Well that crept up on us........

I was in the shower on Sunday morning when it dawned on me that Monday (today) was the last day of August????   Where has the summer gone too?  Now technically for us, Summer can last until mid-October as September can be really nice.

I find that now hubby has retired one day passes into another, as we don't have "work" days and day's of leisure/weekend.  So unless I actually look at the calendar I never know what the date is.  I generally still remember what day it is....so I guess that's helpful....LOL

I had an "experience" the other day at Shopper's Drug Mart that made me truly realize how lucky hubby and I are.  It was "senior's day" at Shopper's where everyone over the age of 55 could get a 20% discount on regular priced items.  I went in to pick up some stuff and cash in some points as it was bonus redemption as well.  In my case I cashed in 50k in points and got $70 worth of products free.

Anyhow, I was cashing out and it was a small counter.  Up marched this guy with a cart and proceeded to plop all his stuff on the counter and walked off.  A woman quickly came to the counter (his wife) and handed the cashier her card.  At this point I hadn't even paid; something she didn't know.  The cashier told her she hadn't finished with me, and of course the lady apologized as she didn't realize what had happened.

I said no worries, but feel free to pay for my order.  We all laughed and she said, "luckily it's pay day for us all and we can afford to pay for all our things."

I had to think for a minute what she was on about and then I realized it was the day seniors (including us) got their pensions paid by the Government.  Shopper's Drug Mart does this promotion every month to coincide with when the Government pays the State pensions; again it hadn't dawned on me why they did it.

It made me realize that we are so lucky to not have to rely on the State pensions to make ends meet.  That must be so frightening to know you can't go out and buy the basic needs until your pension comes in.

I was telling my daughter in law the story and she was telling me she is part of a mum's group on Facebook and some mothers post that they need certain items because their monthly baby/child allowance hasn't come in, or asking others if their baby/child allowance has hit the bank yet as they need it to buy basics.

So feeling very grateful today to be able to pay the bills and have a roof over our head and food on the table............

Redemption Day

These past few days Shopper's Drug Mart has had a bonus redemption event on.  For 100,000 points instead of getting $100 worth of free product you could get an extra $40, so you could get $140 worth of free product.  Hubby had a pile of points, and he never spends them, so I thought I would stock up on a few bits and bobs.  This is what I got:

It doesn't look at lot does it?  That little lot should have cost just over $170.  I paid out of pocket just over $30.  It boggles my mind that so little cost so much?

I will say I paid more than I should have for a couple of things, but they were things that we use, so figured if I were getting it "free," I'd rather stock up with things we use.

I did buy all the candy for the kids for Easter, so that's a good job, jobbed.  The canister on the second photo was on clearance for $5 and is air tight and will come in handy.

Regardless though the price of food, and toiletries are going through the roof.

If you're in Canada, did you cash in points at Shopper's Drug Mart this week?

Happy Mother's Day and a "grocery shopping brag!"

It's Mother's Day over here.  I'll post a photo tomorrow of what me and dh got off the kids as it was a joint present.


Went to Shopper's Drug Mart and cashed in my points, as there were a few things I wanted.  Here is what I got:


 
Another shot of the same things:  
  
 If I had paid regular price for everything without coupons and my points I would have paid $250.71.  After using $31 in coupons, and cashing in $200 worth of points I paid $19.71 out of pocket.  I will say that took a lot of planning on my part, looking at the flyer and checking what coupons I had etc.  Then it took me another hour just to do the actual shop itself as they didn't have some of the items etc, so not a five minute job, but with those savings it was well worth while.


I shopped at No Frills also this week and used $50 worth of PC Points that I collect when I use my Mastercard, and along with coupon savings of $14.10, I spent $79.57.  I then cashed in $5 worth of Sobeys points at Sobeys bringing my total there to $2.79.  I am stocked up on a number of things, so although I am over budget on a week to week basis I hope to be under budget on a monthly basis.  My month to date totals are $193.99 spent with savings of $326.38!!!!


Wish every month could be like this!!

Flipping heck.......

So I wrote myself a list for when I went grocery shopping.  Had it all worked out to the penny.....well sort of.  Wanted to take advantage of the bonus points at Shopper's Drug Mart and came out of there spending $71.84 and using $24.89 in coupons and earning another 20,040 worth of points.  So far so good.


I knew I had another $3.16 left out of my $75 budget so I popped into Zehrs to get some banana's and mushrooms, and spent $3.63.  So I over spent by 47 cents this week.  If I hadn't picked up two bunches of bananas I would have been under.  So close but still so far, drat, drat and double drat.


This week I stocked up on toilet paper, have enough stock piled for around six months now.  Picked up a 40 bag box of garbage bags, which will last us a year.  We only have one garbage bag and a water softener salt bag of garbage every other week.


I didn't buy meat this week as using up in the freezer; and other than the bananas and mushrooms, we will be eating frozen veggies or fruit this week.  I also remembered to update my side bars for the Shopper's Drug Mart and Grocery total challenges.  I am still under budget for my weekly budget goal, but only just.

Had at least three no spend days this week, and put money in all my various pots.

Sorted out the tomato sauce I made on Saturday.  Put plain sauce in two 700ml Tupperware containers to freeze.  Took out two packages of ground.minced beef and made a large lasagna, had hoped to make two but didn't have enough lasagna noodles for two, and bolognase sauce for two meals.

I thought I had shared the lasagna recipe with you but I couldn't find it.  It's a basic recipe but you can change it up any way you want.

Easy Lasagna

1 lb lean ground/minced beef
1 onion, chopped
700 ml Pasta Sauce (that's why I put the sauce in 700 ml containers for later use)
500 grams/2cups Cottage Cheese
1 cup grated/shredded Cheddar Cheese
9 pieces Lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated (I use Mozzarella instead)

Preheat oven to 350 oF and grease a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish.

In a frying pan, cook beef and onion over medium heat stirring to break up meat until browned and onion is softened.  Drain fat from pan and stir in pasta sauce; bring to the boil and reduce heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

In a bowl stir together cottage and cheddar cheeses.

Spread 1/2 cup of meat sauce over bottom of prepared pan.  Top with 3 noodles, then 1/2 of the cheese mixture and 1/3 of meat sauce.  Repeat noodle, cheese, sauce layers.  Top with the last 3 noodles, remaining meat sauce and Parmesan cheese.  Cover pan with foil.

Bake in centre of oven for 30 minutes.  Remove foil.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until cheese is browned and lasagna is heated through.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

It will serve four comfortably.  I don't put my cheese on until I take the foil off. 

As I said before this is a basic recipe that you can alter to suit your taste.

Writing and mailing letters.......

(photo credit)

It's not something I do that often, in fact I only correspond on a regular basis with our next door neighbour in England; and by regular I mean I send a letter maybe four or five times a year.  On Tuesday I sat down and wrote a letter to them; then while I was cleaning out a drawer I found another note card from an acquaintance in the States, so I also wrote a note to her.

I went to the post office on Wednesday and discovered that the cost of mailing these letters has increased again.  It now costs $1.80 plus tax to mail a letter to Britain, and $1.05 plus tax to mail a letter to the States.  Even sending a letter in Canada costs 61 cents.

With these prices I am guessing it is one reason that sending an email is so popular.  Though I will say I find an email not as personal and would prefer people to call me to talk.  Must admit though, it is nice to sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit, reading a letter.

Do you write letters or notes and mail to people?

FYI: Shopper's Drug Mart is having a "Spend $75 and get 18,500 Points," this weekend.  So hunt out your coupons and match them with the deals and earn those points.  Oh, and don't forget to buy a Shopper's gift card first to pay for your groceries, and get points for buying it.

I am hoping to use $10 worth of coupons,  to bring my total including taxes below my $75 weekly budget.

Catching you all up with my news....

As you know it was my birthday on Tuesday, I wanted to share with you what my brother wrote on his blog about me.  I was close to tears with that post; that was so nice of him.

One of the gifts I got was this sun catcher, isn't it just gorgeous?

Spring has sort of arrived.  We still have snow but it is melting.  With the melting though everything turns into pure mud, including the driveway.  At this point I am not sure what is worse, the ice or the mud?

The garage has flooded and there is an inch of water standing in there.  It's on my list of jobs to do today to try and shovel the water out........adding more water to the driveway and making it even more muddier!!!  Should be keeping pigs they would be in their element with the mud.

I finally finished staining the new banisters and railing on the stairs.  It's a stinky job though and I still have the varnishing to do.

Got a heck of a deal on Wednesday.  I got an email from Shopper's Drug Mart with a coupon for 20 x the points on Wednesday when you spend $50.  Lean Cuisine/Stouffer's has a promotion on here .

Enter 12 PIN codes from specially marked packages and you will receive $25 in FREE groceries*, consisting of $15 in Free Nestlé product coupons and a $10 grocery gift card to the store you selected at registration.
When you qualify, we’ll automatically mail your reward to the address you supplied us when you registered.
You’re eligible to receive two $25 rewards within the promotional period (February 1 - May 3, 2011), so keep collecting.

The meals were on for $1.99 each and so I decided to pick up 24 meals so I could do two submissions, and something else to put my total over $50.  I ended up getting 20 x the points as I used that coupon, which is worth maybe $15 of free product, plus there was a promotion on when you spend $50 you get a $10 Shopper's Drug Mart gift card, so they gave me that.  Then I'll get two other $10 gift cards from the Nestle promotion, I am choosing Presidents Choice cards.  So all in all this will basically cost me nothing to have bought all that in the end.

Can't say you will get fat on eating those meals, but as I am supposed to be on a diet......failing miserably at the moment......this might make a difference!!!  I wouldn't count on it though, as I love my food!!

The vacuum is now out 24/7 as those bloody cluster flies have woken up and are now invading the house again, along with ladybugs.

Sunday morning........

Didn't get around to posting last night like I normally do.  Ds came for a visit, his moustache is doing well and I am growing to like it.  His group have managed to raise just under $1,500 so far, their goal is $2,000.  If they reach that a guy in the office who already has a moustache will have to shave it off!!

I went into town on Saturday morning, and did my Shopper's Drug Mart trip.  I spent nearly $85 just like that.  Granted I stocked up on coke (4 x 12 packs) and butter (4 x 1lb) and a few other things, but I must say that $85 didn't go far.  Even dh was saying things seem to be getting more and more expensive.

There was a no tax sale on at Zehrs, so probably Superstore, Fortino's and Loblaws as well this weekend.  So I picked up a tin of cookies/biscuits for a Christmas gift, so saved 13% there are well.  Every little bit helps.  I have discovered that Bulk Barn sells imported British candy bars, so I will wait for the next coupon to come out and go and get the kids some candy for Christmas.  I normally buy them an imported British selection box each (notice how I put a link on that, as I just thought most people may not have heard of them?) but figured this would be a more economical way.

I bought some breakfast sausage yesterday.  They are a smaller version of regular sausages, and this pack had apple in them as well.  Anyhow I cooked them at lunch time  and put them into sandwiches for us.  This is something I have never done before as I am not a fan of breakfast sausage, but thought it would make a change.  I have suffered ever since.  My poor stomach is not at all well, and here I am Sunday morning, still with a bad stomach.  Dh meanwhile thought he had died and gone to heaven as he loves that sort of thing....

I don't even know if I am going to go to church as my stomach feel so bad.  So next time I get the urge to give dh a treat I must remember not to treat myself as well!!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Well here we go again......and being British

dh was up in the attic today and discovered mouse droppings. I found mouse droppings in the under the sink cupboard. So have set a couple of traps under the sink, I will have to get some more traps for up in the attic. Mind you we let Molly up in the attic today and she never went crazy or anything, like she normally does when she smells something. We bought these plug in mouse deterrents. They emit a high frequency noise that is supposed to keep the mice at bay. I know the manufacturers probably saw us coming, and thought some sucker would buy them and sure enough we did!!

So not only are we being invaded with mice, the blue bottles (house flies) are still bombarding us. Goodness knows where they are coming from, but both dh and ds were complaining at how many there were in the attic. By the way I figured blue bottle's were a "normal name" for house flies........the joys of being British, didn't realize it would confuse the heck out of people!!

Ds came over and gave us a hand carting down some stones from the attic. Dh has removed some for the ventilation in the attic, and ds is a heck of a lot stronger than us. So he carted them down the two flights of stairs and I dumped them in the garden. I have to sort out the concrete from the stones. It was a good job, jobbed and one that had to be done. My jobs for the day (Saturday) was to do a fire in the fire pit (done) and go to Shopper's Drug Mart as they had a 20 X the points day on Saturday (done.) I stocked up on butter $2.22 per pound. Eggs @ $1.29 a dozen. Stocked up on deodorant for dh and shampoo. I walked out of there with another 20,000 points.

I also managed to get a bit of weeding done in the flower gardens, which also was a good job, jobbed. Not sure what we are going to do on Sunday.

Oh and this couple are our twins, read this article

Another reason to shop at Shopper's Drug Mart!!! DEAL ALERT

So thanks to those dear people over at Frugal Shopper for suggesting this first of all.

This week From August 22nd until Friday August 28th, 2009 when you buy $75 or more on the following gift cards, you get 7,000 bonus points.

The gift cards are for:

iTUNES, FOOTLOCKER, ESSO, NEXON GAME, KFC, PIZZA HUT & TACO BELL

They also have a special on where if you spend $75.00 you get a bonus of 15,000 points up to and including Monday August 24th. When I went into the store this morning I set off with 52,505 points and when I walked out of there my points total was 95085, so all in all i got 42,580, which is worth $100 in free stuff on a bonus redemption day and it cost me $316.61.

So here is how I did it.

I first bought $300 in Shopper's Drug Gift cards, for that I got 3,000 points. When they tell you, you won't get points for doing this ignore them, YOU DO!!

I then did three separate transactions buying $75 worth of Esso gift cards using the Shopper's Gift cards to purchase them, again if they say they can't do that, tell them they can and to try it!! Each transaction garnered me 750 regular points, and 7,000 bonus points.

So, so far I have got :

300o points x 1
750 points x 3
7,000 points x 3

I then spent $83.21 plus taxes on my regular shopping which garnered me, 15,000 bonus points as I spent over $75 pre-tax, 850 regular points and 480 product bonus points.

So now I have:

3000 points x 1 = 3000
750 points x 3 = 2250
7000 points x 3 = 21000
15000 points x 1 = 15000
850 points x 1 = 850
480 points x 1 = 480

For a total of 42,580 points.

Now if you go to the Esso gas station they have numerous gift cards which you can buy for various places including Home Depot, La Senza, East Side Marios & Marks Work Wearhouse. So if you don't want to use them for gas you could "buy" one of those using the Esso gift card.

In my case, I bought $75 of Esso cards for me, as my lawn tractor gas containers cost me around $35 to fill each time, so they will come in handy. The other $150 I am going to buy some other cards with them and use them for Christmas gifts.

The gist of this story is I spent just over $300, I have some Christmas presents taken care of and I will be getting an extra $100 worth of free stuff from Shopper's at the next bonus redemption.

There are Sunday and Monday specials on as well. Plus sugar is only $1.49 per bag until next Friday.

Hot and Humid..

It's been awfully hot and humid these past couple of days. That is two "H" words I dislike.........HOT and HUMID. The humidity just wears you down and although I don't mind a little bit of hot weather, this is too much for me. I prefer the cool Fall/Autumn days, and those cool nights. Thankfully dh installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom, so that has helped a lot.

I survived my first day at work. It's funny it's been over a year since I have worked there, but I managed to pick things up without too many problems. Did have an issue with the credit card machine, but the customer knew what was what and walked me through it...LOL

The commute was a heck of a lot better than I thought it would be, only 55 minutes, and the way I went, for the first two thirds of it, through some really beautiful countryside. There are a lot of horse farms in one area, and there are some lovely properties on them........if only I had that type of money!!! For the last third of the journey, city driving with city properties, and city driving {{{{SIGH}}}}

We had some nasty thunderstorms on Sunday and early Monday morning, which resulted in more leaks in the roof {{{{{another big SIGH}}}}} So on the phone to "K" and he will get the roofing guy to pop over and take a look, so no doubt MORE MONEY {{{{{{and an even bigger SIGH}}}}}}

Molly was good, no accidents, and she was very pleased to see us both when we came home. Dh got home before me, as I called in at Shopper's Drug Mart on the way home, to spend my $25 for the referral event. I also treated myself to a bar of Cadburys mint chocolate, I love the combination of mint and chocoloate, also orange and chocolate. It has to be milk chocolate though, no dark chocolate for me, it gives me migraines.

Must say though as I am writing this on Monday night I'm tired, I'm sure its the heat; not the fact that I worked today ;0)

Look what I got for $21.10............

It was bonus redemption day (finally) at Shopper's Drug Mart, so I decided to cash 75,000 points for $200 worth of free product. You have to buy $200 before taxes, and I bought $200.67, and the taxes were $20.43. So all in all it cost me $21.10.



I got:

4 x loaves of bread
2 x Lays Chips - though looking at my bill I think she only charged me for the one?
2 pack rubber gloves
4 x Quaker Granola Bars
3 x Dare Cookies
2 x Women's Multi Vitamins enough for 180 days
1 x LB Advil
1 x Advil Sinus (dh is sick)
2 x 8 pack Mach 3 razor blades, can you believe they are $24.99 a pack!!!
3 x Arm & Hammer Toothpaste
3 x 2 litre Ice cream
2 x Cheese
2 x Organic Canned Corn on clearance at 39 cents a can - super cheap
1 x LB rechargeable toothbrush
1 x 3 pack replacement heads for above toothbrush
1 x Hair Dye
3 x Kleenex Tissue
3 x Kleenex Dinner Napkins
1 x Garbage Bags
1 x 4 litre milk
2 x 12 pack Diet Coke
2 x Nativa Granola

I also used $8.78 in coupons. This bonus redemption is also on today (Sunday) I tell you it pays to shop at Shopper's Drug Mart, and I still have 84,385 points left, and I also have a lot more points to come in April from being a Plus member.

(In the back left of the photo, you can see what looks like dead plants, those are my geraniums I brought up from the cold cellar, they are slowly coming back to life!!)