The Christmas Challenge. March Show and Tell Part 2.

This is the second report on what everyone made in March! I am pretty sure there will be ideas here for everyone.

Thank you for emailing me pictures and letters. I love hearing how things have been made and even who they are for. There have been some beautiful stories!

I cannot fit all photos in but I appreciate everyone and each person is represented.

First of all Kelsey made her Father in Laws Birthday present. She made jars of spiced nuts, the card and gift tag. It looks very stylish!

She has also been card making. Kelsey cut up a curtain catalogue as the pictures were lovely and made them into cards! Now this is an idea that I wanted you to see! I mention how I use magazines and old books for my images. Catalogues can be perfect! And free! Once I had a Laura Ashley catalogue given to me. That made gorgeous cards! Another time in the junk mail there was a jewellery catalogue with fantastic images and I used that. Free images are everywhere! Do not throw out catalogues before you take a look at the pictures!

Thanks Kelsey these look beautiful and this is a great idea to share. ps I love the ruffle!

Pat has been making quilts for gifts. What amazing gifts too! 

Pat said these were some of the quilts she made in the last month! This is amazing and so much work. But they are heirloom and wonderful gifts. Beautiful work Pat. 

Jen in NS knitted socks for her present stash...

I think how beautiful and look at the pattern knitted into the grey pair!

And she used a printed fabric panel to make hankies which she added pretty edgings to. These were for her daughters at Easter. 

She also made them into table napkins and they used some with Easter breakfast. What gorgeous napkins!  Jen is also working on bedside mats which is a big project.

Leigh gave cooking gifts at Easter. Lovely chocolates and nice packaging! Even though she has been renovation Leigh, somehow, kept cooking!

Barb has been making cards. I am loving the butterflies Barb!

Jen made a beautiful baby rug for a teacher who is leaving to have a baby.  Jen said this teacher is just so lovely and wanted to give her a gift. Also Jen had the green in her stash and was able to use that up. What a stunning gift and I think the teacher will be so thrilled and touched.

Jen is also finishing off a rainbow scalloped blanket. She is a self confessed crochet addict. I think we should form a group :)

Mel C has been busy as always! Mel's blog is full of creativity and ideas. It is Thrifty, Frugal, Fun.

Firstly her ten year old son made these...

They have packaged seeds from the garden and he made seed packets with his own artwork. I just love this and it is a great idea for the kids to do! I think he did a great job!

Also homemade jam...

A woodland creatures mobile...

And bunting from the children old clothes i.e. as a memory bunting. Each child can have their own made of things they have worn in the past. I thought this is a bit like a memory quilt.  A lovely idea! 

Plus amazing cooking, Christmas ornaments, felt hearts instead of flowers ... well go have a look at her blog!

Debbie has done it again... The mermaid rug and other gorgeous crochet was posted las week. But SINCE then she has made this... An owl sleeping bag for a baby. How cute is this? Just stunning.

So if there is nothing here to inspire you then I am throwing in the towel. lol

Seriously, I feel inspired and encouraged seeing so many beautiful things created and knowing the gift cupboards are looking good and it is still quite early in the year. 

Thank you everyone for participating! Now on to creating in April! 

I have a few things started in crochet and I packaged up the soaps I made earlier. They are now in my gift cupboard and I got a lot of gifts! 

I packaged them as if they were biscuits/cookies basically...

I hope you are having a good week! What are you working on now and hoping to make this month?

xxx

The Vicky Challenge. Stop buying...

This week I am thinking about things I once bought and no longer do. Things change, we learn new skills, find substitutes and new ways but when we can strike things from the shopping list and stop paying for them it means we can use that money for something else... from paying off debt to pantry building up.

Now my things may not be anything like yours. And I am not suggesting you stop buying the same things as me. I am trying to get us thinking if there are things we buy out of habit and that we could cut them out or do something different for the sake of savings.

Vicky does it in part with samples and free products. She added this about how she is able to not purchase some items at all with a little coupling and collecting...

Don't pay for what you don't have to.

Now I know couponing is not for everybody, but they are very helpful in saving and building a pantry and stockpile. And by stockpile I certainly don't mean anything like on the show about people who extreme coupon and have 1000 boxes of cereal and buy insurance for their hoard. No what I mean is we all know saving means not spending. Not spending and we need to purchase things hmm? Therein lies coupons! If you look at those little slips of paper as money and treat them so that is what they are. When you are trying to pay off debt or stretch the budget why not take some things out of the equation? You can easily build up a plentiful supply that will cost maybe only tax and then take those items out of the grocery budget altogether. 

I know many say there are never any coupons for things I use. Really? So eliminate food coupons, but don't discount the others do you brush your teeth, bathe, use deodorant and toilet paper? So even if you only save a little each year that is money still in your pocket. You could also gift the items or donate them or for example hamburger helper is easy to get free or cheap here you may not eat it, but there is pasta in the box, look at it as free pasta. 

A few free or close to free items here and there add up.  I have enough of a lot of things stockpiled that when my husband lost his job a year ago we didn't have to spend any of his unemployment for anything other than milk and bread and some really good sale items. So the house payment and other bills were paid. Plan ahead! You may not need the items now, but they will really save you later! 

I don't buy newspapers I have friends and family and a neighbor who saves the Sunday papers for me. I get toothpaste and mouthwash coupons at the dentist, I get some from the paper recycling dumpster when we drop off our recycling off, I do print some if they are good ones. 

If you cut coupons, but forget to use them just think you wouldn't go to the store without money, checks debit or credit cards to pay would you? 

And here are some examples of things that I haven't had to pay for I have lots more!

Now in Australia we don't have much in the way of coupons. But we do have samples and they can replace some items as we discussed last week.

Other things I have stopped buying have made a big difference to my budget. Some are things I haven't bought in a long time. Others more recent as I have made new discoveries. A few of them are major in that they save HUNDREDS a year.

So here is my list that I can think of...

I do not buy magazines. Once I had a major magazine habit. Now I will buy 10c ones in op shops on holidays but that is it. This saves a huge amount. With pinterest, blogs, magazine websites I do not need them. Good magazines are $8 or more each. You can do a lot of pantry building with $8.
Nor newspapers.
Lottery tickets,
Soft drinks.
Most cleaning products.
Air freshener.
Diffusers.
Fabric softener.
Coffees out.
Scented candles.
Cards or gift tags. (mostly!)
Gift bags.
Cereal.
Packaged food. (rarely)
Bottled water.
Exfoliator. Body scrub.
Carpet sprays or cleaners.
Carpet deodorisers.
Garden chemicals.
Takeaway food. (ok... but once or twice a year)
Any form of pay TV.

Other are services I don't buy:
Hairdresser,
Gardener,
Dry cleaning,
Maincure,
Pedicure,
Window cleaner.

The best things ever are things that by not buying them it means saving money and better health as well.  One example is making Miracle Cleaner. This is wonderful stuff. It replaces so many cleaning products, saves a fortune, reduces chemicals in your home, makes the house smell lovely so you do not need air freshener or scents and saves space as you don't have lots of bottles of products.

When Lucy was pregnant we found out many scented candles are full or toxic chemicals. There are natural ones but the expensive ones I had loved were far from natural and it turns out they smell lovely but are really unhealthy. So they are gone. To get my vanilla fix I put vanilla extract in water in a cup and boil it in the microwave. The scent fills the house and then I wipe out the microwave as it is steam cleaned. Another win win! So that was a money saving plus healthy change. Many scent diffusers are the same, just a bunch of chemicals to add to your house.

I have loved finding things I just do not need to buy. Homemade wool mix and laundry detergent have my washing smell beautiful and feeling soft and I don't need dryer sheets or fabric softener as the sunshine makes things fresh better than anything else anyway.
I am still considering what else can go on the list. One thing that has helped is wondering if my Nan would have bought this or that? She had wonderful meals, a spotless home that smelled like yummy baking. Did she buy laundry scents? Scented candles? Plug in bug killer? Paper towels? No she never needed any of them one bit. Were we worse off without them? Well no!
Advertising has a lot to answer for! Yes there are wonderful things that I am glad we have like automatic washing machines! But lots of things really are not necessities and even maybe are bad for us. They can go.
I hope I find more things I can drop from my list! Even if we find one item we can stop buying and replace it with a pantry item we will get ahead.

So my Vicky Challenge savings...

Andy trimmed the hedge saving $100. (in our last home we paid one time to get the hedge tried and it was $120 so we bought a hedge trimmer and he has done it since.)

I did more painting and got quite a bit done saving at least $200
I made all the work lunches saving $100
Packed the fishing picnic saving $50.
Made three more heat packs saving $75

Andy came home yesterday with fish. After filleting there were 2 kilos of salmon = $50 saving approx.

Dinner tonight.

Being the end of a month I add in my months savings on hair services = $225!
Also nail and pedicure = $100.

Now I am able to total up my week and also the month of March. I'm impressed. My efforts and our combined efforts equal far more than I ever would have thought. If anyone says to me the old "oh, you don't work then??" comment I will be ready for them!

What purchases have you cut out in your savings quest? Are there any new possibilities you can think of?  I hope you had a great week and feel good about your work. Savings, at the end of the day, are tax free earnings.
There are so many ways we can build up our households! I can feel and see a difference here too. I am getting somewhere! xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 1st April. 2016.

Welcome to April! And almost April if you are reading in the north! I need some time to look at March as a whole and think about the new month a bit. This week has been busy but I felt I didn't get so much done.

In this case sitting down to look at what we did do (rather than the things I never got to) has helped me see we achieved plenty and I should feel much better about it than I do!

Also last weekend and Easter seem a long time ago!

Since my last Feather your Nest post we took up that old carpet and transformed the office. It looks really good now and somehow more stylish and professional.

Over Easter my present to Andy was a tray of Brownies. Since Valentine's Day he has been talking about Brownies!

Never making one of anything I made two trays. I found last time it froze well. Some will come on our trip and some will be handy in winter, probably when I have made soup for dinner and we have a desert. 

Andy trimmed the hedge out the back.

I made a tuna mornay and one night served it in vol au vents and another as a casserole. 

I altered two tops that I never wear as they were too long. Fixed! Now I love them.

When at the Chemist I was offered samples. Just after talking about samples too! So I said yes pleased I love samples!  I think she gave me more due to my enthusiastic response as it was about ten items and included a lovely hand cream, a cleanser, a moisturiser and one was a Burts Bees face cream.

I made three more heat packs. One of these was for Lucy. She likes velvet like I do. This was a remnant from Spotlight.

We planted an apple tree last year.  The first apple has appeared! 

Well, it's a start!

What I didn't do was any painting and I haven't finished replying to your comments on Wednesday. 

My back is heaps better so I am set to start painting again this afternoon and tomorrow. And replies are coming!  

So I did get some things done. The office floor is the biggest thing and huge home improvement. 

I have two new tops to wear since I fixed a fault with them. And I got ahead with a few deserts in the freezer.

Nightly "our" two Mud Larks come to visit. This one will sit on Andy's head. 

But the last few weeks a Willie Wagtail has come too. You can see him in the background just past Birdies Head.  He is getting quite tame too. These guys entertain us endlessly!

I hope you had a good week! And I hope April will be good for us all. I am aiming to get my front fence painted this month. If I get that done then I will go onto the front veranda and lattice work etc. This is exciting as it is going to change the look of our house so much! I think it will be really pretty.

How did you build up your home and save money this week? What are your hopes and goals for April? A new month is a good time for a review and stock take. I think we got a lot done in the first quarter of the year so I am happy with that! 

xxx

The Christmas Challenge. Show and Tell for March. Part 1.

Today I was going to ask for everyone's Show and Tell photos as we are at the end of another month already! I hope this has been a productive month for you and would love to see what you have been making. It gives us all inspiration and ideas! If you would share your photos please email me at brinkzi21@hotmail.com

Quite a few of you knew what was coming and already sent me gorgeous emails and photos! Thank you so much! There are so many ideas that my own list of things to do is ever growing! But this is good, having the ideas is half the battle. It is also exciting having plans of what to do next!

Firstly, Debbie has been crocheting.  She made a mermaid tail rug for her Grand Daughters Birthday. This is amazing...

When I was little I wanted to be a mermaid so I would totally have loved this! I think its stunning. I'm sure she will love it Debbie.

Also Debbie's daughter in law has a photography business and Debbie has made her little outfits for baby photos. 

Check out this baby mermaid outfit...

The little bra top!!!

And she made a Cookie Monster themed pair of pants...

Wonderful work Debbie!

Rachel made up the Wool Mix to give away. She made these so charming by writing on the directions for use, using pictures from calendars and magazines for the tops and souvenir spoons for the scoops! I love this!

Once again Rachel's work looks like something from a Country Life magazine. Very inventive.

Jane has also been busy! 

Fist of all her husband made a butchers block for her out of recycled materials and basically for free!

This is BEAUTIFUL. I think I need to do a husbands page one day as I have quite a few amazing photos of what the boys have been making!

This is to be strongly encouraged, obviously!

Janet also made a rug for her daughters friend...

And crochet piglet booties for her Grandchild...

How cute are these!  Janet also covered notebooks, made pencil cases and edged towels. So she made a lot of progress for her gift supplies.

Marian made a kitchen gift with Bread and Butter Cucumbers...

The colour scheme and the Handmade Crochet Goodies label makes this look so appealing and professional.

Also she made a t shirt and shorts...

And the shorts and pants here she made out of a mans shirt...

I am so impressed by this. This is a lesson in you do not have to have the money to buy expensive fabrics, they can be found and recycled!

Janine also added a lot to her gifts.

She made an appliquéd kitchen towels....

The detail in this amazes me!

Also a pedicure set for a friend...

And an embroidered towel...

Stunning work Janine.

Maria baked for Eater and for her Grandson's birthday. For Easter her Grandchildren came over and her little Granddaughter gasped with delight at the sight of a pretty table and all the goodies!

Maria reminded me of something really important. She said something about setting up for Easter and that she remembered what Flylady says... don't get stuck on perfectionism. This is so true. Her Grandchildren couldn't have been more thrilled. Yet we can think we have to have the perfect decorations, table setting etc. Perfectionism is the enemy! Just do what you can when you can! 

I continuously hear it... people who say they don't do this or that as they can't do it as well as someone else. They are not very good at something...  It doesn't matter! Don't let perfectionism stop you from trying things and enjoying them.

Ironically all Maria's cooking looks perfect! lol so this argument doesn't seem to apply, but still...

Fiona made a memory board...

She found a large frame in an op shop and made this! It is gorgeous! I think for gifts they are great i.e. themed for a little girl room, a teenager... a friend. Just lovely. 

Thank you for all sharing these with us. It is so impressive to see how busy everyone is especially since you already have busy lives. But the present cupboards are growing and also it is about keeping up with gifts we need during the year. 

There are so many good ideas. Many of them are made very inexpensively too yet make beautiful presents. Again, if we knew retail value on all of this it would be astounding.

We will be back next week with part 2, I look forward to seeing what else has been made this month!

Going into April and the weather cooling means I am crocheting. I made heat packs this week and finished them yesterday so I have made seven. This gave me a supply at home and gifts. I just love evenings crocheting! It is so soothing and I am amazed how much keeping at it adds up. 

Our Daylight Savings ends next weekend. We are coming into dark evenings and having things to work on makes them lovely.  I am happy if I have something to work on! 

Have a good rest of the week! I am off to babysit Harper. Mum calls her "our baby". xxx

The Vicky Challenge. Saving with samples.

I am pretty excited about the amount we got done around the house last week and the savings for The Vicky Challenge! Doing household repairs, renovations, decorating or cleaning is worth a surprising amount of money when you look at hiring someone to do things. While there are some things we cannot do ourselves there are lots we can. Last week I saved $300 on fixing an outside wall crack. It was really easy. This week it was more!

But first, our subject of the week to add to our ways to save, is Samples. Vicky wrote to me on this and as usual inspired me!  This is what she wrote:

Samples. Such little bits of things, but they are very helpful with either building the pantry or saving money. And there are so many out there.  The ones pictured are just a small amount of what I have I could probably cover half my table. From pet food to hygiene products it is a good way of taking advantage of being able to try things before we buy them, but to use them to our financial benefit as well. No maybe not a huge amount, but if every penny counts in your household let's look at how they do help. 

 

If we run out of something they are handy in a pinch.

They make great stocking stuffers or basket fillers.

It's easy to make a small emergency kit with them from band aids to cold medicine and oral hygiene products.

Why do I have diapers and no baby? Many times someone has come with a baby to visit and forgot a diaper. I now have one to offer. Or if money is tight I can do a basket of baby themed items and still have a gift for a new parent. 

They can be a little something new to pack in a lunch.

They can be bartered or donated.

They are not always the small sized ones and are sometimes a full sized product. I have gotten coupons for free pizzas, makeup and juice for example. 

Sometimes the coupon that came with the sample netted me a free item at the store. Like stick packs of instant coffee. 

I have smelled good for free from perfume samples.

And one of the things I do is when I amass quite a few I give the grocery budget a little boost! I get them out and decide which ones will be used up and I use the money I was going to spend to add a few extra things to the pantry plus it helps to get my sample stash used up.

 

Example: Deodorant is not on sale and I am going to need it. I have enough samples to get me through 2-3 weeks without having to purchase any. I will use up my samples for those weeks and add a few small things for the pantry like on sale canned goods. Or I will put it into my savings account. Usually within a week or 2 deodorant goes on sale and I didn't have to spend extra on it. So by doing this I added a little to the pantry or savings and was able to not have to pay full price for an item I needed win win! 

Cheap? Yes! Smart? Oh Yes! 

XOXO

Vicky

 

Well, I had a review of my samples after this. I am a sample collector but not very good user.

This was what I had on hand in a couple of areas of the house:

I have a lot of perfume, mini makeup sizes, face creams, mini soaps and some tiny laundry power samples etc. Many of them are also beautiful/luxury brands.

But they are not saving me money if I am not using them! 

I have started to pack moisturisers, mini soap for our trip away.

Used several samples for hand and feet treatments.

Packed mini shampoos and conditioners to take away.

Put hand cream samples into my hand bag and car to use when waiting somewhere.

Sat some near where I sit in the lounge to egg myself on to rub into my hands while watching tv.

Some larger ones have gone into the gift cupboard to pair with a soap, wash cloth gift.

So that is my challenge, to use samples and let them be a money saver in various ways. I could use samples of moisturiser for several weeks at least. And also to collect more and keep using them!

Now to my Vicky Challenge this week...

We spent a day working on Andy's office. All the old carpet was removed and emptying the room also meant a clean out, spring clean, tidy and re arrange. I am not showing the horrible old carpet!  (seriously it was BAD) But this is what was underneath...

I think if we paid to have this done it would have been at least $400.

Andy rang a radio station with a tip about how to keep possums off your trees and won two movie tickets worth $30.

I sent all lunches $100.

The fish Andy caught and filleted were worth $24.

I sent a picnic on the fishing trip saving $50.

The Quince paste I made I compared to the Maggie Beer brand in the supermarket and by weight I had nine times the amount in a tub you buy. This equaled over $50.

Painting was a fail though as I had a really sore back and I just didn't paint.

I did sew... I made four large heat packs. These are $30 each in the shops. After buying the filling (barley) I will count $100 saving.

These are folded in half. One was for Chloe and one was for Mum. The other two are for me! I make them larger as they keep hot such a long time and longer so they wrap around your neck which seems to be our families achy bit!

This was the softest fabric which was a remnant at Spotlight. I also have enough for three more from a velvet remnant. Will get them done this week and one will be Lucy's.

So that is $754.

I know it was home DIY that bolstered that up! The Easter long weekend really helped us get things done.

Here we have a holiday Monday for Easter (I am not sure if everyone has that?) so it is still a day to get some more things done! 

This challenge has taught me a lot about the savings in repairs and maintenance type jobs. I was not familiar with how much these were worth at all. 

How did your week go? We are almost at the end of another month and I can count up my savings for March. Keeping track is fairly automatic now and it makes me think "how can I save on this?" all the time!

I hope you had a lovely Easter and have a great new week! xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 25th March, 2016.

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope it is special and you had a good week.

Over the weekend we have a lot planned. The carpet in Andy's office is being ripped up (by us) and hopefully the floor underneath is the same as everywhere else which is the gorgeous floorboards. The carpet is yuk and this means emptying the room. So a total room makeover, clean out etc all at one time. Plus painting!  This will be another room done and I will be so happy to have this finished!

Yesterday I delivered my Easter presents. First of all my Bunny biscuits...

I made quite a few packets so there were spares. Chloe's neighbours got a packet each as well.

For the girls I didn't include much chocolate. Instead I made "winter preparedness packs" (remember it is autumn here)  I included Eucalyptus spray and oil, cough lozenges, anti bacterial wipes for the car, tissues and so on.

Some of the other ways I build up the nest this week included...

I made baby food in the crock pot for Harper...

I portion it into muffin trays then when frozen pop them into a snap lock bag. I got twenty dinners.

I also made her a baby baked custard in the smallest one dish ever! We had one too so this was just a little bit set aside.

We had "fridge pizza" which is becoming a weekly special as a use it up meal. They are always really good!

I planted thyme. I was down to one plant and I use more than it can produce so I planted more.

Andy caught fish...

We combined our efforts and made fish and chips.
For Jen... this batter is just SR Flour blended in a can of beer. (Which is about two cups I think) and it is amazing! You just keep adding flour until it has a thickish batter consistency.

This was pretty nice!

Mum gave me a packet of paper serviettes with a nest and egg image. They are gorgeous! I see these becoming cards and maybe a tray or something I can enjoy everyday...

I made my Quinces into Quince paste. This is so beautiful on a cheese platter. Tiny amounts are really expensive in the shops. I got four small pots full...

One of these will go on holidays with us and I will pack cheeses and crackers.

I didn't get any painting done this week so far as I hurt my back. I hope to get some done over the weekend.

I started an infinity scarf in a colour I love.

We had beautiful autumn weather. Glorious! Plus last night it rained and today is sunny. Just lovely.

I want to share what I thought was the nicest idea. Nanna Chel wrote about Prayer Shawls and how they are the gift of love, comfort and care. You can read her post  here.  I am going to use this with knee rugs, scarves and shrugs. A shrug is a kind of shawl/ wrap. I love them! I will print out the little poem to go with them. I just love it and it is a great gift idea.

How did your week go? I love hearing about how you built up your nest and saved money.  Have a wonderful Easter and long weekend as well. xxx