Savings Sunday

This week I feel like more things were accomplished than last week and I remembered to take photos! I made myself a study schedule and have been sticking to that. I've had a couple of meetings with my lecturers and peers via Zoom, which took some getting used too but it was enjoyable to connect with others. I mostly stayed home this week, which I'm quite happy to do. Hubby gets itchy feet so I give him the shopping list and prescriptions and off he will go! 

He went to the Foodbank truck which visits our local community centre once a week. You can buy meat and fruit and veg packs there instead of travelling 20 minutes to the Foodbank. We are aiming to save time and petrol as well as work around my schedule and go to the Foodbank once a fortnight and the truck for a meat on the opposite week.

This week the truck was great! Sometimes they have freebies, this week it was the pantry box which inside had weetbix, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, canned items like tomato, soup, peaches, creamed rice, tuna, spaghetti and baked beans and muesli bars. Whats inside sometimes varies, once we got a box of coco pops instead of weetbix, that was exciting! There was also a free pasta pack which had 3 packs of fresh lasagne sheets, 2 packs of beef ravioli and 2 tubs of ready made sauce. 1 dozen eggs, 2 dozen easter eggs, a bottle of orange juice and some strawberry milk. Hubby bought a meat pack which had salmon, beef mince, sausages, steak, chicken and diced beef for $15! 

Hubby also got some free bread, rolls, choc-chip biscuits and sourdough which we had with soup, bananas and capsicums. So my mission was to find a recipe to use up these capsicums! I made stuffed capsicums for dinner- these were a hit and will be a regular if i have an excess. There was also enough of the turkey mince and rice filling to make a couple of small pies for lunch. I also froze 3 bags of diced capsicums. 

I got ahead by making some muffins in my pie maker. I made choc-chip banana, cranberry orange and savoury flavours. I had milk kefir to use so this went in the mix instead of milk. Even though we did eat quite a few when they were hot for afternoon tea, there was enough left for the weeks snacks.

We still have some of the butternut pumpkins from our garden, so I made a batch of pumpkin soup in the slow cooker. Mr 18 is home on break and will happily eat this. 

Thursday we had to go to Kmart to buy some comfortable shoes for Mr 14 to wear on his camping trip. We managed to find a nice pair with good soles which were $25, reduced to $15. 

On Friday Mr 14 left for a 6-day school "camping" trip, they call it a wilderness trek. There are no tents, they walk 10 km a day carrying all their belongings in a hiking pack and do various challenges to earn points. Attendance is compulsory for those who are going due to bad behaviour- my Mr 18 had to go twice when he was at this school! Then there's a couple of kids who have volunteered to go for fun, this Mr 14. It is winter here and quite cold, it will be a few degrees colder in the Jarrahdale bush! I said to hubby last night I wonder at what point our boy regrets putting his hand up and volunteering for trek? He has a sleeping bag, warm clothes etc but it doesn't sound like my idea of fun at all! 

Friday I also woke up feeling unwell. Headache, sore throat, body aches and exhaustion. I got up to say goodbye to Mr 14 and make sure he was all packed, I settled down to study and was feeling worse. I decided that wasn't going to happen and went back to bed. I slept on and off all day, sipping on chamomile tea to help my throat and slept through ladt night until 10 am this morning! My body must have needed the rest. Nobody else in the house has been sick so I'm wondering if I caught something out at the shops the day before? Dang my low immune system! Because I was sick I stayed home last night and missed out drinks with our friends. However, my lovely friend send hubby home with some goodies! a bag of oranges, sugar-free marshmallows, lollies and chocolate, tinned soup and some fluffy warm pyjamas. I am blessed to have such a thoughtful and generous friend! 

I rested a bit today as well, and am trying not to do too much and wear myself out. I'll make a quick frittata and vegetables for dinner and maybe watch a movie tonight. 

How was your week? 

Savings Sunday

This week I started back at uni. This is all done online now due to COVID including exams. This works out fine for me because I allocate time to do my readings and activities and in my study breaks I put on a load of washing or get something done around the house. Today in my break, I ate lunch, packed away some groceries, hung the washing outside, paid some bills, put dinner in the slow cooker, got my prescriptions, mail to post and shopping list ready for tomorrow. 

I have a friend in Victoria and she told me masks are mandatory starting on Wednesday. They are in lockdown due to the amount of cases there. If you are in public and not wearing a mask one you risk a $200 fine. I am sending her a couple that I made when I run errands tomorrow.

Back to the uni stuff, I had to buy some text books for my course but was able to save some money by purchasing ebooks which are around half the price. My goodness, text books cost so much. No wonder students are broke!

Hubby and I did a small grocery shop at the Foodbank, they had mostly dry goods due to a fridge and freezer being broken. We bought soap and a $5 fruit/vegetable/dairy box which gave us enough fresh food for the next fortnight. They are also still giving away free pantry boxes, so more pasta, rice, tined spaghetti, beans and fruit was added to our supply.

A friend upgraded her fridge, so gave us her old one. This is bigger than the one we have in our kitchen! Our old one will go outside as a spare. Now we have a big fridge, this is really wonderful because there is 4-6 adults in the house. She also gave us a DVD player and a bag of oranges.

I had some apples to use up so I baked an tarte tatin. It didn't look like the picture in the recipe but it was tasty! I also stewed some apples and added frozen blueberries and made some pies in my pie maker. I joined a FB pie maker group which has loads of recipes and suggestions for food you can make. I also had wonton wrappers to use so these were used instead of pastry as quiche bases. Then I made some banana muffins in there as well! I turned leftover mash potato and vegetables into bubble and squeak patties, these were also cooked in the pie maker. I'll just keep experimenting for a bit if fun!

I bought a set of queen sized flannelette sheets on sale for $14, these were normally $30. I also had a $10 off code for Catch and ordered a carton of beer and bottle if vodka. This worked out to be cheaper than buying it at Dan Murphy's. 

I forgot to take photos this week, I'll aim for more next week! I hope everyone I'd doing well and staying safe x

Savings Sunday

During this week I finally finished tidying my study/doll/spare room. It didn't take too long to actually do, it was more of a motivation thing. Just looking at the mess made me feel overwhelmed! Here's the before and after pictures.

I sorted my bedroom built in robe and went through my gift stash. There were a few things in there which I forgot about, so I also made a list of people we give birthday and Christmas gifts to and wrote some ideas of what to buy, make or if I already had something. That way I can acquire things gradually. I added some labels and toppers to the marmalade I made a few weeks ago and these have gone in the gift stash too.

I used my slow cooker to make tomato sauce- for adding to recipes instead of tinned tomatoes and not the ketchup type!  I just dice the tomatoes with an onion, garlic, herbs and a bit of tomato paste then leave until it is cooked and mash up a bit. This was used in a tray of enchiladas and the rest was frozen.

Our neighbours had an old fridge sitting out the front of their house which they said we could have. It needed a really good clean but is much bigger than our indoor one. The freezer part freezes OK, but only on the bottom, so the top part we are just using for bread. This is fine until we can upgrade! 

I used up some bananas and made banana bread. As well as large pot of pumpkin and sweet potato soup. There was marscapone from Foodbank which I used to make a tiramisu. Hubby defrosted some cream and made butter, the buttermilk went into the banana bread, some was used instead of egg to crumb chicken and the rest was given to the dogs.

We did a grocery shop at the Foodbank and they had large bags of about 5kg of chicken for $5! Meat is normally $15 a pack so this is tremendous value. I only got one because i wasn't sure what cut of chicken it was and because our freezers are pretty full. It ended up being chicken tenderloins. I wish I had of grabbed another bag! 

There was also yoghurt, tofu, milk kefir and flavoured milk which we froze and gave some to our neighbours. We also got another free pantry box and bread corn cobs, capsicum, apples, potatoes and spinach.

We caught up with friends on Friday night for drinks and she sent us home with a bag of tinned corn, chickpeas, icecream topping and biscuits that they won't use. 

We sorted out the freezers and defrosted some things to eat up immediately. One of the items was a large catering bag of chilli con carne. I used this a couple of nights ago in the enchiladas and we will have some tonight with rice. I'm just trying to use up any cooked food that we have. 

On a serious note, Ive been talking to hubby about what Annabel and the Bluebirds have said about maintaining a stocked pantry. We have both felt strongly that the events of this year have been a "trial" to prepare for what is to come. There is now a second wave of COVID in Victoria and lockdowns. We all know how quickly stores can run out of supplies, so in my mind it is sensible to have enough of what my family uses on hand. 

I'm not sure whether to expect an economic depression, inflation or a New World Order but things will get worse and we want to be as prepared as we can be. If nothing come of it, good. We just won't have to go shopping for a while! 

Thrifty Thursday

Here's my op shop bargains that I found last week but forgot to post! Hubby and I took a drive about 30 minutes away to a suburb which is meant to have some really good thrift stores. Well we packed lunch and drinks and visited 8 shops and found nothing until the last one which was a little church run one. The clothes in my second picture is what I bought from there. All the other shops were really over priced. The items in the first and last pic are from our local oppies. Hubby and I agreed that we find the best things at the stores close to home!

 I picked up a really warm large cardigan for 50c which I use more like a dressing gown. Its 11 degrees here and I'm wearing it now! I also got a  miniature zen garden $3 I've always wanted one of these! A pack of 8 bamboo coasters $1 and a pottery garlic jar for 50c.

 

3 pairs of PJ bottoms, a bra and Christmas nightie for me, 2 pairs of warm socks and jeans for Mr 14 came to $9. The nightie I'll put away for our Christmas Eve box. I always buy the kids and I a new pair of pyjamas for Christmas. 

 

An Easter wreath $2 I already have a wreath but thought this would look pretty as a table arrangement, wooden candle holder $3, hand towel $1 and Christmas cup 50c because we use plastic cups in Summer in our pool area. 

Savings Sunday

It has been raining here for most of the week. Hubby and I went for a day trip to visit some op-shops, we packed lunch and drinks. We found a couple of things but not very much. Most items were too expensive. 

We went to the Foodbank and bought a $15 meatpack which had a big pack of crumbed chicken fillets, sausages, mince, chicken breast and frozen vegetables. We also got a $5 fruit and veg box, I got corn, capsicum, tomatoes, apples, yoghurt, marscapone, tofu and cream, as well as a $10 cleaning pack. I dont normally buy a cleaning pack because it has things that I don't need or use, but this week it was really good value and I like having a bit of store bought laundry powder or liquid in case I run out of homemade. Plus it also had some fancy Pears and Imperial Leather soap! These are expensive brands here.The dish liquid I'll keep aside to make some pink Miracle Spray!

I received our power bill in the mail and it is $270 in credit. This was really great! In the summer I started up a direct debit payment each fortnight so I could run the air-conditioning and pool pump without stressing too much when the bill came in. It worked well so i just kept it up and am glad i did! 

Around the house, I made a batch of homemade laundry liquid because I had run out. I also cleaned out my laundry cupboards. One contains first aid supplies and the other has our cleaning and toiletries. This was a good chance to see what we have. 

I cleaned the shower and bathroom and refilled our pump soap dispenser. I also needed to make up some more of the soap mixture in a 1.25 litre bottle for next time. 

I made an easy dinner one night with some rice, papadums, Dahl and the flavoured tofu packs. I baked a sour cream and apple slice to use up last weeks sour cream. The slice has a nice shortbread type base, cooked apples in the middle and a baked sour cream and cinnamon top. I also made a bread and butter pudding to use up some cream and some pumpkin scones because we still have our homegrown pumpkins. These didn't turn out as good as the first time I made them. They didnt rise much. I think I rolled the dough out too flat before cutting. Anyway they were more like soft biscuits and were still tasty! 

Oh, and I baked a banana bread to use up the last 2 sad looking bananas in my fruit bowl. I didn't get a pic of it cooked, but took one of my CPK Delilah "helping" me. I've mentioned before that I have about 30 of these dolls in my collection. On this day I was in the kitchen and feeling lonely despite not being alone in the house. Mr 14 was watching YouTube in the games room and Miss 21 was in her room. Hubby was across the road. I thought I'd bring out a doll to keep me company. Their smiling faces always seem to cheer me up! 

When I was a girl I loved dolls. They were like my babies and I would dress them up, take them outside for picnics and walks in a pram. I always wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid but they were expensive at the time-and still are. About a year ago I came across one on eBay which was very cute and cheap. That's when the collection started! I have got some really good bargains and a couple have come from America, when the conversion rate was good. I hope you have had a good week xx

Savings Sunday

Its been another week of happily but slowly getting things done around the house. I didn't get everything done on my list which sometimes seems endless. There is always something to be done! I made a start on cleaning up my study which had become a dumping ground. I finished sorting out the last food cupboard and fridge and listed an unused couch for sale on Marketplace.

This week we were told that it would be the last for our community centre's free fruit, vegetables and bread. This is all reclaimed from supermarkets like Aldi because it is close to the best before date. Of course food is constantly being manufactured so there is quite a lot of waste. I've seen entire skip bins full of bread before. Food waste is something I am quite passionate about, so being able to save food from landfill has been great. I'm getting off track here but, the reason the community centre was able to do this was because the food is normally used for programs which are run at the centre. Of course due to Covid-19, these were cancelled but next week they start up again as more WA restrictions are lifted. We have been thinking of other avenues to rescue food. One of these is by using Olio and becoming a food waste volunteer. We would approach businesses like bakeries or supermarkets to donate food that would normally go in the bin. We would then organanise to pick it up on a regular basis and list the food on Olio for others in the community to come and collect from our house. I'll let you know how we go with this endeavour in the future! 

From the centre this week we were able to get potatoes, lemons, raspberries, bananas, zucchini, onions, bread, tomatoes, salad bags, yoghurt, nut bars and flowers. The flowers look perfect! 

Hubby went to the Foodbank truck and bought a $15 meat pack. They were also giving away each family a pantry box and flavoured milk. The box contains some cereal, uht milk, pasta, rice, tins etc. What a blessing! This really helped with building up our pantry supplies.

I started to wonder if with the restrictions being lifted the Food bank might change their set up. I mentioned that before it was set up like a warehouse and everything is charged by weight. Fruit and vegetables were 20c a kilo, general groceries were $1.25 kg and meat packs $15. Since Covid they closed off most of the warehouse and have now bagged up similar items into packs like the meatpack. They have a cleaning pack, school snacks, tea and coffee, toiletries, baby food, chocolate, pantry packs etc. Which all vary in prices. Then you pay $5 and you can help yourself to the milk, dairy, eggs, fruit and veg which is an absolute bargain! Most packs are really good value so I figured we should drive in and stock up before everything changes back. We bought a $5 breakfast pack which had a 2kg bag of hashbrowns and 2.5 kg of chipolata sausages. This was portioned up and frozen, I can use the sausages in a casserole or curried for dinner. Regular BBQ sausages at the moment are around $10 a kilo here! Meat prices have skyrocketed. We also got a tea and coffee, pantry, snack and chocolate packs. In the fridges there was flavoured milks, pasta sauce, cream, yoghurt, eggs, capsicum, corn, carrots and watermelon. We now have enough fresh food to last a few weeks and some to share. I asked a staff member at Food bank if the set up will be changing. She replied that she doesn't think so because the new way is working out really well and is a much fairer system with the packs. We agreed. Before if there was an item like laundry powder or shampoo some people would buy large amounts leaving none for others who need it. Really frustrating for the staff and customers!

On the school run I saw this sign with hooks out the front of a house on our street so i stopped to pick it up. Its cute and perfectly matches our decor. There was also some outdoor furniture but we have enough. By the time we drove home again everything was gone! 

Every second Friday evening, hubby and I visit a good friend of ours and her partner. We have a few drinks and some laughs. I took her a bag of produce and milk. She gave me a bag of oranges and lemons, 2 family packs of biscuits, a bag of chips and muesli bars. I see some more marmalade making in my future! 

In the kitchen I made ricotta cheese to use up some cream and milk. This is the first time I've made it and it resulted in quite a soft cheese because I think it needed to sit longer, but it tasted like ricotta! I used this in a tray of spinach and ricotta cannelloni. 

I also made some butter from last weeks cream and kept the buttermilk to use in baking. I cooked a bread and butter pudding, a cob loaf dip and Mr 18 baked another chocolate fudge pudding. It doesn't look pretty but is delicious! I cooked spaghetti bolognaise for dinner one night and made a double batch of the sauce, bulking it out with zucchinis and carrots. I portioned out half of it for the fridge to use in another meal. Well I now have a large tray of lasagna cooking as I write. This will be enough for 8 large serves which is 2 nights worth of meals for us. As much as I love cooking, a night off is also great!

Mr 18 flew back out to Newman for work this week and had a list of supplies he wanted to take back with him. I told him to "shop" from our supplies and save himself some money. I love being able to provide this! 

Hubby and I also celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. I set the table with candles and added a retro centrepiece I bought for 50c. I cooked us an entree of garlic and lemon scallops followed by pork steaks with a creamy potato bake and vegetables. Dessert was a small apple or salted caramel pie and cream. Yum! 

I had to buy the cardboard centrepiece because I think it is something we would have had at our wedding in the 90's! When hubby saw it he agreed. We would have thought it was pretty fancy at the time! We talked about how we organised our own wedding on a budget for $1000, Mr 14 asked if that included my dress? Yes it did! The wedding was at a gorgeous little heritage church called All Saints which has a graveyard in the front of the building. I remember some people thought it was morbid, but that's where they were buried many years ago. To me its just part of history and life. Our "reception" was in my Nanna's backyard and I made the decorations and cooked most of the food and dessert for a buffet syle lunch. I also baked and decorated our wedding cake. Being only 19, the only cake I knew how to decorate was fruit cake. Even though hubby doesn't eat it! There was a variety of other desserts on the day and chocolate biscuits to have with tea and coffee afterwards so he didn't miss out! Hubby's sister was married a few years prior to us and had a big wedding at a fancy venue which she bragged about costing $10,000. I remember feeling that my family-my mum, Nana, Aunty and her husband as well as our friends were the only ones happy for us on the day. We faced a lot of criticism from hubby's parents and sister living overseas, that we were too young and that he needed to sort out his life (he has a son from a previous relationship) before getting married. Anyway here we are! We've been together now for 24 years and married for 22. Living happily and frugally!

Thrifty Thursday

This week I've had so many great op-shop finds! Hubby and I both have certain things in mind when we go thrifting. At the moment he is looking for board games and a new belt and has found neither. He was joking that this week has been my lucky week. Sometime he will find game after game and I'll get nothing. It really is just pure luck and consistency. There are 5 op-shops on the same road as Mr 14's community school so one of us usually pop in every couple of days to have a look. I've recently found out that everything donated at each store gets sent to headquarters first and sorted out before being distributed to each store.

I got a cushion which has a white background with blue Australian bush flowers on it. I wanted to get a couple for when we turn our garage into a granny flat, but when I looked online Kmart no longer sells them. At the beginning of the year, they were about $8 I think. I picked up one today for $2! I also found another lovely photo frame to go on the gallery wall in my study for $1.50.

 

I also got another couple of white dinner plates for spares, these were 25c each. I've been looking out for squeezy bottles to use for burger sauce and Ice Magic (hard chocolate topping) and found one for 30c and the other for 25c. Also some ice/chocolate moulds which were 20c each. 3 of them are Star Wars themed and we have a friend who is obsessed with Star Wars so I thought homemade chocolates would be a nice birthday gift. The shop I found these in is my favourite because they mark items down to really cheap prices if they don't sell quickly. 

I found this adorable Cabbage Patch Kid for $5, and she had a bonus original CPK tee underneath her outfit. She's a bit grubby, but will wash up well. I collect CPK's so was absolutely stoked to find her. I normally buy my dolls on Marketplace or eBay and have never seen one while op-shopping! 

Yesterday we travelled to a few op-shops we haven't been to before. I got a slate cheese board for $4, a wooden chopping board $2, a coffee plunger for $3, a basket for $2, a set of hand held spatulas for $1, a heart shaped pressed tin container with a poured candle inside $2, a novelty toilet roll $1 and a wish jar for $3. The last 3 items are for my gift shelf because I have people in mind to give these to.

I also got a proper vintage feather duster for $1! A couple of small canvas prints for 50c each, a blue and white oil burner and a glass candle jar for 50c each. A warm beanie for 50c, 8 coat hangers for $1, a bamboo scrubbing brush for $1.50, and DVDs for 50c each.

 And...another Cabbage Patch doll for $5! I couldn't believe it! I also got a talking Disney's Moana doll for $3. This is not a great picture but she is in the best condition, hardly played with. As well as a couple of Elsa dolls for $1 each. These are for the toy box for when a friend brings her kids over to play. I had found some action figures for her son on a verge collection so now her little girl has some dolls.