My Abundant Life: This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 6th August 2016

This week has seen most of my home turned upside down with the kitchen renovation and Darren replacing all our skirting boards. I didn't think I'd have anything frugal to share with you. Looking back now, being frugal has become a part of my everyday life. Here's what I managed to do -

* Used the thermos to store boiled water in. This has been really handy with the renos. My kitchen was on the dining table during the week so everything felt a little awkward. The fewer times I boiled the kettle, the better.

* Kept the heater off with tradies coming in and out. This helped offset the cost of using the clothes dryer. Almost everything had to go in the dryer as there wasn't much room for clothes horses.

* Made a batch of diluted Dynamo laundry liquid. I used 2 1/2 capfuls of liquid to a 600ml bottle. This will give me about 15 loads of washing. I use this liquid mix on the dark load of washing every now and then. Café uniforms tend to need something a little stronger in fragrance.

* Mended three pairs of socks.

* Made a batch of cranberry hootycreek biscuits using dough from the freezer. They were the last item baked in my old oven on Sunday night.

* Cleaned the dishwasher with bi carb and vinegar. I did this a couple of days before the dishwasher was disconnected. I didn't want a dirty dishwasher hanging around for a couple of weeks.

* We ate freezer meals ( leftovers ) twice this week and cooked basic meals for the other nights.

* Saved the washing machine and shower water for each next load of washing. We hand washed the dishes in the laundry due to our dishwasher being unplugged. I also did less loads of washing. I've asked the family to put out the bare essentials while our house has been turned upside down.

* De cluttered more items and donated a couple of bags to Savers. I received a few discounts stamps throughout the week.

* Turned off the power points in the girls bedrooms while they were not here.

* Bought some new mop heads from the company's website for 40% off with free postage. These mop heads are no longer available in the supermarkets. When they were, they retailed for $15.99. Online they retail for $17.99 plus $9 postage. With the online sale the mop heads came down to $11. I bought three which will do me for the next few years. By then I'll be looking for a new mop.