September 2016 Frugal Chatter Thread - ALL Welcome!!

[coupon girl]

ahhhh thanks nat -yep I always love the first day of fall(my birthday) also my anniversary 57 years old and 37 years married ,hubby woke up this morning with a sore throat -we will see if he still feels up to dinner at the keg tonight (we have a 50.00 gift card from last xmas )we asked his brother and my sister-in-law to come as they have a gift card too and we get along so great with them
-well was up at 4.00 a.m again this morning so made blueberry muffins and did a load of laundry ,very productive early on ,got my 4,000 points from shoppers yesterday ,when I went in and got a few deals ,everyone happy fall

[Natalka]

Wow, an anniversary as well - Congratulations coupon girl!

[SassyAshley]

Happy Birthday and Anniversary Coupon Girl, hopefully your DH feels better and you can enjoy a night out

[Angela273]

I bought this entire police station off a local garage sale Facebook page for $5. It is a big hit. Our kids already have fire trucks and a toy airplane.

[coupon girl]

wow angela great deal on the toy for 5.00
-I am in a cleaning frenzy already vacuumed,hung a load out ,weeded the front of the house cleaned the 3 toilets -wow and I have been up since 4.00 a.m -maybe I will go and rest now

[sweet sparrow]

Happy birthday and anniversary, coupon girl! That's quite a celebration and you're so young still!

I'm jealous that you were married so young and had all that time to share in each other's company.

Wishing you many more anniversaries and birthdays together.

[Angela273]

The kids still aren't sleeping good at night. Twin boy started his day at 5:30am, he eventually went for a nap around 9:30, but that was interrupted when his big brother rang the door bell while playing in the back yard. I baked my healthier monster cookie squares. I have a pan of zucchini and dill biscuits in the oven for lunch. I also have a pan of veggies roasting to make another small batch of pasta sauce. It smells yummy in here. Good thing too because the oven has warned the house and I was able to turn off the area heater.

We ate the biscuits with fin 'n Hattie for lunch. They all really liked it, but my son needs way too much encouragement to eat most meals, we are trying to work on it. He ate all of his fin 'n Hattie, but it took him way too long.

Tonight's supper plan is speghettini with the home made roast veggies sauce, home made meatballs that I froze, Parmesan cheese, and a glass of milk. Choice of rhubarb crisp or monster cookie squares with Icecream. Yummy. I hadn't baked in about two weeks and I was looking forward to it.

[coupon girl]

-ahhh there,s pros and cons to getting married so young -we have a bond and love for one another thats pretty good-mind you it is hard work sometimes and other times it just flows -of course ups and downs too
-like this summer we didn't do much together -but as a family we went for a 3 day getaway with the grown kids and ashlyn
-mind you I set the outside table one night with a candle and we brought home margarita pizza and had wine -I dressed up in a pretty dress too then I feel like I am 20-26 again ,but then the arthritis kicks in -in my knees and fingers somedays and I really feel my age
-oh and we don't buy gifts for birthdays or xmas anymore or cards and that is fine by me -if hubby needs something or I do we just buy it

[lilo0003]

Happy birthday & Happy Anniversary Coupongirl.
Angela: You are wise to manage the eating behavior now. I am beyond fed up with my 13yr old picky eater. Your meals always look healthy and you provide lots of choice.

[jasperandchar]

Happy Birthday & anniversary @coupon girl , wishing you all the best on your special day

[jasperandchar]

Happy birthday & Happy Anniversary Coupongirl.
Angela: You are wise to manage the eating behavior now. I am beyond fed up with my 13yr old picky eater. Your meals always look healthy and you provide lots of choice.

oh @lilo0003 I feel your pain with my 15 year old, doesn't like this or that but could eat pizza and burgers everyday . Well he's old enough to fend for himself so too bad (haha). BUT I must say he is trying more and more new to him foods, things I've been cooking for years but would never eat, he tried a green pepper the other day while I was chopping it up, my jaw hit the floor as he said it wasn't bad

[Granger]

I do need to say thank you to all of you and this forum for all the savings tips, ideas, and support. Without which we'd probably be much further behind. Sometimes it's an uphill battle, but it's nice to have some people cheering you on or lending a helping hand/listening ear when it gets tough. It's extremely frustrating at times.

I hope you know my "no" comment was in jest because I consider you a friend. We don't waste our arguments on finances either (most of the time), but man does he have some bad habits!

Sweet Sparrow, it must be such a frustrating situation for you. You are right though about not changing the way your DH is and fighting about money. It isn't worth it, but I get your angst about your money differences.
With my husband it is money spent on hobbies that drive me crazy, the fishing and hunting excursions are out of control and very pricey. We have family here next week that are also avid hunters and I am expected to act as camp cook....I have been cooking and freezing non stop so I can be prepared for 7 extra people as well as entertaining the wives that will be hanging with me for the week. Off to Superstore this morning to buy more supplies and was up till 2 am baking muffins and cookies......I am not even going to tally the grocery bill it will just depress me!

I won't even start...lol

Granger, what do you use to clean the grout? I have tried to get the grout cleaned in our boys bathroom and am not successful. I would love to hear how you do this.

sweetsparrow is the expert, but on the caulking of the tub, Clorox clean is what my cleaner used to get the discolouration white again. On the actual grout, I personally use Oxyclean and water. My new cleaner is using a product called Meleluca.

Happy Birthday & anniversary @coupon girl , wishing you all the best on your special day

Ditto the sentiments

***

I am tired today. Feel like I am running the marathon. All positive, just tiring. Wishing you all an extra hour of rest tonight just because I could use one!!!

[Angela273]

I have my pelvic and abdominal ultrasounds booked for first thing tomorrow morning. These scans were booked after my ER visit with severe abdominal pain last month. I'm not looking forward to it and I'm not expecting them to find anything, but we will see. I have to fast from midnight and then drink 1L of water 1hr before the scan. Oh fun times. The good thing is that Dh can be home with the kids because my appointment is the first scan of the day, which means no childcare bill for us.

[sweet sparrow]

SweetSparrow: I too take perverse pleasure in cleaning jewelry especially my rings. Makes me so happy when they are all sparkly and clean.
You have more patience than I would with your DHs spending, but you are wise to choose your battles. I think we all have our indulgences, some more expensive than others. For my DH it is cycling & a love of expensive bikes to ride. But I know how costly they can get so I don't fret to much as he can only ride one at a time. He is also trying to sell one bike as he has multiples and he is now saving to go on European tour next summer. We can easily afford it, but its nice to see that he is planning for and saving for the trip.

@lilo0003: I also love cleaning my rings and bought a special brush to get in the small crevices. I can't use an ultrasonic, so it's a labour of love. Once, I think I was in Birks when the saleslady asked if she could clean them and stuck them both in an ultrasonic in the same mesh pocket. I nearly passed out right then on their carpet. I've had them serviced since by the original jeweler so I feel much better. Phew.

Granger, what do you use to clean the grout? I have tried to get the grout cleaned in our boys bathroom and am not successful. I would love to hear how you do this.

@momof5boys: I wasn't sure if you were asking Granger as you used my quote in your post, but I did mean to respond.

It depends on your starting point. I actually only use a hard toothbrush wet down with water and dish detergent. If you take care of your shower daily, you can actually keep in looking new for decades. My sister's bathroom grout was immaculate until the day she sold her house, so it's possible.

If there is black mold that has seeped into the grout and is discolouring it from the inside out, there's no remedy to get it white unless you rip out all the tiles and start again. Bleaching agents cannot soak into the pores because the walls are vertical and everything just runs down. My brother had some luck with spraying with a bleach solution and leaving it on for as long as he could (wiping down the shower as dry as he could, then sprayed on the solution and left it until his next shower, then repeat).

If there is discolouration, the bleach solution will work to some extent as well. You should open the window or turn on the fan for a little while to get the smell out if you have small children or pets.

In these cases, prevention is worth a pound of cure. If it's a new bathroom, you can keep it in pristine condition simply by wiping down the walls with a squeegee, then following up with an absorbent sponge after each shower (but not if people time the showers back to back). If things ever start to get a little brown, scrub with a hard brush and the stains should come out. Rinse well, squeegee, sponge down. DH isn't as thorough as I am, so I time my showers to be right after his.

Our home is a resale, so we have icky mold behind the tile from the last two families. It's one of the next reno projects within the upcoming decade and I'll be picking out some large tiles. Those equal less grout to scrub and clean, which saves a lot of time.

^ Roots backpacks are awesome!

I looked into their backpacks once and they're outsourced to a company that stitches their name onto them. I believe it's the same company that does their umbrellas (which I just had replaced). Their watches are also outsourced. (The girl who's wedding I recently attended was the company buyer for their watch line at one point.) They are nice bags, and you can only exchange them for as long as they sell them in the store. After that, it goes under the warranty of the sourcing company. You must have some good luck on the bags!

I was thinking of MEC. They have a rock solid guarantee, and it's on top of the warranty of the manufacturer.

-oh and we don't buy gifts for birthdays or xmas anymore or cards and that is fine by me -if hubby needs something or I do we just buy it

Thank you for the tips. I'm thinking of doing away with the card or gift ideas and just doing "experiences" like a fancy dinner, or an activity we can share from now on. Although, I still got DH a small gift and an e-card.

I hope you know my "no" comment was in jest because I consider you a friend. We don't waste our arguments on finances either (most of the time), but man does he have some bad habits!

I am tired today. Feel like I am running the marathon. All positive, just tiring. Wishing you all an extra hour of rest tonight just because I could use one!!!

DH considers all the expenses mandatory to keep his job and his boss is quite the cheapskate that he is all too happy to keep the money in his pocket. Normally, I don't buy anything from his company for that reason but the kids needed something and I couldn't find a better price elsewhere.

@Granger: In any marathon, no runner who's crossed the finish line has ever regretted running the race. I know it doesn't help when you're starting out, but when you're close to the finish line, it's not as far away as when you started. And feel free to collapse at the finish line. :D

[Angela273]

I redeemed $50 in PC Plus points for a PC gc. I also have $150 in AM that I plan on redeeming for Sobeys gift cards.