December 2017 Frugal Chatter thread (last chance to party for Canada's 150th)

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! DS and I finished the wrapping last night! So happy it is done! Laundry is caught up and most put away. Just one load in the dryer that I need to put away tonight. We have the school Christmas concert tonight so won't be getting much done at home. I took cooked taco beef out of the freezer for a quick dinner tonight. No roastbeef left from last nights dinner. The teen ate everything including the extras for sandwiches. He must have been really hungry.

[lizzie bargain]

Well the gathering of our clan is beginning. DD arrived home pretty much on time last night despite snow in Vancouver and Calgary-we have a good 8 inches on our deck rail. My Mum is visiting too and we said Hi from a distance last night as DH and I have colds. My sister arrives from Argentina tomorrow and various other relatives will be arriving for Xmas and/or my nieces wedding on Jan 6. My SIL has invited us for Xmas dinner which is very nice-will have to ask what we can bring. So lots of visiting for us over the holiday season but otherwise I think it will be quiet and low key. Baking is done and the gifts wrapped.

[Tweets77]

Gifts are all wrapped and I have stopped baking too! Christmas Day will be busy and going to DD's for dinner on Christmas Eve. I believe that Prime Rib is on the menu!

[coupon girl]

afternoon ladies-I just started wrapping took time out to clean the toilets thou -Ashlyn concert was lovely yesterday oh she was so sweet all the kids in her class (they are all 4 &5) were singing about xmas trees and she was sitting in the front row with about 6 others who where singing and Ashlyn wasn't singing but picking snowflakes off the stage in her hands -we were laughing after hubby went home and daughter-in-law and I went out to finish up I had to buy 2 giftcards and a few stocking stuffers

[Frugalbigmama]

Just went to NO Frills to grab some fruit. I picked up a Finish Jet Dry for the rebate. Have it all filled out and will mail it on my way home. I need to make sure I am on top of these!

[cath007]

Good late afternoon everyone!!!! Just watched the QC flyers,they have some good deals!!!! I am deceived so much ,still not news from my trade of cheese coupons,will have to purchase Something else to my father.We just had the visit of my aunt with présents,a book and a giftcard for father and a cute bag,some warms socks and a big fruits cake and sucre a la creme box for me.I am an happy camper!!!! Supper tonight will be tacos with all the fixings,Wishing everyone a great rest of the day and evening and night!!!!Only 5 day until Christmas.!!!

[Angela273]

Everyone slept well last night and one of my daycare girls stayed home with her dad today. I have 2 loads of laundry on the go. Tomorrow evening is our son’a First Christmas concert. Tonight’s supper is leftovers. We are travelling for Christmas weekend, so I’ll need to keep that in mind when meal planing for the next couple days before we leave. I still want to do a lot of baking, much of which will go with us. I just received a family recipe fur shortbread cookies, relatives requested them. I also need to pack for the entire family. We will take the Santa presents with us, everything else will wait until we return home. I need to figure out what family pictures I have to give to relatives. I’m a bad DIL and will mail pictures late to MIL.

I was disappointed when the public library called to cancel tonight’s DIY shower melts class. I wasn’t given an explanation. I registered for 3 classes at the library this month and all 3 were cancelled.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good late afternoon everyone!!!! Just watched the QC flyers,they have some good deals!!!! I am deceived so much ,still not news from my trade of cheese coupons,will have to purchase Something else to my father.We just had the visit of my aunt with présents,a book and a giftcard for father and a cute bag,some warms socks and a big fruits cake and sucre a la creme box for me.I am an happy camper!!!! Supper tonight will be tacos with all the fixings,Wishing everyone a great rest of the day and evening and night!!!!Only 5 day until Christmas.!!!

Tacos are on our menu tonight too

[barbis9]

All Christmas shopping is done, unfortunately I missed Purolator and now need to arrange a drive as it's not accessible by bus. Noticed some small price increases and went over my budget.

Has anyone been able to stay within their Christmas budget this year?

[Ciel]

All Christmas shopping is done, unfortunately I missed Purolator and now need to arrange a drive as it's not accessible by bus. Noticed some small price increases and went over my budget.

Has as anyone been able to stay within their Christmas budget this year?

I cannot really address the Christmas budget part but can say while I know I needed Christmas cards and Mom did too plus postage-that money means something else gets left unpurchased this month. I definitely need to revise my category budget amounts for November and December. Ditto anything else holiday or special occasion-related-if the purchases were unplanned or last-minute, less grocery money to buy special treats. We can count on things costing more in 2018 so it's sometimes worthwhile to think any wrapping supplies bought now stand a chance of use through the year for various occasions for gifts of moderate or small sizes.

[Ciel]

@Angela _273 -awesome prize win for your friend! You are a real friend to her-way to go! I think you also have a basis for a reality show-have DH live your role for a week with the kids and deal with baking and shopping and keeping schedules...
@lizzie bargain -how splendid that everyone you travelled to see this year are now in your part of the world!
@cath007 & @Frugalbigmama -my favourite meal is at your homes tonight. Last night, I found a taco meat filling recipe in a bento meal book--I plan to make it in January to try the seasonings.

[Frugalbigmama]

All Christmas shopping is done, unfortunately I missed Purolator and now need to arrange a drive as it's not accessible by bus. Noticed some small price increases and went over my budget.

Has as anyone been able to stay within their Christmas budget this year?

I don't really have a budget. Just try and shop smart and get deals. But this year I really didn't spend much compared to other years. It also helped that the hardest to buy for (oldest) I started his shopping in March and finished in the summer. I also have 4 things tucked away for his upcoming birthday.

[Ciel]

This week, I know what day of the week it is but have gotten confused about dates. Seems I mistook Sat. Dec.23 to be Dec.24. Nope, that is Sunday--library system routinely is closed on the Sunday prior to a holiday Monday as is the case this week and next week. So there will be Internet on Saturday (only three days to endure without Internet). I will be stockpiling some reading material and a couple of DVDs. The Yule log video on some cable stations on Dec. 25 will be must-see tv considering the cold snowy weather that will be happening in Ontario.

Last night, I helped Mom finish the dishwashing after her and Dad's annual patron saint dinner and put things away or restored them because in the morning, everyone wants to know their coffeemaker or gadget is back in their places. Besides, making breakfast is an important task and I did not want to clean up or restore anything on an empty tummy today. However after breakfast, I did chores, got needed grocery items in late morning, had a light lunch and trekked out to the library (no luck getting a paper as my destination store was one of several businesses without power).

The Toronto Star had an interesting Food section lead article in today's paper-food trends reflected in the Star's 125 years of publishing holiday food articles and food gift ideas by the decades. Enjoy: https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wi...y-recipes.html

I want to finish my e-book in remaining minutes as it is due back tomorrow. I definitely want my own copy of it next month.

[coupon girl]

-just got back from library got 2 good reads and 3 movies
barbis9-I do have a budget for xmas and I usually stick within it but I have to say I did go over on the grandkids a bit ,but not by much (hubby and I don't have parents to buy for -wish I did thou ,I use to love filling my moms stocking as she never had one as a child )my grown kids are getting money and a few gifts ,I heard on the news the other night the average family spend around 1,500 at xmas -I have a few people I buy for too and always have a few things in my tote year round -my neighbour made me cloth xmas placemats ,so I took a little bag over to her the other day with hand lotion and a small body butter ,hubby and I stopped buying for each other many years back,we buy when needed -just got a lovely new shirt for hubby from the bay (haggar) 16.80 then called the bay and got 4.16 back on my credit card so 12.64 for a top is not bad it will look nice with the (haggar)cords I got him from the bay earlier this month 40.00,me well I have a few nice tops I bought last year and I wore my candy cane top(used cost me 5.something from value village) to Ashlyn 's concert yesterday

[SassyAshley]

I can in under budget across the board this year. I started in September and was able to watch for deals and in many cases this year people where no specific but more general which gave me more options. I wasn't looking for a specific top but more they wanted new mixing bowls so that made things easier on the budget