On frugal terms...frugal deeds

Hiya Readers!

Over the last two weeks I have tried to live as frugally as possible so I could have a couple of extra pennies to spare around my husbands birthday. My husband is not a big birthday person. This is difficult for me to understand because I love birthdays... my own or someone else's! Cake, presents, cake, spending time with family, cake, celebrating the privilege of being one year older, cake...

You get the picture!

For a long time I would push and push and push my husband into celebrating his birthday. Badgering him with celebration ideas, possible present suggestions and would sort of cake he would like me to bake him. The more I discussed it, the more he shut down and we BOTH felt sad.

I have now accepted that pushing my husband into celebrating his birthday is not the most effective way to show him how much I love him.

Taking a very different tact this year I suggested dinner at the local Chinese and a frozen sticky date pudding (on sale for half price) with ice cream. This was very well received although I died a little inside about the frozen pudding! What can I say - he likes what he likes!

Some of the things I have done over the last few weeks to live life on frugal terms are as follows:

1. I bought capsicums on sale 3 for $1.00. I bought 9 capsicums, sliced and diced them and popped them into little plastic bags to freeze. They defrost beautifully! I love capsicum and they are super expensive if not on sale and this is the cheapest you can get them in my area.

2. I picked and froze the pulp of 30 passion fruits. My passion fruit vines are exploding with fruit and this makes me incredibly happy! Cordial, curd, icing, tarts...yummo!

3. Baked a whole chicken I bought for only $5.00 on sale. I stuffed the chicken with lemon quarters and sprigs of rosemary. Moist and favoursome, this chicken will be used in a baked dinner, chicken and chips and butter chicken curry. The lemons and rosemary are from my garden - absolutely loving winter because of all the citrus fruit!

4. Made my own white oil out of gross super old vegetable oil that had been sitting in the bottom of pantry for years and some dishwashing liquid. My lime tree is looking a bit manky and having had such an amazing lime crop this year, I want to ensure it is at peak performance for the next season. Prevention being better than a cure and all that :)

5. On my lunch break dropping into Aldi to pick up a few groceries instead of waiting until I get home to get the same ingredients at Coles. The small coastal town I live in only has a Coles. I wanted bread and salad ingredients. At Aldi I paid $4.20 and if I had bought them at Coles I would have paid at least $7.00. A small saving on this one occasion but over a year it would be a couple of hundred dollars.

6. Using up all my old vegies in a butter chicken. Most of the butter chicken I have eaten elsewhere usually as one sole vegie included in it - if you count an onion to be a vegie! I look at it as more of a seasoning. I put as many vegies in it as I can making the meal healthier and stretching it out! I found in my fridge this morning one old zuchinni, a quarter of a cauliflower and a sad half bag of baby spinach waaaaaaay past its used by date. I love cleaning out my fridge and making a delicious meal at the same time! Multi tasking at its finest!

7. Filled up my car using a Coles discount petrol voucher. Having only a Coles in my town means I still quite a bit of shopping there - only the specials of course! So I save these voucher and use them often considering I drive 100km to get to work -and thats only one way!!

8. Give my husband a birthday present which I bought on sale a very long time ago. I listen to what he says he would like during the year and then buy it if it happens to go on sale. I wrap it up and put it away ready for his birthday. I also bought for my husband a hamper of goodies for his birthday - goodies being food he loves that I refuse to buy in the grocery shop because it is just not necessary. Milo, iced coffee syrup, shapes, chocolate bars, beef jerky, nutella, tim tams etc. I do this every Birthday and Christmas and I buy the goodies when they come on sale during the year. Although I have to be careful because I am known to get into the goodie stash... I have to remind myself that it is not frugal if you eat the frugal goodies and then have to replace them! Ha!