Jumping July Savings (frugal chatter thread) 2014

[thriftygranny]

Natalka, congratulations on 25 years of marriage, quite a milestone and I love that you posted your wedding ceremony in your signature!
As far as doing anything different in August I plan on shopping less for groceries and really emptying out he freezers, hunting and canning and freezing season is around the corner and I need to free up more space.
I back to school shop for my son and granddaughter and I bought most of the outfits at rock bottom prices in March when "Roxy, West 49 and other stores had 70% off. Just went through everything last night and they are going to be pretty well dressed kids. Winter jackets, boots and other accessories as well as Quick Silver and Roxy backpacks that I paid 9.99 for regular 70.00 are done, need to go to staples this week to pick up a few things on the "lists" but not to much.

My splurge this month is going to see Tom Petty, Love his music and he has just released a new album so we are so excited about going, we will spend the weekend in Edmonton for some couple time and it is much needed!!
I am working a lot but I also want to do some frugal local things with my Granddaughter and son before August is gone, just some day trips and picnics, I love picnics and love checking out local areas. My son want to take me on a three/four day kayak trip down the Red Deer River to Drumheller, packing lightly and fishing for our suppers, and sleeping in a lean to. I hope this old girl will make it!! I'm game though and what is the worst that can happen, I am honoured that he asked me to go out of all the people he could have asked! How can I not take the opportunity to spend quality time with my 16 year old!

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
OK time to let all the drama go and get back to life.

I forgot to share my great deal the other day. My mom had texted me well I was at working asking if I would go grocery shopping with her after work, I figured what the heck I got nothing better to do. Since I did not write a list of need anything I was just going to tag along, but at the last minute I grabbed my coupon bag and lucky I did as we got a great deal. Freshco had Cake & Pastry on Clearance for $5.39 -50% = $2.69 plus I still had some $1.00 off any Robin Hood Flour Coupons left I was not going to use so I got each bag for $1.69. I do not use this type of flour and not really sure of it's purpose but I know Mom will use it so for 2 x 2 kg for $1.69/each I think I got a great deal. Still not sure why it was on clearance as the expiry date is May 2015.

August goals are:
Get a big chunk of the house done, does not look like Mom will be working and Mom shared her "Plan" with me so I have decided this weekend since it is a long weekend I may just push this plan into action and see if I can give Mom a boost. We are kind of at a stall mate right now as to get the main floor cleaned up we need the basement clean as almost everything on the main floor that should not be there should be in the basement. I personally feel about 50% or more of what we have the basement can go as let's face it, it has lived in boxes for 4 years so we are not using it. Did I mention my basement is pretty much a Michael's location you name the craft I have the supplies (downside to Mom working there she shops well she works and rarely as in never comes home without something new).

Second is to continue to work on my healthy eating, I have been doing very well as I mainly focus on my food I take to work and am currently eating about 90% fruits and vegetables during the day well at work. As well continue to work on cutting out packaged foods, in August I want to try to make bread for Mom (her current brand has changed and she no longer likes it and I cannot seem to find a replacement she likes) and make homemade Tortillas (I am a little worried about this as I want them for my lunch but most of the recipes I read say to eat them warm or re heat before serving so we will have to see how they are cold in my lunch).

As well I need to really start to monitor our budget again, not that we are really going over budget but I want to start tracking it again to see just where we are falling with both of us trying to eat healthier. I am not too worried as it is this week we only spent $17 on groceries so we are way under our $50 budget and I find more and more weeks are falling on the lower end. But I would like to track it and see if maybe I can get a surplus of Money and in the next few months and do a large Meat Shop at Costco without spending any "extra" money and just use grocery surplus.

Hope everyone has a great day, time to get to work and see what fun awaits me today, okay maybe a little sarcasm there what can I say middle of summer in the building industry we are going insane.

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy hump day! Yeah no work for me. Going to get some things done around house this morning then hit the beach. Tomorrow we are going to Wonderland.
Cleaned out the junk cupboard last night finally. I think I will clean out the car and post some junk from the garage for sale. Garage has to be cleaned so I can park in it this winter!

[lizzie bargain]

TG-that section of the Red Deer River is truly beautiful with all the hoodoos and should be quite calm now that spring run off is over. I don't think you will ever regret that time with your son-the worse that can happen is maybe getting rained on a bit but if it is hot you will appreciate that anyway. Lots of sunscreen and a lifejacket and you should be good to go! Maybe the two of you will discover another ancient dinosaur skeleton sticking out from the rocks. Enjoy!

[Frugalbigmama]

Made bacon and eggs for breakfast. Used up bread from the freezer. The last of the eggs. Cleaning out the fridge and freezer lol

[Frugalbigmama]

Finally organized my free pasta. Have a bag ready for my sister. Need to ask my mom what kind she wants. Some for food bank. Cleaned a corner of my room! Cleaned/switched my purse ( both Hand me downs from sister and niece. Coach and Roxy brand. I would never spend that much money on a purse). Found lots of hidden change and bills!

[coupon girl]

i am like you cleaning out stuff from my fridge -no shopping this week for me -rolled 17.50 in coins hubby can take to the bank may ask hubby to drop into fortinos an get bananas-I get points on them this week and snapsaves has .25 back

[Frugalbigmama]

Packing up to head to the beach for the afternoon.

[Angela273]

Ok. So just after I put my LO down for a nap, I received a long text from the mom of the little girl. I met the mom one evening. The dad has dropped her off and picked her up every day. The mom does not like my policy and she doesn't want to pay. Their daughter is under 30months old, this is important in regards to provincial regulations. My son is currently 22months old. I am limited in the number of children of different ages that I am able to legally care for in my home on a daily basis. It turns out that the parents are split and not communicating either with eachother or with me. They one Monday I texted the mom at 9am because the daughter was an hour late. Turns out that the dad forgot to cancel the booked day, my signed contract says that they still have to pay for that day. The other date the mom texted me at 11:30pm on Sunday to tell me that her daughter wasn't coming on Monday. This booked date will also need to be paid for. The little girl attended 8 other days in the month of July. The mom sent me multiple rapid fire texts, rude, some with swearing. She is correct that I still advertise spaces on the Facebook group, but this is dependent on the child's age and on the dates requested by the parents. The fact that I am still advertising has nothing to do with this situation because I know what days their daughter is booked for, therefore I know which dates are available in her young age group. I sent three carefully worded text replies to the mother during this. She did not reply to the last text. About 5min later I received a phone call from the dad. He spoke with me and apologized for the mom's language and behaviour. He initially told me that the contract would not hold up in court and that they were not going to pay. He told me that I should have communicated this to them better...even though he signed the one page contract and returned it to me. We discussed a few things. I told him about the lack of notice on the two Mondays. She was booked for 10 days and was here for 8 days. The dad finally agreed that he'd pay the two separate days, but if it was 5 days in a row then he would not have paid me for it. I also told him about the provincial regulations in regards to the age of young children. I gave both of them the opportunity to withdraw their daughter from my care. The Dad said to be in contact with him in the future because the mom doesn't deal with things well. I told him that the mom had initially tried to book me for the August and September stats, he commented that it wouldn't surprise him. He said that he'd tell the mom to drop the cheque off. I'd prefer cash at this point. He also confirmed that their daughter would be back next week Tuesday for her next scheduled day. As I have typed this I am no longer shaking as much. Just the way that these parents had been handling smaller issues earlier in the month, I had a bad feeling that they were going to cause me issues when it came to payment.

Sorry for the ramble, but this has been an unpleasant experience. I have 5 part-time children of various ages. Most of the parents are separated and some of those relationships are resulting in issues for me.

[Natalka]

Oh, Angela, what a mess! Hope you get things resolved with them!

[cath007]

Frugal deal today: Maxi have the canada dry-crush-swepps 24 cans softdrinks for 4,97$.It can be cheaper with the 1$ peelie coupon but I did not have it.Bought 2 (max 4 per costumer),because at a 3 floors with a back hurting it is quite challenging to bring upstair.

Finally gain my point( little victory) that the taxes where included in the Whiska BOGO coupon.

[SassyAshley]

Angela that is horrible and truly sad what people will do to try to get out of doing the right thing which would be paying for their child's daycare.

[cath007]

Completed most of my shopping with the deal that finish today...But still forgot a fews things.

Now I am pretty sure I want another cat,and a free one,all the things down on him-her.On my local site ,its been 3 I have seen with my criteria but they are all so beautiful,I cannot make up my mind.

I have a friend that I dont understand,she said she would love to have a cat but getting all the things done is expensive,...That is not true if you search a free cat like me,the cat is never sick and you search good deals on theirs stuff.

[cath007]

The site of my city I am subscribed have 13 000 members,they are rules and admins but some people dont respects the rules and the interest. So...Well it goes sold quickly,Yesterday I missed some free shoes and t-shirts.

Money is tight,so many things need to be fixed.....I am thinking in more ways to save money,Did not pass my driving lesson this summer.I still wait to be approuved on my 2500$ back from my brother funeral expense,and I paid a part with my money.The things are not resolved and it is so annoying...Still wait to see if I am approuved to the juridic help with a notaire...for refusing a successio n of debts......................................

[cath007]

Wish you all a great night,off to enjoy my ''poutine'' lol