This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 29th June 2019

Darren and I had a lovely week away with my parents last week.  We stayed at a resort in Mildura ( northern Victoria ) just near the Murray River.  The mornings and nights were close to freezing cold but we did enjoy lots of delightful sunshine during the day.

Darren had his birthday while we were up there so we had a ride on a paddle steamer boat in the morning and a roast dinner at the resort that night.  The roast dinner was an event holiday makers can pay for to the resort and a two course meal is provided.  Twelve people attended and we had fun getting to know all the others on our table.

As you can imagine,  it's a little hard to be thrifty when on holidays but we did manage to save some money.

*  We used our thermos for morning and afternoon teas.  This is such a simple task that saves so much money.

*  Used our saved Flybuys dollars to buy a few holiday groceries for our meals.

*  I took a frozen chop suey and rice for dinner one night.

*  Space was limited in the car but I did manage to pack cranberry hootycreek biscuits,  muesli bars,  fruit,  water bottles,  rolls for lunch on the way up,  tea bags,  sugar and  chocolate.

Our paddle steamer ride

The mighty Murray River

The weir at Mildura

A tropical garden path at the resort

Yes it's cold

How do you save money when on holidays ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 15th June 2019

Here is my frugal list for the week -

*  Cleaned ( descaled ) the kettle using citric acid and water.

*  Cleaned the dishwasher using bi carb and vinegar on a long hot cycle.

*  Made a pot of chunky chicken and veggie soup using homemade stock from the freezer.

*  Bought a couple of pairs of jeans and a scarf from Savers and used a 20% discount stamp.  I always save the 205 off stamp for bigger purchases to maximise the savings.

*  Made a bread pudding in the slow cooker using our chicken's eggs,  bread crusts and a little jar of jam from a hotel breakfast.  It was a delicious dessert that was almost free.

*  Took snacks and lunches to my cleaning jobs to save money ( and to eat healthier ).

*  Gratefully received a bag of lemons from a friend.

*  Made another pot of chicken stock from a store bought cooked chicken.  The stock has been frozen for future soup making.

*  We had our annual family outing to the football at the MCG on Monday ( AFL ).  To save money we took snacks and water bottles with us.  I did buy a bucket of chips for my lunch which cost $4.50.

*  Made a double batch of cranberry hootycreek biscuit dough.  From that dough I made 1 1/2 dozen biscuits for morning teas and the rest of the dough was frozen into logs for future baking.

Chunky chicken soup for dinner

Cranberry hootycreek biscuits

Luka at his first AFL ( football ) game.

Making bread pudding in the slow cooker.

How did you save time,  money or energy this week ?

 

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 8th June 2019

It was lovely to spend a couple of days at home this week just pottering around.  Lots of little jobs and a bit of tidying needed my attention after our upside down life of the last few months. Over the last few weeks my spare time was used to look after my family and their needs.

Here's my latest frugal list -

*  Jessica baked and decorated her own birthday cake.  Like her mum,  she's not a fan of store bought cakes.  After doing some research,  she made a biscuit cake that was delicious.  There was lots of dough leftover so I froze it for future baking.

*  Filled up our cars just before the petrol price went up.

*  Saved the shower warm up water,  washing machine rinse water and kitchen water to reuse where possible.

*  We had the need to buy a baby car seat for car rides with Luka ( and future grandchildren ).  The one I liked the best happened to be on sale that week.  The sales person said they sold many of that particular seat due to it's features and budget friendly price.  A couple of days later Megan had gastro and Darren made a dash to Megan's at 4am to bring Luka back to our place while Megan recovered.

*  Baked a batch of ANZAC biscuits using dough from the freezer when visitors came to see Luka ( while he was staying with us ).

*  Lined our bathroom bins using recycled bread bags.

*  Cut the top off a conditioner bottle and vitamin E bottle and scraped out the remaining contents.  There was enough for another 4 - 5 days.

*  Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.  I costed these loaves a few years ago at about $1.60 for two loaves.  Similar loaves would retail for $4 - 45 each

*  Defrosted our little freezer and did a stocktake of the meat in there.  I used boiling water in plastic containers on the shelves to defrost the freezer.  Once the water cooled I poured it into the washing machine.

*  Froze the remaining contents of a jar of tomato paste into an icecube tray and froze for future use.

*  Megan did a clean out of her wardrobe and gave the clothes to me to donate to Savers. So far  I've received  three discount stamps for her future purchases.

Jessica's birthday cake

Scraping out the contents

Freezing tomato paste to avoid waste,

Nana and Luka watching tv together.

Do you like to potter around your home ?
How frugal were you this week ?