November frugal friends (2014)

[Frugalbigmama]

Good morning. Stayed home sick yesterday and feeling much better today. Good thing the fridge had lots of leftovers since dinner was not being made. Tonight is hockey so thankful I made that mac and cheese on Sunday. Will freeze the rest tonight in individual serving portions so its easy to pull for DS for lunches etc. Tomorrow I am cooking in the slowcooker a pulled pork that I bought at Costco a few weeks ago. It was a good price and an extra $3.50 off per package and is already in the sauce etc so just have to plunk it in the slowcooker and forget it. Will grab some of our bags of Cavendish fries from Grams freezer to go with it and maybe a salad if I feel up to it.

[jasperandchar]

Morning all,

Dh and FIL are gone and will be back on Thursday noonish.

Jaden will be 14 on Thursday , we usually have people over for this birthday and cook what he wants but feeding 10 people chicken wings is not an option, so we are meeting everyone at East side Marios and will do the 1/2 price appetizers and everyone can pay for their own. I purchased a gc during the SDM promo so I may just have to pay a little out of pocket which is great.

Dh took some cookies with him and the millionaire squares I made last night are 1/2 gone .

I enjoy baking when I feel like baking , I really need to get back into the once a week thing but have really had no energy these last 3 weeks.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

[Natalka]

Good morn!

Well, I'll have to get busy to keep myself warm in here!
It's cold, and will get colder throughout the day and into a -30 windchill night. EW!

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning,
Must be something about this week, not feeling so good but trying to push on. I am not actually sick just not feeling 100%.

Looks like this weekend is going to be an insane weekend. I am doing my first SDM redemption ever. Mom is going in today to spend $30 to bump us up to the next level. I am hoping it get almost everything we need for stockings with only taxes out of pocket. As well off to Costco, I need to get a new passport photo done plus we need some stuff. I am kind of scared to go into Costco on a Sunday this close to Christmas but what else can we do. I am also sure between now and than we will find other things we need as well. If at all possible I would like to have all my Christmas Shopping done. Now the huge question is what to get Mom as her Chair Gym just went up in price and bumped it out of my budget. Does anyone else find Christmas to be extremely stressful?

Hope everyone has a great day.

[sweet sparrow]

Looks like this weekend is going to be an insane weekend. I am doing my first SDM redemption ever. Mom is going in today to spend $30 to bump us up to the next level. I am hoping it get almost everything we need for stockings with only taxes out of pocket. Now the huge question is what to get Mom as her Chair Gym just went up in price and bumped it out of my budget. Does anyone else find Christmas to be extremely stressful?

Hope everyone has a great day.

Don't lose hope, SassyAshley. There's still Black Friday and Cyber Monday to keep an eye on the price. Is it an actual store you can go into? You can also just ask them to give you the sale price you saw it at. They'll give it to you if they want to make their sales goal. The worst they can say is no, and that's not so bad.

Yes, Christmas is very stressful. I wish everyone wouldn't get so bent out of shape on gifts. In DH's family, it's all about the gifts and his siblings actually try and outdo each other on costs and size, no matter who makes how much. Drives me crazy... In my family, if we see something the other person would like, and it's within budget, they get it. If not, maybe we get it after Boxing Day, etc. Christmas is a time for the food, food, and more food here. Or should I say, it's a time for stretch pants, stretch pants, stretch pants?

In other news, the person who hit our car backed out of paying for it. That was a good lesson for DH. Next time he'll call 911 and report the accident right then and there.

[MrsSunshine]

yep morning.. not the greatest night. won't go into details. just hoping tonite is better.
its back to cold and miserable here. of course after the wind had its way with all my christmas decorations.
going to have to start again..
yes xmas can be stressful. however this year im not letting it get to me. i bought (and froze) homemade cookies(from church) and will put together a few extra 'treats' to put on a tray for xmas gatherings.
were doing simple prezzies here as the kids are older, they don't need as much.
house is nearly done. just need to put containers in our closet. dh says go ahead. a good clean up and im ready.
we're just going to enjoy family this year. after all thats what its about.

[jasperandchar]

Don't lose hope, SassyAshley. There's still Black Friday and Cyber Monday to keep an eye on the price. Is it an actual store you can go into? You can also just ask them to give you the sale price you saw it at. They'll give it to you if they want to make their sales goal. The worst they can say is no, and that's not so bad.

Yes, Christmas is very stressful. I wish everyone wouldn't get so bent out of shape on gifts. In DH's family, it's all about the gifts and his siblings actually try and outdo each other on costs and size, no matter who makes how much. Drives me crazy... In my family, if we see something the other person would like, and it's within budget, they get it. If not, maybe we get it after Boxing Day, etc. Christmas is a time for the food, food, and more food here. Or should I say, it's a time for stretch pants, stretch pants, stretch pants?

In other news, the person who hit our car backed out of paying for it. That was a good lesson for DH. Next time he'll call 911 and report the accident right then and there.

I agree Christmas should be about the people and not the gifts but having said that we only buy for 5 plus our family but geez it's expensive as everyone tries to compensate for such as small group and the # of the gifts....drives me mad and of course the costs. I've asked in the past if the adults MIL, FIL, BIL and my parents would just draw 1 name but nope so it continues and this year we are financially drained which is stressing me out even more DH is like it comes once a year....blah blah....

Did your dh get the persons information that hit him, I would still pursue it though.

[jasperandchar]

Good Morning,
Must be something about this week, not feeling so good but trying to push on. I am not actually sick just not feeling 100%.

Looks like this weekend is going to be an insane weekend. I am doing my first SDM redemption ever. Mom is going in today to spend $30 to bump us up to the next level. I am hoping it get almost everything we need for stockings with only taxes out of pocket. As well off to Costco, I need to get a new passport photo done plus we need some stuff. I am kind of scared to go into Costco on a Sunday this close to Christmas but what else can we do. I am also sure between now and than we will find other things we need as well. If at all possible I would like to have all my Christmas Shopping done. Now the huge question is what to get Mom as her Chair Gym just went up in price and bumped it out of my budget. Does anyone else find Christmas to be extremely stressful?

Hope everyone has a great day.

I need 5000sdm points to reach the next level too but really don't know much about SDM, so how many $ would I have to spend and would the points be there by the weekend??? I've never redeemed either but was really hoping to.

Costco on a Sunday....eek...good luck.

[SassyAshley]

I am hoping it will go back down, I was looking to buy it through Amazon so I could use Giftcards from Swagbucks as it was out of my budget to start with.

I think our family's are related, it has gotten to the point where I hate giving gifts as my whole family knows I coupon and now I get question on what I pay for things. Not that they do not like/love the gift but apparently if I got it on sale/clearance or used a coupon than I get harassed for trying to save money. Which has now lead to the telling me they want things that are WAY out of my budget to try to see what I will do. Not to mention my family is so brand specific you cannot just buy a nice reasonably price pepper grinder they need $60 one because well because they do and if you buy a different one you hear about.

Don't lose hope, SassyAshley. There's still Black Friday and Cyber Monday to keep an eye on the price. Is it an actual store you can go into? You can also just ask them to give you the sale price you saw it at. They'll give it to you if they want to make their sales goal. The worst they can say is no, and that's not so bad.

Yes, Christmas is very stressful. I wish everyone wouldn't get so bent out of shape on gifts. In DH's family, it's all about the gifts and his siblings actually try and outdo each other on costs and size, no matter who makes how much. Drives me crazy... In my family, if we see something the other person would like, and it's within budget, they get it. If not, maybe we get it after Boxing Day, etc. Christmas is a time for the food, food, and more food here. Or should I say, it's a time for stretch pants, stretch pants, stretch pants?

In other news, the person who hit our car backed out of paying for it. That was a good lesson for DH. Next time he'll call 911 and report the accident right then and there.

Nancy we used to draw names within the cousins as in total there 8 of us (4 each side including cousin's wife) but this only lasted 2 years as the second year some members did not buy for the member they were supposed to and it became a huge issue so now we are back to everyone buying for everyone. Only thing now is we do not really speak with some of them and due to what I will call family issues I have stopped buying for certain members.

I agree Christmas should be about the people and not the gifts but having said that we only buy for 5 plus our family but geez it's expensive as everyone tries to compensate for such as small group and the # of the gifts....drives me mad and of course the costs. I've asked in the past if the adults MIL, FIL, BIL and my parents would just draw 1 name but nope so it continues and this year we are financially drained which is stressing me out even more DH is like it comes once a year....blah blah....

Did your dh get the persons information that hit him, I would still pursue it though.

SS like Nancy said if you still have his info you can still try to see where it can take you.

[lizzie bargain]

I am not stressed for Xmas. I only buy for nieces and nephews under 18-only 2 left and just sent a cheque to my sister in the US for her two kids Birthday and Xmas presents. All fall between Dec and Feb so easy to give money and the kids can choose what they want. DH and I don't buy for each other. DD has not told me what she wants yet. For the rest of we adults we buy each other small stocking stuffers which we open on Xmas eve along with a fondue. I hope to stock up on these at SDM redemption on Saturday or in India in 2 weeks time. Got a free haircut this morning-when you buy a $75 haircut card at Great Clips you get one haircut for free . Starting to double check and assemble all that I need for India, taking the last of the vaccines and will start my malaria pills just prior to going-the wedding is not until Dec 12 but some of the folks are leaving later this week-I will go just a few days before.

[Andit]

Do you think Santa will bring me one of these for Xmas? Just how nice (or naughty?) does a girl have to be to get one?




http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/worl...arls-1.2118059

[SassyAshley]

SDM is 10 pts/dollar spent unless it has bonus points or they have a point event going on. But you have to be careful as a lot of times their points events do not credit for a couple of weeks. I was just going to do the lower level redemption but Mom said she would go in and look and if nothing else just grab a gift card we can use later or to cover the tax as you cannot use points to cover taxes.

I need 5000sdm points to reach the next level too but really don't know much about SDM, so how many $ would I have to spend and would the points be there by the weekend??? I've never redeemed either but was really hoping to.

Costco on a Sunday....eek...good luck.

[lizzie bargain]

Nancy, If my Math is correct this morning, I think you would have to spend $500 to get 5,000 points. However if you go to the SDM thread under Forum, Canadian Shopping Deals there are other people asking your question. Apparently there are bonus pts on soft soap this week and coupons out there as well-perhaps by reading how other people plan to increase their pts by the weekend you can find something-I always buy gift cards too before I purchase anything so I get pts twice. If you can't find anything perhaps you can redeem for a lower level or wait until the next bonus redemption. Last year if I recall correctly they had another bonus redemption closer to or just after Xmas where they actually gave some pts back per redemption. Good luck-I love SDM bonus recemptions and getting a cart full for free!

[jasperandchar]

SDM is 10 pts/dollar spent unless it has bonus points or they have a point event going on. But you have to be careful as a lot of times their points events do not credit for a couple of weeks. I was just going to do the lower level redemption but Mom said she would go in and look and if nothing else just grab a gift card we can use later or to cover the tax as you cannot use points to cover taxes.

Okay no way am I spending $500.00 not possible or sensible to reach the next level, I can only redeem 22000 points does anyone know what this will be as a mega redemption if $ in normal days it's $30.00. AND thanks for letting me know about the taxes I didn't know that...again I don't really shop there as it's very expensive unless the things I need are on sale.

[jasperandchar]

okay quick question, do I need to print this or something and if I were to buy 4 would I get 5000 points??

http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/O...s-otrivin.aspx