Ring in the Savings - January 2014 Frugal Chatter thread

:lolsign: Too funny, thanks for the chuckle :-).
Just remember , these are the things that are important. Not the size of the house or the make of the car or how many "toys" you have ;)

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Originally Posted by sweet sparrow

LO and I were sharing a chuckle today. For some reason, if you laugh, she'll laugh with you. If you laugh harder, she laughs harder. I'm not sure what she's laughing at, but I'm laughing because she's laughing.

Me: Ha ha ha! (starting out with a fake play laugh)
LO: Ha ha ha ha ha! (baby chuckles)
Me: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! (baby chuckles are too funny)
LO: Ha ha ha (snort)!
Me: HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
LO: Ha ha ha (snort) ha ha (snort) ha ha!!
Me: :pound:

I didn't know babies could laugh hard enough to snort! She must get that from DH's side - the snorting I mean. :cheesygrin: I have a five month old baby snorter. :pound:

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Insane, I am not sure what type of dishes your family likes but would it be an option to maybe cook things like chicken thighs in a slow cooker shred them and than use this in dishes where a sauce is going to be served?

In our house, I am the picky eater I only want Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Pork Tenderloin and all of the expensive cuts of meats. My mom is not so picky so what we have started doing is buying cheaper cuts of meat cooking them in the slow cooker until they are falling off the bone and than we shred them freeze them. I than use these shredded meats in things like stir fries or turn them into BBQ Chicken or Pork where there will be a sauce so I do not notice these are not my preferred cuts of meats.

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Originally Posted by lizzie bargain

And some of us in our 50's have kids who haven't even left home yet! My 14 year old being a good example. A little young to push out of the nest yet!!

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Lol, yeah I would cut the 14 year old some slack :)

My parents had their 38 year old son living in their basement in their 50's. Now in their mid 60's they are retired with my sister, her husband and their 2 year old living with them temporarily. I don't think life ever gets cheaper.

Insane-will hubby eat any meatless dinners? Maybe given the choice between beans, lentils and chicken thighs he might choose the thighs!

SS-speaking of childcare could you occasionally watch someone elses little one to supplement your income when you are home. Likely if you are on EI maternity benefits you can't earn money right now but if you did the favour of child care and later the parent thanked you with a gift card?

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Originally Posted by Natalka

MrsSunshine - glad your bread worked out better.
I always rise dough in the oven with just the light turned on, bowl covered with a tea towel.

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My bf puts the bread dough into the oven covered but also puts a bowl of boiled water in to add steam/heat

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Originally Posted by MaddensMomma

Confessions of an Ex-Coupon-a-Holic.

I have kind of fallen off the coupon planet. Really. I never thought that would happen.

I have been spending lots of time with family enjoying the holidays. Prior to the holidays I spent a great amount of time making a wonderful set of "felt food" for my son for Christmas. I've learned how to sew and knit thanks to my mother in law and aunt for showing me the ways. I have been spending time reading my favourite books, scrapbooking pictures of my family, and spending a great amount of much needed time with my DH. I have been considering starting up a handmade greeting cards business, just a little project on the side that I really enjoy doing. Lately I have also been researching a lot about "eating clean", trying out different recipes and drinking delicious nutritious green smoothies every morning.

There has been very little time for couponing. I have still be price matching and shopping the deals, but have greatly neglected my coupons.

I am hoping to get back into the swing of things but to be honest I wouldn't be completely upset to see them go for good, spend a little bit more on my grocery bill (will be higher regardless eating clean foods) and spending a lot more time with my family and doing other hobbies that I enjoy.

I hope all of you have had wonderful holidays. I am sure I will be checking in from time to time to see how you all are or to ask a question. You ladies always have the best answers.

My biggest questions right now, is for those of you who try to eat clean, how do you do so on a budget?

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I've fallen off as well. I find i tend to use coupons more for laundry, cereal, breads, cheese/milk products if i can find any and the occasional meds. I like coupons for miracle whip, pickles and dressings as well. I find that there are never or rarely coupons for veggies, milk, fresh meats and fruits. Which is mostly what we buy. We tend not to buy the precooked frozen dinners (i see tons of coupons here for those)

I've been back to knitting and reading. I want to start scrapbooking a bit again - at least to finish up a couple books i started. I LOVE doing it digitally though because then the photos are printed with the book and not an extra cost.

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Originally Posted by avoncallingu

Hi! Haven't quite finished reading everything. My poor doggie got "lost" in the snow last night and came back limping. So the only reason I went out today was to "walk" him around the backyard and also to shovel out an extra path for him to take that won't "drown" him in snow. He hasn't decided it's safe to poop in this stuff yet, though. He has not pooped since yesterday - it has to happen soon. So, Here I go, getting boots, hat, mitts, scarf and coat on to go "walk" him. The other doggie thinks we're nuts!
I spent the day filing things that I should have filed a LONG time ago! YAWN!

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My dog wont go in the snow if there isnt a space for her to poop. i tend to let her out on the driveway side where we shovel off a space for her more often otherwise she has a stubborn tendancy to do it right in front of the door.

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Originally Posted by cath007

For those who wondered I am still on the site but less often.Life just keep changing and not for the best ....Very long stories since 1 month..

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Cath i hope things start getting better for you soon.

Its been 3 times so far this year. At least the pipes havent burst. The second time the plumbers didnt reconnect things properly and they had to come back (no charge) to fix the drips and the 2 foot ice pillar under the house.

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Originally Posted by Giving-Small

Saundyl - that is scary. I had a couple of friends that owned an old 3 story house and they had lots of pipe issues.

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Me too! I was paranoid last night and filled up a jug of water just in case.

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Originally Posted by SassyAshley

Sorry to hear about your pipes, hopes things start to get better.

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It really feels like going backwards. So cant wait to get my T4's and get income tax back! Plan to put the $$ back into my savings i had to take out.

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Originally Posted by thriftygranny

Saundyl, I hope this is the only emergency for the whole of 2014 for you. Those unexpected things always throw me for a loop, sometimes it feels like I am going backwards!!

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Its frustrating - the freeze up is happening below the frost line and below where the heat tape reaches to. Currently the ground is too frozen and too covered to dig up and ad more heat tape and insulation. we will have to do that after the ground thaws...and for now all we can do is make sure we leave a tap dripping - the water from the towns lines is heated so it helps keep it from freezing if theres a flow. We forgot to leave a drip monday night and ended up frozen for the third time.

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Originally Posted by jasperandchar

So sorry about all this trouble, what is the cause of the freezing and why hadn't the plumber made a suggestion the 1st time ie. put space heaters or get heaters wired, heat trace lines (same concept as the heat lines for roofs) also you should leave you taps on a small drip to ensure the pipes won't freeze again just a thought until the weather settles, can you not put a claim in through your insurance company, I would give them a call to inquire might be worth it. hugs to you and your family hope the problem is resolved.

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I was in YK on the 30th and was hearing alot of people talking about the power failure and having houses frozen up. That machine looks so tempting. That would have more than covered the cost of the first visit and a good portion of the second visit. I've heard a lot of people here in HR are having freeze ups as well. Esso is selling alot of propane for torches to reheat pipes.

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Originally Posted by Insane

People were waiting days here for unthawing. At least your pipes didn't burst! The 3hr power failure caused A LOT of frozen pipes here.

Ever looked into an Arctic Blaster? http://arcticblaster.com/ Apparently a couple of thawings and it pays for itself. You could even rent it out! LOL

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Originally Posted by Giving-Small

That's an amazing machine.

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the video looked awesome looked really straighforward.

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Originally Posted by lizzie bargain

And some of us in our 50's have kids who haven't even left home yet! My 14 year old being a good example. A little young to push out of the nest yet!!

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lol that is going to be us. the year we turn 50, the boys will turn 14 & 17. When my mom was 50, I was 32 & my brother was 29. what a difference

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Originally Posted by lilo0003

lol that is going to be us. the year we turn 50, the boys will turn 14 & 17. When my mom was 50, I was 32 & my brother was 29. what a difference

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Boy when you all phrase it like that, perhaps if I want another I should start sooner than I was planning! It might be more cost effective in the long run. Then again, life always has room for surprises! I've already had one of those. A pleasant one at that!

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Originally Posted by lilo0003

lol that is going to be us. the year we turn 50, the boys will turn 14 & 17. When my mom was 50, I was 32 & my brother was 29. what a difference

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I will be 54 soon and still have a 16 year old at home, I had two a year apart at age 20 and 21 and then another at 30 and my last at just before I turned 39. Have had a blast through it all.

-wow thrifty granny we are almost the same age I will be 55 this year-I had mine at 23, and 25 years old -of course my mom had me at 38-so my kids are my son 29 next month-my daughter will be 32 this year -wow where have the years gone

Good Evening Everyone,
Had a pretty busy day here today. We decided to not go shopping so I decided today would be a great day to do batch cooking for I made a batch of pizza sauce and a batch of pasta sauce, both are packed full of veggies. For the pasta sauce I found a package of ground beef in our freezer was freezer burnt so I allowed the simmer for a couple of hours so the meat got tender. As well I made a loaf of Ricotta Bread in the bread machine.

As well I was able to get our laundry done, got the bathroom cleaned (expect the floor, I will do that tomorrow).

Going through the coupons I got this week when we went shopping and at RCSS I found new Pepsi Saving Game Plan Booklet and I was super impressed this time around there are actually coupons I will be able to use. Normally I find these books but due to the combinations of productions I can never use them as we use one product and not the other. But this time I will be able to use the following:

$1.00 WUB 2 Bags of Ruffles (225g/any flavour) or Ruffles Dip (425g/Any Flavour) **Yeah I do not have to buy chips and dip as we do not eat Ruffles Dip

$1.00 WUB 2 Quaker Instant Oatmeal or Quaker Harvest Warm & Crunchy Granola (216g - 430g any flavour/variety) **Yeah, I think it was last time you had to guy PC Greek yogurt which I do not like it has a funny texture

$1.00 WUB 2 Tostitos Products (Tortilla Chips 220g-320g, any flabour/variety, Salsa/Dip 394ml-423ml any falvour) **Yeah I do not need to buy Tortilla and Salsa since we do not eat Tostitos Tortilla Chip

The ones I will not use are
$0.50 Off 12x355ml can pack of Pepsico Products Pepsi, 7up, Mountain Dew, Mug, Schwepps, Crush, Dr Pepper and Brisk **We do not drink pop

$1.00 WUB 2 - 2L Pepsico Product Pepsi, 7up, Mountain Dew, Mug, Schwepps, Crush, Dr Pepper and Brisk **We do not drink pop

$0.50 off 1.75L, 2.63L, 3.49L Tropicana Pure Premium, Tropicana Essentials product or Trop 50 juice **Might use if Trop 50 goes on sale but we do not drink orange juice so it has to be another flavour

Ok, time to work on my coupons, hope everyone has a great night

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Originally Posted by sweet sparrow

So, I think this has been the most unfrugal month in the history of unfrugal months. Well, it seems that way for me. To sum up today, it would have to be something like this: :frusty::frusty::frusty:, followed by :pray: :pray: :pray:.

Our computer died on the weekend. It was either one of two things, both of which the repair guy didn't have so we could take a gamble on a $300 part, or an $800 part, plus labour. We could spend $1200 and buy both parts, only to find out that neither of them fixed the issue.

So, we decided to get a new computer. We bought a replacement Mac because we recently bought all the programs for the old one. To switch to a PC now means that the huge expense of the programs would be a waste and we'd have to repurchase them for a PC. DH used to use the Mac for extra income, which was why we bought one in the first place, years ago. Now with work and LO, he has no time. Total: a few thousand.

Car insurance is due this month: another few thousand. We have insurance with the lowest rates I can find, but it still seems like a lot.

I called our phone company to see if I could reduce our phone and internet bill. They said they were losing money because too many people called in to reduce their rates. There are no more offerings of reduced rates. Our bills will go up by 50% this month.

Top that off with calling to see what childcare will be once I return to work. Holy. Jumping. Jellybeans. All the daycares raised their rates. I graduated from university in a four year program (this century) and it's going to cost close to the same amount to have strangers put LO to nap, give her snacks, and change a diaper before she's ready for kindergarten. Can't I just enroll her in university to have her graduate with a degree by the time she starts grade one? My education bills included residence and a meal plan.

You've. Got. To. Be. Joking. How do parents afford five figures every year for daycare? And what boggles my mind is that there is such thing as an RESP program to allow parents to save $50,000 for university over 17 years, but NOTHING to help parents save pretty close to that amount for daycare, which sucks up a similar amount in just over three years. I feel like calling my MPP in the morning.

I checked the recent daycare cost increases and was nearly on the floor hyperventilating into a bag. The other option of course is leaving her with a stranger in a basement playroom. Both our parents are much older with health issues and not able to look after her full time and we have no family members nearby. If I leave work, there's no guarantee I'll be able to find anything in a few years in my line of work, and DH has zero benefits. It'll only take a few dental bills like last year (again in the thousands) to rack up the debt.

This past year, instead of buying Christmas gifts, we were going to replace the patio door. It actually doesn't close and poses a security risk. Likely another few thousand to add to the bill.

Soon I have to look into tire costs for the car. We need both a summer set and a winter set of tires. Of course we can't put a price on safety, but.... Somebody please pass the smelling salts. I'm feeling woozy again.... :faint2:

Somehow, these staggering costs make walking by bows on clearance at Target for $0.10 seem like such an empty victory. I'm feeling discouraged and down looking at these numbers. Sigh.

We have the smallest house on the block. We drive the teensiest car possible. I try to spend minimally on what we need and still I feel so far behind.

Some days are just so frustrating. I'm happy the day is over.

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Is your patio door the sliding kind?There are lots of handyman sites and You Tube videos about fixing problem sliders.When ours wouldn't latch anymore,I found out it was the rollers and replaced them myself using a $25.00 part and some swear equity :)

wow what a day.. heh all.. hope all yours Saturday has been awesome.. it seems when you dont' make plans.. the plans find you.. LOL
up a little later this morning. went to dollarama picked up my extras for my project. finished it off..took it with us out to dinner for my mom. she loved it.
i'll have to take a pic next time im there to post it i forgot to take a picture.
anyway stopped into the 'zoo' (a.k.a no frills') and picked up a few things. never shop when your hungry.. had to pull dh out before he went nuts.
tomorrow... were 'supposed' to be making rhubarb/strawberry jam.. as well as trying out my new processor and making ham and scalloped potatoes with sweet and reg. potatoes.

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Originally Posted by Granger

I bet your hearts are also the fullest! ;)



We just found one we REALLY want to get in and look it. Went up today, imagine it was yours!?!

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I wish but some how I don't think we live in the same neck of the woods.