October 2016 Frugal Chatter Thread All Welcome!!!

[Frugalbigmama]

Good morning! Dark damp day here today. Expecting rain!
The laundry I did yesterday is dumped on my bed this morning- Will be putting it all away this evening.

Last night's dinner was a pork roast in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans.

Received my Enbridge bill yesterday. Under other Enbridge Charges there is a "Rate Adjustment" charge of $9 plus HST. Off to Google this!

[Angela273]

There was an old dishwasher in our house when we bought it, but Dh quickly took it to the landfill. We have never used a dishwasher in this house. When I was expecting the twins and then preparing to open my home daycare, Dh was sure to ask if we wanted to get a dishwasher. I prefer to keep the room in my kitchen that the dishwasher would otherwise occupy. We are now a family of five + my daycare kids. We hand wash everything. I wear dish gloves to help my hands not dry out too much. Between washing dishes, cleaning, preparing food, and changing diapers, I wash my hands a lot. By not having a dishwasher we save space, power, water, and specialized dish detergent.

[SassyAshley]

I know you cannot put wood items in the dishwasher, if you have wooden spoons or cutting boards, the heat of the dishwasher can cause them to crack.

I do find there are some items like Lizzie said that do not fit in nicely or take up a lot of space so we tend to wash these by hand.

Also if you use plastic containers you need to be careful of the heat and what is around them. I remember my brother once putting a permanent dent in plastic container because he had a metal handle touching the container in the dishwasher and it melted. Also I find in my dishwasher plastic containers tend to move and fly around a bit so I usually wash by hand.

[Angela273]

Twin baby boy didn't run a fever last night, I'm relieved after the nasty fever he ran the three nights in a row. He's still cranky, but he cut a tooth during those fever days. He now has 5 teeth.

Our little boy got his hair cut last night because he has Pre-K pictures on Monday.

Baby girl really likes these small twin baby dolls and a white teddy bear that is the same size. She has recently started to sit them in small containers in the living room. I'm going to keep an eye out for a small baby stroller or crib for her. I don't want to spend much, so I asked my friend to help me keep an eye out for something like that.

[jasperandchar]

@sweet sparrow we purchased a brand new and expensive dishwasher when we re-did the kitchen 4-5 years ago, it has a grinder and lots of bells and whistle, however, I refuse to use it because my hydro bills are already ridiculous because I'm rural and it just doesn't make sense for it run for 2 hours when I can have them done in 20 minutes if I have a lot of dishes. I honestly keep telling dh we should sell it as it's never used and he refuses but I really want another bank of drawers as I use them multiple times a day where as the dishwasher hasn't been used since we purchased it.

[thriftygranny]

Well I think our two weeks of cold winter weather has left so I am planning a frugal outside day today.I spent the morning planning my spring bulbs plantings and hopefully have a pretty good grasp on where I want things!! I am planting parrot tulips, grape hyacinths and narcissus bulbs. Will rake up a few leaves in the yard and do the dog poop...yuk and double yuk but it needs to be done!! I have salmon steaks marinating in teriyaki for supper and I really feel like potatoes on the barbecue to go with it but that would involve going to the grocery store and I am really trying to use up what I have so it may be something else!!

[sweet sparrow]

Sweet Sparrow - I don't know how you have been dealing without having a dishwasher! Even now when it's just the two of us, I miss our dishwasher very much - we don't have one here, and there is no room at all for one.
Yes, it takes electricity - BUT it will free you up for more wonderful things - and TIME! Well worth it!

@Natalka : There are definitely times when I wish I didn't have to spend so long doing dishes, especially with LO screaming and crying at my feet asking me to come play with her when we're the only ones in the house. That was my entire last year.

Sweet Sparrow, i use my dishwasher every day and I enjoy having one, but I really dislike doing dishes so for me it is a splurge!! Having said that I will pass on some info, we have been in our home for 23 years and I am on my third dishwasher, they are just not built to last apparently, we have always purchased mid range appliances. When I was shopping for our last dishwasher the salesman told me that max I would get 7 years from any mid range dishwasher and to consider spending my money on a higher end model. I also find the new dishwashers take forever to run a cycle, mine takes over 2 hours at least. I think this is a long time but maybe that is normal.If and when this one tanks I will consider a top of the line one.

@thriftygranny : Thank you for the input. I would be afraid, the way appliances last these days, that no matter what price range it is, the cost to fix it would make you consider buying a new one. My sister also mentioned that hers took hours to run as well and the humidity when she lets it air dry in the summer is, to put it kindly, unpleasant.

There was an old dishwasher in our house when we bought it, but Dh quickly took it to the landfill. We have never used a dishwasher in this house. When I was expecting the twins and then preparing to open my home daycare, Dh was sure to ask if we wanted to get a dishwasher. I prefer to keep the room in my kitchen that the dishwasher would otherwise occupy. We are now a family of five + my daycare kids. We hand wash everything. I wear dish gloves to help my hands not dry out too much. Between washing dishes, cleaning, preparing food, and changing diapers, I wash my hands a lot. By not having a dishwasher we save space, power, water, and specialized dish detergent.

@Angela273 : I was thinking about this as well. To not have a dishwasher and put in extra cupboard space would be welcome additional storage, especially if we take out all the pantries and shelving units we have at the back. You are quite lucky to have children that let you do things like laundry, cooking, or dishes. Mine would not allow it for the first two years at least.

[Frugalbigmama]

@sweet sparrow we purchased a brand new and expensive dishwasher when we re-did the kitchen 4-5 years ago, it has a grinder and lots of bells and whistle, however, I refuse to use it because my hydro bills are already ridiculous because I'm rural and it just doesn't make sense for it run for 2 hours when I can have them done in 20 minutes if I have a lot of dishes. I honestly keep telling dh we should sell it as it's never used and he refuses but I really want another bank of drawers as I use them multiple times a day where as the dishwasher hasn't been used since we purchased it.

I prefer to hand wash too and get it done. We are really good to cook and clean up together so it doesn't really seem like work anyway. I dislike emptying the dishwasher too so it really only gets used about once a week. But pots and pans are hand washed always.

[sweet sparrow]

@SassyAshley : We do have wooden cutting boards and a lot of plastic containers (especially with a toddler and new baby). I haven't gotten around to replacing them just yet. It may be at this point that I will be doing more dishes than would be going though the dishwasher. I'll hold off on the purchase and think about it when the kids are older, I suppose.

[jasperandchar]

Morning all,

Cold and rainy here today, my eaves & facia where scheduled for today but it's raining so I guess they will reschedule soon (fingers crossed).

Ds2 has an appointment this evening so I will run into WM and get them to exchange 2 pairs of his pants (if they outwear before they outgrow) and i'll pick up a few things on my tiny list.

I am hoping to contact a contractor in the next 2 weeks to get an estimate for removing our dinning room wall and replacing the wall with black iron spindles. I'm hoping to get this completed before late November if not I will schedule for after Christmas. I don't imagine it will take a professional that long compared to having dh tackle on weekends, etc. This will make the dinning room / living room (open concept) seem that much bigger BUT the prime factor is it will allow the heat from the basement (wood stove) rise so much quicker and make the upstairs that much warmer....SO win win in my opinion.

We are continuing to put dh's work pay cheques into a home renovation account so many items should get tackled this school year. His pays were never included in the budget so we don't miss it.

I plan on picking up some amazon.ca gc's from Independent grocers using my points we save for Christmas as they have some awesome deals on tv series which are on 4 peoples list AND amazon will price match so even better.

Wishing everyone a fabulous day

[walkonby]

I dunno, here it is mid October and I have not been all that thrifty since mid September BUT yesterday on the way home I realized I had forgotten to grab bread. Rather than double back to WM or NF or anywhere else I pulled into Mac's Milk in the plaza close to home.
Maybe I am way out of the loop when it comes to gouging but when did charging between $3.49 and $4.50 for a single stinking loaf of bread become o.k??
My usual cost would be $1.67 - $2.20 a loaf and even then I dislike it if there are no better sales around, or coupons to sweeten the OOP.
I paced back and forth and believe it or not I walked out with none! ha ha
Guess the miser in me is still there. I found a 24 pack of small dinner buns in the bottom of the freezer when i got home and that was what I put in the breadbox for the gang! No one even asked.

[Frugalbigmama]

I dunno, here it is mid October and I have not been all that thrifty since mid September BUT yesterday on the way home I realized I had forgotten to grab bread. Rather than double back to WM or NF or anywhere else I pulled into Mac's Milk in the plaza close to home.
Maybe I am way out of the loop when it comes to gouging but when did charging between $3.49 and $4.50 for a single stinking loaf of bread become o.k??
My usual cost would be $1.67 - $2.20 a loaf and even then I dislike it if there are no better sales around, or coupons to sweeten the OOP.
I paced back and forth and believe it or not I walked out with none! ha ha
Guess the miser in me is still there. I found a 24 pack of small dinner buns in the bottom of the freezer when i got home and that was what I put in the breadbox for the gang! No one even asked.

I would have done the same! You aren't a miser, you are a smart shopper.

[sweet sparrow]

@jasperandchar : I would check with Amazon CS to make sure that they are still price matching TVs. I thought I heard they changed their policy awhile ago. Or maybe they stopped PMing everything instead of TVs. I can't remember....

[lizzie bargain]

Productive morning so far-put a pot of black bean soup in the crock pot as I am working this aft. I have various sides to go with it-never tried it before so I will see if my family likes it. Did some laundry and almost time to head off to see my little kidlets-the youngest set of the dual twin family will turn 2 next week and let me tell you that 2 little boys of that age keep you hopping! After nap I will take them out to play because as TG says the nice fall weather has returned-thankfully. I will also have them for 10 hours tomorrow so will definitely get them outside to run off their energy!

[Angela273]

Twin baby boy is cranky this morning. He's down for a nap, so my daycare kids and I whipped up a berry crisp. I usually make apple or rhubarb crisp, so this mixed (frozen) berry crisp is a new recipe that I am trying. I can see most of my living room from my kitchen, so baby girl played by herself. I've already washed up the breakfast and baking dishes. The crisp will be done baking just before we walk down to pick my son up from Pre-K. We baked banana chocolate chip cookie on Tuesday morning. I haven't gone grocery shopping since last Thursday. I'll go shopping tonight to pick up a few things at No Frills, price match, and use a few points offers. I prefer Activia yogourt, it is on sale and I have 700pts per container as my current points offer. I'll check the new flyers and pick up some other things on the weekend when we need milk again. I like that Sobeys has good sales or Air Miles offers on Lucerne milk at least twice each month, so I buy some extra for the fridge.