In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Novel Lunchable Container Keeps Mum and Kids Happy; Keeping Track of Recipes; Stick a Cork in It
3. Share Your Tips - Share your best tip for a chance to win
4. 2017 Saving Revolution has begun
5. On the Menu - Leftover Roast Pies
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Taming the Grocery Budget Part 2 - Seasonal Shopping and Eating
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. This Week's Question - Ideas needed to use up excess body lotion
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Here is our first newsletter for 2017. It is so exciting to be planning newsletters for this brand-new year, almost as exciting as starting a brand-new diary.
Wayne and I are travelling home from Sydney today, stopping in to visit family along the way.
I hope you enjoy your newsletter and have a wonderful week everyone.
PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us!
2. From The Tip Store
Novel Lunchable Container Keeps Mum and Kids Happy
My preschooler loves Lunchables (he found out about them at daycare) and will eat everything in one when he has them. Because they are so expensive to buy, and are not that great nutritionally, I bought three small boxes that have two small and two large compartments in them and make my own version of a Lunchable. I usually put in a piece of chicken, two or three cheese cubes, some cherry tomatoes, a twist of sultanas and his drink bottle (half frozen to keep it all cool). I know there's nothing special in this, lots of dollar savvy mums out there do it. My trick is I didn't spend a fortune on special lunchboxes or Tupperware - I went to the Reject Shop and bought three small boxes from the hardware department for $1.50 each! They are usually used for fishing gear or small took kits, but they make great lunchable boxes and best of all if one gets lost it's not a big deal.
Contributed by Tanya Grieves
Keeping Track of Recipes
I have so many recipe books and find I don't use half of them. I am also a great one for pulling recipes out of magazines and newspapers, never to be used again. My solution - I bought an iPad. Obviously not just for my recipe collection. I have started copying my favourite recipes into an app called My Cookbook. You can also add photos and it provides a shopping list of the ingredients needed for the dish. You simply cross off with your finger the ingredients you have and then purchase the rest. If you have an iPhone, you can transfer the shopping list to a shopping list app on your phone. No more pieces of paper lying around or placed in a folder you will never look at. It is easy to search for recipes as they are filed under categories and there is a search area. I also purchased the wireless keyboard and a cover which doubles as a stand so I can access and view my recipes whilst I am cooking. We are going on holidays next week so purchased the iPad holder which can be attached to the back of the car seat to turn it into a cinema for my son. No more lugging DVD's to watch on the player it is now all stored on the iPad. You can rent movies through iTunes so the kids never get bored.
Contributed by Megan Hall
Stick a Cork in It
Approximate $ Savings: $5.00
We've just come back to Victoria from a week's caravanning holiday in Mannum/Robe SA. The best time to travel is definitely before Christmas - fewer crowds, little to no traffic! And are we ready for the BIG day! Rested, de-stressed and all organised! (24 hours in advance). However, this hint applies to the basic need of washing or having clean water to wash in whilst bush camping. We have yet to use a sink plug (funny how they always go missing...........) for our tiny yet versatile 11-foot caravan which sleeps 2 adults (double bed) and 2 children (in bunk beds). We open a bottle of wine to celebrate the beginning of our holiday and use the fresh cork as our sink plug.
Contributed by Melinda Rau-Wig
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit Your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Submit your tip
4. 2017 Saving Revolution has Begun
Do you want (or need) to take control of your financial life?
Perhaps you're floundering, not sure where to start. Or you've started (and maybe re-started) and just need some encouragement and guidance to keep working towards your goal of being debt free.
You need the Cheapskates Club Saving Revolution.
The Saving Revolution is a yearlong plan to get you onto the road to financial freedom.
The Revolutionary Challenges include:
Spending Plans - what is a spending plan, how to develop a spending plan, reviewing a spending plan and sticking to a spending plan!
Peace of Mind Accounts and Emergency Funds - what they are, how they work, what the difference is and why they are essential for financial peace of mind.
Assessing your finances - getting bills under control, paid on time and reviewing expenses.
Stockpiling 101 - learn how to strategically and economically build a stockpile, what to stockpile (and it's not just groceries), how to rotate your stockpile, when to stockpile and most important of all, why stockpile.
Monthly menu planning - the how and why of feeding a family on a limited budget.
Children and money - start teaching your children the benefits of living the Cheapskates way now and they'll follow your example to a debt free, cashed up life.
Registration for the 2017 Saving Revolution has opened (it's free!).
Click here to register, then get ready for an amazing financial revolution.
5. On the Menu
Leftover Roast Pies
Ingredients:
Leftover roast meat - any sort works
Leftover vegies from the meal
Leftover gravy, or make up another cup of Gravox gravy if not enough
Puff pastry
Method:
Chop up all left over roast meat and vegetables into small pieces after the meal, if any gravy left over mix it in then refrigerate until needed. To make the pies, reheat the meat, veg and gravy mix in a frypan on stove. Once sufficiently heated through and of desired consistency just go ahead and make pies as normal. We usually have this for lunch the day after the roast and it's a great way to use up all leftovers and the kids don't complain about the vegies inside the pies.
Apple and Custard Pies
Ingredients:
1 sheet shortcrust pastry
1 sheet puff pastry
1 cup stewed apple (can use tinned pie apple)
1/4 cup sultanas
1 cup very thick custard (homemade or bought)
1 tbsp sugar
Method:
Thaw pastry. Cut four bases from the shortcrust pastry and four tops from the puff pastry. You may need to jiggle the tops to fit onto the pastry sheet. Mix the apple and sultanas. Press bases into pie maker. Place a quarter cup of custard in the base of each pie. Top with a quarter cup of apple mixture. Place puff pastry tops onto pies. Sprinkle with sugar. Cook as per pie maker instructions.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Lamb fritters, salad
Tuesday: Spag bol
Wednesday: Mexican Lasagne, salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Toasted Sandwiches
In the fruit bowl: oranges, grapes, bananas
In the cake tin: Christmas cake, coconut biscuits, shortbread
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Taming the Grocery Budget Part 2 - Seasonal Shopping and Eating
With shopping centres all over the place (most Australians live within a 10 minute drive of a major shopping centre), the temptation is a one-stop-shop. That’s exactly what the supermarkets want us to do: pull into a shopping centre and you can do your grocery shopping, get your car serviced, buy a camping tent, pick up a pair of boots for junior, and some socks for the hubby, fill a prescription, and have an eye exam…all in one place. To a busy mum (or dad), that must sound like heaven, I know it does to me.
But these one-stop-shops aren’t always the most economical way to go. Most often the produce department is filled with produce that has been in cold storage for months or shipped in from another country (lemons from the USA, garlic from China, berries from the UK and so on). That means it’s already old. And you’ve got a couple of days, max, to eat it before it goes bad. Except then you forget and it goes bad before you get a chance to use it, and then you haven’t really saved any money or time after all!
I am blessed to live in an area with an abundance of markets and produce stands. We don’t have much in the way of food buying co-ops…but we do have a wealth of small orchards with beautiful seasonal produce at excellent prices.
If you do a little research and figure out what’s coming into harvest during certain months of the year, you can really save a LOT of money by planning your menu around in-season food purchases.
For example, in Melbourne (my area) during the summer months here’s what is in season:
Apricots
Bananas
Berries
Cherries
Figs
Grapefruit
Grapes
Oranges
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Strawberries
Beans
Beetroot
Capsicum
Carrots
Chillies
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Lettuce
Onions
Potatoes
Silverbeet
Tomatoes
Zucchini
That’s quite a list and a great variety. The advantage of locally grown, in-season produce is that it is so fresh and so much more affordable.
And if you have a garden, it’s almost free food.
When I plan the fruit and veg component of our meal plan I use the in-season foods. For example, at this time of year we eat lots of salads with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicums and enjoy stone fruits and melons because we won’t be having them during the winter months.
The Seasonal Food Guide Australia is a great, easy to use resource to help you find what’s in season in your area. Just choose your area and it will bring up a list of fruits and vegetables and when they are in season.
One thing I’ve found handy for picking up seasonal bargains is cash. I very rarely have cash on me, but most roadside stalls will only take cash, especially the ones with honesty boxes. I hate to find a stall with fresh strawberries at a rock bottom price and have to pass it up because I don’t have any cash on me.
During Spring, Summer and Autumn (that’s when most roadside stands operate) I keep an envelope with some $1 coins in it so when I see watermelons for $2 each or cherries for $3/kg or fresh corn 5 cobs for $1 I can buy them.
As you meal plan, include in season fruits and vegetables. Be prepared to rotate your meals according to the seasons. Salad in winter doesn’t make a lot of sense if lettuces are $4 each, tomatoes are $8 a kilo and cucumbers are $2 each, but you know cabbages are $2 each, carrots are 89 cents a kilo and onions are 80 cents a kilo and you can make a whole lot of coleslaw for $3.69, enough for dinner and to enjoy with other meals later in the week.
Don’t be afraid of blemishes. Perfectly good fruit and vegetables are dumped because consumers only want perfect food. The perfect tomato, the unblemished watermelon, the smooth pumpkin. Truth is in nature those things aren’t perfect. If you grow your own veggies you’ll know this is true.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with tomatoes that are an odd shape or a pumpkin that has some marks on the skin (and many older farmers believe that pumpkins and melons with marks on the skin are the best tasting because they’ve been “kissed” by the sun).
Farmers and stall holders mark them down because we shoppers want perfection, and we pay a high price for it.
If you find a box of tomatoes that are a little over-ripe or not quite round buy it. Make sauce, dry some or turn them into chutney and save a fortune. I bought a 10kg box of tomatoes last week for $6 and used it to make pasta sauce that has been bottled for winter (and yes, I have kilos of tomatoes in the garden, they are being eaten and made into sauce and chutney too).
Food is the biggest waste not only in our households but in our country. It is a disgrace that perfectly good food is dumped to landfill, causing huge problems with odour and greenhouse gases, not to mention the billions of dollars wasted.
Don't let wasted food blow your grocery budget out of control.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Tracking your Goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3276-tracking-your-goals&p=59916#post59916
There's a Whole World of MOO to Explore.
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3460-There-s-a-whole-world-of-MOO-to-explore.
How Many of you Shop Monthly?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3295-How-many-of-you-shop-monthly
Most popular blog posts this week
12 Strategies for Coping with a Financial Emergency
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/10/stop-before-you-shop.html
Pay for Rain Check Bargains and Never Miss Out
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/11/pay-for-rain-check-bargains-and-never.html
Lemon Chicken and Parmesan Rissoles
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/02/lemon-chicken-and-parmesan-rissoles.html
8. This Week's Question
Echidnatow writes
"Over the years I have accumulated vast amounts of body lotion (mainly given as gifts). Has anyone found another use for body lotion - apart from skin application. Can it be used in the laundry or home uses? Most are highly perfumed. "
Do you have the answer?
If you have a suggestion or idea for Echidnatow let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
Send your answer
9. Ask Cath
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. Members can update their email address or any other details by clicking on "Edit Profile" directly under their membership number after they have logged in to the Member's Centre. Subscribers to our free newsletter can use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
Read our privacy policy
How Did You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Novel Lunchable Container Keeps Mum and Kids Happy; Keeping Track of Recipes; Stick a Cork in It
3. Share Your Tips - Share your best tip for a chance to win
4. 2017 Saving Revolution has begun
5. On the Menu - Leftover Roast Pies
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Taming the Grocery Budget Part 2 - Seasonal Shopping and Eating
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. This Week's Question - Ideas needed to use up excess body lotion
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Here is our first newsletter for 2017. It is so exciting to be planning newsletters for this brand-new year, almost as exciting as starting a brand-new diary.
Wayne and I are travelling home from Sydney today, stopping in to visit family along the way.
I hope you enjoy your newsletter and have a wonderful week everyone.
PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us!
2. From The Tip Store
Novel Lunchable Container Keeps Mum and Kids Happy
My preschooler loves Lunchables (he found out about them at daycare) and will eat everything in one when he has them. Because they are so expensive to buy, and are not that great nutritionally, I bought three small boxes that have two small and two large compartments in them and make my own version of a Lunchable. I usually put in a piece of chicken, two or three cheese cubes, some cherry tomatoes, a twist of sultanas and his drink bottle (half frozen to keep it all cool). I know there's nothing special in this, lots of dollar savvy mums out there do it. My trick is I didn't spend a fortune on special lunchboxes or Tupperware - I went to the Reject Shop and bought three small boxes from the hardware department for $1.50 each! They are usually used for fishing gear or small took kits, but they make great lunchable boxes and best of all if one gets lost it's not a big deal.
Contributed by Tanya Grieves
Keeping Track of Recipes
I have so many recipe books and find I don't use half of them. I am also a great one for pulling recipes out of magazines and newspapers, never to be used again. My solution - I bought an iPad. Obviously not just for my recipe collection. I have started copying my favourite recipes into an app called My Cookbook. You can also add photos and it provides a shopping list of the ingredients needed for the dish. You simply cross off with your finger the ingredients you have and then purchase the rest. If you have an iPhone, you can transfer the shopping list to a shopping list app on your phone. No more pieces of paper lying around or placed in a folder you will never look at. It is easy to search for recipes as they are filed under categories and there is a search area. I also purchased the wireless keyboard and a cover which doubles as a stand so I can access and view my recipes whilst I am cooking. We are going on holidays next week so purchased the iPad holder which can be attached to the back of the car seat to turn it into a cinema for my son. No more lugging DVD's to watch on the player it is now all stored on the iPad. You can rent movies through iTunes so the kids never get bored.
Contributed by Megan Hall
Stick a Cork in It
Approximate $ Savings: $5.00
We've just come back to Victoria from a week's caravanning holiday in Mannum/Robe SA. The best time to travel is definitely before Christmas - fewer crowds, little to no traffic! And are we ready for the BIG day! Rested, de-stressed and all organised! (24 hours in advance). However, this hint applies to the basic need of washing or having clean water to wash in whilst bush camping. We have yet to use a sink plug (funny how they always go missing...........) for our tiny yet versatile 11-foot caravan which sleeps 2 adults (double bed) and 2 children (in bunk beds). We open a bottle of wine to celebrate the beginning of our holiday and use the fresh cork as our sink plug.
Contributed by Melinda Rau-Wig
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit Your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Submit your tip
4. 2017 Saving Revolution has Begun
Do you want (or need) to take control of your financial life?
Perhaps you're floundering, not sure where to start. Or you've started (and maybe re-started) and just need some encouragement and guidance to keep working towards your goal of being debt free.
You need the Cheapskates Club Saving Revolution.
The Saving Revolution is a yearlong plan to get you onto the road to financial freedom.
The Revolutionary Challenges include:
Spending Plans - what is a spending plan, how to develop a spending plan, reviewing a spending plan and sticking to a spending plan!
Peace of Mind Accounts and Emergency Funds - what they are, how they work, what the difference is and why they are essential for financial peace of mind.
Assessing your finances - getting bills under control, paid on time and reviewing expenses.
Stockpiling 101 - learn how to strategically and economically build a stockpile, what to stockpile (and it's not just groceries), how to rotate your stockpile, when to stockpile and most important of all, why stockpile.
Monthly menu planning - the how and why of feeding a family on a limited budget.
Children and money - start teaching your children the benefits of living the Cheapskates way now and they'll follow your example to a debt free, cashed up life.
Registration for the 2017 Saving Revolution has opened (it's free!).
Click here to register, then get ready for an amazing financial revolution.
5. On the Menu
Leftover Roast Pies
Ingredients:
Leftover roast meat - any sort works
Leftover vegies from the meal
Leftover gravy, or make up another cup of Gravox gravy if not enough
Puff pastry
Method:
Chop up all left over roast meat and vegetables into small pieces after the meal, if any gravy left over mix it in then refrigerate until needed. To make the pies, reheat the meat, veg and gravy mix in a frypan on stove. Once sufficiently heated through and of desired consistency just go ahead and make pies as normal. We usually have this for lunch the day after the roast and it's a great way to use up all leftovers and the kids don't complain about the vegies inside the pies.
Apple and Custard Pies
Ingredients:
1 sheet shortcrust pastry
1 sheet puff pastry
1 cup stewed apple (can use tinned pie apple)
1/4 cup sultanas
1 cup very thick custard (homemade or bought)
1 tbsp sugar
Method:
Thaw pastry. Cut four bases from the shortcrust pastry and four tops from the puff pastry. You may need to jiggle the tops to fit onto the pastry sheet. Mix the apple and sultanas. Press bases into pie maker. Place a quarter cup of custard in the base of each pie. Top with a quarter cup of apple mixture. Place puff pastry tops onto pies. Sprinkle with sugar. Cook as per pie maker instructions.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Lamb fritters, salad
Tuesday: Spag bol
Wednesday: Mexican Lasagne, salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Toasted Sandwiches
In the fruit bowl: oranges, grapes, bananas
In the cake tin: Christmas cake, coconut biscuits, shortbread
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Taming the Grocery Budget Part 2 - Seasonal Shopping and Eating
With shopping centres all over the place (most Australians live within a 10 minute drive of a major shopping centre), the temptation is a one-stop-shop. That’s exactly what the supermarkets want us to do: pull into a shopping centre and you can do your grocery shopping, get your car serviced, buy a camping tent, pick up a pair of boots for junior, and some socks for the hubby, fill a prescription, and have an eye exam…all in one place. To a busy mum (or dad), that must sound like heaven, I know it does to me.
But these one-stop-shops aren’t always the most economical way to go. Most often the produce department is filled with produce that has been in cold storage for months or shipped in from another country (lemons from the USA, garlic from China, berries from the UK and so on). That means it’s already old. And you’ve got a couple of days, max, to eat it before it goes bad. Except then you forget and it goes bad before you get a chance to use it, and then you haven’t really saved any money or time after all!
I am blessed to live in an area with an abundance of markets and produce stands. We don’t have much in the way of food buying co-ops…but we do have a wealth of small orchards with beautiful seasonal produce at excellent prices.
If you do a little research and figure out what’s coming into harvest during certain months of the year, you can really save a LOT of money by planning your menu around in-season food purchases.
For example, in Melbourne (my area) during the summer months here’s what is in season:
Apricots
Bananas
Berries
Cherries
Figs
Grapefruit
Grapes
Oranges
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Strawberries
Beans
Beetroot
Capsicum
Carrots
Chillies
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Lettuce
Onions
Potatoes
Silverbeet
Tomatoes
Zucchini
That’s quite a list and a great variety. The advantage of locally grown, in-season produce is that it is so fresh and so much more affordable.
And if you have a garden, it’s almost free food.
When I plan the fruit and veg component of our meal plan I use the in-season foods. For example, at this time of year we eat lots of salads with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicums and enjoy stone fruits and melons because we won’t be having them during the winter months.
The Seasonal Food Guide Australia is a great, easy to use resource to help you find what’s in season in your area. Just choose your area and it will bring up a list of fruits and vegetables and when they are in season.
One thing I’ve found handy for picking up seasonal bargains is cash. I very rarely have cash on me, but most roadside stalls will only take cash, especially the ones with honesty boxes. I hate to find a stall with fresh strawberries at a rock bottom price and have to pass it up because I don’t have any cash on me.
During Spring, Summer and Autumn (that’s when most roadside stands operate) I keep an envelope with some $1 coins in it so when I see watermelons for $2 each or cherries for $3/kg or fresh corn 5 cobs for $1 I can buy them.
As you meal plan, include in season fruits and vegetables. Be prepared to rotate your meals according to the seasons. Salad in winter doesn’t make a lot of sense if lettuces are $4 each, tomatoes are $8 a kilo and cucumbers are $2 each, but you know cabbages are $2 each, carrots are 89 cents a kilo and onions are 80 cents a kilo and you can make a whole lot of coleslaw for $3.69, enough for dinner and to enjoy with other meals later in the week.
Don’t be afraid of blemishes. Perfectly good fruit and vegetables are dumped because consumers only want perfect food. The perfect tomato, the unblemished watermelon, the smooth pumpkin. Truth is in nature those things aren’t perfect. If you grow your own veggies you’ll know this is true.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with tomatoes that are an odd shape or a pumpkin that has some marks on the skin (and many older farmers believe that pumpkins and melons with marks on the skin are the best tasting because they’ve been “kissed” by the sun).
Farmers and stall holders mark them down because we shoppers want perfection, and we pay a high price for it.
If you find a box of tomatoes that are a little over-ripe or not quite round buy it. Make sauce, dry some or turn them into chutney and save a fortune. I bought a 10kg box of tomatoes last week for $6 and used it to make pasta sauce that has been bottled for winter (and yes, I have kilos of tomatoes in the garden, they are being eaten and made into sauce and chutney too).
Food is the biggest waste not only in our households but in our country. It is a disgrace that perfectly good food is dumped to landfill, causing huge problems with odour and greenhouse gases, not to mention the billions of dollars wasted.
Don't let wasted food blow your grocery budget out of control.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Tracking your Goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3276-tracking-your-goals&p=59916#post59916
There's a Whole World of MOO to Explore.
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3460-There-s-a-whole-world-of-MOO-to-explore.
How Many of you Shop Monthly?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3295-How-many-of-you-shop-monthly
Most popular blog posts this week
12 Strategies for Coping with a Financial Emergency
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/10/stop-before-you-shop.html
Pay for Rain Check Bargains and Never Miss Out
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/11/pay-for-rain-check-bargains-and-never.html
Lemon Chicken and Parmesan Rissoles
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/02/lemon-chicken-and-parmesan-rissoles.html
8. This Week's Question
Echidnatow writes
"Over the years I have accumulated vast amounts of body lotion (mainly given as gifts). Has anyone found another use for body lotion - apart from skin application. Can it be used in the laundry or home uses? Most are highly perfumed. "
Do you have the answer?
If you have a suggestion or idea for Echidnatow let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
Send your answer
9. Ask Cath
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. Members can update their email address or any other details by clicking on "Edit Profile" directly under their membership number after they have logged in to the Member's Centre. Subscribers to our free newsletter can use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
Read our privacy policy
How Did You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152