Marching Forward with Frugality & with Savings 2015 frugal chatter

[lizzie bargain]

Ok time to get off my duff, shower, get dressed and and hit No Frills and checkout the markdowns when it opens at 8.

[Natalka]

Andi I'm glad it went well for you. Wishing all the best for Lily improving!

My son and husband worked on our van last night - put on a new tire, did some other stuff...
Milan will be coming for a visit and supper tonight, so yay for me!

When he was leaving from here last time, after giving me a hug and kiss he kept his face with his big brown eyes close to mine and said how much he really missed living with us - it was SO sweet, and of course I told him I did too.

Hope all of you have a great day!

[thriftygranny]

I am not far TG-I will even meet you half way for my catered goodies-lol! It sounds like you have lots to do already! Actually I was half way there yesterday visiting my sister near Didsbury. Our fist time driving the new car on the higway and it handled well-even though the wind was blowing hard and one had to keep a firm grip on the wheel!

Wasn't it windy yesterday, it was very blustery here too, Didsbury is close Lizzie, I have always thought it was a cute little town. For some reason i hate highway driving but I may be persuaded to meet half way!!

[thriftygranny]

Andit I hope Lily is ok, I have to do a vet visit with our 12 year old lab this week. suspecting an ear infection.

[lilo0003]

We took the boys to the Toronto Rock game last night. DH & Logan have seasons passes (Christmas gift) if it always included extras so the older son loves a game against Buffalo and they did not disappoint, it was awesome.
Then we took the boys out for appetizers at Real Sports Bar and some random person gave us a 10.00 off coupon as he had more than he would use and it was expiring soon. The kindness of strangers.

[saundyl]

Andit - glad the surgery went well

I had a bit of a melt down last night - finally told bf and the boys exactly how unwelcome the oldest one (and bf a couple times this week too) has been managing to make me feel the past couple months. what makes me furious is anytime i say anything WITHOUT a meltdown i get brushed off as over exaggerating how i feel. I'm sorry but how i feel is how i feel no one else can tell me how i'm being made to feel but ME.

It did result in BF telling him that he has to make an effort to im not the only one who has to try to make this work.

on the plus side...the cookies i made yesterday are going over well....6 dozen should last a bit although i made ones i will eat too (i don't really like oatmeal chocolate chip but love oatmeal raisin - miss the cinnamon though!)

We watched the new night at the museum last night with the boys. The boys had donuts as the movie snack. I knitted while i watched.

Today i ordered 2 storage ottomans from amazon - they fold up if they aren't in use. We'll sell the purple pink one that doesn't have storage when the arrive if i like them...if i don't like them i'll sell them. I figure...having a 2nd one for the other couch "might" solve the supposed issue of feet shoved between the cushions causing sagging in the centre of the new couch like the last one had. PLUS the living room blankets and pillows wont end up on the floor as often.

We had chinese for supper last night - bf didn't want to cook and i was making cookies. So the sausages and cauliflower i picked up yesterday are for tonight's supper. I'll dig out some extras from the freezer so we have extras for the boys school lunches tomorrow.

Monday will be leftovers.
Tuesday because bf is working and its just me to feed at 5pm I might make some fried eggies on toast because everytime i suggest it the males around here turn their noses up at the idea.
Wedensday I'll figure that out sometime soon.

[lizzie bargain]

Saundyl-sounds like you are outnumbered 3 to 1 according to the male/female ratio at your place-that might help partially explain them not understanding your feelings. Next time the males turn up their noses at your suggested dinner I would simply ask them what they prefer to make instead, draw yourself a hot bath and tell them you will be out in a 1/2 hr for dinner!! That might shock them into a little appreciation. My DH is very willing to cook but when DD asks what is for lunch or dinner I sometimes say "I don't know-what are you making?"

[MrsSunshine]

how's everyone's weekend..
yesterday we went to a couple of local church/legion sales. picked up a cute little suitcase for my crocheting.
as well as 2 bags of clothes.
then went to Wm to Pm lens mills to get some yarn, going to try either a Sophie or a granny square afghan.
i need to finish the 3 projects i have on the go first.. going to destash some yarn( i got free) so i can clean up my cabinet and organize my projects so i know what i have and where it is. not on the floor in the living room.
we spent last night catching up on some shows. OI til 130 ... yikes.
i froze the muffins i made on Friday. today i need to roast my squash and steam my cauliflower. will add those to tonites dinner.
dh wants to bake up some MM tarts as well. we have a jar of mincemeat he wants to get rid of.
first we need to clean our oven. i melted a spatula in it.. it stinks...
then off maybe to do some community work.
and its march break week. well for one kid anyway.
oh well enjoy your day all.

[Angela273]

Hi guys. I haven't been posting on SC much, but I'm still reading and liking posts. Monday is a no school day here, so I've been trying harder to work on potty training with LO while I have the 3 days home with him. I am teaching for the same teacher from Tue-Fri this week. That means that I will be paid as a sub for the first 3 days and then get paid at my class (temporary raise) for the 4th day.

I'm still using coupons, checking fliers, apps, points deals, etc. I haven't completed any trades on SC in a few months. I want to trade for some different good coupons again, but also for some $3 off Whiskas dry cat food coupons too. My wish list is up to date, but there aren't too many coupons on my trade list at the moment. The weekend that the $3 Whiskas coupon came in the fliers was a weekend that we didn't receive ANY of our fliers. The person just took the weekend off without a replacement, or something.

[lilo0003]

Angela: thanks for checking in, I was wondering where you had been.
Saundyl: even if they were your bio kids being the only female in a house of men is tough. Good for you to speak out, saying nothing only makes it worse.

Here are my best money saving tips & lots of the things are already noted.

• PMing-as you all know I was a chicken and never did this. Not I am pretty comfortable with it.
  
• I buy 90% of my groceries at RCCS and only use my PC MC. Last year I received $940.00 in free groceries.
  
• Likes others have said the library is your friend. We don’t buy books unless second hand or sometimes for a gift. But then only for the boys as they will re-read and everything the older son loved the younger was has loved as well. We are lucky in that we have two boys the love to read.
  
• I stopped buying coffee every day and now it’s a treat just a few times a week.
  
• I use every points program out there and track all my savings so in any year I can tell you how much we saved with them.
  
• We went to basic cable that was only to keep our internet cheaper. Before we watch something on Netflix’s we see if the library has it so we can avoid the extra streaming.
  
• Pay attention to the stockpile and make sure stuff is used in time. I also don’t buy stuff beyond what we can use and never bother with coupons for products we don’t use. I bought 5 boxes of vector when it was on a Check-51 offer and with the FPC I have turned that into 18 boxes, but since this is the only cereal DH uses it makes sense. Whereas I bought the special k also with a coupon, but redeemed all of the FPCs for strawberries since I have more than enough cereal that I eat & the kids loves strawberries.
  
• The one I am really trying to address this year is to not overbuy fresh food, I find this is easy to lose sight of can be such a waste
  
• I now also use a budget and that has been a huge eye opening for us.
  

[lizzie bargain]

Angela-we went to see the triplet boys yesterday who just turned 3 last month-their Mum said what worked with them was putting them in underwear and they get one jellybean for a pee and 2 if they poop-so they are very keen to go on there little potties that she keeps close by-so cute to see them lined up on them yesterday. I know your son is younger and may not be as ready but just thought I would pass that on. They put them on every couple hrs I think and of course eventually they will become independent. I am sure they are still in diapers at night and still have the occasional accident but they seem to get it now whereas 6 months ago it was very hit and miss and one guy wasn't ever peeing on the potty. The daycare is also taking them to the potty and I am sure the family is starting to save a ton on diapers for 3. So don't get discouraged-I know you are hoping to get him trained before your twins arrive-best of luck with the potty training.

[MrsSunshine]

we've just saved probably a good $100-+ and proved you don't need a repair person all the time.
we left a spatula in the oven, it ended up melting.. not a good thing.. the smell.. HOI!..
being as we've only had the stove a few months.. yeesh
so we unplugged her, undid the base cleaning plate. took out the element. took a heating gun to it and the inside of the oven.
voila.. after an hour of working together its clean again.
yay. lets just pray the smell is gone..

4 loads of laundry done. 2 more to go. bathrooms cleaned, kitchen cleaned. house vacuumed, dinner is leftovers.
we can relax tonite.
oh and im off to michael's tomorrow. going to return a hook holder. dont' like it. going to get some more yarn..
anyway. thought i'd just pop in and say hi.

[coupon girl]

-I am loving shoppers emailed coupons -boy if you guys are not signed up you should I just got
arm and hammer laundry soap 3.99-3.10 emailed cpn=.89 the sales aligned this week
and a carton of campbells broth 3.29-2.80 emailed cpn=.49
I am gonna rack up my points for sure

[terry2144]

So much going on in the world of canucks! I will try to go back on this post so I can catch up. Saundyl...sounds like you have your hands full. I raised 2 boys and a girl on my own. It was difficult. All of us have a pretty twisted sense of humour....but my boys seem to find things funny that my daughter and me find more hurtful. Very frustrating to say the least. All have been out of the house at one time or another but they are back...all are students. My 26 year old is only here for a couple of months. When he is with his younger brother I would swear I have 12 year olds living with me.
Biggest money mistake
Supporting my grown children when my income does not grant it. I have gone heavily into debt since they moved back in. It feels mean but I have informed them that I am moving when my lease is up in October. They do help with groceries but with the extra expenses and the mess its hardly compensation.
Frugal snacks
I love my sunflower seeds in the shell
popcorn of course
raw potatoes with salt
Activities
like others the library has so many resources
any park or beach
when my kids were young the drive in was free for them so we went with $5 pizza and our own pop and there were also free sprint car races in our area, as well as the children's festival etc

[avoncallingu]

I stopped into Carter's/Osh Gosh to check out the $2.99 deals that someone mentioned. I got 4 tops and 1 pair of pants for our upcoming arrival. My dh doesn't understand about buying different sizes for newborns. But you can never tell how big they will be and how fast they will grow. The one I liked the best said, "This is my best day ever!" on the front. I have to control myself because this little one will have a 14 yr old step-sister and 11 yr old step-brother so I'll have to keep in mind not to spoil her, but I've never had a little baby girl to buy for. Always BOYS in our family!