This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 31st August 2024

It's been a crazy week for weather in Melbourne ( also across Victoria and other states ).  We've had high winds for three days straight which has made it challenging to be out in the garden.  I bought a few vegie seedlings earlier in the week but I'm so glad I've held off from planting for now.

We lost one large shrub in the front garden but other than that there has been no damage.  We are grateful there are no tall trees around us.

Here is our frugal list for the week -

*  I made a double batch of muesli bars.  Darren likes them with nuts and some fruit.  I like mine with fruit and more of the cereals.

*  I made lots of pita chips from pita bread for snacking and lunchtime nachos.

*  We saved the shower warm up water and kitchen water.  This was used to water some new plants and vegie seedlings.

*  All the kitchen scraps went into the compost bucket.  This was then emptied into the compost bins outside.

*  We used the solar lanterns in the loungeroom most nights.

*  All washing was dried on the line,  on clothes horses on the deck or inside over the ducted heating vents.

*  I gratefully received lots of supermarket paper bags from a friend.  We used them for our household rubbish.  I also gratefully received some lemons

*  I made a big pot of beef,  tomato and vegetable soup.  We ate some for dinner that night and I put aside 4 portions for my lunches.  The rest went into the freezer for an upcoming card making weekend.  

*  I picked more mandarins from our tree.  This is such a blessing and money saver.

*  Darren,  myself,  Megan,  Luka and Bryson went to a free Bunnings Father's Day Fair on Thursday night.  We had a free dinner of bbq sausages in bread with bottles of water and fairy floss.  They had a tea cup ride,  a baby animal farm,  Father's Day crafts,  a spinning wheel ( with prizes ),  wooden Father's Day signs to take home,  children's secondhand book giveaway ( help yourself  ) a fire truck and police car,  a photo booth and a few other stalls.  Towards the end of the night they were giving away Bunnings tshirts with every spin of the wheel.  We ended up with tshirts for the whole family including Darren and Kurt.   We also bought home a Bunnings basketball which the boys were thrilled about.  Megan even won the Rotary raffle first prize of a power tool pack.  We had such a good time and hope to go to more in the future.

*  I made ANZAC biscuits using dough I'd frozen earlier.  We have an outing with our grandsons over the weekend and we'll be taking some in a backpack with water bottles,  fruit and sandwiches.

LINKS -

ANZAC Biscuits

Crunchy Muesli Bars

Chunky Beef And Vegetable Soup - I used 250g of beef mince

Chunky beef and veg soup

Mandarins from our tree

Homemade muesli bars

ANZAC Biscuits

Lots of pita chips

How have you saved time,  money or energy this week ?

    

Our Frugal Night Time Routine

 Money saving tips can be as simple as turning off a light.  Here are all the frugal things we do at night to save a little extra money -

*  After dinner and when we are ready to settle into the loungeroom we bring the solar lanterns inside ( after charging all day ).  They are placed around the loungeroom and the lamp is turned off.  If the lanterns have been fully charged,  we get 4 - 6 hours of good light from them.

*  We turn off lights in the rooms not being used.  Both Darren and I grew up with this being a common practice in our families.  Lamps are never left on in the hope that someone might go into that room.

*  Before bed we turn off the standby lights on the tv and double check that other appliances haven't been left on.

*  A soon as it's dusk we close the curtains and pull down the blinds in the laundry.  On hot days we keep the blinds down in the bathrooms too.

*  If the washing has been outside on clothes horses,  we bring them inside and place them over the ducted heating vents.  

*  We use battery operated lights hidden under the overhead bathroom cupboards.  These are also great in case the power goes off.

*  Darren prepares his lunch,  snacks,  water bottle and lunchbox ready for work the next day.  He also brings his own tea,  coffee mug and cutlery so these are always restocked and cleaned.  If I've got a cleaning job the next day,  I fill my water bottle and have a morning tea snack packed ready to go.

*  If it's cold or windy,  we make sure the draught stoppers are on the external doors.

*  Blankets are used when we watch tv at night in the colder weather.  Our ducted heating automatically turns off at 9pm.  By having the blankets handy,  we are not tempted to turn the heating back on.

*  The overnight ducted heating temperature is set at 15.5 degrees Celsius.

*  In Winter we put a blanket on our bed.

*  Meat is taken from the freezer and placed on a tray in the fridge for dinner the next day.  This helps us avoid the takeaway temptation.

*  All dinner leftovers are portioned out into containers and put in the fridge.  If I remember,  I then label and put them in the freezer.  This avoids picking / nibbling at what could be a proper dinner serve.

Lots of blankets in our home

A programable ducted heating controller

Using draught stoppers

Do you have a frugal night time routine ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 24th August 2024

 My frugal list is not a big one this week.  We both had a busy weekend,  then work for both of us.  I spent some time in the veggie garden pulling weeds and turning the soil over ready to do some Spring planting shortly.  

I guess my biggest achievement was staying away from the shops and not needing any groceries.  Even when I took my Mum grocery shopping on Monday I didn't buy a thing.   Darren did buy 4 kilos of apples from a grower near our church office.  He needed them for his lunches and the apples on offer at our local fruit and veg shop have been of a very poor quality.

Here is our frugal list for the week -

*  We saved the shower warm up water and kitchen water ( from drink bottles etc ) and poured it on the mandarin trees,  strawberry plants and a few pot plants.

*  Dried all the washing on the line.

*  Refilled the foaming hand wash pump in our bathroom with shower gel and water.

*  I fed silverbeet,  bread crusts,  weeds and grass to our chicken.

*  I picked silverbeet,  mandarins and lemons from our garden.

*  I juiced lots of lemons and froze it into icecube trays.

*  The super cheap dinners this week were  - chunky chicken and veg soup  

                                                                      -  homemade pizza on Darren's flat breads

*  We used the solar lanterns a few times this week when they were charged enough.

*  We both filled up our cars before the price of petrol goes up ( predicted any day now ).  We paid about $1.71 a litre

*  I made three loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

 LINKS -

Wholemeal bread with extra goodness

Chunky chicken and veggie soup

Wholemeal bread with extra goodness

From our garden

Picking silverbeet

How have you saved money this week ?

Our Frugal Morning Routine

 Being frugal doesn't take up a lot of our time.  Our days can be as busy as the next person with work,  running our home,  working in the garden and for me writing this blog. 

By completing a few simple tasks each day,  we can see a real difference in our utility bills.   We don't suffer from bill shock.  Yes our gas bill is a little higher in Winter due to heating our home but it's nothing extreme.  

Here are a few simple things we do each morning before we start the day or leave for work -

*  I take the solar lanterns from the loungeroom and place them outside in the sun.

*  The shower warm up water bucket is taken outside and a quite a few plants are watered.  Before I had a front loading washing machine,  I would pour the water into the machine.

*  I double check that all electronics not being used are turned off at the wall.

*  I charge phones,  laptops,  shavers and the 2 in 1stick vacuum if needed and only if the sun is shining on our solar panels.

*  Check the weather to see if it's going to be suitable for hanging washing outside on the line.  If not,  the washing is hung on clothes horses either over a ducted heating vent or outside on our covered deck.

*  Darren fills our thermos with boiling water for cuppas throughout the day.  Each day this can save  boiling the kettle 2 - 3 more times.

*  We have a breakfast of toast made from my homemade bread,  homemade jam and a cup of tea.  There are no expensive cereals or cooked breakfasts.  The toast has lots of fibre and keeps us full for at least a few hours.

*  The kitchen water bucket is also emptied on a few plants outside.

*  I open the curtains is the sun is shining.  If it's overcast and cold I only open them a little.  Just enough to see where I'm going.

Do you have a morning routine that saves you money ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 17th August 2024

 You never how how a week will pan out and this week was one of them.  Darren and I were having a lovely afternoon tea out on the deck in the glorious sunshine on Sunday.  I came inside to check my phone for messages to find our photo back in the headlines on FB.  A story for Channel 7's online page had gone live a day earlier than I than expected.

Of course there was the usual backlash and accusations ( gotta love the trolls ) that come with a story like ours.  Some people just can't grasp that with planning, saving and a little sacrifice,  they too could have a debt free life.  Anyway,  those who are regular readers will know that I've never hidden anything.  Nor have I made anything up for clickbait or likes.

Monday afternoon came round and my good friend Cath from The Cheapskates Club contacted me to see if I'd be interested in doing a guest appearance on her YouTube show Tuesday night.  Cath quite often does media interviews and lately her daughter Hannah has shared her savings story too. We thought it was time to explain exactly how we feed our families for $75 per person per month.

I think the show went quite well and the feedback from those who watched it has been really good.  It was a wonderful chance to share how Darren and I became completely debt free 14 years ago.  If you'd like to hear our story,  please watch the show.

On Thursday and Friday I did interviews for 2 well known Australian magazines.  I think I have a photographer coming next week for one of them.  Just a little bit of excitement this week.  Really,  I'm excited that I can continue to share our story,  give hope to people struggling and show others all the fun ways to save money.

So with all that's been going on,  as well as running our home,  working and gardening,  there's not a lot of frugal tasks on my list.  I'll share them anyway and I hope to have a longer list next week.

Here's how we saved this week -

*  I made a batch of muesli bars for my morning teas.  I tailor the bars to suit our different tastes.

*  I've started putting a ceramic lid on my cup of tea to keep it hot longer.  Now I don't need to use the microwave to reheat my drink.

*  I dried all the washing on the line.

*  We've started saving the shower warm up water again.  Darren bought home a sturdy bucket for free and we've used the water on our outdoor plants and fruit trees.

*  We recharged the solar lanterns on the sunny days and used them at night.

*  I picked lemons,  mandarins and silverbeet from our garden.

*  I picked up 6 bags of mini choc chip cookies from Coles for 50 cents each.  Some will be put away for a holiday later in the year and for Christmas stockings.  The grandsons will love them.

*  I bulk cooked cottage pie and froze the other meals.

*  Gratefully received more paper supermarket bags from a friend.  We use them for our household rubbish.  

Home grown mandarins and oranges

50 cent bargain

 

In the garden

A blessing

Slow cooked lamb in gravy with veg

How have you have money this week ?

Cost Of Living Crisis Series - Where I Buy Our Groceries.

 As most of you know,  my current grocery budget is $150 a month for 2 people.  This includes food for 3 meals a day and 2 snacks.  It also includes basic cleaning ingredients that I need to make laundry liquid,  laundry powder,  stain remover,  surface spray,  shower cleaner and pretty much anything else  to keep my home clean.  The $150 a month also includes basic toiletries,  foil /  paper products ( like baking paper etc ) and cleaning cloths / scourers.

 Since the massive increases in food prices,  I'm now only buying ingredients to make all our own food.  Treat food like chips,  chocolate,  lollies and savoury biscuits are bought on sale from my gift budget and included in our birthday,  Christmas and Mother's / Father's Day presents.  We are at a time in our lives when we don't need  'things ' but enjoy treats. This has worked really well for us over the last few years and we are never short of a treat in our home.

Here are the places I buy our groceries from -

Herbs,  spices,  dried fruit,  nuts,  yeast,  grains and seeds are bought from Hindustan Imports in Dandenong.  They are a wholesaler that specialises in ingredients and they offer a variety of bulk sizes to fit any budget.  I make a trip once or twice a year to stock up.  The money I spend comes out of any leftover monthly grocery money - my slush fund.  I do check prices against Woolworths and Coles and always factor in the 10% discount I get at Woolworths.

Meat is bought from Tasman Meats,  Australian Butchers,  Costco ( while Megan has a membership ) or Coles.  I always look out for specials on legs of lamb, chicken drumsticks,  roast beef and silverside. Clearance items of red meat are bought at Coles.  I only buy according to what money I have left in my grocery slush fund. When I bought a bulk pack of beef mince from Costco back in June,  I'd been saving my leftover grocery money ( slush fund ) for 3 months.

Fruit and veg is only bought if we are not growing it at a particular time.  I check the prices at our local fruit and veg shop before I go to the supermarket.  I do get 10% off at Woolworths because we have insurance with them.  I factor this in when I check prices. I do buy frozen beans and corn kernels from the supermarket if we've run out of what we've grown and frozen.

Teabags are usually bought at Coles or Woolworths.  On the rare occasion discount shops like NQR,  The Reject Shop or Shiploads ( Tasmania ) have teabags quite cheap so I'll stock up.  

For toiletries like shampoo,  conditioner,  deodorant and toothbrushes I wait for good deals at The Reject Shop or NQR and REALLY stock up.  Toothbrushes are regularly $1 each at these stores. I also have a local op shops that carries toiletries for $1 each.  I check them out a few times a year and stock up if it's a good brand.

For hairspray,  spreadable butter,  oils,  frozen fish fillets,  dishwashing liquid,  dishwasher powder and  laundry soaker I shop at Aldi. The reason would be either the quality is better or the price is cheaper than the supermarkets.

Kitchen  cloths / scourers are bought at various places.  Usually I wait until a product is on clearance and buy heaps.  I've bought from Bunnings,  Coles,  Woolworths,  The Reject Shop,  NQR and Shiploads ( In Tasmania when on holidays ).  

All other ingredients on my shopping list are bought at Woolworths.  This includes flour,  sugar,  butter,  milk,  eggs,  cheese, pasta,  toothpaste,  foil,  cling wrap etc, toilet paper,   tinned foods like tomatoes,  tuna,  salmon,  corn,  creamed corn and soups ( for casseroles ).  

If I've missed anything,  please ask and I'll be happy to share when I buy that item from ( if I buy it ).

Some of the groceries I buy often.

Ingredients to make lots of goodies

Always on the hunt for red meat bargains

Do you have certain shops you buy your groceries from ?

I'm on YouTube Tonight Tuesday 13th August 2024 at 7.30pm

 Tonight at 7.30pm  I'll be making my debut as a special guest on a YouTube channel called The Cheapskates Club.  It's Cath Armstrong's channel and she is the founder and owner of the online savings group The Cheapskates Club.

Together we'll be talking all things grocery shopping,  menu planning,  shopping lists and our grocery budget.  I'll be explaining how I spend just $37.50 ( $150 a month ) for all our food,  basic toiletries and cleaning ingredients.

Please join us for this live chat and if you have any questions for us,  have them ready.

Here's the link to the channel -

The Cheapskates Club

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 10th August 2024

 Looking back over this week its been a joyful time spent at home.  The temperature has lifted a little.  The sun is shining a little more and I'm starting to think about Spring planting.  Our grandbabies Luka ( 5 ) and Bryson ( 4 ) can't wait to help us plant our veggie seeds.

There's nothing like the feeling of growing our own food.  The sense of satisfaction,  the peace it brings to my soul and the security of being semi self sufficient is hard to explain unless you've tried it for yourself.

The make,  bake,  sew and grow life is a rich life full of rewards.

Here's how we saved money this week - 

*  We picked a few mandarins from our tree.  We are also trying to eat up the free mandarins given to us a few weeks ago.

*  I cut open a shampoo bottle and hand cream tube to scrape out the remaining contents.

*  I mended 2 pairs of shoes.  Darren's moccasins were falling apart at the stitching so I used a needle and thread to stitch it back up again.  A pair of my Winter boots had 2 little holes in one of the shoes.  I used a little dab of super glue to prevent the hole from getting bigger and make it less obvious ( not sure if I succeeded on that one ).

*  We charged up the solar lanterns on the sunny days and used them at night in the loungeroom.

*  I made 3 loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

*  I cleaned out the surface spray bottle with a long handled brush from IKEA and refilled it with cooled,  boiled water and a dash of dishwashing liquid.

*  We had a few milder,  sunny days so I dried ( or partly dried ) the washing on the clothes horses outside.  The other days I dried it over a ducted heating vent.

*  I made a double recipe of chocolate brownies.  We have a couple of occasions coming up so most of it will be stored in the freezer until it's needed.

*  After baking the bread,  ( and while the oven was still hot ) I made dried bread crumbs out of the loaf ends and a few other odds and sods in the freezer.   

*  I made muesli bars for my work morning teas.  Next week I'll be making some for Darren with the ingredients he likes.

*  I bought 5 wooden picture frames from Savers for $2.99 each and used a 20% off discount voucher to get them even cheaper.  They are in excellent condition but in various shades of white.  I gave them a wipe over and sprayed them with Rustoleum gloss white so that they all match.

*  On the sunny days I had the curtains wide open to enjoy the free warmth coming in.  There were some days I didn't need to put the heater on at all.

*  A couple of weeks ago I was on the hunt for a blanket to put on the back seat of my new car.  So off to the shops I went but I couldn't find anything dark in color.  Yesterday it dawned on me that I have exactly what I need hanging over the back of a rocking chair in the loungeroom. It fits perfectly and will prevent dirt from the grandson's shoes getting on the seat.

*  I fed silverbeet,  weeds,  grass and bread crusts to our chicken.

LINKS -

Chocolate Brownies

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Crunchy Muesli Bars 

Luka picked flowers for me from our garden

A double chocolate brownie

Spray painting some of the picture frames

A new frame for Naomi's photo

The blanket for my car

The damaged moccasin

Fixed as best as I could.

Cutting open toiletry products.

Have you done any baking this week ?

How have you saved time,  money or energy this week ?

Pumpkin Bread ( and it's oh, so yummy )

 Recently I was on the hunt for new pumpkin recipes to make the most of the rogue pumpkin we had growing in our garden.

I already bake pumpkin scones,  make pumpkin soup,  veggie soup and of course roasted pumpkin.  I had in my head that I wanted to make a bread or loaf type cake with pumpkin being the main ingredient.  

So after doing a Google search I came up with this recipe and the reviews were fantastic.  Of course I've tweaked the recipe like I usually do to suit our tastes.  I've tried to estimate how much cinnamon,  nutmeg,  ginger and allspice I used but in reality I gave each bottle a really good shake.  I wanted lots of flavour.

1 cup of cooked,  drained Pumpkin.  I used Jap / Kent

100g of salted Butter

1 1/2 cups of Brown Sugar

2 Eggs at room temperature

2 cups of Self Raising Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Bi Carb of Soda

2 teaspoons of Cinnamon

2 teaspoons of Nutmeg

1 teaspoon of dried Ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons of Allspice

Grease and flour an oblong loaf pan.  Line the base with baking paper

Also have a 6 hole muffin tin ready,  lined with patty cases.

Cream the butter,  sugar and eggs together until smooth.

In a separate bowl mix the flour,  bi carb,  cinnamon,  nutmeg,  ginger and allspice until well combined.

Add the flour / spice mix to the wet ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon.  The mixture will be quite thick.

Spoon the batter into the lined loaf tin until it's 2 / 3 full.

Spoon the remaining batter into the muffin tin.

Bake the loaf at 160 degrees Celsius ( 320 Fahrenheit ) for 50 - 55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Bake the muffins at 160 degrees Celsius for approx 25 minutes.

Turn onto a cake rack to cool.

NOTES - 

*  The loaf can be sliced and toasted in an air fryer for 5 minutes until golden.  Serve with butter.

*  I like the muffins heated in the microwave,  cut in half and served with butter.

*  The loaf and muffins can be frozen

*  I think the brown sugar content can be reduced to 1 1/3  cups.  I'll let you know the next time I make it.

*  I used homemade brown sugar in this recipe.

Pumpkin Loaf

Pumpkin Muffins

Yummy and tasty

Have you made a pumpkin loaf or bread before ?

If you use this recipe,  please let me know what you think.

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 3rd August 2024

 While the weather here in Melbourne has been icy cold,  the Gower Abundant Cottage has been cosy warm ( most of the time ).  The draught stoppers are on the doors,  the throw blankets are in easy reach in the loungeroom and an extra blanket has been put on the beds.  The ducted heating vent deflectors are doing an amazing job of keeping the hot air away from the windows.

Here's how we saved money this week -

*  As per usual at the start of the month,  I cleaned the dishwasher using bi carb and vinegar.  I run it on the longest,  hottest cycle.

*  I refilled the foaming hand wash pumps using cheap shower gel and cooled,  boiled water.

*  I descaled the kettle by using citric acid and boiling the kettle ( with water in it ).

*  I used gifted supermarket paper bags for our household rubbish.

*  My eyeliner was getting quite low so I gently pulled up the remaining amount from it's holder.  I've made it last another 2 months with maybe another week or two remaining.  I just forgot to mention it when I originally did this back in May.

*  Darren and I enjoyed eating mandarins from our trees for the first time ever.  Growing mandarins has been a long battle in our backyard.  Originally we had a tree growing in the ground around 2012.  It just didn't grow, then eventually up and died.  In 2014 we planted another tree and that struggled too.  It was over run by ants then eventually that died as well.  Fast forward to maybe 2019 / 2020 and I decided to try growing mandarins once more but this time in big pots.  I thought if I could control the growing conditions a bit more it might have a better chance.

That first tree seemed to grow well so I took the plunge and bought another.  Now we have both trees fruiting and this is the first year the fruit is big enough to eat.  One tree has over 40 mandarins on it.  The other tree is soldering on and has about 5 mandarins.   

*  I froze the last of the gifted oranges.  I ran out of time to juice or blitz them so in the freezer they went.  

*  I made a big pot of chicken stock from two chicken carcasses leftover from a lunch we had at our place last Sunday.  I didn't have enough veggies to make it into soup so the stock was divided into smaller portions and frozen for future soup making days.

*  I refilled the gravy powder jar and seasoned flour jar with ingredients I had on hand.  I'm not a fan of the salty store bought gravy powder.  I still have a packet of no name gravy powder to use so I include a couple of tablespoons of that,  plain flour,  onion flakes,  celery powder,  garlic granules,  parsley and paprika ( for color ) to the jar and give it a good shake.  The seasoned flour is made up of plain flour,  mixed herbs,  salt and garlic.  The seasoned flour is used to coat fish,  potato cakes ( made from mash ) and chicken drumsticks.

*  I baked choc chip biscuits ( cookies ) for our afternoon tea.  We also ate pumpkin muffins and whole orange cake ( made into little cakes ) from the freezer.  

*  Our cheapest meals this week were

- Chunky chicken and veg soup for a few lunches

-  Spag bol with leftover bread stick made into garlic bread

-  Darren's lamb pies ( made with meat on clearance ) and steamed veg. 

LINKS -

Choc Chip Bickies ( Cookies )

Spag Bol

Chunky Chicken And Veg Soup

Refilling the jars

Mandarins from our tree

Choc chip biscuits for snacks

How are you keeping warm this Winter ?

How did you save money this week ?