Saturday 25 October 2014

This Week's Frugal Tasks


This week I've been busy doing odd jobs around the house.  I had three days in a row at home so I made sure I was wise with my time. 

Here's my frugal list for the week -


*  Received three more avocados from a friend at church.

*  Cut up three old socks for garden ties.

*  Mended one shopping bag,  one cardigan,  one dress and took up one of Megan's Summer dresses.  She's grown so much that her white maxi dress was too short to look like a maxi dress.  So I took it up above her knees. She's happy now and will get another year's wear out of it.

*  Sewed four new Christmas stockngs.  I bought the material from Spotlight after Christmas last year for $1 a stocking.  We needed slightly smaller stockings this year to reflect our smaller budget.

*  Made two chocolate cakes at the same time ( doubled the recipe ).  One was for a church morning tea,  the other one was for us.

*  Froze a single serve of leftover tuna casserole.  I'll have to write freezer meals onto the menu plan soon as they are piling up.

*  Cooked enough rice for two tuna casseroles.  One was used that night and the other portion of rice was frozen for a future tuna casserole.

*  Made double strength Miracle Spray.  I dilute it back down to normal strength when I pour it into spray bottles.  By making it this way I'm saving time.

*  Megan made a big pot of vegetable soup.  She'd come home from an overnight camp on the school grounds.  They roughed it and she was in need of real food.  The rest of the soup was frozen into single portions.

*  Megan and her friend made raspberry and white chocolate muffins and plain scones on Sunday.  We all enjoyed some for afternoon tea using my Grandma's fine china cups and saucers.  The rest of the muffins and scones were frozen for lunchboxes.

*  Planted out some lettuce seedlings.  We had to buy these as our own seedlings are too small and we'd be without lettuce for eight weks waiting for them to grow big enough.  Still,  it's cheaper than buying a lettuce each week.

*  Saved water from the showers for the garden and washing machine.  Also saved the washing machine water for the next load.

*  Refilled the shampoo and conditioner bottles and diluted them.

*  Finally finished a lipstick I thought was really empty about four weeks ago.  I've been digging out the remains with cotton sticks for about 6 - 8 weeks.  Now I've started " finishing " another lipstick.  It's amazing how much more you can get from them once it reaches the plastic part.

*  Darren picked some iceberg roses for the kitchen windowsill.

*  I've been busy filling up my pantry so that I don't have to do much shopping during the Summer heat.
My favourite cup and saucer set.  It was my Grandma's.

A delightful Sunday afternoon tea.

The pantry is chock a block.

A big pot of vegetable soup.

The roses Darren picked.
Please share your frugal list.

14 comments:

  1. I love Miracle Spray! I'm on my fourth batch and love how everything sparkles and its mild on my hands and my jewellry sparkles too!

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  2. I have to agree with Joolz, I love the smell so clean.
    This week, it was my sections turn to host the staff morning tea and I made everything from scratch. My stuff went very quickly :)
    Made zucchini slice as i got a huge bag from woollies for $2 on a mark down. I gave half to my neighbour.
    Went to a garage sale and brought quite a few christmas presents, all brand new and still in boxes.
    Used the 2 light rule most nights. DD is studying so not always possible.
    Cooked a lamb shoulder roast and had that one night. The remainder was frozen with some gravy for another night.
    DH scored two storage cupboards from work for the garage, another place for a stockpile.
    Have a great week.
    Debs

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  3. Hi Wendy and all , I tried to maximize the cooler weather days to do lots of cooking so I made: Zucchini slice, pita chips, popcorn, bickies, yogurt, meat pie filling, brownies and cheesecake.
    I made some more washing powder and diluted the hand soap pumps as they needed refilling. I mended some of the childrens clothes, used freezer meals as these were buliding up and used shower water for washing and garden. Tried to use our water tank as much as possible for watering and
    washing. Picked more celery and froze and picked roses from the garden to sit on the dining room table, so pretty.
    Walked DS2 to school more this week so saved petrol. Didn't put the Air conditioning on as I kept the house cool by keeping the curtains and blinds shut from the morning and not using the oven.
    Paid credit card in full by due date, accepted bread and bread rolls from a lady at church and shampoo from mother in law.
    Used up sample tea bags that I got in a show bag and received three bonus gifts this week: a friend gave me an Orchid(not sure how to plant), a sample of a deodorant for women came in the mail box and I was given a show bag at the school fete from Woolies that had samples of bickies, muesli bars, popcorn and a voucher for $3.00 off your next shop at woolies.
    I love your beautiful tea cups and saucers and what a wonderful way to spend time with the family,
    Blessings, Maureen

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  4. Went on The Great Garage Sale Trail - and my DH bought the one thing he was searching for. Found two things suitable as Christmas presents.

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  5. Your afternoon tea looks absolutely scrumptious! I love your pretty cups and settings. Afternoon tea with home made goodies is the best! Well done to Megan. I notice you are still working your way through those Tetley tea bags Wendy. I'm so glad we now have an NQR. I got a few packs of those super cheap teabags back then, but don't have to drive over an hour to the store anymore. ;)

    Do you have a Pinterest account yet Wendy? I will follow you there as well if you get one. I'm really enjoying your blog and look forward to reading your posts.


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    Replies
    1. Kaye, I think we have eight boxes of Tetley teabags left. The last price I paid was 69 cents a box. I bought the Lipton ones a week or so go at half price. There is no way I'm paying full price for teabags.

      I don't have Pinterest yet. When I've mastered blogging and facebook I'll look at it.

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  6. Makes us realise how lucky we are that we can come home and have a healthy bowl of soup. There are so many living rough that aren't able to. Loving your blogs.

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  7. I need to try making some of that miracle spray :)

    Wendy can you tell me how you dilute the shampoo? I mean what ratio (roughly) of water to shampoo do you use?

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    Replies
    1. I started by diluting it by 1/3. Then I went to 1/2 . It also depends on the quality. Cheap shampoos don't water down very well. Tresemme and Pantene dilute really well - especially the conditioner as it's so thick.

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  8. Hi Wendy, Firstly I love your blog and secondly can I ask for your tuna cassole and pumpkin scone recipes - or are they on the Cheapskates site. Would love to try (I never have much luck with scones, they always turn out like rock cakes!!! Any hints) Thanks Michele.

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    Replies
    1. Thankyou and yes I promise I'l be posting all my recipes at some stage. I've had lots of requests for everything. No the recipes for the things you asked are not on Cheapskates.

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  9. Hi all
    Wendy I have just read the above about your diluting your Pantene and I am going to do this now myself......I love using Pantene and it can be expensive when not on special. This will now twice as far....Thanks for sharing
    Your cupboard looks so well stocked and tidy. The roses are beautiful..
    I must say since learning about your blog and seeing you on A Current Affair that I have really changed a lot of my ways.

    Regards
    Aly

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    Replies
    1. Aly, start diluting by 1/3 and see how it is. Thankyou for your kind comments. I'm a bit of a neat freak and love to have everything in it's place.

      I'm glad you've found some more frugal ways to do things. It always makes me feel good knowing I'm not wasting anything.

      Delete

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