July 2020 Frugal Chatter

[SassyAshley]

Giseledta we have been doing the same thing, we always have a stock pile on hand but I have been thinking if the second wave hits in fall or winter what would we need? So each month I buy a few things to go into the stockpile, exactly if the second wave does not hit than come Christmas time we will have extra on hand and won't need many groceries.

I talked to Mom and we agreed we are going to look into ductless, I will try to book some consults this week. I have not said what my magic number is but I have one in mind. Not happy about spending the $$$ but I think in the long run it will pay off. We also discussed that if we do this, we go back to how we were living during the Covid Lockdown, no take-out, no extra, groceries need to be back on budget and I can make it work.

Might sound really odd but personally I am viewing this as a challenge. I know we can do it and we just need to be frugal which we can be, we have been here before but normally it isn't because we bought something it is because of circumstance. I know Mom struggles with this as she just constantly views this as going without but it is a challenge, how frugal can we be?

I am more than happy to go back to baking our own buns, making our own pasta sauce and so many other things. I think it will make the treats like eating out more of a treat then being expected.

Am I insane?

[cath007]

Have a good evening everyone!!!

[Angela273]

Ds is in an awkward in between size for pants right now. Some pants fit him in the waist but are too short on the legs, some of the next size up Fit in the waist but are too long in the leg. I had him try on clothes again when I got back from shopping.

I had a successful shopping trip this afternoon. 1/2 price sale at one second hand store.
$6.50
1x shirt for me
3x shirts for twin girl
1x pair of kid jeans

Salvation Army - buy anything, get a coupon for $5 wub $10 on a Saturday before the end of 2020.
$19.50
1x t-shirt for Dh
1x t-shirt for me
1x awesome fall jacket for Ds
2x pants for ds
1x swim shirt for twin girl
3x glow necklaces 2pks for our kids ($0.50 each)
1x glow bracelets 5pk (maybe for an indoor daycare day)

[SassyAshley]

Busy day, I did not get much done this morning before I took Mom to work. I did manage to write myself a to do list but that was about it.

When I got back I tried to push through and get as much done as I could but our house was still super hot so I had to start taking breaks as I was getting light headed from the heat.

Celery has been processed and packaged, I still have some left from our last shop about 5 weeks that is still good so it looks like the hack I found online is working. I have the older stuff plus a few pieces from this batch that had a few marks we will use up this week.

I also processed the Romaine, I took off any outer leaves that were damaged or had marks chopped and washed those for Salad this week. The rest of the Romaine Hearts have been packaged for use in the upcoming weeks.

As well I made some peanut butter dip to have with apples and celery this week as a snack. I love this dip but for some reason I do not make it very often, I am hoping having it in the fridge will entice me to snack more during the week, my eating habits have been horrible because of the heat.

Took the last 2 packages of Bolognese Sauce out of the freezer (will need to make a note to make more, maybe next weekend in the Crockpot, I have some cooked Ground Beef I can use). I used this to make Instant Pot Lasagna, for dinner, I have been tweaking the recipe to get it more to our liking.

Now we are packaging the BBQ Chicken and Shredded Chicken Parm to go in the freezer it looks like we should get about 10 meals maybe a couple more. It will work out to be somewhere between $2 - $3 per meal in Chicken which is about average for us.

It is quite cool outside right now so I have all of the door and windows open and am hoping it will help cool the house off. I am hoping it will still be cool in the morning so I can knock out a few more things. I would like to cook up a few meals to have in the fridge so we can just reheat them this week as I it is going to be busy only having 1 car plus both of us working.

Alright off to check my to do list, see what I still need to do and if there is anything to add.

Have a great night everyone

[coupon girl]

evening -my dear hubby put nails up in garage to hang items up rakes ,shovels ,brooms as a lot of it is off floor now .

Son left at 7.00.pm and ashlyn cried she wanted to go into the pool one more time -ugg nope he said
Well on sunday i will maybe paint a few spots on ceiling ,then give the rest of tin to son as he needs a bit of ceiling paint ,then do nothing for the rest of the day.

[Granger]

I am 37 and the heat bothers me! We have not been enjoying outside the past few days. Indoor enjoyment it has been. My latest distraction is planning my to be 5 yo birthday in social distance fashion (July 28). It is going to be Pokemon theme. I sent out the e-vite in order to create the party schedule. Each visit she will get bead for a necklace and a Pokemon card. I made the Pokemon beads today (the girls made their own treasures) and got the cards second hand from a Buy and Sell. I also bought her gift second hand from a Buy and Sell. It is a doll house (new) with some gently used LOL dolls.

We have finished the fourth Harry Potter book in the series. My school library app went down a couple days this week and I nearly cried. It has provided us with so much free reading material with libraries being closed or not fully operational. The public e-library has wait times that are double the weeks in months. For e.g. The fifth Harry Potter book for my school library is 3 weeks, for Ontario public it is 6 months.

The third movie was visually too scary so we won't be watching the rest of the movies together until they are older...but I will watch them.

AND, my baby yoda came in! Love him. He matches my bed spread so sits there like decor!

[SassyAshley]

Update, we just finished packaging the Chicken the packed of Chicken cost $ 27.72 and I believe there were 8 Breasts in the package. In total we got 14 meals, 13 were a mix of BBQ Chicken and Shredded Chicken Parm (I did not break down how many of each) and 1 bag of tenders we will turn into Homemade Chicken Fingers. This works out to $2.13/meal

Mom also bought a package of Steaks for $21.31, there were 5 steaks, these are big enough we can split one steak so that is $4.26/meal. Not bad if you look at how much steak costs in a restaurant and I prefer Steaks cooked at home vs a Restaurant.

[Giseledta]

Sassy- my husband and i enjoy steaks at home... we actually only had 1 steak meal at a resturant... and it cost a insane amountof money. However... i learn to finish off a steak with a bit of herbed butter . so good.
Equally... i am the one that BBQs , noone touches my bbq. I am a very good cook. lol. Currently i am working on expandingmy grilled veggie options

[Angela273]

My neighbour/friend recently started going for bike rides with another lady for exercise. I sent her a text earlier this evening and told her that I’d like to join, or go with her when the friend isn’t available. She agreed and asked me to join her for a ride right then. We went for a quick 20min bike rides up some hills, etc. She had a family commitment tonight. She knows that I’d like to continue to join her. It’ll be good for me. I could use some extra exercise.

[SassyAshley]

Giseledta I love grilled veggies, I love doing veggies on the BBQ.

We need to BBQ more but it is hard with how hot this summer is and at dinner time our BBQ is in direct Sunlight but there is no where I can move it to.

Okay not up as early I would have liked but I had trouble sleeping last night, I have been struggling through a few things and have been trying to figure out how I can get done what I need to do but also take care of me. I get into my own head and when I decide something needs to be done it is all I am focused on and I push forward but not always in a way, instead I push forward until I break or burn out. I have no middle ground it is all or nothing.

I had a long chat with God and came up with some good ideas that I think will help me move forward but then I could no turn my mind off which lead to me not being able to sleep. I even wrote myself a to do list just to try to turn my brain off and go to sleep but that didn't work. So now I am feeling quite tired today but there are quite a few things I need to tackle but I am hoping once I get going it will go quickly I might even find some time to just sit down and relax after I take Mom to work. She does not work until 2:30 today.

I did what I hate, I left dirty dishes in the kitchen last night so those have been done and now I am enjoying a cup of tea before pushing forward.

Have a great day everyone.

[Giseledta]

ok.. hubby is going up to get middle child.
i am trying a new butcher, so i will roast a chicken i got from them . its a nice 6 lb one. i will do a noodle and veggie dish with it.
back to work tomorrow, should be good. house is stocked up . everything is good to go

on track for today... laundry.. and put away the laundry...lol
vacume
spotless kitchen.
just get the house ready for the week stuff.

[Frugalbigmama]

Both boys were home for dinner last night so wanted to make a nice dinner. Made pasta with shrimp, mushrooms and onion in an alfredo sauce. (Pulled a tomato based sauce from the freezer for oldest since he doesn't like alfredo)
Made garlic bread and cheese too.
It was really good.
Breakfast was omelette with onion, mushrooms and peppers with toasted English muffin.
Kitchen is clean! Enjoying a little me time as we were up past 2am watching a movie that we didnt start till after midnight so im feeling a little tired.
I have a porch pick up today.for $6. An old ad but timing worked since inwas home and they wanted to come now.

[coupon girl]

Hubby painted with white tremclad the underneath of the eavestrough and bottom trim out front ,he did half today -looks great .It hasnt been done in 22 years or ever so pretty sparkling new looking and clean ,

I did 3 load today ,hung all out except the one in machine .

Supper will be easy hubby wants kraft dinner ,i will have a zarky's chicken meat pie (local shop) with a spring salad

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
okay, not the day I had planned. Before I took Mom to work I had the Kitchen Clean and had cleaned the Stockpile Room as I am having someone come and look at upgrading out Power Panel so we can put in Ductless AC.

I have been creating templates for myself to us to try to organize my life, I am hoping if I have stuff on paper or on my laptop it will help me to better organized and maybe calm my anxiety and just help me feel more on top of things and in control.

I have started to create a simple Instant Pot Cheat Sheet for myself. It shows me ratios, cook times and release times. Even though I have been using the Instant Pot more I find when I am cooking I always second guess myself and have to try to find the original recipe to double check. This way I will have it all in one place and once I get more of a list I will print it off and tape it in my pantry for quick reference.

Well I was making dinner which I made in the Instant Pot I wrote my to do list for work tomorrow. I think for the next little while I am going to keep my to do list and see what I have on my to do list vs what I get done in a day. I am going to try to be more realistic on what I can get done in a "normal" work day vs making my work day fit my to do list. I know my job there will be times things will happen but I need those to be exceptions not the normal.

Then I took Mom to work we left early which was good as we came across a closed road and had to back track to go around the closure. I came back home and start to work on my to do list and was prepping dinner when I got a text from Mom, she was not feeling well and they were sending her home. I had to shove everything for dinner back in the fridge and rush out to get her since it is a 30 to 45 minutes drive. It took 45 to an hour because of the weather. I picked her up and brought it her home, pretty sure it is the heat as once she cooled off she was feeling better.

I made Instant Pot Pork Roast which is an all in one meal as you cook the pork, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes & gravy all in the Instant Pot. I was tweaking the recipe to add more veggies and we wanted more gravy but I think I used too much liquid as it came out more like a Stew.

I need to send a couple of work emails so hopefully I get the approvals needed tomorrow morning so I can get some things off my to do list. Then I am going to do a massive dump of all the things we need to get done around the house cleaning wise. Once I have what I will consider my master list I will start to break it down into daily, weekly, monthly and project to do lists.

I had wanted to get a few more things done today but life happens and it did not happen so I will add it to my weekly to do list and hopefully get it done as the week goes on.

Have a great night everyone

[cath007]

I had to e-mail mcdonals because they messed up with my order and it is not the first time and everytime they dont give the bill in the bag ........let see if they do something to correct the situation....