Savings Sunday 27/10/20

This post is a day late because Blogger kept crashing and I was too tired to muck around with it last night! It has been a really busy but great week here. Its amazing how much I can get done when not studying! 

Homemade choc chip, peanut and oat biscuits

I finished some sewing projects like a Halloween bunting and a pincushion which is a Christmas gift to go in a sewing box. I like to get my chores done around the house in the morning so after lunch I can sit and sew. 

I have been doing the Cheapskates Christmas Challenge so I made some cards and wrapped most of the gifts. I also used up some small pieces of wrapping paper and washi tape to decorate some paper gift bags. These had printed logos on them before.

Speaking of Christmas, Coles had half price share bags of chocolate so I bought a couple for hubbys birthday in December and also a bag each for our Christmas stockings. The plan is to keep an eye out for things like this so by Dec 1st I'll be sitting back relaxing by the pool lol.

I covered some extra shifts this week for Second Bite and oh my goodness there was so much stuff! It was overwhelming to see all of the bread, pastries, fruit and veg that would normally go in the bin. This is what my kitchen looked like after Saturday's pick up! And some boxes aren't in the picture. I was able to help 9 families with this. About 24 for the week. I also dropped off a box of food to a local lady in need.

In the kitchen I used some soft tomatoes to make a pasta sauce. This was then pureed and used on pizzas. I baked some coconut, peanut and chocolate chip biscuits. Made a batch of dog food with leftover vegies from my pick up. There was also beetroot nobody wanted so I pickled some for summer. Squishy strawberries were made into jam, oregano was dried for later use along with spinach and I baked a banana cake. Phew! 

I gave away an old bookcase and 2 filing cabinets which were taking up room. I picked up 2 free metal jerry cans from Gumtree. These will be a Christmas gift for a friends son. This is at least a $40 saving for me! 

I was also gifted with lots of eggs, a big bag of dog biscuits, sour cream, mozzarella, frozen chips, butter and frozen broccoli. 

A quick visit to the opshop to drop off excess bread resulted in some good finds! Which only cost $12

A very blessed but busy week for us! Xx

Savings Sunday 18/10/20

This week I had my last exam and essay. Phew! I really enjoy studying and have met some great peers but I have also found it really challenging. I now have a break from uni until next year. I'm looking forward to having some time for craft and homemaking.

This week I redid our budget and decided to go back to using cash where possible to cutback on unnecessary spending. I was able to put some savings in the bank too.

I did some more weeding in the front garden and picked a big bag of oranges from our tree to give to a friend, and some parsley. I asked a neighbour if I could pick some of their Geraldton Wax. I think these look really pretty on our kitchen table! 

I've been re-reading Annabel's blog and was inspired to have a baking day. I made banana miracle muffins, a plum cake and chocolate crunch slice. 

I had some leftover mashed potato so made some potato patties for dinner. I cooked these in my pie maker. We had these with salad.

I did my first pick up with Second Bite. It was mostly bread and vegetables. We are able to pick what we want and then the rest I put out the front for those in need. This would all normally go in the bin and straight to landfill! Below is what was left after I took enough for my family and put some aside for neighbours who weren't home. I also added more oranges from our tree! We helped 9 families with this food.

I visited a friend and she gave me some goodies to bring home. Cereal, cleanskin beer, low sugar chocolate, tea bags, tomato relish, ginger ale and cat biscuits. We are so grateful for this! So many little things add up to big savings. I hope everyone has had a good week.

Savings Sunday 11/10/20

I had residential school for uni last week. This would normally be done on campus but is instead done via Zoom due to COVID. I had an exam last week and have one more week of school to go! 

In the kitchen I saved by dehydrated some baby spinach and ground it into a powder to add to smoothies or cooking. I cooked a large tray of Shepard's pie which we ate for dinner and the leftovers for lunch. 

Cooked a batch of rice and vegetables to add to the dogs food. When I trim carrot ends and broccoli or cauliflower stalks I add them to a bag and freeze ready for when I make a batch of this.

Baked another banana cake and iced it for morning/afternoon tea during the week and made up some mug cake mix and added it to a jar. 

I sorted out the pantry and found some cooking chocolate so made a tray of bark with sprinkles on the top.

Some other ways I saved money was by using the Honey browser extension on a clothing order, I saved $19 with this.

Used a $20 off voucher from Woolworths  $100 and got free delivery.

Mr 19's gf is a manager at McDonald's and gets free meals on her shift. There is currently a Monopoly promotion where you can win tokens for free food items so she gave us some of these. Hubby, Mr 14 and I on the way home from errands got a burger and a sundae each. Because we rarely get takeaway this was a real treat!

Picked up my prescriptions for free because we reached our safety net for the year.

I found an organisation who pick up food like bread, fruit and vegetables from supermarkets that would normally go to landfill and distribute it to those in the community for free. There is someone who volunteers in my area so I went and got some bread, fruit and veg from their house. I have signed up to be a volunteer as well which I'm excited about! 

There was some 1kg bags of coffee beans on sale for $5.95. These are normally double this price so I bought 4 of them. This will last us for a while.

There was a house in my street that had some items on there verge. I picked up these white baskets. I took the ribbon and wire hearts off to use for craft or gift wrapping.

How was your week? 

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!