November 2021 Frugal Chatter thread (& reading the weather skies)

[barbis9]

Hello. We went for a lovely walk today at one of our Conservation areas. I stopped at the library and borrowed 2 passes. A Provincial park pass (loan for 7 days) and a Quinte Conservation area parking pass (loan for 21 days). We already saved $5 in parking costs today

It's our anniversary today. We usually go away for a few days so we decided to celebrate with a staycation visiting local parks

@crafter I didn't know you could borrow passes to parks? I will have to check at my library. Happy Anniversary!

[barbis9]

@Skippy you must be overjoyed. @walkonby you must be both relived and overjoyed
no one warned us the parenting gig never gets easier.
I received my sample source today and blech that cheesy ball thing was awful. DS2 made off with the Rice Krispie square in no time. Still no furnace on hear but man it’s starting to feel like winter. DH and I like to see how long we can hold out and so far the house is still cozy but I doubt it will last much longer, it was 3 degrees last time I looked.

@lilo0003 I already have the furnace on but low at 67 degrees (yes I am a dinosaur and refuse to convert to Celsius), as I live close to the lake.

[coupon girl]

crafter- happy belated anniversary .

Gonna relax today try to get a walk in outside,may clean my stove .I want to tackle the bigger jobs soon .

Cant wait to see my daughter and sebastian on sat ,havent seen them since thanksgiving .

[lizzie bargain]

I am home today so all beds are stripped and will be remade as we are having company this weekend. I think I will also sort out my small lower fridge freezer so I don't forget anything in there. Up to 15 today so maybe even a bike ride-that should take care of any remaining snow that fell on Friday.

[coupon girl]

Wow just finished cleaning my oven ,started at 11.30 a.m ,mind you i took a break .Wow that was a job inside and the burners also .Now i dont know if i feel like going for a walk -uggggg life.

[lizzie bargain]

I am very thankful for the glass top stove we bought last time-don't miss cleaning those burners at all. Well it seems cleaning my freezer out was a good thing-I found not one but 4 packages of frozen spinach lurking. And what did I send my husband to buy last week while making lasagna-you guessed it. Oops

[SassyAshley]

Ran into one of our branches today as we seemed to have some IT issues going on and so much easier to fix in person vs over the phone.

On the way home I ran into No Frills and grabbed:
2 x 10 lb Potatoes $1
**This time I got 2 bags of white potatoes, we prefer russet which is what I got before but white are nice to wash and use no peeling
6 x Tuna $0.97
1 x Orange Juice $2.97
2 x Mini Tortillas $1.97 - 50%

Spent under $15 and I am happy. Now to look at next week's flyers and see what we need. Also need to go to Costco to grab a few things, might try to run to Costco tomorrow to get it done.

I am going to make Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna and Cheesy Garlic Naan, quick easy and simple.

[SassyAshley]

I 100% agree on the glass top, I will never go back unless we get the opportunity to switch to gas. Love my Glass Top to much easier to clean

I am very thankful for the glass top stove we bought last time-don't miss cleaning those burners at all. Well it seems cleaning my freezer out was a good thing-I found not one but 4 packages of frozen spinach lurking. And what did I send my husband to buy last week while making lasagna-you guessed it. Oops

[coupon girl]

I did have a glass top when we first bought the house 24 years ago but the oven door shattered after so many years ,so i went back to burners and i got a cheaper stove which i have had 14 years now .

My dear daughter hated my stove while she lived with us she has always liked gas and a convection oven ,well in her rental she now has electric with burners .

[Skippy]

Skippy's shopping/cooking hack of the day:

Indeed buying store brand food is cheaper and often just as yummy. But remember to actually read the label and not just the jar(as they are often identical). My wonderful homemade potato salad was destroyed after I flooded it with dill pickle juice instead of just adding some relish.
There was no saving it! but in my defence the bottles were next to each other!

[Skippy]

@walkonby it's been nearly two years since we last saw DS. Australia just opened their international borders November 1st but to only their own. @flemeth thank you, and I'm afraid your DDs will need to wait awhile yet for their trip(See above) @lilo0 03 Indeed overjoyed that we'll see him. Your spot on when talking about the parenting gig. It's a lifelong journey and they're still your kid no matter what the age!

[cath007]

Whising you all a good evening and night,dont forget to push your pc offers

[Angela273]

I received my pay stub via email, like usual. I had 9 days at sub pay rate and 11 days at my increased pay rate. My net income is about what I had expected. There are 3 non student days in November, which means I only get paid for those days if the admin decides that I can come in and get paid for those days. Usually only teachers on contract get paid for non student days.

I went to Sobeys by last night for 10% off Tuesday. I used some coupons, picked up a few deals, and earned more Air Miles.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Up and out this morning as I got the late yesterday afternoon that I needed to cover a manager today.

Not sure why but I woke up wide awake at 4:30 this morning so I had some time to just slowly start my morning catching up on some news and a little instagram. It was a little shocking when I went outside and my car said -2, although I guess it is fitting as I got an email yesterday that my car will be going in sometime over the next 2 weeks to get it's winter tires on.

Since I am working out of town today thinking it might just be my chance to run to Costco and get my Costco shop done. Most of what we need is not day to day items but more the things we buy once or twice a year. Which is right on schedule, I am not sure why but we always seem to stock up on these items when we do our big Christmas shopping trip. Probably should have planned that a little better to not combine our big stock and Christmas shopping but it is okay as I set aside $$$ for this throughout the year and the $$$ are there.

I am thinking this year instead of using our Rebate cheque towards stocking up I am going to allocate that to a meat stock up and use the $$$ I set aside for the rest. Honestly, I think I am going to come in under budget which is never a bad thing.

I read yesterday the Canadian Dairy Association has said in 2022 they will be putting through a 8.4% increase on Milk and a 12.4% increase on butter. I am starting to feel like 2022 is going to be a tight year on the budget just seeing things already rising and hearing they will only rise more. Shopping the sales and deals will help but I find some of the sales are just not there anymore.

Happy Thursday everyone

[Ciel21]

Happy surprise this afternoon-it seems The Bay has found the toy I requested after 3 days of no updates beyond In Progress status. I did notice the overall order hold had left my prepaid card with a charge for the clothing items put through. So delighted to get a new toy! I will look for more deals but I wanted this one as the musical version of Flora is a bit rich for me. Guess that Bay Days and Seniors Day this week put some stress on sales staff to get things organized after two busy weekdays before they can get to picking order items.

I've become a fan of Gerber Rice Carrot Pumpkin cereal (no tax on baby food). The trick is to eat while it's hot to get the carrot flavour otherwise it tastes like hot milk and Cheerios that have cooled down into flavourless mush. Don't mind the iron-fortification-I probably need it.

Pleased that the weather outside is just cold and overcast, not wet or icy (though temps at dusk certainly feel like snow is imminent). Round two of leaf raking is coming up.

My only concern with butter is that when I do use it for toast or popcorn, I tend to like a generous amount (also on cooked pasta, if not using olive or coconut oil to hold seasonings or sauces to pasta). I noticed the butter deal at Giant Tiger this week but am not chasing it at the moment. Sadly, my baking has gone by the wayside. It might change as a way to warm up the kitchen in mornings when I want something homemade with my tea and I cannot get out to buy Danishes or coffee cakes on sale. Snickerdoodle cookies have been on my mind this week.