July 2017 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Angela273]

John that must be frustrating.
@Natalka I'm feeling good, just need to remember to take this antibiotic 4x a day...which can be hard to remember when I'm busy with life and caring for little ones.

[avrose]

Nice pics! My garden is tiny but I have peas, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes. I started the pepper plants early may but they are only a few inches tall. Lettuce took over a bit, some was from it going to seed last year.

[Frugalbigmama]

TGIF! Hope everyone had a good week and has a great weekend. Tonight is our usual date night but since we are going away tomorrow night I think I will be tidying the house and finishing laundry. We will still make dinner but I think I am passing on the wine.

The past few nights have been great since the oldest was off work. Was nice to sit with both my boys at the table and eat and chat. That is the only bad thing about part-time jobs for your kids. They are never home during the dinner hour/evening.

[GoodBoy]

Nice surprise this morning. Email from Coupgon. $1.00 off Nestle Parlour Ice Cream only for today. FreshCo had it on sale for $2.99. A nice large tub for $1.99



Sent from my iPhone

[coupon girl]

Well ordered the shoes my hubby left behind in a parking garage 180.00 later-not cheap but ordered from the specialist -I will see if we are covered for orthodics and wait til jan because they are 495.00 -if the new company covers them will see
Got myself a another new bathing suit at the bay -roots 69.99 not on sale of course but they sent me 20.00 off when you spend 50.00 or more cpn to use instore -so 49.99 for bathing suit plus a lovely tank dressy one 13.00(plus turned my hbc points into 10.00 off so I really only paid 3.00 for the top and a chaps open white sweater 20.20 after clearance -felt good to spend on me .I hate mall shopping but really wanted to check out gymboyee-spend 25.14 on the grandkids got Ashlyn t-shirt 4.00,shorts and a tank for next year 4.00 each (it was 50% off clearance ) and Sebastian nice knit joggers 5.40 and a dress shirt 6.00 for his birthday in sept ,oh and a lindt chocolate bar2.25 and bag of almonds 2.49 as they were 50% off too -lol

[avrose]

I'm going to see if I can find the free friday product. No luck with the last 2. (ok well last week I just didn't go shopping)

[Frugalbigmama]

Went home on my lunch. Leftover pasta. Drove my DS and his friend each where they had to be.
Youngest ate tacos for lunch.
Now to finish my last few hours at work then 9 days of vacation woohoo!!

[sweet sparrow]

Just checking in on a rare free moment these days. It's been quite a month. The youngest is now seven months and has her first two teeth. This week, she's grasped the hand sign for milk. No words yet, though DH is sure he has heard her say Daddy in two different languages. DD1 was able to call both of us at seven months. The temperament of both are like night and day and watching them grow is always an adventure.

The new neighbours are quite something. We live on a lot that is about 30 feet wide. Just to recap an old story, with the big bins for recycling, compost, and garbage now, they kept running over the hostas and shredding the leaves. I stuck large rocks and wooden borders around them, but they were always kicked away. I spoke to the mother and she said she thought they were weeds. She had pulled out all the ones on her property. Fast forward to today and one is definitely fading fast. It is so tiny and damaged that it looks like it will barely last the season. The other is definitely gone. Around it is a black circle of oil. DH suspects someone dumped motor oil on it. There is also a white splatter of something flaky. I didn't want to abandon DD2 at the front of the house, nor did I want to take DD1 through the neighbour's overflowing garbage and the flies that are now permanent residents. I didn't get the best look but I don't know what to do at this point. If someone is dumping paint and motor oil at the side of our house, I'd like to report them to the city. DH wants to install a camera. I'm annoyed that I have to spend money on this sort of silliness and sad for the hostas which were previously lush and thriving. It's free to take hazardous waste to the recycling center which is just around the corner from our home. Who would do such a thing?

[sweet sparrow]

Today we went to check out another daycare. Last Wednesday, we filled out the paperwork for the old, horrible daycare. We met the daycare worker that I had previously encountered and asked difficult questions with, like why does DD1 come home each day with blood on her face and did no one notice that she was not moving her left arm (it had been dislocated). She had met us at the polling station at the last election and told us that she was now working elsewhere. She tried greeting and kissing DD1 but she turned away and did not say hello. Either her other job didn't work out or she was mistaken about getting it, but she did not even make eye contact with us. We left a refundable $200 deposit but I will be taking any other reliable daycare option.

I took both to another daycare that two friends said they had registered her child at as a backup and did not ask for registration fees. With DD1, I visited another branch, but they wanted $70 before putting us on the waiting list. She did not show us the outside play area or sleep area because she said she didn't feel like going to the trouble so I left quickly. This branch did not ask for a fee, but said it would be unlikely we'll get a spot by 2018. There are 37 other children ahead of us.

To recap, the awful daycare is only at half capacity. DH said if he only knew what he saw that day, he didn't think it was a bad place. The third daycare DD1 went to has a waiting list of 7, but is all the way across town for the branch that will accept under 18 months. This final daycare has a waiting list of 37, so we'll basically get in when pigs fly. It also carries a monthly cost of $1700, plus diapers, wipes, sunscreens, diaper creams, incidentals, etc. It boggles my mind that it's non-profit. How do you pull in $1700 monthly per client and not turn a profit?

On the bright side (or not), at two kids in daycare, we now qualify for a subsidy. I remember not qualifying with DD1, looking at a $1700 per month fee. Meanwhile, the single mom beside me on the bus that had designer labels on her kid's things and hers said she got it free as she was a student. Meanwhile she was chain smoking and bought herself a drink from Tim Hortons and a muffin for her daughter daily. I spent the ride home trying to imagine her budget. Or very wealthy benefactors.

My supervisor, now retired, would have a daily chat session with me on how things were going, etc. I remember him telling me jokingly that hard work just doesn't pay off. He recommended that I quit work, go back to school, go on welfare, and move out from DH. Only then will I get decent childcare here. I smile at the memory.

[sweet sparrow]

I convinced DD1 that she had too many stuffed animals now and to donate them to the pregnancy crisis center. It was nice for her to see some of the things other children need and give some of her toys that she really liked. Most of them had been donated to her so it was time for them to be loved by the next child. Also, she was getting all my niece's old stuffies so she had to make room. She chose one or two from her cousin and the rest went to the center. I hope her loved animals are loved by the new owners as it was a bit of a hard sell. She still has a small bin full of animals and her sister has a few hand-me-downs too.

[Natalka]

sweet sparrow, have you ever considered home daycare instead of a centre? I know that's the option I would have gone with had I needed childcare.

Another hot day here in the Paris of the Prairies!

Hope you all have a lovely day!

[coupon girl]

morning -oh daycare my daughter went on about 6 lists when she was 2 months pregnant-all didn't have room as they take siblings first before others or she was close on the list -she was scrambling emailing places a few weeks ago -finally she got one sooooo expensive in Toronto .It will be tight for my daughter for a few years while he is in daycare ,but we are here to help out a bit - Sebastian doesnt need toys for his birthday a book(which I got for free) ,clothing and money for diapers etc will be his gift and my daughter agrees
-gotta vacuum today -daughter is coming today and Sebastian will get here tonight as he is at his other grandparents

[Angela273]

I'm going to see if I can find the free friday product. No luck with the last 2. (ok well last week I just didn't go shopping)

I was unable to find the items the first two weeks, and I tried multiple stores. I didn't try yesterday. We worked all day and then hit the road to Saskatoon. We don't eat those fake sugary cereals and snacks. I called the company after being unable to find the Maple Cheerios. I was informed that the last week of Free Fridays coupons will be in September. If I remember correctly, there will be a coupon for Old El Paso taco bowls.

[coupon girl]

I went to shoppers spent 77.33 so 20 times the points -got the baby diapers thou 22.99-2.00 cpn-2.00 checkout51=18.99 also got the last 2 buy 1 get 1 free arrowroot p.c brand cookies saved 5.75 in coupons plus 4.25 from caddle and checkout51 -my neighbour decided to stop doing checkout51 she said she was tired of the small amounts .25 or .75 -well I am okay with it ,sure it takes a bit of work but I don't mind

[SassyAshley]

Oh Sweet Sparrow when it comes to neightbours nothing shocks me anymore since moving into a complex. What kills me is the worst behaved are the first to complain even when it was them who did it, it is like like yeah I did it now you fix it.

Have you ever considered hiring someone to come into your home to watch the kids? I know this was an option my Aunt looked at mainly due to their odd hours, my Aunt is a cop and at the time my Uncle was running one of our branches so picking kids up by 5 or 6 pm was not an option for them. At the time the oldest (my Uncle's from a previous relationship) was not driving yet so he could watch them after school but couldn't pick them up. The never did hire someone as a neighbour offered to watch the girls which meant when my cousin got off the bus from school he could pick them up and watch them until either my Aunt or Uncle got home.

I have also learned there are a lot of people who know how to play the government. I worked with a girl who was getting paid out the *** in subsidies. At one point she was actually making money sending her kids to daycare as the amount the government was paying her was more then her daycare was charging her. Granted she was lying to the government but she got away with it and probably still is but she was always very proud of herself and wanted to show it off.