* Hemmed the jeans I bought from Savers a couple of weeks ago.
* Cut up the plastic cereal bag to use as go between for separating crumpets, chops, hamburger patties and single serves of frozen soups.
* Fed the compost bin everyday with kitchen scraps and teabags / tea leaves.
* Fed handfuls of weeds to the chickens.
* Juiced lots of lemons and froze the juice.
* Made chicken stock in the slow cooker then made a big pot of chunky chicken and vegetable soup. Froze some of the soup for lunches, fed the three of us for dinner and a large amount went to church for a soup lunch last Sunday.
* Froze single serves of dinner leftovers.
* Froze tomato paste from an opened jar into icecube trays. They are now in a plastic container in the freezer to use in casseroles and spag bol. This is a great way to use up every last drop.
* Wrote a menu plan for the next six weeks.
* Gratefully received another blessing of lemons, mandarins and carrots from a friend who had too many.
* Received our water bill and saved about $60 compared to the same time last year.
* Kept the heater off all day Tuesday and Friday due to the sunny weather.
* Descaled the kettle using citric acid.
* Saved the washing machine water, the shower warm up water and drink bottle water to reuse around the house.
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| Using up bits and pieces from the fridge |
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| Tomato paste ice cubes |
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| Drying the washing on the shower rail |
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| Gifted mandarins |
Dear Wendy,it sounds like you had a great frugal week .My week included some nice savings: I gratefully received 8sets of craft items free from my local newsagency, these items include some dies for my sizzix machine.
ReplyDeleteI had my subsidised services from centacare which included my unit being cleaned, some meals made for me and lots of other things such as folding of clothes and it also included an outing with centacare on my social support day. These services mean so much to me as they are a big help for me.
I started using a handmade I was given as a gift after I ran out of refill for my foaming hand wash pump.
I had a bulk billed appointment and received some free medication because I am on the free list until January due to reaching the safety net limit.
I made a meal one night when I really wanted to get takeaway. I had at least 3no spend days this week.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Love Barb W.
Hi Wendy you have done so well this week considering you are very busy outside of the house with work and also homemaking too :) , it is hard juggling both tasks as I know from experience.
ReplyDeleteHere is how we got organised and accompished and saved last week -
Home organisation -
- Deep cleaned 5 rooms in our home as well as the front veranda and decluttered at the same time ready for our rental inspection on Monday. 2 more rooms to go yay !.
In the kitchen -
- Cooked all meals and bread from scratch.
Pantry stock ups-
- Purchased 10 more tins of smoked chicken and another 12 pk of toilet paper over and above our usual stocks.
Gifts and blessings -
- A friend gave us around 2 metres of wire mesh as a thank you for giving him a back brace that was now too large for DH saving us $32.50 over purchasing it.
Finances and earnings -
- Banked more money into our home deposit account bringing us to 27.22% of the way there.
- Made $22.42 from the sale of 50 g of dried English lavender picked and dried from the gardens, 400 capsicum seeds saved from the gardens and 40 sugar baby watermelon seeds also saved from the gardens.
- Listed 12 more items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $19.80 on usual listing fee prices.
In the gardens -
- Picked another 1.1 kg of cherry tomatoes and harvested our first of season broccoli head weighing 238 g saving $16.02 on usual prices in the supermarket.
- Mulched and weeded 2 ornamental flower beds and mulched them with a mixture of Lucerne hay and dried grass clippings to save on hay usage.
Water preservation -
- Used saved grey water from our showers and washing machine to water the household lawns all week.
- Used dish rinsing, damp dusting and shower warm up water to water the fruit trees on the back veranda and supplement water vegetable plants in the garden beds.
Usual frugal things we do -
- Washed out clip seal freezer bags to reuse, hung washing on the clothes line, washed all clothing in cold water to save power use, unplugged appliances from power points when not in use, only turned on the electric hot water system when our water needed heating and boiled water on top of our slow combustion fireplace for our morning cuppas.
Hope everyone has a great week ahead :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Hi Wendy, thankyou for sharing all the simole ways you save money. I get down hearted at times your blog helps me keep trying. I have been saving and washing the plastic in the cereal packets. Can you please explain how you use it for single serve soups? Thankyou Clare
ReplyDeleteI freeze the soup in containers then pop them out to save room in the freezer. I put a piece of cereal packet between a couple of serves then wrap in a freezer bag or bread bag.
DeleteWhat a wonderful week you have had Wendy. The Omelette looks delicious. I have also started freezing lemon juice and tomato paste to ensure none goes to waste. I have been putting a lemon IceCube in my water cup at home and it is so refreshing. What does Darren do at the cafe? Will you be posting your meal plan? I am looking for inspiration.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your weekend.
Samm
Hi Wendy i saved time, money, and some energy making flourless brownies using what i had on hand in the pantry,also did a pizza for tonights dinner I dryed my clothes on the clothes horse near the heater,iam about to collect some rain water from the down fall we are having at present :}
ReplyDeleteWendy your efforts are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThis week I stuck tony plan therefore I only had to buy some potatoes, blueberries, mandarins and bread yesterday. I have cooked most meals at home. I have also managed to make the right amount food. I am so pleased about this as I am very bad at using leftovers. Have taken my grandchild for some long walks for exercise.
Hi Wendy. You did have a busy week but your got lots of your frugal things done too. We have just returned from our trip to Canberra. We didn't spend a lot of money while we were away. Almost everywhere we went had free entry, places like the museum, library, botanic gardens, mint, lookouts and war memorial. We had porridge oats for breakfast, I made packed lunches and cooked simple dinners using the groceries I bought. We didn't buy any souvenirs but did purchase a couple of small gifts for later in the year. We had a great time and it didn't blow our budget. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteAnother “routine” week here again! Chickens gave us 42 eggs this week, harvested more Lemon Boy and yellow pear tomatoes and some cucumbers from our garden.
ReplyDeleteWe harvested our first and only peach from our little orchard and I was amazed at the huge size! Next year bodes well for a more substantial harvest since our trees are still young!
I made another baby quilt from scraps. Here’s a Pinterest link to my photo: https://pin.it/e5lq22pmlowutc
Then last night I found a free tutorial for making scrappy bags so I made this one with 80 two inch squares. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to minimize my 2” square bin of scraps!!! I will have to make more! Here’s a link: https://pin.it/zsmsngv7qa2pvs
I love projects that I can make without going out to buy supplies/materials!
I made chocolate chip cookies and also peanut butter cookies out of homemade cookie mix! Oh, the time that saves when making the cookie dough!!!!
I made more brown sugar because I was almost out!
Hard boiled another dozen eggs in Instant Pot so we have a healthy snack ready to go in the fridge.
Had $436 leftover balance in checking account when new paycheck came in so $218 went into savings and the other $218 went to pay on the next debt in our snowball!
The water pump went out in our van and we didn’t even need to take $$ out of savings! Just absorbed the $325 out of our regular checking budget! A few years ago, that wouldn’t have been possible!
Lots of rain and thunderstorms here today and most of the week so I’ve been concentrating on indoor projects!
We returned a pump to Amazon that wasn’t what we wanted afterwards and got back $183. And another business realized they had overcharged us almost $40, so that came back into our accounts!
Going over to JoAnns today because I have a $10 off $10 coupon to use and some things are 75% off today . I will only spend the $10. But that will add to my sewing supplies!
And finally, I have emptied and washed in the dishwasher the last 6 quart jars of grape juice I canned in 2001! So now the jars are in totes in basement clean and ready to be called into service to can things that we really will eat! I got 80 quart jars back by doing this!!!
This has been a great week! Nothing spectacular, but every week we edge closer to our self reliance goals!
All of these are great ways to save. I love that you cut up plastic bags. I am spiral cutting bread bags and crocheting a rug.
ReplyDeleteDear Wendy, there's such a sense of accomplishment in listing your tasks achieved in the week. I love reading yours, and this was a good week! Mimi xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteHow come you dont post about your daughter Meghan anymore?
Would be nice to know what she is up too? And also how Jessica is going with the wedding plans.
Sue