Here's how we saved money this week -
* Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.
* Dried all the washing on the line and clothes horses.
* Hand washed the dinner dishes most nights instead of putting the dishwasher on. Most nights it was just Daren and I home for dinner.
* Refilled the dishwashing detergent bottle and diluted it by about 30% ( and put the pump back on ).
* Used the two light rule as much as possible and turned standby lights off when I saw them. With electricity prices about to rise ( yet again ) I'll be rereading the utilities posts I've written over the last couple of years.
* Picked hydrangeas from the garden to pretty up the kitchen. The photo below doesn't fully show their intense color
* Froze leftover chop suey into single serves.
* Took lunch, water and snacks to my cleaning jobs to prevent the takeaway urge.
* Darren went to the movies for free using the movie money / points he's been saving. Darren books movie tickets for our girls because he gets a good price through Telstra. The girls pay him back but he accumulates the points. He tells me he has enough for another free ticket.
* Saved lots of tissue paper from some department store purchases. Most of it had little Christmas tree on it.
* Saved the shower warm up water and washing machine rinse water. Lots of it was poured on the hydrangeas to prevent them from dying in the heat.
* Fed the compost bin with kitchen scraps.
* Picked raspberries, loganberries, lettuce and cucumbers from our garden.
* Gratefully received lots of bread bags.
* Gratefully received a bag of glass jars from a friend. He'd been saving them for me. Before I know it, jam making season will be upon me and I'll need the jars.
* Sold a couple of sets of Christmas angels and wreaths.
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| Jessica bought Princess a Christmas hat. |
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| Our Christmas card Darren and I made this year. |
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| Hydrangeas from the garden |
Dear Wendy, merry Christmas!, princess looks adorable and your Christmas card is beautiful, very elegant.
ReplyDeleteI have had a big week with lots of savings, lots of blessings/ gratefully received a few parcels and gifts from friends and two gifts from a company I have used their services of in the last month. I did a review for them because I was so happy with the. Service and was rewarded with a thermos flask and a pair of l headphones , good ones worth at least $40 .
I have tried to be frugal this last few weeks and that has helped me a lot . I have been able to help others by donating to another charity on Thursday , I have been able to bless others without it costing me a lot with smart shopping and use of fly buys $$$ .
Merry Christmas to everyone. Wendy, Darren, Jessica and Megan and Princess , I hope Christmas is beautiful for you all and for all the readers,
Love Barb W.
You had a wonderful week Barb. Great rewards for the review. Thankyou for your continued support xoxo
DeleteHi Wendy, I'm going to jump in a little early, and wish you and your family a very happy Christmas. Thank you for blogging so regularly, and inspiring us all to be frugal and organised, I might not always comment, but I always read your posts. Best wishes for the coming year.
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much Cheryl. I look forward to hearing more from you next year. Have a blessed Christmas.
DeleteGoodmorning Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI have finished the Christmas shopping and like you are now focusing on menu planning for Christmas Day and beyond. I am not a bit shopper so I won’t be venturing out to the Boxing Day sales, sometimes I wish I was a shopper, just to snag a bargain and be more prepared with gifts and such for the following year. Never mind. Darling I love your hydrangeas, my Nan used to grow them in Gympie, everyone did back then, I remember the colours and how vibrant they were. Have a lovely day.
Fi
Fiona, I've become a smart Boxing Day shopper. I have a list and I know what to look for.
DeleteBoth sets of my grandparents grew hydrangeas so I think of them often when I look at the flowers.
I remember seeing lots of hydrangeas when I was in Gympie on holidays in 1986.
DeleteI love your pictures. I mean, what's not to love about an adorable feline in a Santa hat?! I'm bowled over by the color of your hydrangeas! Wow! Mine are either a soft pink or green. Very light.
ReplyDeleteSaving the best for last....your cards....I am impressed! That is absolutely beautiful and so unique!!
It sounds like you had a busy week, Wendy!
Thankyou for your kind words. Apparently you can change the color of hydrangeas by putting rusty nails in the soil ( or a certain chemical ).
DeleteDarren and I enjoyed working on the cards together.
Have a blessed Christmas.
I smiled to read about your blooming hydrangeas and how you're giving them extra water so they don't dry out in the heat! MY hydrangeas are totally brown and frozen with snow until they magically come back to life in April/May of 2018!! It is bitterly col and windy outside here!
ReplyDeleteI was given two large rectangular ciabatta (I think) breads and cut them in half to give me a top rectangle and a bottom rectangle! So I have 4 rectangles that are exactly the size of my cookie sheets! Turned them into four quite large pizzas which will give us over a week's worth of meals (although we won't eat them every day- we'll freeze quite a bit of it!)
I made 50 Christmas fabric star ornaments and 50 double chocolate zucchini mini- breads using shredded yellow squash that I was given and had frozen! The Stars were using fabric scraps that didn't even dip into my yardage!! Our ladies's group were so pleased! For the mini breads, I used a Wilton baking plan that lets me bake 18 loaves at one time I the oven!! I bought the pan with a 50% off coupon at JoAnns a couple years ago! It makes it so much faster and easier to make up several loaves for gift giving!!
My wonderful produce market ladies had given me 3 bushels of greens- kale, turnip and mustard for my chickens and I put them on our front porch to keep them cool. Well,they froze because our weather got so cold! I didn't want to throw the out so I brought in a couple frozen bunches, chopped them and put about 4 cups of them in a glass measuring cup and microwaved them for 50 seconds. Amazingly, they didn't come out limp, but instead they looked completely fresh like they were just picked!! So, no waste!!!
I used some of my homemade pancake syrup to baste a ham with and after it was done, I strained the syrup and canned two pints of it with my steam canner so I will be Abe to reuse it!
I was given a gallon of heavy whipping cream. Any ideas what I can use it for?
I dehydrated 23 pounds of chopped onions and 1/2 bushel of chopped celery.
Otherwise, lots of routine things- washing and reusing ziplocs, brown bagging lunches and breakfasts using pantry and perishable foods on hand to reduce waste! Chickens still giving us 5 eggs/day!
Thanks for giving me lots of inspirations and ideas to try this week!!
I love reading about your week Pat.
DeleteYou could make vanilla custard with the cream. I also have a recipe for honey mustard chicken in the recipe section. Maybe add the cream to muffins or other baking Or make scones ( biscuits ) then spread jam and whipped cream on top. The scone recipe is in the recipe section too. You can freeze them once baked.
That Christmas card is gorgeous! I had a big saving week and am tired! But it all helps and I am on track with Christmas wrapping and cooking etc. Have a very Happy Christmas Wendy! xxx
ReplyDeleteAnnabel, you keep very busy all year round. The rewards are all the beautiful things you make and have in your home xoxo
DeleteMerry Christmas to you and your family, Wendy. I enjoy reading your frugal lists each Saturday morning and picking up tips for saving money. We have just come back from a pretty frugal holiday. I cooked most of our food, from ingredients I took with me, while we were away. We barely used our old ute once we got there. Hardly drove it for two weeks so saved on fuel. The beach is just a few minutes walk away and there's lots to explore so free fun. We borrowed heaps of books and a few dvds from the library to take with us too for those quieter holiday moments. We had fish and chips on our last night and that was a real treat. Enjoy your Christmas! Meg:)
ReplyDelete