June 2016 Frugal Chatter - ALL welcome!!!

[Frugalbigmama]

Good day! Went to my moms for breakfast. My sister texted me saying it would be ready on 40 mins so I brushed my teeth and left my sleeping house. I brought leftovers home for the boys to eat. Laundry is on the go. Load is hanging out to dry. Cleaned the kitchen. Cleaned the junk counter finally! Looked in the fridge to see what we have to use up. Peppers, onions, mushrooms and grape tomatoes. So will have all those with steak and baked potatoe for dinner.
Want to keep at tidying the house and get all the laundry done and put away. Then will shower and go to No frills etc. Don't need much so happy about that.

[Frugalbigmama]

Re: Food waste. Some weeks I'm better then others. Today I tossed a rotten cantelope. Should have not left on counter and should have cut it up the other day.
we brought watermelon and pineapples to a function Friday. It didn't all get eaten so we brought home and just put in snack size containers in fridge foe everyone to eat. I hid one for my lunch tomorrow.
Dinner will use up the bits of cut veggies etc.

[jasperandchar]

@Granger - I change my avatar with the holidays/occasions

That photo is of my Dad when he got one of his degrees. He had gone to Normal School/Teachers' College when he was done high school (had to leave his village and come to the city to board and go to high school), then went out teaching. He married my mom (she was a teacher as well), they started having kids.

He became a principal - and at some point in the late 1950s they moved from small town to the big city so he could go to university to get his BA and BEd - he would have been in his late 30s - then they moved back to small town. Later he was one of the first to become a Superintendent locally employed by a city school division - and that city we moved to is the one I grew up in. He had retired at the age of 57, after 38 years as an educator. (He passed away when he was 66, in 1987)

That's an amazing story, thanks for sharing.

[jasperandchar]

Afternoon all,

Wishing all the dads a very special father's day.
@lizzie bargain 5 year old twins for a sleep over that's great. I hope the young man shows up soon for his cellphone, he's probably going through withdrawals (haha)
@Natalka I agree wasting food is not an option, lizzie dh takes leftovers for his lunches, he hates sandwiches and hates making himself a lunch so it works out great, I too will have the odd leftovers for lunches.

Lunch was actually leftover hamburgers so that only leaves chicken for dh's lunches this week.

Supper tonight will be pizza or something to celebrate father's day.

I cleaned up 1/2 the basement. The back double door area was the dumping ground I have reclaimed the space, it looks so tidy and roomy.

Dh will hang a few more pictures, etc in our new room, can't wait to have it all back to normal with all the personal touches.

Laundry is hanging outside, will fold & put away. Dare I say it I'm all caught up until tomorrow.

Wishing everyone a great afternoon & evening.

[jasperandchar]

@Granger to answer your question about what I don't like about the coupon trading site is that people were taking advantage of newbies example starter envies with tons of coupons expiry shortly and asking $10, I did notice that now there is an area to post looking and trading starter envies BUT there are still some people 1 in particular that is still doing the very same thing asking for $10 GC so a crappy envie (I don't believe this person is from smart canucks or if she is she is purposely not posting her sc name in another post).

Basically I find many people are being unreasonable when trading and that just erks me, I think I will stick to trading on here where I know the trader's reputation. Also a lot of people are getting screwed out of trades as well, I know that can always happen on here but the #'s on there is quite high considering it only started a short while ago.

[Angela273]

My brother just sent me this text message. SIL is doing well. She is off the ventilator, and all meds. She was up in a chair this morning for a couple hours. Things are looking up!

[lizzie bargain]

That is great news Angela!! The young man eventually showed up for lost his cell phone so he must have been in withdrawal for sure!!

DH and I went For a drive out to the mountains today and had a picnic lunch and did a couple of short walks. DD slept in-just 2 more exams to go. Speaking of DH perhaps I better come up with a Fathers Day menu in the the next couple of hours!!-lol.

[cath007]

my computer got problems so I am on my dad computer.AC got installed by my father and uncle ;it is so much better in the appartment !!!!

[Frugalbigmama]

@Granger to answer your question about what I don't like about the coupon trading site is that people were taking advantage of newbies example starter envies with tons of coupons expiry shortly and asking $10, I did notice that now there is an area to post looking and trading starter envies BUT there are still some people 1 in particular that is still doing the very same thing asking for $10 GC so a crappy envie (I don't believe this person is from smart canucks or if she is she is purposely not posting her sc name in another post).

Basically I find many people are being unreasonable when trading and that just erks me, I think I will stick to trading on here where I know the trader's reputation. Also a lot of people are getting screwed out of trades as well, I know that can always happen on here but the #'s on there is quite high considering it only started a short while ago.

OH so glad you posted this. I thought so many are looking for gift cards and sdm points etc for crappy coupons. Yeah think I am removing myself from that group.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good shop today! $1.98 for bolonie ( haven't had in like 10 years but felt like it for free). Took full $2.50 coupon so $1.56 off my groceries. 5 cucumbers for .57 and 400 PC PTS each. Delisio pizzas for teen $2.98 and 1000 PC PTS. 4 pk peppers $1.97 and 400 PC PTS. 2 more packs of free stay free maxi pads. Extra .12 off groceries from coupon overage. Milk had 50% off sticker and good tillJune 30th. Almond milk has gone up but found $1 off coupons so grabbed 2 cartons for smoothies this week. Happy with my shopping today

[Natalka]

My brother just sent me this text message. SIL is doing well. She is off the ventilator, and all meds. She was up in a chair this morning for a couple hours. Things are looking up!

Such great news to hear - and must be such a relief to all of you. Will keep her, and you, in my prayers.

[cath007]

Tonight its time to make the grocery shopping list with the price matching and the coupons,wishing everyone a great evening and night !!!!

[lilo0003]

Angela: this is great news. DH and the boys went golfing today and it was not too expensive as the clib charges the. Price of the child for under 16. Dinner was steak and shrimp on the BBQ and I am still full. Sad that it's Sunday and the weekend is over.

[sweet sparrow]

But now that FreshCo limits the PM'ing items to just 2, it is my newest pet peeve!

I find it so strange that people are mentioning a two item limit. My FreshCo has been limiting items to two since 2009 or whenever the Price Chopper disappeared. Once upon a time, I heard that they were PMing two for each variety, but they stopped that quickly before I could ever use it.

@lilo0003: Happy anniversary!

Use a glass cutting board because it does not get wrecked with cuts and scratches like plastic or wood cutting boards. Because you don't have to continually replace a glass cutting board it will save you money in the long term.

Use a linter roller brush that can be washed to use again eliminating the need to buy refills for it. These are popular and sell out fast when they are on the market, so strike while iron is hot !

I'm ashamed to say that I don't sacrifice my German knives as they are way more expensive than the cutting boards. We bought them as a generous wedding gift from a friend who told us to buy an indulgence that we would never otherwise purchase. I tried to convince DH to get the cheaper Henkels brand, but he loved just this one particular style.

We have just three: one chef's knife, one bread knife, and one paring knife and have used them for the past eight years. Once, the logo fell off one and we sent it back to the company who sent a free replacement. Our cutting board is wooden and thick. When it starts looking sad, I take it to the garage and put the sander to it. Voila, new cutting board! Our plastic ones are probably worth tossing. Wooden ones are definitely the ones I'll buy in future, but I also bleach the plastic ones to get them back to sparkling white as well. I've never tossed a cutting board yet!

For a lint roller brush, I have one of those reusable red fabric ones. For anything that's super impossible to get out, like cat hair on fleece, I use a piece of packing tape. Packing tape also works really well on sticky tape residue that other labels leave behind.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!!!

How do you battle not wasting food (fridge, freezer and pantries).

Sigh. For that, I think I'd have to get a divorce, which may be more expensive than tossing out all this food. After a grocery trip, DH only uses the freshest produce, as if he were shopping in a store. Even if I put the produce to be used in the most accessible place, he will dig for the ones I just bought. He is adverse to leftovers, and will only eat hot meals with the exception of cereal.

When he comes home late, instead of heating up the meal I've prepared, he'll eat a bowl of cereal, making new leftovers out of the meal. When the meal gets too old from him eating out too often at lunch (his boss sometimes buys lunches for everyone), it will go in the compost.

As for me, sometimes things get busy with LO, emergency laundry when she's soiled everything she owns and desperately needs bedding or pants for the next day (I can't believe I will have to toilet train two!) or DH suddenly decides he's out of work clothes, we run out of prescription medication (like with her ventilators, which you can't see when they're getting low), or a myriad of other events which render me too tired to cook. The food often takes a lower priority as being cheaper to buy than new clothes.

LO has also been claiming that she likes new foods, so I've been buying papaya, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc., which DH doesn't eat, only to find that LO doesn't like them at all. I've been having to try and finish it myself, or cut it up myself. If time doesn't allow, or during the months and months of morning sickness, it just gets tossed. Also, during morning sickness, there were certain smells that I just couldn't bear, like cooking dairy products and melting cheese. Those recipes and foods also got scrapped as I had no idea the smells would affect me that way before attempting them.

I'm also trying out new recipes in an attempt to extend my cooking skills. When the recipe doesn't taste quite as good as I think, or it proves too time consuming, the leftovers may not be made into a new recipe.

My brother just sent me this text message. SIL is doing well. She is off the ventilator, and all meds. She was up in a chair this morning for a couple hours. Things are looking up!

@Angela273: That's wonderful news! We'll keep praying but that just made my week!

DH received some bad news on Father's Day. His aunt, whom he spent all his childhood summers with, has had treatment for cancer previously and it was in remission but has come back. It's spread and the doctors can do nothing for her.

[cath007]

Good morning everyone!!! Cleaning day today;hope it will advance.Sunny and hot today;perfect with the ac on.Wishing everyone a great day!!!