The Week that Was 15th January 2017

Woke up early Monday morning and found an apple tree full of Cockies, dropping the apples on AJ's car and generally making a mess of the yard (as they do).

Peeled, chopped and stewed 13kg of apples. The freezer is full! Plenty for pies, pancakes and crumbles this winter and to have for breakfast.

Dried all washing on the clothesline.

Watered the back grass with the grey water from the washing machine.

Caught the shower warm-up water for the pot plants.

Added two dishcloths to the present box.

Tidied the laundry cupboard and took two bags of containers, jars and dusters to the op shop.

Washed, dried and cut up the liners from the Christmas cereal boxes to use as freezer go-between.

Cooked all our meals from scratch.

Used up a little sour cream and half a block of cream cheese to make Cream Cheese Patties for Hannah and I. We had them for tea on Thursday instead of pizza  and lunch on Saturday. Yum!

Cleaned out Mum's pantry and brought home 4kg of mixed fruit, two packets of raisins, a packet of currants, a packet of mixed peel and two packets of glace cherries. We're set for fruit cake ingredients for quite a while. We love fruit cake but I don't make it often during the year because of the expense. This little haul totalled  $62.59; well worth the 20 minutes I spent tidying the pantry.

Cleaned up the lunchboxes, they were looking a little dingy after a year of use. A paste of bicarb soda and a little water rubbed over the scuffs worked wonders. They all look almost new, just in time for another year of service.  I did the same thing to the ice-bricks too.

Found a basket in the laundry cupboard to store the ice-bricks in the freezer. They'll all be in the one spot and easy to grab and/or replace each day.

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

Cath's Meal Plan 15 - 22 January 2017

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Beef

Monday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw

Tuesday: Refrigerator Lasagne

Wednesday: Thai chicken curry, rice

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Tacos

Saturday: Sausage rolls, salad

The Week that Was - 8th January 2017

Not a lot done around home this week, Wayne and I were away for five days.

We took a full thermos and lunch and snacks with us for travelling. We stopped at one McDonalds for coffee and drank it with our homemade Christmas cake for morning tea. We also stopped at a Driver Reviver station and gave the SES a $5 donation for a top-up of boiling water later in the afternoon. Seems a lot to pay for boiling water but it was cheaper than buying tea and coffee and it goes to a very good cause.

Thomas was in charge of watering the garden and pot plants while I was away. He did a brilliant job, I didn't lose a thing.

Hannah fed everyone from the freezer, no takeaway or grocery shopping done while we were away.

Mum needed some new clothes so I used a discount voucher from Millers, shopped online and bought everything on sale, saving her $117. She now has nine nice new outfits to wear.

My portable hard drive was almost full. It's the one I keep back-ups on so went hunting for a new one. Bought one from Kmart for $77, $1 cheaper than Big W and I didn't have to go to another shopping centre to get it or pay postage buying online.

I was able to share some zucchini from the garden with a neighbour. I grated the others I picked and put some in the freezer for cakes, bread, slices and casseroles later in the year. I've put a couple of the bigger zucchini aside to make pickle this week once the weather cools down. Some for us and some for gifts.

While we were in Sydney petrol prices jumped up 23c a litre. We worked out how far we'd get on the fuel left in the car and checked prices online to see where it would be cheapest to fill up and didn't spend an extra 24c a litre - it was actually even cheaper on the way home.

Called in to visit with family on the way home from Sydney, then had afternoon tea at the Botanical Gardens in Wagga. The gardens haven't really changed, although there is a nice new playground.

On New Year's Day Coles were clearing out fruit mince tarts for 37c a packet. Hannah bought 10 packets and put them in the freezer for later.

Kept the house shut during the heat of the day and opened it up once the sun had gone down. Saved the air-conditioning for hot days and used the fans if it was forecast to be under 32 degrees. Kept the fans on overnight two nights as it was very hot and muggy.

Late last year we looked at replacing the awnings on the front windows, but the cost was prohibitive (turns out our front windows are an odd size - go figure!). Wayne pulled one to bits to see what needed to be fixed and/or replaced then went to the hardware shop and spent $14, came home and was able to fix them both! Yay! The actual awnings are in excellent condition so it would have been a waste to replace them.

Took the hem up on some lightweight jeans to make capri length pants rather than buy new ones for summer. Saved at least $15 a pair, $45 in total, and I now have pants I can wear. Kept the cut-off pieces to patch work jeans.

Hannah made sausage rolls (36) using sausage meat I bought on clearance at NQR before Christmas. Total cost, including pastry, $3.40 or 9 cents each for lunch sized sausage rolls.

I've started making bread again. We go through a loaf of bread a day between the five of us for sandwiches and toast and it was starting to become a pain to keep up with buying it (my freezer space is too valuable at the moment to store bread). I don't like going to the shops everyday so bread baking is back on the agenda. My homemade bread costs around $1.20 a loaf, and is denser and much more filling than what I've been buying.

Caught the shower warm-up water for the pot plants, they need constant watering at this time of year.

Watered the back grass with grey water from the washing machine.

Made up a big jug of fruit water for the fridge yesterday. We had a top of 37.8 yesterday so keeping fluids up was essential.

The boys bought me (or all of us really) Chinese for tea and Hannah made a pavlova for my birthday. There were lots of leftovers, all packed into meal portions for later in the week.

While I was typing this up last night there was a terrific crack from outside. The apple tree lost a branch. This tree is at least 50 years old; where we are used to be an apple orchard and it is one of the trees from the orchard. I love this tree, for the shade it gives the house in summer and for the apples of course.

Too much fruit and the poor old tree branch couldn't take it!

We picked buckets of apples this morning from the fallen branch. They'll be stewed and frozen or dehydrated for winter.

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

Cath's Meal Plan 8 - 15 January 2017

Vegetable Curry - easy, tasty, cheap!

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: BBQ sausages, salad

Tuesday: Chicken Alfredo

Wednesday: Vegetable Curry, rice

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Stir-fry

Saturday: Hamburgers

Crumble

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally a piece or two of fruit in our fruit bowl will get a little wrinkly. I hate waste so I'm always looking for a way to use even the wrinkly fruit. Often I'll dice it and add it to a muffin or cake mix or puree it and use it to make ice blocks.

But when there is a lot of wrinkly fruit I make crumble. Sometimes it's apple, sometimes it's pear, sometimes it's plums or peaches or apricots. Or a combination.

This week I had an apple and a pear that were a little wrinkly, and half a packet of mixed berries in the freezer so I made an apple, pear and berry crumble. And it was delicious.

Here's the recipe.

Cath's Mixed Fruit Crumble

Ingredients:
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 pear, peeled, cored and diced
300g mixed berries
1 tbsp honey
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
3/4 cup coconut
1 tsp mixed spice
125g butter, melted

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Combine the apple, pear and berries with the honey. Place into a buttered casserole dish.

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, coconut, mixed spice and melted butter. Stir until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Spread evenly over the top of the fruit.

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until crumble is browned and fruit is bubbling. Serve warm with cream, custard or ice-cream. Serve cold with cream.

I used apple, pear and berries in this crumble, but you can use any fruit suitable for pie. Plums, apricots or peaches are all good. I've even used leftover fruit salad (minus the melon) that I've drained.

Old Fashioned Bath Salt Sodas

Cheapskates Club members have taken up the challenge to make Christmas 2017 a handmade Christmas,  so for 2017 the Monday craft Tip of the Day is going to be something a little different - an idea or pattern or recipe or instructions for a handmade gift.

It may seem a little early to be making bath salts, but this pretty gift idea requires you do do a little collecting and op-shopping, so to give you time to gather everything you need, it is Handmade Christmas Idea No. 1.

And they're not just for Christmas, but birthdays, Mother's Day, to say thank you or get well - there are so many ways you can gift these pretty bath salts.

Old Fashioned Bath Salt Sodas

 This year I collected old fashioned ice cream soda glasses. I bought them from thrift stores when I saw them. I made a bath salt mixture with sea salt, rolled oats  (which I finely ground in blender) Epsom salts, a few drops of food colouring and a few drops of 100% essential oil of choice, an exfoliating sponge and a large red bead. I mixed everything together in a large metal bowl, put it into the ice cream soda glasses and covered them with cling wrap so the salts wouldn't fall out. I put the nylon exfoliating spongy thing on top of the cling wrap and topped it off with a large, round, red bead, then stuck a straw into the glass via tiny hole I had made. I added a long handled teaspoon (collected from Donut King)to each glass and so far the recipients of these early Christmas gifts have been very pleased with them.
Contributed by Nikki Armstrong

The Week that Was 1st January 2017

Happy New Year everyone!

Today Wayne and I are travelling to Sydney to spend some time with his family. Before we left home I filled our thermoses, packed sandwiches, biscuits, Christmas cake and cold drinks for our trip.

I'm excited to start the new year on my blog by listing all the frugal things we did this last week to save money, time and energy.

This week:

We ate a lot of leftovers. I made them into other dishes so they weren't just leftovers and nothing was wasted.

Cooked all our meals using ingredients we had in the fridge, pantry and freezer.

Used washing machine water to keep the back lawn green on the very hot days (and turned it off when it rained).

Saved the kitchen and bathroom warm up water for the pot plants. In this hot weather and with the winds we've had the pots dry out very quickly. I've been watering them twice a day using this water.

Picked the zucchinis from the self-seeded plant.

The self-seeded tomato has some fruit on it - can't wait to see which type they are.

Dried the washing on the clotheshorses under fans in the kitchen on wet days. It was too humid to dry outside under the verandah.

Went through the wrapping paper and boxes from Christmas Day and saved what I could re-use. I have some lovely boxes that can be repurposed into gift boxes, lots of ribbons and some pretty papers.

Went to the Boxing Day sales with Hannah and AJ. We left home at 7am and went straight to Big W, which opened at 7, then to Kmart, then to Target, Sunglass Hut, JB Hi Fi and finally David Jones. I spent the grand sum of $3 - there was nothing else I saw that I wanted, needed or could use so I still have spending money in my purse. Hannah bought new sunglasses at half-price, AJ bought some SD cards on sale.

Used the ceiling fans to keep the house cool on the very hot, humid days we had this week. I was up early to close the windows and curtains each morning.

 Mum moved into a nursing home until her arm heals. It's only six minutes from us so nice and close for visits, and close to where my brother works so he can visit easily each day too.

I had to label all Mum's clothes and belongings. As I was labelling her t-shirts I was cutting off the ribbons at the shoulders to add to my craft stash (I asked her first).

Took our excess rubbish to Mum's bins - somehow we had a lot of recycling this fortnight. Even with Christmas we don't usually have so much. Thankfully her bins were empty, I managed to fill the recycle bin, otherwise it would have meant a tip fee.

Filled all three cars using discount vouchers that were about to expire.

Made a new baby card and put together a gift for a friend who had just had a baby girl. Everything came from home so no additional money spent.

Took some cuttings of lavender and planted them into a pot. I have grand plans of having a lavender garden one day :)

Worked a little each day on end of year cleaning, tidying and sorting. Didn't get everything on my list done, but the important things have been crossed off.

And each night I spent a little time updating my new diary, ready to start using it today.

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

Cath's Meal Plan 1 - 7 January 2017

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Lamb

Monday: Lamb fritters, salad
Tuesday: Spag bol

Wednesday: Mexican Lasagne, salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Haystacks

Saturday: Toasted Sandwiches

The Week that Was 25th December 2016

Merry Christmas!

This week has been all over the place, with lots to do in preparation for today and our holiday.

This week I've been hand watering the garden early in the morning.

The washing machine water has been redirected to the back lawn to keep it green.

I've been catching tap water in the kitchen and bathroom and using it to water the pot plants - they've really needed it in the heat and wind this week. The sun and wind have been harsh, especially on the hydrangeas, and they were so pretty. I've been moving the pots into the shade each afternoon to try and protect them.

The self-sown zucchini has some tiny little zucchini on it. I'll be watching them today and tomorrow so I can pick them before they get too big.

Used some stewed apple from the freezer to make crumble. There was enough for two, one for us to eat and one to share with a friend.

Timing hospital visits for first thing in the morning and later in the evening to avoid paying parking fees ($5 an hour!). If I haven't been able to find a free parking spot I've been timing visits for under 20 minutes to get free parking undercover. Mum isn't up to more than a quick visit anyway so it has worked out well.

Made a quick trip to the airport on Tuesday morning to drop of my aunty and uncle who have gone to Wyoming to spend Christmas with my cousin and his family and combined the return trip with a hospital visit.

Found a surprise waiting for me at the Post Office on Friday morning, a beautifully wrapped parcel of individually wrapped presents. Thank you Tania, they are all gorgeous.

Splurged on Friday and bought 5 kilos of potatoes, then made potato salad (yum!) and kept 14 aside for roast potatoes today and during the week. Turned the rest into wedges and froze them.

Cooked all our meals from scratch or used up some freezer meals.

Hung the washing outside to dry.

Recycled wrapping paper and gift bags to wrap Christmas gifts.

Downloaded some free e-books from Hundred Zeroes.

The loungeroom looked like a paper store had exploded this morning as we opened our Christmas presents.  Wayne gave me a set of cargo trunks and a garden hose that reaches from the tap to each corner of the backyard - no more dragging and swapping hoses to water. AJ gave me  a  scoreboard, Thomas a cutter with fancy blades and Hannah a new handbag and wallet and some die cuts I've had my eye on. And they all gave me lots of chocolates so I'm set for quite a while.  I'm itching to get some time to play with my new craft tools too.

And that's about it. Most of my time has been spent going between home and hospital and trying to arrange respite for Mum when she is discharged.

What have you done to save money, time and energy during this especially busy week of the year?

Cath's Meal Plan 25th - 31st December 2016

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Christmas Dinner

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Leftovers/BBQ sausages, salad

Wednesday: BBQ steak, salads

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Rissoles, mash, veggies, onion gravy

Saturday: New Year's Eve BBQ

Aussie Jingle Bells - Bucko & Champs - THE ORIGINAL

The Week that Was 18th December 2016

It was a frugal week, and although I feel like a lot of money went out it was all budgeted and planned.

Saved the shower water to water the pot plants. With the warm days and the wind this week the pots needed watering every day.

Dried the washing on the clothesline.

Redirected the washing machine water to the backyard to try and keep the grass green.

Fed the fruit trees and garden with worm tea.

Added all kitchen scraps to the compost, worm farm or bokashi - free fertiliser is on its way.

Took the hem up on two pairs of new jeans for AJ - this saved him money and me frustration watching him wear jeans that are too long and dragging on the ground.

Used MOO condensed milk and half price choc melts to make choc mint fudge.

Picked up some great specials at NQR for our Christmas/New Year/Birthday celebrations.

Stocked the freezer with chicken fillets, wings and drumsticks on sale at Farmer Joes.

Used what we had to put together a Kris Kringle gift.

Cooked all our meals from scratch.

Heard on the TV that petrol will go up by at least 5c/litre before Christmas. It has been the same price for weeks so used my discount vouchers to fill my car, AJ's car and the Patrol before it actually goes up.

Used some of my Flybuys points to buy Christmas groceries.

Thomas moved the rocks from the back fernery so we can start dismantling it. The rocks will be re-used to landscape the front yard.

Yesterday was our last card making day for the year. I managed to get two cards made, thanks to Pamela who did all the hard work for me.

Joy Christmas card

Star card - closed

Star card - open. Hang it on the tree as a decoration.

Gratefully received a bunch of rhubarb from Joy. It's now cooked and made into a crumble for dessert tonight. Wayne is grinning with glee :)


Gratefully and excitedly received raspberry plants from Wendy - I've already put them in a bigger pot in a nice safe spot in the backyard.

Used a $10 off purchases over $60 at Target to finish off Christmas shopping by combining Mum's shopping with mine and split the discount.

Mum had a fall late yesterday afternoon. My brother called me just as we were finishing our card making party. I took my Kindle, bottles of water, fruit and some biscuits (from our afternoon tea) to the hospital with me. We were there until 11pm, about six hours, so we were very glad to have food and drink. I also found a parking spot right outside the ED, saving on paying for parking.

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

Cath's Meal Plan 18th - 24th December 2016

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Italian Sausage Pasta Bake, salad

Tuesday: Sticky drumsticks, rice, veggies

Wednesday: Cream cheese patties, salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Pasta bake, salad, garlic bread

Saturday: BBQ and salad

The Week that was 11th December 2016

Here are the ways I saved money, time and energy this week.

Saved the warm-up water from the showers and used it to water the pot plants

Planted some petunia seedlings - then had to dig them up two days later so the Council could check  the stormwater easement! Thankfully they let me take them up and I was able to save then replant them.

Dried the washing on the clothesline.

Had the kids scrub their shower with Miracle Spray. It gets dried after every shower and spritzed on Mondays, but it's been a while since it was really given a hard scrub. Because it's cleaned every day it wasn't hard to scrub.

Made a quick cheats stir-fry using chicken and veggies from the freezer for Friday night's dinner.

Re-potted some plants into bigger pots using MOO potting mix and compost.

Cooked our meals from scratch.

Finally managed to get the spice cupboard sorted, tidied and cleaned. It looks much better and makes me smile when I reach for a spice or herb. I've posted an inventory of the herbs and spices on the inside of the door so I know what I have and what I need to buy or grow.

Went to Spotlight to buy some craft materials on sale and went through the self-serve checkout. I noticed that the total wasn't what I'd calculated so queried it. Turns out, and here's a warning for you, if there is a "store" special, one that is just for that particular store, then the item will scan at full price. For store specials you need to go to a regular checkout so the discount can be applied. I was overcharged $18.47 so I'm glad I noticed. It would have been better if I'd known before I chose self-serve but it's not advertised anywhere.

Petrol price has been stagnant for weeks. Thankfully I'm not doing too much driving, last time I filled up was three weeks ago. I've been putting the petrol money aside, this will pay for our trip in January.

AJ received a parcel and the packing was brown paper - lots of it!

I've carefully ironed it and cut it into lengths, some to share with the card making group, some to put in the kitchen to use for lining cake tins and some to put in the wrapping box.

Wayne and the boys cut down a small tree that was in the wrong place and making a huge mess, then moved a large tree fern into that spot for me. More light in the kitchen and less mess under the verandah.

Wayne trimmed the rose bushes along the driveway.

This week I made a quadruple batch of MOO condensed milk and froze it for Christmas baking.

This week I made cupcakes, shortbread and taco seasoning using pantry ingredients.

I recycled a small box into a gift box for a tiny, odd shaped gift.

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

Cath's Meal Plan 11th - 17th December 2016

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Beef

Monday: Cheesy Stuffed Beef Burgers

Tuesday: Steak and salad

Wednesday: MOO KFC, coleslaw

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Chops and salad

Saturday: Muffin surprise

The Week that Was 4th December 2016

Refilled the foaming hand-wash bottles in the kitchen and both bathrooms using shampoo we don't like to use on our hair.

Finished making the Christmas cakes and puddings. Four large cakes, twelve small cakes and three puddings made. Whew! Over for another year :)

We put the Christmas tree up and decorated the house. This is a big job and took three days but it is a lot of fun and when the childults join in the memories and laughter the hard work is worth it.

Took some cuttings from a geranium (or pelargonium - I get them confused!) from Mum's garden to pot up. When they're big enough I'll use them to fill in blank spots in the garden.

Fed the fruit trees with worm tea from the worm farm.

Gratefully accepted some rhubarb from Carol (thank you so much!). Cooked it and portioned it into crumble sizes and it's in the freezer.

Found some surprises in the garden. One self-seeded tomato and four zucchini plants and three iceberg lettuce.

Lots of strawberries. I've been picking a small bowlful each morning.

Dried the washing on the clothesline.

Bought a Christmas gift I've been watching on half-price sale that brought it down to my gift budget limit. Yay!

Recycled two gift boxes to send Christmas gifts interstate.

Cooked all our meals from scratch.

Bought legs of lamb @$6.99/kg from The Australian Butcher. One for Christmas, two for the freezer.

Used Officeworks Mailman to send parcels interstate - much cheaper than using Australia Post.

Finished working on my shopping list for 2017.

We have started to review our budget for next year. We are going to increase the grocery budget to $200 a month - double what we've lived on for the last 14 months. I almost feel giddy with extra in the grocery budget.

What have you done to save money, time and energy this week?

Cath's Meal Plan 4th - 10th December 2016

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: BBQ Chicken Quesadillas, salad

Tuesday: Hawaaiin Meatloaf, veggies, sweet'n'sour sauce

Wednesday: Chicken & Spinach Enchiladas

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Schnitzels, potato bake, greens

Saturday: Tacos