This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 17th February 2018

Thankyou so much for all your lovely comments throughout the week regarding last week's challenging time for us.  Your kindness and generosity of spirit is very much appreciated by Darren and I.  After much budget revising we can now make ends meet if we are super careful and only spend when really necessary. We are looking at different forms of income including expanding the stock in my blog shop and holding make and take workshops in my home throughout the year.  Stay tuned  !!!

On a much brighter and happier note,  on Valentines Day this week,  Jessica and Eugene announced their engagement. The wedding date is set for 2nd December this year with the reception / wedding venue booked and their engagement hall booked.  There's lots to plan and many lists to write but we are well on the way to making the day special.

Here's what else we got up to this week -

*  Made a couple of slabs of zucchini slice using the zucchinis we were blessed with last week.  I now have 28 single portions in the freezer.

*  Cooked up lots of tomatoes from our garden. I then weighed it into 410 gram portions which is the same as a small can of tomatoes.  From the one big pot I was able to portion out the equivalent of 11 cans.

*  Wrapped up the soaps I made last December using cellophane bags and scraps of ribbon .  I'll be giving some as presents throughout the year.

*  Fed the compost bin with kitchen scraps and Darren added lawn / grass clippings.

*  Saved more bean seeds from our garden.

*  Picked lots of tomatoes and raspberries each day.

*  Made 22 jars of jam with a box of peaches given to us.

*  Jessica found a few decorations in the supermarket for her engagement party .  She went in the day after Valentines Day to find metallic balloons spelling the word " LOVE  for 88 cents each.

*  Saved lots of glass jars from spreads and mustard we'd used up.  These were then reused for the jam making session.

*  Made a quadruple batch of laundry powder.

*  Donated a few bags of bits and pieces to the op shop and received a discount stamp.

*  Wrote out our newly slashed budget to see exactly where we stand.  I 've made a few minor adjustment to save more money.

*  Kept the cooling and fans  off all week which is fabulous considering it's Summer. Saving a few dollars and grateful for the mild weather.

*  Telstra notified us to say we no longer have to pay $2.98 every bill ( 28 day cycle from memory ) to keep our home phone number silent.  It's a small saving but $2.98 will feed Darren and I for 2 or 3 meals.  Very grateful.

*  Kept to the two light rule with most nights only using one light or none at all.

*  Saved lots of water from the shower and poured it into the washing machine.  We've also cut the washing down to 3 maybe 4 loads per week.  We are hoping to see a saving on the next water bill.

Handmade soaps for gifts.

Zucchini slice

The sunset reflecting on a cloud from the other side of the sky

Cooked tomatoes from our garden.

Making laundry powder

Peach jam.

Jessica and Eugene.

Showing the ring.

How frugal was your week ?