Saturday 5 March 2016

My Frugal Tasks 6/3/16



This week was pretty amazing in regards to our debt free progress. At the beginning of every month, I keep track of our debt totals for the month and type them into a word document. This month we paid off $4654! We had some "extra" money in a savings account and decided it would be put to better use on the mortgage. Even without the bonus $2000, $2654 is still a big amount compared to normal months, where the average extra payment is around $1500. I'm so pleased with this! We are now in the 60's and it feels great!

Some of my frugal tasks this week included:


-Received a gorgeous handmade notebook from a friend. I can't wait to write in it!

-Made some Jack Skellington felt ornaments to possibly sell on Etsy.

-Did some more online surveys and redeemed $50 in supermarket vouchers. I exchanged this for $50 cash I had in my grocery cash envelope. The cash will now go towards paying some of our debt.

-Redeemed $20 with another survey company. This one could only be redeemed for food vouchers at a local service station and didn't seem like good value for money. But rather than let them go to waste, I picked the best deal and we know have chocolate treats for a movie night.

-Got several items of free clothing from co-op. Also some free plums, zucchinis, apples and nectarines. I also shopped there and got 10kg of food for $15.

- Went grocery shopping at Coles and only needed to buy essentials like flour, sugar, milk, cheese etc. I spent just over $50 and about $20 of this was buying extras for my stockpile. I found eggs reduced to $1.80 a dozen.

-Met up with a friend in the city for coffee and lunch. I had budgeted money for this and even came home with $5 change!

- Bought theater tickets for a friend and I, to see High Fidelity the Musical on Friday night. I am a member and get the tickets for cheaper than retail prices. She paid for tickets to see Ross Noble on Saturday night.

-Picked some rocket and silverbeet  salad greens from our garden.

-Opened the windows on cool days to let the breeze in. 

-Cooked and froze plum compote with our free plums. Also baked a plum cake and Mr 9 learned how to make custard.

-Hubby and Mr 9 made a couple of batches of brownies.

- Watered our vegies with water left in drink bottles. My kids are notorious for half drinking a bottle of water and leaving the rest out, so I now save it in a jug and pour on our garden.

-Made a big dish of lentil pie for dinner, which we ate over a few nights and defrosted a zucchini slice for an easy meal with salad on a busy night.


Zucchini slice and salad for dinner.






Free fruit from co-op.




My $15 shop from co-op.





Jack Skellington ornaments I made.





Earned $50 worth of Coles vouchers this week.




Treat vouchers for doing surveys.





The lovely notebook a friend made me.




Such a great show at my local community theater.




Plum cake and custard for dessert.




9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Mel I'm in such awe at your savings each month. And those ornaments are really, really cool. Ace idea selling on etsy!
    Oh Tim Burton is a genius eh?! Xx
    Caz

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    1. Thank you so much Caz! It's really great to see the mortgage going down! I am a huge Tim Burton fan. x

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  3. Aaaaand
    High Fidelity as a stage play?? Wha??!!
    One of my all time favourite films. Too bad I live in a sleepy seaside town!

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    1. Caz, it was a-mazing! I loved it so, so much! Is there a community theatre near you? x

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  4. There is but the local theatre group do pantomimes-think Aladdin, Cinderella etc....all fun and all but eeeek! Nothing as fun as High Fidelity

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    1. Ours do pantomimes as well, but evenly balanced with Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Into the Woods, Avenue Q and Little Shop of horrors is on later in the year. Cant wait for that one! Maybe you could put a request in? I know it does depend on what scripts they can obtain the rights to? x

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  5. You are very creative and resourceful. Well done on getting the mortgage down, we still have a long way to go. Bit of a newbie on the frugal path, but determined. Thanks for being such an inspiration. Lisa xo

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  6. Hi Lisa, thank you so much. I enjoy the creativity in being frugal. It just takes time, I wish we had of started sooner, but you live and learn! I hope you find some useful posts here x

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