December 2016 Frugal Chatter thread (all welcome)

[jasperandchar]

@thriftygranny wishing you, your family and friends and very Merry Christmas, all your prep and hard work will be well appreciated.

[coupon girl]

sweetsparrow -congrats on the wonderfull news -wow what a storey that will be born at home -ahhhhh
-today was babysitting ashlyn but managed to ask hubby to watch her for an hour as I shot over to freshco spent 98.61 but saved 30.27 from sales ,6.75 in coupons .75 checkout51 and 13.38 from price matching so a total of 50.40 (I like when freshco puts this on their bill -ashlyn was really good so I bought her a kinder egg -she loves those eggs
-now just waiting for daughter/hubby to show up at 9-9.30 to sleep over with Sebastian after they went to a party -my daughter had a stress full day she couldn't get anything done (this is where I wish I was in same city to help her out)as Sebastian was needy for 5 hours straight -then hubby walked in from work and she told me they got I an argument as life is not the same when you have a baby to get ready and in general -I agreed even thou I hate hearing they argued but alas such is life -cant wait to see Sebastian

[momof5boys]

Momof5boys-congrats on your son's engagement! I hope you did the math when you had your boys-if your 5 boys each have 5 children that will be 25 little blessings in the future!! However many they have will be a blessing! I used to babysit a family of 8 children and so far they are up to 13 grandchildren at last count. I am currently watching my friends 2 year old and 6 year old twin boys while they wrap gifts at home. DH has taken the big boys to the park and I just got the little ones down for nap-it is snowing quite a bit so lets hope she makes it back later to pick them up-or we will have a very busy Xmas-lol. She had told one of the 6 year olds the gifts were at our house-to keep him from tearing their house apart looking for them. When he got here he started opening doors, cupboards etc and I said Emerson what are you looking for-he said our gifts are supposed to be here. I told him I snuck them back into Mummy's van when he wasn't looking and she had taken them back home so I guess she will have to wrap them quick or hide them at the neighbours! Too funny the little white lies we tell about Santa etc at this time of year.

Another cute story-my 2 year old great niece was out with her parents visiting friends and suddenly the little 5 year old boy came running and said come quick-they went to check on her and somehow she had managed to get a fish out of the fish tank and was petting it!! Thankfully they didn't have to call fishie 911 and they got him back in the water just in time!!

Wishing everyone the best of the holiday season!!

petting a fish....too funny!

[Ciel]

@thriftygranny -claim an armchair and be "off duty" for a spell. You can meet friend R&R that way and just enjoy being present-you've had another busy year and time to get rewarded.

@lizzie bargain -NYC is a big busy place and I can understand why you'd like backup on DD's whereabouts. If you were with her, you know'd when and where she'd be out and about. (I'd be found in the fabric district after getting some MOMA time and Uniqlo store visits in first!)

@sweet sparrow -congratulations on the birth of your second LO! All that walking and doing prior to her birth gave you endurance. Feet up time! You are on holiday to the best of your ability this month.

[Ciel]

So bathroom tissue-totally forgot that Life brand BT is no more at Shoppers. I saw prices of $5+ in-store so I walked out and over to Food Basics-bought the Selection 12 roll BT for $3.99 and taxes. Budget is happy. Then realized when I got home that what I thought was a second pkg of paper towels were actually rolls of BT. We're stocked into the New Year now.

Found a nickel in the slushy parking lot!

Since there are pineapple chunks in the fruit tray that sibling brought home from the workplace potluck meal, they'll keep red olives and red pepper company on a veggie pizza I'll make for lunch. Mom will be able to eat that as she does not know what's in the pizza dough (from the slab pizza sibling brought home with hot pepper rings).

I have a couple of cookbooks (2016) ones from the library that I have to finish over the holiday weekend as they are due soon and there other patrons waiting their turns to read them. Must not miss opportunity to expand the recipe pages in my binder.

There's a grocery item that needs to be returned but it requires a bus ride to get it back to the source. Not keen on the rain--will find out how important it is to return it today or wait for Tuesday.

[Ciel]

I have got into the Fruits chapter of the new book and it's mesmerizing to read of how fruits should be eaten and what emotional supports they can provide. Mom will enjoy the avocado write-up-she loves her avocados.

[coupon girl]

merry xmas ladies -all the best for 2017

[Frugalbigmama]

Merry Christmas everyone! Youngest one is waiting lol. I will start breakfast while we wait for his brother to get up. The good thing is he doesn't like to look at the tree/gifts till we are ready to sit in livingroom so he is hanging out in diningroom lol.

[lizzie bargain]

Merry Xmas to all. We Skyped DD this a.m. and it seems Santa found her in the East so all good. We miss her of course and it feels a little weird not to have her here and other family over for dinner( some of them are travelling too), but she is having a great time and we are happy about that-so a little quieter than usual here although we are invited out to an early dinner with good friends. Then we have company arriving tonight so enjoying the tranquility this a.m. and Skyping and emailing family. DH and I are giving the house a quick lick and a promise!! We have 7.5" of snow so definitely a white, chilly but sunny Xmas here. We even got stuck a couple of times briefly driving to a friends for dinner-the usual 5 minutes trip took us about 30 as we had to shovel a spot to park on the road!

[wendymac]

Merry Christmas to all! Thought I'd share my two fav Xmas gifts with the BB (from DH). Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression. Clara is a hoot. She was a girl during the depression and has a YouTube series on how families cooked and coped during those lean times. Depression Era Recipes. Much, much heavier on the recipes rather than the memories. Some inexpensive and intriguing ones. For example, Potato Souffle...

2 cup hot, mashed potatoes
1/2 hot milk
salt and pepper
pinch nutmeg
2 eggs separated

Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat yolks well and add to potatoes along with the seasonings. Fold in the whites and put into a well greased baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. There are a lot of recipes I'm going to try.

[Natalka]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Well, we did get a white Christmas after all - a bit of snow fell last evening, and more this morning. Not much, but white is covering!


Christ is Born!

[jasperandchar]

Merry Christmas everyone,

Hoping everyone enjoyed their celebrations with friends or family or both.

Wishing everyone a great evening.

[SassyAshley]

Congrats Sweet Sparrow and wow what a story.

Merry Christmas everyone.

This week has been a bit of a blur for me. I ended up working from home Tuesday to Thursday as I was not feeling well, some think I caught a bug but I think more then anything it was the stress and anxiety getting to me. I was kind of worried about Friday as we had our company lunch but all was good I got a ride from someone and not stress or anxiety.

I have now completed all 3 Christmas events, Friday was our company lunch which doesn't feel like a work event as much as a very large family gathering. This year we had assigned seating to break us up from out normal groups. I ended up with our production manager who has been with the company since I was 1, my replacement on order desk, one of our counter guys from my home location, my cousin's counter guy and a shippers from one of out out of town locations. Some said my advantage was unfair since I work in all our branches I know everyone there really wasn't anyone they could seat me with I did not know.

Last night we were at Dad's. Both Bros had their GF their, half bro we know him and his GF are going to get married we are all just waiting for him to put a ring on it but they are waiting as she just graduated from University and is working to find a job in her field. Other Bros GF is newer they just started dating but she is the complete opposite of his normal type and he is a totally different person since she entered the pic, we think she is a keeper but waiting for him to give some more info. Sis BF couldn`t make it, which I hate to say was nice as she was back to her old self being their alone, when he is there neither of them interact with the family where is she was with us the whole night. Now that we are older it is more about hanging out and catching up since out work lives are so all over the place.

I already knew what my Christmas present was, my Dad paid for my flight to Hawaii. We also all got a tickets to go snorkeling and have a BBQ dinner on the boat which will be as fun as that is booked for my birthday. There will also be another adventure booked for my half bro birthday as we will be in Hawaii for his birthday as well as our birthdays are exactly a week apart so we fly out 2 days before my birthday
and fly back 2 days after his.

I found out our flights will be a different this time, Dad, Step Mom and me fly out 45 minutes before the rest but will then meet up with everyone in Denver and we will all be on the same flight to Hawaii. Sis is coming home early so will have to travel back alone. Coming home both Bros, and Half Bro GF and me are on the same flights but Dad and Step Mom will be 45 minutes behind us and are actually taking a different route back, we are going through San Francisco but not sure where Dad and Step Mom are going through.

Today was at Mom`s nothing big as it is just the 3 of us which is nice. Kept it pretty simple and Mom got her Turkey Dinner, me and bro aren`t fan of turkey.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, We are now off work till the 9th so it is time to kick back and relax.

[Ciel]

Given the slushy state of snow in Southern Ontario, I'm thinking any lucky kid that got a Sno-Cone machine as a present had to be putting it to use today!

Merry Christmas to SCers celebrating this weekend!

Not sure that the freezing rain has come but I am looking forward to mild temperatures tomorrow.

[Ciel]

If anyone is a Club card member with Value Village and a 30% off clothing sale appeals, the event is on Monday only. Need the club card to get the discount.

I'll wait for January to see if a 50% clothing sale occurs and some newer pant stock arrives. I had visited the local store last week and saw only 1 out of 3 navy prospects. The other 2 prospects fit a petite person.