* Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread.
* Turned the heater down to 18 degrees Celsius when possible and also had the heater off for two days.
* Sold some muffins and eggs to a friend.
* Stocked up on the toothpaste and mouthwash on sale in Coles this week.
* Cut up some old socks to use as garden ties. I was tired of mending them so out they went to the garden shed.
* Bought a double oven mitt from the op shop for $2.99 less 15% discount. It was new too as it still had the price tag on.
* Hand washed the dinner dishes a few nights as there wasn't enough to turn the dishwasher on.
* Made a chicken flan using about 100 grams of cooked chicken, leftover potato and the last of the pumpkin from the fridge..I also used some silverbeet from the garden. A very cheap and tasty dinner. Jessica took some to school the next day for lunch.
* Jessica went to an 18th birthday party last Saturday. She needed a present and nothing I had on the present shelf was suitable. She found some beautiful flowers at a florist for $3 and the lady there wrapped them for free. Jessica combined this with a few bits and pieces she had on hand and the present came in under $10. A beautiful present for a bargain price. Darren bought a bunch of flowers for me too.
* Megan baked some Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits for school snacks.
* Saved lots of water from the shower for the washing machine.
* Dried most of the washing on clothes horses and a few things went into the dryer.
* Bought a couple of bags of mixed fruit for $1 a bag from my local fruit and veg shop.
* Signed up with Australia Post to get cheaper stamps with my concession card.
* Jessica will be turning 18 tomorrow. Tonight she's going out to dinner with a couple of friends. They are coming home after to have dessert and to watch a movie. This is a cheap and better option than buying desserts and movie tickets. The best part is they can be warm and cozy here and enjoy a comfortable couch. I'll post some photos next week and let you know how we celebrated together as a family.
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| $3 flowers Darren bought. Jessica bought the same for her friend. |
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| $2 worth of fruit |
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| The muffins I sold to a friend. |
What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?
Hi Wendy. Hope you feel better soon. This week has been an amazing week for finding food bargains! It felt good to have seen my freezer and it's contents slowly diminish and to see space but it was also a great feeling to have been able to stock it up with countless amounts of discounted food to see our family through for many weeks. My family love Mr Donut donuts and I was able to buy many for $2 a box. They're great for lunch boxes, after school treats, or for a snack during Saturday morning tennis competition. It was lovely to see my freezer bare, knowing food was getting eaten and it's been wonderful pushing food in to fit it all in. I have spent a bit of money this week but won't need to in following weeks. I also shopped for specials at chemist warehouse which saved me $13 if I had bought the items from my regular stores. I also bought about a years worth of Palmolive gold soap which was 25cents a bar at my local safeway. I bought boxes upon boxes and know I have saved a small fortune. A great week really. I'm still feeling the buzz from all the bargains I amassed and the money saved. Not only was I excited about the savings but I went to buy a trio pack of stain removers which were reduced from $9.95 to $7.95. When the retail price scanned and I queried it, the sale price had expired by two days despite the sale sticker still with the product, so I received it for free. It has been an amazing week. Hope all your readers also have a great week too, filled with lots of bargains and great finds. Regards, Liz.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have space in the freezer but great to fill it up too.
DeleteFound a 4c petrol voucher in the supermarket car park.
ReplyDeleteDoing the Coles $50 voucher where you need to spend $50 weekly for 4 weeks to qualify(Flybuys) - made sure I went only just over the $50 and stocked up on the toothpaste, vegemite, toothbrushes and Fruits shampoos.
Woolies have a $10 voucher offer on too when you spend $35 with your rewards card. When chicken drumsticks were on sale for $2kg there I obtained a raincheck which I'll use with this offer. Going to give your KFC drumsticks a go!
Bought lots of 99c/kg pears at Aldi.
Made pumpkin soup with an enormous piece I bought for $1 and there will be still half left for a roast.
Found a book of 60c stamps, so bought some 10c stamps to use with them.
Walking as much as possible.
Arranged a regular car pool system for 2 weekly kids activities with other parents - means we only need to do a dropoff or pickup rather than both - yay!
Needed some buttons for a craft project and went to the op shop where it happened to be half price week so got 8 for 20cents.
Sold some outgrown kids shoes that were in good condition.
Sue
You had a great week. i hope you like the KFC drumsticks.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThe flowers look lovely...lucky you.
This week I
. Only bought F & V as none of the specials interested me.
. Made 2 dozen muffins. Froze half and the rest bar 2 I gave to a friend.
. Gifted a kitchen buffet to a friend.
. Made yoghurt
. All meals from scratch.
. Organised to turn some Flyby points into credit at Coles.
Hope you are feeling better Wendy and best wishes to Jessica for her 18th birthday.
Kathryn
Thankyou. Feeling better now.
DeleteSorry to hear you are feeling unwell Wendy, I do hope you are feeling better soon. Sounds like you had another good frugal week despite being unwell. The flowers are lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy frugal week;
~I didn't need to go shopping as I had all that I needed from our trip to Adelaide.
~I have been re-organising my pantry to make room for some food grade buckets I plan to get to put my bulk flour in.
~Washed clothes with homemade laundry detergent and line dried.
~We didn't have to use the heating much this week either, but the cold is back and so is the fire. ~Cleaned and polished some old canisters with lemon juice and bi carb.
~Cleaned using homemade products.
~Paid extra off mortgage
~Saved two dollar coins to put into our experiment. Apparently a 600ml coke bottle will hold one thousand dollars in $2 coins.
~Cooked meals from scratch.
~ I baked some cakes for Salvos stall at the markets.
~Sold excess eggs, the girls have slowed right down with their laying.
~Picked kale, celery and capsicums from the garden.
Wishing you a lovely week.
xTania
I tried doing the coke can with $2 coins. Apparently it holds about $600. I could only squeeze in about $460.
Delete
ReplyDeleteWendy you really inspire me with the amount you do and even with a headache! Wish your daughter a wonderful birthday I know you will have a very special family time Liz that was an amazing price for palmolive gold soap and by stocking up you can remove the packaging and the soap will harden a little and last longer! Have you noticed that they keep making the soaps smaller!
I am in awe of everyone's ability to get meat markdowns and really cheap F & V I can never find any Any suggestions? I usually shop at woolworths or aldi When is the best time to look for them? Thank you Shelley
i
Hi Shelley,
DeleteI buy all of our fruit, veg and meat at markdown time. I generally find that you need to go out early. I hit the shops by 8.30am. At this time I can always find big big discounts. Get to learn where the discount trolleys are in your local fruit and veg store and supermarket, and go there first. I don't know what time Coles mark down their stock, but woolies are always early. Same with the fruit and veg stores. Hope this helps you. Good luck!!
Jill
According to A Current Affair story last week WW marks down at 5pm. I always find plenty of reduced meat at mine after 6pm still. Having kids with part time jobs means I pop into supermarket at all sorts of hours. Got two hot chickens last night for $5 each
DeleteHi Shelley. I saw Cath Armstrong's segment on A Current Affair about Supermarket Markdowns. I viewed it with pen and paper in hand and took notes. I then ventured to the shops after viewing it myself at those certain times and found all my bargains. Hope it helps. Thanks for the tip about the soap. Regards, Liz.
DeleteHi wendy,
ReplyDeleteThose are lovely flowers! Jessica did a great job at being frugal as well :)
I honestly can't wait to move! All I care about is more space for the kids to play a bigger veggie patch and some chickens!!! Hopefully won't be too long of a wait for this transfer. I was originally going to move to mums but time ticks and there's a lot they need to do to have the house ready for me and the kids so I'm putting that off for now. Plus I don't think they'd be able to live the cheapskate life the way I've been haha I already go there and tell them they're using too much electricity for only two people in the house!
Anyway my frugal tasks for this week were.
Made butter for the first time using cream that was past its best before date by 4 days.
Made some chicken broth to help us recover from a terrible cold :(
Cooked all dinner meals from scratch
Great fully received a bag full of oranges and manderines
Juiced some lemons to freeze
Work was quiet this week so I had to rest most of this week because I'm sick but also because of my little bun that's in the oven hehe.
I spent 1hour in the girls room sorting out clothes that I will eventually bring to savers. I usually give them to my mum to send over seas but somehow she manages to think I still need those clothes and pulls them back out of the bag which I really don't like. I think it's best to bring them to savers just to have piece of mind tht I will definitely never see them again in my house hahaha.
Although this isn't very frugal and money saving I just thought I'd add this in anyway. I know I can make breaky at home but I thought this was a good deal. There is a restaurant down the road from me that do a "big breakfast" special every morning for $8.90 + free coffee... usually their big breakfast cost around $14 + coffee $3.50 = $17.50 having this breakfast special saved me $8.60 and it got me some alone time with my partner which rarely ever happens and is desperately needed. I don't do things like that all the time so it felt more like a treat anyway. Usually I cook breaky at home :D or have something simple.
Have a lovely week next week and I hope Jessica enjoys her time spent with her friends and watching movies xxx
Anne
Hi Anne, Hope your feeling better.
DeleteWhen you donate a bag at Savers, remember to ask for the discount card so you can get something off when you do purchase something at Savers.
Maureen
Hi Wendy,
DeleteBeautiful flowers Wendy, I also buy the stamps with my concession card, good saving.
Please wish Jessica a very happy birthday, hope she had a wonderful night and a great day with her family.
This was my week:
Used tank water and washing machine water and used butter wrappers as cake liners and brown paper bags for the same.
I made my own invitations for DS2's Confirmation in June. We are having an afternoon tea after the ceremony, any ideas for what to serve?
Gratefully received 5 loaves of bread, cut my own fringe and continued to pick Strawberries, Silverbeet and Capsicums.
I attended the Savers 50% off sale last Monday and bought a top and pants for myself all for $10.00 and books to use for card making and I got these for 10% off.
Our local council, every last Saturday of the month, has a super Saturday where they get rid of things from their recycling centre. This week it was books from the library, for free. Some months it's furniture or plants or brick a brac. I got some free magazines again for card making and DS2 got sporting books. Check out your local council everyone, they may have something similar.
I Made : Cup Cakes, Double batch bolg sauce, Pumpkin soup, ANZAC slice and Choc Chip bickies.
No shopping challenge for me this month as I have enough to live out of the pantry/fridge and freezer, only things like Milk, fruit, vegies etc.. So out of my slush fund, I used some money to buy seedlings for the garden and I planted them out today, hope I'm not too late with these.
One last thing: Not sure if people know about this grant/allowance people can get.
If you have a Health care card or Concession card you can apply for a grant/allowance for your school aged children. It's called the Camps, Sports and Excursion fund. For Primary school children the amount is $125.00 p/y and secondary $225.p/y. This goes directly to your school for any camps, excursion and sporting events that you would normally pay for to the school. It's for all schools, Gov, Catholic, and private. The schools may not know about this as it has not been advertised very well so take a copy of the flyer with you. You need to fill in an application form and submit it by 26/06/15. The link is as follows:
www.education.vic.gov.au/csef
Have a great week, xxx
Maureen
Look after yourself Anne and your little bubby.
DeleteMaureen, does the school have to apply the grant to your account ? I'd be concerned that my girls's school would just take the money.
DeleteYes Wendy they have to apply it to your account. For example: if you needed to pay for an excursion, camp or sporting event, they deduct that amount out of the grant money. DS1 is in Yr 11 and at his school , everything is included in the school fees, so i am going to try to get some sort of credit towards the school fees. Hope this helps, xxx
DeleteMaureen
Hi Wendy, we had our baby girls within days of each other! Happy Birthday to Jessica. Sorry to hear you had a bad headache. I have finished up at my job so I will be very excited to share how I went this upcoming week with my frugal tasks. Talk then.
ReplyDeleteregards
Tania
I look forward to your post. Happy birthday to your baby girl too.
DeleteHave a question peeps. Trying to declutter my wardrobe. How many outfits do you all think is necessary including jeans tops etc.
ReplyDeleteFor Winter I have 4 - 5 pairs of jeans, lots of long sleeve tops, a few jumpers and 4 coats of different colors.
DeleteHi Kirsty Liz and Jill thank you for your advice I can't wait to hit the shops and find some bargains! All these little things add up plus make saving money a lot more fun!! Shelley
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeletesorry about the late post... Hope you are feeling better.
I have been a little busy getting my garden up and flourishing.. refreshing existing pots of veg and such by removing old plants and rejuvenating the soils and thinning and repotting. I had 24 strawberry plants in one pot lol and that was after thinning a few weeks ago. I now have numerous pots of strawberries and some in the garden beds. I also have planted lots of seeds of greens and transplanted the pea seedlings, which are doing really well at the moment. I moved the lavender plants and the rosemary to the front garden to bring in the bees and free up some pots for green vegetables.
I have cooked numerous loaves and types of breads for the next few weeks as well as muffins.
It is the end of our shopping month and we still have about three weeks of meals available to us so we are enjoying a variety of precooked frozen meals for tea.
We were given a lift to a recycling centre the other day and managed to purchase an outside table (that we had wanted but were not willing to pay $50) for only $10. It is in perfect condition. We also got a stepped garden pot and basket shelves for my laundry cupboard for another $5.
I now have a bird seed plate on my front fence for the parrots etc. They love the sunflower seeds and if any fall then all the better as they may well grow and give them fresh seeds to eat.
It's pretty cold here at the moment and the sun disappears quickly so most of the clothes have been dried on the clothes horse and rack. They dry over night so that's fine.
You have had a rough trot lately so take it easy and just enjoy your home and wonderful family.
Linda
Thankyou so much Linda. You had a wonderfully productive week too. xoxo
Delete