April 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Giseledta]

well.. i can say this about isolation.. it is breaking me of a take out food habit.....
hubby slipped while taking the dogs out.. he is ... at the hospital .. as with neck nerve damage we cannot take any chances. he was saying it hurt him and he had a headache

got a late night text from middle child. they will hopefully skype tonight.

[SassyAshley]

Giseledta hope your Hubby is okay.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Okay, we did it, we went to Costco. The line was insane to get it as in as it was long but actually, it only took us about 15 to 20 minutes to get in and honestly we never really stood in one spot that long other then waiting for the transport truck to go through.

They are limiting Chicken Breasts and Ground Beef to 1 package per membership. We got one of each, normally I do not buy Ground Beef at Costco but in my plan to only shop once month and we are running out of Meatloaves, Meatballs and Homemade Burgers so Mom will make and freeze those. We also got a big package of Ground Pork as well, we use it in the Meatballs and Meatloaf and it was $3 off per package.

I spent way more than I wanted too but in and attempt to only go to one store I did buy things I normally buy else where. Actually it was a mixture of only going to one store and if we did not get it at Costco would another store have it. One of the joys of small town living is something odd things like Mushrooms are out of stock, normally in a day or two they have more in but how many times in a week do I want to go looking? So I figured since Costco had them I would just grab them. Also, since our next shop may not be Costco I grabbed things we do not quite need right now but would in a month or so, so I grabbed them to be safe. I mean all and all happy with what we got and hopefully either next shop we spend less or if not I will move money from the house expense budget or the take out budget. I have to be honest, I know people are still having take out but I just can't, just going out shopping was stressful enough for me.

With this sad, we will probably go to No Frills next week for Yogurt & Cheese and maybe some more fruits and veggies. The prices at Costco were just too higher or the package just come with so much in it we won't go through it before it goes bad. We won't go to No Frills until next week so we are still just shopping once a week.

[coupon girl]

Giseledta -hope your hubby is doing okay

Guess what everybody it will be 12 days when I go for my grocery pickup on Tuesday at fortinos ,and I don't care that I am not going into any stores this holiday,do I care that I am having a chicken ,no we don't .With only 2 of us its feasible to go that long ,well I did have my son pick up milk for me yesterday .

Mind you I am running a bit low 1/2 a bag of nuts ,1 popcorn left ,no chips,little bit of crème for hubby's coffee....Supper tonight was blueberry pancakes for hubby and I .

I just chatted with a friend my age that I us to work with a few years back ,she said the grocery stores were awful and it was cold standing in line ,people flipped out over one per family she saw at least 2 people get upset.What bothered me was she said she is not taking this seriously yet ,wow I found that at our age we should be .

Just heard on the t.v Canada post is not delivering pkgs for now ,so they will go to post offices .Darn it all have waited since march 18 for a pkg for me from amazon(tablets for my extreme dry mouth)hopefully soon.

My dentist called and said my cleaning for next week is cancelled ,I figured that ,she said we will call you when we are up and going in the future ,so must floss each day and brush at least once .

Ashlyn called and said she lost her bottom tooth ,she wanted to tell me -ahhh .My son is having a sleep party at his house (not really just the four of them on 2 mattress,s on the floor ),Ashlyn age 6 is all excited .

[flemeth]

well.. i can say this about isolation.. it is breaking me of a take out food habit.....
hubby slipped while taking the dogs out.. he is ... at the hospital .. as with neck nerve damage we cannot take any chances. he was saying it hurt him and he had a headache

got a late night text from middle child. they will hopefully skype tonight.

@Giseledta hope you hubby is okay

[walkonby]

well.. i can say this about isolation.. it is breaking me of a take out food habit.....
hubby slipped while taking the dogs out.. he is ... at the hospital .. as with neck nerve damage we cannot take any chances. he was saying it hurt him and he had a headache
got a late night text from middle child. they will hopefully skype tonight.

@Giseledta
rats on that awful timing! Hurting oneself when hospitals are brimming with Covid patients. I hope your DH's pain diminshes sooner rather than later.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Well we were driving to Costco (SO NICE, to be out of the house) I had a little talk with Mom about changing how things are going at home. We are both off our schedules, I find I am sleeping in later, I mean my commute is hard LOL, I find myself getting up at like 5 to 7 or even worse a number of times in the last couple weeks I haven't been feeling the best so I have stayed in bed late. I think I am not feeling my best as I am off my schedule and my body isn't sure how to react to this. But I still have a bit of a schedule since I am still working.

Mom on the other hand is staying up late, sleeping late and has no schedule since she is off work.

We aren't getting anything done around the house. We are eating more and more oh crap it is 6:30 we have nothing out for dinner, we have no ideas for dinner what can we cook super quick. Both of us just seem to be spending most of our time sitting on the couch, me working and her working on her journals or on her laptop but in general very little movement.

We discussed that even though we are home, we need to plan and eat better dinners. Although plus side is no take-out just cannot do it even this morning no stops at Tim's.

Also, not necessarily something every day (that would be my ideal, but sometimes you have to pick your battles) but we need to start tackling stuff around the house. We need to identify what needs to be done and we need to start checking stuff off the the to do list. I am going to aim for something every other day even if they are small items or something that just takes us 15 minutes, at least it is something.

We have already started to talk about some stuff we can tackle this weekend. I might see if I can push my luck and try to write a to do list and then see if we can prioritize the list. I know aiming big, but hopefully we can get some stuff done plus get more movement in our lives well being stuck at home. Even just walking the grocery store today was nice to get moving.

Right now our big things to tackle are:
Cleaning up and re arranging the living room so we can move the Air Walker to the Living Room (Mom stopped talking about this so I thought she changed her mink but nope, brought it up again today). Really hoping to get this one done this weekend, thinking it would be good to get into the routine of getting up each morning and even if it is just 10 minutes in the morning talk a walk on the Air Walker.

We want to sort and inventory the freezers, see exactly how we want to break down the chicken breasts, the ground beef and just know exactly what we have, are there any hidden gems in there somewhere. Also move some stuff there is stuff in the stand up, I would prefer to have in the chest freezer.

Also there are two areas in the stockpile room that has some boxes and what not stacked up that we need to sort through and clean. This will give us more room to store stuff until we can get the craft room cleaned up. The craft room, not sure we can tackle this yet as we need to move some furniture out and we would need help for this but we might see if we move some stuff around.

More than anything my biggest goal right now is to just get stuff out of the house. I am not comfortable selling stuff right now but if it is garbage get it out and see if I can make storage room for stuff I will sell once this is all over or even donate since all donation locations are closed right now. There will be some challenges but I am sure I can work around them.

Have a great night everyone.

[lilo0003]

@Giseledta what awful timing, hopefully your DH is ok.
Apparently a global pandemic is my key to a real eat from the freezer and pantry challenge. We are not even close to running out but the freezer is thinning out quickly. Pantry has some space but groceries are now just the basics so no stocking up. I was so upset when I returned from No Frill yesterday. It seems like even with buying the necessities my bill was so much higher. I did not properly split my order so I lost a few dollars in points. I know I need to let it go but there is so little we can control right now and this is one area I have always had so much control over.

[Giseledta]

thanks guys. Hubby went to teh small town hospital . we live in between a large city one way.. and a small town the other way. small town hospital 90% of the time is fabulous.
and this time it was... in and back in 2.5 hours. he is sore. muscle damage. but .. taking it easy for the time being.. and meds, and streaching.



skyped with middle. oh that did my heart good . they mentioned when they were coming back.. and that they had a bunch of food as well to come back ... equally.. oh my heart. they mentioned one of thier roommates took most of the toilet paper... they were pissed. they said they left some.. but said they were not impressed and the person was ... - enter bad word here- . and followed it with what the H### is it with people and toilet paper. people are - enter bad word- my husband and I were laughing ... alot. This child has a insane moral code. Very... do what is right kinda kid. .


also mentioned , the oakville RCSS is well stocked on most items, expect bread. equally- take that with a grain of salt... as my child , love them... but middle and youngest.. loves fancy bread. a nice rye, a smoked onion bread. a good sourdough.. yep... those are my kids. lol. plain white bread... - mom cant you make some.. this is... ugh . lol. yep.. equally.. tad spolit...

resting for the night. hugs to all

[wendymac]

It has been weeks since DH and I went out to shop, and we were shocked. Lines were long and at every grocery store in Collingwood. And it was *cold* standing out in the elements. I got into Giant Tiger in about 15 minutes, and I spent more there than I have ever done before because I wanted to stock up, especially on fresh veggies, pet food, and juice. We despaired at the lines at Freshco and Metro and Loblaws...so we went back to our small little town where the new grocery store--a big one!--had no line outside at all. It is more expensive on a few items, but I bit the bullet and just paid up as tho' I were a regular person and not a smartcanuck. Now I have a 6-lb red cabbage that I need to be creative with to make sure that none of it goes to waste. Can cabbage be frozen? By which I mean, can cabbage dishes be frozen? Good thing "the beast" will keep for weeks in the fridge.

Giseledta...God speed your DH back to full health.

[Arjon]

Apparently a global pandemic is my key to a real eat from the freezer and pantry challenge. We are not even close to running out but the freezer is thinning out quickly. Pantry has some space but groceries are now just the basics so no stocking up. I was so upset when I returned from No Frill yesterday. It seems like even with buying the necessities my bill was so much higher. I did not properly split my order so I lost a few dollars in points. I know I need to let it go but there is so little we can control right now and this is one area I have always had so much control over.

I've been thinking about points for a long time, so it has become second nature, which means it's hard to turn off. That said, being less focused on them is a form of control, just a different one from what we're used to. And it's not the only one. Just some of the other things we can control are:
- being willing to pay more for things than we would have a couple of months ago to help keep ourselves and others safer by shopping less often;
- being self-disciplined enough to visit just one store when we do shop;
- planning our meal schedules in ways that stretch out the time between shops;
- understanding that being low on or out of something doesn't mean we need it;

And not getting points you could have isn't the same as losing some.

[Arjon]

It has been weeks since DH and I went out to shop, and we were shocked. Lines were long and at every grocery store in Collingwood. And it was *cold* standing out in the elements. I got into Giant Tiger in about 15 minutes, and I spent more there than I have ever done before because I wanted to stock up, especially on fresh veggies, pet food, and juice. We despaired at the lines at Freshco and Metro and Loblaws...so we went back to our small little town where the new grocery store--a big one!--had no line outside at all. It is more expensive on a few items, but I bit the bullet and just paid up as tho' I were a regular person and not a smartcanuck. Now I have a 6-lb red cabbage that I need to be creative with to make sure that none of it goes to waste. Can cabbage be frozen? By which I mean, can cabbage dishes be frozen? Good thing "the beast" will keep for weeks in the fridge.

To get out of the house yesterday, I went for a mid-afternoon drive to see what the lines were like outside various stores in the part of Mississauga where I shop. Because my only couple of shops during the past month+ have been finished by 9:30, I was also curious to see what it was like later in the day. I suspect the stores being closed today and Sunday affected the numbers of people, but fwiw, this is what I saw from the car:

SDM #1 I'd estimate at least 30 people lined up outside
No Frills ~25
Walmart I wasn't at at angle where I could see how long the line was, but there definitely was one
Food Basics ~10-12
Loblaws 0
SDM #2 8-10
LCBO at least 30
Metro 15-20
RCSS ~20-25

[Ciel]

well.. i can say this about isolation.. it is breaking me of a take out food habit.....
hubby slipped while taking the dogs out.. he is ... at the hospital .. as with neck nerve damage we cannot take any chances. he was saying it hurt him and he had a headache

got a late night text from middle child. they will hopefully skype tonight.

((Hugs)) He's going to be on and off with the pain. Hope rest of family can help you with taking on household chores and things while he deals with the pain and figures out when and what he can do and when rest is all that will happen. Your pets might be a good comfort for both of you if they notice his discomfort.

[Granger]

@Giseledta Hope everything is well with your hubby. A crummy time. You have enough going on!

I am slightly envious of all your abilities to eat from a pantry! With a family of five and then watching my niece and nephew once a week. We have to shop once a week. I am pretty sure we would need two carts for more than a week! lol On the other hand, I am proud of my family for only buying what we need and making sure it doesn't go to waste.

I am going to chill this weekend and am really looking forward to it. Happy Easter to those who celebrate! Jesus our hope is alive.

[Ciel]

@coupongirl Thanks for the Canada Post parcel alert. That means it will be more bother than useful to order things via post if not directly delivered. My Simons order seems to have stayed in Montreal for two days now. My Staples order is likely stuck somewhere too. Will visit my post office tomorrow and see what might be held for me. Grateful that I paid for delivery for my order from Mr. Case. I will seriously consider doing another order in May if that is what it takes to stock up on some things. I have not been keeping up with news most days aside from 10-15min in the morning.

#Spwinter -nice coating of snow in gardens and dips in lawn. Saw the forecast for next week-mostly snow/showers after Monday (rain). YIKES. Just before my shower, the power audibly flickered/browned and then recovered. No high wind so maybe a wire or pole got nudged too hard by a branch, creature, or vehicle?

Was busy pinning some clothing items to my Pinterest before bedtime, as I did the boring work of visiting the usual store websites to see what is likely to interest Mom. Might be a pointless exercise if store parcels are not coming out but I'll get an idea of what she likes. So many scarf prints are fun to look at (The Bay) too. Footwear remains an issue and without the ability to try things on in store. Saw a pair of slides that might work for her for garden and outdoor work but I don't think they'd suit for a 30 min walk to stores.

Morning plan-roast some carrots, onions and celery and the one sweet potato to have something dense to go with quinoa or lentils. Work on sorting and recycling personal effects. Will use a media pocket binder page (coming in order on Monday) to hold all my computer related purchase papers and donation receipts (got one two days ago for March donation), so I don't have to keep moving other papers or objects to find them. Think some wall washing might help pass the time too. Plenty of tea will be consumed as well.

Afternoon plan-read with a mug of tea. Go for a short walk and admire which spring flowers are still standing after the snow arrived.
Work on the job jar list of things to do when temperatures are warmer like touch up paint in bathroom etc.

OK, time to finish breakfast and get those vegetables into the oven on low broil! Keep cosy, everyone!