Savings Sunday 30/08/20

This week has been a challenge trying to juggle my uni work and and jobs around the house and garden. I'm almost half way through the semester so I need to try and keep the momentum up! 

Most of my savings were in the kitchen and I cooked a small pot of lamb soup with one chop that was given to me. I ate this for lunches during the week. The chop had quite alot of fat on it so I cut this off and fried it so it rendered down. Then this was added to the lard jar. 

Baked a healthy sugar free cake with banana and zuchinni as I had these to use up and also cooked a zuchinni slice which we ate for an easy dinner. I dehydrated some spinach, green beans, oranges from our tree and lemons. The spinach was ground into powder for smoothies and I cut the rind off the oranges and dried the flesh separately. This is yummy by itself and reminds me a bit of sour lollies. I also cleaned the fridge. 

The weather was sunny all week so all the washing was done and got hung outside.

It was Mr 18's girlfriends birthday, I had pitched in for her gift which was custom license plates and on the day I gave her a helium balloon (a $1 find from the oppie!) and a card from my stash. I bought a small helium bottle from Kmart at the beginning of the year so I can give everyone a special balloon for their birthdays.

We went to the Foodbank and again noticed that the levels of stock were down. The prices have also gone up so we only spent $40 and got fruit and veg, a baking and meat packs. It is still cheaper than the supermarkets. They had free single serve BBQ sauce sachets which I used these to fill up our bottle. 

I went op-shopping and found a few great things which I'll post next week. 

I needed some pictures to go in frames I bought for my the gallery wall in my study, so I drew a couple. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. 

Savings Sunday 24/8/20

Lentil soup

I've been flat out with uni work. There was an exam last week, one this week and an essay is due next week. I do enjoy studying though! The next several weeks will be hectic until the semester finishes.

I still managed to get a few things done around the house. 

I made a big pot of lentil soup for easy lunches during the week. Dehydrated some apples and made enough apple and cinnamon oats for a couple of quick hot breakfasts. I did this last year when I had to leave home early and travel to TAFE. I'd make enough for the week.

Mr 14 has been obsessed with mug cakes but the packet mixes are expensive so I made a large batch of the dry mix and put it in a big jar so he just has to measure it into a cup, add oil, milk and put it in the microwave. I made one for myself and added a spoon full of peanut butter to the mixture before cooking. So yummy! You could also put in Nutella or add custard, cream or ice cream on top. 

Chocolate mug cake with peanut butter

The nights have been cold and the days have been sunny but cold so hubby was able to do the washing and hang it outside to dry. Even the sheets were able to get done :)

We made melted chocolate and poured it into the Star Wars moulds I got op shopping a while ago. This was part of a birthday gift for a friend. I also found a foil balloon at a cheap shop for $2 and couldn't resist getting that for him as well. 

I made some soy candles for myself and put some away for presents. I love burning my scented candles in winter, it makes the house feel so cosy. I also mixed up some facial oil to use at night after washing my face. The base is rosehip oil with a few drops of sandalwood and rose geranium. 

There was no fruit, veg or bread at the community centre this week, but hubby picked up bread from an op-shop for free. A friend dropped off some cereal and freezer goods because her mum had a clear-out and my friends' freezers are full. There was frozen dinners, fish, pork chops, steak and lamb. We are so grateful for this! 

Thrifty Thursdays

A few weeks ago i went op-shopping and found these treasures! A vintage Babyland Cabbage Patch doll for $1, a ladle $1- I've been looking for one with pointed ends to use for jam making, 200 tea light candles $5, a pencil case 50c, scented soy candle $4 as a treat for myself and a little case with a nail file, clippers, scissors in it for $1. I'm not sure what these are called but thought it was cute and would be handy for keeping in the car.

Also does anyone else get annoyed with the prices being written directly on the items?

Savings Sunday 16/8/20

This week I had an exam so spent a great deal of my time studying for that!

I went down to the community centre and there was some fruit and veg, and lots if bread.

Used a $10 voucher for Coles click and collect groceries. I needed to buy some regular items as well as extras for the stockpile like salt, cornflour, bleach, tooth paste and cocoa powder.

Saved $12.20 on Christmas gifts online by using the honey browser extension. Also ordered Hubby's bday gift.

Paid extra on our mortgage, which is coming down steadily. 

Got our phone/internet bill and it is $8 in credit.

Did a shop at the Food bank and noticed the stock seems to be getting lower. There was no soap or eggs this week.

There was soup, mince and vegetable pasta, Thai chicken curry and rice in the fridge so I had a night off cooking and we ate leftovers. The young adults call this a "fend for yourself dinner". I baked a healthy no sugar banana and chocolate oat slice. This is just oats, mashed bananas, cocoa powder and an egg. Then its baked in the oven. I also made some oat and nut balls for healthy afternoon snacks.

I dehydrated some frozen mixed vegetables to make extra room in the freezer. I read about this on Annabels blog and cant believe I hadnt thought of this before! Mr 18 and his gf looked at me strangely when they saw me doing this. I had to lay some greaseproof paper on each tray to stop the peas and corn from falling through. One kilo of dehydrated mixed vegetables fits in a large pasta sauce jar! I also did some capsicum, blueberries and spinach which I ground into a powder to use in cooking and smoothies. 

So that was it! I am sorry to hear things are not much better in Victoria and are worse in New South Wales. I will keep everybody there in my thoughts and prayers x

Savings Sunday 7/8/20

This week has been good. I have a friend in Victoria where they are currently in a stage 4 lockdown due to Covid. I have been messaging her and she has told me how things have changed for her family. She is an essential worker but her shifts have been cut to one a fortnight, and she needs to have a work permit. The rules are so strict there, masks must be worn in public and there is a curfew in place from 8pm-5am. Only one member of the house is allowed to grocery shop and they can exercise out of their home for one hour a day. She said at night the police patrol the suburbs and she has seen the army as well. It all seems so dystopian! Anyway she and her family are safe and well so I'm glad. 

I refuse to watch the news because it impacts my mental health for the worst. I do keep updated by reading the current news online. One article I read said there were no indicators that there would be any food supply issues, a few days later another article said to expect meat shortages due to abbatoirs in Victoria being closed! I didn't believe when it was stated about supply being as normal, of course the shutdowns will make an impact. I just keep being watchful and buy a few extra items when we go shopping to keep our supply going. I think that is all we can do, focus on the small things that will help our homes and families. It is scary to think of going to the shops and not being able to buy what we need. When there were shortages here in Western Australia it was awful. I had been using our stockpile and letting it run down. We still had a small supply but not enough for me to be worry free. I won't let that happen again.

Some ways I got ahead were I bought some extra toilet paper, dish liquid and pasta when I went to Aldi. I still mostly try to avoid the shops but there were things I needed that were out of stock online, even for click and collect. I was able to get some underwear for stocking fillers, swimming shorts for hubby for summer (these were sold out last year when he needed them) a birthday gift for a friend and a pair of sports shorts and protein powder for Mr 18's upcoming birthday. I also picked up a portable record player for Miss 21 for Christmas from Gumtree for $60, brand new they are $100-$150. Its a lovely little one in a retro style suitcase with built in speakers and i ordered her a rare record from eBay to go with it. That's her gift now all done and crossed off the list! 

I bought some lavender oil and rosehip oil which I will use for my face from eBay. These come in little pouches and are much cheaper than buying elsewhere. I just decant into my own little vials and they last ages. 

I also ordered myself for Christmas a couple of newly released Pop Vinyls that I collect. I didn't realise but I had accrued some points on the Popculcha website that allowed me to have $10 off :)

There was no bread or fruit and veg at the community centre this week so we drove up to the Food bank. There we are able to pay $5 and get bread, dairy, fruit and veg. We also got a free frozen pasta pack and some soap. I had told hubby about the Bluebird from Annabel's blog who had posted about her grandmother storing bars of soap in drawers under the clothes. Well he thought this was ingenious and he did this in our clothes drawers as well!

I had a baking day and made some lemon butter, a bread and butter pudding, banana bread, lemon slice, apple pies and a pot of root vegetable soup.

I started hand sewing a pin cushion to go in the sewing box for Mr 18's girlfriends Christmas gift. It shouldn't take long to make as long as I dedicate some time to it. 

On Friday night hubby and I went to our friends house for a couple of drinks. It's always good to see them! My friend gave me a bag of goodies to bring home. There were biscuits, tinned corn, low carb pasta and sugar free chocolate.

Yesterday our neighbour told us there was a new burrito store opening and they were giving some away for free. So guess what we had for lunch?! We took our food and ate it in the bush by a river before heading home and it was really lovely! 

I hope everyone is doing OK, considering their circumstances xx

Savings Sunday 1/8/20

It has been a busy but good week. If I get my studying done and have time to do some things around the house then I am happy!  I got some craft done which have been on my list for a while. I made some reed diffusers, 2 are for the house and one is put away for a gift. These are easy to make, and much cheaper than buying them. I've seen some for $20-30 each for large ones. The bottles were ones I got op shopping and were 50c or $1 each. I also made some beeswax wraps. Mr 18 bought me the beeswax pellets and material for mothers day. I made 12 of these, they were a bit fidly but not too hard. I kept some for myself and packed up 2 packs for Christmas gifts. 

In the kitchen I baked some vanilla cupcakes while the oven was on and a banana bread. I had some rolls to use up so turned these into garlic bread which was served with spaghetti bolognaise. I turned leftover mashed potato and vegetables into bubble and squeak patties. We had these for lunch with an eggs.

I made some pies in the pie maker using a fold over method with the pastry. This elimates the need to use a cutter and avoids waste, though they are more rustic looking!  I had rice and mince leftover from dinner, so added these with a sprinkle of cheese. It made 8 pies. These were delicious!

I ordered a few things online for Mr 18's birthday which is at the end of this month. I also bought some Christmas gifts from Spotlight and saved $10 by using a free promo code. I'm determined to buy or make something each week to put aside for Christmas. Normally I start this in October, but with the way the world is at the moment I'd rather get it done and not have to stress later. 

I juiced oranges and made orange vinegar with the peels. I also juiced some lemons, saved the juice to make lemon butter tomorrow and made lemon vinegar with the peels. Citrus vinegar smells so good! 

I built up my pantry by adding some more toilet paper, tinned food, cough syrup, prescriptions and rubbing alcohol. I've found a few gaps of items we are low in and will buy these next week. I feel very strongly that its important for me to keep this up! 

Hubby picked up some free bread and vegies from the community centre and we did our shopping at the Foodbank. This week they had free pantry boxes and frozen pasta packs. As of next week the pantry boxes will go back to being $10. I bought a meat pack, cleaning pack and a beauty pack which had body was, soap and face masks for $7. This was excellent value as each item was under $1! Some of these I put away for gifts. All up our trolley came to $63.

Mr 14 got home from camp tired, dirty and sore. I ran him a bath with epsom salts and lavender. He was excited to be home and had some stories to tell us! The first night he was away he said he didnt feel that cold so he fell asleep under his hootchie (like a waterproof tarpolin) in his clothes. No sleeping bag or blanket- just tracksuit pants, a tee shirt, jumper, jacket and woolen gloves. Well, that night turned out to be the coldest in trek history. In the bush it was minus 3 degrees. He could have gotten hypothermia! Oh my gosh!  Apart from that he had a good time. There was lots of walking and team building activities. The day before he came home he said it rained for most of the day but he was happy because he learned to build a fire. He was so proud of himself! This is such a good skill to have. He is now a trek leader and will get to go on other camps and help out the teachers. 

I hope you've had a good week!