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

[barbis9]

My Checkout 51 cheque came in, so that along with seniors day at Rexall will be my excitement for tomorrow.

[lizzie bargain]

I have you both beat-saw the doc, had a bone density scan and dental cleaning and dentist all today-lol. Lot's of excitement.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
I ma very in my own head today, tomorrow I am hosting two group training session, one for our sales team and one for our managers. I am extremely nervous to say the least as it is first time I will be hosting one via Zoom, normally in the past the sales would get group training broken into 2 groups of 4 to 6 per group and manager always got one on one training with me. As well I believe my boss and the regional branch manager will be sitting in on the manager trainer and my step-mom is a temporary branch manager in one of our branches and will be attending. Yeah, totally in my head, totally stressing and full of anxiety.

The morning went well as I had very specific tasks to focus on but in the afternoon I started to lose focus. I did try to stop and get a couple things done around the house to try to regain my focus but it did not work. Today I cleaned off our old printer (now I just need to find someone accepting old printers), I was kind of using as a side table and I did a bunch of hand dishes. The dishwasher has not been run and will need to be emptied tomorrow.

Dinner was good, I have to be honest I am sucker for any balsamic so I loved the marinade. Mom requested bean & carrots medley as the veg so that is what I made.

Now it is time to try to relax, I have all my prep done for tomorrow so I need to try to put it out of my mind.

Have a wonderful night everyone.

[crafter]

Well I went out today and ran errands to a few places. Metro had the Lanctancia pur filtre milk on sale for $3.99 which is not just a taste treat, the milk bags are higher quality I walked past the great sale that Metro had on roast beef since DH is not a huge roast guy, more of steak man. I did pick up the Bubbly water deal and Tortilla chips.
I dropped by Cdn tire for a pick up on my aerogarden seed starter kit. I plan to start my seedlings and then transfer to pots with potting soil or kratky jars depending on the type of plant.
The off to independent Grocers primarily for meat for us but for some funky organic/vegan treats etc for our DD who's birthday is in Feb. I had previously purchased a pre-paid box to fill for her birthday. The boxes are a great savings on postage but are a bit limiting being 11 lb weight. We added apple butter (from my Mom), cool international herb mixes, cool herbal teas, a maple coffee, assorted nuts and dried fruit/nut mixture.
Stopped by our little village post office (impeccable service there)
a couple of bottles of wine and beer at our little village grocery store and back home.
It seemed to make more sense to get it all done in one day. I skipped the SDM knowing that there will be more offers and it is bonus seniors day on Thursday if I really have to go.

[coupon girl]

lizzie-yes you topped barbis and i for your fun filled day .lol

Supper was homemade cheese pizza ,almost finished my puzzle .Waiting to hear from my daughter as she lets us chat with sebastian .

On my walk today i saw little girls down the street (made me think of my wee granddaughter's ) found one beer can to add to my new start of cans .

[Giseledta]

i developed my nut allergy in my 30s....... highly annoying....

[Giseledta]

i started working on hats yesterday. i am thinking i will make some for the family as a valentine gifts.
i am not sure what i will do fo r middle child.. if i do something for the girls, i will do something for them as well.


made a roast for supper... i had hoped there would be enough for a stew for tomorrow.... there will not be... sigh... ok.. back up meal it is.. sloppy joes

its going to be a bit of a wonky week..
it will be what it is .

[Frugalbigmama]

i developed my nut allergy in my 30s....... highly annoying....

I had a nut allergy the 1st time 2 days before having my oldest. We were out for dinner at a fancy restaurant for Valentine's day and i had bought some Brazilian nuts at bulk barn that were in my purse and had a few since i was starving while waiting for our dinner.
My throat started to close up!
Haven't touched them since!

[Frugalbigmama]

i started working on hats yesterday. i am thinking i will make some for the family as a valentine gifts.
i am not sure what i will do fo r middle child.. if i do something for the girls, i will do something for them as well.


made a roast for supper... i had hoped there would be enough for a stew for tomorrow.... there will not be... sigh... ok.. back up meal it is.. sloppy joes

its going to be a bit of a wonky week..
it will be what it is .

I need to start cooking 2 large roasts at a time....there is never enough for leftovers. I was lucky i made a sandwich after dinner last week and hid it in fridge for my lunch or it would have disappeared with the rest of the sliced up leftovers.
I wonder what it is like to make food and it still be in the fridge the next night with no worries of someone eating it.

[Ciel]

Last night, I decided to window-shop at Macys.com because there was an extra 15% off some clearance items. Actually saw two cardigans (since they are my wishlist for The Bay) that are exactly the same as on the Hudson Bay site. Saw lots of Martha Stewart copper trivets and things too. I closed my browser tab when I was done because I had two items in cart and had told myself no more gifts or whatever this month.

Also last night-checked my bank account and noticed the Visa network did not reverse a hold on funds for one store purchase (the store rang through their charge a few days later and this was all happening last week). I will pay for every box sent separately from a order done at one store so my bank is in line for at least $6 in debit overages. Have to print off the bank transactions and inquire at the branch if staff can investigate the hold that is still showing on my account. Not all stores do holds (I seem to notice that happening on $100+ orders usually but this was a charge under $30 and that has not happened before). Second order with same store did not trigger a hold on my debit card so...?

OK, Twitter (thanks @Giseledta for retweeting the post about lockdown extension) told me that Feb. 8 is our new timeline for lockdown extra. A wise poster on that thread inquired about an Ontario hydro low-rate extension (currently 8.5 cents/kwh until Jan. 28) too-if there is one, I bet we learn on Thursday as it seems to be a pattern for such news. Still enjoying a time-free use of hydro at one flat rate. But things might change if the low rate jumps the shark and Premier tells us we are back to Winter rates and TOU.

Not sure how things will work out if lockdown extends into Reading Week for college/university students in February. People will want to go out and then there's Family Day too.

Fridge rescue-saw one of three peppers had gone green--into the bin! Tossed the last bit of cut celery (it had turned recently) and salvaged the second celery bunch (a few tips had started going mushy but no big losses) and prepped it into sticks for snacking or slicing into soups and whatever hot bowl of food requires it. Maybe a pan of veggies will be roasting for lunch tomorrow (half a big red union and the sliced peppers would all work).

Bro made tacos for second day in row and it was a great lunch! We had them last night for supper too and Mom was keen to enjoy tacos with us.

Canada Post's Gateway East plant in Mississauga has 350 people on quarantine due to a batch of positive COVID-19s tests done for a shift crew. Expect mail delays. I am going to mail a contest entry tomorrow and just let the Universe figure out the timing of the mail (it has to be there by Sunday but Friday would be best) for this week's entry.

[Ciel]

Paper tax package has not appeared in the mailbox. But a second copy of the phone book did arrive! Saving it.

Not sure how much snow will actually appear tomorrow. The morning plan is to walk to bank and to library but if conditions are not good, then Wednesday it will have to be.

Tonight calls for buttered popcorn and some old tv series episodes -Simon & Simon! Thank you @coupon girl for your review of Bling Empire-I want a little escapism for tv.

[HermanH]

I wonder what it is like to make food and it still be in the fridge the next night with no worries of someone eating it.

Sounds like an infestation of teenager(s).

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! Recycling day for us. Had lots of cardboard from cleaning out boxes in the basement. Happy to have that all out of the garage and to the curb.

House stuff is a write off for me this week as I am extremly busy at work. ( taking care of regular kitchen clean up and laundry) But starting next week I am back at it and getting rid of crap!

DS took taco meat out of the freezer yesterday and there is lots left in the fridge so I am sure youngest brother will eat tacos today since we have tons of wraps/lettuce/cheese/sour cream etc.

I have a few chicken breasts in the fridge that I will bake in the oven tonight and make a salad to go with it for dinner.

Will pull out the crockpot tonight and toss a peameal roast in it in the morning for dinner tomorrow night. Will serve with green beans and something else and use the leftovers for breakfast sandwiches.

Have a fantastic day everyone!

[coupon girl]

Morning -snow looks lovely .

Well banana republic just sent me a 10% and free shipping code .I cant afford banana republic and i have never bought from them but always buy from the gap and old navy .I sure did use the code thou socks for my son ,his birthday is in feb and then i flipped over to old navy and the gap and looked at their sales i found a cute top for cara 7.99 -50%=3.99 for next spring i got a size 5 .Pays to think ahead for the girls as they are so easy to buy for they are tiny .Sebastian is a solid 4 year old ,so not that easy to buy too far ahead .

Total for the 2 items $8 something .That made my day .

Plus the bay finally credited my credit card with $1.49 -the 10% off i should have gotten with sebastian boxers.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
It is a snowy day here, looks to be quite windy too. I will not be going outside as I have a full day of training.

My morning session was a little odd, not a lot of talking which is not like this group but I think we are all still adjusting to not being able to be in the same room. I am hoping this afternoon's session will be a bit better. I am struggling big, I am so overwhelmed I had to walk away today, I am trying to do the training blitz but am still getting sent so much day to day stuff I just cannot keep up. So I walked away made a hot lemon and honey and did some deep breathing.

Right now I am taking a bit of a break, I am thinking of pivoting my training strategy again but I am hesitant. It is times like this I hate being a department of 1, where I have no one to bounce ideas off. Also does not help that all of the "groups" I was in where we would discuss upcoming projects and get each others feedback and help from I have been removed from, apparently I am an Island all on my own.

I did not get anything tackled before my morning training session, my me relax time was more needed so after my after training session I will need to get a few things done. I think Mom is going to clean the bathroom so that will be one thing off my list.

Alright, time for a few more deep breathes and head into the next training sessions, fingers crossed this one is a little more interactive.

Have a great day everyone and stay safe for those under the travel advisory.