January 2024 Frugal Chatter thread (it's a leap year!)

[walkonby]

It’s 2.5wks until we go on our family vacation to Mexico. It’ll be our first time in Mexico and only the second time taking out children on a plane. We took our kids to Cuba in 2019.

How amazing! Incredible !! You must be so excited!! Have the best vacation ever with the kids in Mexico @Angela273 !!

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I did not want to get out of bed this morning, I do not know what is up but I am feeling very blah. Took me over an hour to get up and now working on starting my day.

Making myself some breakfast, I am working on shifting how I think about certain things (i.e., the decluttering) like making meals. Dinner is standard but for some reason with Breakfast and Lunch I am always looking for the quick option. Even on weekends, I prioritize other things over eating, usually getting things done around the house.

Then I am going to make sure I get my prep done so we are set up for the week to come. Then depending on what it is, I will get some cleaning done. Good news is I am on top of most of the cleaning so I am not behind now.

Since we did not have the Chicken Parm last night, thinking that will be tonight's dinner. Last night since we had a late lunch I just had some yogurt around 7:30 for dinner.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

[SassyAshley]

Found my ambition and got a few things done.

I already did our cheese for the week yesterday so today I chopped up a Butternut Squash to serve as a side this week. Made a Cucumber, Peppers & Bocconcini Salad with Balsamic Dressing to have for lunches or snacks.

I made more Peanut Butter Dip, I am obsessed I crave this stuff and have never eaten so many apples, usually ai eat a couple and bake with the rest of the bag. Made some Garlic Garlic Sauce because I am planning to make Shawarma Bowls for dinner one night. Lastly, I made my Cucumber spread which I can have for Breakfast or Lunch.

Then I needed to clean out our fridge, had some leftover roasted veggies from last week we did not eat and some cantaloupe. I also decided to empty the fridge and wipe it down, it has been a while since it has not been stuffed.

My plan was to go through the freezer up here and move the random bags of veggies to the basement but Mom came and helped and we completely cleaned it out of the freezer. There was some food waste there, Mom doesn't like baggies so she put all of her veggies in containers but some of the containers must not have been freezer containers because they were very frost burnt. But the freezer has been cleaned out.

Then I took out the garbage. By this time it was too late for Chicken Parm so I just made Nachos, I needed something simple as my hip is not very happy.

Kitchen has been cleaned and is ready for tomorrow.

There are a few things I did not get done but I am reminding myself, if I do not work from the time I get up until the time I go to bed I have time to get stuff done during the week.

[coupon girl]

Had a lovely visit with my brother and his wife ,we chatted for hours and had lunch potatoe salad ,turkey deli meat on a bun ,pickles ,cheese platter .

Then homemade cherry cheesecake to top it off. It had stopped raining when we came home at 4.00 p.m

[lilo0003]

Good point on using the Costco app Sassy. I have been meaning to do it but because I need todo at customer service I never do. I want it so I can watch my totals as I want a sense of the rebate and it seems like only the primary account holder can do that. So DH has the app but can’t see the history. Or has no idea what to look for.
Dinner today was turkey. I had picked up a 99 cent a pound butterball before Christmas and decided I wanted my freezer space back. Of corse now I realize why I needed the stock pot that I got rid of last month🤦♀️. So I will use the roasting pan to make the turkey stock. I am going to do it Monday and not freeze the bones because I find if I put the bones in the freezer I often get frustrated and bin them.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Getting this work week going, I could so use a long weekend. Was hoping the February Long Weekend was closer but not until the 19th. I really would work better on a 4-day work week and a 3-day weekend schedule but that is not life.

I would say maybe chicken parm for dinner tonight but I think it might be time to move on, even though I have a craving it just isn't happening so we shall see. Maybe Chicken Tenders, we will see.

I do not know what it is today but I just want to throw things out. Not throw out good things but I just have this deep want to purge and get rid of things.

I should also run to the store today, turns out we needed Milk, I do not know why but I thought there were still 2 bags nope, only 1 bag. But I might just pull one from the freezer, not sure I feel like going out today. I really just want to focus today and I know I lose focus and tend to not get the things done after I go shopping. That is why I always try to shop during the week is because I know if I go on the weekend that is all I get done that day.

Happy Monday.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning and Happy Monday! Quiet slow start to the day for me too today. Still getting use to working from home 100%. It's weird not having an office to go to. (well I am welcome DT Toronto but I doubt I will ever go!)

Yesterday left the house early for a drive for breakfast and to use free slot play at the casino. Picked up DS a few sandwiches/snacks for free to bring home for him. Then watched his hockey game last night (they won!)

I picked up a tray of ground beef on the weekend so will make taco meat this morning and put in fridge for tacos/taco salad. (have wraps to use up!)

Tossed most of the condiments from the old fridge when setting up the new fridge. So need to pick up a few things this week. Ketchup for sure for DS!

Still need to clean out my vehicle so hoping I get at that today. Sitting in my robe at me desk sipping coffee and going through my email so will get dressed soon so I can get a few things done on my breaks.

Received our tax bill for the 1st and 2nd quarter. So it starts again lol. Put the money away monthly and then just pay as needed. The nice part is I can go to the town office and pay cash which I do often when I have cash on me and saves me having to put in the bank.

Have a wonderful start to the week!

[Angela273]

Saskatchewan teachers have had two different province wide one day strikes in January. It was announced this afternoon that rotating strikes start on Thursday, February 1. Five school divisions are part of that one day strike. Each strike day is essentially without pay.

[HermanH]

Rescued 3x bottles of cooking sauces from the dump.

[lilo0003]

I made a yummy turkey casserole with a puff pastry layer top and it was a keeper. Also made the stock so that’s off my todo list.
We had sunshine and blue sky today and my other home is buried in snow. Thankfully my brother cleared are driveway. Only 10 more days until we go back.

[Skippy]

Happy Birthday @walkonby ! Hope that you enjoy your special day and all the best for the year ahead!

[SassyAshley]

@walkonby , Happy Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful day.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday Mom woke up with another kidney infection, luckily the doc could get her in later afternoon and she was able to get some antibiotics.

After her appointment we decided to do some running around, well she drove I went into the stores. We went to Food Basics and Wal-Mart.

I have to admit I rarely go to WalMart since they stopped price-matching. WOW, have the prices gone up, I used to always get my Oregano pills there, they were $5.99, then they jumped to $10.49, and now they are $17.99, so I skipped those and will watch for a sale. Oh my gosh so many of the shelves were bare, going up and down the aisles you saw but also so many people commenting on not being able to find what they were looking for.

At Walmart, I grabbed:
3 x Mushrooms $0.94
1 x Napa Cabbage $0.88/lb
1 x Milk (forgot to grab this at Food Basics)

At Food Basics, I grabbed:
1 x Clemtines $2.88
2 x Lemons $2.88
2 x Romaine $2.88
2 x Egg Noddles $2.79
2 x Breadcrumbs $2.27
2 x Panko Breadcrumbs $2.27

The breadcrumbs kind of shocked me, I have been looking for breadcrumbs at No Frills since before Christmas but they only ever had the Black Label Panko. They have the tag on the shelf but there is never any stock. But I could see the price was $4.99 which I thought was high for breadcrumbs so I was surprised to see at Food Basics they are only $2.27, the same size package. Just shows especially things like breadcrumbs that do not go on sale you really have to check all the stores for the best price.

By the time we got home it was almost 5 pm, I figured since Mom was in a lot of pain she would not want to do the running around but she said as long as she didn't have to go in the store, let's go. I think she was enoying being out of the house so I did not take anything out before we left. So Dinner was Burgers with Oven Fries and Cucumber Salad.

Tonight I am not sure yet but should start figuring that out.

Happy Tuesday Everyone

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! Looks like another dry day out (dry driveway/road) and no shoveling needed

I took BLSL chicken breasts out of the freezer yesterday and put it in the fridge for tonight's dinner. Thinking I will bbq . Will get it all prepped this morning. Pretty sure we have potatoes to use up so I will do up a potato/onion foil pack to toss on the bbq too. oh and fresh mushrooms with frozen beans sounds like a good veggie! Dinner is planned.

I picked up 4 boxes of Special K berries for $2 a box after coupon. We don't buy/eat much cereal but DS likes it and that isn't a bad price.
Picked up 4 more bacon at $1.97 each after sale/coupon. Will pop in again today and get 4 more and then we will be stocked up for a long time!

Have a wonderful day!

[harbie]

It’s been a busy week last week and things aren’t slowing down this week either.

Super long and hard work last week but had Friday off so that was nice.

I needed bananas and IGA is literally a 5 min walk away but thought I’d walk to Safeway which is 30 min and I could use the hills but that turned into a 12km walk through town, down the trails and through the industrial park to walk to Dh’s work! I surprised him with a coffee break and then drove home. Yup, didn’t even get the bananas . Oh well, totally worth it.

Yesterday I hit the treadmill up for a 30 min hit and hill walk ( got a shoutout for my 350th ) and a 15 min speed and incline run. The Dh and I finally got the car to the window tint guy and walked to the nature trail while we waited so did 5.2 km.

It was really nice seeing the tint guy that originally did our car in 2011. Luckily Dh has ALL his records from the car so we were able to track the same guy down. He was blown away at how the original tint looked like brand new after all these years.

Since I’m working this weekend I’m off today and it’s going to be filled with laundry and tidying up and checking the meal plan to see what’s up for tonight.

Hope everyone has a great day.