May 2020 Frugal Chatter Thread

[SassyAshley]

They announced this afternoon that CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) has been cancelled.

Me and Sis has a dispute about this about a week or so ago when John Tory mentioned it would probably be cancelled but Ford said he wasn't ready to make that call yet. I sided with Tory as honestly I could not see how it could go ahead and have people socially distance but Sis did not agree and argued it could not be cancelled. I am not trying to be mean about this I was just being realistic.

It is the same as I highly doubt by Father's Day we will be allowed to have large gatherings, some members of the family have high hopes we will be allowed to have a BBQ. But I do not see how especially since we are a large family made up of 4 separate households.

But I do understand this is me, for my own mental health I need to be realistic as getting my hopes up if it is unrealistic really knocks me down mentally. Where is some of my family prefers to live on hope.

All I know for sure is this is going to be one very weird summer.

[barbis9]

Can't believe the CNE is cancelled. I have gone every year since I was a child.

ventured to Costco and was happy to find Cottonelle in stock and on sale. I also picked up 2 large packages of raspberries (super fresh) for $4.99, salad and bananas- spent $35 so I'm happy. Also had a hot dog and pop for $1.50 plus tax. Sadly my Parmesan chips were not in stock. Surprised that Costco didn't mandate face masks, I wore one as it helps with my allergies. Long line up to pay but no line up outside.

Tried to find light green tea towels are Dollarama but they are all gone. Will try another store when I picked up a few things that Fortinos didn't have in stock.

[barbis9]

I forgot to share my happy news. I won 250.00 in gift cards of my choice to downtown retailers. Of course all the shops are closed but I can pick restaurants and bakeries so I think that’s going to be my plan. It was a Facebook contest which I never enter so I was glad to win to win their Mother’s Day contest.

Congrats! What a nice surprise.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Okay, better day but still did not get everything done. Meetings were done by noon but had some stuff to work on.

Well I made my lunch I cooked off some Pasta Shells which I stuffed with the Spinach & Ricotta mix I made on the weekend. These are now in the freezer in a shingle layer and I will package into meal size portions tomorrow.

I also washed up the few hand dishes we had, we also loaded and turned on the dishwasher.

Then well we were making dinner I emptied the Dishwasher and made a Crustless Cranberry Pie to use up some cranberries. After cleaning out the freezers I have I think 8 to 10 bags of cranberries we found between the freezers. We use some Cranberries at Christmas time but we do not go through this many.

I also wanted to make French Onion Pasta Bake to use up some Heavy Whipping Cream and Mushrooms but I did not get this done today, will hopefully get this done tomorrow during lunch.

I also need to get some cleaning done this week too.

I think tomorrow Mom is going to go and do a small mid month shop locally, she will just grab a few things. The big thing we need is Milk, not sure what is up but we are going through a ton of Milk. We bought one bag last month and had 2 bags in the freezer, we have already gone through 2 bags it will be 2 weeks Thursday since we shopped. I have made a mental note to up the amount of Milk we buy next month. She will also grab a few things we do not buy at Costco like Garlic, Green Onions & Peach Jam. Right now my plan is not shop again until the week May 25th.

Alright, got a couple small things I need to finish up for work, just some simple code work and then to relax a bit before bed.

Have a great night everyone.

[greentires4me]

I’ve been awake since 3:30 am it’s now 9:40pm 18hours awake for. I cannot sleep it’s raining outside I hate this kind of weather. We planted our veggies tonight while it just poured on us. I also helped a friend tonight get an internet box from Shaw.

Earlier today I saw my doctor he’s faxing the hospital for an X-ray on my lungs. Then they’ll call me with a date and time to have an X-ray. Coronavirus protocol I think.

I have to write up all my meds and they’ll put it on file downstairs.


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[Frugalbigmama]

Happy Hump day!

Sunshine is out! Looks nice out. Popping out to Giant Tiger this morning to grab a few things I saw in the flyer. Is it the long weekend coming up???? Geez. that snuck up. Guess I am done work early on Friday and off Monday......... Really doesn't excite us too much anymore when we can't go anywhere. Same with booking vacation days. Why bother to go nowhere. I want to go somewhere!!

[SassyAshley]

I feel the vacation days, I know most of our staff is cancelling their vacations days as they cannot go anywhere or do anything.

I thought about take one or two to make a long weekend but with my meeting and webinar schedule, I just cannot make it work. Fridays I have a meeting at 10 am, my Monday Meeting has been moved to Tuesdays but Mondays are so busy with everyone getting back and "issues" arising, not to mention I am never as motivated on a Monday. I am worried if I took a Monday off either I would constantly end up on my laptop as issues arise or it would turn into a Netflix day and I do not want to use a vacation for Netflix.

Although you know how things are going when I am excited I have a doctor appointment tomorrow I actually have to go to the Doctor Office for so I get to get out of the house. It will be a short trip, this appointment literally take 1 minute but it will get me out of the house.

Right now my plan is to not grocery shop again until the week of May 25th, aside from Milk which Mom is going to get today we are not really running low on anything so I am not worried. Even as I look at things, even with eating 3 meals a day at home we are not going through certain things as fast as expected so I am hopeful this will be a smaller shop. But with that said if they stock of certain items, we will grab just to have on hand like another package of Chicken Breasts and Ground Beef.

I have not heard of shortages in Canada yet but I am hearing about them in the US, I realize we have a different supply chain but it is one of those things I am conscious of. Lately I am watching a lot of Grocery Haul videos to get ideas as most also include meal ideas (trying to get variety in our lives) and I see a lot of US Hauls where they are having issues getting Meat, there are strict limits. Right now we are good on meat but like I said, if they have it I will grab it as I would prefer to have too much (since it is in the freezer anyways) than running into a situation where we are out and cannot get any. I am sure there will be a shop where I say, no we are good but I am not there yet.

Also depending on what else we need and if we have room in the freezer I might grab a couple whole chickens and maybe some Steaks as a treat. We do not make Steak often as we usually make meals where we use Strips or Chunks which are from a cheaper cut of meat and they go further. For us it is like using Chicken Chunks vs a whole Chicken Breast, if we use chunks it is 1 breast for 2 of us, if we use the whole breast we each eat 1 so we use 2 breasts per meal, just so much cheaper to use Chunks. Also depending on the dish when we use chunks a lot of times we have leftovers so it is more than 1 meal from 1 chicken breast which I admit, I love. It is like we stopped using a whole pound of Ground Beef in recipes and now only use 1/2 lb and usually add some veggies like Mushrooms. With that being said honestly we have not noticed a difference when we make things like Pasta with a 1/2 lb. Since we made the change we have never felt like it was lacking in meat.

[Frugalbigmama]

@ Sassy. I actually making a steak dinner pretty cheap when you buy steak on sale. Usually cheaper then making homemade burgers etc. ( and much cheaper then any take out meal. ) Splurge

[Angela273]

Sometimes my daycare family’s plans continue to change. I won’t have my oldest daycare girl today.

My kids and I are trying a new recipe. It is crusty buns, but the recipe calls it a French bread dough. I’m hoping it turns out ok. I think the dough is soft, but it matched the description earlier in the recipe’s instructions. It’s rising now. I have a timer going for Wgen we need to shape it into buns. I’m planning bun sandwiches and soup for supper tonight.

edit: The buns were a bit. They are browned on the outside, but very soft on the inside.

[SassyAshley]

Good Evening Everyone,
Pretty good day here, I was up, write a new procedure for work, sent it off for approval.

Mom went and did out grocery shopping, she got Milk x 2, Crackers (on sale) x 2, Green Onions, Cherry Tomatoes and Goat Cheese. Has it not of been for the milk we would not have gone but I am happy with our small little mid month shop, it fits in with my vision of once a month shopping. Now I just need to get the price of our big shop down, I think I can do it this month, only area of concern is meat. If everything was normal, no Covid, I would actually not be buying meat this shop but I just cannot risk it if they have it not buying it now, in case I cannot get later.

Well Mom was grocery shopping I made my French Onion Pasta Bake, it was just finishing up as Mom got home and she decided we might as well have it for dinner. I know she did not feel like cooking, I offered but she was happy with the French Onion Bake so we had half for dinner and the other half is in the fridge packaged to go in the freezer. I also made Cheesy Garlic Naan and Cesar Salad.

I also did up the few hand dishes we had, not a lot but they were big bulk items, a large food storage bin, Roaster Pan & Lid and our big all use pot we use for like pasta and potatoes. As well, I need to run this dishwasher tonight.

Tomorrow not sure how much I will get done, I have to go to the doctor, it will be a quick appointment. Then come home, I will have about an hour before I need to go and pick up lunch for the branch. Right now all of our branches are ordering lunch once a week as a thank you to our staff but also to support local restaurants. So I need to go pick up lunch and take it to the branch. So there goes my morning.

Been talking with Mom about how we can clean up the basement, so far it has just been talk, hoping soon this moved to happening. Maybe tomorrow, her and her friend are having coffee over the phone tomorrow so maybe when I get back I see if she will go downstairs with me.

It has been working really well for me to take a break in the afternoon and then do some work after dinner, I am feeling better and I am getting more done. Only downside was last night I worked right until I went to bed and I found once I went to bed my head was still spinning and I had trouble falling asleep so from now on, I want to be done work by 8 pm to give me time to wind down before bed.

Going to edit a document for work and send a proposal to a manager and then time to relax.

Have a great night everyone.

[Angela273]

Since SK schools are officially closed for the rest of this school year, we have received an email with specific instructions on how to return school books and pick up Ds’ school supplies from the school.

[Giseledta]

good evening all.

unless the powers that be .... or the virus suddenly gets worst .. looks like i am working June 1 or 2.

picked up my moms independent order.. i popped in.. looked for few things that i have on my Unicorn list.... ( items that are totally sold out.. and cannot be found... ) of course did not find them... lol. did find a 10 foot long blow up pool for the daycare ... total score.. 46.99. perfec t for hot kids this summer. ...... as i avoid wading pools and splash pads....
also found a sprinkler... total fun stuff.

made a dollar store list of items for summer play. i am brain storming summer fun activies.

next 2 days , rain.. so its operation .. put the daycare areas togheter

[Giseledta]

good morning. sigh. sleep.... sigh...


ok. plan for the day.. couple of bonus videos for my workshop.
oldest has a dr appt. .. at a actual dr.. omg.
i need to work on the dc room. i have 2 of them . goal . is one totally done today... prob not going to happen. but i can dream

watch the ford news thing. ... consider day drinking....... make a blunt post to my Daycare parents. reality is every family has different needs. They might be considering different options for childcare.. and all need to be supported with that. They also need to be aware of what exposure my house will give them........ 6 degrees of kevin bacon as it were. i also need to let them know of a few, ever changing protocals for coming to my house....
sigh...

again... consider day drinking....


supper, leaning towards chicken, potatoes, and some veg... hmm.

[SassyAshley]

**HUGS** Giseledta, none of this is easy.

I know for some reason I am really opinionated on this, which is odd for me, normally I sit back and say nothing. More than anything is need for people to feel safe and realize at least for the foreseeable future we are not getting "normal" back and that truly sucks. But, everyone needs to do what they can to support each other even if it is from a far. We are all facing different challenges and although we may not be walking to same path or fully understand how someone feels all we can do is support them.

[Angela273]

Yay! I won a 2 topping pan pizza from Pizza Hut. It’s a contest on Facebook through our radio station. I’ll try to win again next month.