Saturday 20 August 2016

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 20th August 2016

Our home is almost back to normal after a crazy couple of week and months of preparation.  I only have two boxes left to unpack.  On Friday I got back into the routine of baking again.  The second oven arrived that day after being told it would come early September.  It will be installed some time this week.  Then I will be in oven heaven.  Here's what I managed to do along with unpacking the house -

* Gratefully received pictures of rugs from a blog / facebook reader.  These pictures can be used in card making - especially men's cards.  I also received a parcel of craft items.  Thankyou for the blessing Lisa.

*  Decluttered as I unpacked our home.  I was able to donate one box and a few bags of unwanted items to Savers and received a couple of discount stamps.  Surely there isn't anything left to declutter.  We don't hoard -TRULY  !!

*  Darren bought 2 x 2 litres of milk for 50 cents each because it had a couple of days left on the use by.

*  Stayed away from the shops.  I only bought milk and a few items to make meals a little easier when we were so busy with the renos.

*  Picked silverbeet for two meals.

*  Saved the shower warm up water and the washing machine water.

*  Dried the washing on the line on Tuesday.  We've been unable to use the clothes horses with our home turned upside down.  The dryer was used most of the time so it was lovely to use the sun on Tuesday.

*  Kept the off cuts of carpet.  The carpet layers were happy for us to help ourselves.  There's almost enough to recarpet another bedroom - not that we have  spare bedroom. 

*  Avoided buying drop sheets for the painting.  Darren dug out our old curtains and flannelette sheets to use instead.

*  Filled up our cars with petrol when it dropped to 99 cents a litre.  Since then it has dropped further so we'll keep topping up our cars every few days.

*  Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

*  Baked a double batch of chocolate lunchbox muffins.  Some were for the freezer, some for the Cheapskates card making day and the rest were for morning tea at church.

As you can imagine,  it's been a little hard to take photos lately.

In the kitchen
Baking in the new oven
Bamboo flooring being laid
Just over a week ago
Chocolate muffins
What was on your frugal list for this week ?

15 comments:

  1. Hi Wendy. You always seem to have a good frugal list despite how busy you are! Your kitchen looks lovely. Here is what we got up to:
    - filled up our cars when it was 99 cents too (it's been a while since it's been that cheap!)
    - bought milk for about $1 for 2L as it was going to expire in the next few days too. Milk goes very quickly in my house!
    - mended a hole in a sock
    - discovered a wholesale butcher that sells meat for much cheaper than the supermarket. We used to have one a while ago but they closed their shop.
    - bought 400g smoked salmon for $6 (usually $20!) As it was going out of date in a few days. We froze these into portions and enjoyed several days of very lovely sandwiches.
    - dried clothes on the clothes line
    - bought a cooked chicken from woolies for $3
    - cut off unnecessary household expenses.
    - went to chemist warehouse for prescription medication and managed to get it half the price of a regular pharmacy. It was worth the effort!
    The bamboo flooring looks great. We have it in our house too when we had to replace the carpet in one of our rooms. It's very hardy!

    Amy

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    Replies
    1. Amy, that's a fantastic price on the chicken.

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  2. I am so happy for you that your home is getting back to normal and that you have that lovely new kitchen! I think you did very well despite that chaos that a remodel brings. :)

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  3. The bamboo flooring looks great. I'm interested to see how you go with it as I have to redo my kitchen in the future and I'm looking at using something similar on the floor. Your tiles look wonderful as well, love the color choice.

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  4. We have recently been through our own home and I can't name how many bags we tossed or carted to thrift shop. On my blog, I too, keep assuring my readers "We are NOT hoarders!" lol and it's quite true that we are not. Nor are we minimalists. But it's amazing what all we've found to let go of these days. Kitchen peek is lovely. I know you will be quite happy to have the house settled around you all once more. It's all beautiful.

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    Replies
    1. Terri, I like having space in my cupboards. There's nothing like packing / unpacking your house to see things in a different light.

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  5. Hi, Wendy. You have done lots of frugal things in the midst of your kitchen chaos! I've just finished lunchbox baking for the week ahead. I made some little gingerbread mini-muffins and a wheat biscuit slice using "crumbs" from bottom of the cereal boxes. We filled up at 99c per Litre too and will top up if price remains low during week. I potted up two cherry tomato plants, just used pots I had here at home and bamboo stakes I already had. They should provide lots of little tomatoes during the Spring. All meals made here at home except for a $5 cold chicken at our little local shop yesterday. I used meat for lunchtime rolls and we had chicken and cheese omelettes for breakfast. I'll use leftovers to make one more chicken and leek pie (with leeks from our garden)tomorrow night. And, our boy put lots of effort into a handmade card for his friend instead of buying a birthday card at the shop. A lovely little saving:) Meg

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  6. Hi Wendy,

    Great buy on the Milk. I sometimes go to Coles when I'm picking up DS2 from school and from 2.30pm as they mark down the Milk.
    We also kept our offcuts of carpet and was told you could take them to a carpet manufacturer or upholster to have the edges sew around them and then use as mats.

    This week I cut my own fringe and coloured my hair, Used Flybuys to buy petrol and Tea bags, two days we didn't use the heater, refilled the Miracle spray, Made double batches of meals for freezer meals, used powdered milk as a top up, rinsed out freezer bags and my kitchen rubber gloves had a hole in one glove before shopping day, so I put on one disposal glove on the inside of the glove with the hole and Voila, no leaky glove till shopping day.

    I mooed Lemon slice, sweetened condensed milk and Strawberry and white chocolate muffins from strawberries given to us. We were blessed to receive Strawberries, Bread and scones.

    Ds2 got a 10% discount off his new IPhone and a free case as a friend happened to be working at Apple the day he went to buy it.
    Dropped Extras on our health cover saving $650.00 per year and applied as a Non Lodger with Centrelink(as I don't have to put In a tax return) and received a nice bonus.

    So glad you can relax and enjoy your kitchen, you deserve it, xxx

    Maureen

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  7. Hi Wendy

    Sorry it has been a while since I have dropped in.

    Your new kitchen looks wonderfully inviting. The soft green apple colour is just so gorgeous.

    This week I have

    *dried all the washing outside

    *been gifted clothes for DD6 from 2 friends, gratefully accepted

    *picked lettuce leaves for lunches from our own growing in a pot

    *saved money by not visiting the grocery store and only the fruit and veg shop. Saving me close to $130 this week

    Hope you have a wonderful week ahead and enjoy your new kitchen.

    Aly xxx



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  8. Hi Wendy,
    Have read your blog from the beginning, but am contributing for the first time to this list.
    This week I:
    - made miracle spray (love it!)
    - hade washing powder (also love it!)
    - cooked all meals from scratch
    - all lunches and snacks for school, kinder and work were home made
    - kept cereal bags to use as freezer and go-between bags
    - made bread
    - made 2 batches of yogurt using my own starter
    - made muffins for school, kinder and work lunches
    - did a weekly shop at Aldi and it only came to $41
    - filled 2 cars of petrol at the same time (hubby and I) using the 1 discount voucher at Woolworths-Caltex, also purchased our milk there receiving a further 4 cents off, so petrol and milk was a huge saving
    - purchased discounted meat & fruit and veges at Woolworths
    - went to the home show for free with tickets my husband won, came home with various freebies, including 12 individual tubs of yogurt they were giving away
    - made home - made pizzas
    - dried clothes out side, then indoors as much as possible, the when needed put into dryer for 5 minutes to finish them off
    Wow! Now that I have actually documented what I do, i realise that there's a bit there!
    Kind regards,
    Andrea.


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  9. Hi, Maxine again from northern Idaho. This past week wasn't the most frugal on record, but I managed the following--

    (1) Line-dried all of the washing.

    (2) Had 4 extra people for dinner tonight (including two teenage boys, LOL) and cooked entirely from the freezer and what was on hand.

    (3) Gratefully received 3 homegrown cucumbers and a baggie of cherry tomatoes (it's summer here).

    (4) My husband has discovered that a sniff of my oil of eucalyptus (bought to make Miracle Spray) opens up his nose and sinuses. Any idea whether this is habit-forming, like many of the commercial nose sprays?

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    Replies
    1. Maxine, eucalyptus oil is used to clear blocked noses when you have a cold etc. As far as I know it's safe to use and not habit forming. Most households in Australia have a bottle of the oil in their bathroom cupboard.

      If you are unsure, please ask your doctor.

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  10. Hi from the UK sorry I did not comment last week we were on our hols,we only had one meal out so it was not to bad. This week I have
    Picked 11/2 lbs of elderberries and frozen them ready to make cordial later
    Picked 1lb of runner beans
    Picked 6 cucumbers
    Picked corgettes and a mini marrow
    Harvested the remaining potatoes
    Harvsted about '200 lb plums I gave up weighing them, the neighbours have had a lot
    Dehydrated bananas,corgettes, beans and plums
    Made 2 loaves of bread
    Made ice cream
    Made plum jam also frozen some plums for more jam later
    Made dill pickle
    Eaten cake from the freezer
    Line dried all the washing
    Went to London to the hospital using senior rail card(1/3 off full fare)
    Took the grandchildren to the planetarium used seniors ticket for me
    Booked the repair man to mend my oven I still managed to cook all meals from scratch
    Paid 1/2 price for the greenhouse in the sale
    iI love your kitchen my daughters is still a work in process. Thanks for the Inspiration everybody
    Chris

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