Dashing December Savings (frugal chatter 2014)

[Natalka]

Good morning everyone.
Well life has thrown us another curve ball. I went to the dentist about six weeks ago to have a tooth extracted, and my dentist was sick so I got a new girl. before extracting my tooth she took my blood pressure, something I have never had done at the dentist before. She was shocked at how high my pressure was and advised I see my doctor, which was confusing because I had a physical the week prior and my pressure was fine, I even stopped at the drug store on the way home from the dentist and took it and it was normal so I shrugged it off as white coat syndrome. Fast forward two weeks and I was doing housework and starting feeling nauseous and had a very new to me type of headache, I then recalled the dentist had taken my pressure in my right arm because all the dental equipment was on my left side, so I dug out the portable monitor we have at home and took my pressure on my right and it was really really high..like 205 over 110 and normal on my left side.Off to the doctor I went and she immediately sent me for and ecg and it was not good, so an echo and stress test was scheduled for the following week. the cardiologist then sent me to Calgary on Thursday to have an angiogram and they found two blockages, one 90 % and one 70 % so I immediately had angioplasty done and two stents placed in the blocked artery. I am considering myself very lucky this was caught before I had a heart attack, I am home now and on the mend.If it wasn't for the dentist I wouldn't have picked up on this until it was too late, I fel very blessed. Needless to say Christmas will be a little more low key than usual but I am just happy to be home and healing.
I hope this is the last of the medical issues for us between my son's accident and my husband has his own heart issues it has been a bit of a tough year for us and my son has his last surgery on his ankle this Friday.I hope that is the end of it!!

Holy casserole! Well, you sure had an angel looking out for you, who found the initial bp!

Big, big hugs for you, and wishes for a comfortable and speedy recovery!
Hoping all goes well for your son's surgery as well.

[jasperandchar]

jeepers busy bunch on here and lovin' it

My goals for January are -

1. tackle 3 things from my to do list above and beyond the usual (dishes, laundry and making meals)

2. Bake once a week with extras for the freezer (sweet tooth bandits live here)

3. work with dh to tackle the odd jobs/renos around the house that need to be done (that we have the supplies/materials for already)

4. Eat from the freezer (only stocking up on meats that we don't currently have to change things up) on scheduled shopping days

5. any extra $ going on my taxes (has to be a priority)

6. Make cleaners from scratch (like febreeze, laundry crystals, tile cleaners, etc)

7. No eating out for sure

8. Only grocery shop bi-weekly for needs NOT wants

9. start a gratitude journal (to reflect upon) and lift my spirits and good for motivation

10. keep dh out of the stores

[Frugalbigmama]

Great goals. Mine are pretty similar. I have a million house projects that I want done/started/finished. And the big one (new tile for entrance, main floor bathroom and kitchen) I already have the tile. It was a super deal at Rona about a year ago. I think someone put the wrong tile in the clearance pile with a big sign but they honoured the price and gave it to me. So I paid around $110 think for $800 worth? It was something like that. I really want it done.

[macw1960]

In line with macw1960 I am thinking of a challenge for Jan-see how far I can get in the month with just spending free pts for groceries.

So far I currently have $20 in PC points, expect to have $60 in airmiles cash and i just ordered a $100 Costco gift card using Aeroplan miles I got for opening a bank account. Not that I am expecting to be broke in Jan, but it might be a fun challenge to see how far my small freexzer, pantry and $180 in freebies would get the 3 of us-of course this would be assuming I don't spend them in Dec! I know many of us have spent our SDM points etc to stock up for Dec but I have never saved them all for one month before to see how far I could get into the month without spending on groceries. Or maybe we should donate them to a family in need like in Sept when we donated some food and cash to a needy family.

By the way macw1960 we had considered reducing our house insurance deductible a few years ago too as we had never claimed anything on it. DH checked into it and in our case it would have only saved about $40 per year so he decided against it. 3 months later we were hit with a major hailstorm and had to make a claim and so were very thankful we had not swtiched up to the $1,000. It would have taken about 12 years of saving $40 per year to make up for the extra $500 we would have paid if we had swtiched. If you get a decent savings though it may be totally worth it like lilo.

Okay time to decorate the forlorn looking tree in our front window which has been erected and lit but not decorated yet!

Good thing you didn't reduce your deductible then but hoping for a big discount...fingers crossed.

[Frugalbigmama]

I really hope to get some cleaning/organizing done tonight. Feels so overwhelming that I don't know where to start. But I don't want to decorate for Christmas till the house is spotless. Will do a bit tonight even though I have to get DS up at 5am for hockey.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon All,
On my second day away. So far so good will post more details a little later. Feeling a little over whelmed right now trying to be me and keep up with my day to day tasks plus training others. Doesn't help I was so tired last night I crashed out just before 8 pm and before that it keep booting me off the system so I did not get nearly as much done last night as I had hoped.

Hopefully I can post more details a little later right now it is time to get back to work.

[Ciel]

@Crochetlady -seems that the swollen tongue is an allergic reaction. Check in with one of your healthcare providers! Body is telling you something is not ok. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the...ne-allergy.htm
@thriftygranny -I really really hope you qualify for some provincial coverage for respite help or PSW support during your recovery through community care or whichever entity provides home support. Or a lovely neighbour willing to help you/assist the men at home for a few hours during week. Can you send a card to your regular dentist to ask that s/he pass on your thanks for the substitute dentist's actions? I think anyone of us would have higher BP when dealing with someone new and unfamiliar in a healthcare setting. Don't recall ever having BP taken at dental office. It's often said that the mouth can hint at other medical issues and dental hygienists get trained on this aspect very throughly.
Also, like you wrote, you carried on with family needs with two other family members dealing with own health. As you get stronger, you will have to ensure you have your daily me time for exercise/reflection/play/self-indulgence.
@jasperandchar -I've struggled with the idea of doing journaling and never really had a fun time with it in middle-school English class as teacher had us doing it most days in school. Much easier for me is to write down a line or a few from a book I'm reading that really resonates for me in terms of thinking/health/dealing with others or just trying to find an upside. Reason-sometimes I really need to read a phrase to distract me from worries or people or there are times I want to remind myself of the good words that I found worth jotting down. Even tv shows might have dialogue that just makes you take notice and think "I have to remember what so-and-so said, that's amazing!" (And that means there are script writers who know their craft well.)

Today's effort in frugality is trying to keep some of my thoughts about how Mom's handling of a sewing project to myself. I see a problem but she'll see it soon enough. She's getting some sewing done in the time I expected would happen before the afternoon shows come on. Goal: to have the curtains done by Friday. We'll see.

[macw1960]

I called the scrap man earlier tonight and 20 minutes later the dryer in our garage was gone free of charge. I wonder if DH will notice when he gets home from work later.

[jasperandchar]

I'm expecting a repairman for my fridge tomorrow am, I am grateful that they are coming on such short noticed but p*ssed off my fridge is not throwing cold air....sigh...so this will be an unexpected repair and this same problem happened last year but was covered under warranty....but no longer - fingers crossed it's not too costly.

I've had nothing but problems with both the fridge and well they replaced the stove but word to the wise don't purchase Maytag fridge or stoves folks they are garbage and not cheap.

[coupon girl]

-thriftygranny so glad you are on the mend -wow good that it was caught -
-well gotta go so tired(yeah for 2days off from watching my beautifull "ashlyn-lol)I need it too

[jasperandchar]

enjoy your quiet time coupon girl

[avoncallingu]

Oh, crochetlady, I'm so sorry to hear this! I hope things are better for you today.

Not a good day here. On the weekend the left side of my skull started acting up. So far it had been the right side. Called the Dr. and he`s increasing the prednisone back to 15 mg for 8 weeks and then will start weaning again. I`m back to taking pain meds every 4 hours again. This morning I woke up at 7:00 took the first and within 15 minutes was barfing. That lasted for the next hour.
I was supposed to go to the ladies Christmas potluck at church tonight but that`s not happening.

Hope everyone else is having a good day.

[lizzie bargain]

My 2 new bosses-and oh so cute!

[macw1960]

My 2 new bosses-and oh so cute!

What a beautiful picture.

[macw1960]

I'm expecting a repairman for my fridge tomorrow am, I am grateful that they are coming on such short noticed but p*ssed off my fridge is not throwing cold air....sigh...so this will be an unexpected repair and this same problem happened last year but was covered under warranty....but no longer - fingers crossed it's not too costly.

I've had nothing but problems with both the fridge and well they replaced the stove but word to the wise don't purchase Maytag fridge or stoves folks they are garbage and not cheap.

Hope the repair isn't too expensive.