May 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Frugalbigmama]

I'm afraid if I set foot into Costco my budget will go out the window 

I received my tax refund today! So I may splurge a little at Costco. Like buying the econo pack of toilet paper lol I have never bought it before but just opened our last package after not buying any for over a year. I would usually buy on 20x pts day at SDM on sale but always sold out and haven't spent hardly anything at SDM in months so I am allowed a little splurge lol

[SassyAshley]

I have found so far Costco has the best selection. Also because of the size of their packaging I find their limits easier to adhere too and still get what our household needs.

I have always loved Costco but have found a greater love now with the pandemic. Not to mention with one store shopping we are buying things never bought at Costco before and some of these products are so much better than what I was buying in grocery stores.

Even after all of this is over I might have to stick to buying more at Costco as some items I do not know if I go back to the grocery store brands. Most of what we have been buying is the Kirkland Brand

[Frugalbigmama]

I have found so far Costco has the best selection. Also because of the size of their packaging I find their limits easier to adhere too and still get what our household needs.

I have always loved Costco but have found a greater love now with the pandemic. Not to mention with one store shopping we are buying things never bought at Costco before and some of these products are so much better than what I was buying in grocery stores.

Even after all of this is over I might have to stick to buying more at Costco as some items I do not know if I go back to the grocery store brands. Most of what we have been buying is the Kirkland Brand

Honestly Costco has been the only place to shop that doesn't make me feel weird/uneasy (well besides the scary guy waiting in line behind us with the full gas mask on) since all these shopping restrictions started.

Well I went to Walmart for the 1st time in months last night. Waited in a bit of a line outside but once in it was a ghost town which was nice. Sue me but I went in looking for a new Spring mat for outside the front door. (non-essential shopping) I picked up basil too. (Beef was limit of 1 package. Chicken limit of 2) Checked out at the self checkout so I could pay with change (brought my change jar with me so I just had to pour it in) Happy with my purchase

[Ciel]

Powder snow has been falling on and off today. I was using some Lysol Simply wipes on the garbage shed and it is removing a lot of the green stuff and grime. Plan to continue wiping down exterior and interior on warmer day for round 2 as this task has been on my mind this month.

Took photos of the flowers yesterday in case the cold weather affects their bloom time.

I ventured last night into Walmart-lighter crowd than usual on Thur night but not everyone is keeping right in the aisles with their carts. I used the wheeled basket-it's obvious it's not been spritzed in however long a time. Forgot to check to see if store carried plant-based Nestle Drumsticks as apparently two flavours exist (saw someone's post on Instagram that she got hers at RCSS)-got burgers, hot dogs, reduced price Minigo and a couple of more food items. Found a dime in the parking lot and I was thrilled! Haven't found treasure in a very long time.

[SassyAshley]

I have to agree, I have felt the safest shopping at Costco. Granted it does seem like my local one is less busy just by nature than some other locations. For example I have heard Markham and Vaughan can be quite busy and if you go at the wrong time you are looking at 2+ Hour line ups.

Both times I have been to Costco *Knock on wood* it has been about 15 to 20 minutes wait, although the second time it was weird it was like they were letting groups in vs 1 in 1 out which caused the wait to be longer. Not to mention the woman about 4 or 5 people behind us who would not listen to instructions and decided to fight with the guy at the door and he decided that until she listened "no one was going in and we could all just stand in line" his exact words.

Even inside, yes some areas are crowded but I have found usually if I go and get grab something else and come back the area has cleared and actually a lot of times I ended up in aisles all by myself. I needed to grab parm, there was like 4 or 5 people in the Aisle so I grabbed produce and came back and no one was in the aisle. Although there was confrontation in the Dairy walk-in fridge as someone "misunderstood" the rules. The other issue we have faced if people not waiting (but, I think that happens at every store) when you open a door in the fridge section to grab something and someone comes up behind you and reaches in, but if I am being honest that was a pet peeve before all of this as I feel you are invading my personal space.

Honestly, this has made me love Costco even more and seriously on some items I may never be able to look at other brands the same.

One thing I do wish is that my store had a bigger produce section. I find the US Costco their produce sections are huge with multiple options, more like being in a regular grocery store and I have not seen the same in Canada. Plus it seems like since Covid started our produce section has gotten even smaller to make room for more paper products.

Honestly Costco has been the only place to shop that doesn't make me feel weird/uneasy (well besides the scary guy waiting in line behind us with the full gas mask on) since all these shopping restrictions started.

Well I went to Walmart for the 1st time in months last night. Waited in a bit of a line outside but once in it was a ghost town which was nice. Sue me but I went in looking for a new Spring mat for outside the front door. (non-essential shopping) I picked up basil too. (Beef was limit of 1 package. Chicken limit of 2) Checked out at the self checkout so I could pay with change (brought my change jar with me so I just had to pour it in) Happy with my purchase

[Giseledta]

ok, youngest and i took a drive to a fritter shop... omg. so yummy. and so many cars on the road. that just needs to stop. so many vehicles.

then independent. .. drove by costco ... full parking lot. .. yep.. parking lot full... line around the building.

got what i needed at independent.
picked up plants at local garden store .. very independent.. small biz.. great distancing.. 2 people only allowed in the greenhouse. all plants are on my kitchen table. staying in for a few days.

i need a drink. sigh. my anxsity is high.

[FinallyFree]

Went to the LCBO yesterday and today (early to be first in line). We are now stocked up until the end of June so do not need to go there again! Shocking to me how many refuse to wear masks

Tonight we are treating ourselves for dinner. A local place has reopened after doing renovations so we will be getting some of their home made burgers and fries (a chicken burger for my partner and a massive everything burger for me!).

I will also pickup a pizza for my neighbour since I am going anyway.

Wishing all a wonderful upcoming weekend and stay warm - it will be chilly!

Happy Mother's Day on Sunday to all who will be celebrating!

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Well today did not go as planned at all. I was having IT issues yesterday so our IT guy fixed it or so we thought. All of a sudden last night I realized I could not get my internet to work correctly at first I thought it was WI-FI until I realized hang on, my tablet is working fine on WI-FI. Then I thought it was the program he fixed for me, nope turned it off still not working. At this point it was getting late for I just went to bed but this morning right back where I started from again. Some how my VPN connection which is what allows me to connect to the office is my issue. We spent over 2 hours this afternoon trying to trouble shoot and fix it but nothing worked. We will try again Monday.

This lead to nothing being out for dinner, I do not know what it is and another pet peeve of mine is Mom will not just take something out, she always comes back with I am sick of choosing I choose when you were growing up and couldn't decided so not it is your turn. Whatever if I am home or not busy but coming out of the meeting just after 4 to find out there is no plan for dinner and I still need to catch up on the 20+ emails I got well we were trying to fix my computer was a little bit grrrr. Let's just say not how I wanted to start my weekend but whatever we have moved on, I have pulled Homemade Mac & Cheese from the freezer and that will be dinner. Yes, we are just having Mac & Cheese as I could not come up with a side and I had Salad for lunch.

I will admit, I was bad, well the IT guy was working on my computer and had remote access, I was on my tablet looking at options of our new workstation we want to put in our dinning room. I have found a few I like but I need Mom to confirm just how big she sees this being, I know she feeling the bigger than better but we still need to fit a Hutch in the Dinning Room as right now everything is living in boxes on the Dining Room Floor as our Dinning has no Storage. Once we figure out the size, I can better figure out a budget. I already have one option in mind but not sure it is what she is envisioning.

I wanted to get some stuff done this afternoon and tonight but I must admit, all of a sudden I am feeling very tired and very done so we will have to see how I feel after dinner and see if I get anything else done today.

Have a great evening everyone.

[Ciel]

So I was looking for one brand of shoes and came across a store I don't know in Vancouver (Lord's Shoes; most brands are sized in Euro sizes) that seems like a cross between Tallcrest Shoes and Harry Young Shoes (both stores long gone from Toronto's retail scene) plus the store sells clothing. My Pinterest boards have been filling up with pins as a result. Saw a top I really like for its fabric print but I do not have $200+ just for the top. The afternoon flew by.

One of my four orders has gone to the courier. Another order only just today was charged to my account so I assume that means it is being shipped (two of four places I don't have accounts set up so it's just wait and see if e-mails are sent). More snow fell (fluffy curls) that makes this May 8 memorable.

Mom tried to get me to go to a grocery store for her but I said no, I was not going out today (she was out two days ago with Bro for errands and I did my shopping last night).

The evening is shaping up as one for air-popped corn and mugs of tea. What a feeling for spring. Could be a good movie night on Disney+ later.

[Angela273]

It’s been a very long week and one heck of a day with one of my daycare kids today. Mother’s Day gifts were sent home with my daycare kids. They were pretty excited about it.

[coupon girl]

I just ordered a $25 gas card for petro from my RBC credit card points -may as well as the points are 25% less til may 15//20 -yes some free gas .It is nice to have since I am not saving on groceries .

Off to get our grocery pickup at fortinos this morning .

Wow it is light fluffy snow out there ,I have never in my many years seen that on may 9 th

[coupon girl]

my girlfriends birthday is next week and we don't buy gifts for each other but in this time -I will social distance and take her a gift bag (so glad I buy things year round for my totes)pair of apple socks $4.00,calgon small summer lotion and body spray$4.00 (boxing week sale last year)2 white face clothes .50 each =1.00(bought from target may years ago)a card from value village as I buy then for a bunch of 10 and pay 2.50 =.25 cents ,may put in an airwick candle $4.00 from a few years back=$13.25

Gift bag I always keep mine and reuse them ,tulips on it so spring feeling .

She will be so happy when your birthday is acknowleged during this covid time by friend or family from a distance of course .

[barbis9]

Yesterday I took the bus into hamilton. Very surprised that the majority on the bus weren't wearing face masks. I prefer to wear one as pollen is bothering me, and I find the mask helps! Whenever I sneeze, I get death stares from strangers with no mask on.

The reason I also avoid Costco is they have amazing Parmesan chips. They are so delicious. I mix them with nuts and I also put it in soup and salads. The bag rarely lasts 🙂

[SassyAshley]

Barbis, oh how I feel you on the allergies and the death stares. Before I left the office we had to have a chat about this as a few us so suffer with horrible allergies. I told one person, "I can literally eat a whole bottle of allergy pills for Breakfast and at some point I will still sneeze"

With this being said, I am working from home, but those in the office are now required to wear fabric masks at work.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I have decided to spend some of my "free time" to try to organize my life. I am someone who loves a plan, loves organization but tends to live in Chaos. I can come up with the plan but seeing it through is where I usually fail as finding the time to see my plan through is my issue. Now, I am forcing myself to take some time for me and part of this is accomplishing that things that only important to me (normally I prioritize work or things we need for the house vs just me, but let's be real 98% of it is work).

Last night I came up with the Brilliant ideal to create a Costco Master List. These are things we normally buy at Costco so I can track what we have, what we need to buy. As I continue to try to embrace this once a month shopping (although, I will be happy when this is over and I can go to more than one store, I miss the Chinese Market) I am trying to figure out how much of certain things we need to get us through a month. I am not opposed to having extra on hand, I am still trying to somewhat maintain my stockpile. More so what I am looking for is if we still have something on hand do we have enough to last another month.

I have never really look at how much we need to last a month without shopping normally even if we were not doing a large shop we could run to the store to grab a few things. Although I am not opposed to one small shop if we need like Milk and other items but I am trying my best to only need to shop once a month, limit our time out of the house. For the foreseeable future I will be working from home, even if other stores are able to start to opening to the public so far our plan is to stick with curb side pick up only and looks like Mom work is the same so as far as we can see this is our normal for at least a few more months, for me it might be till the end of the year.

I also want to start stockpiling some recipes we can make, this week has been bad for dinners. Even with us both home the number of times it is 5 pm and we have no plan for dinner is ridiculous so I need to start planning ahead.

Alright off to see what else will come my way today. Have a great day everyone.