I've made a few trips to the shops for presents and a few trips to the post office to send off a couple of Etsy orders. Here's what else I've been up to this week -
* Bought six legs of lamb at $6.99 kg. Each leg feeds the four of us for two meals. This means we get roast lamb once a month for the next year. Now I'm waiting for lamb chops to come on sale.
* Picked up lots and lots of paint sample cards from Masters Hardware store. As most of you know they will be closing down in the next week or two. I asked at the service counter and the lady said I could take 5 - 6 cards of each color. I only picked colors I could use in card making.
* Netted our feijoa tree with some netting I found in my shed. Suddenly the birds have taken a liking to the tree this year. I don't know what they are doing in the tree but I don't want the flowers disturbed ( I want the fruit to grow ).
* Sold two school text books.
* Sold four Christmas angel decoration sets to friends.
* Dried all the washing on the line and clotheshorses.
* Sold a couple of items in my Etsy shop.
* Saved the washing machine and shower water as per usual
* Sold four dozen eggs to the neighbours.
* Picked a small handful of raspberries each day.
* Darren picked two bowls of strawberries from our patch in one day. About four days later I picked another bowlful..
* Kept the heater off for most of the week.
* Jessica used a few recycled gift bags to put her friend's presents in.
* Refilled the shampoo and conditioner bottles and added some water. I also found a few almost empty shampoo bottles in the girl's shower. I added the contents to the nearly full bottle. My girls won't notice a difference.
* Cooked all meals from scratch.
* Took water bottles and muesli bars with me when I went Christmas shopping.
* Made up a bottle of diluted Dynamo laundry liquid. I also bought a big bottle at half price and diluted it straight away.
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| Darren loves his reindeers |
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| Christmas angels I made for an order |
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| Our Christmas card for 2016 |
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| From the garden. |
Hi Wendy, Your garden is going brilliantly...love picking fresh food. Really good price on the lamb. Your angels and cards are gorgeous.....you both did a great job. Sounds like you are ultra busy as usual. Thanks for sharing, enjoy the coming week. Cheers
ReplyDeleteThankyou Jo. I think I'll rest a little after Christmas.
DeleteWhat a great buy on the legs of lamb!
ReplyDeleteYour Christmas cards and decorations look fabulous.
And those berries...oh yum!
I volunteer at the school canteen once a month, and I noticed how many spray bottle cleaners they use, I asked the canteen manager if she would save them for me when empty, which she did, so this week I made a double batch of miracle spray and decanted it into the repurposed bottles. I now have a bottle of it in each bathroom, kitchen and laundry! I'm getting her to save me some more for the purpose of homemade garden sprays.
Free spray bottles are awesome. What a blessing. Get as many as you can.
DeleteHi Wendy, your frugal list is always so inspiring, I love your Christmas cards, truly lovely. My list of frugal things this week are
ReplyDeleteCut up some not so wonderful apples and made caramelised cinnamon apples for dessert on evening
Used up all the fresh fruit and veg before buying any more. I only ever buy enough fruit and veg for the week ahead, no waste, ever
Blitzed some bread ends and froze them, I have a container in the freezer that I just keep adding to. That way when a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, they are ready to go.
Line dried all the washing
Bought all the supplies I needed for Christmas baking at a bulk foods store. I buy the exact amount of a product that I need for a particular recipe, again no waste and their prices are hard to beat.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Fi
Those bread ends come in handy. I make bread pudding in the slow cooker with them ( recipe coming next year )
DeleteDecember greetings from northern Idaho USA where it is well below freezing and been snowing all day. For the record, the new puppy loves the snow! (just like every other dog we have ever had).
ReplyDeleteI'm still cooking ahead for the family while I will be recovering from digestive surgery in January. So far, I have 11 meals in the freezer. They have all been made simply by making more of what we happen to be having for dinner. This included chicken parmesan last night--blitzed the breadcrumbs in the blender. Tonight I am making a big batch of braised chicken and should have enough extra for two meals for the two of them (I'll be on liquids and soft foods). I got really good deals on fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts and ground beef. This finishes the chicken, but I've still got ground beef to cook. I made 3 meatloaves earlier in the week and froze two of them.
The freezer meals will put your mind at ease while you are recovering. You could make spag bol or meat pies for the freezer too The recipes are in the recipe section here.
DeleteDear Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas cards are beautiful! I am so pleased your easy shop is going well! And the legs of lamb! We love lamb and the prices have gone so high. I got a leg of lamb last week at Aldi and we still have left overs from that for tonight, it was really nice but still more than your price.
I had a good week. I have to say the sourdough starter is amazing and very economical, I will never have to buy yeast again and it rises faster than another bread I have made. I am making focaccia next from it to try that out.
Have a lovely weekend! With love Annabel.xxx
We love lamb to Annabel but it can be so dear. I wait until Spring and stock up for the year when prices drop.
DeleteI keep a bottle of diluted 1:4 dynamo for the odd occasion when I want something to smell really special (like a fresh change of sheets if one of use has been sick...or the like). Your lamb haul is great! We love lamb too.
ReplyDeleteYour Dynamo tip is a good one Phil. That's what I love about our blogging community. We can all learn from each other.
DeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeleteJust a comment about your feinoas tree the flowers are pollenated by birds pecking the flowers so the more birds the more fruit later in the year. I live in New Zealand and we have heaps of feijoas so just google pollenation and you will see it,s sone by birds not bees.
Cheers Tracey
Thankyou for your advice Tracey
DeleteWendy you are a clever and inspiring lady. Love reading what you have been doing to save and get ahead.
ReplyDeleteThankyou Jane. Every little bit helps.
DeleteLovely cards! And so nice of Darren to help.
ReplyDeleteThankyou. I asked Darren to help last year because he wanted handmade cards two weeks before Christmas. Now we've made it a tradition and he's so proud of what we made together.
DeleteWendy, You make the most beautiful cards! We are pretty much living out of our pantry right now so we are saving a bundle by not having to buy many groceries. I too, love reading about your frugal living.
ReplyDeletePatsy, it's good to let pantry stocks get a little low every now and then. It helps with rotation and not wasting anything.
DeleteWow Wendy that price for lamb was fantastic! Good idea to buy enough for a year, great savings there!
ReplyDeleteYour cards look lovely, and so do your little angels :)
I cant believe you are still in need of the heater. I think I will pack some warmer clothes for this coming week as you just never know with Melbourne weather! It is going to be hot here, and I hope my garden will survive without me. Our son is going to take care of things :)
Have a lovely weekend,
xTania
Tania, we barely had a Spring it was so cold and overcast here. Who knows what Summer will be like.
DeleteLet's hope your son does his job with the garden. Have a great time in Melbourne.
I'm always full of admiration at what you accomplish each week. My favourite thing you shared this week is the time you spent crafting with your husband. I hope one day to be so lucky to find someone who enjoys spending his time with me <3
ReplyDeleteThankyou Sarah. Darren and I love to do lots of things together as well as our separate things. We've started a new tradition.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteWell this week we have been holidaying in Mildura and are home tomorrow so i didn't keep a list but here are a few things i did this week.
Before i left for holidays, i sold 6 of my christmas cards, filled the car with petrol (cheaper in Melbourne than possibly Mildura) and turned the hot water unit off.
We went to the Sovereign Hill Christmas night, entry was free. In Mildura, we checked out all the OP shops and found some bargains. I previously bought and pair of earrings from the Gem shop in Mildura but lost one. I returned to the same shop and was able to buy one for $12.00, Yeah!
Used the resort facilities like the laundry in the unit , pools and free activities. We bought up most of our our food, cooked at night and sometimes had lunch or afternoon tea out. Found a cheap as chips store there and got some Christmas bargains.
Well done on all your sold items this week and your and Darrens cards look great.
Where did you get your Legs of Lamb from for that price?
Also i heard on the news tonight, Masters is closing tomorrow.
Have a great week,
Maureen
Maureen, we do holidays just like you do. We go to all the op shops and cheap shops.
DeleteThe lamb was from Fresh Value Market in Cranbourne. They sold over 150 legs over one weekend.
Hi from the UK. It's drizzling outside just now and at 2pm I have the light on, your picture of summer fruit looks tasty and I love the cards.
ReplyDeleteThis week I have shoped at the Aldi and bought yellow sticker and food on offer from Waitrose ( we get a free cup of tea in there cafe as we have there club cards)
I dried all of the washing on the airer in the spare room
I ordered 10 litres of white vinegar from my local shop, this is a lot cheaper than buying it from the local supermarkets in 500 ml bottles.
I bought a second hand gardening book for £2.80 rather than £10 new.
I made 2 loaves of bread and soup from my chicken carcass and veg from the freezer
I ordered my seeds with pensioners postage
I have started some x stitch for birthday cards using silk, aida and blank cards I already had in the craft cupboard.
I am hand delivering as many Christmas cards as I can and I am sending e cards for my overseas friends this should save quite a bit.
I downloaded some books from Daily Free Books
Enjoy the good weather
Chris
You have such a great list Chris. I hope you can stay warm during your Winter.
DeleteI'm sure the 500ml bottles of vinegar are quite expensive. I only buy the 2 litre no name brand and dilute it for cleaning.