Here's how we saved money this week -
* Gratefully received some beetroot from my Dad's garden.
* Hand washed the dinner dishes most nights instead of using the dishwasher.
* Made a large lasagne for dinner one night. I portioned it up into 12 pieces and froze the rest for future meals. We love lasagne but it can be time consuming to make. By portioning it out and freezing, I don't have to make another one for 3 or 4 months.
* Started collecting eggs from our chickens. One or two have started laying again after moulting and the weather being too cold to lay.
* Reused a couple of snaplock bags for different purposes. I try not to use them too often, but after each use they are washed, dried inside out then stored again for the next time.
* Gratefully received bread bags to reuse / recycle many times over before they are put in the Redcycle bin at Coles.
* Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness. We've enjoyed a yummy breakfast each morning of toast with homemade lemon butter.
* Jessica gratefully received a bag of clothes from a friend.
* Gratefully received quite a few muffins leftover from Jessica's work.
* Made pita bread pizzas on Sunday night instead of giving in to the takeaway urge. Usually we make our own pizza bases with this recipe but we'd been out all day and the pita bread makes a quick yet tasty base.
* Dried some washing on the line, some on clothes horses over the ducted heating vent and a few things went into the dryer.
* Took up a pair of jeans and adjusted the neckline of a new top.
* Fed bread crusts, old fruit and weeds to the chickens to vary their diet. We also let them free range around our backyard for a few hours ( until the silverbeet became a snack for one of them ).
* Refilled the foaming hand wash pumps with diluted shower gel. Refilled all the Miracle Spray bottles around our home.
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| Refilling the spray bottles with Miracle Spray |
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| We are getting a white egg every day or so. |
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| The feathered girls. |
I made some cheese and vegemite scrolls from scratch this week for the kids to have for afternoon tea, and there were some left for school lunches the next day, I costed them out, and they were around 26¢ each to make, as opposed to 75¢-$1 in the supermarket!
ReplyDeleteI saved some old zucchini in the crisper from being wasted by turning it into a zucchini bake, I assembled it all on Thursday when I was home, then we had it for dinner last night, my daughter simply popped it in the oven at 5pm, and it was ready when I came home from work at 6pm. This saved any temptation to get takeaway after a 10 hour day at work.
I boiled some fresh corn, and used the scalding hot water to pour over the weeds in the courtyard pavers. I can thank you for that tip! :)
It really is the little things, done often that make a difference.
I like making big trays of lasagna too, Wendy. It's a lovely meal to pull out of the freezer and have with either salad or veg. Looking back over August, it's been a really tough month money-wise. Our dishwasher broke, so did our cooktop and we have a leaking water filter. I broke my phone and then I lost my phone. My husband spent 5days in hospital and then brought home a chest infection with him. Out of pockets, medicine and parking ate up a lot of $. Money seems to have been leaving my wallet on a too regular basis keeping up with all of this. Here's what I've done this week to claw back some of what we've had to spend:
ReplyDelete* not replaced the dishwasher or my phone (as yet)
* repaired the 15year old cooktop rather than buy a new one, set cost we agreed on before work was done.
* using up freezer meals and cooking from scratch
* baking things like chocolate chip cake and muffins for lunchboxes
* making own yoghurt
* handmaking cards for Fathers' Day, we are doing small gifts and a shared dinner for both my husband and father-in-law on this day. Made up a gift for far-away Poppy from present box.
* redeeming $10 off a Coles grocery shop, buying a few things there for my stockpile
* borrowing books from local library, buying a book for my son that was on sale
* using old pots I already had to plant some petunias...for colour!
* working some extra relief teaching days although I am really tired :/
Thanks for your always-inspiring lists, Wendy. I learn so many tips from you! Meg:)
Hi Wendy and you did really well in reusing and making items for your home instead of buying them. Good to hear your hens are now laying and giving you some eggs and you were blessed with lots of lovely food for the household.
ReplyDeleteOur savings added up to $153.90 last week :).
Here's what we did to get organised, build our pantry and save money
Finances -
- Banked more money into our home deposit bank account 28.07% of the way there.
- Listed 18 items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $29.70 in listing fees.
Purchases -
- Purchased 10 strong memo note magnets with bull dog clips for the fridge for $4.20 saving $16.79 over buying them locally. We use these for important messages, lists and our perpetual shopping list on the fridges and freezers.
- Purchased a used "tightwad gazette" saving $27.81 over purchasing it new.
- Purchased another 10 punnets of strawberries for 0.95c per punnet saving $15.50 on usual prices.
Trades -
- A friend gave us 50 x 4 lt mylar bags to say thank you for giving his family some vegetables previously saving $20.35 over purchasing them.
Hair cuts -
- DH and I cut his hair at home with the clippers saving $30 over getting it cut elsewhere.
House organisation -
- Deep cleaned the vegetable freezer and rearranged the frozen garden vegetables oldest to the top newest to the bottom.
- Sorted through the rest of the power tools and bits and pieces in the shed and damp dusted them and the tools and bits and pieces and the plastic storage containers. We then sorted out all the tools and bits and pieces into tool boxes and storage containers and put them on the shelves. There is so much more room in there after we broke down the cardboard moving boxes and stacked them behind the shelves in there.
In the kitchen -
- Washed, diced and froze the 10 punnets of strawberries in the freezer for desserts and jam making.
- Blanched and froze the broccoli picked from the gardens making 10 more meals for the freezer.
In the gardens -
- Picked 1.3 kg of organically grown broccoli and a bunch of silver beet from the gardens saving $13.75 over purchasing it in the shops.
Hope everyone has had a wonderful week :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
This has been a good week for us! The Labor Day holiday sales are going on through Monday so I was able to buy ground beef for $1.59/pound (it can be double that price when it’s not on sale!) so I bought about 43 pounds! Then BLSL chicken breast was on sale for $1.49/pound and I bought 45 pounds of that!
ReplyDeleteI am so grateful to have that extra fridge in my basement for occasions like these when I buy bulk of something at a great price that needs to be kept cold while I’m processing through it!
So far, I cooked up about 15 pounds of ground beef with some of my dehydrated onions and packaged them into ziplocs with 2 cups (enough for a recipe that uses 1 pound) in each and froze!
I put 10 pounds of chicken into the crockpot and when it was cooked, I shredded it in my Kitchenaid mixer and bagged in ziplocs with 2 cups each and froze!
Having these precooked meats packaged in meal amounts and frozen makes it so handy to get dinner ready in a hurry for ourselves or to take a meal t someone in need!
I also cut up 10 pounds of uncooked chicken breast into chunks and froze that in ziplocs for family meal portions.
This should see us through the next 6 months so we won’t need to buy meat when it’s not on sale!! Although I spent about $140 on the meats this weekend, I have many weeks where I don’t use more than $15 of the $75/week budget I allow myself for all of our groceries! So this is my “investment “ shopping!
I’m grateful for a sweet husband who recognizes the value in shopping with a long term perspective, whether it’s a good sale on groceries so we buy a lot or a tool (kitchen appliance, sewing machine or shop tool) that will stand up to lots of use and be durable and not just the cheapest price but instead the best value!
It’s a good feeling to be united in our goals!
Last weekend I bought 25 pounds of pre-chopped onions for $5 and I dehydrated them all and this week at my produce market, I spent $5 on salad greens for Dave for the week and 10 pounds of spinach that I’ll treat our chickens to. The sweet ladies there insisted that I take home a free 20 pound box of zucchini so it looks like more zucchini bread, muffins and relish will be happening this week! Lol!
I was finally able to get my scrappy tote bags (part of my Use It Up strategy) up on our Facebook site and have already sold 6 of the first 13 I made! Funny that my fabric stash doesn’t show any signs of diminishing though!! Lol! It also got us an order for a state outline as well as a custom fireplace mantle, so that was really exciting! We also had 2 more wedding trays paid for and picked up. We have felt like this little business has been guided so often by the Spirit and we are truly grateful for the ability to work!
Our chickens continue to produce- the heat has slowed them to about 3-1/2 dozen a week which is still more than sufficient for us, our family and to sell or share as we can! It’s only been a little over a year since we started with our hens and we have no regrets and truly feel blessed to have them!
I made and froze 40 beef and bean burritos and 30 chicken taquitos for easy grab and go meals!
Our health is better than many our age and we have a life which gives us more joy than sorrow, so we feel like we are truly rich!
I have been on a jam making binge as I have been buying 500 g of strawberries for 98 cents. Our washing is line dried if practical. Most evening meals are homemade. I make for four which gives us two meals each. I am being super careful to not make huge portions and use all I buy. I send our scraps to the family across the road and she gives us eggs occasionally. The passionfruit has been pruned ready to fruit again. I am trying to eat fruit instead of sweets. Berries are not cheap but I am eating seasonally. My favourite breakfast oats were purchased at heal price and a rain check was obtained for later purchase. My granddaughter's first birthday gift was bought on sale. Since my children have moved out food lasts so long and washing is minimal.
ReplyDeleteMy garden is doing great right now. I am picking tons of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and pole beans. I have been canning sauce, pickles and jam. Mt full list is here:https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-frugal-list-week-of-august-27-2018.html
ReplyDeleteSold a bike rack for $50 on FB. Made Father's day roast from lamb in freezer and a baked rice custard from leftover rice. On a day out with hubby took sandwiches from home as we were driving all over the place and it saved time. Premade a casserole that morning as I knew we'd be late home which I was grateful for that evening. Bought fruit and veg from the discount rack at the fruit shop, saving heaps of money. Stewed apples. Made soups for lunches. Car pooled kids with other families to attend a party out of our suburb. Read library books and watched free to air TV series from SBS and ABC iview. Bought my 2019 family calendar for $2 as already I'm wanting to put things in there for next year - hubby says I should use phone but everyone can see the calendar on the wall! Cleaned showers with half dishwashing liquid and vinegar. Used miracle spray on other surfaces. Walking for exercise. Did a monthly shop at Aldi which is working well. Marie
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