January 2017 Frugal Chatter - All Welcome!!!!

[Frugalbigmama]

Did my 1st workout on the new treadmill. I am totally loving it and can't wait for tomorrow! No excuses! No freezing cold night walks for me.

[lilo0003]

Lizzie, can you come encourage my DH to deal with his closet. I turned all my hangers around today and if they are still backwards then I am getting rid of them. I am hoping he will do the same. I watched The Minalmilst on Netflix and it has just spurred me on further to stop buying stuff and using what I have.
I spent my last day of vacation cleaning the pantry. Made a huge batch of chili and used used lots of close to expiry stuff and have 12 dishes in the freezer for my lunches. Nice start to the new year.

[Angela273]

I lost track of the number of loads of laundry that I did today. It has all been folded and put away. I was cleaning yesterday too. I washed our big living room window, windowsill, and wall yesterday. I also purged and cleaned the very top shelf of my desk. I washed all the dishes by hand, counters, table, scrubbed the stove. I cleaned and organized more of the pantry again. My mom's fiance's parents are purging some stuff from their house and have literally sent it by the truck load to my mom's house. My mom has a very cluttered house without them contributing to it. Anyway, my mom sent us home with knock off Tupperware containers from those parents. There is a set of four that stack one inside the other, and a different square one. I used the four stacking ones for white sugar, brown sugar, white flour, and brown flour. Although I'd somewhat wanted containers for my pantry staples, I had never purchased any. I still had everything in their original bags with a clip on the top. I'm a little annoyed that I can't find my masking tape for labelling the containers. I thought I'd put a date and amount on the brand new white sugar so that I could see how long it lasts us. I had purchased those special brown sugar rocks that you soak in water and then add to a brown sugar container to keep it moist. I hadn't even used them yet. Dh knows what I'm talking about, but he can't remember where the package is.

Anyway, I'm taking all the kids to visit an adopted grandma tomorrow morning. Our son goes back to school on Wednesday. His skating starts again on Thursday, and he'll be starting his new level in gymnastics next Tuesday. I've agreed to house sit for friend while they are gone on holiday for 10 days, they are leaving tomorrow night. They live on the far side of the city from us. They are boarding their two dogs, so I won't have too much to do for them every day or two.

We went swimming as a family on Saturday afternoon. I felt somewhat bad that it was our first time taking our twins swimming in a big pool. We took our son swimming since he was only 4 months old. Our kids played in our paddling pool and the new water table a lot during the summer, so they love the water. It was a lot of work to take them all swimming, but the very next day our son was already asking to go swimming again. We had a friend join us and he was able to help us out with our son some. Our twins didn't really want to leave our arms.

[thriftygranny]

Lizzie, can you come encourage my DH to deal with his closet. I turned all my hangers around today and if they are still backwards then I am getting rid of them. I am hoping he will do the same. I watched The Minalmilst on Netflix and it has just spurred me on further to stop buying stuff and using what I have.
I spent my last day of vacation cleaning the pantry. Made a huge batch of chili and used used lots of close to expiry stuff and have 12 dishes in the freezer for my lunches. Nice start to the new year.

We did the hanger turn around as well, my husband has gained some weight so I took it a step further and put elastics on the hangers of the clothes that are to small so they are all bundled together so he knows he shouldn't touch them until the scale moves!!

[lizzie bargain]

Lilo-can't remember what I said, that gives me the nod to encourage your husband to organize his closet but sure I will be right over!! It was actually DD who sorted her clothes when she unpacked her new Xmas stuff yesterday. She had a great holiday but reality strikes this morning-school-although it is Tuesday so she has first period spare. She must have missed us at least a tiny bit because I just put the coffee on and chuckled to read a note on the coffee maker saying "Waffles Please"

As for me, as she finishes her unpacking I will be packing-leaving in 3 days for 26 days so I better get cracking. I am deliberately taking my tighter pants to remind me not to eat too much on our cruise-lets hope it works.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good morning! Just cleaned up the budget and paid credit card from holidays. Phew! I have piles of change that I plan on using this month for the little things. I have been using it to pick up this and that for groceries as well so will do so this month and try not to touch grocery budget so I have a good amount going forward. A little concerned about how they are saying our grocery bill will go up over $400 this year. I think I am a smart enough shopper not to let it affect me but we will see.
Good luck to everyone eating out of the freezer this month. I want to totally clean ours out. There are always deals on meat etc and I want to start fresh (and then I know nothing will hide in the freezer and have to toss it down the road)
The cupboards need cleaning and organizing as well. I am on a purge spree!

[barbis9]

Good morning! Just cleaned up the budget and paid credit card from holidays. Phew! I have piles of change that I plan on using this month for the little things. I have been using it to pick up this and that for groceries as well so will do so this month and try not to touch grocery budget so I have a good amount going forward. A little concerned about how they are saying our grocery bill will go up over $400 this year. I think I am a smart enough shopper not to let it affect me but we will see.

The new cap and trade will hit consumers and increase prices in Ontario on groceries.

[sweet sparrow]

Good news for us, our three-week old has just graduated from the nursing program at the doctor's. That means no more supplements and no more waking her to feed unless she goes over four hours. We got a cute certificate printed with her name and mine. Only regular doctor's appointments now, which is a huge relief. I am elated! Now for the next milestone: going back to cloth diapers! I have to dig out the small diaper covers from the basement.

I am rather disappointed at our grocery budget. i was thinking of sharing our numbers but won't be looking at the spreadsheet until tonight at the earliest. It was only a few years ago that it was $1,000 less. Much thanks to lizzie bargain for sharing her numbers. Different family budgets vary so much, but we all do what we can to keep our noses above water. That will be especially true for us as we adjust to living off of a maternity leave salary and saving for a new second car this year.

One unexpected expense, we may have to pay for daycare again starting in September. The school has before and after school care, but if we're not in by September, there may not be a spot by January when we do need it. That's unfortunate. I'll have to pay for four or five months that I don't need.

[jasperandchar]

Had a very frugal day today, I am excited to eat from the pantry and freezer this month and start fresh in February. WE had some leftover shrimp and halibut left over from our fondue last night so I made a big pot of seafood chowder, added a couple of cans of clams from the pantry, added some diced onion and potatoes and half pound of free maple leaf bacon, also used evaporated milk that was going to expire soon,It is freezing here today so it was a perfect supper.
My husband and I finished going through his closet and purged a ton of stuff. He has to dress in business attire for work and he had some really outdated pieces he never wears. The closet is organized and tidy now. I collected all the mending I have been procrastinating about and have it in my sewing room and will start some hand mending this evening.
My sister bought me a just because gift and it is a sous vide cooker. She has been doing this for about a year now and she loves cooking this way. It is very precise cooking and takes some reading. She is having me over for lunch and a lesson tomorrow. I am excited but I know it was very pricey and we never exchange gifts but I have been looking at buying one for a long time so I will graciously accept this nice surprise!!

I love seafood chowders, my dad makes an excellent one. Enjoy your supper and eating from your pantry & freezer.

What a nice surprise, enjoy

[Natalka]

sweet sparrow, I'm so glad your daughter is doing so much better; such great news!

Finally warmed up here a bit; windchill was -45 when I got on the computer this morning!

[lizzie bargain]

I spent $41 at the grocery store today and seemed to get quite a bit of fresh produce, milk, marked down yogurt etc. We have plenty of meat-trying to stock up a bit for DD and DH a bit before I go away as he doesn't know the prices and shop as carefully as I do-that's okay for a couple of shops of course.

[Frugalbigmama]

Took a look at the upcoming sale flyers. Happy that there isn't anything that I really want/need. Will be a good week to use up what we have and be creative. I have tons of romaine lettuce so we will be eating salad with most meals. And tons of sour cream so thinking nachos and ceaser salad on the weekend one night for sure. (beef in freezer and tostitos hidden in my room lol) Silk Almond milk is $2.88 at No Frills so that will be great for the frozen fruit I have in the freezer (smoothies) I bought the PC Coconut chunks and they taste great on their own and think they will be great in a smoothie and with strawberries. Will try tonight!!!

[jasperandchar]

Afternoon everyone,

We did not venture out to check out the Nissan Juke today due to bad weather, I suspect that will be tomorrow. Also dh loves the Dodge charger but from reviews it's a pig on gas (6 cyclinder engine) so I won't be mentioning this option unless the Juke and other options don't work out. in reality we need something reliable and that can trek all our stuff to the cottage (coolers, luggage etc) so an SUV is a better option in my opinion. Dh always complains about climbing in and out of cars because of his back issues.

It's funny dh makes his vehicle decisions for cars/suvs based on looks where as I'm brand specific or model specific. I like smaller vehicles where as dh likes big, I guess that's because he's a big guy 6'3 and heavy set and I'm 5'2 so I like the smaller maneuvering vehicles. I do not drive the truck because it's too big AND that's 1 reason I don't want to mention the Dodge Charger, let's face it a 2nd vehicle is a luxury when it's not necessary. The only reason we are considering 1 at this stage in the game is because the truck is older and the upkeep can become quite costly. This past year we put away 1/2 year of dh's pays away for maintenance and it never ends, however, we don't have $42K to purchase a brand new GMC/CHEVY truck as those are the only trucks brands he will consider. Even the 2 and 3 years olds are super high in prices....sheach...

Supper tonight which I should not have announced last night is BBQ sausage, I may need to put on skates to bbq (haha).

We will not primarily be eating from the pantry & freezers like many as we really need to replenish our freezer stockpiles (chicken breast, whole chicken, chicken thighs, pork tenderloins, etc). It's slim picking from the freezers at the moment

Anyways I'm counting down the days to back to school, I'm not rushing 2017 BUT I'm rushing back to school & work .

My plans over the next few days is I want to use up some moose meat and make chili for the freezer for dh to take for lunches, etc.

Wishing everyone a great evening.

[avoncallingu]

J&C did you ever consider leasing - that way, the maintenance is covered by the company.
As long as you are realistic upfronr about the amount of mileage you will use.

[momof5boys]

Happy New Year to all! Sweetsparrow, thankful to read all is well with your babe - I love newborns!

We need to install a grab bar or some sort of support in our walk in shower since my elderly in laws are coming for a visit. We have tiled shower walls (large tiles)...anyone with suggestions as to what to do? The shower doesn't have any support at the moment and I don't want them falling. I'm thinking of having someone with experience come and do the job because I'm freaked out that something could go wrong with the tile when someone drills into them.