7 a.m.: Wake up.
Check to see if it’s snowing AGAIN. No? Good.
Head into shower.
7.30 a.m.: Start kettle for tea.
Realize I have no morning fruit left to eat (clementines and the like).
Contemplate eating BF’s beloved yogurt but decide against it.
This morning…
FB: Do you have a lunch for today?
(sad face that he’s actually on contract now… and I’m at home, uncontracted, bored, but am hoping for good news)
BF: Yep. Made enough chicken for the week.
FB: What do you want to eat tonight?
BF: I dunno. Are you cooking? *eyes light up*
(BF cooks all the time because he’s the pickier one. That’s his joy and his pain)
FB: Sure. But tell me what of my cooking you like to eat, because you are pickier than I am.
(He won’t eat ramen but says it smells good because I add eggs and veggies to it and make it a REAL meal, FB Mom-style)
BF: Whatever is fine with me.
FB: Okay, salmon and… asperge? Do you like asparagus?
BF: NO!!!
FB: See? TELL ME what you want to eat! *exasperated*
BF: …how about…. Broccoli?
FB: Okay. I’ll buy it if it isn’t $3 per broccoli bunch.
BF: No way *laughs* It’s always $1.99 each bunch.
FB: We’ll see. It’s Quebec, remember?
8 a.m.: Get into car to drive to grocery store.
End up turning the car off because I need to remove the garage door key from my car’s key ring.
This afternoon…
FB: *goes to remove the keys* Hey..? WTF?
*starts twisting the key on and off, on and off, freaking out*
*car behind her starts up and pauses*
FB: *gets out of the car* My key won’t come out of the ignition!!!
I’ve never had this happen to me before! Is it stuck? IS IT STUCK FOREVER?….
*hyperventilates*
How did I do that!? HOW!?
Lady: Calm down. Don’t panic.. *soothing tones*… Everything’s fine. Don’t panic.
(like talking to one of her dogs)
Naturally, I have a momentary freak out.
Lady: Okay, let’s see here. *gets in the car* …*fiddles around*…*starts it* .. There you go.
FB: Uh…… thanks. *thoroughly embarrassed*
Lady: You accidently shut off the car while it was in Drive. Gotta put it in Park first.
FB: *turning even redder from sheer embarrassment*
(So I’m not the brightest at cars, okay? It’s my first car, and I haven’t driven it much. Plus it’s old. Yeah.. That’s it. It’s OLD.)
FB: *slinks into car*.. *slinks into parking spot*…*removes garage door key from her keyring*…..and heads out the garage door after the witnesses have left.
HOW I SCORED GROCERIES FOR $6.74
The good news is that I am not so dumb at shopping for groceries!
But I’ll let you be a judge of that. Clearly, my story above did not help…
Broccoli? Of course, it was at $2.99 PER HEAD. I knew it.
So I ended up getting Haricot Vert (fancy name for green beans) because they were on sale for $3.73/kg instead of $8.78/kg.
Oh yeah that’s right. We get screwed on the island for prices.
Scored two pieces of thick, delicious salmon ON SALE for ~$7 each instead of $14 each.
I think the Fish Lady was hitting on me too. She was unusually interested in my shopping choices…and me.
Also scored some beef for my lunch today, originally priced at $4, but it was a 50% off for a quick sale, so I got it for $2.
Picked up some eggs, and some olive oil and honey soap to put my bag into smell rehab.
In the end, I got everything pictured here…….
For only $6.74 !!!!
How’d I do that?…
ORIGINAL BILL
Haricot Vert: $1.19
Salmon 1: $7.18
Salmon 2: $7.08
Beef: $2.09
Eggs: $5.59
Olive Oil + Honey Soap: $3.69
Total = $26.82
+ Taxes = $0.47ORIGINAL TOTAL = $27.29DISCOUNTS
$0.45 = Returning plastic bottles at $0.05/each
$0.10 = Bringing my own bags
$20 = PC Grocery Points (used my Mastercard)
Subtotal of Discounts: $20.55REAL TOTAL I PAID: $6.74Never underestimate the power of grocery points. 🙂
And I didn’t overspend on my Mastercard to get those points either – I just put flights, hotels and whatever else on there, and just clear it from my bank account.
HELLO GREEN CARD LOTTERY!!!!
Quick recipe:
Chopped some garlic, started it frying in some sesame oil in the pan, put it on top to sear, then turned off the burner and let it cook as the heat died down (very thin piece of meat, and I do like it quite rare, but this one turned out well-done).
Made some instant oatmeal on the side — oatmeal and hot water, mixed, makes a hearty addition to this instead of cooking rice for an hour.
I know it sounds weird, but beef and oatmeal tastes good together. Think haggis.
I feel extremely full right now.
And for tonight’s dinner: Baked salmon with garlic, haricot vert, rice.. and optional Red Thai Curry (BF doesn’t like it).
BAG REHAB IN PROGRESS
As for that honey + olive soap.. (which we use regularly), I am using it to rehab my bag.
Yes, this one that I bought in Ontario when I went back:
See, the smell of that leather bag makes me slightly nauseous.
I think it’s lamb leather or something totally WEIRD because it has a very distinct smell.
And I don’t know if it’s because I started cutting out tons of perfumes and chemical smells from my life or what, but sometimes I get a whiff of the bag and I want to gag. Other times, it’s fine.
Either way, it’s a problem because the bag is 5-7 feet away from me and I can smell it while I’m typing sometimes.
Luckily, Revanche from A Gai Shan Life on Twitter gave me this tip: put some smelly soap in a box, put the bag in, close up the box and let it stew to absorb the NEW smell of soap.
I was going for coconut soap, but then I realized that I needed to spend $3 on actual soap we’d use after I take it out of the bag, so I just bought another Kiss My Face Olive + Honey Soap bar.
Last night…
FB’s Sister: So… the bag stinks huh? Maybe you should give her to ME.
(She’s been after that bag since I bought it because she already spent $900 on bags and felt ashamed at wanting to spend another $180 on this bag I eventually nabbed).
FB: Not a chance. She’s MINE! I’ll have to bag rehab her to get rid the smell.
FB’s Sister: …… I think she should come home with me next time for a better life.
At least I won’t put her in rehab and she’ll have a better home.FB: At least I care ENOUGH about her to put her in bag rehab.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
That exact car story happened to me! Luckily though, I was already parked in a parking lot, and the only witnesses were my mom and dad!
When you are in the moment and people are behind you, you freak out that you\’re an idiot and they\’ll be late for SOMETHING. Thank goodness it was just in park.