My Frugal Tasks- 21/2/16

Mr 9 and I enjoyed a lovely morning tea at home.

It's been a quiet and productive week here, slowing down after the hustle of last week. I've made a point of going to sleep early and am now feeling quite well rested.

Hubby has had quite a few really bad pain days which has resulted in him being in bed all day. I feel useless when this happens and all I can do is make sure he takes his pain medication and keep the house quiet.

This week I really wanted to make a point of making more items as per Annabels' Christmas Challenge to give away as gifts. Due to this I did spend more money than I normally do in a week but I had the money there already in my cash envelopes and picked up some great items which in the long run will save me money.


- I spent the evenings using felt from my stash to sew up some little felt woodland animals for an upcoming baby shower. The parents to-be are having a woodland themed nursery so I think I will turn these into a banner for the but haven't decided yet. I found pictures for the fox and raccoon online and Miss 17 traced them and made the patterns. She also made the patterns for the other animals.

- I sewed a little felt fox onto the $1 baby blanket I bought last week. This will be a gift to go accompany the woodland banner.

- Mr 9 needs a new rash vest for swimming and I came across one for $2 at the op shop. There was also a large crate which had 5 items for $1. I couldn't believe my luck! I spent ages rummaging through there and found a vest Miss 17 wanted for a cosplay, a red tee shirt for Mr 9, a pair of black dress pants for myself, red scrubs shirt and a long black skirt which are not my size but are great quality material that I can use to make something else. I cut up the long black skirt, and made myself a short black one (I'll do separate post on this about creative frugality.) I also found another pair of pants and top for Miss 17 at a different op shop we visited and my local  Textile traders had a sale on fabric- 20% off everything and 40% off dress fabrics. I needed some more coloured felt and also came across some lovely red and black skull fabric. I've been searching high and low for skull fabric as it can be hard to find. I was so excited and bought myself 2 meters to make a skirt which came to $12. All of these items came out of money in our clothing budget, minus the felt which I took out of our gift allowance. For $19 we got quite a few items of clothes, plus material to make at least a couple of skirts. Op shopping for clothing can be so much cheaper than buying clothes new.

- I picked up 5 bottles for $5.50, filled them with Hollywood Bubble Bath
made from shower gel in my stockpile which was bought on sale/clearance. One of the bottles was a larger style jar  with a cork lid and I made some lavender bath salts to go inside. This one already came decorated with twine, a brown tag and silver charm. The others I decorated with items from my craft box. These will be used as gifts.

- I called into our favourite op shop to pick up some free bread and as usual had a quick look around. I bought a large box filled with cards for $3. Initially I thought that the box would be perfect for storing my homemade cards and then realised there were already quite a few cards inside. There were 44 to be exact! There was also some baby wrapping paper, 18th invitations (my daughter turns 18 next year!) and some scrap booking embellishments which i will use for card making. I worked out that each item-not including the box cost my 6c each. Such a bargain! I also found another bottle for $1 and a glass oil lamp for $1. I filled it up with olive oil and figured this would be reusable and cheaper than a candle. While it looks lovely, I've found it doesn't throw off much light.

- I redeemed $40 from points I earned from doing online survey's and used it to purchase grocery vouchers. This fortnight my shopping came to $52.

- On different days I baked vanilla and chocolate cakes while dinner was in the oven. You can find my recipes here I also made some jelly for dessert using cordial and gelatine from my cupboard. Jelly packets are now 90c and that's even the generic brand! While I haven't done the math, I believe buying a bottle of cordial and gelatine would be a cheaper alternative.

-Had a lovely impromptu morning tea with Mr 9. He requested to use my special tea set and we ate some of the vanilla cake.  

- Bought some $1 chocolate bunnies and have stashed them away ready for Easter.

- The weather has been much cooler this week, so we've only run the fans when necessary and have opened the doors and windows to make most of the lovely breeze.

- My rocket plant turned to seed and died off a month or so ago. So I saved as many seeds as I could for later and forgot about it. A week or 2 ago I noticed some new sprouts amongst the dead stems and realised it has self seeded! I've now moved the pot into the shade and have been watering it well. Nature is just amazing!

-Tidied up my gift stockpile. The shelves are looking very full!

I hope you have all had a great week! x

Finding 5 items for $1 at the op shop is a rarity!

$40 off my groceries from doing online surveys.

A $1 choc treat for all of us. Stashed away from prying eyes until Easter.

Felt fox I stitched onto the baby blanket.

Little woodland animals I made for a gift.

Bottles of bath salts and bubble bath ready for gifting.

Homemade vanilla cake.

My self seeding rocket.

The collection of cards I got for $3.

Homemade raspberry jelly and ice cream for a midweek treat.

My $1 oil candle.