January 2020 Frugal Chatter

[lilo0003]

@Granger I know I am the odd man out in my group of friends and sharing my frugal success here makes feel normal. Recently my BFF start shopping at No Frills because her DH retires this year. Her grocery habits have often caused me a silent scream, but I was more than happy when she asked me to teach her how to price match.
Prayers for your friend.

[Giseledta]

so my middle child .. going back to school today.. taking a few things from my freezer... i offered anything from the pantry... looks at me and says.. mom... i got this . butSoi w accident..ill grab some on sale bacon f

[Giseledta]

ok.. so a bit of perpective ... my middle child is heading back to collage today... ( yes.. mom is a sobbing mess... ) any hoo...
i offered for them to take anything they need from the pantry...

n thier comment to me... mom, i got this .. you did not raise a idiot.. i have a well stocked pantry..... but i will grab some of the on sale bacon


oh my heart. love them so much

since i know approx how much they spend .. re our pc points cards are joined and they use points alot.. i know they spend on avarage 70 ish per week. for everything. laundry, food ect. and on that they have a well stocked pantry. Hubby , who has seen it says they have done well. oh my heart.



ok. todays frugal . refilled the air friesheners... .. seriously.. jars with about 10 cm of baking soda.. lid.. holes in lid.. i toss the baking soda in the compost after... but .. with 2 dogs and 3 cats.. i need something.

plan while hubby is dropping off middle is housework.. i have a insane amout i want to get done. and it will keep me busy

[johnb56789]

ok.. so a bit of perpective ... my middle child is heading back to collage today... ( yes.. mom is a sobbing mess... ) any hoo...
i offered for them to take anything they need from the pantry...

n thier comment to me... mom, i got this .. you did not raise a idiot.. i have a well stocked pantry..... but i will grab some of the on sale bacon


oh my heart. love them so much

since i know approx how much they spend .. re our pc points cards are joined and they use points alot.. i know they spend on avarage 70 ish per week. for everything. laundry, food ect. and on that they have a well stocked pantry. Hubby , who has seen it says they have done well. oh my heart.



ok. todays frugal . refilled the air friesheners... .. seriously.. jars with about 10 cm of baking soda.. lid.. holes in lid.. i toss the baking soda in the compost after... but .. with 2 dogs and 3 cats.. i need something.

plan while hubby is dropping off middle is housework.. i have a insane amout i want to get done. and it will keep me busy

I still remember my time in univeristy. When we were making out my budget for everything to plan out OSAP compared to expenses. My parents were adament that I should budget $200/mo on groceries when I started university, but by the last year, I was down to $25/mo rough budget for everything. Finished school by only using about $5000 of money that my parents put aside for me, and now I am on track to wipe out the about $37,000 in OSAP/LOC debt by January 2021 at the latest (sooner if I get more hours/a second job). The over $5000 in bursaries also helped a lot ($500 General Busary, $1000 Award, $3000 Low Income, $750 Entrance Grant)....

Now I just have to figure out WHAT I am doing with this degree!

**EDIT; More debt that I thought I had!

[Giseledta]

Groceries are expensive!!! this is their 2nd yr. and in both cases they have roomed with people who dont know how to cook. or cook something quick.. or even house to make groceries last. i cannot help out with much. But i taught them how to cook.

you are doing wonderful .. kicking debt to the curb!!!! go you !!!

[coupon girl]

had to drive back today to no frills(they have no listed number) they sold me milk with dec30 date on it ,so stopped into shoppers cashed my 20.00 scratch win in ,so I am up 10.00 bucks as I spent 10.00 to buy the tickets

Then stopped into winners ,sadly no coats but got myself elizabeth arden green tea perfume set 10.00


Off to make the bed as daughter ,her hubby and Sebastian are coming to our city as they have a funeral on sunday to go to ,tonight is date night for them they will take in a movie at westdale theatre

[cath007]

oh my god so no ready for school monday...huh

[Granger]

BTW - I meant anonymity not animosity lol, I don't think any of you are hostile. I edited my previous comment.

Our grocery budget has gone up since DH took over shopping and cooking. This is a small price to pay so I am not doing everything. I also think groceries have gone up. He shops the sales and has price points similar to mine and won't go higher. He never learned this from family so had to learn for himself (with some help from me). I think many working women are still constrained by traditional roles and trying to do it all. I am much more peaceful now that he has this role as I do budget, cleaning and laundry.

My friend is still critical. There have been ups and downs today. His kidneys stopped working and then started working. I haven't heard anything new. We are hoping for a miracle.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
A fairly good day here, as always I could have gotten more done but meh, it is what it is. For some reason my cooking/baking this afternoon took a little longer than expected, I feel like I lost time some how.

For my cleaning today, I emptied one of our Kitchen Cupboards, cleaned it, and ended up washing all of the stuff off one shelf as there was something yellow/orange all over everything. I took all of the containers and matched them up to make sure we had tops and bottoms for everything. Anything I did not find a match for has been set aside.

Then I decided to do some cooking, I made:
Mushroom Barely Soup (The soup called for lemon juice to be added at the end, I did this but after tasting I think I will skip this step next time and instead add some Worcestershire Sauce during cooking)
Sour Cream Buns (I have not tried these yet but they smelled so good in the oven)
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (These are okay, I was expecting a them to be more moist since they are made with yogurt and I wanted more Lemon Flavour)

I had planned to make Peanut Butter Cookies but I did not get these done, maybe tomorrow.

I also Chopped up 4 Romaine Hearts we had in the fridge. I find if it is cut up we eat it, but if it needs to be chopped up it does not get eaten.

As well I cleaned as I went so the kitchen is clean now.

For dinner I decided to make Beef Stroganoff, this is not something we make often as it is a bit labour intensive but had a craving for it. So I made it tonight and served it over Egg Noodles.

I did not get as much done as some other days but I am trying to be okay with this. It was a bit of an off day for me as I woke up with a horrible headache and was not feeling my best. I did rebound a bit but I am feeling really tired and sore today (Damn cleaning the floor on my hands and knees yesterday).

Off to work on my crochet, I am obsessed with this Christmas Photo that had a red truck carrying a tree, so I found a pattern and I am now crocheting the picture. Have a wonderful night everyone.

[SassyAshley]

Granger praying for your friend.

I think our grocery budget has stayed about the same but one thing I have noticed is this past week I have had a few more good days and have been cooking which makes me happy. My family always knows when something is really bothering me because I cook and bake, there is something about chopping and stirring, I might need a 12 step program but it relaxes me. We are eating better meals, when my mood was really low there was a lot of Hot Dogs or Sausage on a Bun or anything quick and easy no work.

Right now I am having a lot of fun looking at what we have on hand and seeing what I can come up with. It is moments like this I am grateful for my stockpile, I am not in the right mind set to be out in public right now but love that I can go to my basement and have so much to choose from. With that being said, we will be grocery shopping Tuesday night after work.

[cath007]

I so need to vent this and my familly dont want to heard it anymore...
I think with the hollidays I am on depression again...and I dont want to get trought this another time
Vomitting and stress and anxiety at school is not cool
I will obviously need the help of the school specialist or clsc or a psychologue...i am so tired of crying tonight

[Miss Molly]

I don't add up all my PC points, coupons etc., but I was very happy to be able to max out my TFSA on January 1st because I made more money last year than in other years. May also be able to throw in a couple of thousand into my RRSP before the deadline in February, in addition to what I already put in.

[lizzie bargain]

DH just took DD to the airport for an early flight home-that is when Aeroplan had a free ticket for her-lol. I am sure she will sleep on the flight and when she gets home. We had a lovely visit-not often the 3 of us are up for morning coffee at 4 a.m.!! I will see her in a few weeks when we head to Hawaii. We also topped up our TFSA's this week. Rather than put $ in my RRSP I might start taking some out over the next 3 years before I receive OAS in order to be taxed lower. I am also starting to realize it is best for us to cash them in as much as possible while we are both alive to lower our tax rates-we are still in our 60's and in good health but....

[flemeth]

Good morning all @Granger so sorry to read about your friend situation. You are doing your best being a good friend and help in what way you can. Will be offering prayers for your friend DH
@SassyAshley you are doing a great job getting things done around your house . Remember take it one day at a time. Not sure if you are living at moms place or mom is living at your place but either way mom should be more respectful of you and your things and also should help out so you are not stressed to get everything done.

[flemeth]

Good morning all @Granger so sorry to read about your friend situation. You are doing your best being a good friend and help in what way you can. Will be offering prayers for your friend DH
@SassyAshley you are doing a great job getting things done around your house . Remember take it one day at a time. Not sure if you are living at moms place or mom is living at your place but either way mom should be more respectful of you and your things and also should help out so you are not stressed to get everything done.