December 2020 Frugal Chatter thread (ring in the holidays)

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Ended up working way later than expected, was done around 2ish, I was expecting around noon but it is what it is, we are now officially done inventory in all locations.

We are now officially on Shut Down but I have been pre warned that some paperwork is going to be sent my way to process well we are closed. As well since I was covering for our staff in quarantine I did not get my own work done and it has to be done before year end so I will have to tackle that. For now, I am not thinking about any of this until Monday.

I was looking over my budget the other day and got a nice surprise, I forgot I added some extra money to my grocery budget since I always do homemade gifts including food items and I have actually come in under budget. I have only spent about half of what I budgeted for but with that being said that budget included Christmas Eve desserts to take to Dad's which is now not happening.

I think what I am going to do is, I will pick up my dinner first and when I pick it up I will leave packages with desserts for everyone to take with their dinner. I am going to make a few different options and make each household a small little platter they can share.

I placed a curbside order with Bulk Barn which I can pick up tomorrow as I forgot to grab a few things when we went shopping mainly because the store I went to did not carry one item (I need meringue powder) and I also forgot Candy Canes. As well there were some everyday things we needed from Bulk Barn so I added them, since I am going anyways. I spent over $20 so I got $5 off my order.

I think I came up with a plan of what I am going to make now, normally I have this list at done at least 2 weeks ago, I am so behind this year. So I am pulling out a few of simple but oh so good quick and simple recipes. I need a few cheats this year.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend

[Giseledta]

good evening all.

Hubby and Youngest delivered middle childs Christmas gifts. we decorated the tree tonight.

so.. we are full on , sticking in our bubble. saw on social media a post from a relative ... her family - her and 3 kids, her ex( ish) and 1 child, 1 set of grand and 1 set of great grand.. plus a friend of one of her 3 kids...... so .....11 people... !!!!! i looked at the pictures.... ( we are red zone btw ) ... and went... hmmm... welll this explains why my mother in law is peeved that i wont allow any events, visits ect from outside our bubble... she is seeing her sister.. and other relatives do this...
sorry, still sticking to our bubble....
equally, fun times... my husband had a heart attack just over a week ago... spent 4.5 days in hospital... 2 stents put in.. last thing he needs is our bubble expanding... and yea.... nope not happening

So , a lady that i ordered a dc gift for all the dc kids.. made me a gift as well. so sweet . i am really touched

ok. tomorrow.. full on housework day. all day... sigh.
then i work for 3 days. it will be busy!!!

[lilo0003]

@giseledta it so annoys me that people just don’t get it Hamilton goes into lockdown on Monday and some posted on Facebook they celebrated Christmas with their family today, umm that’s not the point of the lock down. I hope your DH has a speedy recovery. Not a great time to be anywhere near a hospital if you can help it.
We drove our holiday treats to the grandparents yesterday, no visit and mask kept on and I have eaten my emotions today with mom’s baking and she has done the same with what I dropped off.
the curb side pick up went really well and I am done except for fresh vegetables for Christmas dinner and will do that Tuesday.

[flemeth]

Happy Sunday all
@Giseledta hope your hubby is feeling much better and a speedy recovery.
My family has been in our bubble since covid starts and we intend to stick to that . I did see my parents and Siblings since March and I will have to wait a while since the are all living in NY .

I will have to get some fresh veggies and fruits some time next week .


Stay safe all

[Frugalbigmama]

Hugs @gisel da and family.
Sending healing thoughts to your husband.

[barbis9]

good evening all.

Hubby and Youngest delivered middle childs Christmas gifts. we decorated the tree tonight.

so.. we are full on , sticking in our bubble. saw on social media a post from a relative ... her family - her and 3 kids, her ex( ish) and 1 child, 1 set of grand and 1 set of great grand.. plus a friend of one of her 3 kids...... so .....11 people... !!!!! i looked at the pictures.... ( we are red zone btw ) ... and went... hmmm... welll this explains why my mother in law is peeved that i wont allow any events, visits ect from outside our bubble... she is seeing her sister.. and other relatives do this...
sorry, still sticking to our bubble....
equally, fun times... my husband had a heart attack just over a week ago... spent 4.5 days in hospital... 2 stents put in.. last thing he needs is our bubble expanding... and yea.... nope not happening

So , a lady that i ordered a dc gift for all the dc kids.. made me a gift as well. so sweet . i am really touched

ok. tomorrow.. full on housework day. all day... sigh.
then i work for 3 days. it will be busy!!!

Glad your husband is home, and yes some people don't get it. Stay safe.

[SassyAshley]

@Giseledta **Hugs** for your family, hope your husband has a quick recovery

As for people not understanding oh yeah, I am in York Region we went into lockdown a week or two ago but and people do not get it. We have decided to hibernate only things I am worried about are Butter and Eggs, if we were not doing Christmas Baking we would be fine but with Christmas baking I am a little worried. It shocks me the number of people who are in York Region their answer to our Lockdown is to go to Simcoe who are in the Red or have decided no one can tell them they cannot have Christmas and plan to go ahead anyways. I feel it does not help that I am in a small in town and everyone here feels the big cities are cracking down but they feel like since we are small town it is okay to break the rules as "our numbers are lower and it is the bigger towns that forced us into lockdown, so it okay to break the rules here"

I find a lot of people are surprised that our family has cancelled Christmas. Many people have pointed out to me that we are all working together so what is the difference between going to work or having Christmas. But there is a difference even though we are family at work we still all wear our masks when interacting with each other, at Christmas we would not be wearing masks well we ate. Plus for us to come together there would be people we do not work with and it would be 6 households coming together since none of us are still living at home. I realize this year will be hard but we have done what we can to come up with creative ways like we will be having a Zoom Session Christmas Eve, Step Mom is still making Dinner for Porch Pick, I will be making desserts and honestly through our family chat we probably talk more now than we did before Covid.

Sadly it looks like stricter measures will be coming Monday so all we can do is wait and see what they are and who is affected. Some are saying it will only be Southwestern Ontario, some are saying it will be all of Ontario so we will see.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I totally overslept this morning, I was in bed before 9pm last night and did not wake up until almost 9 am. I got somewhere around 11 hours of sleep, guess my body needed it.

My goal today is to trying to focus on what I need to get done for Christmas and trying to get into the Christmas Spirit a bit. So far I have been so focus on work and just getting through that although I have thoughts about Christmas it also does not feel like Christmas is next week.

I have a few ideas of what I want to make but now all of a sudden Mom has a list of things she wants to make so I am really worried we do not have enough Eggs and Butter for both of us. I asked her last night what she wanted to make but guess it is a secret as all I was told was I have my own list.

Alright off to try to find some ambition, I think my body knows we are shut down and it is like "yeah, I do not want to do anything, let's just chill on the couch and watch some Netflix" but sadly I have a lot to get done.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day

[Arjon]

The thought came to me recently that there are some things I haven't bought for quite a while because the deals on them haven't been as appealing as they used to be. I'm curious if this has happened to anyone else, and for what kinds of items.

For me, two things in particular jumped out right away. One is Italian sausage, which used to be $1.99 a pound pretty often in club packs. The other is boneless dinner hams, for which the advertised prices seem to have risen by a couple of dollars, plus coupon deals have dried up - not that I coupon hunt any more anyway, but still...

[crafter]

@Giseledta best wishes for a strong recovery for your husband
Good morning all. I got up nice and early, took a shower right away to get up and moving. To my surprise, my dog actually wanted to go for a walk in the rain (a rare thing) so we did. Got dishes done, changed Cogeco movie channels for a month to max out on Christmas movie options.
The chicken enchiladas were fantastic! My sauce turned out great but not enough to pour on top of the enchiladas so I used taco sauce from a taco kit. Leftovers for lunch today and making a pepperoni pasta bake for dinner tonight to use up pepperoni I bought.
I'm trying a different meal planning strategy, I'm focusing on not wasting food. Tomorrow, I'll make a homemade soup to use the chicken broth I opened for the enchiladas. It truly is amazing how easy it is to make my own sauces and mixes. I need to get my spices organized into one section. DH bought me spice jars a few years ago which I can use for some spices but others like garlic and herbs, I prefer using mason jars.
Enough babbling, have a wonderful day!

[Giseledta]

we are from a small town as well.. and nope... people just dont get it... sigh... highy annoyed

ok.. laundry is going.
my present to myself... a shark floor steam cleaner... i am already in love.
work on floors today.
working on dishes and kitchen ...
then will take hubby for a walk. deliver mils christmas card. and walk home .. it is only about 10 houses down , yep she lives that close.

i am making my christmas grocery list... was going to do it tuesday night... but may delay till thursday am ... maybe...


i am not making alot of cookies. , sadly i would eat them all... i really like cookies...
i may look for a heart healthy chex mix... i wonder if there is even such a thing

[Thatdone]

@crafter is a pretty fancy looking post

[coupon girl]

Giseldta -all the best road to recovery for your hubby .

[crafter]

lol Thanks @Thatdone . I somehow changed the font when I was typing. Have a stupendous day!

@crafter is a pretty fancy looking post

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon,
I went and picked up my Bulk Barn order, I must say as long as we are not buying produce or meat I am loving curbside pick up. Although they missed my Candy Canes so I will have to work around that, oh well.

Although I am trying to stay out of stores I did run into shoppers and got more eggs and butter, I am now confident we will make it through the Christmas Season and into January.

Now I just need to finalize my list of what I am going to make and figure out my best plan of attack.