March Grocery Tally, Coupons and Freebies

Grocery Budget for March 2011 $450.00 plus .73 cents left from February=$450.73

Actual: 437.84!
Coupons used $78.97 (year to date $183.88)








March Freebies received:
4 capsules Advil Night
1 Mars Chocolate single bar (long gone)
1 Tazo Tea Bag (pretty bags, ok tea for those who like fru fru tea)
4 Crystal Light Singles

No Contest Wins (have not had any time to enter contests lately)
Year to date 2011 winnings $10 Beyond the Rack GC

March turned out to be a pretty good grocery month. Due to the pending move sometime this year (once house sells) I am buying less and using more of what I have.
My best bargain of the month was Contact solution that is usually $9.99 a bottle for $3.76 at Rexall- I bought 4 (sorry no photos as hubby has already carted them off) and each had an attached travel size bottle as a bonus.

One of my goals this year is to buy as little new clothing this year - trying for lowest all time budget on clothes. This includes things like nylons, shoes and accessories.

So far so good:
January: $23.96 - 1 fall coat, 1 t-shirt, 2 necklaces, 1 earrings and 1 pair pantyhose. All but the earrings and pantyhose were used. The earrings were costume jewellery marked down from $15.99 to .99 at Rexall at after Christmas sale.
February: $33.00 - 7 shirts - all used (one was 50% off day at Sally Ann)
March: $26.95 - 4 shirts all used and a necklace also used.

I don't need much in the wardrobe, in fact this weekend is time to clean out the closet. Shoes are required however, as my current work dress shoes are quite worn. I prefer new shoes and they are one item I sometimes will spend high amounts to get a decent pair so hopefully there are some sales.

Spring is suddenly upon us, high temperatures and melting snow. Posts about baby Canadian Goose watching to come!

Planning the Downsize

After finally deciding where we are going to move to the mental downsize has begun. Purchases are made with the thought: do I really want to pay to have all this stuff moved to another province? In most cases no.

Grocery stockpile is now limited to 90 day supply. I am trying to eat out of the freezer and successfully keeping on track with the March grocery budget of $450.00.

Our winter in Alberta is not departing. The Canadian geese that breed in our back yard ponds landed last Sunday, and promptly flew off. Apparently they never got the email of the never ending winter 2011 (photo below was taken today, no Spring in sight).


One of my personal goals of moving to a better climate is growing my own food. It is possible in Alberta but the growing season is limited by planting time (usually end of may or early June when the ground thaws) and short summer. I have successfully grown tomatoes but they are only just starting to get edible when they have to be picked and brought inside before the frosts of September. Currently the only part of my diet that is home grown is a rosemary plant I treat like a houseplant. Another goal is that what I don't grow myself I try to buy locally, sometimes difficult in Northern climates. Dreaming of strawberries and wild blackberries....(another shot from Vancouver Island below for inspiration).







We went to the wedding of one of my husband's best friends last weekend, and yes I found something to wear at goodwill. The flowered black and white blouse was $6.99 paired with shoes and a previous Goodwill found skirt. I also bought 3 other spring shirts and a piece of costume jewellery: Grand total for all 5 pieces $26.96.




I wanted to share a couple of inspirational frugal ideas from our friends wedding:
1. Email save the date card 6 months ago and 2 months ago formal email invitation (green option as well)

2. Evening candlelight wedding at 7pm in the ballroom of a hotel. They used a Justice of the Peace as neither are religious, had the ceremony, some short family messages and then a wonderful dance. Really, do you need to spend $40 a plate for dinner?

3. Decorations were minimal, glass bowls with water and polished rocks with floating candles all lit prior to the ceremony. Large rented flower stands were posted either side of the stage and the four in the wedding party had flowers.

4. A nominal cash bar ($2 per drink)

5. A friend of the family who is a recorded country artist sang two songs for the bride and groom and then a dj took over for the rest of the night

6. An 11pm buffet cold lunch just as the munchies were hitting everyone

7. Limited bridesmaids and groomsmen to one each

It was a wonderful night and a great time was had by all. They still had they night they could both afford and remember for the rest of their lives.

A bonus as a guest was that we still had most of our weekend free to run errands rather than a very long Saturday Wedding. What a smart couple! I loved it, one of my favorite all time weddings.

Vancouver Island Escape & House Hunting

Last weekend we escaped the dreary cold Alberta winter (month six and minus 20 degrees) to Vancouver Island (month 12 of good weather and plus 10 degrees). Our mission was to determine what town would be our future home.

After much research we have decided on Parksville due to proximity of an airport, price of real estate, crime statistics and employment. Our exit strategy is 6 months to 1 year depending on current jobs and property we have to sell. We explored towns, checked out local retail and even met with Realtors.

We even made the mistake of looking at a few homes - found one we loved and quickly realized we would be absolutely crazy in the current economy to buy a home before selling our existing. We don't need that kind of stress. Another "perfect home" will be waiting for us when the time is right.

Here is a photo of one of the ocean public beaches at Parksville, so called due to massive beaches and multiple parks in the town of 10,000. Sand dollars flourish on this bay and in summer you can walk out for a mile and still be only up to your knees in water. I can't wait for picnics here.


The biggest draw for us to Parksville is the weather - the most moderate climate in all of Canada. Alberta is great for work, not so great for quality of life. We are semi-retiring to working for ourselves and only at what we want to do.

In our travels we found the following bargains:


Upon landing on the island my 9 year old suitcase had seen better days and the pull handle stuck in the up position. I would be forced into purchasing a suitcase before the return home...three hours later at a flea market I found an almost brand new Samsonite black suitcase for $15! It is much better than my old one and it would have retailed new for $100.




The same day hubby found these early 1970's old Rolling Stone Magazines at an antique Market for $3 each. They retail for $10-$15 on eBay - that is if you can find them not including shipping. These will go into our personal collection.

It sure is nice to have something to look forward to....island dreaming!

February Grocery Tally and Recent Bargains

Annual Grocery budget $450 per month x 12 = $5400
Due to grocery overspending in January the overage was deducted from February and the final grocery budget for the month was $418.20.

Actual was $417.47! Success! and .73 cents has been forwarded to March's budget.

Coupons used: $30.25. Quite low but as always the goal is to stay within the grocery budget so a complete success. It did help that February was a short month. When I neared the budget I quit shopping. Pretty simple really. We just ate out of our existing pantry and freezer.

Freebies received:
2 packets Thinsations
Dentyne Ice Gum
$10 in Amazon.ca gift cards from using Swagbucks

No Contest Wins - really too busy to enter this month

Best buys in February:

In all I bought seven shirts at my two regular thrift stores for $33. One Saturday I stumbled upon a 50% off everything sale at Salvation Army which made a great deal even better. Above are photos of three (the rest are in the laundry as have worn all but one already).

The major benefit of buying used clothes is after a wash they are "NEW TO YOU". You can afford a larger wardrobe without a large cost outlay. Any change in dye colour or misshaping has already happened before you brought it home. I am on a personal mission this year to try and buy 80% used clothing, only buying new for underwear, socks and if required clothing that is required for functions that I cannot buy used (like the wedding we have to go to next weekend that I still don't have the right blouse to wear). With higher clothing prices predicted due to increased cost of cotton and oil transportation costs buying used enables me to stay within budget.

My absolute favorite buy of the lot is the baby yellow Tommy Hilfiger sweater. Not due to name brand but based on compliments received from co-workers and hubby while I was wearing it. Sometimes I buy name brand second hand clothing due to higher quality types of fabrics, wool and cotton, always without paying the high price!

Another massive moneysaver this month was redemption of airmiles: = $1200 savings
2 tickets from Edmonton to Victoria - savings $700 (paid $230 in tax)
1 ticket from Edmonton to Denver for a birthday gift for my mother to see relatives - savings $500 (paid $150 tax)


My next post will include real estate adventures and bargain shopping on Vancouver Island, our future home - yay!

Success! Computer Virus Defeated!

Sorry for the long duration between blog posts but a lot has happened in the 2 weeks since my last entry, the most recent of which I would like to share:

After a whirlwind weekend on Vancouver Island meeting Realtors, driving endless hours checking out towns, employment and airport access we have narrowed down our future home in Paradise: Parksville!

Home of the most moderate climate in Canada, awesome ocean beaches, very little crime, good employment (mainly due to the fact this is both a tourist and retirement town), loads of good restaurants and cheaper real estate than where we currently live in Alberta!

More posts to come (including photos) on our weekend outing and bargains but first I would like to share my experience with an Internet virus:

Vista Security Anti-Virus 2011 (or similar names)

This virus poses as a Vista program indicating you should register and give credit card number to stop the attack your computer is currently under. Pop ups keep preventing you from accessing the Internet. My beloved laptop was sicker than a dog. Fortunately from our main home computer I was able to determine this was clearly a virus.

First a call to Staples for a quote to de-virus and reinstall all my programs - also losing all my photos and saved documents. Quote was $180! Are you kidding me? And if I wanted them to salvage any documents it was even more! As the laptop is a few years old I was considering buying a new cheaper version than fixing an old one.

A little on line research into fixing it myself and I realized I was quickly over my head. I can blog but am fairly computer illiterate.


McAfee.com to the rescue.

We currently subscribe to McAfee on all computers (buy for 1 and you can install on up to 3 for the same subscription fee) however, no matter how good an anti-virus program is, none are invincible. After going to their website (using the non-infected computer) and learning they had live service for a fee of $89 I decided this was a cheaper option.

A very nice man named Sherry fixed my computer by taking me step-by-step through the process of restarting in safe mode and allowing him access to sign on remotely and remove the virus.

I lost not one photo, not one document, and $89.95 and 45 minutes later I am now virus free. Not only did this service save me money but also time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Thanks McAfee! You made my day

***please note this is not a paid blog post, I just believe in supporting good businesses!