My Abundant Life: This Week's Frugal Tasks 9th January 2016

I had plenty of free time this week to craft, garden and de-clutter. Oh what joy. I love this time of the year when the garden is producing. There's always something new to look at or to pick to eat. There's what else we got up to this week -

* Saved more tissue paper, ribbon, gift boxes and gift bags from some Christmas presents I've put to use.

* Picked lettuce, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and beans to use in our meals.

* Dried all washing on the line. Saved the washing machine water for each next load.

* Used the shower warm up water to water all our potted plants / fruit bushes.

* Made dried bread crumbs from saved crusts. They seem to multiply so quickly. Oh well, much better than throwing them out.

* Tied up the tomato plants with old cut up socks.

* Sewed 8 more hand towels with some Christmas material. I'm trying to build a stockpile of hand made presents just in case extra birthdays come up. I love them so much I think I'll keep some to use in my kitchen next Christmas.

* Darren picked a couple of beautiful pink roses from the garden. He placed them on my bedside table as a suprise.

* Bought a Boysenberry plant from Bunnings to add to my collection of fruit plants. I repotted it into a larger pot we already had.

* Had the evap cooling off for a few days. I love the in between weather when you don't need heating or cooling. Just the fresh air from outside.

* Made pizza using pita bread and bits and pieces in the fridge. The rest of the pita breads from the packet were made into pita chips.

* Planted more bean and lettuce seeds for continual picking.

* Baked four loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.

* Megan went through her school book list and found we had all the stationery on hand in our stationery box. I always buy a few extra binder books and pens when they are on sale in Big W each year.

* Darren has painted both girl's bedrooms over the last week and a half. He was able to get a good price on the paint and used some equipment he already had on hand. This gave the girls a perfect opportunity to sort through everything in their rooms. From Jessica's room I reclaimed a pair of green and pink curtains. I'm not sure if I'll keep them to put back up when she gets married and moves out or if I'll use them for craft projects. I also reclaimed a plastic tub with lid. Darren will use this in his car to bring home coffee grounds from work..From Megan's room I reclaimed some stationery, a book light, a torch and other useful items.

* I gave Megan a haircut..

* I ripped up lots of Jessica's old school papers to use as note paper. I think I'm set for the next few years.

* Made a batch of soap using my fancy moulds. I put a a photo of the finished product next week.