2025-01 January Frugal Thread

Put a link to news item about Ricki's, cleos, and Frank and Oak stores. Does not look good.

The Lime Ridge mall Ricki's had a sign about closing when I was there around Dec.30. Did not know whole chain is in financial difficulty. Do not delay if you have shopping or order fix to do.
https://www.cleo.ca/?srsltid=AfmBOorg6CsIC0ZxyT5nSLUYI8xgGe1ixJQtwfRWQ z5qfgt3F3-gM8h9
As of January 17, no returns, gift cards or ability to redeem or earn loyalty points. Applies to both Cleo and Rickis. https://www.rickis.com/ Bootlegger as well.

If anyone has Ricki's or Cleo gift cards or e gift cards, shop asap. If not for yourself, perhaps for someone in need of winter accessories or outfit.

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Originally Posted by Ciel21

Put a link to news item about Ricki's, cleos, and Frank and Oak stores. Does not look good.

The Lime Ridge mall Ricki's had a sign about closing when I was there around Dec.30. Did not know whole chain is in financial difficulty. Do not delay if you have shopping or order fix to do.

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I heard this too about rickis .I just started the last year about buying from cleo -love their clothing when it is on sale or clearance.So glad i used the 5.00 credit i had last week at cleo's.I hope they dont close -i love cleo .

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Originally Posted by coupon girl

I still mend clothing by hand ,make soup from scratch

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Originally Posted by Giseledta

I cook from. Scratch. Mend.. ect.

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I do much the same. In fact, I pretty much mend something every darned day, after I return home from walking. First it was holes in socks, then mittens, and, today, the seat of my jeans have worn clean through. I certainly feels like I sit and watch the news and sew, sew, sew. :(

Walmart had Sun Pride 398mL cans of beans for $0.50 each. I grabbed 3x cases (36) and slogged home.

Sigh, less than 100m from home, the bags start to rip apart and I start losing cans. As I stop to retrieve my cans and put them into my spare bags, a kind neighbour sees my predicament and walks out to offer me a re-usable bag.

Alas, I only arrive home with 35. I must have lost track of one, on the way. Oh, well. After finding so many cans during my daily walks, it might only fitting that I return one to the universe. :biggrin: (I'll probably find it on my walk, tomorrow. ;))

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Originally Posted by HermanH

Walmart had Sun Pride 398mL cans of beans for $0.50 each. I grabbed 3x cases (36) and slogged home.

Sigh, less than 100m from home, the bags start to rip apart and I start losing cans. As I stop to retrieve my cans and put them into my spare bags, a kind neighbour sees my predicament and walks out to offer me a re-usable bag.

Alas, I only arrive home with 35. I must have lost track of one, on the way. Oh, well. After finding so many cans during my daily walks, it might only fitting that I return one to the universe. :biggrin: (I'll probably find it on my walk, tomorrow. ;))

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You need a traveling back pack! Makes it so much easier when walking and shopping :)

On my sorting g a d cleaning of the whole house project, I have been side tracked with the hallway closet. .

And repainting it... colour has been picked out... home hardwear has paint on sale... I have 20.00 in scene points... making the can 25.00...
Definitely thinking of knocking that off this weekend...
It's a small closet.


Also considering really focusing on the next 6 ( 12 unless I lose steam) being very focused on deals ect.. goal is to ultimately pay down so.e debt. But , also to develop better habits... hmmm thoughts I think when I'm under caffeinated.

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Afternoon popped over to carters,pick up tights i got for cara $2.40

Then on to walmart got a new bra and a few clearance items,then left.

My dear son came as his washer seal is broken 5 year old washer -ugg so we chatted and he did 2 loads and had lunch here .

I have a lot of Air Miles and using them for gas makes no sense because we get 5 cents off a litre with CAA and BMO, so I am thinking of buying a Walmart gift card. They are rarely my go to for groceries but it’s 2 week’s worth of groceries. Any thoughts.
I have been super sick with some respiratory thing this week. I went to the doctor to make sure it was not pneumonia or bronchitis. She said it’s not but man it’s brutal. Thankfully I am not congested but I am so over this.

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Originally Posted by lilo0003

I have a lot of Air Miles and using them for gas makes no sense because we get 5 cents off a litre with CAA and BMO, so I am thinking of buying a Walmart gift card. They are rarely my go to for groceries but it’s 2 week’s worth of groceries. Any thoughts.
I have been super sick with some respiratory thing this week. I went to the doctor to make sure it was not pneumonia or bronchitis. She said it’s not but man it’s brutal. Thankfully I am not congested but I am so over this.

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Personally... 2 weeks of groceries sounds amazing.
Equally there is Amazon gift cards you can use.

Personally , use the points.or have a plan for them. :)
I'm a use the points kinda gal :)

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Originally Posted by Giseledta

Personally... 2 weeks of groceries sounds amazing.
Equally there is Amazon gift cards you can use.

Personally , use the points.or have a plan for them. :)
I'm a use the points kinda gal :)

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I agree with you. I never rely upon points from anyone. I've been badly burned by Aeroplan and others. To me, I always assumed outright that the points will mean nothing or be cancelled. I accept points if there are absolutely no other options.

IMO, use them up as fast as you can. There is no guarantee if they will be honoured in the future or if their value will be discounted or reduced. Expect the point issuer to do everything in their power to cheat and deny you value from your points and you will never be disappointed.

Does Walmart charge any activation or handling/service fee for selling you a card? If not, it sounds like an excellent choice to burn points, even if Walmart no longer guarantees the lowest price. I had small Walmart gift cards and took a long time to use up the credit, because I just don't buy very much from them; they just don't offer good prices. YMMV

Well I decided to re retire again Feb 28-more time to travel!

@lizzie bargain , congrats on re retiring.

@cath0007 , **HUGS**

Good Morning Everyone,
Been a few days since I posted I kept coming on to post and then got pulled into something.

Wednesday during my "lunch" I reorganized our Chest freezer, should it have been defrosted, yes, but did I have time nope, so a reorganize it was. I needed to make room because I knew I was going to Costco and buying some frozen stuff.

Thursday I was working in the office as I had an on-site meeting and then a bunch of online meetings and was worried about making it on time so I just worked in office all day. It was a good day because I ran into a bunch of co-workers and got a bunch of questions answers but I did not physically get a lot done, plus I had a bunch of meetings.

After work I needed to do an in-store pick and then go to Costco. I did my in store pick-up and oh my gosh I froze just walking into the store, the wind was brutal so I decided to skip Costco there was no way I could stand outside and load my car, plus then having to bring it all in.

But I did run into Dollarama, I heard they had Bullet Journals with the dotted pages which I wanted to try before diving in and buying a nice one from Amazon. They aren't super expensive from Amazon but I didn't want to order one to hate it so I got those plus a bottle of rinse and refresh as I like using this on our towels (Please Costco start carrying Rinse and Refresh).

The I shopped locally for Groceries since we needed Milk and I did not know when I would make it to Costco. I ended up getting quite a bit of produce (Mushrooms, Peppers, Lemons, Clementines, Cucumbers), then I got Milk, Jam, Peameal, Diced Tomatoes, Soup. I did more price matching because I did not want to go to multiple stores but also because I had some points offer that would line up.

I was able to run to Costco yesterday, I thought about waiting for today but they were calling for snow so to be safe I decided to just get it done so I did not have to worry about snow. I bought way more than I had planned but found some great deals:
Chicken Breasts were $6 off a pack, I didn't NEED chicken but grabbed one pack
Ground Beef was $3.94/lb (I think because RCSS has it on sale, and I was going to run there for a pack) so I ended up grabbing 2 packs
Triple Berries and Frozen Broccoli since they were on sale I grabbed 2 bags, did I need two, that is debatable
Pads I also grabbed 2 boxes, did we need 2, for $10 off a box, I grabbed 2 as last time we did not make it to the next sale (even not on sale Costco is so much cheaper than other options)
Cheddar I grabbed 3 bricks because they were $5 off and we use a lot of cheese and prefer Costco's Old Cheddar
Also on sale I grabbed the Tortellini, Mom's Bread, Peanut Butter Thin (They are back!!!! and on sale), and Cucumbers.
I grabbed some Glass Meal Prep containers Costco just got, I was going to wait for a sale but I have heard some locations are selling out. I want these for taking my lunch to work because our Microwaves have quirks and I tend to cook our plastic so glass will eliminate this.
I spent more than I had planned but now we are stocked up for months on some items.

On the way home I ran into No Frills to Price Match Ground Pork to make Meatloaves with some of the Ground Beef, I knew I had some at home but wasn't sure if making the Meatloaves would use it all. Also they now had the bagels I tried the grab the day before but they were out.

Also had to get gas and just realized I did not get my bonus points so submitted an points inquiry.

Now that we have all this food I think it is going to a prep weekend. I still have stuff I need to put away, stuff we need to deal and prep I need to do so I think it is time to sit down and plan.

Happy Saturday Everyone.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. These are all recently acquired points. I cashed everything in at Christmas for Amazon. I opened a BMO MC last summer and there was some sort of incentive because they recently gave me 1500 AM. I also don’t like to hold on to points as I don’t trust they won’t suddenly disappear. Right now groceries make more sense than Amazon as I am not a fan anyway and DH will use it to but stuff that I think is useless.
I found a new banana bread recipe this week and made a double batch to use up the bananas that seem to reproduce in the freezer.
Today is our turn to be snowy, it start last night about 5 and the plows are out, but I don’t need anything so I think I will continue my basement purge. @Giseledta if you have a cell phone check out the receipt offers with Air Miles. I have done quite well with them as far as earning Air Miles.