January 2017 Frugal Chatter - All Welcome!!!!

[coupon girl]

lilo -I used the 5.00 cpn on Thursday on 3.99 family boxes =6.97 for the 3 huge boxes so was happy with that cpn
-got 3 granola bars too 1.99=,97 for the 3 -would have price matched but freshco only lets you p.m 2 items
-well got my tree down today and hubby was painting the basement walls I was going thru stuff down the basement -have 2 bags for value village -may go to the 50% early sale on sunday as I need more winter tops and so does hubby tired of wearing the same 8 tops (time and time again)mind you I did have 3 new ones bought over the fall but they are dressy for good

[jasperandchar]

What subscription changes have you noticed at your library branch? This month, National Post is no longer offered in the newspaper section at my branch.

Yesterday I had the Italpasta white cheddar mac & cheese that I bought from Dollarama along with the Annie's versions. There was a definite strong taste (chemical) beyond the white cheddar flavour. I am going to try the Annie's one tonight to see if it has the same taste issue.

Monday brings prospect of gas shutoff. There were two reports issued in Nov requiring corrections within 49 days. Brother this week did arrange for heating contractor to come yesterday am-company called yesterday and said no one can attend. What other day is good for you? So now there is a revised possible visit in the Mon early am as long as the gas supplier has not arrived to shut off the gas. Coincidentally, a gas meter reader came to read the meter Friday morning. I've had two arguments with Dad about the matter and he does not care. Oh, today he left a lit candle on the table (Xmas) after he finished his breakfast. To keep my cool, I had to choose not to have another argument-hope the house is still standing when I go home. I can tell you I am not looking forward to having to heat water on a 2 burner electric unit if this shutoff proceeds. And if another -15-20C snap happens, I'm certain there will water pipes going broke as well.

Since the gas meter got changed in November, the contractor for the gas supplier wrote up two things when relighting the gas appliances-not seeing an annual furnace check report (I've deduced TSSA wants homeowners to do an annual check on furnaces for CO accident prevention based on what their website states and gas supplier seems to have a similar requirement in its terms of service) and noting the screws in the metal dryer vent pipe (a no-no sibling has corrected).

Just for perspective, I did an online search about shutoffs in winter and supposedly the gas supplier has a voluntary no shutoff policy for customers behind on payments during Dec.1-Mar.1 (article two years turned up with that nugget). Doubtful this will apply to our situation given that the supplier has other reasons in which it can shutoff one's gas supply. My father is not one keen to spend money on necessary precautions so that is another wrinkle in the situation-but he seems to always have money to spend on cuts of meat he should not be splurging on.

Please don't ignore those violation reports for heating appliances. Your supplier definitely is counting down the days to shutoff and will send a letter (one arrived on Thursday but with wrong reference date of the incident reports) too.

oh hun, I hope things get resolved, corrected etc as you mentioned bigger issues could arise from no heat.

[jasperandchar]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Oh my what a day. I started the day off running, I have done Mom's bedding (will do mine tomorrow, I hope), did the blankets off the couch and a set of sheets that were thrown in the basement but never washed.

Well the laundry was going I did the dishes and since I was in the kitchen I made dinner to put in the fridge. I had this funny feeling that come dinner time I would not feel like cooking and I was right. We have a massive amount of pasta in our fridge as Mom cooked a whole bulk package the other day. So I mixed the cooked pasta with Mushrooms and Pasta sauce, I then I topped it with chicken chucks i tossed in some reserved pasta sauce. Half way through the cooking process I will add mozzarella and parm to the top to give a nice cheesy crust.

I also cleaned up our front hallway, which always seems to be a disaster area as everything seems to get dropped there to be dealt with later but later never seems to come.

Think this is enough for today. I do not believe in new years resolutions but have decided I need to be better to me this year. The week before shut down I just kind of shut down and ended up working from home most of the week as I just couldn't handle everything so I hide out at home put my head down and got a ton of work done. Then shut down came and I just kind of collapsed so to say. I began sleeping a ridiculous amount and had no ambition at all. I really felt like my body was just giving out it was like you pushed so hard all year and now nope I am done. So I trying to be more careful to not wear myself out and take better care of me. I tend to work (both at work and home) until I cannot do anymore even when I write a to do list and complete it that is no longer enough and I now seem to play this little game of how many extras can I do. As well I have not been eating properly for quite some time. With all the travel and one day trips I got into the horrible habit of living off tea all day and only really dinner which usually wasn't even a balanced meal as I was so tired. So this year I have decided I need to focus more on me and care less what others think, yes I can work myself until I collapse and accomplish a ton but obviously it does catch up with me.

Off to relax until it is time to put dinner in the oven. Have a wonderful night everyone

Good for you, you should be a priority, do what you can and don't be afraid to say NO

[jasperandchar]

@lilo0003 and @Ciel ds1 will most likely not get to drive the new car for quite some time. Once he gets his G1 he can drive the truck (haha).

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! Guess I should get up. Quick coffee and breakfast then off to bank machine as I have some banking to do. Received $9.03 for 2nd rebate I did on Finish.

[barbis9]

Ok, so here's the bad thing that happened on Dec 30. Someone hit and ran my parked van while I was grocery shopping at Sobeys. I was parked close to the door, using my wheel chair accessible sign, my driver's side was facing an empty wheel chair parking spot. A black vehicle hit and ran my driver's door, sliding door, and the part below both doors. I filed the police report on the weekend. I just got back from the SGI assessment and there is $1,400 in damages to my driver's side. Good thing I pay for a package policy with a $200 deductible. I was told that I shouldn't have any points put on my license, I will double check this next week. I have a perfect driving record, no points ever put on my license. I have maxed out the good driver's discount, which is 2% per positive point on your license. The police officer informed me that SGI has now moved the max discount from 20% to 25%. So if this hit and run had cost me points on my license, then I would lose a substantial discount over the next number of years. SGI has increased the cost of plating most vehicles (which I know is much cheaper in SK vs other provinces), so this good driver discount is important to me. Too bad there are no vehicle rental places in town and this repair shop can't get my van in until Jan 16, they still only have courtesy cars and trucks.

While this is terrible I am so glad you were not in your van at the time. Things could have been much worse with you getting injured from this.

[Tweets77]

well here is something frugal-we had a few paint cans downstairs from the last 2 or 3 years -well we mixed them all up in one plastic pail (just beige and white and a brown )-ended up with a nice light brown and painted one drywalled wall down the basement -have enough to do another wall on sunday (my sister-in-law gave me a tip for paint she said to put plastic saran wrap over before you put the lid back on helps with it lasting longer )

We did the same thing when we ran out of money building a basement under our last house! Great way to use something up!

[Ciel]

Ciel! Please post about what happens on Monday. This is a terrible time to have your gas shut off. I am getting so *&^%$ t'ed off with energy providers of all stripes that I could spit in someone's face. And I'm close to being a pacifist, politically speaking. They just don't care. They don't *&^%$ care.

I was recalling how a few years ago, corn cob stoves were the rage one year ( there was a vendor at local fair getting lots of foot traffic) before the price of corn went up when some people were finding ethanol cheaper than regular gasoline for their DIY altered engines (cars, tractors). Anyone using a wood burning stove at least can still heat the house but likely has to have a professional vouch for its safety too.

Today I reminded Mom that we won't have hot water, stove/oven (have an electric toaster oven) and home heat.She believes we will have gas.

To show you what can happen with gas shutoffs, I will post article links that informed how pricey getting gas restored can be if the shutoff occurs:

When there is a heating issue not repaired in time and the water lines break and money is tight:

What’s frustrating is that Union Gas has the authority to come into your home and shut off the gas to your furnace, knowing you are receiving a disability pension, and yet there is nothing to force Union Gas to immediately release that surplus so you can get your furnace repaired and turned back on.Union Gas has told me they have company standards and they must be followed; there is nothing to allow me access to that money within 24 hours.
Well, winter is now here and I have been without heat for a week now. My next expense will be fixing broken waterlines, and all because of red tape and money issues that could have been resolved if Union Gas would immediately release the surplus money from my account.

http://www.wallaceburgcourierpress.c...with-union-gas

For those who fall behind on payments with their gas supplier, look at what the $$$ charges will be with reconnection:

But once the disconnection has happened, the customer must pay their entire balance in full, plus a reconnection fee before the natural gas or power begins to flow again to the home, she said.Customers who have been reconnected must also pay a deposit of several hundred dollars.
“That deposit is refundable after a certain period of time in which payments have been re-established, so you’ve re-established a good payment history,” Stass said.

http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/201...er-natural-gas

[Ciel]

@wendymac -thanks for the link! I know generally about such a program in Hamilton for low income residences. Recently there was a limit put on one Ontario funded program for Hamilton that helped individuals beyond rent/heating payments as the fund was almost out of funds but it has to be accessible until March 31.

The issue is that Dad does not see the point of safety requirements that cost him money. If it was not for the meter having to be changed due to request via Measurement Canada, the matter would have been delayed until the furnace needed repair or something else prompted a gas technician's visit.

[lilo0003]

Busy morning here. I had turkey out for dinner only to recall the teen works tonight. Sunday dinners are a big deal in our house but now we miss most of them as Sunday evening seems to be a regular shift. So changed my plans and we are going to have Sunday lunch. It works because DH is coming home from Edmonton today and Logan's lacrosse game is later so a nice chance to reconnect. I have also been busy posting stuff. I have several things I am just giving away and they seem more work than selling. It's some glass things that I could take to VV but I am afraid they will break and be useless.
Ciel: it's a shame you dad is not taking the gas issues seriously. The consequences could be disastrous.
Angela: people can be such morons, karma will cycle up with them. I had some hit my new cr when it was less than a month old in the GO train lot. The damage was a scratched bumper that I never fixed because it was not worth the insurance but it annoys me whenever I see it.

[Frugalbigmama]

My livingroom is in shambles but he is painting

[coupon girl]

I went to value village today 50% with saver card -donated 3 full bags got 3 stamps on my donation card -this is the year to condense at age 57 hubby and I don't want our kids to have to deal with loads of stuff one day (books ,knick nacks etc -I still try to sell on kijiji if its worth it if not it goes in a bag to value village
-I bought 3 lovely tops for myself came to 11.97 for all 3 after the 50% off a top for hubby 3.00 and a cobblehill puzzle for 2.99 -they are reg 19.99 in stores so happy I spent 20.29 but saved 15.00
-one top was Bianca nygard a designer top
-supper tonight lasanga

[Frugalbigmama]

Tonight's dinner is pork roast. Put in freezer in June so makes me happy to pull it out and use it.

[jasperandchar]

Afternoon everyone,

Supper tonight is homemade fried rice & sweet n' sour chicken, we ate already, I have 2 containers put away for dh's lunch and 1 small chicken container for ds2s lunch.

I need to work on my meal plan for the week.

I have some bananas that need to be used up so I'm hoping to do some baking tomorrow.

The window trim & door trim are on in ds1's room. A few paint touch-ups need to be done and then we can put the curtain rod, I still need to buy some blackout curtains shortly in the next little while

Anyone want to share there meal plan, I could use some new ideas.

Wishing everyone a great night
@Ciel is there any way that your brother cold flip the bill to have things fixed before they cut gas?

[Natalka]

Husband did shopping - was so glad to get extra lean ground beef at Co-op for 6.59/kg. There was a limit of two, so may go back during the week to get more. They were out of 600g bags of frozen blueberries, so got a raincheck for that.

I've been prepping for supper, son will come over soon so I just wanted a break on the computer for a bit. Making a big meal of smothered porkchops, smashed potatoes, coleslaw, and peas.

Have a great evening, everyone!