01 May 2022

The Week that Was 1st May 2022

It has been a long week! Or it feels long, even Wayne felt like it was dragging.

Hannah's car was towed (again) to the mechanic on Tuesday morning. It was an easy fix, our mechanic called, told us what the problem was, and said Wayne could fix it, and he was welcome to do it there, no charge. He is a lovely man and a very good mechanic. So that's what happened, with the car finally being fixed Wednesday nigh.

I have been wanting a particular item for about 18 months. Of course this is a tight budget year, so there really wasn't money for it. After talking it over with Wayne we decided to wait until it came on a good sale. Thursday I get an email to say one day only, 40% off! Off I went, to get one, and then there were only two on the shelf. I know that once they are gone, getting more will be hard due to the supply chain problems.

Little peas poking through the soil - so exciting!

I've been boiling the kettle once, in the morning, making my cuppa and then pouring the rest into our thermos. This saves me boiling the kettle each time I have a cuppa through the day, and depending on the how the day is going, sometimes I have a few. Every little bit of power not used keeps money in our pockets. 

Sold more dishcloths in our store Home Among the Gum Trees, so every time I sit down for a few minutes I pick up the knitting needles to get more done.

Made chicken soup using dehydrated veggies from the pantry (carrots, onions, celery), potatoes from the cupboard (canned earlier in the year), stock from the freezer and one small chicken fillet. It filled the pressure cooker. Sent some home with Hannah, and I've been eating the rest for my lunches each day.

Dried the washing on the clothesline each day. A little sunshine, a little breeze and it dries in no  time.

Packaged up a box of cards to send to the nursing home. Made a half batch of soap to use up the open/leftover bits of ingredients and tidy up the soap making box. It's a funny colour, but it smells nice and will be lovely to use when it's ready in about six weeks.

Cleaned the kettle with citric acid, then poured the water it into the toilet to clean it.

My face wash was empty - well according to the pump on the bottle! Off came the lid, in went about a quarter bottle of water, a few shakes and it will keep going for at least another couple of weeks, and I haven't noticed a difference in the way it lathers or cleans. I do this with so many things. I'll keep this bottle and tip half the new bottle into it and dilute it 50:50 with water like I do the shampoo, conditioner and dish washing liquid to stretch it even further.

Limited my trips to one this week and did all the errands in one go. Saves a lot of fuel, and when it's still over $1.90/litre that really helps.

Checked the toothbrushes each morning and made sure the chargers were turned off. They don't need to be on 24/7, using power. With four in the house it won't make a huge difference to the amount of power we use, but every little bit we don't use is money we're not spending on electricity.

Added to the compost with veggie peelings and lawn clippings.

Fed the worms with veggie peelings.

Rinsed and dried egg shells to use as either snail deterrent or fertiliser for the garden.

Fed the fruit trees, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries and veggie beds with worm tea.

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


2 comments:

  1. Being home in isolation is a money saver! Having tested positive to covid during a hospital pre-admission PCR test, I was needed to stay at home for seven days. Easy peasy here as there was no need to go out for anything, not even treats as I had bought a few treats to take into hospital LOL Fortunately, I've remained symptom free so was able to potter away happily.

    Yesterday I managed to work outdoors for a few hours during which I raked out and rearranged the front section of the chook run. This involved relocating the nesting boxes and the under cover area that keeps soil and sand dry for dust baths. Quite a bit of compost was removed and I covered the excavated ground with straw after I had replenished the nests and chookhouse. This provided lots of lush goodness for the garden beds.

    This week's soup meal is dhal. I can have it thick on rice or thin it with water or milk for more of a soup style meal. I tend to add different herbs or veg to it each time to make it a bit different. Dhal is so cheap and simple to make. It's very filling and is full of goodness.

    I'm an early to bed person which is already saving money on heating. Usually I shower in the evening but I've switched to afternoon because the bathroom is just too cold. There's no heating in there, nor is there a power point and I've no plans to change that. I prefer to shower late in the day to help steam out any aches and pains created through the day. So now, as soon as I've finished being active for the day I jump into the shower.

    This month there's been a welcome boost to my coffers as i received my first payout from online selling. I've had fun getting organised and packaging the goodies up and shipping them off. It's wonderful to have found something worthwhile to do that I can manage around my health issues. There's always someone I can call on to take parcels to the post office and collect the receipts for me. This month (my first) I've averaged five sales per week. I'd like to make that seven per week for May.

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  2. I'm so glad you didn't have any symptoms and were able to keep going, with treats :) Your garden will love the boost from the compost and your chookies will enjoy their nice fresh bedding, I'm sure they'll reward you with lots of eggs, even during the slow months. I used to always bath the kids in the afernoon during winter because, like you, we didn't have heating in the bathroom. They'd get bathed and straight into jammies, and then it was quiet time until dinner and bed. I hope you make your May sales goal, and you're having fun too, can't get much better.

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