May 2023 Frugal Chat

[lilo0003]

Ugh, grocery shopping it so expensive and seems to be getting worse each time I go out. It was nearly 200.00 and I still want some stuff from Freshco. I should have used points as it would have hurt less.
I need to menu plan this week as I had zero ambition last week and so now I have vegetables headed for compost unless I cook them tonight so it’s definitely broccoli for the veg today and maybe burgers. I know I have salmon in the freezer so that can be Sunday when it’s only DH and I home for dinner.
the rain has stopped and the sun is out so I am going out to do some planting.

[coupon girl]

lilo i agree i just spent $170 at sobeys (i didnt want to go far as i had a health problem this past week) plus i got 2 scoops free chapmans ice cream ,free cheetos for the grandkids .

I did get wine and 2 beers in that amount or it would have been 150.00 used $7.65 in coupons

I hadnt done a big grocery shopped in 3 weeks thou.

[barbis9]

I did go to Costco @harbie on Friday. It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, but the shelves were empty in the food sections. Kept it at $100 and will get $20 back as I picked up Gaviscon for $19.99 for my bf.

Came home and dug up some dandelions and now I can't move my neck. Ice and rest is all that seems to help at the moment.

Have a great long weekend everyone!

[HermanH]

Came home and dug up some dandelions and now I can't move my neck. Ice and rest is all that seems to help at the moment.

Yeah, over-use injuries seem to happen to me more and more quickly every year, too. Gotta make sure I ease into things and not do them for too long (at least on the first few days.) Of course, I never learn and just jump in (and pay the price.)

[SassyAshley]

@barbis9 , hope you feel better soon.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I crashed hard last night but got such a great night's sleep.

Originally my plan was to prep today but now I am thinking I might hold off and do my prep tomorrow instead. Thinking I might have more of a chill-out and relax type of day instead.

Last night I made Steak, Baked Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and Ceasar Salad for dinner. Since I was baking the potatoes, I cooked the corn in the oven and it turned out amazing. We have one Baked Potato and two Corn on the Cob leftover.

Now, I need to figure out dinner for tonight, I remember last night when I was putting stuff away I thought "Oh we could make ___________ for dinner tomorrow," But now for the life of me, I cannot what that was.

Last night I started working on cleaning up my budget only to realize, I never finished setting up my budget for the month. I track my Budget via a Bullet Journal (Yes, I am obsessed) and each month I need to set up 3 pages. For some reason, I only set up the first page, so I started working on the additional pages last night. My goal is to be all caught up by the end of the weekend.

Happy Sunday Everyone

[coupon girl]

Barbis, those darn dandelions,hope you feel better.

My daughter and sebastian are coming today after his friends birthday party ,maybe they will get here around 3.30 -4.00p.m .My daughter wanted to celebrate mothers day with me ,only we were suppose to go there but due to my health i didnt care to drive an hour in the car.

I am all better now ,thank goodness it was such a week last week for me .

Then on monday my son and his wife and the girls will come for a bbq(chicken breasts ,baked potatoes and corn on the cob along with 2 salads )I splurged as none of this was cheap like yrs ago.

I miss the good old days of cheaper prices ,dont we all.What use to be $100-110 when i grocery shopped now is $150-170 and you know what everything i got at sobeys yesterday was a pretty good comparison to no frills prices when i went 3 weeks ago.

Everyone have a great holiday weekend .

[lilo0003]

Decided for a lazy day at home. It’s a bit windier than I would like for my 1st SUP of the year. I am going to put a load of laundry on the line and then pop over to Freshco for some flowers. Finishing my urns today will make me happy. Dinner will be bbq chicken and salad. It’s just DH and I.

[Purdee]

Our city owned recreational centres (small and medium sized only) are offering free 7 days pass until end of May. So I signed up and we have been to 2 city indoor pools so far. Nice and free way to see what the facilities around us have.

[walkonby]

I sure hear you @coupon girl on what we can get for our grocery dollars these days. It can be a challenge and for the most part it's not that we are struggling to make ends meet, it's more that my head is stuck back in " what I used to pay " for various items. Honestly, between that and seeing the cans and packages shrink giving us less product, I could have an all out mental battle in my own head as I stroll through the aisles. ( note: if you see a lady muttering under her breath at the grocery store, approach with caution ....ha ha )

So funny that just yesterday one of my sisters wanted me to write down some of the best deals I have gotten to save money and earn points to get free stuff but I have little memory left now. Stocking up my back room was easier in the good old days on sc when coupons were aplenty and stores often paid us to take items home? Not now.
I still rely on buying whatever meat is marked down and freezing as well as checking the reduced produce racks in search of something salvageable. ( honest to Betsy! I am shocked that some stores keep the stuff there till it's rotted! ) . Checking my receipts for possible SCOP.
All little things but it's what I do to keep the internal voices at bay in my head.

[SassyAshley]

I swear since the Grocery Store Big Wigs were called in front of the Government to explain their pricing and nothing happened it has gotten worse. It feels like every time I go into the grocery store the day-to-day prices are going up. I do not know anyone can afford to just go in and buy what they need.

Today was a couch day for me, I got 3 more videos edited, apparently I have been stockpiling raw footage on my computer.

I cleaned up my budget, I knew I was under budget but wanted to see it on paper. Although I am under on groceries but over on stocking up, that second trip to Costco this month got me. So I took some money out of my take-out budget and moved it to my Stock Up budget. We never spend our whole take-out budget and I do have a large overage.

Although it might be a good thing that I live in the boonies because if more than just pizza offered delivered I could have easily been talked into take-out tonight.

We ended up making BBQ Chicken Breast with Mac & Cheese and Caesar Salad. I had BBQ Chicken Breast on my meal plan but originally I was going to serve it was smashed potatoes but since we had baked potatoes last night we opted to make Mac & Cheese tonight.

I had already seen it but Mom did not so we watched Wednesday on Netflix, just finished that so now time to find a new show. I think Mom wants to watch the latest season of Formula 1.

[lilo0003]

It was not as lazy as I hoped but we did deal with a big ugly tree limb that overhangs the yard from house behind us. So that was a win.
Skipped lunch today because I was not hungry and then had a really early dinner as ds2 worked a 9 hr shift so we ate as soon as he came home. I picked up some clearance sausage when I was at Freshco as they were marking stuff down before the holiday. I really want some cheap chicken. But the sausage was good and at 3.00 for 5 of them I should have picked up more. But it was still a good shop. Lots of produce and I earned 800 scene points. I came home and made a quinoa salad so we have something quick for lunches this week.
Monday fil is coming for dinner so I think it’s steak and baked potatoes.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I really need to get my prep done today, but I am going to be honest, not feeling it.

I woke up at 6 am this morning but did not get out of bed until almost 8 am as my bed was just so comfy.

I do have about an hour of work to get done today, I need to do one final read-over of a manual I need for a training session tomorrow. I could tell myself I would do it in the morning and I have the time but I am always worried something will happen and I won't get it done. I hate doing things last minute.

Need to finalize my prep plan for the day, I keep changing my mind on what I want to make. I think my issue is normally I schedule myself to be really busy at the start of the week which is when I used my prepped food. But this week my schedule is flipped because of the long weekend everything got pushed to the end of the week. So do I really want to prep now for the end of the week?

Thinking what I might do is plan salads and I can prep everything but the protein and just cook the protein later in the week.

Happy Monday Everyone.

[coupon girl]

Had a lovely late mothers day with my daughter ,she gave me a gap taupe thin sweater ,so nice.
Had all the grandkids and my son and his wife and daughter for late lunch at 2.00 p.m the bbq was awesome .

They all left at 4.30 so relaxing now.

I just ordered from amazon and saved 20.00 from a code i had ,nice .

[barbis9]

Watched "The Whale" dvd from the library. It was really good, highly recommend.

Recovered enough to cut my lawn, still sore, but need to get it done. Sometimes I am my own worse enemy.

Yesterday we went to Red Lobster for dinner. I haven't been for a long time and even the prices are higher there too. Glad a friend was treating me as I could not afford to eat there myself.