Just chilling in January (2015 frugal chatter)

[Giseledta]

The converstion out doing dishes, / helping out at large family meals I find interesting.
For meals at my house............ no one helps out.............ever. However, my family always helps at others. every time . I would consider it rude not to.

[lizzie bargain]

Interesting Giseledta- I guess everybody does things differently as evidenced in our thread!

[lilo0003]

Super productive day yesterday. I shredded a ton of stuff while creating our 2015 budget and savings trackers. I find that watching the savings increase motivates me to save more/spend less. Feels good to purge. Next attack is the stockpile. My goal is to spend less than $250.00 on groceries for the month. This is never easy in a month with 5 weekends but I am at $80.00 in PC points and the same in Air Miles so that will help. In fact with this I may be able to come in at less than 200.00.
I am going to try and make sure that before I shop at SDM this year I buy the gift card 1^st. I never do this and then lose out on a lot of points & I think I can do the 20x event this weekend based on the flyer. Hopefully I get some decent personal offers as well, since I have depleted my points.

[thriftygranny]

Regarding hosting a family get together and clean up. i think we all have the doers and the do nots. My three son in laws are funny, one insists on clean up after dinner, I have one that follows me the whole time in the kitchen because he has so many questions about cooking and I put him to work on the prep, and one that doesn't come near the the kitchen before or after dinner and rolls his eyes at the other two. My daughters are great at helping, however one only helps when asked and that annoys me, coincidentally she is married to the eye roller!, but all in all not too bad.
My husband and I went to our phone and cable provider and negotiated a better price for this year which makes me very happy as I have never done this before. I was surprised at how good they were about listening to our reasoning and helping out.However why can't they just charge what the service is worth for everyone so we can quit guessing if we are over paying or not!
Hope everyone has a great day, the snow is really coming down here and it rained on and off all day yesterday, think staying in today and getting some housework done is on my agenda!

[Frugalbigmama]

It's chilly out! Took ds and the dog to a field to run around. Of course we lost a ball in the n
snow lol. Oh well. She was happy just running with ds. And now she is pooped lol. Heading out for coffee and groceries soon. Waiting till tomorrow for cheap eggs and chocolate milk at shoppers. Then meal planning for the week. Tacos for sure one night for the boys Lettuce and wraps are cheap this week. Already have everything else.

[Frugalbigmama]

Date night tonight. Was asked what I would like but I can't think of food really. And I'm thinking no wine lol. Too much the other night

[jasperandchar]

Wth regard to cleaning up after dinners- my view is that it is okay not to help if you have the same arrangement for when they come to your house! That women who did all the work and was expected to change the babies diaper seems a bit extreme-either she wanted to do that or she just let others take advantage of her-you know what they say-you can change your own behaviour but not that of others.

J and C just curious and not meaning to be critical-but I have noticed a couple of times you said your MIL does not help you with clean up. It sounds like you have reached a reasonable solution in that you each clean up after dinner at your own house which works fine-but just curious-where are all the men and children in this-I have never heard you criticize your FIL for not helping clean up after a meal.

Perhaps I live in a family with less defined male/female roles but in my friends and family any male/female or child would be willing or asked to assist with prep or cleanup if needed-not just the females. Many hands make light work.

When the 4 year old boys were over yesterday I noticed they took their dishes to the dishwasher without prompting which was nice to see-but not one of the 2 month olds took their bottles to the dishwasher-lol

Lizzie not been critical at all.

I have in the past insisted on doing dishes at mil as a matter of fact I think it was easter and she went out and had multiple cigarettes while I did this and then sat on her ass once inside so no more!!!


I will be completely honest my boys do dishes from time to time but I am anal about how they are done (lol). When large meals such as Christmas etc....I like to do things backwards if you will, I like the pots & pans washed first unlike many who do them last. My guys do rinse there plates right after eating so there is no sticky or icky stuff on them and they set and unset the table everyday and wipe down the table & kitchen counters. My boys have a large list of daily chores they do and without fuss, the dishes are just one of those things I like doing by hand and I enjoy the hot soapy water.

As for FIL he is not comfortable even going into my fridge and it's been 20 years....he does everything at his house with the exception being cooking large meals, he cooks himself breakfast (eggs & bacon daily), makes his own lunch and also makes supper about 4 out of 7 days.

My mil is just very lazy to be honest.

My guys do cook and bake so it's not a sex based chores and/or daily activities.

[jasperandchar]

I forgot to add I help mil set and clean up the table and rinse off all the dishes so they are not icky for later (wink)....

[MrsSunshine]

quite a day here too.
went to moms to take down xmas stuff. had a little visit.
then went to Wm and took back our Tassimo. no issues. were sticking with our old old machine. and kettle.
sucks that the new year brought all the big bills. our hydro was horrible. always hate the first one after we turn on our heating.(electric)

then home again. finish off laundry today.
some dishes.

as for our family events. its always been women do cooking/cleaning, while men sat.
this past one was completely different. due to some health issues (im sure you remember)
a relative insisted on doing all the cooking. (male)
so all the males( except my Dad)and my Mom.(she wouldn't have it any other way) arranged dinner, prepped the table and all. it was nice.
us ladies sat and chatted.
then we turned the tables for clean up. it worked out quite nice. we all had our down time.
not sure if it was an omen for the year. or a prediction.
have to see what the year brings.

anyway its Friday. going to be a stay at home and get 'er done weekend. basement needs to be worked on.
enjoy your weekends all.

[jasperandchar]

Super productive day yesterday. I shredded a ton of stuff while creating our 2015 budget and savings trackers. I find that watching the savings increase motivates me to save more/spend less. Feels good to purge. Next attack is the stockpile. My goal is to spend less than $250.00 on groceries for the month. This is never easy in a month with 5 weekends but I am at $80.00 in PC points and the same in Air Miles so that will help. In fact with this I may be able to come in at less than 200.00.
I am going to try and make sure that before I shop at SDM this year I buy the gift card 1^st. I never do this and then lose out on a lot of points & I think I can do the 20x event this weekend based on the flyer. Hopefully I get some decent personal offers as well, since I have depleted my points.

oh totally forgot about the points on the SDM gc's , great tip lilo - going to do this tomorrow as well. The sales this weekend especially Saturday at SDM's are actually amazing for me and my shopping list.

[lizzie bargain]

J and C-nice to know your boys do their chores with no fuss-well done!

[coupon girl]

-well I always help out at others homes at supper
my son-in-law helped cut up turnip and potatoes boxingday -and I have a dishwasher so I did it all - no problem

-well i talked hubby into visiting 2 of his brothers he is not that close to today-we took the coffee from hortons to their house-pretty nice visit-so nice to finally get out

[Granger]

Clean up. When I host large dinners I usually use paper and recyclables. I clean up. Smaller dinners dish washers and help is usually offered. I try to help when we go out to someone else's home if someone is watching my children (or get DH to help).

People are pretty good on both sides of our family. We have one pair who is not, but they have also shown up unannounced for dinner on several occasions...as in, well, gotta feed my crew shall I include you?

[lilo0003]

I just cleared out all my expired coupons. How sad, there is nothing left.

[bobbiegirl2010]

Went out shopping today at Walmart. I pm'd using a flyer app on DH's phone for the first time. My Walmart doesn't do "Canada wide" pm'ing but will pm stores within 1 hrs drive (KW area) that I don't get paper flyers for (stores like RCSS, Sobeys, Rexall, Target...). So easy and fun lol

I had a frugal fun day with my girls (I had booked the day off but DH had to work). Took them skating at the free public skate at the local arena. Dinner of chicken caesar salad (using leftover chicken) and cheesy garlic bread (made from some leftover dinner rolls found in the freezer. Now for some boardgame fun before bedtime