December 2022 Frugal Chat (when Autumn turns into Winter)

[cath007]

Received an e-mail from reitmans..today only 50% off +10% on selected ..things..guess what I did lol
5 tshirts had to search hard for finding my size...average of 10$ per t shirts plus wow 8$ on darn taxes,so I saved 90$...wow...this is expensive but happy...I feel with the 30$ off 75$ card I had last time selected time of january and no rebate ...I have more for my money...hope the shipping will goes fast!!!

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning all!

I just cleaned the kitchen since it had been neglected since Saturday night. It wasn't too bad considering!

Loaded the dishwasher but still lots of room so probably won't run it till the weekend.

I should cook a nice dinner tonight. Have fresh asparagus so that is my starting point. Will think on it and take some chicken out I think and go from there!

Decided I should buy more eggs since the expiry date is long. Then I will have lots to boil and make my healthy afternoon snack fav. (an egg, almonds and sliced cucumbers) And I will send DS home with a few cartons too. I like to make sure he has good food to eat

I need to get going on laundry but I just don't feel like it. This week sucks workwise and makes me not want to do anything.

[Frugalbigmama]

Laundry sorted and moved to laundry room. It can wait till tomorrow to get rolling.
I did put away the clean stuff that was hanging to dry. Also moved stuff around in the spare room and cleaned a bit. Have more space. Will set up my portable table in there today and move a chair in there to get the wrapping station ready!

[HermanH]

Saw pineapples listed at $0.99 each at RCSS. I guess they were trying to clear the bin for new arrivals. I picked up three. When I got home, I realized that I had paid $1.99 each (yesterday's price.) I called RCSS and spoke to a CS lady who knows me and told her that I didn't want to come back just for $3 and asked what could be done. She said that she just watched them change the price back to $1.99, so she knew that it was actually $0.99 today. She just told me to come see her, the next time I visited and she would make the adjustment. I guess I could have qualified for SCOP. It's nice to be known and shown the courtesy and respect for a regular shopper.

[barbis9]

Found many branches on the ground yesterday afternoon so spent time collecting and bagging them. Raked some leaves too. Must admit that any high wind days after this Tuesday is going to put my teeth on edge for fallen branches. I can keep about 3 full yard bags in the garbage shed over winter but I cannot motivate Bro to take bags to the transfer station unless he feels up to it. My winter gloves are looking torn (from branch snapping; the urethane surface fabric has torn in so many places) but I will keep them for yard use once I get a newer pair at Giant Tiger (old style igloves are not lurking in a sales bin) next week. These gloves are better for cold weather use than my yard/garden gloves (no lining inside of them).

Managed to read some more of my book this morning, along with some pop and cookies and salted caramel Waterbridge Slims. Made curried lentil stew (perfect for today) and hung up (with Bro's help) the sheer curtains Mom ironed but did not get up on the rods yesterday. Tided kitchen/dining room and the bathroom. Put the new Xmas bevvie napkins in the napkin holder for a bit of colour next to the white dinner napkins. Also placed one of the new Xmas kitchen towels on the oven door handle (Simons order arrived yesterday so the new towels were laundered; did not realize my Hot Sox latte socks were gripper socks but they will be a new experience). My contribution to holiday decor with small touches--have to get the two Nutcracker dolls out later as well.

Who's been able to load their GT VIP deals in the past two weeks? App or desktop?

@Ciel21 I also haven't been able to load the deals on my GT app either.

What book are you reading?

[barbis9]

I have such a busy December and after 2 years of lockdowns and restrictions it’s a bit overwhelming. This week I am out 5 out of 7 nights for events. I also need to find time for Costco as I ran out of pecans and need a batch of squares for Thursday as I am in the office. So my todo list is long. I have wrapped everything I have so far except for my most recent old navy purchases. Older son wanted a few plaid shirts and a number of people were given away old navy cash and I was lucky enough to receive one and I had a 20.00 gift card from a return last Christmas. I was glad to get that out of my wallet.

Don't you just love that gift cards don't expire? I just used one that was in my wallet for quite some time too.

[barbis9]

@coupon girl, I wish more people would realize it isn't about what day but just getting together.

Now that most of my siblings have significant others with two sides of the family as well choosing the day is always the hard part because there is always a conflict.

Yes I agree 100% - that's why its called the holiday season. Some people are so set on the one day.

[Frugalbigmama]

Dropped DS off at work and then popped into Independant. 1 carton of broken eggs on the shelf.
Went to GT. Grabbed Jam for Grandma and DS. Mayo for youngest DS. A bag of salad mix (was going to grab iceberg lettuce but they were laughable small)
I was starving and thinking what will be dinner but then I remembered my plan.
All prepped and in the process of cooking. Potatoes cut up with onion and spices in the oven, BLSL chicken butterflied and spiced up. Fresh asparagus and garden salad. It smells so good. Can't wait till we can dig in. Will make DS a plate for when he is back home from work.

I didn't get much done other then work today. Was very busy. Happy that I made dinner and didn't get crap take out.

So I foolishly said yes to a cookie exchange party this weekend. I still could have attended the party without joining the exchange but I wanted to be part of the fun. (I have plans on passing the goodies to a few singles in my neighbourhood that are on their own and like sweets)
But I am not a baker at all. I am stressed out about it. I did a practice run on fudge the other day. Filling the cute little Christmas cups. They taste good but don't look good lol

[SassyAshley]

@Frugalbigmama , one of my tricks for Cookie exchange is Crockpot Candy, it is peanut or mixed nuts with various types of baking chips cooked in the crockpot and portioned out. I love it because you get a million cookies out of one batch so you only have to make one batch and everyone is shocked you made it in the crockpot. Bonus, my family loves this because the recipe I use has peanut butter in it which gives it a different texture almost dough-like vs just melted chocolate.

[SassyAshley]

Ugh, the rental car drama continues. Sitting here working away minding my own business trying to figure out all of the end-of-year mysteries for work and I see an email come through from the Rental Company.

At first, I think nothing of it, oh that must be my proof of refund, they should be calling me any minute to pay the fee insurance isn't covering. I finished what I was doing and think oh they haven't called me, I better call them but first I open the email.

It was a notice that my invoice has been sent to collections due to lack of payment. Oh, that was it, I lost it.

I had to call 7 times to get through to someone. The first 3 phone calls I sat on hold for 15 minutes for an automated message to come on and say all agents are busy, good-bye and it disconnects the call. Then on the 4th call, it tells me they are closed between noon and 1 for lunch and to call back later. On the 5th call again disconnected after 15 minutes, then on the 6th call I sat on hold for 10 minutes someone picked up and then hung up on me so on the 7th call when they picked up I was a little livid.

The good news is, it is internal collections so it will not affect my credit but oh shocker they could not help me because the branch is issuing the refund so they could not accept my payment for the fees I owe and after looking at my invoices told me something is not right.

So now I am waiting for the regional manager to contact me, they sent them an email as did I this afternoon and oh shocking no call yet.

I was literally on the verge of a nervous breakdown this afternoon, between this and keeping up with work, I just could not. I ended up with a massive tension headache and just wanted today to be over but it was one of those days where the emails did not stop.

[SassyAshley]

Today did not go as planned but I might have been a little over-ambitious, I wanted to get A LOT done today.

Both sets of bedding have been washed and beds remade. Wow I forgot the joys of washing the winter bedding with all the extra blankets, I did 7 loads of laundry but that did also include the couch blankets.

I vacuumed the couch since I was washing the blankets and vacuumed around the couches.

Cleaned out our Kitchen freezer, a bunch of stuff was moved downstairs and it is now organized.

Dinner was a clean-out-the-freezer type of meal, we had a package of Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli that needed to be used so I pulled out a package of Pasta Sauce and made a Pasta Bake. There were also 2 bags of Naan, each had 1 Naan in them so I made Cheesy Garlic on the side. This also used up some Shredded Mozzarella we had in the freezer. Nice to get rid of this stuff and make some room in the freezer.

I had also wanted to clean the Bathroom and the Produce Bin today but maybe I was a little too ambitious for a workday.

It feels so good to get these things done and get them off the to-do list. I will admit, as I get things done, I just want to get more and more done. I am working towards my goal of trying to get as much done before Shut Down as I can so I do not have to spend Shut Down getting it done.

[barbis9]

Volunteered today for the Salvation Army kettle drive. Each time I do, somebody always seems to say something weird. I like the 2 hour shifts as it is always fun to people watch.

I picked up some scratch lottery tickets (1,000 PC points for every $10) as I find they come in handy when I am in a waiting room. Want to finish my Christmas shopping early next week. I hate the crowds and people just get more impatient closer to Christmas. I was on the PC express app and was surprised at how much prices are increasing. No wonder the government is asking Loblaws about their prices and profits. It was interesting that Galen Weston didn't attend but one of his employees.

[harbie]

For some reason I posted this in the wrong thread anyways , here goes

Good afternoon,

Went for more tests this morning and even though I had an appointment I still had to wait 20 mins after. Oh well, they were a really fantastic bunch of ladies and made it easier.

I took today off since I had some tests so I’m actually just relaxing. It’s been a bit stressful lately so I’m literally being a sloth today with the exception of putting laundry away. I definitely need it.

My deal of a duvet just was delivered so I’m excited to use it.

Going to make another cup of tea since because it’s cold and miserable outside and I want to snuggle on the couch.

[lilo0003]

@Frugalbigmama I am not sure how many cookies you need but the eagle brand recipe for magic cookie bar squares is dead easy and always a hit. I like it because it’s one pan and done. I am already on my 4th batch of the season. I am in the office tomorrow for a holiday event and it’s been 3 yrs so staff are exited for this treat.
I was so happy to get a bonus interest offer of 5% from tangerine. Especially because they sent for the account that holds the kids RESP once it comes from the fund and we just requested second semester. This will motivate me to squirrel away cash.

[Ciel21]

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