May 2016 Frugal Chatter - ALL WELCOME

[coupon girl]

-my daughter slept in til 8.30 -so happy as she said my bed was so comfy -then they wanted to get on the road as their small car has no air conditioning -and on Friday it took them what normally takes an hour drive 2 and a half hours to come from toronto -their were a few accidents
-my dear daughter didn't want to spend 80-120.00 on a maternity bathing suit -she may only wear 3 times she told me so she went into walmart and bought a 2x bathing suit for 25.97-i hope it works for her (they only sell maternity on line they told her )
-took a few bags to value village got my card all filled so got 30% off 2 tanks for me a shirt for hubby and new short for hubby

[jasperandchar]

The air conditioner is installed

Dh is resting his back and then we will venture out to the re-use it centre, hoping to find some more curtains And maybe some roller blinds we prefer then to the mini blinds.

Supper tonight will be a surprise it's just too darn hot to cook inside or out

Wishing everyone a wonderful afternoon & evening and stay cool

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
It is just too hot today, not sure why but the heat is really effecting me today so I have spent most of the day catching up on work.

Yesterday once I got home I decided I was taking yesterday for me, no work, no house work so I spent most of the day watching TV and crocheting. I found a new place to sell my work that is local so I am making samples which I hope to post this week.

Tonight's dinner is pizza, we had a free pizza with our local pizza shop and ordered some wedges to go with it. I used money from selling items around the house to pay for the wedges.

I thought I had a sale, buyer said they would be here in 5 minutes and then messaged me they changed their mind and wanted wood not metal shelves. Would have been nice to get them out of the house but oh well, selling in general seems to be pretty slow right now, think everyone is outside instead of on their computers. I posted a few dresses this week, I see people are watching them but no takers yet.

Have a great night everyone, back to my spreadsheets and power points.

[Frugalbigmama]

Just returned from the beach! Ds brought 2 friends and they swam for about an hour and 1/2. Now he is playing hockey in driveway with friend and we will start dinner soon. Pork chops, asparagus, potatoes and garlic bread all on the bbq. Ice cream cones for dessert!

[Frugalbigmama]

This heat has been great for drying laundry outside! I have been doing it all day while in and out and putting away as it dried. Have whites out hanging now and last load of darks in washer now including out beach stuff!

[lilo0003]

I am loving the new clothes line. I have not turned on the dryer in 3 weeks. Despite the heat I planted the veggie gardens yesterday. I need a few more things and them we keep our fingers crossed.

[sweet sparrow]

It turns out that the cost of downtown parking was the least of my concerns. DH's suit turned out to be over $900. I actually cried literal tears (maybe it's frugal genes, or pregnancy hormones, or both). As it is tradition for the best man to do the bachelor party, he is on the line for that as well. I think the groom, who has been out of regular work at least, may be picking up the cost of the tie. The $900+ only covers a pair of pants and a jacket, not the shirt ($165 and up), not the tie, not accessories, or anything else. The final cost was even on top of a 20% discount for having a party of five and up. DH still wants to give a gift, but I recycled the entire 20+ page registry when I heard the cost. Does anyone think it's the epitome of rudeness to not give a gift? Or at least a handmade one?

The earliest I could get laundry on the go today was after 5 PM. Then, I took LO out to WM to look for grapes and oranges but we had no luck. The grapes were gone and the oranges were squishy and looked to be the same poorly batch they had a month ago. I picked up a few items, including some ice cream, but the cashier overcharged me two of one item when I only purchased one. I expected a long wait in the CS lineup, but she was a manager and was able to put through the refund quickly, thank goodness.

I miscalculated and did not put all my purchases onto one receipt at RCSS. I had a 10,000 point offer WUB $50 and should have bought one more box of diapers to save that extra $10. It was one of those days where they were missing everything I was looking for (their buckwheat noodles were all expired, the grapes were gone, and a few other things were out of stock). I was already late to rush back from LO's nap, so it's never a relaxed shop at RCSS which is over 25 minutes away. I did find a few clearance items though.

LO is going through a rough patch where she will not fall asleep by herself still. One of us has to stand around until she's too tired to protest which could be up to an hour.

I tried to hang laundry in spurts but kept hearing "Mommy...I need you". Laundry got out on the line after LO went to bed and mommy had a shower. 10:30 PM..... No benefit of the hot sun for me. I'll bring it in in the morning as there's a chance of rain in the afternoon.

[Angela273]

SIL's condition is unchanged. I was able to spend time with my brother and his 3 boys this afternoon. I baked 2 pans of delicious oatmeal squares and brought an entire pan plus the last few cookies to his house. I helped him with some things and ran out to the grocery store for him. He sent me home with 3 over ripe bananas and a request for me to turn them into banana chocolate chip muffins. I felt a lot better after having the opportunity to help for a while. I thanked Dh upon my return. Now we are behind on yard work and it is supposed to rain hard the next 2 days. I might manage to plant a bit more of my garden tomorrow morning, before the rain starts in the afternoon. I need to bake those muffins, buy a few things for my brother from WM, fold and put away a lot of laundry, get cleaning house before MIL arrives on Thursday, etc.

[sweet sparrow]

@Angela273 : I really hope SIL is doing better soon. Thoughts and prayers are with you and their family. I'm so glad you were able to help and I'm sure the family really appreciates it.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good morning. Boy Monday sure comes back quick when you are a working. Left the house in good shape this morning. Moved my drying rack inside last night incase it rains. Better safe then sorry. Hope to get back out to Walmart today to get a few more free Aveeno and overage on some other groceries. Guess my boys love the Tropicana OJ- The huge jug is going quick!

I have small Styrofoam trays I bought last year to use in the summer so I wasn't always doing dishes. Didn't really use them lol so I had bbq'd lunch yesterday and put the leftovers on the tray and wrapped in a clear produce bag and put on top shelf in fridge so my teen could see it. Guess he ate it after I went to bed so worked! This will be my new plan for leftovers for him so it gets eaten!

[jasperandchar]

I had to call Lowes this am about an order I returned via UPS, checked ups tracker and it was delivered last week. Called customer service and the nice lady put me on hold while she called the store that the order was returned to, yes they did receive my order but have not yet processed the returned, she told them to process it now so hopefully they did and I will see a credit on my cc by Monday next week.

Dh is attempting the gym tonight because ds1 wants to go work out with him, hopefully dh will be up to it, if not he can relax until the young lad is ready to go.

I have chicken breast thawing, however, they won't be ready for supper so I will do club sandwiches for the adults and bacon sandwiches for the kiddos and serve with ceasar salad.

Tomorrow will be sweet n' sour chicken with fried rice to use up some veggies that are going south
slowly

The inlaws got central air so they gave us there not even 1 year old portable airconditioning unit, I'm so not impressed those units are made to cool a closet (tiny square footage) just ridiculous, poor dh had I known I would NEVER have gotten him to install it. He told me this am while leaving that he will install our old unit on the weekend which easily cools the whole upstairs, poor guy needs to take out the other window and re-install the window where the current portable unit is and rejig some stuff.

Going to tweak some of June's budget figures and then go over budget with dh as I feel when he's involved we both stay on track. I've done the budget myself for the last 5 months of so and last month's expenses were absurd because of various unforeseen expenses.

Coupons are now all in the coupon binder, I will update trade list and put coupons I will use into my small accordion coupon folder. I'm hoping to pickup another 2 of those at the $ store to keep me organized.

Wishing everyone a great afternoon & evening.
@Angela273 I'm sure your brother appreciated the visit and errands etc to help out, I hope his wife will be okay.

[sweet sparrow]

Does anyone know what proper hummus is supposed to taste like? I made one that was fairly thick. I liked it. Then I found another recipe that said it was amazing hummus that you'd want to eat it with a spoon. It was much runnier. It asked for the beans to be heated in the microwave with the water from the can, which seemed really gelatinous and gross. I practically boiled it and because of the additional water, it was much smoother and creamier but it didn't really make me want to eat it with a spoon.

QOTD: I was listening to a podcast and they mentioned that you should have money each month to be spent on enjoying life, no matter what your budget. Do you have "fun money" to spend on things you enjoy as a budgeted item for you, your significant other, and/or your children?

[Frugalbigmama]

QOTD: I was listening to a podcast and they mentioned that you should have money each month to be spent on enjoying life, no matter what your budget. Do you have "fun money" to spend on things you enjoy as a budgeted item for you, your significant other, and/or your children?

For sure!!! I give myself $60 each pay- Cash to put in my wallet and it for whatever. Coffee out, trip to the casino, $ store visit, pedicure, manicure. Sometimes I spend it all sometimes it sits in my wallet and builds. I think it is very important to have money to just blow and not have to budget/record it etc.

[Frugalbigmama]

For sure!!! I give myself $60 each pay- Cash to put in my wallet and it for whatever. Coffee out, trip to the casino, $ store visit, pedicure, manicure. Sometimes I spend it all sometimes it sits in my wallet and builds. I think it is very important to have money to just blow and not have to budget/record it etc.

I also put money aside each month for the kids so that if I want it for them I get it.
My youngest is also in many sports so we travel often for that as well as weekends away in hotels for tournaments which we make the most of and have fun with it so he gets lots of perks I think.

[coupon girl]

-yes we have money each month for fun -sometimes we use it sometimes not-not in a separate account -last time we went out with another couple for supper was nov and we spent 40.00 it was a splurge but fun
-last week we went to A&W 12.99 total with a coupon as I babysat and had a doctors appt in evening so pressed for time

-phew tired today cut back lawn and whipper snipped -as our driveway is getting done and back walkway starting on Tuesday -cant cut the front as they have sprayed the lawn where the gas lines are and hydro and water
-may was a frugal month didn't spend as much on groceries -we didn't go anywhere except to toronto on the 8th for the baby reveal
-june will be costly as we have the driveway/walkway to pay for saved up a little over half - the rest on line of credit
-plus we are going away with the grown kids and ashlyn as we have done the past 5 years -this year a chalet condo 3 bedrooms with a pool for 3 days (cant wait)-my daughter booked it early on paid in full so they gave a discount then my son and I paid her before her credit card was due may 9

-oh and dug a hosta out front and planted in back -have to get hubby to dig a bigger plant out tonight -as cement will be put in there soon

-angela so nice you were able to help out your brother -prayers still for your sister-in-law

-supper tonight -cheap frozen pizza 4.99 delissio -side salad cause I am tired