June 2023 Frugal Chatter

[barbis9]

@walkonby raspberries never last a day here. But that may change with ds1 gone. But I did try a hack I found on tik tok. Ok it was a tik tok on Facebook because I am not that cool. I washed and dried strawberries and then put them in a mason jar. I told the kids to not eat them for 5 days to see if it really kept them fresh and it worked. It’s supposed to work for grapes and raspberries too.
I have just loaded DS up with snacks and health and beauty stuff to get him through summer. He did ask if we can restock when we see him in August and of course I said yes. Today my sister in law was checking to see what he likes for snacks. This is the one who prefers grape tomatoes to chips so he is pretty easy to please.
Today he did an oil change on his car so I told him to use the CT points. He has a CT triangle card on my account that he pays so I always get the points from his gas, so it was easy to save him some money. And I had an offer for bonus points on an oil change so I earned 12.00 in points.

@lilo0003 I saw that on Facebook as well. Thanks for confirming that it does work. I usually will pick up raspberries at Costco if they are not on sale locally. Thankfully blueberries last longer.

[barbis9]

TGIF and Good Morning! Rainy day here today! Which is ok with me since my veggies needed watering and I didn't get out to do it last night.

Bought a new vacuum and steam mop yesterday so excited to use them tomorrow!

Tonight I am taking my mom and sister out for dinner for their birthdays. It has been a very long time since just the 3 of us have been out alone with no partners/kids etc. It will be nice!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

@Frugalbigmama which steam mop did you buy? Let us know how it works for you.

[barbis9]

I’m with you @Ciel21 I never peel potatoes. Even when I make mashed potatoes I leave the skins on. All that fibre and nutrients is such a waste to throw away.

@harbie I love the skin on baked potatoes and have never thought of not peeling them for mashed potatoes. Thanks for the tip!

[barbis9]

Bought local strawberries at Fortinos - they are so good but $6.99 a container. I thought that price was bad until I popped into Farm Boy and they were selling local for $7.99

Costco is discontinuing a lot of items - I found out the 9kg of Kirkland small dog food for $25.99 is no longer being carried. I posted on our local Costco facebook group and found a full bag that a person in my area was going to return as her dogs developed an allergy to the food. I now have enough food till the end of the year, and will have to find a new brand to transfer my dog over to slowly. A small bag at the pet store is close to $30 now. Does anyone feed regular sized kibble to their small dogs?

My cheddar whisps at Costco also got discontinued and now I am buying a much smaller bag at Shoppers on seniors' day. When I inquired at Costco, they said if they couldn't get a particular price, they would stop carrying the item. Grrrr. I would have paid more.

Saw a cheap hack for an air cleaner. The person said to use a square box fan and attach a regular furnace filter to it. That this would be similar to an air cleaner but at a much better price. Considering some air cleaners are in the hundreds, I may try this.

Have a great Friday everyone.

[SassyAshley]

@barbis9 , personally I have found Costco's produce has gone downhill. It used to be so much better and at times depending on price, if close I would Costco as they would last so much longer, but not anymore.

We were discussing it at work as one of our managers used to be a manager at Costco and even he said the same thing. Because of the way distribution has changed, he said now they spend way too long in the distribution centers and on trucks that by the time they reach the store they need to be sold and consumed immediately.

[walkonby]

It was a wonderfully frugal find today at Wmart! Three bags that had THREE heads of Romaine lettuce in each and were marked down for $1.71 each!
Once at home I did the cleanup of the few outer rusty parts on all of them and have bagged it all in large ziplocs. They had Iceberg on for a mere .74 each, so I grabbed 5 heads. It will be a salad week going forward!

Not sure if anyone else bought any of those silly Foot Long Hot Dogs when GT had a sale BUT I found suitable buns that will almost fit them! On the reduced bakery cart 5 buns for $1.67 !! ( I grabbed all 4 bags ) In the freezer they went till the BBQ on Canada Day.

Then at FB I got 4 more cans of corned beef ( $2.75 ea.), 3 heads of cauliflower @ $1.92 ea. DH and DS 2% milk for $3.97 ( still only buying them 1 x 2L cartons at a time, otherwise it goes off ). Scored a giant bag of surprisingly green fresh broccoli crowns for $1.49 off their reduced produce cart. That has all been trimmed and par steamed and half of it is tucked into a large ziploc to freeze. The rest will be eaten over the weekend as a side beg.

Begrudgingly though, I bought two trays of raspberries @ $3.88 ea. Will be doing the mason jar trick as soon as I am done here. My " breakfast " was at 2 p.m. lol
Got off to such a late start by sleeping in till 10 a.m. then dashed out to start the shopping rounds, so I was famished by the time I ate.

[coupon girl]

Evening hubby and i are working on stripping our deck from paint ,so we can stain it .Hubby was gonna rent a power washer for $65 for 4 hours and i said nope cause it is a huge deck so we bought a power washer on thursday at canadian tire .When you spent over $250 you got $40.00 in points on thursday only,so a bonus deal for us.

Missed going to shoppers seniors day as we had the girls after school and i was tired after.Little miss cara age 5 has glasses now ,she looks so cute and grown up-when we leave she always gives us a hug -ahhhhhh.

[lilo0003]

@barbis9 this is so crazy but the only reason I knew Costco stopped with the small dog kibble was a ISO post in my looking Costco group. Pretty sure we are in the same group but I hate the parking lot at your location so will go to a Mississauga one. DS and DH stopped at Costco in Quebec City. They needed to pick up beer as it’s so much cheaper there. DS needed new ear buds and was going to order them to ship to Nova Scotia but he found what he wanted there and for 60.00 less.
I am working on my grocery and wow, I am so excited for the cheap cauliflower and pineapples.
Saturday looks good for paddling and the younger son is coming with me.

[Angela273]

Today was our kids’ Track & Field day. The weather was quite good, though hot as it has been all week. Some things could have been better organized…I wasn’t able to find our oldest son all morning. Parents aren’t told that high jump for Grade 5 and up was in the school gym. That’s ds’ favourite event and he got 3rd in it this year. Each grade was assigned a colour of shirt that they needed to wear for the day. Ds’ grade was assigned pink, so I bought him a brand new shirt at WM. I didn’t expect that only 2 kids in his group would actually wear pink shirts…so I was looking for a group of boys in pink shirts…but they weren’t wearing their assigned colour.

Anyway, students received a ribbon if they were in the top four in the event. Our twins each got one ribbon and Ds got two. The kids all had packed lunches, but I still bought them treats from the canteen. I thought the canteen items were reasonably priced.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Oh, what a week. I admit I was physically and mentally done on Wednesday but the week was not over yet.

My original plan had been to go shopping Thursday after work but that did not happen. I had to run into a branch to drop off something that missed a truck and one thing lead to another and I was there almost 4 hours. I came home and started working on one of my many projects and I can admit it, I got on a roll and was finally making progress, I am a sucker for being able to cross things off. So I ended up working late as it was all just falling into place.

Yesterday, it was bothering me that I had still not made it to Costco as I have been putting it off for 2 weeks because of work. My schedule has just been so insane and by the time I was done work, I just did not have a Costco trip in me. But the list was getting super long plus there were some sales I wanted to take advantage of so off I went yesterday. It ended up being a large shop and I spent way more than I had hoped but they also had some really good sales.

They had Mom's Collagen & Calcium Magnesium on sale as well as Allergy pills so I stocked up on all 3.
Grabbed more Kleenex as we have been going through it at an insane rate lately and it was on sale.
We did not need them yet but they were on sale so I grabbed a package of Swiffer Dry & Swiffer Wet Clothes.
Mushrooms were on sale for $4.49 for a 680g pack so I grabbed two.
Grabbed a Miracle Whip as it was on sale and we needed it, I have been watching for sales.
Then I got all the day-to-day stuff we needed: a package of Chicken Breasts, Ricotta, Bocconcini, Hot Dog & Hamburger Buns, Hot Dogs, Chips & Nachos, Naan, Cheese & Cheese Slices.

I still need to do some shopping locally, but will do that after the weekend. Not in the mood to deal with the super crowded stores.

Today, I have a lot I need to do around the house but I am lacking ambition today. I would be happy to just sit on the couch all day. Weekends are a bit of a struggle because I have stuff to get done but by the time we get to the weekend, I just want a break. Hoping I will find some ambition in this cup of tea.

Happy Saturday Everyone

[barbis9]

@barbis9 this is so crazy but the only reason I knew Costco stopped with the small dog kibble was a ISO post in my looking Costco group. Pretty sure we are in the same group but I hate the parking lot at your location so will go to a Mississauga one. DS and DH stopped at Costco in Quebec City. They needed to pick up beer as it’s so much cheaper there. DS needed new ear buds and was going to order them to ship to Nova Scotia but he found what he wanted there and for 60.00 less.
I am working on my grocery and wow, I am so excited for the cheap cauliflower and pineapples.
Saturday looks good for paddling and the younger son is coming with me.

@lilo0003 I avoid the Mississauga location due to parking lol. But I like that it is a much larger store. I heard a rumor that the outlet mall at Burloak Drive might be having a Costco built there as a lot of the stores are empty. When the outlet was built, the Wyecroft bridge was supposed to be built but it was delayed for a considerable amount of time, and a lot of the stores closed.

[harbie]

Your schedule always makes me want to lay down and take a nap @SassyAshley . Make sure to make time for yourself.

Another cool rainy ish start to the day so nothing todo outside except maybe take more lettuce from the garden . I just can’t keep on top of it and we eat A LOT of salad.

Plan for the day is workout and deep clean the bathroom. Everything else is just in need of a light vacuum and what weekend isn’t complete without laundry? What else is new?

Our air purifier replacement filters arrived yesterday and we were desperately needing them. Just the 20 hours it’s been replaced has been such an improvement in our stuffy allergies. I love that machine!

The only groceries we need is non dairy milk and creamer otherwise we’re pretty much stocked, at least with things that can get us through the week easily. Oh I forgot we should get more oats and flax but other than that we’re good to go.

Have a great weekend everyone.

[coupon girl]

Oh my goodness ,cut the back lawn while hubby powerwashed the old paint off the deck and then we scrape also.Will be so glad when it is done,small steps may take all summer at our age.We are half done,sort of .

Hung one load out on the line.

[Skippy]

@harbie I love the skin on baked potatoes and have never thought of not peeling them for mashed potatoes. Thanks for the tip!

I always leave the skin on potatoes in whatever form they're being made including potato salad!

[lilo0003]

DH and DS1 are safely in Nova Scotia. Hubby flies home Monday. I am jealous he gets few days with my brother but I will be there soon enough. Fil came for dinner tonight. He usually comes Sundays but I am going to Niagara on the Lake Sunday.
I managed to score an amazing clearance deal at Rexall. They had lady speed stick deodorant on clearance with a 3.00 off sticker, so it was 1.17 I bought 4 and am now kicking myself for not buying more. I can’t remember the last time I had a deal like that. They had a lot of manager stickers so I made sure to wander all the aisles. I found Christie cookies that were 1.00 after the coupons so picked up 2. Then I used points and earned 5000 be well points for doing so.