We've had the curtains closed most days and the cooling on when needed. Cold drinks of water with lots of ice blocks have helped us stay hydrated and a little cooler. Housework was done before we went to work or well after tea time to avoid working up a sweat. I'm counting down the weeks and days until the weather changes and we see some Autumn weather.
Here's what we managed to get done to save money -
* Bought four trays of beef mince on sale at Tasman Meats for $5.99 kg. This is the cheapest mince has been in quite a while. Each tray was portioned into 250 g meal sizes and frozen.
* Dropped into Coles after church on Sunday just as the meat manager had finished marking down lots of meat. We came away with trays of beef skewers at 50% off, pork chops at 505 off ( for Darren ) and Oyster blade steak at 40% off ( for slow cooker stews ). Usually the manager does the markdowns first thing in the morning but was running late that day. We were very grateful to be there at the right time.
* Donated a few bags of clothes and household bits and pieces to Savers and received a couple of discount stamps for future shopping.
* Used lots of recycled bread bags as bin liners in the bathrooms and kitchen.
* Fed the compost bin and worm farm with kitchen scraps.
* Cleaned the kettle with citric acid.
* Hung the washing outside on the line or clotheshorse. There was one humid day so a few items went into the dryer to prevent them from smelling. This happens when dark clothes take too long to dry in humid weather.
* Saved drink bottle water and rinse water into a big icecream container in the kitchen sink. This was poured onto the fruit trees. I also saved the shower warm up water and washing machine rinse water to reuse.
* Sold one dozen eggs.
* Gratefully received a plastic tub of material from an anonymous giver. Thankyou so much for your kindness.
* Bought a new skirt from Best And Less on their clearance racks for $5. I've noticed some department stores starting to clear out their Summer stock. A great time to get a bargain.
* Used our electric pedestal fans on some days when it was either humid or not quite hot enough to put the cooling on. Electric fans cost just a few cents an hour to run. This is quite thrifty compared to air conditioning and a little cheaper than our evap cooling.
* Darren and I took my parents up to Ballarat for a day trip last Saturday to give Dad's car a good run ( he's still not driving ). We took a thermos for cuppas, morning tea and lunch to save some money. We did buy afternoon tea at Beechworth Bakery as a treat before heading home
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| From the garden |
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| $5 bargain skirt |
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| New lounge suite ( plus another chair not in pic ). |
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| Lining the bin with bread bags |
Hi Wendy,i love your new furniture very nice, so far we only have one tomato the rest have been very slow and not ripe yet, I have been taking my lunch to work each day so thats a big saving,and cooking at home, i want to try to make some rice paper rolls some time they would be for me to take to work too, i like the sound of your bbq no gas bottle i didnt know you can have natural gas in this way, i like the sound of that,as i write this i can hear the rain such a nice change and i just got a walk in too.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend Mel K
Melissa, the bbq needs different fittings 9 or burners ) before you get it connected to natural gas. When we bought our bbq, we paid extra to get them. It cost about $200 to get the bbq connected to our gas line
DeleteWendy that is a really good price for minced beef and I would have stocked up at those prices too along with got the other marked down meat you saw too.
ReplyDeleteIt has been hot here as well and we used our pedestal fans to cool off along with taking a dip in our rain water tank pool too.
Our saving last week added up to $161.15 :).
We have been concentrating on not spending money as we are making up for clothing we had to purchase (as we both lost weight) and the fan that died that we had to replace which left us a bit behind in our budget. Also we are saving to have our new oven installed by an electrician along with a couple more needed power points in the home.
Blessings -
- Our lovely neighbour gave us 350g of whiting fillets and around 500g of calamari as her family and boyfriend are avid fishermen.
Earnings -
- Made $44.39 from the sale of 2 5 layer luxury cotton eye masks in my eBay shop which I used to purchase a 30 m x 1 mt roll of flyscreen for the home and some fibre washers and o'rings for the inside house taps. We found we had run out of both tap washers and o'rings :o .
- DH earned $60 from a mowing job and he used his earnings to purchase another 20 mt grey water/sullage hose for the home and put the rest away for our fortnightly splurge budget so we didn't have to take that out of our normal pays.
Finances -
- We used money we were in advance on in our splurge budget to top up our home emergency kitty and buy a tin of tyre leak repair foam for the ride on lawnmower tyre. More money that didn't come out of our usual pays that we can save.
- I listed 10 items on eBay using a free listing and final auction value fee promotion saving $16.50 on usual listing fees.
Purchases -
- Bought a 30 x 1 m roll of fibreglass flyscreen, 20 tap o'rings and 20 fibre tap washers on eBay saving $45.12 over buying these in the local hardware store.
- DH purchased another 20 m roll of sullage/grey water hose from the irrigation store saving $27 over buying it in the local hardware stores.
Sewing -
- I made 3 x plain coloured and 3 x patterned bread bags and another 3 dark coloured 5 layer cotton eye masks for my eBay store as I had sold out of them.
In the kitchen -
- Made a 1.02 kg batch of chocolate brownies from our homemade premix saving $55.67 over purchasing them in the local cafe's.
- Made a single batch of coconut chocolate chip biscuits saving $7.01 over buying them in the local supermarket.
- Made a loaf of fruit bread in the bread making machine saving $2.87 over purchasing it in the shops. We had a few pieces and froze the rest in bags of 2 slices in the freezer for future meals and snacks.
- Made 2 loaves of bread in the breadmaker saving $6.98 over buying it in the local shops here.
Water preservation -
- Used grey water from our washing machine and grey water from our sullage tank to water ornamental potted plants, star jasmine, mulberry and our mandarin ? tree in the yard.
- Used saved shower warm up water and dish rinsing water to water potted fruit and herb plants with.
Hope everyone had a wonderful week :) .
sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Wow, you have been busy. The seafood was an amazing blessing.
DeleteYou have done well this week!
ReplyDeleteWe have been eating out of our pantry and freezer stash because of some unexpected bills happening all at once.
That's the exact reason why everyone should have a stockpile. I hope you get back on track shortly.
DeleteGreat meat bargins Wendy, Liz here from WA. My frugal tasks this week were -
ReplyDeleteTook home grown salad and boiled eggs with me to work for lunch, as my job is out and about all day visiting homes I keep it with me in an esky with cold water bottles. Great to be contributing to the family income again after many years at home. No money spent while working!
Used a fuel docket to fill the car saving 4c p/L.
Collected my click and collect shopping for the month, spending $50 per week on groceries as I'm incorporating our home grown lamb, eggs, veggies and fruit into the menu as much as possible. Some meals are totally self sufficient, all home grown!
Made a couple of batches of tomato pasta sauce in the crock pot, and getting enough tomatoes out of the garden to do a batch every couple of days.
Closed the house up early on the hot days and used pedestal fans as we don't have air conditioning, but works well and open the house right up at night, living on a farm its safe to do so.
I had to buy a new printer (for my job) and also a new kettle today, but was surprised how cheap both items were plus %5 off using my RAC card at Retrovision.
Also had to purchase a watch for my job (bit rude to be checking my mobile phone to keep track of the time when with clients) so found one on ebay for $19 plus free shipping, happy with that!
Put a home brew beer on to brew today, will be ready to bottle in a weeks time.
Gifted lots of plums which I will bottle in vacola jars tomorrow, may also bottle some tomatoes while I'm at it.
Have a great week everyone!
Gotta love meals that are free when home grown.
DeleteWhat is your new job Liz ? I hope it all goes well for you
I'm a Community Support Worker now Wendy. Have a nursing history so a bit different but very rewarding so far, enjoying it. Yes home grown meals are great, very rewarding!
DeleteI am in awe.
ReplyDeleteI always line dry and most weeks we are down to two loads of washing thanks to the enormous capacity of our front loader. Mum had surgery on her mouth. I made. pot of pea and ham soup from the ham bone in the freezer. I have been writing lists and sticking to them while at the shops. I have yet to truly reign in the spending. I am seeing some space appearing in panty and freezer.
Space in my freezer is a dream Suzan. Well done to you. How big is your front loader ? The ones I've come across seem to be quite small. My top loader is 8kg and holds so much.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your frugal week. I look forward to reading your blog on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The heat is still bad here too. They're predicting 35 degrees by mid week and I'm dreading it. I am looking forward to Autumn too. We had another frugal week here. I'd love to find some meat specials. What a blessing. I've had a week of mixed feelings about trying to be frugal. Sometimes it seems all too hard. But we will keep going to reach our goals. I think we will rework our budget to squeeze in a small treat here and there. Everyone needs some sanity money. Have a great week. Rachel :)
Rachel, every budget should have treats. We have a treat fund to having morning tea out every now and then. We also save like crazy to have holidays whether they are bi or small.
DeleteIf you have a hard time being frugal, make a couple of batches of Miracle Spray, laundry powder and room spray. Then sit back and count the savings you just make.
I love the new furniture it looks really comfortable. I have been saving money by not going out and eating from from what we have. I am giving myself pocket money of 20$ a fortnight and spent only 8.50. I am hoping our pay rise goes thru soon its going thru arbitration. It back dates to January 2018. Meeting my savings goals and getting rid of stuff is making me happy. Getting my garden back under control and potting up slips and cuttings instead of outlaying money. Have a lovely weekend everybody Leanne.
ReplyDeleteLeanne, I'm the same as you. I love decluttering and getting things in order. It makes me happy and I feel rich.
DeletePocket money is a wonderful way of having treats without blowing the budget. I rarely spend much of my pocket money. Just a few dollars here and there. I figure I work too hard to spend it willy nilly.