Sunday, August 14, 2016

How To Recycle Shower Warm Up Water

One of my blog readers asked me this question a couple of months ago.  She has a front loader washing machine and couldn't pour the saved shower water into it.  If you are in this situation too,  all is not lost.  There are plenty of ways to reuse the shower warm up water that would usually fall down the drain.

* Save the water and pour it into your soaking bucket in the laundry.  Sometimes stains need a good soak overnight.  I use one of those food grade white buckets from a restaurant kitchen.  Add a small scoop of homemade laundry powder to the saved shower water.  Pour into the washing machine with your next load of washing.

*  Use the shower warm up water to wash your car. Ok,  you might need to save the shower water for a couple of days to suds up the whole car.

*  Pour cooled shower water onto pot plants and the veggie garden.  Every little bit counts.

*  Add a little disinfectant to a bucket of shower water to mop your floors

*  Give your bath a good clean with a little Miracle Spray and shower water.

*  Rinse out a dirty kitchen sink.

*  Wash a window or two using diluted Windex, metho or dish washing liquid and shower water.

*  Give your outdoor furniture a good scrub with a stiff brush and the shower water.

 
Watering the lettuce
Saving the water into a wide basin.

Friday, August 12, 2016

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 13th August 2016

My frugal list this week is quite short due to all the comings and goings happening here.  I'm suprised I had anything to share as I don't know where my week has gone.  It got to Friday and I was picking up another box of tiles for my kitchen when the supplier said "  It's the end of the working week '.  I had to stop and think what day it was.  Where did the time go ?

This week we saw our bamboo flooring installed on Wednesday.  Thursday the stone bench top went in and the plumbing was connected.  We all stayed up very late to empty the three bedrooms ( except the bed ) and lounge room for the carpet to be laid on Friday.  We've packed up our entire home and moved the contents around from room to room as needed and Darren has almost completed installing new skrtings throughout every room except the bathrooms.

We can see the home stretch before us.  Next week the tiler will come and lay the soft apple green tiles for the splashback.  We are hoping our second wall oven will be made shortly.  If we have enough strength after all this,  we might be able to pick up a paint brush and paint the cornices in the kitchen.  The walls will have to wait until later.

Here's what we managed to do this week

*  Gratefully received four avocados from a friend.  Darren and Jessica are very happy about this.

*  With all the packing and unpacking of our house contents because of the renos,  we've been sorting as we go.  I came across quite a few empty envelopes which I cut up to use in card making.  I'm getting quite a stash.

*  Continued to have the heater off for extended periods of time with tradies coming and going and Darren working hard on the new skirtings.

*  Saved lots of shower water for the washing machine.  I did less loads of washing and hand washed the dishes (in the laundry sink ).

*  Took another bag of unwanted items to Savers and received a discount stamp.  I'm sure the staff there either think we're hoarders or we have nothing left in our home.

*  Lined our bathroom bins with bread bags.

*  I've now put all the food back into the pantry.  In my old pantry I had a couple of hooks to hang plastic bag holders.  I didn't want to do this with my new pantry.  I found a large cereal container out in my shed ( bought form Savers a little while ago ) and used that to store supermarket bags in to reuse. The container in now kept under the kitchen sink.

*  Gratefully received two moisturisers from a friend

*  Refilled the foaming hand soap in the kitchen and one bathroom.  I used diluted shower gel and water..

*  Mended a couple of socks.

*  Picked a head of broccoli and some silverbeet for a couple of meals.

*  Fed the chickens some grass and weeds.

First meal in the new kitchen - chicken pasta bake
New bamboo flooring
The view from our bedroom door
The family room.  Can you find Princess ?
New carpet
The dining room

I'd love to see your frugal lists for the week.  I'm sure you accomplished far more than I did.
     

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The Kitchen Is Coming Along Nicely .....

As I mentioned last Wednesday,  my kitchen is being built.  We also have our new flooring being installed this week.  Due to this I am unable to post the grocery specials for the week.

Here are some older blog posts you might like to read -

Making Laundry Powder
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/making-laundry-powder.html

Cleaning Your Kettle
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/cleaning-your-kettle.html

We Are Not Poor.  This post is one of the most read posts ever.
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/we-are-not-poor.html

Honey Mustard Chicken Recipe
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/honey-mustard-chicken.html

Making Your Own Yoghurt
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/making-your-own-yoghurt.html



My old kitchen sink 

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Ice Cube Trays - 5 Uses To Save You Money

The humble ice cube tray has been around for a long time.  With the invention of ice makers in fridges,  it seems that people are either donating their ice cube trays to the op shop or forgetting to use them.

Ice cube trays are not just for water.  They have many uses that can save you money and reduce food wastage.  Here are five uses for you to try -

*  Freezing lemon juice.  When your lemon tree has abundant fruit,  juice the lemons and freeze the juice.  If someone offers you a bag of lemons,  it as a blessing.  You may never need to buy lemon juice in a bottle again. 

*  Freeze tomato paste.  Have you ever opened a jar of tomato paste to only use a tablespoon or two ?  Usually the contents need to be used in a few days.  By portioning the paste into ice cube trays you are eliminating waste.  When cooking spag bol or other tomato based dishes,  pop a tomato paste cube into the dish for added flavour.

*  Chopped fresh herbs freeze well when a little bit of water is added to the mix and frozen into cubes.

*  Make coffee ice cubes for your iced coffee.  There's nothing worse than normal ice cubes watering down your iced coffee.  This idea is great for using up left over coffee from the pot.

*  Freeze yoghurt into cubes to add to your smoothie.  This is a wonderful idea for using up yoghurt before it goes off.

Tomato paste portioned.
Lemon juice has so many uses.
Stayed tuned for more ice cube uses in the coming months.

Friday, August 5, 2016

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. 

Leftover roast veggies made into a meal
Diluted Dynamo liquid
Princess inspecting the work site.
Our site supervisor
Making sure Darren is putting the skirting boards on right.
My new kitchen last Monday
New skirting boards
  .What frugal tasks did you complete this week ?

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Kitchen Sneak Peak.

My new kitchen is progressing along nicely.  The tradies have all been lovely,  polite and very helpful.  Monday was rip out / demo day.  Within a couple of hours my old kitchen disappeared never to be seen again.  Darren asked if I was missing my old kitchen to which I replied " NO  !! ".  I did take plenty of photos of it but I was not attached to it at all.  Yes,  the old kitchen and I had done the hard yards together for over 20 years.  But it was not my kitchen.  I didn't pick it out.  It came with the house.when we moved in.

Tuesday the new cabinets were fitted in and the kitchen was starting to take shape.  That night I was able to start filling the drawers and cupboards with plates,  appliances and odds and sods.  It was lots of fun fitting things in and there was a toss out of items that no long fit ( or I could do without ).

On Wednesday the stonemason came to take the template for our kitchen bench.  Darren spent the day installing new skirtings in Jessica's room and doing basic housework while I was at a cleaning job.

Today is Thursday and the plasterers are installing new cornices around the overhead cupboards.  This afternoon the electrician is hoping to install one of my ovens.  I've ordered two side opening ovens but unfortunately they are hard to get.  There are only six in Australia at the moment and I have one of them.   We've been told it could be another couple of weeks before they are made again.

It's been a challenge trying to get basic meals organised.  We've had freezer meals for two nights and chops cooked on the bbq with salad and a bread stick the other night.  Tonight we are having tacos.  I have a single hot plate that fits a medium fry pan.  Lots of fun.  It's like camping.

There's a sneak peak photo of my new kitchen -


Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Due To My New Kitchen Being Built .........

Hi everyone. 

Due to my new kitchen being built at the moment,  I'll be unable to post the grocery specials for the next couple of weeks.  I do apologise for any inconvenience.  I just can't get to my laptop at the moment.   My house is all packed into boxes for the new kitchen and flooring being installed over the next two weeks.

Here are some links to posts I wrote a while ago that might jog your memory.  Happy reading.


Making Air Freshener
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/making-your-own-air-freshener.html

Soap Making
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/soap-making.html

Reducing Your Heating Bill
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/5-easy-ways-to-cut-your-heating-bill.html

Budget Cutting
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/cutting-budget-when-theres-nothing-left.html

Budget Card Making
http://myabundantlife07.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/card-making-on-budget.html


My old kitchen.