Thankful for Savings - October 2014 Frugal chatter thread

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning All,
Nancy I was told FB only price matches in select markets as a trail period. I know my two local FB do not price match.

OH my what a week, it has been insane. We are in full price increase mode next at work. I maintain and run our special pricing program and I am the only person who knows how to run it and work it so I have over 500 pages of special prices I must manually update as we are not doing a standard increase. So that is stressing me out big time because this is all on me. As well I have taken on running our catalouges which is easy it runs in the background and really is not much work except for that fact that our controller changed out time line, originally we were supposed to have them done by next Friday, now he wants them done by Monday which will not happen and I told him this yesterday, he was not happy but what can I do we have over 1500 catalogues and they take 3 to 5 minutes to run and another 5 to 10 to download (times might be slightly off as we run them in the batches) but none the less I cannot get the system to work any quicker to meet his goal.

Yesterday we had staff appreciation lunch, all managers were told to order in lunch for their location s a thank you for making it through booking (which was completely insane but good, it is good to see business picking up again as the past 2 to 3 years have been a lot slower than when I first started with the company). Our location is the location that kind of gets the short stick on this as due to where we are located we have no options really. But our production manager decided to see what he could do so since we needed 30 to 40 lunches we were able to get Swiss Chalet which is about 30 minutes away to deliver. So we got Swiss Chalet lunch, it was really good but must admit eating that mid day made most of us want a nap (we did not nap, I promise, but we wanted too). So they had the night staff come in early and we ate lunch late (1 pm) do everyone could participate. The only staff that could not participate were the drivers who where given gift cards to pick up lunch for themselves during their route that day. So it was nice and everyone really appreciated it.

Due to the price increase coming I have been working longer than normal hours plus bringing work home with me to try and stay on top of it all which is why I have not been on the internet. But I think I am in a good place (although I do have about 10 to 12 hours of paperwork to get through this weekend), but still a little stressed out.

On top of this I do not want to get into details but lets just say a couple times in the time I have been working at the company we have had to fill out and complete stuff for the government as they are really cracking down on family members workings for family businesses and those who well lie about it. With that being said due to the crack down we have had to provide information and basically prove we are legitimately working for the company. Well we got an email this week that within the next few months the government will be contacting us to ask us about our roles in the company. It should be no big deal as I do work there and there is nothing funny going on but I do not know something about the thought of having to speak to the government freaks me out big time, I am more of a lay low type of girl.

Not sure what is on the go for this weekend yet, we are supposed to go shopping today but Mom is showing no forms of movement or life right now. She was in a horrible mood yesterday when I got home so unless she is in a better mood today I think it will be best to stay home, waiting for her to get up so I can decide what we are doing. I think she is having some issues adjusting to being back at work as she is now working in 3 different departments, she is still teaching cake decorating (which of course she was getting no classes and now that is working in the store she has classes this month), she is working on cash and now she is also working in the frame shop so she is getting close to full time hours which is good money wise but I think the adjustment is hard on her.

Well I better get started on my paperwork, hope you all have a great day.

[bobbiegirl2010]

Hi all,

Did an errand then did groceries, I am my worst enemy I have said it over and over again but I guess I like to get pissed off or stressed out as my 1st stop was WM, I guess that says it all, I will be calling to speak with the manager tomorrow as something needs to be said as the store is really going down hill and they never have stock and since I only shopped or try to shop every 2 weeks it's beyond frustrating.

The went FB as Jaden's football game was right near 1, got a few things that were on my list, grabbed 2 of the 3L Saputo Veg. oil for $3.97 and a few other things but the lines were insane, I thought FB price matched but they told me they don't can someone confirm as I am ready to email FB head office and comment on this, I thought it was straight across Canada, meaning all FB's price matched!!!

Anyways I will do my tally tomorrow and see what I spent.

Wishing everyone a good night

J&C, the FB in Listowel doesn't PM either. I believe its only the FB in London right now that PM (trial area???).

[Ciel]

^SassyAshley-think it's fair to say that it's high time you have a backup employee or two to handle catalogue runs and maybe assist with manual updates>raise it at the next family work meeting or staff meeting(e-mail if you have to). Not fair for you to constantly use up your time to get the changes made. Ask and see what the response is. If you should be sick and need recovery time and more prices change, then work will be *** as you won't be available.
Great to know that everyone benefitted from good lunch or meal cards as thank you!

When that manager asks for miracle turnarounds on catalogue productions, just state the production capacity rate that it can produce and avoid "I statements". Repeat and rinse...as needed.

Government followup-let staff know this is coming and that you will be unavailable during the phone or in-person session so they will know they have to deal with things without interrupting you. You might want to draft a statement outlining in two or three sentences what your job encompasses and practice saying it, so that is ready when you are asked.

Retail is generally tough on staff-not like massage benefits or counselling sessions or nice breakroom supplies area around to take the edge off demanding schedules/customers/suppliers/hard flooring for hours. Hard to retain one's humanity. It's good you care about Mom but also just let her be moody in her corner and do what you can and keep your serenity because you cannot carry two people. Maybe Mom will have to get a backbone or just cut out one dept work and deal with the other two.

For the Vicks users-someone told me to apply a thin layer under the nose to just above upper lip. Stings like crazy for 2-3min but the eucalyptus helps to keep your nostrils open so you can sleep! Works for me.
^jasperandchar-my Food Basics told me yesterday that it did not price match. I was hoping to get the 2L pop at No Frills' prices. Went with another brand on sale. Maybe store managers get to opt out of price matching if it's supposed to be nationwide (like individual Shoppers opting out of supposed national coupon policy which varies from store to store,same with limits).

Could not fall to sleep during the midnight-2am steady rain at night. Tried reciting the things in room to help me sleep, changed positions, scrunched up the pillow,etc. At same time, some family members were making some late night sounds and I'm sound-sensitive. Grateful for flannel sleepwear-warm sleep when I got it!

Thrilled I did my grocery shopping/lotto ticket run in afternoon yesterday-I do not feel keen to step out to stores today. The dampness is revving up my sinuses...

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Went to Todmorden Mills yesterday. There was an art exhibit on that was quite clever - a series of paintings depicting idioms and you had to guess what it was. My favourite showed 2 dogs lying in the street, one had his eyes open a slit and was staring at a shoe in the bottom left-hand corner. "Let sleeping dogs lie" was beautifully done with such fine detail. Not sure how long the exhibit will be on, but if you're in the neighbourhood, it's worth checking out (& free admission).

A friend came over last night & we were up way past my bedtime chatting & drinking wine. Needless to say, I don't have the energy to take Quincy cat to be blessed at St James today (wouldn't want to fall asleep during the ceremony, besides it hasn't made Quincy holy in the past, why would it help now? ). Brats and houseguest are all sleeping soundly now (Quincy was tormenting Lily dog earlier when she tried to look out the window to see whether the ground was wet and decide if it was ok to go out). Think I should probably go lie on the couch or on the floor with the cat.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[Ciel]

That church is a nice one, Andit. Today is as-you-like-it.

[SassyAshley]

Ceil, I guess this is where I stab myself in the foot. My boss has been fighting with me for years now to let some of tasks go but my issue is every time they take something away within a few months I get it back because the person it was given too is too busy or cannot handle it. So this frustrates me more than just trying to work through it. Nothing worse than having to give up an account to than 3 months down the road be ask to take it back and have no idea what is going on with that account (which did happen two weeks ago, had to reconcile an account I stopped dealing with in February and it took me 3 days just to get up to speed on what was happening with the account before I could even start the reconciling which drove me insane as I was forced to ignore my own account to clean up this account).

I guess to me this is all just the perks of being the boss's daughter, no one else is asked to go to a location 3 hours away to work a day because they will spend 6 hours of their day in a car. As well a lot of accounts like to see me handling their account thinking I have pull (oh if they only knew) but I mean at the end of the day it is my family's company so I will do whatever it takes including working 12+ hours day to get done what I need to get done.

It is hard as we have been raised that we do not work for a family run company we work for a family lead company and no job is below us. We grew up with my Opa working 16+ hour days and Dad working 14+ hour days so me doing 9 to 10 hours is kind of slacking some might say. But honestly I do not mind the pressure I just hate the constant phone calls and emails where are you at where are you at, that is what stresses me and rattles me because than I feel like I am not doing my job which hits a nerve and I freak out on the inside.

[Frugalbigmama]

Finally got going this morning. Egg and cheese on a toasted bagel was breakfast. Hung laundry to dry indoors since it's suppose to rain again. Going to keep at the laundry today so I can work on something else tomorrow. Ds has a few hours with hockey team this afternoon for a fun day. Glad I did the grocery shopping last night. I bought 8 lbs of apples. Sounds crazy but my guys love them so hopefully they last us a week.

[Scottishgal]

Good Morning Everyone Just having my second coffee then off to finish the laundry and morning routine. Still undecided for supper but since I picked up 10# potatoes, 5#'s carrotes and 10# onions at NF's yesterday ( 2.97 each ) was thinking a big pot of chicken noodle soup and dumplings. Super cold here today and Snow coming down...yikes...so a big pot of soup sounds good Hope everyone has a great day Will pop in again later

[coupon girl]

-off to "ashlyn"s" party at 1-4
-hubby said why don't you wear a dress -so i have my grey/black sweater dress and black tights on with my leather boots(I feel young)lol even thou my fingers are sore -rheumatoid arthritis(is there any rub you girls use on your fingers-if you deal with what I have)
-tell you all about it later ladies-cant wait to see my granddaughter -she will be wearing a tutu

[saundyl]

Good Morning all,

Wow Sassy some days your job must drive you bonkers!


Ceil hope your sinuses feel better!

I did a "bad" thing thurysday- i went grocery shopping hungry. Came home with $75 dollars in groceries when i went for multigrain buns. However i found some decent deals. Picked up 4 chicken legs wtih backs for $6. Got some hot dogs and a pork roast, Romain lettuce, salsa, sour cream, a couple bags of chippies (theres one of the baddies) and a box of drum sticks (yum ice cream) as well as my multigrain buns i wanted, some ichaban soup and a gallon of milk.

Been doing some more christmas shopping. We have 16 people that we are buying for including bf and myslf. I am completely done purchasing for four people - gift and stocking stuffers. I have several people that i have the stocking stuffers for but the gift is not ordered...and several I have ordered the gift but havnet decided on a stocking stuffer. a couple that I havent decided on anything at all.

For myself and BF we decide on a "couple" gift because he has a hard time deciding on gifts (he opts for gift cards) and we ordered our gift its here already and im dying to use it. Hes not even discouraging me in fact he had the box open making it talk "saundy you want to set me up please, come play with me you know you want to"

A couple gift also kinda alleviates the idea that one or the other of us might spend or buy more than the other. It always bothered my mom she would get my dad something and then he would go absolutely crazy and get her about 20 gifts. He loved doing it and he always loved what she got him too. They spent the same amount she got him "Big" toool things for the shop and his truck n he got her cool little doodads and clothes and stuff.

I'm lovign Swagbucks & amazon cards because its making some of my christmas spending a little less pricey out of pocket.

I'm going to go to the shed this afternoon and dig out my christmas cards for mailing, tags and gift wrap. So I have them inside before it snows and im not trudging out there to get them in the cold wet ick. We arent putting the tree n stuff up this year as we are going to my moms for christmas.

I also need to get my butt in gear and get dressed because i wanted to go check out the auction sale today - the hardware store closed last month and they are auctioning off the leftover goods. There were a few things id be interested in if the price was right.

After that im going to watch a movie and knit. Or maybe watch duck dynasty.

[MrsSunshine]

what a great morning. slept in. had 12 hours. my body def. needed it.
dh and i are going grocery shopping when he's done work. def. can wait as their is alot on my list this time. no shopping cart will handle it.
its a cold one today.. only 8 degrees out. nearly time for the woolies. brr.

guess were the lucky ones with the FB Pm'ing. although never done it their. we always take their flyer to NF's lol.

[lizzie bargain]

Tidying, shopping and cooking as we have our friends coming to stay for a couple of nights tonight-we really enjoy their company so it should be fun!

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Mom woke up in a better mood (which basically meant I could take her out in public) so we went and did out shopping. I have to add up how much we spent but I think we did really well. Mom got some extras but she paid for them, I would prefer we got no extras but can't win them all and she paid so. Will add up my total a little bit later.

We are having left overs or whatever you can find in the fridge for dinner so no eating out. Mom has asked if we can write a meal plan which makes me happy she seems to be getting on board with our new budget/lifestyle which means less disposable income. As long as we stay on budget we should not have to go without anything but we need to stay on budget.

Hope everyone has a great evening.

[coupon girl]

-hey all "ashlyn"party was success-she hed up -she got a sand table ,desk and 2 chairs popping toy and lots of nice clothing,tiny kitchen,books,wooden puzzles
- I came home with cesar salad for me for sunday ,some chocolate cookies ,some chewy candy, tim hortons container half full for hubby-cake

-no supper we are stuffed with chicken ,pizza roasted potatoes ate at 2.00-missed 20 timesat shoppers but I really don't care I will save my money

[LuvToUseCoupons]

LUV great job on no spending on the field trip, yes they can get pricey with all those gift shops, snack bars, etc, high five to you

Thank you. Yes I find them pretty pricey...that why I'm so proud!