January 2026 -Frugal Chatter-

[cath007]

I took the freedom to start the January thread.

Is that ok ???

A fresh New Year !!!

Any news plans,resolutions ???

Any news strategies to save money???

Any news routines???

Cheers to a awesome New Year !!!

Enjoy it!!!

[flemeth]

Happy New Year Everyone

[walkonby]

Not very much in any of my offers from PC, Moi OR Scene. In fact none of the coupons that PC normally has
that I click to add to my offer list was there? So, FreshCo will be my only store today or over the weekend.
Taylor salad kits on for $3.99 plus an offer of 20 Scene points on every $1.00 spent. Red Prince apples @.88 lb.
and 450 gr. medium ground beef for $4.99

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Happy New Year's Everyone.

Apparently me and technology are not going to get along today.

For some reason text started going to my old phone (which I just use on Wifi at home). Today it annoyed me because I got texts from work on it so I decided to see how to stop this. For some reason my "new" phone (I say "new" because I think I have had it almost 2 years now) won't connect to the text server. I have tried so many things but it is saying it could take days for the server to realize and correct itself. I think with some setting changes I am at least getting texts in a different format. Yeah, I spent over 2 hours trying to fix this.

Then I realized today is password change day at work but I wasn't sent my new password and now non of my work communications work. I texted my boss (it worked) got my new password but then my computer wouldn't accept my new password. Which doesn't matter today but would mean I wouldn't be able to log in tomorrow and I know if I cannot log in, we will have issues. Luckily after a few tries and about 30 minutes it let me in so we should be good for tomorrow.

Now, Honestly, I don't want to deal with technology for the rest of the day.

On my gosh, my phone keeps showing me Timmins right now, if we got 70+ cm, I will be honest, I would give up and tell everyone I would see them in the spring.

I know other areas have it so much worse but I do not know what it is but this year snow is just setting off my anxiety so bad. Yesterday I realized it was 100% because I was overwhelmed. I knew I needed to deal with the snow, I had to prep for New Year's Eve and I am still not feeling 100% (I am at like 85% but the one thing that makes me feel worse is going outside). Just seeing how much we got and it still coming down, just set me off. But after two rounds of shovelling both cars are cleaned off, dug out and we only got a couple cm last night. I know I should go shovel but will probably wait till tomorrow as my cough was back last night after being out in the cold. But we are moving forward and I am still trying not to hate winter.

Still need to look at the flyers, I took a quick scan last night, doesn't look like there is a lot for us. I see Sobeys has Avocados and berries so will try to run out tomorrow and get those to have some fresh options in the house.

Last night, we did not do appetizers, after the second round of shovelling Mom suggested we skip appetizers and just have nachos, originally I said now I would make it happen but then decided nope, we are doing nachos.

Do not get me wrong I LOVE my shovel, I only shovelled for an hour to hour and half yesterday vs 4 or 5 hours but it still gives you an arm work out and my arms were hurting so decided to keep dinner simple. Tonight I have no idea. I really should make a meal plan.

Happy New Year's and Happy Thursday Everyone.

[coupon girl]

Happy New Years everyone .

My old body just aches ,had the girls last night for 2 hours.I will have ythem overnight tonight and all day on friday til 4.00 p.m .My son and his wife have to work ,kids are not back to school yet.

I still made turkey soup this morning ,burnt my wrist a tiny bit .My neighbour shovelled my driveway how nice.Just chilling til the girls come .

[coupon girl]

Cath -i am gonna try and utilize my points for deals as i cant seem to find the coupons .Trying to build up my stockpile ,it is not easy nowadays .Here is an example i paid 7.97 for the huge jug of purex back in the spring ,i have 4 left .Now that same laundry soap is 12.97 to 14.97 .

Gonna try to eat a bit healthier .

Hopefully by spring i will be walking outside a lot more .

[flemeth]

@cath007 thanks for starting the new thread

I am hoping eat healthier by cutting out my sweets .Also hoping to find the new coupons that would be useful to my family and take advantages of all the loyalty programs I have.

My family Like fresh fruits and Vegetables . 2 Vegetarians and 2 that preferred to eat seafood more than meat . So I will have a challenge on my hands to save but I will look for sales and do a lot of PM . I shopped mostly at RCSS and the PM all the Loblaws banner store and all the major grocery stores.

[HermanH]

Trying to build up my stockpile ,it is not easy nowadays .Here is an example i paid 7.97 for the huge jug of purex back in the spring ,i have 4 left .Now that same laundry soap is 12.97 to 14.97 .

For how many loads does that soap equate? I've got mine down to $0.046 per load and have stockpiled enough, literally, to last me to end-of-life!

My house is all nice and clean for the new year.

Last night, I celebrated NYE at Canadian Brewhouse with a $20 ticket. In return, I get a pound of wings for free every week in 2026. That is equivalent to about $1000 menu price or a 50:1 return on my $20 investment. This is the second year I've done it and I am impressed at how aggressively this chain wants my patronage. When they work this hard to entice me, I try to accommodate. Today, they gave me another 'free' poutine promo (with a 2-drink purchase). Normal $14 for about $3 is a going to get me back in their doors.

[Angela273]

Total Savings in 2025 - $6,883.49

Top savings categories
PC Optimum $1,905 (adjusted to reflect actual savings, accounting for inflated prices at SDM)
Scene+ $1,885
Coupons $790.24
Air Miles $530
Gift Cards $300
10% off Sobeys $203.31
Canadian Tire $150.35
Contest wins $130
SARCAN $127.20
Checkout 51 $103.56
SCOP $93.06
Swagbucks $90
Waypoint contest prizes $85.25 (adjusted value to reflect what I would actually pay for the items, not gas station prices)
Caddle $85.05
Stuff sold $82
Receipt Jar $60
Cashwalk $50
Receipt Hog $40
Websaver $34

[Angela273]

Ds is growing out of some of his favourite pants. Today I had him try on clothes from the next size up clothing bin. He now has several more pairs of pants, a few t-shirts, and another pair of pj pants that he likes. I pack up the clothes that Ds outgrows and keep them for twin boy since he loves the same type of clothes.

We don’t like spinach very much, but it’s often included in my $5 flash food produce box. I use the spinach in double chocolate banana muffins that I made in the blender. With this batch of muffins I also included grated garden zucchini. I put a square of caramilk in each muffin instead of chocolate chips, which I picked up on clearance at SDM earlier this fall. Extra muffins are in the freezer for lunch kit snacks.

[Angela273]

@cath007 thanks for starting the new thread
I am hoping eat healthier by cutting out my sweets .Also hoping to find the new coupons that would be useful to my family and take advantages of all the loyalty programs I have.
My family Like fresh fruits and Vegetables . 2 Vegetarians and 2 that preferred to eat seafood more than meat . So I will have a challenge on my hands to save but I will look for sales and do a lot of PM . I shopped mostly at RCSS and the PM all the Loblaws banner store and all the major grocery stores.

I’ve had great luck with $5 fresh produce boxes from Flash Food.

[coupon girl]

Angel i am always impressed by what you save in a year .i increased my savings this year .

Here is a run down
$254.98 in coupons
$408.90 in checkout51 /caddle
$846.50 in giftcards, promos in store,caa savings etc
$330.00 in p.c points
$160 in scene pts
$20.00 bewell
$195.94 in triangle rewards
$20.00 in aeroplan
$39.58 in scoop
$41.39 ebates
$170.00 in rebates ,gift cards
$32.50 sold at styke encore/pluto
$17.85 in gas savings from linking my rbc

Total $2,580.09 which i am happy for as there is only 2 of us in my household .In 2026 i hope to find more coupons .

[flemeth]

I’ve had great luck with $5 fresh produce boxes from Flash Food.

@Angela273 fresh produce bags on FlashFood at the RCSS I shopped has mostly fruits I do get it sometimes but it’s hit and miss

[HermanH]

Salvaged 13x 110g bags of Coffee Crisp mix-up snacks
Rescued a few small bags of lentils, peas, and corn from the dump.

RCSS had 2x 427g discounted packages of turnovers for $2.75. Since they were over 50% off, I decided that I would treat myself.

Walked over to Walmart and found another 488g package for even less! $2.59
I felt guilty, so bought them, too.

'Tis the season of getting FAT.

[SassyAshley]

Herman's post reminded me I saw an article about the new yellow stickers appearing at RCSS stores instead of the pink stickers.

From what this article said, someone who used to be high ranking at Wal-Mart is now working for RCSS and suggested the change. Because the stickers are barcoded now everything can be tracked including scanning the barcodes to see if the product is now expired and needs to be removed from the shelf.

This will allow stores to see if they should change the quantities they are stocking to reduce the amount of merchandise being marked down but also allow RCSS to adjust the percentages of the mark downs as it no longer needs to be the standard 30% or 50%.

It makes sense from a profit standpoint but for deal seekers, I have a feeling it will mean less markdowns. It did mentioned only RCSS is switching to the Yellow stickers but I am sure if they see profits increase it will go across all Loblaw Banner stores.