My Frugal Tasks 1/5/16

Basket full of oranges.

This week has been quite busy. My sweet best friend who is like a sister to me and her daughter are coming to stay with us for 10 days next week. We have been tidying the yard, house and getting things ready for their stay. Because we eat mostly vegetarian I don't meal plan-it's pretty easy coming up with meal ideas! But with a 2 extra people staying I have done a plan and will go shopping next week for some top ups.

Next weekend will be my nieces birthday party with her Perth family and friends and then Sunday is Mother's Day. Not sure if I will have time to post, but if not I wish you all a wonderful Mother's Day. We will have homemade scones, jam and cream with tea and I'm not sure what else the family have planned, but I'm sure it will be thrifty!

Here's what I got up to this week:

-Picked 4 bags of oranges from a friend's dad's tree. He is happy to give the fruit away as he cant leave it all and doesn't want it to go to waste.  I gave a bag away and kept a small amount for eating fresh. I also put a few in the food processor and then in  zip lock bags ready to make Rhonda's whole orange cake I have  juiced the rest and also put in bottles for the freezer. This made over 3 litres of fresh juice.

-It rained a lot over the weekend so we collected some rain water in large buckets to use on the garden.

-Bought some sheep and cow poo to fill another raised garden bed we made a while ago out of pallets. This means we will have more space to grow our own vegetables. Happy days!

- Baked another orange cake, sticky date pudding and some sausage rolls.

-Started sewing a few little secret gifts.

-The evenings are getting chilly here so the boys and I made some heat packs using material from my stash and rice. These just need to be put in the microwave for a minute or 2 and stay warm for ages. Frugal heating!

-Through a home ed FB page I found a code online for a free membership to a WA bush walking group. Membership is normally $40 a year.

-I also signed up for a free teachers handbook from Just Like Me which aims to help teach kids awareness of other cultures, the similarities and differences between themselves and their peers in impoverished countries. There is also free activities available on the website.

-Cashed in some survey points I've earned for a $20 chemist voucher.

-Made some more heat bags using furry scrap fabric and rice, soy candles and onion jam. These will keep my gift stockpile nicely full!

-Took Mr 10 to Bounce Inc using a free pass I got for completing a feedback survey.

-Picked some leaves from our Stevia plant and more salad greens.

-Got a $20 voucher for Kmart for doing some surveys. Our toaster broke last week so I bought a new one and it only cost $5 with the voucher :) I also found some little boys PJ sets reduced to $1 each! I will give these to a friend for her son's 2nd birthday this month. I also got him a Batman tee for $1 but it is a few sizes too big so it will be a gift for later.

-Stopped in to an op shop and found a really cute pair of PJs for Mr 10 and a pair of PJ bottoms for me. Both were $4. Plus some more loaves of free bread for the freezer.

-Cooked all meals at home (we always do this lol) and ate lots of leftovers this week!

-Made some little swing labels out of cardboard I had in my card making supply box. I cut them out while watching TV in the evenings. I will use these for my homemade preserves and candles.

-Made pita chips with a couple pieces of leftover pita bread. 

3 litres fresh OJ

Homemade sausage rolls.

Mr 10 learning to use the sewing machine.

Warm winter PJ's $4 spent here!

Few jars of onion jam.

Furry heat packs.

Vegetarian chilli kept us all fed for a few days!

New toaster.

$1 bargains from Kmart.

Homemade soy candles and melts.