April 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Ciel]

Date posted: April 07, 2020International Suspensions

See details



Red alert: Canada Post is not accepting mail and parcels for these destinations due to a temporary service disruption.
Date posted: April 07, 2020
United States of America
Mail and Parcels destined to all regions of the U.S.A. continue to be delivered. Changes to USPS operations and delivery processes to protect employees and the public from the spread of COVID-19 may impact delivery times.
International Destinations (excluding U.S.A.)
Postal services have been suspended to many international destinations at the request of the receiving Postal Operator or due to the lack of available transportation. The tables below indicate the following:

• Service available: Canada Post is still accepting letters and parcels for these destinations. ** Indicates only partial service availability. See PDF list for details.
• Suspended service: Canada Post no longer accepts any letters or parcels for these destinations.

For destinations where service is still available, expect significant and unpredictable delays. Delays are the result of both limited air transportation and changes in the way Postal Operators deliver. Like Canada Post, many international Postal Operators have introduced changes to eliminate customer interactions at the door and support social & physical distancing. These changes may delay delivery and signature will not be available on some items.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/our...ce-alerts.page

Canada Post PDF -first two pages indicate International Destinations to which full or partial postal services still continue from Canada to those destinations. Third page indicates the countries (many!) to which postal services are suspended.
https://www.canadapost.ca/assets/pdf...-suspended.pdf

[coupon girl]

Son just dropped a bag of milk and a fresh loaf of bread from sobeys to us-yummmmm will go nice with the pasta tonight
His poor hands look raw and red as I kept my distance,he said mom I am constantly using hand sanitizer and washing my hands also wearing gloves all day .

I gave him the girls easter gifts(cara's was in a xmas bag ,who cares ) to take home as he scooted off .I spent about $40.00 on each grandchild ,they got a nice toy chocolate bunnies and a bag of easter eggs to spilt,so glad I buy early thruout the year as I got Ashlyn a lovley denium dress size girls small for $7.00 from the gap last year ,now everything is 20.00 and up in her size range ,soo miss my grandkids my son will send me a video link or a picture of the girls with their gifts .

[Granger]

We are doing the same with Gramma @coupon girl

My daughter's hands are also red. Poor thing.

I did better with my computer breaks today and double my steps from yesterday. Still not where they were. That is okay. May do a walk early tomorrow.

We dyed Easter eggs with my niece and nephew today. We also let them hide and hunt plastic eggs in the yard. It was a nice break.

I wrote two quizzes and lost both and had to redo them. What would have been a 30 min job at school took 2 hours. Ugh. Oh well. Trying not to complain. Folks, I am not an e-learning fan. I am not a slacker so I feel I must earn my income and have been trusted to do so. It is really hard though for me to see my family and feel like I can't tend to them because of work. The separation is better for me.

I have worked non-stop this week. Tomorrow I will put in another full day and then I will take the holiday break and focus on the family.

[coupon girl]

granger -my dear daughter feels the same way as you,she is not a slacker and cant tend to Sebastian as much .One day he threw all his puzzle pieces all over the living room ,another day markered all over his arms as he said "I have no paper mommy".She just started her new job a month ago so she really has to prove herself in this day and age .Yesterday my dear son was going to let us use his phone so we could face time Sebastian for a minute -of course we would keep our gloves on as I picked up his phone -but daughter said sorry every day she has a online meeting at 4.00 o,clock.My daughter is getting up at 5.00 a.m as she needs to speak to other people from her job in another country,sometimes up til 1.00 a.m at night ,at least her hubby only is online with his job from 9-5.

So she called me at 5.00 p.m as she was outside on her back porch while Sebastian was playing on his trike ,I got to hear him laugh/cry about an ant crawling (remember this little guy only lived in a condo til last august)

Then my son had talked to his sister and they both decided to go half in cost and buy me a tablet for mother's day -goodness I said thats' too much ,no mom then you can connect with the grandkids more ,what a nice gesture.

My daughter doesn't want me to go out grocery shopping ,so I am making it last 12-14 days from ordering online but I do have a 10.00 promo card from shoppers I got last month that expires on the 16,i may go to shoppers one day really early at 8.00 when they open for seniors that first hour ,as online is a bit more expensive ,we will see.

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning!
Short work day! Will pop out for groceries early afternoon and hopefully miss the crowds.

For dinner last night we made homemade burgers on the bbq and ceaser salad. Then we played poker (just for fun) with both boys which is a rare occasion since oldest DS would normally be working and youngest would normally be a hockey. It was fun.

I will take the turkey out of the freezer today (DS received it at Christmas from his place of work as well at $100 cash and Christmas gift. He was proud of that turkey!) So we will make a nice turkey dinner this weekend. We have the time!

Have a nice and safe weekend everyone!

[Frugalbigmama]

oh and I received a 2nd surprise box from PC Insiders. It had pancake mix, raspberry jam, coffee and a mug. What a surprise. I noticed the box in the foyer yesterday morning so DS must have brought it in from the front door stop the day before.

[Ciel]

oh and I received a 2nd surprise box from PC Insiders. It had pancake mix, raspberry jam, coffee and a mug. What a surprise. I noticed the box in the foyer yesterday morning so DS must have brought it in from the front door stop the day before.

Perfect box to make use of on this chilly day! Great delivery find!

[Frugalbigmama]

My guy has 1/3 of the kitchen floor down. Looks wonderful so far!

I texted my mother asking for her grocery list. Told her I would go today for her.

[Ciel]

Online adventures:
Just after midnight, checked my bank account-no HST/GST Credit. Tried again after 9am-ka-ching!

Sent an e-transfer donation to local community group (based on money saved on March food buys)
Placed my Mr. Case order (it would not go through if I did not let the check box to retain my card info for future use stay checked because I tried twice, then light bulb moment!)
Ordered two of three death files related to Dad's passing. The last one has to be mailed in and I don't have printer access for a form unless I can figure out a direct connection to printer without router. But I'll have the money later in the year, not this month.
Paid for 1 device, 1year subscription to keep McAfee software going after my trial ends in 19 days (19.99Cdn but will see how it shows up in my account as payment goes through US site; regular sub price is $79.99 so I have a year to fund it)
My G-mail account is wanting to verify me as it does not recognize my laptop so I had to provide the home phone for text msg (still waiting) because the e-mail address is connected to the McAfee and Lenovo services. Sigh.
Plan is to pop into Shoppers for two items and maybe a couple of beverages.
Have to see if I'll have enough $$ left to give Lenovo money for another year of warranty or upgrade from basic depot repair service to service at home or pick accidental drop insurance and disk secure service instead. Decisions but I want to spend more $$ at Shoppers.

Where did all those downpours of rain after midnight and early morning come from? Some water system must be a tad lighter today.

[Ciel]

Ok, last online deed-upgraded my laptop warranty for onsite repair, accidental damage and keep your disk. Applied 15% off coupon code (came with laptop) and saved $4.89. So I did not add another year, just upgraded services for remaining 11 months. $30.81. Expensive month for me but it's now done.

It's not lost on me that I will have about $23 dollars left after everything goes through plus one e-transfer fee. Time to get my bankbook updated and go to Shoppers!
Food-cooked one of the two ground beef balls I had thawed overnight in the fridge. Made taco beef and enjoyed most of it. A little leftover for later. Cooked some quinoa and ate my last Granny Smith apple. If Mom does her cooking soon, then I can get going on the stuffed pepper soup for weekend meals.

[Frugalbigmama]

Line ups everywhere! But not at Giant Tiger so was able to get everything on my moms list there. Including ice cream and chocolate bars. She is so cute lol. I only bought the 3 pk of peppers for us.

[Ciel]

Longer lineup was outside the Food Basics store and there was one at Fortinos. Hardly anyone at Shoppers where I got my two things and did a quick look at items. Bank-only had two other customers ahead of me; teller said no more passbook updates since Monday but she was able to print a statement of activity from last date I read from my book. Bank is closed tomorrow (no Sat service) but will be open on Monday. Good idea to check hours online.

Even Mom wanted me to go shopping and I declined because I knew that this year's shopping requires more patience and we can manage until Monday for groceries.

[Ciel]

Noticing that our Prime Minister has indicated that one year will be needed to return to normalcy. YIKES. Think he must realize that people still need to pay for things each and every month. Once the weather stays warm for good, I expect that media will report housing crisis for those who did not pay rents or mortgages.

[cath007]

Good late afternoon everyone!!!! It is snowing outside .Dad did go for grocery shop at maxi .Long line up of 30 minutes lol he said. He exchanged 10$ and made 10$ in pc points not bad.We will take it lol Nescafe was in sale @3,99$ and he bought 3 jars we where down to 2 jars.Grocery should last for a while since he spend 100$...Just need to use what it in the freezer too...maybe i will buy ground beef,salmon,sausages and chicken the other week....will see...

supper is sliced smoked ham ,mashed patatoes and sliced pineapple cannot wait nothing like confort food.

have a great evening and night everyone.

[cath007]

my samplesource is on preparation maybe shipped now....hope the coupons expire late ...that would be a good thing with that covid situation