Thankful for Savings - October 2014 Frugal chatter thread

[coupon girl]

-prayers for sure mrs.sunshine

-my gums are swollen -ugg 10 days now he said it will get worse before it gets better -unreal I am so tired of this
-I can take this rinse twice a day -can rinse with salt water too
-he said I should be better in a months time

[sweet sparrow]

-ohh nancy sorry I forgot to say hope you are okay after that fall
-sweet sparrow I agree my granddaughter has a lot of clothing-I my give her half money ( for her education)and a toy for xmas
-my daughter has 5 niece and nefews to buy for -it gets costlyshe old me so they spend less at birthdays and a bit more at xmas

LO needs a grandmomma like you to give money for her education instead of another toy. I tried to rep you again, but I've been restricted by the rep police.

evening ladies. would you all mind taking a few seconds and saying a quick prayer for a very dear friend of ours. she went in this morning for surgery that was supposed to be 'easy'. unfortunately complications have occurred. looks like this poor family is in for a battle.
they know they have us if need be. but im sure a few extra prayers wouldn't hurt.

Prayers sent. I'm so sorry to hear about the complications. Patients go in thinking the actual surgery is the worst part and it's such a letdown to hear the ordeal isn't over.

-my gums are swollen -ugg 10 days now he said it will get worse before it gets better -unreal I am so tired of this
-I can take this rinse twice a day -can rinse with salt water too
-he said I should be better in a months time

Prayers for you too, CG. It's been a long time. Hoping the rinses bring some relief.

[Granger]

Happy weekend frugal friends!

Cards:
VISA (free points card from our bank) - a free card is important to me, we get 1 point for every $2. We pay our balance every month and earn a $25 gift card every month. I usually get iTunes so we are not spending money on entertainment or SDM. We treat our credit card as a debit card, but have unlimited transitions on it unlike our debit plus point perks.

Point card - we have many, if there are free points, we collect. The ones with biggest payback for us are:
-SDM
-Sobey's

Christmas:
The first year all the toys my daughter received really bothered me. We also have a birthday close to Christmas. I decided to change my attitude about it because I can't control what other people buy my children unless they ask. I decided to embrace the toys. We have bins and the girls are not allowed more toys than the bins can hold. We went through them last weekend and made room for new toys they will get at Christmas. Grandmas get first pick of old toys and whatever is left gets donated. I thought I would counter the excess with giving to others.

My husband and I also have a line for duplicates or a toy we do not want our children to have so as not to express ingratitude. "Thank you. (to giver) Child's name, we will save that toy for later. (to child)." It has worked quite well and we can hopefully modify as our children age. We have a whole bag full of "save for laters" from our open house. Why people felt the need to buy something for the kids, I don't know, but we just wanted people to visit us in our new home.

I do a budget of $25 per child for each birthday and Christmas. This is the first year we have budgeted for this and it has taken off a lot of stress. I do an outfit and book for birthdays and a small toy for Christmas. Whatever is leftover from the $50 combined for there gets gifted for their education fund (usually at least $20).

I am also going to hop on the iPad and share some our of home pics, now that we are settled and I have remembered!

[Granger]

[Natalka]

Granger, what a lovely home! And so much yard!

MrsS - your friend is included in my prayers, hoping it all gets better soon.

coupongirl - big hugs, and hoping your owies clear up quickly!

My son has been sick with a bad cold all week, and last night husband erupted with a crazy cough and huge cold. I've been up with a tummybug all night - I did sleep an hour earlier, but I'm heading back to bed pretty soon.

Hope everyone's day is great! yep, still smiling!

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Slow start for us. On the plus side, the timing was perfect for Lily dog to meet the newest neighbour, who is just about 3 months old. The little puppy barked at her and ran up and smacked her in the face. And Lily is in love! I will never understand my roommate.

Lots of domestic chores to do today. And still have all the little (or not so little) projects to finish, like rejigging the laundry closet (still have a few things that need to go in there somewhere) and shredding secret documents. Well, I'll let Quincy cat deal with the documents. Also have to make a few more meals for Lily dog & me so we have food on hand on blah days (well, every day for her ).

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[coupon girl]

-granger lovely home
-hubby and I woke up with sore throats-so after tea had a buckleys cough candy-ee uck but they work

[Crochetlady]

evening ladies. would you all mind taking a few seconds and saying a quick prayer for a very dear friend of ours. she went in this morning for surgery that was supposed to be 'easy'. unfortunately complications have occurred. looks like this poor family is in for a battle.
they know they have us if need be. but im sure a few extra prayers wouldn't hurt.

Your friends will be in my prayers.

[Crochetlady]

-prayers for sure mrs.sunshine

-my gums are swollen -ugg 10 days now he said it will get worse before it gets better -unreal I am so tired of this
-I can take this rinse twice a day -can rinse with salt water too
-he said I should be better in a months time

Hang in there! Hope it gets better soon

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
(((hugs))), it has been a rough week for injuries/pain. I also hurt myself the other day I slammed my knee off my desk which was weird because I did not think I hit it that hard but after it happened first my face turned bright red than all the colour drained and I think I freaked my co workers out a little bit. But all is good I have a bit of a bruise but after a couple hours it did not hurt to walk on it anymore.

It has been a long week, but for some reason the short weeks can be the longest. The price increase went through as planned with only one little snag. Our one program needs to upload in 3 different places well it uploaded to 2 servers no issues but the 3rd server did not seem to upload, turns out it only updates at midnight so luckily the next morning everything was there and my stomach could release the knots it had formed.

I have challenged myself to no breaks and no internet during the week to try to get more done. I notice lately more and more I am getting distracted and well I am frustrating myself because I feel like I cannot focus. As well maybe just maybe I am trying to prove something to many people. I feel like a lot of people look at and some see how hard I work but even those people seem to think I can handle more and accomplish more than I am so I am trying to push myself as hard as I can. As well maybe just maybe the universe can see how hard I am working and maybe just maybe give me a break. I find lately a lot of people seem to think I am great and wonderful but just lack something and I keep getting left with the feeling there is always someone better than me.

I feel like I have faced a lot of challenges this week but still feel strong which is a great improvement for me. A few months ago this week probably would have left me falling apart. I was hoping with Mom back at work she could sympathize a little more with how I am feeling but no such luck, instead everything is about me being younger and I should be able to do more than I am doing. I have discovered I am little elves/fairies that magically clean the house. I am trying to embrace it and not get knocked down by it. As well I have not been feeling good all week, I have felt like for weeks now I am fighting something off well this week my sinuses decided to kick my butt, but I was determined to keep going and not let them get me down and also not go on antibiotics. I was still able to get stuff done around the house just not as much as I would have liked but I still got something done which is makes me happy.

Today Mom is working so I am trying to get caught up on stuff around the house. I have loaded the dishwasher and turned it on (still need to empty it), did the hand dishes, the last load of laundry is in the dryer now so just need to fold and put away, the bathroom has been cleaned (except the floor needs to be done). Now I have started on dinner, the pasta has been cooked, just going to put the sauce on to simmer, I am making extras to freeze for later. Mom is working till 6 so we won't have dinner until around 7 so I am going to get everything ready now so I just need to heat it up later.

I also need to get some baking and cooking done for the week, not sure if I will do that today or tomorrow as all of a sudden I am not feeling so good. Sitting here sipping a lemon and ginger tea hoping it will help.

Hoping everyone has a great day, hopefully I will perk up soon and can get back to work around the house.

[Natalka]

Ashley, great that things are improving for you!

Well, I did have a few hours of sleep - very interrupted but at least it was rest.
Husband's turn for the bed now, lol! (not that we can't share, that's not the point...)

Son took our van to replace a pump - what a honeybun! AND he left cinnamon buns!

Going to get some dishes done, and get a start on supper prep. Planned to do much, much more but that's just not going to happen.

[Insane]

Finally got our appointment with the specialist in Edmonton. We live in the NWT, so Edmonton is the closest major center. My toddler has been having bowel issues for about a year. We've been waiting months to get into see pediatric GI. It's end of November. Originally we were just going to go down to see the doc. I pushed and got a date for him to get scopes done. It means we'll be there for about 5 days. But oh well. We are very fortunate to have not only medical travel, but my employer also provides benefits for medical travel. So we'll have our plane, hotel and per diem covered.

I took him to a naturopath a few weeks ago. And he's doing so much better. The diarrhea is clearing up a bit. But for now I'm going to hang onto that appointment!!! He's had periods before where we thought the diarrhea was gone and it usually only lasted a few days. The docs up here are concerned he may have crohn's or ulcerative colitis. I feel like he'd be sicker if he had those. I strongly suspect multiple food allergies. But he's tested negative to everything!!

What are all you mommas (and papas) doing for Christmas for your little ones. Last year I limited everyone to 3 presents from santa plus one from a siblings. But with 4 kids that's still a lot. Thinking I might try and scale it back to 2 and 1 from siblings. Thinking of using my SDM points to get my 8yr old a DS. She has a leappad and loves it. But she is outgrowing it, and I could get it for free.

[jasperandchar]

coupon girl soon this will all be a memory, hope you feel better soon (hugs)

[jasperandchar]

Mrs. S. sending a prayer for your friend so sorry this has happened but hopefully things will end with a positive

[jasperandchar]

Natalka hope you, your dh & your Milan feel better soon