February 2023 Frugal Chat

[coupon girl]

Thanks for the nice comments .I am sure i will knock this cold away sooner than later .

We have cara overnight on sat night because my son and his wife are going to toronto to see "rock of ages" his birthday gift from his wife.Cara is 5 and the busiest grandchild next to sebastian.

I need to get groceries soon ,but yesterday i did make a banana loaf,just had a slice with a warm cup of tea.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon,
I am feeling better today, just tired today not exhausted. I feel tired is just my natural state of being these days and will be for the month of March well we prepare for this upgrade.

We got snow last night, hoping it was just snow. I have not made it outside to shovel yet. The morning got away from me, two long conversations with two different managers and my morning was gone.

I did get some hand dishes done before the first call. Not going to lie, did not want to do them but trying to keep on top of them.

I have to run out later this afternoon for an appointment so I will run into No Frills and grab a few things since I did not shop last week.

Still need to finalize February's budget and layout March. I know we are good for February, we came in under budget so not too worried. I would be concerned if we were over budget and I needed to use some of March's funds to cover February.

Looked at the sales at Costco that are good until March 12th, nothing we need so hoping March will just be the basics. Other than Chicken Breasts, I think we are pretty well stocked on the basics. Will just watch the Produce sales and if I see any good deals we want to take advantage of.

Happy Tuesday

[walkonby]

where did February go and where did my day go??
Darn @coupon girl , a cold again, well as you said it'll soon leave if it knows what's good for it!
@harbie your surprise gift from Mother Nature of more snow? Don't send her a ty card, it will only encourage her!

I've been up " doin stuff " both on the phone and computer, then once free from those shackles I tackled some more kitchen annoyances.
Is anyone else fastidious about not being able to start making their own meal ( bkfst, lunch or dinner ) unless the sink of dirty and rack of clean
dishes are dealt with?
I go in sometimes thinking Mmmm, time to have my brekkie now....then I see them, the mystery deposits of dishes in there?? ugh.
Oh and the wait time on hold for me today for Service Canada was 45 minutes. PITA!
March better bring me flowers or else! lol
On a fun note I was able to vacuum seal my containers of rice paper " flowers " using the Foodsaver device. I am hoping they will still be nice for Easter BUT I know I am making more because they are kind of fun to do.

[GoodBoy]

If you have a chance to go to Circle-K, make sure to check your coupons in their online coupon portal. They just added two free item coupons (limited numbers). One for Orange Biosteel and a second for Cherry Coke. These are in addition to any you may have won in the game that just finished yesterday.

[Ciel21]

Yay I was able to print several B1G1 Country Harvest bread coupons even if my printer act weird...Bread is selling 3,00$ at maxi so this is a good coupon for good bread.
And there a new printable coupon for Oasis 0,50$ good on smooties...will print those when I will have more time

Giant Tiger in Ontario has the Country Harvest bread on sale for $2.75 (ends today) and I even found the Ancient Grains Red Fife variety on the shelf! I bought 2 loaves on Sunday-one in the fridge and one frozen for next week's use. Have to watch my dollars, I went a bit wild on Sat/Sun stocking on groceries and other needs.

My Lowe's store had a skid of yard waste bags and it was brought out onto the floor as I wanted to buy some! Got one pack on first trip (had lots of stuff already from other stops) and I brought my cart on trip 2 to get 5 more packs. I'm ready for next week's curb collection of yard waste bags--if weather allows on weekend (storm 2 on the way this week?) or on Monday, I will give the backyard a big rake once-over to collect all the broken bits and pieces over the past 3 months.

[Ciel21]

If you have a chance to go to Circle-K, make sure to check your coupons in their online coupon portal. They just added two free item coupons (limited numbers). One for Orange Biosteel and a second for Cherry Coke. These are in addition to any you may have won in the game that just finished yesterday.

Cherry Coke---sounds delicious!

[Ciel21]

No Internet for three days made today a priority for me to catch up on this thread and other things! Decided to cancel my free Paramount Plus sub-it will expire in March at the 3-month mark. I logged out of app on tv-someone is going to have to miss those remaining episodes of series (he did two things that made me mad and I have to do the Big Sister gets even act). Will make for less tv time for me too. Printed off records and have the e-mail filed in case streaming service tries to charge my account (that happened last time I had a free subscription too).

Saturday-grocery stockup and some household/food items added to food bank bin (I won't be putting things out for the drive on Sat-better to put donations in the bin when I do my shopping so I know I contributed each month). Sunday-looking for something for someone and getting printer ink/photo pack, looking at surplus store (only a few Target baby registry bags left so I decided to get one-fun and yes one coupon was from 2020, others were 2021 and one expired in Dec )& Winners (bibs I wanted a few weeks ago dropped $2 in price so I moved on them). Giant Tiger had the bread I wanted; no fake leather gloves in menswear, only fleece and knit ones--because I'm certain those items will be moved out of store any day now.

Value Village-local store now has 8 self-checkouts (card only!) and two cashier lanes (only one was staffed when I visited on Sunday). No treasures on the racks for me. Lowes-staff looked for yard bags and someone realized a skid came in recently so I waited as stock came out! Think I perked up their Saturday afternoon by being so keen on getting bags!

Was super tired Sunday afternoon. Since I stocked up on frozen meals on Saturday (4 at Shoppers at $2.79 each and 3 Hungry Man and 3 Healthy Steamers at $3.88 from Food Basics), I heat one per day on the stovetop (12min tops!) to ensure my breakfast has a dedicated amount of protein.

Walmart has resumed stocking Boost Simply+ again for 11.97. Only saw Chocolate lurking with the regular Boost display near a price checker. Funny how it's been 2-3 months without sighting the product (have not been in Walmart often this year). The bakery section seems to have lost one fixed bread shelving rack and there are more tables with prepackaged baked goods in store.

Winners has been playing "move the goods to another part of store or aisle" game too. Besides the bibs, I found a marked down photo album with Oh Baby on it on yellow and white mini-check design for $7 (cover has one pocket for a photo too-bonus!). Was thinking to keep album as a gift item but I have not found a new album for our use lately and this one seems cheery enough to keep for family use instead (plus good deal and bright cover).

[Ciel21]

Thanks @harbie for the March thread start! Only 12 more days until the clocks go forward again for many of us.

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I will post a chicken drumstick recipe for the BBQ thread that I spotted in Alive magazine for February. Since some SCers score meat deals on their grocery runs, they might like new ways to use drumsticks!

[Purdee]

VV in my areas had self checkouts a few months ago and 1 till for cash and return. Such a pain (long wait) to return an item. I haven't been back since.

Value Village-local store now has 8 self-checkouts (card only!) and two cashier lanes (only one was staffed when I visited on Sunday). .

[cath007]

Good earlier evening everyone!!!
Yes a day to stay inside snowing all day and still on....
My taxes need to be done,dad already did his.I am waiting to go pick up my summary year of $$$ pills for him to do it...Will get that paper sunday at the pharmacy when I will renew medication
I think if I can I will report my Word exam next wednesday..I am so not ready and my book is not finished...
Working in my books but slowly,it is intensive and hard
Received an FPC for Dove or Tresemme product expire april 30,2023,,,,I dont remember ordering this one..must be from summer..will use it for soaps bars at IGA Sunday and got 10 bars soap just pay taxes coupon is 15,00$
So I have at least 5 chapters in excel,plus 1 sheets of calculs and 1 test I have to give to the teacher to do ...
3 chapters on new book custumer service,12 long chapters(50 pages each) in word and 3 other books of grammar....I dont know how I could manage this...will see.oh and 3 sheets of french grammar..oh my...I cannot concentrate with noise so it is difficult to stay focus,just taking small breaks
Cut up the cantaloupe for snacking it is in the fridge
Dinner was easy but good
I should get paid tomorrow.
Have a good evening and night.

[cath007]

Already watched the new upcoming flyers..will be another light grocery shopping and father need sugar it is at 2$ in upcoming maxi flyer

[lilo0003]

Finally all caught up on February just in time to move to March. It was a frugal month, I am pretty sure MasterCard is going to wonder what the heck happened. I put a chunk of money into my RRSP and have very little carry over. We spent next to nothing on meals out and yet I still had a social month. I expect March will be more of the same. I am sure we will be replacing the microwave soon as it’s become temperamental. It’s sucks because this one is not even 6 years old and the last one was still working when we removed it for the renovation and it was 18 yrs old. It looks the fridge may not be far behind and that’s a production I just don’t want to deal with. Now on to March.

[HermanH]

It looks the fridge may not be far behind and that’s a production I just don’t want to deal with. Now on to March.

Have you been diligent on routine maintenance, such as vacuuming coils and de-frosting?