* Gratefully received some bread bags then used them to line our bathroom bins and to wrap food for the freezer,
* Made a batch of Miracle Spray to sell to a cleaning client. Made a batch of double strength to use around my home. I dilute it when filling up the spray bottles.
* Made a double batch of scones. Some were used for morning tea at church and the rest went into the freezer for our use. Very yummy with homemade jam.
* Fed lots of weeds and some kitchen scraps to the chickens. I'm sure it brightened their dreary Winter day.
* Found lots of brand new dvds in their original wrapping at Savers op shop for $2.99 to $4.99 each. They have been put aside for Christmas stocking stuffers and birthday presents next year.
* Dried the washing on clothes horses over the ducted heating vents in the bathrooms. Only the bed sheets went into the dryer for 40 minutes.
* Roasted a chicken for dinner one night then used the carcass to make chicken stock overnight in the slow cooker The next day I made a big pot of chunky chicken and veggie soup for dinner. We had six single serves left over which went into the freezer.
* Gratefully received a bag of lemons. Our lemon tree is not looking well this year. It has lots of gall wasp in it and we'll have to give it a hard prune just before Spring
* Found a small cane basket in Savers for $2.99. This will be painted and used for the flowergirl at Jessica and Eugene's wedding.
* Kept most of the curtains closed during the day to keep the heat in. Melbourne's temperature has dropped to 11 - 14 degrees Celsius over the last couple of weeks and we are starting to really feel the cold. Oh well, it's much better than the scorching heat of Summer.
* Cooked all meals from scratch and was mindful to use up bits and pieces in the fridge.
* Fed the compost bin with veggie peelings and tea leaves.
* Jessica found lots of Winter clothing bargains online at Target. The clothes will be put away for next year when she does her teaching rounds again. Jessica also found a couple of dresses and coats at Savers on Sunday and used her student card to get a 20% discount.
* Hand washed the dishes most nights and only used the dishwasher when really needed.
* Saved the shower warm up water for the garden. Saved the washing machine water for each next load. I know this frugal task appears often in my list but I REALLY do this every week to save lots of water.
 |
| Blessed with lemons |
 |
| Making Miracle Spray |
 |
| Scones for morning teas. |
How did you fill your week ?
. .
Dear Wendy!
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your week , each Saturday morning I make my self a cup of tea and read your latest blog it's a ritual I have with Annabels blog too and a couple of others, I love my tea and my blogs!.
My week has included:
I gratefully re.ceived two meals from my parents and they also gave me a chicken, leek and other veg pie ( family size) which will feed me for two dinners and two lunches.
I refilled my foaming hand wash with the dregs of the 500 ml hand wash refill, this bottle has lasted me a long time and done at least28 refills of my foaming hand wash pump ( with water like you do, you gave me the idea years ago) .i bought the 500 ml bottle for $2.40 so each refill has cost me less than 10 cents .
I gratefully received limes and oranges and mandarins and lemons from my grandmas trees?
I bought some beautiful gift items for $2 reduced from $15 and some gift items for $5 reduced from $25 . These will be gifts for Christmas .
I cashed in some coins I had been saving, I cash them in regularly as I don't like keeping a lot of coins at home.
I bought. Some reduced to clear items and 50% off specials.
There's more but I have forgotten!.
Have a great weekend Wendy and family and everyone reading.
Love Barb W.
I love a good cup of tea too Barb. You have a great frugal list
DeleteMy biggest saving this week was in the garden. I ran out of hay to mulch the garden. It is $5/bale compared the the compressed bales for $15 at Bunnings. I had a huge pile of trimmings from the fruit trees and the overhang from the neighbours garden. I put these through my little mulcher and was able to complete the deep mulching of the garden. The garden should be ready for action come Spring.
ReplyDeleteBet you can't wait for the garden produce.
DeleteHi Wendy,your scone recipe is delish,, you gave me the idea of making up a batch for the weekend and freezer while reading your blog, i am also doing baked apples in the slow cooker,our chickens too get spoilt over the winter time with lots of scraps have a wonderful and warm weekend xo
ReplyDeleteScones in the freezer are so handy when visitors pop in.
DeleteHi Wendy, Liz here from WA. I have been following your blog but haven't commented for so time. Been a busy but successful week here. Some of the things we have achieved are -
ReplyDeleteGratefully received some lemons, garlic and avocado's from neighbours.
I have been cutting the dishwasher tablets in half to stretch the boxes I bought on special.
Cut a load of Jarrah firewood off the property, its freezing here, and I have been starting the fire with Kero instead of firelighters, much cheaper and I haven't had any luck with homemade firelighters.
Hubby cut up 2 of our sheep for the freezer yesterday and I packaged and trimmed the fat, and was happy to fit them both in the freezer without having to turn on the second freezer.
We took all our old wethers to the sale yards on Wednesday and got $100 a head which was great given it was a slow day at the yards.
Sold our old tractor for what we paid for it years ago, and we were completely honest with the buyer about its faults, no brakes and water in the oil, and he still gave us $2000.It did still pur like a kitten and we had a lot of use from it over the years!
I haven't been near a shop for over a week so no savings there to report.
I have been selling unwanted item on Buy Swap and sell this past few weeks and have paid an extra $800 off the IP loan. My eldest and I are having a stall at the local markets tomorrow, so any profits I make will also go off the loan.
Cooked all meals from scratch, using home grown produce as much as possible, meat and veggies (I have pumpkin coming out of my ears)and my bottled diced tomatoes and fruit.
Made my own bread!
Did all the washing and cleaning using home made products, and dried the washing on clothes horses by the fire.
So a good week here and so happy to have both my sons home for a couple of weeks, enjoy the weekend Wendy!
It's great ot have you back Liz. Staying away from the shops is a huge saving.
DeleteWhat will you have on your stall ?
Lovely to receive a gift of lemons, Wendy, especially when your tree is not doing well this year. I always think the gift of produce is such a wonderful thing. It was the first week of school holidays here for my son so keeping fun simple and non-expensive will be a priority. Here's my frugal list:
ReplyDelete* made huge pot of a beef and vegetable soup using just one piece of chuck steak and lots of fresh veg and stock. (2xdinners, 2xlunches + portion for freezer)
* made a vegetable curry using up lots of veg from the fridge and served it with rice (2 x dinners, 2x lunches)
* knitted two washcloths and made a sweet linen drawstring bag for gifts
* made a choc/hazelnut slice and a heap of fruity muffins using overripe banana.
* only washed on sunny days, not on the few overcast days we've had this week
* turning off toaster, cooktop, oven, microwave, tv and computer at the wall once done with using them.
* using hot water bottles to warm sheets at night rather than heaters
* read library books, watched library dvd, played board games and walked dog every afternoon rather than any paying for holiday activities this week.
We also had our car serviced this week, I think that saves money in the long run as it keeps it in good working order. Have lovely weekend. Meg:)
We were so grateful for the lemons. I use them for jam making as well as lemon chicken and other dishes.
DeleteI always love seeing your list Meg. Bet the soup was yummy.
Hi Wendy and everyone :).
ReplyDeleteWendy good pick up on the brand new CD's in wrappers and the basket from the o shop. The savings from drying your clothing on the clothes racks all adds up too as dryers cost a fortune to run.
We had a good week here too still not up to full capacity yet after the flu but are feeling slowly better and more energetic and got a few things done.
Our savings added up to $292.35 last week.
Earnings -
- Made $25.18 from the sale of a set of 4 curtain tieback cuffs and 70 g of dried sage picked from the gardens on the internet. I banked this into our emergency kitty saving us having to pay this from our pays.
Purchases -
- Purchased 2 bomber jackets from Aldi on special for winter gardening work, 3 Sherpa hoodies and 3 flannelette shirts for DH and 4 long sleeved t-shirts for myself from Big W saving $161.70 over purchasing them in other local stores.
- Bought 4 packets of butter menthol's on special for the medical kit on special saving $2.
- Redeemed $10 worth of FlyBuys points and purchased 4 tins of lychees with $1 OOP saving another $10.
Finances and internet listings -
- Listed 29 items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $47.85 on usual listing fees.
- Banked more money into our home and bank emergency kitties.
- Saved more money for our home and land deposit bringing us up to 26.28% of the way there.
Trades and or bartering -
- Traded with a friend from another blog 100 g organic dried rosemary,55 g of dried thyme and 34 g English lavender flowers picked and dried from the gardens as well as excess 30 g oregano and 8 g tarragon in our pantry for 6 x 25 g lovely homemade natural lip balms and a around 50 g tin of Comfrey cream saving $40 over purchasing them in the local shops.
In the gardens -
- Picked a huge amount of thyme from the gardens we currently have drying on a mesh metal rack behind shade cloth on the veranda. We will keep some for us and sell the rest on the internet.
- Separated 36 g of English and 33 g French flower buds from the gardens saving $5.62 over purchasing them.
Other usual frugal things we did to save were -
- Using vegetable washing, blanching and cooling and shower warm up water and some rain water tank water to water & fertilise some seeds and vegetables in the vegetable gardens. We are now on harsher water restrictions here as our local dam is getting low.
- To water the lawns around the home we hand watered the lawns with saved grey water from our showers and washing machine as we use all biodegradable products. To add a tip to others on water restrictions or just saving water in general 1 lt of grey water waters 1 square metre of lawns or fruit trees so it goes a long way if you wash laundry a lot or shower over a bath in a week.
- Used saved flannelette rags from old sheets I cut up for cleaning the car windows, shower screen and vanity mirrors with instead of using paper towel.
- Washed out and reused clip seal plastic freezer bags to use for blanching and freezing more vegetables from the gardens. It is amazing how long they last usually about 4 - 5 uses each without having to buy more.
Hope everyone has had an equally good week :).
Sewingcreations15.
I'm glad you are starting to get better.
DeleteThe Aldi Winter special are quite good aren't they. I remember getting really good Winter gloves for my girls years ago.
I loved your trade. I'm sure you'll enjoy the lip balm or will you be putting some aside for presents ?
Wendy yes I love the Aldi winter sales and I have to say it the end of financial year sales all round as there are some wonderful bargains to be had on just about anything at the moment both in the shops and online too.
DeleteI think there is far less disposable income in most people's budgets compared to before due to sluggish wage growth in Australia, big jumps in power prices, high household debt and now decreasing home values is the reason for a lot of the sales in the shops.
Having said all that though, if you think laterally and are willing to do a bit of work yourself, there is always ways to save in your budget if you look closely and live a frugal life too.
We were both happy with our trade and I will keep most for myself and my husband to use and some for gifts too :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
I am in Alabama, USA, so we are having the exact opposite of you! Unbelievable heat and humidity. You would think after 45 years I would be used to it, but it absolutely wipes you out to go outside. I have been keeping my blinds/shades closed to keep the heat out and the cool in (as much as possible). I used lots of leftovers and tried to cook as much as possible in the early morning to avoid adding heat to the house in the evening. I do my big shop today for the next two weeks and am praying for bargains galore!
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy from the USA. How did you hear about my blog ? It always amazes me that so many people across the world are trying to live a thrifty but abundant life .
DeleteI count the days until Summer is over. I work as a house cleaner and find the heat hard to deal with.
I've been known to cook enough pasta salad, boil eggs and make other salads to last a few days in Summer.
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI’d like to make double strength Miracle Spray, but I can’t work out what ratio to use when I top up with water. I’m mathematically challenged! Can y’all I let me know what you do?
Thanks,
Peach
I double all the ingredients then fill up the two litre bottle with water. When decanting into spray bottles it's 50 / 50 with water.
DeleteThanks Wendy 😊
Delete