March Frugal Chatter - Spring is Coming

[cath007]

Nurse will come tomorrow morning between 9-930 am.Maybe she will pull off the stichs.not sure.Dad have an appointement with is doctor march 31 at 11 am. I need to doi the stairs with dad and walk a little bit but I am feared a little bit.Maybe I will ask the nurse to do some stairs with dad tomorrow.When I was putting away recycle and garbage outside in the bin 1 floor neighbour ask me if dad was ok .So nice that people in the block care a little bit for him.She offered to move his car but dad dont want too...I think he dont fully understand his new medical condition... Because the parking when we park winter is sold so we will have vignette in the others street...such a bummer
For supper I made a pate chinois(shepeard pie) and it was deliciousI was hungry because I had veggies with ranch dip for lunch and a little bit of french baguette with cranberry chicken spread(easy option).Plently of leftovers too!!!
Have a good evening and night

[lilo0003]

@Frugalbigmama I am not sure if you have an instant pot but if you do that’s the easiest way to make beans. I make a batch and then freeze in ziplock backs and flatten then down to stack. This way I have the amount I want and I get at lest 4xs more from a bag than I do a can. I do lots of burritos bowls. Whenever the rest of the house is having something in a wrap I put it in a bowl.
My best deal of the week was a loaf of my favourite bread for free, it was in the Flashfood at RCSS and priced at 18cents. Which means they don’t charge you for it. Yummy.

[Giseledta]

evening all....
i did a mind switch this week.. started to purdge some stuff. feeling really good about it. i have already sold 1 item. i have several other listed. i will post more tomorrow.
i am feeling very good about it.

spent 40 min working on the backyard. chatted with hubby about having a yard of mulch delivered. i will do that in about 4 weeks. i have a plan for between now and then for the yard.

with this nice weather , i really want to take advantage of the time i have to get things done. and it is helping with my mental health .. so win win

[Ciel]

I bought a cute little water fountain for my cats - used but in great condition for $10 and it came with an extra filter. The lady was selling it, as her cat wasn't interested and it looks like mine aren't either :-(

With the warming days, the cats will reconsider ignoring that fountain...paws will go in if not tongues.

[Ciel]

DS brought all his dirty laundry to the laundry room. I will get it sorted and started. Told him yard clean up starts tomorrow!

Still warm out at 20 but the clouds are hiding the sun. Going to take my laundry in now and put it away since it is all dry now.

Today has been the coldest 18C day I can recall! It was definitely frosty feeling at 7:20am when I went to collect my garbage can and green cart. Then I saw a young high school student walk by in shorts around 8am! 10:30am the air still felt like fridge air. Think it was around 1pm when the sun was fairly steady that it felt sort of warm while I hung laundry on the one clothesline.

I picked out/raked stones in one area of the yard yesterday. Also took out two or three pine roots that have been a hassle to mow around in the yard. Yay. Hope your DS feels victory too in his yard work efforts! Seeing bags at the curb is a good feeling!

[Ciel]

Yesterday was a gift of decent warm temperature! Made sure to do a walk around suppertime to cash in the cans from three separate walks over past couple of weeks for $2.10. Then promptly spent the money with 15cents for two bottles of pop at Dollarama. Got some coupons at grocery store. Despite hanging a load of towels just after 5pm, they were half-dry when I pulled them off after 7:30pm. Managed to oil 3 of the 4 clothesline wheels but not the 4th one well (simply could not go on third step of ladder and I was far past the support post for the lines, so no balance to reach out to). Got a bit of oil under that wheel but it will be squealing without its semi-annual oiling soon. So far the trees have not really budded but once they do, instant leaves in about 10 days afterwards and less sunshine for the clotheslines. No branch trimming this spring (cannot do it) so I will simply pick up what falls down.
@cath007 I will send you two of the Purina cat coupons in the mail. I think by next Tuesday or Wednesday, you will have them (plus a few others that might interest you). You did well in finding the Joe Fresh items you needed in stock AND got points! I was going to suggest ordering online as free shipping is given for orders over $25 on their site. Good plan to see if your father can work on the stairs this week in preparation for his appointment next week. Yes, I am wishing you to have a good new neighbour, once current one moves his stuff and those shelves away.

[Ciel]

Today was more of a recovery day. Parts of body don't like too much effort without some kind of warmup and I feel half-deflated. Got my clean tops ironed and folded the other laundry and put away. One t-shirt will be cut for rags as sleeve is coming apart. Every day, I seem to notice one household need or grocery item that is in need of going on the next shopping list. Would love to shut off that alertness and just bliss out with whatever task or activity I am doing!
@SassyAshley I too am craving vegetables but am thinking what to eat now after a winter full of California mix veggies, potatoes all the time, and roasted root veggies plus bell peppers. Cucumbers will be needed for those warm days when I must pop something cold into my mouth. I am wary of getting any lettuce mixes right now because I'm left basically eating them on my own. The two acorn squashes will be prepped for tomorrow as it will be a colder day and they are taking up counter space. Tired of celery but celery sticks sometimes provide energy pep and satisfying crunch as snacks.

Decided I have to put off any idea of going to Mississauga as I probably will need to have some pain remedy to deal with GO Bus trip (if a lurch in a van hurts me, then a 45min of high speed bus ride is going to be too much hurt that will hinder walking).
Instead, I'll see if I can order that much desired big bag of dirt before the discount code expires at the end of March. I want the lawn to get its ruts fixed ASAP and that will have to happen before Bro thinks it's time to send the water-weighted roller over the lawn behind the tractor (probably next month).

I managed to get some grass seed from last year's open bag distributed in the thinly seeded area that gets more shade than sun. Hoping Mother Nature's rains this week help with sprouting. Otherwise I will have to get some water out to the seeds by the weekend. I'd rather not lug full buckets or watering cans around if I can.

One facecloth will be stitched on two sides to make a wash mitt for me. Never occurred to me to do that until after the purchased one was put to use in the main bathroom recently. Noticed that Home Hardware sells a showerhead version that features 4 settings including trickle! Same showerhead as the one on the white handheld unit in main bathroom. The basement shower head has no settings for trickle or anything else (like massage for sore back) so I have saved the page in my bookmarks-definitely worth chasing that item! Surprised I did not realize its existence last year.

[Ciel]

@Giseledta Happy belated birthday! You deserve at least two nights off any household tasks this week as part of your birthday week. See if you can get someone else to make dinner one night while you are in the garden and have a movie or fun night on a second evening! Congrats on your coursework amidst the constantly changing rules about what to do for work, what to reschedule/rework for your daycare!!!

[cath007]

@Ciel :Thank you so much for the coupons you are sending,Really appreciate your kindness!!!

[cath007]

Just checked on dad scarves because he was heading to bed no more bruises and it is a little bit better yay!!! Still some red but less.
As for me I wanted to listen some music on my i pod(old but useful to me) and I dont know since I cancelled my subscribtion per month I dont have so much access to my music like before.I cancelled it last month and it does that since yesterday night...such a bummer....
I realize now the condition of dad as his good things .No more restaurants fast food for me so saving huge amount of$$$$ better menu planning and etc...alright will read some posts and after good night

[grinchyheart]

I am wary of getting any lettuce mixes right now because I'm left basically eating them on my own.

I freeze all excess leafy greens. It started with just spinach, now it's anything I get a deal on. Just put the greens in a big zip freezer bag as the original packaging usually gets brittle & breaks in the freezer. When the leaves are fully frozen, I squish the bag to break them into tiny pieces. They take up hardly any room at all. Then whenever I make meatloaf, meatballs, spaghetti sauce or veggie soup, I throw a small handful in right from the bag. Just enough to add a few extra vitamins. My last deal was 4 pkgs of mixed baby field greens for .50 each from Flashfood, 1 went for salads, & 3 to freeze.

[cath007]

Good morning everyone!!! Happy Wenesday,the middle of the week already!!! +1 degre right now and +18 this afternoon and a little bit cloundy.
Folded 1 load of laundry that was dry.Need to go to metro for a few things( I made a list) and then do the dishes of yesterday (sink is full) ,do probably 1 load of laundry and then a few little tasks ,nothing major.Managed to do the organisation of all my scarves in my wardrobe this morning with my coats and now they take less place.!!!
Waiting for the nurse to arrive for dad
Alright have an awesome day!!!

[Frugalbigmama]

Good morning! I went for a walk at 830 pm last night and it was beautiful out. No jacket! Crazy nice day.

No cooking for me today. Leftovers in the fridge to eat. I will have rice and chicken for lunch.
Have the sink ready with hot water and soap to wash the few dirty dishes from the late night gremlins.

I have a massage this afternoon. A gift certificate I bought at a promo price years ago that I am finally using (I found it again when cleaning out a drawer )

My pick up from yesterday sent etransfer this morning saying she had a family emergency. Glad I didn't sell it to the next person in line. Life happens.

I have a load of laundry in the washer that I will hang outside to dry. I think I will wash DS's bedding too so it is ready when he gets home from school and then he can make his bed while he tidy's his room.
I will wait and do my bedding tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

[cath007]

Yay!!! Dad has his stichs(agraphes)removed,it went really well !!! Now he has tape to maintain it ,it will remove from itself.No shower for 2 days but he wash himself with a faceclothe.He is healing reallly good for someone not in good shape before.Such a great news,it made my day..!!! Off to metro later

[Frugalbigmama]

I just hung the laundry outside to dry and my neighbour told me a thunder storm is coming today. She said later today so I should be good. Its windy so hopefully they dry quickly and I will take them in and hang in their proper closets.
I will wait and do DS's bedding tomorrow morning. No rush and I would rather dry outside and not use dryer.