October Frugal Chatter - Harvest the Savings

[Insane]

My life has been going off the rails lately. Good news is all the extra money I earn on travel has been going a long way in helping me to recover from the financial mess Aug/Sept creates. Just need to come up with the money for my son's bus pass. I've ranted about it before we can't get the "subsidized" rate as we live too close to the school. Regardless of the fact that he needs to take the bus to a program half way across town. The difference is $200 vs $480! If we lived one street over, we'd live far enough away. It's frustrating.

How are people planning financially for Christmas for your kids. I can't figure out the best way to plan for the kids. Either set something like a 4 present limit for each kid or set a $amount? I'm struggling with how to keep christmas frugal for my kids who some still believe in Santa and one doesn't (and who'll just play with the bows anyways)

[Insane]

Anyone know of any cheap car rental websites? I'm going to be in Edmonton next week for a conference and budget wants $220 for the 36ish hours I'll be in town! Thinking of renting from Thrifty's or something like that as they charge by the km and I won't be doing too much. But they aren't located at the airport. I'd have to take a shuttle.

[dreamcatcher1962]

Well this morning started with an early morning phone call.
They figured I was up! I had just gotten up 11 minutes prior.
Unfortunately we lost another one to cancer.

Here's hoping everyone has a great day, and please remember to enjoy your life..live it...have fun..tell the people you love that you love them...do the things you want to do...Live life.

So sorry for your loss.
We have a dear friend fighting cancer right now as well. It's hard to see someone you care about go through that.
((hugs))

[Caseythegoalie]

jas.. i got them at Metro.. I went back when there were on sale for $6.97... they didnt' have any so i got a RC.. it expired in 30 days. so i was on their tails heavy like to make sure i got them before it ended. when i saw them in their flyer today i was like YES.. sure enough they had the amount i needed.
they were $9.97 in the flyer though. thank goodness for rain checks.. which i totally learned about on here!!!
with the help of some $6 off coupons.. $.99 each!!

Omg I never think of rain cheques I keep checking and they never had any:/

[dreamcatcher1962]

For those of you with kids in High School, you might want to start saving for Graduation now, lol.

Ds and I went to a grad meeting the other night (hard to believe he is in his last year of high school), we got all the details we need for graduation and more info on scholarships, bursaries, Universities/Colleges etc.

Don't let anyone tell you it doesn't cost money to leave High School.

Grad Fess $160
School Ring $100 (Basic model), they go up from there.
Grad Year Book $38
Tux Rental for Prom $100 ?? (guessing at that one)
Grad Pictures $200+ (I think that's what they cost for DD)- going to check out other options for this one.

Think I'm going to check out WM and Superstore for prices on Grad Pictures. Has anyone else had experience with either of them for this kind of photo? Just wondering how they compare with the School Photographers in regards to quality.

On a positive note, ds won a draw at the meeting for $20 off on his Grad pictures and has some money (approx $60) set aside from a school project he worked on last year that goes towards grad expenses.

[coupon girl]

oh that's such a relief & a blessing. You are going to be a great Nana, what is your dh going to be called, besides maybe late for dinner sometimes (lol).

my hubby will be called papa-so nana and papa-her parents are grandma and grandpa

[dreamcatcher1962]

Hi ladies,
I posted a question in one of the other forums regarding the $5 Energizer Ultimate Lithium Battery coupon but haven't had any replies yet.
Hoping one of you can shed some light on it for me.
Please check it out here and let me know what you think.
Thanks

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/368400-...coupon-canada/

[Natalka]

Good morning, all!

Wow, grads really vary by school, city, province....

Our son's wasn't too bad, a few years ago.

Bought him a suit, it was $150. Guys there don't rent tuxes.
Bout for him and wrist corsage for date were 30.
Cap and gown rental - 25 or 30
No special grad yearbook, no grad ring (think that's a bad idea, anyway, IMHO)
After grad party - 45 (included drinks, food, and a gorgeous blanket with school crest)

They had the regular school photographer (Lifetouch) come in and do grad pictures, so cost was similar to any school package you would choose. What I did for giveaway grad pics was to order Christmas cards - and the photo was 4x6 so I just cut off the bottom with the words and sent the photos for family/friends.

I don't know about the quality of photos at WM, but we've had portraits done at Sears and they were great.

Check there, they often have ongoing offers
http://www.searsportrait.ca/default.aspx

[coupon girl]

well time to have a bubble bath -my knee is aching -arthritis from the rainy weather-cant even kneel to clean the tub -oh my it sucks to get older-then work on cleaning the house today -gonna stay home -close to home as son is working 12 hour shifts of days this weekend -she may need us to drive her to hospital if need be

[Natalka]

coupon girl, you must be SO excited!

Our niece had a baby girl yesterday - no name or pics yet, just that all went well, and that my husband's youngest brother is a grandfather, lol! He's a year younger than me!

[saundyl]

I would call your power company and see what's going on it may be your bank's fault as if paying at the bank it takes 1-2 days to get to the company (bill) you are paying.

I never purchase lottery tickets, I never have but dh buys them when the odds are ridiculous and unlikely to win but he never brings them in to get checked???

I've found with the power company here anything paid Wednesday via online banking posts by friday evening. But the letter was printed and mailed 10 days after the original bill was printed & before the actual due date. 4

He never takes them in to get checked? I've seen people take 20 or more in at a time to get checked - they take forever!

[cdngal75]

My life has been going off the rails lately. Good news is all the extra money I earn on travel has been going a long way in helping me to recover from the financial mess Aug/Sept creates. Just need to come up with the money for my son's bus pass. I've ranted about it before we can't get the "subsidized" rate as we live too close to the school. Regardless of the fact that he needs to take the bus to a program half way across town. The difference is $200 vs $480! If we lived one street over, we'd live far enough away. It's frustrating.

How are people planning financially for Christmas for your kids. I can't figure out the best way to plan for the kids. Either set something like a 4 present limit for each kid or set a $amount? I'm struggling with how to keep christmas frugal for my kids who some still believe in Santa and one doesn't (and who'll just play with the bows anyways)

I have a 15 year old and an 11 year old. We set the same amount for both and then try to purchase the same amount of gifts each. This is getting harder each year because the gifts they want are more expensive. So one might get only a few gifts but they still equal the same amount as the others. My husband gets a bonus every year at Christmas so that money is what we use for gifts for everyone. I try not to spend too much. The kids get the bulk of the money and then my husband and I do about $150 each. We did about 10 years of not buying each other anything....and my husband hated it. He grew up in a family where Christmas was a big deal so I think it bummed him out not getting each other gifts. Being my frugal(cheap)self, I was good with no gifts

[cdngal75]

Its a good thing LOL (from what i've heard each of the three boys got a million and then the parents gambled it rest away anyways)

Yeah there are a lot of stories like that. So many end up worse off. Go figure. Guess it has something to do with not having had to work for it the hard way.

[saundyl]

My life has been going off the rails lately. Good news is all the extra money I earn on travel has been going a long way in helping me to recover from the financial mess Aug/Sept creates. Just need to come up with the money for my son's bus pass. I've ranted about it before we can't get the "subsidized" rate as we live too close to the school. Regardless of the fact that he needs to take the bus to a program half way across town. The difference is $200 vs $480! If we lived one street over, we'd live far enough away. It's frustrating.

How are people planning financially for Christmas for your kids. I can't figure out the best way to plan for the kids. Either set something like a 4 present limit for each kid or set a $amount? I'm struggling with how to keep christmas frugal for my kids who some still believe in Santa and one doesn't (and who'll just play with the bows anyways)

We decided this year its a set dollar amount or "less" if we get things on sale. We decided on$200 for each boy - So far I've gotten 2 ds games and 4 dvds - got all the dvds with amazon gift cards and as the ds games are amazon and pre-order i can apply gift cards to them as we go til november. if i dont apply gift cards to the ds games its so far 40 dollars spent apeice.

Yeah there are a lot of stories like that. So many end up worse off. Go figure. Guess it has something to do with not having had to work for it the hard way.

The saddest thing with that family winning is - the father was a rcmp officer who was forced into retirement because of gambling problems.

[Crochetlady]

Met a friend for coffee yesterday. She brought a top with her that she got in the US last year. I`ve only seen her wear it once...decided she didn`t like it after all. She knew I loved it so she offered it to me instead of sending it to the thrift shop. Really made my day.

I found the Dempsters veggie bread at Walmart yesterday with $1 coupons on it. The cashier said I could only use 1 because it said 1 per purchase. Gave her a lesson on the meaning and she was ok with that. Well, was my face red when I tried to use the B1G1 chocolate bar coupons. Hadn`t read the fine print(darn small print...need a magnifying glass). It was 1 per customer. She was nice about it so I gave her a couple of them.
Also found the Softsoap foaming on sale at Zehrs. Was going to get a few but this time I read the coupon first. It was 1 per customer also.