Saturday 8 July 2017

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 8th July 2017

I'm sure my week disappeared before my eyes.  I've been getting our home ready to host an afternoon tea this Sunday.  While we were tidying up,  we discovered mice in my garden shed - grrrr  !!!  So everything had to be emptied out of my shed and onto the lawn.  Not a task I wanted to do in the middle of Winter,  in the cold and damp.  I took this delightful ( not ) opportunity to declutter items I'd been holding onto thinking I'd use or need.  With sticky nose neighbours peering at us from their second story window,  we spent about 6 hours on Thursday sorting and wiping everything.  Talk about "your life on the lawn ".  Do you remember that tv show ?  That was us but thankfully no camera crew in sight.

Here's my slightly smaller frugal list for the week -

*  Made chicken stock in the slow cooker.  Jessica bought a cooked chicken to make sandwiches for herself.  She gave me the carcass so I made the most of it.  From that I made a pot of chunky chicken and veggie soup.  Some was for a lunch and the rest went into the freezer in single serves.

*  Made four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

*  Sold one dozen eggs.

*  Made lots of cards using stock I had on hand.

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

*  Made 32 muffins using frozen berries Jessica had bought and abandoned in the freezer.  I added raspberries from our garden last Summer.  I used this recipe.

*  Made another pot of chicken stock in the slow cooker.  This went straight into the freezer for future soup making.

*  Cleaned the dishwasher and filters with bi carb,  vinegar and Miracle Spray.

*  Cleaned the kettle with citric acid.  While I was at it I put bi carb,  vinegar and water from the kettle down the sink to clean the pipes.

*  Darren and I had freezer meals ( leftovers ) for dinner one night.

*  Hand washed the dinner dishes instead of putting the dishwasher on.  Some nights it's just Darren and I home so there's not enough dishes to use the dishwasher.  I don't lie dirty dishes sitting in the dishwasher until there's enough to put a load on.

*  Found an old room spray in our bathroom cupboard.  The fragrance had changed slightly so on the advice of the shop owner from where we bought it,  we diluted it with cooled boiled water.  Now it smells fine and we are using it up.

*  Darren took a carload of unwanted items from my garden shed.  He received two discount stamps for the donation.

  
The little green teapot at the bottom is my latest addition..

Chunky chicken and veg soup.

Chicken stock in the slow cooker

Wholemeal bread

Fruit and choc muffins


My latest cards





How did you save money this week ?

8 comments:

  1. Hi, Wendy. That must've been a big job cleaning and sorting your shed...in the cold!! It's gotten colder here too the past day or so. It's been a very tiring week here as my son has developed pneumonia so our efforts and energies have been towards helping him get better. A few frugal things were achieved though:
    * grateful for the meals from the freezer when didn't feel like cooking
    * made a simple chocolate slice with pantry ingredients
    * using hot water bottles to warm beds and just small heater in my
    son's room
    * started knitting new washcloth
    * filled car at $1.07per Litre
    * planted some new lettuce seedlings in the garden
    Have a lovely week. Meg:)

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  2. That green teapot is adorable! I am so sorry about the mice...they are such a pain to deal with. We have some in our home right now and they are driving the cat (and me) batty!

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  3. Great ideas, although I am not artistic enough to make cards. I do love to make chicken stock from those carcasses.

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  4. love your tea sets! they are adorable!
    i don't declutter anymore, i try to re-purpose most things though atm most things are tucked away in containers waiting for new uses.
    i'm new to the electric slow cooker & was wondering if you would share some of your simple recipes? i have no idea for times/hours of cooking needed with it.
    thanx for sharing

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    Replies
    1. If you look in the recipe section, I have a recipe for chicken curry and sausage casserole. Both are cooked in the slow cooker.

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  5. We're dealing with mice at the house we're selling! They are in the garage and shed. This is just what we need right now!

    We have been living in our vacation home for about a week and going back and forth to finish spiffing up the old house until it sells.

    Here's what I did this week that was frugal (not much, LOL)--
    *Made a batch of Miracle Spray.
    *Cooked a chicken for dinner in the Crock Pot and made chicken salad spread for lunch sandwiches. I made some chicken stock, too, but forgot to refrigerate it (dang!).
    *Found a piece of plywood at the old house to make another shelf for my pantry cupboard. Brought food from there to here.
    *Bought blueberries on a super sale and made low sugar cooked jam for about $1.50 a cup, including sugar and pectin. I usually make freezer jam, but I wanted some jam for gifts. I'm hoping to pick wild blackberries for jelly (too seedy for jam).

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  6. Just wanted to ask what size tins do you use to bake your bread? I am wanting to buy some new ones as the ones I have I think are a bit small?
    thank you

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