September 2023 Frugal chatter Thread

[Ciel21]

@Giseledta has a daughter in Halifax and I thought of her last night when the supper hour news forecasters were discussing when on Saturday the effects of the hurricane would hit Cdn soil. (hugs)

[Ciel21]

Those of us who had the weekly community Metroland papers with ads inside-this was the last week of any print issues. https://www.chch.com/metroland-ends-...papers-flyers/

Company has filed for bankruptcy protection and will pivot to online only editions. Flyer business closed too. @cyn88canada @couponlady

So SCers in the GTHA or other major centres-if you still get print flyer deliveries/ad bags, you are lucky! My current plan is to visit the library on Thursdays to access news content but today, I noticed that the five free articles limit before paywalls seems to have gone-can only see 3-4 lines before the subscribe popup is shown. Has anyone been able to subscribe to Metroland papers with debit card? I may do that in October but have no funds now. When I wanted to see rates, I could not as one has to sign in with email Google, Apple or Facebook. Sigh.

It's apparent that print flyers only have about 1/3 of the digital flyer content. When I was at Longos on Thursday, the in-store flyer was a 4pg weekly special flyer, not the usual print booklet.

Another observation (if you have a Walmart or WM SUpercentre in your city): my local Walmart Supercentre has removed the two metal outdoor garbage bins recently. One employee I asked said something about store not wanting them or to pay to keep them in use. I had noticed that the local Cdn Tire across the parking lot removed the two standalone garbage cans in their parking area were removed late in 2022. THe store entrance has a couple of recycling/garbage stands but it does not have much capacity for trash on a busy or hot day (there is a sausage cart near the entrance as well). I had found some McDonald's takeout trash on the way to the WM store and noticed no trash can (there is a much smaller plastic bin in the cart lobby). The next door plaza has one accessible garbage can by Dollar Tree but the one by WInners is obscured by scaffolding/hardware in place to do something to the storefront.

I'll miss the plastic bags from the weekly paper for incidental trash collection (on property or on walks). I think I'll plan to bring a 21L white trash bag for walks where I will go past a trash bin after 20min if there's a lot of takeout stuff and I don't have my tote with me. Our street's bridge seems to attract more trash when regulars drop their cups and cans down then keep adding wrappers and such. Adds more parkour to the sidewalk experience.

[Ciel21]

There's a 2023 Holiday or special meal deals thread now live in the Deals subforum. It might help someone trying to arrange a special drop-off for a friend or relative needing a meal or scoring a meal for their own household.

I'm not aware of any meal offers through Voila since it took over Longo's delivery service. Longos only offers in-store pickup of meals if you place orders online or through Personal Touch counter staff. Anyone who knows of meal delivery options through big chains or smaller chains, please post your contributions in the Deals thread. Thank you!

[Skippy]

My sister in law just posted a photo of the current path of the storm, it’s coming right by my new house. Thankfully we are not there yet so nothing to worry about if we lose power and we are inland so no storm surge to worry about. It’s just everything else that the wind can do and if it’s coming past me it’s also getting my brothers place. So now we just wait. Which is likely why I woke up so early on a Saturday morning.

@lilo0003 praying for all concerned, thank you for the heads up, saw this earlier but not able to post till now.

[coupon girl]

Well today hung a load of clothes out,then popped over to sobeys
i saved 20.00 in scene points and 22.74 in coupons -wowser.

A few deals scott towels 5.99-1.00 cpn=4.99
2-kashi bars 3.99-3.00 cpn=.99 for the one
3_special k family size 6.49-2.00 cpn=4.49 plus 200 points when you buy 3=3.83 each
on reduced rack apple butter 4.99-50%=2.49 so good yummmy

plus earned 930 points

Then transplanted some overgrown plants to the back yard.

[Skippy]

September seems to be slipping by on me..I've been checking in often and thought I had posted here but not the case!....
Always glad to come into this virtual neighbourhood and see the usual faces and how life is unfolding for everyone.
As for me today I attempted baking again and decided that next time I should wear an apron for obvious reasons(although I don't recall being this messy before).
Made some mini chocolate muffins and they were vastly superior to store brand IMO. Quite thankful as they are meant to be gifted as a thank you.
Going forward I should bake more often as no doubt cheaper than other sweets/treats and better for me.
Be the blessing that you would have others be to you!

[barbis9]

New window is installed and its' awesome. I finally have proper insulation which will make my living room warmer this winter. Now I just need to paint the wood around it.

Hope everyone out East is ok.

[coupon girl]

Barbis9,isnt that a great feeling new window ,good for you.

[walkonby]

@barbis9 of course I got a visual of " Windows " as in a computer update. Yours is the real deal!
Not a ton of shopping in the early afternoon at NF. Priced matched the organic strawberries from Metro ( $1.88 !? )
I'm always pleasantly surprised when Metro has the best sale price on something.
Blue Jays squeaked in another win ( 13 innings! ) , but tbh, they DID NOT deserve to win this! Sloppy base running
saw them miss opportunities to score way before the extra innings.

[flemeth]

My sister in law just posted a photo of the current path of the storm, it’s coming right by my new house. Thankfully we are not there yet so nothing to worry about if we lose power and we are inland so no storm surge to worry about. It’s just everything else that the wind can do and if it’s coming past me it’s also getting my brothers place. So now we just wait. Which is likely why I woke up so early on a Saturday morning.

@lilo0003 hoping your brother does not get hit too hard and your new house is also not affected by the hurricane

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Slow start to the morning. It is grey and overcast and that is how my mood is today. I wouldn't say it is a bad day but feeling very blah and could totally just spend the day on the couch but my to-do list is telling me that is not an option.

Yesterday did not go as planned but if I am honest, all of last week did not go as planned. Last week I just felt like I could not keep on top of things, even if I did not work late, I worked until it was time to make dinner and then once I made dinner, cleaned up and kept up on the day-to-day stuff, nothing else got done. I went into the week with all these plans that did not happen.

Yesterday I started on the bathroom so I can deep clean the hallway as most of the stuff in the hallway needs to move to the Bathroom. I cleaned and restocked the wall cabinet. Then I cleaned the top two shelves in the closet and restocked the top shelf. I stopped to have something to eat and that was the end for me.

Originally I planned to move on to kitchen stuff but Mom asked that we leave it to today. So I planned to go back to the bathroom but instead, I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up my day was done. I am not a napper I should not nap but in this case, I did not plan to nap it just happened.

I did make a batch of Cream Cheese Brownies but for some reason, they went very crunchy on the bottom and I do not know why, I made them in the pan I always make them in.

Today I really need to get going but my whole body is saying nope, not feeling it today. I literally feel like I could have just spent the whole day in bed, it is just that kind of day.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

[lilo0003]

The hurricane changed course so we had high winds but not the worst of it, apparently we did have some water in the basement but since it’s really a cellar (house is 150 years old) up it’s not to worrisome.
Air Miles has sent me three amazing offers that if I can pull off will be 450 miles. The one that’s would be hard is the 350 Millie’s if I shop at three Air Miles partners. I only really have 2 here I. Ontario but the offer is go to next Sunday so I will be sure to get gas at Irving and go to the Nova Scotia liquor store. I have earned more miles since they nearly went bankrupt then I did in the past 2 yrs. It is the end of my Air Miles Amex though. I rarely used it so it’s just one less bill to worry about.

[walkonby]

Just reposting from another thread.

https://forum.smartcanucks.ca/361649...9/#post7241457

[lilo0003]

@flemeth I found that cheese and cracker coupon at Metro. If you are still looking let me know and I can send it to you. We don’t eat crackers so I grabbed I think 8 of them and I know you do lots of donations for the food bank and this is a nice high value one.

[flemeth]

@flemeth I found that cheese and cracker coupon at Metro. If you are still looking let me know and I can send it to you. We don’t eat crackers so I grabbed I think 8 of them and I know you do lots of donations for the food bank and this is a nice high value one.

Thank you for the offer @lilo0003 my SIL found some also yesterday and she already put it in the mail. Yes those coupons will come in handy for me we used a lot of cheese so I will buy the crackers when ever I have an opportunity and I will keep some and donate most of it. It will come in handy this week since RCSS has points back on the crackers , I have a cheese offer and FreshCo has the crackers on for $2