The Week that Was 14th August

What a busy week!

Wayne was on call last weekend, so it was a home weekend for us. He worked on things for an exhibition he has coming up, and I fiddle faddled around doing lots of little jobs that needed doing that don't really have a wow! factor.  Things like feeding the fruit trees, harvesting turnips, dehydrating turnip greens. Catching up with ironing and refilling the salt shaker.

They don't have any Wow! at all, but there is a lot of Woe! if these things aren't done.

This week I have been grateful for:
*A washing machine.
*Hot showers at the turn of a tap.
*A comfortable bed.

Here's how I saved money, time and energy this week:
*Joined the Every Little Bit Counts challenge to preserve something every day and use up every little bit of everything.
*Used the meal plan and prepared ahead so we could eat tasty meals on time, using food we had on hand.
*Picked two more lemons off our little lemon tree and zested then juiced them, and used the lemon halves to clean the microwave and dishwasher.
*Pulled my vacuum apart, bit by bit, to find out why it was losing suction. I put a white sheet on the floor and as I took something off I put it on the sheet, in order that they came off, so that I could put it all back together again. I found the tiniest sliver of wood - about 1.5cm long, that had wedged in a hose. It stuck out just enough to cause a dust bunny build-up and so the vacuum was losing suction. Easy fix, and saved at least $200 on a service fee and a six week wait.
*Washed the outside of all the windows using just one bucket of soapy water and a squeegee or broom (to reach the high windows).
*Caught the shower warm up water and tipped it into the washing machine.
*Filled the thermos every morning for cuppas during the day.
*Opened the cereal box liner, washed and dried it and folded it up to use as freezer film.
*Saved the dividers from the new box of tea bags for a friend who uses them to make bookmarks for her students.
*Used some lemon juice from the freezer to make Overnight Ginger Beer that we enjoyed on the sunny days. It was still cold, but a fizzy drink on a sunny day was nice.
*Pulled scones, brownies and biscuits from the freezer to serve for afternoon tea with our visitors, with homemade raspberry jam and whipped cream for the scones.
*Only made two car trips this week. One was grocery shopping, one was for an appointment. Both were within 8km of home.
*Repaired a torn seam on a pair of AJ's jeans.
*Made sure I stuck to the no housework after 7.30pm rule, and caught up on some letter writing and reading.
*Shopped around for a better deal on an insurance and saved $359.40, with better benefits and a cheaper excess!