February 2016 Frugal chatter thread - All Welcome!!!

[SassyAshley]

I finally saw it at our a couple weeks ago, but I must say I dislike how ours does it. They do not mix anything so sometimes it might be a great deal other times it is a total rip off. Like last night there was one grapefruit in a bag and another bag had 3 mini new potatoes and one had maybe 10 to 12 green beans. I would prefer some of the bags I have seen other members post where they mix it when quantities are that small.

I've never seen a produce reduce rack at my WM, I always stock the baked good reduced rack, got some loaves soft fresh bread for .92 which was super fresh, threw them in the freezer.

[SassyAshley]

Well I made it though yesterday and the last bad thing was falling down. I was alright but a little sore I know I threw one arm up when I fell and my side and back where hurting from this.

After work we went did and our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, so happy they now price match off phones (or in my case Ipod) so much easier then trying to bring the flyers and in all honesty so much quicker. Spent under $40 and that included some none grocery personal purchases I made and just threw in to only have to pay once.

It kind of shocks me Jamieson has come out with a whole new line of sleep aid vitamins and Wal-Mart does not carry any of them but our local pharmacy does. I knew I should have gotten them last week but I was in a rush to grab my prescription and get to the doc on time. I ended up getting them at Rexall last night. I was surprised at just walking through to grab those and go to cash how many mark down stickers and clearance items I saw. In the vitamin section they had some $10 off stickers on some vitamins (of course not any we use).

Today Mom will run to No Frills as Wal-Mart did not have her tea or any vanilla yogurt, for some reason our local Wal-Mart has decided to only carry Astro Plain and none of the flavours.

I am working with our new employee again today, he is catching on quick phase 1 has 5 sections and he got through 4 yesterday so today will be my last day down here. Nice thing is this is a commutable location so if something pops up I can pop down for a day or even half a day. But so far everything I have taught him he is picking up quickly as well the guys in his branch are working with him and so far all seems good. So this makes 4 new employees since we came back Jan 4th and we are still looking for one more.

Time to see what I need to get done personally today outside of the training I need to do.

Have a great day everyone.

[bobbiegirl2010]

I feel like I am in a bit of a limbo. The provincial election date is April 4, which is when we will find out if dh is going to be an MLA or continue with his current job which is as a unionized delivery driver. My employment future is uncertain. There is a lot of work to continue doing between now and the Election Day.

I'm currently updating my resume to apply for next year's teaching contracts. The public school division here does a mass application process once a year. They do not post the teaching positions. They will be interviewing a lot of applicants in mid-March this year, they give you a "report card" style mark which they never disclose to you, and then use that mark to determine the likelihood of them offering you a teaching contract. I will also be applying for teaching contracts with our local Catholic school division. If I do not have a full-time teaching contract in the fall then it does not make financial sense for us to pay around $1,700 a month in just childcare bills...and we currently don't have a daycare lined up for our 3 young children. It is a very real possibility that I might stay home with our young children for a while and take in a couple of daycare kids in order to make a small income and avoid the large daycare bill that we would have if I were teaching. If this ends up being the case then I might pick up another university course towards my second university degree. I think I have 6 courses left to go, which mostly consists of electives. By continuing to take courses it would help my employability when I did try to return to teaching.

Hi Angela. I think you have a really good plan I have only 2 children but decided to stay at home and watch daycare children as a side income. Now that my girls are both in school full-time I'm taking courses to upgrade my skills.

But if you do get a teaching contract for next year you may want to look into applying for childcare subsidy since you have 3 young children and your daycare costs will be so high. Not sure what childcare subsidy is like in SK but here in ON it is not just for low income/single income families. Middle income families can still qualify to pay a pro-rated amount based your family income, housing costs and number of children. Another option would be looking for a nanny to watch your children in your home. That may be cheaper than what you would pay at a daycare centre.

As for home daycares, again I don't know what the regulations are in SK, but here in ON home daycare providers are now limited to watching only 2 children under the age of 2 and maximum of 5 daycare children. If similar regulations exist in SK you may find it challenging to find a home daycare that has space for 3 children all under 4.

Wishing you all the best on your job search and I'm sure you will figure out what will work best for your family.

[Frugalbigmama]

Another financial day, paid the hydro bill and made my HBP contribution tonight. I'm freaked out that I'll miss another one after I completely forgot to contribute at all one year and had to declare it as income.

Took a deep breath and made the lump sum contribution today.

Another financial day lol. Never ends eh? I received my wonderful property tax bill and the 1st 1/4 payment is due at the end of the month and I keep reminding myself to pay it! (same thing worried I'm going to forget!)

[Frugalbigmama]

I feel for all you ladies dealing with the cost of daycare. I couldn't imagine paying the going rate these days. My youngest is starting to stay home alone a bit now and again. (Past few summers I have put him in camp so that was his "daycare"- The past summer his brother watched him a few days so that helped too. But now he has a job so it's great that the youngest can stay home alone sometimes (I work 2 mins away) What a difference it makes to be able to get out on the weekend for shopping and not have to drag him

[sweet sparrow]

'Tis the cost of saving up for your child's post-secondary education nowadays. Maybe the cost of daycare is keeping the population of Canada low.

Speaking of the cost of daycare, our second daycare is holding our tax receipt after they closed their doors to the pre-school classes last year. They want us to go pick it up. I can't believe we were paying private school prices and they want us to go pick up the receipt to save them a stamp. I would have no issue if we were currently attending the daycare, but to go back during working hours to a place that's over an hour's walk in the other direction? Argh!

If I was getting over +$1400/month, I would buy a stamp once a year..... Sheesh. Well, I suppose I should count myself lucky. Some of my friends are paying over +$2000/month and happy they even have a spot.

We've applied for the coveted pre-school spots at the private school, because I've looked extensively and unfortunately haven't found anything better and the kindergarten location is so close (toddler walking distance). Fortunately or unfortunately, LO hasn't been accepted because the spots have been given to the siblings of the children currently attending.

I'm so thankful our daycare costs have come down since LO has grown out of the 18 months and under fees. That was just NOT sustainable.

[Crochetlady]

I hate to say "like" to this post, but I am acknowledging it. So sorry you are facing this! Please take care. Rest when you can, and build your strength back.

Dr. office called this morning before 9:00. Good news is it`s not pneumonia. She was going to fax in a prescription for a puffer. I`ll see if they will deliver it. Really don`t feel like going out to clean off the car. Didn`t get any sleep last night...every time I tried to I`d have another coughing fit so I finally gave up and played on the computer all night.

[Frugalbigmama]

Dr. office called this morning before 9:00. Good news is it`s not pneumonia. She was going to fax in a prescription for a puffer. I`ll see if they will deliver it. Really don`t feel like going out to clean off the car. Didn`t get any sleep last night...every time I tried to I`d have another coughing fit so I finally gave up and played on the computer all night.

Good news! Hope you are feeling better soon!

[SassyAshley]

Hope you feel better crochetlady and hopefully they can deliver.

[momof5boys]

Dr. office called this morning before 9:00. Good news is it`s not pneumonia. She was going to fax in a prescription for a puffer. I`ll see if they will deliver it. Really don`t feel like going out to clean off the car. Didn`t get any sleep last night...every time I tried to I`d have another coughing fit so I finally gave up and played on the computer all night.

did they check for bronchitis?

[SassyAshley]

So in the on going saga with Mom and going away.

I decided I was just going to let it be whatever it was going to be but added that if you go away the likelihood of me getting anything done that weekend would be none and I would spend the weekend resting and relaxing and doing whatever.

So Mom was going to go but now her friend has cancelled on saying well it is Family Day weekend.

So who knows if anything will get done and at this point I have decided not to care. It is a long weekend and I cannot wait to have 3 days off

[Angela273]

I just called J&J to request my monthly coupons and was informed that they have discontinued this program. That was news to me. The only coupons that they now offer are on the Healthy Essentials website, which consists of specific coupons and they are generally of a lower dollar value. I'm disappointed. I probably won't be trading away my current J&J mail out coupons because I will use them to replenish my stockpile.

[sweet sparrow]

@Angela273 : Did you call last month? That was the first month I had heard about it too and was also really disappointed. Unfortunately, I had stopped calling sometime last year and waited until I finished my current supply before calling in January. Sigh. Those were hands down my favourites of all the call-in coupons and they were so nice about sending them too.

[jasperandchar]

@Crochetlady great news

Blah day here been snowing all day not much accumulation thankfully.

I have prescription receipts to photocopy will do that this pm when ds2 has his appointment and mail out afterwards.

Wishing everyone a great afternoon/evening.

[Crochetlady]

did they check for bronchitis?

No they didn`t. I finally called them to see if they got the fax. She asked if I needed it today. I felt like asking her "do you not hear me cough". I`m usually pretty easy going but coughing for a week with very little sleep can make me quite cranky.

On top of that I got a call yesterday that one of my brothers is in the hospital. After seeing numerous Dr. and being sent home because according to them there`s nothing wrong. They have a nurse come in for home care and after listening to his heart and lungs she told SIL to get him to emerge...by this time he could hardly breath. Was told he has about 20 lbs of fluid around his lungs.