A Delicious Option for Aging Fruit

The fruit bowl was a rainbow of colour, but unfortunately things were starting to soften a bit to much to eat, so I decided to juice all my questionable pieces.  For the apples that tasted floury, the soft plums and half a banana I had not used in LJ's breakfast, an honourable fate awaited them.

I peeled the apple, cut the top off the carrot & cut out the pips of the plums then wacked them in the juicer (which incidentally we had purchased for $30, marked down from $90).

Less than a minute later, I had a yummy drink, had prevented my fruit going to waste and had a nice little pile to put into the compost bin.

 

 

Saving Money When Shopping

It was 4pm and I had only eaten two pieces of toast with strawberry jam and I decided to shop for my husband's lunches for work.  Thinking about carbon footprints, thunder thighs and actually trying to get LJ into his car-seat, my chosen set of wheels was the stroller...as I pushed it along.

I got to Safeway and found what I needed, and then some of what I didnt.  I'd forgotten to pack myself a bottle of water so I succumbed to a bottle of some red sweet drink from the fridge at the counter.  I also purchased three tins of baby food at full price!!! What on earth was I thinking.  First of all...full price!  Plus LJ wont eat tinned food.  I am so annoyed at myself.  Then, walking past a bakery, I saw that they had date scones.  I have been craving them for weeks, so I went in and got myself one, then looked at LJ and thought I should get him one too.  Then I thought it would hardly be fair if I went home without getting something for my darling, so I got him a cinnamon bun.  What I didn't realise is that it was full of cream, and he hates cream.  If I was to put a dollar value to my money wastage, buying unnecessary items today, then it would be in the vicinity of $18.  Two things could have prevented me from throwing away this money, first of all, I should have had a shopping list, and secondly I should have eaten and had a drink before I went out.

Princess Cushions

My nieces are mad about Princesses, so for Christmas I decided to use the fabric I had around the house and make them 'Princess Cushions'.  I have loads of pale pink princess satin left over from when I made my wedding dress, I had a roll of make your own zippers and some scraps of other fabrics.  All I needed to purchase was the double sided iron on interfacing and the cushion inserts.  I found some pictures off the internet to match what they have on their doona covers.  One has flowers, one has hearts (she is the most into princesses) and one has butterflies.  So after tracing these pictures onto the double sided interfacing, I cut out the shapes from the fabric and stuck it onto the made up princess satin cushion covers and did a running stitch around the borders with embroidery cottons that I have had for many years.  They turned out great, and were cheap to make because I had a lot of the materials already.

The cushions were based on the 'work with what you've got' idea that helps save money and use resources you already have at home.

Introduction - Mostly Saving Money and Making Money

Hello and welcome to my blog on mostly saving money and making money. Right now, I have no magic answers, I see this as an idea that may help me gain control my long term finances. I am married and stay at home looking after my 12 month old son, which as far as I am concerned is a great life. However it means that we must watch how we spend our money and only have a limited amount coming in on one income. We have just purchased our first house together, and are renting it out for a couple of years to help pay it off as we were not eligible for the first home buyers grant.

The goal of this site is to share ideas on how to save in every day life situations, and ideas on how to make extra money 'on the side'.  Tips to save money and earn money.  This could be a tool to help pay off all our debts in 5 years.

I will eventually have to go back to work, right now I am waiting for a place in childcare, but in the meantime, I am looking for ideas on how I can make money, working from home and how I can save money.

There are hundreds of ways of saving money, I am finding that opportunities are endless. I am hoping to describe each money saving method that I use and how effective it is. My two main creeds are: never pay full price and nothing goes to waste. These sometimes seem impossible, or simply a waste of time, but if every cent counts then we need to get started.

Join me on this journey and we will see where it takes us.