Lets Get Spring Cleaning

It just has to be done. Next week on Monday 16th we are having a rental inspection of our home. I want the place shipshape. Have made it through most of winter, soon will be spring. But we have to get this done sooner then later. And the truth be told I'm thankful for it.
So today I have been attacking my DD8 room. Cleaning her walls and outside of her drawers, have yet to put clothes back into the drawers but have cleaned out her wardrobe. Will be sharing before and after photos today. Giving the room a total declutter, and making sure all is clean and tidy. Before I tackle the boys room, then my room (oh boy, oh boy)

Big Bills Due this Month

So I'm setting myself and our family a challenge. Live off what we have in our cupboards (freezer), only buying the basics. Save on petrol, power and water. Make do with what we have for the rest of this month. Have to pay over $2734 in bills. Our extra help we were getting has gone down saying my husbands pay has gone up, based on what he earned last year. But my husbands pay has gone down, this past month. It's the way life goes. and we have to make the most of it. Any way I'm going to focus on cleaning our home up this month and our veggie garden. Have had some great encouragement from this website Get Growing with NZ Gardener.  They have lots of helpful information and it's great to see things in action, not just reading what to do. So this week when we have a fine day I'm going to dig up our raised garden bed and get it prepared for growing vegetables. We have lots of sliverbeet but I want to grow some other vegetables. Will take before work photos and share our progress. Other plants that are growing are Rosemary bush, Parsley, and Thyme. We have a little tomato plant that I have been growing inside. Our mandarin tree still has fruit and so does our grapefruit. I would love to get some strawberry plants with my Mitre10 voucher, and vegetable plants. Then I'm not spending any money.

As I make another Waste Not Want Not Soup

My thoughts go to how much we can waste when we are not careful of planned. And I don't just mean with food either.
Clothes = How many times do we throw out some perfectly good clothes because they need mending? Or buy brand new clothes instead of Opp shopping? Or have more clothes then what we wear?
Power = Have all the lights on, use all electrical appliances all the time?
Water = Keep the tap running, fill the sink up high to wash dishes?
Petrol = All the time use the car even to places you could walk to?
Time = Doing nothing much when you think about it?
and of course Money = Buying what you don't need?

Almost Finished my Price Book

My $5 address book is almost complete, as my new price book. I'm getting a feel for the best prices for what we normally buy. I know the effort I have put in is worth it. So I can plan my shopping better. 
This week I hope to not spend much at all on groceries. But do have have a couple of friends birthdays to do something for this week.
The other project I'm working on is my routine. I'm getting put together on coloured card, since I'm a visual person it will help motivate me.
I have already done the family routine and it is up on the fridge now.
But must get back to getting children ready for school.

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.