January 2016 frugal chat thread

This week has been so insane I have not even been able to think about spending money. Yet again we had to cancel our grocery trip this week as Mom came down with a cold and I ended up working late. I have worked late every night this week plus worked from home, this week has been a bit of a shock as we try to finalize what my jobs will be. As of right now there are 2 office jobs in our company I cannot do which are A/R & A/P and this week I will make arrangements to lean these 2 positions. As well there are some things we currently do not offer in our company but I will be receiving outside training so I can bring them to the company.

Although last night I did have to go to the MTO as my back license plate decided to fall apart. I went to walk up to my car and notice the film was hanging on with a thread and part of it was missing. So I had to go and get them replaced last night before I start my travelling next week. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were under warranty so no cost just a lot of paperwork.

As much as I was hoping for a nice relaxing weekend it is not going to happen. I have a ton of work to get caught up on as my trainee has been using my laptop all day so I have limited access. As well we have a managers meeting this week and doughnuts were requested so I will make them freeze them and then I just have to dip them before the meeting. As well I need to prep food for the week as Mom's schedule is all over the place and I am working out of town most of the week, it is commutable but I will be getting home much later most of the week.

Off to make my plan for the day, have a great day everyone.

@Angela273 and @Andit so sorry to hear about your friends health
@coupon girl hope you get rid of that bug quickly

I decided to tackle supper earlier this afternoon so it's all ready for later when everyone is hungry.

I cooked the ribs on the woodstove and finished off on the top of my range/stove in a nice honey garlic sauce (so savings on Hydro) :-). Also made homemade chicken fried rice, I am going to add eggrolls/spring rolls to my grocery list as this would complete the Chinese supper.

We will be working on a few odd jobs later this afternoon & tomorrow, my list of projects that need to be completed before we tackle the new powder room.

It's going to get quite dangerous weather wise with the rain today and tomorrow and the temps going below zero over nights, so stay safe those that are in the same weather patterns.

Wishing everyone a great evening, now to meal plan for next week.

-well managed to get my tree down-in between lying down and doing 2 loads of laundry -so stuffed and headache don't feel like doing much today
-told hubby to treat himself to five guys if he wishes

I do the same thing with Chinese food. I do fried rice, or I have a fantastic noodle stir fry I do . add egg rolls and chicken balls. saves me a ton of $ . and it simply tastes better. not greasy.


ok. today I went grocry shopping.
I made the choice beforeI went into the store. that I was going to spend ( whatI still consider insane) on the fresh fruits and veggies.
Between my teens. and my Daycare kids, I use a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. it is a choice. I shopped the sales I could and just went ... for health and general good food I did it.

Today went pretty well.

I have made a batch of Potato soup which I broke in half and froze, I find a full batch is too much for just the 2 of us, we are sick of it before we finish. So I cooked the base and split it in half, now when we want it we just have to defrost bring to a simmer add some milk and a little cheese and we have dinner.

I also made a Chicken Parm soup in the slow cooker. I only used one Chicken Breast as it has Quinoa in it which I find extremely filling. The recipe says it serves 6 but the batch was huge. So I had a small bowl for lunch, packed a container for Mom to take to work tomorrow and then filled a pink container we have and froze the rest. I have learned these pink containers we have seem to be out max on eating something even if there is more we never eat it. So right away I package the rest to be frozen.

I also made a batch of bread, my bread machine was making an awful noise and I had to stop it and finish by hand. I tried oiling it and to test it out I made another batch of bread. Everything worked fine and no weird noises so I turned the sour dough into a loaf and made the French Bread into buns, I got 16 buns so I baked 8 and have the other eight in the freezer unbaked for later use.

Dinner is now in the oven and after dinner I want to make one batch of dough nuts for the meeting this week. I found 2 different kinds I want to make so I will make one tonight, one tomorrow and freeze them. Then on Tuesday night I can glaze them for Wednesday's meeting. I will also ask Mom to make either cookies or Muffins on Monday which is her day off.

Once I get the dough nuts in I can relax and catch up on work emails. Yep this is my Saturday night and I am loving it.

Have a great evening everyone.

@SassyAshley you got a lot of meals for later use, great job

Thanks Nancy,

First batch of dough nuts is done but they are kind of dry, not sure if I over baked them or if it was the recipe, might be both as the dough was so thick I could barely pipe it into the molds.

We will see how the second batch goes tomorrow they have more liquid in them so hopefully they will not be as dry.

Went in to old work for a bit on final training . Last time ever.

Returned a sweater i bought as it didnt fit true to size/like another i liked from the same store.

Turned in some lotto tickets and finished up a pc repair.


Bf got us free vip tickets forthe weekend to the northern hockey challenge so we are going to a hockey game tonight (i packed my own hot chocolate!)


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Quiet day which means Sunday will be busy. DH and I went mattress shopping, we came out empty handed. I just can't stand high pressure sales tactics. I said I felt like I wounded fish in a shark tank. Not to mention the prices are scary. We have a king size bed so any where from 2-6000 dollars.

But I saved money when Logan asked me to cut his hair. That would have been over 20.00 at the place he goes to so woo hoo.

Hi folks, just dropping in- spent the day at church interviewing for a new minister. Yikes, what a process!

Then I volunteered to phone the unsuccessful candidates. I really feel for them, as I have certainly been on the receiving end of such phone calls.

Hubby spent the day painting the front door.

I made supper and asked my brother over as we won't be able to have him over tomorrow as usual.

I was so tired that I served the spaghetti without remembering to cook the beef. WHERE'S THE BEEF?

I got giggly about that as I quickly Fried it up and served the meal pre-mixed.

I am in bed and should really bid goodbye to the day.

The same family that lost a very young sister has now lost a grandma. The visitation is tomorrow with a memorial later. They have asked if I might be available for the memorial.

It seems I am doing more funerals than weddings these days.

I gave 5 bags of clothing that doesn't fit me to my cousin yesterday to redistribute if she can't use it.

Her daughter bought our dining set which we won't be able to use if we move.

I went through all the Christmas stuff and gave away what we won't use.

I promised a single bed to a women on our interviewing committee today. The key is getting someone to move it out. (She has a dad with a truck.)

We will list our house on Monday, come heck or -- let's not talk about the other thing!

Hope you are all well!

I will catch up soon.

Good Morning Everyone,
I think today might not go as well as yesterday. I was up multiple times last night not feeling well, pretty sure I am not coming down with anything just a stomach issue flaring up. But now I am not feeling the best today and am lacking ambition. I am going to get laundry started and see where it goes from there. Luckily I got enough done yesterday that if I do not get as much done today we are still in a good place for the week.

The big thing I want to do is find something I can make ahead and leave in the fridge for breakfast. I am not big on breakfast foods (I dislike most traditional breakfast foods) but I also eat 2 breakfasts a day, one at 5 and another around 10 to get me to lunch. I do at times eat nontraditional breakfast foods but lately I feel like I am in such a rut food wise it is just the same thing over and over. I need to get some variety back. We will see what the day brings.

Have a great day everyone.

morning all.
Working on my swagbucks. and goofing around on the computer.
my back is killing me. I was to sort out the Daycare craft stuff...I have way to much. but I may not. I amhoping the pills work

working on my menu plan, dong my swagbucks
Plannngout the dc crafts for the next week or so.
Plan also is to make tortier for supper,and freeze one... or use the meat for a shepards pie later in the week....hmmm. that sounds good to.

Morning! Have a good go on the laundry. Washing everything in sight! Made up tons of French toast, boiled eggs for week and fried eggs for tomorrow mornings egg mcmuffins. Raining here and expecting the nasty weather here later on today. Staying close to home. Star Wars this afternoon and DS son has a late hockey practice, then he is in tub and bed! No time lately to post stuff for sale but should get back at it soon. Have a great day!