Marching Forward with Frugality & with Savings 2015 frugal chatter

[jasperandchar]

Since the name was a tie I've used some parts from tied titles

Welcome back old friends and welcome aboard new folks, here's to a great March

avoncallingu - April Showers of Savings

[jasperandchar]

reserved for goals, challenges or what have you

[saundyl]

My goal for the month is not to have extra spending beyond what ive budgeted for and hopefully stay under budget in some categories.

I also want to do at least 2 computers for extra income (i have one scheduled for the first of March so far) and finsh off BF's moms Blanket

[Granger]

Winter has been expensive for us. Higher utilities, van purchase. DH's new job is great, BUT there are "gremlin" expenses (as mentioned in the previous thread). His pastoring requires relationship-building and networking...which means socializing. Coffee dates, more lunches out. These expenses aren't covered in his ministry budget because often times they are not things that have to be done, but should. We are trying be smarter about these expenses.

Our goal for March is the same as February and eliminate deficit from January shortfall (not including new vehicle LOC). With DH's new job, I didn't think eliminating shortfall was unreasonable for February. It is going much slower than anticipated. I will couple this with saying "no" more often and keeping things simple. With March Break in March there will be huge opportunities to spend debt repayment on fun things. We are doing Disney on Ice for the kids (Grandma's treat) and that is it. While we did reduce deficit in February by 20%, I want to get working on the vehicle portion of the LOC.

[SassyAshley]

My goal for March is to set aside some money for a trip across the boarder at the end of the month. My Birthday is at the end of the month so hoping to take a trip across the boarder the weekend after my Birthday since it is Easter Weekend which means we could leave Thursday night after work and come back Sunday to give us a little bit more time. This trip will be to stock up on items we cannot get here or that are much cheaper cross the boarder. I have a love for Costco US.

[thriftygranny]

Great Goals Saundyl and Granger.
You will both look back when your my age and look at these times as wonderful, some of my best memories with my now grown kids are the 'remember when we did this' moments when we did frugal activities. It is a journey and a great time in your lives!

[thriftygranny]

Good choice on the name Nancy!
My March goals are to continue a no spend month, only the necessary groceries. I have my grandaughter for a few days for pd days and March Break but there is always some fun to be had doing crafts and enjoying nature!! I need to get going on sewing some nice spring summer clothes but not feeling it right now!! Hopefully next week I will! I also need to recover all my patio cushions, the outdoor sunshade fabric is half price this weekend at Fabricland and I have been waffling all day about going to get it.Not a huge expense maybe 40.00 and I could use carry forward from my Feb. budget,I just find the fabric store too hard to stay focused..to many wonderful things!!

[thriftygranny]

My goal for March is to set aside some money for a trip across the boarder at the end of the month. My Birthday is at the end of the month so hoping to take a trip across the boarder the weekend after my Birthday since it is Easter Weekend which means we could leave Thursday night after work and come back Sunday to give us a little bit more time. This trip will be to stock up on items we cannot get here or that are much cheaper cross the boarder. I have a love for Costco US.

Watch closely to the worth of our dollar, it may not be that much cheaper!!

[jasperandchar]

great goals @saundyl @Granger @SassyAshley @thriftygranny

[jasperandchar]

My families goals for March are the following

Financially speaking (lol)-
- make last installment payment to CRA for 2014 - DONE
- make new installment payments to CRA for 2015
- photocopy T4's and send to my employer for proof of incomes for 2014 - DONE
- MAIL paperwork for more income tax be deducted for 2015 going forward in March (I have the papers filled out, just need to attach a letter) - DONE
- FOLLOW up 2 weeks after mailing to ensure it's taken off by end of March otherwise I need to make another installment payment to CRA.
- put $ aside for our cottage taxes & boys cottage lot which are due in April - NOT GOING TO HAPPEN
- post new items for sale and start bumping old items especially when heading into town so I could meet people and put $ towards ongoing renovations
- drop off income tax to accountant - DONE
- stock up on meat sales hopefully and stay out of the stores otherwise

Renovations they never end but we are making progress!!!
- move Logan into Jaden's old room which is has undergone mudding, sanding, painting, new closet door installed, closet shelves etc.
- finish painting downstairs where dh did some sanding & mudding
- install Jaden's new bedroom door which should arrive mid March
- some odds and ends in Jaden's new room

[Crochetlady]

My March goal is a continuation of Feb. I need to stick with the crocheting a bit more to get a bigger stockplie built. I`m hoping that sales start to pick up by the end of the month...I really want to get that CC paid.

[Granger]

Sent up a prayer for you and DH Avon.

[sweet sparrow]

Prayer sent avoncallingu.

This weekend was supposed to be a relaxing weekend, but I spent it cleaning three bathrooms. Funny, but when you have a mobile little one, your standards of cleanliness doesn't change, but the speed at which you clean changes dramatically. Normally, I don't mind hearing the sound of "Mama?", but today, when I heard it, I scrubbed like a maniac, trying to get the toilet bowl clean and lid down before LO rounded the corner. It fills me with dread to have her see me with my hand halfway down the toilet and entertaining thoughts of trying it herself. Today, not only did I clean, I had to clean up after myself with all the excess water and fast rinsing.

Also today, I made enough for LO's lunch for the week and did the grocery shopping. It's amazing how a one and a half year old impacts the food budget. I have no idea how LO drinks as much milk as she does at daycare. I wonder if they're dumping half of it? She never drinks as much at home. We're buying a bag of 4 L homo milk each week. We also have to buy a large amount of fruit. She loves grapes and strawberries and somehow polished off about 6 lbs of them this past week. Maybe it's because she's been so sick the week before and ate practically nothing. Our food costs increased that week too because the food we prepped for her eventually got tossed.

Today's efforts were only made possible by putting her in disposable diapers. I guess trying to be frugal in one area takes away from another sometimes.

From last month's thread, there were some comments about the "latte factor" or people buying coffee each morning from a take-out shop. I think some people like the convenience. DH leaves so early, he'd never be able to make a single serve coffee in the morning and claims that buying one on the way home keeps him alert and alive. He's got such a long commute and he's so exhausted and overworked all the time. In comparison, I'm the sort of person who would postpone buying something to save items for my Christmas list, only to return it and repurpose something I own even if it's inconvenient. DH doesn't see the point of saving all your pennies for retirement if you're just going to make yourself suffer for 65 years to have an extra few dollars. So...I think it's okay for people to spend their money on what makes them happy as long as they don't go into debt to do it. I suppose if DH is facing a cat food diet after retirement, I am his retirement fund. He's not allowed to have any expensive hobbies, but I'll make sure he's not eating cat food.

Last week, I was hoping DH would save the coupons that arrived in the paper at work for me. Unfortunately, the new person they hired recycled everything in a large bin when DH was in the washroom. Argh!! This week I told DH he must grab the RedPlum as there is a very important coupon in there for us!

[coupon girl]

-avon prayers for your hubby
-guess what my great day was -daughter came down /her hubby we all went to a restrarant on locke street"earth to tablebread bar "awesome restarnt-daughter and had homemade white bean pea soup with a bread yummm

-then son asked us to babysit so they could go out withfriends for his 30th birthday yesterday-well what he didnt know was for the past month my daughter-in-law was planning a surprize party for him
-well 30 people were at his house we all yelled surprize -so we didnt babysit that was an excuse from his friends -so he didnt catch on and think nothing was going on for his birthday it was nice
-i took a veggie tray 15.99,brocolli 1.99 hellavudip 2. 99=20.97-20.00 in p.c points=.97cts for me

[sweet sparrow]

Oh, and I seem to be obsessed with laundry lately. Tomorrow is major laundry day with four loads scheduled, with going out to buy washer fluid and some groceries that weren't at RCSS. I'm going to try a new formula for freshening towels.

Our hydro bill is insane! Thanks to some of the others who have commented that theirs are high too or I would have thought there was a door open somewhere! I've kept records of what we've been paying since 2010 (when we moved in). In 2010, our February bill was $134. In 2011, our February bill was $112. In 2012, our bill was $106. $128 for 2013 and $156 for 2014. Our bill was $190 this year! Since when did we move to the dark side of the moon?!

I'm glad our mouse has evaded DH so far. I feel terrible for the poor thing. It ate the food from both traps and escaped relatively unscathed, except maybe for missing some hair from his bottom. Some got caught on DH's sticky trap. I think it's days are numbered though.

LO needs new clothes again. She's taller than some of the kids who are older than she is and I feel that she outgrows the labels on her clothes by about two months. I've had to put away some of her coats because it hurts her to get into them. I'm dreading having to buy a snowsuit for the few weeks that they take her out in daycare. Come on, spring!

Goals for this month (so far): complete taxes for DH and I! First step, track down all paperwork.