June 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
We did our shopping today which means a lot to be done over the next few days but that is okay, tomorrow I will make a list of everything we need to do.

Good News/Bad News:
Good News, we spent less on groceries this month, we spent $80 less than last month
Bad News, I am still slightly over budget and we may need a second shop this month as I should have bought 3 bags of milk but I only got 2

There were a number of things we kind of fine line of do we need to buy or can we wait, a lot of these items I picked up just to be safe so hopefully this will mean next month I will not need. Plus I got a few different things this month to see if I can find some cheaper alternatives, like instead of buying the Vanilla Yogurt we normally get, I got just the plain Greek Yogurt which I will see if I can sweetener and flavour myself as that will be a large savings. Plus I am hoping this one works better as a Starter in my Homemade Yogurt which I need to try making again, maybe this weekend.

I did grab another package of Ground Beef and Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, it looks like Beef prices are going up but so far Chicken is the same. Without these I would have been on budget so I am good with this. We looked at the Frozen Chicken Breast but as is with most frozen Chicken Breast the sodium content is higher than I would have liked, so I think we will stick with the fresh.

I know need to decide what we are going to do with the Ground Beef (we have enough Meatballs and Meatloaves, but will check the Burgers) and also the Chicken Breast (I am learning towards pre marinating them so we can just grab and dump in the Crock Pot or Instant Pot).

As I treat I grabbed a box of the Mega Ice Cream Sandwhich on sale for $12 and you get 30. In case anyone was looking at these and not sure the Mega part is Ice Cream, there is no more cookie than a regular Ice Cream Sandwhich but the Ice Cream part is a lot thicker.

They also had the Popcorners on sale, I got these last time as they were on sale for $3.99 and it is a massive bag, they are so good, they have that Salty Sweet things going and they are kind of like a thin rice cake, just oh so good. They were on sale again so I grabbed 2 bags.

Most of shop was produce, some of the prices were a bit higher than in local stores but their produce does seem to stay good longer, tongiht with dinner we made a Salad and the cucumber I use is from our shop 5 weeks ago. There were a few other things i wasn't sure about the price but now tha I have brought them home and weighed them out actually the Costco price is good, in produce we got:
Mushrooms (Grrr these went up in price but they last 3 to 4 weeks vs the ones at No Frills which only last a week)
Romaine
Celery
Onions (More than I would have liked to pay but we were running out)
Cucumber 2 x (3-pack)
Cherry Tomatoes (I thought these were over prices but when I compared them to the small container we have at home, actually quite comparable)
Zucchini (I need to check the price on these tomorrow)
Peppers (I want to weigh these tomorrow I think it may actually work out cheaper than buying by the lb)

I still only got frozen berries, the prices were still a little high for my liking but I did get another bag of their Frozen Triple Mix Berries which I am loving. They are huge berries and they are quite sweet which I like. I noticed on a lot of the frozen fruit it is much cheaper to buy frozen, this month we got another bag of Triple Mix Berries (Blueberries, Raspberries & Blackberries) and Pineapple which was so much cheaper to buy frozen.

I also got 3 bags instead of 2 of the Frozen Veggies, but I bought different varieties this time. I could not find a package of just Green Beans so I ended up with a mix of Green & Yellow Beans plus Baby Carrots. If I really just want Bean I can pick the carrots out and save them to cook later. I also got a Stir Fry mix as something different to try and another bag of Brocolli.

All and all I am super happy with my shop and I will go over and break down my receipt tomorrow to see what was on my original list vs what we actually got. I am hopeful next month we will be back on budget, fingers crossed. But honestly I cannot complain since we are not having any take-out if needed I will jsut move that money to groceries and I would prefer to spend this money on groceries that last a few meals vs just one meal.

Have a great night everyone.

[Angela273]

Oy. I hurt. I’ve been doing so much work outside. Gisele has been helping me try to figure out my composter. I bought it late last fall, but it hasn’t broken down the materials they eat that I had expected. I took about 1.5hrs work on that late this afternoon.

I have dug about 3/4 of the dandelions from our front yard. Still a lot more to do in our back yard. Our neighbour’s big tree is covering out back yard and garden in small circle tree seeds.

Ds’ teacher finally realized and acknowledged that several students had earned Math certificates from doing their work on the Mathletics website. Ds was one of these students. He was proud of himself. Less than 1/2 of the students in his class have accomplished this this spring. He hasn’t been able to keep up with all that thus teacher assigns, but he’s working on it and we make different priorities for different chunks of time.

[coupon girl]

Morning ,our front door is being put in this morning ,we need to social distance and if we talk to the men we need to wear masks they asked ,so we will be spending the morning in the back yard .

Saw the girls yesterday and that is always a joy,we took them mcdonalds for lunch.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! Beautiful day here today. I can't wait till DS gets up so I can put him to work. We are totally cleaning out the shed and taking our space back!

I owe him some good grub since he has been fending for himself the few days and well he doesn't like doing dishes so he doesn't use them lol

So I have macaroni cooking now to make a homemade mac and cheese. I took steak out of the freezer for dinner. Will serve with perogies, green beans and ceaser salad. (all stuff on hand so no shopping needed)
I'm going to make pancakes with fresh blueberries for breakfast soon and will make extra so he can heat and eat when he gets up.
I think I will be redeemed now

So this new hydro rate for Ontario- Is it one price 24/7??? I kind of got that impression reading some posts. Meaning now lower rate on weekends now?

[SassyAshley]

Yes, from June 1st until October 31 it is just one rate all the time (the slightly higher price) 24/7.

Come November 1st everyone will be given the option to go back on Time of Use or Option for a Tiered Pricing Plan where depending on use would depend on the price paid but it would be one price 24/7

[Frugalbigmama]

Yes, from June 1st until October 31 it is just one rate all the time (the slightly higher price) 24/7.

Come November 1st everyone will be given the option to go back on Time of Use or Option for a Tiered Pricing Plan where depending on use would depend on the price paid but it would be one price 24/7

So then there is no reason to wait to do laundry in the evening or weekends. Hmm wonder if this benefits us really.

[Frugalbigmama]

Took out a 4pk of chicken breast (skin on) that I paid $1 LB for awhile ago. Figure I will cook it up on bbq same time as steak.
Mac and cheese is in the oven.
Washing up all the dishes now.
I'm getting hungry. Should make the pancakes now.

[Frugalbigmama]

@gisel ta the garden guru. I planted 4 pepper plants from the same container. 3 in the ground spaced out well and then one in a pot right beside the same garden but up on a step. The one in the pot is huge compared to the other 2 (1 plant was stolen!) Guessing maybe better soil in the pot? Its really in the exact same area for sun etc.

[SassyAshley]

I think it really depends on those who used Off Peak. I also find it hard to tell right now since there are so many people working from home, I am working from home plus Mom got 3 hours this week and has 4 hours next week so she is home pretty much all the time so I am not if this is good or bad.

I know a lot of people are complaining about the price difference they feel we are being ripped off because we went from paying 10.1 off-peak to 12.8 but the one thing everyone is not talking is they had asked for price increase when we switched to Summer Time of Use so this may have been the new off peak price.

So then there is no reason to wait to do laundry in the evening or weekends. Hmm wonder if this benefits us really.

[Frugalbigmama]

Just pulled the mac and cheese out of the oven. It looks wonderful. Total cost to make a large tray was under $5. Its the entire bar of old cheese $4 on sale that is the cost. I paid .27 for the box of macaroni. Some butter/milk/paprika. Pretty cheap comfort food!

[Frugalbigmama]

Yeah everyone being home is costing more. Lap top in for me and DS on his computer all day long. And the toilet paper!!! I am noticing I have to change the roll all the time! I keep lights off during the day still (i work in dining room and tons of windows )
My hydro bill last month was $69 and it said I used less energy this year then last. Will be interesting to see with this new rate.

[Angela273]

There are 4x $0.03 videos on CO51 today. Two of them are in the list. Two are at the bottom of the list.

Caddle is also continuing to post their daily $0.05 surveys.

It all adds up. I received my $20.10 cheque in the mail from Caddle this week. A large majority of that was from the daily surveys.

[Giseledta]

morning all, or rather afternoon.
definatly a busy day. i am hoping to get more work done in the backyard this afternoon, if i am not melting...lol
i need to figure out the shade area . i dont have alot, nd it got rather toasty.

supper .. tacos, easy peasy.

[Frugalbigmama]

It sure is warm in the back yard. But finding treasures in the shed. Just sold an item for $20 with pick up this evening. Maybe priced to low... had like 8 people interested as soon as I posted! oh well I am happy with $20 and it out of my space. I guess that is all that matters

[Frugalbigmama]

We have completely emptied out the shed and DS is sweeping it out now. We are tossing so much junk! And found more items to post for sale!