Saturday 7 July 2018

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 7th July 2018

Sewing,  shopping,  baking,  tea drinking,  cleaning jobs and bargain hunting were some of the varied things that filled my week.  I love living a thrifty life.  No I'm not stingy.  No I'm not counting pennies although there's nothing wrong with that.  I'm thrifty because our dollars stretch so much further.  We can afford more things,  take big and small holidays a couple of times a year but most importantly,  we can afford to pay all our bills and live a good life on a low income.  Here are the frugal tasks that helped us save time and money this week -

*  Sewed up some baby drool towels to sell.

*  Cleaned the kettle with citric acid.  Cleaned the dishwasher with bi carb and vinegar.  Cleaned the lint filter and everywhere else in the washing machine.

*  Took up the legs on a new pair of jeans for Darren.  We made the most of the mid year sales at DFO and he bought a pair of jeans at 60% off.

*  Redeemed a voucher for a free hot drink at  Muffin Break.

*  Froze two chop suey leftovers.

*  Gratefully received some muffins left over from Jessica's work.

*  Sewed a couple of buttons back on a cardigan.

*  Continued to use up more loose leaf tea that was given to us.  It's so easy to keep using the teabags and forget about the tea leaves piling up in the pantry.  To make sure we are using them up,  I've let the teabag cannister go empty.  There's nothing like a pot of tea and some home baking.

*  Baked four loaves of whole meal bread with extra goodness.  Reused bread bags and the plastic clips that come with bought bread.

*  Reused bread bags over and over again.  Putting the storage containers under the sink encourages us to put them back there after each use to use all over again.

*  Found a set of six Maxwell and Williams coffee mugs at Savers for $5.99 the lot.  Thy are brand new and usually retail for about $6 each.   It's great to have a set of  pretty matching mugs.

*  Filled up both cars with petrol at $1.37 per litre.  I'm pretty sure the price is about to go up ( again. )

*  Purchased a few more birthday gifts for next year at 60 % off.  Mid year sales might look great but you really need to know your prices.

*  Dried most of the washing over ducted heating vents.  Saved shower water and drink bottle water for plants and the washing machine.

*  Gratefully received a few glass jars and poppy seedlings from my parents.

*  Kept the curtains mostly closed on the cold,  overcast days to keep the heat inside.  I was also aware to only use the heater when really necessary and closed off unused rooms..

*  We received our first gas bill since securing a new discount from our provider.  Including the $50 credit they promised us for switching plans,  we saved $72.90 compared to the same time last year ( or $22.90 without the $50 credit ).  The new discount only applied to half the time period of the bill.  We should see a bigger saving on the next bill.

*  Sold a couple of cards and a soap to a friend.

Even Princess was feeling the cold.

Taking up Darren's jeans

Sunday afternoon tea in style.

This week's op shop find.

One of the cards I sold.

How thrifty was your week ?

Did you try something new to save money ?


8 comments:

  1. Lovely rosy mugs, Wendy. It's amazing what you can find at op shops! Apart from a vet visit, we had quite a frugal week. Petrol is close to $1.60per L here so we used a flybuys discount for 10c off per L to fill up. We have been having soups from freezer and lots of toasted sandwiches for lunches. My son had friends for holiday sleepover so I made a big tray of lasagna and a choc pudding to feed them. I sewed a simple and pretty drawstring bag from op shop linens which will be part of a gift. Gratefully received 4 large lamingtons from a friend which I halved for afternoon teas. Will be a quiet weekend here. Hope yu have a happy weekend too. Meg☺

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Wendy and you had a great week :). I love those Maxwell Williams coffee mugs and you are very talented in card making and they are adorable.

    Likewise we are on a low income and saving for a home and shopping for 50% off specials for groceries and other items we need saves so much and allows our income to stretch so much further. We don't miss out on anything and can buy what we "need" and a few treats when we want them too which is all that matters.

    Last week our savings added up to $1294.73.

    Here is how we feathered our nest and saved this week.

    House organisation -
    - Deep cleaned, vacuumed and washed the car and pulled out all the equipment from 3/4's of it and swept it. Still the other 1/4 to go through and organise.

    Financial -
    - Banked more money into our home deposit bank account bringing us to 26.38% of the way there.
    - Listed 23 handmade items and dried herbs picked from the gardens on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $37.95.

    Grocery purchases -
    - On 50% off plus another 5% off using our roadside assist club discount we purchased 24 tins of harvest long life tins of meat and vegetables, 13 tins of spam in various flavours and 1.5 kg of strawberries on special for making jam and received 5 free reusable bags saving $82.80 on usual prices.

    Other purchases -
    - At Rivers we purchased for DH 1 pair of ugg boots, 1 pair of leather ankle boots, 3 long sleeved cotton shirts, and 1 l/s t-shirt for me saving $201.06 or 61% off usual prices.
    - On eBay I purchased 8 pairs total (4 pairs ea) of leather and canvas high ankle work boots for $25.98 a pair delivered saving $912.16 on usual prices. Here in our country town we pay $140 a pair :O and we use them both in the gardens and while firewood cutting in country paddocks.
    - Purchased 6 led light bulbs on 50% off special saving $27 on usual prices. This will allow us to use our solar lanterns less and when we are only briefly going into rooms.

    In the gardens -
    - Picked and dried from the gardens we separated 46 g of French lavender, 28 g of English lavender and 21 g of marigold or calendula flowers saving $15.50.
    - Picked 1.215 kg of cherry tomatoes, 1.214 kg of beetroot and 500 g of carrots saving $21.83 on usual prices.

    All in all a good week of savings.

    Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Wendy, Liz here again from WA. I love your mugs, what a great score! Like you I think most of my frugal tasks are just automatic now,and the little savings do add up!
    We had our market stall last Sunday morning, boy was it cold when the sun came up, we arrived there at 5 30am to get a good spot so set up in the dark and it was great fun and I caught up with a lot of locals I hadn't seen for awhile. My son sold dvd's,cd's, vinyl records, Dr Who board games and books, and my half was glassware, vintage china, a lot of books (I had a $2 box and a $3 box plus a box of kids books)and some bric and brac like kitchen scales, a kids art easel and paints,popcorn maker, etc and I had an old boot making tool which didn't sell but attracted a lot of men to the stall (We had about 30 people ask what it was used for). So we made over $300 for the morning and came home with less stuff so it was successful!
    This morning we have a group of men here target shooting and I managed to feed 7 people lunch by making a double batch of sausage rolls.
    I have a crock pot on the go making tomato pasta sauce using whole tomatoes that I froze in summer, gifted garlic and home grown herbs. Its probably only a $10 saving making it myself but tastes so much better than the bought jars.
    I used a fuel voucher this week to fill up the car!
    I am managing to feed 2 extra's this past week and still stick to my monthly food budget of $200, just no leftovers!
    My eldest son took my DS15 to the city this week saving me the trip and petrol, and keeping him entertained, and DS15 got into the movies cheaply using a kids club card and they got a free 30 minutes at Timezone as DS's card was faulty. I asked my DS24 to keep a look out for a boxset of Dvd's for my DS15 birthday which had an incorrect sticker price on it and they still sold it to him for $100 when it was meant to be $160, so that was a score!
    Gratefully received 3 bottles of red wine this week from 2 different people as thankyou gifts!
    Cooked all meals from scratch, dried all the washing on the clothes horses, kept warm with our own firewood and hot water bottles, and collected lots of rainwater thanks to mother nature!
    So a great week, hope you all have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Wendy, Thanks for your encouraging blog, I have learned a lot from you. It is school holidays for my daughter which I love. We have saved a lot of money just not going anywhere. Not a moment of boredom though we have been busy bees at home and today we drove through a national park and spotted a koala, emus, lots of kangaroos and lots of wild horses. It was fun day. Have a great weekend, Clare

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have been washing baggies, using cloth rags and napkins, washing only full loads of laundry and dishes, using half of the amount of detergent, watering down soap and shampoos, shopping sales, using coupons, using the library and just being content with what we have. The rest of my list is here: https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/07/my-frugal-list-week-of-june-25-2018.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Wendy,
    Can we use Citiric Acid to clean stainless steel kettles as well?
    Thanks
    Sandra

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes you can. The kettle I now use is stainless steel

      Delete
    2. that was a great score at savers on those mugs. At work we often salad rolls leftover in the fridge when our shift finishes they go into the bin. The rolls are a very dense type very chewy and more so when stale. Last week I took them home as I had the brainwave to deconstruct the rolls. I took the beautiful ham and cheese out and made Quiches, the tomatoe slices I added to what I had in the freezer and made spag Bolognese. I removed the salad greens rinsed and bagged it and we ate it for salad over 3 nights. I wished I had thought of this months ago! Leanne

      Delete

This blog is designed to be a source of encouragement and inspiration.

Negative comments will not be published. Comments advertising businesses or goods for sale will not be published.

Please include your first name in your comment so that I can respond to you.

Comments are moderated manually. Please allow a few hours for them to appear.