December 2015 Frugal Chatter thread - all welcome!!!

[saundyl]

Advertised some of my scarves and dish cloths. I was going to do a craft fair or two...but the two i wanted to do fell on the weekend we had to ve in yellowknife for bfs surgery. ...and then on the weekend work does the secret santa toy drive AND i leave for trainig for a week on the Sunday of the winter market i considered as an alternative. Fate does not want me to do obe yet!

Dingbat me knowing how busy ive been still accepted a pc to gux tonight (what was i thinking? ) AND i sent bf to his hair appointment a full day late.

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[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Up extra early, cause I have to mentally prep myself to help at the theatre this morning (expecting nearly 200 patrons whose average age is 6). The aspiring thespians are bringing some Robert Munsch stories to life. It should be quite the adventure!

Speaking of adventures, I had an amazing outing last night. My friend (whose brother died last year and has been dealing with the brother's gold-digging on-again-off-again girlfriend who demanded the bulk of the estate for being 'common law with separate addresses and managed to do just that, grrrr) decided to treat a couple of us who've been supportive through this past year's ordeals to a never-to-be-forgotten night out in memory of the dearly departed. We went to America, located on the 31st floor of the Toronto Trump Tower (had to put in the location in case anyone thought I might have been insane enough to go to NY for the night ). The food was to die for (steak, of course, for me, and we shared several sides including truffle fries and the best asparagus I've ever tasted), the ambiance elegant and bold (hard to define, really) and the view just breath-taking (going to save up my pennies and go back for a drink in the spring when the weather is warmer and hang out on the terrace until they throw me out).

Well, it was nice to get a taste of how the Donald lives. Too bad I had to come home, back to the reality of cleaning out the litter box and taking out the recycling.

Better go wake my sleepyheads and get us all ready for another fun day in the city.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[Natalka]

Andi, that sounds so wonderful!

Good morn, everyone!

[jasperandchar]

@lizzie bargain glad that your sister and her family are now in their new home

[jasperandchar]

@Andit sounds like a delightful evening indeed, sorry to hear about the gold digger who's caused so much trouble for your friend and her family...geez

[jasperandchar]

Supper tonight is sweet & sour chicken from scratch it will be a nice change as I haven't made this in several months served with a chicken fried rice (homemade as well).

Christmas gifts are all wrapped, I still have 1 from the US for ds2 and then need to pickup a KOBO gift for mil.

I have taken on the Christmas shopping for my folks for my kids this year so they each have a movie so far, I will pickup XBOX Live for them to share and then need another $25 or so gift which I will ponder perhaps just cash for those items they did not get or forgot to put on their lists (wink).

Well off to vacuum the upstairs as tonight I will do the last spray of the furniture and living room for the fleas.

Toodles folks

[sweet sparrow]

QOTD: How do you track your rebates, cash back, etc., if you participate? Or do you not keep track if it's something you purchase anyways and let it come in as a surprise?

[Ciel]

I have not done cash back since the height of popularity of the Lysol soap dispenser two years ago but I usually jot in my planner when I mail something out. Not sure how the app rebates work or how members are tracking them.

[sweet sparrow]

IMWK: For people that don't want anything, but might be rude if you give nothing, what do you give?

For DH's parents, they're diabetics, so we've bought plants, diabetic cookbooks, lotions (for mom), gift cards, made up gift baskets with specialty food items, and aside from the WM GC, I don't think they've used any of it.

One year, we gave them a common tub of Folgers and an M&Ms GC, and that seemed to be the biggest hit with Mom.

My parents send over a bottle of wine. Apart from that, I'm out of ideas!

[coupon girl]

I track my rebates ,cash back ,coupons by writing them down in a book in pencil
-I have since 1982 tracked my coupon use listen to this in 1982 -year my daughter was born also I saved 34.50 in coupons
-in 1986 joined a coupon club in a school so in 1987 saved 455.94 in coupons well this year I have saved 739.27 in manufacturers coupons only down from 1,337.46 in 2014-but spent less this year and not that many coupons do I get a hold of
-I also keep track of my scops too and selling on kijiji


-sweet sparrow gift cards I think always work well with a nice bottle of wine


-went to fortinos today -saved 40.00 in points off my groceries also got another 10,400 points today total was 91.42-only paid 51.42

[momof5boys]

Frustration abounds here. We had our two year old furnace serviced for the winter three weeks or so ago. Yesterday I noticed a small amount of water coming from under the furnace (it dried up about two hours later). Pulled the filter out (was dry) and noticed some rusty orange spots on the metal. I looked at the service sheet as to what that service fellow all checked off and noticed that he left this blank "check condensate trap assembly". I called him this morning and he insisted that he checked the whole furnace out and didn't notice anything amiss. Then he asks me, "Do you want me to come out?" Yes, of course I do...duh....

Now it is wait and see if he will try and bill me for a service call again. I'm thinking, if he does, maybe I should just tell him that I would first like to speak to his boss (the owner). What do you all think?

[Frugalbigmama]

Office lunch out today! I paid for the bill so was able to use my Scene card for points (Kelsey's- I didn't know they did this) And will get $1.50 in PC pts since I used my Credit card :0 The little things that make me happy. Better get my expense done up so I can get the cheque and pay my credit card

[jasperandchar]

Frustration abounds here. We had our two year old furnace serviced for the winter three weeks or so ago. Yesterday I noticed a small amount of water coming from under the furnace (it dried up about two hours later). Pulled the filter out (was dry) and noticed some rusty orange spots on the metal. I looked at the service sheet as to what that service fellow all checked off and noticed that he left this blank "check condensate trap assembly". I called him this morning and he insisted that he checked the whole furnace out and didn't notice anything amiss. Then he asks me, "Do you want me to come out?" Yes, of course I do...duh....

Now it is wait and see if he will try and bill me for a service call again. I'm thinking, if he does, maybe I should just tell him that I would first like to speak to his boss (the owner). What do you all think?

Since you live in a new house and the furnace is only 2 years old, would the repairs if needed not be covered?

Also I'm not convinced he did check what he forgot to tick off so he can't back track since he didn't mark it off.

Definitely call the service company and raise all your concerns, I'm sorry to say that you may very well still have to pay for the service call as it may be something completely different that what he did do in his furnace serviced.

Unfortunately something could be working fine today and 3 days from now not work at all or be acting up and that's not something that preventive maintenance would cover, sadly.

[jasperandchar]

@coupon girl great savings at Fortinos, smart lady

[jasperandchar]

IMWK: For people that don't want anything, but might be rude if you give nothing, what do you give?

For DH's parents, they're diabetics, so we've bought plants, diabetic cookbooks, lotions (for mom), gift cards, made up gift baskets with specialty food items, and aside from the WM GC, I don't think they've used any of it.

One year, we gave them a common tub of Folgers and an M&Ms GC, and that seemed to be the biggest hit with Mom.

My parents send over a bottle of wine. Apart from that, I'm out of ideas!

I firmly don't believe in cash as it doesn't get spent on a gift and too often pays for groceries, gas etc. HOWEVER I do believe in gc's.

As many older people say they don't need anything and when they do they can generally afford to buy it when then need or want it.

Since M&M Meats shops was a big hit get some more.