Frugal March chatter (Marching on with Savings) cont'd Frugal Feb....

[SimplifiedMommyTips]

Good morning fellow frugglers,.

It's amazing since I started baking breads and snacks from scratch that my family now always ask me to bake for them. Baked oat and chocolate chip cookies yesterday for soccer game and oat and banana chocolate chip bread for breakfast this morning. I'm loving the feeling of being to baked/cooked for my family. This week is a stock pile week for me, there is EOR on sale for $1.97 at NF will stock on that. I purchased one last week and marinated and made for 5 servings and freeze. Will go out again today and purchase two more and get some chippits for baking, will pm at WM and a tub of sour cream for cake/bread. I'm still on budget so far, and hope to find some cheap meat at FreshCo today as well. My family is a meat eater and I tried to cook them with veggies to economize.

[amandabananda]

Question for today for anyone this applies too, this whole smart meter thing from Hydro is anyone else finding it to be a real pain.

Yes, especially when you get home and it's still dark and have no choice but to turn the lights on.
We do all our laundry on the weekends, and sometimes DH will do a load at night during the week. Our dishwasher has a time delay also and so does our washing machine. Our dryer and stove is gas, so that's not an issue.

[jasperandchar]

Hope you feel better soon especially for your special day.

We have a smart meter but out here in the boonies it has not gone into effect. On another note I read and call in my meter readings every month this way I actually pay for what I use and not there under estimating and then getting a catch-up bill which used to bite me in the ass.

Going to try to catch up on the questions asked.

So far we are skipping Easter, it is my bdayso we are hoping to go away. It will all depends on how I am feeling, still sick but good news is I went to the doc and so far it is just a cold (I know that sounds odd but the girl I got the cold from both her and her husband now have phenomena so just a cold makes me happy).

In my family all holidays are interested on what will be served as me and my bro go to 2 dinner so they try to make sure we are not eating the same thing twice. So usually at mom's we get creative and have had everything from lasgna to pizza to ribs to wings for holidays.

We are with Bell we have a landline, a bunch of extras and internet and pat around $100/month. I am trying to get this down but yeah my mom has not gottan around to making the call and the phone is in her name. Going to get on her next week to call Bell and Rogers as we need to lower our phone bill and I want a PVR from Rogers but also want to lower our bill. I am currently in a massive fight with Rogers over the fact they put me in a contract on our cable without our consent and if need be if this will be taking the broading casting people (sorry sick and cannot think of their offical name).

Question for today for anyone this applies too, this whole smart meter thing from Hydro is anyone else finding it to be a real pain.

In Ontario peak hours include 5 pm to 7 pm, I am trying my hardest not to have to run anything in these hours but I gotta tell you this is not easy. If I have to work late it seems like my OverTime is going right to Hydro to cover the fact that I will now have to shower, cook dinner and clean up from dinner during this time. I know many people are saying well wait until 7 pm, but I am up at 5 am most days for work and by 7 pm I am seriously crashing out. Not to mention that my weekends are now full of all the chores I cannot get done during the week. I used to not mind doing a few things during the week so that come the weekend I can have some time to relax but now I have to do everything on the weekend to avoid peak hours and it is really starting to wear me down. Between working longer hours and we are not even in our busy season yet (oh yes I am so looking forward to this summer looks like it might be full of long hours) and trying to keep up with everything at home I am ready to crash and it seems like I just cannot get on top of it as I am constantly watching the clock to see if I can turn on the dishwasher, do I have engery to toss in a load of laundry, sadly the answer is usually no so it gets pushed to the weekend.

[jasperandchar]

so glad your family is enjoying your baked goods and bread, no nice to know that they are enjoying your efforts and hard work. Awesome for you and them and so much more healthy.

Good morning fellow frugglers,.

It's amazing since I started baking breads and snacks from scratch that my family now always ask me to bake for them. Baked oat and chocolate chip cookies yesterday for soccer game and oat and banana chocolate chip bread for breakfast this morning. I'm loving the feeling of being to baked/cooked for my family. This week is a stock pile week for me, there is EOR on sale for $1.97 at NF will stock on that. I purchased one last week and marinated and made for 5 servings and freeze. Will go out again today and purchase two more and get some chippits for baking, will pm at WM and a tub of sour cream for cake/bread. I'm still on budget so far, and hope to find some cheap meat at FreshCo today as well. My family is a meat eater and I tried to cook them with veggies to economize.

[jasperandchar]

So I have been mentally and physically drained for the last week and a half since jasper has not been well.

My oldest son said to me today, mom are you not couponning anymore? I said not lately hon. Youngest son says she's so busy and worried about jasper she just doesn't have time. Oldest son says but you are going to start back again. I told him yes as I'm just
pre-occupied.

Anyways Jasper is having his best day (knock on wood) in a 1 1/2 weeks, he is sitting up and looking around.

I took him to 2 vets and listen to this, as I am in a better frame of mind, I spoke with the receptionist at the 1st vet and asked for my money back with the exception of the medication.

Vet #1 Diagnosis on Thursday

I brought him in because his breath smelled like deaths door literally. I wanted blood work and urine test. She smelled his breath and said that the odour was very unusual and that it is common in dogs with tumours in their throat! And that given his age (14) $ would be better spent on pain meds vs. doing the tests. And that I really should put him to sleep as his quality of life....blah blah... She gave me a prescription for Metacam which I got at the vet and then a prescription which I had to get at the pharmacy Gabapectin.

Vet #2 Diagnosis on Saturday

This is his usual vet for 14 years and she is now on her own (I wonder why lol). She looked in his mouth and said that he has an infection. She was concerned with the size of his tummy, so she did an ultra sound, ultra sound revealed and enlarged bladder because it was too full and the smell was caused by the urine overflow . She did a urine test which revealed kidney failure .

I am so glad I brought him to his usual vet and the 1st vet didn't not take the time to discuss anything other than putting him to sleep, which really pissed me off because last summer I brought him into the 1st vets office (which his usual vet was at but since left) and the vet on duty said that I should put him to sleep after the x-ray revealed a huge mass in his throat, we were devastated but anyways went home and everyone cried for the whole weekend. I ended up bringing him back a few days later and his usual vet did an ultra sound and discovered he has a salivary gland infection.....

So I am awaiting a call back from VET #1's office to speak with the owner and see if he will give me some of my $ back given their bs diagnosis yet once again!

Hope everyone is having a great day, going to hang my laundry outside as the washer alarm just went off letting me know the load is done.

[SassyAshley]

Thank you,

It is great that Hydro lets you do that. One of the girls I work with her meter stopped reporting with the tower and they would not let her phone in a reading. They were doing estimated billing, only issue is her and husband just moved into this house 4 months before they were trying to base their estimated billing on the previous owners who regularly heated the great outdoors (would leave the shop heaters going and forget to close the door) they also had the house set that if the temperature ever dropped below 82 F the heat would kick on, even in the middle of summer. They were told they had no other choice but to go on estimated billing until Hydro could sort out the issue. It ended up taking them 3 or 4 months to get it sorted out.

Hope you feel better soon especially for your special day.

We have a smart meter but out here in the boonies it has not gone into effect. On another note I read and call in my meter readings every month this way I actually pay for what I use and not there under estimating and then getting a catch-up bill which used to bite me in the ass.

So sorry to hear you and your family are going through this and a vet that does not seem to have interest in doing their job is not right.

We had a simular issue with one of our cats, we knew she was sick so we took her to vet and as soon as the vet found out her age pretty much told us to put her down.We did have to have her put down a few months later but after that first visit it only made the difficult time even harder.

So I have been mentally and physically drained for the last week and a half since jasper has not been well.

My oldest son said to me today, mom are you not couponning anymore? I said not lately hon. Youngest son says she's so busy and worried about jasper she just doesn't have time. Oldest son says but you are going to start back again. I told him yes as I'm just
pre-occupied.

Anyways Jasper is having his best day (knock on wood) in a 1 1/2 weeks, he is sitting up and looking around.

I took him to 2 vets and listen to this, as I am in a better frame of mind, I spoke with the receptionist at the 1st vet and asked for my money back with the exception of the medication.

Vet #1 Diagnosis on Thursday

I brought him in because his breath smelled like deaths door literally. I wanted blood work and urine test. She smelled his breath and said that the odour was very unusual and that it is common in dogs with tumours in their throat! And that given his age (14) $ would be better spent on pain meds vs. doing the tests. And that I really should put him to sleep as his quality of life....blah blah... She gave me a prescription for Metacam which I got at the vet and then a prescription which I had to get at the pharmacy Gabapectin.

Vet #2 Diagnosis on Saturday

This is his usual vet for 14 years and she is now on her own (I wonder why lol). She looked in his mouth and said that he has an infection. She was concerned with the size of his tummy, so she did an ultra sound, ultra sound revealed and enlarged bladder because it was too full and the smell was caused by the urine overflow . She did a urine test which revealed kidney failure .

I am so glad I brought him to his usual vet and the 1st vet didn't not take the time to discuss anything other than putting him to sleep, which really pissed me off because last summer I brought him into the 1st vets office (which his usual vet was at but since left) and the vet on duty said that I should put him to sleep after the x-ray revealed a huge mass in his throat, we were devastated but anyways went home and everyone cried for the whole weekend. I ended up bringing him back a few days later and his usual vet did an ultra sound and discovered he has a salivary gland infection.....

So I am awaiting a call back from VET #1's office to speak with the owner and see if he will give me some of my $ back given their bs diagnosis yet once again!

Hope everyone is having a great day, going to hang my laundry outside as the washer alarm just went off letting me know the load is done.

[jasperandchar]

IMPORTANT - IT"S VOTING TIME!!!

Okay everyone it is time to vote for April's Frugal Chatter name, voting will end on Easter Sunday, March 31st at 10:50Am. You may choose more than 1 option.

Once voting has closed I will post the April thread.

Here is the link to the voting thread.....

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/346828-...h-31st-canada/

[SassyAshley]

My vote has been cast.

[jasperandchar]

So finally have a meal plan for the week (l0l)

Monday - homemade fries and nachos

Tuesday - Roasted chicken with veggies and Mashed Patatoes with gravy (yummy)

Wednesday - Burrito/Taco kit with side of rice

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - fish with rice (for dh & me) and salsa and chips (nachos) for the kids

Saturday - chinese night (using up the last of my wong wing or wing wong stash) with chicken fried rice

Sunday - Turkey dinner

[jasperandchar]

I haven't used up my grocery budget yet, I normally do groceries on Saturday but given all that is happening haven't done it yet.

So the plan is to go and do the groceries after dinner and all that jazz so dh can watch jasper while I'm out.

There does not seem to be that much this week on sale that gets my attention or desires.

WM turkey (hoping they have some), OASIS carton 1.75L for $1.99 at FB - $1.25 coupon from allen's sleeve = .74 each which I freeze and they come out just like the day you bought them after a couple good shakes....but that's it...really stumped.

Going to try and make pizza dough I believe recipe from dreamcatcher1962 and try freezing some.

[jasperandchar]

Question of the day!!!

What is your grocery shopping day/night? Or maybe you don't have one.

[jasperandchar]

Saturday evening is my normal time of the week to shop.

Question of the day!!!

What is your grocery shopping day/night? Or maybe you don't have one.

[SassyAshley]

For me, it is usually Saturdays me and my mom made a day of going to a few stores to check out the clearance deals, looking for new tear pads. We usually have dinner out and do anything else we want to get done.

Than if we could not get something or need anything during the week, I just go locally to one of our local stores.

Locally we do not have Metro, Real Canadian Superstore. More and more lately I am doing all of my grocery shopping at Real Canadian Superstore since they price match and seem to have the best selection. Locally our No Frills is a far size but some would see it as a rather small store so they do not carry everything, our Wal-Mart more and more seems to be out of stock and our Freshco was great when it opened but lately their produce is not the best and they tend to give me a difficult time with price matches and coupons and have some extremely rude cashiers which I have complained about but management just seems to blow it off.

Question of the day!!!

What is your grocery shopping day/night? Or maybe you don't have one.

[jasperandchar]

I would contact the FreshCo head office about your complaints which are valid points (price matching and coupons). Just a thought.

Sounds like a full day of quality time spent with your mom, great stuff.

For me, it is usually Saturdays me and my mom made a day of going to a few stores to check out the clearance deals, looking for new tear pads. We usually have dinner out and do anything else we want to get done.

Than if we could not get something or need anything during the week, I just go locally to one of our local stores.

Locally we do not have Metro, Real Canadian Superstore. More and more lately I am doing all of my grocery shopping at Real Canadian Superstore since they price match and seem to have the best selection. Locally our No Frills is a far size but some would see it as a rather small store so they do not carry everything, our Wal-Mart more and more seems to be out of stock and our Freshco was great when it opened but lately their produce is not the best and they tend to give me a difficult time with price matches and coupons and have some extremely rude cashiers which I have complained about but management just seems to blow it off.

[YOU AND ME]

I prefer to shop late at night as i'm not good with crowds.My Metro,IGA and Super C are open til midnight and are all across from each other