Dashing December Savings (frugal chatter 2014)

[Frugalbigmama]

so pleased WM refunded $33.90 for Jaden's tv...just goes to show there's no harm in asking...yippee....he will be putting that money towards a tv mount.

Yeah!!! This is a good reminder for those that toss receipts ( not us frugal girls but the others).

[Frugalbigmama]

I had shopping to do for work so went to shoppers and got 19500 pts for me. Now to hold the stuff till I'm back at work on the 5th but I don't mind. Free food for us when I redeem points

[MrsSunshine]

sold one of my trees already, have another possible sale tonite.
as for the rest of my stuff, probably just donate it all. house should be back to normal by bed. which i'll hit dead on im sure.
hubby is cooking dinner. left over cabbage stuff.

[jasperandchar]

sold one of my trees already, have another possible sale tonite.
as for the rest of my stuff, probably just donate it all. house should be back to normal by bed. which i'll hit dead on im sure.
hubby is cooking dinner. left over cabbage stuff.

wonderful Mrs. S. on the sales and downsizing

[jasperandchar]

I had shopping to do for work so went to shoppers and got 19500 pts for me. Now to hold the stuff till I'm back at work on the 5th but I don't mind. Free food for us when I redeem points

lucky ducky with the points FBM

[lizzie bargain]

J and C-you will have to hire yourself out as a personal shopper and collect all the points in partial payment to do your shopping-lol.

[jasperandchar]

Evening all,

Dh, Jaden and I went to Home Depot today prepared to purchased the sub-floor tiles and laminate flooring BUT we were blessed to have 2 very knowledgeable people on staff at the store that believe the water problem in the 1 corner is a humidity problem and that perhaps a dehumidifier would be the best solution vs. the sub-floor & laminate

DH a few months ago decided to seal the cement floor in that 1 room with a staining technique and sealant which the folks at HD believe is the problem, cement should never be sealed as it needs to breath . DH saw this cement floor technique done years ago in an industrial restaurant setting and thought it was cool BUT sadly he should have asked the questions before doing the application BUT that's done and over with and cannot be undone so moving along.

So we purchased a humidity thermometer as recommended to keep a journal of the temperature in Jaden's future room, we were also told to removed the kettle from on top of the woodstove because it is adding moisture into the air/humidity. Dh will relocate the ceiling fan from the boys gaming area (lol) to Jaden's new bedroom in hopes that it will help, both staff at the HD said it wouldn't do anything for the humidity but dh is not convinced so I guess time will tell

So fingers crossed it's just a humidity problem and nothing else. we will monitor the humidity levels for a few weeks and then decide if purchasing a dehumidifier is necessary.



DOES ANYONE HAS A DEHUMIFIER IN THEIR HOME????

[Ciel]

Oh, Mrs. Sunshine, reading your DH's reaction when he saw the tree gone--! Had to chuckle. Think you can tell him he can do the mantel at Christmas to his liking from now on. Eight more days of Christmas are left-he can have those days. Amazingly fast responses to your postings-awesome!

Frugalbigmama, if you are doing the clearout of the bedroom, someone ought to be dry fitting your lobby tiles for you. You do so much for your family. Have you been able to narrow down washing machine prospects?

Avoncallingu-warm pjs make getting out of a warm bed very hard! Suggest you bring warm socks in case the covers are not adequate or room is kept cool.
See if you can convince a friend or neighbour to chauffeur you there and greet you in the am with warm biscuit/tea/hot cocoa while you are driven home.
Hope you get your CIBC calendar-I like the cheery colours.

Jasperandchar, December has ZOOMED and STALLED past us.We'll be singing Frosty the Snowman this week as 2014 parties to the end. Good refund followup with the tv! Will a tv mount require any reinforcement of a wall or other work?

Toasted the remaining half of the chestnuts this morning and cooked plain rice, carrots and applesauce for Mom is feeling a bit off and resting today. Would like to see if chestnuts might come on sale again this week. The nuts are sweet/chewy goodness.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
congratulations Angela

Well I have kind of been in hiding. Christmas at Dad's went pretty well a few comments made buy made to me and all my siblings not just me. Step mom has made it clear she is ready for Grandkids so cousin tried to play off that but Dad shot him down saying he isn't losing sleep over us not having kids yet. Spent a good part of the night holding the baby, when I walked in my cousin had her and as soon as I was seated all of a sudden apparently it was time for the baby to come hang with me. She is a spoiled baby they constantly hold her and take turns as she does not like her crib, car seat or any other place you can safely place a baby so she pretty much gets held all the time. Surprisingly my bro who is mister macho, people should be afraid of me has a soft spot for her, even managed to feed her, it was very cute to see especially as he tried to tell my step mom she was holding her all wrong and not supporting her enough. But he did make it extremely clear he does not want one of his own.

I have been fighting serious tension headaches since Christmas Eve, I suffered with horrible tension headaches as a teenager so bad they put me in physio, yes physio. I still get them here and there but they have not been this bad in over 10 years. I have tried everything from massages (thanks Mom) to Advil Muscle and Joint to Robax all helps a bit but I can still feel it there. So I have started working out a little bit just stretching and Yoga trying to maybe work out whatever is stressing me. Plus I have been doing some boxing and tennis (on the WII) to get my aggression out. Seems to be helping so fingers crossed.

Even with the tension headaches I have been working my butt off to try to get our house to livable state. For so long I did not care but recently it is completely getting to me. I hate that I cannot just clean the house, I have to search through piles for what I need and things keeps disappearing somewhere in our house. It has not been easy but progress is being made. I will post before and after probably later in the week. Today was a bit of a set back, Mom is off so I figured she would help me but instead she announced she was doing nothing today so I am working away as much as I can but would have loved if she would have helped as the pile I am currently working on is about 99.9% hers (I would have said 100% but I did find a colouring book of mine in it). Oh well I am really trying to let it not get to me as i cannot take anymore tension.

Now I am going to be a pain in the butt, I am having serious conflict within myself and have no one I can talk to about so I am going to lay it here (I am sorry I know I do this a lot lately). As you all know I have my friend who was/is in a medically induced coma. I have been holding out hope that in time he would reappear. The last time I spoke to anyone was in the middle of September his Mom told me he would stay in the Coma until October. I know the end of October someone read my messages but said nothing back. I have continued to send messages but know he is not getting them as they are not showing as delivered which means his phone is not being turned on. I do not want to give up hope but due to past "relationships" the longer I go hear nothing the more worried I get that how would I put this our ending happened and either myself or both of us missed it. There is a huge chance he has no memory of me due to the stroke and where he hit his head when he suffered the stroke. I am trying to hold out hope but I do not know maybe it is the fact I have more time to think right now being off work I just fear more and more this is what it is, the universe decided it was not meant to be. I do not want to give up on him, I know all too well how that feels and this is me I am the girl that still stands there with hope no matter what even when I should walk away. So that is my fear now am I holding hope for something where there is no hope. Or am I just really lonely spending another holiday alone. See this is why I do not take time off work it gives me too much free time to think, I am much better when I can just throw myself into work and don't have time for a personal life. Sorry for my rant/spilling of emotions, I just feel so lost and there is no one I can talk too because everyone close to me just sees me as stuck in a pattern of waiting for a guy which usually ends up with me hurt in the end.

Hope everyone has a great night, off to try to get some more cleaning done and try to keep my mind off everything else.

[Ciel]

While we have a dehumidifier, we only use it sporadically. Mom runs it for a time after a lot of steamy cooking say when it's too cold to open the upper window to let air exchange. Thing is, she and other family members don't often empty the bin of water, even if there's just a little water there. One should. Standing water, Legionnaire's etc. And there's the time of use electricity rate issue.

If there is no carpeting on the floor, chances are you will hear the dehumidifier rumble/vibrate while it's working-have that issue with older unit (it has a bin but also came with a clear hose, so it can be set up to drain the water via hose into sump pump (when we had one) or floor drain) still used occasionally and it causes the subfloor under the kitchen laminate to vibrate--it can be annoying. Plus I notice that it seems to heat up some component that smells like hot plastic-I basically don't let it run long The one from Costco, the Danby Premiere, has a green LED display and seemed to work well the first few months. Then it seemed to just blow air around and not draw humidity out of the air.

Would suggest you see if someone can loan you a unit to see if you notice a difference before you buy one.

What you might want to notice in the room is when its most likely to feel cool/cold-the air in the room will condense probably in the corner at that time. That might be the time you want the dehumidifier to run for a time.

[jasperandchar]

Ashley,

Go right ahead and spill your heart, thoughts, etc.....we're all here for you.

Do you know where the guy is? Is it possible that he is still in the hospital, could you call and see if they can transfer you to his room or perhaps provide an update on his condition, release date, etc? Do you know where he lives?

Perhaps his family is the problem, he may be in therapy to get his memory functioning and living in a transitional home or with family.

Do you have his parents, sibling land line phone number, I would call, it can't hurt.

Don't give up hope, we need hope in life otherwise there is nothing to look forward too and motivate us to keep trucking along (lol).

I think it is good for you to have the time off, it may give you in your opinion to much time to think BUT you're trying to take back your house and we all know how trying that can be at times. I wish your mom for your sake with put on her big girl panties and deals with the piles as it's affecting your relationship and I doubt your nanny would want her belongings to have taken over your home.

Best of luck and please post your feeling, thoughts, frustrations, whenever you want to

[jasperandchar]

ciel great tips and information on the dehumidifier, greatly appreciated. As for the tv mount it get's screwed into the wall (2x4's) so that shouldn't be an issue, they are quite sturdy BUT expensive especially the tilting mounts but they are the better choice in my opinion.

[jasperandchar]

still taking name suggestions for JANUARY...post away

[Ciel]

((Hugs)) to you, Ashley. Your headaches are a culmination of having to take on everything and everyone. No, you NEED holiday time whenever you qualify/can get it. You're getting your exercise routine underway and you've noticed that helps. I'm sorry about your Mom not tending to the furniture/stuff issue with you. How is she going to deal with the storage unit (I assume she's intending to close it this week)? Actually, has your brother been asked about helping her to move or to discard furniture? What would you REALLY want to keep of the furniture and what can you see letting go of? Maybe Mom needs to spend a couple of hours in the unit to get whatever feelings she has for the items out on her own.

About the friend-just as a friend, can you do a visit during next week so you can see for yourself how he is or if family is fine with you visiting? If you were to hold on for future with this person, you'd have to let Mom, Dad , rest of family and possibly your current job drop off because there can be long-term healthcare needs/requirements of you as being principal caregiver plus spouse should you become his life partner. And how would you feel if your future in-laws basically shrank to the sidelines and let you arrange appts, get him to appts, and do what you can with your time while they just showed up for visits? That does not even address any financial needs. It's fair to you to see him as a friend. It's fair to you to find someone with whom you can be with and feel that both of you are caring and sharing with each other.

Glad your Dad did make a comment taking some of the family attention off his offspring having kids. That helps a little. After the trip in February, you are DONE with family Christmases over yonder (consider it a blessing if you can manage a coffee shop visit with Dad and Stepmom during the year but no more family gatherings and taking personal attacks without response. Think about you and Mom going to a B&B or resort for a week for next Christmas. Next year, you will find a balance between work/home/personal life because you want it. You will build your assertiveness during winter and let your backbone show when everyone wants a piece of you when it's your turn. When the weather gets to spring, the heck with housekeeping and other things--YOU are going out and about. At least one weeknight per week, you will linger somewhere and just do something for you.

We are thinking of you, Ashley. You are going to get some spirit, some roar, and some good things!

[Ciel]

still taking name suggestions for JANUARY...post away

The three titles suggested so far sound good for voting upon.

For giggles only, I'll give suggestions because we need some silly things:

January JACKPOT of Savings Resolutions (while they last...)
New Year, New Money!! Jan. 2015
Rolling in dough-January 2015
January Money-stretchers