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

[Frugalbigmama]

Changed the dinner plan! Chicken quesadillas with ceaser salad and fries in the air fryer!

DS just came home from work and is happy with what I was prepping. ( I cooked up some bacon in air fryer for the salad) Cooked the chicken and veggies.
Then making dinner will be easy!

[SassyAshley]

Also had a change in plans for dinner here, originally I was thinking BBQ Chicken Ceasar Wraps, then Mom suggested Chicken Alfredo but we ended up having Homemade Pizza. Mom saw a commercail and said "we should have pizza soon," it was early enough in the day that tonight became pizza night.

Last night I started closing out January's budget. Even with the shopping I did yesterday we only spent about half of our grocery budget this month. Tonight I will start working on setting up February's budget.

Got called in for a meeting on Thursday, I did something today I rarely do, I prepped for the meeting. Most of the time I do not get time to prep for these meetings so I show up and wing it. Got all of my points down but I am sure I will add to it tomorrow because that is how my mind works.

Did not get any cleaning today, honestly, the afternoon got away from me, I completely lot track of time and didn't even realize it was almost 5 pm until the breadmachine was beeping telling me the dough was ready.

[HermanH]

Found a can of beans and one of potatoes, along with a bag of spaghetti, at an abandoned bum camp. Found another can of beans at the bus stop.

Rescued a case of Kashii bars from the dump.

[lilo0003]

@Frugalbigmama s back reminded me to ask if anyone is using the air Miles receipt feature. I have no coupons for bacon but I still picked some up and scanned my receipt. I will have to look at the app but I think my Food basics purchase resulted in 50 air Miles and all for stuff I needed. The offers are good for about two weeks and it’s often a lot of them so you can do multiple stores and multiple transactions. And don’t forget the Carousel of dreams promo. So far that has rewarded me with another 20 miles.

[flemeth]

@Frugalbigmamas back reminded me to ask if anyone is using the air Miles receipt feature. I have no coupons for bacon but I still picked some up and scanned my receipt. I will have to look at the app but I think my Food basics purchase resulted in 50 air Miles and all for stuff I needed. The offers are good for about two weeks and it’s often a lot of them so you can do multiple stores and multiple transactions. And don’t forget the Carousel of dreams promo. So far that has rewarded me with another 20 miles.

@lilo0003 I am using the Airmiles receipt scan and for the first time playing the carousel of dreams promo. . The are both so easy to do

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! It was trying to snow last night but this morning is another dry start to the day.

Busy work day but the day should fly by because of it. I have a list of must "do's". I will get them all done this morning so I can tackle anything that comes in this afternoon.

Laundry- Should put a load on this morning and hang to dry to keep up on it.

Have a great day!

[sweet sparrow]

2022 taxes status changed to received. Waiting for the results and set up automatic payments for the first half of the year's installments for property tax. I should have a look into the current Air Miles promotions. Are they any good? I haven't used them in so long.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Knocking things out for work and I have to be honest the morning is flying by. I thought oh I should make some breakfast it must be around 8:30 or 9, nope it was 10:15.

Need to decide on Dinner, thinking maybe Chicken Shawarma Bowls, I could toss it in the Slow Cooker and then just need to make Rice. Will see what Mom feels like.

Will check the flyer for the upcoming sales, we do not need much so might go to Costco but we also do not need a lot from Costco which isn't a bad thing. I am always game for a small Costco shop and so is my budget. Mostly will be looking at fresh stuff but I will also never skip a stock up deal with how prices just seem to be going up and up.

Happy Wednesday Everyone.

[walkonby]

same here @SassyAshley , I just scanned through the posted flyers knowing we need very little. The sales aren't screaming at me?? meh.....I can't even trust metro's B1G1 free offer on whole chx's and/or steak/roasts. My guess is they'll be jacked up so high in price it will erase any savings.

[SassyAshley]

@walkonby , I have to be honest very rarely do I find B1G1 deals worth it anymore. The regular price is now so high, I just do not see the savings, most of the time I find it is better to wait for it to go to on sale.

[SassyAshley]

I was scrolling online before I got up today and the articles came up back to back made me shake my head.

The first was from the person who has been put in charge of looking into grocery prices (I will be honest, no idea what his name is) saying how the big grocery chains are not providing the information the governement requested when it comes to how groceries are priced in Canada. The article also mentioned that Metro has posted record profits and is only the first of the 3 big grocery chains to post. The article also said how he feels the only relief Canadians may see in grocery prices is if an International Chain opens in Canada to shake things up and drive prices down. But it was also mentioned that this would only benifit those in large urban areas as no new chains would be interested in opening in small rural areas.

Now the second article was that Metro's something (cannot remember if it was president or CEO or who) is warning Canadians the Price Freeze ends this week and Canadians need to brace themselves to see increase at all Grocery stores and Metro will start pushing through the increase next week.

[HermanH]

Found another can of potatoes, a stack of beef jerky, and a 2-pound jar of cashews at the abandoned camp.

[lilo0003]

2022 taxes status changed to received. Waiting for the results and set up automatic payments for the first half of the year's installments for property tax. I should have a look into the current Air Miles promotions. Are they any good? I haven't used them in so long.

I have had great luck with them in the past year, ever since BMO took over they have had a lot of easy offers. I have earned double of what other year’s offered and that is with the loss of my AM Amex. I don’t want another credit card so I won’t sign up with BMO.

[Angela273]

Today was turn around day, aka semester change. I’m driving home after work tomorrow because I have Friday off. February is a weird month for me. Saskatchewan students have February break, which is a total of 10 days off in my school division. I attached my 5 EDOs to it, which is how I am able to take the 2wk family vacation to Mexico. I also have professional development, a prep day, and a medical day booked. All that boils down to a lot of sub plans.

[HermanH]

The article also said how he feels the only relief Canadians may see in grocery prices is if an International Chain opens in Canada to shake things up and drive prices down. But it was also mentioned that this would only benifit those in large urban areas as no new chains would be interested in opening in small rural areas.

Who do those fool Liberals think they are fooling? One critic, (I think it was Dr. W. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie Univ. on CBC), mentioned that 'if there was money to be made, they would already be here.'

Correct me if I am wrong, but the last major grocery competitor to come to Canada was Walmart, over 20 years ago. (I don't know if Target should be counted.) See how that turned out? Walmart went from a leader to middle-of-the-pack. They once forced all retailers to follow (or try) their price-match-anyone policy. Then they surrendered, when they figured out that they don't need to lead, in order to succeed. They just don't have to get too far ahead or behind the rest of the pack. That's how cartels like OPEC work. The market is captive.

To really drive down competition, many more companies would need to come. Otherwise, they will simply blend into the mediocrity we currently suffer. Again, from the CBC segment, to attract competition, Canada would have to show companies that they can make money here.