March 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Frugalbigmama]

I just went to Superstore knowing better. Didn't really want/need anything. Bought fresh buns $1 (8pk) for sandwiches. Fresh French loaf (for toast and French toast!) 3 boxes of no name KD (no KD left) and a wonderful new cookie sheet. $10.26 total and redeemed $10 in PC Pts.
Filled up the gas tank on the way out too just to keep it full. (92.6 L)

[GoodBoy]

Just came back from the LCBO! They are all out of Toilet Paper also! Who would have thought it!!! I consoled myself with hops-based beverages, and grape-based varietals! I will survive!!!

[Angela273]

I put my van in the shop to get a certain repair done. Dh reminded me about a little leak that was found during a recent oil change. I had our trusted shop check it out. My $200 planned repair has now turned into a $900 bill. The new work is essential. *sigh* I’m supposed to get my van back on Monday. We have a 4 day weekend, including today. I’m scheduled to teach in town on Tuesday. I don’t have any other dates booked beyond that.

The Corona virus has officially reached SK. My mom works in a hospital in one of our bigger centres. She is concerned... I have taken the precaution of refilling my prescription. I plan on redeeming my meat rain checks tomorrow at Sobeys and making sure we have a few other things. Like most of you, our house is routinely well stocked. Fridge/freezer/pantry. Wait and see what happens...

[greentires4me]

Spring break starts today for two weeks. I’m cold, it’s cold outside.


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[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
We actually had a conference call today about Covid-19 and what our stance is as a company. We are preparing for staff to be off, right now no one is sick but we are now faced with kids being off school for 3 weeks and that pretty much everything is closed, daycare run by the province all camps are cancelled a areas and rec centers are closed. So we may be faced with staff taking 3 weeks off as they have not other options.

As well we are limiting contact, all meetings are being moved to phone or video conference, we are even being told not to travel among branches . Also if you have the ability to and can we are encouraged to work from home when we can. As well we were supposed to have our AGM in a few weeks and it has been cancelled.

We have heard from our customers some are no longer allowing customers to come into their stores. Orders are placed via phone, email, fax a shipper bring the order outside and you then have to load yourself.

Trying to be prepared but trying not to freak out. Good news is we are stocked up on food and prepared as we can be.

[johnb56789]

Well... Just got off my shift at work. It would've ended at 7am, but it was a madhouse and they didn't have nearly enough cashiers. So I jumped on for another two hours after my replenishment shift ended. And these two hours will be at overtime! So about $22/hr or so for those, so almost $50 more in my pocket (And I am sure both replenishment and front end will need more hours, so that means MORE overtime for me!!, considering last night we had to call two people in that were both at 40hrs already!!)

[coupon girl]

morning -now my voice is a bit hoarse ,and I feel great (haven't sneezed since yesterday around 5.00 p.m) but I cant go out and grocery shop as I don't want pick up anything more in germs as my immune system is not back to normal ,plus people would look at me sideways if I sneezed ,so I am staying home .

This is the thing thank goodness we stockpile as I have 5 pkgs of toilet paper before all this (will give my daughter one in Toronto if we go on sunday)14 boxes of Kleenex all before and 12 rolls of paper towels .But I don't have my freezer full of food today I am using up my last chicken breast ,I am kicking myself as I was waiting for a good sale .I do havbe a few other meat items ham ,pork ,roast .But I am so thankfull to be a part of us cancuks -I wish I had more coffee thou and I am down to one and a half plastic folgers. I will go out very early grocery shopping either Monday,tues ,wed when this cold is gone.

What an awfull time to catch a cold ,bad timing .Son called and doesnt need hubby to help him with both girls ,as they asked the little ones to stay home from her gymnastics .

Supper today chicken breast (its a large one) so will share it ,mashed potatoes & steamed carrots .Gotta get my energy back.

[flemeth]

@coupongirl you made the right decision to not shop today. I was at RCSS at 7:30 thus morning and it was a zoo . The line ups are crazy. Only went for fresh fruit and Milk . There was no 4 litre or 2 litre milk . Most of the shelves were cleared . The line up was from the cash all the way around to where there bread was you can’t ever get through the isle since it’s packed. I don’t like to used self checkout but this morning I did waited 15 minutes before I can check out. I am staying indoors for the rest of the day

[SassyAshley]

We are pretty well stocked up, when I went for work yesterday I did grab a few things for home I was not going back after work. I got:
Milk x 2 (we are going to freeze one just in case as that is one items we come up short on)
Eggs - 18-pack x 2 $2.88 (got two as if we do get stuck at home if we have eggs worst comes to worst we can make stuff from scratch since we keep all baking supplies on hand even before this)
Mom's Bread x 1 (not on sale grrr but she thought she was out)
English Muffin x 1 $0.88 (on sale)
Avocados - 6 pack x 1 $1.88 (on sale)
Limes x 1 $2.97 (needed them for the avocados, plus I can bake with them)
Mushrooms x 1 (just to have on hand in case)
Cantaloupe x 1 $0.88 (on sale)
Pears x 4 $0.88/lb (on sales)
Bananas x 6 (to have on hand, can eat or bake with)
Romaine -2 pack x 3 $1.88 (on sale)

We have enough food on hand, the only thing we might come up short on is toilet paper, we buy ours at Costco and this is about a 3 month supply for us and just happens to be right now if there was not a shortage I would be buying now. With that being said, I do still have some on hand so we are not in a panic yet. As well I have cleaning supplies on hand.

I should mention on the 2 items I bought more than we normally would, I only did this as my store was fully stocked and I was not hoarding or clearing shelves. Even on the milk a dairy worker was there and told someone else they had even more in the back and as long as people did not go to extremes they do not see running out.

[Ciel]

I heard the local Costco (I don't have a membership either)had about 200 people lined up outside it this morning -come on people

Gonna have my homemade chicken soup from the freezer for lunch -I think I have 3 more containers in there .It is always good for the colds warm soup.

The Ancaster location made the 6pm news with mention of police called in for crowd control.

[Ciel]

March is definitely acting like a lion (all that wind yesterday) and with yesterday being Friday the 13th, seemingly bad news all around for post-secondary students and the greater communities.

My shopping cart could fit 4 x 10pk yard waste bags and the 5th pk had to go into my tote bag. I also picked up a new Oskar broom and dustpan for sidewalk and mini-barn sweeping. No luck at Rexall for the feminine hygiene item shown as 2 for $8 With 8 bonus AM. That was a waste of time looking. So I walked a lot to the Rona and the wind was at my back too. Made it back home on same bus transfer

Did an evening shopping trip to Longos (after 7pm) and three cash lines had steady lineups plus the customer service desk was busy too. Needed Quaker Instant Oatmeal for today's breakfast and used the buy 3 products and get 1 Chewy bar free coupon and applied my $1 Oasis juice coupon to the Antioxia beverage as well. Found 3 hothouse cucumbers on the reduced price rack for $1.99! Sliced one up to use with salad greens and dressing last night and have a big container of premade salad.

Hamilton Public Library locations are open but all programs are cancelled (so no instruction or info about that embroidery machine) including bookmobiles. I feel for those of you who have 3 weeks of no Toronto Public Library service as all locations are closed. If you happen to have a student at UofT, that is one way you can get library materials, through the student's card without having to get a separate membership.

I'm encouraging those of you in post-secondary schools or parents of such students to look up what services the school's student association provides. Some may have food bank or emergency cash (limited to once per semester per student) supports that the students can access (though I wonder if the student associations are monitoring their webpages, social media channels or direct phone lines). I heard that U of T is asking dorm students to move out but that makes things tough for international students as well as long-distance domestic students.

[SassyAshley]

I heard on Thursday night which seems to be when the panic started, when they closed schools for an extra 2 weeks I have heard a physical fight broke out at Sobeys. Also a co worker was at No Frills and people were not physically fighting but there was a lot of yelling screaming and arguing well standing in line.

I get people are panicking but I do not see why people are acting like this. It is like when I was in No Frills there were two older couples shopping and as we were all standing in line a number of us were nicely chatting but they were standing there making rude comments. They kept threatening to just leave their carts and walk out, that they would be sending a complaint to head office over the wait. It is like they are doing the best they can, they had ever cash open, there was a head cashier directing traffic they were doing everything they could. It was funny one woman is said, do you think if you threaten to abandon your cart, do you think they move you to the front of the line. One couple did not like this so they left to walk around as "if they had to wait they were going to keep shopping" (confused, I was too).

Even this morning there was a photo on facebook of about 30 people lined outside shopper's waiting to get when they opened. This is getting insane.

The Ancaster location made the 6pm news with mention of police called in for crowd control.

[coupon girl]

My daughter-in-law said she is making a school program for at home for Ashlyn being off school (she is in grade 1) and I had bought her a huge school workbook 6 months ago ,but we can drop in anytime .

She also said she may use this time to toilet train cara.

Still haven't heard from my daughter regarding sunday if their cooking class is cancelled or not as she had a dentist appt today ,she will call me later .

[Ciel]

It's not helping families with young kids on figuring out what to do or see-many attractions seems intent on reduced hours or no hours, depending on the city. Ditto March Break activities at malls-Burlington Centre has cancelled their planned events for next week. However, there is a Playland arcade in the mall, so videogames might be on the to-visit list.

[Frugalbigmama]

Picked up 2 family trays of the ground beef at Foodland this morning. Cooking one up now into taco meat. Will have containers ready with shredded cheese and lettuce etc.
Thawing a peameal roast now and will slice up and cook. Then DS can make quick sandwiches with peameal and cheese on a fresh bun.
Laundry is on the go and the goal is to make bedroom beautiful!