The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Friday 30 September 2016

An extra post this week. New ways to save!

Thank you for all the messages and comments yesterday. I will be replying properly as the weekend goes on. Our state now has a lot of flooding and is in quite a crisis but our family is not in the flooded areas. We used to live in one of them and know the areas well. So that is still unfolding. There are still widespread phone and internet outages but we have internet today so here I am!
My friend Nerilie lives in Pt. Lincoln which is a regional city and beautiful place and quite remote. Last night they still had no power, supermarkets were empty, no phones, fuel, schools shut, shops had shut, and the towns water supply which is pumped was also under threat. They were in pretty big trouble. NEVER in a thousand years would I have thought this possible!
I have reached the stage I'm writing things down in order to remember them and learn.
This can happen anywhere I guess! In a world of weather events we also have internet hackers and terrorism etc. We always just hope nothing will ever happen.

I have to tell the truth and say I have a really strong feeling about this. It is almost two years since I felt very prompted to start preparing and got busy on it. I wrote a post about that at the beginning of the series I wrote. I just had a nagging feeling and I heard others who said the same.
Now I have a very strong feeling and it is that trying to get prepared was not for this event. That this event is a practice run and to learn from it.
Normally I don't think I would talk about feelings in this way. But I am stepping out and saying it. My whole life if I ever ignored a really strong gut feeling about something it never turned out well! So I have learned my lesson there. Trust yourself when you have a strong feeling about something.


Now to my Saturday post! I have been excited about this!

Over the last three years I have really learned a lot! Each year I seem to have found new ways to save and get ahead and each time I find something new that is a big saver it is like an exciting light bulb moment!

I can even track some of my biggest savers and the things that have made a difference. Some things are little and some are huge! When you realise the value of things and work out the savings it can be a shock! Vicky says you can't bet the best price which is FREE!

Last week I had a bit of a discovery and it was the result of reading Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth. Jes often gets a mention here by both readers (i.e. Kelsey the other day showed recipe cards she had printed from her website,  Maria had just been baking with recipes from there as well!)  and myself as I find so much there that helps and inspires me.
Jes has written an e book called 100+ DIY Projects to make with fruit scraps.


Now, I already felt I make the most of any fruit that comes our way.
I love to make jams for my pantry and for gifts. In winter when we have oranges I always make the Sunshine cake and when I have lemons I go crazy making Lemon Butter, lemon icing,  I freeze the juice and slices and drink the juice daily.
I have even made Lemon Vinegar for my cleaning cloths.
I thought I am pretty good at using all the fruit we can come by in summer.
Last year we had lots of figs! I was making fig jam and figs in so many meals... fig pizza became a new favourite here!

So imagine my shock when I read Jes' book and a few pages into it I start to seriously regretting every orange peel, lemon peel, apple core and peel that I have thrown away.  She literally has over 100 uses for these things.  After a few more pages I was having flash backs of mountains of lemon skins I threw away last time I had lemons from Hilde!



According to Jes I could have made Lemon Essence, a myriad of beauty and bath products, soaps, Vitamin C Elixir, cleaning products and beautiful things.  The peel is packed with nutrition, vitamins and scent. So we throw all this away then go and buy vitamin C tablets! haha

Worse still I realised I could have used my lemon peels in my next batch of soaps and I enjoyed soap making so much earlier this year. She has recipes I am dying to try that will use up all my future peels with gorgeous citrus scents.  Also my favourite soap was the one I made with Lux flakes which are soap flakes. Her recipes are just as easy and the results are like in the stores that sell homemade soaps for outrageous prices.  I never thought of citrus peels to add scent, colour and even texture to my soaps!


To top it off beautiful labels that you can print are supplied. So you have the correct name for the product and a professional finished for gift giving. This looks lovely in our own cupboards too.


Overall I found so many things I can't wait to make that will fill both my pantry and gift cupboard. Many of these I will be using for next years gifts. A lot of things are ways to build up your pantry for practically free.

I have already pretty much eliminated the chemicals and cost of most cleaning products. The last frontier was the oven and now I don't need chemicals for that either!  For many people cleaning products, air fresheners etc amount to hundreds a year. Really you can eliminate the lot! The recipes Jes gives you are just lovely and your house will small beautiful. This eliminates another area of spending on air fresheners etc.



Jes has you making things you never really dreamed of, makes it easy and fun and her recipes do not require expensive or fancy ingredients. It is not real economy if you have to spend money to use these things up. Her ingredients are mostly stuff you already have.

We have summer ahead of us. Here we get winter citrus and masses of fruit in about January and February.  I keep a jar cupboard and build that up all year for this time! However now I will be doubling my efforts and saving bottles too as fast as I can.  The stuff I mostly throw away will all become gifts, cleaning products and things to store.



I am sharing this because I just love it. I am not being paid or anything like that! Jes gave me a copy of her book and asked me if I would review it which I did on Amazon.  This is just a world of savings to me and a way to use things I regularly have thrown in the bin!

So save your bottles and jars and your fruit scraps. They are going to get us a mile ahead with many projects form now on!

This is the link to Jes' page if you would like to get the e book. You can read about it further there as well.

Do you have any wonderful recipes that use the things that we all regularly throw away? Stocks and bone broths come to my mind.  These are another thing that are full of nutrition yet many of the ingredients regularly are thrown in the bin.
I think the skills to use all these things are great to learn in good times and would be incredibly helpful in bad times. We are surrounded by resources if only we know how to use them.
Who doesn't love free ingredients!  I still can see the huge pile of lemon peels I threw away some months ago. I won't be doing that again.

Between October 3 and 5 Jes is selling the e book for a discount price. If you enter the code
loyal reader the book will be $5.99

If anyone wants to buy the book would you think about leaving Jes a review as these are so helpful when you are trying to get a book off the ground.

This has really opened up a wonderful subject for me. What do you make from things that people routinely throw away?  I am going to have a post coming up just on things made for basically free because they use up scraps. Roseanne already sent me pictures of some of the things she makes!  So please share on this as it is really quite amazing when you discover something wonderful has been right in front of you all along but you didn't see it!

Have a lovely weekend. Here it is Grand Final day in the AFL football. We will have the whole afternoon relaxing and watching.  It is really fun. Provided the electricity stays on of course! xxx

























Jes is offering the book to us for $5.99 instead of the regular $9.99. This offer is between the 3rd and 5th of October. You need the code... loyalreader

29 comments:

  1. Hi Annabel, I have just purchased copy of Jess's ebook from Amazon & can't wait to get stuck into it. Looks absolutely brilliant & VERY inspiring (as was your review).
    Great work Jess! xxx Susan's Perspective

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Susan, Thank you! I am pretty sure this is going to put a whole new spin on some of the fruit from your trees. Fruit season can't come soon enough for me.
      Have a lovely weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
    2. I hope you enjoy it Susan! Thank you :)

      Delete
  2. Thanks for that info about the code, Annabel. I told Jes I would give her ebook a plug on my blog too so I will buy it on Monday and give it a quick read before my post. It looks fabulous. I head up to see my little grandchildren on Wednesday by the way :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Nanna Chel,
      That would be awesome and with both your garden and soap making I think you will love this book.
      Have a wonderful trip and beautiful time with your daughter and Grandchildren. I bet they are counting the days until you get there! With love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
    2. Thank you Nanna Chel! :)

      Delete
  3. Hi Annabel, so glad you have the space to stockpile (I don't due to a tiny one bedroom unit) but have got as many tinned and long life products I can , and got batteries in case the same happens in Sydney ( we are told unlikely due to three way electricity back up and we use other resources like gas, wind, solar and hospitals all of them have generators ! Think south Australia could learn here...,). I wish I could stockpile as you do or have a bbq but no space. I'm confident should a storm with no power occour it wouldn't be as bad, and I would have at least three to four days food : shock ! You're thinking but really no room. I do what I can with what I have which is what any of us can do. More storms forecast your way. Stay safe. May God be with you both !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Sonia,
      It can be hard in a unit or bed sit etc to be prepared but you are doing well. Lighting and some food that can be eaten cold or a way to cook it is really good. Also if you listen and act asap then you get time to stock up, get fuel etc as many emergencies like our had a good warning time to do things.
      I try to be non political but I will say no I am not impressed with our gov here. But we have mostly wind power and solar. We have no coal. We are now in a position to depend on other states which is a worry. The city of Pt Lincoln had a fun town back up electricity system. The entire thing failed! One of our biggest hospital had a back up generator system and that entire thing failed also. You wouldn't believe it but they just failed entirely. Plus these days hackers are a threat too besides storms etc.
      I think if you have a few days food in a small home then that is really good. We just have to do the best we can in the best ways we can. Keeping an eye on things and acting fast adds to that.
      Yes we have more rain coming! Up to four inches they say and already a lot of flooding and the market gardens have flooded out meaning all the crops are lost! Eek. Thank you Sonia, with love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  4. I've really enjoyed reading about what you learned when going through a crisis. I already had planned on my Saturday post to redo a post I wrote four years ago about "what I learned from Y2K". We learn so much by going through (or not going through) a crisis!

    Everyone I trust that hears from the Lord are being told to get serious about stocking up and being prepared. Only the Lord knows why but He is speaking to those who will listen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Brenda,
      I have loved many of your articles on this subject. Your last statement is something I could say... this is an overwhelming thing. Everyone I look up to that I know says the same thing. But it is good to hear I am not the only one hearing this and feeling this way.
      Many thanks Brenda, with love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  5. Potato peels! We always composted them, but who knew how good they could be! Carrots peels too. www.thekitchn.com has some good ideas.

    http://www.thekitchn.com/heres-why-you-should-never-throw-out-potato-peelings-tips-from-the-kitchn-212565

    Thanks so much for your blog, I am a faithful reader!

    Jennifer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Jennifer,
      Thank you for your comment and telling me you read my blog!
      Thanks for this link! I am off to have a read there. It is amazing what we can do with things and what a big impact these can have on the budget too. Thanks so much, love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  6. Hi Annabel,
    There are so many good things to make! I have made Jes's lemon syrup and it is wonderful! I try to get the most out of everything I use so some new ideas are always welcome. Have a great weekend!
    XOXO
    Vicky

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Vicky, I am going to make the Lemon Syrup next time I have lemons. I love lemon flavour anything!
      You are going to find a lot of new ideas in the book. Even you with all you already do with all your produce! Thats saying something! A few more things for your cellar shelves! With lots of love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  7. Annabel, after reading your review of JES' book I've already started saving my citrus peels! This is a good and timely post, thank you for stepping out and sharing your thoughts. Currently we are in preparation mode for a possible hit from Hurricane Matthew. There are so many things going on in the world today, everyone needs to prepare to the best of their abilities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Patsy,
      Good! Well depending on the weather just let them dry out or use the dehydrator and save them up as dried. Other items to have on hand are vinegar, glycerine, vodka if you want to make essences, soap flakes, jars and bottles etc. There are quite a few things I am saving and collecting as I can now.
      I saw that Hurricane is near Cuba? Somewhere south.... it looks bad. I truly hope it doesnt work its way anyway near you or hurt anyone. With much love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  8. Dear Annabel. I couldn't agree more that Jes shows us all kinds of ways to use what we've previously discarded. I'll be buying her book for sure. Yes, when you see the 'rustic' soaps at the markets, they include all manner of additives from coffee grounds, to oatmeal, to citrus peel, dried rose petals, tea of all kinds, herbs and spices and so on. It's a journey in using your imagination once you see what's possible. I can't wait to hear what you do with your soaps next! Lots of love, Mimi xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mimi,
      You will love it, the book isight up your alley and also fits the theme of orchids on a budget!
      I can't wait to make another lot of soaps. What I lacked was manly ones... which I think my new information will take care of.
      We have more rain on the way now. But we had a good weekend and relaxed a bit. Have a wonderful new week, thank you mimi, love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  9. Thank you for taking the time to review the book Annabel! I appreciate you sharing with all your lovely ladies! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its an absolute pleasure Jes. I wouldn't have done it unless I found it so wonderful and helpful. It has opened up a whole new world to me and I am up and running as I have got myself some glycerine and saving things I need. And fruit season is getting close for us! With love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  10. I had read Jes' post about the new Book and had thought it would be a good one to purchase. will be doing so on Monday. Thanks for the buyers code Annabel.
    The flooding situation in SA and Western New South is looking awful. I do so hope that the worst case scenario does not unfold. It's looking like being a big storm season right across Aus this year. A good Wet season up north, minus any cyclones would be wonderful.
    Decent rains here will give me wonderful mangos to make all sorts of wonderful things from. It will give us lots of bananas and other tropical goodies. Yes please.
    Looking forward to picking up Jes book tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Jane, You will love it I think. Just watch as it is the 3rd here before it is the 3rd in the US (for the discount)
      Mangos! Lovely! So good for you and all the tropical fruits!
      It is clear here now but we are told a lot of rain and wind is coming again. It won't be helpful as many flood waters just stopped rising yesterday.
      Hope you are having a good weekend! With love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  11. Hello Annabel, I too will purchase Jes' book on Tuesday when it will be the 4th here. I love being thrifty and resourceful. Did I tell you that I also have 2 lime trees. We are having lime everything. They're robust trees and very laden with fruit. And an amazing lemon (two were cut down due to some rot) tree that is laden with fruit. My lovely man bought and planted a mandarin and orange tree last month and they are looking great too. We have a cumquat too that has loads of fruit on it but none of us like it. His mum has a friend who loves to make cumquat jam so we'll arrange to get some buckets of fruit to her.

    Today we went to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens. It's a massive place, we were just strolling around looking at all the plants and flowers and calm as you like, a three foot long tiger snake slid across the path in front of us. We just stood very still and watched it. You just wouldn't think how venomous and dangerous these creatures are by the peaceful and slow way it made it's way into the bushes. I'm glad it was the only one we saw. We walked for two hours and soaked up the first really good spring day we've had.

    Glad that the weather in Adelaide has settled down a bit. I"m still flabbergasted that such drama comes from a storm. And not having proper back up. The saddest part of it all is the loss of animal life and the people who have lost embryo's when the freezer thing lost power. That's tragic.

    Thanks for a great post. Fi xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for passing this on. I have already tried many of Jes' recipes for dried orange peels and apple peelings. But it will be nice to have it all in one place.
    Also I think it would be wise of your readers, Annabel, to invest in your ebook as well.
    Blessings, Leslie

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jes' book sounds fantastic! If you loved it, I know I would. I love the idea of using up all the fruit, so nothing goes to waste! Such s clever idea to use it in soap!
    I hope everyone is ok in SA. Love, Bridge

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was wondering if you will be writing a hard copy of your book. It sounds so interesting and I am very interested.
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Nana,
      I don't believe Jes has a hard copy at this stage. I personally am printing mine out so I can keep it as a hard copy plus storing it as a download and on my kindle. It is very good. Previously I have printed out some ebooks and my daughter and friend both bound some too which was lovely. I hope that helps! With love Annabel.xxx

      Delete
  15. Did you end up watching the Grand Final? Go Doggies - it was a great game!
    I love everything Jes does and this looks fab!
    I totally agree that prepping is very important. I am trying to tell my hubby it is not about zombies, but more about being ready for things just like this. We have had flooding also, but like SA, so only a few low-lying streets closed in our town. I have a book called 'Just In Case' and I think that is what it is all about - being ready in case the power goes out for a few days or trucks can't deliver to the supermarkets. It only takes a few days to run out of supplies.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Annabel, I shared your pictures today on my printable tabs post! Thank you for sharing with us! Have a beautiful week! :)

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments thank you! The aim of my blog is the be a place of encouragement and happiness. Very rarely is anyone rude. Actually only twice so far! If you post a rude or aggressive comment I will read it but not publish it, thanks for understanding.xxx

Spam is never published... if you are advertising a product or selling website your comment wont be published. I am inundated with stuff about drugs, horses and weird things! I am not going to publish this stuff! Thank you.