My Abundant Life: This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 29th June 2024

Sunday 30 June 2024

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 29th June 2024

Over the last couple of weeks we've had quite a few outings and events on our calendar. Darren and I enjoyed a weekend in the city to celebrate Darren's birthday. This was a last minute surprise getaway that I'd been saving for for almost 12 months. We enjoyed a buffet breakfast each morning, no lunch ( we were still full ) and room service for dinner ( cheaper than the restaurant downstairs ). Of course we took home all the freebie goodies they gave us including bottles of water each day and little tins of mints with our dinner.

We also enjoyed a trip to see an AFL football game, a family dinner for Darren and Jessica's birthday and Luka's Auskick awards night.

Here's how we saved money over the last couple of weeks -

* I baked three loaves of wholemeal bread every second week. We use this bread as toast for our breakfasts every morning.

* We went to the football a few weeks ago. This is our once a year tradition that we started when our girls were very little. Unfortunately we couldn't go in 2020 and 2021 due to obvious reasons. In 2022 we were still reeling from the loss of my father and in 2023 it was impossible to get tickets. So for 2024 Darren got in super early to buy tickets online. We took a backpack each with a bottle of water, snacks, a blanket and all the extra cold weather clothing needed for the trip home. By taking our snacks and water, we easily saved $25 - $30.

* I dried as much washing as possible on clothes horses over the ducted heating vent in our spare bathroom. Some items of clothing dries in one hour.

* I made a trip to Hindustan Imports in Dandenong to stock up on bulk herbs and spices.

* I gratefully received lots of supermarket brown paper bags from a cleaning client. We use them under the kitchen sink for our rubbish.

* I cooked up a bulk amount of beef stew in the slow cooker. Once we'd eaten some for dinner I portioned the rest up into 1 and 2 serves and froze them. This form of bulk cooking has saved us 23% on our electricity bill over the last 6 months.

* Now that I'm making our own muesli bars, I've been going through a lot more peanut butter. I found some on clearance in Woolworths and it was much cheaper than the generic brand. So I cleared the shelf of the remaining stock. The best before date is next year but I've found peanut butter can last another year or two if kept in a cool dark place.

* Megan and I made a trip to Costco. My main reason was to buy beef mince and a cooked chicken. I'd been saving my leftover grocery money for 6 months to buy these 2 items. We did go halves on their bulk eggs which was about the same price as the cheapest eggs in the supermarket but they were much bigger. Woolworths is selling 1 dozen eggs ( 500g which is tiny ) for $5. I also picked up glasses wipes, roll on deodorant ( $2 ), cuppa soups for Darren's lunches ( $1.25 per box ),and a few other items.

* I bought a huge bunch of celery for $1.99 at a fruit and veg shop. I used my Nicer Dicer to finely dice it all and it only took about 10 minutes. I froze it all into ice cube trays and added a little water to each cube. Once frozen, they were easy to pop out and place in a snap lock bag for future stews, soups and casseroles.

* I made wholemeal rolls for Darren's work lunches. Darren also gratefully received a portion of ham which he thinly sliced to enjoy in the rolls with homemade tomato relish.

* I made a whole orange cake using gifted oranges. I find baking cakes in various sizes and freezing some of them prevents any wastage.

* We have enjoyed more of our homemade muesli bars for work morning teas.

* I made up a bottle of surface cleaning spray with cooled boiled water and kitchen detergent.

* I gratefully received lots of lemons.

* Our bathroom bins were lined with saved and recycled bread bags. I also save the bread tags and reuse them when I'm freezing our homemade bread.