March 2023 Frugal Chat

[SassyAshley]

Oh my gosh, it has been so noisy around here all morning.

Bell is putting in new lines all over town to start offering Fibe in our area and they are now in my neighbourhood and were working out on the road. That noise was bad enough with my headache but now they are in our complex and right outside my house. UGH, why today?

Not sure if this has happened where anyone else lives and normally I would be like whatever but literally it is the whole town and they do not seem to be finishing anything. So, everywhere you go in town there are these big holes in the ground with that orange plastic fencing and caution tape. It just looks horrible and I get it needs to be done but it has now been a couple of months and they are just adding more and more holes but none of them seem to be getting filed in.

Sorry just a little rant for the morning.

[Frugalbigmama]

Oh my gosh, it has been so noisy around here all morning.

Bell is putting in new lines all over town to start offering Fibe in our area and they are now in my neighbourhood and were working out on the road. That noise was bad enough with my headache but now they are in our complex and right outside my house. UGH, why today?

Not sure if this has happened where anyone else lives and normally I would be like whatever but literally it is the whole town and they do not seem to be finishing anything. So, everywhere you go in town there are these big holes in the ground with that orange plastic fencing and caution tape. It just looks horrible and I get it needs to be done but it has now been a couple of months and they are just adding more and more holes but none of them seem to be getting filed in.

Sorry just a little rant for the morning.

Hmm I guess that may be going on the street behind me. It was like that a few weeks ago.

[walkonby]

Oh my gosh, it has been so noisy around here all morning.

Bell is putting in new lines all over town to start offering Fibe in our area and they are now in my neighbourhood and were working out on the road.
That noise was bad enough with my headache but now they are in our complex and right outside my house. UGH, why today?

Not sure if this has happened where anyone else lives and normally I would be like whatever but literally it is the whole town and they do
not seem to be finishing anything. So, everywhere you go in town there are these big holes in the ground with that orange plastic fencing
and caution tape. It just looks horrible and I get it needs to be done but it has now been a couple of months and they are just adding more
and more holes but none of them seem to be getting filed in.

Sorry just a little rant for the morning.

Yep, @SassyAshley we lived with that BELL HELL for more than a month but it was right after Hydro and the City Sewer repair people?
Each had their turn digging holes all over on the street so we never caught a break!
It was nearly 3 months of inconvenience by 2 or 3 Companies. The noise ( as you mentioned ) is unbearable for migraine sufferers and
also for shift workers who are trying to SLEEP!
They started every morning at 7:30 a.m. and that noise was non stop! Tore up part of our driveway too!

Everyone finally finished burying cables, repairing replacing sewer parts? placing wires necessary for the Fibe along our front lawn from
the curb up to the house. Shortly after all the various work was done by these different Companies we pondered using a rototiller on the
lawn to lay some nice green fresh sod. ( we had been living with an ugly crabgrass/dandelion patchwork for years. )
Call before you dig right?
We did...and that was when we found out that Bell had laid that STUPID cable in such a shallow manner that any turning over of the lawn would
have destroyed the cable/wires they put in there!! So No new lawn for you!

I added to your rant.....sorry too.

[Frugalbigmama]

I popped into RCSS to grab a few things (Cheese/asparagus) No salad. They didn't look good.

The lady in front of me had what looked like a week a groceries for a family- 2 loaves of bread, soups, tuna, mr noodles, some fruit/veggies and lots of processed crackers/pizza /frozen fries etc. Her total was $427.00. She was told about the free item she earned (I think it was a turkey) and she declined it. Crazy!!!!

[coupon girl]

frugalbigmama-who would decline a free turkey or anything free for that matter.

I just went over to sobeys as its around the corner got 3 bread items on caddle ,will see if that works out to 5.75 savings.
Free potatoes reg 4.99 rang up 5.99-scoop free only a 5 pound bag ,yes fortinos sent me an offer for 2.99 this week ,but i am not one to run all over for sales .

Got a small chicken for $6.29 i will cook in the air fryer one day.

[HermanH]

Well I parked downtown to do my banking....a guy sitting on the bank stairs with a cardboard sign asking for money. So I walked down to the water and back up, went in to the Independent and then he was gone when I came out. It is really a problem.
A few weeks ago I walked with an older lady to her bank because she didn't feel safe.

Thank goodness that the man's Charter Rights were not infringed. He was allowed the freedom to express himself wherever he liked. Unfortunately, there is no Charter Right for an individual to have Freedom From Fear; so old ladies can legally be fearful of going to the bank.

[lilo0003]

@cou upongirl I have watched people say no to the free gift when it’s a box of food, I will just politely offer to drop it in the food bank bin on my way out and most of the time they are like oh yah that’s a great idea. But I think for frozen it’s harder and if you don’t have freezer space or are a vegetarian what will you do with a turkey.
speaking of which my $17.00 Pintys turkey from Food Basics was delicious.

[HermanH]

@cou upongirl I have watched people say no to the free gift when it’s a box of food, I will just politely offer to drop it in the food bank bin on my way out and most of the time they are like oh yah that’s a great idea. But I think for frozen it’s harder

Most food banks will take frozen, but only if it is dropped off directly at their location. Otherwise, they have to toss it for fear of health concerns. They simply cannot guarantee food safety, as they have no way of knowing how long it might have been out of a freezer and growing bacteria. I've actually had to fish frozen items out of the donation bins. One turkey was de-frosting and would have contaminated all the cardboard boxes and cans. I think that they would likely all be thrown out, because of the turkey juices leaking from the bird. It would be infeasible to try and clean items, even if it were possible.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! Cool but sunny morning start.

Dropped DS off at school and then took a walk around Walmart before heading to work. Picked up cottage cheese .73 cents and 2 x 2pk egg white cartons for $1.08 each. April 05 expiry date. I think I need to do this every morning I am in the area!
Omelettes for sure on the days I work from home the next while. Will go great with my cheap mushrooms and peppers and onion in the fridge

Will be making lasagna tomorrow. With my cheap cottage cheese finds. Picked up mozz and harvarti at RCSS yesterday for their deal. $4.22 I think it was. Have everything else needed.

Have a wonderful day!

[sueshe]

Great deals at Walmart frugal! I rarely go to Walmart (maybe once or twice a year,) maybe I should try to stop by more often.
I went to Earls happy hour with 2 girlfriends yesterday and my big glass of wine was $10, gotta find those deals when we can! We stayed 2 1/2 hours, really had a good gab fest🍷
before I left I made a big pot of beef barley soup (dh was so happy).
Pickleball this morning, a doctor appt this afternoon and then home to prep for a craft day with my godchild ❤️
dh plays pickleball tonight so I’ll have time to do some baking. I’m craving chocolate so maybe cookies or brownies

[harbie]

Laundry catch up day today. It’s going to get up to 16 degrees so I’ll be outside walking.

Yoga definitely today to help my back. Booked an RMT appointment for tomorrow to get her to help the healing process.

Just finishing my tea then yoga and oh ya, I’ll be making banana bread later today.

Have a great day.

[Ciel21]

Two questions and yes, I have been on Amazon, I might be a little addicted, but it is so just easy to find what we need.

Has anyone here used a TENS machine? I think I used one when I was in physio and I know my Dad and Step-Mom have one as they offered to let me use it when we were on vacation but I didn't. I am thinking of getting one for Mom and I found one on sale on Amazon.

Also, does anyone have a Wet Vac? I see people on Youtube and Instagram using them all the time and I am wondering if it might be the answer to cleaning my kitchen floor. I have been eyeing up the Bissell Cross-Wave but the cheapest I can find that one is $250, but I found one on sale on Amazon for much less.

Mom had been exposed to TENS during physio some weeks/months after a car accident in late 1990s. She did not feel it helped her.

[Ciel21]

Oh my gosh, it has been so noisy around here all morning.

Bell is putting in new lines all over town to start offering Fibe in our area and they are now in my neighbourhood and were working out on the road. That noise was bad enough with my headache but now they are in our complex and right outside my house. UGH, why today?

Not sure if this has happened where anyone else lives and normally I would be like whatever but literally it is the whole town and they do not seem to be finishing anything. So, everywhere you go in town there are these big holes in the ground with that orange plastic fencing and caution tape. It just looks horrible and I get it needs to be done but it has now been a couple of months and they are just adding more and more holes but none of them seem to be getting filed in.

Sorry just a little rant for the morning.

Wonder if its Telecon doing the work in your area? Yes, they can be everywhere in town for a week or more at a time.
That company worked in our area over two years and I did see a team recently along the main road too in 2023.

Since we are in an still somewhat older neighbourhood, additional wires were added to utility posts. Had reels and wires here and there-one had to time exit from driveway so as not to get the sagging wire hanging on the driveway on the vehicle.

Quite certain Bell /subcontractor did not follow your area's rules on how deep to dig the cables. Enbridge keeps reminding us to call OneCall if digging below 30cm of soil. If those cables in lawn would be ruined by the tiller, imagine all the fun anyone who owns irrigation systems would feel in finding those Bell cables over their systems under the turf!

[Ciel21]

Sat am freezing rain around 7am was rain again by 11am. High winds dealt us lots of fallen branches between 4-11pm.
Sun am-went big branch picking/bagging to save on Monday's raking time and cleanup-so many spruce bits and tips everywhere.
Monday pm did some raking, adding to the yard bags filled on Friday (about 1h+ of raking-felt good). Just a dusting of powdery snow in am which melted quickly. Stayed at home due to rain.
I did not both putting recycling and green cart containers out at the curb. Just wanted to collect the garbage can after collection this morning and be done. Sibling's off one week again and he's no help at home.

Since we've run out of decaf tea, I've been having 3 mugs of caffeinated tea daily and let me tell you, I'm having some interesting dreams almost every day just before waking at 5am or 7am. Wish I had caffeinated pop-hardly any dreams!

Maximizing my Internet time today as rain's coming in the next half hour and due to weather, will have to wait for Thursday to visit again and go online. Was hoping to see who won a mall spree contest-maybe later in the week! I signed up for a mall newsletter again and got a contest link on Friday! I'll visit Burlington next Wed or Thur if weather is good-time to see Zellers at Burlington Centre and visit other stores in area (plus Mapleview Centre to see if spring jackets exist that I can try on).

Might pop into Fortinos for a coupon check if weather rains down on me during the walk home! I have not found that Kraft Parmesan coupon yet.

[HermanH]

Mom had been exposed to TENS during physio some weeks/months after a car accident in late 1990s. She did not feel it helped her.

I had TENS therapy with a physio after orthoscopic surgery on my knees 20 years ago. I didn't think it helped or hurt, so I just let him put the pads on and set it up to max.