* Mended two pairs of socks. The quality of the socks I buy has declined over the years. The price has stayed the same so I'm trying to make them last a little longer.
* Made lots of cards with a gardening book I bought at the op shop for 99 cents
* Baked four loaves of bread.
* Sold thirty raspberry and white choc muffins to a friend.
* Made chunky roast beef and veg soup with two slices of left over beef.. This pot of soup usually makes 8 - 10 serves.
* .Bought a bag of oranges and pears together for $1 and a bags of apples for the same price.
* Froze a few leftovers from our dinner.
* Saved the shower warm up water for the washing machine. Also saved the washing machine water for each next load.
* Gratefully received some English muffins, raisin bread, and about six loaves of different types of bread.
* Made a quadruple batch of laundry powder. I have the grated soap, lectric soda and bi carb in three separate buckets ready to scoop out and make up as needed.
* Bought some new towels from Spotlight. Although this might not seem like a frugal task, their original price was $11.99 less 40%. A bargain in my eyes. Of course I bought apple green and white towels.
* Dried most of the washing on the line. Some was dried on clothes horses and a few things were thrown in the dryer.
* Picked silverbeet for two meals. I shredded some to put in the honey mustard chicken and some for a bits and pieces flan. The flan had a few left over roast veggies and roast beef. Very yum.
* Baked a couple of trays of Anzac biscuits.
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| Our silverbeet plants |
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| Bits and pieces flan |
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| Anzac biscuits |
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| Raspberry and white choc muffins |
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| Making laundry powder. |
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| Beautiful wrapping paper I bought to make cards. |
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| My laundry powder supplies |
What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?
Hi Wendy, what a great week you had, well done.
ReplyDeleteI can't agree with you more about the socks. I purchased some socks recently for myself, my usual brand, and within 3 times of wearing them, they developed a hole in the toe.
You have me now scanning the 'junk mail' for anything i can use to make my homemade cards, thanks.
Your flan looks delicious, great to use up those leftovers.
The wrapping paper is gorgeous. I saw in the Aldis magazine this week, that they have nice looking wrapping paper for $1.99 which looks nice for card making.
My week went like this:
Lots of sewing/mending trying to catch up with all of this.
Tried going for a walk each day, feels great.
Used tank water and shower water for washing, only 4 loads this week, Yeah!
Picked Strawberries and made Shepherd pie with leftover roast lamb.
Cooked a cornbeef to use for one meal and the rest for sandwiches as cornbeef at the deli costs $12.99 kg and the whole cornbeef cost me $9.00. So divided by two meals $4.50kg for cold meat.
Grateful to receive 6 loaves of bread, thanks to a church friend who works for a company where they make sample loaves and whatever is leftover, she gives away. Because of this, i haven't had to buy bread all year so far.
Last night, DS2 and I had a blackout night (DH &DS1 were at a Cricket event for my son). So much fun to be had by candle light.
Gas prices went up as of yesterday, so need to be careful of our usage as Gas prices are not as cheap as they used to be.
Have a great week everyone, xxxx
Maureen
Maureen, I'll make a trip to Aldi to have a look at the paper. Sounds great.
DeleteThanks for the reminder about the gas. We'll review our usage too.
Wendy, I make my own laundry detergent too, it frees up grocery money that can be used for stocking my pantry with other things. The wrapping paper is beautiful and will make some really pretty cards.
ReplyDeleteMaking laundry powder is so cheap.
DeleteI've already made some smaller cards with the paper. They look so beautiful.
You definitely had a lovely week,
ReplyDeleteI completed last months meal plan and felt great!
Did this months meal plan and shopping went down from $300 to $175!!!!! How awesome!!!
Great fully accepted a whole shopping bag of sausages from work! Woohoo that will last quite sometime
At the moment I have 3 slowcookers going premaking meals with them so I can freeze for when I'm at work and kids are at home which will mean less dishes for me in the future, yay!!
Today will be a cleaning day just awaiting my mum to arrive to help me
Had a full on week at work the week before so this week I've been trying to relax as well
Made lots of pizza dough to freeze
Made some more kitchen clothes out of towels and rags
Got manderines from the fruit shop for $1.99 kg definitely cheaper then at Safeway at the moment
One of the best things I did this week was help out some people and share my story on the slowcooker page because they were wondering how my grocery bill was so low per month.
I also helped out a friend with her meal plan for this month. She is starting to do the same as me and I find it an absolute blessing to have found you Wendy because if it wasn't for you then I wouldn't be doing this right now and I wouldn't be able to help people out either so thank you very much for being my inspiration!
I can't wait for the cheapskates workshop coming up on the 16th :D
Anne
Thankyou for your lovely words Anne. I can't wait for the workshop too. So exciting !!! Make sure you come and say hello to Cath and I.
DeleteYou grocery bill is wonderful and it sounds like you have a great plan and are on top of things. Slow cookers relieve the stress of tea time..
I will definitely come and say hello! :)
DeleteSlow cookers are amazing I definitely agree that it relieves stresses when it comes to tea time.
Wish I had enough room to use mine all the time though.
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteThose raspberry muffins look divine well done on a great week
This week
I made more Laundry powder my hubby swears by it now
Bought Pumpkin on special for 39 C a kilo from a local foodland
making pumpkin soup this weekend to pop in freezer as well
Used up all my leftover veg to make shepherds pie and froze some as well
Received some Hotdog rolls and a few loaves of bread plus some eggs from my mums chickens
Made a couple more cards
Laine :)
Laine, do you have a blog ? If so, I'd love to see a photo of your cards. If not, could you post a picture on my fb page ?
DeletePumpkins are cheap right now. I bought three whole pumpkins during the week for 49 cents a kilo. I have them wrapped in newspaper in the garden shed for future use.
Have posted my cards on your site. I dont have a blog maybe in the future. Its going to be fantastic hearing you speak in Melbourne Im really looking forward to meeting yourself and Cath Have a fantastic week
DeleteWendy I love that wrapping paper! It is gorgeous! I will be watching out for something so nice. I am thinking it would cover boxes nicely too or a diary...
ReplyDeleteAlso the flan looks so good. That is a true "stretch it and use it up" cooking and I just love that. And these things are healthy and tasty too.
I am making pizzas tonight and this is the same... so many things can be use up on the topping. No two are ever the same around here.
I think we might get some rain which would be good. I have a lot of seedlings in. Nothing does them more good than actual rain.
I love reading about everyones week and efforts. Have a great weekend.xxx
Annabel, I going back to get some more wrapping paper. I'll pick up a few sheets for you. I hope you can wait until Cath and I do a workshop in Adelaide.
DeleteHi Wendy. This week I have been trying to save by making donuts and eating Easter egg chocolates to replace making desserts (believe it or not we still have Easter eggs!). I have been trying to cultivate avocado plants and mango plants from their seeds. I have waxed at home and saved on salon fees. I have also coloured my own hair. I have converted credit card points to Coles vouchers. Soaps that are too small to use, I have saved and will use them to make washing powder. I have made pre-wash stain remover and hubby and I have been giving each other massages with our massage table. It's paid for itself already! Massages at home are nicer as you don't have to fight traffic after you've been relaxed but can slip straight into a restful sleep, fully relaxed. A good week! Regards, Liz.
ReplyDeleteLiz, we still have Easter chocs in the house too. I'm trying to ration them out.
DeleteDid you cut off the outer hard shell of the mango seed ?
You've had a wonderfully frugal week.
Hi Wendy. I retrieved the mango seed from the harder outer shell. I went on to You Tube for the instructions. I'm a visual learner so it helped me to see what they were doing. Hope this helps! Regards, Liz.
DeleteI'm glad you cut the outer shell off. That's how I did it.
DeleteGreat list Wendy. I like the look and sound of the bit and pieces flan, such a brilliant idea to use up leftovers.
ReplyDeleteThat wrapping paper is absolutely gorgeous and I know it will look fantastic on some of your cards. Making homemade laundry soap is so cheap and not difficult at all. I make the liquid one, but I am tempted to try the powder next time, as it would save a bit more time and probably work just as well. I cant use borax though because my house water is diverted out onto our fruit trees via a french drain. I do add bi carb instead.
This weeks frugal tasks were;
~Hubby fixed many things around here therefore saving us money by not having to call trades people. My oven fan needed fixing, printer looked at, evaporative air conditioner cleaned and covered, our fire has been cleaned and ready to use, he also repaired and made two more cages for our broody hens. Hubby also helped me to set up some wicking beds with blue barrels.
~Sold excess eggs
~I planted garlic and kale
~Dug up my potatoes
~Used a hot water bottle to keep me warm
~Dried all my laundry outside.
~Bought chicken breast meat and stew steak on special.
~I stewed some peaches
~Made homemade yoghurt
~Baked two loaves of sourdough bread and a sourdough banana bread loaf.
~Made pumpkin soup from homegrown butternut.
~Baked four dozen Anzac biscuits.
~Made some homemade breadcrumbs from gifted bread. I want to try making your breadcrumb mix.
Have a lovely week,
xTania
Tania, you've had a well rounded week. Think of all the money you've saved.
DeleteWendy I love the idea of having the grated soap on hand rather than having to do it for every batch. But how do you measure it out as the recipe says 1 bar of soap? We haven't had take away at all this fortnight but I am using the crockpot (slow cooker) more on my work days. Tony has been off work sick, so even though it is not good for him, we have saved lots of fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles this week. I also picked up an extra shift at the Hospice I work in casually which is on top of my regular District Nursing job. Doing lots of de-cluttering and mending this week.
ReplyDeleteJanine, I've been known to process 8 bars of soap at a time - not all in the food processor at the same time though. I measure out one cup of grated soap for the recipe.
DeleteI hope Tony gets better quickly. xoxo
What a great week you've had. A lot of work. Your muffins sound delicious do you have a recipe to share?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's in the recipe section at the top of the page.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteYou are always so busy.
We have done some shopping this morning. A granny smith apple tree slashed by 50%(in brilliant condition), cow manure and potting mix...all under $30
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, pears, onions, capsicums, broccoli for $17.50. They threw in a free newspaper as well.
We then re potted the fig tree, the apple tree and fertilized everything in the garden. We have finally managed to remove all (we hope) the Mexican aloe someone had foolishly planted in the garden before we moved in. Every weekend since we moved in since beginning of February we have removed a large bin of aloe and roots, not to mention emptied two bottles of round up on it. I am glad we are finally on top of it and I can put in bee attracting plants....all from seeds given to me of course.
Hubby came home with a very large foam box that had been thrown out at work. I will now have a second large bed for my spinach and silverbeet. That is a job for during the week. That and raking the leaves up for compost.
Nothing else that is a major save... just the usual small things that all add up to make our monthly expenditure low.
Linda
The foam box will be a wonderful addition to your veg garden.
DeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeleteI'm doing so many things automatically that even though I know I'm saving money it just feels normal.
My biggest achievement this month has been the budget. I normally allocate $600 which I know isn't as low as some but still a great deal smaller than most. Well this month has been $450.....I'm so pleased with myself :) and plan to go even lower next month.
I have continued to put all of my loose change in the money tin at the end of the day as well.
Have a great week.
Deb
Well done on the grocery reduction Deb xoxo
DeleteWhat a great week Wendy. I gained two new ideas from your post. Firstly using the wrapping paper for card making...excellent idea! And secondly, having buckets ready to be scooped out and made into laundry detergent...why didn't I think of that! I have been making my own for years now, and always get to the end of the jar, and find I'm missing one or the other of the ingredients to make a new batch. I'll be using that idea for sure. I've had a busy week in the best way. I shopped frugally and found many bargains, reducing my overall spend to half what I'd allowed. I oven dried several trays of tomato and capsicum as I bought huge bags of both for just $3 each. I roasted pumpkin and eggplant and made a sort of combined vegetable Baba Ghanoush (I'll post the recipe on my blog today), and that made the equivalent of ten bought containers of dip/spread for $6. I pre-prepared all of my bargain produce, bagging it into individual meal portions to make meal times run more smoothly. I crumbed some veal schnitzel with gluten free breadcrumbs made from the crusts of bread, which makes a small amount of meat go such a long way as it makes a relatively small portion of meat, appear really generous, and made four loaves of gluten free bread for the week. I made my daughters lunches and snacks each day, which you know always saves me an astounding amount of money as she eats like a horse despite her diminutive form, and made lentil and vegetable soup which is one of the most frugal things ever. And using a huge bag of lemons bought for just $3 as well, I made several jars of lemon butter. So a happy week here. Thankyou for your always inspirational posts Wendy. They really help keep me on track. It's so lovely to have like minded friends. Mimi xxx
ReplyDelete