This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 13th April 2024

This week has been a busy one for both Darren and I.  I've had a few big cleaning jobs and we're in the process of selling a car.  

AND -  I bought a new car. !!!  After 6 years of saving and 22 months of waiting for my car to be made and delivered,  I'm now the proud owner of a brand new Toyota Corolla.  This car is so new that when I test drove a Corolla 22 months ago I was told that I'd be getting the upgraded version.  No photos were available,  no specifics about the new features,  no idea of the NEW price and,  the new model has not been available to test drive since I ordered it in June 2022.  

So on Tuesday I went in to pick up my car and also to test drive it.  It has whiz bang features ( in my eyes ) some of which I'll never understand or work out how to use.  But it does run smoothly and there's nothing like the new car feeling.

I'm now 54 and this is only the third car I've ever owned.  My first car was 28 years old when I traded it in for $100( plus a bonus plasma tv ) and bought a new Camry in 2008.  This car still runs fantastically so Darren will now be driving it.  

I've never had a car loan.  Darren and I just work out when we think we'll need a new car and start saving for it.  It's been a part of our budget every month since 2012.  Next month we'll start saving for when the Camry needs replacing.

Here are the few ways we saved money this week -

*  I picked a handful of feijoas each day that had fallen from our tree.  Feijoas would have to be my all time favourite fruit and a wonderful childhood memory of my grandparents growing them too.

*  I baked wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

*  I've written a menu plan for the next 5 weeks.  I made sure to use some of the meals already cooked and frozen as well as other meats that need rotating in the freezer.

*  I filled up our compost bucket every couple of days.  Darren empties it into our compost bin outside.

*  Saved water in the kitchen and used it to water our pot plants outside.

*  I picked a handful of beans and lots of pears from our garden.

*  I baked rolls for Darren's work lunches.

*  We've been using up some hotel bottles of shampoo,  conditioner and shower gel.

*  I spent time online looking for the best deal on car insurance.  I saved $100 on the offer Toyota gave me plus another $100 approx in grocery savings by taking out insurance with Woolworths.

A few weeks ago Darren and I went to the Melbourne Flower Show.  I've included a few photos below of some of the gorgeous displays.

                                                                       My new car.

How did you save time,  money or energy this week ?

Cost Of Living Crisis Series - How To Do Your Laundry Cheaply.

 The cost of living crisis pretty much affects all areas of our budget.  How much it affects the budget can depend on us.  Darren and I have always been frugal.  For most of our married life ( 28 1/2 years ),  we've had to be frugal due to our extremely low income.

We even do our laundry very cheaply and it's never been a strain on our budget.  When money was super tight,  we bought the cheapest laundry powder we could find.  It did the job,  it cleaned our clothes but we also found there were many other tricks to keep the costs down.

Here's how we do our washing for just a few cents a load -

*  I always have a full load in the washing machine.  If I'm going to turn the machine on,  I may as well make the most of it.  If there isn't enough dirty clothes for a load,  we always wait another day or two.

*  I use the most effective and quickest wash cycle for the clothes I'm putting in.  When I had a top loader,  the quickest full load I could do took 37 minutes.  This was the cycle I used over 90% of the time.  I never used the 1 1/2 hour cycle or the delay start.  Every minute I have the machine on costs money in electricity.  Now that I have a front loader,  I can wash a fair amount of clothes on the 15 minute cycle but mostly I use the 39 minute cycle.

*  For the last 14 years I've been making my own laundry powder for just a few cents per load.  In recent years I've been making laundry liquid that's even cheaper than the powder,  The liquid seems to dissolve better in a front loader.  I'll put links to the recipes below.

*  When I did buy and use store bought powder,  I never used the recommended amount stated on the box.  Of course the manufacturer wants you to use X amount.  They want you to use it up quicker so you buy more.  I always halved the amount stated and our clothes came out clean.

*  I've never bought those washing pods.  Have you seen the price of them ? They are about $1 per pod at full price.  Yes I've used a few of them when they were in a show bag.  Yes our clothes smelled lovely,  but who wants to walk around smelling like laundry liquid ?  I'd much rather use a little perfume to smell nice.  I remember years ago I was outside when our next door neighbour was putting their washing on the line.  I could smell their laundry powder / liquid over 15 metres away.

*  I rarely use fabric softener.  In 28 1/2 years I've probably bought 2 bottles.  They were 1/2 price and I diluted them by 50%.  For some reason,  some of our black clothes smell and heavily diluted fabric softener used on a rare occasion helps a little.  So does soaking that item in boiling water.  Fabric softener used often is not good for the clothes and can do damage to the washing machine.  If it needs to be used,  use it sparingly.

*  I dry as much as I can on clothes horses over ducted heating vents in Winter or placed outside either in the Sun or on the deck if it's raining.  If the weather is clear and sunny for the whole day I'll hang the washing on the clothesline.

*  There are only a few instances when I'll use the dryer.  I use it when the clothes won't dry in humid weather.  I will also use the dryer for urgently needed items like work clothes.  If I'm not feeling well,  then sometimes it's easier to throw the washing in the dryer.  When Darren and I had Covid in May last year,  the dryer was the only way we could keep on top of the washing.  I physically couldn't use a peg on the clothes horse or even fling the washing over the rails. 

*  The washing machine and dryer are turned off at the wall when they are not being used.  When the load has finished,  the machine gets turned off straight away.

*  I don't use sanitising liquids.  If we've been sick,  I put a dash of generic brand,  hospital grade disinfectant into each load.

*  I use Aldi stain removing spray and laundry soaker,  homemade Miracle Spray or a stain removing soap when needed.  They all work really well and cost a fraction of the branded products.

*  I don't use essential oils to make my washing smell nice.  They are just too expensive to wash away.  I'd much rather the smell of sunshine on my clothes.

*  I don't use over priced eco friendly products.  Usually they rate very poorly in the Choice magazine tests.  I've had washing machine repair men tell me they are rubbish too.  Homemade laundry powder / liquid uses less plastic, few chemicals and saves me a small fortune.  It's also easier on my sensitive skin.

LINKS -

Laundry Powder

Homemade Laundry Liquid

Miracle Spray

Dry the washing on clotheshorses.

Ingredients for laundry powder

Watching the washing machine.

How do you keep your laundry costs down ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 6th April 2024

 This week's frugal list spans the last two weeks.  We were so busy over Easter I didn't get a chance to post my list.  Instead,  I just kept adding to it.

We spent lots of time with our family over Easter.  We enjoyed a church service on Friday and Sunday,  a picnic in the park,  Easter egg hunts,  baking and the grandchildren had a splash in our kiddie pool.

There's how we saved money over the last couple of weeks -

*  Gratefully received more supermarket paper bags from a friend.  We've been using them to hold our kitchen / household rubbish.  In 28 years of running a home,  I've never bought bin liners.

*  Our feijoa tree is now fruiting.  Each day I check our backyard for fallen fruit on the ground.  I then put the fruit on the kitchen windowsill for a few days to ripen.

*  I picked a small handful of raspberries every couple of days.  The season has now finished but I have a couple of kilos of fruit in the freezer for jam making and baking.

*  I cleaned our kettle with citric acid.

*  I purchased a few pairs of Summer sandals on clearance from Kmart for $6 and $12.

*  I made up a bottle of diluted dishwashing liquid to clean our showers.

*  Darren and I made hot cross buns.  Each year we make 1 dozen each in a bake off to see whose looks and tastes the best.  This I won.  Last year it was a draw.  While they are not cheaper than supermarket buns,  they are cheaper than the bakery and far tastier..

*  I made a big pot of chunky chicken and veg soup using homemade chicken stock and some of our potatoes ( plus other ingredients ).  I portioned the soup out and got 16 serves for less than $2.

*  The washing was dried on the line outside most of the time.  On days when it was raining,  I used clothes horses inside over our ducted heating vents.

*  We've used our ducted heating on a few cold mornings.  I've closed the vents in the two spare bedrooms and the main bathroom.  I also make sure the laundry and spare toilet doors are closed.  We don't heat unused areas of our home and this helps to keep costs down.

*  Darren found trays of lamb offcuts in Coles for $7 a tray.  I cooked the lamb overnight in the slow cooker with water,  onion and rosemary.  The next morning I drained the liquid and pulled the meat off the bones.  This meat was used to make a Massaman curry.   Usually I use beef for this dish but it was good to try the lamb.  We got 8 portions of the curry from the slow cooker.  Two were eaten that night with rice and the other 6 were put into the freezer.  

*  I used recycled gift bags for the grandchildren's Easter gifts.  Megan gets a lot of gift bags from Luka and Bryson's birthdays each year.  When she gets too many to reuse,  she gives me some.  Between the two of us,  we don't need to buy gift bags at all.  The boys Easter gifts this year were a Kmart T-shirt,  a book I found at Savers ( 3 in the pack for $2.99 less 20% discount ),  a bubble wand with solution ( 50c each ) and a chocolate bunny from Aldi.  So I probably spent under $7 each and they got a bag of goodies.

LINKS -

Chunky Chicken and Veggie Soup

Massaman Beef Curry

Cleaning Your Kettle

It's feijoa season

Homemade hot cross buns

Roses from my Mum's garden

How have you saved money lately ?

Did you find ways to save over Easter ?

Cost Of Living Crisis Series - Have Your Say.

 Quite often I get messages from people asking about how the cost of living crisis is affecting us.  I've also had others asking how do we keep our costs so low.

So I thought I'd do a series with a new topic each week.  So far,  here are the topics I thought I could  write about -

*  How to do laundry cheaply.

*  How to make clothes last longer.

*  Cleaning your home for under $1 a year.

*  Buying petrol as cheap as possible.

*  Budget busting gifts.

*  My frugal grocery shopping list.

Are there any areas of your budget you need to tighten ?

What topics would you like me to write about ?

How has the cost of living crisis affected you ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 23rd March 2024

 Being frugal doesn't take a lot of time or effort.  Even though I don't work full time,  I still run our home,  tend to the veggie garden ( and flower gardens ),  help my Mum when needed and entertain our grandchildren.  

Making a bottle of surface spray takes a minute,  repurposing plastic bags takes another minute.  Portioning and freezing leftovers takes 5 minutes.  You get the idea.  It's lots of little tasks with the occasional big task thrown in that saves us so much money.  This helps us live well below our means and gives us freedom with our money.

There's no cost of living crisis in our home.  Just a little pressure to find better deals and ways to save money.

Here's how we saved money this week - 

*  I picked all of the corn from our veggie garden.  We didn't get the long hot Summer as promised so the corn didn't grow too well.  Still,  we did get corn.  even if it was small and it's still a blessing.

*  I did my monthly food shop in Monday.  I spent $76 at Woolworths after the 10% discount was applied.  I spent $3.60 at the fruit and veg shop on avocados for Darren.  The remainder of my $140 food budget will be spent on milk and any other fruits and veggies we need over the coming weeks.

*  Gratefully received leftovers from a function we attended.  We made those leftovers stretch for 3 dinners and a couple of lunches.  We are grateful for the blessing.

*  Dried all the washing outside on clothes horses on the decking on rainy days.  On the sunny days,  the washing went on the line.

*  I made a big pot of soup using 250g of beef mince, veggies from our garden,  pasta,  seasonings and 1/2 a tin of diced tomatoes.  It was very tasty and filling.  From the 250g of mince,  we got 13 single serves of soup.

*  All the kitchen scraps,  paper and thin cardboard went into the kitchen compost bucket.  It was emptied every couple of days into the compost bin outside.

*  I picked raspberries every couple of days.  At this time of the year they do slow down.  All the fruit is frozen for jam making and baking muffins throughout the year.

*  Gratefully received lots of supermarket brown paper bags from a friend.  Even though they don't fit in our kitchen bin as bin liners,  we are using them by hanging the bag up on a hook in the space where the bin usually is.  So far,  so good.

*  Used the solar lanterns at night instead of turning lamps on in the loungeroom.

*  I mixed up a quadruple batch of ANZAC biscuit dough.  Some of it was baked and the rest was rolled into logs and frozen for future baking.

*  After making all the ANZAC biscuit dough,  I needed to make more brown sugar.  This is easy to make in the food processor using just white sugar and a good squirt of molasses.

*  I refilled the kitchen spray bottle and laundry spray bottle with cooled boiled water and a few squirts of dish washing liquid.  This costs just a few cents to make and clean our whole home.

LINKS -

ANZAC Biscuits

Brown Sugar

Homemade ANZAC biscuits

Some of our corn

A bits and pieces dinner with some of the leftovers

Luka ( 5 ) and Bryson ( 4 ),  came over during the week and helped me decorate our home.  Both boys put the decorations in the vases and placed everything where they wanted them.  I think they did a pretty good job.  They were certainly happy and proud of their work.

Our Easter tree.

Do you put any Easter decorations up ?

How did you save money this week ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 16th March 2024

 Welcome back to another post on frugal living.  I really hope the tasks I list help you to save money,  especially when times are tough and many people are struggling.

Darren and I had a quick trip to Tasmania over the long weekend.  We took our oldest grandson Luka ( almost 5 ) with us on his first plane trip and to meet his Pop ( Darren's Dad ).  We avoided the heatwave here in Melbourne,  but it was unusually humid in Tasmania.  We've learnt to pack clothes for all seasons even if it's just a 4 day trip.

Our Summer veggie garden is coming to an end.  The sweet corn is not growing too well due to the lack of consistent heat.  We still have zucchinis growing and silverbeet to pick.  The potatoes are at least another 8 weeks away from digging up and I'm hoping my second planting of beans will produce.

Here's how we've saved money around our home and garden -

*  I made more raspberry jam using fruit from our garden.

*  I baked wholemeal bread and rolls with extra goodness for our breakfasts ( as toast ) and for Darren to take to work at the hospital.

*  I made a couple of big trays of zucchini slice using zucchinis,  carrots and potatoes from our garden.

*  We saved water in the kitchen from drink bottles,  rinsing dishes and from the thermos.  This was all poured onto the pot plants and strawberries on our deck.

*  Saved the kitchen scraps and paper for our compost bucket.  Every few days Darren emptied it into the compost bin outside.

*   I picked a beautifully scented rose from the garden.  It gave off a beautiful perfume in the kitchen.

*  We filled our thermos each morning with boiled water for cups of tea during the day.

*  I washed and reused ziplock bags for freezing fruit from our garden.

*  I baked choc chip biscuits and cranberry hootycreek biscuit to take to Tasmania with us.

*  We picked raspberries,  lemons,  silverbeet,  corn,  pears,  a few potatoes and zucchinis from our garden.

*  I bought a couple of Winter tops from Savers op shop and used a discount voucher to get 20% off.

*  I made 2 lasagnes ( 1 large and 1 medium ) using 750 grams of beef mince and stretched it out with TVP,  grated carrot and lots of shredded silverbeet.  I portioned it out into 18 hearty serves.  We had some for dinner that night and 16 serves went into the freezer.

*  Dried all the washing on clothes horses outside.  Our weather has either been hot or wet,  so standing outside hanging washing on the line was not a great option.

*  Reused bread bags over and over again for storing bread in the freezer,  double wrapping meat in the freezer and then as bin liners in the bathrooms.

LINKS-

Lasagne

Wholemeal bread with extra goodness

Zucchini Slice

Choc chip bickies

Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits

Homemade bread and raspberry jam

From the garden

Beautifully scented from our garden

Using our thermos to save money

Drying and reusing ziplock bags

Luka on the plane with his little buddy

Pears from our tree.

How have you saved money this week ?

Have you bulk cooked any meals lately ?

I've had a few people ask for a picture of the solar lanterns we use.  They were purchased from Bunnings but they are out of stock at the moment.  They are really garden lights but we took the stake off them.

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 2nd March 2024

 It's been a week of surviving hot ( and at times humid ) weather.  Our veggie garden is suffering a little and the tomato plants died off every quickly.  Thankfully they still have fruit on them and I'll be picking any remaining this coming week.

I've done very little baking or cooking due to the heat and some nights our meals were bits and pieces from the fridge with homemade potato salad.  Sometimes these simple meals are appreciated more than a fancy meal.

Here's how we saved money this week -

*  I sold an unwanted item on Marketplace.  The money from this was put into the gift fund.

*  I picked a handful or two of raspberries almost every day.  I have enough berries in the freezer to make another batch of jam shortly.

*  I made up a bottle of surface spray for the kitchen using cooled boiled water and a couple of squirts of dishwashing liquid ( the cheapest Aldi brand ).

*  I used our air fryer to crisp up a homemade garlic bread.  The garlic bread came from the freezer.  I defrosted it in the microwave for 40 seconds,  then placed it back in the foil with the top open.  It only needed 2 minutes in the air fryer.  This is far quicker and cheaper than using the oven.

*  I picked quite a few tomatoes and 2 ears of corn from our garden.  I've frozen 2 x 1.5 kilos of tomatoes to be turned into tomato relish when the weather cools down.  I already have a couple of people lining up to buy some relish.

*  We've had a few super hot, humid days over the last week or two.  On these days we cannot use our evap cooling.  So to make our split system air conditioning work better throughout the house,  we use a couple of electric fans ( pedestal and box ) to push the cold air from one end of the house to the other.  We also close off the 2 spare bedrooms,  spare bathroom and toilet and the laundry. This has been quite effective and saves us from buying and using another $3000 air conditioning system.

*  We fed grass,  weeds,  lettuce and silverbeet to our chicken.

*  We used the solar lanterns at night to light up our loungeroom.  With it being so sunny lately,  the lanterns last all night.  By morning they give off a soft glow.

*  I cleaned the dishwasher filters with kitchen detergent.   I also cleaned the dishwasher with bi carb and vinegar and ran it on a long,  hot cycle.

*  We gratefully received 2 small hams from a friend.  They were 1 day out of their best before date so Darren sliced them up and froze it into 2 and 4 slice packets for lunches and dinners.

*  We charged up a shaver,  handheld fan,  2 in 1 vacuum,  phones,  dust buster hand vacuum and an iPad during the day when the Sun was shining to make the most of our solar panels.   

Ripening tomatoes from our garden.

Drying the washing outside

Pears almost ready to pick.

Part of our back garden.

Cleaning dishwasher filters

Afternoon tea at Jessica's home ( our daughter ).

How do you keep cool in Summer without spending a fortune ?

How did you save money this week ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 24th February 2024

Thankyou for your patience while I try to get back into regular blogging.  Sometimes life gets in the way and last week it was a massive storm that hit Melbourne quite unexpectedly.  We are fine and our home and garden didn't sustain any damage.  Thankfully we didn't lose power either.  It just flickered off for a second or two.

Unfortunately my Mum's power was out for almost 10 hours on a hot day.  We ended up bringing her back to our place for the night to keep her safe and cool.  We also made quite a few trips back and forth to Mum's place to rescue food,  buy new food and to help pack and unpack   Slowly,  life is getting back to normal.

Here are some of the frugal tasks I completed over the last two weeks -

*  Now that grapes are in season,  reasonably cheap and quite delicious,  I'm freezing them to eat later on in the year.  This is a wonderful tip my Mum shared with me last year.

*  I made apricot jam and raspberry jam using fruits from our garden and lemons from our tree.

*  I continued decluttering and donated to our local Savers.  I received a few 20% off discount coupons and used them to help purchase beautiful Christmas and birthday presents.  It really is amazing what people get rid of.  I've found new cup and saucer sets,  crystal,  reed diffusers,  sewing kits,  coffee mugs and craft items.  Some of our drinking glasses were looking a bit ratty and I was able to pick up new ones even cheaper than Kmart and IKEA.

*  Picked lots of rosemary from our garden and dried it in paper bags to avoid it getting dusty.  I then put it in a coffee grinder to turn it into a powder.  The powder sticks better to meats and vegetables when I roast them.

*  I made a cushion cover for our rocking chair in the loungeroom.

*  I replaced the elastic on two baby sun hats for our granddaughter Naomi.  These are hats our girls wore when they were babies about 24 - 26 years ago.  The hats now look brand new.

*  Picked a handful of raspberries from our garden each day.  I almost have enough in the freezer to make more jam.

*  I picked lemons,  silverbeet,  carrots and  beans from our garden and dug up over 5 kilos of free potatoes.

*  Darren has been picking blackberries from a couple of locations near our home.  He will be making his favourite jam very shortly.

*  Made pita chips from cut up pita bread.

*  I bulk cooked spag bol sauce.  From 750 grams of beef mince,  I made over 20 serves for dinner.  Adding TVP,  grated carrot and shredded silverbeet really helps to stretch the meat out and make it super cheap. 

*  I made cranberry hootycreek biscuits for Darren as part of his Valentines Day present.  I've also made choc chip biscuits using dough I'd frozen earlier.

*  We used our thermos to store boiling water for our morning cups of tea.

*  I altered a couple of dresses for Megan that she purchased from Savers.

*  I was given old Christmas cards from a cleaning client.  I've upcycled them into new cards for next Christmas.

*  We saved water from the kitchen to water our plants outside.

LINKS -

Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits

Pita Chips

Choc Chip Bickies ( Cookies )

Upcycled Christmas cards

Luka and Bryson's birthday cards.

Making 2 cards from 1

Summer fun at Nanny and Poppy's

Spag bol in bulk

Freezing grapes

Do you upcycle anything around your home ?

How have you saved money this week ?

P.S -  I've had a few people ask me for the shortbread recipe I use. The recipe is posted in the recipe section under baking.  Rice flour is used because that's the recipe on the rice flour packet of a well known brand.  I'm new to shortbread making so I just followed the recipe.

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 3rd February 2024

 Hello friends.  My blogging break is over and I had lots of time to rest and relax at home over December and January.  I took 3 1/2 weeks off from my cleaning work and it was absolute bliss to just stay home and potter around the garden.

Our December was busy with lots of end of year functions to attend.  Darren was in our church's Christmas Eve play and Kurt was one of the backstage crew.  Darren's brother came down from NSW just before Christmas for a visit and we caught up with him a couple of times.

Our grandchildren received a blow up pool and slide set for Christmas from their great grandparents in Tasmania.  The pool lives in our backyard so the family came over for swims when the weather finally warmed up a little and it stopped raining.  We enjoyed lots of bbqs here and at Megan and Kurt's place.  There were lots of cuddles with our granddaughter Naomi who is now 4 1/2 months old and testing out her vocal chords and trying to roll over.  She's a sweet little girl with a big smile that lights up the room.

Our oldest daughter Jessica came over for a few visits and took every opportunity to hold Naomi and play cars with Luka and Bryson.

My frugal list below is written in order of when I completed each task.  I did get quite a few things done so I'll share my December / January list over this week and next week.

*  I planted heaps of beans,  corn,  zucchini and potatoes in our veggie garden.  

*  I've picked silverbeet to add to a few meals as our green veggie.

*  Over the last 4 months I've been using a small,  lightweight handbag from Kmart.  It's been great  and very comfortable to wear,  but unfortunately the strap came off at one end.  Thankfully the material is soft enough to repair so I was able to stitch it back on and reinforce the other end too.

*  I mended and cleaned 2 pairs of sneakers.  Hopefully I can get another 6 months out of my cleaning sneakers.  The other pair just needed a clean and the laces washed.

*  I upcycled quite a few retail store gift bags so they can be used for birthdays.  It's been years since I bought wrapping paper for birthday presents.

*  I made almost 1 kilo of rice flour for shortbread biscuit making.  I did this by putting uncooked white rice into a coffee grinder and ground it until it was floury with a little bit of texture.

*  I've picked about 5 kilos of beans,  lots of lettuce,  a few tomatoes here and there,  lots of potatoes,  lemons,  strawberries,  zucchinis,  raspberries,  apricots and a few plums ( the wind and birds got the rest ).  Carrots are about the only vegetable I regularly buy at the fruit and veg shop.

*  Recharged the vacuum,  handheld vacuum ( dust buster ),  Darren's shaver and phones when the Sun is shining.

*  I made a big jar of dried seasoned bread crumbs from saved breads crusts I dried in the oven.  I use these for coating chicken drumsticks and salmon patties.   They are also great in rissoles,  hamburger patties and as a topping in potato bakes etc.

*  I made up 2 big batches of brown sugar as needed when I was doing some baking.

*  I made cranberry hootycreek biscuits and choc chip biscuits.  Lots of the biscuit dough was also frozen for future baking.

*  I made up a half batch of yoghurt from scratch.

*  Darren picked blackberries at a couple of locations.  As soon as he has enough berries frozen I'll be making jam for him.

*  I made wholemeal bread with extra goodness to have as toast for our breakfast every morning.  I also make rolls for Darren to use in his lunch for work.

*  I shopped the Boxing Day sales and got some fantastic deals on presents for this year and the next.  All the presents have been allocated in my present book and all were budgeted for.  In fact,  I'm coming in well under budget for this year.

*  Darren and I went to the movies using points he'd accumulated at Village cinemas.  We rarely go to the movies so this was a wonderful treat.

LINKS - 

Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits

Choc Chip Bickies ( cookies )

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Dried Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Brown Sugar

Making Your Own Yoghurt

Bread making day

Upcycling store bags

A well earned morning tea

One of many bean hauls from the garden

Christmas Day with our family

Cuddles with Naomi

Australia Day photo

Making rice flour.

How have you saved money over Christmas and the school holidays ?

Did you get any bargains in the post Christmas sales ?