Wednesday 30 November 2022

Can You Spare 10 Minutes To Save Money ?

 Following on from the previous posts about sparing 1 or 5 minutes to save money,  here are more great ways to save.  Some of these tips could save you hundreds of dollars. 

Can you spare 10 minutes to -

*  Make a years worth of laundry powder.  This tips could save you big $$$

*  Whip up muffin batter and pop them in the oven.  Cheap,  easy and tasty treats for lunchboxes and snacks.

*  Hang the washing on the line instead of using the dryer.  Your clothes will last longer and smell fresher too.

*  Put some meat,  veggies and liquid in the slow cooker after breakfast for an easy dinner.

*  Turn your bread crusts into bread crumbs ( fresh,  dried or seasoned ).

*  Wipe and organise your fridge.  Put the hidden things to the front to use or freeze.

*  Save your washing machine final rinse water into a large bucket.  Pour it back into the machine for the next load or use it   on the garden to water your plants ( not on the veggie garden ).

*  Write a Christmas list before you go shopping.  Don't forget to include a budgeted amount and ideas of each person.  

*  Write a grocery shopping list before you go shopping.  Write how many of each item in needed and in order of where it is in the store.

*  Cook a double amount of food for dinner and freeze the leftovers.  This saves on power usage and gives you a spare meal in the freezer for busy days.  Save even more if you eat too much takeaway.

LINKS-

Laundry powder   

Lunchbox chocolate chip chocolate muffins   

Dried seasoned bread crumbs






Do you have a money saving tip that takes just 10 minutes ?


Saturday 26 November 2022

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 26th November 2022

 Thankyou for being patient while I took some time off from blog writing.  I've spent lots of time in the garden when the weather allowed.  In between  almost constant rain here in Melbourne,  I've managed to pull out hundreds,  if not thousands of weeds that seem to pop up when I'm not looking.

Our Summer veggie garden was planted late September but with cooler temperatures and little sun,  it has really struggled.  I will need to replant many seeds.

Darren and I enjoyed a 10 day holiday to Queensland early this month.  We stayed in Mooloolaba,  Townsville and Magnetic Island.  Jessica and her boyfriend came up to Townsville for a holiday with us. The sun was out,  the temperature was warm and we managed to get a bit of color in our skin.  The day we left Townsville the temperature there was 30 degrees.  We came home to wet Melbourne with a top temperature that day of 14 degrees.  Such a contrast.

Here are some of the frugal things we've done over the last couple of months -

*  Collected 3 - 4 eggs each week from our laying chicken.

*  Repaired our air fryer.  The is a nut that loosens on a fan blades every few months or so.

*  Cleaned our ovens with kitchen detergent,  magic erasers and water.  I soaked the racks in the laundry sink with laundry powder and hot water.  With a little bit of scrubbing everything came up sparkling.

*  Cleaned the kettle with citric acid.

*  Gratefully received the gift of a Bolar blade roast from a friend.  I'm planning on cooking it in the slow cooker as a roast meal.  Any leftovers will be made into a big pot of Massaman beef curry.

*  Picked oranges,  mandarins and lemons from Megan's trees.

*  Portioned an opened jar of tomato paste into ice cube trays and froze for future use.

*  Replanted volunteer flower seedlings into empty spaces in our flower beds.

*  Gratefully received the gift of flower and veggie seeds from a blog reader.

*  We went to the Melbourne Show with our family back in September.  I had my eye on a few show bags with home and grocery items in them.  A few hours later they were heavily discounted ( last day of the show ) so I bought a few of them.

*  Cut open and scraped out a large hair conditioner bottle.

*  Cut up a few pairs of old socks to use as garden ties.

*  Took some cuttings and dug up a couple of volunteer seedlings from Mum and Dad's garden and transplanted them into our garden.

*  Fed weeds,  bread crusts,  snails,  grass clippings and veggie garden waste to our chickens.

*  Made a bulk batch of chocolate brownies for the freezer.

*  Made 11 jars of apricot jam using fruit from our tree that I froze back in January.

*  Baked wholemeal bread with extra goodness every 2 weeks.

*  Saved the washing machine rinse water and shower warm up water.

*  Shopped the Black Friday sales to get the last of the Christmas presents on my list.

*  Did not purchase one single Christmas decoration,  wrapping paper,  seasonal décor or other paper products.  This is the first year I haven't needed or wanted anything new so it's kind of a big deal in our home.  Usually I shop the sales,  clearance racks and op shops to get the bargains,  but I was determined to keep my money in my purse.

*  Picked lettuce and silverbeet from the garden.

*  Baked whole orange cakes using gifted oranges and eggs from our chickens.  I doubled the recipe and baked them in different sizes for snacks,  morning tea and for when I need to bring a plate somewhere.  Some cakes were kept fresh and the rest went into the freezer.

*  Cooked chicken curry,  spag bol and Massaman beef curry in bulk and froze into single and double serves.

*  Made a bulk batch of cookie / biscuit dough for the freezer.       

LINKS -



Chocolate brownies

Wholemeal bread with extra goodness

Whole orange cake

Spaghetti bolognaise

Our view on Magnetic Island

Our view from the pool




On our rooftop terrace


Mooloolaba.  The beach is just 200 metres away


On Magnetic Island


Trying out the electric scooters

Jessica and I

How have you saved money recently ?