December 2020 Frugal Chatter thread (ring in the holidays)

[SassyAshley]

I have never been big on New Year Resolutions, honestly I find them too easy to break. If you want to change something waiting till the New Year to make the change, I do not know, not my thing.

With this being said 2020 did give me the opportunity to better reflect on myself and life. I realized I need to make some changes or I was going to drive myself literally insane. I could not keep up the patterns taking place in my life of pushing myself until I couldn't push any further (when I started staying up late and getting up at 4 am just to tackle my to do list) and than crashing was not healthy. Not to mention the panic/anxiety attacks that came with it. I really started to feel like I was not good enough and everything that happened was because yet again I had failed.

The main things I will be working on for 2021 are balance in my life, do not get me wrong I know my job is my job and things are going to happen but after going 3 months of working 12 to 14 hour days 6 to 7 days a week I have learned even during these times I need to find 1 or 2 hours for myself. Also time for myself is not cleaning the house or taking on household tasks.

The other thing I will work on is organization, I find when I am organized and can lay things out for myself even if I do not accomplish them it helps me to manage my anxiety.

So with this being said last night:

I created a meal plan for this week and I am really looking forward to this week's dinners. I have a nice variety of different types of meals and these meals will use up some fresh items and leftovers we have on hand. I find when I meal plan it also helps to eliminate food waste.

Then I made a To-Do/Goals for January, these are some of the bigger items I want to tackle around the house. With that being said, I am trying to be realistic with what I can achieve and not push myself too far where I work, sleep & clean.

I have learned as much as I love a good to-do-list I need to be more realistic last year I started the year with To-Do-List coming out my ears and instead of these being my goals to organize myself it became all about how many things could I mark off. Literally okay the last 3 nights I did 3 things so tonight aim for 5 things, okay the last 3 nights I got 5 things done so tonight aim for 7. Then just getting my January to-do-list done was not good enough how much of February's could I tackle and be done before February 1st came. I became very obsessive and it was all I could think about and if I felt I came up short I lost it. So this year will be about getting things done but also taking care of myself.

One day, oh I hope it is a day soon I will have a clean house that I can scrub from top to bottom and a day will come when I can say everything is done vs right now where I am just okay with getting nothing done today.

[lilo0003]

I spent the morning baking, we plan to do a curb side cookie drop off to a few friends. We saw no one over Christmas and I was so frustrated with my 25 yr old niece who proudly proclaimed on our family zoom call that she had spent the day with her mother and grandparents and other extended family with plans to do the same for New Years. And she wonders why none of us have seen her since March.
I posted some stuff to give away and responses to a few in search of posts today. My usually January purge may be slowed down by Covid. But it feels good to put things in the hand of someone that needs it.

[coupon girl]

Afternoon-chatted with my dear daughter this morning .

I was gonna start another puzzle but will another day .Just chillin after having a lavender bath -yes the lavender bath bomb in a mesh bag was delightfull from lush.

The bay cancelled my perfume order as they said it sold out -oh well .

I just ordered curb side pickup swiss chalet -boy i have to get use to this technology.I had to call them as i wanted it for 5.00 p.m not the 3.10 it gave me .Somehow i didnt see the time frame part .I used 10.00 in my scene points as i am sure i am not going to the show anytime soon ,even after lockdown is over.So i paid $22.00 with a side dish and a coleslaw along with our quarter chickens .

[lilo0003]

For anyone still venturing into stores I had an offer on both our PCO so maybe others have it as well for 15000 PCO when you buy a 100.00 Cara gift card that’s Swiss Chalet & @Coupongirls post reminded me to share. Takeout for a family of 4 adults is expensive so I try to take advantage of the PCO offers for restaurant gift cards.

[crafter]

Good evening. The Ham soup is cooling, it turned out perfectly. We had lots of ham to freeze this year. We tented the spiral ham with foil and it didn't dry out like it usually does. I made up 3 bags of Ham (enough to fry up for breakfast) I also made up 2 small packs of cubed ham for homemade pizzas. It'll be nice to make a Hawaiin pizza this week.
I peeled and bagged up ripened bananas and put in freezer for future banana loaf or muffins.
I also had half a crate of clementines left over (our guest wasn't much of a fruit eater) so I'm trying to figure out what to do with them before they go bad. So far, I've come across instructions for prepping a sugar syrup to pour on and freeze them or make a marmalade type jam with clementines, sugar and lemon. Neither really appeal as I don't fancy eating that much sugar along with them. My friend use to make a clementine cake, perhaps that's the solution...but again, there's sugar involved.
Hope you have a nice evening!

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Evening!
Had a lazy day and did nothing around the house. I did drive to our downtown area and parked and walked down to the waterfront and back. Needed fresh air and to get my steps in.

Tomorrow I start to get this house de-cluttered. Post stuff for sale for porch pick up. Moving stuff for sale to the garage as I go. Then big garage sale when able and straight to the Salvation Army after! All money raised is going into the travel account and then once that is at the amount I am happy with will start the bathroom renovation account. Goals to motivate me to part with stuff and watch every $ grow.

I have no plans to grocery shop the rest of this year. Then in January only fresh stuff to compliment meals but trying to plan meals with what we have 1st. We have bread/fruit/veggies in freezer to use up. The key is to have food ready and DS won't complain at all. So will be making a few roasts for sandwiches. Chicken fried rice he loves. Tacos. Etc. I got this!!

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Also a bit a of a lazy day here, only really did the the day to day stuff.

It was nice to make a nice dinner, lately we have gone back to rely on quick and easy meals which are great here and there but I miss real meals. We have Sauteed Mushrooms & Onions and Garlic & Parm Roasted Squash leftover so those will be quick side dishes one night.

Dishwasher was loaded and turned on, will empty in the morning. There are a few hand dishes to be done, will do those in the morning as well. Hoping to have more ambition tomorrow and get some meal prep done.

I must admit it was nice to have a laid back Sunday, we watched movies and I finished a Crochet project I started months ago but pushed to the side, Mom is organizing her lace.

I am hoping to start purging out basement shortly, in the main room of our basement we have Wire racking on one side and Bookshelves on the other side. Our plan is to clear both of these off sort through everything on them decide what we are keeping and moving forward store items we are keeping on these shelves for the time being. Once we get the main room cleaned up we will move into the Storage area in the Laundry room which is full of boxes right now but will be turned into storage area. I think this plan will work although at some point I will need to call in Got Junk to get rid of some furniture we no longer want, it is in the basement and just too hard for us to get out alone so Got Junk can remove it.

I have already written out my plan for Meal Prepping so that is done and I know what I want to get done and there are a few chores around the house I want to get done tomorrow, mostly just day to day cleaning.

Think it is close to my bedtime, even though we are off work right now I am tying to stay on my schedule. Anyone else notice how easy it is to get off your schedule but how hard it is to get back on schedule?????

Have a great night everyone

[Ciel]

Just a few minutes to pop by and see how everyone is faring over the past few days. You might get ideas for the 12th day of Christmas by watching Victorian Bakers on TVO.org or maybe episode 4 of Greek Islands Odyssey (it repeats at 1am in Ontario or can be viewed online as it was posted at about 8:43pm as I was finishing up watching episode 3-travel online/visually-seriously worth it! Just don't eat in case a story puts you off).

Yesterday I walked to Shoppers to get two weekend papers for the reading and tv guides. Had no idea that Food Basics was open as two other grocery stores took the holiday. Fortunately the City had plowed the sidewalks at least once that day and one pass on Christmas Night so I managed. Did not find much to watch for the week ahead. The Magnificent Mile show was interesting for the file footage of past light festivals and decorations but maybe 3 singers got to sing their full songs and the rest got 1min 30 sec before a host mentioned Southwest Airlines or Walt Disney World before going to commercial. For the first half hour, I kept seeing US tv ads on CHCH. Then afterwards, only Canadian tv ads aired-maybe someone at the station did not notice the oops.

A friend who has Cogeco cable said that the provider is removing the channel guide as of January 1. What will be on that channel instead of the guide? I have advised her to get the Toronto Star on Sat for the detailed grids for all hours of the weekend and weeknights. By the way, Shoppers seems to have Toronto pricing for the Star even in Hamilton: $4 plus 20 cents GST. Other stores charge $5 and GST. YMMV. I used to get a similar deal at Food Basics for the Sun but it changed during the summer (Hamilton area pricing now; Shoppers has the better price).

Did you take a lot of photos in December? Shoppers Photo has an online offer valid from Dec. 27-31: 14 cent prints (4x6) with min. 100 print order. Online only. Move on it if you want to make copies for yourself or other friends and family. When I used the in-store kiosk last on Dec. 19, the kiosk did not have any envelopes for my prints (still 39 cents apiece). The kiosks might be taped off or signed as out of order by now, that's why I moved on the photo order. I don't have 100 prints to print off so I will see if next month or in early Feb there may be another photo print offer.

Still have most of the dried lentils from my last Voila order parked in a drawer. This is the week to put them into meals to warm up. Tiring of roasted veggies though for dinner, I warmed them up with 2 packets of mild taco sauce and 4 packets of plum sauce (worked on most veggies but not on the roasted onions). Have started drafting January online order list with a couple of recipes in mind to stock up for.

Was surprised by gift of some items on Thursday from a fellow fan/friend of The Mandalorian show. I was really happy that she wrote a note and Xmas card (love these handwritten items) too!

[Angela273]

I completed 2 coupon trades this evening. Almost $80 in coupons for my family between the 2 trades. Food and Aveeno lotion coupons.

I also replaced the insoles in my 6yr old pair of hiking boots.

I need to submit my medical receipts to get refunded some some items.

Over the last week I have tackled my mending pile. Only 2 items left...which are harder to sew, so I’m avoiding them for now.

[coupon girl]

sassy -my sleeping is off i wish to get back to 9.30 til 6.00 a.m instead i am falling asleep on the couch at 9.10 and waking up at 11.00 then going to bed up at 5.30 this morning .

Supper was a joy last night "Swiss Chalet".I consider the meal our xmas treat as i didnt buy a turkey.They gave us more ,so i didnt need to buy the extra fries and hubby and i didnt finish our quarter chicken (so enough for another meal for one person)I didnt want to pay for delivery(frugal me) as its a 13 minute drive and i call them from our phone and tell them the car colour and make and they bring it out to the car -about 7 cars were lined up waiting .

I mended yesterday and i stopped myself from ordering 2 more online orders (sometimes its so easy to shop online)proud of myself that i have that control .I mean we dont have a lot of extra money ,so i will in the future keep posting items from my house online and looking at the free items also (the car i got the girls is awesome my son took a screw out and it goes faster ).Cara is afraid to ride it my herself but ashlyn still fits in the seat and rides them both.

The other day i saw a metal dolly for free and was gonna get it for my son ,but it went in minutes .It is a surprise what people dont want and they could sell it but cant be bothered ,so happy i got the 2 plastic drawers bins one i will sell in the spring the other holds all my tissue paper (i have a lot too) and bows and xmas boxes flat ones and tags (i have a lot of those too).
So keep posting frugalmama it all adds up whatever it is used for a trip, an item etc.

[flemeth]

I completed 2 coupon trades this evening. Almost $80 in coupons for my family between the 2 trades. Food and Aveeno lotion coupons.

I also replaced the insoles in my 6yr old pair of hiking boots.

I need to submit my medical receipts to get refunded some some items.

Over the last week I have tackled my mending pile. Only 2 items left...which are harder to sew, so I’m avoiding them for now.

@Angela273 you made an awesome trade. It’s getting harder to find tear pads coupon. Didn’t even know that there was a $3.00 Aveeno coupon until you asked in this thread

[GoodBoy]

Gday!

Was going to do a small good shop this morning but it has started raining and since the pantry and freezers are still full we have decided to use up more of what we have. Will do a regular weekly shop on Thursday. The flyers are good until Friday so will take advantage of some offers when I shop.

Have a good day everyone! Time to check in on my elderly neighbour.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Slow start to the morning, I woke up with a massive headache today, not sure why. It feels like a weather headache but looking at my phone there is not any serious weather coming our way. I have taken something so hopefully it will ease off soon and I can get my day started.

I think I am going to make a big pot of Tomato Sauce, I still have Bolognese sauce in our freezer but I want a sauce in the freezer without meat. I have stopped buying Pasta Sauce and we are now making our own as I discovered I can buy a Restaurant Size can of Tomatoes from Costco for $3.99.

Depending on this headache I will see what else I can get done today. I do have a few other things I would like to make for Meal Prep plus there are a few small tasks I want to get done around the house.

I still need to figure out dinner. I had been planning to make Ricotta & Spinach Baked Pasta as I have some leftover Pasta in the Fridge to use and some Ricotta that needs to be used up but when I mentioned it to Mom did not seem to like that idea so we will see how she feels when she gets up.

Alright going to finish my tea and hope this headache eases up a little bit.

Have a great day everyone.

[Arjon]

I think I am going to make a big pot of Tomato Sauce, I still have Bolognese sauce in our freezer but I want a sauce in the freezer without meat. I have stopped buying Pasta Sauce and we are now making our own as I discovered I can buy a Restaurant Size can of Tomatoes from Costco for $3.99.

To each their own, but fwiw, I stopped years ago. No brand I ever tried was actually awful, but none was ever close to comparable with homemade, so I'd make large batches to freeze and the store-bought stuff would sit in the pantry for months... plus when I did get around to using it up because it had been there for a while, I'd basically always adjust the seasoning and usually add meat(s)... and frankly, it still wasn't as good IMO as homemade, just closer.

[Angela273]

@Angela273 you made an awesome trade. It’s getting harder to find tear pads coupon. Didn’t even know that there was a $3.00 Aveeno coupon until you asked in this thread

The $3 Aveeno coupon isn’t a tear pad, it’s a manufacturer mail out coupon.