* Picked lots of raspberries and yellow pear tomatoes each day.
* Gratefully received lots of sandwiches from a catering job I helped with.
* Bought some amazing bargains at my local fruit and veg shop. I bought three mangoes for $1, seven bananas for $1, half a cantelope for $1, apples for $1.99 and two bags of five kilos of potatoes for $5 and a cuccumber for 90 cents.
* Collected a few eggs here and there. Most of our chooks are molting in some shape or form so they are not laying as often.
* Dried the washing on the line and clothes horses.
* Used lots of bread bags as bin liners.
* Froze some leftovers from 2 dinners. We also ate frozen meals last Saturday as I'd been to a high tea and didn't feel like cooking or eating much.
* Made 7 jars of raspberry jam with our home grown raspberries.
* Gratefully received lots of bread from a friend and some scones from another friend.
* Filled the car up with petrol at $1.12 per litre just before the latest price increase.
* Darren emptied our compost bin onto a veggie garden bed. In a few weeks we'll plant some veggie seedlings I've grown from seed.
* Saved the washing machine water for the next load. We also saved the shower warm up water and used it to water the veggie seedlings. I saved the kitchen sink water from washing hands to rinse out the sinks when they were dirty.
* Made a double batch of Chocolate Lunchbox Muffins. I didn't have the room in the freezer to make a triple batch.
* Made a huge batch of salmon patties using 5 tins of salmon. This was enough for 6 meals for the four of us plus a few spares. I frozen most of them for future meals. Making salmon patties can be messy with all the crumbing etc so when I make them I REALLY MAKE THEM !!!
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| Home made raspberry jam. |
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| The berries I'd been picking and saving. |
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| My bargain fruit haul. |
Some photos from the baby shower I helped cater for and serve at. Below is a nappy cake made by a good friend of mine and fellow Cheapskate member Keren. Her business is called All Things Baby and Beyond. Her face book page link is https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005691076624#!/allthingsbabyandbeyond?pnref=lhc She has more cute photos of nappy cakes. Well worth a look.
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| The cupcake had little rattles, dummies and elephants on them. No, I didn't make them. |
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| Lots and lots of food !! What did you do this week to save time, money and energy ? |
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteThis week I
- dried all washing on the line and clothes airer.
- refilled foamie bottles with diluted shower gel
- made cookies
- took lunch to work each day
- made all meals from scratch
- DH found a new fruit and veg shop and the produce is beautiful, the prices are great too :)
- emptied the water from the dripping tap in the laundry into the washing machine.
- DH also bought home more bottled water that was nearing its expiry date, 48 bottles !!!
- emptied any left over water from drinking bottles into a bucket and poured this onto the garden.
Not much but it all helps :)
Have a great week.
Cheers
Deb
Wow wendy you have had a very busy week! I'm loving the fruit and veg specials you've picked up and those beautifully home grown raspberries 😍
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a high tea before but I hear a lot about them!
I've had an almost full productive week
My little boy has had severe gastro for the last week so I've had to miss out on work which is really going to put me into a struggle with money next week. So this week I stocked up on quite a few things totally going out of budget but u don't know how long this will last and I'm preparing for the next month.
This week I have
Made a large batch of baby food and froze it
The rest of the veggies that were prepared for the baby food I have frozen for later when I decide what starch and meat to add
Saved warm up water from the shower to water the garden
Been doing 1 wash load per day
Picked all the ripe cherry tomatoes to make sauce and for salads. I still have heaps on my tree and picked some basil to add to the sauce
Made yoghurt using your recipe! I also substituted the sugar for stevia. That was quite fun still yet to try it I just made it yesterday.
Made a double batch of choc chip cookies and added quinoa and chia seeds. They taste great! I froze half the batch for future cookie baking.
Made a batch of brown sugar
Picked up a few awesome half price deals from safeway/woollies every one thinks I'm crazy that I buy so much morning fresh! How can you go wrong if the 900ml bottle is at half price!!!! :) I also got a few Easter things for the kids and containers to put my cupboard ingredients in.
Cleaned up a little bit of clutter in the house although I still have the rest of the house to go :(
Made *some meals* from scratch managed to save the left overs for future meals
Wrote up next months meal plan so I have a fair idea of what I need to buy and how much I need to save and from then on start working intensly on my budget and spendings.
Im doing it all on my own with one income and a little bit of Centrelink my partners been out of work for almost 3-4 months
Hope you have a lovely weekend wendy! Can't wait for next week
Anne
Shopping for the bargains saves a small fortune. It's going to help- you with your budget. Well done.
DeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteI've now come into work (first and only shift for the whole week) and managed to greatfully accept a 10kg bucket of fresh corn! That's going straight into the freezer when I get home! The kids will love it :)
That's awesome and such a blessing.
DeleteIt Absolutely is wendy. Im very greatful for the food I receive from work it is truely a blessing and this is one of the reasons why I love being a chef :)
DeleteGod bless xo
Hi Wendy. You're photos look amazing as usual and wow, what a beautifully catered baby shower! This week, I had a friend over instead of going to a cafe. Made palmiers and all meals except one from scratch. Dried clothes on the clothes horse. Blessed others with bits and pieces and was blessed in return with nectarines, OJ, ham and pure olive oil. Our bank also automatically reduced our interred rates which was a pleasant surprise and gift. I have also been using up my neglected herbal teas as I'm abstaining from cows milk. And have organised to help at a community garden for a few hours once a week, which will help me to learn skills for my own garden and to receive free produce in return. A double bonus! The Lord has been good to us!! Have a great week everyone. Regards, Liz.
ReplyDeleteA community garden - how exciting for you.
DeleteWendy you have had great luck with bargains and also free food over the last weeks and this week too! What a bonus!
ReplyDeleteFrugal tasks here have been more card making, have finished now for a while as I have about thirty ready to use. Making cakes as gifts and one to take away on holidays, crocheting gifts, I did some home DIY myself with good results, cooked all meals, made all work lunches, recycled all wash and bath water on to the garden. Had 4 no spend days. Made dusters from some old linen as I cleaned out my linen cupboard. Also the weather has cooled. No air conditioning needed anymore! That is a saving straight away!
Have a lovely weekend xxxx
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteoooh that jam looks sooo nice.
This week we went to the markets and got very cheap veg and fruit.
• I have used the plums and apples to make jam and Hubby is going to use the left over plums (two kilo) with home grown rhubarb and some of the apples to stew and freeze into meal portions.
• The bananas were for eating on own and banana bread and muffins. Sliced and frozen for lunches.
• I also made oatmeal cookies, some with choc chips. I have frozen some of the cookie dough for a later date.
• Took my lunch with me to a meeting I had at the beginning of the week and found the other person also had a packed lunch.
• Re-potted the herbs and now have them on the window sills near the kitchen. I used the worm castings from our worm farm to fill pot. I will cut them later today to dehydrate for the winter cooking.
• I DIDNT buy something on Kogan that I thought I had wanted for a long time now...I realised I don’t need it after all.
• We packed out cardboard removalist boxes away safely and neatly to be used next time we move.
• Cooked (in oven) double portions of two meat meals and froze half for later use
• Cut down small cardboard boxes to size to use as dividers/containers in cupboard saving me necessity of purchasing containers from store.
• Hung washing outside to take full advantage of sun and wind.
• Watered down dish washing liquid and hand wash refills.
You had a great week and that baby shower...wow.... look forward to next post :-)
Linda
Linda, the raspberry jam will not be given as presents or sold. It's all for us to consume. Darren was so excited when he came home from work to see the jam.
Deletelol so was my Hubby when he came home....we will be keeping ours as well.... Its nice when something works out isn't it. You got more jars than I did though. My saucepan only takes about 3 kilos at a time.
DeleteThe raspberry jam looks so yummy!!! What a productive week you had.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy;
ReplyDeleteWhat a busy week you had! I love the baby shower, everything looks soooo good! I have finally finished my organizing of my paper work at home. How does one gather so much paper? Babysat my great grands, played a lot with great grand Aiden. I really studied the grocery ads and plan on a major shopping trip tomorrow. Had lunch with my daughter and granddaughter yesterday, treated grand to lunch for her 26th birthday. We had to take her baby, 7 months old. She had her lunch before we left and just could not believe she got to sit in a high chair and eat baby treats, and her favorite Arrowroot cookies during our lunch! You could just see the confusion on her face, lol. You girls put me to shame as I really didn't get a great deal of work done around the house. My next job is the basement (insert soft screaming sound). Have a good week everyone. Hugs, Nana
Hi Wendy. I have to say your bargains and your baby shower are impressive this week! Everything looks fantastic and so much nicer than something planned by an anonymous professional. Well done! I had a productive week this week. I did so much decluttering in the kitchen which has given me some much needed space. I combined all of my alternative GF flours into a GF flour blend pre-mix (like a Bisquick mix or the Bake Anything Mix that we Aussies know) which I'm now using for everything from pastry to pasta dough. I'm baking some currant and cinnamon scones using this today. I made great lunches and afternoon teas for my daughter for school, and also discovered that you can buy PowerAde which is a electrolyte replacement drink for sportspeople, not a caffeine and guarana laden thing like some of them, in powder form. My daughter had been complaining of cramps as she is very busy with Dance and theatre just now, and her ballet teacher suggested this as a solution. Who knew? It's worked brilliantly. Now these are around $4 for a 600ml bottle already made up, but if you buy the powder, it works out to just 78c for the same amount. Sure you don't get the dinky bottle, but our girl doesn't care! So that's a huge saving. We didn't succumb to takeaway despite being very busy, thanks to advance meal prep like marinating steaks, dicing veges, and steaming rice ahead of time. I made my Onion Confit which we love with the steaks, with quiche and all kinds of things. And I made Cherry Ripe Fudge as a treat, which was delicious. I baked Basil, Olive and Pumpkin muffins and we had those for breakfast two days running, and while I was there, I made a Pumpkin, Orange and Ginger Teacake.That's about all. It's busy here for all kinds of reasons, both happy and sad, but we soldier on, as always. Love to all for your wonderful uplifting posts. Mimi xxx
ReplyDeleteMimi, I used to buy PowerAde powder for Darren to have during the busy Christmas season at work. He was on his feet for up to 12 hours a day running a takeaway store in a very busy shopping centre.
DeleteThat baby shower spread looks fabulous. Love the cupcake decorations!!
ReplyDeleteYour jam looks great too Wendy.
This week I
.made biscuits
.miracle spray for laundry
.resized old curtains for 2 window.
.made pita chips
.all meals from scratch, except $3.00 pizza from Aldi
.planted some parsley seeds from a pkt I was gifted
.made popcorn for our DVD night in
.made muffins and froze half
.made some small jars off groggy prunes for gifts
Have a good week.
Kathryn
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteYou have had a very productive week!!
My family, including myself, have all been sick for the past 2 weeks, so our household hasn't been quite as productive as normal. Luckily, our freezer was full of food, due to me buying up heaps of meat and veg on half price specials several weeks before. This was such a blessing and relief as I didn't have to worry about dragging myself and the kids out of bed to go to the shops!!
Feeling better I popped down to woolies on Saturday at "markdown" time. Re-filled my freezer with more half price meat. Got roast turkey, chicken thigh fillets, steak and pork scotch fillet all for under $6 per kilo!! It really does pay to get up early and hit the supermarket.
My daughter was also invited to a birthday party this week. I went to my local op shop as I can always pick up brand new items donated by stores. I found 2 brand new disney books for $1 for her to give as a present. I also scored a beautiful brand new photo frame for $3. This frame I have seen in all the gift stores for about $30. What a find!!!!
At the kids birthday party we went to, I was so shocked and horrified on the gifts families were giving. The presents were not only HUGE, but expensive!! It seems as though the minimum spend on presents these days is $30 to $40!!!! And everything has to be the latest and greatest brand name toy. We gave a beautiful present that cost virtually nothing - so I just smiled and felt very happy about that.
Hope you have a lovely week,
Jill
*Received $32 off my hair cut because the hairdresser said my hair is short and didn’t want to charge full price. I didn’t even ask so this was just lucky!
ReplyDelete*Instead of buying expensive skincare pre-cleanser I have switched to using Ponds Cold Cream ($7.99 for a big tub) for removing my makeup.
*Instead of going through SO many bottles of pricey body wash we have switched to plain Aldi white soap. And you know what...it works just fine!!
*Took our own lunches every day, and cooked every night. Favourite meal this week was slow cooker beef & broccoli which is with a brown sugar, soy, garlic sauce. You slow-cook it all day then boil up the sauce with flour when you get home to thicken it, then serve over rice. Anyone who likes Chinese food will love this recipe.
*Gratefully accepted an extra meal from my lovely Mum who left it in our fridge when we got home from a busy day at work.
*Stuck to our budget for the long weekend including some social outings, and have some left over.
Have a great week everyone! C xx
I have to agree about the soap. While my teens like to receive smelly body wash, I can't help thinking most of ends up down the drain. we use the same Aldi white soap in the showers and handbasins. On the handbasins, we just have the soap drainer plastic thingies which works really well. I put them through the dishwasher now and then or clean them with a nail brush.Sue
DeleteHi Wendy, wow the jam looks so yummy, my favorite. The baby shower looks amazing, were these your tea sets? Your friend's baby nappy cake is gorgeous, she is very talented. Your idea about the salmon patties making in bulk, fantastic. I'm going to try this with tuna.
ReplyDeleteThis week i made: icey poles from flat soft drink, my mum's birthday cake, lunchbox muffins, cranberry hootie creek bickies, hot chocolate mix, yogurt and double batch of washing powder.
Saved butter wrappers to use as baking paper, saved wheetbix crumbs for shake n bake, lots of sewing this week, cleaning out DS2's room, refilled herb and spice jars and found old coffee jar with a bit of coffee left in it pasted its due by date, so i sprinkled them around my seedlings as the insects hate the smell and feel. Dh is going to ask the local cafe near his work if we can have the old coffee grounds to use in the compost, thanks for the tip Wendy.
Used lots of tank water for washing and on the garden and bought a raspberry plant discounted at Aldis for $7.00 also bought shapes $1.40 and cadbury chocolate woolies 350gm for $3.14 ea and apricot facial scrub for $8.00, stocked up.
Used up leftover meat from BBQ to make shepherds pie, yum.
Gratefully received bread and scones and used the scones to have a family afternoon tea together on Saturday, lovely.
I started using the fresh and crisp vegetable bags, can i wash these out and reuse them so i can get a few goes out of these, does anyone know?
My family and i are cleaning out my parents home, can i use miracle spray on the painted walls instead of sugar soap, help anyone?
Have a great week everyone, xxx Maureen
They weren't my tea sets. The lady I clean for ( and sell jam etc to ) collects tea sets as well.
DeleteI stocked up on the facial scrub too.
You can wash and reuse the veg bags many times over? Do a spot check on the painted walls. It might not be washable paint.
Not ready productive this week. Made ketchup out of gifted tomatoes (not enough to make sauce ). Cooked instead of take away. Dried clothes on the line. Made a slice for school lunches. Got bread rolls on mark down. Weeded my garden.
ReplyDelete