Day 28 of Soap Shampoo Challenge

So I've reached the end of my first frugal challenge! And after a month of using soap instead of shampoo, my hair is in perfect condition - even without using conditioner once. I think it's pretty safe to say I will be using soap on my hair for the rest of the year. I didn't note the ingredients, but the latest soap I used was just...

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February's EXTREME Frugal Challenge!

In February I am going to be setting myself an EXTREME frugal challenge - I will only allow myself $100 for groceries for the ENTIRE month! I'm excited to stretch my resources and my imagination and REALLY challenge myself. And I want to show others how they can manage if unexpected bills arrive and there is hardly any money left...

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A Bag of Buns

Last week my colleague - a frugalista from way back - informed me that there were a couple of bags of buns out at our shared recycling area. After establishing with the company nextdoor that it was ok to take them and there was nothing wrong with them (they were just surplus to requirements and at their best by date), the above bag of buns...

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Love Soup Kitchen Rotorua

If you live in Rotorua and are finding it a struggle to get food on the table some days, Love Soup Rotorua serves free meals every Thursday night behind the Lakefront Cafe, between 6 - 8pm.  You can either bring containers and take the food away, or stay and enjoy the community spirit. For more information, click here....

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How To Feed Your Family For A Week With One Chicken

Last week I set myself a challenge - to get a weeks' worth of dinners from one roasted chicken. And I not only achieved it, but I also uncovered some delicious meals that I will definitely make again! We are a family of an adult and a teenager with very healthy appetites, and we even had some lunches and leftovers that I froze, so...

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Day 21 of Soap Shampoo Challenge

Day 21 and still going great! My hair is completely fine! The soap I've used for the last week is another natural one: Aloe Vera & Lemongrass Soap ~ Olive oil ~ Aqua ~ Coconut oil ~ Palm oil ~ Lye ~ Lemongrass essential oil ~ Biogenic Aloe barbadensis The best before date is smudged out but the packaging was quite...

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Portioning and Rehoming

Pre-portioning out food is not only convenient, but it also makes it stretch further. This week I bought cheese, butter and bacon, and portioned them all out. For the cheese, this meant cutting the block into approximately 100g wedges. I then froze most of them in reusable snap lock bags, and kept a couple in the fridge. Having the...

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Frugal Eats This Week

As I mentioned, one of my frugal finds were blueberries for $1 per punnet. These were past their best but still suitable for smoothies. The first day I made a blueberry, apple, tangelo and almond smoothie, and the second day was blueberry, apple, tangelo, banana and linseed. It was good to use up fruit that was getting past the point...

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