2024-06 June Frugal Chatter

[Ciel21]

Was walking through RCSS and saw a senior lady shopping. Every single item in her cart had a 30% discount sticker. I hope that it was by choice, but feel badly for her if she felt out of other options.

RCSS is only giving 30% off? 50% off stickers still exist at Fortinos. Sometimes there's a bonanza in reduced produce selection (today was good: celery bunches (1-1/2 in wrap), bell peppers, lemons, potatoes. IN bakery, I saw two types of focaccia for 50% off including the bianco (rosemary and salt) one I like. I purchased one as this item seldom is on the rack when I look for bread or rolls on sale that I want to have. Seldom do I even glance at meat produced in the butcher area for reduced priced steaks or ground meat (usually I check out hamburger or hot dog prices).

My store's clearance area in pharmacy was about 1/3 full and still had some Easter items on it. Personal care/household clearance was 2/3 full of health & beauty, some baby feeding accessories, some small batteries and random household bulbs & hardware. The surprise was the grocery clearance-full of sauces, condiments and spice packs with a little candy and a few personal care items. I think there will be a shift in how many national branded products will be stocked versus more emphasis on PC branded items.

Toronto just had a new urban No Frills store open last Thursday. A month ago it was a different store. Since the new grocery store is much smaller than a regular No Frills, merchandise is tailored to area residents' needs. Think that will impact grocery coupon use unless one has a PC Optimum offer in the app/account because not all products will be stocked in the smaller format No Frills. @Frugalbigmama posted in Best Deals of the Week thread that her Independant store will become a No Frills store. So is Loblaws choosing store locations in its real estate portfolio to see which banner stores convert to No Frills stores? For some reason, I was thinking Loblaws was adding physical new locations for No Frills, not flipping other banner grocers over to No Frills. To be continued...remember Loblaws mentioned last year it was more of a real estate entity rather than just a grocer.

[HermanH]

Did laundry and more weeding .

Tried my hand at a bit of gardening, just some potatoes and carrots. I can't believe the number of weeds that sprout. I think that this will be my last year of gardening and will just sow it with grass seed, next year.

[HermanH]

RCSS is only giving 30% off? 50% off stickers still exist at Fortinos. Sometimes there's a bonanza in reduced produce selection (today was good: celery bunches (1-1/2 in wrap), bell peppers, lemons, potatoes.

Yes, RCSS only has 30% stickers in Edmonton. I am always envious of Easterners and your 50% discounts. I would be laughing all the way to the bank, with those savings.

[SassyAshley]

Regarding discount stickers, my No Frills uses 50% off stickers for produce and bakery but only 30% off stickers meats. Other departments vary, they have cart sometimes full of random things but tend to be mostly organic and various products I think they have brought in but do not sell. Sometimes I do not think the demographic in our areas is looked and certain products just do not sell in my area.

I do not shop at Zehrs but once in awhile I will check Flash Foods and everything is 50% off again and it is mostly organic and health products. I see people sharing deals as suggestions of things people can buy for the community fridge but I have always found that Zehrs clearance is not the best. Yes, they use 50% stickers for produce and bakery (not sure about meat) but from my experience the produce is usually past the 50% off stage and should be discarded. The bakery is hit and miss, sometimes they have amazing deals but you have to look and be careful as I have also found moldy product and have heard the same from others.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! Looks like it is going to rain . Oh well hopefully it will get it out of its system today and then be beautiful sunshine tomorrow for all the festivals? Let's hope!

Slow start for me this morning. Sipping my coffee and trying to get motivated. Dishes soaking in the sink. Will get them washed up and tidy the kitchen.
Deal with work and then I can shut down at noon for my afternoon off. Rain or not will make it a good weekend! Hope Sunday is nice to go kayaking. Would love to go to the new spot we checked out last weekend.
2 family birthdays this weekend. Dinner out tomorrow night for one and then another next Wednesday night.

Glad I did laundry yesterday. I want to wash DS's work pants this weekend. They are filthy. I have to sneak them because he tells me they are suppose to be dirty lol ( I hang them to dry and they are thick so will need 2 days to dry so hoping to wash them tonight)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

[Shwa Girl]

Still trying to spend the minimum on gardening this year. First the Aeroplan miles bought a Canadian Tire gift card, which bought perennial plant. Just paid tax.

Now, PC Optimum points bought mulch. This was a need, with all the rain we have been having. Paid around $3 out of pocket, after using the points.

[Shwa Girl]

Good Morning Everyone,
Got a little bit of a surprise this week. Ended up with 3 work-from-home days I did not expect but that is now down to 2 as I now have a meeting to attend. I have to be honest, I am feeling a little on edge about this meeting as I do not know what it is about and I feel like I should be prepping for it but since I do not know why we are meeting I cannot prep. I am an overthinker and my anxiety always makes me feeling like I have done something wrong so as soon as someone says can we talk my brain is going in 5000 directions at once so I am feeling it today. But I am going to try to focus and knock out some of the backlog that is in my email.

When someone from work tries to spring something on me, I listen. Then I summarize what the say. Then I say, you've given me a few things to think about. Can we set up another meeting. If they did not brief you, you don't need to make a snap reply. It is courteous and professional to give you an idea, so you can come prepared. Hope the meeting went well.

[coupon girl]

Afternoon we had to babysit today both girls at 9.00 a.m as school had a p.d day .

Did a load of laundry took the girls to the park ashlyn played basketball with papa ,cara stayed in the playground with friends .I chatted with a grandmother ,nice conversation.

Then played barbies with cara ,coloured with ashlyn .Took cara to freshco with me ,not easy when a little one wants everything yummy in the grocery store spent an extra 11.00 on the girls gaterade ,brrokside chocolates ,areo mint bar.

Son pulled up at 4.00 and home we came ,bit tired.All in all a good day.

[SassyAshley]

Well today was a bit all over the place.

I had to head in to meet with my Dad he wanted to talk. Won't lie I am always a little anxious when I meet with Dad because you just never know where the meeting is going. It was good news, he saw me working with a new trainee and was very impressed but they want to help me and he has found someone to mentor and help me with some of my teaching techniques. So he will arrange that.

Afterwards I went to put gas the car (still driving the loaner, turns out Bro is driving my car) pull out of the gas station and got a low tire pressure warning. So I went to a different gas station (we still have one locally that has free air). Only issue is since I am in the loaner I do not have my tire gauge with me but this car has one built in, perfect. I put air but noticed when I got home it had gone down a bit again but figured maybe I didn't drive far enough so I went for a drive and all seemed good.

But, I have a work road trip next week and due to scheduling will be taking the loaner so I messaged Dad, if it was anyone of our cars I would have just taken to the tire place but wasn't sure with a loaner could I have this place work on the car. Dad emailed me back to go get it checked so I did, yep they had to put a patch in. Happy that is taken care of before my road trip.

Before I went to met Dad I ran to No Frills to grab a few things. I was tempted to put off shopping but we needed Milk and Mushrooms, well almost $100 later I was done. I did not buy a ton but found some deals on some of the pricer items we buy, like Mom's tea (she an earl grey tea girl and prefers tetley and Costco only carries Twinning), Oil (deal or hit of the month, figured I would stock up for baking), Sour Cream (cannot believe $2.49 is now a good price) and yogurt (was $2.99 but they finally had stock they have been out for 2 to 3 weeks).

Plus of course I got produce, Mushrooms, Peppers, Cherries, Cucumbers. All ready to prep this weekend and prepare for next week.

This weekend's plan is to rip apart our kitchen and make it more accessible for Mom. We need to lower almost everything as she can no longer balance herself to pull anything off the shelves or reach anything above her. So we need to move some stuff around and the freezer needs to be cleaned out. So that is the plan.

Happy Friday Everyone.

[walkonby]

small update: yesterday after my last physio session I came home and checked the gas gauge, oops DH had forgotten to get gas at Shell ( this was to be the 2nd x 30L fill up, part of a promo ) .....so I decided to take a maiden voyage....my first driving since the knee replacement.
The station is close by just up the street a ways and got the 30L in.
Then because that felt so good I drove to FreshCo to use up the balance on a GC and to grab a couple of things they had on sale.
Still feeling brave I finished with a trip to our favourite bakery/hot deli stuff ( LaManna's ) and bought 3 hot take outs ( 1 lasagna, 2 sausage and rapini pasta ) and some sweets!
( does anyone love Rum Baba? ...I got 2 of them and 3 cannoli's! )
I was SO pooped when I got back home, it was all I could do to get the stuff in the house and put away. At least I know I CAN drive now if I have to.

[HermanH]

Was walking down the street in just my shorts, when an Indian man approached and asked if I was hungry. He said that he had just finished lunch and had some extra food, in a couple of foil take-out containers. (I guess I looked like a homeless man. ) Anyway, I accepted the food in the spirit it was given. Only in Canada would I willingly take food from a complete stranger. (Who would take the time and trouble to go out of their way to harm someone?) I got rice and (looks like) butter chicken.

[Ciel21]

The sky had a lot of rain to dispense this afternoon. First rain knocked the rest of what had been a large nest. I thought I got the nest a few days ago but today Bro made a comment about the big nest-I saw it on my return from the garbage bin shed. No way he checked the yard waste bag for the stuff I had raked. He was commenting on today's landfall of a nest (3x of what I had collected). Guess the rain put enough pressure to knock the nest down.
I checked my CRA account but there is no update on what next month's GST credit and Ontario Trillium Benefit amounts are. Having used the calculator on the CRA site, OTB might be $360-hope that means lump sum, not a 1/12 of it in July since it hits the $360 mark which prompts a monthly amount. The carbon rebate is showing as the $140 for next Friday. Whew.

Am clearing off bookmarks and some files on both accounts on the laptop. Managed to get into my Presto card account without needing to get a phone code. Been a long time since I was in that account. Posted a credit card offer in Rewards thread that gives a Presto voucher of high value for card application if approved. There is mention that iPhone and Apple Watch will become one's Presto Card soon. No details yet. Oh, how odd-there is no listing of my bus trips this month or last. Must be due to Hamilton's cyberattacked website still affecting some transit functions that upload to Presto. The onboard bus fare device does show the correct balance after payment but not the online account.

Personally, I like that we've had a cooldown on temperature. I had looked to the forecast for next two weeks on the Weather Network on the tv app and noticed a humidity return in about 8 day's time for several days. Stock up on ice and cool things.
Think hot cocoa might be ideal in a few moments!

[Tweets77]

I am not sure if this has allready been posted but, Sunlight Dish Soap is not longer made or available due to low interest.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Slow start to the morning, I slept in which was probably needed but it has me feeling a little blah. Plus for some reason the sinuses are not happy today, I was hoping they would feel better once I got going but nope, might have to take something.

I placed an online order for some undergarments for both Mom and I. I had a giftcard and was just going grab some stuff for myself but I found some in her size on sale which is rare so I grabbed it as well.

I feel like we have a few expenses coming up that I am not excited for but am happy we have the money to cover.

Mom was talking about getting rid of car because of how little she goes out but after thinking about it, I have decided that is not an option for us. Ultimately it came down to the fact that at times I do have to travel for work that is part of my job and although I do not have any trips coming up, I just do not like the idea of her being home alone without a car. I realize most of the time when I am out of town she doesn't go out as she needs me to go with her but the idea of her not having car if I am away bothers me. Plus I am hopeful she will get her surgery sooner rather than later and she can gain back some of her independence.

Trying to talk myself into tackling the kitchen but it isn't going well so instead I am trying to crochet a mini ice cream cone.

Happy Saturday everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

@SassyAshley. My mom just decided last month that she was done driving (my sister and brother and law have been driving her long distance to her friends etc for awhile now- she lives beside them and they pushed her to move there so now they owe!! lol)
So my sister sold her car back to the dealer and it was a done deal very quickly.

Our annual house and car insurance is due this month. Yeah...PC pts lol when I pay with PC MC. The only good thing about those 2 bills.
Put the money aside for this as well but it still sucks to have to pay.