monthly shopping

First stock up shop and more: this is what $527 looks like – sort of

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$527.84 in total, to be more exact.

Plus $80 in gas. As I headed out, I stopped in town to get $50 in gas, at $139.9/L, along with a sandwich (made by our one restaurant in our little hamlet) and a drink for breakfast while driving, but the food was out of a different budget, so I’m not counting that. I then got another $30 of gas at $137.9/L as I was leaving the city. I also got lunch later on but, again, different budget, so I’m not counting that, either.

I didn’t get pictures of everything. I ended up going to five different places – and still skipped Superstore.

My first stop was Home Depot, as it was basically across the street from the Canadian Tire I was going to. Mostly, I was wanting to see things I was looking up online, like the clear, transparent plastic I thought might be good for windows on the cat isolation shelter.

Good grief they are expensive!

Other stuff I wanted to see, they didn’t have in stock, but they were things I am thinking of for the permanent garden trellises, so that can wait.

What I did find was half inch hardware cloth. They were rolls only 5 feet long, so I got two. I also remembered we were pretty much out of CLR, so I got a bottle of that, too.

Grand total for the three items: $47.10

That done, I popped across to the Canadian Tire and got 4 bags of hardwood pellets for the litter boxes. On the way to the tills, I grabbed a couple of 6pc bungee kits that were on clearance, and a bottle brush. The cats kept stealing our bottle brushes and they had to be thrown away, so it was nice to see some on sale.

Hopefully, the cats won’t find these ones as delicious.

Grand total: $52.43

I was going to the Walmart next, but I forgot I’d already passed it, so I went to the international grocery store, instead. It shares a parking lot with a Dollarama, so I dashed in there to see if there was anything I wanted to pick up.

There were a few things.

I found a metal hanger that might be better for hanging my daughter’s bike than what I got last time. I also grabbed a pizza rocker knife. We don’t actually need it for pizza, but we do make quesadillas fairly regularly, and other flat things that will be much easier to cut with this type of knife. I’d seen it at Dollarama before, months ago, and didn’t get it, but when I wanted to buy one, they weren’t in stock, so I snagged it when I saw it today.

I also found clear, transparent shower curtain liners, and clear transparent table cloth protectors. I got two of each. They will be for the box frame on the bed with the eggplants and hot peppers, to create a sort of greenhouse protection around them. The nights are starting to get chilly, for heat lovers like eggplant. The plastic we tried before got absolutely shredded by the wind, so I am hoping these will be less likely to tear apart. I don’t know which will work best, but the ones that don’t get used will certainly not go to waste.

Grand total: $23.52

Then I finally made it to the international grocery store. By then, it was coming up on noon, and I was going to have lunch, first. I was originally going to have Dim Sum again, but the Chinese buffet lured me in. I was in line behind a pair of older women sharing a shopping cart. One just finished getting her 3 item meal (the largest size on their menu), and her companion started to order her 3 item meal.

Then another.

Then another.

A line started forming behind me, including a young man that was immediately after me. I noticed he was wearing the store uniform, so I asked him if he was on lunch break. He said yes, so I offered for him to go in front of me. He started to say no, he could wait – until the first of the two women in front of me said that her companion was “only” ordering 5 meals.

She was still choosing items for her third one.

At that point, the guy agreed to go in front of me!

The woman ordered two more dinners, and was just starting to order a 6th, when her friend pointed out to her that she already had her five. It was just that one of them hadn’t been placed on top of the buffet cover with the others, yet, so it looked like only four. So she stopped the guy behind the counter before he put anything in the new container.

The employee in front of me started ordering, while the two ladies were talking, and it turned out that no, the second woman really had needed six meals, not five! So they asked if she could order her last one ahead of me.

I said yes, but good grief! 😄 At least one more didn’t take very long. By then, a second employee was able to help me, so it wasn’t just one guy behind the counter anymore.

It was an excellent lunch, and worth the wait.

When I do my shopping, I prefer to put everything back into the cart, then bag things myself in the truck. Especially when there are things that I want to pack with ice packs. Today, though, I noticed they had hard sided insulated bags in stock, so I got one of those, too. It was also on sale, which was a nice bonus.

This is what $222.55 looks like – plus the hardwood pellets.

Most of what I got fit into that one insulated bag!

I got the Coke Zero for my husband and I, and the root beer for my daughters. Those were both on sale.

Hidden in the insulated bag are three $5 each packages of shaved sandwich meats – chicken breast, black forest ham and old fashioned ham. I actually got a package of top sirloin steaks – a treat! – that was on sale. For the girls, I got some frozen Coho salmon and frozen Basa fillets. From their cheese bar, I got some Austrian gruyere, forest mushroom gouda and beer gouda. I got a charcuterie trio to go with the chesses. A few more ingredients, and the girls and I will have another charcuterie and Columbo marathon. 😁

There’s also some thick sliced applewood bacon and unsliced smoked bacon, both locally made. The sliced was on sale, as was the package of pork tenderloins I grabbed. Last of all for the insulated bag was a couple of bottles of creamer for the girls’ coffee, which was on sale.

Among the other items, there’s a jar of dried rosemary – something I’ve been looking for for a while, but was been out of stock, all over! There’s a bottle of Polish raspberry syrup that the girls like to add to drinks, and the Philippine soy sauce my husband likes.

I also grabbed another box of pizza pops, even though I just grabbed one yesterday. This was on an even better sale – regular price $24.79, sale price $17.49. Having an extra for the freezer is a good thing!

As a treat, I bought a box of double yolk mooncakes. They were on sale. I don’t think I’ve had moon cakes since before we moved out here! I admit; as much as I like moon cakes, part of the reason I got them was for the tin. They are very handy, and very pretty. They had two different designs, and I had to resist getting one of each!

Last of all, I ended up grabbing four 4″x6″ ice packs to add to our collection. 😄 They were on clearance and only 90¢ each, instead of $2.99.

The down side of getting those pizza pops at such a great price is, the box is long and doesn’t fit in any of our insulated bags. I stuffed it into a soft sided bag with some ice packs, but couldn’t zip it closed.

My next stop would have been Superstore, but with things thawing out in the truck, even with ice packs around them, I went straight to the Walmart.

The main thing I needed there was enough kibble to tide us over, if we can’t get to Costco or the local feed store until after the long weekend. I ended up getting two 9kg bags of Whiskas and one 7kg of their house brand. I also got a 32 pack of wet cat food.

The KD was on an excellent sale, so I grabbed a box. I also grabbed more distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier. It wasn’t on sale, but their regular price is almost half what it costs, elsewhere, so I grabbed a pack of four bottles.

The other thing I was looking for was a mattress bag. We may not have a spare bedroom for my brother, but we can set up a bed for him in his van, as a surprise. Since it will be in a van, though, I want to make sure the spare mattress is in a bag, to help keep it protected. I had a couple of choices, and selected the one that was heavier duty.

Then there were some hygiene products for my daughters and a bottle of cold water for the drive home. It took a while, and asking several people, before I found a larger insulated bag that I hoped would be large enough for the pizza pop box, then picked up a couple of bags of ice to put in it. Last of all, I added a donation for a school lunch program.

Grand total: $182.24

The new insulated bag wasn’t quite large enough. The squareness of the box’s end made it tight to snap the bag closed, and as soon as it was moved, it started popping open again. Still, it was better than before. It had ice packs with it, and the bags of ice went into the soft sided insulated bag we keep the ice packs in – which had been set inside an insulated hard sided bag, to make extra sure they were still frozen when I needed them! – with the remaining ice packs. I just made sure the new insulated bag had its top folded over and push against another insulated bag, while the bag of ice went on top.

At that point, though, I needed to get stuff home. Just a quick stop at the gas station for a bit of a top up (I’ll fill when I get to Costco), and it was straight home to get things into the freezer!

While unloading, there were cats just everywhere, so I paused to put kibble out and get them away from the truck. They were quite hungry!

Also, eye baby’s eye is looking both absolutely horrible, and so much better, at the same time! She’s running around with the other kittens so much that it actually takes me a moment to identify her now. Gotta see that messed up eye, and her adorable ears with the turned back tips.

After the litter pellets were loaded into the house, I still had to deal with kittens, exploring under the truck. That was a good time to get the hose and rinse the dust off the truck, so I could move it under the trees in the yard.

Until I’m finished using the garage as a workshop, the truck is still parked in the shade of the yard. The major downside of this is, cats like to lie under it, and kittens like to explore the undercarriage! Every time I go to use the truck, I make sure to walk around it once or twice – three times, if I’m unsure – banging on the hood, the sides, and the box cover, to make sure no cats are under it – and especially not under the hood!

So there we have it.

Five places, and more than $500 later.

Between yesterday’s unexpected stock up trip, and today, there’s no hurry to do a Costco trip. My husband’s private insurance disability payment – the one that pays almost all the bills – comes in on Friday.

It’s Labour Day weekend coming up; the last long weekend before school starts.

Costco is going to be insane.

I have zero problems waiting until Tuesday to do a Costco trip!

The Re-Farmer

Costco stock up shopping: this is what $717 total looks like

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According to my weather app, it’s “only” 26C/79F out there, with no humidex change.

I’m pretty sure they’re lying. 😄

We barely cooled down last night at all. Usually, during the day, I have the box fan in the window facing the screen and blowing hot air out, then at night a reverse it to blow cool air in. I actually had to get up during the night and set the fan to blow the air out again, it was so hot!

The forecast for today had been a high of 31C/88F, but that’s now what we are expecting tomorrow, and today’s high is supposed to be 27C/81F, which we have not hit yet – at least not according to the weather app!

I was out early again to water the garden. I’d say, in the cool of the morning, but having never gone below 20C/68F during the night, it really wasn’t that cool. Still, it would help reduce the heat stress, at least.

Once the morning routine was done, I made sure to grab the ice packs out of the freezer, once again double insulating them, so they would last until I needed them, then headed out. Today is election day for our municipality, so I made a stop at the polling station first. That took longer than expected, as my name wasn’t on the list. My brother’s was, though, which explained why. My brother owns the property and pays the taxes on it, so even though he doesn’t live near here, they would have his name on the roster. Since we’ve been living here long enough, I was able to just sign a form the scrutineer filled out for me and vote.

I remembered to avoid the highway I normally take, since it’s still being resurfaced in sections, and crossed over to the next highway, stopping to put in $20 in gas along the way. Just enough to put me back above half a tank.

My only goal for today was Costco, so there were no side trips this time. I was going to fill the tank first, but the lines at the gas pumps were pretty long, so I decided to do it later. It was really busy, but was I able to find a parking spot near the gas pumps, and right next to a cart corral, so I was happy.

The shopping was… okay. As usually, I loaded up with the larger and heavier cat supplies, first, then did the rest of the shopping. With things as busy as they are, it was frustrating. What is it with people who don’t think twice about cutting off a flat cart? I can’t stop on a dime with that thing! I did have one person going past me pause to compliment me on how well I handled the flat cart, though! That was certainly appreciated. Lord knows, I was doing my best!

Anyhow, this is what $717.12 in total looks like.

*sigh*

As usual, I put the cat supplies on a separate bill.

I got four 9.1kg bags of Kirkland cat food, two 11.6kg bags of Whiskas, two cases of wet cat food and a box of puppy pads.

Nine items, and it came out to #325.60

I suppose this as good a time as any to post the Ko-fi donation button, if anyone is able to contribute!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

As always, all donations go towards care and feeding of the cats. With my husband on disability payments, we have to be really, really careful about that!

Then there was the stuff we got for ourselves.

There’s a flat of Coke in there, that is 30 cans at about the same price as a flat of 24 cans, locally. I got a case of water bottles this time. We used buy these all the time and kept water bottles in a cooler in the van. With the truck, the cooler doesn’t really fit with the other stuff we keep in the cab. So we’ll just bring water bottles to the truck before heading out, as needed.

There’s a 15 pound bag of potatoes in there, since our larger potato varieties in the garden aren’t ready to harvest yet. I got a big case of ramen noodles, paper towels and toilet paper.

I didn’t get any sliced bread this time; just two packs of tortilla wraps. The chicken taco is a meal kit that I picked up for supper, so we don’t have to cook in this heat. There’s a package of fresh sausages, plus a 3pk assortment of cured sausages. There’s 5 pounds of butter, a 6pk of cream cheese, and a 2 pk of sour cream (they no longer carry the 500ml containers, but packs with two 250ml containers, instead). I got a block of mozzarella and a block of marble cheeses. I picked up two hot rotisserie chickens, frozen perogies (the box has 4 bags in it), a bag of basmati rice, and a 60 count of eggs.

I got a 2pk of baking powder, 3pk of Spam, a large jar of peanut butter, a 2pk of butter chicken sauce and 2 large jars of mayonnaise for the pantry. Normally, I get the Hellman’s mayo, but they’re getting more expansive, so I got the Kirkland brand this time.

And that’s it.

That’s all we got for $391.52

There’s hardly any meat in there at all, and meat is usually where I get the best prices at Costco, but the budget just wasn’t there for it, this time. That will change, later in the month, as my daughter pays us back for what we covered to get her new computer, which should arrive in a couple of days.

After I paid for this, I did grab a chicken and fries meal with a drink for the ride home, which was almost $9. I ended up not eating most of it, though. The seasoning on the chicken is a bit spicy for me; I have almost no tolerance for spicy heat in food, unfortunately. That’s okay, though. My husband got to enjoy it when I got home.

Once the truck was loaded up, I had some issues getting to the gas pumps to fill my tank. Someone decided to get in the line right behind me, and I didn’t have room to back out and turn. They would not move at all – even when other lanes cleared and they could have gotten to a pump faster!

Filling the tank cost me another $69 and change. Between the gas and the food, that made for a total of about $815 and change spent today.

*sigh*

After messaging my family to let me know I was on the way home, the girls made sure they were up and able to help me unload, then put everything away. While they took care of that, I made sure to put food out for the yard cats, to get them away from the truck, before parking!

Oh, that reminds me. I’ve had good news from the Cat Lady. Her son it already out of the hospital! In fact, he’s feeling well enough, he’s wanting to go to a local event this weekend. If that works out, she’ll let me know, so we can work out where and when to connect, and Button will finally be on his way to his new forever home!

All in all, I guess it has been a productive day, even though I wasn’t able to get everything that was on my shopping list this time. I’ll have to go out again, tomorrow, but this will be to make a dump run, then head into town to refill our 18.9L water jugs.

What I’d like to be doing right now is mowing the inner yard, but it’s way too hot and humid. It’s not supposed to cool down to a decent temperature until 6am. I think I’ll try to get to bed early tonight, so I can do the watering earlier, then get some mowing done before it gets too hot. Once I get the inner yard mowed, I want to park the truck in the shade of the inner yard, so we can use the garage to start building a cat isolation cage. I want to move the folding table we made into there, then set the miter saw up on it, then start gathering whatever materials I can find in the sheds and barn. I have a basic design in mind but, in the end, it’s just going to be cobbled together with what we have! It will be much better to work in the shade – and more level floor! – of the garage.

Oh, I also want to remove things from inside the outhouse, including the shelves we installed, so we can use them again. The yard is solid enough that we can use the truck to pull the tree off of it. I expect the outhouse will be destroyed in the process, but we might still be able to salvage parts of it. We shall see.

But first… the lawn needs to be mowed. 😄

The Re-Farmer

Small stock up shop: this is what $423, in total, looks like, plus extras.

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I really appreciate working air conditioning in our truck!

Today’s stock up shopping trip was a smaller one, and I even managed to be under budget, but not by choice in a couple of places.

The big stock up shop will be at Costco, in the middle of next week. This trip was going to be Canadian Tire, then Walmart, then the international grocery store.

I goofed and found myself in the wrong lane to go to Canadian tire, so I ended up going to the international grocery store first, rather than trying to find a way to turn around and go back.

The international grocery store shares a parking lot with a Dollarama, so I decided to go there, first. I didn’t bother taking a photo of that shop. I got a couple of cheap plastic table cloths for our dining table to protect it from the cats, some tomato twist ties, a square box of facial tissues for the truck and a couple of large ice packs for future stock up shopping trips, since we’ve had to get rid of a few older ones. That trip totaled $22.12

It was lunch time by then, so before I did my shopping at the grocery store, I got some dim sum and a drink for lunch. That totaled $19.94.

Then I finally got the shopping done. In this store, there are things we get that are more like special treats, things we don’t find elsewhere that we normally go to, and sometimes some unusually good sales.

This is what $120.32 looks like.

Yeah. Seriously. That’s it.

This place has a really good cheese counter. Not as good as what we used to have to choose from in the city we lived in before we moved out here, but still pretty decent. This trip, that included a coconut brie, goat gouda with honey and truffle gouda cheese. They also had a sale on big blocks of marble cheese of a size larger than what is now available at Costco.

Coconut milk was on sale, and the girls like to use that, so I got a couple of cans for them. Yes, I got more ice packs – an in between size, this time – which were also on sale. The Applewood smoked bacon is a locally produce product that we find only here, and we like to buy the slab bacon at times.

The cooked and raw prawns were both a reduced price. We normally get Basmati rice at Costco, but we were completely out, so when I saw the sale price, I grabbed a bag. Last of all was the raspberry syrup; a Polish product that isn’t usually in stock, so I made sure to grab a bottle.

That’s is. Eleven items. I fit most of it in a hard sided insulated back, with ice packs, and still had room to put the soft sided bag with the rest of the ice packs on top. The cans and the bottle of syrup went into another hard sided bag that got added to, later.

Usually, I’d be putting the bags in the box of the truck, but with just a couple of bags, I kept them in the cab, with the air conditioning.

My next stop was Canadian Tire. There were two things I was looking for there. Litter pellets and a new air filter for our lawn mower. It’s a Canadian Tire brand, so only Canadian Tire carries the air filter. I meant to get one last month, but they were out of stock in both Canadian Tires we normally shop at.

They were still out of stock!

So all I got there were 4 bags of stove pellets for the litter boxes, which totaled $33.56 after taxes. I didn’t bother getting a photo of those. 😁 I didn’t take the time to look for anything else, since I had stuff on ice in the truck, and I knew that cab would be heating up fast.

Last of all was the Walmart. The girls had a couple of things they asked me to pick up, but the rest was mostly just “pick up enough to last us until the Costco trip”.

This is what a total of $269.44 looks like.

*sigh*

I ended up with three receipts for this one.

I put the cat food on one bill. I got two packs of 32 cans of wet cat food. I intended to get 4 bags of dry cat food, but ended up getting only two that were at $29.97 still. The other bags – same weight but different flavours – had gone up $5 per bag. So the wet and dry cat food together came out to $131.57

Oh, crud. I just remembered. I intended to pick up more of their XXL puppy pads. I’ll have to make sure to do that on my next trip.

For the rest, I got some coffee for the girls because the price was better than anywhere else I’ve seen. I also got a couple of coffee creamers to go with it, which was actually on the shopping list. I got a 12 pack of Coke Zero for my husband and I, and of Ginger Ale for our daughters. An unplanned purchase was a new smoke detector; I kept forgetting to replace the one that broke a while back until now!

I got some canned luncheon meats for the pantry. They had rice crackers on sale that my husband really likes, so I got 4 packs of those.

I got a couple of soy milks for the girls as well. Normally, I get 2L cartons from the fridge, but they were completely sold out, and I grabbed the last two 1L self stable cartons when I found them.

There was a really good sale on bacon, so I grabbed two packages of thick cut bacon. The beef stew wasn’t on sale, but it was the only thing that both looked good and was affordable. I’m actually quite shocked by how much of the beef I saw today was turning colour! I grabbed a pound of butter – just one, as I’ll be stocking up on butter at Costco. There’s a couple of vegetable bouillon cube boxes in there, a bag of raw pumpkin seeds that will be ground up to include in the cat soup (though it’s something we can eat ourselves, too), and a bag of avocados. It’s been a long time since we’ve bought avocados, they’ve become so expensive! I got 2 bags of pasta for now; I’ll stock up on pasta more at Costco. Finally, I picked up and energy drink for the ride home. That totaled $127.43.

Yup. We spent more on cat food than on food for ourselves!

Then, as I was packing things back into the cart, I remembered I was supposed to get ice. I had even picked the cash register that was next to the freezer, so I could grab them at the last moment! Thankfully, the cashier allowed me to get 3 bags in between the customer she was ringing through, and the next one – and the next one in line was okay with it, too. We even joked around about it.

The three bags of ice came out two $10.44

So that was the shopping and lunch. I also got gas.

On the way to the city, I’d stopped to get $40 of gas, plus some perogies and a drink for breakfast. I also grabbed some beef jerky to keep in the truck for road munchies. That totaled $60.77 I was under half a tank when I left home. With gas at $1.539, that brought me a bit above half. By the time I was done shopping, I was at half a tank. So, on the way out, I decided to put in another $40 in. (I’ll do a fill, and reset my trip counter, at Costco) I decided to get myself an ice cream bar as a treat, which brought the total to $45.37

So, everything together, including gas (which comes out of a different line in the budget), meals and beverages, the grand total for the day came out to $571.52. Taking out the gas budget items, the groceries, etc. budget items totaled $465.38

We didn’t get a lot for that money, that’s for sure.

I’m not looking forward to seeing how much the Costco trip is going to cost!

The Re-Farmer

Stock up shopping: Canadian Tire, Walmart and Superstore total of $378

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Well, I’m really, really glad I pushed to get so much of the mowing done yesterday. All the usual areas are under water again! We’ve got a bit of a break in the rain right now, but in a few hours, it’s supposed to start up again.

We didn’t even get the worst of it. The further south I drove, the heavier the rain. I’m most definitely not complaining!

For today’s trip, I went to our usual Canadian Tire and Walmart locations, but instead of the international grocery store I like to go to, I ended up hitting a Superstore in the same area. There really wasn’t anything on my list for the international store I couldn’t get elsewhere – or so I figured at the time. Turns out I was wrong about one thing.

My first stop was Canadian Tire, which had a few extras I normally wouldn’t get.

The litter pellets were my usual purchase.

This trip, I also picked up a new headlight and license plate light bulb for the truck. I also got a new tire gauge. On the way out, I got a low tire warning, so I stopped at a gas station to pump up. (One of the gas jockeys was a sweetheart and pumped the tires for me. Less time in the rain!) I checked all the tires while I was at it. At one point, I had to turn the truck around, as the hose wouldn’t reach. I put the tire gauge down on the console between the front seats. As I turned, it rolled off and in between the console and the driver’s seat.

And disappeared.

Thankfully, I did have another in our emergency kit, but it’s a cheap one. After the tires were pumped, I went into the convenience store to get another gauge, but the only one they had was for the big rigs. I liked the idea of having a dial, but the cost was not worth it. I did find similar at Canadian Tire that were not dual valve and cheaper, but in the end, I got just another plain one of a higher quality than was in the emergency kit. I do hope we find and dig out the other one, though. We got it as a freebie from somewhere, years ago, and it’s one of the best tire gauges we’ve ever had!

Last of all, I got a can of bug spray, since we were running low and the mosquitoes are insane, with all the rain we’ve been having. I’m glad I remembered to get it while at the Canadian Tire, because when I looked at the display in the Walmart, they didn’t have the powerful stuff, and the cans they did have, which were smaller, cost just as much!

One thing on my list that I did not find: a new filter for our push mower. None in stock.

Total damage at Canadian Tire, after taxes, was $72.74

The main thing on my list for Walmart where those XXL puppy pads, as we were running out of that size.

I got more raw pumpkin seeds that will be ground into a powder for adding to the cat soup. The canned cat food was not on my list, but they’ve actually gone down in price! We were going to need more, eventually, so I picked them up now.

The personal products were on my list, but the air freshener was not. I got lavender scent, which is supposed to be calming, and some of the cats could really use some calm! The coffee was on sale, so I grabbed one for the pantry.

I also added a donation to the children’s hospital.

Grand total and Walmart, after taxes and including the donation: $119.57

The next stop was Superstore. For this one, I had some specific things on my list, but mostly, it was “see what’s good”, or “see what’s on sale”.

While at the Walmart, I completely forgot to look for toilet safe drain cleaner, so I looked for that at the Superstore. The only ones they had specified not for use on toilets. I was also going to get Beaver Buzz energy drinks – the one thing I would have gotten at the international grocery store. Since I found some at the Superstore I went to after my Costco shopping, while stopping for road food, I figured I’d just get it here.

Well, it seems this location doesn’t carry Beaver Buzz.

They did have cases of Monster with a regular price that was a cheaper than the sale price, locally, so I got that, instead.

One thing that was on my list was canola oil, requested by my daughters. I also got paper towels, a flat of Coke Zero, and a case of tomato soup, among the larger items.

I got some frozen fish for the girls, as well as frozen perogies and frozen pot stickers. For fresh meat, I got ground beef and ground pork, plus a bag of cheese hoagies that were on sale.

I decided, as I was shopping, that I will be making a chili, so I got some canned mixed beans and some crushed tomatoes. Which is silly, considering how many tomatoes we have in the freezer, but they are whole and we really need to process them! They got buried, though, so I keep forgetting about them!

For fruit, I got bananas and cherries. The cherries were really cheap; $2.99 a pound. Usually, they’re $8.99 a pound locally, or $4.99 a pound elsewhere in the city.

Let’s see… what else did I get. There’s a large jar of olives for the pantry – those are going up in price! I remembered to grab a small jug of apple cider vinegar, as we are out completely right now. There was a good sale on whole wheat bread. I got torpedo buns, plus a round sourdough loaf.

Last of all, I got myself some fresh sushi and a cold Monster to have for lunch in the truck, before heading home.

The grand total at Superstore, after taxes, was $185.87. I accidentally cut the total off in the above image!

For what I got at Superstore, I probably could have just done the grocery shopping at the Walmart. Walmart doesn’t have those torpedo buns, though. 😄

By the time I was done, the rain had almost completely stopped, but the wind picked up. While sitting in the truck in the parking lot, eating my lunch, the truck was actually being buffeted, hard!

On the way out, I filled the gas tank, which cost another $56.

So the shopping was a grand total of $378.18. Add in the gas, and I spent $434.18 today.

Considering we got extras like the headlight, I suppose that’s not too bad.

On the way home, I stopped at the post office to pick up a parcel that was supposed to arrive today. It wasn’t there. The website says “arriving by 10pm tonight”. Which means we’ll get it on Tuesday, since Monday is Canada Day.

I pulled the truck up to unload, as usual. Before driving it to the garage, I made sure to feed the outside cats to get them away from the vehicle.

I still had to chase one off the hood!

I made sure to put food out for the kittens by the back of the garage, the tarp covered wood pile, and the old garden shed, along with the usual places. Last of all, I put food in the sun room for the kittens in there – then had to chase out the crowd of adult cats that left the food outside, to come in and eat the kitten’s food! Adam’s kittens dive under the counter shelf as soon as I come in (I’m so glad we put that up on bricks!) so I make sure to scatter some on the floor under there a bit. That way, they don’t have to fight off the adults for food!

As I was walking back to the house from the garage, I spotted a little ball of fluff under the shrine, and was able to grab a picture.

The one kitten in the junk pile was enjoying some kibble under the shrine, with its mother.

So, from what we are seeing now, we have 8 kittens (2 litters) in the sun room, 4 behind the garage, 2 under the tarp covered pile and 2 in the old garden shed. The 4 white and greys that were the first to show up in the sun room are still gone, and I’m starting to think they were victims of the racoons, along with the newborns. There wasn’t enough… evidence… left behind for me to be able to say one way or the other. How many others there are, beyond the inner yard, we have no way of knowing until they start showing up at the kibble bowls. As for the adults, I haven’t even tried counting them lately. They come and go so much. I did see Sad Face this afternoon, though, and he’s got a wound of some kind under one cheek. He won’t stay still long enough for me to see it. Considering he’s been actively stalking and attacking other cats lately, it doesn’t surprise me. He’s getting on in years and looking more and more beat up. He tends to win those fights, though!

Which reminds me. Syndol’s limp is getting much better. Driver showed up yesterday, and he was limping, too, though not as bad. I haven’t seen the white and grey with the puncture wound on his front leg, so I can’t say how he’s doing.

A few more days, and we’re bring 4 males to the vet, courtesy of cheap spay/neuter day and the rescue. By next month, the kittens should all be weaned, so grabbing some females to be spayed is the goal. We should have a trap loaned to us by then.

Anyhow.

We are now stocked up for the month, except for the usual local purchases.

The Re-Farmer

Costco stock up shop: this is what $808 looks like

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It was a remarkably busy day at Costco, for the middle of the week. I didn’t get everything I had on my list, and still broke $800.

This is what $808.34 looks like.

It really doesn’t look like much at all. 😞

I put the cat food on a separate bill again.

It was just cat food, too. I didn’t get their puppy pads again, as we still have more than half a case, though I will be getting more of the larger size when we hit Walmart in a couple of days.

At first, I got eight 9kg bags of the Kirkland brand, because I didn’t see the 11.6kg Whiskas bags. Those turned out to be moved to the end of the aisle. When I saw they were on sale, I put back 4 of the Kirkland bags and replaced them with the Whiskas. At $8 off, I considered replacing all of them, but decided against it, so the cats would have a variety.

I got two cases of the wet cat food, which has gone up in price by a dollar since last month.

Then there was the stuff for us.

When the cashier confirmed my butters, it turned out I’d accidentally got both salted and unsalted. I took them out of the same box, so they should have been all the same! I’m glad he caught that.

For other dairy, we got marble and Old cheddar cheese, plus cream cheese and sour cream.

I didn’t get a double flat of eggs, like I usually do, since we still have lots of eggs we got from my homesteading friend.

We got our usual Kirkland brand of TP, plus a case of facial tissue that was on sale.

Among the things we don’t always get every month was a case of toothpaste, a case of toothbrushes, extra strength ibuprofen, lactase and Vit. B12. I also got a 6 pack of baking soda; we finally got near the end of the last 6 pack I got!

In breads, I just got four packs of tortilla wraps and a 2pk of rye bread.

For meats, I got a bit of a treat; a panini variety pack of sliced meats. I got a package of large breakfast sausages, pork belly, a 3 pack of whole chickens and a chub of ground beef. I also grabbed a 3 pk of Spam for the pantry.

Then there was the mayonnaise and peanut butter, and a bag of potatoes.

That’s it.

I didn’t even finish going through all the aisles, as my budget for this shop was about $800.

Aside from this, I picked up $30 of gas on the way into the city, at $1.389/L That put me back above half a tank. I filled the tank at Costco. At $1.299, it cost me $66.22 to fill the tank.

After the truck was loaded, I swung by a Superstore to get some sort of lunch I could eat while driving. I ended up getting a ham sandwich and a bottle of water, but while looking for something more interesting to drink, I found they had Beaver Buzz in stock, and Citrus – my favorite flavour – was on a “buy three” sale, so I got three of those. I’m not sure what happened to the receipt, but that totaled $17 and change.

Which means I spent over $900 in total today.

It feels like there isn’t much to show for it.

The Re-Farmer

Stock up Shopping: This is what a total of $444 looks like

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$444.11 to be exact. Well. Sort of.

My first stop was at Walmart, where the majority of what I needed to get was more cat food, which I paid for separately, plus a few other items.

The four, 9kg bags of dry kibble cost $29.97 each, and the case of canned cat food cost $28.77, for a grand total, after taxes, of $166.49

The other items, plus a donation, came to $46.73, but the girls will be paying me back for their stuff, so the out of budget cost will be for the argan oil at $8.17 and my Vit. D3, which was $9.48 – both were on sale – plus the donation. With taxes, it would be between $20-$25 out of budget. I don’t feel like doing the math for the exact amount. 😁

I completely forgot to look for the electric tape that was on my list, though. I didn’t remember that until I checked the list while I was at Superstore. Oops.

The Superstore run was a lot longer. It’s been a long time since we’ve done a Superstore run, and I went through most of the store, then doubled back a few times, looking for things.

What you can’t make out in the photo is the sushi I got for lunch, and the package pf paper towels under the cart.

For this trip, I got coffee and non-dairy milks for the girls, and an energy drink for me, to go with my sushi lunch. I also got paper towels, ground cinnamon and ground thyme, cocoa, brown (well, yellow, according to the receipt), a big jar of olives, a case of Coke Zero, two jars of mayo, a wheel of double cream brie (30% off) and a big block of Old Cheddar cheese. Costco no longer carries blocks in that size, unfortunately. They had a better price. I did find the brand of soy sauce my husband likes, though. I normally find that at the international grocery store.

For fresh fruits and vegetables, I only got bananas and crimini mushrooms. Most of what I saw either didn’t look very good, or was too expensive. I did get their $5 bag of torpedo buns – there’s just something about those buns that I love! – plus a couple of baguettes that were only $1 each. I got a big package of hot dogs, so I got a couple of packages of buns to go with them.

For proteins, I also got a pack of frozen ground chicken (four chubs in the pack that I think are 1lb each), some breakfast sausages and some pork and vegetable pot stickers. For the girls, I got a couple of packages of frozen fish filets.

I remembered to pick up some more no-name Pepto and, last of all, I got some Gorilla brand silicone sealant. The drainage hose on our washing machine has sprung a leak. That’s what the electric tape was supposed to be for; we find it is great for waterproof patching of small holes in hoses. Superstore had all kinds of other tape, but no electric tape. I don’t know if the sealant will work, but if it doesn’t, it will still come in handy for other things!

The grand total for this was $250.89, but I had enough points on my Optimum card to get $20 off, so I actually paid $230.89

So the total for the day, minus what the girls will reimburse me for, was more like $420 plus a bit, than the $444.11 total on the receipts.

When I filled the tank, I also got a couple more jugs of summer windshield washer fluid, which cost me $49.96 in total.

Adding in the cost of the tire ($55.97), my prescription refills (only $14.54 and change, thanks to my husband’s medical insurance) and breakfast ($10.62), today cost the budget just over $550.

Ouch.

Then my husband sprung for burgers, which I picked up in town on the way home, but that didn’t come out of budget. Still, getting two burgers for each of us – nothing else – came out to $85 and change!! Granted, they were all triple burgers, but still… Ouch!

They really hit the spot, though.

So that was my very long, rather expensive day.

The sad thing is, we only have about half of the cat food we’ll need for the month. We’ll pick more up later. Then there’s the fresh stuff we’ll be picking up locally, as needed, throughout the month.

Having the truck is great, but that many bags and cases of cat food, plus our own supplies, is a bit much. We’re already needing to use a garden claw to pull the bags forward so we can unload them. I make a point of laying them across the axle, but by the time I get home, there’s usually at least one bag, or some other item, that’s made it’s way as far as the cab. We could certainly fit everything in the box with just one shopping trip. It would just mean more stops and more driving around, plus having to roll up the cover on the box and climb in to load it, which would make for a much more exhausting trip. Better to split it into two trips.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It’s just the things we need to work around our physical limitations. We do what we can, and don’t stress over the things we can’t.

Well. Mostly. 😄😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Monthly stocking up: this is what $694 looks like

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With several things going on, today’s trip to the city was supposed to be for a small stock up trip, with the larger one happening when main pay comes in, on the last business day of the month. Our schedule has changed a bit, so I will be able to do that on the Friday, and we will be visiting our friend that’s back in Canada on the weekend, instead.

This really was a small shopping trip. This is the Costco portion.

I had the cat supplies put in a separate bill again.

Last month, I got only the 11.6kg Whiskas kibble, which have gone up in price by 10¢. The Kirkland brand, however, was $27.99 the last time I got it, so it’s actually down by 30¢ per 9kg bag. The puppy pads did not change in price since I last bought them. The case of wet cat food was $37.89 last month, so it’s gone up by $1.10.

Since I only got 4 bags of dry kibble, and 1 case of canned cat food, along with the puppy pads, the grand total for cat supplies at Costco was “only” $218.34

As for stuff for ourselves, there were quite a few things on my list that I skipped for this trip.

Today, we needed both AA and AAA batteries, as well as toilet paper. Other paper products got skipped on this trip. We got a double flat of eggs (5 dozen), 5 pounds of butter, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, cream cheese, frozen pierogi, ground beef (we’re out of ground beef from the quarter beef we got in January), ribs and a pork blade for meats. I was going to get a package of bacon, until I saw the price. We got a case of pasta, as well as a big pack of Raman type noodles. I got two packages of tortilla warps and two double packs of sliced French bread this time, instead of the usual rye, and a bag of Basmati rice. Extras included a box of Sweet and Salty granola bars – something we haven’t bought in a very long time, but it was on sale today – plus a tray of sushi and a lasagna for us to enjoy after we unloaded and put everything away. They had a fundraiser going on for the Children’s Hospital, and I added a donation as well, but only after making sure they weren’t going to do the stupid bell ringing and cheering thing. Good grief, that’s something that would actually stop me from donating! *shudder*

So the non-cat supply total at Costco was $424.04

The store was so busy, I never made it to the pharmacy section, so after I filled the tank (I’ll give the gas total, later), I went to a nearby Walmart. This one is a LOT bigger than the one I usually go to, and is a very different layout, so that took a bit longer than usual. I was in no hurry, though. This was the Walmart portion of the trip.

I’m not counting the stuff I picked up for the girls, since I will be paid back for that. While there, though, I did get more cat supplies.

Yes, I got more puppy pads. The Costco ones are 30″ x 23″ which, for some areas we use them in, is a bit small. The Walmart house brand ones are more expensive, but they are 30″ x 36″

I also got a box of pet odor eliminator powder for the carpet in my room, plus an odor and stain removing spray.

Yes, we have issues. Mostly, it’s Finnegan, spraying. We just can’t get him to stop!! Discovering he was spraying a corner of vintage dresser that was my father’s was the most disturbing. We almost lost a cat, at that point. I’ve actually had to put a barrier around that part of the shelf, on top of a puppy pad, then drape another puppy pad over the barrier, to protect it. Then there is the annoying habit of cats that will go right next to a litter box, instead of in it. Even when it’s freshly cleaned!

Last of all, I got a cold drink for the drive home, plus another donation to the Children’s Hospital, which put my total at Walmart at $51.72

Aside from that, I also got gas. I was under half a tank when I headed out, so I stopped at the town my mother lives in and put in $30. The price there was $1.449/L At Costco, however, it was at $1.299/L Filling cost a total of $57.61 As I was driving out, I passed one gas station where I could see a price, and it was at $1.399/L A considerable difference!

So the total for fuel was $87.61. Everything else was $694.10, for a grand total for the day of $781.71

For cat food, that might last us 2 weeks. The next trip, we’ll have to get a lot more, if we want it to last the month!

Once everything was put away and the lasagna was in the oven, I made Cat Soup, using the new Healthy Poops powder instead of the ground pumpkin seeds. The cats were very happy to be getting their cat soup again! It didn’t take them long to get used to getting it, instead of just straight up canned cat food.

As for whether the additives are helping the cats with their… consistency… in the litter box, I do believe it is helping. Peanut Butter Cup was the main concern, since she was Miss Leaky Butt, but that has stopped. She has still been… loud… in the litter box, but it’s getting better. It’ll be a few more days before we can really tell if it has made a difference for all of them, though.

We’ll have to start doubling up on our lysine orders, though, since we are dosing both the inside and outside cats. Or get that 4 pound box for horses I was looking at. Both are purse lysine, so the only difference should be the texture of the powder.

Ah, the things we do for the cats!

[Update: we did the math, and the savings by ordering bulk was significant enough that we just ordered the 4 pound bucket]

Anyhow.

That was our shopping for today. Smaller than our first shop usually is – at least when it includes Costco – yet it was still almost $700. That’s just over half our budget for the month, and we still need to make sure to keep part of the budget aside for when we need to top up with fresh stuff throughout the month.

It’s getting harder and harder, every month, to do that. We are fortunate that my husband’s private insurance disability income is as good as it is. Today’s pay was CPP Disability, and a lot of people have to somehow survive on just that!

As difficult as it is, I am thankful that we are able to do as well as we are, and especially thankful for when we get donations to help out with the kitties. We are in a much better position than so many others. Who would have thought that my husband being on disability, and moving out here, would actually give us better stability than when he was working full time, and we were in the city?? God sure has a way taking a bad thing, and making some good out of it.

The Re-Farmer

This is what $624 combined looks like, plus an update

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$623.68 to be exact.

Ouch.

Today I did our first stock up shop in the city. While our temperature is a balmy -6C/21F, the windchill is brutal. My weather app says it feels like -22C/-8F, but at least a few times I was walking in it, it sure felt much colder!

The drive in was good, though. Swirling snow on the highway, but the wind wasn’t letting anything accumulate.

I decided not to do Costco today, in order to take advantage of some sales that end tomorrow. My first stop was at the international store, where I could first enjoy some dim sum for breakfast.

I didn’t feel like bagging at the truck with this wind, so I brought bags into the store with me, for a change.

I balanced the weight in the insulated bags poorly, though, so I shifted things around a bit. This is what I got.

For our Easter basket, I picked up a flat of eggs. We’ll get more at Costco, but I want to get some pickling right away. I also got a Polish sausage, a cheese ball, a jar of cheese stuffed olives and a small dinner ham for the basket. Oh, and the whole cloves, which are used as a decoration. We’re running low.

The frozen turkeys were on an excellent sale, so I grabbed two – and then got one of them for free with my loyalty points. The Honeycrisp apples were also an amazing sale, so I got two bags of those. They were $1.99 each instead of $6.99.

The Stash teas were also on sale, and I ended up getting 4 boxes of those altogether. We normally buy our toilet paper at Costco, and we still will get their big house brand package, but the house brand TP here was also on a good sale, so I got one for our stock up supply.

There’s some cleaning vinegar (10% acidity) and laundry detergent. Normally, I’d by detergent at Costco, but I don’t normally do the laundry and hadn’t realized we’d run out completely! I got some marble and Old Cheddar cheese as well, because the sales were good, but will likely get more at Costco. We use cheese a lot.

The Soy and Oat milks are for my lactose intolerant daughters, along with the coffee creamers, which does bother them, but they don’t use enough of it at a time for it to be much issue. I got a smoked ham for general eating, plus a slab of salmon for the girls that was on sale. There’s a slab of smoked bacon, the soy sauce brand my husband likes, and some bananas.

The grand total, after taxes, was $216.10, after just over $50 was taken off for the sales and deals.

My next stop was Walmart. I was really after just two things there. Cat food and supplements.

I did have a few extras that weren’t on my list. My “splurge” of the day was a small plastic shelf and 4″ plastic plant pots. I really didn’t want to use peat pots again and, with the larger seeds I want to be starting next, I went with these. I do have similar plastic plant pots that we found while cleaning up the basement, but they’re pretty old and the plastic is getting brittle, and the price was right on these. They had the giant bottles of shampoo and conditioner in stock, so I got one shampoo and two conditioners.

Then there was my supplements.

*sigh*

I got two boxes with 32 tins each of wet cat food, plus 6 bags of dry. The two more expensive kibble bags were about 9kg, and the others were 7.24 and 7.5kg in size. I also grabbed a couple of small bags of chocolate eggs for our Easter basket – our one non-traditional basket item is a bit of chocolate. I had run out of my supplements almost completely, so I got my magnesium, B12, Zinc and D3. D3 is the only one that was cheap! With the others, I did get the ones that were the best deal, so they should last me a while, but… ouch.

Those plant pots were a really good deal, and not even on sale. A package of 6 was $1.24, so I got four packages.

Aside from all that, I got a bottle of water for the road, for a grand total of $410.22 after taxes.

*sigh*

I’ll be doing our Costco shopping in a couple of days, and I want to make sure to tank up and get everything we can squeeze out of our budget, because on April 1st, our Prime Dictator’s new carbon tax is coming into effect, and the price of everything is going to go up. Another tax on top of a tax on top of a tax. Meanwhile, all our MPs are getting a raise on the same day! Because, of course. 🫤

On the way home, I made sure to hit a bank machine and take cash out, then stopped at the septic guy’s place to pay him for emptying out our tank yesterday. Including a tip. I will always tip the septic guy!

While driving on the highway, on the lookout for his driveway, a thought occurred to me. When I called him to do our tank and arrangements were made, he never asked for our address. He’s been here often enough to remember where we are!

When I got there, I met the lady of the house and had some questions. The guy was in their shop out back, so she called him and he came over to talk.

I told him that the septic pump it still not shutting itself off and asked what he could see while emptying the tank. The first thing he confirmed for me is that he saw nothing at all out of the ordinary. The float was not stuck.

Then he told me, it’s the pill starter. It has to be, because there’s nothing else it could be! I mentioned I’d talked to my brother about it, and that it had been changed relatively recently, but the septic guy said this is actually a pretty common problem. He was able to tell me that a new pill starter costs about $250. We won’t have a budget for that until I get my caregiver tax credit in, so for now, we’ll have to just turn it on manually every now and then. He told me that we shouldn’t need to turn it on for at least a week. That’s about how long it takes for both sides of the tank to fill. I’m glad he told me that, because I was concerned about running the pump dry, but I don’t really know how big the two sides of the tank are. Given our use of our plumbing system in general, I would still expect it to be filled faster than a week. He said to just take a look on Monday and see if both sides are full, then turn it on if it is. I won’t be doing that. Every time I look down into there, I’m afraid my glasses will fall off! And no, they are not loose or anything. I get that feeling every time I look down from a height. 😄

Then he mentioned that he could come out next week and replace it for us, before we’d need to turn the pump on again. I didn’t realize he did that sort of thing, too! I thought we’d have to call a plumber! Nope. Apparently, it’s a pretty easy thing for him to do. I suspect he wouldn’t be doing it the way my brother changed it out, before we moved out here, which was through the basement.

No matter. I would much rather get the septic guy to do it than call a plumber! I’m just really happy with this guy. He’s come out here when we’ve had septic problems several times now, and always been really fast about it. The last time we called to book the tank to be cleaned, my husband accidentally called a different company, and they wouldn’t have been able to come out for 2 weeks! They would have been a lot cheaper, but I’d rather pay extra for a guy that’ll come out when we actually need him. The cheaper rates are made possible because they arrange their schedules to do a whole lot of people in one area at a time, so there’s less driving around for them.

So that was done, and now we have more information to work with.

After I got home and everything was unloaded and put away, I assembled the small shelf I got. It’s for the cats. There’s a space in my room that currently has a stool over a circulation vent that has a cat bed on it. I want to replace that with the shelf, and set up four cat beds on it.

I found a problem as soon as took the straps off the package.

Along with the side pieces, there are foot pieces that each have a cap piece tucked into them.

There’s only three foot/cap pieces.

Without all the legs, I can’t put it over the circulation vent, so I ended up putting it on top of the foot stool that’s already there.

This must be pretty common, because it came with a sheet saying, “missing parts? or questions? DO NOT RETURN TO THE STORE to obtain replacement parts.” 😄 There’s a website to go to instead. This isn’t the first time this has happened. A few years back, after we finished clearing out the old basement, I got larger plastic shelves to use down there, to replace the wooden ones that were rotting from the floor getting wet every spring. I wrote to the company and got the missing parts very quickly. I’m pretty sure it’s the same brand.

Once we get the missing parts, we’ll set it up without the foot stool under it, and secure it to the wall more effectively. We’ll probably wrap the verticals with jute twine, too, for the cats to scratch at.

Meanwhile, I’ve got cat beds, caves and blankets on it now, and the cats have been exploring it. sometimes, even staying on it for a while.

They still prefer gathering into massive cuddle piles on my bed, though!

Which is fine. That’ll give me a chance to wash the cat beds and blankets, so they’ll be fresh and clean for tonight.

But first, I need to contact that shelf company about the missing leg/cap piece!

The Re-Farmer

Stock up shopping: This is what $355.15 looks like

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I am so glad to have the stock up shopping done, and to be home. While it’s still light out, too!

I took advantage of the gorgeous morning temperatures (-7C/19F at the time; we ended up hitting 3C/37F by the afternoon) and shoveled the last paths to the compost pile, outhouse and back door to the garage while doing my morning rounds. Then I headed out early to go to my mother’s, so I would have time to shovel away the plow ridge at the end of the driveway, plus have time to fill the tank before going to her place. I still ended up earlier than we talked about, so I called her from the gas station to make sure she was ready for me to show up.

She almost was! 😄

She really did not want to go out, and would rather have just given me her list, but she needed to go to the bank – the one thing I can’t do for her.

Because I was there so early, I mentioned that after I was done helping her, I still had time to go to the city. Of course, she immediately tried to guilt trip me, saying things like “can’t you at least give me one day?” Obviously forgetting that I normally do exactly that. She also seemed to completely forget that she was planning to go to Stations of the Cross in church this afternoon, so I wasn’t going to be able to stay long, anyhow. Then I got the spiel about how I go to the city sooooo often! So many trips to the city! Why do I need to go to the city so often? I told her, I go two days a month so I can save money by stocking up. It basically comes down to, she doesn’t need to go to the city to do her shopping, therefore no one else needs to go to the city to do her shopping, and she hasn’t gone to the city in 10 years!

Which isn’t true, of course. I went with her at least once for a medical appointment, and I know my brother took her for other appointments as well, just in the 6 years since we’ve moved here.

I reminded her that when she was still driving, she would spontaneously go exploring all over the place, and no one gave her a hard time, so why is she giving me a hard time now? I think that finally seemed to make sense to her, because she stopped after that.

So we did her errands, and she’s now well stocked up, including her prescription refills – that, at least, I can go in and get for her without her having to get out of the truck! By the time everything was put away, I think she was tired enough to be glad for me to go! 😄 She did really well, though. Considering how sick she said she was feeling yesterday, it was good to see.

As for my city shopping, I hadn’t really had breakfast yet (does a bag of beef jerky eaten while driving count? 😄), even though it was already past noon by the time I was back on the highway, so my first stop was at the international grocery store, where I got myself some dim sum before doing my shopping there.

This store was a smaller shop, but it’s things we don’t find at any of our other usual places we go to. This is what $148.36, after taxes, looks like.

I even remembered to take a picture of the receipt this time.

The Beaver Buzz is for myself and my older daughter, and this store is one of the few places that still carries it. Our local grocery store used to carry it, but stopped a year or two ago. 😔

There’s a gallon jug of soy beverage we don’t see anywhere else, plus some soy milk and oat milk for my lactose intolerant daughters. There is a half chunk of caciocavallo cheese my husband requested; no one else seems to carry that cheese, and he loves it as a treat (in spite of the fact that he is also lactose intolerant!). It’s quite expensive, though. The little flavoured goat cheeses are another thing we don’t find anywhere else, plus, they were on sale. My husband also asked for mustard, which is odd, since he doesn’t usually eat mustard. We rarely buy it, so I made sure to get a good one, choosing a more expensive, locally make, herb and white wine mustard. The applewood smokes slab of bacon is also locally made. The coho salmon was on sale; that’s another one for my daughters, but they’ll have to share the shrimp with me. 😁 Another purchase for my husband is a Filipino brand of soy sauce he likes. I even found some sushi seasoning for the girls that was out of stock, the last time I was here. Bananas were the only fruit fruit that I picked up because, even with the sales, everything else was really expensive. The coconut milk was a last moment thing, when I saw the display while waiting in line. My daughters like to use coconut milk in their cooking. I don’t. I was feeling dehydrated, so I got a couple of water bottles for the truck. They were only a dollar each, if bought in pairs. I also remembered to grab some septic tank treatment stuff. We’ve been out for a while, but I keep forgetting to get more.

Almost $150, and it split between one insulated and one non-insulated hard sided grocery bag, with the gallon jug on the side, with room to spare.

*sigh*

My next stop was the Walmart, and whether or not I would go to Canadian Tire depended on whether they were in stock of the stove pellets we use for litter.

I did not have to go to Canadian Tire. The only thing on my list that I couldn’t find was vermiculite, and I didn’t feel like going to Cdn Tire to look for it, when there was nothing else on my list that I needed to get there.

This is what $206.79, after taxes, looks like.

Yup. More cat food! I got four different flavours of kibble, to change things up for the cats. They were all the same price, but two were 7.5kg and two were 7.21kg

I remembered to get a picture of the receipt for this, too, though I forgot to have the cat food on a separate receipt.

With four more bags of kibble, plus another case of wet cat food, we should have enough for the month. With the warmer temperatures, the outside cats aren’t eating as much, so we should be going through less of that now. With the inside cats, we’re trying to increase how much wet cat food they get while reducing the amount of dry cat food. Mostly because of Leyendecker; wet cat food is cheaper than vet bills!

I only got one bag of pellets because, with the cat food, I didn’t have room for two.

I had a request for nacho fixings, and we already have plenty of cheese, so there’s nacho chips plus a big jar of olives in there. My daughters were running low on coffee, so there’s that, plus a couple of flavoured creamers. I grabbed a couple of boxes of cereal that were on sale; with non-dairy milk, the girls actually enjoy eating cereal and not getting sick. There’s a big case of facial tissues under the cart. My last moment spontaneous purchase was the strawberries. The display was near the line for the cashiers, and they were over half off, so I got one clamshell for each of us.

Thinking about the kibble prices, while shopping with my mother, I was stunned to see 11.6kg bags selling for $55.99 each – and that was on special!! Yeah, it’s most definitely worth it to make the trip to the city for kibble.

So that’s it; our second stop up shopping trip, for a grand total of $355.15.

I look forward to not having to do this again for another month!!

Ah, who am I kidding. I’m sure something is going to happen, and I’ll have to make another trip. 😄

Between yesterday and today, we spent $1313.33 in total – and that doesn’t include the cost of gas or meals while I was out.

Ouch.

One positive thing I can say right now is that I’m glad my husband’s disability payments come in monthly. It’s a lot easier to budget that way, and a lot easier to do these monthly stock up trips. His payments – both his private insurance and CPP Disability – do actually go up a little bit every year, but the cost of everything is going up so much more! We are very fortunate, in that my husband’s private insurance is as good as it is. We are making ends meet, even with the new monthly payments on the truck. We have much to be thankful for.

The Re-Farmer

Costco stock up shop: this is what $960 looks like – sort of! And family dynamics… *sigh*

/ Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

I finally made it into the city today, for our first stock up shopping trip!

I am so, so tired.

But not because of the shopping. More on that, later!

Today was expected to be a much nicer day than yesterday, except for a quick system blowing through this morning – heavy in the “blowing” part! I was going to meet my SIL for a late lunch, so I didn’t start leaving until shortly before 11am – about an hour later than I originally planned. The wind was so wicked cold, it was painful just to unlock and open the gate! I’d brought along my down filled parka, just in case, and ended up wearing it over my light coat, and was still feeling that wind!

By the time I reached the city, though, things had cleared up quite a bit. I got to the restaurant I was going to meet my SIL at about half an hour early, which turned out to be a good thing. There was a message from my husband waiting for me. My mother had phoned, and wanted me to call her back. I had time then, so I called her from the waiting area in the restaurant.

When I asked her how she was, she launched into how she was feeling soooo terrible, and was wondering if she needed to go to the hospital…

I know my mother well enough by now to recognize the tone. She was wanting attention.

I told her I was calling from the city, and she started back tracking immediately, saying she’d been in bed all morning, and was feeling well enough to get up and make herself some food. After talking about her symptoms, I suggested she call the public health nurse and they could better say if she should call an ambulance or not (I knew they wouldn’t, based on what my mother was telling me). Then she told me that the exterminators were supposed to show up today. I only knew about that already, because my sister told me yesterday! My mother didn’t say a thing about it to me, even after telling me about the last time they came by, and how they checked but didn’t spray. Since she wasn’t feeling well, though, she hadn’t done anything to prepare for them.

Anyhow; she told me she would call the public health nurse after she had something to eat, and I asked her to call us at the farm number and let us know how things went, even if it was just to say something on the answering machine.

Then I got a table, and my SIL came soon after, and we had a fantastic visit. Of course, we talked about my mother’s situation. Unfortunately, she has done this to my brother several times, calling for him to take her to the hospital, only for her to actually turn out to be fine – except for the one time she got food poisoning. She still insisted my brother and his wife drive the 1 1/2 hours out to her place, then drive her another 20 minutes to the emergency room, where she was told she should have called 911! She doesn’t want 911. She wants us to take her to the emergency, and spend the hours with her in the waiting room while she complains about how terrible the staff is because it’s taking so long, or makes nasty comments about the other people in the waiting area, etc.

Since we’ve moved out here, at least I’m handier to be able to take her, but she still manages to get my brother to do it every now and then, too.

My SIL was totally understanding about what was really going on with my mother. They’ve been through this a lot more often then I have!

Anyhow.

Oh, I just have to share something. When we meet up, it’s been almost always at this Smitty’s location, and there’s a waitress there that even recognizes us by now. Which is impressive, considering we’ve been here once very month or three!

Since I have given up sugar and simple carbs for Lent, I ordered a meat lovers breakfast skillet, and said to skip the toast and skip the hashbrowns, because I wasn’t doing sugars or starches. She started asking what I might want to replace them with, and I told her I was basically doing carnivore, so she was… so, no fruit, then… I did say yes to mushrooms, though.

When the food arrived, she actually sat down next to my SIL to face me to tell me about what I got! The kitchen staff “felt sorry” for me, so they added extra bacon and ham and sausage to my dish! Then she realized the mushrooms were forgotten, which I said I was okay with, but when my SIL asked for a side of Hollandaise for hers, she brought me a bowl of mushrooms! She was just fantastic, and it was so sweet of the kitchen staff to add extra meat to my meal!

After we had our most excellent food and a fantastic visit, it was off to Costco to do my shopping.

First stop was to fill the tank. Costco regular gas was 123.9 cents/litre. When I drove through my mother’s town, regular gas was 134.9/L, while all the stations I saw in the city were 133.9. Well worth it to wait to fill the tank at Costco! A half tank cost me about $50

Here is my Costco shop.

When I going through the cash desk, I had all sorts of people asking if I needed help loading my vehicle, and one of the supervisors even came over to ask if I had an Executive memberhip.

Which I do, and I’m glad she asked, because I had a rebate check I’d forgotten about! I also needed to renew our membership. I’d already paid for the cat food, so it was applied to the rest of our purchases.

With cat food, I got eight of the 9kg Kirkland brand kibble; the name brand has gone up in price, but the Kirkland is still $26.99 so far. I also got 2 cases of canned cat food, at $38.99 each. The grand total for the cat food was $329.17, after taxes.

Then there was the rest of the stuff.

The “bottom of the basket” stuff included a huge Kirkland package of paper towels; with cleaning up after the cats, I finally broke down and got a Costco size package, instead of a smaller one at Walmart or something! I also got a big Kirkland brand package of toilet paper, clear “leaf” bags that we use for our recycling and burn barrel garbage, a big bucket of ghee, dish detergent, four 2 packs of flour tortillas, three rotisserie chickens, a double flat of eggs (60 eggs), a flat of Coke Zero, a sack of basmati rice, and a 9pack of mixed pasta.

Along with that, in the order they’re on my reciept, I got two big jars of mayo, a large container of popping corn, a double package of parchment paper, a large jug of olive oil, a 2 pk of lemon juice, a 6 pack of canned chicken, coconut oil, peanut butter, a package each of AA and AAA batteries, more of that amazing parmesan, black garlic and truffle seasoning powder, a panini pack of sliced meats (three types), two 2 pks of Asian Cashew salad mixes, 1L of whipping cream, a package of smoke ham slices, a wheel or brie, a 2 pk of goat cheese, a 4 pack of cream cheese, a block of Old Cheddar, a block of Mozzarella, a 4pk of bacon, a package of pork breakfast sausages, a package of 4 whole mackerel for my daughters (I’m not a fan of fish!) , two 2pks of rye bread, and a package of walnuts.

I also got 5 pounds of butter, but the cashier noticed they were unsalted, and he double checked if that was what I wanted. I hadn’t noticed, but I was going to just take the unsalted. He insisted that they could get me salted butter instead, so I agreed. So 5 pounds of salted butter was rung in, and a guy left to get them for me while I paid for the whole thing. Since I was waiting for the butter anyhow, I got the other guy to part my flat cart aside while I dashed to the bathroom before heading out.

The guy wasn’t back with the butter when I was done. In fact, it was quite a while before he returned – with 5 pounds of unsalted butter! It turned out the reason I didn’t grabbed the unsalted butter without realizing it was because there was no salted butter left in the fridge room! He’d gone looking for salted butter and did find a pallet of some, but it would require a forklift to get it. He was very apologetic and said they could get me the salted butter, but it would take a while.

I just laughed it off and said I’d take the unsalted butter!

Having worked at a grocery store before, I knew to ask if they needed to fix my receipt. The other guy had to double check with a supervisor, and yes, he did have to. He took me over to the supervisor’s cash desk, where he had to charge me for the unsalted butter, then refund me for the salted butter I’d already paid for.

I appreciate computer inventory systems, so I didn’t mind going through this at all.

As for the actual main purchase… The sub total came to $672.52. I then had the Executive Rebate, which took off $169.51, while my membership renewal cost $120. After taxes, my grand total was $629.01

That, together with the cat food, came to a total of $958.18

Ouch.

And I still need to go the rest of our stock up shopping, tomorrow!

Maybe.

I was much appreciating our longer days, as it was still light out when I got home, well past 5pm. After everything was unloaded, assembly line fashion, the girls put away the groceries while I fed the outside cats to get them away from the truck, so I could park it!

Once everything was settled, I called my mother to check up on her.

When I asked how she was feeling, she said much better – and what are you doing tomorrow?

…

I told her I’d planned to go to the city for my second shop, but if she needed groceries, I could help her with that, instead.

It turns out she’s apparently out of everything, and started listing all the things she was out of.

*sigh*

I keep asking my mother to get me to do her shopping before she runs out of stuff, but she says she likes to have things “fresh”, plus if she has food in the house, it’s “temptation” so she eats it.

…

Which is kinda what food is there for, but she has decided that eating is bad, because she’s fat.

*sigh*

Then she asked if I could come over early, because the church was doing Stations of the Cross tomorrow afternoon, which is just fine by me. That way, I can still go to the city and finish my own shopping. If she feels up to it, she wants to go out and go to the bank, as she skipped that last month entirely. That’s one thing I can’t do for her! If she’s not up to it, she’ll just give me her list and I’ll do her shopping for her.

That was the easy part of the conversation.

She was clearly feeling much better, because my goodness, she got herself wound up!

Long story short:

The exterminators showed up today to check/spray for bed bugs, but when he arrived and said she had to leave her apartment, she told him she had a cold (from how she described things, I think she’s got hay fever) and didn’t want to leave. So he never came in. She’d already tried to tell them not to come at all, because they steal things from her (she is convinced the exterminator stole a jar of change and her father’s old passports from deep among her papers – a year ago!). I tried to explain to her that they HAVE to come in. It’s a requirement.

That didn’t go over well.

I ended up having to cut that conversation off and bring it back to my coming over tomorrow. Then I mentioned I needed to do a few things, then have supper, as a wind down to the conversation, to which she told me to have a good evening, and don’t eat too much. Because I need to lose weight. Which she managed to repeat several times, and I called her out on it, before I finally ended the conversation because she was winding herself up again.

For someone who was ready to go to the hospital this morning, she sure bounced back to her usual self quickly… 🫤

*sigh*

That phone call with her was more exhausting than the entire shopping trip, and I find shopping incredibly draining.

Tomorrow could get very interesting. Hopefully, my mother will be on better behaviour, but there’s just no way of knowing, from one day to the next! Or even one minute to the next.

Ah, well. Such is life! Tomorrow will bring what it brings. Until then, I’m not going to worry about it!

The Re-Farmer