March 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[coupon girl]

morning -sassy I hear you only I cant stress out as stress is something I must avoid while I have my shingles .I am enjoying the sun and trying to watch a few shows that make me laugh .

Last night we had pasta with garlic toast .I only wish I could see my kids ,wish we had a tablet.But alas we are in our very early 60's and didn't paly into technology ,a desk top is what I have .

So if I need anything I will send hubby out ,as my immune system is not good right now plus I cant go out til the blisters scab over ,so I will try to walk each day.

I miss my library books I use to read .oh well at least I bought those (10) 1,000 piece puzzles .I haven't started yet .I am on a 500 piece picture of oars.

[Giseledta]

i am chilling today. i might take the dogs for a walk .. and start the puzzle i have . youngest and i are making a cheese cake as well. prob will paint my finger nails...

[Arjon]

just wondering what everyone's thought on deferring mortgage payment? i read that banks will deal with the request on a case by case basis. My question: should i defer and use the money to pay down other debts like credit card debts? TIA

With the caveat that specific circumstances may impact some individual situations, without solid reasons to do otherwise, focus on paying down the debts that have the highest interest rates first. So, if you are able to defer making payments on a mortgage with a rate of a few %, it's very likely to be better to use that money to pay down credit card debts et al that charge a lot more.

[SassyAshley]

Coupon Girl, would your family maybe your son be able to pick you up a cheaper tablet. Then you could communicate with family but also there are a lot of free apps where you can download books, granted they aren't the newest releases. But with that being said that is what I used to do when I traveled as my first few trips of being on my own in a hotel for a whole week were rough. Plus I had to get used to eating out alone so I would take my ipod and read books I downloaded well I ate, especially in hotel restaurants, to me they are more awkward.

[CheriLyn]

@coupon girl
If you're okay with reading on the desktop, most public librarys have an eBook collection on their websites that you can borrow with your existing library card.

[coupon girl]

sassy -My son is still working in a factory and when he comes home he is busy with his girls -so I wont ask him to go above and beyond .He called this morning and I talked to Ashlyn and cara (my hubby can go see the girls next week ) I just cant til the blisters (I have yet to get ) crust over .

I still have a red rash of small cluster ,after around 5 days the blisters appear .My hubby was just on amazon looking ,but I told him it is not an essential the tablet,we can wait.

Thank you Cherilyn for the tip about the e-books ,I could sit here and use the desk top .But I much prefer to sit in a comfy chair .I do have a book I bought in the summer at indigo I paid 3.00 for ,may try that or just do my puzzles .

Hubby I told him is down to 4 cookies after that I make muffins for a treat .My son told me they used Walmart pick up and go after you order online .Maybe more people will be doing that.

Bye for now gonna go for a walk ,just had my homemade potatoe soup -last one from the freezer.

Oh and talked to my hubby's brother he told me last week he seen someone in Walmart buy 30 loaves of bread ,and the other day they were out of laundry soap so some guy was ticked he then went and bought about 30 bars of soap ( I guess he was gonna wash his clothing by hand with the bars of soap -lol)

So glad I have 2 large jugs Purex and 2 smaller jugs of tide to get me going for awhile ,plus if I run out of pump refill soap I always have bars soap .

[Purdee]

there's skype and other chat programs/apps like tango (free and we use it a lot)
thank goodness, we redeemed our PCO points last Xmas and got 2 tablets and gave 1 to my in-laws who are in USA and taught them how to video chat. So now and then we would use tango to chat and they get to see their granddaughters
my own parents 67 and 65 have been using tablets for some years now and they also use the tango app to video chat with their siblings in USA and France

[lilo0003]

@coupongirl your kids can use zoom and then send you the meeting link so you can “see” your grandkids. This can be done on your laptop. It’s free once you get the hang of it it’s easy.
Today we are cleaning the yard and the garden. We all need the sunshine and may as well take advantage of this new found free time.

[coupon girl]

thanks lilo -I will tell my dear daughter as I know she use zoom ,but she is working today as she feels she didn't get enough done with Sebastian running around this week .

Hubby and I just went for a chilly 20 minute walk .

[SassyAshley]

Coupon Girl, I feel like I am in the same boat as your daughter but no kids here just a lot of meetings and taking care of everyone else's issues. I feel like none of my own work is getting done. Luckily my boss understands but it is driving me insane.

[Granger]

We are having a PJ and TV day. I also did some blogging.

We have told our parents no contact. I phoned MIL yesterday to chat and so she could talk to the kids. We are also emailing and sending pictures. I should note that MIL lives across the (country) road. lol They are little behind with the information because they do not have cable either, so I think our chat helped bring them up to speed with COVID-19.

We are watching my niece and nephew on Wed (their mom is a nurse). This is another reason we are voluntarily isolating from parents (they are healthy and in their 60s but FIL does have diabetes and had a heart attack a while back). Our limited contact with the world will be to provide by SIL with child care while she does her part in all of this. I will be logging on and doing online learning with my students next week.

Stay home as much as possible, friends. I am not saying this to instil fear, but this virus has a lag of 2 weeks. We have to learn from the other countries in crisis. We will be leaving to get groceries and that is it. We are stocked up for about 10 days right now.

[Angela273]

I redeemed $10 in gas at Husky. I was emailed the offer and it was going to expire in a few days. I also bought 3 garbage bags full of clothes for twin girl for $20 in total. The lady put the bags outside for me. I left the money for her. Some of the clothes twin girl will fit, others she will grow into. Some of the clothes will only be good for mucking around. Some need mending, others are ok. I have the first load already in the washing machine. This family likes “smellies,” which we do not.

[cath007]

with this crisis I made a important decision,....I will give my rest of heneritance money to my father who will place it for me and still be my money but I will go in social assistance in may...I just dont have enough money to live and paid my medications and dentist fees.... I just hope I will be accepted because it suck.....

[Frugalbigmama]

Pretty quiet day. I have pasta sauce simmering now. We had soup for lunch today late So we won't eat till later but will be easy to put dinner on the table.

[SassyAshley]

Okay, tried to act like today was any other Saturday which meant cleaning day.

I actually started my day off working, I worked late last night to try to get caught up on my work since I spent almost all of Friday in meeting and helping others. I got too tired last night to finish so I finished this morning. I was making entries on our website, the way out website work is I post it on the back and then check it on the front. I got everything posted last night but when in this morning to check everything I posed yesterday. It took me about an hour but that section is now done.

Then my plan was to start working on the front hallway. Originally I was going to tidy it up and then do the deep clean tomorrow. Well once I got started I just ended up doing my deep clean. I moved everything out of the hallways, swept it multiple times to get all the dirt up and then I tested out my new mop and washed everything down. Took me about an hour an half to two hours but the front hallways and main hallway have been scrubbed down. Still need to do that kitchen but I will tackle that tomorrow.

I needed to use the Laundry tub which had some items in it, so I cleaned all of those. These are still some possible mouse items that were in the basement. Originally I was going to bring them up and wash them but since my anxiety started acting up so have my OCDs and I could not find a way to bring them up without freaking myself out. So instead I too my bleach solution sprayed them and wiped them down. These are all small appliances we store in the basement, they will still need to washed with dish soap before we use them again but this way they are sanitized and can be put back into their homes and out of my way.

Dishwasher has been emptied and I just need to reload, not a lot to go back in . I think there might be a few hand dishes left to be done after I reload but I think I will leave these for tomorrow.

I think my new goal is to tackle one big project each day of the weekend and I am trying to find smaller tasks that I can start and stop to work on during the week. I figure when I take breaks from work I can clean but I need things that I can start and walk away from if something comes in I need to deal with ASAP. Since we now have no so many people working remotely we aren't really a 7 am to 5 pm business anymore as people are now working when they can, especially those home due to the daycare closings.

I am really trying to find a routine or something "normal" as even today I can feel my anxiety building. But I did fight the urge to leave the house. I bought a mop when we were at Wal-Mart the other day but today when I went to do the floors I discovered we almost of the cleaner I use, I thought I had a full bottle in the basement, I don't. But I was able to calm myself down and not go today to get it. My personal goal right now is to not leave the house again until Tuesday or Wednesday when I will do a grocery shop for some more fresh stuff and some cleaner.

Alright off to make dinner, we are having chicken cesar wraps to use up some chicken some Mom pulled from the freezer and I have roasted potatoes in the oven.

Have a good night everyone.