December 2018 Frugal chatter thread

[lizzie bargain]

Back from holidays and trying to get back on N. American time and temp! Just starting to get organized for Xmas but it will not be a huge affair so I think it will come together nicely-DD will be home from uni on Thrusday night so will likely get busier then. This afternoon I am watching my friends little boy in exchange for 2 tickets to the Nutcracker. I also intend to pick up a free loaf of stollen from a local market-a coupon came in the mail. Quite mild here for Dec which is a nice surprise.

[Ciel]

I have spend $75 dollars or more at shoppers and get 20x the points tomorrow. I think I might just do that I even get paid tomorrow so it will be cool. I wonder if they have crackers for the dinner table I want some.

I gotta make a budget for this coming month and Christmas. I am putting on a dinner here for my friends. I am making roast beef with gravy, roasted garlic mash, pillsbury croissants with cheese, some kind of vegetable casserole with cheese and bacon, and undecided about dessert. I am on the fence about what to buy for drinks.

I figured this is going to be costly so I was thinking of buying two roasts from a local butcher here and cooking both. One day the dinner the next day philly cheese steaks with sautéed peppers and onions with cheese on a mini baguette.


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Dessert-would you consider a cranberry/raspberry trifle (Ricardo posted a video on their Twitter account)? Or were you thinking more along the lines of individual cookies/cakes/bars?
Drinks- flavoured sparkling water like LaCroix (peach pear is lovely chilled-a flavour sibling bought recently; I'm not keen on lemon-lime waters unless it's Perrier lemon or plain) or those PC sparkling juices if they are on sale for $2.99 or $2.49 for 4 cans (also look for clearance deals!)at your local Loblaws/RCSS or No Frills/Shoppers? Shoppers has in ON 2 for $5 tetra packs of almond or almond/coconut milks too--check your local flyers. I could not pass up the tetra deal on Sunday (plus Mom uses nut milks for her cereal during Advent).

[Ciel]

I remember that @Natalka had posted a video (last year?) about airport travellers who were a senior bear couple.

Just happened to search the #12DaysofChristmas hashtag on Twitter (Advent contester here) and came across the same bears on a tin of Walkers shortbread sold at the World Duty Free shops! https://twitter.com/WorldDutyFree/st...98983385341953

[Frugalbigmama]

All this food talk is making me hungry................ I have had clementines for breakfast. Time for lunch soon.

[coupon girl]

afternoon -went to watch Ashlyn at her xmas concert -this year she sang her heart out in her plaid dress with reindeer antlers -they were reindeer -I actually had a tear in my eye watching her

then daughter asked me last night to pick up a diary milk large chocolate bar 14.99 at rexall (nope sold out)and most shoppers sold out but binbrook shoppers had some with a 2.00 cpn on them also ,so we drove back to binbrook as I forgot after the concert and I used 10.00 in my points so daughter only owes me 8.20-tis the season to be nice right and my dear daughter always puts a nice brunch on for us when we babysit

I donated 2 stuffed bears ,bunny and a mellissa and dog sticker set to my dentist as she was having a draw if you donated these are items I got on sale last year -the sticker book I was going to give to Ashlyn for xmas but she already got the same one for her birthday in oct ,so that was a good feel for the day

wanted to bake today but hubby has a front light out ,so off he is going to Canadian tire -I will bake on Wednesday hopefully

[Frugalbigmama]

Just looked at the upcoming sale flyers and the only thing I am buying is eggs! Not bad at all! I really only have to put on Christmas breakfast and I already have OJ, peameal and reg bacon, bread, clementines and I just bought 2 dozen eggs so we actually need nothing but I will buy eggs for the fridge since we will be eating many over the 2 week break since everyone is home.

[barbis9]

Left my fav refill water bottle on the bus :-( I hope someone turns it in. Bought Tynenol on sale at Shoppers and Cheetos. Tonight looks like soup and salad for dinner.

[Angela273]

Left my fav refill water bottle on the bus :-( I hope someone turns it in. Bought Tynenol on sale at Shoppers and Cheetos. Tonight looks like soup and salad for dinner.

It sucks that your forgot your water bottle on the bus. Let us know if you get it back.

[Giseledta]

ok. today is push day. the rest of the dc gifts are leaving my house. that leaves thursday friday for more relaxed days.. and parents picking up early. parents tend to pick up early or really late this close to christmas...lol.
middle is having friends over .. they will hide in the family room. they are ordering pizza for supper. and playing d and d. good group of kids. they are not showong up till much later.
hubby and i will prob have burgers for supper. or he can fend for himself. this medicine is kicking my tush. making me have a very upset tummy.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
These last few weeks have been a bit trying as I have not been feeling the best and the last week I have had a horrible headache I have been trying to work through. Since we are going into year end it really is not an option for me not to be in the office so I am there and every day count down the hours until I can go home and not be a functioning human being. Yesterday was my breaking point and I went to the doctor as for the last 2 days it has felt like my left eye wants to pop out and the headache behind my eye was unbearable. The good news is mt blood pressure is fantastic the bad news is I have a sinus infection so I am on antibiotics. Normally I do try to avoid antibiotics but nothing natural was working and living day to day life was getting difficult.

I must admit with everything else going on I have really been questioning why I choose to do homemade gifts this year. With that being said I took a quick inventory this morning and think I am in a good place. I have the following made that just need to be packaged:
Garlic Garlic (Seasoning or Dip)
Everything Bagel Seasoning
Dry Salsa Mix
Taco Seasoning (This is packaged already, I made it last night and Mom helped me bottled it)
Garlic Lemon Salt
Red Wine Salt
Sriracha Salt
Hot Pepper & Garlic Oil
Black Pepper & Garlic Oil
Spice Hot Drink Mix
Cranberry Butter

There are a few more things I would like to make hopefully I can get a few things done tomorrow night after work as Friday will be a long day and probably won't get anything done. I still need to make Apple Butter (I would love to also make Pumpkin Butter but that might be pushing it), infused vinegar (I am thinking Red Chili & a Rosemary Lemon), Hot Chocolate on a Stick and maybe some actual flavoured butters since the Cranberry and Apple Butter do not actually have butter in them.

Tonight I need to go to the dollar store and pick up more jars since I made more mixes where is previously I was planning to make more oils and vinegar but the plan changed as I am trying to accommodate something everyone will like including I managed to find a few Keto recipes for bro and his fiance as well as the spicy vs the non spicy. Half my family loves the spice and cannot get enough the other half like flavour but cannot handle spice.

Waiting to hear back from bro or his fiance I heard yesterday they got bad news about her Mom and now future sister in law will not be attending out company Christmas lunch Friday. I am praying her Mom makes it through the holidays with them but it has been a real roller coaster of where she stand health wise. One minute they are telling the family to come home as she may not make it to Christmas, the next week they are saying she strong and healthy enough to do treatments to hopefully extend her life. I cannot image being 25 and facing losing my mom.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day, going to get in a few hours at the office before I leave for an off site meeting.

[Angela273]

I’m sending home all my daycare gifts today. Ds work hard at addressing the cards for each family.

My sister, brother, and sister’s boyfriend are coming to visit for a couple days during the break. Grandpa and his wife are sending money for us to buy something that our kids need. We’ll still put 1/2 the money into their individual savings accounts.

[Frugalbigmama]

I cheated last night and ordered Domino's pizza on the way home. I have a few slices for my lunch today so a win in my eyes lol.
Put a few loads of laundry away last night. I have a load of towels to fold and put away and 1 load of random socks/underwear etc.
Cleaned out the dining room last night. Just have to move a few items from the hutch and it is perfect! It had become a dumping ground. DS even left his guitars and other music cases of stuff in there.
Tonight- Finish the laundry. Finish the dining room. Empty the dishwasher (ran it after 7pm last night) Keep the kitchen tidy! Was going to finish shopping tonight but think I may wait till tomorrow night. Maybe even go into work early tomorrow morning so I can leave early.

Enjoy the day everyone!

[coupon girl]

sassy-I feel for you ,hope the meds help -I have had a cold 9 days now thought I was feeling on top of it ,now didn't get much sleep last night and feel crappy this morning ,so no major running around for me

I was hoping to start the baking and do a bit but will see how I feel later

Just ordered zebra coupons the code for free shipping is hoildays2018 hurry as some are already gone

[Ciel]

I’m sending home all my daycare gifts today. Ds work hard at addressing the cards for each family.

My sister, brother, and sister’s boyfriend are coming to visit for a couple days during the break. Grandpa and his wife are sending money for us to buy something that our kids need. We’ll still put 1/2 the money into their individual savings accounts.

Lovely that your Grandpa and his spouse think of you and your family. Do have fun sharing with them what you got for the kids from them.

[Ciel]

Last night, during about 3h of laundry washing and drying, the big jug of bleach was emptied. Knew I had to get more at Cdn Tire (Old Dutch 1.89l bleach used be $1 per jug, price went up to $1.29 but there's a $1 sale, so score!) on my walk. Decided to place coupons at Walmart but was stunned to see how little Advil product was left on the shelves. Nevertheless, I left two Advil coupons that expire on Dec.25 there. I also ventured into Winners to look over the men's activewear pants (regular and clearance priced items) and check out women's outerwear (did see two different colours and sizes of Noize parkas-an Addition-Elle brand). No more marked down Simpsons Tic-Tac containers for $2.20-they must have cleared around early November.

I purchased a bag of Unico penne rigate (900g) at Fortinos on my walk home from the library as I had cooked the last of the stelline (star pasta) and did not want to use the spaghetti packages in the pantry. Cooked some pasta to use with sauce (the leftovers were today's breakfast with other things) and had some pasta with oil and seasonings for supper last night.

Reduced produce finds on Monday afternoon-an organic papaya and two pomegranates. The papaya was cut up for this morning (kind of chewy and not too sweet) and I've eaten one pomegranate already. I'm saving the second pomegranate for Friday when the weather forecast will be for rain and gray skies.

If anyone still is intending to get individual greeting cards-the Shoppers buy 2 Carlton Cards and save $2 or buy 3 Carlton Cards and save $4 (min. card value has to be $3.29 or more) coupons expire this Friday (Dec. 21) (some greeting card sections may still have coupon pads with the coupons). Walmart still has pads of $5 off Hallmark cards coupons (there is a minimum spend value required) that expire around Jan. 16/19.

Mom got a letter from her sister-it took 3 weeks for the mail to reach her from Europe, about two weeks longer than usual-and a holiday card in the mail this week.