August 2015 Frugal Chatter thread

[thriftygranny]

Granger, absolutely priceless. Simpy beautiful.

[thriftygranny]

I know so many of you make meals ahead - it's really just something I've never done.

However, today is a new day!

I made a double batch of Chinese Hekka casserole, a meatloaf, and sauteed a giant pan of ground pork - so that will be three meals which will get into the freezer.

Just so you know, the beauty of this thread and its many inspirations sinks in at some point!

That a girl Natalka, the beauty of cooking ahead for me is I cook for the freezer when I'm in the mood so when I'm not in the mood I have no guilt!!! This will be so good for you when your pain is bad or you have one of your I didn't sleep last night days.

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy hump day! Baseball tonight out of town so no time for anything else today. Will finish the laundry on the commercials tonight after 9pm when we get home. And then I'm off to the city tomorrow at 7 am for a work function. SO SO early!

[lizzie bargain]

FBM-you gave me a laugh without even trying. I was thinking if I had to be out the door by 7 I would likely be in bed by 9 p.m. rather than doing laundry and watching TV! Of course you are a busy, younger working Mum who has to fit things in.

So proud of the initiative my teen took in emailing her boss after vacation to ask if she needed any shifts covered( they are busiest during Stampede in July and she normally only works then). Consequently she is already working 3 days this week and she might get more. She was grounded until the end of the week from seeing her friends for being untruthful( not so proud of that part) but I get that being a teen is a learning process. Anyway I did not ban working as part of the grounding so she will be making the time pass very quickly and padding her bank account in the process. I guess 16 year olds are savvier than I think!

[YOU AND ME]

Granger the pictures are beautiful

[Frugalbigmama]

Bought 9 packages of ML bacon yesterday. PM $2.50 (No Frills) and used 3 x $1.50 off coupon wub 3. Now I am stocked for last min dinner for kids and for my hockey player. Bacon and eggs is his fav!

[sweet sparrow]

He says we should just sell the cottage since no one wants to go, I used to say no BUT now I say yes we should and then the threaths end. I didn't want to buy the boys that lot either but thought in the end it was a better investment than and RESP etc and that is the only reason why I did agree.

I feel like I am being taken advantage of financially and paying bills with limited funds is a challenge in itself not to mention we can't depend on dh getting any calls in September as the catholic school board only gets funding in October and he is an on-call employee not permanent and doesn't want a permanent position because of his back.

Thanks for reading folks, I'm just frustrated, I get no time to myself and my mental health along with Logan being unwell is really getting to me.

@jasperandchar: No matter how bad things get, you won't be alone in shouldering the financial family burden here. Feel free to unload any time you'd like. You know we're always good for a listening ear and commiserations all around. I certainly feel like that with DH pretty much each time I open the budget.

I think it's the reason I've stopped tracking the budget for awhile. I haven't kept it updated since April. We have four months of borrowing from savings to catch up on so I will revisit it soon.

Anyone else check out the upcoming sale flyers? I am happy that I don't really see anything I want. Will be a good week to use up what we have and be creative. We think we will have enough ripe cherry tomatoes by Friday for our date night. So the fancy tomato with bacon pasta is what my man said he will be making. Yum! And he bottled our wine last week and we had a taste the other night and it is good

I'm really happy that I didn't see anything I really needed either, but I think LO will want a watermelon from RCSS and I'll need some pencils and notebooks for our donation project in October.

Does anyone know which is the best place to buy raisins from? Does Costco have a good price?

We desperately need to stock up on socks and underwear this year. I wore my old things while pregnant with LO and some are stretched beyond recognition. I've been waiting for this year's sales, which seem to be last year's regular prices. I know because I saved those flyers.

Preview of our newborn photo session. We splurged with some gift money. Sooooo glad we did.

http://www.creativeclicksphotographyblog.com/blog-2

@Granger: Those are really lovely! We are going to have to do a splurge like that soon, right after we pay the lawyer for our wills and powers of attorney! LO is only going to be this small for a short time so it's not something we can put off.

I keep hearing how there will be extra money the mortgage has gone down but it is only $80 a month which is not much when you lay the numbers out.

@SassyAshley you are right $80 doesn't go far especially with the high prices of groceries and hydro

Speaking of hydro, our hydro bill is the highest it's ever been since our air conditioner broke. Does anyone else have an unusually high bill for last month?

[Frugalbigmama]

My Hydro bill won't be in my mailbox till next week so I will report back once I get it. I have had the A/C on often the past while so I'm sure mine is up.

[momof5boys]

So we found out yesterday that a neighbour two doors down has rats - it's a big problem with them even in her house...yuck! And then I actually saw one by our house - it looked pretty sick and probably trying to find water. That neighbour has had pest control in so they are dealing with it but she is totally mortified because she isn't dirty by any stretch. Her kids were leaving food on the deck and back yard a year ago apparently and that's when the problem started.

Now I'm paranoid about these creatures getting into our place. We do have a newly built home so maybe we're ok but it still freaks me out. I put some poison out under our deck in case they decide to take up residence there but I can hardly see why they would because we have it scrupulously clean around our place - but one never knows. Apparently rats go for food and need water and there is none of that hanging around our place.

[Andit]

Hi all.

Can't talk for long. Had fun on the weekend. Woke up Mon morning early & felt fine. By lunchtime, I was sick as a dog & by 5pm I was passed out on the floor (I went out as I was on the phone with my Mom). After 2 days in an isolation ward (nice big private room, there's something to be said for having cooties ), I got sprung. It turns out I got a nasty 24 hr bug that hit me hard. I'll be heading home to my Mom's in a little while (my friend's coming down to pick us all up).

I should be back to the condo next week & back to my real world. Still feels weird - as quickly as I got sick, I felt fine. Trust me to be a weirdo.

Hope everyone is well. Take care of yourselves!

[lizzie bargain]

Glad you are feeling better Andit! SS- I find if you prefer Sunmaid raisins the best price is Coctco-mine only sells the organic(1.814 kg for around $12 here). If you are not fussy you may find cheaper prices on different brands at a grocery store.

[lilo0003]

Granger: what lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing.
J & C: I can only image how frustrating it is to feel like you are the only one worrying about finances.
My mini rant…I should be grateful that I have a well-paying job, but I am exhausted and I really don’t know how much longer I can keep this pace & my boss thinks this is how we should all work. DH listens to me vent but I feel bad for just ing about it. I am working on a plan, but need to complete an accreditation before I can take any action. My profession has added a College much like the college of Nurses. It is a tedious process and I need to do it while all these connections are in place. But of course I don’t have the time to get it done. I think I am just annoyed because I was to be on vacation as of Friday and apparently it’s a working vacation. Both DH & I planned to cut back on work once Logan is 18 but that was the 6 yr plan. Now I need to revaluate that for the sake of my sanity and my family. Logan recently pointed out that I am in a bad mood whenever I get in the door from work. So as they say something has got to give.

[Frugalbigmama]

@lilo0003 - I am in the same boat. For the most part I love my job but my day dreams of puttering around the house and taking road trips with my honey are making it harder to come in each day. Thank gosh for lots of vacation time to get away for a break.

[YOU AND ME]

So we found out yesterday that a neighbour two doors down has rats - it's a big problem with them even in her house...yuck! And then I actually saw one by our house - it looked pretty sick and probably trying to find water. That neighbour has had pest control in so they are dealing with it but she is totally mortified because she isn't dirty by any stretch. Her kids were leaving food on the deck and back yard a year ago apparently and that's when the problem started.

Now I'm paranoid about these creatures getting into our place. We do have a newly built home so maybe we're ok but it still freaks me out. I put some poison out under our deck in case they decide to take up residence there but I can hardly see why they would because we have it scrupulously clean around our place - but one never knows. Apparently rats go for food and need water and there is none of that hanging around our place.

I would be afraid also.Many years ago they were doing construction on a new road near my house we had sewer rats and the rats would actually chase my cat.The city came and put poison bait around ,we had lots of small kids in our neighbourhood and i was afraid to let my kids out as these rats were rally bold.One day i hear scratching at the back screen door i thought it was the cat wanting to come in,instead it was a big rat,i nearly crapped myself.I have goosebumps thinking of this

[Frugalbigmama]

^ OMG! Crazy!