March 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[lizzie bargain]

Busy week here. Started my new job watching the 9 month old triplets and 2 year old brother-it will either be my fitness program-or my undoing-lol. I was feeling under the weather most this week but today back to normal. Meantime my younger sis in the US is quarantined and being tested for corona-she said she feels ok so far and does not have results yet. Meantime myself and 4 other family members are booked on a cruise to Alaska in May-we received a financial incentive today not to cancel or if we cancel a credit for a future cruise. I am glad we are being offered some options as we did not purchase cancellation insurance. We have some time to decide-and to see how much further this disease progresses. Good grief!

[greentires4me]

I been awake 3 days now I put some orange incense on and trying desperately to fall asleep.


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[lilo0003]

Not sure what’s on the agenda today beyond enjoying my coffee. May go to SDM for the Dove body wash. It’s my favourite and I have the coupon. If I do that then a trip to Cobs is in order. Also promised to bake chocolate chip cookies so that should keep me out of trouble. The fridge and freezers are full so no groceries needed. It’s going to be plus 10 here so a walk is in order.

[barbis9]

Happy March.

I have been busy WORKING! So nice. BUT no agreements yet. So that might change fast. We are picketing after school hours this week. We have to do one day. I did today and will also do tomorrow (my assigned day). I have a dinosaur head I wear with a sign that says "Cuts to Spec. Ed? Not all ideas are good ones. Remember the plot to Jurassic Park?" The kids like the dino head as I wave to the buses. We get more positivity with a dino head.

Hubby and I have started Kitchen Wars. It must be a new meal/recipe and low cost is part of the score. Not every meal will be part of the competition, but I have two planned this week, he has one. Last night I made a breakfast pizza which ended up being a total cost of $22 to make. Tonight I am making beef stroganoff with Epicure spice pack I got off of the free site!

@SassyAshley when I struggled with my migraines, anxiety and depression developed because I was in pain EVERY day. The biggest symptom was "I didn't feel like myself." Yes, take care of your mom, but also take care of you. I tried everything before taking a medication. I wish I tried that medication earlier now that I am on it. Just sharing my experience because I felt so alone. It came on so unexpectedly I thought I was crazy. I am now the healthiest I have been in years. The first few weeks I felt so guilty for taking the pills despite my pharmacist hugging me and saying (this will help you, you are treating your brain).

Everyone has their own health journey. Ashley, I wish you the same quality I life and happiness I have now, however, you find it.

@Granger which medication did you take for migraines?

[barbis9]

Well last year regarding home renos hubby and I painted our family room and kitchen grey/white cost was $250.00-50.00 gift card from son for xmas =200.00 that's all we did as we had an awful summer with son-in-law's mother passing away and my health went down hill also .

Forward to the spring we are getting a new front door very pretty with one side panel (so a wider door)we are going with the same company we have always dealt with . I will have no more screen door -yeah and our front will look lovely (curb appeal) W e have lived here 22 years this summer and it is old .So called and he is coming on Friday to measure and book .

Each year we try to do something in the house either outside or inside ,some years we have missed .

@coupon girl which company are you using for the front door?

[Giseledta]

good morning all. i finally ... after 3 weeks.. slept decently.. woke 2 x to pee ( thank you being old and drinking more water....) ...

i am hoping to get utside today and tidy up a bit.. however if i dont. i am ok with that.
so sorry

[coupon girl]

barbis- a local window and door company -I p.med you

[coupon girl]

Just went for a lovely walk 17 minutes .

Deciding what to have for supper ,hubby and I have been having a few sore stomachs lately .I decided I don't wish to eat mini wheats cereal anymore(too much fibre on my belly I think) so I will give the 3 boxes to neighbour as her daughter is finding it hard .

[Angela273]

Dh took my ring for a new appraisal because our insurance needed it. When the jewelry shop cleaned it we discovered a small problem. It turned out that 2 of the side stones on my engagement ring and another stone on my wedding band fell out while being cleaned. Since it is a channel setting, they had to remove and redo all of the stones in my wedding band. It’s clean and buffed, looking great again. They did it all for free.

Dh was pretty sweet last night when he arrived home. He went down on one knee and presented me with my ring in the box. 😍 Random romantic gesture.

[Frugalbigmama]

Such a beautiful day today! I have the bedroom window open while cleaning.
Kitchen is clean. Laundry on the go. Made youngests bed with clean sheets and new duvet my sister gave me. She has given me 3 Queen size duvets in the last few months. My boys are set. My plan is to put clean bedding in rubbermaid bins. Oldest needs to strip and wash his bedding. I ask him to do so tomorrow since he is home all day teaching guitar lessons.
So much cleaning and organizing to do. Figure i would get the laundry dome today and start some new projects this week.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
I was going to come on yesterday and say what I great day I was having, until the afternoon hit and then everything went downhill.

In the morning, I started to clean my stockroom, this is something I have needed to do for a bit but it overwhelms me. I crave organization but I am not one of those people who can look at a mess and see how to organize it. I cannot look at things and just be like oh let's do this and this, instead I am the person who some how makes a bigger mess and then finds a happy medium. But yesterday, some how I looked and got ideas and was able to clear 2 shelves and clean half of the stock room floor.

Then I started to clean the Laundry Room floor. There were a bunch of small appliances on the floor that never got scrubbed down after the mouse situation, Mom said she would do but never got to it. So I did it yesterday I used a bleach Spray, cleaned all the appliances and then scrubbed down half of the laundry room floor.

All was going well until the afternoon, then it all went downhill. I was bringing garbage up the from the basement and some how I fell up the stairs, I honestly have no idea what happened other than I got to the top of the stairs and all of a sudden I was on my knees and couldn't get up. I am sore but okay.

Then I went to make dinner and it seemed like everything went wrong, probably because I was so looking forward to this dinner. Mom finally got a day shift so I was going to make a nice Roast Beef dinner. Well I was cooking I went to rinse the sink out and the faucet got stuck and I soaked the the counter, which lead to the beans and carrots burning. Then somehow I got potatoes everywhere and my gravy came out salty even though I did not add salt.

Well the dinner debacle was happening Mom called to say she was on her way home. The end of last week I was a mood as we have been waiting for a decision on something for over a month now, which will affect our finances either good or bad. We were told a decision was made Tuesday so Mom went in to talk to them Thursday but the person she needed to talk to left early and did not leave her any info. Friday she tried to get a hold of them but heard nothing back so I was worried. Then Saturday came and they sent her a message, the decision is.................... they are not going to make a decision right now and she was told to just hang in there eventually a decision will be made but there is no time line, could be weeks, could be months.

By the time she got home I was pretty much almost in tears. I made it through the night but to top it off, I had one of my little attacks, I do not know what they are, I have been told they aren't panic attacks as panics attacks leave you feeling paralyzed where I cannot stay still. I pace and cannot control my arms so I am told this is not a panic attack. Last night I was really thinking maybe I should go to the doc although it has been months since I had one but I am not sure how I feel about being dependent on a medication, last time the side effects scared me so much I never took the pills.

Today I woke up just feeling off, I did not want to get out of bed and really didn't want to do today. But I did get up and finished the stock pile room, the floor is now all clean and I gained 3 empty shelves just by moving stuff around. I also posted a bunch of stuff for sale today, I think I posted 15 items, we will see if they move. I can see I have people watching them but so far no takers. On Friday I had a woman message me who wanted a number of items and asked for bundle pricing which I gave her and then I heard nothing back.

So not looking forward to work tomorrow, right now I just want to be alone. When I get in these moods, I do not want to be around people. I have no issue doing my job or my work, I would just prefer to do the work from home but I feel guilty as I have been working from home a lot lately.

I think this hit me hard, as earlier in the week I was finally starting to feel like myself again. I was bubbly, I was perky, I was feeling good and then out of no where I got knocked back down. Now I just need to pull myself back up again.

Alright well, off to have a peppermint tea and try to relax a bit before bed.

Have a wonderful night everyone.

[saundyl]

Good Morning Everyone,
A couple quick questions.

For those who shop at Giant Tiger what do you think their selection of brooms would be like?
I am really feeling just doing the kitchen floor yesterday so I need to get a broom but in town, we are really limited on our options. I already checked No Frills but they only have 1 broom and it is more for outside use. I could check Home Hardware but in general I find them to be expensive, my best bet is probably Wal-Mart but that is like a half an hour drive from work and I have no other reason to head that way.

For those who use Swagbucks, how do you get most of your swagbucks?
I used to use it more often but in the last couple of years I have found hitting my daily goal was getting harder and harder and took so much time and work. I understand some work is needed but I found to reach my daily goal would take me hours which I just do not have.

Swagbucks i used to use alot as well but have petered off because the time or DATA invested in just not worthy of the few cent rewards.

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[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Well last night's dinner was not a success. I made Marinated Chicken with Mushroom Quinoa as Mom has been pointing out my side dishes lately do not fit in her new diet. I did the research yesterday and saw that she can eat Quinoa and we have Quinoa, actually we have a container in the pantry plus I have an extra bag in my stockpile. So I decided I would pull out the instant pot and cook some up as I have found the instant pot is the best way to cook Quinoa, always comes out just right.

Well it turns out Mom has decided she no longer likes Quinoa, it is too earthy. So she was not happy with dinner and I have to admit it was okay but for everything I put into the Quinoa it really did not have a lot of flavour. So I brought what was left for lunch today as I know Mom won't eat the leftovers. Downside is since she can eat Quinoa and I know she will not use the Instant Pot I made a double batch which means I still have a bunch of just plain Quinoa in the fridge to use up. Guess I know what I am eating this week.

We ate early last night and since we did not enjoy dinner we were hungry later so we made Waffles. Well we were making the Waffles we ended up having what I felt was a pretty good conversation. Mom finally acknowledged what affects her, also effects me. Normally, I get told that it is her life and mine is fine so she doesn't get why I am upset. Last night we discussed one how she is feeling which I know isn't great but also that it is also affecting me. I didn't tell her everything on how bad I am feeling mentally and emotionally but just to have her finally acknowledge that it does also affect me. We are on the roller coaster together and when it takes a dip on her, it takes me with her. Which she seems to be getting and apologized which was nice but not needed, I get that everything going on right now is not her fault she is stuck in this situation. But it was nice to see that is seeing it does affect me and she is trying to see my side of things.

With that being said I am trying to juggle things around budget wise because as I guessed would happen, she has come up short between the fact that they knocked back her hours and she had to get her car fixed. So I gave her the money for her car repair, I am just thankful it wasn't that bad, I expecting one more Zero on the end of the cost.

I also think I am going to have to break down and go to Costco, I guess I cannot complain we have not gone in 2 months. But, Yeah, I am going to have to look at the list and prioritize what we need as we cannot get it all.

I also see that Wal-Mart has a nice little stick vacuum on sale that converts to to a hand held so thinking I might pick this up as well. Only downside is does not look like my local store has any in stock.

I am trying to tell myself we have the money in the budget and it is okay to spend it but I must admit everything within me is screaming no, don't do it.

Alright well, better get back to work. Have a wonderful day everyone.

[Giseledta]

i do sb. currently.. it is tough i am finding .. but i am making first goal . however.. i dont stress it if i dont. i am aware that it will pick up. and get easier. if you want to know what i do .. just message me ..


ok. Monday. the sun is coming out.. i am hoping to get to the park for a hour this am .
after work.. plan is to finish the dog poop removal from my back yard. .. its about 60 percernt done. with the rain coming tonight.. i want this done.

i am hoping really hoping for a good day...

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! Sunny here today too. Going to drag my butt through my work day today. Thankful Friday was my crazy busy work day and that is done!

Recycling day tomorrow so will have to make sure to get that all out. Now with it being every 2 weeks you can not miss a week at all or you or waiting a month to put garbage or recycling out. That would drive me bonkers. I will have to load all the empties in my car this week and return them. (from DS and his friends) I returned $1.80 worth last week since they were on the counter ready to go out to the garage so I put them right in my car

Nothing planned for tonight other then making taco salad for dinner with my guy and then watching some tv an relaxing. It was a busy weekend!