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

[Ciel21]

Fell into a real estate looky-look Ioohs and what-were-they-thinking?) on a realtor's website for most of the morning and afternoon. Some houses have spent the money on kitchens or bathrooms but the state of the basement or laundry area can be very hit or miss! The Hamilton family of 15 needing a rental home (fire ruined home and youngest member is in hospital) was supposed to leave hotel today but have extension for two more days. I saw a home for sale within their area school's catchment area (they would not want to have to deal with out of catchment fees for each of the younger children still in school) but it's not for rent.

One house has a lovely floral loveseat and couch pair! I'd love to know where they came from!

Have been running washer and dryer loads during my frequent walks away from computer. Will look a bit at toys and clothing online. Family thought I might have gone shopping---this weekend? Enjoyed the last two teabags from Twinings that are green tea with fruit flavours.

[Ciel21]

@Frugalbigmama What a fun trip you had with your mother! Mom rep.
Have you looked at the phone offers at The Mobile Shop? Pts offers end on Nov. 28, I think.

[SassyAshley]

Busy day but a good day, got a few things done.

Tidied up the Stockpile Room. Everything is now on the shelves with the exception of the potatoes. I am thinking of moving the potatoes out of the stockpile room and into the other room. They seem to store better when in the same room as the dehumidifier, which is weird because that room has a window. I may try it, and see what happens, I can always move them back.

I have some apples that need to be used up, they are past their prime to just eat, best used for baking. I made Nanny's Special Apple Pie, not my Nanny, she did not bake. It is a mix between a pie and a cobbler, there is no bottom crust and the top crust is like a shortbread crust but it has an egg in it.

I still have some Apples left to be used up so tomorrow I will make Baked Apple Oatmeal. Even if we do not eat it tomorrow, we can have it in the fridge for breakfast during the week.

Dinner was Steak with Mashed Potato Bake, Mom wanted Baked Potatoes but we did not have any that would make a good baked potato. It used up the leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge, only "issue" is we did not have enough mashed potatoes so I made some more and made too much so now we just have newer mashed potatoes LOL. We also has Sauteed Mushrooms & Onions which used up the last of the older mushrooms in the fridge and then I made Roasted Garlic Parm Butternut Squash.

Cleaned out the fridge, and we did have some food waste this week. Although I cut the sugar in half, the Teriyaki Noodles we made became sweeter as the sat next time I was a quarter of the amount. The leftovers were just too sweet. Also lost a pepper and a little bit of half & half went off.

Took out the garbage and recycling, always happy to get it out of the house.

We did not defrost the stand-up freezer today. Mom offered but she is in a lot of pain today so today was not the day. Maybe, hopefully, tomorrow. Even if we do not defrost the stand-up tomorrow, still got a number of things to knock off the to-do list.

Now it is time to finish the scarf I have been making so I can post it tomorrow.

[Giseledta]

Busy day. good day , but busy.
tomorrow is a housework kinda day.

did a final order at old navy. free shiping, 50 percent off. score.

got the majority of my christmas stuff done. need to orgaise and plan the rest out. but i feel good.
spent a few hours putting up the inflatables , so the outside is all decorated.

hugs to all

[SassyAshley]

Happy Sunday.

A bit of a slower start to the day. Started my day with my cup of tea and set our PVR for the week. A lot of Christmas movies are on this week so I will record them to watch when we want.

Baked Apple Oatmeal is in the oven, I still, have some apples left I need to use. There were a few more there than I expected but I have used the ones that needed to be used so will wait on making anything else right now.

This week, I want to focus on myself. I know I have been feeling off, my anxiety and stress have been high which has led to me not really taking care of myself. My sleep is still off, having issues falling asleep and last night I did not stay asleep. But more than anything I have been living off tea again, my water intake is down, my eating is horrible, and I am replacing meals with tea.

I will have the Apple Oatmeal for Breakfast and now I am thinking of making something for lunches because as of right now we do not have leftovers. Thinking maybe Baked Fajita Bowls, I can load them up with veggies.

Waiting for Mom to get up and see what the plan is for today, will we tackle the freezer, will I tackle other things, we shall see.

No dinner plans yet as it will depend on what we do today. If we tackle the freezer, I will keep dinner simple.

[coupon girl]

Morning just finished the tree ,looks so pretty.My tree is about 35 yrs old too ,my mom gave it to me when the kids were about 12 and 10 ,so many memories .

Plus i have moms table top tree with fibre optic lights on the tips of the tree.lol I am not putting that one up this yr only the one .I decided to give sebastian 2 ornaments that are a bit big for this tree .I actually have 2 glass balls from when i was a kid ,so maybe 50yrs old .Such memories .

I may go out today or stay in havent decided yet .But i do have a xmas puzzle to do,may start that one .

[Frugalbigmama]

@Frugalbigmama What a fun trip you had with your mother! Mom rep.
Have you looked at the phone offers at The Mobile Shop? Pts offers end on Nov. 28, I think.

The phone deals are similar at the Mobile shop but at Costco you get a car charger and wireless earbuds on top of the deal and I really want those

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy Sunday!

Dropped DS off at work and went to No Frills.
Picked up condensed milk x 4 since on sale for $2 and I have cookie exchange party I am attending. Not 100% sure what I am making yet but they expire in 2024 so grabbed them in case. Cucumbers were .99- grabbed 3. 2 loaves of Rye bread at $1.97 (now we have 4 in the fridge)Blueberries $1 Bananas.
Good healthy stuff to make our lunches good this week
Independant- grabbed the clementines for $2.99 and 3 bags of minis crispys for DS when he is looking for chips. (he likes these)
Walked around Walmart but didn't buy a thing.

I want to go to the gym but it closes at 1 today and I wanted to get stuff done around the house now. Will see if I can make it.
If not I will walk up to Canadian Tire to get my steps in since I wanted to pop in there today.

Have a wonderful day!

[cath007]

Good late morning,!!!
Grocery is done,a bit more oop that I was expecting,laundry is done,now I just need to make lunch and concentrate on my books
Happy Sunday

[SassyAshley]

I did it, I took a deep breath and defrosted the Stand-Up freezer.

Note to self, I need to defrost it more often so it isn't so bad. It took a long time to defrost.

But, I did come up with a new method, since all of our food is in bins I gathered all of the bins together and topped them with a comforter instead of unpacking them and putting them in coolers. Make for faster reloading. I only put everything from the door, the bottom bin and the random stuff floating around in coolers.

Used bins of hot water to help it defrost faster, all and all it took about 2 to 3 hours to get all the frost out.

To make it easier on Mom, I went down before she got up, unloaded the freezer and put the first batch of hot water bins in. I let the bins sit for about 30 minutes before switching them out and I swapped them out 4 or 5 times.

After rearranging the freezer and moving some stuff around there is more room which makes me happy as there are a few things I would like to stock up on. Discovered we only have 1 whole chicken so I will be watching for a sale, would like to get 2 or 3 more. We are good on Pork Roasts and I have a couple of Beef Roasts but if I see the ones No Frills put on sale, the small ones, not the cryovac ones I will grab a couple. I knew before we cleaned out the freezer, I do need to grab more Chicken Breast from Costco.

There was no food waste which makes me happy, I do not think I have ever cleaned the freezer before and did not throw anything out. But there are a few oddities we need to use up. We have some sausages to use, we have almonds coming out our ears, I have way too much Spinach, and cranberries, oh the cranberries. We are a bit overstocked on milk, instead of buying Milk this week, we will use up some out of the freezer.

We did pull out a bunch of Chicken Carcasses we will turn into Chicken Stock. I think we found 6 or 7, will do that tomorrow.

Still need to defrost the Chest Freezer but that is a task for another day.

[Ciel21]

Rainy Sunday meant I slept in after an early rising for 10minutes to put stuff away and look for quick eat. Back up after 11:30 and did some tidying while water was heating up for first tea of day. Breakfast was chips and salsa, followed by slice of apple pie with the tea. Not nutritious but easy. My midsection feels like it's at half-strength/deflated so I have to watch lifting and movement. Must brace self for tomorrow's yard bags to the curb haul (I will make sure to eat oatmeal first before I attempt the bag moving).

One bird was a nuisance in afternoon-I knew something was scratching at a window screen. Bird flew away twice when I lifted curtain to glare at it. Bird stayed away when I stayed at the window a second time. Must have been some insects or spider web that caught bird's attention> usually a squirrel is bothering a different window screen (not sure why; window does not contain conifer cones or Willy Wonka's golden tickets).

If the weather's drier tomorrow morning, I have plans to go to the bank and to Walmart. The printer ink (black) is getting low and I will have to accept reality of paying for 2pk of ink with photo paper. I actually need to print off a few photos.

Still no reply from Giant Tiger about my account login issues. Maybe tomorrow...after the Black Friday shopping weekend concludes.

Introduced Mom to how to remove Ethernet cable from Bro's laptop and insert it into the TV (and wait 2-3min for Internet to resume). Yes, my Bro left Mom noticing she can't see Youtube on the screen as he's been away for some hours.

There are too many carrots in the fridge, so a sheet pan of roasted veggies seems ideal for the start of the week. Will look online for the price of parsnips-can't recall any local stores with deals. A lentil stew will also be on this week's rotation of meals.

[Ciel21]

If anyone is stumped where to find men's & boys' family pjs that are not just checks or plaid...Simons x Petit Lem have 4 different prints on offer. Alpine, Candy Cane, Polar Bear and Festive Plaid. Two of the prints are on sale...Men's Pyjamas & Leisurewear | Simons Canada
And if you happen to be a Simons Member, 2x the points ends tonight! And if you are also a CAA Member, use the CAA Shops link to connect your member card to the Simons website to earn CAA dollars on your purchase as well before you "start the cart."
There's also a festive print lounge pant available from one of the Simons' men's lines.

[Giseledta]

Hi all.
good day, rain all day. spent most of it cleaning the family room and setting up Christmas tree. i am feeling pretty happy about my progress. my dc playrooms.. oy... thats ok, i will get up a hour before kids and spotless it. i found stuff for crafts so i am happy.

while cleaning the family room. i found the dog toys from the basket i had won. offered them to them the dogs... theyare terrified of squeeker toys. so i offer them on the free site. the dogs are happier.

ok. hugs to all

[HermanH]

Rescued a 3-pound case of Mac'n Cheese from the dump.

[SassyAshley]

Happy Monday.

I am feeling super motivated today but life is testing me a little bit.

I wanted to start my morning by updating my to-do lists, both at home and work so I can try to stay as focused as possible. But, today has been one of those days where things just keep coming my way. Most of them are simple day-to-day tasks but every time I get one done there are 2 or 3 more in my inbox.

But, I am not going to let this deter me. I need to stay focused and get things done.

The towels we used yesterday to defrost the freezer are in the washer, then I need to wash the comforter I used to keep the bins frozen.

One day this week, I need to wash our bedding, but not today, maybe tomorrow.

I need to figure out dinner for tonight, thinking maybe Baked Tacos with Mexican Sweet Potatoes, or maybe Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake as I have A LOT of spinach in my freezer and some Ricotta I need to use up. Options, now to decide.