May 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[SassyAshley]

John, sorry to hear you are stuck in the middle but it does look like your manager has your back. Hopefully all goes as you hope it will.

Giseledta, my Mom LOVES pizza, you would have thought after I worked in the local pizza place for 5 years and she literally had pizza every Friday night plus whatever nights I brought extra homes but nope, still at least once a week I hear about pizza. We make one pizza on the biggest cookie sheet we have. I was actually shocked when I started to break down the package just how much was in the package, they were all stuck together. I will buy this brand again, this is one thing our Costco does not seem to have.

We tried to have a movie night last night but we ended up turning the movie off (when it came out so many raved about it, we do not get it) but instead starting watching a series on how some of the most popular movies almost were not made.

[Angela273]

I brought in a bin of toys yesterday. They were mostly baby and toddler toys, in case I wanted it for daycare. I sorted and posted them for sale this morning.

[lilo0003]

I used coupons for the 1st time since this started. I just can’t handle the massive grocery bill. Financially yes, but emotionally no. It was just 2.50 but I was happy because just made life feel normal for a moment. I have laundry on the line and am enjoying the warm day on the deck.
John: don’t feel like you are in the middle of this, good for your workplace for going what’s right and the plane is better without such an asshat. But his behaviour is not about you it’s a reflection on him. I ha e no time for such BS.

[johnb56789]

John56789 i am sorry you are caught in the middle. however, i am extreamly pleased that your boss has gotten rid of the Homophobic individual . i have no patience for homophobic behavior. I am giving you a very long distance Mom hug.

@johnb56789 sending you (((HUGS))) I have no tolerance for homophobic behaviour people can be very ignorant I am sorry you are caught in the middle of this issue

John, sorry to hear you are stuck in the middle but it does look like your manager has your back. Hopefully all goes as you hope it will.

John: don’t feel like you are in the middle of this, good for your workplace for going what’s right and the plane is better without such an asshat. But his behaviour is not about you it’s a reflection on him. I ha e no time for such BS.

Thank you all for the words of encouragement and hugs. And I will say this, it is not only my mananger that has my back. Almost all my other coworkers would too, which is why I love my job so much. It might not pay the best, but it's the people that honestly make THIS RCSS a great place to work. AND it's not only my coworkers in my department, it's EVERYONE on nights... I hope to be able to stay with this store for some time, and maybe work my way up with my degree (Maybe to an Assistant Store Manager??)...

I will keep you all updated with what happens on Monday night...

[SassyAshley]

I am with you Lilo on the grocery bills, on one hand I am thankful I have the money and can make it work but on the other hand my anxiety cannot take my breath being taken away every time they give me my total.

With this being said, yes I spent more than I wanted to again this month but we have been discussing ways to bring the costs down and each trip so far has included stock up items. Our first trip was over the counter meds and some cleaning supplies, this one was meat and more cleaning supplies. Good news is as far as cleaning supplies are concerned I should be stocked for the next 6 to 12 months give or take on a couple items.

[coupon girl]

john -good thing your manager has your back(no excuse for the other guy,s behaviour) -as I have dealt with a lot of managers over the years of working and some are super others not.

As for the grocery's being more expensive -I spent $45 more in april than in month of feb -but to me its worth it as I don't want to go into no stores with arrows nobody ever follows(my neighbours have told me ) plus one neighbour had a cashier in shoppers cough on her -then said its allergies -maybe in time I will go back ,but I am waiting for ford to say we can visit another family of 5 or under as my daughter does online pickup and grocery delivery to her house ,so we are all not out there in the world per say .

I social chatted with 2 neighbours today at the end of driveway ,plus did 2 loads of laundry and hug it to dry -yes saved a bit on hydro.

[Ciel]

I received 2 parcels yesterday and went shopping at shoppers drug mart and received 20x the points 24k. Now have 92k+ points.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great points balance!

[Ciel]

angela -how nice of your acquaintance to give you clothing .My dear daughter gets clothing from her sister-in-law on her hubby's side she has 2 boys age 8 and 10-and Sebastian is in size 4 and size 5 now .It really helps she said .

My daughter in-law gets clothing from her sister's daughter age 3 for cara and she inturn gives her ashlyn's clothing -so when little cara gets some clothing it has gone thru 2 kids before her.

When my kids were little many years ago I use to get some dresses from a german lady on my mom's street but nobody ever gave me clothing for my son .Oh and I use to sell a big garbage of my daughter's clothing in the newspaper's free ads for $20 or $25 dollars .

Interesting point about how it's possible to get girl clothing but not boy clothing from neighbours. I recall one neighbour would pass a few of her older daughter's dresses along to my mother for me to wear. They were much nicer than what I usually wore! I don't recall the neighbour passing along any of her sons' clothing to Mom for my brother. And we had neighbours with sons but there was never any mention of passing clothes to another family (active boys tended to shred or to rip something during play or biking).

[Ciel]

Welllllll... It's been an interesting past few days at work that has lead to (We believe) one of our coworkers quitting...

Last night, one of our coworkers was scheduled to come in but didn't, I heard from others that he got into an argument with our manager, and started yelling at him the night before (Friday night)... We believe this all started becuase he is unfortunately a homophobic individual... And he found out about me being gay. Apparently he didn't like that, and started to talk to others behind my back telling them how horrible of a worker I am and that he is so much better than I will ever be... That is what the argument on Friday night was about, but my manager proved him very wrong about that fact... Something he was waiting to do for a very long time (Pretty much since this one coworker started...) So we will see what my manager has to say when I see him next on Monday (Since I'm sorta stuck in the middle of all this crap that's going on...)

It has been a lot to deal with, but I hope it is all over soon...

Very sorry to read that one worker is making trouble for you and sinking his own job at the same time.

It's invaluable to have a manager that knows you versus someone at work who is out to make misery. (((Hugs)))

[Ciel]

Live streaming on Youtube now through High Park's (in Toronto) cherry blossoms! https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy...erry-blossoms/ Later 6pm show via Instagram of the same!
*seems to be a technical difficulty as the YT screen is just a page, not live feed yet...


Martha Stewart's Twitter account mentioned a free online course by a Yale professor on understanding happiness in your life. https://twitter.com/marthaliving/sta...14740590698496

[Ciel]

Better temperature today-WOW! The older tulip bulbs are the open blooms right now. The newer dwarf tulips seems tucked close still. I took a quick walk around for branches and noticed scilla and some other small purple flowers in the northern part of property among the tall grass (first time in a few years that we haven't mown the grass in April).

Quinoa was cooked this morning and enjoyed with some leftover roasted vegetables. I saw @SassyAshley 's post about banana muffins and know what to do with the three frozen bananas in the freezer-make muffins tomorrow morning (which will go well with tea for breakfast).

Last night, before I posted various contests on the board, I was browsing the Lee Valley Tools website. Found a useful item for outdoor use (downspout support) under $10 and with the free shipping, I bought it. I had seen a flimsier version on a different website and decided I had to buy the LVT version.

Tomorrow, I'll have to dedicate some time raking parts of the yard to fill a yard waste bag for Tuesday's collection. And make those muffins!

[Giseledta]

grocery prices are killing me. seriously... i simply go .. ok. and pay what i need to . my freezer is 90% full. my pantry is rocking. i am responsable for 5 adults ( my youngest turns 18 in a month) .... and a daycare when i am up and running. i will refuse to increase my dc rate unless things get totally out of control, earliest would be January. equally.. my parents know thier kids eat very well, and i will not comprise on that. They are also currently fully aware of how much food thier child( children) are eating , and thier love of vegtables, and fruit. and real food...


any hooo. i suspect groceries will be high for a bit.

any idea on how to help wth grocery prices...

i am working my garden .. lots of stuff started or planned and lots of containers of stuff.

anyone else....
ideas,,

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Another slow start to the day, I slept until 10 am, I never sleep this late unless I am sick, not sick so I will just assume my body needed the sleep. I am feeling better but this left me lacking ambition and feeling a bit groggy.

We did not get much done today, after I had Lunch I found my ambition but Mom did not and her bad knee is really bugging her. I was going to go ahead and just do some stuff on my own but she kept coming and trying to help even though it was hurting her so we just got a few things done and stopped.

All of the cleaning supplies from our Costco shop were taken down the basement and put away. I took a quick inventory and we should be good on cleaning supplies for at least 6 months, maybe 12 months so that should help my budget. Well downstairs we looked at a few areas we want to clean up and organize in a different way.

Kitchen has been cleaned, emptied dishwasher, re loaded washed a couple literally a couple hand dishes.

We were in our dinning room today and kind of mentally reorganizing it to try to make more room as this not being my office feels like it is a long way off. We have some ideas we can tackle, also I really really want to get rid of our current table it is too big for the space.

I spent the rest of the day working on stuff on my laptop, it was not work but stuff for the house. Coming up with meal plans and ideas. Also I have been doing some journal work to try to help myself work through all the stuff in my head right now. So today has kind of turned into a me day.

Going to keep doing my stuff on my laptop. We started watching Making the Cut on Amazon Prime (we are using the 30 day trial) so just going to relax. This week is going to be super insane, I have a lot to get done so trying not to think about it, that is a task for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful night everyone.

[Ciel]

grocery prices are killing me. seriously... i simply go .. ok. and pay what i need to . my freezer is 90% full. my pantry is rocking. i am responsable for 5 adults ( my youngest turns 18 in a month) .... and a daycare when i am up and running. i will refuse to increase my dc rate unless things get totally out of control, earliest would be January. equally.. my parents know thier kids eat very well, and i will not comprise on that. They are also currently fully aware of how much food thier child( children) are eating , and thier love of vegtables, and fruit. and real food...


any hooo. i suspect groceries will be high for a bit.

any idea on how to help wth grocery prices...

i am working my garden .. lots of stuff started or planned and lots of containers of stuff.

anyone else....
ideas,,

There was a letter to the editor by a Fortinos pickup order customer who realized she was getting charged full prices on items she believed were sales items. It has to do with Instacart doing the billing despite the order being taken and processed by Fortinos. She's not happy about it.

[johnb56789]

grocery prices are killing me. seriously... i simply go .. ok. and pay what i need to . my freezer is 90% full. my pantry is rocking. i am responsable for 5 adults ( my youngest turns 18 in a month) .... and a daycare when i am up and running. i will refuse to increase my dc rate unless things get totally out of control, earliest would be January. equally.. my parents know thier kids eat very well, and i will not comprise on that. They are also currently fully aware of how much food thier child( children) are eating , and thier love of vegtables, and fruit. and real food...


any hooo. i suspect groceries will be high for a bit.

any idea on how to help wth grocery prices...

i am working my garden .. lots of stuff started or planned and lots of containers of stuff.

anyone else....
ideas,,

Same for my parents and close family friend. For my friend, we normally budget about $300/mo for groceries... From March 15th to about last week... She has spent a total of about $850 on groceries (And part of that total includes groceries I couponed for her and brought a retail of $1000 in groceries that we paid $437 for)

My parents over the same amount of time have spent about $2,000 on groceries (Small town with nowhere except Foodland and Vinces to shop, limited things my parents can eat, and a total of 5 mouths to feed)...

On the otherhand, my grocery budget is about on track (About $50 since March 15th). It helps working the nights and being able to shop with almost no one around... And my eating out is WAAAAYYYY down. Since March 17th, I've spent $20 on eating out. Once was breakfast with coworkers right before everything closed down (We were their first and last customers of the day at our local Cora's) and a burger from Mcdonalds since my floormate ate what I was gonna cook one night...