February Frugal Thread 2025

[SassyAshley]

@coupon girl , I love going right when the stores open as I am a morning person but also I find they aren't as busy.

The older I get the more I dislike being in large crowds or crowded places.

I have found if I grocery shop at 8 am, I can be in and out in under 30 minutes, if I go on my lunch it take me 45+ minutes just because the store is busier. Plus I like having the ability to take my time and look things over especially my produce.

I had to laugh yesterday I was grabbing some strawberries and a guy came up to me and whispered "be careful, some are moldy," I said "Thank you, funny story I was in another store a few weeks ago and someone picked up a package of strawberries and I mentioned they were moldy, they just shrugged their shoulders and put them in their cart."

[coupon girl]

Sassy i also wanted to get the cereal with the points as our store will sell out by end of day .

Just relaxing today ,gonna make chicken breast for supper ,mashed potatoes and broccoli

[walkonby]

Popped over to shoppers at 8.00 a.m this morning to get a few boxes of cereal got 15,000 points got 10 boxes, now i am stocked up plus cream and a few other items .

I wanted to get out before this snowstorm that is coming plus i was up at 5.30 a.m so why not.

@coupon girl You and I had the same idea! Too bad we weren't the only ones. This expected snowstorm had crowds of customers filling up the aisles at Metro.
I dropped DS off for his dental appt. dashed into SDM for my 2 dozen ( @ $2.99 ea ) eggs, then over to Metro. All 3 places very close together.
Shocked and excited to earn a decent amount of Moi points this time! ( 397!! )

Mind you I did get special meat for our Family Day get together. That was over $40.00 and the offer was spend $75.00 get 300. Plus I grabbed .97 worth of
green beans to earn the 15 points offered, 30 on the pkg. of fresh Ravioli and 25 on the Bruschetta tub.
I have enough points now to redeem and will get $6.30 off my next shop. Whoop dee doo HA HA HA!!! What a crazy rewards programme.

These were the beef Short Ribs I bought, believe it or not THAT'S a sale price for them...

[lizzie bargain]

Beef is very pricy these days-I got a sirloin roast on sale the other day for 15.49 per kg. I cut it into two-we ate one and froze the other. Even a pot roast is a treat these days.

[walkonby]

Beef is very pricy these days-I got a sirloin roast on sale the other day for 15.49 per kg. I cut it into two-we ate one and froze the other. Even a pot roast is a treat these days.

yes, and I've been off eating all red meat and pork since early January, ( health concern ) so this Family Day I'll make sure to taste at least some of those ribs!

[Arjon]

Beef is very pricy these days-I got a sirloin roast on sale the other day for 15.49 per kg. I cut it into two-we ate one and froze the other. Even a pot roast is a treat these days.

I highly recommend looking into the possibility of getting a sous-vide stick. Entry-level models can be had on sale for ~$80. In our case, one of the major benefits is that we can eat various cuts of steak and roast that we basically never did until I bought the stick. and without having to pot roast them.

[HermanH]

Beef is very pricy these days-I got a sirloin roast on sale the other day for 15.49 per kg. I cut it into two-we ate one and froze the other. Even a pot roast is a treat these days.

If you think that $15.49/kg is bad, look at the $75/kg rib or T-bone steaks! Who the heck can afford $40 for a single T-bone steak dinner?

[harbie]

If you think that $15.49/kg is bad, look at the $75/kg rib or T-bone steaks! Who the heck can afford $40 for a single T-bone steak dinner?

I have a BIL that had the family over for a bbq in which he served t bone steaks the size of a catchers mitt! He brought out trays stacked on each other and we guesstimated $500 in just those! Plus all the booze and meat/cheese platters, appys, and then dessert! He makes $$$$ but also knows how to spend it. We were the cheap guests that only ate the vegan lasagna my SIL made with some salads and water/ sparkling water.
It’s crazy how much some people can spend!

[HermanH]

I have a BIL that had the family over for a bbq in which he served t bone steaks the size of a catchers mitt! He brought out trays stacked on each other and we guesstimated $500 in just those! Plus all the booze and meat/cheese platters, appys, and then dessert! He makes $$$$ but also knows how to spend it.

Yowzha! Good for your BIL. Glad that he is doing well.

My niece and her fiance treated us to some wagyu beef, over the holidays. It was a treat, just to sample some.

My younger brother is probably like your BIL. When were still in high school, he taught me a good lesson about life. He said that he would buy a case of beer when going to a party. His friends would all 'help' him drink it and, sometimes (rarely), buy him some in return. However, he never expected any reciprocity. If he got anything, it was gravy. He said that he was under no obligation to buy the beer. That way, he would never have any hard feelings between him and his friends.

My neighbour and I were chatting and she brought up her spending habits and how she likes to indulge in fruit, even though it can be expensive strawberries for $7/lb during the winter months. I told her that no one needs to justify their personal expenses. As long as they aren't asking others to give them money for their private spending desires, it's no one's business but theirs and between them and their conscience.

[Ciel21]

Lovely small snowflakes tonight. Just enough wind to whiteout the roads. Given my tendency to wait too long, I set out on a trip when the snow was not falling until I had to do the long walk to get to my destination. Managed to get my errand done and enjoyed long walk back to bus stop until I noticed my socks were starting to feel wet due to mesh runners in the snow. Behind two graders was my first of two buses back home.
I decided to give a pizza shop some business so I could use a restroom. Mall was closed (it was well after 8pm). Fun of having text on phone was ability to get Bro to heat up one package of fries while I was nearing home. Surprised at how much snow drifted at home so I shovelled the walks and downspouts. Driveway was left for someone to clear with snowblower. Really wish I had at least one snow fence tonight. Carb vacuumed fries and 1/2 calzone and small bottle of cola. Hope to have some deep sleep as a result.

Coffee prices-there have been crop issues due to weather. Just like beef, coffee is pricey.

Mom had heated up the frozen lasagna she bought. I took a portion out of the fridge and noticed taste issue and lack of ground meat. It was not Longos nor PC lasagna but Selection lasagna. Not a fan of the tomato sauce. Two thumbs down.

Morning plan is to make mini waffles and have tea with them. There are frozen blueberries to use for the waffles. Pity there is no maple syrup for them.

[Ciel21]

Forgot to post that the Giant Tiger VIP offer to Feb.16 is $10 off $75 spend on almost everything. Either the store chain realizes customers want groceries as part of deal or customers had been vocal about the prior $15 off on $100 spend being too high.

Reminder that the tax holiday ends Saturday Feb.15. If you find a $1 digital newspaper subscription, you can save on the HST portion. Car seats for babies and kids are tax exempt during this tax holiday, as are children's clothing.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
So much I want to get done today but also having a super slow morning. I did not want to get up this morning.

I know, I know I live in Ontario but I have to tell you waking up to what feels like day after day after day to hearing them plowing is getting a little old LOL. Where is our February Thaw (is that a thing? I feel like it should be a thing).

Need to look outside to see how much we actually got but now we are under a squall watch, UGH!!!!!

Before the snow started yesterday I got Mom's garbage out, she had multiple bags in her room, got those and the bathroom garbage out. It took two trips but got it done.

Did some general tidying but nothing huge yesterday. Just try to get things back where they should be.

Doing laundry this morning, normally I have 2 baskets I use but they were two heavy for me to lift so we broke them in half so I could carry them down.

I went down a rabbit hole in Pinterest yesterday, lately I have been disappointed with Pinterest not really finding new ideas but yesterday I found a bunch of new lunch options and dinner options we can try. I need to back in the habit of making at least one new recipe each week.

Okay, I need to get moving or nothing will get done today and I need to prep as I am not sure this week will bring. I am hoping to be able to pop into the office a couple of times this week but am planning on just going in for a few hours because I still find I get super tired.

Happy Sunday Everyone.

[lilo0003]

Last night was our turn for snow and lots of it. DH had to pull out the snowblower. The advantage of living on the same street as the school is we get plowed quickly and often so our road is clear.
I need to go for groceries as we need some vegetables. Hopefully it’s not too busy.

[SassyAshley]

Had to modify my prep plan, it became clear quickly I was being overly ambitious and my face was not having it.

Got the laundry done, everything is wash and what is dry is folded (our rack is currently overflowing with clothes drying), towels have been put away, now just need to put away our cloths.

I did shovel the front stairs, luckily we did not get a lot of snow but wanted to shovel just in case we got any of squalls. But did not clean off my car.

For prep, I made Bananas Muffins, original plan was a double batch but turns out some of my bananas are very brown but no very soft so only one batch made.

Had some Blueberries in the back of my fridge I needed to use up (honestly, I thought I would have had to throw them out but nope, just a few to toss, thank you rubbermaid brilliance, vinegar wash and paper towel), so I made a crustless blueberry pie.

Made a batch of rice which we ended up using for Dinner, I knew I should have made a double batch, oh well, too late now.

I had some zucchini, peppers and mushrooms to use up and some leftover over pasta, so I chopped up all the veggies, sauteed them, added some alfredo sauce and the pasta with some parm and now I have 3 lunches for the week.

Also prepped our green onions, broccoli, more blueberries, strawberries and grated more Parm. I did the Blueberries and Strawberries, Mom did the rest.

Realized I forgot to grab yogurt when I went shopping so I will need to run out and grab some this week.

Also, as much as I don't want too, I think I am going to have to go to Costco this week. I looked at grabbing a few things locally to get us through, knowing I would pay a little bit more but given the circumstances it is what it is. Um, no, a small tub of Ricotta is a dollar or two less than I get the Costco tub for. I already know provolone is no at regular grocery stores and there were a few other things. It is mostly smaller thing I need since I grabbed toilet paper locally so hoping it will just be a few bags it get us through a couple more weeks. But we will see how my week goes. There are a couple sales I want to take advantage of before they change.

[coupon girl]

I made muffins earlier (had a no name bag of bran mix)last time i made them they were dry to eat.This time i added a scoop of greek yogurt made all the difference nice and moist along with raisins.

I actually feel asleep this afternoon ,after shovelling the front porch and back and car plus doing a load of laundry .