My Frugal List: Week of September 3, 2018
I cannot believe that it is already September. Youngest daughter started back to school. She is a senior and I am not really sure how that happened. She got her parking permit at the high school so she is driving herself to and from school everyday. She jumped back in with both feet and is already so busy. She is a Senator for Student Government so that has started. She is on the float build for Homecoming so she is working on that. She went to the first football game of the season (and I didn't have to drive).
We started work on the new driveway. We have needed one for a few years but we waited until we had the money to pay for it to do it. We had to have 2 trees taken down previously. They came on a really hot day and tore everything up. I put a pitcher of iced tea and ice water out for the workmen. I kept refilling it all day. They kept thanking me. It cost me pennies to do but they really did appreciate it. At one point the ice machine ran out of ice, so Hubby said he would run to the store and buy a bag of ice. I told him to hold on and I ran downstairs to the freezer and pulled out a gallon Ziploc bag of ice cubes. I keep them for just this type of situation. There was plenty of cubes to get us through until the ice machine filled back up. The workmen were here 2 days in a row and the first day was hot. We had the kids old freestanding basket ball hoop still in the driveway. They never use it anymore so we wanted to get rid of it. I called my cousin who has 3 young boys and she was happy to take it. We dropped it off to her house since we have a truck and she doesn't. The boys were very excited.
Then it started to rain for several day. My garden is loving it. I love not having to water the garden so much. I guess it all evened out because a few days I ran the sprinkler longer. Tomatoes are at their peak right now. I am picking them by the basket full. It gets very heavy when it is full.
The cucumbers and peppers are still doing great too. I just love all of the pretty colors. I am really glad that I tried some different varieties this year. I will be growing them next year too.
I was busy making more sauce. Hubby offered to help this time so that was wonderful. It really helps to have an extra set of hands. Hubby did fix the motor for my food mill too. He is definitely a keeper.
Unfortunately there was a canning casualty. Thankfully no humans or puppies were hurt.
I collected seeds to use next year from the best looking vegetables. It helps keep my garden costs down.
We have been eating very well here. There has been grilled chicken, chicken brushetta heroes, tacos, pasta, hot dogs, mac n cheese, big salads, scrambled eggs, omelettes, waffles, tuna fish, HD eggs, PB&J, and leftovers.
I made 10 pints and 1 quart of dill pickles. I also used the tabasco peppers and made some hot sauce. We have been using all of the garden veggies up before they go bad. I have given several friend and family garden veggies this week.
Hubby and I did go on a date. We went for lunch to his favorite burger place. We shared fries and both got water so it only cost $14. It is a serve yourself place so no tip. We ate them outside on their tables.
I made a batch of dog food for the dogs.
We had my family reunion this weekend. It is at a state park so we paid for parking. It was fun seeing everyone. We bring our own food and everyone shares snacks and desserts. I ate way too much.
Hubby and I closed out August's budget and goals. We set Septembers up for the month. We paid bills online saving us the cost of stamps.
What did you do this week to save money?
Only bought groceries that I needed as nothing else was on sale. Did not use dryer. bunch of other things.
ReplyDeleteAll the little things add up over time. I find it is the day to day habits that save us the most long term. Have a great week.
DeleteHi Mcoia your garden is producing so much and I am glad you have been able to preserve a lot of your harvest for meals. Glad also you had a date night with your husband :).
ReplyDeleteWe also finally had some rain being 12 mm that filled up our 2 x 1100 lt rain water tanks and gave the grass and gardens a good watering and we were able to not water the gardens with town water for 1 day.
Thought I would share a financial accomplishment is that last month we were able to save 76.54% of our combined income towards our home deposit. This is an all time record for savings for us in one month :).
Our savings for last week added up to $485.97 :).
Blessings -
- A friend had too many eggs from her chickens and gave us 3 dozen free range eggs saving us $12.
Finances & free internet listings -
- Banked more money into our saving for our home bank account bringing us to 28.49% of the way there.
- Listed 58 free listings on eBay taking advantage of a free listing and final auction value fee promotion saving $95.70 on usual listing fees.
Earnings -
- Earned $35.35 from the sale of dried thyme picked and dried from the gardens and a handmade A4 notebook cover which we banked some of and purchased other needed items for the home with.
Purchases -
- Purchased 123 x 50ml unused glass amber bottles from the tip op shop for .10c ea saving $61.50 on usual prices. We will save some for us to use for vanilla extracts and other extracts as well as essential oils and sell the rest on the internet so ours will be free.
- Whilst at the op shop I picked up a lovely book on herbs and herbal remedies for .20c saving $4.75 on the cover retail price.
Firewood and in the gardens -
- Cut a cubic metre of Ironbark firewood from a friends farm saving $200 over purchasing it locally.
- Divided off 4 new thyme plants from thyme in the gardens saving $18 over purchasing them in the local nurseries.
- Harvested lots of French and English lavender from the gardens to dry for home use and for sale.
- Planted 2 x 2 mt rows of turnip seeds in the gardens.
- Used saved dish rinsing and shower warm up water to water fruit tree pot plants and newly planted vegetable seeds in the gardens.
In the kitchen -
- Made a double batch of choc chip and coconut queen biscuits weighing from items we had here saving $11.77 over purchasing the same amount and similar quality in the shops.
- Made or started 600 ml of vanilla extract from vanilla beans I purchased on a 16.66% price discount using our $240 for $200 Woolworth e-voucher saving $46.90 over purchasing it in the local supermarket.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
Wow. That is amazing that you were able to save so much. All of your hard work is really paying off. You should be so proud. You are getting so close to 30% saved for your house.
DeleteWe have been having lots of rain the last 4 days. We have several storms coming in the next few weeks so there will be no rain shortages. Lets hope for no flooding now. I'm glad you got some much needed rain and were able to fill up your rain barrels. That has to be a relief.
I need to start a batch of vanilla too. It is so expensive right now. Have a wonderful week.
Ahh....broken jars. We've all had them. I had a tuna jar break when I was canning that, and it was the worst thing for me because the tuna was costly--so I lost more when that one broke, both in time and money, than if it had been a jar of green beans or fruit.
ReplyDeleteToday, I got salsa made. I'm glad it's done. That one is a lot of work. But, now there are 24 little jars cooling outside on the table, and for once, I managed to get a little "zip" into it by using enough peppers. I hope it does NOT mellow in the jars. I've had trouble in the past with it being so mild we can't even tell it's supposed to be salsa. This promises to be a little more zesty:)
I've never broken a jar before so it was interesting. That stinks that you lost a jar of tuna. I'm glad you got your salsa made. If you lived close buy I could have given you some of the tabasco peppers I'm growing. They are HOT! Hope it stays spicy this time. You have been a busy lady with all f your canning.
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