The following frugal tasks are in order as they were completed so there might be a few repeats. Hey, they all saved us a little money here and there.
* Made a batch of pumpkin scones using pureed pumpkin I'd frozen a few months ago. The scones were frozen for a future afternoon tea.
* Refilled the foaming hand wash pumps around the home using diluted shower gel.
* Saved the shower warm up water and poured it into the washing machine.
* Dried the washing on clothes horses over the ducted heating vents.
* Gratefully received a few lemons and jam jars from a friend.
* Used a gift card to see Downton Abbey at the movies on my birthday.
* I've been busy over the last few weeks converting my pantry storage from plastic into glass. I picked up 9 large Moccona coffee jars from my local Buy, Swap, Sell Facebook page for free. For each glass jar I offer one handmade greeting card. The offers flooded in and I'm well on my way to getting rid of the old plastic containers. The plastic containers are being reused around the home and garden sheds for non food storage.
* Made a trip to the Dandenong Market with Megan to buy our fruit and veg. I'm pleased to say we found better prices on a few things and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours. We are going to do this every fortnight to help reduce our grocery bills.
* Gratefully received rosemary, sage, thyme, tomato seeds and pumpkin seeds from a family member.. I already have the herbs hanging up to dry in paper bags.
* Dried most of the washing outside. Only uniforms were put in the dryer.
* When Darren was returning a supermarket trolley to the collection point, he found an abandoned trolley with a bag of apples and oranges in it. I gratefully received them and filled up the fruit crisper in the fridge.
* Picked and dried rosemary from our garden. I've blitzed it into a powder which sticks better to the vegetables I'm roasting.
* Made a pot of chicken stock using a carcass. The next day I turned it into a chunky chicken and veggie soup which gave us 10 serves.
* Ate freezer meals for two dinners.
* Washed and reused ziplock bags a few times over. I don't use them too often but they do come in handy when we are away on holidays and saves room in the suitcase for food items.
* Received lemons and mandarins from a friend.
* Sorted out the linen cupboard and recycled old hand towels into mop up cloths for the laundry cupboard. Once they are too old for that purpose, they become cleaning cloths for my work.
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| Baking ingredients stored in glass jars |
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| Large Moccona jars used for storage |
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| Luka and Poppy trying to go to sleep |
Hi Wendy. Aren't the large coffee jars perfect for the pantry! I was gifted lots of these by a friend and use them to store staples. I have seen them in op-shops too. I have plans to make scones today too because it's finally raining here (hooray!!) and they will be lovely all warm from the oven. Here is my frugal list:
ReplyDelete* combined errands and jobs out this week to limit driving and save fuel - didn't need to top up fuel this week.
* planned meals around meat remaining in freezer and only had to buy 1doz sausages
* used $10 off from Coles on small shop there, added a few more things to my stockpile.
* baked oaty choc-chip cookies, puffed rice slice and chocolate cupcakes
* cut last of older spring onions from garden and used in place of onion in meals this week
* sewed a new top from beautiful fabric gifted to me by a friend. Such a thoughtful friend.
* two dear friends gifted me dinner at a lovely restaurant after I returned home from visiting my Mum ... I am so blessed by their friendship and generosity.
* reused the outside of a sweet thank you card to make a new card.
* all veg scraps went to compost and worm farm, added raked up leaves to compost
* stuck to frugal holiday activities that cost very little ... a picnic in at Botanic Gardens and another at the beach (buying ice-cream was special treat after each picnic) + a movie night at home with treats I bought on special.
* hubby hooked up pipe so that our wash machine rinse water goes out onto lawn...until the rain this morning, it was so dry here.
* was able to use free towing service, through RACQ, when our old ute broke down. We live just within the 20km range for a free tow into our regular mechanic.
Have a lovely weekend, Wendy. We are spending today at home just enjoying the rain. Meg Xx
Enjoy your scones Meg. Do you freeze them too ? I love your frugal holiday activities. Movies at home is so satisfying and super cheap.
DeleteEnjoy your rain as we are enjoying the sunshine.
Good on you Wendy, well I improve this week buy spending only $ 45 on my grocery which is kind of big deal going form $ 200 a week on to $ 45 is so unreal , also I didn't drink take away coffe I save there at least $ 20, I know I am still long way to go buy budgeting but at least I finally started ��
ReplyDeleteWelcome Emira and congratulations on starting your frugal journey. If you can, try to put the saved money into a bank account for a savings goal like a holiday, your next car or maybe paying off your home quicker.
DeleteWe hope to hear from you again and it was lovely meeting you the other day.
Well done Emira. I never do that well.
DeleteWendy you did so well for the week and what a great way to get glass jars. I am sure the recipients of the cards were grateful too for the trade. What a blessing about the apples and oranges, maybe someone might have been paying it forward ? .
ReplyDeleteHome maintenance -
- We finally got an electrician with a reasonable pricing to install our new 90 cm stove, upgrade house fuses and run larger cabling, replace 2 fluro lights in the kitchen with LED fluros and replace a light baton in the bathroom downstairs saving us $697 odd over getting the other electrician who quoted to do it for us.
Finances -
- Listed 10 items on a free listing Ebay promotion saving $16.50 on usual listing costs.
In the gardens -
- Separated and thinned out beetroot and silverbeet seedlings growing too close together.
- We didn't measure it but we believe we had about 10mm + of rain yesterday and overnight into this morning. Our two top 3000 gallon rain water tanks are full and it was sufficient to almost top our bottom 5000 gallon rainwater tank too. We are so grateful and relieved to not have to worry about water for a while now. More storms forecast for Thursday next week :).
Purchases -
- We got an email for 10% off online grocery orders from Woolworths which came for once when we needed to do our monthly shopping so we took advantage of it saving $26.62 on usual prices. We stocked up mainly on staples that never come on special and topped up our food storage to a 12 month level on the remaining items we needed as well as our usual groceries and still came in under budget :).
Hope everyone has and will have a wonderful week ahead :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Lorna, I'm so glad you got the much needed rain. I'm sure you are relived to have full rain water tanks.
DeleteWell done on reaching a 12 month stockpile. Do you open your pantry and stare at your stockpile ? I do and feel so rich that I can cook and bake so many things even on a tight budget.
Hi Wendy and yes we are super happy for the rain almost filling up 3 of our rainwater tanks :).
DeleteBoth myself and DH stand in the doorway of our pantry stockpile and marvel at how far we have come in 4 years. I agree it does make you feel rich and peaceful too that if something happens you know you can feed your family as well.
We have a pantry stockpile room that is 5.5 m x 3.6 mt in size and we have fitted it with 5 shelf storage units from Bunnings. Our home is a 1910 - 40 California Bungalow built by the family who lived here previously. It was being liquidated by the aged care facility owner who was friends with the owner here and purchased it so they could go into care. Each of the 3 bedrooms is the same size and the kitchen 7.5 mt x 5.5 mts with a dining area in there and a wonderful size for cooking in. We purchased this 17 sqm home for an excellent low price and we are very happy with it as it ticked all of our wish list boxes. Now just to pay off the mortgage as fast as we can :) .
Have a fantastic week :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
This has been an expensive week for me as we had three family birthdays. I planned ahead and a huge leg of lamb in the freezer and I am glad I did because I paid about $15 less for it compared to current pricing. It made a delicious feast that fed eight of us. There were some leftovers which were shared around.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise it is life as usual with one exception we finally had some rain and a load of towels went into the clothes dryer. I don't know when I last used it. Rain water has been collected and I am sure our parched yard appreciated it as I only water plants that provide food.
Suzan, I have one leg of lamb left in the freezer from late last year. If prices don't down down to about $8.99 kg then I'll save that leg for Christmas Day.
DeleteExactly. Lamb was our Saturday lunch and sandwiches at that when I was a child but now it is real treat.
Delete