April Frugal Chatter 2021 -Spring is there-!!!!

[GoodBoy]

The thing I like about the hydro rebate is it is in effect for you for two years before you have to reapply. 2021 income and 2022 income would not allow us to qualify so we are pleased 2020 was an anomaly which allowed us to. 2 years will be our max as our income will be too high to reapply but as you say ... why not! It will buy a couple of bottles of wine

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Not sure what is up this week but I am feeling a bit off, just not my normal self. I am just super tired, lacking focus and just kind of blah which is fine on a weekend but it is causing my work week to be a real struggle LOL.

I feel like I have been sleeping well but I still wake up so tired. My alarm goes off and whole body just screams NO.

I took a quick look at No Frills Flyer for next week and think I will wait and do out shopping either Thursday or Friday, there are more items on sale we use next week. Still not sure about the produce sales but I will look over all the local flyers and see what I can do. I do not want to go store to store but maybe a couple Price Matches, we will see. My No Frills can be hit and miss when you try to Price Match Produce, sometimes they do it no problem other times it is impossible.

Last night I made a new side dish, Parmesan Orzo with Peas, it was good although next time I make it, I will tweak the recipe. Does anyone else do this make the recipe as written once but if you make it again you start tweaking the recipe?

Now to decide on dinner for tonight, it truly is the never ending question.

Have a great day everyone

[Frugalbigmama]

After being off the past 2 days from work and being able to wake up when I want made it hard to get up today.

Good news is today is almost over and then only 2 days left this week .

I bought a whole chicken to try out in the air fryer. Will make mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans.
Putting one container of the taco meat I made yesterday into the freezer for the weekend (grabbing romaine tomorrow and then we have everything needed for tacos) I also bought steak but think I may put in the freezer as we will have lots of food to eat. Have hamburger buns for the boys to use up with beef and chicken burgers in the freezer. Love that they have lots of good options to choose from.

DS needs to pull the shrub out that I dug up. Once done I will put down a tarp in my SUV and put it and the leaves in there for the dump. I don't like leaving them at the side of the road waiting for pick up since they seem to sit our there for weeks. I just want them gone.

Enjoy the day!

[coupon girl]

Hubby had booked an appt a few weeks ago for today ,he had to get a new license plate -as our back plate had no numbers they had all came off .I told him i think it is free if they are defective but if you have to pay oh well.
Well on the back it tells you what year and no ours were not defective ,so $59.00 later .I thought maybe it may be $35.00 for the plates -gee i always guess less lately in life .Hubby said we could have gone along but if stopped by police the ticket for sure would have been more .

[Frugalbigmama]

Hubby had booked an appt a few weeks ago for today ,he had to get a new license plate -as our back plate had no numbers they had all came off .I told him i think it is free if they are defective but if you have to pay oh well.
Well on the back it tells you what year and no ours were not defective ,so $59.00 later .I thought maybe it may be $35.00 for the plates -gee i always guess less lately in life .Hubby said we could have gone along but if stopped by police the ticket for sure would have been more .

Mine have been peeled off for about 5 years lol. Never pulled over and still get 407 bill when I use it.

[SassyAshley]

I had mine replaced, walked out of my Dad's house and find the top layer gone. Guess I was lucky mine was warranty and I was not charged to replace mine.

Hubby had booked an appt a few weeks ago for today ,he had to get a new license plate -as our back plate had no numbers they had all came off .I told him i think it is free if they are defective but if you have to pay oh well.
Well on the back it tells you what year and no ours were not defective ,so $59.00 later .I thought maybe it may be $35.00 for the plates -gee i always guess less lately in life .Hubby said we could have gone along but if stopped by police the ticket for sure would have been more .

[coupon girl]

Ours were peeled off for about 3 years too .

[coupon girl]

Dont forget to save your p.c offers .

[Ciel]

It was hard to believe the layer of snow in the morning. I took a trusty plastic shovel and went at the snow, as I had put the larger shovels away just over a week ago. Laughs on me! #Spwinter2021 Most of it had melted by the time the evening news concluded at 7pm. Hope that the daffodils and tulips rebound--I had to clear the snow off of them as they were snowed under.

I had viewed about 6 properties (most in my town) posted online and I've noticed somethings that irk me as a viewer of photos:
1) a $1M+ property _money was spent on the house and front yard but not on the backyard, particularly the 5 or so trees on both property lines-fences are jammed right against their trunks. If the late Alex Trebek spent $$$$$+ to move a mature oak tree on his property (that was a story and community issue), why did the property owners not move say 3 trees to make a stand in the mid-backyard and stump the other trees that sit on the property lines? That backyard could cause prospective buyers to go "wait a minute."
2) three new townhouse builds in one survey are basically shades of gray decor-wise indoors (exteriors have different colours) and lousy tile choices except the last house that used fancier backsplash tiles in the kitchen area. It's like an interior depiction of H*ll as seen in What Dreams May Come film. Two of the properties have backyards/common greenspace adjacent to the local public works parking lot. There is no shrubbery or grass yet planted to soften the abrupt change in scenery. The homes are listed for $600000+.
3) A 20yr+ townhouse in my neighbourhood looks fine in the two levels then somehow there's no drywall covering the vapour barrier and insulation in the laundry room. Two different companies built the survey (two stages) with one having gone out of business. Either the drywall was never installed, or current owner(s) had an issue that required the removal of the drywall. Selling for $549000 (homes in this survey don't stay long on the market).
4) Some older homes in east Hamilton look fairly well-decorated until you see the state of foundation walls in one or more places in the basement, some weird structure issues (5 grey stanchions with square plywood toppers support the main floor load (what happened there??))or possible DIY efforts (dangling electrical box near a furnace in one case) that just ruin the houses.
5) Real estate photographers won't adjust your bedding (even if it looked like someone just used it), remove the tape roll or caulking tube in view of the image being taken--so owners, make sure you do a quick run through prior to photo appointment and fix those issues. The photographers are only doing their jobs, not yours.
6) So owners maybe patched a wall, updated the paint but failed to coil any cables or coaxial lines (left sprawled on the floor), forgot to tidy the mess of outdoor chairs/hardware supplies in the backyard/patio area or sections of tree stump still outside or most importantly-cut back/trim any trees or shrubs or planters near the front of the house or side entrance. The whole property is on "stage." Not a good look if trying to sell an older home that does not have the words "sold as is" in the listing description.

It occurred to me that I forgot about the May census. Since Stats Can is promoting the online completion of the census and cards are being mailed out around May 3, I will hold onto the computer for at least another week and updated my friend on the reason. I usually complete the census soon after the code/card comes to our mailbox. This year, I don't want the long version. On Twitter, some people are actively seeking the long census forms but 1 in 4 gets that privilege by random selection as determined by Statistics Canada.

Teachers, I posted an Indigo contest in the Contest subforum. Recommend a book to be entered to win 1 of 3 $100 gift cards.

CIBC sent me a letter on Tuesday about the account changes. My monthly account fee goes up 10 cents to $4.00 (in July) and as of July 21, e-statements can be mailed out for a fee otherwise accountholders can do their own online lookups or printing. I intend to close my account this month and not have to worry about it. I'll miss being able to get coins for bills as needed, since it seems harder to find places that offer actual money with CSRs in branches. The letter did state that the last date for passbook updates is July 18 and there was no mention of any COVID protocols preventing book updates now...will find out what actually happens this week.

Yet another relation has sent news of a baby on the way in the fall. At least there is a baby gift ready to send when Mom feels the timing is right (too soon to do it now, as I had wanted).

Looks like I cannot postpone a grocery shop on Thursday. Too many things are consumed in the fridge and pantry. Also need more Band-Aids and fruit. The community paper came Wed night and most of the grocery flyers (except Walmart and Longos) plus Rexall were in the bundle!

[Ciel]

Bro and I watched a clip of the new Mortal Kombat movie on Youtube. I asked him to run the trailer for Shang-Chi and Bro claims not to know anything about it (IMDB has a teaser for that movie).

[Ciel]

There are problems *technical* with Air Miles today. Cannot look up profiles (I was able to log in but there are no points balances showing) or earn Air Miles through Air Miles Shops site right now. Just a heads up if you were planning to go out to Sobeys or elsewhere to get points.

I'll check site later today-still a chance I might have 95 AM as a result of last week's shop with so many points (bonus and earned) acquired so I'm keen to visit Sobeys this week. Not today...

[Ciel]

Today's online shopping at Shoppers Drug Mart bonus PC points offer:
https://shop.shoppersdrugmart.ca/opt...pco-50k-wk16_1

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Really struggling right now, yesterday was not my day. Just a lot coming at me from work and then I had to go with Mom to take her Rental car back. Her car went in for a recall and they gave her a rental car but they only authorized the rental for 17 days and when they were part way through the repair a part was backordered. They would not extend the authorization for Rental even though she does not have her car back so we had to return the rental which is no big deal since we never leave the house. But they called her at like 12:30 yesterday to tell her it was not extended and she needed to have the car back by 2 pm, grrrr, I was eyeball high with work but if we didn't get it back she would be charged for one day.

When I got home I was catching up on work and I disagreed with someone who decided to question if I was doing my job properly and add everyone on to that email, that was it I kind of lost it. It was one of those breaking point moments, I called my boss and was like I have worked the last 3 out of 4 weekends and have been starting at 5 am and working until 8 pm to stay on top of this as we cannot run this process well we are open. He is on my side which is nice, but guess I misunderstood as there is now a meeting which I thought I was part of but nope, not included.

Just feeling kind of knocked down right now. Last night I went to bed with the total intention of okay today was a bad day putting it behind me tomorrow is a new day but looks like it is not quite behind me yet. Honestly, I just kind of broke down this morning. I kind of feel like I cannot win, I get told I am not included because of X, so I work on but then I cannot be included because of Y. Right now I find it funny, I was told I was excluded from my work groups because I am not vocal enough, I do not have opinions but when I have a voice and and vocalize my opinion it comes back to haunt me.

Sorry for my long post, just needed to get it off my chest and working with your family sometimes it just feels like you have nowhere to turn. Even my family I do not work with all have opinions and sometimes you just need to have a moment.

On another note, need to find a recipe that used mushrooms for dinner, I have quite a few I need to use up. I want to use them up before I go shopping. Thinking I will try a new recipe again tonight, I am really enjoying trying these new recipes. Plus I think some cooking is just what I need right now, chopping and stirring always relaxes me. Might have to do some baking as well, I have some apples and ricotta I need to use up.

Okay, let's hope all of this is behind me I can just move on, I think I have mentally prepared myself to yet again lose the battle, pretty sure I will get a call when the meeting is over to just give them what they want. Although I am not happy about it but yeah tis life, well my life but time to work on the million and one other tasks on my plate.

It is grey and flurries are still coming down but hey this is Spring in Canada, have a great day everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! The sun was shining bright but now is hidden by clouds.
Will bundle up soon and go for a walk. I need some fresh air.

DS is sleeping in (PA DAY) Once he is up I will ask him to bring the laundry baskets to the laundry room and I will get started on laundry. 1st load my stuff since I hang most of it to dry.

Just need romaine for groceries for the next week (1.88 at Food Basics for the 3pk) Will grab 2. Then we are set. We have tons of clementines, cantaloupe, bananas and frozen fruit and veggies. I will make rice later today and make chicken fried rice tomorrow for DS. I should double the batch. Then maybe there would be some for 2 days at least. Will use the cooked chicken in the freezer. and frozen peas and corn

There are 2 full chicken/mashed potatoes/gravy/green beans dinners in the fridge. I may have 1/2 of one for lunch. (I packed them big for the boys)

ok off to get some work done!

[coupon girl]

sassy -i hear you ,it must be hard sometimes working with family and from home

My dear daughter is trying to work from home (she writes plus take on other duties) plus teach sebastian junior kindergarden online ,yesterday she told me all the stay at home moms made aa bingo card of animals (the teacher gave them an hour) to make for the afternoon .My daughter had a deadline to finish so she didnt get to it .

She works later at night when sebastian goes to bed and on weekends the odd time to keep up with her job .