Five Frugal Things

I began my more frugal journey with Rhonda Hetzel's Down-to-Earth blog and book and since then have gathered lots of ideas from many more blogs and books. I really enjoy reading about the simple everyday savings that people make and that I can do in our home too. Here are five frugal savings I've made of late:

Homemade lavender room spray.

I made up a simple and fragrant lavender room spray following the instructions I found on Wendy's blog, My Abundant Life. I mixed up cooled, boiled water and a small amount of water soluble lavender oil (from the supermarket) in a little spray bottle that once held a face toner. This room spray is simple, cheap, took very little time to make and smells beautiful without all the chemicals one would find in a tin of air freshener. I 💜it!

Delicious home baking.

There's always something baking at our place. Lately, some of the delicious mulberries from our dwarf tree, which we picked and froze by the handful, have found their way into homemade apple and mulberry pie. Mmm! The sweet orange juice, squeezed from my friend's homegrown fruit, has been the star ingredient in batches of orange breakfast muffins. A delicious way to make the most of gifted produce. Not one, but two chocolate slices were baked while the oven was already on. One was shared with friends for afternoon tea and one was sliced and frozen for another day. Everyday, inexpensive pantry staples, like flour and cocoa and coconut, became a home baked treat with a simple recipe and some time. 

A little sweet gift.

I made a simple little notelet card, for a loved one in lockdown, by reusing the front of an old greeting card, some homemade paper and a piece of ribbon from my stash. A tiny bar of chocolate was wrapped in some saved tissue paper and, together with my notelet and message, was sent on its way in a salvaged envelope. 

Magazines from the library.

Many years ago, I would faithfully buy this magazine every.single.month. I still enjoy reading it and looking at all of the beautiful country-style homes inside the pages, but I no longer buy it. Instead, I borrow it from the library. This magazine costs $8.50 at the supermarket so over the course of a year not buying it saves $102. I still get to enjoy it but for free!

A second hand bargain!

Two sets of this children's construction material were purchased second hand. Both sets are in excellent condition and cost at total of $50. A single, new set can cost more than that! All these plastic pieces will be used and enjoyed often instead of ending up in landfill. As I use this material regularly, in my work, I consider this a bargain as well as a saving of resources. 

None of these things, on their own, lead to jaw-dropping savings but a more frugal mindset has made me more resourceful, creative and conscious of what I do spend money on. That does lead to healthy savings over time, for us and for the Earth too.

I'd love to hear about the ways you save at your place.

Meg

Some Simple Savings

The simple savings we make here don't usually come via a flashy sale with price tags advertising huge discounts. Instead, they tend to reveal themselves in the everyday things we do over and again. These are some of the little savings we've made of late by making, growing, reusing, mending and finding our own:

This plant, grown from a cutting I brought home from my Mum's garden, has filled out its hanging basket. Both the wire hanging basket and its liner were 'rescued' from my stash of old pots that I keep on a table under our house. I am not sure what this plant is called but it has pretty tangerine bell-shaped flowers. A free plant from my Mum's place that's now growing here too.

I stamped a plain piece of brown paper, which came wrapped around a little bunch of flowers I received, with tiny flower heads. I added it to my ''saved" gift wrap along with this silver and black piece that came with flowers too. I think both will look lovely once re-used and tied with black ribbons.

A large dish of lasagne was baked to share as a meal with friends. I used grated zucchini and carrot and pumpkin to add to the very small amount of meat I had to make the filling. I sprinkled the creamy sauce on top with a little parmesan cheese and baked it until golden.  I served it with steamed veg. Warm and chocolatey prune muffins, from a recipe I found in a Grass Roots magazine, with homemade vanilla ice-cream, made a lovely dessert too. As we were feeding two extra hungry teenage boys, this homemade meal saved us quite a bit as I'm sure you can all imagine just how many takeaway pizzas growing boys can eat!

Little harvests from the garden are finding their way into lots of our meals. There are handfuls of crunchy snow peas for stir fries, juicy yellow tomatoes for salads that are also lovely and sweet when roasted. I've made two Silverbeet Impossible Pies now, with silverbeet and spring onion and parsley from the garden, which is just delicious hot or cold, for lunch or for dinner. The little limes, from a tree that I walk past almost every day while out with Sir Steve dog, are destined to become lime curd to dollop onto our homemade scones. At one of the big supermarkets, limes are 72c each. These were foraged and free!

 

One of my favourite op-shops is open again now and I found this black button-up cardigan amongst the racks of clothes. It cost me just a few dollars. I will get a lot of wear out of it because it's lightweight and thus perfect for our mild sub-tropical Winters. I also mended one of my son's favourite t-shirts to extend its life a little longer. 

Making things last that bit longer, reusing what we already have, growing and making our own, buying second hand and keeping an eye out for that which is free or a good bargain saves a little here and there which, over time, adds up to dollars and cents not spent but saved.

Meg

Some Sweetness & Some Light

Little things, delicious things, thoughtful things and wonderful things that have brought some sweetness and some light to life this week. It began with rainbows...

A magical double rainbow.

Not one but two beautiful rainbows arching over a lush green paddock. Just one rainbow is a wondrous thing so two made me feel ever so fortunate to be standing in this particular spot on this particular morning. 

Pink icing & sugary flowers on Mothers' Day.

A little vanilla cake, simple and sweet, for a Mothers' Day afternoon tea. It was purchased from a little local bakery that we want to support in our community. A slice served with vanilla ice-cream, fresh raspberries and one of those little marzipan hearts was such an special treat!

An old toffee tin that arrived in the post.

I 💗vintage tins! This one is an old toffee tin. Holding seeds for me and foreign coins for my collecting boy, it arrived in the post during the week. Such a sweet gift from a very dear friend. (It seems that Molly Bushell, featured in the logo on the front of the tin, began making toffees in 1753!)

 A cluster of tiny yarrow flowers.

Feathery green leaves and tiny white flowers with mustard-y yellow centres. Yarrow is such a pretty plant. It's just coming into bloom in my garden now. The bees and I are ever so happy!

Homemade chocolate chip slice.

An afternoon tea slice homemade with simple ingredients. A newly discovered recipe that's quick and easy to bake and that is equally as good with a glass of icy cold milk as it is with a hot chocolate. (I'll post the recipe soon.)

A little green frog atop a rock in my birdbath.

Seeing my week included both rainbows and a little green frog, a gift from my boy on Mothers' Day, there is one more lovely thing to share with all of you. Here is the very unique sound of that ever-so-famous Muppet, Kermit-the-Frog, and his song, Rainbow Connection. I hope it brings you a smile. 🌈

Meg

Lately

We are spending all our days at home now like so many others all around the world.  There is work and school to do from home throughout Monday to Friday. Our old wooden table is set with schoolbooks and our study is, for now, a makeshift office. Around and in between this different way of working and learning, there is much that is happily and reassuringly the same about home.

 Homemade pumpkin scones with jam & a dollop of thick cream.


  Fresh, spray-free fruit & veg in my custom-order box.

Crunchy cornflake crackles.

As always, there's much home cooking cooling on the kitchen bench. This nourishes us, sustains us and, in the case of these cornflake crackles, indulges us in a little childhood nostalgia when days did indeed seem more carefree than they do just now. While this refined-sugar free version of these honey joys, is far less sweet than those I remember from my girlhood days, they are every bit as yummy and the bottom still sticks to the patty paper case! 🙂

The first eggplant flower.

A delicate little snow pea flower too.

In the veggie patch, the seedlings I planted weeks ago are growing taller and leafier and the first flowers on the eggplant and snow peas have emerged. The buzz of honeybees, blue-banded bees and teddy bear bees, begins early in this north-facing part of our garden. Our own teeny-tiny little native bees are there among the flowers too but they are just quieter. I am harvesting homegrown lettuce, spring onion, herbs, mandarins and spinach and can't wait to pick the first snow peas to munch on!

A novel & one of those cornflake crackles.

Everyday, I find myself with a book (or three) in my lap which is not that unusual in less extraordinary times either. The pile of books I borrowed before the libraries closed is dwindling. Some of the novels have been ho-hum but I am very much enjoying In Love with George Eliot by Kathy O'Shaughnessy.  It's been quite fascinating to learn more about the life of Marian Evans, who wrote under the nom de plume of George Eliot. Perhaps, when there are no library books left on my bedside table, I will seek out one of George Eliot's Victorian novels to read. 

Little blue & cream drawstring bag.

While my bedside table is emptying of novels, my sewing table has a growing pile of old linens from which I am making little drawstring bags. These are my favoured project right now. Each finished bag is tucked into my present box for later gifting. They are perfect for holding a washcloth and bar of soap or a few packets of flower seeds and a card. While I am often 'distracted' by sewing up these bags, I have made some progress on a couple of unfinished garments too. (If I ever finish them, I'll show you! 😄)

Early morning light along the path.

Each and every day too, there are early morning and late afternoon walks, with each other and our lovely Sir Steve dog, along the winding paths of our leafy neighbourhood. The Autumn light at these times of day is gentle and soft. Quite a way along one path, nestled safely into the fork of a tall gum's branches, there is a precious koala. With a handpainted sign at the bottom of 'her' tree, letting us all know she's up there, this fluffy native has become quite a neighbourhood celebrity! Can you see her way up high in these branches?

A fluffy koala in a gum along a neighbourhood path.

Just as this koala is settled and snug in her tree, so too are we in our home. In these uncertain times, I would not want to be anywhere else. 

Meg

A Quiet Easter Sunday

So much of our Easter Sunday passed as it always does but so much of it was different too.  

A soft felted bunny in a basket.

Tiny sweet eggs and a chocolatey bunny or two nestled themselves into little handmade baskets that I put out, along with our other Easter treasures, atop our old wooden table. This is where our sleepy-eyed son always finds his bounty upon waking and remembering it's Easter Sunday. 

A little woven basket filled with spotty eggs.

After coming in from the garden, where we spent time watering and weeding while our teenage son slumbered on (as they do), we three had breakfast together out on our verandah. Leftovers on toast in the warm sunshine! In other years, our verandah would have seen us sitting and sharing a lovely Easter lunch with my husband's family but this year it's not to be. 

A tiny rabbit on a tiny plate.

Instead, for the Grandma who lives close by, we nestled another chocolate bunny, a handmade washcloth and some soap into a little basket and drove to leave it outside her door. We wished her a Happy Easter from a socially-distant afar which is all we can do right now. For the Grandma and Poppy who live so far away, on a peaceful pocket of land in the far north, we set up a Skype session and were able to see them and talk with them from this distance we all now have to endure. While Skype can't replace the hugs I so wish I could give them, it was something in these surreal times.

A drawstring bag for gathering.

We three had our hot cross buns for morning tea (I did indeed make another batch on Saturday) and a simple lunch of toasted sandwiches which were warm and cheesy and just right for this year's Easter. The afternoon saw each of us absorbed in our own pursuits. While my others completed a jigsaw puzzle, read books, rode bikes and kicked footballs, I gladly curled up and watched Gardening Australia's Easter Special on ABC iview, walked Sir Steve dog and did some more sewing with lovely vintage linens. Perhaps the little drawstring bags I made could hold some of next Easter's eggs.

Three little Easter Bunnies.

In the evening, we shared a meal up at our old wooden table, with its display of little Easter bunnies and baskets beside us. Somehow those little baskets weren't holding quite as many chocolatey eggs as they had been in the morning. Hmmm... I'm pretty sure Sir Steve dog didn't steal any for he knows chocolate is not for dogs! 

This year, it was just the three of us but next year I hope wider family will gather here and we'll be truly together again. How are you spending your Easter time?

Meg

Saturday's Simple Things

In a world where right now things can feel as though they are constantly changing, I'm glad for some small and simple things, here in the space of home, that bring a little contentment, a little joy, a little comfort and a little peace...

Watering the garden in the early morning light.
(I love the sound of water splashing onto these large Queensland Arrowroot leaves.)

Collecting fragrant Frangipani flowers that fall onto our lawn.
(Free perfume from a neighbour's tree.)

Knitting a few rows every now and then.
(I ❤ the deep sea colour of this simple shawl-to-be.)

 Planting little seedlings in the veg patch.
(The promise of homegrown food to come.)

 Watching the bees  plunder our garden's flowers.

(This is a noisy native Teddy Bear Bee.)

Home baking for now and for later.
(Is there anything more comforting than the scent of a baking cake?)

What are you making, growing, watching, baking or listening to during these rather surreal times? Is it bringing you a little peace too?

Meg

This Weekend's Days

The weekend is dawning here. There's a soft orange glow warming the horizon and soon the sky will deepen to its daytime blue as the sun follows its well-worn path from the East across to the West where it will set beyond the tall gums that line the ridge.

Stretching out ahead of me are weekend days at home; days where there are no plans to venture beyond our blue gates. I plan on doing some gardening, cooking, washing, sewing, perhaps some knitting and most definitely some reading. I may or may not dust the piano. There is no doubt I will be called upon to rub a certain Labrador's tummy and scratch behind his ears too. There's homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing to have for afternoon teas out on the verandah. (I'm looking forward to that!) And there'll be split-pea soup, with sourdough toast, for the evenings when the daytime sun has dipped below that tree-topped ridge.

Onions & garlic for split pea soup.

(I love this little fluted bowl...even if it's only meant for Christmas time.)

 The book I want to read over the weekend.

(Another wonderful library find!)

Pieces for a dusky-pink top.
(Sewing for a sweet girl I know.)

Some Autumn seedlings for planting this weekend.

(The promise of homegrown food to come.)

 Homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

(No, I didn't eat the other half...it's in the freezer!)

In the peace of these weekend evenings at home, when it's just the three of us and one adored Labrador, there'll be time together. Perhaps a board game, a movie or an extra episode of a favourite show before bedtime under an extra Autumn blanket. 

I wonder what you are doing with your weekend days? 

Meg

Autumn Beckons

Autumn beckons; later sunrises and earlier twilights bookend days that are cooler now and do not carry the weight of Summer's humidity. A gentle breeze has been whispering thoughts of longer sleeves and lightweight scarves, of house socks and ballet flats, of toasted cheesy sandwiches and homemade pies and of warming throws for reading an evening away. 

Autumnal Apple Pie

Autumn feels like it is here in the air around me, in the fading Summer flowers of the garden, in my thoughts of sewing a simple tunic for wearing over those aforementioned longer sleeves and of returning to the knitting of the deep bottle-green wrap that I began last time Autumn visited us here.

 The last of Summer's Zinnias in a posy.

 Sweet fabric and a little vintage doily for a dress.

Autumn is present too in my more reflective mood; in the thoughts that come while rolling pastry and catching scents of cinnamon, in not-necessarily garden plans made while spreading compost over Summer-spent garden beds and in the quiet daydreams that form while looking out to a gentler blue sky from my spot on our long verandah.  

Earth & home & resilience on my mind...

Autumn is my favourite time of year and I am so very glad it's here. Are you looking forward to the change in season too?

Meg