April 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Giseledta]

afternoon all.

spent a bit of time and dropped off... no contact .. easter baskets to each of my daycare lovies. texted parents after.

now home. hada good chat with youngest.
goal for today... spotless kitcehn and work on family room.
work on dc room for 15 min


supper is spinach and cheese raviloi with chicken and a alfredo sauce.

after chatting with youngest.. my choice is click and collect for all groceries going forward. her word... there are to many dum a@@@@ out there .

[Ciel]

Lenovo sent me three separate e-mails in the early morning for each warranty upgrade I ordered. I also got notices just after midnight (while I was online) that my three upgrades "shipped" so that was fast and funny to see.

Staples has come through with my credit on item two! E-mail said 7-10 days for credit to appear but bank account shows original purchase charge reversed and separate charge for the single item *which I will ask about at the post office tomorrow in case it's there*. I better spend the balance of my money tomorrow so that I am within the 12 transactions my account covers per monthly(a Mandalorian colouring book for certain-$8.47 at Shoppers and each book comes with a few golf pencil-size colouring sticks).

After the roasted veggies were done, I had the last ground beef ball cooked off and then started on the stuffed pepper soup. Decided to add the last of the fresh basil wasting away in the fridge-just stripped the leaves, put them into a metal mesh ball and popped it into pot. Should have added 1 tbsp brown sugar to cut some of the acidity of the tomato sauce. Noticed that top of basil sprig had a little cluster of leaves so I kept that upper sprig and have it in water to see if it might start to root--if so, then I'll find a jiffy pot or pressed soil disc and set up the sprig for growing indoors for now. To be continued.

I am getting into Mom's tin of cherry candies because that is about the only snack I can find in the house besides the Oasis Antioxia beverage in the fridge ($2.99 sale at Shoppers less 50 cents off manager's coupon and the flavour I like but never find at this store).

Did take the trash out and did a short circuit around the yard for branches. Mr. Wind has been huffing and puffing this afternoon. Maybe there's something to discover on a walk soon . One route that I don't use as much might be the way to go. At least the snow melted but the temperature is still feeling icy cold.

Old newspapers have been recycled after articles were clipped. One financial article mentions how now many people have time to roll coins at home, help kids count money in their piggy banks, shred old documents, review warranties and see if some of them are expired or if products are no longer in use, etc.

Yes, I feel like taking a nap. Ms. Sunshine says, get that walk in and then think about a nap. Feet are about to obey...

[Ciel]

Easter Sunday special on Youtube-Andrea Bocelli will perform live from Milan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5n8yLSGFps

[SassyAshley]

I must admit that I am noticing through all of this, our food waste is way down. Even when we saved a little of this or a little of that, that wasn't even enough for a meal we have found a way to turn into a meal some how and use it up. For example we had a tiny amount of Beef Fajita mix left a week or so ago, we also had some extra pasta in the fridge, I made an amazing Beef Fajita Pasta, it was so good.

Today has been a lazy day, I am still fighting this headache I have had for at least a week now, I am over it, it can go away now. I did work on my crochet a little bit and spent some time on Pinterest looking for new meal ideas. Did not find much in the way of meals but did find some new ideas for sides, might go back on in a little bit and see what I can find. I would really like to create a meal plan, but Mom is not a fan, I think it is a metal thing she decides ahead of time she doesn't want what we planned. Only thing is right now so we are not having take out she would be kind of forced to eat it, maybe I will write one and see how it goes, I find it easier to meal plan when she is working and she doesn't know I wrote a meal plan.

We decided we will tackle the basement tomorrow, we both were not feeling it today. I might also wash the bedding tomorrow, we will see what time Mom gets up. If I am going to do the bedding I like to start it in the morning and have it done, I hate it when it is like 7 or 8 pm and I am still trying to get through the bedding when all I want to do is go to bed. I am such a morning person and Mom is such a night person.

Ok, time to go see if I am come up with something for dessert. Have a great night everyone.

[Ciel]

City Parent magazine has a short and sweet April/May issue. Of interest to those of you involved in childcare-77 things to keep kids busy during in self-isolation. See how many of them you have had to do already. https://cityparent.com/print-editions/

There was a video online of one UK father who takes his two sons' toys and freezes them at night and gives the boys outdoor time to figure out ways to defrost the toys the next day . His motivation was to be able to enjoy a sandwich while his sons are working on thawing their toys.

Oh, there was Disney Plus ad at the bottom of my screen while I was reading the SC Blog. Of course, The Mandalorian was seen. The Free Trial button is tempting but when I got onto the site, I only saw two subscription options. I went into Terms of Use to see the terms and free trial offers are limited and can end without notice and there's a cancellation protocol. Can't risk it right now to enter any card information (bank account of not so much left) but it is so tempting to see The Child in context of the show. Want, I do.

[Frugalbigmama]

Made a nice dinner and kichen is clean.
Played cards with both boys ( they played cards all afternoon....so nice they get along well now. Years ago they would argue all the time)
They played all afternoon just the 2 of them. Then they read it was sibling day today?

Netflix now. Mad Men

[flemeth]

Good morning all
I am going to try and make some donuts fingers crossed it turns out good and is edible.
I am down to my last 2 apples and pears so will have to head out on Monday for some basic stuff. Don’t want to go to the stores today since it will be crazy.

[coupon girl]

flemeth that sound like my house down to 2 pears and 3 apples ,for sure I wouldn't go out today ,good choice.

Well a crappy sleep last night up at 2.00 a.m watched t.v til 3 then tried to go back to sleep ,only I had a head ache ,may have gotten 4-5 hours sleep.

Added a few more items to my fortinos order online for Tuesday ,now I am done .

[Shwa Girl]

Good morning all
I am going to try and make some donuts fingers crossed it turns out good and is edible.
I am down to my last 2 apples and pears so will have to head out on Monday for some basic stuff. Don’t want to go to the stores today since it will be crazy.

About the store being crazy today, I thought I was going to be smart and go early. Well, 35 people were smarter than me. Got to the store at 6:55AM. Was #36 in line. Got some good 50% off deals: frozen vegetables, bread to freeze, Yukon Gold potatoes.
For fruits and vegetables, we have been eating mostly frozen stuff rather than fresh.

[Shwa Girl]

afternoon all.

spent a bit of time and dropped off... no contact .. easter baskets to each of my daycare lovies. texted parents after.

Great idea!

[Frugalbigmama]

About the store being crazy today, I thought I was going to be smart and go early. Well, 35 people were smarter than me. Got to the store at 6:55AM. Was #36 in line. Got some good 50% off deals: frozen vegetables, bread to freeze, Yukon Gold potatoes.
For fruits and vegetables, we have been eating mostly frozen stuff rather than fresh.

I left home at 8am and there was a line up most places. I was bundled amd warm and brought coffee .
Feel like i bought junk food but wanted to have bbq items for boys and oldest aske for beef wieners etc. Total was $70.47 and i redeemed $70 in pts. I also bought more frozen green beans since they were on for 1.97 and good to have in freezer.

My man is working today so im sure i will go for a drive with him later and just sit in car as usual. It is cool but sunny here.
Off to jump in shower....yesterday was so lazy i didn't shower!!

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I slept well last night, yippee, although I did end up going to bed later than I had planned. Normally I love bedtime, I love my sleep but lately I find I dread it because most nights I just toss and turns and in my mind work out, okay if I fall sleep now I will still get __ hours of sleep, so it is just frustrating. But I slept yippee.

I am really torn on ordering groceries, part of is starting to think it is our best option going forward but then the other part of me feels like I am taking that spot from someone who might need it more. I realize how serious this is and part of me wants to put my head in a hole and stop reading what everyone is saying for my own mental health but at the same time I need to be update to date on what is going on as I am now part of these meetings at work.

One of us will need to go to Wal-Mart of maybe just No Frills this week. Turns out there were things Mom needed that we could not get at Costco, part of me was like well I will run to No Frills today but one, I have not washed our masks yet, they are in a baggie in the basement and two apparently our stores are insane as it looks like even though they have been told not to come, the cottagers are here in full force. I was hoping if I went at a random time maybe it wouldn't be so busy but now it looks like we will have to wait until next week. WOW, who ever thought grocery shopping would be such a big deal??????

Ok, gotta figure out what we are going to do today, Mom is still in bed so think it is time to see if she is going to get up today.

Have a great day everyone.

[coupon girl]

yes I am so happy -my son pulled up with his wife and Ashlyn and cara in the car ,he called and said he would be here in a few minutes .I got to blow kisses to my sweet granddaughters ,I also gave Ashlyn a coloring book for losing her 2 teeth (see I always keep stuff on hand when I buy on sale )

Cara (age 2)kept waving so I decided to run along the driveway and way to her too and the best thing I didn't cry .

They are going to drop off gifts to 2 cousins on my daughter-in-laws side and a gift for Sebastian their cousin on our side. .So I sent the giftbag I had made up for my dear grandson for easter with them ,and I made him a card out of stickers and coloured a dinosaur and glued it inside and used the markers .I feel good now that all my grandkids have their gifts from nana and papa .

My son bought hubby a mcdonalds coffee ,so he is enjoying that .

[Giseledta]

good morning all. going to be a quiet day.. hubby says he wants to clean the eves . i may work on the backyard for a bit. laundry is going and i did 15 mon on the dc rooms already. will do that 2 more time.
I am dragging my feet on it big time. and i need to just get more done

[lizzie bargain]

sizeable dump of snow overnight-went to SDM and NF and surprisingly no line to get in.