April Showers of Savings the sequel - 2015 Frugal Chatter

[Angela273]

Sobeys changed the type of milk that it carries in store. They replaced Beatrice with Lucern. Their promotion this week is buy one 4L Lucern and get a 1L chocolate Lucern free. I bought two 4L Lucern and get 1L chocolate milk free and a package of Oreo cookies free (you have a choice of cookies). They have Royale paper towel and toilet paper on sale for $4.99, so I used my $3 off coupons to get some.

Last week at my local Sobeys I did the gift card promotion. Buy $100gc to Sobeys and get a $10gc free with a flyer coupon. I did this 5 times, since we regularly shop there and fill my prescription there too. Now I am using these gift cards whenever I shop there, while also earning Air Miles.

A lady on a local Facebook garage sale page was giving away 0-3month baby girl clothes and she is delivering them for me because she lives out of town. Another lady also gave me a garbage bag full of various girl clothing, since one of my twins is a girl and we have boy clothes from our 2.5yr old son.

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Happy Caturday!

First time Friday was fun! While most people would consider it rather boring, I was fascinated with the complexity of setting up dozens of lights to give the illusion of street lamps or moonlight or a sunrise. I got to lie in a bed, perch on the edge of partially put-together furniture, sink into a bean bag chair (& try to climb out of it without falling off the stage!), go into doorways still under construction, and crawl around on the floor - all so that the director, lighting expert, stage manager and various crew could determine whether the actors will be properly lit. Oh & get teased mercilessly when the bathroom light kept mysteriously turning on.

So far this morning, I have already spent an hour spying on neighbours with Lily dog and taken Quincy cat for a walk in the hallway. Think it might be time for a nap.

We'll see if any chores get done later, or if it will be sleepy Saturday, just cuddling with the brats.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Congratulations Avon and Avon's DH on being able to get back to normal life that must feel wonderful.

Bobbiegirl I also HATE potlucks, the theory behind them is great but the expectations I find takes all of the fun and want to attend out. Not to mention sorry real pet peeve here so sorry if it sounds like a rant but what ever happened to Pot Luck being please bring a dish any dish to you are coming and bring __________. I know on this thread we all face the same issues some of these dishes just are not within our budgets. Especially since I find due to the fact that most around me know about my couponing they think I have such a stockpile I can afford to bring these fancy more expensive dishes. I almost always seem to get asked to bring a protein which I cannot do, I struggle like most of us to keep protein in the freezer just to feed us let alone going to a Pot Luck and trying to serve a large crowd. In my house like most of you we have to stretch our proteins so making one to serve 10 to 20 people is not realistic for me. I know recently within the last year I have turned down invites to Pot Lucks due to the you will bring which is just out of my budget and I am not willing to sacrifice our household budget for one night out.

Not sure what is in store for me today yet. Mom is working tonight so I was planning to get all of this stuff done well I had the house to myself but my hip has decided to act up. It almost feels like it locking a bit and normally if I get up walk around it is fine (doesn't happen often so they not worried about it) but today it does not seem to be loosening up like it normally does and I keep feeling like I am going to fall on my face. So unless this gets better my day will be whatever I can do sitting down, nor going to risk falling especially since I am home alone.

Going to look up some recipes for some stuff we found in the freezer last weekend. It became clear we have over bought on some things so would really like to find some new interesting ways to work them into our diet so it does not feel like we are just eating the same thing over and over. I find if it starts to feel like we are eating it over and over we lose interest and stop eating it.

Hope everyone has a great day.

[coupon girl]

-yep went to shoppers did a redemption 50,000 points for hubbys electric Phillips razor-paid only 13.00 tax -gotta love shoppers-120.00 razor on for 99.99-99.99 plus 15 times the points 3,960 points I got

[Crochetlady]

Morning All!

Have a load of laundry in the washer. Thinking I might do some groceries later...I still have 2 of the welcome coupons from PC to use by April 30. Don`t need a lot but I have a PC Plus health and beauty offer so will stock up on eye drops. Also after a year they finally give me offers on Old mill bread so will get some for the freezer.

@ avoncallingyou I bet you`re doing the happy dance! Such great news.

Hope everyone has a productive day.

[Granger]

Nothing at the street sale we needed. Good news is I said no to things we didn't need but wanted.

Went to gluten free bakery and got muffins and cookies marked down 50%. We may have to head there earlier on Saturdays if this is custom markdown time. Normally we arrive after lunch so clearance is probably all gone. I can't even claim these for DD's medical bc they beat average regular price!!!

Savings. No Timmy's this am either. DH brewed his own and I made us English muffins. I figure we saved $10.

Lunch today was McCain smiles with cesare salad and lemonade. Not including what we already had in stock the meal cost us about $6 to feed a family of four. I am going to start thinking about this and posting our meals/cost. If I post it motivates me to save. Now I will be thinking about dinner...

Thinking chicken stir fry...total cost (not including rice we have in stock) will be $10 to feed 4. We found two smaller chicken breasts for $3.50 that we will dice and stretch.

[jasperandchar]

@Crochetlady you can purchase a choc. bar and still get your 5k points for using those coupons from the mc promo from pc.

[jasperandchar]

@Granger I was thinking of doing the same thing in May, figuring out how much each supper cost, I'm really hoping to do suppers for $5 or less, seems ambitious, I know some suppers will be more but some will be less so it should balance out.

[Granger]

I think thinking of meals in this light will help decrease our "on the run" eating. When I think I have a 6 English muffins for $1 versus spending $1.50 when I am running late on a bagel it motivates me. To wake up 10 min earlier, gives me strength to say, no let's take the extra 5 min and brew our own coffee. We are pretty good, but there is always room for improvement.

$5 meals sounds incredible! After today, I don't know if that would be possible for us, but I will use you as inspiration to get that number down!

Here is my real celebration though. Tax refund came in and LOC is paid off, which means van and course are paid off and there is a little extra savings for our bay window!!! We have been waiting for some freedom since Christmas. All was balanced and then January came! I feel SOOOO good. There is still a little deficit from "pay check" to "pay check." This will be my goal for May. Hoping to take care of with first few pay checks as heating costs have gone down.

[Frugalbigmama]

I too sometimes won't pay for bagels if they aren't on sale but then will get one at timmies which is such a waste! Eggs and English muffins are a usual breakfast for my boys so I always try and keep stocked up!

[Frugalbigmama]

I know I'm suppose to be cleaning out the freezer but couldn't pass up a deal. Basa 2 pc fish for $2 at Freschco is a deal. And the $5 meat pies
at no frills. Can't make it for that. Good for a lazy night with salad and veggie. I have to shop smarter and realize I can't cook every night from scratch so cut corners. Still better then McDonald's! Health and price wise!

[Frugalbigmama]

Got a SCOP on the baby treats! Will wrap up for my nieces birthday bag. Also picked up the water/ sand table for her birthday at Toys r us for 1/2 price! Planning ahead does save money. I knew I wanted to get her one and watched for the sales. Her birthday is end of June!

[Frugalbigmama]

Groceries. Spent $30.89 at Nofrills 4 meat pies, cookies, 2 x muffins for kids lunches, sour cream, sliced roast beef, aid jammers for a treat. Redeemed $30 in PC pts so under $1 . Spent $11 at fresco. 3 x fish, 3lb apples, family size box of honeycombs. Just need milk and eggs and I think we are good for week!

[Frugalbigmama]

Cheap breakfast! And healthy. Old mill English muffins are on for $1 at Valumart. Pm at RCSS for 100 pc pts. Eggs. $2 dozen at Shoppers and Freshco. Add cheese

[Angela273]

LO and I did some more grocery shopping this afternoon and we are already eating some of it. Here are some highlights.

CO-OP
$3.49 18pk eggs (limit 2, 3 day sale)
$3.99 Johnsonville breakfast sausage - $1 coupon

No Frills
$1.77/lb red grapes - pm WM
97c/lb gala apples - pm WM
2/$4 1lb packages of strawberries - pm CO-OP
$1.77 blackberries - 50c Driscoll coupon
$3.97 Cheerios + Free milk coupon = free 2L Homo milk for LO
33c/lb bananas (1/2 price) - 25c Zweet rebate I didn't quite buy enough to get 100pts, but we had some bananas at home already.
$2.97 Philadelphia cream cheese 400g + 800pts (PC Plus offer) I bought 10 of them, they are good until August. I am going to make individual oreo cheesecake cups and freeze them. This will utilize some of the free Oreos that I got from Sobey's yesterday.
$2.97 Russet Potatoes 10lbs + 200pts (PCS Plus offer)
$2.47 3pk Romaine hearts
$3.97 Smithfield bacon 500g - limit 2 (first time trying this bran, but a pretty good price)

I made 8,200pts towards another day of shopping.
All three packages of berries were Driscoll, so I will enter the code and get more coupons from completing their surveys.