* Made dried bread crumbs using saved bread crusts I had in the freezer. I'll season the bread crumbs when the container gets low.
* Chopped and blitzed 12 bars of laundry soap ready to make laundry powder later in the year as needed.
* Gratefully received a few bread bags. They are the perfect size for our bathroom bins.
* Sold two dozen eggs.
* Saved lots of shower water and poured it into the washing machine. Saved the washing machine rinse water for the next load.
* Kept the heater off a couple of days when the sun was shining through the windows.
* Changed over the Summer doona ( duvet ) for the Winter one. Now we don't feel the cold at night and are no longer tempted to turn the heater back on.
* Completed an extra hour of cleaning work and an extra hour of ironing work.
* Came in under budget with my grocery shopping for the month.
* Dried most of the washing on clothes horses, coat hangers in the shower and coat hangers from the towel rail over a ducted heating vent. Only the sheets went into the dryer.
* Mended a jacket of Megan's. The seam had come apart on the sleeve Mended two pairs od socks.
* Megan cooked a big pot of chunky chicken and vegetable soup. She portioned it into takeaway containers and froze for her work lunches.
* Donated a bag of unwanted items to Savers and received a discount stamp.
* Fed lots of grass and weeds to the chickens.
* Made a small batch of ANZAC biscuits from dough had in the freezer.
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| Cutting up soap before blitzing to make laundry powder. |
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| Family meat pie, straight out of the oven |
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| Mother's Day flowers from my girls |
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| Making dried bread crumbs. |
Apart from my usual I also did my menu plan by looking at ingredients we've had in the pantry for a while. Over the week I've used red and brown lentils and pearl barley which have made some good hearty dishes. Split peas will be used next.
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend.
Kylie
Kylie, that's a great way to save some money.
DeleteDo you blitz the bread first then bake? I leave the crusts on the counter til dry then hammer them into crumbs in a reused cereal bag. Two different ways to the same end. (I don't season mine, either. That may make them tastier, though.)
ReplyDeleteI always love seeing your frugal ways. You do a great job! I'm not as disciplined as you so I read to learn.
Debbie
Yes I blitz them first in the food processor. It saves my hands from getting tired.
DeleteLove your list, Wendy. I have to admit I have never made my own laundry detergent (and have no desire to do so). But I do buy my detergent in big buckets at Costco, and it works out to 7.5 cents per load, plus I get the big plastic bucket.
ReplyDeleteOther than the usual frugal stuff, here are some things I did this past week:
*Attempted to start new oak leaf hydrangeas with 7 cuttings. Wish me luck! I have had NO luck ever starting hydrangeas and not much luck with cuttings in general.
*Served as a poll worker for a local election and was paid $150 for 12 hours of work. I do this a couple of times a year, especially in even-numbered years. I would do it as a volunteer if it didn't pay.
*Touched up my kitchen cabinets with a stain pen. They're like felt markers and are sold in the paint department in a variety of colors.
*We are fortunate to own two homes. Since I am painting one of them, I took all of the rollers, brushes, etc., from the other house. Saved at least $15 for paint tools.
*With the information I learned last week about Rx co-pays, my DH (who takes a lot of meds for a variety of issues) had his doctor re-write all of his prescriptions for 90 days (instead of 30 days + 2 refills) and we had them filled at a "preferred" pharmacy. This saved $108 today, and has the potential to do this every 3 months. Plus, we'll make many fewer trips to the drugstore.
--Maxine in northern Idaho USA
PS I had some cookies after church Sunday that I immediately identified as Cranberry Hooty Creek Biscuits. M'mmm! Definitely going to make some.
What a fantastic saving on your husband's meds Maxine. It pays to look for better ways to do things.
DeleteI thought Cranberry Hooty Creeks sounded American. Of course I changed the recipe to suit my budget. I hope you enjoyed them. Don't forget you can freeze the dough. I make a double batch of dough, bake enough for the family then freeze the rest of the dough.
Wendy after you have blitz the laundry soap, how do you portion it out when you make the washing powder? As I just make it one bar at a time.
ReplyDeleteI measure 3/4 cup of soap to make up the laundry powder.
DeleteGreat work and very inspirational...enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much.
DeleteI hope you are having a lovely card-making time, Wendy! The week has flown by here too. I've worked quite a few days of relief teaching which is great for some extra $. This will go towards an operation our dog needs on his eye.
ReplyDelete* all meals and snacks made here at home
* a lovely neighbour gave me a bag of limes from his tree:)
* using sunshine to dry washing, not washing on wet days we've had
* picking and eating fresh food from the garden
* topping up car when petrol is low - $1.18 earlier in the week
* spread worm castings from our worm farm around our avocado tree
* picked up coffee grounds from local cafe to use as soil conditioner
and to compost (I now have a standing arrangement with them to collect
regularly to use in our garden/compost systems) - they just throw it
out otherwise.
Tonight, we are having a movie night at home. We borrowed a dvd from the library and my son and I have made popcorn. It will be fun!
Meg:)
Coffee grounds are great for compost. Darren uses them too.
DeleteLooks like you had a great week. Such beautiful flowers the girls gave you!
ReplyDeleteThankyou
DeleteFirst time commenting....I notice you using the Coles brand soap, do you find much difference to velvet? Also when you say blitz ? I've only ever grated the soap (& thumb) by hand grater, what sort of blender (?) do you have. Love your site & your frugal ways, thank you Wendy. Best wishes from Deb.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever bought Coles brand but I have heard people don't notice a difference.
DeleteI blitz it in the food processor to get the soap into a powder. Mine is a Breville. I think it's known as a kitchen wiz. I've had it for 5 - 6 years.
Well done, you, Wendy for a great week!! Our side business of recycling wood into planter boxes, trays, etc. brought in an extra $325 in sales this week!! We are thrilled to have this extra to add to our savings and pay off some medical bills! The side benefit is that it makes for some fun (and profitable) date nights as hubby and I work together in our wood shop in the evenings and have fun together working the machines as we build our products!
ReplyDeleteI resisted the impulse to buy take out and instead got out some home canned beef chunks and home canned black beans, home canned salsa and leftover rice from fridge, added lettuce from garden and shredded cheese and put into tortillas for high protein and really tasty beef burritos!!! I made enough to have lunch entrees to take to work for about 6 nice servings too! Major savings with that!
Made up homemade pizza the other night when the take out impulse surfaced using home canned pizza sauce, home canned pineapple chunks, ham chunks, bell peppers we were given, the last of an onion I had in the kitchen and some pre cooked ground beef I had frozen. Again, a cheap but filling and tasty meal that fed us dinner and gave us about 6 lunchtime servings! Great and tasty savings!
Every day, except Sunday, I am weeding and also harvesting veggies from my garden! We are enjoying the fresh greens in salads and also on sandwiches and in wraps!
I spent 3 hours on Thursday morning and another 4 hours yesterday doing cleanup and landscaping prep in our yard! We had stacks of bricks in 3 different parts of our side yard that we will use next Saturday to make a larger brick walkway. We moved them into 1 spot close to the new walkway area.
We weeded and decluttered our courtyard by the koi pond and weeded the herb bed that had become overrun with thistles!! I weeded and cleared the alcove surrounded by our lilac bushes so that I can level the dirt and lay pavers over ( making that spot weed free and ready for a bench as well as using up another stack of pavers that are in the yard!) our goal is to use up/clear out all of the stacks of materials we have accumulated in the yard and use them in our landscaping the way we had imagined them!! With the free materials here, all we need is the time and muscle to do it!! Lol!!
My back is sore today so I'm going to hang back and relax! I will in between relaxing cook up some sausage and eggs and make up breakfast burritos as an easy grab and go for next week! Will also make up some hoagie sandwiches for lunches!
Hi Pat. It's wonderful that your business is taking off. I've been watching it on Facebook.
DeleteThat family pie looks wonderful. I am thinking of using my food processor to get my grated soap done finely ( and to save my poor fingers on the grater). Have you ever used your food processor for this?
ReplyDeleteYes that's what I do Phil. I cut it up with a knife then use the food processor to blitz it into a fine powder.
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