January 2018 Frugal Chatter (new calendars & spreadsheets)

[Frugalbigmama]

Our temp got up to six - yes, PLUS - and it will be the same today. Amazeballs!

Didn't have much shopping to do this week, I'll check my list to see if there's anything which needs to be picked up tonight, compared to what will be on sale next week.

Enjoy the day!

Enjoy it! We are expecting warmer weather this weekend too. At least it isn't the cold snap we just went through here too. Driveway will be completely cleaned this weekend and then we are ready to start all over again lol

[Frugalbigmama]

I remembered to take the steak out of the freezer this morning. Grandma buys the huge chunk and cuts them in to steaks and wraps each one individually. She gave us a bag so I am cooking them all so there will be leftovers for steak wraps for the boys tomorrow. So we will have baked potato, green beans and mushrooms and onions with it.
I need to pick up some fruit and veggies (celery carrots etc so I can make DS Chicken fried rice with the leftover chicken) I see celery on for $1.49 at GT (not bad this time of year) and a local farmer has 10Lb bag of carrots on for $2 so will grab those on my travels. Other then that we don't need too much which is nice.

[coupon girl]

relaxing today -may pop over to shoppers when hubby walks in at 4.30 tonight ,seniors day and I love the extra discount plus may pick up a pizza at pizza pizza

[SassyAshley]

This week just seems to be flying by which is good but at the same time I feel a little like I have lost some time.

I may have to re jig my goals for this month. Other things have popped up that may need to come first which is fine, I am trying to make the goal of this to not stress myself out. Yes there is a lot to be done at home but I need to face reality it won't happen quickly and I cannot get discourage when things move slower than I would like and give up.

I realized the other night that a number of Christmas presents have not been dealt with. Kitchen items that were not washed or put away and items that needed homes. I knew I started them before I hurt myself but didn't really think of them as I did not see them sitting where I left them. Turns out they were moved out of the way so I washed all of the items Monday night after work and tonight I think I will work on finding them a home. I think I may switch this out as one of my goals for this month as it should have been a goal except I completely forgot about these items after I hurt myself.

I really am hoping if I start to work on the little stuff the bigger stuff actually won't be that big as a good chunk has already been dealt with. It has become very obvious our biggest obstacle is going to be storage. Our house has cement walls so you cannot just hang something up which you do not realize how much of a luxury that is until you don't have it. In our old house we had a number or shelves or small shelving units that needed to be hung on a wall and we cannot use any of those were we are now. Instead we need to buy free standing storage and have even picked out items we like but again it is $$$$. Hoping we can sell some of the stuff from out old house which has been living in our basement for years now to try to help raise some $$$$.

I hope everyone has a great day.

[Ciel]

Ciel-I was thinking of you on the flight over as they were serving coffee in McDonalds cups and they all had the free drink stickers on-you would have been in your glory and I am sure the majority got tossed!

Must be some lucky concession or franchise owner that provides all those cups and beverages for the flights! interesting observation on the stickers---would not surprise me if there are staff or travellers who do make the most of the stickers.

[Ciel]

Made crystallized ginger slices from the reduce produce package of ginger I bought over a week ago. Not a fan of the leftover cooking liquid (it tastes like liquid white pepper-but if I had rice or quinoa to cook, that broth would be potent cooking liquid).
I only need 1 Tbsp for a new scone recipe to try (Saturday's baking plan) but I had to make the slices as some of the roots had spoiled but I had enough from the rest. Tonight I'll make a puff pastry Epiphany cake with almonds and apricot preserves (got my baking supplies today) as Epiphany is tomorrow. No, there won't be a coin or figure in the cake-not risking a dental situation for anyone.

Winners had two different jars of apricot preserves (only noticed one yesterday) so I bought them both. Did not see quinoa grain packages but did see quinoa bars and organic spelt flour along with other energy/protein bar offerings. The store close to me has two clearance carts of holiday food gifts and accessories marked down but also the clearance food endcap has lots of honeys and spreads on the shelves too.

Purchased a Hawaiian Casa di Mama pizza for the weekend-my Walmart Superstore does not stock the pulled pork variety.

Given the wet weather for the weekend, I doubt I'll walk in the rain. There's construction on two lots near Shaver Rd & Garner Rd W so there will be mud gracing the road shoulder in mild temperatures. I had not realized a house on an adjoining lot was going to be part of the new survey but then I saw the bins and wrecking crew today.

[Angela273]

@Ciel I have a jar of approcot jelly in the fridge. It is very sweet, so I don’t like it on toast. I used some of it in the marinade that I used on the boneless skinless chicken breasts yesterday. Dh and I really enjoyed it, but the kids weren’t too impressed. Do you have ideas how I can use the approcot jelly? I complained to the manufacturer, but don’t want to waste the rest of the jar.

[Frugalbigmama]

Looked up some good healthy snack ideas. Can't wait to food prep on Sunday for the week!

[Frugalbigmama]

Changed the dinner plan tonight. Instead of steak dinner made steak fajitas with curly fries. Wraps made for lunches and enough leftover for teens midnight snack. Oldest brought home a girl for me to meet tonight and he really wants me to like her because he said she is important to him lol. He has never said that about a girl and there has been many. She is really nice and cute so I hope she lasts for her sake lol.

[macw1960]

Nothing thrilling happened here today. Another load of laundry in the washer, dishes loaded in the dishwasher and house is pretty clean except for the dusting. Made a trade today for more cat food FPC's and it is all ready to be mailed tomorrow.

I made a grocery list for DH to pick up tomorrow as it is mostly heavy items. I am also getting him to pick our new bathroom taps and garbage bag tags while he is out. Keeping him busy.

[saundyl]

We opened some homemade jam from the basement Instead of bf buying raspberry jam. We ordered a heat sealer from home hardware on sale that came in. Now I can reseal bags instead of hunting the boys down to give me back my snack cLips or buying more.

We've been eating leftovers most of the week...except last night be made sausage stuffed pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with mashed taters and cauliflower.

Tonight we had chilli cheese fries... and tomorrow will be last nights leftovers and the ribs from Monday.

My wool from marymaxim came in. My guilty pleasure.

Sent from my ASUS_Z01BDC using Tapatalk

[Frugalbigmama]

TGIF!!!! Just cleaned up my budget for the weekend. Transferred funds to special savings accounts (Grade 8 Grad/Boys clothing/ The Dog's account) I have to take $40 cash out to put in the school funds envelope. Transferred $ to general savings account. And put money on credit card so it will cover the weekend shopping Feeling good financially at the moment.

I have my ipad charging today and hope to post lots of stuff for sale this weekend while cleaning/organizing. I need to fill the Summer fun jar!!

I found a brand new mini cupcake pan in my cupboard last night ( I knew I had one!!!) So excited to make a bunch of snack size healthy items this weekend for the week! For sure #1. Spinach and bacon mini quiche! I have everything on hand to make it. Really hoping DS will like them!

[SassyAshley]

I think about the only thing that got me out of bed this morning is the fact that it is Friday. I woke up with a horrible headache but had to get up as I meeting with one of our production managers and lead hand today to hopefully get them to sign off on the next stage of a project so I can keep that moving ahead. I took some Advil which seems to be dulling the headache but it is still there.

Tonight we are going to dinner with Bro and his gf for Mom's bday. Mom decided on the local Japanese Restaurant and I have plans to consume way too much Chicken Teriyaki Sushi.

Afterwards we will do a little shopping, I would like to run into Costco and grab some Chicken Breasts as they really are our go to. I think to pre cut them before I freeze them into chunks or strips so than I do not have too when I am cooking. It might sound weird but I really find it helps on those days I do not want to cook, to not have to deal with slicing raw meat but instead just open the bag and dump motivates me to cook instead of take out. I would also like to pre marinate some, just another step to make things a little easier.

We also need to go to Wal-Mart, not sure what Mom needs but I need a new pillow, I do not know what it is but I am extremely rough on pillows and tend to miss shape and destroy mine. The one I am currently using has gotten to the point where even washing does not re shape it so time for a new one.

Really wish Kitchen Stuff plus was closer they have some stuff on sale we need for the kitchen and dinning room but the closest one is about 45 minutes to an hour away. Would have been nice to be able to get that stuff tonight and work on that this weekend. I think our main focus this weekend will be the freezers, since we are pre making so many items and freezing them we need to come up with a better system for these items as well our stand up freezer is a mess. We have a few large items that are really messing up the organization and taking up quite a bit of room. I am hoping I can move all of these items to the bottom of the freezer and make more room and who knows I may have to cook a turkey this weekend just to get it out of my way.

Well I have a meeting shortly so I better gather what I need and prepare. Have a great day everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

I think about the only thing that got me out of bed this morning is the fact that it is Friday. I woke up with a horrible headache but had to get up as I meeting with one of our production managers and lead hand today to hopefully get them to sign off on the next stage of a project so I can keep that moving ahead. I took some Advil which seems to be dulling the headache but it is still there.

Tonight we are going to dinner with Bro and his gf for Mom's bday. Mom decided on the local Japanese Restaurant and I have plans to consume way too much Chicken Teriyaki Sushi.

Afterwards we will do a little shopping, I would like to run into Costco and grab some Chicken Breasts as they really are our go to. I think to pre cut them before I freeze them into chunks or strips so than I do not have too when I am cooking. It might sound weird but I really find it helps on those days I do not want to cook, to not have to deal with slicing raw meat but instead just open the bag and dump motivates me to cook instead of take out. I would also like to pre marinate some, just another step to make things a little easier.

We also need to go to Wal-Mart, not sure what Mom needs but I need a new pillow, I do not know what it is but I am extremely rough on pillows and tend to miss shape and destroy mine. The one I am currently using has gotten to the point where even washing does not re shape it so time for a new one.

Really wish Kitchen Stuff plus was closer they have some stuff on sale we need for the kitchen and dinning room but the closest one is about 45 minutes to an hour away. Would have been nice to be able to get that stuff tonight and work on that this weekend. I think our main focus this weekend will be the freezers, since we are pre making so many items and freezing them we need to come up with a better system for these items as well our stand up freezer is a mess. We have a few large items that are really messing up the organization and taking up quite a bit of room. I am hoping I can move all of these items to the bottom of the freezer and make more room and who knows I may have to cook a turkey this weekend just to get it out of my way.

Well I have a meeting shortly so I better gather what I need and prepare. Have a great day everyone.

Check out the pillows at Costco while you are there! I have bought many from there for a great price!

[macw1960]

If this applies to you then today is the last day to file.

http://www.lcdclassactioncanada.com/...ook_LCD_Action