27 September 2015

The Week that Was


Fruit and veg prices just lately have been rock bottom. This week I was able to buy broccoli for 49 cents a kilo (22 cents a pound for US readers). I can't remember the last time broccoli was that cheap. I don't have any in the garden at the moment and we just love the stuff, so I spent Wednesday morning blanching and packing meal sized portions, then ran them over to Mum's during the afternoon. My freezer is still full to overflowing, and Mum's is getting pretty full, I may need to investigate other methods of preserving for any other great bargains.

Potted up some more flower cuttings for the garden. It will be full and beautiful when they all start growing and blooming.

Some succulent cuttings in a pot of fine soil and seed raising mix - these will be made into gifts by Hannah
The rain was a blessing and I happily  let it water the garden for me.

Let the fire go out and kept the ducted heating off on a couple of days. Lit the fire for a couple of cold days, we're down to the dregs of the firewood so I'm hoping any really cold days are now behind us and we'll have enough wood to see us through the odd cold snap.

Collected the water from the kitchen and showers and used it to top up the washing machine and the floor bucket.

Swapped the meal plan around (again) to use up some chicken that was thawed but not all cooked.  Made Sweet'n'Sour Chicken at Hannah's request. Froze the leftovers for a freezer meal.

Bought four tubs to store bulk rice and flour in the laundry. $7 each, they hold 20 kilos of flour and 15 of rice and stack neatly in the space I had.

Used my piggy bank money to stock up on some card making supplies at a fraction of the RRP. Kaisercraft printed papers for 50 cents  and  58 cents a double-sided sheet,  plain cardstock and papers 12 sheets for $5 (41 cents a sheet) and packs of 12 themed papers for $2.99, making them 24 cents a sheet. One sheet alone will embellish at least 15 cards.

Made a double batch of 5 Minute Choc Chip Cookies, some for us (and they were gone in 3 minutes!) and some as a thank you.

Made Simple Banana Cake for the freezer to use up some squishy bananas in the fruit bowl. Doubled the recipe and made it in my really big loaf tin. Cut into slices, wrapped and frozen for lunches or morning/afternoon tea. Cost: $1.05!

 Simple Banana Cake
Used a MOO cake mix to make 40 cupcakes. Some in the cake tin, the rest in the freezer for lunches or morning/afternoon teas. This cake mix costs around $2 to make, so the cupcakes are 5 cents each (un-iced).

MOO cake mix - cheaper and nicer than anything you can buy
Took an order for three cleaning hampers for Christmas, the money is a welcome boost to the slush fund.

Went to a closing down/clearance sale with Hannah, met PamelaG there. Bought a stamp pad for $1 and a very pretty paper pack for $3. But the bargain of the day, and one I can cross off my wish/Christmas/Birthday list: a Cuttlebug embossing and die cutting machine, with four folders and a pack of dies for the grand total of $25! I'm still smiling, and so is Wayne - he doesn't have to go shopping now :)

My embossing machine bargain!
Naomi, the lovely young woman who ran the sale also gave us a HUGE box of off cuts, ribbons, laces, papers, cardstock to use to make cards for charity. What a blessing! And guess what we'll be doing at our November card day ;)

Made a set of four cards in a folder to add to some embroidered hankies for a birthday gift. Total cost under $4.

Planted out some egg plants and capsicums. The garden is starting to look better now it actually has some plants in it.

Crushed egg shell around a little zucchini plant - hopefully it will stop the pest in their tracks :)
Scattered crushed egg shells around the beans and zucchini - something is eating them. Hopefully this will deter them.

Spent a lot of time working on the new Cheapskates website. It is so close to being finished, I just want it all done NOW!

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5 comments:

  1. The cold snap has left us close to running out of firewood too. Hardly any rain here for our newly planted garden so we have had to use the hose.

    The egg shells are a great idea. I read about it a few years ago but not sure of the source now. I do remember it saying though to make a ring around each plant. I can't use the egg shells in my garden...a certain dog likes them!

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    1. We haven't had much rain either Vicky, certainly nowhere near what we need. I've been using the hose sparingly, and catching the kitchen and shower water, saving the water from steaming the veggies and so on to keep the garden going. I use the grey water from the washing machine to keep the front yard going, but I won't use it on the veggies.

      I really hope the egg shells work, I didn't have any zucchini last summer and already one plant has disappeared, so I'l try just about anything. I just crush them by rubbing them between my hands and sprinkling them around.

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  2. How exciting about the Cuttlebug and such a good price. I bought a Big Shot during the week on sale and it wasn't anywhere near that cheap.

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    1. I was so excited I didn't even haggle! I asked how much, Naomi said $25 and I said "sold" and handed her $25 straight away. Then she gave me four folders and a die, and only one of the folders had been used, the others were all brand new. It's been a week of amazing blessings, this being just one of them, I've had so much fun playing with it.

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  3. What a great week you had Cath with so many things achieved.

    Maybe slugs could be eating your plants, or earwigs. You could take your torch and go out at night to see if you can catch whatever it is in the act!

    I don't know what a cuttlebug is yet...great score for you :)

    xTania

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