March 2016 Frugal Chatter

[cath007]

Today i am mad at myself......I feel I want to go bed right now.Because I miss some appointements with psychiatris I have to wait 4 to 6 MONTHS to have another appointement...........Even if my doctor fill out the papers.........At least I have a doctor who will take the time with me before I see the psychiatris............that is insane delays

[jasperandchar]

@cath007 so sorry to hear about your grandmother's health
@Angela273 great win for your dh
@lilo0003 hope you can hold out as long as possible

___________________

Good evening all,

Got the call I have been waiting for from the accountant, I'm getting a refund but it's 1/2 the amount I was expecting because 1 of the tax credit for the kids is no longer available, plus the UCCB and other junk.....On the bright side I don't owe them any $.

I received the cottage taxes and the boys lot taxes and well like everything thing else they have gone up a lot....so going forward I need to allocate more monthly towards that account.

The contractor is coming over tomorrow for a final walk through to give us the actual price (last time was an approx. amount). And because my taxes are not what was expected we will be purcsing the building materials and differing the payments on the Home Depot cc, I rec'd in the mail today don't pay for 3 months no interest which will be plenty of time.

Meal planning is still going very well, however, I just don't feel like cooking...depression is not pleasant.

[Angela273]

Today i am mad at myself......I feel I want to go bed right now.Because I miss some appointements with psychiatris I have to wait 4 to 6 MONTHS to have another appointement...........Even if my doctor fill out the papers.........At least I have a doctor who will take the time with me before I see the psychiatris............that is insane delays

oh my goodness, that is a ridiculous amount of time to wait. Where do you live?

[walkonby]

trying to catch up a bit in here, @Cathy007 so sorry to hear about your grandmother, prayers that she not suffer in pain much longer.
@Andit your poor Aunt! ( the lowest form of human beings are those that attack the helpless, young and old )
On the topic of Thrift Store shopping I really lucked out a second time for a new swimsuit! The first one I HAD to buy on Feb 4th as nothing here fits anymore and I wanted to begin lane swimming. That one cost me just $8.00.

Well this morning after swimming I caught a good look at myself in the change room mirror and just cracked up! It is huge on me now, so much fabric with this one the water made the skirt part hang down passed my knees! and the back was baggy too. This after just one month, so hooray for weight loss I guess.

So before I went back home I drove to a Thrift store and almost did a happy dance after paying just $10.00 for a really cute style ( smaller size ) that fit!! Literally it took a whole 10 minutes to find it, try it on paid and back home I went. When I think of the prices of new suits I cringe!

[cath007]

oh my goodness, that is a ridiculous amount of time to wait. Where do you live?

Quebec

[Natalka]

Good morning, everyone! Hope your day brings you joy!

[Angela273]

Does anyone have recipe suggestions for using flakes of ham or flakes of turkey?
I occasionally make a baked cheese loaf with a can of flaked ham.
Flakes of ham mixed with mayo and relish on a sandwich.
I saw some recipes that use flakes ham in a hash brown casserole.

[Natalka]

Angela, I have only ever used the ham in a sandwich. Another idea to try would be to make cakes/patties, similar to how one makes with tuna, I think that would be good - I do them either baked in the oven, or panfried.

Just a warning, though - I thought I'd try the Maple Leaf chicken breast chunks in a can, it was absolutely disgusting - luckily our cats would eat it, but that was a pricey meal to give them.


Found this amazing site on FB - big variety of things such as gardening, kids' stuff, home and craft projects, recipes, etc.

https://www.facebook.com/homemakingtricks/?fref=photo

[sweet sparrow]

@walkonby : You can buy bathing suits at the thrift store?!

I'm amazed at what you ladies can find there. I've tried to go in a few times, but I only have about five minutes before I need to rush to the grocery store before LO wakes from her nap. I find it just overwhelming in how large these places are and how many things they have. Like Winners. I could spend an hour in there and walk out with nothing because my brain is overloaded with options.

I guess I'm an oddity. I also find it really difficult to buy things from places with no return policy like the dollar store or thrift stores.

This week is going to be a big financial month. I hope to have some news to share early next month, but won't say anything for now as I'm an expert at counting chickens before they hatch!

Happy International Women's Day to all the frugal ladies here!

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! Loving this Spring like weather! Makes me want to clean And clean I need to do tonight after being away for 3 days on the weekend. So much laundry!
Talking about Thrift stores- I rarely go in because the smell gets to me lol but DS and I checked out a Value Village on the weekend and we found 2 Ipad chargers for $1.99 each!!! DS was happy and told me to buy both lol He figures we saved $30 a piece. He is so cute. He ran out to the car to get the ipad so we could test both to make sure they worked.
Hitting No Frills at lunch to pick up a few things to get us through the week. Just fresh fruit and bread I think. Will try and clean out a few things that need to be used up and be creative. Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

[sweet sparrow]

Frugalbigmama, I had a friend who stopped coming with me to volunteer at the food bank because she would break out in hive like rashes. We were always sorting clothes or touching items that were kept in musty storage (ex. Christmas decorations). Come to think of it, I did too, but I put it down to the latex gloves we were always wearing.

A few nights ago, I cleaned out the fridge. I've been sick for the past few weeks so I haven't got around to preparing certain foods and our fridge is looking rough. I trimmed and ate an entire cauliflower as a midnight snack, sprinkled with cheese, tossed two bricks of cheese that DH opened and never bothered to finish. They were growing all kinds of colourful mold. EW!! Instead, he ate LO's cheese. Kale, which I was planning to use for kale chips had gone off and the large tub of tofu had gone bad as well. I've almost completely finished my bulk size of Buckley's on this one cold alone! Who knew getting the common cold (though a real doozy of one) could be this debilitating and expensive!

I'm very slowly getting my energy back and looking forward to regular meal planning again. LO has requested noodles for dinner, though I suspect she is just hoping to show off her chopstick skills. Auntie found her Minnie Mouse chopsticks while out in Markham, so that helped! I'm surprised she was able to get food in her mouth using them!

[jasperandchar]

@sweet sparrow hope your cold is on it's final legs

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Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

Supper tonight is chicken breast on the bbq, rice and frozen mixed veggies.

Dh will be picking up on our taxes today, he will sign at the office and bring mine home and we will return tomorrow while Logan has his appointment.

The contractor is coming this afternoon pretty excited to know what we will be up against financially as my recent is 1/2 of what I was expecting.

[Frugalbigmama]

Is Everyone ready for Easter? I plan on finishing up the boys baskets this weekend. They are older now so I will get a tiny chocolate bunny but am buying "teen stuff" for basket. The treats they like. Bought them the fancy pop in the bottle (cream soda and rootbeer) and milk duds. That's all I have so far. I see iTunes cards are on 10% off at RCSS so will grab those. Will get microwave popcorn for each and see what else I find.
For my niece I have a cute little wagon to fill up for her. Bought her a cute umbrella. Just need to buy her a cute little Spring outfit then I am done.

[Ciel]

Does anyone have recipe suggestions for using flakes of ham or flakes of turkey?
I occasionally make a baked cheese loaf with a can of flaked ham.
Flakes of ham mixed with mayo and relish on a sandwich.
I saw some recipes that use flakes ham in a hash brown casserole.

Make a pantry surprise pasta casserole-mix the ham with some cooked pasta (whatever tube or shape but not flat kinds), any frozen ([peas or carrots or corn) or fresh root veg (celery or carrots or parsnips or maybe sweet potatoes for colour), a sauce (a small can of pizza sauce or cup of something left over) and maybe some plain chips crunched/breadcrumbs to make a topping? I've done this with flavoured tuna and just added what I had on hand. Oh, shredded cheese might add some zip if you have any like Tex-Mex or even some Parmesan or mozzarella.
Hence, the pantry surprise element.

[Ciel]

Today i am mad at myself......I feel I want to go bed right now.Because I miss some appointements with psychiatris I have to wait 4 to 6 MONTHS to have another appointement...........Even if my doctor fill out the papers.........At least I have a doctor who will take the time with me before I see the psychiatris............that is insane delays

Gratitude rep that you have a doctor that spends time with you. Many of us could write rants about our doctors' patient skills.
Medical specialists can be very few in number or very busy in parts of Canada. Doctor shortages too. You'll get through the wait, cath007.