2024-12 December Frugal Thread

I had no plan for dinner but wanted to make something good that I could have and would be easy for the others to heat up later.
Had lean ground beef to deal with in the freezer. Put half in a freezer bag and tossed in the freezer. The other half I cooked up on the stove. Put some of the cooked beef in a container to put in the fridge for nachos. Added sauce to the cooked beef pan (one with spinach) and am cooking up pasta. Easy dinner!!

Another day of me not leaving the house at all. I do not like winter :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lizzie bargain

It seems I am getting more famous by the minute! I might be on CTV national at 11 tonight-of course I will be sound asleep so will have to record it.

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I saw/heard (about) you on the 1800h news! We have a celebrity on the forum. :)

Good Morning Everyone,
Up early and getting all of the things done.

First round of testing has been done and sent in for our upgrade, no idea how many more rounds to go might be better not to overthink it LOL.

I am running the dishwasher because I forgot to run it last night and by the time I realized I wasn't staying up for it to finish.

I did not get to do my 15-minute tidy yesterday, I took out the Bathroom and Mom's garbage and when I came back in my phone rang and back to work I went.

I did get some of the pantry containers done last night, will try to get them finished today. I ran out of drying room and I try to do anything and everything to not dry dishes.

I checked the flyers last night found a few things I want to pick up so will need to find a time to go grocery shopping.

Need to make my Pasta Salad for the Potluck although need to make sure it is still happening as I hear the flu is going around.

Happy Thursday Everyone.

Busy days !!!
Today is my crunch day, lots to get done.. but tomorrow , fingers crossed will be easy peasy.... I know I just jinxed myself.lol.
I have absolutely no idea about supper, I suspect it. Will be a super easy something.
I still need to do a few things Christmas wise, and find the time to do them. Oy.

Off to caffinate .

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One more day of work and then hubs and I are off for 2.5 weeks. We can act like real retired people.

Looks like a nice blue sky sunny day!

Had a very productive morning. Work stuff done. Cleaned my desk off. Have a courier package ready to go out (and off my desk!)
Cleaned a bathroom. Laundry basket full and ready to wash and hang to dry (Will do tomorrow/Saturday)

Yesterday I wrapped some Christmas gifts (for niece) Will wrap the rest this weekend once I get organized. Needed my work week to be done and then I will spread them out and start wrapping probably on Saturday.

Leaving soon to pick up my friend and head to our little hotel night away. We are both bringing our laptops to work but then once done we can enjoy the hot tub etc and then enjoy a nice dinner we don't have to cook or clean after :) Everyone needs a bestie that likes to get away when our partners do not...We enjoy adventure :)
Work in the morning in the hotel room and then I am off the afternoon.
Have an item I am returning to Costco tomorrow on our way home. (protein bars- they are horrible. I have never returned a food item but this one I am because they are garbage) I also have a King Size comforter to return but I may just keep it for road trips for the car.

Have a wonderful weekend!

@Frugalbigmama , I am always hesitant with protein bars, I find most have an odd texture (I am a total texture person, off texture and I am out) and most leave a weird aftertaste.

I am the same I never return food items but I did return the bread I bought that was recalled.

Actually it was funny we were talking about this at work as one of our managers used to be a manager at Costco and he returns everything where is my half bro and I are like we never return anything.

Although I do enjoy doing my clothing shopping online and just mailing it back if we don't like it.

I think I have most of my testing done that needs to be done for someone else to do their part. Now I just need to do my own testing, yay!!!!!! I hate it when people are waiting on me.

I am really torn about this potluck tomorrow, yesterday a meeting was cancelled because a number of people were off sick and today even more are off. As much as I want to be social I don't want to catch and bring anything home.

I think once I am done work today I am going to try to start get my life in order again. Last night was the first night I can remember I did not work until I went to bed because I am as caught up as I get. This has reminded me I need to bring this balance back into my life. I am realistic in my role some nights and weekends are required but this year has kicked my butt so it time to get back into my routines.

I think come January 1st I will bring back my bullet journal. I am not a resolution person I feel like if you want to do it, just do it don't want for a new year but it would be a lot of work to just up just a week and half so that one will wait for the New Year.

I also need to start meal planning again and would like to do some cooking for the freezer well I am off work.

Then of course there is the house but I am slowly working on this. Hoping to knock a couple of larger project during shut down but will see how things go.

I am tired in and out of 3 stores first cleo tried on the jeans i had bought from ship to store option (nope too tight and too high waisted) but did buy a nice white 3/4 length top reduced 11.40 .

Then to walmart returned some crappy socks i bought for Sebastian ,then looked at the clearance section i got
fibre bars 2.20
christie saltines 2.40
dove xmas gift set 8.98 for 4 items =2.25 each cant beat that just cause the box was ripped .
walmart brand freezer bags 30 2.80

Then into shoppers for seniors day to get milk then home after 2 more xmas gifts were bought .

Good morning all..
I am off next week and like Sassy have a few plans . Nothing major, but definitely taking advantage to get organized and prepared .
I need to pop up to the grocery store after work. They have peameal roasts on for 5.00 . So I will grab more and stock the freezer... we are doing peanmeal roast, perogies a d salad for supper.

Off to grab caffeine and start the day

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Good Morning Everyone,
Slow morning here, easing myself into my work when honestly I just want to curl up on the couch.

I did over 3 hours of testing on our "issue" and could not break the system yesterday but does this bring me comfort our "issue" is fixed, nope because I have not been able to replicate the error in our current system. It is going to be a wait and see type of thing but I did the best I could to try to break it.

I decided against going to the Potluck, the more I thought about it the more I just felt it was a bad idea. It is one thing when you don't know people are under the weather but to go knowing so many are getting sick. I know Mom's immune system is not what it used to be and I am seeing Opa next week and his isn't the best either so better to be safe than sorry.

Yesterday after Mom's dentist appointment she drove me around to pick up groceries, I still feel like I forgot something but I think it is because I am not feeling as organized this year.

I went to Zehrs and grabbed a Prime Rib Roast plus my free bottle of dressing from PC Spin to win.

Then off to Food Basics for Broccoli, Lemons and Heavy Whipping Cream.

Last off to No Frills for Milk, Raspberries, Blackberries, Dill Pickle Salad Kit, English Muffins and Eggs.

I know the roasts were cheaper at RCSS but the ungraded meat freaks me out, I have heard it is just meat from Mexico and they don't grade there meat but decided it was worth the little bit extra to know what I was getting from Zehrs. I used points to pay for it, I thought I still had a gift card but could not find it before we left.

Let's talk mix messages, the other day Mom was mad because she messaged Bro and he said "oh I thought we were skipping dinner," so I asked her what do you want to do. She then apparently had a moment with Bro and said we will do it at a later date. Then I buy the Prime Rib for us and get asked why I didn't get a bigger one there won't be enough for 3. I thought dinner was postponed I bought this as a treat for her because the other day she saw someone making one and said how she was now craving a nice Prime Rib. Honestly, when bro comes I am thinking Lasagana because I can make it ahead and now fuss no muss keep it simple.

Also somehow I got asked if I said something to Bro about skipping dinner which makes no sense because Mom knows Bro and I have been having some conflict at work and I think mister no emotions is avoiding/not speaking to me. But who knows this is the brother I can be in the same locations as and we do not acknowledge each other and it is nothing rude just we both do our work and if we don't cross paths we don't cross paths. Seriously he is mister introvert, he missed the company Christmas Dinner because he had no voice and almost everyone said "oh, no one would have noticed." This is just him and slowly we are speaking more for work so I guess things are getting back to normal or he needs my help either way I am good.

Whatever, it is what it is, today I will pop the Prime Rib in the freezer we will have it later on a day Mom is having a "good day" because I know she won't want me to cook it.

Happy Friday Everyone.

Morning shovelled the light snow at 8.30 a.m then did my neighbours they are late 70's and he is 81.She gave me a jar of homemade jam yesterday .

I am wrapping today and sorting ,not going out at all.My knee is starting up again i guess the cortisone is wearing off so i call doctor have appt in jan .

Finally up for a quick breath. I’ve been working like a mad woman and I’m not done until Sunday afternoon!
I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to shop much which is good but I did manage to get 4 Fererro chocolate bars on clearance for $2 at Rexall. Received 4000 rexall points (whatever they’re called ) and claimed for 20AM, 10C on caddle. So not bad for $8oop and NOTAX :hahaha:

Snow started overnight and is sticking around. Expecting snow avalanche of the packing snow sometime in evening as roof snow has started curling over edge.

Have been exploring womenswear websites and noticed Laura/Laura Plus stores have a return policy specifically for cocktail and evening dresses-returns get credited back onto gift cards. Guess cash or chargeback to debit or credit cards are costs the stores are avoiding. Lots of stock has limited sizes left across clothing categories. If I had $1000 to spend right now, it would be easy to order $500+ on the Laura website alone.Really love some merchandise I have seen on the site. Yet I avoided going into their mall stores because the sales staff are quick to greet and get sense of customers' shopping intentions. Always be prepared prior to entrance. Jotted a list for next mall crawl to see if I can get something soon.

Made curried lentil stew yesterday and have some left for today. Was able to visit Walmart this morning as Bro was heading there and mostly diet Coke 6pks are in stock. No Coke packs or extra pop skid in grocery. Managed to remember to get the $8.97 sale jug of Palmolive dish soap too as I went to clearance area. Had to put some snacks back as I had $14 with me, not $20+ as I thought. As I did not bring my list, I did not go too off course with this shop.

My spending this month is faster than a year ago but it is second December in a row where I felt to order things in December and not miss out for January.

Have worn my new denim shirt twice and like having it in rotation. Could use a dressy blouse or shirt but I am not finding something suitable for me. Activewear has so many colours and styles that appeal to me. It would be good to find new dressy pants for the elusive dressy top. Striking out so far and wish to avoid paying over $80 for one pair of pants again.

Not loving the matcha powder water mix so will use the packets in baking this month.
Time to see what Cdn Tire personal offers exit today. It is bonus 40x TR CT money for CT credit card holders today with $200 spend (20x for TR loyalty cardholders).

Lovely treat score, @harbie !
I regret not popping into Rexall after No Frills on Wednesday but knew I could miss my next bus before the transfer expired. Never know what Rexall finds can be seen...