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 ?