

[Insane]

holy moly 10 pounds of potatoes, I know it can take 10 cups of flour but I guess I never even thought amount a large quantity of veggies, now you got me thinking MrsSunshine. Do you make bread dough in it, and if so which recipe do you use and is it light and fluffy, we don't like dense/heavy bread. PS I love the name Pearl.

I LOVE this recipe. I swear by it. Works every time. I even had ground flax seed and oatmeal. You can half it and get 2 loaves or 1 loaf and a pan of buns. It freezes really well too.

http://myhealthygreenfamily.com/blog...es-like-white/

[avoncallingu]

Oh, Insane, I have to tell you about a date I had once! The gentleman - okay we were kids in university- was trying to impress me by cooking me a spaghetti supper at my home. When he went to shake the salad dressing, the lid wasn't on tightly and red French Dressing went EVERYWHERE! I BURST out laughing! Well, he wasn't too pleased but we DID continue to date for a couple of years! I hope you can look back at this post and laugh. But I DO understand the concept of "The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back."

One idea that has been going through my head - just for your consideration - you talk about YOUR responsibility to make ends meet, but it seems you have at least 3 people in your family. I'm wondering how THEY might help YOU and together, as a family, you could face the challenge. I hate to see you shoulder all the responsibility when 3 rowing the boat would make it easier than one. - Sorry if this is NONE OF MY BUSINESS! But it came as a shock to me last year when my brother said to me about a problem, "Oh, yeah, my sister who NEVER asks for help!" It made me realize that there are more shoulders than mine! I tend to take other people's problems and load them onto MY pile to solve. Just thinkin'!
I'm glad that you approached the school. I find it a little imposing that they just "expect" the volleyball team players to come up with this kind of financial output for a school activity!
I'm hoping the outlook is a bit brighter for you today.




Which on any other day, wouldn't get me so worked up, but right now I am just feeling so frustrated and exasberated, it seems like a catastrophe.

Oh and how could I forget that my son's school volleyball team decided at the last minute to take a trip to a tournament out of town? That's $200 for the bus and another $100 for meals. I sent him with his own snacks, but still. I mentioned to the school that the $200 might be hard for us, and they said they'd look at what they could do (especially if it meant the difference between the entire team going or not going-they had to have 6 kids). I feel bad having that discussion with the school considering we are a 2 income family. But we aren't squandering away our money (my biggest splurg this month is a new bread pan!). Our expenses are just huge lately. Again more money I don't have.

I've trimmed our grocery budget so far that now we are running out on basics, which means I'll need to restock soon. I'm just feeling overwhelmed.

Okay, wining over.....

I participated in a thrift sale. Sold a tonne of stuff (I just tag it and they sell it for me). I won't know how much I made until next week, but it should be a nice chunk of change. At the very least, it'll pay for the registration fee and stuff I bought at the sale (a mec snowsuit, a coat and a few other things). And as a plus all that stuff is out of my house![/QUOTE]

[MrsSunshine]

Inquiring Minds - when will you start your Christmas Decorating? Will it be earlier than last year or the same?

Considering last year I never even got to take out my decorations, this year dh has been made aware that Nov.20 everything is ok. thankfully after my purge earlier this year its only a few boxes already labeled. should be able to have the entire house done in one weekend MAX..
i've already printed out my christmas schedule so I know what I need to do and by when.. the ONLY reason im this organized is due to my Dad having surgery the end of next month. I'd really like to have everything done so if needed I can be there to help my Mom..

jas.. I haven't done anything yet with pearl so far except the taters.. by the end of next month that will be a whole other story.

so tired here.. made 4 batches of soup. (turkey and meatball)
have enough food prepared to make meals all week.
plus did all my laundry, prepped out to do lists for the week. I also have errands and meetings scheduled for the whole week. its going to fly. can't wait for Saturday.

[avoncallingu]

That is certainly a very traumatic event! I hope everything turned out ok!

Awww...thank you. I hope so too. She is not cold sick, but she needs to gain weight and throwing up her milk is not helping.

I hope this week, you find an equivalent of an $8 off coupon on diapers.

Friday was rough. I was actually going out for a diaper run and opened the garage door to find an unmarked police car in the driveway. He was investigating an incident. A few doors down, a neighbour's house had huge spotlights lighting up the front. There were police cars, firetrucks, ambulances, ... After picking up some milk, diapers, and wipes at SDM, I couldn't even get back onto the street. There was even more activity, onlookers, and....a forensics van parked outside my home. They were completely dressed in full gear and having a conference outside the home. My heart dropped as I had to leave my car and walk to the house.

Yesterday was a late night, not only because of LO being sick, but I stayed up a bit thinking of the residents of that house. I've never seen them before, and it's a bit awful to think that I'll be reading about a horrible event in next week's papers. I hope no one's been hurt.