I also had Channel Nine News come over for an interview at short notice. You should have seen me fly around the house to get it " tv ready '. There were clothes horses everywhere. Then I had to get myself " tv ready " as I was sitting at my laptop in my house clothes when I got the call. I can laugh about it now.
Here's what else I got up to this week -
* Gratefully received two wool doonas from a cleaning client. Although they are not new, they had been dry cleaned a few years ago and stored away. Both are for double beds which is perfect for my girls pillow top single beds.
* Made a triple batch of cranberry hootycreek biscuit ( cookie ) dough. Some of the dough was baked and the rest was put into the freezer for future baking.
* Used up the leftover roast veggies from a meal and turned them into a chicken flan. Very, very tasty.
* Picked young silverbeet leaves from the garden to add to two meals. I couldn't wait for them to grow any bigger. Darren and I just love to add silverbeet to our dinner plates whenever possible.
* Saved lots of washing machine water for each next load. Saved the shower warm up water to put on our pot plants.
* Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.
* Dried all the washing on clothes horses over the ducted heating vents. Only the sheets went into the dryer.
* Reused lots of bread bags to store my homemade bread, to double wrap the biscuit dough and to line the bathroom bins.
* Mended Darren's work trousers as they had a big rip in them. .
* Made a conscious effort to avoid using cling wrap for storing foods in the fridge and freezer. After years of using it to wrap everything, I still need to stop myself from getting the cling wrap out. I have plenty of containers of all shapes and sizes. I'm limiting my cling wrap usage to storing raw meat in the freezer.
* Kept the curtains open when the sun was shining to help heat up the home.
* Saved the insides of a few envelopes from the mail to use in my card making.
* Baked some ANZAC biscuits and peanut butter choc chip biscuits for snacks using my dough from the freezer.
* Put $30 of petrol in my car when it was 113 cents a litre. I know this isn't as cheap as it will get but it's been two weeks since I filled up at the low end of the petrol cycle. By the time the price of petrol drops to it's lowest ( hopefully in a week ), my car will almost be on empty again. Then I'll fill it to the brim.
* Made pizza from scratch instead of getting takeaway. The temptation is still there but we do prefer our own.
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| Peanut butter choc chip biscuits |
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| Lots of baking |
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| Baby silverbeet leaves |
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| Wholemeal bread |
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| Homemade pizza |
What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?
Wendy, I would have been doing more than flying around the house, I would have been in high panic mode!!! A new kitchen is exciting, congratulations! Our gasoline is increasing in price instead of decreasing. 0:( You had a good week! We've been concentrating on getting the rest of our garden planted and I am happy to say that we have been using seeds we've saved or that were left over from years past. We've had success with saving seeds and it saves a bundle of money.
ReplyDeleteHi Patsy, yes I was flying around the house at one stage.
Deleteit's great that you were able to save seeds. We try to do that or use what we have.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great week you've had. How exciting to be looking at new kitchens! We upgraded ours a couple of years ago with some new doors, tile paint and I used a counter top transformation kit for the bench. At the time we did it for under a couple thousand dollars. I love it but kind of wish we waited and saved up for a brand new one. Your food always looks so yummy and what a blessing to get those wool blankets! xx
Mel, our kitchen is beyond a make over. It's about 26 - 28 years old and very tired. It has had a very good work out over the years.
DeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeleteYour week has been incredibly busy, I don't know how you do it all.
Well, I saved a bit this week by having Mondays leftovers (meatloaf) again on Tuesday, i had planned coleslaw with it but it turned very cold here so didn't cut the vegetables so finely and stir fried instead with a jacket potato. Very nice.
Bought a big bag of on special bananas and peeled and froze for smoothies and mixing in with our breakfast porridge. They worked out at about 70cents a kg and were ripe enough that they wouldn't have lasted long enough to eat fresh.
My husband made me a set of broomstick knitting needles out of a piece of curtain dowel and a broken table leg (clever man) I'm sure it saved about $25 well I guess I wouldn't have done the workshop if I had to spend that sort of money. So Tuesday I learnt a new skill and saved some money, win win.
Yesterday we had to go down to Geelong so we took a thermos and a picnic lunch, bought petrol on the way cheaper than at home, so we're quite happy with our efforts this week.
Best wishes, Susan
Susan, what do you do with broomstick knitting needles ?
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI love cooking with silverbeet too.. I love saute silverbeet with onion, garlic and a bit of olive oil.. Yummy in stews and soups too.
I would love to learn to bake my own bread..
I am very conscious on budgeting and saving money being a single mum on a carers pension I have to be..
I just love your blog, its inspiring..
Darleen
Thankyou Darleen. I just love sharing what I know and hope it helps others.
DeleteBaking bread is not that hard although it can be time consuming. I try to do other things while the dough is rising.
this week I bought a king size bedspread at the op shop for $12, this is now in use as a couch cover. I also bought a tassel making kit for $2, this will be made up and added to the gift cupboard. Sorted out many small items to give to DGC when i go to Brisbane, I pick up little things from the $2 shops, op shops etc, and lots of books for them, so I have a reasonable amount to take with me.
ReplyDeleteContinued working in the garden, this is almost ready for planting, sowed some broad bean seeds in dried, used tea bags, hopefully it will work.
Stuck to my list when op shopping, and shopping in general.
I'm glad you are continuing to grow things Meg.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteYour ACA interview was great. I love your idea about cutting back on the cling wrap, so I'm taking the challenge also.
Well this week we attended a 21st and received gifts from them of gift bags, cakes, chocolate and candles. I went to a different hairdresser as they offer $10.00 haircuts instead of normally paying $20.00 and i coloured my own hair. Refilled the hand soap pumps and saved the paper from some flowers.
With the solar playing up, i started using the themos again and we still haven't put the heater on yet. I used my care plan (because of my diabetes I'm under a care plan , 5 visits to specialist per year) for the Podiatrist at no cost. We were given bread, scones, cakes and bananas.
This week i mooed Tuna pasta using a few ingredients that i had to swap around as i didn't have thise on hand and didn't want to buy them before shopping day. Castor sugar, choc chip muffins, chocolate cake, bread, chicken skewers and brownies were all mooed. I planted Brocoli, peas and lettuce seedlings.
Yesterday i attended the card making workshop and had a fantastic time. I bought fruit and veggies before the workshop at a wholesale place , great prices eg broccoli. 89c kg, oranges. 45c kg and grapes.99kg. Made some great cards, recived lovely things from the swap and enjoyed the porridge from the swap this morning for breakfast, yum. Loved the morning and afternoon teas and your bickies were yummy. Thank you so much for the USB Stick with the story, I've watched it four times already, love it. De cluttered today so i can take it to Savers tomorrow when i go for the half price sale.
A question:my older lettuce plants are going to seed. Do i leave these in to yuild lettuce for next year?
Have a great week, xxx
Maureen
Great price on the broccoli Maureen. You can leave the lettuce in to reseed or save the seeds to dry and replant ( better option )
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I left a comment, but I am still following yours and Annabel's blog. We are currenly removing some trees and shrubs in the backyard . Someone from a tree removal service gave us a quote and I can't even repeat how much it would cost us if we employed the services of a professional. I almost fainted. DH hired a chainsaw and borrowed a friend's ute and we are doing it ourselves. I really don't understand why this is so expensive. We are also going to hire a pressure cleaner to clean the house (exterior).
Shopped the specials this week including a lot of fruit. I mooed banana cake, orange cake and made lots of smoothies.
Have a good week Tricia
Welcome back Tricia. I've heard tree lopping can be expensive. I'm so glad we don't have big trees.
DeleteHope to hear from you again.
Have I missed you on TV Wendy? Marie
ReplyDeleteI've put the story link on both my facebook pages for Wendy Gower and My Abundant Life.
DeleteHi wendy, loved your channel 9 interview and totally agree. You can be healthy on a budget. I plan our meals similar to lots of other bloggers in this community and we are both very active, and rarely sick. We eat lots of fruit and vegetable with plenty of good home cooked meals. It amazes me people that complain about grocery prices and their trolleys are FULL of processed packaged goods. Made a big pot of veggie lentil soup last night, with a lovely asparagus & pumpkin quiche. Cooking up some Italian style chicken tonight with silverbeet, side of pasta and streamed veg. Yum yum. Have a great week!!
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your lovely words.
DeleteThose people who complain about grocery prices are probably the same type of people who judge me for having a tinned soup stockpile. They just don't understand that it will take me a few years to get through them all when used in casseroles.
Like you, we are rarely sick unless someone coughs all over us.
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteRe the broomstick knitting. You cast on in multiples of six. Knit four rows in garter stitch and then row five when you knit the stitch you pull the stitch up on to the broomstick needle, row six you slip six stitches at a time off the broomstick and knit each stitch, repeat til end of row then four rows garter stitch again. The pattern is quite pretty and effective. Once you have about a dozen rows done it does become quite easy.
I don't know how to attach a photo from here, I'm using an iPad. Would be happy to show how it looks via photo. Oops makes a lovely scarf, and I think you could make a nice rug.
Best Wishes
Susan
Hi Susan. Could you please post a photo on one of my facebook pages ? I have one for Wendy Gower and one for My Abundant Life. Thanks. I'm curious to see what it looks like.
DeleteHello from the States! Several people have used the term, mooed. What does this mean? Thanks for the explanation. :)
ReplyDelete-Ellie
Hello Ellie. MOO means Make Our Own.
Delete