Garage Sale Season Has Arrived!

What a great day yesterday was: buying and planting flowers, attending four garage sales and a great barbeque dinner of chicken souvlaki with cilantro rice, corn and grilled peppers and onions. The evening was spent with hubby birdwatching a pair of ducks who have built their nest right below our house. These are the things that make me happy. Why couldn't everyday be like yesterday?

Although there have been a few garage sales in the past few weeks this is the first weekend I have been able to go. This weekend is the unofficial start to garage sales here and they usually taper off by late June with the odd one here and there after that. I firmly believe anything you require may be purchased used and garage sales do for me what Gucci does for others.

Due to a move at some point in the next year to another Province I have tried to hold back from buying physical things, sticking to food, flowers and clothing. This weekend I strayed and got some retail therapy. Total cost? $5.50

Purchases:

Book 50 cents called One Red Paperclip, the Canadian story of a man who documented a trade-up spree from a red paperclip to a house in the end. Very interesting read and this story made the news all over the world.

Two large popcorn bowls 50 cents each - our family watches a lot of movies together in the basement and we are forever in need of popcorn bowls.

Decorative box with tin top and leather handle $3 - this was my totally unnecessary purchase - what can I say, I collect boxes. I will find some use for it.

Travel Sized hair drayer $1 - one of our hair dryers died last week and we needed it, hubby immediately claimed it as his own

Other bargains this week:
Rexall Drug Mart, my favorite store for bargains had a selloff of Fusion razors (five blades of shaving goodness) which happens to be hubbys favorite brand.
Regular Price $13.99. Sale price $3.79 minus $2 off coupon = $1.79 each
Peek Frean Cookies regular $2.99 on sale $1.49. My favorite kind.

I was only able to purchase three but that will keep hubby in razors for a while as they each include a refill.

Used clothing from Goodwill:
Two light summery shirts for our trip to Costa Rica next month - less than a month to go!! $4.99 each total $9.98. The blue one is Liz Clairborne.

And finally, my baby peas are growing nicely. Two weeks ago I planted a packet of peas found in cupboard I was cleaning out. I have no real garden area (a mandatory requirement in our next home) so decided to experiment with container gardening. Both the hamster and hubby are happy at the future potential of fresh peas. As I have never grown peas before I was shocked at how quickly they started growing, as green buds were peeking out of the ground within five days of planting. Apparently peas are not difficult to grow as if I can grow them, anyone can.

Smooth Legs and Clean Face

My Rexall Drugs has smoking hot deals sometimes, rather than throw out items (thank goodness!) they discount them below cost so low you can't leave the store without them. I stop by at least once or twice a week just to see what is on clearance.

Today:
Biore Face Cleansing Gel .49 cents per bottle (regular $9.99)x 2
Veet 16 pack wax strips $1.16 per box (regular $12.99)

Total for all 3 $2.19 including 5% Tax (GST) for $33 worth of product

Cha Cha Cha

And Sometimes We Eat Steak

All I talk about on this blog is about scrimping and saving. Sometimes we do live rich on the cheap.

Our monthly grocery budget is $450 which on a Canadian budget is lower than the average Canadian and slightly higher per person than a frugal budget but if you consider that we eat roast beef, skinless boneless chicken breast, shrimp and steak on a regular basis it is pretty low.

"Extreme Couponing" is a USA based show. In Canada things are much different. A good deal means scouring the fliers and stockpiling when things are on sale. There is no doubling of coupons and clerks have to manually punch in each coupon to give you a reduction which usually means a 20 second pause for each coupon. Frankly, if I lived in the USA I could eat for free based on couponing. There are far less coupons available to Canadian consumers and rarely to we get great deals on meat and produce.

This week I was fortunate to stumble across a great deal on Alberta Beef (some of the best in the world) 15 days aged steaks vacuum sealed perfect for the freezer at $10 per package of four small (or two large) steaks. This is a smoking hot deal as usually a good steak from Costco costs about $18-$25 per steak. I refuse to pay that kind of price.

The steaks were absolutely the best with no seasoning required (although we add sea salt to ours for premium taste) and were eaten with green pepper, mushroom and onion Shish-k-bobs. Total cost of meal with a glass of wine for 2 was approximately $18 (a cheap bottle of wine here is $10, a good one $30). A similar meal in a restaurant would have been $75. Fortunately both hubby and I enjoy cooking so we eat well.

To give you the idea of cost of goods in Alberta:
4 litres Milk $3.89
Bread $1.99 to $3.99.
Bag of 60 shrimp medium size shell on frozen $13.99 (I buy these when they go on sale b1g1)
10 lb russet Potatoes $2.99 summer $4.99 winter
Corn on the cob winter $1 per cob, summer .33 per cob
Frozen Pizza average price $7.99, on sale price $4.99
Long English Cucumber Summer .99 to $1.29, winter $1.59 to $2.99

I would love to eat local and do as much as possible but if I restricted us to a 100 mile diet we would be eating meat and potatoes and not much more (except in summer).

Three quarters of our monthly budget goes to meat, and fresh produce. Hopefully one day when we move to Vancouver Island where produce is plentiful, year round and cheap will I be able to shave even more off the grocery bill. This year, more so than others companies have been giving Canadians more free product coupons to try out their product. As a result this is my best freebie year so far.

Freebies this week:
P&G mens brandsampler (value approx $12)
Coupon for free Asana Yogurt (not shown)
Coupon for free Chocolate Cheerios

Check Your Insurance Today

I usually don't discuss my day job on this blog but this week had to be one of the most frustrating depressing weeks at my job EVER. You see, I work in property insurance and Alberta is on fire with 20 out of control forest fires burning as we speak. Our masses of snow have dried up and with the howling 60 mile an hour winds we have experienced in the last two weeks forest fires have sprouted up all over. There was even a grass fire two days ago within 3 miles of our house that fortunately was quickly extinguished by fast acting fire fighters.


So everyone, please check that your house insurance is paid up now, before you need it, with sufficient limits. It is bad enough that anyone should have to go through something as terrible as a fire, flood, hurricane or tornado but if you let your house insurance lapse you may be facing financial annihilation. It will be the best money you ever spent for something hopefully you will never need. And fingers and toes crossed for those who have to face tonight without house insurance with a fire down the road.

30 Cents Later

A quick post on freebies this week:

Sample of Purex Zout Fabric detergent

Received coupons this week for :
Free Silk product
Free Kellogs Vector 400g cereal (up to $4.69)

I needed cereal and my Sobeys had Vector on for $4.99. Normally I would have waited until the product was 100% free but this box had a free coupon for Activia Yogurt

Therefore everything in the photo was a grand total of 30 cents. Zero tax.

Yipee!

April Grocery Tally, Coupons and Freebies and Finds

Grocery Budget for April 2011 $450.00 plus $13.19 left from March=$463.19
Actual: 427.20!
Coupons used $33.12(year to date $217.00)

Freebies received this week:
P&G Sampler!




With a trip to Costa Rica on the horizon I need a few more summery clothes so stopped by Goodwill this week. Two T Shirts and two shorts = $14.99
The black shorts are brand new with original tags!



Hubby cashed in $92 in Canadian Tire money this week for a car shampooer, no photo as like a little kid he has it already stashed away in the garage. Retail $129.00 plus GST, out of pocket $43.45.


Perfectly good items to use as wrapping for birthdays and Christmas rescued from the trash (in an effort to spend no more dollars on gift wrapping)







And finally, proof that winter has finally left, the Alberta Pelicans that once were on the endangered species list landed on the pond below our house last week - exactly one day after the ice came off. Sorry the photo is not great but is a definite sign of Spring.

Pura Vida

Costa Rica here we come! A lot of this blog is devoted to pinching pennies, paying cash and learning to live on less. One thing we do spend more than the average family on is travel. I don't drink a lot, don't smoke, buy used clothes most of the time and avoid the average money pitfalls. I have never regretted one dollar spent on travelling the world. If I had more money my life would not change a whole lot with the exception of additional travel.

We have just booked ourselves a seven day getaway at the end of June to the Pacific side of Costa Rica in the Tamarindo surf town area. We have wanted to travel to Costa Rica for a long time and this trip is more of a test for hubby to see if he could live part or full-time there down the road in 5-10 years. Yes, we are still moving to Vancouver Island within the next year but I have wanderlust and have always dreamed of living in other countries and am a faithful reader of International Living Magazine.

Countries I have visited include: Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Belize, Honduras, Hong Kong, Macau, Egypt, Greece and Turkey. I have lived and travelled many States and Provinces in USA and Canada.

Costa Rica holds special appeal due to good climate,proximity to the ocean, diverse wild life and strict conservation activities with a very stable economy and moderate crime. It is safe to purchase real estate in Costa Rica although not nearly as inexpensive as other Central American Countries. You don't come to Costa Rica with job expectations, but Costa Rica does welcome those who intend to invest to create jobs for Ticos (Costa Ricans).

I could live in a hut with a palm tree and a fire to cook, hubby not so much. He requires high speed Internet (come to think of it I kind of like that too) but enjoys travelling and new experiences.

If you like armchair travelling or are thinking of taking a trip to Costa Rica checkout these blogs of expats who now call Costa Rica home:

Happier Than a Billionaire

A New Life In Costa Rica



Have you guessed what Pura Vida means?