July 2018 Frugal Chatter thread (2nd half of 2018 and summer!)

[Frugalbigmama]

TGIF!!!!!

Had a great night last night. My mother can't drive at the moment (Ontario rule when this surgery is done) but will be able to next month so I offered to drive her and a friend to the casino last night to see the Donnie and Marie concert. (I got 4 free tickets) So I sold the 2nd pair for cheap (put $ in travel account) and oldest DS came with me to have a free dinner while they were at the show. We had too much food and weren't really hungry so we each brought a meal home (I gave mine to youngest) and a huge container of wings too so he will have those today. I also made over $400 So $50 for the dogs grooming Monday is covered and put a credit on my credit card for a SDM 20x the points spree tomorrow. The rest in my wallet to cover whatever! Best part one on one time with my oldest that doesn't happen often.

[Frugalbigmama]

I wrote out my SDM action plan. It can change if I find other deals but planning on spending just over $50 and using $13 in coupons and receiving PC points on about 3 items. It never lines up like this for me.
Stocking us up on TP, Tooth paste, Downy, eggs, milk,bacon, chips to tuck away for boat/beach day, almond butter, etc.

[coupon girl]

wow this heat is really doing me in hubby went out for his timmies thios morning and came back and I decided to pop over to sobeys for as few items I spent 74.00 and got 44 airmiles but alas it took me 30 minutes to get there which is only a 10 minute drive -unreal there were transport trucks all in our area apparently they shut down the link west bound as a death had happened wow -it was crazy the head supervisor gave me a free zippered freezer bag to get my frozen things home which was nice

off to babysit the baby for son as they are going to wild waterworks

[Frugalbigmama]

Went to No Frills on my lunch (wasn't going to shop till next week but decided to go anyway) Minute Maid Lemonade rang in wrg. She tried to refund me the difference but I asked for SCOP. Don't care for the attitude.. hope many others didn't buy that item and pay more then they thought it was.

I bought 3 peameal roasts. Decided it was a good item to keep stocked up on and under $2Lb is a good price. Something both kids like. Will put at the back of the freezer and move the older ones forward to be used up first. Freezer will be getting organized on Sunday and I hope to stock ups up on .66 cent bags of Cavendish fries! Great for the kids to make quick and cheap price.

[greentires4me]

Went to No Frills on my lunch (wasn't going to shop till next week but decided to go anyway) Minute Maid Lemonade rang in wrg. She tried to refund me the difference but I asked for SCOP. Don't care for the attitude.. hope many others didn't buy that item and pay more then they thought it was.

I bought 3 peameal roasts. Decided it was a good item to keep stocked up on and under $2Lb is a good price. Something both kids like. Will put at the back of the freezer and move the older ones forward to be used up first. Freezer will be getting organized on Sunday and I hope to stock ups up on .66 cent bags of Cavendish fries! Great for the kids to make quick and cheap price.

What’s a peameal roast?

Pork?


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[Giseledta]

peameal bacon.. not sliced. I cook ine in the crockpot and use it as slicedmeat.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
WOW what a week.

Tuesday night we did our grocery shopping, we went to the Chinese Market to see if we could get some of our staple vegetables that were not on sale at a better price, we got:
Peppers
Zucchini
Leaf Lettuce
Dill
Cucumbers
Mini Sweet Potatoes
Garlic
Limes
Lemons
They also had Ricotta on sale which I picked up for a recipe I want to try.
Everything except the Dill was either on sale or marked down so we did well.

Then to No Frills were we got:
Apples
Pears
Watermelon
Strawberries
Iceburg Lettuce
Pineapple

I realized we forgot Milk so last night after work I ran into No Frills and got:
Milk
Crumpets - 50% off
Baking Potatoes - I have a craving
Cherries

We are now stocked up which makes me happy. I have spent the last 2 nights prepping fruits and veggies. I find if they are not cut up in ready to grab containers they do not get eaten.

I was supposed to be heading out of town this week but someone has unexpectedly taken some time off so now I need to stay here. I was just working in the branch as they are short staffed so our sales manager has offered to send in a sales rep who has branch experience to help.

I know it is supposed to get quite warm this weekend but I am hoping to find a way to do some meal prep using slow cookers and my instant pot but we will have to see how hot it is. I know some people put these outside to cook to reduce heat in their house but none of our outside outlets work so I will have to run them inside.

Time to go and figure out dinner. Have a great night everyone.

[Arjon]

What’s a peameal roast?

It's pork loin that has been cured and rolled in cornmeal (peameal was used in the past but no longer), making into Canadian bacon, then cut into a roastable chunk rather than thin slices.

[lilo0003]

Going to brother and SIL on Saturday. They said bring nothing so I think I will stop at Costco to get flowers because I want to get flowers for my mom and for my aunt who has just been invaluable as mom adjusts if that's possible to being a widow. They live in the same building for which I am so grateful. We are leaving the older son home as he has to work and he has the dog. It's a bit nerve wracking because we will be almost 2 hours away but he is a responsible kid. Last week we left them both home for a night and it was fine. At almost 18 it's time but still I am a worry wort.

[Angela273]

One of my two amazon packages arrived today, free from Swagbucks.

I spent time in the back yard with our kids this morning and then again after supper. I picked a bucket full of weeds. I finally planted more radishes. I actually find weeding satisfying. We also thinned our the carrots a bit more. I was happy to find some yellow string beans starting to mature. My row of potatoes wants to law over top of the nearby veggies. I tried redirecting them. I also trimmed up more shoots from the squash plants. Some of the baby squash look ok, while others have killed themselves off. I hope the bonemeal helps. I found cheaper bonemeal at Canadian Tire, but it’ll still cost about $20. Twin boy is insisting on picking peas, even though the pods aren’t big enough yet. Dh and our son cleaned up some in the garage.

We had lasagne Hamburger Helper with boiled mixed veggies.

I have been in contacted with another potential Daycare family.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I was up and wide awake at 6:30 which oddly I am happy about. For me this feels like I am getting back to me, lately I have been sleeping in which I enjoy but I am really wondering if this was more of a mental thing as I found most days I just didn't want to get out of bed.

Since I was up so early I decide to go to Freshco which is about 15 minutes away to see if they had any of the Beef Roast they currently have one sale. Our Frescho is now 24 hours which worked in my favour today as I could run over there and get it done and still have my whole day ahead of me. They only about 4 left so I grabbed 2. As well a few weeks ago my Mom had grabbed these mini stuff pasta they sell which she really liked, I noticed they had 3 packages on sale for 50% off so i grabbed those which I will toss in the freezer, they were $1.50 each.

I can already feel the humidity and heat setting in which does not make me happy. I was hoping to get quite a bit done around the house this weekend but with the heat it probably will not happen as the house will just get too hot to work in.

I am really trying to focus on me and not let work be my life but I have to say this week has been a challenge. We had someone unexpectedly go off on leave which means I am covering them which is fine but I feel like my jobs and projects are on the back burner so I am really fighting the urge to do all of my own stuff outside of work hours to keep it moving forward. I will admit last night I did have to do a small website update which took me about 10 minutes but other then that I am trying to not work outside of work. I do not mind one offs but I have to keep it from becoming a habit and taking over my life again.

Hope everyone has a great day.

[Ciel]

I popped my head outside the door around 9am and yikes that heat and humidity was rolling in like guests with no plans to leave. The air outside does move but indoors, it was hard to tell. Was happy to have a light rain in the late morning and more recently. I watered the flowers yesterday when I saw one kind of flower had flopped stalks suggesting maybe heat stress or lack of water to help plant play follow the sun.

This is the last weekend for the McDonald's Italian Pesto burger/meal combo! I had the meal combo (simply love that rosemary bun and all the toppings on the burger) for dinner yesterday after doing my $10 redemption shop at Longos (Haagen Daaz Spirit ice cream-Rum Apple Pie, Schneiders Red Hots (pork, as the all beef ones are not labelled Red Hots and rang up at $6.49!) with 85 cents out of pocket! All varieties of Haagen Daaz ice cream are on special for $4.99 at Longos in the current flyer! It's also Shrimp Fest weekend, if you love seafood.

Mom and I are treating today as a do-nothing day (beyond meals and dishwashing) due to the heat. Glad we have groceries and cold things at home-earlier this week, it was an Amazing Race to use dwindling supplies to make meals or snacks but the heat just made things very "hangry" in the family.

Mom may head out to the Home Outfitters sale today and I had her look at the flyer as she'd like spend her HBC points and find new pillows, once brother can make time to take her to the mall. I also nudged her to compile a grocery list-- nothing is more irritating than her returning from an outing saying she forgot to buy this thing or that food and needs another trip to the store.

I keep forgetting to check what the per lb cost is for a pork shoulder roast is for pulled pork. Since I have Coke at home and a jar of Longo's BBQ sauce (Peach and Ghost Pepper, which I find a tad too strong/hot to eat with bread), I long to put all three things into a slow cooker and make pulled pork.

It was fascinating to see in today's Toronto Star a Books article about books concerning middle age and women:
https://www.thestar.com/entertainmen...he-new-40.html

Hurrah for Downtown Abbey fans-the movie will be made this summer for next year's release:
https://www.thestar.com/entertainmen...bey-movie.html

[Ciel]

Just noticed a Fabricland e-mail- there's a 10% off coupon good for Sun July 15-Tues July 17 use in the store plus another coupon to buy Butterick patterns at $6.50. The coupons cannot be used at the Huntsville store location, as it's closing.

[coupon girl]

off to Toronto to babysit Sebastian we took my hubby's brother and his wife (they had a great time) daughter made up lovley burgers and homemade French fries -I brought the pies but left the leftover apple pie there -darn

went to value village there and found a ravensburger puzzle 1.99
found a liquidation place on the way home in Burlington and I got a target t-shirt for me 2.99 winnie pooh book for Ashlyn .69
-hand towel 2.99 and 2 pairs of shorts for the grandkids 1.99 each from target

just chiliing and relaxing now

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
I did not get as much done as I had hoped today but I have come to learn that is just the norm for me as I always seem to think I can get more done. But with that being said it is not bugging me that I did not get more done which is an improvement. I know I am my own worst critic

With that being said Laundry is done, just have 1 load to fold. I was hoping to get the sheets done today but that did not happen but there is always tomorrow.

As well I ran the dishwasher twice, mom keeps putting it off because of the heat but she was working today so I sucked it up and ran it, unpacked, re loaded and ran again. I also did a ridiculous amount of hand dishes, there will be a chat about not letting this happen again, if they are done more often it isn't so bad but I seem to be the only who does them.

For dinner I made Zucchini Lasagna Rolls, the original recipe I saw for these had sausage in them but I decided to change the recipe a little and make them vegetarian. They were good but a bit time consuming to make, I will make them again but it is a weekend only meal.

I think it is a good sign that I am starting to enjoy cooking again. I love to cook and crochet but I found lately I found them to be work and dreaded doing either as it was just another task I needed to get done. So needless to say our meals have not been the best around here lately as it was what can I make quick and with no work.

I really think I was on the verge of burn out, everything was work and I hated doing everything as I saw everything as job or task I was being forced to do. I even hated it when Mom would start talk about going out on a weekend because it was just another thing I had to do and never looked forward to it anymore. Now that I have been forcing myself not to work outside of work hours and am trying to find time for me I am even thinking about making plans for next weekend when we are both off. As well once they figure out what is going on at work I am thinking about taking some time off work, just a few days and I might even see if I can find a good deal to go away for a few days.

Hope everyone had a great day