A Year of Saving - February 16th 2015

Well it's the 16th already and I'm just now catching up.

I love No Spending Month, it really makes it easy to keep my money in my purse. So much so that apart from milk, bread and some fruit I haven't spent a cent. So far I haven't even put petrol in my car - staying home really does save a lot of money.

I have had a couple of treats, lunch with Mum on Thursday. It's her treat, and there is no way she'll not have it so I don't even try to change it. But we have been having "cheaper" lunches.

We were away for a few days, took our food from home, camped, so no money spent. And it was bliss to be out of phone range for that time. No phone, no internet, no TV, no radio - just the sounds of rivers, birds, March flies and deer to break the silence. One night we had a deer wander through our campsite - oh my goodness they are huge and they make such a loud noise, it sounds like steel dragging over concrete, especially in the middle of the night :)

Since we've been home there's been only milk and bread bought.

I've done a quick freezer inventory and I think I can put off a meat shop until the end of March. The freezer is full, there is a lot of meat and chicken still, but I've been freezing tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum and beans from the garden too. Definitely no money spent there, I love free food. The seeds and water do have a cost, although it is a very small cost. Once I've been able to grow enough food to cover the cost of the seeds and water the rest of the crop is free - it really does pay to grow your own food.

Today, because it is a little cooler, I'll do some baking and get some biscuit dough into the freezer. The cake tins are empty and while we don't eat a lot of sweets if they're empty for too long I may have a revolt on my hands.

Oh, tonight's dinner will be "free" too. We had a roast chicken last night and I've pulled as much meat as I could off the bones to use in our fried rice. The bones are now in the freezer to make stock.

The dehydrator will get a workout today too. I've set it up on the back verandah and filled it with basil leaves. The basil is just growing so fast it is going to seed before I can use it. I picked about half of it early this morning and it's now drying so I can crush the leaves and store them for later. I have to say the verandah smells divine, sweet basil is one of my favourite scents.

We have 17 pumpkins growing in the backyard. I've been turning the every day so they don't get any soft spots on the skins. Come winter we'll have as much pumpkin soup as we can eat and I'm already salivating at the thought of all that lovely roasted pumpkin we will have. Drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with crushed garlic then baked until soft it is just amazing.

Not much to report, but still a few savings and a lot of "non-spending" so far this month.