August 2023 Frugal Chatter Thread

[Ciel21]

Good Morning Everyone,
Opa finally got his surgery late yesterday, he kept getting pushed as he was "non-emergent" he finally went in just after 6 and was out just after 9 and everything looks good.

I am not sure what is up with me today, I am exhausted but I slept. I went to bed around 8:30 and I was out as soon as I got the news that all was good. But this morning when my alarm went off and my whole body went no. Even now I am up having a cup of tea and some breakfast but I could so just go back to bed.

Yesterday I got the fridge cleaned out, there was not really any food waste a little bit of leftover Lemon zest and some cut-up cucumbers I did not eat. Then I pulled everything out and prepped all of our fruit and veg for the week. I wanted to get some cooking and baking done but ran out of time.

I also took apart my old laptop table, one of the legs snapped so I broke it down so I could take it out to the garbage. Now to find a new table.

Happy Monday Everyone

Truly hope you score a Back To School deal price on a new and ergonomic laptop table for your use!

[Ciel21]

Good day everyone..where did you all go?…Same could be said of me!
I’ve been busy with DS visiting from Oz and much stuff piling up as we wanted to spend time with him.
Now playing catch up to usual life.
Before I forget anyone else here suffering from allergies this month?.I have had a really difficult time with sinuses throbbing and nose running.Just going through lots of Kleenex.
Store sales still lacking IMO but managing alright.
Enjoy the rest of your week my friends!

Did your DS have any commentary on summer here in Canada vs how summer is in Oz? Maybe he was feeling relief that it was not overly hot!

Next week (and even the coming weekend) will have 30C+ temps feeling like that or up to 38C. I'm looking for water enhancer deals or juices and pops. I may have discovered clearance pricing on Dr Pepper Zero 2L by chance on Sunday as it was on the regular pop shelf but did not scan at $2.79 ($1.23!) at my local Shoppers store checkout (noticed the price after I left the store and repacked my buys). I will also resume ice cube making efforts 2x per day starting tonight to be ready.

[Ciel21]

Sunday-took the bus to industrial parked and walked to fairgrounds for the wedding show. Let's say I am not going to walk in those nice shoes again for a long time but I felt smart and sharp checking out the dress truck (fabulous-lottery prize money spree location for sure). FOund a quarter coin near the entrance of property. Bought a jerk chicken and rice dish, a beef patty and a cola. Vendor already has another booking at a different fair at time of Ancaster Fair as I asked if food tent may appear there in September. Visited with a few vendors. Spotted a lovely white mailbox stand rental item at rental exhibitor booth! Garage sale-found an embellished white runner for $6, and two packages of thank you cards (white with different gold script on each package) for $5(I am always looking for note or thank you cards). It was windy outside and some vendors had better anchoring of items while others were having to reset items during gusts. Very light traffic at outdoor sale tables but there were some nifty finds. I missed checking out the Latin food vendor and the ice cream truck.
The groom room was not an actual room, just an exhibitor space with sponsor's signage, product/service literature on a green-gray wicker and glass table with 4 matching chairs. I was crushed, as I hoped to find a rocking snack bar/game area with seating and maybe pinball or foosball with some grooms hanging out either upstairs or in the smaller room usually used as a small dining area during fair time.

Then walked past industrial park to a more sheltered bus stop (so glad I had fares, my feet were miffed) where prospect of wi-fi was really good and wait for return bus. I did not have energy to try to get those deal of yard bags at Rona+ or any extra groceries, as I did a morning shop at Fortinos with my cart. Followed by 15min of collecting fallen branches and long thin tree limbs and bagging the lot.

Today, the HSR bus strategy/reinvisioning plan is stopping at my library this afternoon for a public open house. Attendees can enter an online survey about the plan by Sept 30 to try to win the iPhone 14 (it's 5G so that means a data plan or phone plan might be pricier than one's existing 3G/4G plan on older phones). I'm so excited that Stoney Creek commuters can ride a bus from one part of their community up to the Winona Crossing big box area. The new routing change was mentioned during last weekend's Winona Peach fest. I'm sure there will be some commentary about the coming cash fare hike...from $3.25 to $3.50 (any age passenger without a Presto card; free kids fares for 5-12yr olds require the Presto cards).

I had such a problem on Sunday trying to load Fortinos' digital flyer on the phone using City wifi and even the store's PC Guest wifi. Once the landing page loads, I had to close the App ad at the top and also get rid of the cookies popup at the bottom (it took about the 1/2 of the screen space) and the flyer is hard to get to show up if bottom popup overlays the dropdown menu and then my finger selecteds Flyer and Deals but wait, phone loaded the item above or below what I choose. Five minutes on wifi in the store (the BellWifi@Fortinos kept disconnecting me but I once was able to connect on that thing with the laptop in 2020 in the cafe area) and I gave up on it. SIgh. Still going to look at flyer on desktop-I forgot to do so on Saturday.

Since Giant Tiger has a new flyer, I need to see if a few household staples might be on sale too.

[walkonby]

I got a news alert this morning that the Metro strike may soon be over! If the offer gets approved there will be an end to the empty shelves at the stores!
This morning at Metro I was able to get some rain-checks for the organic raspberries and the baby cucumbers ( both @$1.99 ) that were in the flyer but still not in.
They allowed me 4 trays of each!

[Ciel21]

@walkonby My brother has commented that our local Food Basics store has some empty shelves in certain categories. Think that the strike has impacted deliveries or trucks to other stores so I'm glad you found out good news!

[Ciel21]

Reminder that grocery stores are likely closed as are malls next Monday for Labour Day UNLESS they are in tourist designated areas. Don't be caught offguard, especially if your family is stocking up for back to school lunches and snacks.

[lilo0003]

I am not sure what’s up but I am super tired and not very motivated this week. So I forced myself to update my todo list and clear a few items off of it. So the weekend in Vancouver is booked including the car. We opted for a late flight Monday so we get 4 days out there. I am glad it’s done because I had moments of waffling on attending the wedding because of all the house costs but this is someone I worked with for years and I was really a mentor so I knew our attendance mattered to her. Overall the cost was not too crazy. I found a really nice boutique hotel close to the venue and rented the car through Costco travel.

[SassyAshley]

@lilo0003 , I am with you, I feel like I cannot sleep enough this week.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Oh, what a week it has been, super super busy and all over the place.

Monday & Tuesday I was in the plant training the assistant manager, Yesterday was supposed to be a solo day in the office for them with me watching over them. But best laid plans, half the staff called in sick so I ended up working alone in the office well the Manager and Assistant Manager filled in.

Tuesday I was finished Mid-Afternoon so I popped into the hospital on my way home and saw Opa, he is doing well. I think he is ready to be out of the hospital his roommate does not let him get a lot of sleep. Every time he falls asleep day or night they start talking or yelling. Apparently all night they were complaining about their room and kept making the nurses come in.

Yesterday well I was at work, Mom tried to go see her friend but her car would not start. UGH of course on a day I am not home. I offered to come get her and drop her off and her friend offered to come get her but she wanted to take her car. So she called CAA and luckily after a boost, it was good to go. Note to us, her car needs to be driven more, If she is in a bad spell and cannot get out, I need to take her car to work with me.

I should now have two work-from-home days (today and tomorrow) and the to-do lists are real but I also need to find some time to focus on the house. it has been neglected in August. Today I am trying to clear up the little stuff for work and then tonight I will write a work and home to-do list to try to keep me focused.

Happy Thursday

[walkonby]

Managed to save big bucks today by talking myself out of shopping! Love those days, I feel empowered. In reality we meed absolutely nothing grocery wise, so I'll make a concerned effort to eat from the freezer, stockpile shelves and fridge. I know there's a bag in the freezer of the largest shrimp ever! lol. Those I plan to do up on the BBQ on the long weekend.
Many other meat options in there as well but we'll take a vote on which ones we cook up. Lots of sides in the fridge too.

[lilo0003]

My fall plans have just been dumped on their head. We can’t go out west for the wedding because my brother’s surgery was moved up by 3 weeks so now I need to get ready to leave for Nova Scotia a lot sooner than expected. I am very sad to miss this wedding but the plus side is the money saved means we will order the furniture for the tv room this year. Thankfully I can cancel it all and get my money back. With a soon to be 97 yr old FIL one does not book without the ability to change plans.
I will also need to pull the garden early and it was already a crappy year for it, oh well it’s not likely 2 more weeks would have mattered.
I also accepted it’s September and started the new thread.

[Skippy]

My fall plans have just been dumped on their head. We can’t go out west for the wedding because my brother’s surgery was moved up by 3 weeks so now I need to get ready to leave for Nova Scotia a lot sooner than expected. I am very sad to miss this wedding but the plus side is the money saved means we will order the furniture for the tv room this year. Thankfully I can cancel it all and get my money back. With a soon to be 97 yr old FIL one does not book without the ability to change plans.
I will also need to pull the garden early and it was already a crappy year for it, oh well it’s not likely 2 more weeks would have mattered.
I also accepted it’s September and started the new thread.

Sorry for the changed plans and disappointment. Family is family and it’s good that you guys are there for one another.Sadly many aren’t as fortunate.

[SassyAshley]

@lilo0003 Sorry to hear you had to change your plans.

Yes with elderly family members, cancellation is a must, I know a few times Opa had to cancel or come back early because something would change and Oma needed him.

But also a nice feature to have as some family members are learning. Bro was supposed to be getting married in Toronto in September but the wedding has been called off. There are a few family members who booked non-refundable rooms and will still be travelling to Toronto for the weekend.