January 2026 -Frugal Chatter-

[lilo0003]

@SassyAshley my RCSS made the switch last week to the yellow sticker and while I did not any of the markdown stuff it was supper quick to see what was markdown so I think that would be advantageous and in the prepared food section the markdowns were good, all more than 30%. I may have been because it was the week of Christmas but it felt like they had far more markdowns. My local store has crazy Flashfood prices (as in its not a deal)and the produce belongs in compost imo so I always try to troll the store for the markdowns.
i sorted my coupons today and there are very few going into 2026 but thankfully I did not find any that I would have been seen to miss like a FPC.
2026 is going to be an interesting year as it’s our 1st year of living off our retirement savings. DH and I have 6 years before we will take CPP. I did our financial review today and it all looks good. I am happy that I spent the past 15 yrs saving and being frugal because that’s how we retired at such an age.

[Angela273]

Angel i am always impressed by what you save in a year .i increased my savings this year .
Here is a run down $254.98 in coupons $408.90 in checkout51 /caddle$846.50 in giftcards, promos in store,caa savings etc $330.00 in p.c points $160 in scene pts$20.00 bewell$195.94 in triangle rewards$20.00 in aeroplan $39.58 in scoop$41.39 ebates$170.00 in rebates ,gift cards $32.50 sold at styke encore/pluto$17.85 in gas savings from linking my rbc
Total $2,580.09 which i am happy for as there is only 2 of us in my household .In 2026 i hope to find more coupons .

@coupon girl Those are great savings for a household of 2. We are a family of 5. Ds is 13yrs old and our twins are 10yrs old. We are able to bless others through my smart shopping. We donate to the Salvation Army food bank and other organizations in town. Our kids get to see the value of sharing and caring for others while doing it in a financially responsible way.

[coupon girl]

Thank you Angela ,i have couponed since the kids were in diapers now 40 and 43 they are my grown adult kids .I just find it a fun and rewarding hobby ,if only i could find cpns nowadays .I fear everyone is looking now or some are just plain greedy.

If a store has a points program i am in (mind you i dont do starbucks a little too expensive for my needs)The past few year i joined Hot Topics instore points program as the grandkids like their stuff at xmas i got Ashlyn a top for $9.80 long sleeve ,this slime in a tub for Cara was 24.00 to begin with i paid $14.99 after all my offers.

Wish walmart had a points program as its 8 minutes away .I try to price match when i can but if walmart has the sales that week or food basics or whoever else i will go there.

I had the girls sleep over last night and Cara brought her baby and little carrier ,so sweet .I may take them to McDonalds today for lunch ,love spoiling my grandkids .lol

[coupon girl]

My dear daughter went away to a nice inn for 2 nights she has had a hectic work place the past year ,(It is fine now)her ex was being a bit difficult the month of dec .My dear Sebastian was almost hit by a bus ,my daughter couldnt sleep for 2 weeks straight.She deserves this .

She sent me a picture last night of the outdoor cool plunge pool ,she actually went in with a toque on her head also .I said insane but she was in for a few second s and out ,then she will read and have a nice meal tonight then home on sunday .She went all by herself ,so proud of the woman my daughter has become.

[SassyAshley]

@coupon girl , oh my gosh how horrible. Luckily he is okay and great to hear she was able to get away.

I do not know how people cold plunge, my bro did it for awhile (granted in the summer) but I think he stopped. I also had a previous boss who did Polar Bear Plunges which I never understood. I know have a co-worker who does or did them in the lake she told me about it last year, again I have heard about the benefits but not for me.

[SassyAshley]

@lilo0003, we only have one store that participates in Flashfood (our No Frills does not) but the store that used to be big on Flash food now donates most of their expiring food to the community fridge. Because of this they only really seem to post organics and meat on Flash foods and none of it interests us. Plus I do not find their prices that good. Even before this I would only buy bakery items there as their produce was horrible when they marked it down.

Back when they used to post Yogurt it would $0.20 or $0.40 off expiring tomorrow. I know it is good past it's expiry but a $6.99 yogurt marked down to $6.59 did not pull me into the store.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Back to work today, I had planned to take today off but since I am covering someone on Order Desk I decided to needed to work today to catch up on what came in over shut down. Wasn't bad, I only had 50ish emails and they had 16, I was caught up by 9 am.

Finally feeling better and hoping getting back into a routine will help. I am ready to deep clean this house but will wait to see how Mom is feeling before I start.

I have our regular laundry going now and will probably do bedding next week. I like to do laundry on my work from home days because it forces me to get up and move during my work day.

Looks like I need to do a little bit of shovelling which I will do shortly and then I think on my lunch I will run the grocery store and stock up on a few fresh things.

I tried to write a meal plan yesterday but find of failed, I was having a food is meh kind of day, nothing sounded good so I got nowhere but will see what I get at the store and plan around that.

Happy Friday Everyone.

[cath007]

Happy New Year Everyone !!!

[walkonby]

I have little get up and go today but I really need to shower and head out with DH to his physio if I hope
to piggy back afterwards to Freshco. We need milk, only 1/2 carton left plus a few other items that are
are more a PITA to find on sale but need to be replenished soon.

That sounded like a scary close call for your sweet grandson @coupon girl !! A bus? Good golly, so grateful
he did not get hit. Enjoy taking the granddaughters to McDonalds later!

Happy " Back to Work " Day @SassyAshley ! I'm kind of in the same boat once again, like you....
Menu planning. Or lack thereof atm. We've been winging it since Christmas Day and not in a healthy way.
Last night while the NHL games were on DH did up 2 baking pans with some Janes frozen nuggets, PC fancy
Sausage rolls , a few cocktail sized Pastizzi pastries and for some reason made up a box of Stove Top
Stuffing?? He added dried cranberries, diced celery/onion to it to bulk it up some, but I passed on any of that.
Went instead for the cut up Honeydew melon and the fresh sliced pineapple. Both large fruits were bought for
less that $2.00 each. NOICE!!

[coupon girl]

Walkonby and sassy yes it was scary ,they were in toronto after a hockey game minor one .Sebastian was singing with the choir .Then they left at 7.30 p.m ,my daughter walked to the car with him ,his dad was across the street waiting to catch a go train to our city .Sebastian said mom do i have my tablet
Then his dad called him and he just darted totally forgot .My daughter screamed at the top of her lungs and he froze .In the dark the bus was going about 40 my daughter said.She ran and hugged him he was saying sorry mom.

Today my ex son=in-law called and said can Sebastian come to see the girls and he brought them a happy meal for lunch .Nice of him.

Then for 3 hours i was on the phone with her after Sebastian left with his dad ,trying to calm her down .Life can change in an instant she said to me .

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy New Year!

Well.... my area and many towns/townships around are under a special weather thing- whatever it is- Permission to not keep up on road and sidewalk snow clearing? As of 6:30 pm today our crescent has not been plowed. Came home early afternoon today (went away for the night- left yesterday before the storm started and headed home before noon when it was clear) Pulled in on our street and in the middle of the crescent on the roadway there was a car parked! So did a 5 point turn in a driveway that was clear and went around to the other side to park in a neighbours driveway to see if it was smart to try and drive home...DS was working on the driveway and the street was a mess so I asked a neighbour if we could leave our car in their driveway till the plow came.
Around 430 the tow truck that came to rescue the car was stuck (they were side by side) then another car came in the crescent but couldn't see them until they drove in....and then they got stuck.... so after awhile they all got out. I bundled up to walk to see if I could try and drive home but there was a Fed-ex truck stuck and the entrance of our street and a neighbour was helping him get out. This helpful neighbour thought I could drive home for sure and said he would push me if I got stuck but I didn't want to risk it so I am waiting for the plow to come by so I can move the car home!
My exciting day!!!

The only good thing is I was smart and brought food home for dinner tonight for everyone (leftovers from Noodle place- Chicken Chow main/Rice with Beef and broccoli and spring rolls- from last nights free hotel dinner!) and then ordered a few beef dips (points) since they are easy to heat up.

Suppose to be a snowy weekend (we are getting heavy snow now) Wasn't planning leaving town this weekend anyway- hope to get rolling on my house clean up. I will be posting stuff for sale like a mad women- It is time to downsize big time and I have a few goals for the money so that is the motivation! My plan is to tackle each room and clean from top to bottom. Now to decide which room to start in!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

[SassyAshley]

Today did not go as planned.

We had to move our cars so they could plow, the plan was to park Mom and take mine to the store for some groceries. I tried to start her car, nope, wouldn't start so I came in and quickly called CAA.

I do not know why but when I went back out I tried again and it was like the car turned over, heater came on, the dash light up like Christmas tree but no power. So I texted Mom and said I think we should have her towed not boosted and I got to cleaning my car off.

I moved my car with the plan that after they towed hers I would take my car to the store.

But when he came, he was like nope it is a battery issue, you don't need a tow, I am just going to boost you. She boosted no problem but then I was stuck so he pushed me out. The plan was to drive her well they plowed then come get my car and go to the store.

Our road wasn't the best but we are a side street figured when I got to the main road it would be fine, nope not at all. Okay, maybe they didn't get to this street yet, let's head further into town, oh no just as bad. I saw a guy almost put his car put the backend of his car in a snowbank, shot across all four lanes and the back end was fishtailing. Then someone came out of a parking lot and just stopped before sliding out into the road, the next parking lot they slide into the road. That was it, I had enough I knew the car needed to be driven but wasn't doing it. So I came back and ended up idling for almost an hour. I turned her off and she turned back on so fingers crossed when I try tomorrow.

I did tell Mom I still want her car to go in to be looked at, there is a place down the road from work so if she can book it in one day I will drop it off and then work from the office until it is done. There is no way with a new battery even after not being driven for a week (I took it Christmas Eve when I went to get her Starbucks), it should have started.

Due to the roads I was not going back out in my car so the groceries will have to wait.

Finished up my work day, put a pot of Potato Soup on the stove took a shower, folded the laundry and now it is time to relax.

[walkonby]

oh my! ^^^ You guys have so much snow!! I feel just awful for the roads not being cleared out where you are.
Fingers crossed that by tomorrow the mess is cleaned away!
DH and I managed to grab a few items from Freshco after his physio appt. Used the $25.00 GC I was given at
Christmas and redeemed Scene points for $10.00 more dollars off.
Once back home I got 2 balls of pizza dough rolled out, adding many fresh veggie toppings to them, lots of sliced
pepperoni, plus extra Mozz cheese. Quite satisfying.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Guess what, it is snowing again.

I was up at 6 but it took me almost 2 hours to get out of bed, mainly because again I am not feeling my best, my congestion seems to be coming back and the face is hurting which means the sinuses are not happy. But also my bed just seemed so comfortable and warm.

I was trying to come up with a plan for today, there is a lot I want to get done but I also need to try to get Mom's car out for a drive, but I am not sure if the roads are any better (this was before I knew it was snowing again). I was hopeful once I got up and moving I would feel better but so far not the case, feels like a sinuses headache is coming on, could be the weather.

Guess we will see how the day goes. Looks like there will be more shovelling in my future (it is really coming down now) and not sure what I am going to do about Mom's car, I know I need to take it on a long drive but this weather just isn't working with me.

Alright, I need to find a way to turn this day around, Happy Saturday Everyone.

[Tweets77]

@lilo0003...So happy for you and your DH to retire early! We have been retired for 11 yrs (out at 56) and love it. The saving hard worked out for us too. CONGRATULATIONS!!!