This week has seen extreme weather conditions, a family holiday and all the usual planning and packing that goes along with a trip away. Here's my smaller frugal list for the week -
* Made egg custard with the leftover eggs yolks from when Megan made a pavlova.
* When the weather was really hot I made a double batch of potato salad and pasta salad. This was enough for tea for two nights running with other things on the plate. By doing this I saved time and gas.
* Cut up a Christmas ham and froze most of it into portions for pizzas, sandwiches and other meals ( I'm not sure what else I'll use it for ).
* We've been on holidays this week at Phillip Island. We took all the ingredients for breakfasts and took homemade biscuits, fruit, eggs, cheese, salad ingredients. Spag bol sauce and meat from our freezer We saved a small fortune by taking as much food as possible with us. This allowed us money in our budget to eat out once as a treat.
* Darren found a cooked chicken in Coles at 50% off costing $6. We made this stretch for tea and lunch.
* I found my regular blusher at a discount shop in Cowes ( Phillip Island ). Their regular selling price was $4.95 which is a little cheaper than what I usually pay. They had 50% off so I bought three. When the lady put it through the register she charged me $5.25 for the three of them. The next day I went back and bought another three. I think I'm set for blusher for the next 5 - 7 years.
* Made use of the laundry facilities at the resort. This reduced the amount of washing I needed to do when we came home.
* When we were home we saved the warm up shower water to water a few plants.
* Converted a pair of older jeans into long shorts for myself. Cost - zero. .
* Dried the washing on the line when the weather allowed.
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| Seal Rock at The Nobbies Phillip Island |
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| Our cabin at the Ramada Resort Cowes |
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| Forrest Caves beach |
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| The coastline on the way to The Nobbies |
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| The family with Megan using her new selfie stick |
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| At The Nobbies |
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| Princess on Megan's suitcase before we went away. |
Good week! We like ham pieces in homemade mac and cheese and in scalloped potatoes. Yum! Angela
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ideas Angela.
DeleteCaitlin has a double bunk and the girls decided rather than buy a new bed for Siobhan we should use the top bunk as a single bed. Sorted through clothes and decided what we will need for next 12 months. Caitlin bought some $3.50 jeans from the op shop to make into shorts. Did the major shop and came in under $250 so getting closer to my goal. Put clothes line up in our garage so I can dry clothes when weather is wet so I don't have to use the laundrette dryers
ReplyDeleteWell done on your food shop. A clothesline in the garage is a great idea and will save you money.
DeleteHi Wendy, your holiday pics look fabulous. I hope the weather wasn't too hot for you all and even your pussy cat looks like she's ready for holidays, he, he, he...
ReplyDeleteSome recipes i've been using with the leftover ham are:fried rice, fritters and pea and ham soup which i freeze and we eat in colder weather.
This week was too hot for cooking but i did make air freashner and washing powder. I still saved water even though we had a lot of rain. I did use more electricity using the Air conditioning but went to bed early and didn't use many lights on in the house at night. I walked with a friend instead of cuppa out and was given bread and pizzas one night, so no cooking that night. I got some great school stationary
bargains and a few more pieces of secondhand uniforms. DS1 passed some clothes down to DS2 which he was happy about. DS2 and i were shopping and he wanted to spend some of his Christmas money buying a set of Lego. Normal price $19.99, box was abit broken so he took it to the counter and asked for a discount. (He said, this is what Wendy would do) . She marked it down to $8.00 saving him $11.99, just for asking. Well off to do some cooking now that its a bit cooler, Blessings , Maureen
Maureen, your son got a great discount on the Lego. It really does pay to ask.
DeleteIt was really hot the day I took a photo of Princess on the suitcase. Every time I pull out a suitcase to go away with ACA she climbs on top or inside it. It's so funny to watch.
We got lots of rain, thunder and lightning when we were at Phillip Island but it was mostly overnight.
Maureen I love that your son learned this from Wendy and it worked so well! It would have really helped his Christmas money go further. That is wonderful.
DeleteHi Wendy. I hope you had a lovely time on your family holiday. We are off to Port Douglas next week, which we decided to go to only because we were able to get accomodation on the cheap through my Mother in laws time share. We have also been blessed with spring onions, chocolates and pastries as gifts. We have also been able to save by eating tomatoes, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, zucchini's and lettuce from our garden and have been able to continue to bless others. Yesterday, I took my children to the library to borrow books, magazines and videos, which saved us about $200. I also converted fly buy points into real cash which saved me $10 on my shopping. I've also made caramel mud cake, lemon slice, muesli bars and lemonade icy poles. Not a bad week. When I know we are spending more in certain areas like holidays and air conditioning, I feel comforted knowing that I've saved in areas that I was able to save in, to compensate. Regards, Liz.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I feel the same way about spending etc. When we have the evap cooling on, I try to have less electronics on or save more water
DeleteGreat holidays pics Wendy and great savings too! I love that lovely family photo :)
ReplyDeleteThis week I:
*Squeezed lemons and put juice into ice-cube trays
*Grated excess zucchini and froze
*Line dried washing. Had to use the one under the verandah when it started to rain
*Cooked from scratch all week
*Hubby was given some free small bottles of orange juice, so I made a nice smoothie with ingredients I had on hand.
*Made two batches of yoghurt using your recipe
*Used tea leaves in a tea pot instead of tea bags
*Baked some bread rolls using your recipe
*Experimented with a couple of vegetarian meals this week. One meal I baked one of my larger zucchinis and used a vegetarian stuffing. YUM! For another I grilled zucchini slices and served with salad and garlic potato chips.
*Put pot plants out in the rain
*Keep house shut up with curtains drawn during the heat
*Sold excess eggs
*Cleaned out pantry and some of the kitchen and have a large box full of stuff to sell or charity
xTania
Considering the heat, you've done well Tania.
DeleteI am glad you had a lovely holiday Wendy! Also it is great to get family photos that is a nice one.
ReplyDeleteThe cat was planning on coming with you I think... she would fit nicely!
We had rain and that was a great help. Before that it was hot and I used the heat to wash and dry my woollen underlay and things that normally take ages to dry. This gets them all fresh and like new but back on the bed by bed time. If I did this in winter well I guess it would be dry cleaning or in the tumble dryer but I try to do it in the first really hot days and the last really hot days so it is all done.
I use left over ham in fried rice, instead of bacon with eggs as brunch or breakfast and in quiche. It is very handy.
We have a little holiday planned similar to yours... cabin at the beach. Ours is in March. I keep a basket and I try and add a few things a week that we will take. So far I have coffee, long life milk, tea bags and a nice body wash. By the time we go I will have supplies plus a few treats. This saves a lot!
We have more rain coming. I will do what Tania did and put my house plants outside for a good water and wash.
I hope you feel refreshed and good from your break.xxx
We are also off for 2 wks at the beach.Despite there being all the major shops close by, I have made a casserole and cooked a chicken to take, and cleared out the fridge of fruit and salad items. We are caravanning. I've had a quiet week and found time to donate a bag of clothing and list a few new items such as shoes purchased but never worn on ebay. Sold a few textbooks for $5 each this way. I only do it when I have a bit of time and inclination. Bought an enormous bag of mushies from the greengrocer on one of the hot days for $3, so gave some away, made a quiche and risotto, and chopped and froze the rest which works well in pizza, stirfry, casseroles. One friend gave me a bag of oranges she couldn't get through when I gave her the mushrooms. I have hardly shopped for food this week. I find on the school holidays I'm far more creative in the kitchen, probably due to a less hectic schedule. And it's nice to have a change from the usual lunchbox routine. I was given a lump of ricotta cheese by a neighbour going away so that went into pizzas, the quiche and some savoury muffins. I've also made an orange cake to take away and cut up half of the Christmas cake mum gave me for Christmas. I will be handwashing only while we're away. I therefore encourage my kids to take non-whites away! To be honest, they live in bathers, shorts and thongs so when they run out of undies I tell them to wash them in the shower. Have learnt over the years to pack light as we always bring home clean clothes never worn. Less is best! On the Mornington Peninsula, where we are heading, there is a plethora of op-shops, so on the inclement weather days we usually go for a look. We joined the local library down there and my girls will ride their bikes to get their books. Public libraries have visitor passes you can obtain when you're travelling which we use if we're staying somewhere for more than a week. Saves carting books or buying. And it's fun to checkout the new to us libraries. Our campsite is all paid for so the only expenses should be fuel, a few groceries and of course some fish and chips! Sue
ReplyDeleteI have ladies at my church that love to visit the op shops down on the Mornington Peninsula.
DeleteThe last time we are on holidays at Rosebud there was a great fish and chip shop there on a corner in a group of shops.facing the main road.
Well I'll have to say last week now lol,
ReplyDeleteMe and my step dad went up around some areas and picked up some wooden pallets to make a veggie garden. I also went on to facebook buy swap sell pages and asked if anyone had been giving away compost bins for free and also some seeds to grow some veggies. I managed to get 2 compost bins and about 5 packs of seeds two pots of mint (which are kinda wild anyway so they will definitely do!) and a little blue berry plant :D I'm wrapped with that! My 2.5 yo love blueberries! The only thing I bought out of all of that we're the worms :D my aim is to compost all off cuts of fruit and veg. I am also a chef that works in a kitchen that has aloy of wastage so I manage to collect all the cut offs from work and put them in my compost bin :D winning! My aim is to get my dirt from the worm castings to start my veggies :) it may take a while though lol in the mean time I'll make do with the small space I already have
You're very frugal
DeleteHi Wendy that looks like you had a great time... :-) and thanks for the advice as it is certainly timely for us.
ReplyDeleteWe are off on holidays in a few days. (after I return from another trip interstate to visit my parents) It is all paid for except food...I even haggled with the hotel person on the cost of accommodation and got $90 off lol. We have decided to visit the local grocery store as soon as we get to the hotel and purchase breakfast cereal, bread and sandwich meats for breakfasts and lunches. We aren't able to take much with us as we are flying interstate but they have cheap fruit and vegetables there thank goodness.
I am taking clothes that can be hand washed and that can drip dry in the shower. Public transport will be used of course .
a few days after we get back from our hols we are moving house...so busy busy busy... We are not buying groceries as we want to eat the freezer and fridge empty for the house move. It certainly makes for interesting meals lol.
Good to see you and your family having a great holiday... I loved the photos thanks for sharing...
Have a fantastic holiday Linda.
DeleteHi Wendy, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I've been trying to be more frugal and aiming to keep the monthly shop under $300. This week my frugal activities have been the following
ReplyDelete* Baked two loaves of gluten free bread and a large batch of banana muffins - froze them individually for work
* baked a double batch of chocolate brownies for my husband - froze individually for him to take to work
* mashed and froze over-ripe bananas, these are perfect for baking
* woolworths had an end of day special on their raw whole chickens, selling for $3 each! They were decent in size and didn't expire for another 3 days. I bought the last three. Cooked one and froze the other two. We now have lots of chicken to last us a good while!
* Bought the "imperfect fruit" at woolworths. They are perfectly good fruit, just a little smaller or have an extra bump/bend. They are more than half price compared to their "perfect" cousins.
* invested in a the easiyo yogurt maker. Home made yoghurt is far better than store bought.
Ever since I started the $300 a month challenge, I noticed that even though I am spending much less, we have more food than ever. Making fresh yoghurt and having lots of fruit and snacks available has stopped my husband resorting to take away when working his shifts, again saving even more money. Thanks for being an inspiration.
Amy
You had a very frugal week Amy. Well done. I can't eat store bought yoghurt any more. It tastes so fake.
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