My Frugal List: Week of August 13, 2018


We were away most of the week. We had a great time. I think Hubby's favorite park was that he got to sleep until when ever he wanted. One of my favorite parts was the views. I love the mountains so I am always happy whenever I get to go see some. We were able to keep the entire vacation to $800 which is really amazing. Our budget was $1000 so we came in under by $200. So we already have a jump start on our next trip to see OD. We did lots of fun things. The kids did an aerial adventure park. We got the afternoon passes and ordered them online saving us $30. They were both sore the next few days. Thank goodness for the hot tubs. 



We did eat out twice. Both times were lunch. We were able to have 2 nice meals and not pay dinner prices. One of the restaurants is a historic location. It was The Red Lion Inn. We were able to throw some history into the vacation. We looked all around the inn and were reading about it online. 


We did shop around the town but the only thing I bought was scented goat milk soaps in a little shop. 


We spent a rainy day at the Yankee Candle Village. We have gone there before and we all love it. We did buy fudge and nuts here. The kids each bought some candles too. I have plenty so I didn't buy any. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon if you can control yourself. It helps that we have come here many times over the years and we have done most of the stuff. I love all of the clocks and Hubby loves the Knights Room. 


When we got home, It was right back to work for me. Saturday and Sunday I worked so I did get my usual hours in for the week. Because I work part time, if I don't work, I don't get paid. 

I did 3 loads of laundry for free while away so I only had to do one load when we got home. I hung it up dry. 


We ate really well. We brought chili with rice, sauce and meatballs, grilled chicken, hot dogs, mac n cheese, quesadillas, PB&J, HB eggs, egg salad, omelettes, cold cut sandwiches, pancakes and blueberry waffles. When we came home we made bruschetta chicken pizza with my tomatoes. 


I shut the boiler off while we were away. My sister watched Oreo. My friend watched the house and garden. I told her to take what ever she likes from the garden. I came home to a full fridge of veggies. 


And I have been picking everyday since.


I brought some in to work and gave some to my neighbor.


It is time to start canning. 

What did you do this week to save money?


Comments

  1. What a great vacation, and good for you for coming in under budget! More money for next time. Your produce is absolutely gorgeous.

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  2. Hi Mcoia and I am so glad you had such a great family holiday together and even better came home under budget yet were able to buy a few treats for all of you :). Your garden is powering and providing you with so much food.

    We are waiting for the frosts to subside here before we plant any more vegetables and are at the last of our cherry tomatoes for a little while.

    We made a huge adjustment in the way we do things in stocking our pantry and buying groceries and in the budget this month too. Our local grocery store has e-vouchers every 3 months where we can buy $240 e-vouchers for $200 saving us 16.66% on all our groceries. Looking at the budget most of our large bills come in at the end of the year which is a battle most of the time to juggle to pay them, so we decided we would buy 6 e-vouchers to get us through to the end of the year reducing expenses we have to pay out later in the year. We then couple these e-vouchers with any 50% off weekly sales on groceries to get a total of 66.66% off groceries that we use that do come on special which really helps build up our food storage more and we can stretch out the vouchers and use them at the best times to save the most money.

    Our savings added up to $764.12 last week :).

    Here is what we accomplished and how we got ahead last week -

    Home organisation -
    - Deep cleaned the whole house from top to bottom ready for our rental inspection, due to dust storms because of the current drought here saving $200 + over hiring someone to do it for us.

    In the kitchen -
    - Made 2.736 kg of magic mix to make white sauces and chocolate puddings with saving $83.71 over purchasing premade white sauce in the supermarkets.
    - Made a 3 kg quadruple batch of magic mix chocolate pudding from our magic mix saving us $16.50 over purchasing it in the local supermarket. This fed our 2 guests and us for dinner and the both of us for 2 more days for dessert.

    Finances -
    - Banked more money into our saving for our home deposit bank account bringing us to 27.65% of the way there.
    - DH banked his tax return money into the house deposit account.

    Purchases -
    - Purchased 1 kg of organic Ceylon cinnamon powder on eBay for food storage saving $28.92 over buying it in the supermarket.
    - Bought 20 sets of sound deadening silicone ear plugs with cords on eBay saving $87.31 over purchasing them in the local hardware store.
    - Purchased 6 x $240 Woolworths supermarket e-vouchers on eBay for $200 each saving us $240 in grocery costs. As we need to use these we will couple this with any weekly specials we find for more savings.

    In the garden -
    - Picked 1.1 kg of cherry tomatoes and 2.165 kg of broccoli from the gardens saving $29.44 over purchasing in the supermarkets.
    - Separated out 239 g of rosemary picked and dried from the gardens saving $35.61 over purchasing it in the supermarkets.

    Hope everyone has a great week ahead.

    Sewingcreations15.

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    Replies
    1. That is great that you were able to buy so many vouchers now to help you later in the year.

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