My Frugal List: Week of March 18, 2019
I ended up hurting my shoulder this week. Of course it was my right one and I am right handed. That made it so I barely slept and my neck was hurting too. I went to the chiropractor and he did some adjustments and told me to take it easy for a few days. I guess he doesn't know it is time to plant my seeds. Thankfully my son was able to go to Home Depot with me to get 2 bags of top soil. Hubby was nice enough to get me my seed trays down from the loft in the shed. I did get 2 trays of seeds planted. I did 3 kinds of tomatoes, 4 kinds of peppers, eggplant, and celery started. I still have a bunch more to do and I need to get into the garden and plant peas. But if I do too much my shoulder will get worse and I don't want that. I have done this before so I know I have to take care of it.
YD needed more GF muffins. I made banana chocolate chip.
Hubby came home for lunch while they were cooking and wanted to have one. He can't because they have dairy in them. So I asked what kind of muffins did he want. I quickly made a double batch of blueberry muffins and sent some back to work with him.
We celebrated my son's birthday at home. He wanted red velvet cupcakes so I sent them to work with him. We have enough sweets in the house.
I love my library. Hubby likes Star Trek so I ordered Season 1 of Discovery through the library. We were on a waiting list. It was finally my turn so I picked it up Monday. We binged watched it all week. I returned it on time to avoid a fee and their are other people still waiting.
There were several meetings at Hubby's work this week. He brought home leftovers. My son and I ate the pizza for lunch 2 days.
The bread was sitting out over night at the office so it was very stale. I made bread pudding with Hubby's help. Cutting stale bread is hard when you have a bad shoulder.
I did surveys almost everyday on Swagbucks.
I went to the mall to get free candles. We also went into a book store. I used birthday money that I was given last year to get this book. I usually get books from the library since I will only read them once. This book I will use over and over. It is really good. I am trying to learn more about foraging.
I received a $5 off purchase at Kmart. When you read the details it was off of clothes, shoes or toys. So I looked around and found a cute top. It was regularly $7.99 on sale 25 % off. With the $5 off coupon, I paid 85¢. I also grabbed 2 shampoos that were on sale with a coupon of course and a few items on sale for Easter. I always shop sales, coupons and then use Ibotta.
On Sunday we went to my sister's new house. She is finally in. She had it built. It took about a year and a half but is so worth it. She has some furniture but not everything yet. We ate lunch over. We brought her an orchid from BJ's since they were a great price. We also brought homemade coleslaw, A1 that I got at Dollar Tree (she asked if I had any) and homemade salsa. She sent us home with lots of leftovers. I told her this summer when she needs me to watch Lip, YD, Oreo and I are moving in. She is right on the water, has an in ground pool and a beautiful fire pit. It is like a mini resort.
I am loving that the weather has been nicer. I have been hanging stuff outside. It is so nice to be able to hang sheets and tablecloths outside again. They don't fit well on my clothes racks.
We did our usual stuff: used cloth napkins, rags, full loads in the washer and dishwasher, cooked at home, ate leftovers, washed bags, put extra water from cups into plants, listed items for sale and worked on scholarships.
What did you do this week to be frugal?
Hi Mcoia and sorry to hear that you hurt your shoulder. I have a past injury in one of mine and it played up this week for a couple of days too. Arnica or Comfrey cream will help with some of the pain and inflammation and just reapply when it wears off. I try and use herbal creams mostly and if the pain gets really bad I will take some Paracetamol.
ReplyDeleteYou did well for the week and glad you got yourself a nice book and despite your shoulder and getting some help you were able to plant some seeds too :) .
We had 30mm more rain which we think filled the water tanks almost to full which we are immensely happy about. Now it is just humid and dry again though but the rain softened the ground for us to get 7 more posts down from the grapeyard vineyard enclosure with ease with shovelling most of the soil rather than using a post hole crowbar :). We are making a start on our vegetable garden beds having purchased some more needed items and only some manure and a small amount of fittings and a tap we will need to purchase.
Our savings added up to $581.24 last week :) .
Earnings -
- Made $27 from the sale of 2 lace curtains on eBay I took down after replacing them with handmade ones.
Purchases -
- Purchased a 75cc petrol post hole auger to dig the post holes for the garden enclosure and 6 x 2.4 x.9 above ground metal garden beds using discount vouchers and codes saving $368.31 over buying them in our local hardware store.
- Found and purchased 2 x 3kg bags of valencia oranges on special in Woolworths saving $5 on usual prices. We juiced them for some lovely fresh orange juice.
- From a small country discount variety store we purchased an 8 pack of permanent markers, 2 x rolls of packaging tape, 8 dining room chair pads and 3 hats for DH saving $49.04 over buying in other stores.
- Found on special in a small country supermarket 2.5 kg of rindless short cut bacon (usually $17 kg here) and 4.34kg of beef rump steak (usually $23 kg here) on special for $8 a kg saving $87.60 over buying it in the larger local supermarkets.
- Purchased 4 x 790g packets of party sausage rolls on half price special saving $14 on usual prices.
In the kitchen -
- Made a quadruple batch of magic mix chocolate pudding saving $12.67 over buying it ready-made in the shops.
- Made a single batch of chocolate chip and coconut biscuits saving $7.01 over purchasing them ready-made in the supermarket.
- Made a whole orange cake with citrus juice icing and sprinkled with orange zest saving $24.52 over purchasing it.
- Made 3 loaves of homemade bread and 2 batches of MOO yoghurt saving $16.09 over purchasing them.
In the gardens -
- Pulled down 7 more posts in the grape vineyard enclosure when the weather was cooler. 8 more to go till we finish :).
Water Preservation -
- Saved shower warm up water to water potted fruit and herb potted plants with.
- Saved grey water from our washing machine to water potted ornamental flowers and used grey water from both ours and the neighbours grey water tanks to water fruit, berry, native trees and shrubs in the yard.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead :) .
sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Thank you. I guess with all of the work we have been doing something was going to hurt. I have a Stim machine which really helps. I used an oil mix called pain away alternating with a Max Freeze roll on. I took ibuprofen and lots of ice. It feels much better. It is still tight so I know if I overdo it it will flare up again.
DeleteI would love the recipe for your chocolate pudding. You did great with all of your savings. I hope it is cooling down by you. So glad your water situation is improving.
Hi Mcoia and the magic mix pudding is a recipe from "I can't believe it's Food Storage" by Crystal Godfrey. It is a two part making with the mix and then the pudding and the mix also makes white sauce too which we use often so we double the below recipe. We have adjusted the below recipe to make it work better and thicker for the sauces too.
DeleteHow to make the magic mix premix -
- 2 1/3 cups of dry powedered milk (we use instant powdered milk).
- 1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour.
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer until it resembles cornmeal.
Yields - 5 cups.
Storage - Keep in a tightly covered container in the fridge for up to 8 months.
Magic mix chocolate pudding recipe -
- 1/2 cup sugar.
- 2 - 3 T cocoa.
- 2 c. water.
- 1 T vanilla.
- we put the water in a large saucepan first then add the dry ingredients and whisk it through. Then heat until the pudding bubbles mixing all the time with a wire whisk until the pudding bubbles and it thickens. Take the saucepan off the heat and whisk through the vanilla. Cover and cool. We keep this in our refrigerator covered in a bowl and find it lasts around 3 - 4 days as we make a quadruple batch.
White sauce -
- 2/3 cup Magic mix.
- 1 cup water.
In a saucepan put the water in and then the mix and whisk until combined and over medium heat stirring with a wire whisk constantly until it starts to bubble and thickens.
Yields 1 cup.
Enjoy.
sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Thank you.
DeleteSounds like you had a good week, free food helps to save money. Pizza is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteWe don't buy pizza often so it is always a treat when we get some leftover.
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