January 2021 - Frugal Chatter (New Year, New Goals?)

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Okay a bit of a different day around here but a good day.

To start with the normal, laundry is wash, dryed, folded, towels are away but clothing still needs to be put away.

Now onto the different, I have to admit I was feeling a bit off today. I just had one of those days where I missed life before Covid, do not get me wrong I understand why we are on lockdown (the numbers say it all) and I am not against masks and always have mine on when I am out and at work. But, I just had one of those days where I missed being able to just run to the store for something without a mask and hand sanitizer, or where you could go and grab a cup of coffee (or tea) with someone just to get out. I think the homebody in me truly thought this Christmas Season would be easy but in reality it has been hard to not be with family and it just did not feel like Christmas to me.

So I decided I needed some positivity today so I started working on my personal goals for January but I felt like I was not conveying myself well and before I knew it I was what I can best describe as journalling. It started out with all of the hard parts of 2020 which seems really negative but before I knew it, it started to become a huge positive for me. By showing all these things that were hard or challenging I started to see just what I am capable of as a person and it also showed me how much all of this has forced me to grow as a person. I know in no way shape or form am I perfect but I know have the faith and confidence in myself to make the changes I need to be a better me and I now see I do have what it takes.

I went into this year really feeling like I was not good enough, I felt like I was failing and just in a horrible place. Now I know I am enough do I need to work on things, are there things that need to be done yes but these things take time. I do not need to do what should realistically take take 6 months in 2 days, I will have my good days and my day bad but that is life. I feel very confident in myself and can see that changes are happening I just need to be patient.

So not the day I had planned but all and all a good day.

Hope everyone had a great day

[GoodBoy]

Congrats on makeing TOP T @SassyAshley !

[crafter]

I had a nice day. The plan was to be somewhat unproductive so goal was achieved. I went for two nice walks, spent time searching recipes and made meals at home.
Food wise, I'm going to continuing focusing on planning meals that use up items I've opened. Beef broth was opened today so perhaps a nice onion soup tomorrow or tomorrow. I have a pile of cheese to use up as well.
It's day 3 of my aerogarden and my lettuce is already sprouting. I'm so glad we picked it up with the gift cards we rec'd.
Have a nice evening!

[Granger]

@Ciel I got a Baby Yoda Calendar too.

I’d like to learn to crochet. I like to loom knit.

Happy 2021!

[Angela273]

I made another coupon trade yesterday.

We finally have enough snow to go sledding with our kids, but it’s going to be melting again this week.

I’m working on my meal plans. How are you doing with you meal planning? Any supper suggestions?

[lizzie bargain]

one supper suggestion would be to make up burritos with meat, beans, rice and cheese or however you like them and freeze them in foil-warm at dinner time and add fresh toppings. Or keep all the fillings for burritos or tacos ready in the fridge and then you can serve for a few days. Also you could try pulled pork in the crockpot served with fresh buns and salad or cut up veggies.

[flemeth]

Good morning all just finish tidying up the family room and kitchen only need to
put away the laundry.

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy New Year everyone!

Yesterday i did absolutely nothing. Good start to the year $0 money spent.

Time to get rolling.

[lilo0003]

Free cereal here. You can pick 1 of 4 options.
https://kelloggs.websaver.ca/en/kell...RgMDLAOkPN-jP8

[lilo0003]

@Angela273 I am blessed with 1 son that loves food and loves to cook and other is still picky at 17. So we tend to let the 17 yr old fend for himself most days, but he still has to eat with us at least 4 days a week. When we plan we make sure 2 meals are things he can agree on so he may do pasta and meat balls, which we batch make and we would do a pasta with a homemade sauce and shrimp. We have a menu board and since the 20 yr old is at home not working he contributes by doing most meals. So before I grocery shop we sit down and plan the next 14 days. Then it’s on the board so everyone can see what’s on the plan. DH put all the regular meals on cue cards and it has a clip for each day of the week. We recommitted to this in the fall as we had all become lazy. This month he knows we are eating from the pantry so except for produce there won’t be much buying going on. In a normal month I would pick up a roast chicken and a chicken pot pie when I was in Costco as that takes care of 3-4 meals. One site I highly recommend for inexpensive meals but also to get kids interested in food is budgetbytes. The older one started using it at 11 and dragon noodles are a staple in our house, he can do the recipe without even looking at it now.

[SassyAshley]

I had been meal planning earlier in the year but let it slide when work got insane but got back on track within the last few weeks and am loving it. It makes it so easy and keeps us on track.

As I mentioned before I do not do the traditional meal plan, I find those do not work in our house. So instead what I do is I come up with a list of 10 meals we could have for dinner that week, these are meals we have everything on hand to make. I would say on average we use about 3 to 5 meals from my meal plan each week the other nights are usually a craving someone has, for example I did not have Breakfast for dinner on this week's plan but the other night we decided we wanted Eggs & Bacon.

One new thing I am adding back into our meal plan is each week I am going to include one new to us recipe. I just find it helps us with variety as we tend to just rely on the same recipe over and over and then we get sick of them.

With Covid anything we have for dinner we have to have on hand, we do not run out to the store and Covid has forced us to break out Take-Out habit which makes me happy. Take-Out is now a treat and not just a convenient fall back. Probably helps living in a small town where few restaurants deliver and with both of us being home it feels like work to go pick something up vs when we were working outside the house and could just grab it on our way home.

Some of our favourite meals are:
Beef and Broccoli over Rice
Egg Roll Stir Fry
Homemade Chicken Fingers with Oven Fries
BBQ Chicken Cesar Wraps

[Giseledta]

good afternoon all.

wentand got my mom her birdseed, thankfully the store is now limiting people .... not doing the best job but.. better.

then home. Bathroom is cleaned. i will work on the kitchen .... then start laundry. possibly vacume.. might save that for tomoorrow.
pretty low key day. but that is needed.
i have turkey to use up for supper.
going to local store tomorrow for fresh fruit. and veggies. and SDM for milk cream , creamer, bread .. 20x time points so will do that as well.
next week is my big shop week.


goal for today.. firm write out of goals for the next year, as well as my short term goals for the next 3 months.
make 3 items for dc loose parts play center - sewing.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
I got up late this morning, I did not sleep well at all last night even though I took something to help me sleep (it did not work). This not sleeping well is kicking my butt, I am not someone who does well on lack of sleep.

I thought about leaving the bedding for tomorrow in hopes I would sleep better tonight but since there was no guarantee I decided to just got for it. This was my big bedding wash which included the mattress covers (I only wash these every other time I do bedding) plus I did the pillows. The last load of pillows are in now. I did not get the couch blankets done but there is always tomorrow.

I realized my mattress topper which is a pillow top pad is falling apart so I will need to buy a new one, I have been looking on amazon but I am a bit torn. I do want to just get a cheap one but I also feel like if I have to spend a couple hundred $$$ to get a good one I would prefer to set that money aside for a new mattress not just a topper. Oh well we will see.

I also think I am going to need new pillows soon. I do not know what I do in my sleep but I kill pillows, literally misshapen cannot sleep on them anymore. I did buy a more expensive one from Costco which I did not destroy but when I sleep on I wake up with a headache. I sleep on two pillows so the expensive pillow is now my bottom pillow and I need a new top pillow. I have come to serious dislike buying pillows. I have been looking on Amazon but not sure I like the idea of buying a pillow I cannot touch before I buy.

I wrote my meal plan for next week I have a number of good options. I am thinking about maybe doing some meal prepping tomorrow so at least a couple of nights this week we can have easy dinners as I am not sure what this week will bring. We go back to work on Tuesday, as of right now I am supposed to be working from home which I think will happen all month because of Lockdown. But being our first week back and a short week for us it might be a busy week so a few simple ready to go dinners can only be a plus.

Think tonight I will do my to-do-lists for the week, both for work and home. I know I have a lot to get done for work but, I am determined to keep a balance of work, home and me time, wish me luck LOL.

Hope everyone has a great night

[lizzie bargain]

SA-I applaud you for trying to find work-life balance in 2021!

[crafter]

@SassyAshley your timing for considering a mattress cover and pillows is perfect. January typically has better "white sales" for things like bedding, towels etc. Keep your eye out for deals

Good Evening Everyone,
I got up late this morning, I did not sleep well at all last night even though I took something to help me sleep (it did not work). This not sleeping well is kicking my butt, I am not someone who does well on lack of sleep.

I thought about leaving the bedding for tomorrow in hopes I would sleep better tonight but since there was no guarantee I decided to just got for it. This was my big bedding wash which included the mattress covers (I only wash these every other time I do bedding) plus I did the pillows. The last load of pillows are in now. I did not get the couch blankets done but there is always tomorrow.

I realized my mattress topper which is a pillow top pad is falling apart so I will need to buy a new one, I have been looking on amazon but I am a bit torn. I do want to just get a cheap one but I also feel like if I have to spend a couple hundred $$$ to get a good one I would prefer to set that money aside for a new mattress not just a topper. Oh well we will see.

I also think I am going to need new pillows soon. I do not know what I do in my sleep but I kill pillows, literally misshapen cannot sleep on them anymore. I did buy a more expensive one from Costco which I did not destroy but when I sleep on I wake up with a headache. I sleep on two pillows so the expensive pillow is now my bottom pillow and I need a new top pillow. I have come to serious dislike buying pillows. I have been looking on Amazon but not sure I like the idea of buying a pillow I cannot touch before I buy.

I wrote my meal plan for next week I have a number of good options. I am thinking about maybe doing some meal prepping tomorrow so at least a couple of nights this week we can have easy dinners as I am not sure what this week will bring. We go back to work on Tuesday, as of right now I am supposed to be working from home which I think will happen all month because of Lockdown. But being our first week back and a short week for us it might be a busy week so a few simple ready to go dinners can only be a plus.

Think tonight I will do my to-do-lists for the week, both for work and home. I know I have a lot to get done for work but, I am determined to keep a balance of work, home and me time, wish me luck LOL.

Hope everyone has a great night