I could cry over the cost of MILK

We have been bless for awhile to be able to buy 2 litres of milk for $2.50. Where many other bottles of milk cost between $3 to almost $5. But this week I had a fright our cheapest place to get milk is now selling it for $2.80. It's still cheaper the $3, but it is almost there. We use to spend $10 a week on milk, now it will go up to $11.20. Now I do try to stretch our milk with a mix of milk powder, water and milk, but now might be the time to research. See if it is still the cheapest place to get milk, and how far can I stretch our milk?
Milk is a daily part of our diet. We have it with our cereal ( I had it with my porridge this morning), with our hot drinks, even in our baking it can be added. It's also used in making our cheese sauce for homemade lasagna. So I see this as an important project.
Today I have already made a loaf of bread for school lunches as well as cupcakes. Will be going to help my mum make chocolate chip cookies. So you could say today is my baking day. DS10 has done all the dishes, but I must go and wake the others up to get ready for school.

Waste Not Want Not Soup

One of my favorite soups is Waste Not Want Not Soup. My Nan gave me the recipe (she is now 94, and still a bright spark), and I make it often. It's basically a stock with vegetables soup. Last night I made it with chicken stock (made from the left over bones from our roast dinner at the beginning of the week). Pumpkin, that my husband had chopped for a meal this week. He had chopped to much for us to eat in one meal, so was saved for the soup. Also added a sad looking celery and half a can of leftover baked beans, one large lonely potato someone had put in the fridge, onion and garlic.
Other times it is made with beef stock and different types of sad and lonely vegetables I find in the fridge. I beats throwing out good food. I have not heard any moans from my children when told dinner tonight is Waste Not Want Not Soup. Instead I hear more "whats that yummy smell?" and "Yeah!". It even more filling with some fresh bread and butter.
My Nan raised 7 children through hard times, with this type of good simple food. I thank her for passing it on to me.
Just something more, Christmas savings.
In New Zealand we have 2 major supermarket companies - Progressive Enterpriseses Limited, and Foodstuffs cooperative.  And from them there are 5 major supermarkets - Foodtown, Woolsworth, Countdown, New World, and Pak'n Save. The 3 main ones I use are Countdown, New World, and Pak'n Save. So I have been making the most of their Christmas Clubs and have saved a total of $342.85. The aim is to use these clubs for our grocery shopping for the month of December. And save our grocery money for the coming school year.
Time for me to get children ready for school now.

Our Daily Bread

One of the most common foods we eat is bread. Thankfully our dear friends drop off free fresh bread from a bakery about once a week. It's so tasty an helps us save money on bread.
Tuesday I went into the supermarket to buy a loaf of bread (we had just eaten the last of our bread that morning). Boy was I shocked at the price $2.00 for a loaf of bread! That was the cheapest price too.
In our family bread is eaten daily so we could be spending about $14.00 a week on bread. No thank you! So what could we do instead? Make our own, on the days we run out. My DH makes our own pizza bases, and we make our own pasta. So why not make our own bread. I read recently in a great book Clara's Kitchen (by Clara Cannucciari), that her mother use to bake bread twice a week, 6 loaves. I wonder if I could do the same if our free bread had to stop? It is made with basic ingredient's we already have in our pantry. Flour, yeast, olive oil, and salt. And I have made bread before, it just the time that goes into making it. What I mean is how to have fresh bread for school lunches, how much time would I need to have the bread ready to make sandwiches? Something to think about.
But I'm not going to the supermarket for bread anymore.
What do we use our bread for? We use our bread for toast in the mornings, sandwiches, cheese toastes, buttered bread with soup or stew (great for mopping up the last of the stew on your plate), and yummy french toast.

Welcome

I have so much to share, about family life, saving money and life in general.
And in sharing I hope to help other's.
Family goals

• To become debt-free. We have a total of $26090 we owe. And with the debt snowball plan we are doing, hopefully this will be gone in 3 years time. Starting with an attack on our credit card $2600 to pay off before next year.
• To save up a house deposit fund. We are renting at the moment, we would rather have our own home. So we can paint walls when we want to. Hang up pictures, and curtains. Make our home more money saving and homely. We want to be able to make better use of the land around us. So have been setting aside $100 each week, while we have debts to pay off. When debts paid off can add that money to savings. Some people say use that money to pay off debts even faster. But for us it is motivation as we see those savings slowly grow, to keep on going. At the moment have $300 saved.
• To go on a family tramp together. That would be our family holiday. But we want to do it cheaply, but also be well prepared for it. By building up our fitness, and learning helpful skills. We all enjoy the outdoors and see this as a great family building activity.

These are the 3 main goals we have at the moment. How we are going to met these goals is through saving money with clothes, groceries, bills, petrol etc. With lots of reading up and trying hints and tips. Even doing a couple of outdoor courses, and practise walks.

Maybe even trying ways to make extra money :)

All this and more I hope to share with you.