This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 21st August 2021

 Darren and I have enjoyed plenty of time out in our garden this week.  The weather has been mild some days so we tried to make the most of it and plan / plant for Spring / Summer harvest. Due to the tighter lockdown restrictions I am unable to work for at least the next two weeks.    Thankfully I have plenty of projects on the go around our home to keep me busy.

Here's what we've been up to this week -

*  Saved a few Penstemon seeds from our garden.  I think I was a little late in collecting them so I've cut off a few almost dry seed heads and put them in a paper bag to collect more.

*  Baked lots of ANZAC biscuits using dough from the freezer.

*  Dried all the washing on the line or clothes horses.

*  Juiced more lemons and froze the juice.

*  Made up a bottle of surface spray,  shower cleaner and toilet cleaner using various ratios of diluted kitchen detergent and water.

*  Wrote out a menu plan for the next 6 weeks.  I was on a roll and kept on planning.

*  Baked choc,  choc chip muffins for a family in need and froze some for ourselves.

*  Gratefully received some food blessings from friends and a family member.

*  Planted Aster and Alyssum flower seeds.  These will fill in a few gaps in our garden.

*  Added 7 premade meals to the freezer.  I'm really enjoying the 'cook once,  eat three times ' approach to meal preparation.

*  Replanted 20 new strawberry plants I grew as runners last season.  Strawberry plants generally produce fruit for 2 - 3 years and should be replaced accordingly.  This is why I encouraged runners at the end of last Summer.  

*  Planted 4 more sprouting potatoes I found in my pantry.

*  Darren fed the compost bins with lawn clippings and kitchen scraps.

*  Planted lettuce seeds and spaced out a few silverbeet seedlings.

Sprouting potatoes from the pantry.

Our potato plants are looking healthy

Lettuce in abundance

Silverbeet seedlings

New strawberry plants.

Here is my monthly grocery shop so far.  I'll be buying milk and a few veggies weekly for the next 3 weeks.  So far I've spent just under $60.  Please keep in mind we are picking greens from our garden,  have corn cobs and broccoli frozen from last summer as well as a few packets of green beans in the freezer.

We have a good amount of beef mince,  fish,  silverside and sausages in the freezer as well as lots of precooked meals.

Our pantry and bathroom cupboards are fairly well stocked so the groceries I bought are to replace what we used recently.

Do you have plans for your Winter / Summer garden ?

What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?

Our $100 A Month Grocery Budget - Part 2

 Last week I wrote about how we've been eating well for $100 a month since February 2020. Some months I can have $20 - $30 leftover.  This is always put into the grocery slush fund for when we do need it.

Here are the other tricks and tips I've been using to keep our food bill so low -

*  Dinner leftovers are portioned out and frozen that night.  Even the smallest amount is frozen and eaten at a later date either as a lunch ( rarely ) or extras like rice are added to make it a complete meal.

*  Adding extra vegetables to casseroles and stews gives us extra portions.

*  Baking cheaper treats like scones,  muffins and cakes.   Biscuits are still baked but I'm careful about the cost of the ingredients.

*  Sour cream,  cream and icecream are only purchased if we have a real need for them,  not a want.  Sour cream and cream does tend to be thrown out before we can safely use it all.

*  When I do buy meat it's usually beef mince,  chicken drumsticks,  fish portions ( not crumbed ),   beef sausages and tinned fish like tuna.

*  Writing out a menu plan for 4 - 6 weeks at a time and being careful to use up meals that have been frozen.

*  Only buying sauces / condiments we actually use. This means sticking to the basics like tomato,  bbq,  worchestershire,  soy,   mint.   Not that we bought too many that we didn't use up.  

A Summer garden haul

Adding vegetable to a pasta dish

Portioning leftovers for the freezer

Have you cut out unnecessary groceries on your shopping list ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 14th August 2021

We might be in lockdown here in Melbourne,  but I'm not sure where my week has gone.  We have lots of spare time on our hands even with the small amount of work we still have.  Maintaining a clean home,  putting food on the table each night and growing a garden are no small tasks.  Maybe I just feel like nothing big or remarkable has been achieved this week.

Still,  we a grateful and blessed for the life we lead and even more blessed to have a decent sized backyard to enjoy during these challenging times.

Here's what we got up to this week - 

*  Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.  Used recycled bread bags to store the bread in the freezer.

*  Baked a batch of pumpkin scones using the pumpkin we were blessed with.  

*  Gratefully received 12 roti breads from a cleaning client who made them fresh while we were cleaning their home.  They have a roti bread machine on their kitchen bench and the husband sat there making them for us.

*  Gratefully received a container of pumpkin soup from Megan who dropped it off for us.  We'll be having it for lunch today with some of the roti breads.

*  Saved the washing machine water,  drink bottle water and shower warm up water to reuse around our home and garden.

*  Picked kale,  silverbeet,  lemons,  lettuce and spinach from our garden.

*  Darren mowed the lawn and gave some of the clippings to the chickens to enjoy.  The rest of the clippings went into the compost bin.

*  Baked ANZAC biscuits and choc chip biscuits using homemade dough from the freezer.

*  Froze leftovers of honey mustard chicken.

*  Turned electronic standby lights off and turned the doorbell off each night.

*  One of our chickens started laying eggs again.  The other chicken has been a freeloader for more than 3 years.

*  Pruned a wayward lavender plant and kept some of the flowers to put in a vase.

*  Dried the washing on the line when we had milder days.  The rest of the washing was dried on clothes horses over ducted heating vents.

Baking day

From our chicken

A blessing

Our roti bread blessing

From the garden

How have you saved time,  money and energy this week ?

Our $100 A Month Grocery Budget - Part 1

Due to the uncertain times we live in and irregular work hours over the last 18 months, we have been spending just $100 a month for food,  toiletries and cleaning products.  At times,  that money has stretched to feed up to 5 people depending on who's coming and going in our home at dinnertime.  The $100 includes food and supplies for our cat as well as three meals a day for Darren and I.

I will be the first to admit,  it's been a struggle at times.   We didn't go out and stockpile extra things just to reduce our spending down to $100 a month..  Thankfully we had a reasonable supply of basic pantry items, a good stockpile of meat and an excellent stockpile of toiletries and cleaning supplies.

Back in early 2020,  our budget was cut in all areas with food and gifts taking the biggest hit.  In saying that,  these two areas of our budget are easier to cut than other areas.  We can grow more food and I can make more presents.

To cut the food budget from $150 a month ( on average ) down to $100,  we had to make some hard choices about what is a necessary food item and what is a luxury.  It has been a bit of an adjustment and at times the fridge looks quite bare.  Through all of this,  there is always food on the table,  it's tasty and filling.

I thought I'd share with you how we've eaten on such a small budget and a few tricks I've learnt along the way.

*  Any food that goes into the fridge is carefully used within the right timeframe so it doesn't get thrown out.  With a slightly bare fridge,  it's easy to keep track of what we have.

*  When serving dinner,  our portions have been slightly smaller so we can freeze at least another two portions.  Some meals we've been able to freeze 3 - 4 portions.

*  Soup has featured in our menu plan for dinner at least once or twice a week when the weather has been cold.  Teamed up with leftover bread stick or a dinner roll from the freezer,  it makes a hearty meal that costs about 10 - 20 cents per serve.  Generally the soup is made from a chicken carcass which most people would throw out.  I also cooked up the last leg of lamb from the freezer and used the bone to make a delicious soup.

*  I have deliberately avoided my more expensive recipes especially the ones where you only get four serves and the meal costs $5 or more.  Meat pie,  rissole casserole,  salmon patties and chops have been a rare treat on the menu due to the high meat content and / or cost.

*  My shopping list is revised over and over again to eliminate any unnecessary purchases.  Groceries such as biscuits ( except for Christmas ),  dips,  chips,  chocolate, soft cheeses and roasts have not been purchased since we cut the budget. 

*  I've been adding TVP ( textured vegetable protein ) to beef mince to stretch it further.  I had my doubts about using TVP but in the right ratio we don't notice it at all.

*  Our vegetable garden has given us plenty of greens to add to the dinner plate all year round. Growing silverbeet and kale has been a big money saver.  I've been blanching and freezing excess broccoli and corn.  Even our potato haul earlier this year saved us more than $20.  I didn't buy potatoes for 5 months.

*  Any store bought snacks are only purchased as part of our present for birthdays,  Mother's / Father's Day and Christmas.

A simple Summer dinner

How do you stretch your meals ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 7th August 2021

 The last couple of weeks have been a time of rest and recuperation for both Darren and I   I was sick for a week with side effects from a vaccine and a cold that sent me to bed.  Darren came down with a bad cold about the same time.  I've been feeling well for three days now and Darren has almost recovered.

We were grateful for a well stocked freezer of home made meals to keep us going.  We are also grateful for a clean,  tidy and organised home that gave us the opportunity to just sit and recover.  No dirty washing or dishes piling up around us.

Although I've been absent for the last couple of weeks,  my frugal list is very short and sweet.  There were days when I couldn't do a single task around our home.

So here it is - our frugal list

*  We picked kale,  silverbeet and lettuce from our garden to go with a few of our meals

*  Pruned our Hebe bush and used the branches to brighten our home.

*  Made 2 kilos of brown sugar from scratch.

*  Made a quadruple batch of ANZAC biscuit dough.  Some was baked and the rest of the dough went into the freezer.

*  Made a big pot of spag bol sauce from 1 kilo of beef mince.  I added TVP to stretch the meat and added grated carrot and lots of silverbeet and kale.  From the pot of meat sauce I was able to get 21 single serves.  We ate it fresh that night and the rest went into the freezer.  Batch cooking at it's best.

*  Gratefully received 2 pumpkins.  Darren cut and cooked one of them.   The flesh was drained overnight and portioned into containers to freeze.  It will be used to make lots of pumpkin scones in the future.

*  Gratefully received some oranges and mandarins from Megan's trees.

*  Saved the washing machine rinse water for the next load of washing.

Making ANZAC biscuit dough

White sugar and molasses makes brown sugar

Fresh kale and silverbeet from the garden

What are you picking from the garden ?

How have you saved money this week ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 24th July 2021

 Well,  we are in lockdown again in Melbourne but thankfully we are coping well.  I'm still allowed to work although Darren's hours have been cut.  Our well stocked fridge,  freezers and pantry are keeping us well fed.    Just as lockdown was being rumoured,  Darren ducked into the supermarket to buy a few treats to see us through.  

 I couldn't post anything here last week due to being super busy with work,  a catering job and a sewing job.  By the time the weekend came,  I needed to catch up on the housework,  then rest.

So this frugal list spans two weeks.

*  Darren picked broccoli,  spinach,  kale and lettuce from the garden to have with our meals.

*  I baked choc chip biscuits using dough from the freezer.  Our grandson Luka was over at the time ( before lockdown ) and helped squash the dough on the trays.  He also helped eat the dough too ( sneaky little boy ).

*  Used a $20 voucher from The Good Guys to buy another slow cooker.  The voucher arrived on my phone just hours before lockdown so I raced up to the shops to pick something out.  The slow cooker I bought ended up costing me just $19.95.  

*  Made a bottle of shower cleaner using kitchen detergent.  The ratio is one part detergent to one part water.

*  Hemmed some new curtains for a friend as a paying job.

*  I was in need of some new kitchen cannisters for my tea,  sugar and biscuits.  The ones I'd been using for at least 10 years had become loose around the lids and I needed air tight containers.  I had a few spare Moccona coffee jars on hand and was inspired by Mary from the White Cottage Company to paint them white. Once I painted the jars,  the utensil holder looked out of place so I painted that white as well.   I'm loving the new look and it only cost me about $13 for the can of spray paint.

*  Cooked 31 single serve meals for a friend's grandmother as a paying job and learnt a new soup recipe along the way.

*  Made a batch of pita chips using pita bread from the freezer.

*  Out of an urgent need,  Darren gave me a haircut.  My hair was getting too long and a bit dry on the ends so he cut a couple of inches off.

*  Fed the compost bin with kitchen scraps.  Darren says one bin is now ready to use in the garden.  Just waiting on good weather to empty the bin.

*  Extended the life of my eyeliner by pulling up the contents in the retractable part.  I'll now get another 8 weeks of use.

*  Made a surface spray cleaner for benches,  toilets and sinks etc by diluting kitchen detergent one part detergent to twenty parts cooled boiled water.

*  Made a slow cooker bread pudding using the  saved crusts from my homemade bread. 

*  Sold a set of men's greeting cards.

*  Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

Newly painted ' cannisters '

Newly painted utensil holder

Pita chips for snacks

Freshly baked bread.

Bulk cooking for an order

 

Father's Day is just around the corner.  If you are looking to buy a card to send to a loved one I have a few sets still available.  Each set of four cards comes with numbers that can be added to customise the cards for other occasions too.  

Here is one of the sets available for sale on my Facebook pages

 My Abundant Life Facebook

   How have you saved time,  money or energy this week ?    

Free Alternatives In The Garden

 Reusing,  recycling and upcycling is a wonderful way to save money and help reduce waste.  With more than half of Australians in lockdown right now and many more people around the world,  now is the time to use what you already have on hand at home.

Here are some great ideas for growing a garden without going out to buy things.

*  Dig up the ground you have to make a garden bed.  Raised garden beds are wonderful but not necessary for growing flowers and veggies.

*  Save your own seeds.  Have a look at the veggies you have in your fridge crisper.  Seeds can easily be saved from tomatoes,  cucumbers,  pumpkins and  zucchinis ( if large enough to have seeds ).  Even the wrinkly potatoes in the pantry can be planted if they have sprouted.  If you have flowers in the garden,  wait for them to form seed pods then save the seeds for next season.

*  Take cuttings from your plants,  shrubs and trees in the garden.

*  Cut up  icecream or yoghurt containers to make garden markers for your newly planted seeds and seedlings.

*  Use cut up  old socks to tie up wayward plants.

*  Use pruned,  straight branches as garden stakes for your plants.

*  Use your kitchen scraps to start a compost heap.  If you don't have room for a compost heap then dig the kitchen scraps straight into the garden.

*  Old buckets,  icecream containers, foam boxes,  heavy duty plastic bags / enviro shopping bags ,  milk crates ( lined ) and old plant pots make excellent little gardens.

*  Use toilet rolls to plant your seeds in.  When the seeds have grown tall enough,  plant the toilet roll with the plant to reduce transplant shock.

*  Grass clippings and weeds can be turned into fertiliser.  Place then in a bucket and cover with water.  Let it stand for a week or two and drain the liquid into another container.  Dilute it right down with water before using ( do a Google search for correct ratios ).

*  Need a mini greenhouse to start your seeds ?  Use the plastic cover from a  doona / sheet  set.

*  Poke holes in a water bottle lid to make a seedling watering can ( of sorts ).    

Recycled bricks for the path

Cutting up old socks

Bedding packaging greenhouse.

What items do you recycle for use in the garden ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 10th July 2021

 This week I've been keeping busy on a wide variety of tasks.  Life is never dull or mundane when money,  time and energy can be saved in so many ways.

Here's what I've been up to -

*  Bought 2 metal trays from Savers for $5.19 in total.   The plan is to use them on my coffee table and dining table.  They were a creamy color that looked yellow in spots so I spray painted them with white  Rustoleum paint I already had on hand.  For just a few minutes of work they came up looking fabulous.

*  Saved a cereal bag and cut it up into squares to use as go between when freezing crumpets and hamburger patties.

*  Baked lots of ANZAC biscuits for this week's morning / afternoon tea treats.  The dough came from the freezer from when I last made a bulk batch of dough a few months ago.

*  Picked some daisy greenery ( leaves ) from the garden to add to my dining table display.  There are not many flowers in the garden at the moment due to the cold weather.  The greenery is truly appreciated.

*  Turned the heater down to 19 degrees Celsius or turned it off all together when the sun was shining.  It has been a cold Winter so far so a few hours without the heater on feels like a major achievement.

*  I have been watching a YouTube channel called White Cottage Company.  Mary likes to make old,  op shop,  antique and everyday items look like new by painting them ( amongst her many talents ).  I was inspired to do a mini makeover of our home which included a frame with wedding pictures and calligraphy in it.  The frame was a dark timber which now doesn't go with our home colors and the mat and photos were faded.  A quick spray paint of the frame and mat with white Rustoleum and photocopying the photos,  it came up looking fabulous and oh so ' on trend '.

*  Wrote out a menu plan for the next 5 weeks.  I've added soup,  eggs on toast and fried rice as cheap meals to keep our costs down.

*  Dried most of the washing on the line ( in Winter ).  Only a few things were finished off in the dryer.

*  I filled the thermos with boiling water in the morning to use for cuppas during the day.  This saves me boiling the kettle twice.

*  Picked more lemons from our tree and juiced the ones I picked over a week ago.  Leaving them for a couple of weeks relaxes the lemons and you get more juice from them.

*  Pruned the plum tree in the hope we get more fruit next Summer.  I also put snail bait out around the veggie seedlings and fed them all with Seasol.

New tray for the coffee table

New tray and greenery for the dining table

Renovated frame and insert

More lemons from our tree.

How thrifty were you this week ?

Are you finding ways to save on your heating bills this Winter ? Or cooling bills if you are in Summer ?

Free Alternatives For Around The Home

 We live in a world that likes to replace items on a whim.  If things look a little tired or out of date - just go and buy a new one.  You only have to watch tv ads or look at the latest department store catalogues.

Over the last 18 months or so many incomes have been slashed and having spare cash can be a luxury.

Here are some free alternatives you can easily source with little effort -

*  Need a new kitchen sponge ?  Raid your linen cupboard for unwanted or faded face washers.  They are very durable,  can be washed in the washing machine and are also great for wiping kitchen benches.

*  Need some pantry storage ?  Use glass Moccona coffee jars.  They come in different sizes and can be easily sourced on social media pages.  Any glass jar will do the job including jam,  pasta sauce, tomato paste and pickle jars.

*  Need new cushion covers ?  Tables cloths,  pillow cases and bed sheets can easily be sewn into cushion covers with minimal effort,  skill  and equipment.

*  Need a new vase or don't like the look of the ones you have ?  Use glass jars as is or paint them a neutral color like white for a classic look.

*  Think you need a new rice cooker ?  A saucepan will do the job and did so for hundreds of years before the sudden urge to use one.  Just wash your rice before cooking and put a timer on for accurate cooking.

*  Need to update your old picture frames ?   Paint them with a more modern color.  Check your garage for leftover paint from your last painting project.  If your frame has a matted picture in it,  the mat can be painted too.

*  Need new tea towels ?  Cut and hem old cotton doona covers or pillow cases.

Jam jars for herb storage

Free Moccona coffee jars from Facebook

Painted frame and matting

What free alternatives do you use around the home ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 3rd July 2021

 Each week my goal is to complete 2 frugal tasks each day with a total of 14 by the time Saturday comes around.  My week started really well and I was on track for a record amount of frugal tasks.  Then I woke up with a really sore throat and the rest of the week was spent resting when I wasn't at work.  Oh well,  I had good intentions.

Here's what I did complete earlier in the week -

*  Picked,  blanched and froze three heads of broccoli from our garden.

*  We've started using loose leaf tea in our cuppas.  Although we still have about 2 years worth of tea bags,  loose leaf tea works out cheaper than the teabags.

*  Donated a couple of bags of unwanted items to Savers and received 2 x 20% discount vouchers.

*  Refilled the dishwashing liquid pump bottle and diluted it by 30%.

*  Refilled the foaming hand wash pumps with homemade liquid ( diluted shower gel ).  Mostly we are trying to use up our bars of soap stash but the main bathroom ( guest bathroom ) has a pump bottle.

*  Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.  I've found a way to fit all four bread tins into one oven which is saving 1/2 an hour of electricity.  After 12 years of using two ovens,  this was a lightbulb moment.  I guess we never stop learning new ways to do things.

*  Darren desperately needed a new pair of jeans for work and volunteering because he's lost so much weight.  Thankfully he was able to get a decent pair from Savers and used a 20% off discount voucher.

*  Defrosted and iced a small whole orange cake from the freezer when we had a visitor over one night.  Having baking in the freezer is such a time and money saver.

*  Saved water where possible,  kept light off and turned the heater off when the Sun was shining.

Sharing a pot of tea.

Picking bonus broccoli florets

Penstemon flowers in our garden.

One of our potato plants growing.

We still have some flowers in our Winter garden

How did you save time,  money or energy this week ?