Cheap(er) gas today only!

I should have posted this in advance of the day itself, but better late than never. The Canadian Tire gas stations on Terry Fox and Tenth Line, respectively, are offering 5 cents off per litre all day today until 7pm! Hubby and I have been waiting to fill up until now (and his gas light's been on for a couple of days, yikes), and he called me from the gas station to fill me in on the catch: they have all kinds of employees pushing the store's credit card as you wait and even while you're pumping gas, apparently. So if you'd rather pay 1.19$ than 1.24$ and you're good at saying no to high-interest credit cards, head on over! As for me, I'm home with the girls today, so Hubby graciously offered to fill up my car when he gets home from work. While I go to Starbucks and a yarn store. Oh yeah, I've got me a good man.

Garage sale treasures and water park fun!

After an overly late night (I blame Inception; my brain took a few hours to wind down), I woke up early to return our movie rental and check out some garage sales. First, I wrote down my mental list of what I was after. Then, I checked on Used Ottawa and Kijiji to get an idea of where a few sales were happening, and mapped out a route. The sales I had looked up ahead of time didn't turn out to be very good, but they were really just the starting point. I stopped at a bunch of others that I saw, and here's what I got:

-a box of canning stuff for 5$ (I mostly wanted the Mason jars to store sugars and flours- we're trying out spelt and barley from Bulk Barn- but who knows, I may get ambitious)
-4 DVDs (Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Emperor's New Groove, and Atlantis) and a French farm book for 1$
-a Melissa & Doug wooden farm-themed puzzle for 2$
-Elmo slippers for 1$
-a bag of baby-proofing cupboard locks (the kind we need for the kitchen) for 1$
-an iron for 3$ (ours is ruined because I didn't use distilled water in it)
-a toy grocery cart for 50 cents
-a Cinderella camp chair, including carrying bag, for 3$

A total of 16.50$ for some awesome stuff, and all the stuff for D except the DVDs and camp chair will be birthday and Christmas gifts!

After hitting the sales, Hubby, D and I got ready to go to Mont Cascades water park with our friends the Macs. We were meeting them at 10 to convoy together. It took over an hour to drive there, but admission was very reasonable (12.99$ apiece for me and Hubby, free for D) and we brought all our own food and drinks. We stayed for almost 5 hours, and had a wonderful time! There was one scary moment when D went in too deep in the wading pool and fell over just out of my arms' reach, but a nice gentleman picked her up before she dunked, and passed her to me. The park was so kid-friendly; I think there were only a couple of rides D couldn't go on, and the lines for those ones were pretty long anyway. The price was right, too. There's another water park on the Quebec side called Calypso, and they charge 33.63$ for the day!

A brief potty-training update: since getting up from her very late afternoon nap (4-6ish), D's been on and off the potty a few times, and I put her in cotton underwear so that she could pull them down by herself, as needed. It's 8:30 now, and she had one accident on the carpet, then one successful pee (she was sitting in her high chair when she announced she had to pee, so Hubby took her to the bathroom; she sang herself a song, and did her business) and an accident and a near-miss in the bath (Hubby got her onto the toilet in time for one, and then she surprised him with another one), so she got two treats! She loves getting the treats, and we haven't made a big deal about the accidents.

Border shopping done better

Hubby, D, and I (and Cashew by extension) spent the long weekend in Virginia, and as Hubby's dad was there on a conference, we jumped at the chance to see him. One of the things I didn't do well at last year (as evidenced by this post and confirmed by my recent receipt tallying) was border shopping. This time around, I took stock of my and D's wardrobes, and determined what we would need for our respective next stages.

For me, it's fairly simple: I'm fitting into my maternity clothes from last time around, and while I had borrowed some which I later had to return, I have enough pieces to get me through the summer. A couple of exceptions: a swimsuit (no bikinis for me, thanks) and some shorts (I had two pairs, but both were on loan). At Marshalls (like Winners), I found a non-maternity bathing suit with a very stretchy tummy and a tiny ruffle of a skirt, and it was 19.99$. I actually came out of the change room to show Hubby, that's how good I felt! I had been looking at retro-style swimwear like this online, and it's pretty expensive- upwards of 90$. I'm very happy with that purchase. I found maternity jean shorts (knee length) at Burlington Coat Factory (also like Winners) for 14.99$, and they fit great. I also hadn't bought new running shoes in a shamefully long time (I was given my most recent pair by my mom a few years ago- she accidentally bought a size too big for her- and my last pair before that dates back to when my parents still bought my shoes for me). So when we stopped at an outlet centre in Pennsylvania on the way home, I found some Asics that fit the bill. I knew my prices, and although these particular runners weren't the brand I was after, I was happy to pay 35$.

Now for D, the gap in her wardrobe is more substantial. We love hand-me-downs, and we have a few things left from our last haul, but I don't expect other people to clothe my child for free. I went through her things a few weeks ago, weeded out the small/out-of-season clothes, and made a list of what she needed. I didn't want to over-buy, because she already doesn't wear at least a third of the clothes she has for any given stage. Plus we are well-supplied with dresses, thanks to grandmas and aunts. Sadly, she's almost out of the footie pyjama stage, and once she's potty-trained, zip-up jammies will be neither helpful nor welcome. So got her four sets of two-piece pyjamas (one of which has a matching bathrobe), all on clearance at BCF. (No picture available- they're in the wash.) At 6-7$ a piece, that came to under 30$. The picture below shows all the new clothes for her summer wardrobe, excluding dresses.

Top row: three pairs of stretch pants, two of which have coordinating tops, two rompers, and the shrug I knit her for Easter. Each piece or set was 4-5$, except for the BCF denim romper which was 8.99$ and which I guarantee either of my sisters would wear if it came in their size. If last summer is any indication, D will get copious use of her rompers this year. Not shown: a little hoodie with coordinating loud floral stretch pants. Total came to 44$, all from the clearance racks at Carter's outlet or BCF.

Bottom row: the plaid outfit was from a free rummage "sale" at a friend's church, and the yellow top with the white shorts were a gift from the lovely in-laws at Christmas in Australia.

Along with a number of onesies and dresses, this makes up the bulk of D's wardrobe. For her feet, we bought 12 new pairs of socks (half unisex white, half fancy, all sized for 2-3 years old) for 8$, and two new pairs of shoes for the late summer/early fall, at 20$ a pair.

Because most of these purchases were made in PA, where they don't charge tax on things deemed to be necessities (like clothes and shoes), and because we were in the States for three days, we didn't have to pay taxes or duty on the way back in. As a result, I ended up spending less than I did on my two previous border shopping excursions, and I know from my prior research that the prices were good. Hubby is keen to do an annual trip where we stay for a weekend, having done our research beforehand, and buy all our clothes and gifts for the year.

Total for D: 122$
Total for me: 70$ (actually, 82$- I indulged in a 12$ skein of Berocco Ultra Alpaca to make the beautiful Damask)
Hopefully, this will take us through to the fall and beyond!

Getting ready for spring

Instead of dividing and conquering our errands tonight, we made a family trip of them. First, we had dinner at Harvey's, then went over to my favourite kid's consignment boutique, Belly Laughs. We were looking for some pants for baby D, but we found a couple of other things, too.

The rain boots and matching coat:


Altogether just over 30$, and I'm very pleased!

Next up was Home Depot. I'm not a huge fan of going there, but I am a huge fan of spending time with my favourite guy and girl. We're looking to get a new water heater, as ours is the same age as our house (16 years old, and as drippy as you'd expect from an adolescent). We're just looking into pricing and installation costs for the moment, but we definitely want to own instead of renting. It saves hundreds of dollars over the lifetime of the water heater. While we were there, we also looked at springtime things: seeds, a seed starter kit, and a new garden tool, to be specific. Also a bistro set for 79.99$, now that our porch is a year old and could use better furniture than our old camp chairs. So we got all that, plus four storage bins for baby D's outgrown clothes, for 140$.

Regarding the gardening biz: I do not have very green thumbs. We have a rhubarb plant that my friend Mrs. Mac gave me a couple of years ago; I forgot it in the garage for two weeks, and then had to move it shortly after planting it, in order to make room for my clothesline. It still gave us two decent rhubarb crops last year. That kind of hardiness, where you all but kill something and it still flourishes, is a quality I can really get behind in a plant. This is my kind of plant.

I'm now branching out, so to speak, to growing things from seed. The little seed packets tell me that I am first to guess when the last frost will be, then nurture the seeds indoors for up to 8 weeks beforehand. I did try to grow some flowers from seed in the window boxes of our shed, but the boxes didn't drain properly, or at all, so it didn't work out. I'm hoping for better with the seeds. Here's what I got:
-zucchini (meant to be very easy to grow)
-cherry tomatoes
-canteloupe
-basil
-chives
-sweet corn

Can't wait to get started- spring is just around the corner!

A parade for my blogiversary

It's an ordinary Friday here; we've had an easygoing morning of breakfast, list-writing, snacks, and knitting. We'll venture to the grocery store later on, and probably tidy the house (though I'll be on my own for that, Baby D assures me). What is unusual about today is that it bookends the week with finished knitting. Thus, I celebrate my one-year anniversary of blogging with a parade of finished objects.


On Monday, my sister came by for a visit, just in time to pick up some finished socks that she had requested and to play with her favourite niece, who happens to have matching leg warmers knit a year and a half ago. Because the socks were made with DK weight yarn, they took only about a month to knit, and during that same time frame, I was working on this:


The adorable Anouk pinafore, which I had wanted to knit from the moment I saw it! The yarn was the first purchase following the Year of No Yarn, and it was from Australia (hence the main colours of gold and green). Owing again to DK yarn and a daughter who can occasionally amuse herself, it knit up in a trice. In fact, it took me much longer to get a decent shot of baby D in it. When she's not running around, she likes to make a squinty face at the camera. Anyway, she did a beautiful job modelling for me, when it suited her.

A note about the shoes: after a friend tipped me off to Value Village's 50% off sale, I high-tailed it over there and spent as much time shopping as D would allow. Among our purchases were these black t-strap Mary Janes for 2$! I also found her some simple white Mary Janes (in great condition) for 1.50$. I daresay the child is fond of her new footwear; she's been clomping around the house in alternate pairs (or sometimes one shoe from each pair) all week.

Two great deals!

Since getting back from our vacation in Australia (the reason for no posts in over a month), I've realized how much baby D grew when we were away! She's about three inches taller and we'll find out next week at her 15-month appointment how much she's gained, although she's definitely twenty pounds now, poor tiny thing. The downside of all this is that she's outgrown many of my favourite outfits of hers. Anyway, as I was sorting through the piles upon piles of flyers we received in our absence, I noticed that there were jammies on sale at Walmart for 4.50$ each. That's just a smidge more than you'd pay at a consignment shop! I'm not sure they'll be of any great quality, but they have the great advantage of a zipper, which is always appreciated when you're trying to dress a wriggling toddler fresh from the bath. We are becoming expert baby-wranglers. I bought three pairs of the jammies: pink pigs, blue cows, and yellow ducks. I'm so glad girls can get away with wearing any colour, but I have to prepare for the possibility that, if/when we have another kid, it may come with a Y chromosome.

The other deal was one I came across just yesterday at Rexall: I had taken baby D and her friend baby E (my young babysitting charge) for a walk, since it was supposed to be the least chilly day of the week (at a balmy -12), and we like destinations for our walks. I had to get a couple of things from the drugstore, so we took the scenic route. As we were leaving, I saw a few bins with discounted merch and was stunned to see Baby Mum-mums on sale for 97 cents! These are the very same rice rusks that we stopped buying because, at 2.99$ per box, they were getting too expensive. They were apparently discounted because they expire in March. Pfft. They don't know how quickly babies D and E devour the things. Selfishly, I grabbed all the ones they had (five boxes in total). But check your local Rexall/Pharma Plus for similar bargains.

How not to save in 2010 or ever

When you're trying really hard to save, sometimes you can make bad decisions that can end up costing you in the long run. I'm sure this will happen to us many more times, unfortunately, but you can learn from our mistakes! Here are some ways we did NOT save money in 2010:

1. Switching to a cheap internet provider. Rogers and Bell are the two big providers where we live, and in 2009, we were ready for a clean break with them. We'd long ago abandoned Bell, and wanted to try this new company that was advertising phone and internet for 30$ a month. Fine print: that's only for the first six months, then it jumps up, but it was still going to be less than we spent with Rogers. It was going fine until we discovered that our phone wasn't always working (remember this?). I don't mind paying for service, as long as I'm getting that service. When our one-year contract was up, we switched back to Rogers and haven't had a problem since. One other regret: when I called to complain and find out when our contract was up, I should have asked for a reduced rate for our final months with Distributel.

2. Border shopping the way I do: on two occasions this year, I went border shopping in the States with some girlfriends. While I use everything I bought and even got a few shower/birthday/Christmas presents early and cheap, I also spent more than I would have liked. It's tricky when you're only there for a brief period of time and you're not sure what you need. However, one of the girls on the trip (I'll call her Mrs. Mac) plans well in advance what she needs, whether it's fabric, food, or fashion, and knows her prices enough to determine what's a good deal. For her, border shopping ends up saving money. I will take lessons.

If I think of any others, I'm happy to pass them along. It's always nice to learn from other people's mistakes.

How we saved in 2010, part 4

These last three are in no way cohesive, so I'm not even going to try.

3. Complaining effectively. I heard somewhere (okay, on an episode of The Office) that it costs a company ten times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. Anyone who's ever dealt with a cell phone/internet/cable service provider knows they have retention departments committed to doing whatever they can to keep your business. So when I'm not happy with a product or service, I contact the company in question. I prefer to send a letter, since that speaks volumes in our digital age (someone found paper, a pen, an envelope, an address, a stamp AND put it in the mailbox?), but more and more often, I have to resort to email, as there is no address or phone number. Sometimes all they have is a phone number, and even though I hate being on the phone, I'll hang in there to get my point across. The main thing to keep in mind when complaining effectively is to rehearse what you want to say ahead of time, remind them how long you've been a customer, have a solution in mind, and stay cool. Here are just two examples of what I've received as a result:
-Food Basics: I bought some produce that went bad within a day of purchase; the store manager returned my call within three days of my complaint, and notified his cashiers to give me store credit for the amount I spent, on my next visit.
-Air Canada: before a recent trip, I had to go to the Air Canada counter at the airport to have paper tickets re-printed; the agent serving me took forever, and more importantly, asked me if all I did was stay home and stare at my baby (who was with me, and getting properly impatient). I was offended and let them know it. Within a week, I was contacted by Air Canada and got what I asked for: access to their Maple Leaf lounges on both of our layovers. As you now have to pay for food on shorter flights, it was a tremendous relief to have free food at our disposal.

2. Using available time or skills to bring in more money. This would be my French tutoring and child care twice a week. It's not a ton of cash, but it pays for groceries, allowing my savings to accumulate. I've heard of people doing extra shifts, basic bookkeeping, data entry, even delivering papers to increase their budgets.

1. Watching patterns, waiting for sales. We did this with things as small as cheese (never pay more than 5$ for 500g), and as big as the DSLR camera that was Hubby's combined birthday/Christmas present, purchased in August because that was when it was cheapest. These things go in cycles, so if you have a major or recurring purchase to make, check the flyers (they're all online anyway) and make a note of how often they go on sale. Side note: the first and last pages of most flyers are the loss leaders; these are what get you in the door, and the intent is to have you buy more than you otherwise would. There is no need to buy anything other than the crazy low sales. So scoop up four bricks of cheese, pay the man, and be on your way!

How we saved in 2010, part 2

The arrival of 2011 means at least one thing: the year of no new yarn has drawn to a close! The fact that I have not purchased any yarn yet has nothing to do with the fact that yarn stores are closed. This brings me to my next source of saving in 2010.

7. Going on a ban. The yarn ban is by no means the first one I’ve been on. When I was in university, I worked in the lingerie department at Sears, and I bought so many unmentionables that I went on an underwear ban for six months (as in no purchasing, not no wearing). I’ve also gone on clothing bans for months at a time, and the occasional restaurant ban, whereby we don’t eat out at all for a month, except with family (when Dad generously pays). So while this isn’t the first ban I’ve done, it’s certainly the longest. It’s not a bad idea to do once in awhile, when you know you’ve had enough of something. I’ve also heard people call them “fasts”, like you’re fasting from watching movies, or whatever else. It helps you practice self-control, and plan for what you really want.

When I got the idea of a yarn ban into my head, we were driving back from a holiday in Southern Ontario, and I was thinking of something my favourite knit blogger has said on a few occasions: that she has more yarn than she could knit in a lifetime. And not only is she a super fast knitter, she’s also a generous one, giving away stash to knitting friends and family. Having established that I’m not particularly fast, and that much of my stash is dedicated to particular projects, I began to draw up a list of what I wanted to knit with the yarn I had. The list ran to twenty-plus items, and realistically, that could carry me through several years without yarn buying. Since I do want to have some flexibility to try out other projects, and ones for baby girls especially, I decided to start with one year of no new yarn. I worked through the list pretty much in the order I wrote it, prioritizing projects that had languished for two years or so. A fair bit of it got finished, and I hope to post all the finished products soon. I also kept track of projects I really wanted to knit, and which would require the purchase of yarn. This coming year will be a mishmash of finishing other things on that list (seeing as I only got through the first 6 or 7 items), and starting new ones with new yarn.

Important note: knitting, like most artsy hobbies, is NOT a money-saver. It’s actually often cheaper to buy a sweater than it is to knit one, for instance. And it’s always cheaper to buy socks, especially once you factor in the time it takes. I don’t knit to save money. I knit because I enjoy clothing my loved ones with things I’ve made specifically for them.

6. Deciding how much you’re prepared to spend. Since we’re on the topic of planning, I thought this one was appropriate. I already talked about Hubby’s birthday present planning, so here’s a more recent example. On vacation awhile ago, I needed a new one-piece bathing suit, and I was prepared to pay up to 50$ including tax. I looked around various department stores where they had beautiful long leg maillot styles, but they were all between 130$ and 160$. Maybe when I’m independently wealthy, but not on a single salary! Hubby was a little frustrated that I wouldn’t even try them on, and told me it was unlikely I would find what I was looking for, let alone for the price I wanted to pay.

Then I went to Target (please, please come to Canada!), and behold, all ladies’ swimwear was 40% off. I tried on several suits, and the very last one I tried on, of course, was the one I loved the most, and it looked decent on me. I didn’t glance at the price until I was heading to pay, and when I saw it was 45$ before the sale, I picked up a matching pair of board shorts. Altogether, it was 50$.

Birthday on a budget

Hubby's birthday was yesterday, and although I got him his present a few months ago (a super nice DSLR camera, on sale but still expensive, and doubling as his Christmas present), it's nice to have something to open on your actual birthday. He loved when baby D brought his presents to him in a tiny backpack on Father's Day, so I thought that she would probably want to do that again. And since she's such a generous toddler, I also figured she'd want to get a few prezzies for her dad. I wouldn't usually say this, but luckily he had to work late the night on his birthday eve (can you tell birthdays are a big deal for me?). This gave us the chance to hit up Winners and Zellers for his gifts.

My mom gave me a great tip for gift-buying that helps you not to go overboard. You get the person in question 4 things:
Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear
Something to read

I decided ahead of time what these would be, and how much I wanted to spend on each one. Here's what my list looked like:
Want: Caramilk bar (around 1$)
Need: Socks (around 10$)
Wear: Belt (around 20$)
Read: Car magazine (around 7-8$)

Then, I rounded up the total to 40$, to allow for taxes. Finally, I took out 40$ cash to make sure I wouldn't go over budget Here's how we did:
We found a Michael Kors reversible belt on clearance at Winners for 15$, and black socks for 7.99$. The total came to almost 26$ with tax. I was very pleased to come in under budget with our more expensive purchases. Next, we found Road & Track magazine at Zellers for 5.99$, under budget again, so we splurged a bit and went for a 4-pack of Caramilk bars at 3.99$. That all came to about 11$ with tax, so in total we spent 37$. Last year, I think I spent that much on three pairs of running socks for him, also purchased on birthday eve.
Lesson learned: make a list, make a budget, and bring cash!

Although Hubby loved his presents, pictures of them would be rather dull, so in their stead I am including photos from his birthday dinner out (courtesy of my parents) and the cake we had at our house afterwards.

Hubby is a big kid when it comes to treats, so even though I love to bake from scratch, I acquiesce every year and make him rainbow bits cake from a box. I reserve the right to make the icing myself; in this case, bright blue with sprinkles (or Hundreds and thousands, as they say in his homeland). Hubby likes unnatural colours.

PS It's okay to talk about the prices of Hubby's gifts, because he already knew how much they cost. Tactless Baby D left the tags on and the receipts in plain sight.