August 2016 Frugal Chatter thread - ALL WELCOME!!!

[SassyAshley]

Unless it is a large item even if I am home I do porch pick up biggest reason being it does not disrupt my day. As many have mentioned people and being on time to pick up, I find most people cannot narrow down what time they will come a lot of people will just say Saturday afternoon. So instead of sitting around all afternoon waiting I leave the item out and they can get it whenever they come.

[Angela273]

Angela: so far I have been lucky with the porch pick up. I don't want to wait around for people to show, but then every person has shown up when they said they would. Today I sold three items and one I will hold until Tuesday, but since that has always worked out I don't mind. The family is on vacation.

This was a big item, so I didn't want to leave it on my front step.

[thriftygranny]

Happy Saturday!! Thanks for the well wishes everyone.
I had a crazy busy week, I subbed at the golf course this week to cover some staff on vacation, catered two lunches and breakfast this morning for a tournament, I am exhausted.On the upside I found an amazing deal on Mozza cheese while shopping for the catering. Someone must have marked them wrong and they had a ton of 5 pound (yes that is a lot of cheese!!) packages of cheese for 6.99 per block, best before date July 2017, ( not sure why that best before date kind of freaks me out!). I bought three because I do a lot of batch cooking in the fall/winter with my daughters. I see a lot of lasagna in our future!!

[lizzie bargain]

Nice deal TG!! I too have had a couple of extra work offers of late but I am trying not to take too much on as I am thinking Grade 12 is a busy year for students/parents what with provincial exams, grad etc. I figure it will likely be DD's last year at home so I will try not to knock myself out working super long hours-planning for a little here and there but we will see how it goes.

QOTD-for those with teens who want to ride with their newly licensed friends, how do you handle that? Do you have to know the teen personally and that they are responsible, or do they have to have been driving a certain number of months or does it depend on how far, dark, snowy, # of teens in the car etc.

So far I have told my teen that we would rather she take public transit or get a ride from us or a friend's parents or get her license rather than catching a ride with friends, we don't know who may have been licensed for just a short time. Of course she says we are way over protective. I just know the stats show way higher accident rates in younger drivers, particularly young men so I would rather have an experienced adult driver( 18+) behind the wheel. This is not at all meant as a criticism of teens-just the reality that they do have to gain experience behind the wheel.

How do others handle this with their teens?-bear in mind too we live in a very busy city of over 1.2 million people-if I lived in a small town with little traffic I might be more lax. Thanks for sharing your experiences/perspectives.

[lilo0003]

This was a big item, so I didn't want to leave it on my front step.

That makes sense, it's annoying when people don't respect your time. I sold another item today and she was honest about being able to get here today and suggested I move to the next person, but I am going to risk it and wait for her.

Lizzie: we are just entering that phase. I have told the teen he is not to accept rides with new drivers and if an older sibling offers a ride he has to ask us 1st, he has a friend with a brother 5 years older so less worrisome and realistically we live in a city, he can take a bus home.
Our next big hurdle is letting him take the GO train to Toronto to attend an event with his friends. They have planned all summer for it. He is just weeks shy of 16 so it seems like we have held him off long enough. We take the train a lot so he feels pretty confident about it and they are just going to ACC which he also knows as we have seasons passes to the Toronto Rock. But still nerve wracking to allow such freedom. I feel pretty ok with it as he is a good kid but it's the other kids that cause me worry.

[lizzie bargain]

Lilo-sounds sensible to me. We have been letting our teen take the Ctrain downtown for work and leisure since she was 15, but not at night. This weekend she is attending a 3 day country music festival in our city- but it is a bus ride, then a 40 min train ride and then a walk in a unfamiliar, less safe feeling area than our neighbourhood. We have compromised at dropping her and her friend off at the train in the morning and letting them walk to the concert from the train in the daylight and then picking them up in the car when the concert finishes by 11-this way they don't have to transit through downtown late at night with potentially rowdy or drunken crowds( they are both underage). Thank goodness most of our teens have cell phones and you can usually be in touch with them.I know I had more freedom at this age and no cell phone but honestly my Mum had 5 kids and never really worried about us-we also lived in a much smaller place-population about 50,000 people.

I still remember one time when I was a teen and had hit black ice in my car on the higway and rolled it-I am guessing I was 17 or 18( driver inexperience, although I guess it could happen to anyone). I was fine but the car was totalled. When the police called my Mum to say I had been in an accident, she said they must have the wrong person as she did not have a daughter travelling in that area that day-they said we are pretty sure it is your daughter because she just gave us your phone number!! I was ribbing my Mum about that the other day! I guess she was taken by surprise and it was an unfamilliar OPP detachment calling her.

I guess in any case, within the next year we will have to trust DD's judgement as she enters adulthood and for the most part we do. She too is a good kid but she once told us she was catching the bus to a movie with her friends, when in fact, I later found out, they all went with her newly licensed friend without permission. Amazing what peer pressure will do-they don't want to be the odd one out. All teens and adults also know not to drink or text and drive but yet it still happens.

My friends son( another good kid) recently had an accident with his younger sibling in the car. He had his license for close to a year and he rear ended somebody on the highway-I asked if he was texting and she said no but he had looked down to change the radio station to listen to the hockey game, and by the time he looked back up he did not have enough time to brake for a lady who had slowed or stopped to make a turn off the highway. Fortunately all were fine. I am sure when we were teenagers, few of us realized or appreciated how much trust and decision making goes into parenting teens!

[saundyl]

Coupongirl I hope your bil is doing better

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[saundyl]

I could use some prayers. I have had a lot of abdominal pain today, threw up, etc. Finally decided to go to our local ER this evening because this abdominal pain is comparable to labour pain. My bloodwork was inconclusive. I was given an antinflamatory shot that is safe in my situation. Depending on tomorrow morning's bloodwork results I might be sent up to Regina for an ultrasound or CAT Scan because these tests are not available in Estevan on the weekend. It might be appendicitis and require surgery. I have to wait and see.

I hope you're doing better now!

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[saundyl]

Good Morning Everyone,
Oh what a day yesterday was. I had to work yesterday so I was in the office no big deal, our Controller was worried we would have computer issues because we are having a ton of issues lately but I checked with all the branches and all was good so I thought it was a good day.

Just before I left Mom texted me that our power went out at home, well that changed my afternoon. I was going to come home, take a shower, start laundry, make a cup of tea and keep working. Well that was not going to happen now. AS I was driving home it was seriously starting to rain which was making it hard to see and power was out across the whole town which meant not street lights. Most were being good which was nice to see as the Highway was insane with traffic but a few people were scary with their driving skills.

To add to the fun the last time it rained we noticed a leak in our bathroom so as soon as I got home I was upstairs checking the bathroom for leaks as it was pouring. This time the leak was on the other side of the bathroom so I took care of that and went to work the best I could in the living room with little to no light. In just over an hour the power was back on but we were still getting down pours. I went upstairs again to get laundry and discovered we now had a leak on either side of the bathroom.

Turns out our leak maybe more server then we knew as we developed a bubble in our Kitchen ceiling on the main floor which started dripping so I popped it and so fair it has stopped but I must say I am not happy. We will contact the property management team as I am pretty sure they will have to cover the damage as it was caused by a roof leak they have not taken care of. I know they are looking to have the roof done but I must say I am a little skeptical of it happening this year as I know all of the companies they are getting quotes from and I know how busy these guys are and I also know how they work. They will continue to book work but it does not guarantee it will get done this year, if they run out of time they just bump you to next year and with the weather we are having they are falling further and further behind. I guess only time will tell what will happen.

Hoping today is a little less hectic. Have a great day everyone.

Ohno!

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[saundyl]

How do you ladies price things when you sell online?

I was able to get through yesterday without any cough drops, so that was encouraging. Having a bad cough is painful but even worse as I feel a sharp pang on my stomach each cough. The bottom of my bump has been feeling pains for weeks. I don't remember this with the first baby, so maybe it's something to bring up with the doctor next week.

This baby has been a bit painful since yesterday as I keep feeling some sharp edge being poked somewhere. Maybe it's an elbow or a knee? Both? It really loves poking things.

I tend to check Facebook and eBay for similar items or base it off what I would be willing to pay. Higher ticket items I price a tad higher than I really want so I can bargain.

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[saundyl]

Camping in the rain. Listening to the concert on our Bluetooth speaker. Reading a book and knitting. I'm so glad I turned down pc work and transcriptions for the weekend.

I hit the best garage sale ever last weekend. ...all quilt fabric so I bought 8 meters of creams and blues. Will start back quillting with the ladies this fall.

While on our holiday in Calgary I found the frozen Anna and Kristof doll set on clearance for 5 dollars. Which I snagged along with a remote control boat on clearance as well for Christmas gifts.

My meds were changed on Wednesday to a Injection drug for diabetes. Not cool with giving myself a needle but bf has been wonderful about it so far. I'm pleased though with not being on metformin....I had diarrhea for 3 months on it....stopped as soon as I stopped taking it. The Dr says maybe if I loose some weight that some of the meds can stop. Here's hoping! I like that suggestion better than Dr's who say ur fat loose some weight. (Esp the Dr's that are overweight themselves)

We ordered beds for the boys.....captain beds with a bookcase headboard and 4 drawers. We will be selling their current beds and applying the money to our brick card for the new ones. New will arrive in October.

Hope everyone is doing well or better this weekend



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[saundyl]

Your story makes me hesitant about getting the crown done, whenever that is. If I leave it the tooth might break and lose that corner of the tooth, or potentially break down into the root. But the dentist really had no idea how long my tooth would be good like this and pointed out that this is something to be aware of because it does not need to be done immediately. My mouth is sore from all the X-rays. They do digital ones and make you bite down on a big hard metal thing, which they know hurts the good thing is that even with these extensive X-rays they still couldn't find my wisdom teeth, which is just fine by me.

I'm terrified of the dentist....I uhm chicken out and cancel often. most terrifying to me is male with full facial hair.

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[Angela273]

I hope you're doing better now!

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I saw my regular GP on Wednesday. He was able to look at the bloodwork results from the weekend at the ER. My numbers dropped 3 points in 12hrs, so back into the normal range. He physically examined me and had no issue booking ultrasounds, which unfortunately is over a month away, but in my community. My belly still hurts when it is pressed on, but not nearly as badly as it did a week ago. Still don't know what caused this, but my gallbladder has been ruled out.

[Angela273]

My meds were changed on Wednesday to a Injection drug for diabetes. Not cool with giving myself a needle but bf has been wonderful about it so far. I'm pleased though with not being on metformin....I had diarrhea for 3 months on it....stopped as soon as I stopped taking it. The Dr says maybe if I loose some weight that some of the meds can stop. Here's hoping! I like that suggestion better than Dr's who say ur fat loose some weight. (Esp the Dr's that are overweight themselves)

I never would have imagined having to give myself daily injections, but here I am 9yrs later. I still remember my now Dh sitting next to me while I talked myself through giving myself those first few injections. I now use diabetic syringes and they are much nicer than the pre filled syringes that I had used for years. My expensive experimental blood thinner injection can burn for up to 1hr after the injection. I try to look at the bright side, it has kept me stable from repeat blood clots, it has reduced the frequency and severity of my migraines, it only requires very specific bloodwork once a year, it is not sensitive to my diet, and my dose hasn't needed to be adjusted in over 7yrs. It is calculated based on my weight, but even then it isn't super sensitive.

I have family and friends who have type 2 diabetes. It is true that losing weight can help a person manage their diabetes with fewer medications. I wish you luck and you know that we are always here for you. There is also a weight loss thread that you might be interested it, but it has been pretty quiet in there this summer.

[thriftygranny]

You do get used to it don't you Angela, I had a blood clot in my spleen about 7 years ago and had to inject for a long time.I'm not squeamish about needles though but even so it just becomes routine. good luck Saundyl I hope it gets better for you.

Driving and teenagers, that's a hard one, especially with my son losing his best friend in an accident on Canada day, I think the thing that bugs me the most is that the two kids that died (there were 5 in the car) were not wearing seat belts. I never would have thought those two would have done that.
That is the thing about teenagers, you know you have taught them well but they sometimes make decisions that would surprise you, and that is all part of being a teenager.They succumb to peer pressure or have the invincible attitude. I was very careful who my kids drove with and to where they were going, the highway always worried me. Rides to school and a trip to the movies was fine with me but it doesn't mean I didn't worry!!