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

[jasperandchar]

Good Morning everyone,

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

I did a shop last night as we were getting pretty shabby in the staples department, I ended up under budget because I used 4 of my $5.00 prepaid mastercards from kelloggs $20.00 and used $53.25 in coupons = savings total of $73.25 and I just noticed she forgot to enter $1.25 of another coupon (oh well).

I still have this weeks grocery budget to spend but to be honest BUT there really is nothing fantastic on sale anywhere. I haven't seen a Turkey sale for the upcoming week, I'm hoping to spend less than $1.00 lbs, If you are in ON and have seen one please let me know.

Is it just me or are you gals finding the same thing no great sales. And to boot the lack of coupons that are available for everyday use is lacking for our purchases is making me spend my $100.00 for my budgeted groceries and I've been over budget this month by approx. $50.00.

I really need to stock up on meats and unfortunately the fact that I shop in the evenings I'm not having much luck with the quantity of meats in stock and the reduced meats are well picked through oh well not much I can do as I am not a morning person (lol). My WM last night did not have any turkeys left .

I plan on stocking up on pop if nothing else this week as the Canada Dry products (12 cans) have a $2.00 off your next purchase which could potentially be .99 for a 12 can pack of pop (AMAZING DEAL), I haven't purchased much pop lately as I stocked up on the Nestea with the FPC promo on the cases and luckily I am thinking I have 1 more month of the Nestea before I'm out. We tend to drink more pop at the cottage and of course we tend to get many more visitors when at the cottage (go figure - I wonder why - lol).

If you haven't already vote for the April Chatter name
http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/346828-...h-31st-canada/

[jasperandchar]

Question of the day!!!

Do you have an emergency fund (whatever you consider an emergency, car repairs, things that break and need to be replaced or repaired, etc +++) ?

[jasperandchar]

We personally don't but I have come to terms that once I've paid off the LOC, I will be adding a few more accounts for:

However, nothing to aggressive to start maybe $100.00 a month in each ($25.00 a week which seems do-able in theory anyways)

Emergency fund (car repairs, replace or repair items)

Home Renovation (it seems there is always something to do around the house)

Travel fund

Question of the day!!!

Do you have an emergency fund (whatever you consider an emergency, car repairs, things that break and need to be replaced or repaired, etc +++) ?

[sheetsofemptycanvas]

Good morning! I need to catch up

I usually do my shopping on Friday evenings- I drop my son of at his Grandma's every Friday night because she takes him to swimming lessons on Saturday, so I get to shop kid free!

Emergency fund- I don't have one Once I start working I will definitely see if I can do one!!

[jasperandchar]

I know on page 73 of this thread absolutely amazing!

That's so great that your mom & son get quality time together and added bonus that you can do your shopping alone (lol).

Good morning! I need to catch up

I usually do my shopping on Friday evenings- I drop my son of at his Grandma's every Friday night because she takes him to swimming lessons on Saturday, so I get to shop kid free!

Emergency fund- I don't have one Once I start working I will definitely see if I can do one!!

[amandabananda]

Question of the day!!!

Do you have an emergency fund (whatever you consider an emergency, car repairs, things that break and need to be replaced or repaired, etc +++) ?

We have funds for various things - I was actually just working out the budget We put money away each month that way if something were to happen or for annual expenses it's not such a big hit.

Here's our budget each month - it's not much (nor nearly enough in my opinion, you can only do what you can afford), but knowing we have that amount put away makes it easier if anything were to happen:

Car Repairs $50
Car Licenses $30
Home Repairs $100
Vacation $20 (not much, but it's something )
Property Tax $280
Medical $10 (we have insurance, but not everything gets covered)
Baby fund $60
Emergency $25 (job loss, illness, etc.)

[macw1960]

Orlando is nice and not overly hot that time of year. Being able to cook your own meals is great.

We have a small emergency fund but it is for unexpected stuff like house repairs. Oil changes etc. are factored into my budget already.

[jasperandchar]

somebody's organize and has a great plan (lol) that's amazing, alot of forecasting & planning - good job!

We have funds for various things - I was actually just working out the budget We put money away each month that way if something were to happen or for annual expenses it's not such a big hit.

Here's our budget each month - it's not much (nor nearly enough in my opinion, you can only do what you can afford), but knowing we have that amount put away makes it easier if anything were to happen:

Car Repairs $50
Car Licenses $30
Home Repairs $100
Vacation $20 (not much, but it's something )
Property Tax $280
Medical $10 (we have insurance, but not everything gets covered)
Baby fund $60
Emergency $25 (job loss, illness, etc.)

[jasperandchar]

awesome stuff

Orlando is nice and not overly hot that time of year. Being able to cook your own meals is great.

We have a small emergency fund but it is for unexpected stuff like house repairs. Oil changes etc. are factored into my budget already.

[amandabananda]

somebody's organize and has a great plan (lol) that's amazing, alot of forecasting & planning - good job!

Can you tell I'm an accountant? lol

[jasperandchar]

you must be busy these days with income tax

Can you tell I'm an accountant? lol

[SassyAshley]

WOW time to catch up again, I am home sick from work had a serious sinus migraine this morning when I woke up so decided to sleep some more. Feeling better but still quite under the weather so hoping if I take it easy today and maybe an afternoon nap I will be at least 75% tomorrow.

When going away if you can find accommodation where you can cook your expenses really do go down. Until last year my Dad's parents owned a house in Florida so a couple years ago we went down to spend time with Oma/Family vacca. There were 6 of us going down so having somewhere we could cook really helped especially since we are all adults so no kiddie discounts. It also helped that literally across the street from my grandparents house is a grocery store so even if we had planned to go out and didn't it is like a 2 minute walk to the store and even shopping multiple times was cheaper than 6 of us eating out.

Emergency Fund, I kind of have one. Ever since I was a teenager and ran out of money (just paid my tuition for school which completely drained my bank account, actually I was short but knew ahead of time and my Nanny had agreed to give me money and than doesn't my car break down and by break down I mean sitting in the drive way will not start and right away I was like damn this is going to be expensive. I than stood in my drive way on my cordless phone being mad at my car, yes in my mind it was the cars fault lol in tears to my dad because I had not idea what to do, I did not have money, I had just gotten money from nanny which was gone and my car would not start. Luckily my dad agreed to get my car fixed for me) this scared me, I had always worked and had money since I was like 15/16 most of the time helping covering some costs at home (groceries, phone bill) so to be flat broke scared me. Every since I have made sure to have some money tucked away in an account that I have access too but do not touch. The more I worked and was making more money the amount in this account grew. For me it was important to have this money there but at the same I wanted to have access too it, did not want to invest it and not have access or have to pay penalties to access it.

I know have multiple accounts I keep for different reasons, I have my account, my savings/emergency account, plus a joint account with my mom to cover house expenses and have now also been able to set aside some money I will invest. So I do not have it broken down but I do have a nice amount sitting there that I can use if needed.

So far I have found a few things on sale we need to pick up, last week was a lot of treats and junk food. I managed to get all of our Easter Candy on sale and used coupons so that made me happy. As well I also picked up things like chips and that because I noticed comments were being made. They were on sale and fit into our budget for the week so all in all a win win situation because they were not bought at full price or outside of our budget. I actually got lucky the other day and was able to find some coupons for things we buy regularly so that made me super happy. Got coupons for mom's bread and few other things I cannot think of right now. I have had to change my shopping a bit with mom being home so much, need to keep different foods in the house so grocery shopping has been bit of an experiment lately to see what I can find.

Hoping to send my mom shopping tomorrow to use up all my FPC coupons expiring this month.

[jasperandchar]

fantastic that you have a fund that you can access when the time is needed.

Hope you feel better soon.

Sounds like you did well last week on the shopping and here's hoping your mom finds all the products that you have FPCs for and doesn't stray from the list (lol like my dh does).

Have a nap, relax and enjoy what you can of the day.

WOW time to catch up again, I am home sick from work had a serious sinus migraine this morning when I woke up so decided to sleep some more. Feeling better but still quite under the weather so hoping if I take it easy today and maybe an afternoon nap I will be at least 75% tomorrow.

When going away if you can find accommodation where you can cook your expenses really do go down. Until last year my Dad's parents owned a house in Florida so a couple years ago we went down to spend time with Oma/Family vacca. There were 6 of us going down so having somewhere we could cook really helped especially since we are all adults so no kiddie discounts. It also helped that literally across the street from my grandparents house is a grocery store so even if we had planned to go out and didn't it is like a 2 minute walk to the store and even shopping multiple times was cheaper than 6 of us eating out.

Emergency Fund, I kind of have one. Ever since I was a teenager and ran out of money (just paid my tuition for school which completely drained my bank account, actually I was short but knew ahead of time and my Nanny had agreed to give me money and than doesn't my car break down and by break down I mean sitting in the drive way will not start and right away I was like damn this is going to be expensive. I than stood in my drive way on my cordless phone being mad at my car, yes in my mind it was the cars fault lol in tears to my dad because I had not idea what to do, I did not have money, I had just gotten money from nanny which was gone and my car would not start. Luckily my dad agreed to get my car fixed for me) this scared me, I had always worked and had money since I was like 15/16 most of the time helping covering some costs at home (groceries, phone bill) so to be flat broke scared me. Every since I have made sure to have some money tucked away in an account that I have access too but do not touch. The more I worked and was making more money the amount in this account grew. For me it was important to have this money there but at the same I wanted to have access too it, did not want to invest it and not have access or have to pay penalties to access it.

I know have multiple accounts I keep for different reasons, I have my account, my savings/emergency account, plus a joint account with my mom to cover house expenses and have now also been able to set aside some money I will invest. So I do not have it broken down but I do have a nice amount sitting there that I can use if needed.

So far I have found a few things on sale we need to pick up, last week was a lot of treats and junk food. I managed to get all of our Easter Candy on sale and used coupons so that made me happy. As well I also picked up things like chips and that because I noticed comments were being made. They were on sale and fit into our budget for the week so all in all a win win situation because they were not bought at full price or outside of our budget. I actually got lucky the other day and was able to find some coupons for things we buy regularly so that made me super happy. Got coupons for mom's bread and few other things I cannot think of right now. I have had to change my shopping a bit with mom being home so much, need to keep different foods in the house so grocery shopping has been bit of an experiment lately to see what I can find.

Hoping to send my mom shopping tomorrow to use up all my FPC coupons expiring this month.

[Caseythegoalie]

yep, we make meals about 75% of the time we are down there. Usually one special meal out an we eat out every day on the road so it gets tiring. I pack a lunch bag with snacks and drinks to save $. we do go to a Disney park one day which is very $ and then one other small activity because we like to enjoy the pool at the house. We drive too which saves a lot. A lot of fun!

right now we do not have an emergency fund. it's a goal of mine for when we come back

[MrsSunshine]

sorry to interupt your thread. but i thought i'd post this tip before the March one ends and before Easter gets here..
if you happen to get a good deal on ham. like one of those half hams.. if you can take one and slice it really thin you can have luncheon meat for cheap or for frying for breakfast.. saves a little money. we have one of those old fashioned slicing mandolin's and it worked awesome on this.