Saturday 4 July 2015

This Week's Frugal Tasks 4th July 2015

With school holidays upon us and being too cold to be outside, it's a wonderful time to be busy around the house catching up on baking, cooking and maybe a few crafts.  I try to use this time to bake extra school snacks for the freezer.  Here's what I got up to this week -


*  I gave both Jessica and Megan a haircut.  Their hair was due for a good trim.  This saved us $10 - $15 each.

*  Made a litre of vanilla yoghurt using some natural yoghurt given to us as a starter.

* Baked two loaves of white bread with chia seeds and two wholemeal loaves.

*  Filled up my car before the school holiday price hike and used a discount coupon too

*  Gratefully received a couple of boxes of clothes from a family member.  There were lots of jeans and other items we can put to good use.  All were in as new condition.

*  Froze two single serves of a pasta dish.

*  We've started using newspaper in the bottom of the chicken coop nesting boxes with a smaller amount of hay.  It gives the boxes better insulation during the colder weather and means we don't have to use as much hay.

*  Made Annabel's Golden Syrup pudding.  This is a very frugal pudding and wonderfully comforting in Winter.

*  Refilled all my spray bottles with Miracle Spray.

*  Started saving the washing machine water again.  With the two big birthday celebrations lately,  we just didn't have time to do it.  It's great to get back into the routine.

*  Dried most of the washing on clothes horses.  Some was put into the dryer.

*  Watered all our pot plants and bulbs with water saved from the kitchen.

*  Gratefully received some meat and vegetables.  Most of the vegetables I blanched and froze straight away as I couldn't use it quick enough.

*  Donated another couple of bags to Savers and received some discount stamps.  Megan bought some tops from Savers as she's doing work experience shortly at a local hospital.

*  Baked raspberry and white choc muffins for snacks.

*  Picked lettuce from our garden for two meals.

*  Collected a fair few eggs.  One day we collected four eggs from five chooks.  Not bad for the cold weather.

Raspberry and white choc muffins
Annabel's Golden Syrup Pudding
A lamp from the Titanic Restaurant
Beauty at The Titanic Restaurant
Our chickens - busy as usual
Bread rising.


What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?

20 comments:

  1. Hi Wendy, it has been very cold where we are too! I am fortunate enough to be on holiday in Queensland so it's nice and warm up here! The frugal things we got up to this week:
    - to reduce food costs whilst on holiday, hubby and I bought breakfast cereal and milk to eat every morning.
    - we discovered that there are public bbqs across the road from where we are staying, using whatever we have in the hotel room as utensils and buying discounted bbq meat at woolies, we are saving a fortune by not eating out. We have lunch and dinner sorted for the next two nights for about $25
    - trying to do as many free activities as we can, only having one paid activity the whole time we are away.
    - having drink bottles that we refill with water as well as a few snacks before going anywhere has prevented any unexpected food expense
    - hired a small car rather than catching a taxi. We calculated that using a taxi for a round trip was more expensive than hiring a car for a few days. We now have the option to go anywhere.
    - took our own baby car seat (airline doesn't charge to take that with us), saving us at least $85 a day.
    - walking to locations not far away instead of driving, minimising fuel costs.

    Amy

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    1. Enjoy your warm holiday Amy. We always take water bottles with us on holidays. It saves a small fortune.

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  2. Hi Wendy

    We've been inside most days as well...except for my afternoon walk.

    This week,

    - made more washing powder and miracle spray.
    - baked brownies, muesli slice and made vanilla yoghurt, tomato soup and the most amazing shredded beef using a mark down piece of bolar blade - enough for 2 meals and lunches.
    - my bedding needed updating and I had put it off as long as I could. We have a king size bed and even the king size quilt wasn't big enough, I needed a super king. I had been quoted over $500 just for the quilt and at least another $200 plus for the cover (why is bed linen so expensive). I had saved some money but wasn't paying that. I went onto eBay and got both for $266 including delivery. The quality is beautiful and i am very happy. I decided to go with white with a lovely stripe in the fabric as I can change things around without too much expense. I washed my old quilt which was still in good condition just not big enough for my bed and DD now has a new quilt for hers and a gorgeous quilt cover that I got on clearance.
    - last week we gratefully received some lemons, grapefruit and parsley from our neighbour. Any ideas what I can do with the grapefruit?

    Have a great week.

    Deb

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    1. Deb, I made a sauce to go over fish with grape fruit juice. I think it had the juice, butter, cream and a little sugar from memory. I had to google it.

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  3. I love what Amy said about the public BBQs. We do that when we are away even for breakfast! It is wonderful!
    The pudding looked good Wendy. The gooey golden syrup sauce is the best bit!
    You have inspired me to make muffins this weekend.
    I had a good week. It was busy and went too fast but I got free fruit, almost 50 jars given to me, some great bargains and we added to our pantry supplies and emergency fund. So I am very happy!
    Have a good weekend, Love Annabel.xxxx

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    1. 50 jars is an absolute blessing Annabel. I'm sure you are already thinking of ways to use them. xoxo

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  4. Hi Wendy,

    We updated our bathrooms this week (new taps and hand wash basins), not the most frugal week but all necessary .

    I also made more miracle spray and cut my girls hair. I drove past a charity shop on my home from visiting a relative and noticed a 50% off all yellow ticketed items sign and decided to have a look. I bought 2 nice witchery tops for $4.00 each yay !!
    Cooked all meals from scratch , made a backed cheesecake and more peanut butter biscuits .

    Have a good week
    Tricia

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    Replies
    1. That's great price on the tops. Imagine their RRP.

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  5. Great photos. How was the Titanic restaurant?
    This week I gratefully received a jar of organic coffee that a co-worker didn't like. I did like it.
    Hubby bought petrol with a found docket, saving 4c/litre.
    Used the library to borrow some great dvds and books as it's definitely indoors weather!
    Used our crockpots to make soup, a curry, French onion chicken and a fruit pudding.
    Sold some outgrown kids shoes and a jacket.
    Bought school shoes for my daughter on ebay in the style/brand she prefers for less than $30 including postage. RRP $99.
    Using a shop a docket for a buy one get one free meal for self and hubby at a hotel tonight.
    Gratefully received a box of chocolates as a gift which we'll share with friends when we go away next week.
    Keeping the gas use to a minimum and rugging up with blankets on the couch at night!
    Sue

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    1. The Titanic Restaurant was great. The food was lovely although maybe not quite enough for men. A few inappropriate words used in the show but you have to expect that in today's world. The atmosphere was wonderful and Darren became part of the floor show along with a few others..

      Free coffee is a blessing indeed.

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  6. Hi Wendy,

    Your photos of the Titanic Restaurant look beautiful. DH and I were thinking of going there for our Wedding Anniversary in November. Is there much difference between First class and Steerage?

    What I got up to this week:
    Gratefully received a big bag of Lemons which I juiced and froze and received 6 loaves of bread.
    Shopped the specials, cooked meals from scratch and saved water where I could.
    On the down side , Solar box has had a problem and hasn't been working, we had a drop in income and DH's car finally died (he is a trained car mechanic and has been keeping it going for ages) so we had to buy him another car and the savings took a huge hit. So now to tighten the belt a few more notches.

    Thanks for everything your doing with your Blog and Facebook, xxxx

    Maureen

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    1. I think we found steerage by accident on the way out. Darren was snooping around and found some plain tables and chairs in a cold area below the main floor. No one had been sitting there. I wouldn't pay any money to sit there if that really is steerage. xoxo

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  7. I've been enjoying your blog for a while now and decided it was time to comment. I enjoy your lovely photos and beautiful spirit. It is hot here in our Arizona summer. Temperatures reached 115 F a few days ago. We also take water bottles and snacks on outings or for just times like running errands. It is fun and encouraging reading your posts! I have to look up words occasionally, but find it fun learning new words or expressions. Some of my frugal finds this week include getting 2 bags of premium cat food for just the cost of tax and combining the senior discount day with sales and coupons at the grocery store. I found a pretty mini-rose plant for $.90. Thank you for hosting this lovely blog! Elaine

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    1. Welcome Elaine. I hope you enjoy the community we have here. Thankyou so much for commenting.

      I'm curious as to the words you had to look up. Biscuits here are cookies in America. Did you know what chooks are ? It's our slang for chickens.

      $0.90 is a fantastic price for a rose plant.

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  8. Got lots of bottles of Pantene conditioner 750ml for 28c per 100ml or $2.10 a bottle so stockpile is quite full.
    My youngest baked their first batch of chocolate brownies

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  9. Hi Wendy
    Hubby and I would love to know where you got your bread tins from,,,, we have searched high and low for a deep bread tin and just cant find any........ and thank you for the recipes this week :-)
    Linda

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    1. Hi Linda. I bought my bread tins from a baking shop called The Mixing Bowl here in Victoria. You might have to do a google search for baking supply shops in your state. They do cost bit of money ( about $28 - $30 ) but will last for many many years.

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    2. thank you I will look now :-)

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    3. Finally found a decent bread tin, would you believe it we found it today at Coles for $6. I have looked for ages, see yours and after all this I walk into Coles and it is staring at me... right time right place. Thanks for your help, I bet it was what triggered my good fortune lol... Oh and I have already made a loaf of bread and it is great....

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