WHAT WE SPENT, WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND AND WHAT WE SAVED WEEK 25

We arrived home on Friday evening, and it's been all go ever since.

Sunset in Weipa - just gorgeous, I could've happily stayed for a month

Why is it that coming home is more work than packing to go away? It's mostly done now, thank goodness, so I can stop whining and get on with the fun stuff coming up this week.

Unpacking, checking the pantry, fridge and freezer and making a shopping list, then doing the shopping (Hannah came along to help - it was quite a large shop after seven weeks), unpacking and putting things away.

The washing machine went almost non-stop this morning. I washed the linens and all our clothes from our trip. Even though they were washed regularly while we were away, they smelled musty - I think from the humidity, they never felt completely dry unless I paid the $4 -  $6 to put them through a dryer. Over the clotheshorses by the fire they went - they'll dry overnight, ready to be put away tomorrow.

All the dishes have been washed, dried and repacked, ready for our next trip.

Family sized chocolate cake - I use my Corningware baking dish to bake these extra large cakes

While we were shopping I stocked up on whole, fresh chickens from Aldi. They are currently $3/kg - great price for stocking up. Savings (overall).

I picked mandarins from our tree for this week's fruit -they were green when we left, now they're just right for picking (and eating).

I saved the egg shells from this afternoon's baking and when they are dry I'll crush them to use as snail repellent in the garden.

Wayne lit the fire almost as soon as we walked through the door, and I turned the ducted heating down. Then we burnt timber off-cuts we were given, saving the seasoned firewood for later.

Bought oranges for 29c/kg and made whole orange cakes and whizzed then froze some for future orange cakes.

After being away for so long, there wasn't much in the freezer so Hannah and I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen and we made:

• A big pot of soup
• 2 large quiches and 3 dozen small quiche
• 1 batch M&M cookies
• 1 batch Mars cookies
• 1 Family Chocolate Cake
• 10 serves of pasta bake (enough for two meals for us)
• 1 loaf banana bread
• 1 finger bun cake (my adaptation of an Adrian Zumbo mix)
• 2 dozen Whole Orange cupcakes

I activated another 10c/litre off offer from Flybuys to fill up my car. Combined with a 4c off voucher that will bring the price down enough to fill up - saving $8.40 which has been moved to our holiday fuel account.

What did you do to save money, time and energy this week?

Remember, money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it is just not spent - hence my "what we didn't spend" list and making sure I move money from the relevant categories into our
savings accounts.