2025-07 July Frugal Thread

[barbis9]

Rescued 5x 120g KitKat bars from the dump; 3x Classic and 2x salted caramel.

@HermanH I'm jealous! They have made the new salted caramel smaller 90g and way too sweet So I'm back to salted caramel Caramilk bars.

[SassyAshley]

@barbis9 , Your comment about Men's styles made me laugh. There were a group of us chatting at work 4 women and 1 man about shirt for an upcoming work event. The comment was made that all of the women size up and all of the men size down.

Women get handed a large and ask if there is an XL, Men are handed a Large and they ask for a medium.

Years ago half way down would be "okay" but I was also probably 25 to 35 lbs lighter.

My main issue is I spend a lot of time these days working in our learning center at work where we have a massive TV mounted on the way and I am constantly lifting my arms and pointing to the screen and I do not want to worry about my top going up. I would spend the whole training session worried my top was going up.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
It is a work from home day.

Work wise I need to create some quizzes for my "lectures" and also write a 3-Month Test for one position.

I currently have laundry going, towels are in the dryer and regular laundry is in the washer. Loving the large capacity and being able to wash the towels in one load. Although I will admit going back to the top load I have to remember to spread them out vs the front load where you just cram it all in.

I also need to get the floors done, I keep forgetting to take the vacuum up with me. I get upstairs to remember I forgot it and said next time and again I forget it.

Thinking tonight for dinner I will make Yogurt Curry Chicken (I am slightly obsessed with with marinating my chicken in yogurt, oh so good) with Rice Pilaf and some sort of veggie. I was thinking Salad but then I remembered we have some zucchini so maybe a mushroom and zucchini stir fry.

I really need to up my game when it comes to sides, last week I was stuck on rice and this week it is pasta, which if it was just me, I would probably just go with it but I know Mom wouldn't like it. She is not the type to eat the same things night after night. Even though the rice would be with different dishes I know I would get a comment.

I am in one of those why is food so hard moods. Everything feels like we just had it. So I need to pull out some new recipes to add to the rotation.

Happy Monday Everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

@sassy- Same boat regarding dinner. Thinking I will pull the freezer bag of chicken from freezer (marinated) let it thaw in sink of water and then make rice and veggie. If it gets eaten great, if not it will be made into stir-fry tomorrow night Now I am feeling like a nice Greek salad would be nice!

And it is way too hot out to enjoy anything! Even the beach is too hot unless you are in the water the entire time...and then you have to worry about the sun!
I have managed well this year with keeping the sun off me (fair haired and skinned- I burn!!) I do want to go for a swim tonight so will have to dig out the umbrella. An evening at the beach sounds nice

[SassyAshley]

@Frugalbigmama , I am very pale, that is just me and I have to laugh for some reason this year so many people have asked me if I am going to tan (I have never tanned). But what they do not get is a go from glow-in-the-dark white to crispy back to glow-in-the-dark white.

I just avoid the sun the best I can and have embraced the pale skin.

[Frugalbigmama]

We needed an ice cream treat late last night ( of course I didn't want any of the ice cream we had at home) so I went to RCSS at 930pm ( I am never out that late lol)

They had grapes for .48C LB. I was going to buy some and I am sure I could have made a perfect bag (they had tons- I'm sure that is why it was a clearance deal) but I gave up. Great price!

[HermanH]

@HermanH why on earth would someone dump Jersey Milk bars???? They are delicious. Good for you. Curious - what store?

RCSS

@HermanH I'm jealous! They have made the new salted caramel smaller 90g and way too sweet So I'm back to salted caramel Caramilk bars.

I think that I remember you asking about them, awhile ago. I'll send them your way.

[Angela273]

I inventoried our chest freezer on the weekend, since I knew we were running low on various meats. I went to Sobeys this morning in hopes of buying discounted meat and it worked out.
2x chicken thighs - $3 sticker + Bogo = $2.05/lb
3x $1.99/lb small packs of lean ground pork
2x lean ground beef family packs - $10 stickers ($4.38-$4.46/lb)
3x extra lean ground beef family packs - $10 stickers ($5.86 - $6.0.6/lb)
1x 50% off sour cream
4x $1.99 Premium Plus soda crackers

The sticker value counts towards the total spend, so I spent $84 oop and earned bonus 1,000pts for “spending” $100. I paid for this purchase with Sobeys gift cards that I bought when they had bonus points offer on their gift cards.

I am making hamburgers to eat today and meatballs for the freezer.

[Angela273]

We’re currently eating leaf lettuce, radishes, peas, yellow string beans, cherry tomatoes, chives, and red rhubarb from our garden.
I don’t know what’s up with our raspberry plants, but they aren’t even flowering yet. Some people in my area have an abundance of raspberries and are freezing extras.

[SassyAshley]

@Angela273 , sounds like an amazing shop.

I am jealous of your gardening skills and your gardens. That is one skill I do not have. Every few years I tell myself this will be the year but all my plants die or something else eats everything before it ripens so I think I have officially given up.

[Thumpersmom]

I meant to post this deal Thursday but there is still time left if you have access to Real Canadian Superstore, degree is on sale this flyer for 2.99 and there is/was a downloadable coupon on their site for 2.00 off. I was able to pick up 4 ladies deodorant. That’s like a pre pandemic price. The men’s did not work and I never had a chance to go back and now we are in Quebec so no chance to try.
I had a brutal day yesterday. The freezer was fully stocked for the kids while we are gone and it died after 24 years. It was 4pm by the time we realized we needed to replace it and thankfully my bff had room for the stuff that needed to stay frozen. We had very few options as we needed in stock and so late last night we picked up one up at HD that is considerably smaller than what we had but knowing we have less than 2 years here it works. The plus side is it can be fridge or freezer so this will go to NS to be our second fridge. It’s a necessity when you live in the middle of nowhere. This totally messed up our travel plans so we decided to do a leisurely 3 day drive instead, tonight’s hotel was 150.00 cheaper than where we expected to stay so we will actually not spend much more than expected. I am sure it will be an early bed for me.

Thanks for the tip Lilo!!Where on their site did you find the coupon. I can't find it, maybe they pulled it?

[coupon girl]

Afternoon we had the girls this morning at 6.15 a.m had to be there.Then my daughter-in-law came home at 1.00 p.m as she is going out for the evening out of town .She took Ashlyn to sleep over at a friends and we have cara .

I have played trouble .matching dinosaurs game and nw relaxing as she plays legos by herself.lol

I called the physio guy that i saw in june and he thought for sure i would have known by now when my surgery will be .He asked i call him back mid week next week and he may have some news for me .I hope as i want to prepare,i still need to buy a toilet seat raiser and put our spare twin bed on the main floor as i will not be able to do 20 stairs to bed he said .

Gonna go have some sherbet to cool off.

[lilo0003]

@Thumpersmom It was a downloadable on the superstore site and it was for 2.00 off dove or degree deodorant or body wash. I just looked and my hubby still have the offer. But maybe they realized it was too good of a deal.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Up early and getting right to the work things. Today I need to teach an Inventory Deep Dive and write a test I have to give 2 staff members.

I did not realize this weekend is the long weekend, kind of regretting not asking for Friday off but also totally didn't realize until this morning when I looked at my calendar that it is the long weekend.

Turns out in July, we did not spend a lot in groceries. I was going over my budget last night to close it for July and start on August. I have to admit I thought I was missing some receipts but when I looked over my records nope, it was just a low spend month, which I am all for.

I also did not max out the Costco budget, which is surprising because I bought a few bigger ticket items this month because they were on sale.

But all of that goes out the window after buying the new washer and dryer but luckily I had $$$ set aside so the budget did not take a total hit.

I need to run some errands, I need to go to Dollarama at some point and I do not know why, but I keep thinking I need to go to Wal-Mart but I have no idea what I need. Ever since Wal-Mart stopped price matching I don't really shop there so I am not sure what I think I need.

I got in two orders of clothing (I was gifted some $$$ to get some new work clothes), to my surprise I am keeping everything. Not going to lie it is always hit and miss when I order pants and well you have all seen my feeling about tops. I did get one new top and some shrugs I can put over some of my dresses so I can wear them to work (we aren't supposed to bare our shoulders).

Happy Tuesday Everyone.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good day!

Tonight is a beach night! Summer is flying by so we have to enjoy every single day with the summer things!

Today- Work. Tidy the kitchen. Put a load in the washer and hang to dry. Start getting things ready for vacation next week (away at a cottage resort on Lake Erie!)
Oldest DS has our big cooler so need to get that back so it can be used to pack the food. We have a meal plan and prepping as much as we can before hand to make it easy while on vacation.

This hot hot weather makes me not want dinner- I cooked a bunch of chicken breasts yesterday afternoon so we could make wraps. I had cereal last night. Starving this morning so going to make myself an egg on a toasted English muffin. With a side of fresh blueberries!
Probably grab a burger at the food truck on the way to the beach tonight Summer treat!

Have a great day!