This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 9th November 2024

It's been a busy week in the kitchen.  Megan and I went to Costco on Monday and I decided to purchase 5 cooked chickens.  They sell for $6.99 each which is a bargain compared to supermarket prices of $12.50.

With all this lovely chicken on hand Darren and I spent some time pulling all the meat off,  portioning it then freezing most of it.  I think I have enough chicken meat to see us through Summer.  Then for the next two days I had both the slow cookers going with the bones in to make delicious rich chicken stock.  This has been frozen too so I guess you could say that I'm all stocked up on stock.

Here's what else we've been up to -

*  I made just over 2 jars of lemon butter using lemons from our tree ( the juice came from the freezer ).

*  Every couple of days Darren emptied the kitchen compost bucket into the compost bin outside.

*  We saved the shower warm up water each day and used it to water many plants outside.

*  I picked silverbeet,  sugar snap peas and lettuce from our garden.

*  On Cup Day ( Tuesday ),  we made a trip down to Phillip Island with Megan and our three grandchildren.  We had fun at the beach climbing rocks and looking into rock pools.  Luka made a little pool in the sand while Bryson had fun splashing in the water.  We took my homemade wholemeal rolls and picked lettuce from the garden to add to the lunch ( salad rolls ).  I took water bottles and ANZAC biscuits for everyone.

*  I dried all the washing outside either on the line or clothes horses.

*  I cleaned a couple of pairs of sneakers ( runners ) that were looking a little rough and soaked the laces in bleach.  While the shoes don't look new,  they certainly look much better and cleaner.

*  I made about 8 litres of chicken stock.  This has been portioned up and frozen for future soup making during the cooler months next year.

*  I bulk cooked honey mustard chicken and chunky chicken soup.  Both have been portioned up and frozen into single and double sizes.

*  I baked ANZAC biscuits for morning teas and the day trip.

*  I donated a bag of unwanted items to Savers and received a discount voucher.  I then bought a few items of needed clothing and used the discount voucher to get them cheaper.

LINKS -

Lemon Butter

ANZAC Biscuits

Honey Mustard Chicken

Chunky Chicken And Veggie Soup

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Homemade lemon butter

Portioning up the chicken meat

ANZAC biscuits for morning teas and picnics

What homemade treats do you like to take on picnics ?

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

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 2nd November 2024

 We've had some beautiful Spring weather this week. It's been wonderful to get out in the garden to pull weeds,  plant more seeds and pick bunches of flowers.  Darren and I feel truly blessed to have a backyard to grow,  sow,  pick and eat from.

Here's how we saved money this week -

*  I  made up a bottle of surface spray using water from the kettle and a dash of dishwashing liquid.  I keep one bottle in the kitchen and another in the laundry ( for bathrooms and toilets ).

*  I spray painted a serviette holder that had turned yellowish with age.  It now looks like new.  I also spray painted a blue trinket dish that I no longer liked the color of.

*  To start being prepared for the many occasions in the lead up to Christmas,  I made a double recipe of chocolate brownies.  Most of it has been frozen.  In the coming weeks I plan to make and freeze lots of biscuit dough,  cakes and slices.

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

*  Darren and I staked up our tomato plants.  We reuse the same stakes year in,  year out.  When the stakes start to split with age,  Darren saws off the split end to make shorter stakes.

*  I've planted zucchini,  cucumber and Jap pumpkin seeds as well as more sprouting potatoes.  I've also planted more dwarf bean seeds where there were gaps under the tomato plants.

*  The kettle was cleaned with citric acid to get rid of the mineral deposits.

*  While I had the oven on for the bread,  I baked 10 wholemeal rolls for Darren's lunches.

*  I made 10 bars of lemon verbena scented soap.  I love anything lemon scented and this soap smells amazing.

*  Because it's the start of the month,  I've cleaned the dishwasher with bi carb and vinegar.  I also used the homemade surface spray to clean around the door.

*  I  made up a big bottle of foaming handwash to refill the soap pumps around our home.

*  I mended a pair of sandals that were starting to fall apart.  The glue I used is called Shoefix and works really well.

*  We picked lettuce,  silverbeet,  sugar snap peas and lemons from our garden.

*  I made a bulk amount of spag bol sauce and added silverbeet,  TVP and grated carrot to bulk it out.  From 750g of beef mince I got 15 serves of the sauce.  Most of it has been frozen for future meals.  This will be great over the Christmas / New Year /  Summer period.  

LINKS -

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Chocolate Brownies

Spag Bol

Planting sprouting potatoes

Cleaning the dishwasher filters

Lemon verbena scented soap

Bulk chocolate brownies

Have you started baking or freezing extra goodies for the Christmas period ?

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

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 26th October 2024

 It hasn't been a super frugal week since last weekend.  There are some weeks lots of things need to be done or made.  Other weeks I look back and wonder if any money was saved.  Some tasks have become second nature to us and we don't think twice about them.  This was one of those weeks.

Each week I keep a piece of paper on our fridge and jot down all the thrifty things we've done.  It gives us a sense of achievement and motivates us to find more thrifty things to do.

Here's our list for the week - 

*  I picked a bunch of flowers from our garden.  While flowers bought from a florist or supermarket are quite pretty,  they are super expensive and quite often don't last more than 5 days.  I love having fresh flowers in our home as much as possible.  Growing them ourselves means I can pick the colors I like,  when I like with little to no cost.

*  I made a double batch of muesli bars for our morning teas.  Darren was getting quite worried when he took the last one from the jar in the pantry the other day.   We still have a few store bought bars on hand but we don't like them.  They are way too sweet and sickly for our tastes.  They are the generic brand ones from Woolworths that I bought about 6 months ago in a bid to cut costs ( before I discovered the great recipe I now use ).  Maybe the grandkids will like them.

*  I dried all the washing on the line and clothes horses.  We've had a few rainy days this week so I popped the clothes horses outside under the pergola.

*  We saved the shower warm up water each day and used it to water lots of plants outside.  

*  We used the solar lanterns each night to light up our loungeroom.

*  I baked three loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.  I used recycled bread bags and tags to freeze the bread.

*  We picked sugar snap peas,  lettuce,  silverbeet and lemons from our garden.

*  A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I had bought a mirror from Savers op shop for $15.  Over the last 10 days I repaired a small dent and painted the frame.  The paint came from Kmart on clearance for $1 and I probably used 50 cents worth.

*  We took Luka and Bryson to Gardenworld to see the dinosaurs.  It was free entertainment for them and we bought an orange tree.

LINKS -

Crunchy Muesli Bars

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Handmade soap

A ' loaf ' of handmade soap

The mirror I painted

Flowers from our garden

                                                 

                                                                  A trip to Gardenworld

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

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 19th October 2024

 Well,  it certainly has been an eventful week.  Saturday and Sunday was busy getting my kitchen and notes ready for the Sunrise tv segment on Monday.  I was up at 5am Monday morning to put the extra layers of makeup on.  The cameraman arrived at 6.45am so my goal was to be ready by then.  We filmed at 7.45am and by 8am the cameraman was packing up ready to go to his next job.  I handed him a muesli bar for his breakfast ( he hadn't had any ) and he said it was really,  really good.

After all the excitement I needed a cuppa and muesli bar to calm down.  I hadn't had much breakfast earlier because I was too nervous to eat.  Then I headed out to do my monthly grocery shop.  By the  afternoon I was snoozing in my recliner chair.

Thankyou to everyone who messaged me,  prayed and left lovely comments.  Live tv is quite scary.  There are no second takes.

For those who are new here - WELCOME  !!!  I hope this blog encourages you to find ways to stretch your budget and save some money.  All the recipes,  photos and articles are my own except for 2 - 3 recipes.  They have been shared with permission by the original owners.  Nothing has ever been made up or copied to gain a few extra likes or comments.  

Here's how we saved money this week -

*  Darren filled up the thermos each morning with boiled water from the kettle.  We use it throughout the day for our cuppas or cooking at dinnertime.

*  I picked lots of the new Spring growth from our rosemary bush.  I'm drying it in paper bags that I hang up for 6 - 8 weeks.  The paper bags keep the dust off yet allows the rosemary to breathe.

*  I purchased a mirror for our bedroom from Savers for $15.  I'm in the process of painting it and I'll show a photo when it's finished.  I've been wanting and looking for a mirror for the last 5 years and they are either way too expensive or not the right size.  This one fits both criteria.

*  I baked cranberry hootycreek biscuits and choc chip biscuits using dough I'd frozen previously.  We've enjoyed these for our work morning teas.

*  When I was out doing the monthly grocery shopping on Monday,  I found a bag of mushrooms on the clearance table at our local fruit and veg shop.  They looked really good too.  The bag was $1.79 and weighed almost 500g.  That's a pretty good bargain considering mushrooms are well over $10 a kilo in the supermarkets.

*  I dehydrated some fruit for one of Darren's co workers.  They paid me for doing this.

*  Our savoury snack jars were looking a little low so I made pita chips using pita bread from the freezer.

*  I made a bottle of surface spray using water from the kettle and a dash of dishwashing liquid.

*  We picked silverbeet,  lemons and lettuce from our garden.

*  All the washing was dried on the line outside.  It was wonderful to have a fresh outdoor scent through our clothes.

*  I made a bottle of Miracle Spray for laundry stains.

*  We saved the shower warm up water and used it on all the pot plants outside.  We saved so much water I started using it on the veggie garden too.

*  I'd had a few inquires about my handmade soap.  So it was time to make a few batches so they have time to cure and harden before Christmas. I'll post photos next week when I've cut the bars.

LINKS -

Muesli Bars

Miracle Spray

Cranberry Hootycreek Biscuits

Choc Chip Bickies ( Cookies )

Pita Chips

Freshly picked rosemary

From our garden

Making Miracle Spray

Making pita chips 

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

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 12th October 2024

 This week seems to have flown by so quickly.  The family came over on Sunday for a belated birthday gathering.  Luka and Bryson ( our grandchildren ) brought over party hats and balloons because a birthday is not a birthday without them.  Luka was very quick to point out that most of the balloons were green - my favourite color.

I've tried to get into the veggie garden as often as possible to get rid of the weeds that have popped up with the warmth.  I'm happy to say I'm winning the battle.  My goal has been to pull out at least 100 weeds a day.  They are not big weeds.  Just babies really.

Here's how we saved money this week - 

*  I dried all the washing on clothes horses over ducted heating vents and outside on the line.

*  We saved the shower warm up water and used it to water the plants outside.

*  I planted lots of green bean seeds out in the veggie garden.  I also planted Luffa seeds.  Hopefully this year we get a long hot Summer so that they grow to maturity.

*  I used our own compost on the veggie garden as extra nutrients when planting the seeds. 

*  Darren picked a bunch of beautiful hot pink roses from our garden.  Their scent is lovely and strong and fills our home.

*   The  pedestal fans we use during Summer are starting to get a little rickety and have always had me worried when the grandchildren come over.  It's so easy for them to put their fingers through the grill.  After doing some research over Winter,  we went and purchased a tower fan from The Good Guys.  Their price was $179.  I found a cheaper online price for $149 which they agreed to match.  We added on the Gold Service extended warranty for an extra $35 which gives us a total of $180 in store credit over 3 years.  To top that off,  we already had $60 in store credit to use on the fan.  I know its confusing but in the end we only paid $124 for the fan but the total value in product and credit is $359.  BARGAIN.  We use the store credit throughout the years to purchase gifts for family.

*  I made Christmas cards from gift tags and birthday cards from old cards given to me.

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

*  We picked silverbeet,  lettuce and a few lemons from our garden.  I also dug up just over 2 kilos of potatoes.

*  We had a few good sunny days that helped us charge the solar lanterns for night time use.

*  Darren had a work morning tea / afternoon tea at the hospital he works at.  Everyone brings something to share so I made a batch of scones.  Darren picked out a jar of homemade jam from the cupboard and we had a little bit of cream left in the fridge.   He said the scones went like hot cakes and some of the staff were fighting over the last one.  The scones cost well under $1 to make,  the jam is 15 cents per jar and the cream did need using up but the amount used cost under $1.       

LINKS -

Scones

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Flowers Darren picked

Recycled birthday cards

Gift tag Christmas cards

Homemade bread

Silverbeet plants that keep on giving

Freshly baked scones

Please check my Facebook pages tomorrow ( Sunday ) for a tv appearance announcement .

How have you saved money this week ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 5th October 2024

 It looks like the weather has turned here in Melbourne.  We've had a few days of 25 degrees Celsius ( 77 Fahrenheit ) with the nights and early mornings still being a little cool.  I've enjoyed being out in the garden even if it was to pull out hundreds of weeds each day in the veggie garden or to just water the plants.  With the sun shining for longer periods and the warmth,  the weeds have decided to pop up and say hello.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I'd had a photo shoot with a major Australian magazine.  This week my family's story featured in a 2 page spread in Woman's Day.  If you are interested in purchasing this magazine,  it will be available in supermarkets and newsagents until this Sunday.  I have posted a photo on my Facebook pages too.  As far as I'm aware,  Woman's Day will be doing a Facebook promo with a link in a few weeks time. 

Here's how I saved money this week -

*  I cleaned the inside of our kettle with citric acid.  I do this at the start of every month and it always amazes me how clean it comes up.

*  I baked 3 loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.  I store it in the freezer and use recycled bread bags to store it in.  These bags get used over and over again.

*  I made a double batch of muesli bars for our work lunches.

*  I dried all the washing on the line outside on the warm days.  On the cooler days the washing went on clothes horses over the ducted heating vents.

*  I sold 2 unwanted items on Marketplace.

*  I found 6 volunteer sugar snap pea seedlings growing in our veggie garden.  I dug them up and planted them with the other sugar snap pea seedlings.  They must have self seeded from last season.  At least I hope they are snap peas.  Darren said they could be sweet peas.  I'll give you an update in a few weeks.

*  We charged the solar lanterns on the sunny days and bought them inside at night to light up our loungeroom.

*  We saved the shower warm up water and poured it on some plants outside.

*  For my birthday on Tuesday,  I chose to have dinner at home.  We had salmon over mashed potato with a side salad and lemon.  For dessert we had a quarter of a cheesecake from The Cheesecake Shop  for dessert.  This dinner was much nicer,  cheaper and quieter than going to a restaurant.

*  I picked a few lemons off our tree.

*  We gratefully received some vegetables which I turned into a pot of soup.  From that pot I got 10 generous serves.  Most will be for my work lunches but we did have some for dinner one night with homemade herb and garlic bread.

*  I cleaned the dishwasher with bi carb and vinegar.  I wiped around the door seals with kitchen detergent and water.

*  I made up a bottle of surface spray with cooled water from the kettle and a dash of dishwashing liquid.

*  I dehydrated quite a few lemons ( for Summer drinks ) and mandarins ( for snacking ).  

Gifted lemons

Filling the dehydrator with lemons and mandarins

In the garden.

How have you saved money this week ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 21st September 2024

 The last few weeks have full and eventful.  We celebrated Father's Day followed by our wedding anniversary the next day.  During that time,  Melbourne was hit by a ferocious storm in the wee hours of that Monday.   It was quite frightening and sounded like a cyclone was swirling around our home.  We heard a big crash outside but couldn't find anything other than a bin knocked over.  

The winds continued all week and we heard another crash on the Thursday but still couldn't see any damage.   I went to a card making weekend on the Friday and came home Sunday afternoon just as the rains came down again.  That's when I discovered we had a major roof leak.

Darren climbed up on the roof to find at least 7 broken tiles.  We heard from our next door neighbour that the house at the back of us lost a trampoline sometime during the storms and we think it hit our roof.  Darren said there were 2 trampoline springs up on our roof. 

Darren used the spare tiles we had to do some repair work with the help of our next door neighbour. Unfortunately the roof still needs more work.  We also have water damage inside our home which still needs attention.

We celebrated our granddaughter Naomi's first birthday on Tuesday and her party was last Sunday.

I also had a photo shoot with a major magazine this week.  That was just a little bit exciting.   We had lots of fun dodging rain and gusts of wind.  It's never a dull moment with Melbourne weather.

So after all of that,  here is my frugal list from the last few weeks -

*  Darren and I took our grandsons Luka and Bryson to the Jurassic World Dinosaur display.  It was a lovely day out into the city with a first time tram ride for the boys.  To keep costs down we took water bottles,  fruit and snacks for all four of us as well as sandwiches for the boys.  

*  Even with all the rain and strong winds we've had over the last few weeks,  I've managed to get most of the washing dry on clothes horses and the clothesline.  Only a few items were dried in the dryer.

*  Recently I bought a craft stamp cleaning mat.  It needs a cleaning spray to go with it but I was able to make that myself.  This retails for $23 but I made it for under $2.

*  I planted tomato and sugar snap pea seedlings.

*  I made up a big bottle of foaming hand wash using cheap shower gel and cooled water from the kettle.  I refilled the pumps around our home with this.

*  Darren and I went out for dinner for our wedding anniversary on the 2nd September.  We used a voucher to help lower the cost of our meals.

*  We filled up both our cars when petrol was $1.68 per litre.

*  On the colder days I turned our heater down just a little bit to 19 degrees Celsius.  Usually we have it on 20 degrees during the day.

*  I gratefully received lemons,  oranges and mandarins from a couple of friends. 

*  I wrote out a menu plan for the next four weeks.  This is quite an easy task to do when I keep old menu plans that worked well.  I just switch around a couple of meals to suit any occasion coming up.

*  I refilled the herb and spice jars from bulk packets I bought at Hindustan Imports.  This is a far cheaper option than constantly buying those little jars at the supermarket.

*  We are enjoying the homemade muesli bars so much that I make them on a regular basis.  I made another batch last weekend.

*  I dug out the dehydrator and dried the gifted oranges and a few mandarins.  They turned out really well and are so delicious.

*  Three loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness was baked this week.

*  I picked the last of the mandarins from our trees.

*  I bought 3 Summer tops from Savers and used a 20% off discount voucher to get them even cheaper.

*  There are some great bargains to be had as the department stores clear out old stock.  I picked up gumboots for the grandchildren for $4 and  Minecraft backpacks for $1.98.  I also picked up a couple of items for the gift cupboard and insect repellent products on clearance.

*  I made honey joys for Naomi's party using items I already had on hand.

First time dehydrating oranges

The finished product

Luka at Jurassic World

Both boys looking at the dinosaur

Bryson with his dino pet

Darren on Father's Day

Naomi turning 1

Honey joys for the party

$1.98 clearance bargain

Have you found any clearance bargains lately ?

How have you saved time,  money or energy the last few weeks ?

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 ?

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 ?