April 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Ciel]

@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.

Eating from the pantry is getting boring but it keeps us out of store lineups. Have a blessed and relaxing day with your family, @Granger !

[Ciel]

Updated on: April 09, 2020The Binbrook post office remains closed on April 9 due to a situation related to COVID-19. Mail and parcels will not be delivered today in the local area served by this facility.

Following direction from local health authorities, regular mail services will resume on Saturday, April 11: regular hours will resume at the post office, and delivery services will exceptionally be provided on Saturday and on Easter Monday to deliver mail accumulated since last week.

Good news, @coupongirl !

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning!
We enjoyed coffee amd quiche for breakfast. I tidied the kitchen. Now catching up online.

Sun is shining. Will go for a walk in a bit. No plans today just take the day as it is.

[coupon girl]

Happy easter weekend everybody ,stay safe .

Well my pantry is getting low so I added to my online fortinos list and the cost is getting up there ,but at least they have rice in today which I wanted .

Yes granger I agree with the food situation my son has the 4 of them in his household and he is still going to work everyday,so nice he has today off so a 3 day weekend for him.He told me they are always going thru food and let me tell you little cara who is 2 can eat more than her sister Ashlyn age 6 most days .When I use to babysit her the past few months -I would always take my own lunch bag there (my son would say why mom,you can eat our food ) but I liked some of my own stuff ,plus most days I would give cara my whole pear or grapes cut up (as she would come up to me and say "I have some" in her own words -love her and I would give her my pear.lol

Talked to my dear daughter last night Sebastian loved my teddy bear card with a heart I coloured in it for him ,was able to put a general mask in for my daughter too incase she had to go out (she is using a delivery service for her groceries in Toronto ,as she is working so much at home on her job)-see a mother 's job never ends to all you young mom's on here.

I know it will be hard on sunday without my kids and grandkids ,but we all must do our small part in this .I am happy to have a whole chicken to cook and yumm make homemade soup after .The little things that make up happy now and the friendly hi from a neighbour from a distance.

[barbis9]

I know they say with all of the stores closed you can still get everything you need but that is the part that bugs me is buying something I have not seen.

Right now I need to buy a new chair for my office, which is set up in my dinning room. I cannot sit on our dinning room chairs all day without having serious back pain. So right now I spend probably about 60% of my day sitting on the couch, but now I am in the living room with no proper work area and my laptop literally in my lap.

But the idea of buying a chair I have no seen worries me, what if it is worse than what I already have.

Do not get me wrong I realize why they are doing what they are doing closing stores but I wish some were able to stay open and maybe be by appointment only. This way, if you need something you can get it with less risk but still be confident with your purchase. But this would also mean that people would have to be truthful and if they are not feeling well, in self isolation or quarantine that they do not go to stores and if that was the case we would not be where are. This means again their are no clear answers other than to hope sometime in the foreseeable future things start to get better. So far I keep hearing if people start complying maybe in July or August, Wow that feels so far off.

costco has great office chairs. I have had my for years, fully adjustable, well cushioned.

[barbis9]

I got up early to have a shower before daycare boy arrived this morning. The mom sent me a text while I was in the shower, telling me he was staying home with grandpa.

Anyway, I had set a different alarm in my phone to enter a local online contest at 6:45am and I won! “Congratulations....You can pick up a Family Size Tuscani Pasta at the station.”

That's awesome congrats!!!

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Slow start to the day here, I slept in. I am still having trouble sleep, I thought between going out yesterday and getting some activity in my life and just how tired I was, I would crash hard. Nope. But I did sleep in today, only downside for me is when I sleep in too late (past 7 am, sad, Yes I know) I tend to feel very tired all day and lack ambition.

Just after I got up today all of a sudden my tablet started making a weird noise, it was my niece calling me to show me she is ready for Easter, she showed me her dress and her basket. Her one brother was also with her, she told me they were having a pretend nap and she read him (and me) a story. I think we talked over half an hour she was telling me everything go on in her life, including fighting with her brother, losing her tooth and apparently a friend has moved and she is very upset as they do not know where she moved to. Also go to see Cousin, his wife and the baby who was having Breakfast. It was a nice change although holding down a conversation with a 5 and 2 year is interesting.

We are just making Breakfast now, we pulled some homemade pancakes from the freezer which are in the oven now, I am having apple, mom is having blueberry. Mom is doing the dishes and after breakfast I will go clean the bathroom. Not sure we will tackle the basement today, we have already turned down the heat in our house but it got a little chilly last night so the house is kind of cold and our basement is always cold in the winter (it does not have proper heating, we only have a rad in one room to heat all 3 rooms and this was added by previous owner which I do not understand how they built all of these houses with no heaters in the basements). We will see what happens once we eat.

Okay, going to try to find my ambition, have a great day everyone.

[barbis9]

Yesterday while waiting patiently in line for groceries, an elderly gentleman with a walker cut in behind me, and kept getting closer to me. I told him repeatedly to stay 6 feet away from me, but he ignored me!! So frustrating, the people behind him were annoyed and thankfully I was wearing a mask and had hand sanitizer. If this happens again I will call security, though I did mention it when I finally got into the grocery store, and security did nothing.

Trying to shop once once a week but find it hard as not one store carries what I normally buy.

Took one of my cats to the vet as she isn't eating much, and has lost a pound in three months (she wasn't overweight), so my GST bonus amount was spent on her. Just waiting for the blood work results. I don't know how old she is, as she came from the city shelter, so we are doing geriatric blood work. Poor thing Himalayan - lots of fur and a tiny body - 3.3 kg.

I hope everyone on this forum is staying safe, and has a great Easter weekend 🐇

[SassyAshley]

I feel like everyone is spending more on groceries right now. I was chatting with some people from work (via phone, email or text), we all kind of check up on each other. Everyone even the ones who normally just shop, do not pay attention to prices and just buy what they need are saying they are paying more as even their shopping has changed. Either they have stopped trips to Costco or are only shopping at their local small town stores and aren't going into the bigger towns to shop some of the cheaper stores (buying everything at Foodland vs Driving a bit further and going to Food Basics like they used to).

I think another large factor at least in our house is, since we do not know when we will shop again, when we do shop we are buying things we do not need right now but one it is in stock and two we do not want to have "just run to the store" (since you can't just run to the store now) so we are grabbing it now. At Costco yesterday I grabbed the following:
Small Garbage Bags (we use these for recycling and when we clean so the bags do not get too heavy, we will probably need in a month or so but since we aren't sure when we will go to Costco again, I grabbed them)

Windex (my plan had been next time Costco put it on sale I would grab it but since we are not shopping on regular basis and again who knows when we will go to Costco again, their everyday price is better than buying locally)

Downy (this was on sale, I just bought one a month or so ago we have not opened, but since we only use downy due to skin issues and the best place to buy is Costco, WOW downy has gotten expensive at other stores, I grabbed it just to have since it was on sale and we will use it)

Bacon Bits (We buy the real bacon bits and only at Costco, really again would probably need to buy in a month or so but will we be going to Costco, so I grabbed, one bag last us 4 to 6 months)

Mom's Tea (Mom drinks Earl Grey and the Tetley version never goes on sale and I cannot chase the sales, we do not need right now but without a Sale Costco is best price so we grabbed a box)

My Tea (Was on sale, honestly did not need right now but on sale I couldn't say no, I am still working and going Caffeine free will not be happening)

Maple Syrup x 2 (I needed one but grabbed 2, we use the Real Maple Syrup and Costco is the best buy so I stocked up)

Right there is somewhere between $50 to $100 I spent did I need to do it now, no but these are times we are living in right now. My hope is down the line due to my stocking up we will have weeks where we spend less and it will all even out in the end.

[walkonby]

@SassyAshley
I commend you for carrying on those time consuming but precious family conversations on the acceptable social distancing devices. Packed your patience for those I am guessing.
You're sleeping in and the bouts of low energy you've experienced must be grating on you since you seem to have some of the best plans and often organize ahead of time what you want done.

I blame the work-at-home scene. If one is unaccustomed to that then for sure it's tempting to just sit and do stuff later....or never. I would be horrible without the discipline of workplace structure....clearly retirement proved that...lol.

Anyhow, cut yourself a bit more slack here, you'll accomplish a few of those home projects eventually and once you do i thi nk it will snowball giving you an even clearer head.
Best of luck!!

[SassyAshley]

Thank you Walkonby, yes working from home is a challenge. I used to work from home here and there before but you still had structure and a routine as you knew you were going back to office or in my case who knows where I was being sent. I was luckily to get 2 days in a row working from home before a branch somewhere needed me. I think for next week I need to find a bit more of a routine, really hoping we get the air walker moved upstairs, I am really excited to try starting my day with a 10 minute walk to see if that helps.

I had to laugh yesterday when we went out, I actually missed some of those long drives I used to take for work. Right now it would be a nice treat to go for a 2 or 3 hour long drive. With this being said next week I do need to go for a drive as my car has been sitting a lot lately but it will be more of 20 to 30 minute drive as that is what i recommended for cars that are sitting. Guess, I am keeping my snow tires on for the time being.

Oh and I forgot to mention, my boss starting this week will be introducing a "Coffee Break" he has 10 staff who work under him and will be splitting us into 2 random groups each week. Either on Tuesday or Thursday you will be taking a 30 minutes "Coffee Break" with your group where we will just sit and talk but the one rule is we cannot discuss business. This will be done via conference call to keep social distancing but done during business hours to give us all a break and also to help us keep our internal relationships. We all get a long really well and we are talking and yes some work calls turn personal but this is just a way to try to help everyone's mental health including those of us working from home who may be feeling a little bit cut off from the office interaction.

[Frugalbigmama]

Thank you Walkonby, yes working from home is a challenge. I used to work from home here and there before but you still had structure and a routine as you knew you were going back to office or in my case who knows where I was being sent. I was luckily to get 2 days in a row working from home before a branch somewhere needed me. I think for next week I need to find a bit more of a routine, really hoping we get the air walker moved upstairs, I am really excited to try starting my day with a 10 minute walk to see if that helps.

I had to laugh yesterday when we went out, I actually missed some of those long drives I used to take for work. Right now it would be a nice treat to go for a 2 or 3 hour long drive. With this being said next week I do need to go for a drive as my car has been sitting a lot lately but it will be more of 20 to 30 minute drive as that is what i recommended for cars that are sitting. Guess, I am keeping my snow tires on for the time being.

Oh and I forgot to mention, my boss starting this week will be introducing a "Coffee Break" he has 10 staff who work under him and will be splitting us into 2 random groups each week. Either on Tuesday or Thursday you will be taking a 30 minutes "Coffee Break" with your group where we will just sit and talk but the one rule is we cannot discuss business. This will be done via conference call to keep social distancing but done during business hours to give us all a break and also to help us keep our internal relationships. We all get a long really well and we are talking and yes some work calls turn personal but this is just a way to try to help everyone's mental health including those of us working from home who may be feeling a little bit cut off from the office interaction.

We have been doing the same Re: group zoom meetings to see how everyone is doing. Its a good thing to do.

[Frugalbigmama]

Today is a lazy day. Im doing nothing.

[coupon girl]

Well walked with hubby this morning at 11.00 a.m 18 minutes was too cold we had toques on with our winter coats .

I just went on my bike at a fast pedal (recumbent ) did 10 minutes 16 seconds ,pretty good since I haven't used it in soo long .I will try to beat my record another day .

I chatted with my neighbour a few doors down on the phone,her and her hubby go out in their car most days (I notice when I am looking out the window at the street) she told me she doesn't mind going out to stores .I don't relish the thought of doing it that much,to each their own I guess .

Supper will be fish ,steamed broccoli ,use up my last bit of zucchini and French fries .

[lilo0003]

DH and I did a 7km walk this morning it was windy and blustery but it felt great to get out. We have decided to do yoga twice a week. It’s been ages so we are going to start with easy intro stuff. There is lots online but I just feel blah with these long days inside. I found a recipe to use the Costco canned chicken that was an impulse purchase last year. It’s a chicken chili and it’s super easy and very yummy so lunches are ready for a few days. Dinner is lasagne roll ups and I have some fresh spinach that needs to be used up so I will use that instead of frozen. Like others we are really paying attention to food waste and it’s certainly an easy way to help manage the grocery costs.