August (already) 2017 Frugal Chatter thread

[coupon girl]

went to the dentist today for cleaning thankfully we are covered now still cost 85.00 between hubby and I for the extras like xrays
-had a fun day daughter and I took sebastian swimming at the local pool cost me 8.05 for a senior and one adult we stayed for a good hour ,then went for a walk tonight after supper

[Ciel]

The lighter laundry items (bed sheets, kitchen linens, and shirts on hangers) dried rapidly yesterday but the bath towels took much longer. Was able to get some groceries (pop, smoothie supplies and pantry needs-earned PC Plus points for the almond beverage and PC frozen fruit) at Fortinos and the Clover Leaf flavoured fish on sale at Shoppers (4 for $5), as Mom wanted some but noticed there was none in the pantry. Super glad the day of the Solar Eclipse is over (Twitter was handy for photos of the eclipse).

Oh, I got a roll of tape on sale via Shoppers clearance section too-good score, as I like having a full roll vs an almost at the end roll on hand.

Still no success in finding a Cheerios coupon/calendar booklet at my Fortinos store (regular cereal shelf and this week's endcap display)-have noticed some coupon pads throughout the store in front of products like Dainty Rice.

Did find a can today on my walk and the dime came in handy at the checkout.

Had to do a fridge check for items to toss. Washed and spun a forgotten head of Boston lettuce that might last two more days plus prepped some carrot sticks and celery sticks too. Sure hope no one cooks tomorrow as it will be humid and rainy or stormy in Southern Ontario>that means restless family members stuck indoors. I made my smoothie too, so the morning meal is covered. Mom made a stew on the bbq in the evening (I'm happy she thought ahead). My, how fast the grass grows after a day of good rain--will have to time this week's cutting for a sunny but cooler afternoon. Perhaps a blanket and a good book are things I should enjoy on the plush lawn.

[Natalka]

Good day, everyone!

Well, nothing like enforced frugality - with me being ill, my husband having been in the hospital.... not much shopping needed/done.

Husband's surgery went well Friday, and he came home yesterday - he just now needs time to heal up and regain strength.

[coupon girl]

take care nat of yourself and hope hubby is on the mend after surgery
-back to watching Ashlyn this week hubby just went and picked her up to bring to our house so she can play with her cousin a bit too,having son/wife Ashlyn and my daughter and Sebastian for lasagna tonight with buns and a salad

[SassyAshley]

Natalka hope you feel better soon and your husband heals quickly.

[SassyAshley]

I must say I feel like things just do not slow down right now.

Let's start with the good, it was our company golf tourney on Saturday, we all had a wonderful day even though we got rained on off and on but the good news was the we were all given company jackets which helped keep us dry.

As always I did not golf so I ran the rely hole with my cousin's wife who is 29 weeks pregnant which was nice as we got to catch up, I do not see her often as they live 3 hours away and when I go to work in his branch I now stay in a hotel as they do not have a guest room. They are having a little boy due in Nov, although their little girl who will be 3 in November has decided Mommy is having twins and will be bringing a boy and girl home when the time comes.

As well their daughter came for dinner so we hung out for a little bit, wow she is smart, I do not remember any of the other kids knowing what decorations are or using the word decorations at her age. Although I do have to ask my cousin if something is up with his dog as she kept telling me the dog is allergic to people.

Sunday was a little rough, I had already been a long week and then spending 8+ hours 7 of those on my feet at the golf course I was very done so the only thing I got done was laundry which I am now paying for as there is no food pre prepped not to mention we really need to go grocery shopping which we were supposed to do Sunday.

Last night I got some of the dishes done, it looks like every plastic container (which we do not put in the dishwasher) is dirty.

We have picked out a new sectional & chair for the living room as well as a new hutch for the dinning room so now we are working on saving money to buy these items. That is the one thing with this house it has a lot of room but very little storage and since the wall are all concrete hanging shelves or anything can be tricky so it is much easier to just buy free standing items. Plus then hopefully if we ever do move these pieces will move with us as on our last move we did not bring much with us and most of what we did is living in the basement taking up space. Hopefully my brother will come and get rid of them all soon but he has hurt his back so hauling furniture out of my basement is not really on his to do list right now.

Alright well I better get back to work there photos calling my name that need to be edited. Have a wonderful day everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

It poured and could hear the thunder here for awhile. Seems to have stopped now. Time to get up I guess! Not sure my plan yet. Oldest works early this afternoon so will stick around to drive him. Need to figure out dinner too.

[Angela273]

Dh got home from work a bit early yesterday. He cooked supper while I was outside in the yard with the kids. I dug 2 more potato plants and Dh turned some of them into mashed potatoes. I found a big black ant home with eggs when I dug the potatoes. I disturbed them, but didn't kill them because they aren't red ants. I'm the only one that really likes yellow string beans, so I'm trying to sell the excess. I picked another 3 dozen ripe yellow pear tomatoes. All of my tomato plants that grow large tomatoes are suffering from a lack of calcium, which is damaging their produce. I finally had 2 nice zucchinis, so I put them up for sale. I keep and use all of the defective produce, it is still editable, it's just not asthetically pleasing.

[Ciel]

@Frugalbigmama -the sky has looked like it will rain in Hamilton but it has not yet in Ancaster. I admired your boat hair post. I walked in the breeze to the store with wet hair and now sport "beach" hair without styling products.
@Natalka -you and DH are on the mend! Do you have telephone friends or actual neighbours that check in on you once per day just to ensure you are ok, and not out of groceries? I know your son will pop in when he can spare the time to assist while you both get better. It is rather hard to be home alone with someone all day, though. Your cats are keeping you entertained?
@SassyAshley -furnishings budget rep! Great to have something new to look forward to for storage and just overall "new" stuff. Is there a chance to hand off the golf tournament duties to someone else at work? You are busy in so many departments, that you might be deciding which two or three areas you want to prioritize and even communicate to company leaders that non-family staff might need to take on leadership of other areas (and that could help morale if staff know they have real chances for key roles, not just employees with personal ties to founder). Have you considered being the controller's shadow (backup trainee for eventual move into role) or making a team with another person to be his next generation sounding board? That could be something to ponder on your rare downtime/crochet time.

Tuesday-trivia day on the CNE's Facebook page for a few minutes longer. Could be Taco Tuesday or cheap movie night for some today.

The free IAMS Perfect Portions wet cat food product coupon-struck out at Walmart Supercentre Ancaster (no single units, just the multipacks; btw the bagged dry food is on sale for $17 and change) and Canadian Tire (just the dry bagged food). Suggest we post which grocery stores might carry the single items-my feeling is this could be a test to see which consumers will trek to a pet store for get the product. So that means the other IAMS coupon wub a bag of dry food and get 5 free wet food trays will also be a YMMV scenario. I will check my local Fortinos or Food Basics stores just to be sure about the product availability. Good thing some stores have websites where one can check for merchandise.

New issue of First for Women has a top 10 list for pencil eraser uses. The suede shoe clean up thing-there are actual kits sold in some shoe departments with colour coded erasers for suede. Have not heard of people using a pencil eraser to soften scratches on their cellphone screens (I'd advise using a white vinyl eraser, not a hard pink one for that task). One use involves using the eraser to make a pin dot on a nail polish layer. Many summer recipes include a few pizza recipes (one Mediterranean version involves artichokes), doggone cute cupcakes, some Oprah food shortcuts, and a variation of Black Forest cake. I was disappointed with the fall hairstyle suggestions-all 4 styles are shorter than chin length close crops. Need a look I can take to the First Choice salon for an updated cut (some of my layers are looking shaggy but the elf thing is long gone).

Mom actually told me she felt some pain subside after eating Boston lettuce this morning. Taking that tiny step as a good thing--I've been asking her daily to try to walk for some minutes each day to see if her leg pain eases.

Noticed that my Shoppers bonus Optimum points (1000) came about as the flavoured tuna fish counts as a snack and my offer was for 1000 pts wub $5 or more on candy and snacks. I split the points between two charities. Noticed there is no longer a pinned at top of list BC Wildfires Red Cross appeal listing.

[Frugalbigmama]

Did a bit of running Around today. Paid Gas and Hydro bill with cash winnings from weekend. Also did a bit of grocery stocking up. Really getting a good stockpile of HBA items for the boys. I pulled taco meat from freezer so tonight is leftovers/tacos. Off to prep the lettuce/peppers/cheese etc.

[Frugalbigmama]

Was offered free Coldplay tickets for tonight show in Toronto tonight. Not interested in making that trek.

[coupon girl]

I am exhausted watched Ashlyn til 4.30 today and Sebastian most of the day too as my daughter is really weak and sick with a cold -I just tried to put him down to bed ,but alas I hear him crying my daughter thanked me -its hard to do this when you are older for sure cant wait til sept when its all about me -after my day procedure of course

[Angela273]

I saw a lady's reply to someone on Facebook. She is giving away regular apples off the tree in her back yard. I picked a medium sized box full this evening by reaching. I'll see what I can do with these and might get more, bring a ladder next time. The apples are similar in size to small ones at the grocery store. They are green with a red patch. They are a little sour, but I ate part of one while picking at her house.

I think that I should be able to chop and freeze apples to bake with. I leave the skin on my apples in apple crisp. Can I just wash, core, chop, put them in freezer bags and freeze for baking at a later time? Has anyone done this before? Advice?

[coupon girl]

today my daughter went home at noon with Sebastian so I had Ashlyn today took her to the library and then the bulk barn -she picked out a few gummy dinosaurs-lol starting to rain out here again ,called to get my haircut she had openingon Friday so hubby will watch Ashlyn then for an hour

[Angela273]

I chopped and froze 2 large bags of apples this afternoon. I still have another 1/3 of the apples to process. I'd like to pick more. The thought of having chopped apples waiting in the freezer for an easy apple crisp in the winter is ver appealing.