January 2018 Frugal Chatter (new calendars & spreadsheets)

[avrose]

Good evening. I made a new soup Today, broccoli and cheese. I found broccoli in the $1 bags at Wal-Mart and still have cheese from my grat deal last week. (907g for $4) I grated some extra cheese for the freezer and did some laundry.
Also took a trip to Save on and they had pork loin for $1.49 a pound, so dinner tomorrow will be pork something. I got one big enough for 3 meals.


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[Giseledta]

that is a great price for pork!


rain here all day. all the cleaning of daycare supplies means, I have lots for the kids to do today.
all in all today should be a no spend day.
I am hoping to get the windows open for a few min later... get fresh air in the house.

[macw1960]

I actually posted a trade and wish list today even though there is not much on it yet but I have been planning on doing one for awhile now.

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! No school today. Expecting freezing rain around noon today. I didn't even check and dropped DS off at school on way to work. He called me to tell me that it was just the annoying girl at school again and that he was walking home lol.

Yesterday morning I went to the upright freezer and pulled out extra lean ground beef, huge tray of pork chops and 2 packages of BSCB. I made up pasta sauce and a pot of pasta. I put the chicken and pork in separate baking dishes. I cleaned out the fridge of leftover bbq sauce and marinades. Baked both in the afternoon. Peeled the potatoes so they were quick to turn out later in the day. Made green beans to go with it.
Packed up 2 Tupperware containers of chicken and brussel sprouts for my work lunch today and tomorrow.
Leftovers of pasta/sauce, chops and chicken are on the menu for tonights dinner (yippee no cooking)

I brought my friend some lunch yesterday (pasta) and she loved it. I plan to start doing it more often on Sundays when I'm cooking up a storm. She never takes time to eat since she is so busy with little ones.

Tonight- I join my friend at the gym for a class I have never done but figured I should give it a try at least once. I will meet her right after work so can't get home and feel lazy lol.

[Frugalbigmama]

Reminder that the Canadian Tire Gift cards are 10% off at RCSS till the 25th. I bought $500 worth yesterday (for $450.00) so will use for gas fill-ups the next while and collect CT money on the card too

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Monday and back to work.

Yesterday well I had lunch I decided to look over the items I have posted for sale, I really need to get back on top of this and get some stuff moving out of the house. As well I need to organize what I have posted for sale. As things trailed off going into Christmas I kind of backed off but in a few cases I did have people contact me and I pulled the items but in most cases they did not show up. My shelves that are normally nicely organized are not so organized right now and I need to address this. As well I have a few boxes/bins of items I need to post. I just find lately buyers commitment is not there. I had 3 people message me yesterday they were interested but when I asked when they they would like to pick I got nothing back but can see their read the message.

Yesterday we bagged up and froze all of the chicken, I am happy to have the marinated chicken but it really cut down on the number of plain bags we have. Thinking I might need to buy another pack to have on hand.

We really need to do some grocery shopping this week, we do not need a lot but we are low on most fresh items, it is very odd to see our fridge this empty. As for freezer and stockpile items I think we are good for now although both of these areas need a little tidying up.

Not sure what is the plan after work tonight yet will wait to see how I feel once I get home. I still need to figure out something for tonight's dinner.I must say I am feeling quite uninspired today. Although maybe since it is so cold and damn I might put a soup on.

Have a great day everyone.

[Angela273]

I had mentioned my aunt’s second cancer surgery at the end of November. She ended up with a bad infection after Christmas and spent a week in hospital on IV antibiotics. She returned home with a cough from the hospital stay. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Our little girl girl has a cold with sinus congestion, we are trying not to let it spread. I think she may have given it to me, but my body seems to be fighting it.

[Angela273]

My migraines have been worse since starting to take the magnesium supplement prescribed by the neurologist. My GP Office has my MRI results, but he doesn’t have appointments openings and his clinic will be closed for 3wks in February while he is away. I left a message at the neurologist’s office this morning. Back in October I learned that the pharmacist has access to the test results. I spoke with her today regarding my MRI results. Although she is not a specialist and the terminology is very technical, there were many comments about “normal” and nothing bad stood out. It’s good to have more info, but I still need to speak with my neurologist who ordered the test.

[Ciel]

I had mentioned my aunt’s second cancer surgery at the end of November. She ended up with a bad infection after Christmas and spent a week in hospital on IV antibiotics. She returned home with a cough from the hospital stay. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Our little girl girl has a cold with sinus congestion, we are trying not to let it spread. I think she may have given it to me, but my body seems to be fighting it.

Yes, we'll keep your aunt in our thoughts and prayers! I do suggest putting some roasted garlic into whatever dish you can sneak it into to help everyone at home not get your DD's cold (hope she feels better soon too). Kudos to you for making it through the test and getting the staff to pay attention to your concerns about pain and the foam issue. Since many hospitals rely on their foundations to fundraise for equipment, I have to wonder how fast turnaround is if equipment needs a new part--does it come out of hospital operating funds or via the foundation money? You may just have improved the MRI experience for future patients.

Regarding the posts on MRIs-I assume SCers outside of Ontario can find out if their province has open format MRIs at hospitals? I know for the Hamilton area, the closest open MRI is in Brampton (kind of far for a GO bus commute, what with appts being made for clinic availabilty not one's transportation convenience). In Ontario, one can check the health ministry's website to see wait times for MRIs too. Mom did not find the headphones helpful in quelling the machine's loud noise for the one MRI she had two years ago.

[Ciel]

@lilo003 -which No Frills is closing? I know there is one across from GO Oakville on Cross Ave. Not familiar with any other locations in your town.

I'll say for yesterday's mild weather and fine drizzle-it was perfect for finding cans that had been under snow! I did a Sat night walk (did a preview of Value Village's clothing and saw a blazer I wanted), and two walks yesterday ($5.80 in refunds) . The blazer was still on the rack yesterday afternoon-lightweight navy wool, lined, a few pulled threads (will use a ballpoint needle to poke them back) and shiny zipper pulls for $5.50 plus taxes! Happy me. The men's striped dress shirt I admired last week was not the rack Saturday night so that was a missed item. I bought a beer too to go with the Hawaiian pizza for supper.

This morning-not feeling this fog so I did laundry, vacuumed the living room and swept/washed the vinyl flooring (saw a colourful spot of spilled something and that motivated me) plus checked items in the fridge, pantry and lower drawer plus the baking supply cupboard (pudding mix with 2016 date-how did that happen??) for expired items to toss. And left notes about multiple quantities of items that seem stashed but are not used often. Will decide tonight whether to bake or to cook something. Managed to watch a little video in-between laundry loads in washer or dryer.
@coupon girl -I'd be tempted to ask your daughter to bring you a new DVD or book from the Toronto library system just to vary your library materials as she and your grandson visit often! Love your new puzzle theme too!

[Ciel]

@Frugalbigmama & @SassyAshley -it's making my week to read of your food deals and prep to save time later in the week for meals.
@Natalka -of all the things you had to endure in your health journey last year, that MRI experience reads like a reason to make a break from hospital grounds or find a person willing to get some vending machine treats during recovery! I know you will MacGyver a way to find alternate testing methods to avoid a trip to the squish dept again should the need arise.

[barbis9]

Value Village Super Savers-the 50% off clothing/bed&bath/accessories/shoes sale starts on Sunday for Club members! Saw the e-mail today. Do I take the bus to Stoney Creek or not tomorrow (even though rain will appear)? Decisions.

Happened to buy a Bachelor Bingo card and have three lines uncovered ($9 win)! Did not know about the diamond ring prize (if you uncover one card's worth of call numbers) but $20K would be lovely too (in lieu of a ring-I'd be able to travel or get new tech). But I did not uncover a box of letters & numbers so another day...

The German Burdastyle site has its February 2018 magazine preview video online and I simply adore the fabric print for the blouse on the cover plus the cupholder craft made from felt.

I had no luck with the bachelor bingo :-(

[barbis9]

I had a contrast MRI this morning and our local hospital is under construction, inside the MRI machine was much quieter than the jackhammer noise in the waiting area. Was going to stop into Shoppers but the construction noise gave me a headache, so I went home instead.

[Natalka]

@Ciel yes, I definitely hope I don't have to have one ever again, but with my heart condition, it may be a possibility in the future...
No open MRI machines here - they are mostly used for bones/joints. The closed MRI is necessary for some conditions. Even with mine, I was booked to have it on one specific machine, but once they put me in, I just could not fit - there was no way I could have stayed longer than a minute with how squished my arms were - yes, I'm fluffy! So I had to go into the larger machine (duh, BARELY larger).

When my cousin came to visit me a few days after my MRI - he's the head of imaging at the hospital where I had mine - he said for the heart pics, the first (smaller) machine would have given the best pics, which is why they booked me on it.

I don't think it was so much the claustrophobia factor which got to me, though it was uncomfortable. I kept my eyes closed, and they were talking to me pretty much the whole time. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but I had to do counted breathing before every pic - and it was when those got longer that I began to have trouble.

With having COPD and less than half heart function, I could just not do that longer breathing - e.g. the pic was taken upon the end of the exhale of breath, and when it got to a count of 6 or 7, I couldn't do it - so that's when I started laboured breathing and panicked. Plus I had this heavy sheet of cameras over my chest, and they hadn't told me it would get hot - and I didn't like that one bit.

[Angela273]

I took our son with me to NF last night. I spent $49.16, used $8.97 in coupons, and earned 1,550 in Points. Our NF has their grapes on sale for 88c/lb, so I didn’t need to pm WM. However, I PM’d WM for Activia yogurt and Old El Paso Taco kids. I bought Royale tissue 8pk, yogurt, Taco Kits, Cesar salad kit, a tomato, bananas, green grapes, NN soda crackers, and NN unsweetened apple sauce.

We did a quick vacuum to all the carpeted rooms in our house, and 2 loads of laundry.
Last night’s supper was chicken Alfredo with speghittini, cucumber slices, and fresh cauliflower.
For lunch today I made a medium sized pot of my wiener and bean soup. I used some tomato sauce from the freezer, an onion, and the end of the celery. We had it with toast and milk. There is enough soup for a couple more meals.
Tonight’s supper plan is leftovers, since we have too many in the fridge. There are lots of options. Chicken Alfredo with speghittini, rice, home made burger patties, onion rings, French fries, fresh fruit and veggies.