Remember to be Frugal - November Frugal Chatter

[jasperandchar]

November..wow,October just flew by. Seems since I started reading these threads in July, time is just zooming by. Crazy windy day here in my part of Ontario. Need to get moving though. I feel like someone drugged me, but the only candy I ate last night was the stuff I bought Here's to a wonderful, warm, snowless November.

glad to have you continuing on with us, yes I agree I think October flew by at a rapid speed and now November begins with a heavy wind,

[jasperandchar]

Great shopping deals. I just read a post at about her no longer clipping coupons. Most responses were all for not couponing. I was thinking about everyone here getting amazing deals. I am still couponing for things I need. I was amazed so many seemed against it. I am all for saving money.

I agree great shopping, where was the post you are referring to I would be interested in reading it, just out of curiosity or nosiness (lol)

[jasperandchar]

What is this thread.. i'm reading and i'm

Hi Tasha, quick intro to the thread as it was started back in February as a frugal chatter, ways of saving money, positive encouragement for debt repayments, financial challenges or burdnes, etc....we are just a bunch that have been chatting and continue the frugal chatter since it started back in February as we find it beneficial and encouraging. Hope that sheds some light on what the thread is about and you are welcome to take part if you so choose to and if not that is fine as well.

[momof5boys]

Goals this month are majorly preparing meals from food in my freezers (both freezers are staying with the house when we move...they are both 40+ years old and I'm glad we don't have to move them! because they would die from the shock of being uprooted lol), decluttering continuing here. Moving is such an opportune time to get rid of anything and everything that we haven't used for a while b/c everything literally passes through our hands while packing. And I'll be started to pack of course.

Also wanting to get our grocery totals down even more for November. October totals were an amazing $284.58

[jasperandchar]

Just kind of a question for everyone. In general have you found the amount of coupons you use has gone down?

I have a ton of coupons but just cannot seem to get the deals I used too. Most weeks I am lucky to use 5 or so coupons. Even than lately I have found coupons we can use but still do not have the big shopping trips we used too. I guess it makes ask is it getting harder to coupon?

Like many others I only buy it if it is on sale, not on sale means we do not need it unless it is marked down with a peelie and even than it usually only something that never goes on sale or is bakery or produce. So my bills are not huge but in general my savings are good based on regular to sale price but my coupon savings are way down.

Hey you it's almost 4PM (lol), be warned I am going to babble... I agree I don't know if it's because the gals in general in the frugal chatter have changed our shopping ways and or purchases since we started back in February but I must admit like you I will only purchase if on sale and even better if I have a coupon to use at the same time. But I will admit my shopping purchases have changes so much since back in February as well what we purchase in general and the quantities have as well. If I don't have a coupon or if it's not on sale I will wait for it to come on sale, a few exceptions being staples (milk, bread, etc). I think the biggest thing is that the cost of groceries in general has increased so much that things costs so much more than they did this time last year. It's like gas prices we get excited when its under 1.20 but that's still high compared to 5 years ago let's say, you know what I mean, we have no choice but to adapt to the rising prices and this has changed the way we purchase everything in my opinion. I have lots of coupons I will admit but not many for the items that I purchase regularly so they are not being used and instead try to trade them for coupons that I can use. I find that my biggest savings is in price matching over using coupons as with the rising prices of groceries and I think that the grocery flyers/sales suck or maybe the retailers are in a sale(s) rut or something.....babbling, hope you get what I am trying to say regardless I am in total agreement with your points and situations.

[jasperandchar]

Subscribed as well This month challenge is all about change and independancy for me

cath so glad you checked in I was and we were wondering if you were okay, glad to see you are back

[jasperandchar]

Goals this month are majorly preparing meals from food in my freezers (both freezers are staying with the house when we move...they are both 40+ years old and I'm glad we don't have to move them! because they would die from the shock of being uprooted lol), decluttering continuing here. Moving is such an opportune time to get rid of anything and everything that we haven't used for a while b/c everything literally passes through our hands while packing. And I'll be started to pack of course.

Also wanting to get our grocery totals down even more for November. October totals were an amazing $284.58

holy crackers $284.58 for groceries for the month of October is absolutely wonderful....how do you do it? You have 5 boys I believe from your sc name, do they all still live at home, so are you 7 at home? I'll tell you I understand not moving your freezers but they certainly don't build the new ones like they used to....geez I feel so old saying this (lol), do you have a potential move day or are you still in the process of house shopping but perhaps have a short list of potential homes? yes moving can go either way, if you have the patience everything will pass through your hands and you will purge as you go along or in my case you just throw everything in boxes and plan to deal with it later which is what I did when we moved 8 years ago, I should have gone the patience root, it's more time consuming in the beginning but atleast it gets sorted out and purged.

[coupon girl]

jasper so nice of you to help out -maddensmom so impressed with your shopping too --I hit up 4 different stores today -why instead of price matching at one well -I wanted the 25 airmiles for the dish tabs at metro and sobeys was a stone throw away so thought id get market cut cod for 3.99-1.00 cpn=2.99 and boost my sobeys points -well I got a scop of 4.99 on the fish today and 1.00 on the other 2 fish so 7.00 extra in my pocket-then lococs had 10 pound of potatoes for 1.44 so all in all did good and got a few small xmas gifts at winners-book for baby 4.00 reg 6.00-my goals no setting any real hard ones this month -try to find a few xmas deals like I did today -stocked up on meat so I wont have to in dec-try to be frugal still in nov-its hard thou in the months leading into xmas -goodness where did October go to -oh yeah my daughter is having us and our dear friends for a dinner party Friday nov22-so that is nice too

[jasperandchar]

list of current mail in rebates, I will also post of 1st page of thread for easy reference http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/104615-...ebates-canada/

[momof5boys]

holy crackers $284.58 for groceries for the month of October is absolutely wonderful....how do you do it? You have 5 boys I believe from your sc name, do they all still live at home, so are you 7 at home? I'll tell you I understand not moving your freezers but they certainly don't build the new ones like they used to....geez I feel so old saying this (lol), do you have a potential move day or are you still in the process of house shopping but perhaps have a short list of potential homes? yes moving can go either way, if you have the patience everything will pass through your hands and you will purge as you go along or in my case you just throw everything in boxes and plan to deal with it later which is what I did when we moved 8 years ago, I should have gone the patience root, it's more time consuming in the beginning but atleast it gets sorted out and purged.

Just two boys left at home + any friends they drag home lol. The reason we've kept our grocery total so low is because of my freezers for sure.

We have bought a home - a little less space and that is a good thing. It is forcing us to purge and purging we are - majorly lol We rather get the decluttering done now than deal with it later.

[avoncallingu]

I agree J&C and Ashley - I find that I'm still expecting to find deodorant, for example, for .50 or so - which is how it worked out with coupons a couple of years ago. Paying $1.50 for deodorant AFTER using a coupon, doesn't feel like I'm getting a deal! I find it's the same with other things including food products. I get excited when I have a good coupon - but it's hard to find a sale to match it up with. Still, I'm not giving up on coupons!

Hey you it's almost 4PM (lol), be warned I am going to babble... I agree I don't know if it's because the gals in general in the frugal chatter have changed our shopping ways and or purchases since we started back in February but I must admit like you I will only purchase if on sale and even better if I have a coupon to use at the same time. But I will admit my shopping purchases have changes so much since back in February as well what we purchase in general and the quantities have as well. If I don't have a coupon or if it's not on sale I will wait for it to come on sale, a few exceptions being staples (milk, bread, etc). I think the biggest thing is that the cost of groceries in general has increased so much that things costs so much more than they did this time last year. It's like gas prices we get excited when its under 1.20 but that's still high compared to 5 years ago let's say, you know what I mean, we have no choice but to adapt to the rising prices and this has changed the way we purchase everything in my opinion. I have lots of coupons I will admit but not many for the items that I purchase regularly so they are not being used and instead try to trade them for coupons that I can use. I find that my biggest savings is in price matching over using coupons as with the rising prices of groceries and I think that the grocery flyers/sales suck or maybe the retailers are in a sale(s) rut or something.....babbling, hope you get what I am trying to say regardless I am in total agreement with your points and situations.

[SassyAshley]

I would not give up on coupons, I just in general do not find I am using the same amount of coupons even. Like I used to go shopping and would easily be using 20+ coupons per trip. Now I use maybe 5.

And yes higher prices are not helping. I used to easily get deodorant for $0.99 now it is more like $1.99. But even than I find in general one coupons are getting lower two prices are going up and three I do not know if we just do not buy as much as are making things last longer or maybe because it is costing more I just do not buy the quantities I used to buy.

I know now it is harder to keep bills down because exactly something I was paying $1.00 for I am now paying $2 or $2.50 for. Which has really made us at least look at what we are buying and I can admit there have been a few fights in our house. It is a lot harder to see something you paid $3 for being thrown out than something you paid $1 for (although I hate to throw anything out). We seriously had a fight in my house over yogurt, me and my mom eat different flavours and I found every couple of weeks I was throwing out some or part of her yogurt where is mine was gone (I literally eat yogurt like every day) so we got into a fight over the money that was being thrown away because it is now costing me around $3/tub instead of $1. Which that money could easily go to something else.

I guess I look at my coupons and wonder if the time is still worth it. Do not get me wrong I will never fully give up coupons but is it worth as much time as I give it or should I back off a little bit. It is the question of time vs savings, is all this time worth the savings or would I save just as much giving my coupons less of my free time.

[jasperandchar]

I would not give up on coupons, I just in general do not find I am using the same amount of coupons even. Like I used to go shopping and would easily be using 20+ coupons per trip. Now I use maybe 5.

And yes higher prices are not helping. I used to easily get deodorant for $0.99 now it is more like $1.99. But even than I find in general one coupons are getting lower two prices are going up and three I do not know if we just do not buy as much as are making things last longer or maybe because it is costing more I just do not buy the quantities I used to buy.

I know now it is harder to keep bills down because exactly something I was paying $1.00 for I am now paying $2 or $2.50 for. Which has really made us at least look at what we are buying and I can admit there have been a few fights in our house. It is a lot harder to see something you paid $3 for being thrown out than something you paid $1 for (although I hate to throw anything out). We seriously had a fight in my house over yogurt, me and my mom eat different flavours and I found every couple of weeks I was throwing out some or part of her yogurt where is mine was gone (I literally eat yogurt like every day) so we got into a fight over the money that was being thrown away because it is now costing me around $3/tub instead of $1. Which that money could easily go to something else.

I guess I look at my coupons and wonder if the time is still worth it. Do not get me wrong I will never fully give up coupons but is it worth as much time as I give it or should I back off a little bit. It is the question of time vs savings, is all this time worth the savings or would I save just as much giving my coupons less of my free time.

I agree I used to use a whack of coupons let's say 20-30 but now max 10 if I'm lucky in a trip unless it's a spectacular sale + coupons. I will never not coupon but I focus more of my time on price matching and if I get to use a coupon it's a bonus. I go through spurts of great coupons that we will use in multiple quantities to not having any coupons for things we use. It's frustrating like a lot of you are saving that the prices have gone up, the sales are not great and the coupons are lower value compared to a year or more ago. We are not per say brand specific with the exception of ketchup and types of pop other than that I buy what is the cheapest with sales and or using a coupon or by only price matching. I can certainly understand your frustration of fighting over throwing away products that are not cheap to begin with, I guess your mom doesn't eat as much yogurt as she thinks she does so perhaps she needs to purchase smaller quantities so that products are not wasted and money is not wasted as well but to be honest sometimes we think we will eat a certain thing everyday and we just don't or get sick of it. Hope you have a great weekend and can relax and do some things that you want to or need to get done.

[avoncallingu]

Well, had a bit of a scare last night. (Not a Hallowe'en kind of scare - LOL) I opened a cupboard door in the diningroom and a very heavy glass fell on my left big toe knuckle. (I have a problem with this toe in the first place.) It shattered and I was cleaning up the glass when I noticed that blood was leaking through my running shoe. A piece of glass had pierced my shoe and sock and sliced into my toe. Well, we couldn't get the bleeding stopped for a long time because the cut was right on the knuckle, so when I would try to walk, it would start bleeding again. We set me up with my foot in the air overnight but it was still happening this morning - so off we went to the ER. I was afraid that if I had chipped or cracked a bone, that it might threaten our trip! Well, good news, an x-ray showed no chips or cracks or glass in the cut (the nurse thought that I might have a shard of glass in there.) So THEY GLUED ME TOGETHER! I was good and sat still all today and I am safe to take a shower tomorrow. It SURE hurts though, when I walk on it. So no spending money today except for a Timmies visit for breakfast at the hospital.

[coupon girl]

glad your sort of okay avoncallingu-sassyashley its true like a few others said last year or the year before we were getting deodorant for .50 cents -but hey 1.99 is what it is now after cpn -I have used cpns for 20 some odd years will never stop -hey today I used 21 cpns in 3 different stores all of items I use -but then again I have done 8 trades in the last week for cpns I need -so it is a bit of work -and I have the time right now-oh and I asked at walmart can we price match with other stores across Canada nope she said "local only" so we just go along and do the best we can -right girls