Latest Tips 2021

​Cheap Colourful Pots

​Pretty and large pots for potplants are hard to find and can be very expensive. I have started using plastic waste paper bins from IKEA . Black and White are normally $3 (on sale Jan 2021 for $1.80) and they have slightly smaller ones in Green, Blue and Red for $2 (sale $1). Just drill four holes in the bottoms and you have some lovely large pots that look great.
Contributed by Denise Scotford

Use a Bigger Bucket Under the Air Con

​Just an adjunct to the leaving a bucket under the evaporative aircon water pipe... our evaporative air con, just like a lot of newer ones, has a sensor that completely empties the water reservoir when it gets too salty or too dirty. This is a Lot of water, too much for a bucket. So a few years ago a I bought an extra Sulo bin ($16) and put a plastic tap ($1.45) about 1/5 way up from the bottom, that I can attach a hose to, and I leave this under the hose.
Because this release of reservoir water is random, I can go out and find my bin Completely full, especially in Summer, but I can still wheel it closer to where I want to water in the garden.
Contributed by Denise Scotford

​A Frugal Foamy Shower for 60 cents A Bottle

​If you have limited time or energy, or kids that use 17 pumps of shower wash instead of just three, this is for you. It is very similar to using the foaming hand wash for the sink, you just swap out the hand wash for watered down body wash. I personally use the ‘Simple’ brand foaming face wash (on sale normally around $6 down from about $12), and reuse the foam making bottle with watered down body wash. It means you don’t stand there wasting water trying to make the lather to wash with, and you use 1/10 of the product with maximum foam.
Contributed by Denise Scotford

​Thrifty Thirst Quencher

​Now is the time to dust off those big soup mugs and make yourself a really thirst quenching cup of tea or coffee. When you feel like you could drink the pot dry just use one of these mugs and it saves time and energy on making that second cup. It also helps you to stay hydrated very easily. Use them also for just your water consumption and your skin will look better for it.
Contributed by Carolyn Koerntjes

​A Soft Drink Stockpile - No Need with these Prices

I just wanted to say there really is no reason to stockpile soft drinks. Coles brand soft drinks are lovely and are only 75 cents for a 1.25 litre bottle. They have recently increased their zero sugar range to raspberry, lime, lemonaid and lemon. Their lemon soft drinks are amazing in both normal and zero sugar. Nothing nicer than when served with ice and a mint sprig.
Contributed by Leanne Coward

French Toast Omelette

Ingredients:
2 eggs
4 tbsp milk 
2 slices bread
1 tbsp butter
Fillings - cheese, ham, tomato etc.

Method:
Whisk eggs and milk. Melt butter in frying pan. Dunk bread in mixture and drop into hot buttered pan, put side by side with just a little gap in the middle. Pour rest of mix around the bread. When egg is set, carefully flip the whole thing over. Add your filling to one slice of bread - sliced cheese, siced ham, tomato, whatever you like. Fold in half to close the filling, bread over bread. Leat heat from the pan melt the cheese for a couple of minutes. Flip and cook until the cheese is completely melted. Outside shoud be golden and crispy.

​Use a Small Spoon

In my bucket of Cheapskates Washing Powder, instead of keeping a teaspoon to measure it with, I keep a half-teaspoon measure. This makes the full 3 teaspoons of powder seem like more, and I'm less likely to use the full amount.

This can probably apply to many other spoons and scoops around the house.

(It also helps that my washing machine has six options for water level, so I usually use half-teaspoons of washing powder corresponding to it.)
Contributed by Gabrielle Castle

​Freezing in the Tin

Thought as I did this this morning that maybe I'm just a slow learner and everyone else in Cheapskates knows this.
Just in case: I opened a tin of chopped tomatoes, and before you get going on the money wasted there, these are from an ancient stockpile and really need to be used now. Of course only needed two thirds of the tin and as I reached to dirty something else to freeze the leftover third....ah ha! I popped the lid back inside the tin, pushed down onto the balance in the tin and just popped it into the freezer until next time; I will just take the tin out of the freezer with time to let the contents thaw, the lid will slip back out and away I go. No washing whatever might have been used to hold that leftover bit and no waste.
Contributed by Carol Ryan

​Generic Wrapping

I discovered that buying an all occasion wrapper not only save space in storing, time in buying for different occasion, and money because the tiny sheets left can be used to patch for other gift. It is the same with buying the same colored socks because you can match all loose socks in a jiffy.
Contributed by Joy Po

​Use a Scrub Glove for Easy Shower Cleaning

​I was recently given a body scrub glove, I was grateful for the gift however I already have one. I did consider regifting it but came up with a better idea. When I’ve finished my shower I put the glove on and clean the shower, a quick rinse and it’s sparkling clean in no time.
Contributted by Annette Lamb

MOO Emergency Mop

​If you are setting up home and you don't have a mop, you can use a broom and a pair of socks. All you do is wet the socks, and put one on each side of the broom. You may have to hold them there with rubber bands or sellotape. Then you use your broom as you would a mop. When you have finished, you just take the socks off the broom and put them in your washing machine. This can save up to $200 on buying a new mop.
Contributed by Sarah Griffiths

Doona Cover Solution

​Because I have had a back operation, it’s easier for me to put the doona on the bed, then lay the doona cover on top. Easier to change for laundering and looks just as good. Makes it so much easier.
Contributed by Brenda Black

Smarter Printing Saves Ink and Paper

​Sometimes I like watching cooking or baking shows on TV and if I'm interested in a recipe I go online to print out the recipe. However, very often, huge font is used, fotos, advertising on the same page or other information I don't need or want. This results in having multiple pages of print when the actual recipe I'm after fits onto one page. So it occurred to me to simply "copy and paste" the actual recipe into a Word document. Then I adjust the font, delete any information I don't want and fit the recipe onto one page. At times, when the online print is too faint, I just "bold" it. I have saved a lot of paper and ink. I also have the choice of keeping it as a Word document on my computer or printing it out. 
Contributed by Edel Heyer

​Tie Up The Plug

I you have a plug that can be hard to remove from the plug hole try putting a cable tie through the hole in the centre where you pull from. If there is no hole make one.
Contributed by Leigh Oakey

Hard Rubbish Hunting: Magnets

​Strong strip magnets to hold things can be found in hard rubbish. Look for fridges, freezers, or anything else with a magnetic seal. Remove the seal, and carefully strip the plastic casing off with a box cutter. The magnets can be broken to the size you want by folding them.
Contributed by Gabrielle Castle

​Easy 2 egg Pavlova

Maureen and I were talking about this the other day, it’s my type of recipe- chuck, whizz, cook, eat.

Ingredients
2 egg whites
1-1/2 cups caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white vinegar
4 tbsp boiling water

Method
Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix on high speed for 15 minutes
Prepare pavlova tray with foil and non-stick baking paper.
Spread mixture onto prepared tray in a 20cm diameter circle. Bake at 180C for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 150C, then bake for a further 45 minutes.
Top or fill with cream and fruit such as strawberries and passionfruit, or a crumbled peppermint crisp.

NOTES
I only use caster sugar otherwise the meringue can be a bit gritty.
Contributed by Joy Sleeman

Digital Coin Jar

​With Covid and the reluctance to use cash this year and everything being paid for electronically, my coin jar was getting a little depleted. I have started rounding up all my purchases from my spending account and transferring the 'change' to my savings account e.g. I bought something for $9.80, so I transferred the .20 to my savings. Little by little this adds up just like a coin jar, but digital. 
Contributed by Pearl Squire

Staying Loyal Certainly Helps My Christmas Grocery Savings!

​Staying loyal helped me save an enormous amount this year. Yesterday I went to Woolworths to do my main December AND Christmas grocery shop. My total savings for my grocery shop was a whopping $310.47! I hold a Woolworths Everyday Rewards Card and last year I decided that instead of taking $10 off my shopping after it had accrued, I would save it for my Christmas groceries. So… with shopping predominantly at my local Woollies, at the Big W next door and buying most of my alcohol at BWS, I put away an amazing $170! Plus, I also have my mobile phone pre-paid account through Woolworths. Yesterday, coming grocery shopping, I bought up big, including the extra gifts you need to have under the tree for unexpected people (I bought chocolates – half price!), the extra chocolates I put into my son’s Christmas sack and some extra bits and pieces I was running low on (that were on sale, knowing I had the banked money to count on). My total grocery shop came to $374.14 and with the weekly specials I had already saved $120.00. I then receive a 10% discount on my groceries (due to having the Woolworths mobile account) once per month at a time of my choosing – naturally I took it yesterday (-$37.41), less my “banked” money of $170, and my total grocery cost came to $166.72, instead of $374.13, a saving of $207.41! Yippee! I had also banked a number of credits for the glassware promotion Woolworths are currently running – I received two containers (with a retail cost of $55.00) for nothing/zip/zero and I still have credits to spend. On top of all of that, I was also getting reward points on my groceries towards next year’s Christmas shopping! I was so excited. Staying loyal certainly works out well for me. I need to purchase groceries, and whilst I do purchase the odd groceries from Coles and IGA, the majority of my shopping is from Woollies and the benefits do add up. Merry Christmas everyone.
Contributed by Michelle Everingham