Here's what else I've been up to this week -
* Made dried bread crumbs from saved bread crusts. When I need seasoned bread crumbs I'll add the seasonings.
* Cut up a cereal bag to use as go between for crumpets and hamburger patties.
* Fed the compost bin with coffee grounds from a café, kitchen peelings and used tea leaves.
* Juiced lemons and froze the juice for future jams, lemon butter and other meals.
* Cut up a few odd socks to use as garden ties.
* Froze tuna pasta bake leftovers for future meals.
* Gratefully received lots of muffins from Jessica's work.
* Bought an overlocker from Aldi on clearance for $129. It was reduced from $199.
* Made a bread pudding in the slow cooker using saved up bread crusts. Such a frugal recipe and very yummy.
* Made chicken stock in the slow cooker using a chicken carcass. Today I'll be making up a big pot of chunky chicken and veggie soup.
* Saved washing machine water, shower water and drink bottle water as per usual.
* Stuck to the 2 light rule with some nights only needing one. Also turned off standby lights, closed ducted heating vents in rooms not being used and closed the curtains just before dusk.
* Received our latest electricity bill and it was $111.90 cheaper than the same time last year but does include a $50 credit for switching to a better discount. So you could say we really saved $61.90. The new discount is for part of the bill period so we hope to save more on the next bill.
 |
| A card I sold to a friend. |
 |
| Drying bread crumbs |
 |
| Cutting up odd socks for garden ties |
 |
| Princess the supervisor. |
 |
| Roast veggie pie. |
I do the same thing with holey socks. It works great and adds some color to my garden. I love the picture of your cat. She is waiting patiently for a treat. So cute. My week is here: https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/07/my-frugal-list-week-of-july-2-2018.html
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy and you did so well reducing your electricity bill by so much and the overlocker was hugely cheap too :). I was reading that if you unplug your appliances after use that that can save a further up to 10% off your electricity bill as appliances are still using power from the electicity grid even when turned off at the power point. It is what is known as monkey power so well worth knowing about.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should be mentioning power savings as our bill not this quarter but the last they did an estimate as I think they couldn't believe how low our power bill was. The next bill confirmed it though that we had reduce our power bill by around another $29 a quarter probably much to the dismay of the power company :).
Here is how we saved last week -
Our savings added up to $248.40 last week :).
Earnings -
- Earned $44.69 from the sale of thyme picked and dried from the gardens and saved capsicum seeds from the gardens through my eBay internet shop.
Purchases -
- Purchased 7 x 250 g of strawberries on special saving $4.38.
Blessings -
- After having a smashing good time with a couple of recycled jars I had here due to really cold sub zero temperatures here on jam making, I texted 2 close friends living within a couple of blocks of me who supplied me with 12 washed out and recycled jars & lids they had saving $12 over purchasing them in the shops. We now have adopted a warm up jars with hot tap water and then putting the jars and lids in and filled with boiling water and emptying them out just before pouring the hot jam in them being less of a temperature change. Bingo no broken jars due to very low winter temperatures and another case of we live and learn new skills and techniques :).
Trading -
- Traded 46 g garden picked and dried French lavender, 28 g of English lavender, 21 g of marigold (calendula) flowers and 100 g of dried rubbed oregano and 26 g of dried tarragon from excess pantry stocks for 3 x 44 g lavender lip balms, 1 x 25 g of chocolate lip balm, 3 x 10 g lavender lip balms and 1 x 10 g of vanilla lip balm saving less postage $65.92 over purchasing them locally. Thank you lovely fellow bluebird :).
Finances -
- Banked more money into our home deposit savings account bringing us to 26.56% of the way there.
In the kitchen -
- Made 12 jars of strawberry jam or 3.608 kg for $21.31 from some home grown and some purchased strawberries and free lemon juice given to us by a friend saving $38.58 over purchasing it in the supermarkets for an equivalent quality. 2 jars will go to the ladies that kindly supplied us with the jars as a thank you.
- Made 2.8 kg of homemade honey,oat,coconut,almond and sultana granola from items in the pantry (using the Prudent Homemaker recipe) saving $28.69 less expenses over purchasing the same quality in the shops.
In the gardens -
- Picked 1.127 kg of cherry tomatoes saving $11.27 over purchasing them in the supermarkets.
- Separated thyme picked and dried from the gardens making 319 g saving $42.87 over purchasing similar organic dried herbs in our local shops.
- Picked another huge lot of thyme, English and French lavender from the gardens which we are drying for sale and home use.
- Saved a lot of marigold seeds from the gardens to replant into another garden bed around the house.
Hope everyone has had an equally wonderful week :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
Lorna, just a tip with the jam making and broken jars, I read ages ago in the CWA book that if you wet a towel or bathmat, wring it out, and place your jars on that while filling it prevents cracking. I do that and also use the jars hot out the oven from sterilizing them, and haven't had a broken jar yet, regards Liz
DeleteThanks Liz I appreciate the tip and the CWA ladies certainly know what they are talking about and yourself through experience :).
DeleteSewingcreations15 (Lorna)
Don't old socks make great plant ties! I love it when hubby's footy socks are beyond saving and I can snaffle them for the garden. Medical expenses ate up some $ this week and had me questioning why we have private health insurance! To counter that, here's the frugal things we did:
ReplyDelete* filled up when petrol fell to $1.31per L and used 4c off discount too
* ran errands and grocery shopped in one outing to save going out again/petrol.
* borrowed books and magazines from library to read, some for our son too.
* lots of home cooking: lasagna, honey&soy chicken, pumpkin & leek risotto, cookies, zucchini slice muffins
* had soup from freezer for two nights with zucchini slice muffins
* rugging up, closing curtains & blinds early and using hot water bottles so no need for heater
* used Thermomix to grate parmesan, blitz breadcrumbs and make own almond meal
* picked lettuce, beetroot, leek and herbs from garden.
Tomorrow, I am going to do a sewing course, that was a gift from my husband for my birthday recently, where we draft a pattern from a favourite piece of clothing. I have chosen fabric & trim from my existing stash for this. Can't wait! Have a lovely weekend too, Wendy. Hope it warms up down there soon. Meg:)
Hi Wendy, Liz here from WA, its freezing here too! my frugal tasks this past week are -
ReplyDeleteHand sewed name labels on DS new clothes to prevent them being lost at boarding college.
Cooked all meals from scratch using home grown lamb and veggies where possible.
Paid a reduced price bus ticket for DS to return to boarding college using his student concession card, about half the usual cost, and saving us a lot of petrol if we drove him back.
Used the cheap little 2 door Beleno to ferry the kids to town and back rather than the thirsty for fuel 4wd.
Cashed in $10 Woolies reward points when doing the monthly shop. Takes me ages to earn these points.
Cut a load of Jarrah firewood off the farm to keep us warm.
Brewed and bottled the home made beer.
Sold more items on Buy Swap Sell facebook page raising $90.
Paid an extra $200 off the investment property loan and $500 into education savings due to a work bonus. Hubby's work pays this every 3 months if there is no 'lost time' injuries, if there is we receive a reduced amount.
Started my Christmas shopping and paid reduced prices on Ebay and free shipping on all the items DS requested. I save for Christmas throughout the year.
I had a heavy month with bills arriving with farm insurance, car rego's and the usual bills but these are all saved for throughout the year, so no worries there.
We did spend $1000 (profits from selling sheep) to have a coolroom repaired that was given to us for free. Now running its worth $4000 and we don't have to ask to use our neighbours when we process the sheep.
Wishing you all a great week ahead, regards Liz
Love your supervisor who is concentrating so hard on what you're doing. Thanks for the reminder about using old socks for garden ties - must remember this tip.
ReplyDeleteHow do you make the roast veggie pie? It looks so yummy! Nancy
ReplyDeleteYour roast veggie pie looks delicious! Did you use cheese sauce to bind it together? Jen x
ReplyDeleteThis week I sorted drawers and bags and made a basket of half used toothpaste tubes and motel tubes, and beauty samples and put them in the bathroom to use. My hair brush broke and while sorting I found a new one to replace it. Filled up the shampoo bottle and watered it down, grated up a few slivers of soap and added them to the soap powder, Bagged up a few more books, clothes for the op shop.
ReplyDeleteI also dried out some leftover bread for breadcrumbs. Made all meals from scratch, froze leftovers. I have started gathering my Christmas gifts and plan on having a wrapping session soon so I can work out what I still need,
I opened a Bendigo Bank account that I put all my coins in. It is fee free and pays interest monthly. Whenever I know im passing I always bank my coins rather than bank yearly as any interest is good interest.
I really need to get into the garden but it is so cold. Tonight im off to Safeway before work I have a spend $50 get $15 off offer attached to my card so if I pick up what we need I can get a few extras for my stockpile. Hope everyone had a great weekend Leanne.
The old socks idea is a ripper! Definitely using that one.
ReplyDeletePrincess seems like a real character too
I have never heard of the old socks tip. Genius! Tracy in the UK
ReplyDelete