Being a tight arse

I hate being a tight arse and if I'm honest I'm not very good at it.  I love nothing more than the odd day here and there looking for pretty things, a wine with a good view with friends, trips to the city to explore and holidays away.  Its more in the day to day running of our house that I'm trying the frugal living approach, although sometimes I think we are living high on the hog as it doesn't seem we are sacrificing much.  I can go most weeks without spending a cent apart from on groceries and gas for the car, well maybe a coffee or two.  

We eat almost all meals at home or taken from the kitchen to work, and its with no deep breaths or thoughts of dread, its joyous actually.  I love feeding my family, friends and loved ones nutritious and hopefully tasty food from my heart. Yes there are days that I am sick of dish pan hands and there are times when a meal out is heaven sent, but mostly give me my kitchen any day.

                       

                                                                                               

Its the little things everyday that you can do to save some pennies that will add up and also add to your cooking.  Some of the things I do are making stock out of a roast chicken carcass and freezing it for some soup or a stew another day. Baking snacks for your childs lunchbox instead of buying pre-packaged ones, one large slab of cake cut up into portions and frozen or a few dozen muffins will surely save you money. I bake bread every other day, something that is now a lovely ritual that never ceases to thrill me each time a gorgeous loaf comes out of the oven.

This batch of rock cakes are made for a few dollars

stale bread and over ripe tomatoes become tomato and onion pie

Peanut butter and vegie rice paper rolls made for next to nothing

Weekend lemon & sugar pancakes, a hit everytime

And finally a motto I live by is this "Use your best things everyday, don't wait for special occasions.  This is your life; enjoy your good silver, china, fancy soaps, bath oils, these things aren't for decoration, they're for using! Amen.

                                                  

Ciao, Jan