Savings Sunday 15/11/20

This week was a challenge. On Monday through untill Thursday I suffered with  cluster headaches, ibufrofen and napping helped but when I was awake I felt very vague. My 14 year old was home sick all week due to tonsillitis which was resistant to the first lot of antibiotics. This resulted in a very painful throat and having to get a blood test and throat swabs. It is now day 3 on a different course of antibiotics and finally there is some improvement. 

I managed to get some jobs around the house. I painted some baskets I have white. These will be used in the kitchen benches for extra storage and I cleaned out the cutlery drawers. A while ago I picked up a small cupboard for free on Marketplace, it was used outside to hold shoes so was quite dirty and some of the MDF trims ate a bit warped. I finally got around to putting some adhesive vinyl on it, this was $3 a roll from Kmart and it used 1.5 rolls. I also sprayed the handles with black paint. The cupboard is now used to store extra tons and packet food. 

I baked a tray brownies for dessert which got eaten before I took a picture and cooked ravioli soup and a curry in the slowcooker. Both were enough for a couple of nights dinner which saved me cooking. 

Hubby caught up with some friends on Friday night, I stayed home to keep an eye on our youngest. He came home with a bag of goodies, the puddings will be kept for Christmas. We are blessed to have such great friends! 

We did a small shop at the Foodbank and got some meat, including a ham which has been frozen and chocolates which have been put away for Christmas. I also bought a final gift of Netflix gift cards and am finished my Christmas shopping. I just have 2 more gifts to wrap. 

Savings Sunday 8/11/20

This week was productive! I got some sorting, gardening, sewing and cooking done. We went to a free community garage sale and hubby and I got a pair of shoes each. The teenager picked out some jumpers. 

I did some weeding in the front garden and back gardens and hubby worked on the pool which is now ready for swimming. There is still more work to do in the garden, but this is a start! The weather was lovely and we had our first BBQ for the season and ate dinner outside. 

I cleaned out the fridges and baked a large tray of onion, capsicum, pumpkin and zucchini which were on the soft side and used to make a large vegetable lasagna. 

I also baked a batch of custard biscuits and some banana muffins. One got eaten before I took a picture! 

I tidied my craft and fabric boxes and found some unfinished projects which I'll work on over the next few weeks. I made 3 patchwork Christmas stockings using fabric scraps and also made a table runner. This was my first attempt at patchwork and think they turned out well. 

Every few days there was about a dozen or so blueberries ready so these were picked. So yummy. We did our Sunday pickup and got heaps of bread, rolls and pastries. This helps out about 6 regular families every week. There was no fruit and veg today but we were very lucky to get some meat.

Thrifty Thursday 5/11/20

This week I went on the hunt for Christmas bargains! I plan on sorting out my Christmas linen and decorations selling or giving away what I don't use and buying a few more which suit my style.

At one op shop I found a small stocking for 20c, a roll of wrapping paper and cellophane for 50c each. The stocking will be filled with lollies and given to a neighbour.

At another op shop I found a lovely long basket for $2, some Christmas material also $2 and wooden trees for $4 each.

Savings Sunday 1/11/20

It's been another good week here. One of the things I did was to re-whiten the grout in our  bathroom. It took a couple of days as it needs to set between coats. 

The weather was fine in the beginning of the week so I washed the sheets and clothing.

Bought petrol on Monday which is the cheapest day here and bought some cooking chocolate, marshmallows and deodorant which were half price. These will be stashed to make rocky road and for stocking fillers. I also had a look through my gift stash and found some mini bottles of shampoo, lotion and face masks to put in my families stockings as well.

I sold some items on Marketplace and made $40. I managed to buy some underwear, socks and bubble wands from Kmart, also for Christmas. I had a quick look for some Christmas pyjamas and boxer shorts for our Christmas Eve box and couldn't find any in adult sizes. I'll keep an eye out over the next few weeks. I had a look at the Christmas decorations and this section was really dismal. There was hardly any stock and what was on the shelves was broken. I'm glad I don't need to buy anything new! 

It was Halloween so I baked some Halloween cupcakes and dressed up to hand out lollies for the trick-or-treaters. Hubby cooked monster meatloaf, mashed potatoes and brocolli for dinner. 

I also baked a banana cake a batch of pikelets and Mr 14 made  triple choc muffins. 

I spent some time sewing and finally finished my Coraline inspired doll, that I started 2 years ago! I did my pick up with Second Bite and made up 4 family hampers which had fruit, vegetables, bread and sweet treats.