May Busy Beavers - May 2015 Frugal Chatter Thread

[bobbiegirl2010]

@coupongirl I love grocery shopping too

Yesterday I did a pretty big grocery shop and had quite a few coupons I could use. Got some free stuff too

I got 5 boxes of catelli smart pasta for free:

4 boxes @ 1.00 ea - $1.00 wub 2 printable - $1.00 wub 2 CO51 cashback (lets you do 2 on I receipt) = 4 free

1 box @ 1.00 ea - $1.00 wub 1 printable = free

I also got some cleaning products free:

Palmolive Dishsoap @ 1.59 (pm'd IDA) - $1.00 insert coupon - $1.00 CO51 cashback = made .49

Fleecy Fabric Softener @ 2.97 (pm'd Giant Tiger) - $1.00 insert coupon - $2.00 CO51 cashback = free

Windex @ 2.99 (pm'd Food Basics) - $2.00 printable - $3.00 wub 2 select SC Johnson Products CO51 cashback = made .50

Scrubbing Bubbles @ 2.99 (pm'd Food Basics) - $1.50 insert coupon - $3.00 wub 2 select SC Johnson Products CO51 cashback = free

2 x Scrubbing Bubbles @ 2.99 (pm'd Food Basics) - BOGO coupon - $3.00 wub 2 select SC Johnson Products CO51 cashback (DH's account) = free

Oxyclean Dishwasher Rinse Aid $4.00 (@ Walmart) - $3.00 insert coupon - $1.00 CO51 cashback = free

[Natalka]

Good morning everyone!

[coupon girl]

-morning ladies -the swelling in hubby's hand is taken awhile to go down -he took his wedding ring off when it happned and his watch - don't want him working on the deck til its back to normal
-hoping to get out this morning have to return an item ad maybe take a few donations to value village -my body is sore thou -I guess that middle age and getting a bit worn out from "ashlyn"my son called when he got home from work last night to talk to me "was she good mom " of course she is -its just tiring a bit(I don't tell him that thou ) -love playing hide and seek -yesterday coloured with her in her colouring book , played with playdoh and I am always reading to her (gave her my pair) for snack after lunch ( I ate the leftover cupcakes I brought for the bbq sunday ) I gave her a sesame street hard baby book(got t for 3.00 at winnrs -clearance -she got so excited "ohh nana lala elmo book" guess cause the music that comes on with sesame street you sing along and its lalala
-wish still had my kids sesame street books but I stored them in boxes In basement and -our basement leaked years ago and they got musty smelling -so i had to toss them

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Crazy weather down here - one minute it's sunny, then it's raining. I'm supposed to go out this morning, but debating whether to put it off til this afternoon to avoid getting wet (I think Lily dog is rubbing off on me ).

Quincy cat took me for a wander in the corridor this morning and we ran into the neighbour pup. I picked up the brat quickly & the poor dog got so confused trying to figure out who Quincy was. She stared at Quincy, then me, then her owner, then sat down and started crying. Her owner had to promise her lots of cookies to convince her to go home.

Windows still aren't washed - we'll see if today's the day I'll be able to spy on the neighbours again. Of course, it would help if I clean off the nose prints...

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! A cool morning here but sun is out and no rain....yet. DS has a game tonight but its in the arena so no chance of being rained out. Looking forward to exchanging the Old Navy shorts for him to a bigger size then his summer wardrobe is complete! His brother may need shorts will have to have him try on what he has and see if they still fit. Left the house with a clean kitchen and clean table! I even wiped it off after breakfast lol so no crumbs on it! Tonight is a write off (will try and put away what is in the dryer on the commercials of Survivor

[toronto166]

Good morning ladies. Haven't been on SC in a few days as I had a very busy weekend. First of all....Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you mothers!!! DH and I did not do any grocery shopping this past weekend as to be honest with you, our house is full of food (thank God, we are blessed). I always overshop when there is a really good deal and our stock pile is now ridiculous. So we spent money on flowers for the front of our home as well as I have a little flower garden at the cemetery where my parents are buried. I tried to buy more perennials this year and of course I still had to get a few annuals. I am so pleased with all my gardening this past weekend. Now I have more flowers than I needed that still need to be planted. I'm trying to find places for them and a co-worker of mine also gave me a morning glory. Can't wait to plant that tonight after work.

Our 52 week challenge is still going great. We just passed week 19. I just love this challenge and am so glad we are doing this for the second year. DH and I are so alike when it comes to spending money. We definitely know the difference between wants and needs and we hardly spend any money on ourselves. We also pay by cash only. We go out for dinner maybe 5 times a year. We are pretty frugal. We are debt free and consider ourselves blessed. I don't think we will ever change our ways.

It was DH's birthday yesterday so I took him out for dinner at a Chinese Buffet where if you go on the "day" of your birthday, you don't pay!!! So only had to pay for myself.

There will be no grocery shopping this upcoming weekend either. We are hosting a barbeque for our family and DH will be making his famous home-made burgers. (Can't wait). Burgers, hot dogs, caesar salad and macaroni salad. Wanted to make another side dish. Can you ladies think of anything I can make?

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

[jasperandchar]

Good morning ladies. Haven't been on SC in a few days as I had a very busy weekend. First of all....Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you mothers!!! DH and I did not do any grocery shopping this past weekend as to be honest with you, our house is full of food (thank God, we are blessed). I always overshop when there is a really good deal and our stock pile is now ridiculous. So we spent money on flowers for the front of our home as well as I have a little flower garden at the cemetery where my parents are buried. I tried to buy more perennials this year and of course I still had to get a few annuals. I am so pleased with all my gardening this past weekend. Now I have more flowers than I needed that still need to be planted. I'm trying to find places for them and a co-worker of mine also gave me a morning glory. Can't wait to plant that tonight after work.

Our 52 week challenge is still going great. We just passed week 19. I just love this challenge and am so glad we are doing this for the second year. DH and I are so alike when it comes to spending money. We definitely know the difference between wants and needs and we hardly spend any money on ourselves. We also pay by cash only. We go out for dinner maybe 5 times a year. We are pretty frugal. We are debt free and consider ourselves blessed. I don't think we will ever change our ways.

It was DH's birthday yesterday so I took him out for dinner at a Chinese Buffet where if you go on the "day" of your birthday, you don't pay!!! So only had to pay for myself.

There will be no grocery shopping this upcoming weekend either. We are hosting a barbeque for our family and DH will be making his famous home-made burgers. (Can't wait). Burgers, hot dogs, caesar salad and macaroni salad. Wanted to make another side dish. Can you ladies think of anything I can make?

Hope you all have a wonderful day.

great job on all fronts

As for another side I would maybe just slice up some cucumbers or something of that nature because it sounds like you have everything covered, what's for dessert

[jasperandchar]

Morning all,

Small load of laundry washed and hanging outside.

Dinner tonight is whole chicken $5, cheap meal as this should make two meals as it's just be and the boys and the chicken is super big.

I spoke with my mom and her heart surgery is booked for tomorrow, hopefully she will feel much better and have a better quality of life going forward of course there is always some risks involved but not going to think of that at this time.

I'm going to go under the stairs where we have organized rubbermaids properly labelled (hmmmm). My plan is to remove the bins that won't be used for quite sometime such as boys items they want to keep but don't necessarily use at this time, my end plan is to have more room under the stairs so that everything doesn't need to be taken out to get the 1 bin needed for such things as summer clothes, etc.

We are supposed to go the cottage this weekend but I honestly don't feel like going, really hoping dh doesn't get back until mid day Friday (lol) as he won't feel like driving another 1.5 hours and not to mention his back will be bothering him (a girl can dream) but time will tell.

Feeling better about our house after watching "I wrecked our house" omg that show is insane and so ridiculous, I would totally lose my mind. I am grateful dh is handy and meticulous with home renos eventhough it takes forever.

[MrsSunshine]

"I wrecked our house"??? never even seen it.. sounds interesting..

sooo it appears were getting a 'pick up' location of an Ikea here..
which is ok with me, if it costs even a fraction to get what we want.. thats good. don't need nearly 3/4 of the store anyway.
We usually only go for a few things, candles, blankets and the occasional piece of furniture.
we'll have to see how it works out.

so i didn't go the states. i had red flags going off in my head about the trip. some day i'll get there.

for now i'm just going to Talize instead.. lol. don't ask. i can easily get cheap thrills from bargains..

im attempting to build/create a 'fairy garden' for either our front porch or deck..
im trying to find pieces cheap. its amazing how creative you have to be do one.

anyway.. thats my story for today. enjoy yours all.

[sweet sparrow]

Our 52 week challenge is still going great. We just passed week 19. I just love this challenge and am so glad we are doing this for the second year. DH and I are so alike when it comes to spending money. We definitely know the difference between wants and needs and we hardly spend any money on ourselves. We also pay by cash only. We go out for dinner maybe 5 times a year. We are pretty frugal. We are debt free and consider ourselves blessed. I don't think we will ever change our ways.

There will be no grocery shopping this upcoming weekend either. We are hosting a barbeque for our family and DH will be making his famous home-made burgers. (Can't wait). Burgers, hot dogs, caesar salad and macaroni salad. Wanted to make another side dish. Can you ladies think of anything I can make?

Right now, I feel as though anyone who says they have a frugal spouse is like a size 0 person calling themselves fat because size 00 and 0000 exist. (Actually, I have a very dear friend who tried on a size 00 (when they carried size double zero!) stretchy yoga pant in Lululemon and asked if they had a smaller size. To be honest, I nearly laughed out loud at the employee's expression!) Oh, I wish I had a spouse who was alike in my spending habits! You've made a lot of SCers jealous! But don't worry, we still love you anyways!

We're attending a BBQ too this weekend and we're thinking about bringing garlic bread or some vegetables to put on the grill. Maybe you could make a trifle or dessert? I was thinking of doing a honey banana loaf, but LO eats the bananas too quickly.

im attempting to build/create a 'fairy garden' for either our front porch or deck..

What is a fairy garden?

To all the moms with little ones, do you know how many diapers your toddler when through when they were around 2 years old? LO is switching daycares (again!) this summer and they don't accept cloth diapers.

[jasperandchar]

Waiting for my pickup scheduled for today $15....every little bit counts and adds up quickly. I have another scheduled for tomorrow for $25 but won't count the funds until the cash is in hand (lol).

We officially have enough for the spray foam kit $799 (happy dance).

So now we will be saving up again to have the electrician come back and finish up the odds and ends and then our dinning room window is next or perhaps we'll do the window 1st and then electrician we'll see what makes for sense. A 2nd toilet will go along way vs. a window that is foggy (shrug), and then there's always the off chance that we can do both (a girl can dream).

Brought in a black metal plant stand that was a gift from 2 mother's days ago (lol), was going to sell it but then had an aha moment, brought it in the house for my large potted plant. I used to have to lift & move out of the way when vacuuming this works out better because now I can just vacuum under

DH announced the other day that he will be putting off the garage floor this year just doesn't have time , he will keep the funds slotted for that for next year so all is planned or so it seems.

Since we are not doing the cement floor, I'm thinking perhaps we could work on the eavestroffing (installing some), we were given enough to do the whole house and would only need to purchase the tin and a rent a bender so pretty cheap fix but we'll see.

Wishing everyone a wonderful afternoon

[Frugalbigmama]

My oldest told me the other day he loves ice tea. (He drinks water all the time but just likes something different now and again) So PC Plus points offer of 1400 per Nestea case. On sale for $3.50 case at RCSS. (and there is no tax charged on this ) so with an expiry date of Jan 2016 I grabbed 2 cases and will just put one in the fridge now and again . Paid $7 and received 2800 PC Pts. Not bad!

[Frugalbigmama]

Friday is pay day so cleaned up the budget. I only need a few things for the weekend (hamburg buns, romaine lettuce) so put $15 and change on my PC MC for those purchases and moved $150.00 forward for the grocery budget. I'm doing really well with this! Going to try and really use up stuff the next 2 weeks and not spend much (unless a great deal, I have the money but just like to use up what we have/not waste etc) I have CT GC's for purchasing stuff this weekend at Canadian Tire (some veggie plants, flowers for garden etc). Going to really try and post stuff for sale tomorrow night hoping to have some pick ups lined up Friday and Saturday. I have credits on all 3 of my Credit cards so going to try and not buy anything and see how long I can go (but the planned food purchases which I transferred $ on my card to cover )

[toronto166]

@bobbiegirl - great deals on your shopping trip
@coupongirl - hope your husband's hand heals soon
@jasperandchar - hope your mom's surgery goes well tomorrow. Sending virtual hugs and prayers your way.
@sweet sparrow - LOL on the size 00 pants. Yes, I'm very lucky that DH and I both think the same way. But we also made long term goals and neither one of us wants to work past 55. It's unbelievable how many sacrifices/choices one has to make to get to that stage. I'm not bragging. It's been tough. Especially when I worked in an environment that was 90% women with the latest brand name clothes, shoes, going to spas and vacations several times a year, etc. Colleagues that would eat out several times a week. Again, these are choices "we" made to not keep up with the Joneses and we don't regret them for one minute. As someone stated earlier, wants vs. needs. We live by that.

Thanks ladies, I completely forgot I have 2 pies in my freezer - one is apple for MIL and one is cherry for DH. I will warm them in the oven and serve them with ice cream.

[bobbiegirl2010]

DH sometimes really frustrates me - grrrr!!! I would never have to worry about him spending money I don't know about because he seriously cannot make any financial decision on his own. Even grocery shopping.... I hate sending him to the store because he has to call me 5 times to ask me questions. He's even called me to ask me what aisle something is in - hmmmm how about ask someone who works there lol. He just cannot make a decision on his own. For example today I am busy making lunch and he decides to go "quickly" to the store to exchange the propane tanks for the trailer so I ask him if while he's out could he pick up the salmon that's on sale at Foodland. He knows I am busy preparing lunch but calls me 5 mins after he left to tell me the store is sold out of salmon and ask what should he do - get a raincheck or go to the other 24 hr foodland after work. Seriously you have to call me while I am busy to ask me that!!?? You could have just got the raincheck anyways (doesn't matter if you end up using it or not) and then you could have just told me they are sold out when you get home. Its just so annoying - grrrr... He then had to call me again to ask which credit card to pay for the propane with (we have 2 credit cards - 1 for gas and the other for everything else). The answer is always the same - if its not gas for the car pay for it with the other credit card. (The only reason we have a Petro credit card is to save 2 cents off per litre at the only gas station in town - otherwise there's no other reason to use it.)

I appreciate that he values my opinion and wants to involve me in decisions but I don't think I need to be consulted on every little thing. But it doesn't matter how many times I tell him that calling me all the time about everything bugs me, he still instinctively does it. Seriously what would he do without me....

I am so glad he's going to work and is not allowed to use his cellphone there so I can have some peace and quiet lol.