Saving for summer fun - June 2014 Frugal Chatter thread

[MaddensMomma]

Good Morning Everyone,
Nancy sorry to hear about the truck, it seems like when things happen they all happen at once.

The storm last night was pretty insane I managed to get dinner cooked but the whole time I was cooking the power was flicking on and off and once dinner was on the table the power stopped flicking which was fine with me, I really did not want to sit in the dark.

I went to the doctor Monday night turns out I have a swollen Lymphoid in my neck, the good news is it is going down in size and the pain is going away. So now I wait another week and as long as it continues to get smaller and the pain is going away I am good, if it does not continue to get better back I have to go, so I am hoping and praying it keeps getting better, something about them having to as he put it investigate my neck scares the **** out of me. I would be much better with anywhere other than my neck.

After the doctor we went and did some grocery shopping, it was a light week for us even with a few extras we did not need we maybe only spent about $30. Managed to get produce for the week as well as some bread and buns for the freezer (theses were the not needed items as we have some but for this price with the coupon might as well put them in the freezer as we will eat them).

We will do more shopping Saturday after I get off work since I need to go running shoe shopping, did not make it last weekend. Must admit so far I am not seeing a lot in the flyers we need so next week might be a light week as well. Luckily through Costco sales we have stocked up on meat so the only meat we really need is ground beef, but we are not out yet so thinking if it does not go on sale I have a rebate cheque coming in that I will take the cheque and go to Costco and buy ground beef. It is slightly more expensive than the stores but I find for the quality of meat Costco has as long as it is within in $0.50 - $1.00 (depending on the cut of meat) of what I am paying on sale I will pay that little more. Especially since the sales are just not happening lately for meats and the rare ones I do find I can never seem to actually get no stock, can't price match.

I have also noticed my coupon use is way down, I only find a select few coupons for items we use and even than I was cleaning out my coupon folder last night and noticed products we used to buy they just do not seem to be going on sale and we just aren't buying them. Since we do not seem to be missing having these products on hand I guess it shows that we have adapted our eating style which is probably for the best. We definitely are not buying as many packaged foods.

Question for Everyone:
Do you find with the sales changing (things do not go on sale as often, sale prices aren't as good as they used to be) and coupons for items you use becoming harder to find, had your family's eating habits changed?

We eat relatively the same at home, some brands we have switched (Johnsonville sausages for food basics brand or Costco as they just don't go on sale for what they used to).

More of DS' lunches are homemade (no lunchables, less pre packaged snacks, less juice boxes)

We have been using way less. coupons and just buying what we need and what is on sale.

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[MrsSunshine]

Its raining slightly here.. we desperately needed it. the plants and grass were spitting dry.
plus it helped with the heat..
not sure how to answer your question Ashley. we do what we can with the sales we get.
coupons are sparse. we eat fresh mostly anyway so its rare we use them.

[MaddensMomma]

Good morning everyone
Rainy day here but boy do we need it.
Debating going to the goodwill outlet after DDs nap. Was going to go this morning but didn't want to get up early to shower and get ready, needed the extra sleep.

What is everyone else's plans today?

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[Giseledta]

morning all. its been a while sine I have been on this thread.

I for one am thankful the rin. my rain barrels need filling and my garden needs watering.

[Crochetlady]

I find I`m using very few coupons anymore. They just don`t seem to be available for the things we buy.
I hope the price of fruits come down some this summer. They`re insane right now.

[saundyl]

Yesterday was Frozen pizza day - I picked up 4 pizzas 2 for 6.99 and 2 for 4.99 We had ham and pepperoni in the fridge to jazz them up so i grabbed some Mozza that was on sale as well.

Today is chicken legs from the freezer and rice day. Tomorrow....who knows! Maybe sausages and hashbrowns and toast.

[Giseledta]

I find I`m using very few coupons anymore. They just don`t seem to be available for the things we buy.
I hope the price of fruits come down some this summer. They`re insane right now.

I am finding all the grocery prices be insane right now.

[saundyl]

Question for Everyone:
Do you find with the sales changing (things do not go on sale as often, sale prices aren't as good as they used to be) and coupons for items you use becoming harder to find, had your family's eating habits changed?

We eat more chicken and pork. Pork prices have gone up alot lately. Chicken is insane here. I didnt mind buying the boxes of frozen chicken breast but BF doesnt like them which means he complains when i buy them so i quit.

We buy more bulk bags of Basmatti or Jasmine rice - its yummy and the bigger bags work out to costing less over time. We switched to italia "kd" instead of the Kraft KD - it tastes just as good but its atleast a dollar cheaper.

I find coupons - the only ones i seem to use lately are TP, Laundry soap dish soap and batteries.

We dont buy alot of baked goods as I tend to bake cookies and such at home. The boys get more of that type of stuff when they are with us and more boughten or precooked meals when they are with their mom.

We only buy chips on sale as a treat now. Pop is also very rare these days. Ice cream is an on sale only treat as well.

[Angela273]

I spent an hour yesterday using my friends carpet cleaner in an attempt to wash our living room carpets. It wasn't very effective, so I just bought a carpet cleaner from Amazon.ca and used $110 from my Swagbucks Amazon.ca collection. It cost me $95 out of pocket, but it was something that I had been thinking about buying for nearly a year. Plus since I will be taking care of other children this summer, I think it is more important that our house is cleaner than usual. Speaking of which, I have a 6yr old boy booked in full time for the summer. I have had two other moms, three children between them, contact me for information. I just posted my add less than two days ago and I am still waiting to fill more spots.

This is the exact carpet cleaner that I purchased, in case anyone wants to check it out.
"Bissell Proheat 25A3C Upright Deep Cleaner, Black" CDN$ 195.72 - free shipping

[MrsSunshine]

WTG Angela. Fingers crossed those other moms confirm. what a success for you.

We have one of those cleaners as well. dh bought it 10 years ago. was like $300+ i nearly flipped. i cleaned my carpets twice a year back then. one day went to clean them and the bottom part split ended up with a ton of water to soak up by hand. it then was put in the basement.
i finally convinced dh to take it to the shop to see if it could be repaired. would love to clean them again.

if it costs more than that to fix may as well just buy new.

[lizzie bargain]

Question about food prices. I agree with many other posters that I don't really see/use too many coupons these days. We don't eat a ton of processed foods and I check every time I am in the grocery stores/SDM for marked down bananas, meats, yogurts etc as we go through them before they spoil or I freeze the meat. Other than keeping a sharp eye everywhere for pink stickers and other markdowns my best tool is price matching. I definitely see meat has gone up in price so mainly buy it marked down and short dated. Hoping for more good prices on fruits and veggies too as the season starts-but for some reason I have been buying grapes for about 1.25 per lb this last few weeks which is really good. Cherries were 2.99 per lb so I chose grapes! Fortunately our budget is not overly tight but still I would rather economize on the day to day purchases to save up for travel etc.

[jasperandchar]

Question from Ashely re groceries

Like the other gals have said including yourself coupons are sparse for what we use.

Since February we (really me) have really changed what we purchase and how much. I no longer purchase pre-packages lunch snacks and the boys get more water than juice boxes. We just can't afford to purchase the things we used to and no longer the quantities we used to purchase. I use coupons if they exist for those items , mostly stock up on meat when on sale, only shop every 2 weeks vs. weekly which in-it-self saves us ton. I price match whatever I can. But we can't afford to purchase the produce either like we used to, the prices are totally ridiculous.

I have stocked up on hamburger and sausages in the last month but need to get some chicken and pork loin hoping for a good sale. Was going to stock up on chicken breast this past weekend on our way home but the truck broke, NF has a great price on them.

As dh is off work and his income is quite low, I feel like when I am shopping I am purchasing groceries like they did 50 years ago - the huge bag of flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking supplies, huge bags of rice, etc....It makes me laugh as I have used more flour since January this year since I got married 19 years ago . But making all these changes does make a huge difference in our grocery budget and monthly expenses but I will admit it's nice to have a few quick meals in the freezer that just need to be put in the oven but again we don't purchase pre-packaged meals as we can't afford it.

__________________

@ Angel congrats on getting 1 child signed up for the summer, the other spots will fill up quickly once the word gets out

@ coupon girl - very kind of you to drive your SIL to the food bank even though you are not physically feeling the best

@ Ashley - hoping your neck feels better soon

[Crochetlady]

I wish I could price match but Zehrs doesn`t do that. I finally got a PC Plus offer for grapes this week but of course they were on sale last week so I don`t need any. I`ve been waiting for cherries to come down in price...did get some on sale for $4.99 a couple weeks ago. The regular price at that time was $8.99. And those weren`t even the really good ones! I think I read that they`re on at FB next week. I`ll be checking that out.

[MrsSunshine]

question for you ladies. what would you do if someone used your address to receive a parcel(their name) didn't tell you.(in other words you get a package with your addy/their name) and its not possible to make a mistake as addys/pc's vary in your area greatly.

[jasperandchar]

question for you ladies. what would you do if someone used your address to receive a parcel(their name) didn't tell you.(in other words you get a package with your addy/their name) and its not possible to make a mistake as addys/pc's vary in your area greatly.

I would say it depends on if I know the person or not, if I don't I won't sign for it but if it's my mom or sibling then I would sign and tell them that a heads up would be best to ask instead of assuming that it would be okay. My brother did this but he asked his mil first as it was their wedding rings and he wanted to keep it a surprise.