Well, this week has been an interesting one. On Monday I did a 1 hour phone interview with a reporter named Emily from Channel Nine's online content team. Emily came across my name in a Facebook savings group, then researched my stories from A Current Affair in 2014. She wanted to do an update story on where our family is now and how we are coping with the cost of living crisis.
It was wonderful to chat with Emily and she was all ears when I shared the many ways we save money. I think she almost fell off her chair when I told her we only spend $150 a month for our groceries, including basic toiletries and cleaning ingredients. For those of you who have followed our journey, you'd know that my budget was $120 at the start of the year and gradually increased as grocery prices skyrocketed.
It was planned for the story to go online either Thursday or Friday. On Wednesday (two days after the interview ), I was out shopping for the end of season clearance bargains when my phone started dinging. I didn't pay too much attention to it until Darren messaged me to say I'm famous again ( I always joke back to him that I'm only famous in my own backyard ). I still had no clue what was going on until I went on Facebook. As you can imagine, things got busy for the next few hours.
If you are one of the people who read the Channel Nine story and joined our thrifty community this week WELCOME !!! I really hope this blog is a source of inspiration to you. We are a happy bunch of people who love to live our best life and encourage each other.
With all that being said, here is my frugal tasks list for the week -
* I made a big pot of veggie soup using some of the pumpkin we grew. We had soup for dinner that night with homemade flat breads. The leftover soup went into the freezer in single and double portions.
* I used Magic Eraser ( the cheap version ) on our kitchen sink to make it shine. This was a much easier and less time consuming way compared to using Jif and a non scratch scourer.
* We gratefully received a few lemons, mandarins and oranges from 2 different families. We also picked one mandarin from our tree.
* I made lots of choc chip biscuit dough for the freezer.
* When the Sun was shining, we charged the solar lanterns and used them in the loungeroom at night.
* Darren made more flat breads with some Greek yoghurt we were given. I used a cut up cereal packet to go between each flat bread ( stops them sticking ) and froze them.
* We used the thermos each day to store boiling water for our cuppas. This saves the kettle being boiled 2 - 3 more times.
* I made a pumpkin loaf ( bread ) and 18 muffins using some of the pumpkin we grew. I'll be posting the recipe in 2 weeks time so you'll want to keep a look out for it. The bread is absolutely delicious. The rest of the pumpkin was steamed, drained and frozen for future pumpkin bread making. I'm now on the hunt for a good price on pumpkin so I can cook and freeze more.
* We gratefully received lots of paper supermarket bags from a friend. We use them under the kitchen sink for our household / kitchen rubbish.
* I baked 3 loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness. I used saved / recycled bread bags to store the bread in the freezer after I'd sliced it.
* I made 2 kilos of brown sugar to replenish the brown sugar jar.
* Darren made mini lamb and vegetable pies using a tray of lamb mince he got on clearance for $1.90. He added potatoes and carrots to the meat mixture ( plus seasonings ) and the 500g stretched to make 12 pies. Very yummy indeed.
* We filled the compost bucket a few times this week and Darren emptied it into the compost bin outside. As soon as the weather warms up a little he will be emptying one bin onto our veggie garden.
* We kept the curtains 90% closed on the really cold days to keep the warmth in. Yesterday ( Friday ) the Sun was shining so we made sure the curtains were open on those windows to capture the heat streaming in.
LINKS -
Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness
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Darren's mini lamb pies |
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Pumpkin loaf / bread |
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Pumpkin bread made into muffins |
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Making biscuit dough |
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A pot of veggie soup with the pumpkin. |
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Making brown sugar. |