2025-01 January Frugal Thread

[Giseledta]

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.

I'm checking those. Some are really good thanks!!!

And definitely walmart for groceries!! Free is always nice

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[Giseledta]

Ok. All grocery shopping is done. And picked up a can of paint for the closet project.
FYI... I know most people use the scene points on groceries, but you can use them at home.hardwear as well.... on ya know... paint that is on sale...
Just saying...


I need to find a system to track my 25.00 challenge. To myself.

I have sourdough pizza dough doing its thing, and I m off to get the closet painted.
Stat frugal

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[harbie]

Hugs @cath007

I hope you feel better soon @lilo0003

Yay for re retirement @lizzie bargain

@coupon girl I’m glad your cortisone lasted as long as 6 months. Here’s to another 6 months of less pain.

My question to Frugal members is: what does one do if they are already living a very frugal existence, without spending anything on clothes, entertainment, or clothing? If things go badly, there isn't anything left to cut, since I already don't indulge in them in the first place. Anyone else ever think on those terms?

For us personally there is still some wiggle room to cut things out if absolutely needed. Even though asa general rule we are frugal currently we take those savings and those go into investments and retirement funds. We have the ability to draw from specific investment sources currently if absolutely necessary but that’s not the game plan. I think most people can legitimately cut something even if they don’t think they spend much and if not then the only other option is to increase the income and if possible then invest that for rainier days.

[harbie]

So it feels like ages since I’ve posted but probably not. I’ve been reading just not posting. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride.

Just the basics of being frugal. I did a NF shop at the beginning of the week. Spent $133, used $4 in coupons, PM’d 3 items, earned 25,050 back in points.

Work week got rearranged last minute due to getting a cancellation with the dr that had up to a 1 year wait time. Yay. Kinda. While I got amazing care from her and answers it wasn’t the answers I’d hoped for. I can get very limited HRT and it’s only possibly going to improve a few of the lesser symptoms. Unfortunately I’m in a gray area when it comes to the broader spectrum due to the uterine cancer

It was a bit of a gut punch and unfortunately brought the surface some bad memories that I’d hoped were behind me but they weren’t. It has made for a bit of a week here . On the positive side the stuff I can try that costs $450 was free with insurance so I have to be positive and happy with that.

I really need to up my gym game (it’s been slowing down a bit now). I’m hoping to hit the gym shortly after I finish some laundry.

Stay warm everyone and have a great weekend

[SassyAshley]

@harbie , sorry to hear they did not have better answers for you.

[SassyAshley]

I think as much as people live frugal lifestyles most of us still have wiggle room if needed and can cut back if needed. I know I have been there where we have to cut back and we do what we have to do.

I do what I can to keep our grocery bill down but if needed are there things I could eliminate, 100% yes.

For myself I know I walk a bit of line because I can be one of those people who goes to extremes. So I have been working on a balance of keeping our groceries within budget but not becoming too restrictive. My natural instinct is to always come in under budget which I do at times but it would become a game in the past where I would see what we could go without. I would also purposely not use so I did not need to replace them which lead to me not enjoying them.

So now I do my best, I try to keep us in budget the best can and feel fortunate that at this time if I go a little big over I can cover it. But also let's enjoy what we have. One thing I grabbed at Costco yesterday was the Kirkland Cream Cheese it comes out to $2.45/brick but it used to be if we were running low I would avoid using Cream Cheese until I saw a sale, now that is better than the sale prices I see in stores and if we need it I grab it. Same with Cucumbers, do I prefer saying $1.99 or $2.99 for mini cucumbers 100% but now that they are out of season if I can get them $5 I grab them because they are my go-to vegetables, I try to eat my weight in cucumbers each week.

So there is room in my grocery and I can cut back if I need too.

It is the same with other things, I mean I notorious for not buying things for myself, if Mom needs them I get them but for me, I can usually hold off but last year I decided to update my wardrobe. I bought everything on Black Friday/Cyber Monday I am happy with my purchases but if things were tighter I would have made my 5+ year old sweaters last another winter.

It is the same with stuff around the house, I am working on planning for replacements vs in the past where we only replaced when it died but if the $$$ are tight we hold off.

I think at the end of the day we all do the best we can but we also have to live our life and make choices. I can say the choices I make now are way better than choices I made in my late teens and early 20s so I am happy with where we are.

[lizzie bargain]

The Prudent Homemaker blog has a post called How To Cut when you have nothing left to cut under the Saving money tab if anyone is interested. This women has 9 children and her husband has an unpredictable income so I think she knows a thing or two about being frugal.

[HermanH]

I think most people can legitimately cut something even if they don’t think they spend much and if not then the only other option is to increase the income and if possible then invest that for rainier days.

I think you have hit upon a good idea. Most people probably cannot be objective. If you were to expose your entire monthly expenditures to someone (anyone) else, that second party could probably easily point out things that they would cut. i.e. memberships, subscriptions, coffee, travel, gas, clothing, etc. Each of us likely tries to justify things to ourselves but, when observed from a more objective point of view, they really aren't essentials.

[HermanH]

The Prudent Homemaker blog has a post called How To Cut when you have nothing left to cut under the Saving money tab if anyone is interested. This women has 9 children and her husband has an unpredictable income so I think she knows a thing or two about being frugal.

Good suggestion and very good reading.

I already do much of what she suggests and, as stated in previous post, I think that I could cut her expenditures even more.

[walkonby]

So it feels like ages since I’ve posted but probably not. I’ve been reading just not posting. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride.

Just the basics of being frugal. I did a NF shop at the beginning of the week. Spent $133, used $4 in coupons, PM’d 3 items, earned 25,050 back in points.

Work week got rearranged last minute due to getting a cancellation with the dr that had up to a 1 year wait time. Yay. Kinda. While I got amazing care from her and answers it wasn’t the answers I’d hoped for. I can get very limited HRT and it’s only possibly going to improve a few of the lesser symptoms. Unfortunately I’m in a gray area when it comes to the broader spectrum due to the uterine cancer

It was a bit of a gut punch and unfortunately brought the surface some bad memories that I’d hoped were behind me but they weren’t. It has made for a bit of a week here . On the positive side the stuff I can try that costs $450 was free with insurance so I have to be positive and happy with that.

I really need to up my gym game (it’s been slowing down a bit now). I’m hoping to hit the gym shortly after I finish some laundry.

Stay warm everyone and have a great weekend

@harbie none of us needs reminding of our dire health conditions, especially you. You've been there, done that and to have those feelings and fears resurface
is not how the start of 2025 should go. BIG (((hugs ))) all around. Your dedication to physical stamina is so impressive!! Best of luck going forward.

[lilo0003]

I have come to the realization that either I became sicker over the week or the dr misdiagnosed me. The antibiotics did nothing and now when I cough I actually can’t breath, my throat feels completely closed so I am going to a walk in clinic Sunday with an X-ray clinic on site because I don’t feel sick enough to go to the hospital and really that’s just a lot more germs but I am sure I need a chest X-ray.

[HermanH]

Today's temperature was just above, or so, 3 degrees Celsius. So, I thought it would be an ideal time to try out some of the crampons I found and see if they helped with grip on the icy surfaces. Walking seemed okay, but running would quickly strip them from my shoes. NOW I know why I found so many of the darn things on the road, in the first place! Soon enough, I ended up just carrying the stupid things, instead of stopping all the time to pick them up.

The situation reminded me of middle-school dances. The girls would show up in their pretty shoes. After a couple of hours, everyone would be carrying their footwear because they must have been too uncomfortable to wear. Anyone have kids of that age? Does it still happen?

[SassyAshley]

@lilo0003 , Oh no, hoping you do not have a long wait and they can diagnose what you have so you can start to feel better soon.

It seems like there is so much going around right now.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
I got nothing done yesterday, I do not know what it was but I was so tired all day yesterday so I took it as a rest day.

I am really trying to be better at giving myself grace. Normally I would go to bed feeling so guilty for getting nothing done and come up with an unrealistic to-do list for today to make up for it.

Today is a prep today, my fridge is bursting at the seams, I still have groceries on the floor to sort (I think a lot of it will need to go downstairs), plus I need to use up some things (bananas, apples, cherry tomatoes) and some produce to prep.

It is going to have to be a fine balance of prepping because my fridge is so full I don't really have room to cook. Mom wants to do the meatloaves so hoping that will free up some space but I also know we won't get everything done today. We also need to deal with the other packs of ground beef and the chicken. But I will do my best and see how far I can get.

I did try out the new bullet journal I got from Dollarama and I love it, think I am going to switch over and just use it. I want to grab some more, I grabbed the last 2 my local Dollarama had but luckily by work there are like 12 Dollaramas so if need be I will just go on Dollarama Crawl next time I work there. Actually I am pretty sure all of our locations expect the one close to me have a Dollarama close by (can you tell what I do after work when I am out of town LOL).

Happy Sunday Everyone.

[harbie]

@lilo0003 yikes! That’s scary sounding. I hope you get it sorted out quickly

Thanks @walkonby . It’s frustrating to think you e moved on and healed only to bring back all that emotional junk!

Just remember @SassyAshley your body will force you to slow down whether you like it or not and that’s to protect yourself. Trust me I know how difficult it can be to give ourselves grace but we really need to.


Last night Dh and I went to the gym and lifted and I felt a little more like myself. It was nice since there were actually only 8 people including us and they had a fantastic playlist from the 80’s rocking! Mind you I did take quite a few dance breaks in between sets <— actual footage of me dancing and singing .

I’m just finishing up my oatmeal and then were heading back there this morning for a workout before it gets busier.

Today's a new day. A day to reset if needed and to be positive and thankful.

Hugs to everyone needing it