With all the running around I did, I was happy to get the Costco shopping over and done with!
We’ll still need to make another trip, though.
When I got to the city, I noticed gas prices were 132.9 cents per litter, so I figured Costco would be the usual 5-10 cents lower. They turned out to be 119.9 cents per litter! It’s been ages since I’ve seen a price like that.
As you can imagine, the lineups were insane. They went by fast, though.
Once tanked up, it was time to get all this.
Not my biggest shop, by any means, but it still totalled $719.81
I got the pet supplies on a separate bill. Eight bags of Kirkland 9kg dry kibble ($215.92), 1 case wet cat food ($24.99) and one case of puppy pads ($38.99). After taxes, it totalled $313.49
While we no longer have the problem of Toni peeing on my bed, or kittens not using the litter boxes, we still use the puppy pads. There are spots where other cats have been making a mess, regularly, so we use them to help with clean up. For example, I keep one under the litter box under my desk, with another in front, were my feet and chair got. I would leave the room and come back to find a pee spot next to the litter box. Always in the same spot. Only this morning did I catch Leyendecker doing it! Which is frustrating, because he will go from litter box to litter box and use them. I was afraid he might be getting blocked again, but given the size of the puddle on the puppy pad, I know think he’s marking territory!
The puppy pads may be an expense, but they do save out carpets and make cleaning the lino easier.
So that’s the cats stuff.
Then there was the shopping for us.
I won’t list the prices this time because it’s such a pain to tap out on the phone, but this is what I got today.
Two 1L of whipping cream, a pack of 60 eggs, hazelnuts, walnuts, stewing beef, 2 packages of wraps, three 2pks of rye bread, 1 brick Old Cheddar, 1 brick mozzarella, a wheel of brie, 5 pounds of butter, 6 pk of canned chicken, peanut butter, truffle parmasan seasoning mix, mayonnaise, a case of mixed fruit packs (with cherry!), kitchen garbage bags, and toilet paper. Oh, and a 20kg bag of sugar!
We are doing a finger food Christmas dinner, so for that, I found mini quiches – we like those a lot, so I got 2 boxes – bacon wrapped scallops, fried pickle chips (!!), and garlic stuffed olives. I also got raw frozen shrimp, but that will likely be for our New Years fondue.
All of this, after taxes, totaled $406.32
Meat is getting insanely expensive. Especially beef. Thankfully, we still have meat in the freezer, and we are getting our quarter beef next month.
We still have other things we need to get for both Christmas and New Years, but that will be for other stores. I’m sure I have the gel fuel for our oil fondue burner, but I can’t remember where it was hidden, so I will get more. I also need to get peanut oil or some other high smoke point cooking oil. The final things for the dinners will be picked up fresh, closer to when we need them.
I rather look forward to a Christmas dinner that will involve so little cooking, and so few dirty dishes! 😆😄
The cats just love this busted up bin with the garden netting in it.
When we first put the netting in it, we had a hard time stuffing it in enough to close the lid. The cats kept knocking it off the shelf, with both lid and bin, then used the netting as a bed. Now the netting is packed down so much, you’d never know it once filled the bin!
Also, I counted 37 cats outside this morning. Three times.
Which means that not only did the “missing” cats come back, but we seem to have gained another one. !!!
After the morning rounds were done, I was off to the city to do our second stock up shopping trip. This trip had three stops, all in the same general area, which is part of why we don’t do it at the same time as our Costco stock up trip. Another reason is because the Costco is in a different part of the city, and I just don’t want to drive around that much. I dislike shopping, and find it very draining, and one Costco trip on its own is as draining as the three stops I made today. Four, if you count getting gas.
My first stop was at Canadian Tire to get more hardwood pellets for the litters. That was just under $16, after taxes. We now have enough pellets to last us at least a couple of months.
My next stop was the international grocery store, where I finally had breakfast, at lunch time. I quite enjoy their dim sum. That, plus a drink, cost pennies over $20.
I completely forgot to get a picture of what I got there. I also can’t find the receipt; I think it’s still in the truck. 😄
It was a small trip. I hoped to get more fresh produce, but ended up just getting some bananas that will need to be eaten quickly, and mandarins. I did get an applewood maple smoked slab of bacon, which is one of the things we go to this store for. They also had a good sale on pork loin, but that was all I got for meat. Their sugar shelves in the baking aisle were empty, as they carry the Rogers brand of granulated sugar. There was cane sugar available in the international section, but it’s not granulated, and I’m not sure how it will do for baking. As I was still planning to hit the Walmart, I didn’t get any sugar here. I found some drinks, including the Beaver Buzz energy drinks we can no longer get locally – and they only had one flavour in stock. I got two boxes of Earl Grey Bergamot tea that was on sale, plus a spray bottle of cleaning vinegar of a type my daughters prefer. I even found a large block of Old Cheddar cheese for almost $25.
I can’t remember what else I got there right now, other than grabbing one of their food bank bags for the hamper. One bag includes pasta and pasta sauce, canned fruit, and a few other shelf stable items to make a complete meal for at least 2 people, with extras. The bag was only $9, which brought my total bill up to $108 and change.
My next stop was Walmart, and I did remember to put that receipt into my pocket.
I made a donation to the Children’s Hospital as well, so minus that, the final bill after taxes was $181.21
Yeah. This cost almost $200.
The food items: It’s cheap turkey season, so I got a medium turkey for $24 The creamers were on sale at 2 for $9 The crackers were on sale at 3 for $7 Large jar of olives: $8.97 pecan halves: $7.00 walnut pieces: $5.00 Dark sugar: $1.97 They were, of course, out of the Rogers brand of sugar. With that shortage, they were also sold out of the Redpath white granulated sugar, but there was still some Redpath brown sugar left. We still have enough granulated sugar at home to last us, as long as we don’t do any serious baking, but we were almost out of brown sugar. house brand popcorn, 2 bags at $2.47 each. I normally buy popcorn at Costco, but I never found it. Also, the popcorn we grew won’t pop, and I don’t know what we’ve done wrong! vegetable bouillon cubes, 4 packs at $1.47 each sour cream: $5.98 coffee: $9.97
The non-food items: I got toilet paper for the pantry, as we currently don’t have extra. That was on sale for $13,97 Paper towel: $16.97 Facial tissues: $8.97 All purpose cleaner: $9.97 One “extra” item I got was a new cutting board, to replace one of our plastic ones that needs to be tossed. Because of how our counter is, I got one with a grippy bottom. It cost $11.47 Another “extra” item I got was examination gloves. We’ve finally worked our way through the boxes we brought with us in the move, plus the ones that were here that the homecare aids used before my dad went into the nursing home. My daughters like to use them when doing deep cleaning. Especially in the basement. One box of 100 gloves: $15.97
Then, for the road, I got an energy drink for $3.27, plus a water bottle for $1.47
Before heading for home, I remembered to fill the tank again. On the way out, I normally stop in the town my mother lives in for gas, but I skipped it this time. The price for regular was 150.9¢/L When I got to the city, I saw 143.9¢/L all over the place. Domo, however, has 5¢ off per L on Mondays and Thursdays. Today is Thursday, so I filled up at 138.9¢/L About a quarter tank still cost me $43.45.
With all three stops together, including donations, I spent almost $300 today. I had intended to check out the Fresh Co that’s along the same strip, but just didn’t have the spoons for it. I was okay for most of it, but after driving for over an hour, my feet, knees and hips stiffen up, so I’m limping for the first while until my joints are “greased”. By the end of it, it’s my lower back and hips that’s starting to go. Then it’s another hour + drive, leaving me with stiffened joints again when it’s time to unload the truck. At least then, I’ve got the girls to help me!
That’s basically it for our stock up shopping. We will do one more city shopping trip for my daughters, probably next week. They have their own list and budget. That can be a time for me to check out the Fresh Co, finally. Other than that, anything else we need, mostly fresh produce, will be purchased locally.
With December having so many stat holidays around weekends at the end of the month, my husband’s disability payments are always on different dates. Normally, he gets his main payment on the last business day of the month, and the CPP Disability on the third last business day of the month. In December, the CPP Disability comes in several days before Christmas, so that will likely be when I will do our first January stock up shopping trip, as well as anything we want to get special for Christmas dinner. The last few years, we relied on our stocking up supplies for January, as we often didn’t manage to get to the city at all until February or even March, either because of the weather and being snowed in, or both vehicles being too frozen. This year, between the mild winter we’re expecting and having the truck instead of the van, we should actually be able to do another stock up trip in January. I sure as heck don’t plan to go to the city to shop between Christmas and New Year’s, if I can avoid it!!
I would like to crawl into my cave and hibernate, now.
What a change a day makes! Yesterday, we had a high of -9C/16F, and an overnight low of -14C/7F (that I saw; it might have gone lower). That doesn’t count the windchill, and we had high winds yesterday. Today, we’ve reached a high of 2C/36F and our overnight low is expected to be only -3C/27F
[Edit: while I was still working on this post, we reached a high of 3C/37F, which is higher than was forecast for the day, by as much as 3°, depending on which app I got by.]
Which will make life much easier on the kitties.
I did a head count this morning, and again when I fed them after unloading the truck, so I could safely drive it out of the yard to park it. I counted 33, each time. Which means, taking into account the one I know we’ve lost, we’re “missing” three cats. Just as I couldn’t tell which ones were “new”, I can’t tell which ones are missing. There are some cats that are distinctive and we see regularly, but others look so much alike, and won’t let us near them, we just can’t keep track.
I did get a good action shot this morning, though!
I so want to be able to get Brussel and the other calicos socialized!!! They just won’t let it happen, though.
Today was my day for the Costco stock up shopping. This is what $956.06 looks like.
I did not get everything on my list. Some just wasn’t there. No sugar, for example, except for things like super expensive raw cane sugar or fake sugar. Rogers is on strike right now, so I wasn’t expecting to see that brand, but I was sure Costco also carried other brands. Ah, well. Our next stock up trip will include a Walmart, and they carry Redpath sugar, and they’re not on strike.
I asked to have all the cat food on a separate bill. When they were doing the rest, the cashier motioned to the flat cart, which still had the other heavy stuff on it the other staff member was scanning. I couldn’t make out what he said, but was able to figure out that he was asking about the separate bill, so I repeated that I wanted all the cat food on a separate bill.
Apparently, canned cat food is not cat food, because he included that in the main bill with the groceries! 😄😄
I usually get the 9kg Kirkland brand of kibble, which is cheaper per kg, but there was none. Not even an empty space where they would have been. So instead of a dozen 9kg bags, I got ten 11.6kg bags of Whiskas. They were $37.99 each and, after taxes, came to $425.49
pork blade roast: regular $20.44, -$5 at the till pork chops: $24.05 chicken 3pk: $28.59 bacon, 5pk: $23.99 rotisserie chickens, two at $7.99 each double cream Brie: regular $10.99, -$2.50 at the till cream cheese, 4pk: $9.49 goat cheese, 2pk: $10.99 Old Cheddar: $14.99 mozzarella: $14.99 butter, 5 at $5.45 each: $27.25 whipping cream, two 1L at $4.79 each 10kg bag of flour: $9.99 pasta, 9pk: $13.99 flat of ramen noodles: $13.99 raspberry jam: $8.99 Kirkland brand mayo, 2 at $8.99 each (usually we get Hellman’s, but I couldn’t find any) avocado oil: $16.99 Kirkland brand EVOO: $23.99 lemon juice, 2pk: 4.99 5 dozen pack eggs: $16.49 rye bread, two 2 pks: $5.99 each tortilla wraps, 4 packs at $9.99 each for $39.96, – $8 at the till
Subtotal: $512.21 taxes: $18.39 Total: $530.57
Some of the things on my list were more paper products, like facial tissues and paper towels, but the packages are so big, I would have run out of room on my flat cart. As it is, the packages of bread and wraps kept vibrating off as I tried to maneuver the flat cart. 🤨
Also, it blows me away how many people don’t think twice about cutting off a loaded flat cart. Do they really think I can stop on a dime?? Then there are the people that stop to look at products, parking their carts right where there’s a pillar or something, leaving no room for anyone to get through. I get the need to park your cart. Heck, with my flat cart, I often have to park it and walk over to various displays to get something, simply because it’s not worth the effort to wrestle the flat cart through the aisles. Especially for cold rooms, like the dairy and eggs room, or where the soft fruits, salad kits and mushrooms are kept. However, I also make sure people can still get around the cart when I do!
Costco has changed brands of butter since I was last there, but the price is still under $6, making it the best price for butter I’ve seen, still. The whipping cream, at under $5 for 1L is also the best price I’ve seen. Since a 1L carton can make about a pound of butter, it’s the only place where it would be economical to make our own butter. Everywhere else I’ve seen, a 1L carton of whipping cream costs more than the house brand butters. Not that we’ll use the cream for that. If that were the plan, I’d buy a lot more than 2 cartons!
For this trip, adding the canned cat food to the kibble bill (about $43.66 after taxes), we spent about $469.15 on just cat food.
Taking the canned cat food off the rest of the bill, we spent $473.22 on stuff for us. Of that, we spent $375.17 on food. The rest was non-food items and taxes.
We are literally spending more money to feed the cats, than to feed ourselves.
Yes, we still have other stock up shopping trip to do, which will include more food items for ourselves, but those 10 bags of kibble won’t last the month. Last month, we bought 12 bags of Kirkland 9kg kibble, or 108kg. I’ve lost track, but we ended up buying another 7 or 8 bags, ranging in size from 7kg to 11kg, depending on what was in stock. If we use an average range of 9kg for 7 bags, that brings it up to 171kg. Right now, we have 116kg on hand, which means we might need to buy another 55kg in kibble before the end of the month.
And this is why we have to seriously consider starting to euthanize some of the yard cats. We just can’t keep this up. Not when we now have a car payment, even with the girls helping out when they can.
At least the inside kittens will go up for adoption again, once the Cat Lady’s housing situation settles, so the number of indoor cats will drop. We are also hoping to adopt out Toni and Ginger. We adore Ginger, but some of the other cats are starting to really bully him, and he deserves a better home situation than ours. But who would be willing to adopt three legged cats? Even if they don’t have other health issues?
I suppose this is a good time to point out the donation button at the top right, but I know things are tight for everyone right now.
*sigh*
Oh, I almost forgot. There was also the cost of gas and meals, spent today.
On the way out, I stopped to put $30 of regular gas into the truck, at 150.9¢/L I filled the tank once I reached Costco. The price for regular gas there was 135.9¢/L It cost me $66.41 to fill the tank. So, in total, it cost $96.41 to fill the tank from just below half. I also bought breakfast and lunch, for maybe another $20-$25 in total.
Also, the truck has a trip counter that I reset before heading home from Costco. With a short side trip to pick up the mail, it read just over 108km, so about double that for the entire trip.
I must say, I’m going to be very happy in January, when we get our quarter beef order in! With the hung weight being the highest we’ve had yet, I’ve doubled the last two monthly payments, which means in January, we’ll have only about $40 left to cover the balance. I don’t know that we’ll be able to do this again, though. It’s been great to be able to make monthly payments towards a quarter beef at the end of the year (or, in this case, beginning of the year), but with having truck payments now, we need to put some wiggle room back into our budget.
Well, it is what it is. We’ll deal. Somehow, we always manage to make it through.
I have to keep reminding myself: I did in one trip what I used to have to do in two or three trips while using my mother’s car.
Still, this is the most we’ve ever spent at Costco in one trip, and… ouch.
I did things a bit differently this time, in that I had all the cat supplies put on one bill, then our own stuff was rung in separately. The total for both together came to $1061.97
*choke*
First, though, was the trip in with the new-to-us truck.
Road conditions were not very good. From our place to the town my mother lives in was packed snow and ice. There was blowing snow, but the visibility was still okay. I was quite okay with being behind vehicles doing only 80 or 90kph in a 100kph zone (100kph = about 62mph). Things started getting messier as I reached my mother’s town. I timed it so I could stop at the gas station to grab some fried chicken for brunch first. That gave me time to respond to some messages from the Cat Lady. She had a cat carrier and some kibble donations for us and we were trying to figure out when and where we could meet. She needed to go into the same area of the city as the Costco we go to, so we would be able to meet up today.
Once back on the road, the further south I went, the more the highway went from slush to water until about halfway to the city, when it all started going to ice and slush again. The truck handled it like it was nothing! In fact, I had to watch myself, because it was just too easy to start speeding before I even realized it. Normally, I’d have just set the cruise control, but with the conditions, I expected to be slowing down more often. I did, but it was usually because I found myself behind vehicles hauling trailers, or heavy equipment.
As I was leaving the city, I stopped at a gas station convenience store to pick up something to drink for the drive. At this point, conditions were deteriorating again, and visibility was getting poor. The further north I went, though, the better it got. I drove out of the snow, and the roads that had been slushy or icy before were now just a bit wet. It’ll be a problem once things freeze during the night, but at the time, it was good. It wasn’t until about 5 minutes from home that I started driving into falling snow again, but it wasn’t an issue at all.
As for the shopping, I forgot to get a photo of the flat cart before I started unloading into the truck, but that’s okay. I got pictures of how it fit into the truck, instead.
The Cat Lady caught up with me as I was starting to pack things into my reusable bags, and was able to pass on the cat carrier and some bags of kibble she had for us. She couldn’t stay long, though. I don’t know how she keeps up with everything she’s got going in her life! She’s amazing.
She is able to do couponing, so those bags of kibble probably cost next to nothing. The new carrier is a perfect kitten size! She’s told me she’s had to turn down donations of cat carriers in the past, because she had no space for them, but now she plans to accept them to pass on to us. We have 1 hard sized and 2 soft carriers, and the soft carriers can potentially be torn out of, so hard carriers are preferable. The wet cat food was part of our own purchase.
I’d remembered to grab a snow brush to keep in the truck and ended up using it to push the filled hard sided bags further in, so I could fit the kibble bags. The TP and puppy pads sitting on the tailgate went on top of the kibble. I didn’t even need to open the cover. In the cab, I had an insulated bag for the hot rotisserie chickens, and a bag for the rye bread. The only thing that didn’t go into the back of the cab were the eggs, which I put on the front seat, instead.
This is what we got for our money today.
Cat supplies: 12 bags, 9kg size, dry kibble @ $26.99 each, for a total of $323.88 canned cat food: $38.99 puppy pads: $24.99 Tax added another $46.54 to the bill, for a total of $434.40
We have got to get that bill down somehow. We’d have no problem at all with having a car payment right now, if we weren’t feeding so many cats! But we’re not going to let them go hungry, either. Hopefully, we’ll be able to adopt more out soon.
Also, I was intending to buy 14 bags of kibble, but the stack on the flat cart was getting a bit tall and less stable, and I still had lots of other things to fit on there.
Human supplies: Toilet paper, Kirkland brand: $22.99 4pk Pronamel toothpaste: $19.79 Coke Zero: $14.69, plus 32¢ enviro fee double flat of eggs (60 eggs): $18.89 AP flour, 10kg size: $9.99 (most places have bags this size at about $15 – on sale!) family size pack of fresh sausages, mild Italian: $20.11 whole chicken, 3 pack: $28.64 2 chubs of ground beef: $28.49 each 1 chub of ground pork: $19.99, minus $5 at the till pork blade roast: $20.87 4pk bacon: $24.99 pork loin: $29.15 Old Cheddar: $14.99 Mozzarella: $14.99 Whipping cream, two 1L cartons, $4.70 each double cream brie: $10.99 4pk Kirkland cream cheese: $9.49 5 pounds of butter: $5.49 each Two 2pks of rye bread: $5.99 each Two 2pks tortilla wraps: $9.99 each 9pk pasta, 3 varieties: $13.99 Mayo: $10.99 dehydrated mushrooms: $19.99 – I haven’t seen these in years!! We used to love getting these before we moved! Kirkland Olive Oil: $32.99 Avocado Oil: $16.99 popcorn: $10.79 hazelnuts: $11.49 Kirkland Basmati rice: $15.99 2kg size Peanut Butter: $10.39 2pk Butter chicken sauce: $9.99, minus $2 at the till 6pk Kirkland canned chicken: $18.99 2 rotisserie chickens, $7.99 each pork rinds: $10.99 (meant to be used in place of bread crumbs) Kirkland chocolate chips: $17.99
plus tax: $10.17 Total: $627.57
The alarming part was paying for this second bill. I’d already paid for the cat supplies, but when I tried to pay for the rest, it failed. Payment not authorized. ??? We tried again, and got the same response. I was asking her to suspend the order so I could check my bank account to see what the problem was when someone came by. Someone that turned out to be a supervisor.
It was the debit machine going down.
My order did get suspended and the receipt printed out. The supervisor took it and tried to process it on another till, but that one was down, too. She ended up taking me to their supervisor station over by the bathrooms, where they have a different type of debit machine.
I was not the only one trailing along! There were at least four other people gathering around, waiting their turn.
Thankfully, fourth time was the charm, and I was able to pay for our stuff!
I really ought to use cash, but I just don’t like carrying around that much cash. Especially when I’m not quite sure what the total will be, given how much the prices change.
On top of this, I did fill the gas tank before I even went in to shop. I was at half a tank by the time I got there, but the Costco gas price for regular was 141.9¢/L, instead of the 153.9/L at my mother’s town, or the 152.9/L in the town we usually go to. So it cost “only” $68 and change to fill the tank.
As painful as it was to spend so much in one day, the fact that we won’t have to go to Costco again just saved us another $50 – $60 or so, just in fuel. We do plan to go to the city again next week, but I’m wondering if we even need to make that trip. This would be the trip where we go to the international grocery store, a Walmart and a Canadian Tire, all in one trip. However, the only reason to go to Canadian Tire is for litter pellets, and we still have plenty of those, and to get a few more fire bricks for our outdoor kitchen build, which can wait a month or two. The Walmart is where I get the shredded wet cat food I use for the kittens (the Costco wet cat food is all paté), and maybe a couple more bags of cat food, which we don’t need to do right now. The only other thing we’d be getting is the fresh produce and non-bulk stuff, and we can do that at the closer Walmart or the local grocery store.
We’ll decide on that later. I’m just so happy that I was able to get all this in one trip, with zero issues with the drive!
A few days ago, we finally got a copy of an email confirming our financing FINALLY was approved, and our mechanic was finally going to get paid for the truck. Getting my husband’s full name added to the electric bill was finally good enough for the lender! After I got back from the city and everything was unloaded and put away (and the outside cats fed, to get them away from the truck so I could park it in the garage!), I made sure to send a thank you email to our mechanic and the lady at the finance company. They bent over backwards to get us this truck, and it’s made all the difference in the world.
Best of all, we can work on plans to get my husband into the city to see his family. He hasn’t seen his dad since late 2018, and hasn’t seen his sister at all since she moved back from out of province, a couple of years ago. We had to turn down a planned family gathering, but the seats in this truck support his back so well, he feels he can actually handle the trip!
Which makes having car payments again, completely worthwhile.
One of the things I tend to do every time I drive my mother’s car is give it a walkaround and check the tires.
I’m paranoid about tires.
With reason.
The front driver’s side tire bothers me. When I drive, it feels like it shudders. I’ve had it checked, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. When I took my husband to his medical appointment about 3 weeks ago, it was looking low, so I checked the pressure. It was down to 15 psi, so we stopped at a gas station and I topped it up. For the past few days, I’ve been eyeballing it, and today I checked the pressure. It was just under 20 psi! I used a hand pump to top it up, because it has a pressure gauge on it, rather than the compressor, then brought it in.
While dropping off the keys, I told the mechanic about the tire and asked if they could check it, too. Then I went walking. There isn’t much to do around town. Especially if you don’t have a budget for casual shopping, but by the time I came back, they were done changing the spark plugs, and the tire was off.
The passenger side tire!
I talked to the guy that was working on it and told him it was the other tire that was leaking! Turns out they took the tire off and were checking it for leaks for about 20 minutes, while changing the spark plugs, and not finding anything.
So I waited in the office while he switched tires. After a while, I came out to talk to the guy. He had it on the machine they use to remove tires from their rims, to hold it steady and spin is as needed, while spraying it with their soap stuff.
No sign of a leak.
He flipped the tire over and tried again.
Still no sign of a leak.
He checked the pressure and it was what I’d pumped it to this morning still. Low for the tire, but I wasn’t sure what the pressure was supposed to be (32 psi is good, I have since been informed) and didn’t want to over fill if it there was, say, something stuck in the tire.
He filled the tire to the correct psi, in case that would help find the leak.
Still no leak.
They asked a number of questions about when I had to fill it last time, what kind of driving condition we have, etc. In the end, they just put the tire back on. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. At some point, wherever that leak it, until it gets big enough they can actually find it, there’s nothing that can be done.
So I paid for the spark plug work, then headed into the city.
Today was a small Costco trip. Mostly, I wanted to get more dry cat food. We’ve got Thanksgiving weekend coming up, so they were insanely busy for a Thursday afternoon! So I got what I absolutely had to, then left as soon as I could!
This is what $291.43 looks like.
I decided to go with the 11.6kg bags of kibble, instead of the usual 9kg bags. They are more expensive, but that extra 2.6 kg per bag can mean one less trip needed at the end of the month. We already got four 9kg bags, were gifted with four 9.1kg bags, and now we have four 11.6kg bags, for a total of 118.8kg. Last month, we got twelve 9kg bags, and had to buy two more 10kg bags, for a total of 128kg. Hhmm… We’ll need at least 10kg more for the month, which means anything more than that, just to be on the safe side. Well, we still need to do a Walmart and Canadian Tire trip before our stock up shopping is done, so we can do that.
Anyhow.
Here’s the price break down.
Dry cat food: $37.99 each Butter: 5 pounds at $5.49 each bar soap: $15.49 Red Lobster biscuit mix: regular $11.49, but on sale for $8.99 That’s a treat for our Thanksgiving dinner! 2 loaf bag of rye bread: $5.99 Pizza pops: case of 30 for $21.99 Mozza: $14.99 Old Cheddar: $14.99 cream cheese, 4pk: $9.49
Subtotal: $271.34, plus $20.09 in tax
We still don’t have hot water, so doing dishes is not an easy thing right now. I made a point of picking up things we could use to make food with as little dirtying of dishes as possible, so that’s what the bread (for sandwiches) and Pizza Pops are for. The girls also dug out the disposable plates we kept when we were clearing out the cupboards when we first moved here. Handy, those!
We didn’t get a call from the plumber while I was gone. Once everything was put away and settled, I called again and left another message. If we don’t hear from him soon, I’ll start calling other companies.
The predicted rain reached us by the time I was driving home, which made things interesting in places! I remembered to stop at the post office and found a package waiting for us. It included, among other things, some food grade desiccant packets, for our dry food storage. Especially if we’re going to do things like dehydrate tomatoes more often. I believe my husband ordered oxygen absorbers, too.
Once I got home and the car was unloaded, I made sure to put food out for the outside cats. Aside from being out of kibble, it ensures no cats are under the car, when I go to put it in the garage.
Driver is still here. He was very vocal in asking for food! I didn’t see him this morning, so he probably never got anything from the morning feed. When the girls and I came out to walk around later, they noticed Colin was back. I’ll admit, I never noticed he was gone. There is another cat that looks very similar to him; just not with the “receding hairline” pattern on his forehead. Nosencrantz was around, too. After I’d parked the car, I checked a few things and saw she was at the kibble under the shrine – with Shop Towel directly behind her! Clearly, she didn’t know he was there, or she would have gone up the willow again. He was just sitting there, waiting his turn, but I still went over to “chase” him away. Basically, as soon as he sees me coming, he leaves. We’ve gotten to the point that all I need to do, sometimes, is say “I see you!”, and off he goes!
The main thing is, Nosencrantz got a chance to eat. I saw Shop Towel back at the shrine kibble bowl again later, but no other cats were around there by then, so I let him be.
Oh, good grief.
Let’s see… we just had to get work done on my mother’s car.
We’re trying to come up with the funds for a better down payment on a replacement vehicle.
The hot water tank just died and we need to bring in a plumber…
And now my husband just informed us that his computer is fried. It refuses to boot.
*sigh*
I hope he can get it going! With his inability to do much, physically, he uses his computer a LOT.
His is the newest computer in the household, too. His computer died in the move and had to be replaced. Our other computers all predate our move, and are all more than 10 years old.
This would be a really good time to win the lottery or something.
Today was our first trip into the city to stock up for next month. I’ll be doing the Costco trip in a couple of days. This time, I went to three different places.
The first was a Walmart. This is what $249 looks like.
For this stop, I didn’t go to the grocery section at all, but while waiting in line, I saw the display of canned bean cases (9 cans). The price was about what Costco’s price for used to be. $9.97 instead of almost $13. So I grabbed one.
Aside from that one grocery item, I got:
Paper towels: $22.97 Wet cat food (shredded): $28.77 Dry cat food, 7kg size, cheap house brand: $19.97 each. I got 3 for the outside cats, plus one anti-hairball bag for the indoor cats to try. Puppy pads, 50pk of 30″x30″: $26.97 The kittens are getting better and I’m not changing those as often, but ever now and then, a kitten just decides to pee right next to the litter box. They seem to wait until I’m not in the room to do it! Men’s t-shirts: one for my husband, one for me, at $8 each Shampoo and conditioner: $15.47 each Those have sure gone up in price – if I can even find bottles in that size at all! bright orange acrylic yarn: $5.27 I plan to make baseball cap ear warmers and see if our grocery store/post office will let me sell them there. It took me forever to find yarn in that orange, for the hunters. I also have grey, which I will use together with reflective thread I have. Dawn Platinum: $2.47 I got a tiny bottle of this to test out in the laundry. I got a couple of new t-shirts for myself not long ago, and both already have stains on them! Unfortunately, I didn’t see the stains until I put the shirts on after washing them. Which is why I ended up buying more t-shirts. From what I’ve been able to find, this stuff will actually get out stains, even after they’ve gone through the dryer. If not… well, I’ve got myself a couple more work shirts. 😕
The total was $223.24, plus $10.66 GST and $14.93 PST, bringing the grand total to $248.83 Plus, I added $100 cash back, which was their maximum.
So that was stop number one.
The next two stops were right next to each other, so it was just one trip. The first was a Dollarama. I was specifically looking for new food dishes for the kittens in my room. We’ve been using old take out containers, which is great for temporary use, or for adult cats, but they’re too big. Since we’re using my room as an isolation ward, it’s time to get proper food bowls. Unfortunately, they tend to be quite expensive, so I tried here. They did have some nice, stainless steel bowls with non-slip rings on their bases that I picked up.
Of course, that’s not all I got. This is what $75 looks like.
Pet food bowls, 8 in total: $2 each Pet bed (for the kittens): $5 Cat tunnel (for the rest of the cats): $4 Cat toy (for the rest of the cats): $4.75 Cooling rack: $4.75 I’ll be slowly getting more of these. This style, with the squares, will be much better for dehydrating in the oven than the ones I’m using now, which have the wires running in one direction, with only a single support wire down the middle. Odour remover, 2 of them: $1.50 each Towel holder: $4 – to replace the wonky one we’re using now, that I made when I was in Junior high, so… about 1980 or so!
I don’t usually get food at the dollar store, but this store has a decent selection, and the prices are a lot better than the grocery stores. Especially the tinned meats. So I got a selection to try out and see if this is something we like enough to be worth stocking in our pantry for the winter, when we are likely to get snowed in for a while.
Chicken flakes, 4 cans: $1.75 each Light Tuna, 4 cans: $1.00 each Pink Salmon, 4 cans: $2.25 each Black olives: $1.75 Artichoke hearts: $2.50 Chestnuts: $1.25 These are cooked chestnuts that I got as a snack for the drive home. 😊 Ice pack: $3.50 We’ve had to throw away some of our smaller gel ice packs, so I got a hard sided type to replace them.
This all came out to $69.25, plus $2.19 in GST and $3.06 in PST for a grand total of $74.50
After that was loaded into the car, it was a walk across the parking lot to my next stop, the international grocery store.
This is a store where we get a few treats or items that we don’t find in any of the other stores we normally go to, plus were we often find new things to try. This is also where I stop for some dim sum for lunch which, together with my drink, cost just over $20.
This is what $206 looks like.
Cleaning vinegar: $5.99 There’s a thing being passed around on social media about how companies have sneakily reduced the acidity of vinegar from 5% to 4%. For people who can, vinegar must be 5% for safety reasons. Well, I’ve looked around, and I’ve yet to see any vinegar at 4% Maybe it’s a US thing. What I did see was 7%. In this store, they have three kinds of white vinegar. Regular vinegar at 5%, canning vinegar at 7% and cleaning vinegar, what I picked up, at 10%. I got their large jug
Bananas: $4.27 for 2 bunches. Beaver Buzz, 3 Saskatoon berry and 3 Citrus: on sale at 2 for $4.50, or $2.25 each, instead of $2.69 each, plus one cent per can for the enviro fee Coke Zero: $7.29 plus 12¢ enviro fee Blade roast: $20.50 Two frying chickens, locally produced and free range: $15.36 (usually, that’s about the price of just one whole chicken) Smoked applewood bacon (unsliced): $11.24 Smoked bacon (unsliced): $8.17 Both bacons are a locally produced item that we get as a treat. Raw white prawns, frozen: $9.99, on sale. Regular price, $14.99 These are a treat for the girls. Truffle olive oil: $15.99 – another treat! Old Cheddar: $13.99 Mozzarella: $13.99 Normally, we get these cheeses we use mostly for cooking at Costco, but we’re out of cheese, so I got smaller packages for now. Truffle Gouda cheese: $12.52 This is something we don’t usually see in stock, so I made sure to grab some. Yes, another treat! Mild goat Gouda: $10.06 Cheese like Gouda are something we get as an “eating cheese” that we enjoy as snacks, rather than in cooking. Eggs, 1 flat of 30: $9.79 Soy sauce: two at $4.59 each. This is a Philippine brand my husband likes, so I like to stock up on it for the pantry. fresh green peppercorns: $2.02 We’ve never used these before! We’ll have to look up what to do with them. Stash Tea, three different flavours: on sale for $3.99 each (regular price, $4.49 each) Coke Zero: $7.29 plus 12¢ enviro fee bottled caramel frapp, cold, for the drive home: $3.99 plus 3¢ enviro fee Jarritos Grapefruit soft drink, cold, for the drive home: $1.99 plus 3¢ enviro fee. At least it was supposed to be for the drive home. I made the mistake of drinking the dairy drink, first. I forgot the caps aren’t a twist off, and I wasn’t going to pull over to the side of the road to dig out a bottle opener! I think I do have one. I’ve returned a multi-tool knife to keep in the car, and I’m pretty sure it has a bottle opener in it.
The total for all this was $202.04, plus $1.65 in GST and $2.29 in PST, for a grand total of $205.98 Plus, I was able to take out another $100 in cash back. We now have enough to get the septic guy in to clean our tank for the winter. He’s really fast about getting to us, so I wanted to make sure I had more than enough cash on hand, before we made the call! Otherwise, I’d have to rush to my mother’s town, where there is a branch of my bank, to take money out before he arrives.
As I was loading up the car, I checked my phone and found my daughter had transferred funds over. I messaged her, asking if there was anything in particular it was for, but it was mostly to just help with the groceries – but it did remind me of a couple of things I meant to pick up for them that I forgot! So, once everything was loaded (with most of the frozen ice packs I brought from home), I went back in and got:
Coffee creamer, largest size bottle: $7.99 soya drink, 1 gallon size: $6.39 This is one of those specific items we don’t find anywhere else. I do wish the girls weren’t drinking soy, though. That stuff’s pretty nasty. Especially since they both have PCOS.
Anyhow. That totalled another $14.38
So that was the damage for today, plus gas, which was just over $20 to fill the tank. Prices have dropped to 163.9¢/L recently, though in the city, I saw places at 162.9 and 161.9 With an energy drink and a snack for breakfast, plus some lotto tickets, the gas station purchases totalled a little over $40.
Not counting my lunch and gas station purchases, the total for today was $543.69 in total.
The international grocery store printed out entry forms with every receipt for a contest to win free groceries for a year. Since I came back for stuff I’d forgotten, I ended up with two entries. Today is the last day for the contest, so I’m glad I made it today. Plus, the receipts for the grocery store, and the Walmart, both have entries to win $1000 gift cards after filling out a “how did we do” survey. Normally, I don’t bother with those, but with the prices of groceries these days, I think I’ll be entering those!
After this will be the Costco and Canadian Tire shop. Canadian Tire is for the litter pellets and another few fire bricks for our outdoor kitchen, if they have them in stock. Since we don’t have a replacement van yet, we will likely have to make a second trip to Costco, just for more bags of dry cat food, now that I know that twelve 9kg bags will not last us a month. In that size, we would need 16 bags for 1 month! If we don’t get anything else that’s large or heavy (like the litter pellets), I can fit eight 9kg bags in my mother’s car, though it really doesn’t like it.
That reminds me. I should book it to get checked. I mentioned how the mileage seems to be getting worse, and he has some suggestions for me to get looked at.
That would be a good time to talk to our mechanic about how things are looking for finding us a vehicle within the financing budget.
I keep saying to myself, as long as we have it before winter, I’m good. In truth, I feel dread, every time I drive my mother’s car. It has had so many problems since my mother bought it, and since we took over keeping it registered so we have a vehicle she can get in and out of, it has had more problems then our van did! The faster we can get a replacement vehicle, the better.
Today, the plan was to drive out to the smaller, nearer city and hit the Canadian Tire and Walmart.
Of course, plans changed, but I at least got those done!
We’ve been keeping in touch with my daughter that is house sitting, and last night she asked me a bit favour.
Could I come over today?
With antihistimines?
There aren’t any in the house, and she normally doesn’t have allergic reactions, but it seems she is allergic to the pillow she’s using! Or, at least, something on it. The house is a fair distance from town, and she wasn’t about to go hunting for a pharmacy on the mobility scooter! 😄
Well, I just happened to pick up some antihistamines while at Costco, so I wouldn’t even have to stop anywhere to get more. Plus, I got to visit her and get hugs.
Of course, none of us wanted to tell my brother and his wife about this, since they would feel bad.
After I left, though, I got a message from my brother.
I forgot about all his security cameras. His door bell cam picked me up, so he saw that I was at the house, and he was wondering if everything was okay! I told him that I was doing another shopping trip and swung by. He’d contacted my daughter as well, and she just said I dropped something off.
Very hard to sneak one past my brother! 😄😄
Meanwhile, I was also in contact with the Cat Lady and we arranged to meet up. I did my Canadian Tire shopping first, getting three 40lb bags of hardwood pellets for the litter boxes, and another 4 fire bricks for our stockpile. I considered more pellets, but I think three of those bags is about as much as my mother’s car can handle well.
Have I mentioned how much I look forward to a getting another van?
It turned out for the better. The Cat Lady and I arranged to meet behind a dollar type store, where the parking lot tends to be empty. She returned our 1 hard sided carrier and 2 soft sided carriers, then added one of their own hard sided carriers for when she comes to pick up Turmeric. We had a chance to chat as well, and, my goodness. This woman just blows me away. They’ve got so much going on, and yet she’s still so dedicated to rescuing, getting care for and adopting out cats and kittens.
I got there a bit early, so I had time to go into the dollar store and picked up a few things. One of them was a cheap hallway mat to go under my desk and chair. Another layer of protection for the carpet, beyond the puppy pads and litter box under my desk.
Then it was off to the Walmart, for the largest shop of the day.
This is $112 and change, though not all of it was mine. My daughter sent me some funds and a request for the energy drinks and ice cream. The wet cat food is shredded only; no paté. I find the kittens prefer the shredded, and it’s much easier to split up between 6 bowls! There are two 2lb containers of grapes, red and green seedless, that were at an excellent price. Though we have the bread machine now, we don’t use it to make rye bread, which I really like. A 2L of milk to replace the expired one on our fridge. 🙄 We don’t actually use a lot of milk in general. The cream of tarter is an unusual thing for our cupboard. We pretty much never use it, but there are some things I’d like to make, and I’d rather have it on hand now, than have to run out and get some when I finally get around to making the things that need it.
I also got 2 more t-shirts for myself, since, in a smaller size than I got last time. I like my shirts big, but not so big they become a safety risk when working outside! I also got a third one for my husband, which I just realized is completely hidden in the photo.
Aside from this, I ended up having to gas up the tank on my mother’s car twice. That was about $55 in total.
*sigh*
My mother’s car is not very fuel efficient and seems to be getting worse. There’s only so much I can attribute to using the AC.
Have I mentioned how much I’m looking forward to a replacement van?
It’s been almost 6 months since I’ve been using a credit card to rebuild my credit rating. Which means that next month, I should be able to actively start looking for a suitable vehicle, apply for financing and not get dinged with insane interest rates or monthly payments.
Anyhow.
The running around shopping is done. For the rest of the month, we will be able to get what we need locally.
Once at home and everything was put away, I tested out something else I picked up at the dollar store. a long, microfibre duster with telescoping handle, to try and get all the cat hair off the walls in the dining room. The cats tend to hang out by the window the most, but also by the door in the summer, as we open the inner door so they can look out the window of the outer door. All along that wall, a thick layer of cat fur has accumulated. The wall itself, near the ceiling, the curtain rod we don’t use, and all the framed photos hanging on the wall between the window and the door.
Well, that new duster works like a charm! Some things it couldn’t get, like all the sliders that hooks on a curtain would be handing on, or the pull cords to open and close the drapes, but I was able to clear the hair off just about everything else. It looks so much better!
There is another area that’s really bad; in the hallway, I’ve got a decorative garland of flowers running up the hand rail of the stairs and along the ceiling, with fairy lights wound around it. Those flowers have become completely coated with a thick layer of cat fur! Considering that the garland if all flexible fake flowers and leaves, I was surprised to get off as much as I did. What we really need to do is take it down and carefully wash it in hot, soapy water, but at least it doesn’t have a thick coat of fur on it anymore!
While I was doing that, my husband asked me to do the shade on the hallway light. That was not a job for the duster, though. Since he’s so much taller than I am, he was able to go up the stairs and reach the screw to remove the shade for me to wash.
Not until after I got rid of this.
What an insane cloud of cat hair in there! It was about an inch thick!
At least it came off easily.
It may not have been useful for the light shade, but I’m really glad I got the fancy duster.
In other things, we’ve reached our high of 33C/91F today, though at one point, I was seeing the forecast change to a high of 35C/95F/ They hit that in the city. For our area, the 30 year record high was 30C/86F, so we’ve gone past that. We’re getting conflicting predictions for rain over the next while. I’ll probably end up watering the garden tomorrow. At least today looks like it’ll be the last really hot day of the year.
Oh, I just made a liar out of myself. I double checked the monthly forecast, and it’s now saying we’ll have a 30C/86F day on the very last day of September!
The first day of October is supposed to be less than half that, so I expect the predictions to change a lot between now and then.
Either way, the garden is going to lover the warmer temperatures!
Today, I headed back to Costco, pretty much just for cat food. That way, I could fit more bags into my mother’s car and not have to worry about the weight or space.
I am so looking forward to when we can finally get another van!!!
I did end up getting a couple more things, of course.
That is eight 9kg size bags of kibble on there. With what I got on my last trip, it makes for a total of 12 of these bags. Hopefully, that means we will finally not have to pick up more near the end of the month, and maybe even have enough to last beyond our next shopping trip! Especially with being able to adopt out 2 adult cats and a kitten, with one more adult to go, too.
Oh! There has been a change in plans with those.
Yesterday afternoon, I got a message from the Cat Lady, asking if it was okay if they hung on to the kitten. It’s so sweet and tiny, she wanted to try and adopt it out to an indoor only home. For the lady that wanted the cats, she is okay with taking Turmeric, instead.
I told her I would trust her judgement. The kitten had been indoors for only about a week, so it wouldn’t be bothered with being outside again, but… well, it is such a little thing, and very, very sweet!
So probably on Monday (3 days from now), the Cat Lady will come for Turmeric.
I think Turmeric is going to be much happier somewhere with fewer cats. She’s been a real beeeatch to some of the cats here. Sweet as honey with others, though!
Anyhow.
This was today’s shopping.
Kibble, 8 bags at $26.99 each: $215.92 5 dozen eggs: $18.89 (the price went up again) Coke Zero: $14.69 plus 32¢ enviro fee Socks, 12 pk: regular $17.99 with $4 off at the till. I broke down and got those for me. I prefer ankle socks, but I’m down to one pair, and just discovered a hole in one of them. LOL Hoodie: regular $24.99 with $6 off at the till. At that price, I figured it was worth it. I got an XXL, so it’ll work for both myself and the girls as something any of us can just grab if we need to go outside on a chilly night. Which we aren’t having right now, but fall is coming.
Sub total, $282.80 Taxes: $31.62 Total: $314.47
*sigh*
Then, of course, I had to get gas. At least I could fill up at Costco, where the price was 154.9/L A couple of days ago, it was 155.9 Everywhere else in the city was 165.9
Between the difference in gas prices and the cat food prices, it is well worth the drive to the city to get this stuff. Locally, they have 7kg bags, not 9kg, but they cost $10 more. I could get the “economy” Walmart brand at a lower price, but they’re still only 7kg bags and… well, there’s a reason they are so cheap. The quality of kibble is poorer, and even the outside cats don’t like it as much. They’ll at least eat it, though. The Superstore no-name brand is so bad, the cats won’t eat it unless they’re super hungry. Costco does carry a brand in 11kg bags, but the price per kg is still higher than the 9kg bags.
So on cat food alone, driving to the city to stock up at Costco saves us at least $100. Then there’s the difference in gas prices. That leaves us with room in the budget to buy the fresh things we need to get more often, locally.
I will still need to make one more city trip, though it can be the smaller, nearer city this time. I will need to go to a Canadian Tire and get more litter pellets. We still have, but we need to stock up.
The last time I was at Walmart, just a couple of days ago, I noticed they had the softwood pellets in stock – but they are now the same price as Canadian Tire, which is $7.98. Previously, the Walmart price had been $5 a bag! The hardwood pellets, which Canadian Tire carries, but I’ve never seen in Walmart, is 50¢ less than the softwood. It used to be that the softwood pellets were the cheaper ones, though they rarely had them in stock.
Once I get the litter pellets, that should be it for city shopping trips. Anything we need after this can be done locally until the end of the month!
With the prices going up, it’s getting a lot harder to stock up extra for the winter, when we will inevitably find ourselves unable to get out. Usually for January and/or February. At least we’ll have the quarter beef for the freezer in November or December. I’ve been making monthly payments towards that, but once we have car payments again, we probably won’t be able to do that again. Maybe just a freezer pack, once in a while.
What’s really frustrating is that all these price increases are artificial, and the direct result of our idiotic government spending like a drunken sailor on everything but what they’re responsible for, while adding more and more taxes and destroying small businesses. Then they vote themselves pay increases. Meanwhile, I was just hearing today, the number of people – especially in the under 35 age category – living paycheck to paycheck has increased to something like 35%, with more than 50% of them afraid they will lose their jobs within the year. I never thought I’d be so thankful for my husband being disabled. It’s a fixed income, but he has excellent private insurance, putting us in a much better position than so many others. I can’t imagine how people living on just CPP Disability are managing. The highest amount for that doesn’t even cover rent in most places, even with subsidies. Ten years from now, that’s all my husband and I will be living on, as that’s when he ages out of his private insurance.
Well, the Costco shop was $800.10. I forgot to get a picture of the Walmart shop, which was done first. That one was $161.28
So I’ll do the Costco list first.
Yeah. That’s $800.10 right there.
*sigh*
There were a few things we don’t normally get, though. Like my husband’s birthday cake! He has a birthday coming up soon, and he asked for cake and lots of ice cream bars. 😄
So, this is the list, in the order that’s on the receipt.
Butter: 5 pounds at $5.49 each – way cheaper than anywhere else – for a total of $27.45 Flour, 10kg size: $9.99 KS Drawstring garbage bags: $21.99 Canned cat food: $38.99 Kirkland brand dry cat food (best price per kg); four 9kg bags: $26.99 each Kirkland brand toilet paper: $22.99 Coke Zero: $14.69, plus 32¢ enviro fee Birthday cake: $24.99 Lean ground beef: $30.85 Stewing beef: $32.89 Eye of Round: $29.40 (the price of beef is insane, even at Costco!) Pork tenderloins: $18.77 Ice cream bars, variety pack: $19.99 Ice cream, almond bars: $15.99 Ice cream, Mega Sandwich pack: $16.99 Cheese; Mozza: $14.99 Cheese; Old Cheddar: $14.99 Cheese; cream, 4pk: $9.49 Iced tea mix: $9.99 (elsewhere, it costs anywhere from $12.99 to $15.99 that I’ve seen) Bucket of Ghee: $41.99 (this is going to replace most of our cooking oils; we just can’t afford them, and Costco’s restaurant sized bucket of Ghee is an excellent price) Hazelnuts: $11.49 Deodorant, 5pk: $14.99 Active dry yeast: $7.99 (with the new bread machine, we’re using it pretty much every day, so we need to stock up on yeast and flour now! 😊) Toothbrushes: $16.99 AA batteries: regular price $25.99, but on sale for $19.99, + eco fee of $1.60 AAA batteries: same sale price of $19.99, + eco fee of 80¢ Arthritis acetaminophen pain killers: $19.99 24 hour allergy meds: $10.99 Ibuprofen, extra strength: $15.99 Butter chicken sauce, 2pk: $9.99 Spaghetti box: regular price, $13.49, on sale for $9.99 Tortillas, two 2pks: $9.99 each Basmati rice: $15.99 Rotisserie chicken: 2 at $7.99 each
The subtotal for all that was $752.43, and the taxes came to $47.67 for the total of $800.10
That was really painful.
Then there was the stuff I got at Walmart. I went specifically for the puppy pads and carpet powder, but I also keep an eye out for other things, as needed. This time I got quite a few extras.
KD, 12pk: $9.47 That was an excellent sale price. KD is something the girls like for a quick cooking meal. Ramen noodles, 24pk: $6.48 They were on sale for 27¢ each, which is almost pre-pandemic insanity price. Clumping cat litter: $8.47 I really hope it works with TTT. The dust, just from opening the container, was insane. I so prefer the stove pellets as litter! Argan oil: $7.97 Carpet powder, odor eliminator: $4.47 Carpet powder, deodorizing: $3.97 Soaker pad: $17.97 – to protect the new mattress cover! Waterproof mattress cover, king size: $49.97 Puppy pads, 30″x30″: $26.97 With the bigger size, I need only one to cover the space under the desk litter pan: $9.97 Since I took the one from the cat cage in the sun room to use under my desk, I needed to replace it, for when we have to keep cats before they go for spays and neuters.
With having to get all the extra stuff to protect my bed, this was almost all “extra” purchases. Which is really frustrating that we have to do this.
TTT is now back in my room and tucked into her napping cave in my closet. I would be really, really happy if she started using the new litter! She always waits until I’m asleep before she goes, though, so I won’t know until morning.
And that’s our first stock up shopping trip for the month.
After I take the cats in to the vet clinic tomorrow morning, I’m heading into the city to meet a guy selling some small scaffolding. I might take advantage of that and swing by Costco to pick up 4 more bags of kibble. Then we’ll have to make another trip into the city to get the rest of our stocking up, including more litter pellets, and maybe even some more *gasp* groceries for ourselves!
These price increases are getting harder and harder to keep up with. With a fixed income, we’re running out of wiggle room. Especially since we expect to have car payments before winter. We so need a van. Having to make multiple trips, because we can only fit so much into my mother’s car, is a killer on the gas budget. Her car has horrible mileage, too!
Well, time to do my outside rounds before I have to tuck away any food that’s left in the kibble bowls in my room, for the overnight fasting.
Today, I decided to go to Superstore instead of to Costco again, as there were a couple of things on my list I either didn’t see at Costco, or what I did see wasn’t in good shape. Plus, I had a hankering for Superstore’s torpedo buns! 😂
I passed on the photo of the fallen tree to my brother and his wife to let them know about it, and ended up arranging to meet with my SIL for lunch. We had a fantastic visit! After we parted ways, I decided to take advantage of the location and made a quick run through the Home Depot that was next door to the Superstore. I found the plastic conduit pipes I want to use to bury and protect the hose we want to run to the garden tap, which gave me an idea of how much we can expect to spend. While looking for something else, I found short lengths of rebar with a protective coating for under $3 each, so I got 10 of them. I think I need only eight. We found the parts and pieces for a car port in the barn, but if we want to set it up, we need to secure it to the ground somehow. These rebar pieces can be pounded into the ground, and the supports should fit right over them.
I hope.
If it doesn’t work, I can find many other uses for them!
Then it was off to the Superstore. This is was $224.45, after taxes, looks like.
I won’t list the prices for everything on there, but this is what I got.
At my husband’s request, I got nacho fixings – olives, chips and mozzarella cheese. He also requested canned beans as a quick heat and eat. There was a sale on one brand, with a limit of 4 of each type, so I got two flavours. Eight cans at $1.50 each. I had intended to buy a case, but a case of 9 cans was almost $16.
I stocked up on distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier; the cost/4L jug was about half what they cost locally. There’s a 20 pound bag of “almost perfect” potatoes for $11, and a large package of house brand paper towels. I got another case of Coke Zero, even though I got one at the recent Costco trip. This one it to tuck away for later. There’s a couple of boxes of tea; Maple Rooibos and Vanilla Earl Grey. There’s a bag of Basmati rice that I hope is good. I couldn’t find it at Costco, and this is a different brand. We have not had much luck trying different brands! I also stocked up some more on Beaver Buzz energy drinks for my older daughter and I. The citrus flavour was on sale, but I also got root beer and saskatoon flavours. There’s a 2 pound clamshell of blueberries. Regular price was $6.99, but there was a sale at $3.20, with a limit of 1. For fruit, I also got a couple of bunches of bananas, as they were only 35¢ each, instead of the usual 79¢ or more.
There’s a couple of jars of mayonnaise, a loaf of French bread, 4 packages of 12 hamburger buns and a sourdough loaf. I also picked up some fresh Fettuccini noodles, to make the original Fettuccini Alfredo I’ve been wanting to try. I would make the pasta ourselves, but no one wants to do that in this heat.
Last of all, I got cold bottles of water and Coke Zero for the drive home. I ended up only drinking the water, so I’ve got a Coke for later.
All of that, before taxes, came to $216.38 The one thing on my list that I did not get was cat kibble. For that, I will make a trip to Costco. Their cheap dry cat food is too cheap – not even the outside cats want to eat it – but the other large bags cost more than Costco by quite a bit. We’re okay for cat food supply right now, but the difference in price is worth the extra trip to the city.
The shopping done, I swung by the nearby Costco to fill the gas tank. Most places have their gas prices from 157.9/L to 160.9/L for regular. Costco is still at 144.9/L That’s a significant difference!
Now that I’ve been home for a while and recuperated from being around so many other human beings for so long, I’m going to re-watch a video on how to make the original Fettuccini Alfredo, then make some for supper!
The Re-Farmer 