July 2017 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Angela273]

I'm in the heat with Natalka. We've been considering a high of 25 to be a cooler day. We are in a drought and we've had +30 weather for the last month. We have received about 1" of rain in total in the last month. They recently upgraded our fire ban. The farmers are suffering, lawns are pretty yellow, and my garden is thriving because we water it daily.

[SassyAshley]

I am in Ontario with Coupon Girl and most of the flooding is now gone and they hope to re open Center Island in Toronto next weekend but we have had a ton of rain. Locally there are a few ponds that have receded recently but every time it rains the over flow and there are still a farmers fields here that look like lakes (all depends on where you go).

Looks like it is clearing up here which is nice but it is supposed to get hot high of 32 with the humid x

[Frugalbigmama]

I am in Ontario with Coupon Girl and most of the flooding is now gone and they hope to re open Center Island in Toronto next weekend but we have had a ton of rain. Locally there are a few ponds that have receded recently but every time it rains the over flow and there are still a farmers fields here that look like lakes (all depends on where you go).

Looks like it is clearing up here which is nice but it is supposed to get hot high of 32 with the humid x

Yes a humid day here. Will have to put my AC on at lunch. The other day people were joking that it was October and time to take the boat out of the water and drain the pool! Cool Fall day then humid. No wonder people have the terrible flu/cold that is going around.

[lilo0003]

J & C checked in once this month and I wonder where she was at as well. Maybe at their summer place? Hopefully as is well.
So DH looses his fancy iphone 6 plus when he leaves this week (not his choice). So I was very pleased when he decided to take an old phone that DS #1 had and try to make it work. Since he loves his technology this is amazing. I have worked out a new plan with Rogers that will cost more but since we have not paid a wireless bill for him in 15 years I can't complain. Logan also gets his 1st phone next month as he turns 14, yes I am a terrible parent making them wait until 14 for a phone. So our phone cost will double but both kids have to pay a portion of their bill so its not too bad.

[Frugalbigmama]

J & C checked in once this month and I wonder where she was at as well. Maybe at their summer place? Hopefully as is well.
So DH looses his fancy iphone 6 plus when he leaves this week (not his choice). So I was very pleased when he decided to take an old phone that DS #1 had and try to make it work. Since he loves his technology this is amazing. I have worked out a new plan with Rogers that will cost more but since we have not paid a wireless bill for him in 15 years I can't complain. Logan also gets his 1st phone next month as he turns 14, yes I am a terrible parent making them wait until 14 for a phone. So our phone cost will double but both kids have to pay a portion of their bill so its not too bad.

I wanted to wait till youngest DS was 14 as well but he was the only one in his class without his own fancy phone (he has a pay as you go blackberry for the past year but was just for communicating with us) I caved to peer pressure. Since he did so well at school it was well deserved I thought. But he knows if breaks or it is lost he is just using an old phone till the contract is finished. So far he has been keeping it safe

[Angela273]

We just came inside after spending 2hrs in the back yard with the garden hose and water table. The kids are tired and going down for their naps. I picked a container full of peas, a handful of fresh yellow string beans, and 2 baseball sized beets. Those beets came up by accident, the roots of a weed uprooted them when I pulled it out. I can eat the beet leaves as part of a salad. I plan on boiling up the two beets and making our son try them again. Dh has a serious aversion to beets, so we rarely eat them. I'll eat the yellow string beans raw too. Everyone will eat more peas again today.

[avrose]

It's been really nice here, we had rain on saturday, and one day this week overnight. The forecast shows another week ahead of heat and sun. It's been really great for mosquitoes!!
My oldest had a phone at 14, had it taken away when she was acting up. My youngest is turning 15 in October and she will get a phone then. I made her wait longer since she destroyed a tablet and lost an ipod. (Both brand new!!)

[lilo0003]

It's been really nice here, we had rain on saturday, and one day this week overnight. The forecast shows another week ahead of heat and sun. It's been really great for mosquitoes!!
My oldest had a phone at 14, had it taken away when she was acting up. My youngest is turning 15 in October and she will get a phone then. I made her wait longer since she destroyed a tablet and lost an ipod. (Both brand new!!)

Yikes, I am glad to see I am not the only one that made the kids wait. It's true about peer pressure but I found that if I had all the other kids numbers I could track him down if needed. The older son is so responsible with his technology that he used his 1st phone 2.5 yrs and bought his next phone out right with his own money. In fact it's his old phone his dad has. The younger kid has broken 2 iPods and we refused to buy another so he had to buy his own, that certainly improved his responsibility a lot.

[Angela273]

I took our son to two garage sales, left Dh at home with the twins. We made our well. $5 at one garage sale for 7 DVDs, most were kids movies...great for road trips. They gave him a few toys and a brand new Dollarama popsicle maker set. The second garage sale we spent $1. I picked out various Playdough cookie cutters shaped like animals and letters, and ds picked out a ziploc bag of various balls and bouncy balls. I'm happy with our finds. I've gone to very few yard sales this year. We headed home and I quickly had supper cooked and on the table.

[SassyAshley]

My Mom's rule was once I started driving I had to have a cell phone since we live in the country and me and my friends drove the back roads a lot. I had to pay for my own and had a pay as you go. I did not upgrade to a smartphone until I was given one for work.

All of my other siblings (who lived with Dad) got a phone when they started High School as they went to school out of town.

For me (maybe it is my age) getting a phone wasn't a big deal for me although I know kids are school who were so proud and showed off theirs but then again it was probably just me as I have never felt the need to be the first.

[SassyAshley]

So happy it is Friday. This week has felt extremely long and honestly I was ready for it to be over on Tuesday.

I have been successful at not working outside of work hours although I was extremely tempted the other day. I had a rough day editing images and felt I did not complete enough during the day so was going to take the editing laptop home with me and get a few more images done but I resisted and did not.

Take out we did well but we did do take out one night. I am not too worried I am home all weekend and plan on cooking for there won't be any take out over the weekend and hopefully I can cook ahead and have some stuff in the fridge for next week as I must say lunches this week have been interesting. Seemed like most things we cooked did not have leftover which meant nothing for lunches and a few nights I forgot to pack something so the morning was a rush and grabbed whatever I could find. One day was leftover pasta I put a a little bit of butter and parm on top of and called that lunch.

Not a lot planned for this weekend, we will see how I feel as the weekend goes. I have been extremely tired and not my get up and go morning person lately so I am not sure what is going on there. Not sure if it is my mood lately or possibly I have an infection I have not realized I have yet (this has happened a couple of times, sounds weird I know but true especially when they are internal for me). So we will see how the weekend goes as Mom is working so I will have the house to myself for the most part.

Alright well time to get back to the company website, this is a very long, slow process. Have a wonderful day everyone.

[lizzie bargain]

SA-I applaud you for trying to find some work life balance and not take work home-easier said than done I know, especially when you work for family
Lilo-sorry to hear your DH has been downsized-I know from your posts you are prudent with your spending and hope he can find something else so you don't have to work too much longer than you had planned at your stressful job before retirement.

I have been busy helping DD apply for student loans and grants-although we do have $ in an RESP, it sems she cannot access grants she is entitled to based on our income and her medical needs, without applying for loans so I told her to just accept the loan and we will pay it later when she graduates. Of course we will be giving her some each year from the RESP which she has declared on the application. She is also contributing quite a bit in academic scholarships and savings and earnings. I am finally feeling like I will be able to drive her to Vancouver on labour day weekend to move into residence-it will be very quiet around here although she will be back for Thanksgiving and Xmas.

I am so relieved to finally be feeling better-not quite 100% yet and still under treatment but yesterday I actually went out and bought myself some new clothes( one outfit was 70% off) as my old ones are way too big-since my injury I have lost 28 lbs-at first it was because I was in too much pain to eat much and now I have just decided to keep going to a healthier weight. DH and I also went for a spur of the moment drive in the mountains the other day and had lunch in Banff. He did a short, steep hike( despite his sore hip), but I am not quite up to that yet. Finally my outings are not just for medical care and I have most of my old life back-with the exception of long walks and working. My physio and Dr feel I should be fit to work by Sept and I am meeting a new family next week who is looking for 2 afternoons per week which will be enough for me.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

[Frugalbigmama]

TGIF!! Looks like we are in for a wonderful weekend here weather wise! Tonight I am taking a drive to pick up free tickets that I have sold for $100 . Then I may hit the new Costco if not too busy (we are going Sunday so I may just wait till then)
Tomorrow we are going to see a comedian and have free hotel rooms overnight (with my sister and BIL) We will stop at the Costco on our way home Sunday.
Sunday afternoon I will grab groceries and prep for the week. It really paid off this week. Eating my last boiled egg this morning with yogurt and fresh cherries that I was able to just grab quickly from the fridge.

Did 1 load of laundry last night and hung everything up to dry on hangers and hung in closets. Just have to put all the socks and undies away at lunch today (hung them to dry) The kitchen is spotless and the dishwasher empty so kitchen clean up should be easy and quick for everyone.

[coupon girl]

watched Ashlyn today took her to freshco grocery shopping and papa walked around with her -I spent 90.05 of course I bought her goldfish p.m 1.99 and kinder egg 1.49,then came home put away groceries at sons the fridge stuff and took her to mcdonalds and treated her to lunch ,then dollarama and bought Ashlyn a water gun and I got paint tray ,dish drainer (Rubbermaid small one)for 3.00 as my other one is starting to rust-home now and a bit tired supper will be whatever we want we are full from the egg mcmuffin meal ,so I may just have a tea

[avrose]

Today is hot one so I hung out 2 loads of laundry, and just stayed inside out of the heat.