2024 April Frugal Chatter Thread (here comes the sunshine)

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning and TGIF!! The work week flew by!

Enjoying my breakfast now- Oatmeal with Almond milk, walnuts and fresh strawberries.
Yesterday I found 1Kg bags of Organic Steel Oats for $2 each with 2025 expiry at our local Loblaws. Grabbed 2 bags since I am working on my last bag so good timing as it was on my list.

Our fridge is pretty empty ( we have staples) but all the leftovers/prepped food is gone. I will make the mac and cheese today for DS since I have time and will give him something to heat and eat. He also had burgers and buns.

Clean laundry has been put away. There is one basket in laundry room to put away (towels) but if I don't put them away till Monday then they will still be clean then lol We will see if I venture down there today.

Lettuce- It's expensive and looks like crap! I bought a tray of lean beef yesterday that I could make into taco meat but we need lettuce.


Have a wonderful weekend!

[coupon girl]

Today i went to rexall to get my pills and decided to do a shop there i got 43,650 points spent $61

got 27,500 for spending over $40
bonus points for using my rbc credit card
900 for softsoap

anyhow everything was great prices i got 3 cashmere toilet paper( be well member price )$4.99 24's havent seen it that price before covid
i got a cheap watch reduced for 5.94
peek freans 2.47 member price
plus a few other sale items


Then on to lococs a local store

bartlett pears 1.99 pd
boneless chicken breast 4.99 lb i paid $5.50 for 2 large ones
huge large tub of arugula salad mix 2.99

plus a few other items

[Ciel21]

@coupon girl That watch will not last. Tell me that the insert says you'll have to send $5 with the watch if need repairs...My rexall watch never worked. I tossed it out after separating any metal bits for the recycling box.
Awesome rest of shop!

[Ciel21]

Noon and big curly snow! Later I headed out to get the empties returned (avoided the siren call of Talize nearby; $1.70 to jingle in my pocket), get my wanted items in Burlington and made back to Hamilton after 6pm. Nothing like riding buses during the last rush hour to get a sense of squish. One bus ride- I did not use my seat cushion and my spine and torso were issuing news bulletins.

Discovered that Sobeys Extra in Burlington has a washroom key policy. While waiting to use the women's unit, I realized I was better off to go to Indigo (no queue) or Marshalls (never ventured in). Got my order item, did a browse of children's dept (saw the gardening gloves-only two prints this year) and found a magazine for someone. Did stop at a barbecue store and wished I had brought the old cellphone to snap the inviting deck chairs and firepit outside (despite light snow showers). Left the power centre after 5:30pm and was home two hours later. Just made the Ancaster bus due to traffic light cycles being long. Two Presto fares and one cash fare (did not stop at Shoppers along my journeys so that refund cash and some wallet change yielded enough).Whew!

I did not see any peanut butter coupons in the breakfast foods area of Sobeys. There are 7up Zero grapefruit mini cans ($4.99) or the case ($7.99). The $1.25 pop special was basically cleared. No Mountain Dew Code Red yet. Yes, there's a clearance rack in pharmacy but I did not find anything of interest. I went up some aisles and collected two Body Armour bevvies (not in the cold drinks fridge by prepared foods but in a bin in the breakfast aisle??) for purchase. Felt run down and had a hot flash while in the checkout lineup. Never opened up that water bottle I had brought along, but I drank a lot of it when I got home.

Had a late pasta supper. Think I'll have a good sleep for tomorrow's light grocery shop then branch session. Just glad I'm sitting down!

[Ciel21]

Staples had its own brand of photo paper, 100 sheets 4x6 for $19 and change. Got one pkg. Did discover ink cartridge recycling bins in the printer aisle on far west side of store (two brands get separate compartments and the last compartment has Canon mingling with 4 other brands). Meanwhile, I have 5 cartridges awaiting a destination...maybe next week I'll drop them off.

The greeting card section was time well spent. Bought one card as well.

[HermanH]

Walmart had a bag of discounted tomatos for $0.40/lb
It must have been a marking error, since all the other bags were over double in price. I suspect someone double-discounted.

Freshco had 15x cans of spaghetti for $0.27 each
Also got to price-match 3x honeydew and a cantaloupe for $2.44 each; worked out to $0.50/lb

At the counter, I overheard an elderly couple trying to buy 8x packages of raspberries. The cashier was telling them that only four/family were allowed. So, I just told them to say that they were buying four for me. How petty of the cashier to try and gouge them. They should have just kept quite and said that they were friends and not the same household.

Since things were going so swimmingly, something had to go wrongly. As I was walking home, I saw an SUV trying to turn right. It had a big dent in the right-rear door and it made me wonder how it got there. I soon found out, as the lady driver nearly ran me down because she was focused on on-coming traffic and didn't see me. NOW, I know how that dent must have gotten there. She's just a lousy driver.

[coupon girl]

We are going to my sons today for turkey -late easter for us .Of course i spent more on my grandkids than last year ,well worth it thou -clothes ,money and a hersheys bunny each .

My daughter and sebastian are coming in this afternoon and of course my dear son wanted to invite my brother which is great ,Whom my daughter hasnt seen in 11 years .Lets hope my easter goes off without a hitch .lol

My daughter decided to maybe stay til monday night as she has to work from home and couldnt get sebastian in a day camp all full up in toronto.So we will have the 3 grankids on monday .My life is never dull,some days .

Hubby's vertigo ac ted up the past 2 days ,now he says he feels better.

Stopped into zarkys a local shop this morning

ontario strawberries were 1.99-so nice too
there deli meat is cheaper there also
12 dinner rolls 4.49 baked so fresh .
I noticed they now have donuts fresh made 1.99 each or 11.00 a dozen i think ,they had a small line up for them .May have to try another time.

Mind you i needed chocolate ice cream for the grandkids ,they love cones when they come to my house .The ice cream was 6.00 so sometimes we save others times we dont ,didnt feel like running around .As i am doing a few things for son chopping up carrots and cooking them to take over made the cranberry sauce it was 1.88 a bag .

Everyone have a great day ,nice and sunny here.

[harbie]

Yuck for your hubbys vertigo @coupon girl . I have it occasionally but thankfully not as bad as I did the first time. Mine doesn't get too severe and doesn’t last long but it still is awful. Glad he’s feeling better.

Well, I’m off to Costco yep on a Saturday. I only have a few things I need but unfortunately I kinda really need them prior to Tuesday’s surgery and I really didn’t want to make Dh go after his insane weird week so I’ll take my mom. Wish me luck

[coupon girl]

Thanks harbie -he felt awfull thursday night and friday just stayed in bed mostly .So glad he is better today for our celebration .

Have fun going with your mom enjoy her while she is here -i miss my mom some days .

[Ciel21]

Trying to find motivation to get outside and do the intended work. Ms. Sunshine is lovely but Mr. Wind has iced down the air because I had garbage to take out. Hands need the hand cream too.
Indoors, I finally ran the Affresh cleaning cycle after doing some hand laundry and ran a clothing load, just for sake of having laundry over with. Cooked some lentils as I needed more protein than a bowl of cereal with milk provided. Am jotting down community drives for textiles and scrap metal (metal drive is next month this year) for the fridge door (aka bulletin board). Need to use the vacuum cleaner as well. Yes, I seem to be stalling. Because I was not in the kitchen when I had lentils cooking, I had two spills occur. Lesson learned and cleanup completed.
Received a few new photos and filed them to the appropriate folder. Trying to not run off prints for others until I get confirmation that relatives want hard copies (and hopefully mailed out before the postage hike in May). More important to get more colour ink for our own personal copies to have a complete souvenir set.

A suv pulling a small trailer unit drove by. Guess someone has travel plans or a roadtrip this weekend! My plans are limited to going to local stores today, so I don't have to shop Mon-Wed.

[Ciel21]

OOh, Snuggle Bugz has a 15% off almost everything event for Saturday and Sunday. Part of 17th birthday celebrations. Let's check on that one thing I have to wait on: yes, it is showing the discounted price.

[harbie]

I definitely make sure to spend as much time with my parents as I can @coupon girl . Dh doesn’t have any relationship with any of his parents or step parents (step dad recently passed too) so I’m extra grateful for my parents

Well Costco was not a 3 ring circus….more like a 5 or 6 . They supposedly opened at 9 AM but the parking lot was completely filled by then. They must have opened earlier . Not even a handicapped spot was left for mom. Oh well, we did it. The only thing I bought off my list was some Heavenly Hunks and that was only because I saw they were carrot cake and I’ve never tried that flavour before so in the cart it jumped .

Now I’m stocked up for the week or so for recovery with the exception of some plant milk I need form WM.

*** I had a bad experience with Violife mozzarella going moldy 2 months prior to the best before date so after contacting them and sending photos they are mailing out FPC’s

Everything is set except washing the bedding (I need a fresh set on the night before surgery) so that will have to wait until Monday morning. Now I’m thinking I’ll head out for a walk while I see the sun.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone

[HermanH]

Ate my last egg (from an old batch) for breakfast. Walked into WM and found 30x eggs for $5 ($2/doz).

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Oh my what a week, my work was all over the place, I was a branch again all week and my hours were longer then expected, hoping things will get back to normal this coming week. Had two meetings and plans to move forward.

I noticed earlier in the week it looked like Mom's tire was low on her car but I was hoping it was the angle and that tire was a puddle, I looked at it again Thursday and just had a feeling. So last night after work I took the pressure and it came up at 10, dang it, so I called CAA who put the spare on which was also flat but the could pump it up and off to the tire shop I went and got it fixed.

I was going to go shopping after I got the tired fixed but I am not sure what was up but well I was waiting I got so cold I was sitting there shivering and just after I got in the car it started to rain so I just came home.

This morning I decided as much as I dislike shopping on a Saturday I needed to go. Mom gets anxiety when the fridge is to full, I was getting anxiety because it was so empty. Originally I was going to go to Wal-Mart and a few other places but decided as I was driving, let's head out of town and I went to RCSS and Costco.

At RCSS I grabbed Cherry Tomatoes, Apples and Peanut Butter, then I Price Matched Peppers and Dates.

I was going to just do a small shop at Costco but a lot of the sales that were going to start next week had already started so instead I did a large shop. There are still a few things that weren't on sale yet I will have to go back. I was surprised to see Costco had Ground Beef for $3.64/lb so I grabbed 3 packs as we are out of Taco Meat, Burgers and almost out of Meatloaf and Meatballs.

I also grabbed a 6-pack of Lettuce for $7.99, not the best price but I have been struggling with getting in my fruits and vegs again and need to get back into the habit of having Salad. Also got Mini Cucumbers as they were on sale for $3.99/bag.

Some of the sale items I grabbed were Allergy Pills, Ricotta, Q-Tips, Dove Shampoo & Conditioner, Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner, Foil Pans, Tea, Harvest Crunch & Popcorners.

I also needed more Pesto, Chedda, Mozzarella, Naan , Hamburger buns, Yogurt and I grabbed a bag of Chocolate Chips not that we needed them but I have heard there is a might be a Chocolate Shortage so to be safe I grabbed an extra bag.

We have already used 1 1/2 packs of Ground Beef, we have cooked the Taco Meat which is in the fridge to be portioned and frozen tomorrow and the burgers are in the freezer. Tomorrow we will tackle Meatballs and Meatloaves.

I also just tidied things up, I feel like there is just stuff everywhere I filled a medium size garbage bags with random things I found that needed to go out. I just gathered things up and put them back in their home. As well I have moved so stuff to the shelves in the Dining Room so Mom can access them, with her reduced mobility she is having a hard time getting down mixing bowls or getting out cookie sheets so I put them where she can easily get them. As well I needed to tidy up the stand-up freezer so I could get the burgers in.

Not a bad day considered I planned to do nothing since this week kicked my butt.

Happy Saturday Everyone.

[Ciel21]

I listened to my back saying no most of today so ladder work is pushed back to early Monday morning. I raked for a bit before suppertime and I was glad to have started that task (plan is to have 2/3 of it done by time family returns on Thursday-I am being realistic). Will do my shopping tomorrow. Think an Epsom salt soak is in order tonight for my feet and the hot water bottle to be applied to my back.
Did manage to pop a bowl of popcorn. Wish I had zip to have done a short walk but I like the warmth in the house too much.

Realized that Shoppers has Becel cooking oil listed for $8.49 in its flyer. I will move on that price because I need the oil and it's cheaper than Fortino's price (ironic as grocery store is opposite the drug store).

Need to fix a simple dinner and a mug of tea before finding something to watch on Youtube. I am craving burgers but they are not in the house. That is why I finished the last of the mint chocolate chips about an hour ago! Have a fulfilling evening in, everyone.