November 2022 Frugal Chatter (Brr...temps are falling!)

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Not sure what is up, but my sleep is all messed up right now. There is no full moon so I am not sure what is up. I am having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. It is a bit of a struggle as I am someone who needs her sleep and always has. Might be time to try a sleep reset but I feel like I just did one not that long ago.

In general, I feel like my routines are off right now. I do not know what it is, we always if I am home we start making dinner between 4 & 4:30 depending on what we are having with the goal of eating between 5 & 5:30. The last few nights it is like we lost time making dinner, all of a sudden it is after 6 and we are eating but dinner should not have taken that long to make.

This then leads to everything else being off as we clean up later and it is making me feel like I have no time after work. A few nights in the past week I have gone to bed late just because my sense of time feels off. But I also feel like, I work, we eat, and I go to bed which I think is why I am having trouble sleeping. I think because I am out of my routine my body isn't realizing it is bedtime.

Up until recently, I have been good at stopping work by 5 so I have some time at night to wind down and have time for me but all of a sudden it just feels off. All of this probably seems very weird but this is how my body is, it works best when I am in a routine and even these little shifts can cause things to feel off. Which is actually funny because with my job having a routine is hard.

It is weird because I feel like most days are good days but I feel off at the same time. I am feeling very lost within myself right now. I am going to blame the change in seasons and the snow because I am not a fan of snow but I live in Canada so we get snow.

[Ciel21]

@SassyAshley See if you can make yourself be in the daylight sun for 15-20min each day to help with the time change and sleep hours. Do a walk around the survey and see what's new and what's different.

Since today is lighter with the wind power, I will take that walk and ignore the yard work outside (I see fallen branches from yesterday's wind action). Had my breakfast but not any tea (later), did two light loads of laundry and washed my dishes and put away the dry dishes and cutlery. How I wish I could walk a couple of hours to big box land and look at the clothing at Marks and Rickis and Reitmans! Ah, to dream

Need to think of something easy for lunch. Pasta again or maybe a batch of muffins? Not too many options in the house. I had thought about roasting a sliced apple with root veggies on the weekend but I don't feel like doing that for today.

Before 9am the yard waste bags and trash were collected! That's not often the case-taking that as a good sign for the day.

[sueshe]

I’ve found that as I age my sleep schedule can go off track easily. I must physically wear myself out in order to sleep well and deeply.

i usually play a sport for a couple of hours every day or at least go to the gym or walk for a couple hours. If I can get time during the day I love walking but not always possible. I try to play pickleball or badminton in the evenings and if I can’t get a game in I’ll head to the gym right after dinner. The downside to the is keeping weight on but the upside is sleeping well! I usually snack and have wine before bed to get enough calories in me which is not a bad thing, but trying to get in 2000 calories a day is more difficult in my 60’s than I would have thought

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning!

I dropped DS off at school and then went to No Frills and Walmart.
My Rye bread is still $1.97 at No Frills so grabbed 3 loaves (we all eat it)
Picked up 6 pit stick for boys at $2 each and received 2400 PC pts.

At Walmart $1.67 Boston Lettuce (for sandwiches) Chicken Souvlaki skewers clearance $6.18 (for dinner)

Then parked downtown to go to bank. Popped in Loblaws and saw a dozen large eggs for with 50% off so paid $2.05 (crazy they sell them for $4.09 regular!!!)

Home to change and went to Aquafit. Came back home and cleaned the kitchen. (we will run the dishwasher after dinner)

Once I pick up DS from school I will come home and put a load of laundry in the washer and then have a shower and get dressed for the day

Then out to GT, $, CT and RCSS. Get all my running around and steps in today since its nice outside.

[coupon girl]

Up early this morning and hubby and i went for a 40 minute walk down at the beach ,then popped into his brothers for an hour visit .So beautifull today ,no wind not that chilly.

I just put in an order with Little blue company/hatley based out of quebec i think ,my dear hubby loves their t-shirts.I saved 10% extra plus they gave me a freebie at the end 2 pairs of womans socks savings of 10.00. I called and told them how nice was that in this day and age of inflation to get 2 pairs of ladies socks for free,that made my day.

[Frugalbigmama]

Home for the night now. Have basmatti rice and the chicken souvlaki chicken cooking.

I bought the large pre-made Greek Salad at RCSS for $8. I am having a big salad now (I didn't eat lunch) I took lots of romaine out and put in a bowl for DS (to make him Ceaser to go with his dinner) and then there is lots left for who wants it with dinner and I am sure I will get a big lunch salad out of it tomorrow. And I already pulled all the grape tomatoes from it and put them in the fridge for a pasta dish I will make (we don't like them in our salad)
This was a way much cheaper (and no work!) way for me to have Greek salad (the feta alone!)

We have tons of shampoo we don't love (I picked up tons of it and paid 50 cents a bottle after clearance/coupon etc. So we are using it up and I am just buying conditioner (on sale/deals) to go with it. The conditioner is what counts so it is a win win!

[Ciel21]

Great day for walk though wind did pick up here and there. I was walking into the wind on way home. So can't close bank account yet-a refund was posted to my account 6 days after CSR chat about the order. Have to talk to store toll-free number or try the phone banking line (branch can't reverse the refund). Sigh.

Still no regular PC diet cola but there was the caffeine free version so $3.99 bevvie was acquired. Did not see anything to pick up from the clearance merchandise racks (personal care, food, random stuff on rack in frozen foods aisle). Store moved the foot pump operated hand sanitizer to the cart lobby as former spot now has a holiday display of something that divides the Pane Fresco hot foods lineup from anyone moving a cart on other side or the lineup for the hot beverages/sandwiches area. Had to keep swivelling my head around to see if other shoppers are keeping to right of the aisles or even aware of other shoppers. Noticing a lot of "centre of the aisle" cart rolling going on. There are product skids in some aisles to add an Amazing Race obstacle course vibe to the store experience.

I had done a branch collection before my walk and there were two narrow tree limbs that fell down, lots of smaller broken branches and chunks of dead branches. Managed to fill one yard bag with branches, cones and spruce branch bits. Found two pieces of broken foam (old cooler in area?) and a Monopoly cup (no stickers) likely blown in from the other corner in yesterday's wind. Will wait for a warmer day to run the mower again as there are leaves piling in some areas and one stretch of grass needs attention (long grass made raking tedious).

Guess what is on Black Friday/Nov. 25? A professional development day for students! Be prepared for crowds in stores. There may be PD day programs in community libraries to help keep kids engaged and reading.

I feel that all of November has been one Black Friday rollout. Canadian retailers must be worried that some of their customers are going to shop in the US that day since the border is open.

[lilo0003]

Dragging my bum today. We had a very late return flight home and with the time change my body is not happy. It was after 2 when I got into bed and was up as usual for work today. But it was such a wonderful weekend it was worth it. Last week was my 25th work anniversary and I was given several gift cards. It was my choice for a small selection and so I decided to pick a roots card and will reward myself with a roots purse. The other is for Target and I will use it for a stocking stuffers trip prior to Christmas. I am a little panicked as I have not purchased a single gift. The kids are older and since somewhat dependent so there is not a lot they need as they live with us. So I am baffled as to what to get them.

[Ciel21]

Good morning, Smart Canucks. Most of the snow is gone here but the leaves are playing. Tomorrow will have a high of 10C-mower time!


@lilo0003 A couple of ideas for gifts for sons: donate to a cause they like that helps people or pets in need or create personal photo albums (physical ones-it'll be a search for albums if there's no photo place with albums; try Winners?)for each one, to start off their own collection of family photos. Don't forget to take photos of you and DH at the house and one of grandfather in his new place and your mother at her place with your aunt! I was going to suggest a photo album for your father in law too but perhaps he has one or more? Or could use some help assembling one with the photos he and his late wife had taken? Any notes on who's in photos in your or DH's handwriting will be great, especially if you have to scan the one copy of photos you may have from your early family days. Stocking stuffers sound like fun!

[Ciel21]

Will glance at Giant Tiger's digital flyer to see if a walk there is in order. Need a cup of tea too.

Some cleaning needs doing-mustering the motivation to get going on that task. It'd be swell if the Universe could pass along a contest win soon in my direction...

[Frugalbigmama]

Will glance at Giant Tiger's digital flyer to see if a walk there is in order. Need a cup of tea too.

Some cleaning needs doing-mustering the motivation to get going on that task. It'd be swell if the Universe could pass along a contest win soon in my direction...

I just went to GT and bought Christie crackers $1.97, Buttermilk chicken strips $9.97 and a bar of cheese $3.97.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Went into one of our branches yesterday. Was going to go into RCSS but I do not know what it was I was exhausted yesterday, so skipped it, I just wanted to come home.

Well at work talked to my boss and realized just how much I have to get done before year-end, ugh. I am feeling seriously overwhelmed now. It is all good stuff and stuff we need to do but there are going to be A LOT of changes in 2023 and most of them affect and involve me.

I had to work late last night as I needed to do some work that could only be done when everyone was logged out. I was hoping it would only take an hour or so but when the first run came back with 168 errors, that hour turned into about 3 hours.

Desperately needed to do laundry, I have been putting it off but starting to run out of clothes. The last load is in the washer.

Think I need to spend some time this afternoon laying out what I need to get done, how long it will take me and see where it all falls. I need to do this both for work and at home. I really want to get some house stuff down before shut down so I do not have to spend all of shutdown doing house stuff.

Feeling the struggle right now and feeling it mentally and emotionally but deep breathes.

Need to check the flyers does look like there might be a few good deals to be had next week.

Happy Wednesday

[coupon girl]

My dear daughter is still feeling sinus and congestion ,plus she cant get much work done with sebastian home .I feel for people working from home.

She is still positive and sebastian is not.My neighbour told me her daughter-in-law has covid so i am hearing more people lately .
Have to pick up the girls today from school ,so may not go out and about .

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning!

I went to Aquafit this morning. I love it! It's just nice to unwind and not have a phone near me. This is totally my me time.

Took out BLSL chicken breasts and a bag of shrimp. Will make up some pasta dishes to use up alfredo sauce the fridge.(for anyone that wants them probably DS) Rice bowls with cabbage(coleslaw mix) and the shrimp and chicken and side of veggies. (I need healthy heat and eat meals)
Dinner will be Greek salad, shrimp and green beans for dinner.

Laundry- I need to get on that today too. Hang it to dry. My racks are in the spare room empty and ready.

[harbie]

What a month November has been (and not in a good way ).

Got another client cancelation for today. They have the flu. It’s getting crazy with the number of people getting a cold/flu/Covid. Anytime a client has even a mild cold or sinus issues I get cancelled because I can’t risk it when I go into multiple homes. It sucks.

Oh well, gotta try and focus on the positive. The positive is……….um ………..hold on……… . No but seriously I’m very fortunate. We have budgeted for times like this and while it sucks it’s not going to completely affect us plus there are SO many others in far worse situations so I need to pull up my big girl pants and smile.

I just have a tiny bit of laundry left and I’ll wash a few dishes by hand and that’s it. I’ve already done a spice cabinet inventory list and am going to do the freezer next. The pantry will have to wait since it’s a BIG job.

First a walk before the rain comes.