December 2019 Frugal Chatter-finding the light among the hustle

[cath007]

@cath007 are you able to submit assignments online to finish your semester? Sorry to learn that the boot did make walking possible for you at school. Hope your instructors are accommodating about deadlines for work.

Movie news-did everyone see the new Wonder Woman 1984 movie trailer? That movie will be worth a theatre visit with popcorn. The 1980s look is very evident-it brings back memories of mall visits with friends (in the 1980s) that including going to the movies there too!

If you missed the Saturday Night Live opening sketch last Saturday (NATO cafeteria), look for it online. It was funny. Also the Hoops segment with Jennifer Lopez (yes, it is about hoop earrings).

no all I can do is work in my books to finish them at home during my vacantions...

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! Very productive morning at work so far!

Lunch today is leftover beans and rice and an apple with almond butter.

I will go out on my lunch break for some fresh air today and hit a few stores. The silver jeans I have been wanting at Mark's are finally a good sale price (not this silly buy 1 get 1 at 50% off- $125 jeans I just want one pair. They are 40% off and I have a $10 off coupon and GC to use

Tonight I will put away the clean laundry in the dryer. Put a load of darks on and dry and put away so I am on top of the laundry.

I hope to pull all my stocking stuffers out and wrap them all tonight. That is my goal!

DS has a late hockey ice time so that should motivate me to get is done since I will have to drive him/pick him up.

[Ciel]

Thanks for the reminder about the Mark's $10 off wus $50 or more coupon, @Frugalbigmama ! I removed the coupon from the flyer on Monday before recycling most of the flyers and newspaper as the expiry is around Dec.24. Since I struck out on comfy slippers at the Bay, the plan today is to see if the T-Max slippers might be like Columbia's Omni Heat and see what sizes/colours/stock exists in Hamilton stores. Would like one pair.

5am rising for an hour-had my breakfast of small dessert bowl of olives and one serving of triple berry instant oatmeal with a glass of chilled lime Perrier (only carbonated beverage on hand). Then back to bed at 6am.

Last night, I put the clothing drive bag outside, brought the recycling box indoors (some family member just left it on the back step (grr)) to wipe down, did two light loads of laundry and swept the dining room floor (walnut and pecan shell shards). Then while having a light snack, I recorded my purchases on the Dec. expense page and worked on my to-do list for today. Put on my pjs and read in bed for a bit (Nov. issue of Elle Canada has a Career section plus article on migraines but previous reader tore out select pages--now I have to find an intact copy to read the missing content).

Back to the QOTD about laundry and sorting loads: if I feel unwell, I'll risk tossing whites, medium tones and darks into one load provided I know if they don't release much or any dyes just to get the laundry over with. I have learned not to put white cotton undies and tank tops with my black pants or dark knitwear unless I want to be brushing lint off as part of putting laundry away after line-drying or machine drying.
However, if I wash different coloured items by hand and use the washer to spin dry the lot after rinsing, I may only separate the bleeding dye clothes (usually red and purples and sometimes dark blues) from the other more steadfast dye items for spinning out the loads. Otherwise everything goes into the machine at the same time to save me time while spinning excess water out.

Napped items-sometimes I'll toss my dark fleece gloves into a load of dark wovens-only some fibres wander here and there. But I am fairly adamant about keep bath and kitchen towel loads separate. Sometimes I have noticed Mom has combined some towels in the interest of washing everything at once and explaining to her that some random body hair might land in the kitchen linens has not registered with her yet. If I catch such a load, the kitchen towels get a second separate quick wash by me via machine.

Just had a situation where a water filter pitcher got replaced by newer pitcher. The two involved with said purchase both gave me attitude about why they had not tossed out the old one into the bin (counter clutter in the kitchen is right behind clutter on main bathroom vanity for arguments). After sibling said about as much before going to work yesterday, I made a point to go to the trash can with old pitcher, two hours before the collection truck came by. One week of pass the buck makes me clench my teeth and those teeth are hurting.

Ancaster Longos will have Santa visiting between 11am and 2pm. I may pop around just to see Santa and ask for more of Ms. Sunshine.

The light of December-only 10 more days until winter solstice and the return of more incremental daylight in each day.
Then of course, we'll be talking about garden seeds and seed catalogues...

[Ciel]

@lilo0003 @barbis9 Anyone shopping in downtown Oakville might win something if the BIA Elf finds you during the 12 Days of Christmas promotion (ending on Dec. 16): https://www.facebook.com/downtownoak...type=3&theater

[coupon girl]

Had hubby take me to the mall just now to return my second pair of shoes from the bay (so my credit card statement will be lower)-so darn hard to buy wide width I went into a few stores and they don't sell much wide width shoes mostly boots

Treated us to a starbucks hot chocolate and peppermint mocha -had a gift card to use up -so expensive for hubby 4.65 peppermint mocha,wow

Making a nice supper tonight ,chicken ,mashed potatoes and peas and carrots

[Frugalbigmama]

What a cold snowy day we have here. Brrrrr!

Went to GT and Bulk Barn and $ store to walk around. Spent $8.70 on 10 cans of brown beans and 2 packages of organic rice cakes.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Still struggling here, I just feel like if I want things to turn around I need to get more done but working out of town this week is not helping. I ended up stopping on my way home last night, first I went to Freshco and got:
8 x Bartlett Pears $1.49/lb
8 x Anjou Pears $1.29/lb (PM Food Basics)
1 x Oranges 3lbs $3.99
3 x Ivory Body $2.99 (PM Food Basics)
1 x Eggs 18 pack $2.99
2 x Passata $0.88
2 x Cauliflower $1.88

The off to Bulk Barn, I spent forever there as the coupon would not load for me, turns out I wasted my time as my purchase only came to $10.22 and I did not want to just grab stuff to get up to $20. I got a bunch of spices for Christmas stuff as well as Lentails for a gift I am making Dad and Step Mom.

Then off to No Frills, Mom had already gone to No Frills but for some reason she could not get into my PC Points and I had an offer for Beef so I went and got
3 x Ground Beef $2.88/lb + 200 pts/$ (Got I think 3800 pts)
1 x Almond Milk $2.97 (PM Food Basics)

Not 100% sure what Mom got at No Frills as it was put away when I got home but I know for sure she grabbed:
4 x Olive Oil $3.88
4 x Mozzarella $3.88
4 x Old Cheddar $3.88
3 x Med Cheddar $3.88
1 x Miracle Whip $3.88

When I got home and was putting away groceries I see our lemons have gone bad, kind of annoyed we just bough them so now I will need to buy more lemons as I also need those for Christmas. I was going to stop on my way home tonight but from they are saying snow squalls are in our area so I think I will just head home, I can always stop tomorrow.

I also need to get a Kitchen Scale as ours broke and I need to weight the fruit for the Fruit Butters I am making for Christmas.

I have been trying to push myself to still do 30 minutes of cleaning each night, Monday I was so tired I decided to find 10 things I could get rid of instead, I actually found bout 20 to 30 things that needed to go. Then last night by the time I got home and had dinner it was after 8 so I just crashed. I am really feeling guilty for not doing the cleaning. Whatever is going on with me part of it is that I need to clean the house from top to bottom which is not an easy tasks as our house still looks like an episode of hoarders but neater, we can still access most areas just have piles in various places.

Hopefully the drive home tonight isn't too bad and I could put my head down and make a dent tonight to make up for the past 2 nights.

Alright, well better get back to work, the day is almost out so better get back to end of day paperwork. Have a wonderful night everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

@SassyAshley - Thanks for the reminder of the sale on Almond Milk at FB! I knew there was something I wanted there.

[Frugalbigmama]

Didn't do much tonight. Wrapped 4 stocking stuffers. Kitchen is clean. All clean laundry put away. Not enough to put a load on so will wait. Still have socks I'm putting together. Giving it a week then I'm tossing all the odd ones ( well using as dust rags then garbage)

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning All,
I did not stop on the way home last night as I kept driving in and out of squalls and just wanted to get home. It actually wasn't too bad of a drive which was nice and I probably could have stopped but I just really wanted to get home just in case. I am so not feeling the winter driving this year, it is really setting off some anxiety.

I left work early yesterday, 4 pm, normally when I work in this location I work till 5 but since we are slow and I am working this weekend I am happy to leave early, but with the longer commute by the time I get home I feel like there is no time left.

My plans changed once I got home as Mom had said she was going to clean the kitchen before she went to work, this did not happen so I cleaned the kitchen well I made dinner. I emptied and re loaded the dishwasher as well as some dishes that needed to be done by hand.

I was finding it hard to focus last night, I really wish mentally I felt in a better place as I can see it effecting all parts of my life right now. But after I got the kitchen done, I made my lunch and planned ahead making tomorrows's lunch as well (one thing I do not have to do tonight). Then when I went upstairs I tried to some more cleaning up. We had a bunch of Deodorant I got on sale that did not have a home, I put it in the bathroom closest but am not happy with this home so it may get moved again. I have 2 sets of cubes in my room I cleaned out 2 of the cubes last night, some items where put away some were thrown out. As well I just kind of picked up things either putting them away or throwing them out. We have so much stuff that just does not get dealt with it gets pushed to the side to be dealt with but gets left. We will need to talk about this changing.

All and all I should be happy with what I got done last night but I am not to be honest. This current situation is really getting me down and for some reason in my head I have that this is not going to turn around until I get on top of everything in life which includes:
Cleaning the house from top to bottom (this is a huge tasks which honestly will take months but I feel like it has to be done and done now)

Clean the Freezer and do some serious and I mean serious meal prep (we have seriously cut back out eating out as we do not have the $$ but I want to cut it back even more, including I need Mom more on board with her just grabbing stuff for work)

I need to figure out the $$$ situation, I am so torn on this right now, we have no idea where we will stand going into 2020 so I cannot decide if well things are stable right now should I be saving like crazy just in case or should I be stocking up. I have been stocking up but feel guilty about spending the money but at the same time I had a serious internal battle last week of, but these are my stock up prices or lower and we need these items. In some areas my stockpile is quite sparse as I had been trying to hold off and not spend the $$ but now I am worried if we do not buy now we may have to buy at a higher price.

I just feel like I am being pulled in about a million directions between home and work, and there is no to help or even understand. Mom just keeps saying it is what it and whatever happens, happens. But I do not know I just feel like the weight of the world is on me and I have to figure out how to handle all of this. I just feel so jinxed I feel like if I talk about it, I will jinx it, I feel like if I don't talk about it I will explode and I also feel like this is Mom and me so it is not going to be easy. Things do not seem to just fall into place for us and I cannot control what she does so now I feel I need to take it all on myself.

Sorry for the long post. Time to get back to work. Have a wonderful day everyone

[coupon girl]

hang in there sassy ,it 's a hard time of year

I have a family member who is down a lot going on in their lives so i just listen

Woke up at 4.30 gee i cant get a break on sleeping but i am falling asleep on the couch like 8.30 p.m for an hour ,so i did 2 loads of laundry

[Ciel]

@SassyAshley Hugs, mugs of tea and more hugs. Besides the usual juggling of things, you had major surgery this year. Your intuition is doing great in guiding you to protect yourself. I understand your stocking query about prices-if something is hard to find or to get during winter, perhaps that is the area to stock up and let the usual items be. Sounds like your area had lingering snow after the squalls.

[Ciel]

Clothing drive truck never came yesterday as bags were still there by suppertime. Mom brought them in last night but I put them out again this morning-let's hope they get collected.
Did a Longo's grocery shop yesterday around suppertime as I thought the squalls would drop snow (not much, the dusting left by winds) and got carried away with some sweets. Did the Pepsi buy 3 bags of chips get 1 case of pop free coupon deal (coupon expires Dec. 28 I noticed) for Dr. Pepper. As our community paper and flyers came this morning but not yesterday, I got the new store flyer during my visit.

Found 9 containers on my walk too! Had to recycle the dime I found (Tues. evening) as the edges were dinged outward.

My bank has already distributed the 2020 wall calendars. Will check other branches that likely have calendars!

The new Dairy Queen in town had a coupon card in the paper bundle-save $2 on Dilly Bars or some other treats on sticks, second coupon? and third coupon was $3 off cakes. Actually got Freshco and Rexall flyers too in the bundle.

[lilo0003]

I took today as a vacation day and man was I busy. 14 items off my to do, most were Christmas related but some have been in the list for a while. It feels good to get so much done. I am almost ready, still need a trip to Costco, wish me luck.

[coupon girl]

I went to sobeys yesterday used 22.49 in coupons had 2 free coupons to use up yogurt and nescafe pods ,then came home and wanted to order an airmiles item as I have dream miles and its gone -darn it all ,so I called and the rep told me to keep looking in the next few weeks as it may restock -hum

Off to toronto today to babysit Sebastian so my daughter her hubby can go out for the evening -he misses nana and papa and we haven't seen him in 2 weeks -ahhh love my grandchildren .I am taking him a small bag of chocolates santa clause ,s and a small paw patrol figure 2.00 at giant tiger as I pick up stuff for the granddaughters always .We will stay overnight so we can drive home in morning or noonish

I got a lot of xmas wrapping done last night and I also got a better sleep which is good