I've been very busy organising presents this week. We've celebrated a couple of birthdays amoungst family and friends and it was great to have the presents wrapped and ready to give. As a child I was so excited to receive presents for Christmas and my birthday. Now as an adult the role has reversed and I love to be the giver. I think it's all the planning, the budgeting, the shopping, the making and the wrapping that builds up the excitement.
Here's my frugal list for the week -
* Made Cranberry Hootycreek biscuits to give as part of a present.
* Made 20 pumpkin scones using Jap pumpkin I bought for 69 cents a kilo.
* Cooked, drained and froze more pumpkin for future baking.
* Gave a couple of jars of homemade plum jam as presents.
* Saved the shower water to water the garden plants.
* Accepted some glass jars from my Mum and Dad. I can't wait until our fruit trees and bushes start producing. I'll be in jam heaven.
* Gratefully accepted 8 avocados from a friend at church. These are such a blessing to us as they are a luxury item for my family. Darren and Jessica are rationing them out and enjoying every mouthful.
* Darren saved $50 on my car insurance by checkng other company's prices. I'd been with the same company since 2008 as they had the best price each year. Now we've found a cheaper deal elsewhere.
* Wrapped most of the Christmas presents. I buy all year round as I see great bargains. I've even made a great start on next year's birthday and Christmas presents. I've also beaten my present budget YAY !!!
* Baked two trays of peanut butter choc chip biscuits while I had a choc self saucing pudding in the oven.
* Gratefully accepted spinach leaves and mixed lettuce from another friend at church. Jessica used some to make up a lovely salad for tea the other night.
* Bought Cadbury choc bits on sale at $2.09 from Coles. I used our flybuys money to pay for them ( so they were free ).
* Bought Vita Brits at half price from Woolworths for $2.29. They are cheaper than the Aldi brand which is the cheapest on the market. I bought 5 boxes.
* On Thursday night Darren, Jessica and I had a meal that cost us about 10 cents for the three of us. I'd cooked half a piece of silverside the night before. There was about 6 slices left over as some of us weren't very hungry. Megan was on an overnight camp the next night so we had the silverside with corn on the cob from our garden last year and silverbeet ( also picked from our garden ). A friend gave us a couple of jars of tomato relish so we had some of that. The only cost was 1/2 a cup of white rice. BONUS !!!
* Sold two dozen eggs and two dozen muffins to neighbour and a cleaning client.
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| Pumpkin scones - my favourite morning tea. |
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| A gift of avocados |
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| Wrapped Christmas presents. |
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| Biscuits for my sister |
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| More flowers in my garden. |
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| Biscuits wrapped for a male. |
What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?
Paid a utility bill the day it arrived. Also paid my credit card bill in full. Took the opportunity to explain to my DC 20's partner how to itemise into different expense categories and how this works with budget. They are never too young or too old to learn. He is very happy that someone is taking the time to teach him fiscal management.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy, another great week for you.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I hung all of the washing on the clothes airer to dry. Took DD to get her drivers licence, and she passed first go (I do a silent little prayer for her every time she gets in the car without me). Scoured the specials catalogues on Wednesday for any specials I can put away and stockpile for christmas - I got Delish biscuits the other week for $1 a box) Christmas is at our place this year. Took my lunch to work each day. Continued to feed my family and the dog with what I had so that I can make room for my christmas food :) not much else I'm afraid.
have a great week, Deb
Hi Wendy, I had a busy week this week and didn't get much cooking done, but I will this weekend. I made this week:Pita chips, Yogurt and Lunchbox muffins. All meals were made from scratch or we used freezer meals which were a savior when I'd had a busy day.
ReplyDeleteStarted growing Mushrooms in a Mushroom kit, used vegies from the garden, and saved the shower water for either washing or garden.
Saved money on my mums house and contents insurance just by calling them to make a few changes.
I went for a walk with a friend of mine instead of catching up for a cuppa, saved money.
Started an Emergency fund. Regifted a present to a friend of mine.
I wasted some food in the fridge this week but I going to make this my pet project so to break this habit. I tried shopping for the fortnight this week as I normally shop weekly. I will only do a top up during the week(trying to eventually get to monthly shopping).
Lovely pictures Wendy, keep them coming. What type of Daisy do you have?
Have a great week, Blessings, Maureen
I think they are Federation daisies. We bought them from Bunnings a few years ago. They only last about three years then you need to take cuttings and grow them again. Great for free or very cheap presents too.
DeleteTruly find your posts and photos inspirational Wendy each time! My frugle tasks are still a work in progress but getting there slowly. This last fortnight I turned last remnants of loaves of bread into breadcrumbs and froze- i am going to try saving weet bix crumbs too later-great idea. Used a $10 voucher towards groceries, used some leftover sml amount of ham to turn into fried rice main meal. Accepted eggs and a sweet potato from a friemd going away, and made a quiche and froze. Started a new smal vege patch in garden, had no takeaways, and instead in future will do homemade hamburgers etc. bought some lavendar oil for roomspray idea. Did the foaming soap on tape idea-made some up myself. Had visitors so made everything from scratch and saved a fortune on ready bought food. Stocked up on half price foodstuffs at supermarket. Bought bulk meat and made meals and froze into meal portions for the family. Starting to thinkabout ideas for dfrugle xmas gifts so i can begin that task. From Rosie.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy for answering my question about the daisies. I just bought a Federation daisy from Aldi for $2.00 as that was looking abit dead, so I thought I would try to give it a new life. I planted it today, so we will wait and see. Hopefully I can get some cuttings from it in the future, great idea! Thanks, Maureen
ReplyDeleteHi everyone I had an ok week this week. My sister moved into her first rental so have been super busy cleaning and moving her so not heaps of frugal things have been done but heres my list: baked rainbow mini muffins, jam drop bikkies, pita chips. Only spent $170 on a fortnight shop and have $50 budgeted for a top up next week if I need it. I sold a few things around home and made $100. Went shopping with my sister and for once in my life walked out with nothing! Taught my sister how to budget and shop at Aldi. Had a movie night at home instead of going out to movies and I made fudge, popcorn had apple juice and painted nails with the girls. Instead of going out today and spending money we made some kids jewlery and painted pictures of our chickens. Have only bought take away once this week and was only $5 of hot chips to take to the beach. Filled up for $1.31 with docket for petrol, hubby walked our daughter home 2 times so saved on petrol there aswell. That's about it for this week. Kayla :)
ReplyDeleteGreat work everybody.
ReplyDeleteMade all meals from scratch.
Baked Anzacs for Hubby.
Went halves in birthday pressie for friend, with a friend.
Stuck to my grocery budget, actually came in $1 under.
Cashed in some fly buy points and used the $10 to buy some things that we use all the time, on special.
Remembered to water my seedlings every day, hope they sprout soon.
Only had 3 chai lattes this week instead of 6-7.
Trying to shorten my shower time.
have a good week everyone.
Tania in Hawthorn
You have achieved so much this week.
ReplyDeleteMy frugal things- made laundry detergent,purchased only marked down meat,fruit and vegies this week most at a90% off and incorporated them into our meals and work lunches. Neighbour gave me homemade chutney and spinach. Spent $6 on beautiful gold jaquard bedstead at op shop to swap for my heavy winter blanket.
I've spent some time thinking and taking notes for this! lol I'e done a lot more than I thought I had, however I am not always so industrious. I cooked and mashed chook egg shells to make calcium grit for future chooks and some went straight onto the pot plants to deter snails. I made fish cakes with left over fish. Dehydrated a bag of mixed veges for the store cupboard and just rescued mushrooms this way too. I also cut up and froze some leeks I had forgotten in the fridge just in time. I will always freeze them in future. Bought 3 500g sausage mince knobs on mark down to $1.50 each. Divided them in half and froze in snap locks ready to add to my meatloaf and hamburger mix. I found that the cooked meatloaves keep well in the fridge and reheated slices make the best hamburgers. Earned a $15 voucher on shopping docket due to purchases using woollies everyday card, so went back in and bought a 2.6k piece of silverside that had already been marked down $4, so I got that huge piece of meat for free! I also purchased a kilo of carrots to make up the $15. I intend to either freeze or dehydrate them for my store cupboard. I found a fantastic buy on antihistamines. With bad hayfever I can spend a lot on these as they are often $1 a tablet. I went to a discount chemist and asked for their best priced one (which I normally wouldn't do) and scored 50 tablet packet for $12.99! I will save so much on those now.
ReplyDeleteMade chicken and vege soup from carcass of whole chicken that I always buy and portion up.
Went for a walk with hubby and the dog on a fine day around lilydale lake, then had a brought from home picnic there. ( I don't ever eat takeout). Items from my grocery list that were on special I bought extra of to put the extras into my store cupboard. (I am trying to work up to a years storage).
Planted some more potatoes and shallots and leeks that I had sprouting on the kitchen windowsill. I always hang the clothes on the clothesline and have no dryer. I was very happy to find my electric bill was only a third of what I was expecting cause I refused to use a heater this past winter.
I always compost all scraps. I now put the rubbish and recycle bins out every 3-4 weeks and getting longer each time. I made a chicken and leek casserole for dinner and knowing we had a guest coming the next day for lunch, used the leftover casserole to make lovely pot pies for lunch. Some left over pastry strips from the pies made matchstick cakes! I always check the supermarket specials before I go shopping so I know what to stock up on for my extra food store. I get hubby to dye my hair using the dye kits in the shops. Saved weetbix crumbs to make shake and bake. Made pita chips. Portioned a whole fresh chook so I have different cuts to make things with. Usually I make chicken kievs from the breast, nuggets from the end pieces, buffalo wings, all kinds of spiced and flavoured legs and thighs and soup from the carcass. Sometimes I just roast it whole.
I started having a soup day which seems to help with digestion and bloating over the week and is very frugal and easy to leave on the stove for the day.
I put a little something away for Christmas which I have done for the last couple of months.
I've also started kitting out an old caravan I bought to go Grey Nomading in the not too distant future as an economical way to live and holiday. Theres bound to be more things I do but they have become so natural to me now that I forget what great job I am doing!
What an amazing list you have Cheryl. How did you survive the Winter without heat ?
DeleteThanks Wendy. We also have an open fire, though its not very efficient. I put up a curtain to block the room off so the heat stayed in and I leave that up all winter. It makes a huge difference. When it just got too cold we went and sat in the warm bed and watched TV or read in there with cups of tea. It turned out to be easier than we thought it would. We also wore winter clothes inside the house same as outside so we were always warm.
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