I'm rather tired froom all the walking I've done this week so just lazed around at home today. It meant another no spend day.

Today I found 30 cents. At one stage I was saving all my found money for a trip on the Trans Siberian. I think I'll do that again.

I made some sprout scones from the recipe by Jack Monroe except I used kale. They were good; I'll definitely make more of her recipes.

In my quest for budget recipes I came across this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrYeYduqoGo and decided to try out the lentil patties. I used pumpkin as it's cheaper than sweet potato. I added too much water when cooking the lentils and rather than boil them dry I just tipped the oats and pumpkin in and called it a stew. Tasted pretty good.

Payday. At New World I bought
vege stock powder $2.99
grape juice $2.49
can mandarins 99 cents
flour $1.59
broccoli $1.49
total saved $2.90. The grape juice is for communion. I could get reimbursed by the church but it seems cheap when I get the leftovers.

I went to a farewell afternoon tea today and ate so much grapes and bread and hummus that I wasn't hungry for dinner.

I weighed myself and I have lost half a pound. I would like to lose a little faster so am aiming at 1600 calories a day.

Today I baked oat squares. I worked out the cost:
125 g oats 28 cents
80 g flour 9 cents
50 g sugar 11 cents
100 ml oil 25 cents
Call it 50 cents for the electricity and it comes to $1.23. Cheaper than buying and they will last me 3 breakfasts.

For breakfast I had peanut butter and banana rice porridge. Next time I will try adding some cocoa powder to it. For lunch potato and cabbage soup with the last of the cabbage. It has lasted for almost a month, good job it keeps well. For dinner macaroni and beans with the last of the silverbeet and a can of tomatoes.

At the end of the fourth week I spent $18 on food, 50 cents on misc and have in my cash envelopes:
food $8
misc $52 and $4.61 on my bus card
medical $80
change dish $5

I am putting more thought and effort into my food than I have in a while. I am actually enjoying experimenting with different recipes. Normally I don't care all that much about cooking. Of course it might be different if I was forced to live on $20 a week, at the moment I am stiil enjoying the challenge and regarding it as an exercise in gratitude in preparation for my next trip to India. But if it all gets too stressful or my health starts to suffer I will give it up.

Only one purchase today, a big bunch of kale at New World for $2.80. saved $1.20.

I'm disappointed with Financially Free. It has a little bit about saving and budgeting but mostly about prosperity thinking and acting rich to be rich. A jobless person who's about to get their lights cut off might get the impression they just need to tell themselves "I deserve to be rich", go off on holiday and the money will miraculously materialise. I recommend Stop Acting Rich by Tom Stanley as an antidote.

At PaknSave I bought
can tomatoes 69 cents
can green beans 99 cents
macaroni 75 cents
600 gram cut pumpkin 50 cents. All the other pieces were 99 cents, maybe this one was a mistake but I grabbed it
saved $1.20

For breakfast I had applesauce cake with peanut butter; for lunch potato pancakes and for dinner the rest of the rice and soy meal. This time I put in a chili and it tasted quite spicy.

I'm trying to sprout some adzuki beans but they're reluctant to poke their little heads out this time of year.

I had trouble sleeping last night so got up at 1 am and baked an applesauce cake from this recipe

https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2016/01/29/applesauce-bread-.... I like Jack Monroe as she was once a single mom struggling on a tiny budget and aims her recipes at poor people. Most of them are vegan too.


Gardens New World had a one day sale today. I had a good look for bargains but only wound up buying peanut butter at $1.99 (saved 30 cents) and strawberry jam at $2.29 (saved 20 cents).


I increased the weekly amount going into my bill paying a/c by $10 to cover winter power bills. The latest one I received is for $100.35. Pretty good, but the real frosts are still ahead of us.

And I transferred $300 from my checking account to my FFEF. I should be able to save over $200 a month.

Payday. Today I went to Veggie Boys and bought 10 kilos of brushed potatoes for $8. Getting it home was a bit troublesome. It kept overbalancing my wheelie basket as I trundled along but I managed it. Saved $6 over buying the washed potatoes in the closest supermarket.
Potatoes have a bad reputation among the low carbers but they're actually quite nutritious. This Aussie guy

https://spudfit.com/ lived for a year on nothing but spuds and was quite healthy. Good to know if I'm really struggling. He lost weight too, despite potatoes rep as fattening.

I walked past Knitworld today and saw they are having a winter sale. Proud to report I did not go in "just to see what they have". Could it be I am finally overcoming my CYHD (Compulsive Yarn Hoarding Disorder)?
There are still plenty of apples at Artsenta so I took 4 more. Someone had also brought chilli peppers from their garden so I took 3 of those as well.

I took $2.00 a Day back to the library. It was too depressing reading about such destitution in the richest nation on earth.

I was browsing a website and a little ad popped up saying "every Kiwi deserves a reliable garage door." Well I'd agree a reliable garage door is a good thing to have, but "deserve" one? How 'bout we work on some other things first, like people in poor countries deserving clean drinking water and every child deserving a safe, loving home.

Onto the fourth week of my $20 a week challenge - 49 weeks to go. I blogged the first 19 days at

https://veganonabenefit.simplesite.com/ before running into difficulties and then remembering I already have this blog.
Today I bought cinnamon and ground coriander at the Indian Mart for $4. And from my misc I bought a book at the thrift store for 50 cents. It is called Financially Free: think rich to be rich by Anne Hartley.
For breakfast I had toasted homemade fruitbread with peanut butter; for lunch I made oaty pancakes; and for dinner I cooked up a big barley and split pea stew with the rest of the chard. Enough to last the next 2 days.

Tena koutou katoa. I hadn't realised how much time has passed since I last blogged. Some changes: I am now on disability and my 60th birthday is coming up, so it doesn't look as if I'll ever work again. It depresses me, but at least I am getting more money now: $269.15 a week. Ds is currently living with me and gives me some money for his share of the power and internet. So things are manageable, but I still Iike to save money tho reallistically I'm not going to get to FI. In fact I'm looking forward to turning 65 when I will get more money from the govt!
With one thing and another my FFEF has taken a hammering and is now down to $1382.86. I want to work on getting it up to $10,000. And both the kitchen and bathroom need work so have to save more into the House a/c, currently at $2,345. I do have $5,000 in the Travel a/c and was hoping to make another trip to India this year, but we shall see.
To facilitate my savings efforts I have set myself the challenge of spending just $20 a week on food and $20 a week on misc spending for a year. I don't know if it's possible to get that low, but I'm giving it my best shot. Today is my third completed week on this challenge and at the moment I have in my envelopes:
food $11
misc $33
change dish $3.50
I also have $6.53 on my bus card and I started with a fairly full pantry so have plenty of food left. I also hope the lesser amount spent on food will result in weight loss. I've become vegan since last writing so that should help.