October 2023 Frugal Chatter Thread

[crafter]

no outside at all today, needed nothing so that was easy. Just reading back at a few Thanksgiving posts. Sounds like a great time was had at your gathering @SassyAshley.
There was no shortage of food, wise to have everyone pitch in with dishes/sides.
My sil went into ICU on Sunday, ( lung infection ) we only found out today. After speaking on the phone with her I laughed at her telling me she was relieved to have gotten out of cooking the big Turkey dinner. What a character! She cooks this meal yearly for a large gang.
I'm glad her condition is improving and she'll soon transfer out of ICU and into a regular room.

All the best to your Sis in law what an awesome perspective she has

[harbie]

@coupon girl I hope you get this sorted out health wise soon
@walkonby wishing your SIL a super speedy recovery and hope she’s home soon

[Frugalbigmama]

Good day! Wet dark gloomy day here today.
Which is fine for me. Work from home day. Kitchen needs cleaning. Fridge needs cleaning out. Laundry needs doing.
Need to pop out and grab a few deals for the last day of the sales.
Will go on the treadmill this morning since walking in the rain with wet leaves on the ground doesn't sound like a fun time to me today.
Need to text the oldest and ask what day he can come for dinner. Miss my boys.

Have a wonderful Wednesday

[coupon girl]

walkonby -all the best to your sister-in-law she has a good perspective on life .

[Ciel21]

Sky is threatening rain right now. Murky gray/blue mess among the clouds!

Last night, I found it a touch slippery walking home from the library on pine needles and leaves during the rain. Glad I have a new cane (friend managed to get senior's discount on it last Thursday-yay) for best traction. I went to the library after a parcel mailing (ouch it costs $$ to send things with fuel surcharge $4.12) and since there was no real rain at that time, I felt I was close enough to get some online time in. Today is the planned Internet day and I'm hanging out again, though I really want some mall crawl time.

I managed to rake leaves on Monday and I realize we need a lot more yard waste bags. About 4 remain and since the leaves are about 15% off the trees, there will be MORE to get bagged. It's been a touch too windy to pull out a ladder to trim branches but that task needs doing this month.

Just taking a gander/look at the grocery flyer previews and jotting down items of interest. About half of the usual flyers came by Canada Post last Thursday and I'm not always in the library on Thursdays, so if I miss the previews on Wednesday, oh well!

Hudson Bay Rewards members-two things to consider if doing Early Access shopping of Bay Days (opens tomorrow to everyone): if you spend $69 or more online AND agree to store pickup, you can earn $10 in points. Also you can get member pricing on some merchandise if you shop now (not sure if that member discounting will be showing tomorrow?). I was looking at Olsen, Hot Sox and some kids' apparel (no more buying unless I score a deal on a very coveted pair of toddler pants) and saw some member pricing (I was not logged in but adding items to a shopping cart to get an idea of spend amount of desired things...as I saw a price drop on one top I really want but then I'd have to forego buying something else...)

Shoppers Drug Mart fans with big PC Optimum points balances-the Bonus Redemption event ends TODAY. Happy spending/redeeming! I got a print flyer yesterday while waiting at the post office but did not see any gift card offers?

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
It was another branch day for me, day two of training. I woke up at 5 this morning so I was able to. knock out a few things before I went into the office. It was a nice slower start to the morning before I rushed to the office.

I took a look at the new flyers starting tomorrow, and I see a few good deals, I see some Roasted Cauliflower Soup in our future. It looks like it will be a bit of a smaller shop again this week which is good with me as I still need to make it to Costco.

I had planned to run to Costco tonight when I was done in the office but the sky was not pretty and they were calling for rain so I decided it against. Plus I ended up staying later in the office than planned and still had a few work things to catch up on. I need to make it there this week as there are a few hidden deals ending this week that I want to stock up on. Times like this I wish Costco was closer.

Making Caprese Spaghetti Squash Bowls for dinner. Wanted something simple or more so, easy clean up, this is baked on a pan I put foil on and then it will just be two plates and forks.

I did order a few things from Amazon.
I found a Waffle Iron on sale for under $50. Ours broke over a year ago and we have been using our Dash Waffle Maker which is great for prepping as they are the size of Eggos but making a full batch takes an hour plus.

I found a steam cleaner, the one I had been eying was on for just under $40 and I was going to get but then I found one, a bit more expensive, just under $50 with better reviews and all of the accessories I was looking for.

Lastly, I caved and got the Rubbermaid Brilliance containers I have been eyeing for months and almost bought during Prime Days, but happy I did not as they are $7 cheaper this time. It is a 44-piece set so 22 containers since they count the lids as pieces. I bought a small pack earlier this year and I am in love. They are air-tight, I stored cut-up peaches in them and it took them a few days to oxidize, not to mention no spilling. I used one and my yogurt flipped in my bag not a drop spilled, even my other "good" Rubbermaid containers tend to have little drips. Pretty sure I could fill these with Milk and they would not spill.

Happy Wednesday Everyone

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! We have sunshine!!!! Will get out for a walk this morning to enjoy it!

Enjoying my coffee now while reviewing emails. Then buckle down and get into my work day.

Kitchen is pretty clean. Will wash up the few dishes after I make breakfast.

Laundry for sure today. Just sorted it yesterday but that is as far as I got.

Enjoy the day!

[Ciel21]

Did anyone else get a few of last week's flyers THIS week in the mail? I got two yesterday and I have tweeted Canada Post about it. A friend got a third flyer, a grocery store one, from last week in her mail this week. This occurrence used to happen with a certain rib fest card mailout which always came after the weekend was over in the Hamilton/Ancaster areas.

I am looking at the upcoming Rexall flyer and the 10% off stamp packs offer is back! I could not wait for tomorrow-I got a stamp pack at Shoppers at regular price to mail some NPN requests for game pieces.

[Ciel21]

Saturday will be rainy and tomorrow will be windy. I plan to get the Burlington trip (plan to scope out phone calling cards at stores too) done Friday morning after a parcel mailing (last one of 2023 due to fuel surcharges-checking the tracking of Tuesday's dropoff showed that my order is carbon-neutral). Did anyone manage to visit Denningers during its two Oktoberfest events last weekend?

Thanks to two members clarifying that the PC Optimum redemption event posted in RCSS and Loblaw flyers seems limited to Joe Fresh only.

Sky here is mostly with blue sky and fluffy clouds with some murky gray patches gliding through. Might be a good afternoon to get a couple of bags of leaves raked for next week's collection. I still intend to visit No Frills today to see what's on the shelves for $2.99 pop. Tote is ready! I have forgotten to watch the new episode of The Kardashians this morning or glimpse the new Nada series on Disney+.

[lilo0003]

I am off Friday. Plan to take DS2 thrifting before we take him to the airport and then after he is dropped off a stop at ikea and Costco. Hard to imagine we have only 6 days left until we return to Ontario. There is still a bunch of stuff to get done here and I fear we have run out of time. I am still waiting on 2 service people, one is for my oil delivery. I will message them Friday and see what’s up. I do have the account set up but they want to examine the heating system.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning and Happy Friday! The sun is shining even though it feels really chilly out.

I did a little stock up on shrimp and redeemed points. I posted in the deal thread but will paste it here too incase someone is interested.
RCSS- Decided to redeem for shrimp since they were on sale and I had 2 point offers.

9 x $7.99=71.91
Received 9000 PC pts for 1000 pts per bag.
Received 7400 PC pts for 100 pts per $1 spent.
Bought a few other things and redeemed $80 in PC pts.

We needed milk too so bought 2 boxes of cereal for $5.49 each and received a carton of milk for free. (I almost bought the same cereal at Walmart so glad I didn't) I also bought 2 of the PC Fruit and Nut chocolate bars for .49 each for my mom

We have borrowed a trailer to load up and take crap to the dump. So that is the job of the weekend. Old mirror closet doors, old broken recliners- crap in the basement. Hope we have the sunshine all weekend to do this but if not it will still get done.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
I need a long weekend to recover from my short week LOL. I will be honest, I forgot it was a short week until they mentioned it on the radio when I was driving, it personally has felt like a very long week.

Last night after work I went to Costco because they had stuff on Hidden Sale I wanted to pick up on, plus there were things we just needed, I got:
2 x Beef Dumplings - On Sale
2 x Chicken Dumplings - On Sale
1 x Toilet Paper
2 x Peanut Butter Thins - On Sale
2 x Probiotics - On Sale
1 x Dawn Power Wash - On Sale
1 x Ricotta
1 x Pesto
2 x Chicken Broth 6-pack - On Sale
1 x Honey
2 x Nachos
2 x Chips
4 x Cheese
1 x Cheese Slices

I feel like I got more but, I cannot think of it right now. We are kind of stocked up, there are a few things on my list I did not grab because I could see my shop was getting very large and very heavy. I did not get Paper Towel, Pickles or Brown Sugar as I have enough to last until my next trip.

Then tonight after work I did our grocery shopping at No Frills, I got most of the things on my list but there were a few things they were sold out of. So might drop in again next week, we will see.

My fridge is now busting at the seams but we are stocked up. Now I need to write our meal plan and plan my prep for the weekend.

Happy Friday Everyone.

[HermanH]

RCSS was selling their Markdale Creamery 2L for $4 so I got my Chapmans coupon for $4 and expected to pay nothing. Nope. Manager says that the regular price is $5.50 so they will charge me $1.50, even though the advertised price is $4.

Screw that. If I am going to be forced to pay, I'll go to Walmart or anywhere else and get the same price, but will at least get a better flavour selection. If RCSS wants to play stupid games, they get to win stupid prizes. I will make sure I go ANYWHERE except RCSS.

This is absolutely crazy!..I've done this over the years at many stores and have never had that happen!..totally illogical on their part!
Sorry this was your experience and I hope you were able to get it elsewhere.

I contacted Chapmans to see if they allowed such actions with their coupons and received the following reply:

Thank you for contacting us. Although this is very unusual policy stores can choose to handle coupons any way they choose. Most stores do not exempt sale items.

I did just as you suggest. I saw that Walmart was selling them on special for $4.67 / brick. I went in and used all five at the same time without any grief. Still had to pay $0.67 / brick, but better than giving a single damn cent to RCSS. And those clowns really believe that anything whatsoever will be done to 'control inflation'. The fact that they actually say as much in public and on the record shows the level of outright contempt they hold for the public. They think that we are actually moronic enough to believe their ridiculous claims.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Slow start to the morning which does not surprise me, I am still so tired. Last week really kicked my butt.

I was hoping for an up early get all the things done type of day but also knew it probably wasn't going to happen based on how I was feeling.

My house is a total disaster. Since I ran errands both Thursday and Friday after work not a lot other than dinner got done once I got home.

Today is going to be a general cleaning type of day. Any of the day-to-day stuff that needs to be done, I will try to knock out.

I still need to write our meal plan, did not happen last night as I was trying to catch up on a few work things. I bought two Cauliflower, one will become soup so I think I need to make some homemade bread to go with the soup.

My fridge is literally busting at the seams and I could not be happier to make all of the things. I literally cannot decide what to make first. Now if only I had a clean kitchen to work in, but that is the first step this morning is to clean the kitchen.

Happy Saturday Everyone.

[SassyAshley]

Time for a break for Lunch.

This morning I got the Kitchen clean which let me just say, UGH, I feel like my world is not right when my kitchen is a mess and it was next level this time.

I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, it has been sitting there for two days with clean dishes in but since I went out after work I did not get it emptied. Which means the dishes have been piling up beside the sink.

I emptied the drying rack and did all of the hand dishes, I was actually impressed I thought there would have been more, not that I am complaining.

Wiped down all of the counters, and gave them a good scrub, just felt it was needed.

There were still a bunch of grocery bags sitting in the kitchen so I sorted the bags and put away what goes in the Kitchen/Dining Room. Then I consolidated the bags of stuff to go down to the Pantry. Still need to take these down.

I still have some other things to get done but at least the Kitchen we can work in the kitchen again.

Then I cleaned up my work area, let's be honest, the past few weeks I just kept dumping stuff on top of my work basket to deal with later. It was horrible and so disorganized, I could not find most of my work stuff. So I sorted everything, put all my notebooks away, and sorted all of the papers. I now have a file folder for things I need to complete for work, another one for stuff to be shredded (I will take this to work next week and shred it there), and one that is scrap paper I can use when I need to scribble. I always keep a scrap piece of paper beside me when I work so I write things down.

I am officially having a done is better than perfect day. Should I be deep cleaning the kitchen, do the cabinets need a good wipe down, yes, will it be done today, not but the kitchen is usable again. Does the couch need a good deep clean and vacuum, yes, for now, my work stuff is cleaned up, I can find the notebooks I need, I have a stack of what I need to tackle and can write a to-do list, and feel somewhat on top of things.

Still lots to be done but I am happy because this morning, I just wanted to curl up under a blanket and watch movies all day.