* Gratefully received apples from a friend.
* Gratefully received some card making supplies from a friend.
* Tidied up my pantry, wrote a menu plan for the next four weeks then wrote out the shopping list.
* Sold two dozen eggs. We now have three out of four chickens laying.
* When grocery shopping on Monday I picked up sausages, casserole steak and diced beef on clearance.
* Made 17 hamburger patties from 1 kilo of beef mince. By adding an egg, seasoned bread crumbs seasonings and two finely grated carrots I added just over 400 grams to the total weight of the meat making it stretch further. I've frozen then for future bbqs and the up coming Grand Final day.
* Saved shower warm up water to use on the veggie seedlings and mango trees. Saved the washing machine rinse water for each next load. Saved water from drink bottles to soak dirty saucepans. Every little bit helps and we do see a small reduction in our water bill.
* Received and used a $20 voucher from the Good Guys department store. When we bought our fridge last year we bought an extended warranty for another few years. We don't normally buy extended warranties but we've had trouble with new fridges and freezers over the last few years. The extended warranty offers $20 vouchers 3 - 4 times a year for the life of the warranty so effectively we get our money back. This time I used the voucher to put towards a Christmas present for Darren.
* Made salmon patties in bulk. From two tins of salmon I made 34 patties. We had some for dinner that night and the rest were divided into meal sizes and frozen
* Made more pita chips for snacks. I baked them in the oven while I was cooking a chicken flan for dinner at the same time. We seem to be eating a fair few of them lately. Then make great nachos without the preservatives and colorings that corn chips have.
* Made pumpkin scones from a pumpkin given to us. Most went into the freezer to be enjoyed at afternoon tea time.
* Filled up both our cars just before petrol skyrocketed again. I got petrol for $1.41 and Darren got it for $1.43. The price jumped to $1.67 the next day.
* Gratefully received lemons and oranges.
* Found trays of chicken drumsticks in Coles reduced to $3.20 per kilo. They are decent sized drumsticks so we'll only need one each when I serve them.
Grocery total so far including the chicken drumsticks $110.15
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| Pumpkin scones |
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| Hamburger patties ready to freeze |
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| Plum tree in full bloom |
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| Using a supermarket crate to grow more strawberry plants. |
It sounds like you are busy in your garden, Wendy. Spring is such a lovely time of year ... before the heat kicks in! I do grow some food in my garden too. I have lettuce, cherry toms, spring onions and herbs. I have recently planted cucumbers and snow peas. And I have lots of flowers which I like to pick and bring inside too. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteOh my, pumpkin scones sound lovely and delicious!
ReplyDeleteGoodmorning Wendy,
ReplyDeleteWonderful frugal achievements as usual. I love the sound of the chicken flan, how do you make it? You know I’ve never had any luck with pumpkin scones they always end up too wet. Have a lovely weekend. Fi
My boys appetites are huge so when making hedgehogs recently I threw in a can of lentils with the grated zucchini and carrot to make the meat balls. They don't like lentils but didn't even notice. Its good for iron too! I panicked when I got another hug water bill. Couldn't work out why the last two were double the one before. After looking at every tap I realised the toilet in the outside bathroom was continually filling up. I just turned it off at the back until it gets fixed. Hopefully that will stop the "water and money going down the drain" I knew there was a leak of some sort as the meter was ticking over when all the taps were off. Just grateful it wasn't from an underground pipe.
ReplyDeleteI now have gas, water, insurance, rates, levies, etc auto deducted every pay. Sometimes, like with the water bill there is extra, but it keeps me on track and gives me comfort knowing the bills are paid, rather than freaking out when bills I "forgot" arrived.
Enjoy the sun
Cathy
We had a day that felt like fall today. About 70 so I opened all the windows and aired out the house. It was in the 90s for over a week so this feels amazing. I'm so excited to sleep with a window open!
ReplyDeleteI also made some Sloppy Joes in the crockpot for dinner. I look forward to some warm/hot meals. My kitchen is wicked-hot in summer as it faces SW and intolerable for late afternoon cooking. I rarely use my stove/oven during the summer and we eat a lot of cold meals & salads.
Dear Wendy,
ReplyDeleteLots of great savings there. You always find the best bargains!
The weather here is quite warm at the moment and I am really enjoying it. So lovely to get out in the garden and see all the new life unfolding after winter. I wont be planting too many veggies this year as we are in drought here and need to conserve water, we are also still getting the occasional frost. Also we will be going travelling for six weeks soon, so the veggies can wait until I get home :)
I am still picking citrus and have been busy freezing juice, making marmalade and fruit cake to try to use it up.
So lovely to catch up with your blog again. I have been absent for a while and it is great to be back.
Have a lovely weekend,
xTania
Hi Wendy you did fantastically well and I like the way you stretched your meat with carrots and bread crumbs for hamburger patties and your re-use of a crate to grow strawberries in :).
ReplyDeleteI have some exciting news to share is that we are also now in the market to buy a property :), having checked out local prices around town and out of town (much lower than we thought in certain areas), with the deposit we have we can well buy a lower priced established property and do some minor renovations to make it suit us.
This week we have seen 2 properties one acreage that didn't suit and was quite mountainous with not a lot of usable land and a residential property with a 3 bedroom house on a half an acre just on the outskirts of town. The second has promise so we are strongly considering that one and maybe putting in an offer after a second look next week. We are also waiting on a real estate agent to show us a property out of town on 2.4 acres of land which we are very interested in looking at. We will keep you updated :) .
Needless to say not a lot got done this week apart from a steep learning curve on how to buy a property, expenses involved, ringing a solicitor for conveyancing/legal costs,comparing what other houses sold for recently in the areas we are interested in for market values, quotes from garage companies and inquiring about the first home buyers grant.
Our savings added up to $172.22 last week :).
Finances & internet listings -
- Saved more money into our saving for our house deposit bringing us to 28.57% of the way there (in reality our house deposit for a ready built home in our area could well be closer to 50 - 60% yay ).
- Listed 10 more items in my eBay store on a free listing promotion saving $16.50 on usual costs.
Hair cuts -
- DH cut my long hair short saving about $60 on the price of having it professionally done.
In the kitchen -
- Made a 1.171 kg batch of chocolate walnut brownies with buttercream icing for $12.28 saving $95.72 over buying it in local shops here. Didn't realise what a horrendous price they charge in the shops for 1 slice of this :o .
Usual frugal things -
- Hung washing on the line to dry, saved grey water from our showers and washing machine to handwater water the lawns and ornamental flower beds with, used dish rinsing water to water seedlings and fruit pot plants on the veranda, only turned on our electric hot water system when water needed heating and heated our home with free firewood we cut from a friends farm.
Have a wonderful week ahead everyone :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
You are inspiring.
ReplyDeleteThis week I have managed to buy some huge cheaply and planted those. I have been out in the garden pruning and tidying up before the weather is too hot. We have eaten some very simple meals. Most evenings when I cook our meal costs about $1.50 per person. The car was filled up. Petrol has not been cheaper here of late and school holidays started today. I was pleased to find dude at $1.39 a litre. Tidied the pantry some and sent various food stuffs to my daughters. I really do not need a kg of mini marshmallows. It is great to have that space back. I have bad rsi and ned surgery. Until I organise it I am doing less. I was pleased that I my hands hurt less I did some charity knitting.
Fun tip, I often add some rolled or quick oats when making mince based recipes, pies, sauces, lasagne etc, it helps thicken up the meal. It is cost effective and doesn't change the taste/texture. Plus oats are really good for heart health and are filling. I often do this plus I use grated Zucchini and less meat. Meat eater hubby loves it!
ReplyDelete