January 2022 Frugal Chat, here we go again.

[SassyAshley]

@walkonby , best thing we ever did was moved to tier pricing for Hydro. I love not having to look at the clock to see if I can do things and honestly. Not sure about this winter yet as until recently it has not been that cold but last year our winter bills were lower but we heat with hydro.

[Frugalbigmama]

@walkonby, best thing we ever did was moved to tier pricing for Hydro. I love not having to look at the clock to see if I can do things and honestly. Not sure about this winter yet as until recently it has not been that cold but last year our winter bills were lower but we heat with hydro.

What would you say is your average Hydro bill in the winter months?

[Frugalbigmama]

BRRR. I can't wait till Spring. Done with winter.

[SassyAshley]

Pre Tier pricing was $250 - $300

Now we average $200 on the high scale. This for months like this month with a number of cold days.

What would you say is your average Hydro bill in the winter months?

[crafter]

We pay on an average monthly basis of 110 a month, used to be 140-150/mthly 3-4 years ago,.since then, we've had the fan fixed on our furnace, stopped using the air exchange 24/7 (that was a huge gobbler) and changed some lightbulbs to LED.
We had a low income last year and looked into energy savings more. We signed via Enbridge (in Ontario but many provinces have similar programs) https://www.enbridgegas.com/resident...oofing-program. We also qualified for electricity savings program and rec'd a clothes drying rack, they changed lightbulbs to LED, a timer for Christmas lights, an energy savings surge protector bar for our tv and we were offered an energy efficient fridge. A couple of weeks later, we rec'd a call that we qualified for a new smart thermostat. Included installation. We're super happy that we applied. It sometimes makes sense to reach out if your income qualifies...we haven't seen the impacts on our bills yet with the recent upgrades but sure we will.

[Giseledta]

our hydro bill is betwee 100 and 125 per month. ... we do have a 1 yr old ac furnace.
we are tiered.

also .. i work from home.. as does hubby currently..
i just dont have the band width to wait till 7 pm to do laundry... i did it for a long time... but oldest child also goes into this.. she really really hates waiting till 7 pm.. and i made the decision not to listen to her complain about it. simply to go to tiered. best choice ever personally. yes i could prob save a bit ... but mental health wise.. worth it . funny enough... the other 2 kids never minded...

ok.. long day. i need to do better next week.
hubby had to go to his moms... hopefuly he will be back soon.. its been 3 hours... he popped back once.. got a few supplies...

tomorrow i am going to pet smart.. with the shortages i am highly concerned about big dogs special treats. i plan on ,.... buying alot.
other then that.... fruit and veggies bread. and home. plan for tomorrow is cleaning the family room.. laundry

[SassyAshley]

Super happy with today, I got everything from my Home to-do-list done. Although a few of my meal/ingredient prep things did not get done but we worked around it. My work to-do-list is looking good as well.

I will admit I was tempted to add a few more things and see if I could get them done today but I am really working on being content with getting my current goals done and not adding too much to my plate. So instead I started working on my to-do-lists for next week.

I still need to work on my meal plan for next week. Most days I am going to have back to back training session so I think I will rely heavily on my slow cooker and see what I can prep on the weekend so I can just dump and cook.

Watching a movie and working on some imports for work, it is just sitting here waiting for it check the imports and allow the import so nothing more than clicking involved. These imports are quite large so they have to be done well we are closed as they slow/stall the system.

[SassyAshley]

100% agree on the tiered. With my schedule waiting until after 7 pm was not an option so everything had to get done on the weekend. Most nights I go to bed between 8 & 8:30 so there was not enough time to get a load washed and dried before bed. Even working from home even if I am up at 5 am it was tight to get a load washed and dried before 7 am. Being on tiered just makes life so much easier.

also .. i work from home.. as does hubby currently..
i just dont have the band width to wait till 7 pm to do laundry... i did it for a long time... but oldest child also goes into this.. she really really hates waiting till 7 pm.. and i made the decision not to listen to her complain about it. simply to go to tiered. best choice ever personally. yes i could prob save a bit ... but mental health wise.. worth it . funny enough... the other 2 kids never minded...

[coupon girl]

I am in the same boat as crafter i pay even a bit less sometimes $80-$100 use to be a lot more before i got this savings program due to our income .

I am on tiered and i love it never having to worry about before or after 7.00 a.m or 7.pm My neighbour and i figured it out a bit cheaper unless we use the central air all summer .Plus we got our new furnace and air conditioner last august so looking forward to cheaper bills .

After watching the girls after school ,ashlyn asked if she could sleep over -all right .Her and i were just dancing in the living room ,she keeps me young .Then it will be tobaganning for like maybe 25 minutes ,we will take her back after lunch .

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Part of me is saying, "let's get going, we have things to do, I should spend the day in the kitchen"

The other part of me is saying "If you are looking for me, I will be on the couch wrapped in a blanket watching movie"

I have not decided which will win yet.

Still need to figure out dinner for tonight, I had planned for pizza but Mom wanted pizza last night so we made pizza. Now I need to come up with something for tonight.

Happy Saturday Everyone

[lilo0003]

Like many others I made the move to tiered and don’t regret it. DH and I have been WFH since March 2020 so for us this made sense.
DS1 treated us to dinner last night which I thought was rather sweet after just a week of employment. He was able to move his booster shot to Monday night rather than late February so fingers crossed he does not have a reaction. Today’s plan is a batch of soup, maybe a walk and a trip to the Asian grocery with DS1 and some time with my book and some cleaning of course

[Giseledta]

Special dog treat procured... we are good for 3 months. most things i can figure a work around for... i have one for those.. but its more expensive.


fruits veggies done. everything is put away.

.10 caddle
.75 on ecipsa
55 800 in pc points... hubby need a few items vitamin wise.. on sale.. bonus points.
recipit hog and sb done.
3.90 on petsmart using discount emailed to me .

pet smart .. had interesting shelves. whole brands of pet food.. just empty.
grocery store was fine. as was sdm .
we are now hiding in the house.. lol

house work in family room and laundry to do . and tax stuff ...

tomorrow.. baking... vacume.. and dc prep.

[coupon girl]

Went to rexall and got my prescription ,decided to go in asd it didnt look too busy
(3) gain fabric softner 3.33 havent seen it this cheap in awhile
(1) bag of mcdonalds coffee 9.99-5.00 sticker=4.99 expires feb 13/22
olus a few other items spent over 50 so got 25,000 points

[flemeth]

I am also tiered for Hydro since my DDs are working from home And I am in the house most of the time since COVID hit.

[Frugalbigmama]

RE: Hydro costs
@SassyAshley- Your monthly cost isn't really bad considering you heat with Hydro. I know for myself when house shopping electric heat scared me so I wouldn't even consider it.

Lived in this house for almost 12 years and when the kids were little the entire house was in bed by 9pm lol so Hydro was under $40 a month (I remember asking my neighbour how much theirs was (they had teens at the time) and she told me close to $200/mth!!!! ( subdivision with similar houses)

So I budget $200 a month for Hydro and Gas (Enbridge) And $75/month for Water and Sewer. I have for a long time. It was always less over the year and I would build up a credit on the accounts so when months were high it would work out (Hydro cost more in summer because of A/C and Enbridge bill higher in winter )

Jan 01 2021 I decided to set up a savings account named "Utilities" and each month I would pay the bill and transfer the extra to the account and sometimes I would need to transfer some back to pay a bill if it was over the $200/75 monthly bill.
So as of Dec 31, 2021 the amount in the account totaled $414.12. I am going to leave it and continue and do the same this year and see how we end the year. (since we know all costs are going up)