* Darren and Jessica gratefully received three avocados from a friend at church. This was a lovely suprise blessing.
* Bought a bunch of celery on sale in Coles for $1 a bunch. I diced it up and froze to put in casseroles throughout the year.
* Made a double batch of laundry powder and mixed it with a box of supermarket bought laundry powder that was in a kitchen hamper.
* Froze two leftover serves of shepherds pie.
* Went through the linen cupboard ( again ) and took out the older towels, face washers and hand towels. The hand towels were recycled into the kitchen. A few face washers went into the laundry cupboard as rags and a few went into the kitchen as clothes. The towels went to the op shop.
* Planted another 5 potato eyes into the veggie garden.
* Fed the chickens and compost bin with the celery leaves and stalks.
* Sold one dozen eggs. The chickens have slowed down the egg production so now we are buying cheaper bags of feed to save money. They are still getting kitchen scraps and grass clippings.
* Sold a bottle of Miracle Spray to a cleaning client.
* Saved the washing machine rinse water and poured it back into the machine for each next load.
* Saved some of Jessica's wrapping paper from her presents to use in card making.
* Learnt a new card style at a card making day this week. I can use supplies I have on hand to make lots of them.
* Bought 1 litre of eucalyptus oil for $24.95. This is an absolute bargain compared to usual supermarket shelf prices.
* Refilled the foaming hand wash pumps around the house. Then I made up another bottle of diluted shower gel ready for refilling next time.
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| Jessica's fruit birthday " cake ". |
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| Jessica and Princess. |
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| This week's card |
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| The inside of the card. |
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| Dicing the celery for the freezer. |
Hi Wendy,a great frugal week as usual. I hope everyone is feeling better! Avocados are a great blessing, we love avocadoes! Here's what we got up to:
ReplyDelete- Tried to use the heating in the house as little as possible. All blinds were open as soon as the sun was up and closed again at sunset.
- used leftover frozen lamb in a curry
- used potato water to clean my stainless steel in the kitchen, it's never been so shiny!
- All meals were made from scratch
- bought a whole pumpkin at $1/kg. We will use this to make pumpkin soup for work lunches as well as form parts of other main meals.
- had several no spend days
- made anzac biscuits
- made more washing powder
- had corned beef earlier in the week, all leftovers were used in sandwiches (my husband was very happy!)
Great idea with the celery Wendy. I usually use the celery I buy but if I think I won't finish it I will definitely give freezing it a go!
Amy
I'm glad the potato water worked for you Amy. Cath came over for a visit the other week and we had another giggle about that story.
DeleteRemember that frozen celery is only good for stews, soups and casseroles.
Happy Birthday Jessica.
ReplyDeleteI had a week where spending was the norm. Thankfully this is not the norm. I bought some going out shoes as I do not have any and had been looking for a pair for about 6 months. These were costly but are well made a and classic style that should not date.
Another spend was filling up the tanks on my car, a large 4WD. I needed the fuel tanks full as I was travelling to spend some time with my parents. My Father has been unwell and I wanted to make sure that he was on the mend.
I shouldn't need to fill the car for at least another month and I shouldn't need new dress shoes for a few years. A big spend week here.
Jane, sometimes we have to spend and there's no way out of it.
DeleteSorry you have had so much illness at your house, Wendy. My husband is still recovering from pneumonia and it is slow going.
ReplyDeleteI had several no-spend days. Other than the usual, here are the frugal things I can remember from this past week:
*One of my lupines did not make it through the winter. It left behind a lot of babies, which I have been digging up and transplanting while they are still tiny. (Hard to transplant lupines later because of the tap root.
*DH and I both use prepaid cell phones. DH's phone got wet at the hospital and he needed a new one. We both moved into the 21st century and bought low-end smartphones for $50 USD each. His was a refurbished phone, so there was a saving there. We also decided to get rid of our landline when we move.
*Sold 4 lawnmower tires on craigslist for $20. Gave away a broiler pan, cake pan and Igloo cooler to a friend still recovering from a fire.
*Picked our very first strawberries today. We put in the bed last summer with freebie plants. We are going to have a huge crop!
How are you coping with the smart phones Maxine ? I'm holding onto my old style phone for as long as possible.
DeleteWonderful news on the raspberries. Home grown taste so yummy.
I should have added, I cooked all meals from scratch and did a better-than-usual job of menu planning. Also, we had leftovers tonight and I'm going to turn the leftover chicken into a sandwich spread tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWell done on the menu planning.
DeleteI hope your girls are feeling better, Wendy. Love the "fruit cake", candles and all! I had a better frugal week this time around:
ReplyDelete* filled car at $1.07per L (fully expecting price to go up soon)
* planted out seed potatoes in grow bags
* eating a lot of greens from our own garden and able to give some to
friends too:)
* baker gave me a lovely new type of roll to try...very kind.
* made big pot of split pea and bacon soup and froze portions
* made big batch of beef and veggie stew and we ate a lot of that this
week - with toast, as pie, for lunches with pasta etc.
* used up some stewed apple from freezer in a crumble too.
Have a lovely week!
A wonderful price on petrol Meg.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI've gone back to work fulltime a fortnight ago. Not that I wated to at all but sometimes you have to do these things. My husband has not retired but still not slowed down yet. Just because I have a fulltime wage now coming in I'm trying not to spend it on unnecessary things that I don't need or that I already have - just necessities. Trying to stick to my menu plan is tricky as I am the cook but all the extra meals in "The Tuckshop" have been great when the wheels fall off. This is my frugal job of the week.Last week My husband was watching the football when he heard a bang outside and when he investigated it was a small dead rabbit/hare that had been attacked by a ferrell cat. He immediately double bagged it and put it in the fridge. I was sound asleep at this time. This morning I have turned it into 6 small individual pies which he just loves. I cook it in the crockpot with red wine, garlic and lots of ground pepper. Not for everyone but the meat was for free. We are also trying not to light the fire until it's really cold, just putting an extra layer on. Happy Birthday Jessica as well. Julee.
It sounds lie the rabbit was a blessing Julee.
DeleteI've frozen celery and it's turned to mush. Do you have a trick to keep it from doing that?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it does go very soft. I only use it for stews, casseroles and soups.
DeleteSonia, from my understanding of the Sydney property market, there are still affordable areas to live in. They might not be close to the city so some travelling will be required.
ReplyDeleteI live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. To get to the city is 40 minutes by car on a good day and a little longer by train. If you want something more affordable then look further out. While you are saving, start researching cheaper areas.
I am going to try the frozen celery...does it still have the same flavour? Has anyone tried freezing the celery tops for soup/stock flavoring?
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Jessica and a beautiful 'fruit cake'!
Hi Heather
DeleteI have been freezing celery tops for years and years [too many to remember] I use them in soups and casseroles stews whatever and never had a problem. I use them even in the slow cooker and don't be surprised if they disappear during cooking but it will leave lovely flavour
Jenny from Tassie
Hi Wendy. My kids used to love going to the local cafe for a treat, but we've had to tighten up the purse strings as a few large unexpected bills arrived. I started thinking outside the square and so I invented 'Mummy Cafe'. I made up my own chocolate milkshakes with cocoa powder, sugar, milk and ice cream (saving $5.00 for each shake), and used the hand blender to make them frothy like the cafe. I bake some quick packet muffins, (Saving $4.00 each muffin). The kids set up a toy cash register, make shop signs (can be re-used every time Mummy Cafe is open for business), and they absolutely Loved it!!! It saves us soooooo much money too!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy. Thanks for being such an inspiration! I have a couple of quick questions - In This Weeks Frugal Tasks - 3rd June - You mentioned: "Bought 1 litre of eucalyptus oil for $24.95. This is an absolute bargain compared to usual supermarket shelf prices." Question: Where did you buy your Eucalyptus Oil from and what Brand was it? - Thanks in advance
ReplyDeleteIt was on sale on the Bosisto's website. From my understanding it was a 4 litre container of commercial grade with free shipping. I went in with three other ladies so we all bought 1 litre each.
DeleteWow- Thanks for your speedy reply Wendy. I really appreciate it- Kindest Regards.
ReplyDelete