Savings Sunday 4/10/20

This week was good, I am tired but happy. There is only a couple more weeks until uni is finished and I am on Summer break. I have made a list of jobs to do when im on break! 

I cooked a big pot of pumpkin and chickpea curry using the last of our homegrown pumpkins. Mr 14 baked a chocolate fudge pudding which we had for dessert with cream. It is like a self saucing pudding and so yummy. I cooked a tray of broccoli and cheese gratin and used up sour cream in this. I saved the broccoli stems to use in dog food which I will make next week. I also made a cheese sauce using the sour cream. This will be used during the week with pasta for an easy dinner. I baked a banana cake and used sour cream instead of milk. 

Gave a friend a homemade soy candle, body wash and face mask from my gift stash. She gave me a 5kg bag of rice as they had excess and mulberries from their tree. I made three jars of jam with the mulberries and one went into the gift cupboard. 

Finished a tube of handcream and cut the tube open to get the remains out. This filled a small container.

Visited some friends in Fri night for a couple of drinks and a catch up. They gave us some muesli bars, eggs and a box of jars. This was wonderful as I'm running low on jars! 

Picked up some free bread, English muffins and flatbread from the community centre. The flatbread I put in the freezer to use as pizza bases. 

I finally finished painting a vinyl dragon for Mr 14. The West Australian Reborn Doll show was on Sunday and I entered 3 of the dolls I painted. I won a ribbon best in category for my alien doll! I also entered the dragon and a devil baby. I have lots of fun making the alternative dolls but will probably sell these ones so I can buy more kits to paint.

Here a some of the other ladies dolls.

Savings Sunday 27/9/20

This week has been super productive. I had a 3 day break from uni so I got loads of housework done that has been bothering me. I weeded 3/4 of the front garden beds, cleaned the stove top, tiles, cupboards, bathroom and toilet, dusted all surfaces, wiped down all the walls, skirting, doors and vaccuumed the floors. 

These are all jobs that have been let go since i started studying 12 weeks ago. Hubby does a great job of keeping up with the dishes, washing and folding clothes and errands like shopping, school run and occasionally he will cook dinner. Lately he has also been working on the back garden. But the little jobs tend to get neglected. The house feels nice and clean now and it was enjoyable, I love a good clean its quite relaxing for me. 

Some other things I did were cooked some soft tomatoes and used as a sauce for homemade pizzas and the leftover sauce was put in a spaghetti bolognaise. One night I cooked sausages for dinner and drained the fat into the lard jar. This gets used in place of oil in cooking. I made a large pot if rice and vegetables for the dogs to stretch their meat, its also healthy for them. I used to do this regularly but stopped because it took up too much room in our freezer and fridge, but now we have our outdoor fridge I can make a batch every week. I also baked a banana cake. 

Picked up some bread, rolls, bananas, capsicum and a leek from the community centre and we car pooled with our neighbour for a trip to the Foodbank. We spent $50 and got meat, flour, sugar, cake mixes, yoghurt, muffins, milk, juice, carrots, broccoli, and spinach. 

Made a batch of stain remover and laundry gel and diluted the dish liquid, shampoo and conditioner with a bit of water. I also save all the small ends of soap to put in a small linen bag thats kept in the shower as a soap scrubber, I topped this up. 

It was mostly fine weather all week so the washing was hung outside. 

Saved some white tissue paper from a package which went into my gift wrapping box and kept some oxygen absorber sachets to reuse. 

We reached our Medicare safety net threshold this is earlier than normal so our prescriptions are free until the end of the year. This fortnight we saved around $20 on medications.

Savings Sunday 20/9/20

The exciting news I mentioned last week was we have paid off our mortgage! We had a family dinner of homemade lasagna, garlic bread and chocolate cake (complete with a 30c candle) to celebrate. I don't think it has sunk in yet, this is something we've strived really hard for years to achieve! 

Juiced oranges from our garden, cooked a large lasagna and a big pot of Thai green chicken curry to have a couple of nights off from cooking. 

Mr 19 sorted out his room and gave me a birthday gift bag, bow and shredded paper, he knows I reuse gift wrapping where possible. He also gave Mr 14 some of his "outdated" socks, which were like new. I love when he declutters as we all end up with all kinds of cool stuff! 

I installed the Honey browser extension and saved $7 on some Christmas gifts. I bought makeup from Australis with a 50% off sale on everything and free postage. I needed mascara and Miss 21 and I both needed more foundation. I also got some lipsticks were $3.50 on clearance so I got them for $1.25 each!

Hubby picked up some free crumpets, English muffins, bread, celery, cucumber and a bunch of white roses from the community centre.

A friend gave us a couple of pairs of jeans and a grocery bag full of cat food from one of her clients who had a cat that passed away.

Another friend dropped off a hamper from her church. This had frozen vegetables, milk, bread, apple pies (lots of pies, so we gave some to our neighbours) juice, cakes, sausage rolls and meat pies, potatoes, lettuce and soup pouches which I reheated for dinner with some rice. We were really blessed this week! 

Savings Sunday 13/09/20

This week, I have been focusing on spending as little money as possible and making do with what we have. The reason for this will soon be revealed! 

Had a browse on Gumtree and found a photo frame, pillow cases and a faux eucalyptus branch which were free. White is my colour so I was stoked! 

Set up my sewing machine and hemmed a skirt, pants and repaired a hole in a mattress protector. 

No grocery shopping for us this week so I sorted our food cupboards, fridge and freezers and hubby got some free bread, fruit and salad from the community centre. Also pucked oranges from our tree.

I cooked a zuchinni slice for dinner, using the massive zucchinis we got last week. This turned out a disaster and really watery due to the size if the zuchinnis, but the dogs liked it! I baked a banana cake, a batch of scones,  blanched some carrots and froze them along with the free bananas and snow peas. 

It was sunny weather all week so all the washing got done as well as sheets and quilts. I spent the weekend watching movies and crafting, which was a pleasant break from study! 

Savings Sunday 7/09/20

Last week we celebrated Mr 19's birthday with  dinner and cake at home and also Fathers Day. 

Mr 19 asked for homemade chicken burgers and a caramel mudcake. 

For Fathers Day Imade hubby some chocolate tools using moulds I have and Mr 14 made some chocolate dipped pretzels for him. We also bought a bag of choc coated peanuts and almonds and put them in a jar. We had a family dinner of bbq sausages in buns with onion and bacon, I made some brownies,  choc chip biscuits and made up a dessert platter using some chocolates we had in the cupboard. 

I also used some of our homegrown pumpkins and cooked a pot of pumpkin soup to eat for lunch during the week and a pumpkin and chickpea curry for dinner one night.

I tried making a caramel icing for the mudcake but it didn't turn out with my homemade brown sugar, so instead I added an egg, flour and choc chips and it became the choc chip biscuits for Father's Day! 

We went to the Foodbank and they had lots of vegetables. I got a box of cherry tomatoes, I dehydrated some and made a big pot of pureed tomatoes for the freezer. 

There was also green beans which I blanched and dehydrated, corn which I cut the kernals off and froze and kept some cobs to eat. Zucchinis which were grated and frozen and broccoli and cauliflower. The Foodbank haven't had much lately, and I've learned that when they do I should get enough to last a couple of weeks!

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!