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.
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| Home grown mandarins and oranges |
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| 50 cent bargain |
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| In the garden |
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| A blessing |
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| Slow cooked lamb in gravy with veg |
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing your tipe.
My husband and I are empty nesters, we are fortunate that we have no debt but I can still do better. Hubby has a terminal illness so my budget is lightly higher at $100 per week as I like to buy him his treats. Having said that I still do a lot of my own cooking from scratch and have also started making my own sourdough. I'm GF due to IBS and the GF range is not as cheap. I do compromise though, if I'm making Spag Bol I'll have mine on a jacket potato with a small salad, hubby likes his with Penne - GF pasta to me is not as nice so I'd rather go without.
I also recently turned 60 (yikes) and received a seniors card. One of the perks is that I can buy WW Wish Cards with a 5% discount. I also get 10% off my WW shop every month as well. If I purchase a $300 gift card I end up getting the benefit of $45 off. For me thats huge.
I recently watched a YouTube video on how to cut up a chicken. My local WW has decent sized chickens for around $9 (around 2 kilo sized) and I get 2 decent sized Maryland pieces for a roast plus good sized chicken breast fillets for a few more meals (depending on what I make). Every little bit adds up and my goal is to have about a years worth of salary and bills saved up so that I can retire a little bit earlier (but only if I feel like it, I actually like my job)
Best regards
Deb
Deb, your food budget sounds quite reasonable considering you are buying treats for your husband. My husband will be turning 60 next year so thankyou for the info on the Wish cards. We will be doing the same.
DeleteWhat a week Wendy! I really enjoyed the show Tuesday night. I loved it!xxx
ReplyDeleteThankyou. I'm glad you watched it.
DeleteGosh, what an exciting week you've had! Just the usual mending, cooking from scratch and pottering about doing stuff at home here. We were lucky enough to receive some free fruit from a friend who runs a grocery store in return for my husband lending a helping hand. That provided desert for a couple of nights and enough strawberries for 3 jars of jam.
ReplyDeleteThe free fruit is a wonderful blessing.
DeleteHello Wendy! I am so sorry that you have been subjected to trolling! That is so unkind and unnecessary. I do not understand why people feel it is okay to be nasty. I love reading your blog and seeing all of your accomplishments. It must be very exciting to have be interviewed and to have a photographer come and visit you. I hope that you get some lovely photos taken. All the best for a great week! Jennie in Queanbeyan🖤
ReplyDeleteThankyou. The nasty comments don't bother me these days. It bothers me that some people choose not to read the stories, read my blog or try for themselves to lower their food budgets. We all have choices in how we spend our money and time.
DeleteI hope the magazines give you a payment for securing their/your story?
ReplyDeleteNo money in that sort of thing. If I was writing a column then that would be different.
DeleteEnjoyed your interview on Cheapskates ... you have good stage presence :) Am saving now to join their annual subscription ... $30 would have to come out of my megrre pensioners food budget, so it may take a little time, but I'm so happy you introduced them to me. You do such a wonderful job here on your blog. I had a blog years ago, and know firsthand how much work goes into creating the text and photos, then uploading them. Thanks for all you do! Madelyne, Victoria BC
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your lovely comment. I really hope you join The Cheapskates Club. Perhaps you could ask family and friends to put in for a membership as a birthday / Christmas present. If not, saving for it can be satisfying too.
DeleteI really enjoyed the show you & Cath did together last week & Cath’s follow up last night. Lots of great ideas as well as being very encouraging!
ReplyDeleteI know you have written about growing potatoes in the past and I wondered if you might have some ideas on growing potatoes inexpensively, in a small space?
Melissa