February 2020-Frugal Chatter

[Arjon]

I can see the lack of take out is getting to Mom, she tried to push for pizza last night but I made Nachos instead. I get it but we just cannot keep spending the money on take out. Mom is very much about right now and to her it isn't the money we are saving it is the feeling of not being able to have take out. It the same as when you say budget it isn't about saving money all she sees is having to go without, I get it but I don't, but oh well, no take out last night.

Do you have a monthly budget for take-out, has mom agreed to it, and do you track your spending so you both always know how much more is available to spend in the remaining days of each month?

[SassyAshley]

I do not budget take-out as I do not see it as a need. My Mom does not budget nor does she it handle it well when the word is mentioned. Not to mention my Mom is very much a now, live for the day person so if she knows there is money is the budget she has to spend it so I do not share our budget with her.

I can say she can appreciate a budget when there is extra money but for her that means we have money to spend. For example we do have a surplus in our grocery budget right now which I am hoping to use for our large Costco shop but if she knew we had that money she would spend it because we have it. She very much believes if we set that money aside it is to be spent. For example if we set aside $50/week for groceries we should be spending $50/week and it should be at zero at the end of the week. She like the township she feels if we don't spent it we will lose it, where is I like a surplus because now if needed I can use that money for a large Costco shop or I can move that money around if we come up short somewhere else. But I think that is her fear is that I will move the money around and then she feels like we lose that money even though it was just used in another area. So for this reason we do discuss the budget but no numbers are given unless we do not have enough money.

I get it she likes her take-out but I need her tame this a little bit because after I said well maybe one night if we are having a bad night we can get pizza. The next sentence was and when we get paid we need to have Mary Brown's too. It is hard because I think she views take out and eating out as her entertainment and it has always been our thing. I can remember back to being a kid and this was our thing she would call my grandparents and tell them not to feed me dinner as she was taking me out. As I got older it continued as she worked retail since my teen years she would get my grandparents to bring me to her work and we would go out to eat to spend time together and as I got older and started driving we would meet part way to eat. It has been our thing but the issue is we take it too far and it kills the budget.

Oh well we will work it out, we always do.

Do you have a monthly budget for take-out, has mom agreed to it, and do you track your spending so you both always know how much more is available to spend in the remaining days of each month?

[lizzie bargain]

SA-good for you standing firm on your budget. Nobody can force you to spend your money on takeout that you don't want.

[Frugalbigmama]

I do not budget take-out as I do not see it as a need. My Mom does not budget nor does she it handle it well when the word is mentioned. Not to mention my Mom is very much a now, live for the day person so if she knows there is money is the budget she has to spend it so I do not share our budget with her.

I can say she can appreciate a budget when there is extra money but for her that means we have money to spend. For example we do have a surplus in our grocery budget right now which I am hoping to use for our large Costco shop but if she knew we had that money she would spend it because we have it. She very much believes if we set that money aside it is to be spent. For example if we set aside $50/week for groceries we should be spending $50/week and it should be at zero at the end of the week. She like the township she feels if we don't spent it we will lose it, where is I like a surplus because now if needed I can use that money for a large Costco shop or I can move that money around if we come up short somewhere else. But I think that is her fear is that I will move the money around and then she feels like we lose that money even though it was just used in another area. So for this reason we do discuss the budget but no numbers are given unless we do not have enough money.

I get it she likes her take-out but I need her tame this a little bit because after I said well maybe one night if we are having a bad night we can get pizza. The next sentence was and when we get paid we need to have Mary Brown's too. It is hard because I think she views take out and eating out as her entertainment and it has always been our thing. I can remember back to being a kid and this was our thing she would call my grandparents and tell them not to feed me dinner as she was taking me out. As I got older it continued as she worked retail since my teen years she would get my grandparents to bring me to her work and we would go out to eat to spend time together and as I got older and started driving we would meet part way to eat. It has been our thing but the issue is we take it too far and it kills the budget.

Oh well we will work it out, we always do.

I know lots of friends that think date night is going out to a restaurant and spend on drinks and crappy food is the way to have quality time. For us we love cooking together and having a drink at home together. That is my fav date night.

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning! It is snowing here now. I heard on the radio that it is going to be cold tomorrow. I am pretty much done with winter.

I didn't do laundry last night but I am starting it as soon as I walk in the door. DS has a list of things to do (bringing ALL dirty laundry down to laundry room is on his list) He asked if he can have a sleepover Sunday night (since Monday is a holiday) Of course I said since he is a good sport sleeping at Gram's tomorrow night and he works during the day on Sat and Sun. So I hope to get all the laundry done tonight and the house tidy.

[Arjon]

It has been our thing but the issue is we take it too far and it kills the budget.

It seems to me that what may be killing your budget is not using it (enough) as a planning tool. Planning how much money to allocate to various categories of spending (as well as how much you plan to save) is a vital element of budgeting.

[Frugalbigmama]

I've had a Sportchek GC in my wallet for awhile (purchased at 15% off) It is Friends and Family days at Sportchek. I need new runners but will go back later to decide.
Socks are on Buy 1 Get 1 free. Awesome socks for my oldest DS reg price $19.99 marked down to $11.97 and Buy 1 Get 1 Free. So grabbed 2 packs. 1 for his birthday bag and 1 put away for Christmas.

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Good news, Mom and I continued to work on my yarn last night and now all of my open/part balls of yarn have been sorted, organized and put away. One more thing off my list.

Not really feeling my best today, I am really not feeling well. I think I am fighting something. I worked the morning in the office but came home just after 1 to work on training videos. I cannot record them in the office as there is too much background noise. I got 3 done, I have been hoping for more but oh well, they are not as easy to make as they look. I thought oh yeah this will be easy but it is not so easy. I am getting better the more I do but I did have to re do one as I realized when I was editing the video I missed a whole section.

I need to look over my to do list and see what I can tackle tonight. I have more stuff to post for sale but lately I am not having much luck moving stuff, even the stuff I have posted for free is not moving but the issue seems to be delivery and there is no way I am delivering a free item.

Not much else going on, I must go find something for dinner. Really bad timing but I was so tempted to have take out but I am pushing through and finding something I can cook.

Have a great day everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

Had a very productive day at work.
Put a load of laundry in the washer as soon as i got home. Leftovers for dinner fend for yourself.
I wrote out a packing list. Going to put start gathering stuff and check it off my list. I have a few things i need to pick up (sunscreen and snacks for plane) i will redeem PC pts for the stuff. I need to figure out DS's schedule so i can write it out for my mom. With him havkmg school/hockey and job it will keep my mom busy!
Have a great night everyone.

[Giseledta]

morning everyone.

my neighbor next door was involved in a car accident 2 nights ago.. she did not make it. my street is very quiet, she was a lovely lady
and will be very missed.


hubby and i will be staying in tonight. not going anywhere. very very cold out.. and i dont want to people. lol


today is pay.. so i need to do a bit of budget clean up .

i am hoping to stay in for a bit this weekend...

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy Friday!!! Short day today. We always close early on Friday when Monday is a holiday.
It is freezing here. Makes me happy to know I can soak in hot tub and pool at hotel later today . Overnight bag mostly packed but didn't want to put in car because everything would freeze.
Plan on my lunch is to go home and fold the laundry and then bring DS's overnight bag/work stuff to my mom's so she just has to worry about picking him up later and not his stuff.
I have my bag of Costco returns in the car. Will do that tomorrow on the way home. I have a pedicure appt. booked a nice spa tomorrow afternoon. Finally using up some of the GC's I have (wayspa?) They were suppose to be used at Scandinave Spa in Collingwood years ago but never made it and now they don't take them. I'm happy with free pedicures for the next while.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day! And happy weekend

[coupon girl]

afternoon got home at noon ,ahhh what a lovely stay at Niagara on the lake for 2 days ,I have never stayed in a nicer bed and awesome pillows ,plus a rose on my pillow each night and a few chocolates with oranges and 2 bottle of water when we arrived.(prince of wales hotel)We had free breakfast both days with our pkg deal expensive $45 for the two of us if it wasn't free we only paid the tip .

It was a romantic beautifull trip ,thanks to my kids as they gifted us this gift card for our anniversary and my birthday back in the fall.Hubby and I splurged at a local pizza place "pieza pizzeria" we had margerita pizza and salad last night the walk home was chilly.The first night ate in the pub burger and fries special 5.00 a lot of local's came so we waited half and hour,i had the best hot cider drink -yummm.

Shopped in a few gift shops ,always up for greaves jam ,found a pair of brown gloves nice knit ones for 14.99 on sale 9.45 in one gift shop ,got the grandkids a few chocolates and candy in a candy shop as we were remembering the chocolates when we were kids.

Also went into valumart and scopped a box of chex cereal the were reduced to 1.99 each bought 2 boxes -hubby laughed .
We still have some money left on giftcard so we will go back in the summer and take in a theatre showing and stay at the hotel .Our room even had a fireplace was much enjoyed after walking in the cold .

[lizzie bargain]

Sounds like a lovely getaway CG!

[SassyAshley]

Sorry to hear about your neighbour Giseledta

[SassyAshley]

Good Afternoon Everyone,
Working from home to do so I can process a mass upload/download. I won't be able to download until we close as it uses all of our system's resources. I am also working on tutorial videos since I am working from home.

Mom missed her ultra sound again as they wrote 11:30 on the form (this was the Ultra Sound place themselves) but actually booked her in at 11 and even though it was their error they said they were completely booked and could not get her in. So I went to our Doctor's office to get a requisition for her to go somewhere else. I got her in next Saturday morning there but she will probably be 15 minutes late for work.

Well I was out I ran into the grocery store to grab a few things, I will post more on this later, almost everything I was bought was on sale with the exception of a few things. All and all I spent $50, I was aiming for less but I found a few things on sale we needed to stock up so I figured I better grab them now. I am happy with my shop. Once I am done working I will go over the budget.

Still have to figure out what tonight's dinner will be tonight.

Well time to get back to work. Have a wonderful day everyone