November 2020 Frugal Chatter thread

[Ciel]

The Hamilton Spectator has an article online today that the main owner of European Textiles had passed away this summer. I'm certain he was the one who cut our drapery fabric and lining 7 years ago. I was so thrilled to have found the floral print that had a glazed look to be made into curtains!

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Up early today although not as early as I had planned, I was awake just having issues getting out of bed, I was comfortable.

Knocking quite a few things off my to do list but I ended up running into work to drop my car off as I still do not have my winter tires on. The people we go to have been pushing us off due to Covid but have finally started our winter rotation.

A little annoyed, I stopped to put gas in my car and the local station has turned off the option to pay at the pump so now you have to go inside to pay. I purposely go to this chain so I can pay at the pump and not need to go inside right now especially when the stations are busy. One would think with Covid more and more people would be paying and wanting to pay at the pump so they do not need to go inside. I have sent an email inquiring as to why they would turn off this option during a Pandemic when we are supposed to limiting our contact with those outside our household.

Tonight's dinner is Ricotta and Spinach Pasta Bake, it looks like it is a casserole version of Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells. I am hoping we like it as it would be a nice alternative for weeknight dinners as stuffed Shells are a bit tricky to pull off during the week. Normally when I try a new recipe I normally make it the way it is written the first time and then tweak to our liking from there but in this case I am going to make some tweaks. They do not put seasonings in the dish outside of Salt & Pepper and I find when using Ricotta Herbs & Spices go a long way so I will adding a little more to the Ricotta mix.

I was going to tidy the kitchen on my lunch today as we had some dishes that needed to soak. Mom did it well I was taking my car over so now I can tackle something else. I would really like to purge out house big time but Mom is resisting and I am feeling a little frustrated. They gave my desk to someone else which is fine but now they asked me to bring all work stuff done which I did but I have nowhere to store it. My office is in our Dinning Room and I am surrounded by thing that has no home and are living in boxes. We have talked about cleaning off the shelves in the Living Room to make them work better for our current stage in life but that keeps getting pushed off so, yes, I am just frustrated but it also is what it is. I will do what I can do now and hope that maybe Mom will join in.

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

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Day! My week to work in the office so I am happy to get lots done and be able to file/get rid of it as I go.
The house needs love. Laundry needs doing. Will see what gets done this week in the evening. Not tonight lol Will start at it all tomorrow night. Dishwasher needs to be run after 7pm tonight so it can be put away tomorrow night after school (Ds's job)
Wednesday night I hope to wrap Christmas gifts and get organized

Have a fantastic day everyone!

[Ciel]

For anyone who did not get a code to save on the first $100 of Sobeys by Voila online groceries ordered, the website has a $10 off $100 order code good until Dec. 8 (for Ontario online or Nova Scotia curbside pickup).
https://voila.ca/content/offer-terms-and-conditions

[barbis9]

Good Morning Everyone,
Up early today although not as early as I had planned, I was awake just having issues getting out of bed, I was comfortable

A little annoyed, I stopped to put gas in my car and the local station has turned off the option to pay at the pump so now you have to go inside to pay. I purposely go to this chain so I can pay at the pump and not need to go inside right now especially when the stations are busy. One would think with Covid more and more people would be paying and wanting to pay at the pump so they do not need to go inside. I have sent an email inquiring as to why they would turn off this option during a Pandemic when we are supposed to limiting our contact with those outside our household.

Tonight's dinner is Ricotta and Spinach Pasta Bake, it looks like it is a casserole version of Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Shells. I am hoping we like it as it would be a nice alternative for weeknight dinners as stuffed Shells are a bit tricky to pull off during the week. Normally when I try a new recipe I normally make it the way it is written the first time and then tweak to our liking from there but in this case I am going to make some tweaks. They do not put seasonings in the dish outside of Salt & Pepper and I find when using Ricotta Herbs & Spices go a long way so I will adding a little more to the Ricotta mix.

I was going to tidy the kitchen on my lunch today as we had some dishes that needed to soak. Mom did it well I was taking my car over so now I can tackle something else. I would really like to purge out house big time but Mom is resisting and I am feeling a little frustrated. They gave my desk to someone else which is fine but now they asked me to bring all work stuff done which I did but I have nowhere to store it. My office is in our Dinning Room and I am surrounded by thing that has no home and are living in boxes. We have talked about cleaning off the shelves in the Living Room to make them work better for our current stage in life but that keeps getting pushed off so, yes, I am just frustrated but it also is what it is. I will do what I can do now and hope that maybe Mom will join in.

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

someone may have used a credit card skimmer on the pumps. I get nervous using them as who knows what people do at night when the station is closed. I prefer going inside for that reason.

[SassyAshley]

Valid point but I guess I am giving away the Station but they will allow you pay Debit or Credit at the pump but are not accepting Speedpass or Fleet Accounts at the pumps.

someone may have used a credit card skimmer on the pumps. I get nervous using them as who knows what people do at night when the station is closed. I prefer going inside for that reason.

[crafter]

Good late afternoon. Many of the Black Friday items are arriving today. I was amazed to wake up to a Canada post delivery notification at 3:30 am. They put them in our superbox (batteries)
I have amassed a tad of a mess to be honest. My desk in the guest room is covered with the smaller Christmas gifts to wrap, the coffee table has coupons that I've sorted along with receipts that I've sent in for rebates and cashback. (Oh websaver.ca digital cashback has had some glitches when I submitted but they were super helpful and let me email in a photo of my receipt). DH came up with a wonderful idea, to play Christmas songs and movies tomorrow while we wrap and tidy.
We have a professional painting company coming in soon to repair a small split in our ceiling and the stairway and hallway. It's simply way to high to tackle it on our own. We're hoping we can get them to replace the lightbulbs in the light as well lol. It doesn't really matter when they come as we're not hosting anyone here aside from DHs sister.
Time to get a few things done and then it'll be time to prep for dinner.
Have a great evening!

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
A bit of a broken up day, I went and dropped my car off and picked up our spare car. I got a low tire warning on the way home but originally I ignored it as I know one of our cars has this error message all of the time but the tire was never low. They replaced the sensor multiple times but it always told you the tire was low. When I got home I contacted my sister as she was driving the car before me and she confirmed the message did not come up for her (the car with the faulty sensor has been traded in).

I went and checked all the tires and off to the gas station to see what would happen. The one tire gave me a hard time but finally I got it filled up and the error message is gone. Worst came to worst I had decided I would take the car back to work, have sis drive me home and we would just have to share Mom's car until mine came back.

Dinner was a hit, I will make a couple more small tweaks next time I make it but it was agreed definitely something we would make again. WOW does this recipe make a lot we have enough for lunches for the next few days which is never a bad thing.

Not quite the plan I had in my mind but I was able to empty my backpack so if I have to go into work I can carry my stuff and get most of it put away for the time being. It is not my original plan but it will work for the time being. Sometimes you just gotta take the win where it comes and my backpack is empty so that is my win for today.

Dishwasher is running, will empty in the morning, there are some dishes but will wash those tomorrow. I started working on inventory sheets for my freezers, I want to keep better track of what we have but also have a better idea of how much we go through on the average month. Ideally I would like to keep about a month worth of food on hand at all times.

Starting to come up with a plan for Christmas, I have an idea just not sure how to pull it off yet. Will keep working on it. I cannot believe how close Christmas is and I have not even started my shopping.

Think my day is almost over, I am feeling very tired so off to watch some TV and relax. Have a great night everyone

[Angela273]

$316.16 November savings total

Coupons - 91.58
10% off Tuesday - $8.94
Amazon gc from Swagbucks - $10
PCO - $10
Air Miles - $100
CO51 - $23.10
SCOP - $1.54
Stuff Sold - $26
Contest wins $25gc - coffee shop

Gift cards
$10gc from Sobeys promo
$10gc Mr. Mikes promo