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 ?

Cost Of Living Crisis Series - Budget Celebration Food

Whether you are facing mortgage stress,  job loses,  budget restraints or any other financial pressures,  celebrations can be a way of bringing joy into your life and those around you.  How you celebrate depends on how much money you want to spend.  It doesn't have to be anything big and lavish.  Even putting a few plates of special food on a well laid out table can be just as enjoyable.  

Following on from last week's post about hosting a celebration,  I though I'd share some of the food I've serve for afternoon tea gatherings over the years.  If you do any scratch cooking or baking then you'll most likely have many of the ingredients on hand.

Here are the links to foods that are easy to make,  cheap and fill up a plate for just a few dollars -

Scones  These can be made ahead of time and frozen.  If you don't have the budget for jam and cream,  just serve with butter and jam.

Lunchbox Chocolate Choc Chip Muffins  The flavour doesn't have to be chocolate.  Add any fruit,  fresh or frozen for a different flavour.

 Pita Chips  Pita bread is cheapest bought from a market.  If you are buying from the supermarket,  get the cheapest brand.  One packet of pita bread makes heaps of chips.  Add a $3 dip,  carrot sticks and celery sticks and you have an impressive plate.

Easy Coconut Slice  This recipe uses very basic ingredients.  It can be made and frozen ahead of time.

Apple Rose Pastries  These pastries can be served as a dessert too.  For an afternoon tea,  just make them a little smaller.

Choc Chip Bickies ( Cookies )  This recipe only has 5 ingredients and makes 50 - 60 biscuits.   Maybe halve the recipe or freeze all the leftover dough.

Other budget foods I've served at afternoon teas,  but I don't have links for are -

Curried egg and lettuce sandwiches.  Even using one egg will make 2 rounds ( 8 points ) of sandwiches.

Honey joys.  This is the corn flake,  honey and butter  mounds you serve in patty cases.

Custard tarts.  These are just puff pastry cases I've cooked then filled with thick custard and topped with a little lolly.

Seasonal fruit platter.  I serve watermelon,  grapes and cantaloupe ( if it's cheap enough ).  While berries are lovely to eat,  they can be quite expensive.

There are plenty of other foods I've served when I had a bigger budget.  These can be found in the recipe section.  I've served Hoovers  Doovers,  Sausage Rolls,  ANZAC Biscuits,  Chocolate Truffles,  Whole Orange Cake,  Pumpkin Scones and Chocolate Brownies.

A simple afternoon tea

Getting out the pretties

What budget friendly foods do you serve at an afternoon tea gatherings ?

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 27th July 2024

 Well,  this week has been an interesting one.  On Monday I did a 1 hour phone interview with a reporter named Emily from Channel Nine's online content team.  Emily came across my name in a Facebook savings group,  then researched my stories from A Current Affair in 2014.  She wanted to do an update story on where our family is now and how we are coping with the cost of living crisis.

It was wonderful to chat with Emily and she was all ears when I shared the many ways we save money.  I think she almost fell off her chair when I told her we only spend $150 a month for our groceries,  including basic toiletries and cleaning ingredients.  For those of you who have followed our journey,  you'd know that my budget was $120 at the start of the year and gradually increased as grocery prices skyrocketed.

It was planned for the story to go online either Thursday or Friday.  On Wednesday (two days after the interview ),  I was out shopping for the end of season clearance bargains when my phone started dinging.   I didn't pay too much attention to it until Darren messaged me to say I'm famous again ( I always joke back to him that I'm only famous in my own backyard ).  I still had no clue what was going on until I went on Facebook.  As you can imagine,  things got busy for the next few hours.  

If you are one of the people who read the Channel Nine story and joined our thrifty community this week  WELCOME  !!!  I really hope this blog is a source of inspiration to you.  We are a happy bunch of people who love to live our best life and encourage each other. 

With all that being said,  here is my frugal tasks list for the week -

*  I made a big pot of veggie soup using some of the pumpkin we grew.  We had soup for dinner that night with homemade flat breads.  The leftover soup went into the freezer in single and double portions.

*  I used Magic Eraser ( the cheap version ) on our kitchen sink to make it shine.  This was a much easier and less time consuming way compared to using Jif and a non scratch scourer.

*  We gratefully received a few lemons,  mandarins and oranges from 2 different families.  We also picked one mandarin from our tree.

*  I made lots of choc chip biscuit dough for the freezer.

*  When the Sun was shining,  we charged the solar lanterns and used them in the loungeroom at night.

*  Darren made more flat breads with some Greek yoghurt we were given.  I used a cut up cereal packet to go between each flat bread ( stops them sticking ) and froze them.

*  We used the thermos each day to store boiling water for our cuppas.  This saves the kettle being boiled 2 - 3 more times.

*  I made a pumpkin loaf ( bread ) and 18 muffins using some of the pumpkin we grew.  I'll be posting the recipe in 2 weeks time so you'll want to keep a look out for it.  The bread is absolutely delicious.  The rest of the pumpkin was steamed,  drained and frozen for future pumpkin bread making.  I'm now on the hunt for a good price on pumpkin so I can cook and freeze more.

*  We gratefully received lots of paper supermarket bags from a friend.  We use them under the kitchen sink for our household / kitchen rubbish.

*  I baked 3 loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.  I used saved / recycled bread bags to store the bread in the freezer after I'd sliced it.

*  I made 2 kilos of brown sugar to replenish the brown sugar jar.

*  Darren made mini lamb and vegetable  pies using a tray of lamb mince he got on clearance for $1.90.  He added potatoes and carrots to the meat mixture ( plus seasonings ) and the 500g stretched to make 12 pies.  Very yummy indeed.

*  We filled the compost bucket a few times this week and Darren emptied it into the compost bin outside.  As soon as the weather warms up a little he will be emptying one bin onto our veggie garden.

*  We kept the curtains 90% closed on the really cold days to keep the warmth in.  Yesterday ( Friday )  the Sun was shining so we made sure the curtains were open on those windows to capture the heat streaming in.  

LINKS -

Choc Chip Bickies ( Cookies )

Wholemeal Bread With Extra Goodness

Brown Sugar

Darren's mini lamb pies

Pumpkin loaf / bread

Pumpkin bread made into muffins

Making biscuit dough

A pot of veggie soup with the pumpkin.

Making brown sugar.

What do you like to make with pumpkin ?

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

Channel Nine Article About How We Are Coping In The Cost Of Living Crisis.

 Today Channel Nine has just published an article about how Darren and I are surviving and thriving during a cost of living crisis.

Below is the link to the article.  I really hope this helps someone who is doing it tough and struggling to make ends meet.

.https://www.9news.com.au/national/cost-of-living-how-one-melbourne-couple-keep-their-grocery-bill-to-just-3750-a-week/4e750e2a-f066-4208-bc6a-f518622c8dd2