July 2020 Frugal Chatter

[cath007]

Please check your pc account for pc points.I saw in french couponning group and english ones too that points are being ''stolen'' people with many pc points.....they said it was points of courtoisie retaking...that is weird...I am happy to not kept high amount of pc poinds under 20 000 not like 400 000

[SassyAshley]

Okay busy day, worked, got a few more projects to tackle but such is life. I am currently working on a really big project that was supposed to be done down the road but got bumped ahead. It is a lot of work and going to take a lot of time but once it is done it will be well worth it. Just hoping I get the approval to move forward with the way I suggest, it will make it easier in the long run.

We also went grocery shopping and did come in under budget and will be even more under budget as Mom is going to pay me back for a few things she grabbed. She was going to pay separately but it was all mixed together in a large Costco cart so I paid and told her she could pay me back. We may need to do a mid month shop for some produce but I will try to avoid this, I would like to build up a little extra in our grocery budget.

There were a few things we wanted that they did not have, they were out of the Stir Fry mix I wanted and I was thinking about getting some Baby Carrots but they did not have any. Most stuff was in stock so I cannot complain. It is weird I am so happy to come in under budget but at the same time I keep thinking we must have forgotten stuff, although even after putting it all away I am not sure what.

An even bigger bonus is that I did buy some extra:

Got a tray of Chicken Breast, we will pull the tenders off and then turn half into BBQ Chicken and half into Chicken Parm.

They had yeast, it is good until 2022 so I grabbed a package just in case to have on hand, I do have some jars I found before all this started on hand so we are now really stocked up.

Pure Vanilla was back in stock and we ran out last month and have been using the fake extract which is just not the same so I grabbed one.

I also thought about not grabbing out Pantry stables. Normally as we take the last of something I restock it but to try to be on budget I thought about not buying more but I was worried about forgetting or running out and having to buy local so I did grab what we need, it was only Ketchup, Maple Syrup & Bacon Bits.

All and all I am happy but tomorrow the prep work start. Some of the hacks I used last month really helped and I learned a few things so I will do the same this month.

Work is finally done, I was on chat tonight and it has been a long day. Going to watch a little Netflix and then off to bed for me.

Have a great night everyone

[Ciel]

Reading @SassyAshley 's grocery shopping post made me realize that I forgot to check if Longo's has Fleischmann's dry yeast on the shelves. I did look up at the Baking aisle sign but one staffer was stocking shelves plus there was a customer near him. So I passed by the aisle.

Got some groceries today as I anticipate tomorrow's rain forecast is a true one. Brother did spot a few rain drops this afternoon when the sky darkened briefly twice. I am going to order plenty of beverages when I put in a Grocery Gateway order this weekend. So done with sweating everyday.

Bro has some new popsicles in the freezer and I've been getting them out to enjoy for two days.

The Uniqlo order came yesterday as promised. Mom loves the skirt fabric and print but says the waistband will need alteration. I know I have to get that done within a week so that Mom can wear the light skirt during the heatwave.
My second Mark's shirt order seems complete and I expect a pickup email this week when order reaches local store! Excited for more hot weather t-shirts.

I found someone's banking card on my street on the way to my "office" at the plaza. Will see if I can find the person's name as otherwise, I will have to go to my bank and give it to staff.

144 cans of pop on the wall, 144 cans of pop...(yes, my mind is melting).

[avoncallingu]

An order I had placed for a midi cotton Jersey elasticized top dress in black came today from Old Navy. Frankly it took so long that I had forgotten that I had ordered it. I think I paid 19.99 with free shipping. It's perfect for summer occasions such as weddings (I have 1 to perform in August) and also, sadly, I have a memorial service to attend on Saturday.

I managed to cook up a quite tasty meal from chicken breasts tonight. I shared it with my friend who has difficulty cooking as she has a problem much like Parkinsons. She was very pleased to be eating something that "smelled so good."

@Granger , thanks for the memory. Those card exchanges were fun, weren't they?

Take care, friends and keep safe and frugal!

[Angela273]

I went to Sobeys this evening and felt like I was playing Tetris while trying to get everything into my cart. I used a second cart when I bagged my groceries.
$179oop
$25.90 saved from 10% off
$56.96 in coupons
325AM earned
$2 back from CO51

I bought 30lbs of lean ground beef $3.49/lb - 10% discount

Since I don’t have daycare kids tomorrow, I plan on oven baking a bunch of meatballs. I might also make lasagne. Dh helped me package and freeze the rest of the lean ground beef.

I also went through almost 1/2 of our pantry. I organized, inventories, and checked best by dates.

[cath007]

@Angela273: You use so many coupons!!!Amazing!!!Where did you find yours coupons?Great shop btw

[SassyAshley]

Angeal that is a good price for Ground Beef, I looked at Costco yesterday but we did not need Ground Beef and it was over $4/lb for Lean Ground Beef.

With this being said, I have noticed on our last two trips to Costco their beef selection has been smaller than normal.

I am part of Costco Group that covers I think 5 Costcos and someone mentioned their Costco had no Pork at all. Again did not need Pork but I did see that our location did have Pork, I saw the big loins we buy (we only buy 1 every 6 months) and I did see Ground Pork, I did not look closely but from a far I am pretty sure it has also gone up in price.

I was really hoping to see prices on some go down now that we are going into Summer but so far no luck. I did see a few good sale items this week but from what I am hearing most of the produce that is on sale our stores do not seem to have. It seems like over the past few weeks not sure if it is where we are located but there does seem to be issues with supply.

Although I do find it interesting that some how the higher end stores with higher prices seem to have stock. Maybe it is just me.

I even checked the Chinese Market flyer yesterday before we went to Costco because I was like if they had a good sale maybe we go there as well. Nope, there flyer has gone from normally being 5 to 6 pages before Covid to now it is only 1 to 2 pages, it used to be 2 to 3 pages of produce this week it was half a page. None of the produce on sale do we eat.

Although I cannot complain we did come in under budget, now we just need to make it the whole month without needing to shop again and I will be happy.

[Giseledta]

today is my 20th wedding anniversary. hubby and I will dine at home today. lol.

my plan for the day, drop off some donation items, and work on the front deck a bit if possible.

oldest is going for a car loan. hopefully she gets it.

[SassyAshley]

Happy Anniversary Giseledta

[Frugalbigmama]

today is my 20th wedding anniversary. hubby and I will dine at home today. lol.

my plan for the day, drop off some donation items, and work on the front deck a bit if possible.

oldest is going for a car loan. hopefully she gets it.

Happy Anniversary!

[Angela273]

@Angela273: You use so many coupons!!!Amazing!!!Where did you find yours coupons?Great shop btw

Some of those coupons were from valid product complaints. I sometimes trade coupons in a couple of Facebook groups. I also found some of the coupons at my local Sobeys months ago. I’ve recently found coupons at my local No Frills. They didn’t have coupons for the last few months during COVID.

Example: $1.99 canned tomatoes - $0.50 coupon + 10AM personal offer - 10% off Sobeys = $0.24 for the one can of Hunt’s tomatoes that I bought last night.

[cath007]

today is my 20th wedding anniversary. hubby and I will dine at home today. lol.

my plan for the day, drop off some donation items, and work on the front deck a bit if possible.

oldest is going for a car loan. hopefully she gets it.

Happy Aniversary to you and your DH!!!

[Giseledta]

thanks guys!!

i decided not to work on the front porch today... it is so hot out...

instead we went to a butcher. picked up a few items. smoked pork chops , yummy. that will be tomorrow thier prices are decent. we will try the quailty, but i suspect we will like everything.

closed all the curtains to keep as much cool in the house as we can. i am going to start doing a bit of housework shortly.

[flemeth]

[QUOTE=Giseledta;7074557]today is my 20th wedding anniversary. hubby and I will dine at home today. lol.


Happy Anniversary to you and your DH @Giseledta enjoy your dinner at home

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
It is way too hot out, just sitting here trying to work is unbearable and the next 2 days are ever hotter.

I thought I had good news yesterday, I was speaking with someone who installs ductless and they felt even without cleaning up the house they would be able to install but then came the bad news. Pretty sure my power panel could not handle the ductless without being upgraded. I just do not have the $$$$ for both the ductless and new power panel.

Honestly I am really freaking out about money these days, Mom got 3 shifts this week but again they are all 3 hour shifts and she works 30 to 45 minutes from where we live, so basically working covers her gas with a little bit left over.

I have been researching side hustles to try to bring in a little extra money. It is a lot harder in Canada than the US, most sites are based on the US and they are allowed to do a lot more out of their houses. It seems like our expensive keep going up but my pay cheque isn't, right now I am making it work but if anything goes up it is going to get tricky. If I could just cover our groceries each month I would be happy.

I have so much to do but it is so hot, although we did put 5 of the Chicken Breast we bought yesterday in the Crockpot with homemade BBQ Sauce to make BBQ Pulled Chicken for the freezer. I have 3 Chicken Breast left that I think I will turn into Chicken Parm tomorrow in the Crockpot.

Still need to deal with the produce we bought but it is so hot I broke sweat making Sandwiches for lunch so it may need to wait. Grrr I am so over this heat an there is no end in sight.

Alright time to get back to work. Have a great afternoon everyone.