Saturday 7 October 2017

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 7th October 2017

Four days of birthday celebrations and daylight savings took it toll on both Darren and I early this week. We had a sluggish start to the week but somehow managed to get through with some frugal tasks completed  Here's our frugal list

* Dried most of the washing on the line including bedding.  Darren did throw some things in the dryer on his day of.

*  Cleaned the kettle with citric acid.  I used this water to clean the kitchen sink drains with vinegar and bi carb.  Cleaned the dishwasher using bi carb, vinegar and Miracle Spray

*  Made a steak casserole using two bbq steaks leftover from our AFL Grand Final bbq.  I sliced them thinly and cooked the casserole in the slow cooker.   I was able to get 6 generous serves from the two steaks.   I'll post the recipe shortly. 

*  Fed lots of grass and clover to the chicken.

*  Jessica had a small empty bottle of argon oil in her rubbish bag.  She said she couldn't get any more out.  I turned it upside down for a couple of days and got 3 more uses from it. 

*  Picked a few very large leaves of silverbeet and added them to a double batch of spag bol sauce to stretch it further.  I also froze two portions suitable for two people.

*  Saved the washing machine water for each next load.  As the weather warms up I'll start saving the warm up shower water for the garden.

*  Baked a packet mix of " I Quit Sugar " biscuits that was given to me.  I didn't have the fancy syrup needed for the recipe so I used honey and added choc chips ( for extra flavour ).  Something wasn't right with the recipe on the box because I ended up with slop that couldn't be formed into dough balls to bake.  I had to add a fair amount of extra flour to the mix.  Let's just say Darren refuses to eat any more after trying one.  They do have a strange flavour to them.  I will persist and eat the rest over the next few days.  Maybe the chickens can help me get rid of them.

*  Tried to stick to the 2 light rule most of the time.

*  Had the heater off for 3 days during daylight hours.

*  Bought 5 Bolar blade roasts on sale for $6.99kg from Australian Butchers.   This was my first visit there after Cath from the Cheapskates Club posted the specials on Facebook.  I was suprised to learn there is a store nearby in Dandenong.  They also had chicken drumsticks on sale for $1.79kg but I already have plenty in the freezer.

* Used the dry mop on the bamboo floors instead of getting the vacuum cleaner out.

*  Gratefully received lots of card making supplies from Darren for my birthday.  I can't wait to use them.

I Quit Sugar Biscuits

Birthday flowers from Jessica and her boyfriend

Cleaning the kettle

Plum tree in full bloom

Steak casserole - YUM !!!

What was on your frugal list this week ?

4 comments:

  1. The biscuits look dry in your photo, Wendy. I think homemade would be much nicer. Here, it's been a lovely week with a storm yesterday. Together with rain we got last week, our water tanks are full again.I worked two days this week for relief teaching money and did grocery shopping another day. I got razor blades my husband uses for 1/2price so I stocked up on those. I took our son to library on way home from school yesterday and we both borrowed books and he chose a dvd for the weekend. We will have a home movie night tonight with that. I'll make homemade popcorn to go with it. Have a lovely weekend! Meg:)

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  2. Hi Wendy,

    Your birthday flowers look gorgeous. Maybe you could turn the biscuits into crumble or base for a slice.

    This week I saved water from the tap for the seedlings I planted, darned socks, decluttered heaps in the house and only used the heater once.
    We bought DS15 a new bed (Queen) so I looked online for specials for bedding and found Manchester and More had a sale so I got a doona cover buy one get one free so total cost was $40.00 and came with pillowcases. I shopped for specials (found crumpets on clearance for 0.65c) at the supermarket to put away and found a chemist that had men's aftershave for $10.00 which my boys like (ADIDAS) so I put this away for Christmas.
    I didn't used much petrol this week as it's school holidays, made a Quiche last night with the leftovers and on grand Final day, we had our own little celebration of party pies, chips, drinks etc.
    My boys wanted to change the inside of their wardrobes around so I had the company who installed them a few years ago, come out to tell us how. He suggested that to SAVE money (YEAH), do it yourself using things from say Bunnings. Wow, a company that doesn't rip you off.
    DH had his tax done, refund coming our way...Yeah!!! I also wanted to contact our financial advisor (we use a free one through our super fund) but he was away and has been for awhile, so as I still get a family payment for DS15, I contacted Centrelink's Financial Information Service Officier, (I've received some money from late Mother's estate)and had to tell Centrelink. He was able to answer my questions so no expensive trip to a financial advisor. Also updated my budget for September and started on my October one.

    We did have some expenses this week, new bed DS15, Dentist DH and new clothes DH but all budgeted a saved for, great feeling.

    Have a great week, Maureen

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  3. Hi Wendy,
    Happy belated Birthday. Sounds like you all had a busy week. Your steak casserole looks tasty. I'm pleased to see you can clean your metal kettle with citric acid. I'm going to do mine now as I wasn't sure if the metal would react with the citric acid and affect the kettle. Clearly I'm not a Scientist!!
    It's been busy in our household this week. I've started pre paying our rates and water bills via BPay. I've mapped out our budget for 2018 as the first quarter is high in bills. As this time is straight after Christmas it's important to be on top of things. I took advantage of some good specials this week. I wish we had some more options for meat special up here on the Gold Coast, $6.99 for bolar blade is fantastic.
    Have a lovely week,
    Rachel :)

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  4. Dear Wendy, You had lovely birthday celebrations! The biscuits made me laugh as I remember how my Nan had 4 teaspoons of sugar in her tea all her life and what a wonderful healthy fit and active person she was who almost made it to 100 with never a sick day in her life. So she would have said I know how to fix those biscuits! Add sugar! haha! I must say other than that she lived on meat and veggies.
    Have a great new week! With love Annabel.xxx

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