Here's what else we got up to this week -
* Cut the dish washer tablets in half. They still wash the dishes really well. Most of these tablets came from accommodation we've staying in over the years. Some were also samples and the rest came from Megan. I still use the Aldi powder for dishes that don't have baked on food.
* Used old bread bags as bin liners in the bathrooms.
* Bought brand new Spot and Pepper Pig Easter books for $1 each from a local op shop. They will be put away as presents for our grandbabies next year.
* Megan diluted her fabric softener by 50%. She'd saved an empty bottle and halved the mixture.
* Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.
* Purchased a few brand new DVD's from a local op shop. They have been put away for Christmas and birthday presents.
* Diluted a bottle of laundry stain remover by 50% that was given to us. It still works fantastically.
* Made butter from cream I'd purchased on clearance and froze a few moths ago.
* Diluted a bottle of Windex window cleaner. I don't use it but other family members do. I'd already diluted it about a year ago but saw the bottle was getting a little low. I'm sure no one will notice what I've done.
* Fed the compost bins with kitchen scraps.
* Mended a coat.
* Made up a jar of homemade gravy powder mix using pantry staples.
* Processed the rosemary I'd hung up to dry a couple of months ago. I run my fingers down the sprigs to get all the leaves off. This is done over a large deep bowl to prevent the mess it usually makes. Then I give it a quick whizz in the coffee grinder until it's a coarse powder. This helps it to stick to veggies I roast.
* Made up a jar of French onion soup mix using a few store bought packets and pantry staples to stretch the mix out.
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| Making my own mixes and herbs. |
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| Dish washer tablets cut in half. |
Yes, I spend a fair bit of time organizing and reorganizing my pantry - especially during lockdown these past few months. I also created a more long term pantry as well in another closet - had a couple of spare shelves so thought I'd make use of them. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was in pretty good shape before everything HTF but want to fill in some gaps in case there is a second wave this Fall. I can't believe the amount of money I've been spending on food - but then I haven't been spending it on anything else!
I've been pruning my fruit trees this week. All the prunings go through my mini mulcher and straight back onto the garden. I added homemade weed tea to help the mulch break down and not draw to much nitrogen from the soil. Bluey and I picked up sugar cane hay from a local farm. I run the little mower, with the grass catcher on, over the biscuits of hay. This gives me a chaff that goes around the vegie plants. It is a much cheaper option than purchasing the compressed bags of mulch hay from Bunnings. All the greens for the table are coming from the garden, so it is worth the time and effort that goes into keeping it in top condition.
ReplyDeleteSo many things are routine and I am truly aware I am not doing them. I am trying o use the dishwasher during the day as apparently this is the optimum way to use our solar power tariff. I don't know if it is. We have been eating meals over and over as a meal for four seems to last us about four meals. I am being mindful of things in storage and using them routinely.
ReplyDeleteI have bought meat on clearance and found Uncle Toby oats at $1.06 for 500g at Coles. While I was waiting for mum to have blood tests I went into an op shop but found nothing to buy. Our local op shops seem to be very expensive. I did buy petrol at about 20 cents less during the lower part of the fuel cycle.
Yesterday another car was purchased yesterday. I made sure to check online about reliability and we went to several dealers. In the end we saved well over $4000 and managed to get my daughter a service fro free as we used her as a referee. I can hardly wait for this car to arrive. Our old car has been good and faithful but is thirteen years old ad is beginning to need major repairs.
I saw a brilliant hack this week. A lady puts very dilute dish detergent in a spray bottle and uses that to rinse plates. I am going to try this as I like to pre rinse dishes.
Hi Suzan. We run our dishwasher during the day to make most of power coming from our solar panels too. If you run it at night, and you don't have battery storage, you have to draw electricity from the grid which costs $.
DeleteMeg
Great ideas. I hadn't thought of diluting the spray stain remover but will do it.
ReplyDeleteI try to tidy my pantry regularly and check the use by dates on items. I try to do this before I do my fortnightly menu plan which I try and do before I write my grocery shopping list. So it has become a part of a system of household inventory and food management.
ReplyDeleteWendy you did so well in stocking up your pantry with lovely mixes and herbs :) .
ReplyDeleteIt also saves a lot diluting things as well because most times they are over strength anyway.
Our Vicky challenge added up to $332.95 in savings last week :).
With the pantries here I make a point of every time something is emptied such as a row of tinned fruit etc to wipe out and clean that section that way over time the whole pantry gets wiped out.
In the kitchen -
- Made 18 homemade bread rolls saving $5.10 over buying them.
- Made all meals and bread from scratch.
- Froze 4 packets of 4 bread rolls for later use.
- Sliced, cut, blanched and froze 5 kg of carrots and 2 kg of snow peas in meal sized portions for the freezer for an advanced supply of fresh frozen vegetables. Froze the cherry tomatoes on trays whole and will bag them up for meal sized portions too.
In the gardens -
- Harvested around 5 kg of carrots, 2 kg of snow peas and 100 g of cherry tomatoes saving $73.85 over buying organic produce in the stores.
- We did some weeding in the carrot garden bed.
- Cut another 1.25 cubic metres of firewood for our wood pile saving us $187.50 over purchasing it.
Finances -
- Banked more money into our 3 month living expenses emergency fund bringing us to 71.31% of the way there to our goal.
- Made an extra part payment off our home mortgage.
- DH earned $70 by doing a gardening job.
Purchases -
- Ordered a grocery RACQ Wish e-gift card for groceries saving 5% or $6.50.
- Purchased a RACQ Wish e-gift card for fuel saving 5% or $10 in total off the cost of fuel when we buy it.
- Put in a large click and collect order for many groceries we let run down during purchase restriction times and used a $10 off promotion code and with specials saved $50 in total on usual prices.
- With the savings we topped up our pantry further with 12 x tins of sliced mangoes, 12 x tins of corn kernels, 12 x tins of diced tomatoes, 2 x packets of wheat biscuits, 8 blocks of dark chocolate. We pick up the order on Tuesday next week.
Hope everyone has a great week ahead everyone :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteI’m just typing this to see if it gets to you.
I’ve written a few comments over time and quite long because I’m a bit of a gasbag! They don’t seem to get to you so trying this and if it’s published I’ll be able to write a proper response.
Thanks, Lorraine W
Hi Wendy. I picked up some good tips from you this week. I never thought to cut dishwasher tablets in half! I like to keep my pantry organised too so I can find things easily. This week at our place:
ReplyDelete* had several no spend days during week
* borrowed books from library and got 2 books from op-shop for school holiday reading
* had a birthday picnic rather than expensive lunch out at cafe
* made large batch of pasta sauce and froze portions; also made mini meatballs and froze those.
* made cake with juice from foraged mandarins that taste more like oranges; used homemade yoghurt in the cake
* did some dog sitting for extra $
* rugged up and used blankets and hot water bottles rather than heaters
* dried washing on racks on rainy day
* got a few grocery bargains at factory outlet I shopped at - rice crackers, tin tomato soup and tin fruit. These went into my stockpile.
Have a lovely week, Wendy.
Meg:)