Saturday 16 July 2016

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 16th July 2016

My frugal list is a little shorter this week because I'm going away for the weekend.  I'm joining a group of  lovely ladies from The Cheapskates Club for a weekend of card making at Phillip  Island.  Here's what I managed to do before I left on Friday -

*  Mended a coat by sewing back on some buttons and tightening the others.  There was a hole in the pocket lining so I sewed that up too.  I also  replaced the buttons on a pj top.

*  Turned the power points off in the girl's bedrooms when they were out.  I also closed the ducted heating vents.

*  Bought lots of chicken fillets for $4.99kg.  For about $63 Darren and I were able to get forty meals which works out to approx. $1.60 per meal for meat.  Gotta love a bargain.

*  Picked lettuce,  silverbeet and lemons from the garden.

*  Saved the rubber bands wrapped around our mail

*  Used the thermos to store boiled water during the day.

*  Made lots of raspberry and white choc muffins and raspberry jam to sell to a friend.

*  Bought oranges for 49c kg,  golden delicious apples for 99c kg and mandarins for 99c kg.

*  Saved the washing machine and shower water to wash our clothes.

*  Decluttered and donated lots of items to our local op shop and received a couple of discount stamps.

*  Stayed home as much as possible to save on petrol.

*  Gratefully received some card making items in the mail.  Thankyou Barb.

*  Used the carpet sweeper mid week instead of the vacuum cleaner.

*  Lifted up my retractable eyeliner ( Avon ) to use every last bit.

*  Made a big pot of chunky chicken and veggie soup using chicken carcasses I'd frozen.  I also made a batch of peanut butter choc chip biscuits.  Both of these items were for the weekend away

One of our mango plants still growing
Jam to sell
The Sun streaming through the window
Can it get any fuller ?
.
What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?

24 comments:

  1. Wow you still managed to get a lot done this week! I hope you have a great weekend away. Well done on the chicken breast! I would buy lots too if I found it for that price. Here is what I got up to:
    - had a wonderful week of food blessings. I received two avocados, strawberry jam, scones (some were put away in the freezer), cream, a bag of chocolates, chocolate cake mix
    - babylove are currently giving away free baby shower gift packs containing nappies, wipes and a toy. I have a baby shower to attend in the near future and this is a perfect gift.
    - bought turkish bread, pork chops, steak, ham and smoked salmon (luxury for us) for better than half price. These were popped into the freezer
    - batch cooked bean and barley soup and managed to fit it in the deep freeze.
    - stretched a roast chicken for a few meals and lunches.
    - took lunches from home
    - saved bread bags
    - tried to use the heater as little as possible but this week has been exceptionally cold
    - dried everything on the line as much as possible
    - had last minute guests come to our house for dinner, luckily I have a stockpile and lots in the freezer to easily accommodate this without any extra cost or having to buy something to feed them.

    Amy

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    1. You receive some wonderful food blessings Amy. Stay tuned for more bread bag posts coming up.

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  2. I'm thinking frugally more often these days since reading you blog.
    I baked 3 loaves of bread this week, and a batch of your Cranberry Hootycreek biscuits and made some bread and butter pudding to use up some stale homemade bread.
    I grouped several errands in town, parked in one place and walked everywhere, to save on fuel.
    I bought a $5 gift to start my very first gift cupboard, ready for Christmas and Birthdays! (I really like that idea, frugal, time saving and stress reducing!)
    Thanks for all your wonderful inspiration once again Wendy.

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    1. How exciting to start your present cupboard. It will save you a fortune.

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  3. I went through my seeds and made a plan for the summer garden. As I live in Hervey Bay I can get my garden going pretty much now. We've also had unseasonal winter rain so I am going to take advantage of moist soil to get things germinated and started. I have run all the tree branch drops and other plant material, like to dying passionfruit vine and corn stalks, through the mulcher and now have this on all the garden beds. Homemade compost has also been moved around. No cost beyond some thought time for planning and a bit of physical labour to get it all into place.
    We are going away for about 6 weeks. All the daughter has to do is put the bore on a couple of times a week, if there is no rain, and we should get home to some lovely produce.
    Our daughter moved back in with us. Her pantry goods have been worked in with ours. This took a little bit of organisation to get it to work for all of us.
    I made a double batch of Miracle Cleaner and a double batch of reusable wipes. One lot of each is for the house and the other lot for the caravan. Glass containers in the house and plastic for the van.
    Baked a cheesecake on the request of the daughter and husband. Made passionfruit syrup from frozen fruit to pour over the top. All ingredients were from the fridge, freezer and pantry.
    Made a gift for a male relative, his Birthday is today, out of wine corks. I glued the corks together to make a trivet and 6 coasters. I wrapped jute lace around the outside edge and backed with owl printed hessian. I'm pretty happy with the way they have turned out. These will be delivered on our travels.
    Haven't been anywhere all week due to the cold inclement weather. Saved loads on fuel money.
    It's been a frugal week.

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    1. I saw the photo of your coaster Jane. They look fantastic. Making your own compost saves a fortune. Darren gets coffee grounds from the café every now and then to add to the compost bins.

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  4. You have just reminded me that I need to do a bit of mending this weekend! We have stayed home a lot other than work and so saved petrol, cooked from scratch, put on extra layers of clothing rather than run the heater saving electricity, spent very little on our weekly shop because we have most of everything we need on hand already.

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    1. Sherri, you have some great saving there. They all add up.

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  5. Hi Wendy, Liz here from W.A., hope your enjoying your weekend away! My biggest saving this week was from reviewing our life insurance policy. We have dropped the trauma component, my reasoning being that we have a healthy emergency fund and shopped around for cheaper life insurance for us both. We made a saving of $208 per month by changing companies and taking advantage of a promotion of 20% discount for the life of the policy by quoting 'Money Magazine'. Its a big job changing life insurance with the application but well worth it. I will be reviewing all our insurance from now on, regards Liz

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    1. WOW !!! Liz you've saved your family a small fortune. It always pays to check all insurances and utilities ( where you can ) every year. Quite often there is a better deal that hasn't been advertised.

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  6. I hope you are having a lovely time at your card making retreat! That plant is gorgeous and your jams look lovely. :)

    I posted on my blog about all my frugal doings this past week.

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  7. Hi Wendy,
    I've just discovered your interesting and helpful blog.
    I had to smile at you sewing on buttons. I reluctantly mended a moth chewed striped Country Road scarf which I just couldn't throw away. So much satisfaction when finished and it looked fine. Came in handy in freezing cold Canberra today.
    BTW what is the lovely lilac colored flowered plant in today's blog?
    Janet

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    1. Janet, I think it's a daisy plant ( of some description ) bought at Bunnings a few years ago. It's very easy to take cuttings from too.

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  8. We ate predominately from freezer meals I'd pre-made and leftovers of roast chicken this week. Made a slice and biscuits for school morning teas too. I visited local libraries today gathering books my young boy wants to read rather than buying them. Found a book of simple things a beginner knitter can make so I'll be knitting few things (besides my usual washcloths) for my present box from that book. I'm also making some little gift tags with pretty magazine photos I found and I'm drying some little viola flowers from garden to use to make tags too. Did grocery shopping and got some specials to put into my stockpile as well (I check your lists each wee:) All washing drying on racks inside or on line under the house as it's raining. It's been quite cold here but no heaters on during day and only little one on in our boys room at night to warm up room before he goes to sleep. We are all wearing many extra layers! Felt like a fairly frugal week:)

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    1. It sounds like a frugal week too Meg. Gift tags are great for using up little bits of paper, ribbon, lace, cardboard, wrapping paper etc.

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  9. Hi Wendy, your frugal tasks are inspiring, allot I already do but it's good to be reminded. One thing we do here is to keep a car chamois in the shower. When finished you just chamois the shower down. In winter there is still enough warmth in the recess. It adds a minute or two to the shower, but once in the routine it's fine. You also drip dry a bit, less moisture on the towels. But the best bit is I very rarely need to clean the shower. It works well here.

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    1. A chamois is a great idea. We scrape down the shower too.

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  10. Your jam looks perfect - I can just taste it on wholemeal toast and a cuppa right now.

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    1. It's a fabulous breakfast Phil. No preservatives either.

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  11. Hi Wendy,

    You had lots of savings this week, well done.
    Your soup and biscuits were beautiful, thanks, xxx

    This week I refilled the Miracle spray bottles and made one batch of washing powder ( didn't have time to make more). I made lots of card things for the weekend and we were blessed with cake, scones and bread.

    I mooed all meals (ate leftovers two nights), made bread and things to take away for the card making weekend.

    Received School kids bonus which went onto the mortgage.

    Had a fantastic weekend away at Phillip Island and made lots of cards and had lots of great laughs, thanks Wendy for everything, xxx

    Blessings
    Maureen

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    1. Yes it was a great weekend Maureen. You make beautiful cards xoxo

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  12. That jam looks delicious!!

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  13. I hope you have a fun, creative, productive weekend away!
    Your jam looks lovely and delicious and the soup sounds good, too.
    Blessings, Leigh

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