Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 01:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Beaut Buckets Cheap; DIY No Touch Hand Wash Refill; Grout and Oil Spills: ALDI Wet Wipes to the Rescue
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - Menu Planning for the Whole Year
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Mexican Taco Pie
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - From the Archives: Pantry Clean Out
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - Ready for 2018
9. Last Week's Question - Can you help me plan a 60th anniversary party?
10. This Week's Question - Where to start?
11. Ask Cath
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Happy New Year!
Welcome to our new members, you've chosen the perfect time to join us on our journey to frugality.
I've loved reading your ideas for celebrating a 60th wedding anniversary. Sixty years of marriage is a huge milestone, one Wayne's parents celebrated on 21st December, and then a friends parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary the next week. There are some great ideas for celebrating such a wonderful event; we were able to include some in this newsletter, and they've all be added to the Special Occasions Tip Store.
I've made out my goals for the year and for January. I am excited by the possibilities of a brand new year ahead and the opportunities that it brings. This year we have some big goals - a major holiday being one we are looking forward too.
To make these goals a reality, every day I do something to save money so we can afford them. Every single day. It may be to make sure appliances are switched off at the wall or it may be to put back something I was thinking of buying. It could be using the veggies from the garden to make a green salad rather than buying cabbage to make coleslaw. I may spend 5 minutes sewing a button back on a shirt before it comes off and gets lost or I could take a walk to the library and choose some books to read instead of going to a book shop. Making gifts, instead of buying them. Sticking to the grocery budget. Tracking petrol prices so I always pay the lowest possible price. Doing the research before buying big ticket items (or even small things). Sticking to the $100/24 Hour Rule. Doing my own nails (there's $15 a week saved immediately!).
There are lots of "experts" who'll tell you that saving those small amounts is pointless. They'll tell you that giving up your Gloria Jeans or Muffin Break or Starbucks every morning, or that taking your lunch to work or waiting for the cheapest day to fill the car won't save you big bucks. Well, I'm telling you they're wrong!
All these little things on their own may not appear to be saving anything. But they all add up. Each individual saving may not equal too many cents, but add them up and then combine the lot of them and it sure does add up to a lot of money over the course of a year, around $33,000 for my family. That's $33,000 we have to spend on the things that are important to us, to build savings and to invest in our future - without worrying about debt.
So, when you're setting your goals for the year, think about the little things you can do to help you reach them.
Because, as the song says, from little things big things grow.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
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
Beaut Buckets Cheap
At supermarkets here in NZ, the butchery and bakery departments get bulk supplies of sauces and flavourings etc in various sized buckets. They are usually either 2L or 10L and are very thick sturdy plastic. They come with a very well fitted lid and a sturdy handle. My local supermarket sells these to customers (who know to ask) for a couple of dollars each. For a new sturdy lidded bucket at a department or hardware store you can pay $10-$15! They are great for kitchen compost buckets, soaking clothes in or making bulk lots of liquids such as laundry detergent or miracle spray. With the tight fitting lid it means keeping smells/spills to a minimum and keeping large amounts of liquid safe from small children.
Contributed by Alicia Jones
Note: Some bakeries and cake shops here in Australia will also sell these buckets. Another source is your local butcher. Ask around, they're great for all manner of things from soaking laundry to storing things in the shed. We use them to hold various camping gear neatly. Cath
DIY No Touch Hand Wash Refill
I love my Dettol No Touch hand wash system but with the refills costing at least $5.00 a pop, it can get quite expensive! A cheap alternative to buying the refills is refilling the containers yourself. All you need is bottle of regular hand wash refill (I normally buy the Woolies hand wash refill which is $2.99 for 750ml) and a plastic syringe (I had one already, but you can buy them from Chemist Warehouse for 40 cents). When the refill container is empty, simply suck up some hand wash with your syringe and carefully but firmly insert into the opening at the top and press the plunger. Repeat until your container is full. Et voila: cheap refills for your No Touch system!
Contributed by Hazel Maung
Grout and Oil Spills: ALDI Wet Wipes to the Rescue
Cleaning grout grub is hard. But not with ALDI wet wipes. I discovered this when I was taking a private phone call away from the kids in the locked bathroom and spied the packet of Mamia wet wipes on the floor and idly started rubbing while I was talking. It unexpectedly worked a charm. (So far I'm avoiding confronting the question of what I'm actually applying to my baby's skin if it cleans grubby grout so easily).
Cleaning oil spills off the kitchen floor is hard. Particularly ones that the four year old has created, enjoyed slipping and sliding in, then walked through the house on the bottom of feet. But it's not hard to clean up with wet wipes! One wipe and off it comes.
Contributed by Kerry Alexander
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Cheapskates Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from DM. DM has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Menu Planning for the Whole Year
"I'd like to share with you my journey last year with food menu. After reading newsletters are getting inspiration from Kath and others on the site I decided to write a menu for the very first time. My husband and I write a list of meals that we like to eat, about twenty meals. Next I bought a two dollar calendar and wrote the meal rotation on the calendar to last for the whole year. I did a stock take of the food available in the freezer, fridge, and the pantry, and started writing a shopping list every week of things that I needed for my menu. I made a commitment to cut down on waste and on the amount being spent on food for the household. I was inspired by the $300 a Month Food Challenge and worked towards keeping my food bill to that $300 a month, or less. I put the calendar/menu in the kitchen and started working the plan. Some surprisingly and interesting things started to happen. Everyone who came into the kitchen read the menu, my children, my grandchildren, my husband and even friends. It was a great way to start new conversations about money budgeting, and meal preparation, and healthy eating along with money management , food budgets and the joy of choosing what meals to make by everybody in the family. This was big for me, as my grown-up children are really struggling with their budgets and spending a lot of their income on food and finding it challenging to make males that everybody in the family is interested in eating. The grandchildren crossed off the days on the calendar and read the daily meals every time they came over and had conversations about what their favourite foods are and healthy eating. I have change the way I shop by purchasing meat in bulk when it's on sale and then weighing out the amount of meat required to match the meal on the menu and freezing it in an organised way. For the first time in my life I actually know what's in the freezer! We have reduced our spending on food and are much more aware of where our money is going. It's helped me to have positive conversations in a non-threatening and interesting way with my adult family and my grandchildren and that's fantastic! I'm about to pick up a new calendar and write up a new menu for 2018 and look forward to lots of lovely meals, educational chats with the family, and saving plenty of money well eating really well!"
I love this! I've been doing a yearly meal plan for six years now (before I'd always do a month ahead). I work on it in October/November, adding a few new recipes over the year and scrapping the meals we didn't like. My meal plan is done as a spreadsheet, and I colour code the months to make it easy to read. Once it's done, it's printed, laminated (it has to last a whole year) and put in the pantry. Like DM's family, mine loves checking the meal plan to see what's coming up. It may sound like overkill, but my grocery budget hasn’t changed in over 10 years, while grocery prices seem to go up and up and up, and having a meal plan is the main thing that helps me stay on budget.
Congratulations DM, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
4. 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
5. On the Menu
On Saturday nights we tend to have very simple, quick and easy meals. Often on a Saturday we have visitors for lunch, so a big dinner isn't necessary or wanted. Taco pie is a favourite. To make getting it on the table easier, I use a packet of browned mince from the freezer.
When it's ready, the dish goes onto the table and everyone helps themselves.
Mexican Taco Pie
Ingredients:
500g mince
300g jar salsa (or MOO it)
2 tins red kidney beans, drained
1 pkt taco seasoning (I use MOO Taco Seasoning)
3 cups crushed corn chips
300ml sour cream
60g sliced black olives, drained (optional)
3 spring onions, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cups grated cheese
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook mince until no longer pink. Stir in salsa and taco seasoning, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in beans, and heat through. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Spread crushed tortilla chips in dish, and then spoon beef mixture over chips. Spread sour cream over beef, and sprinkle olives, green onion and tomato over the sour cream. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
This recipe is from the Easy Meals Recipe File
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Cream Cheese Patties, Salad
Tuesday: Lasagne & salad
Wednesday: French Shepherd’s Pie & salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Kransky, Hot Potato Salad
Saturday: Mexican Taco Pie
In the fruit bowl: watermelon, strawberries, grapes, bananas
In the cake tin: Shortbread, choc chip muffins
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Wendy is having a much deserved break, so here's a post from the $300 a Month Food Challenge archives.
From the Archives: Pantry Clean Out
Hello fellow Cheapskaters and welcome to the $300 a Month Food Challenge.
There is excitement building as new and old members have put their hands up to join the challenge. If you haven't joined yet, you are more than welcome to join at any time during the year.
The first step to starting your own challenge is to know exactly what groceries and supplies you already have on hand. Shopping without an idea of what you have is a recipe for disaster as you'll end up buying things you already have and forgetting important ingredients. So let's avoid disaster and start at the beginning.
The first challenge for the year is to sort out your pantry. You might have more than one storage area for dry goods. It could be the pantry, a cupboard, under the bed or if you're like Cath, you could be storing cereal in your clothes dryer. So this week, clean, sort and wipe out all your storage areas.
Throw out anything that can't be used. Check use by and best before dates. Use by dates should be followed and items thrown out if it's expired. If it's a best before date, then use your judgement. If the item is stale then maybe throw it out. If your family's tastes have changed then maybe bless someone else with the food items..
Use this challenge to neaten each shelf and stack like items together. If you find opened packets of bits and pieces, store then in a labelled container to avoid spoilage.
I keep my pantry reasonably neat at all times and try to clean it out a few times a year. I going to do this challenge alongside all of you. So I'm off now to clean out my pantry. I hope I don't find any surprises.
Will you join me in cleaning out your pantry?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Home Repair Kit
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?91-Home-repair-kit
Tracking Your Goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3276-tracking-your-goals
What are You Harvesting from Your Garden
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2726-What-are-you-harvesting-from-your-garden
Most popular blog posts this week
A New Year, a New Diary
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/12/a-new-year-new-diary.html
Housekeeping on a Thursday
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/07/housekeeping-on-thursday.html
6 Tips to Save on Back-to-School Supplies
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/01/pencils-pads-pens-and-notebooks-mean.html
8. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by Mumof2.
Ready for 2018
I can honestly say that I am looking for to 2018...this has been a rough year and we are not where I wanted us to be but looking over the last year we did pretty well for everything that we had to do.
I have my budget ready for 2018. I am changing things up a bit, still sticking to the basics but trying new things which I think will help as well, also have done my mum's budget for next year as well. She is a bit excited that I have it all up for her and she has nothing to do...have put her on a cash budget (she has no computer so I do all for her); she loves that she only has to go to the bank once. I have really changed how she does things and her buying habits...she really thinks about it now she doesn't use her card.
I have been slack lately with menu planning/shopping etc. We have stuck to our food budget, but know we can do better. So some of my goals for next year are:
•to get back to menu planning
•to get my emergency fund back to $2,000
•to pay off the little we owe on the CC (this was from helping family out)
•to start bottling/preserving more
•to get back to growing more vegies in the garden
•to dry more of our produce and herbs (we do a lot already)
•to stick to our budget.
Have lots to work on but know next year will be a better year.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Maria who wrote
"My parents 60th wedding anniversary is coming up and my siblings and I would love to give them a wedding reception, as they didn't have one when they were married. They have given us everything and gone without all their married lives to support us, so we really want this to be a special day. We have hired the local hall, but now are stumped on the essentials - invitations, food, drink, decorations, photographer, flowers, honeymoon - all the things you'd normally have for a wedding and wedding reception. Our budget is tight, so we'll be MOOing as much as possible. We need the combined creativity of the Cheapskates Club to make this something special for them - please help!"
Stephanie Degano answered
We applied to have a congratulatory card sent from the Queen. We organised for delivery to our home and presented the card on the evening. It was a lovely touch on the evening's proceedings as along with the Queen's card we also received messages from the Prime Minister and Governor General. Requests for a message from The Queen and/or the Governor-General can be made through your local Federal Member or Senator's electorate office or the Honours, Symbols and Territories Branch of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. I googled "congratulatory messages from the Queen" and filled in a form along with a statutory declaration. My in-laws were so thrilled and they made a talking point for weeks afterwards when showing their friends and neighbours.
Janie-Lee McRobert answered
Try asking people to bring vases of a lovely flower. Tell them to label their vase. Decorations! Easy! Christmas decorations will do nicely - you can use them in so many different ways. Drinks can be punch - cheap cordial with orange slices, strawberries and (clean) plastic flowers floating on top. Food can be made by everyone who could bring a certain plate. There is always someone trying to enhance their business. Ask for discounts! Make it a federation or 1940s theme in line with "hard times make for inspiring ideas". After all, when they first met they would have done exactly THAT. Google ideas - I've found no end of ideas online. Somebody who works in an office could supply free confetti- if you remember to vacuum it all up after- from their hole punchers. And most of all, a homemade cake shows more love I think than the fanciest shop bought one. A photo album passed around to sign etc for the night, cd player with their favourite tunes....
Ps hope you all have a blast preparing, during AND whilst cleaning up after!
Sally Coverdale answered
For photography, I have found that there is always someone amongst family/friends who is great at this - would they do it as part of their contribution? And you can always request people send you copies of photos they take personally so that after the event, there are lots of different ones to make a gorgeous scrapbook with.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Jill Parker answered
Think laterally. Are you trying to give them a wedding reception measured by modern standards that you would recognise or something more like they would have had back in their day (if they had had the opportunity)? What would they enjoy? An afternoon tea, having all the family together for an event, jazz trio or family presenting their talents? Check out Pinterest for endless ideas and starting points. You could also try airtasker to collect an ensemble of clever people to help you at a negotiated price. Pick a focus and work with it. A recent wedding success I know of had an ice cream vendor, bouncy castle and petting zoo as the couple had many children between them and most of their guests brought along their children, who were well entertained, allowing the adults to enjoy the day.
Susie McGufficke answered
What a beautiful gesture.
Invitations: Send via email with a nice template. Cost = Nil
Food & Drinks: Have a picnic reception and ask guests to BYO picnic basket. Cost = Nil
Decorations: I can't think of a no cost option here but Gumtree, Kmart and Dollar stores can be your friend. Perhaps photographs spanning their 60 years as table decorations may be an option also.
Photographer: Most people have good cameras in their phones nowadays, and judging by the quality of Instagram photos - there are some excellent amateur photographers out there. Ask the guests to take photos & use the best of them for the 'wedding album'. Cost = Nil
Flowers: Ask friends, family and neighbours who have beautiful gardens if they'd like to contribute to the wedding by donating some flora from their gardens. Most gardeners love showing off the fruits of their labour. Cost = Nil
Music/entertainment: Get one of the young'ns to make a play list on Spotify - perhaps the number one song from each year of their marriage. Perhaps ask if anyone can lend you some decent sounding speakers, Cost = Nil
Honeymoon: Look into a home swap. Cost = Nil.
10. This Week's Question
Julia writes
"I've just joined Cheapskates (in November), so am relatively new and loving every minute. I'm a little overwhelmed at all the information and struggling to really start. My DH and I have set goals to clear our CC debt this year and to increase our mortgage payment by $120 a week (an extra $6,240 paid off this year!) and on paper we should be able to do it, but our money just seems to disappear - hence joining (we need the inspiration and the motivation). Do you have any suggestions to new members where to start? What do other members do to get the best out of Cheapskates?"
Do you have a suggestion or some advicefor Julia?
If you can help Julia, 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
11. 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
12. 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!
13. 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.
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
14. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Beaut Buckets Cheap; DIY No Touch Hand Wash Refill; Grout and Oil Spills: ALDI Wet Wipes to the Rescue
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - Menu Planning for the Whole Year
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Mexican Taco Pie
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - From the Archives: Pantry Clean Out
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - Ready for 2018
9. Last Week's Question - Can you help me plan a 60th anniversary party?
10. This Week's Question - Where to start?
11. Ask Cath
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Happy New Year!
Welcome to our new members, you've chosen the perfect time to join us on our journey to frugality.
I've loved reading your ideas for celebrating a 60th wedding anniversary. Sixty years of marriage is a huge milestone, one Wayne's parents celebrated on 21st December, and then a friends parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary the next week. There are some great ideas for celebrating such a wonderful event; we were able to include some in this newsletter, and they've all be added to the Special Occasions Tip Store.
I've made out my goals for the year and for January. I am excited by the possibilities of a brand new year ahead and the opportunities that it brings. This year we have some big goals - a major holiday being one we are looking forward too.
To make these goals a reality, every day I do something to save money so we can afford them. Every single day. It may be to make sure appliances are switched off at the wall or it may be to put back something I was thinking of buying. It could be using the veggies from the garden to make a green salad rather than buying cabbage to make coleslaw. I may spend 5 minutes sewing a button back on a shirt before it comes off and gets lost or I could take a walk to the library and choose some books to read instead of going to a book shop. Making gifts, instead of buying them. Sticking to the grocery budget. Tracking petrol prices so I always pay the lowest possible price. Doing the research before buying big ticket items (or even small things). Sticking to the $100/24 Hour Rule. Doing my own nails (there's $15 a week saved immediately!).
There are lots of "experts" who'll tell you that saving those small amounts is pointless. They'll tell you that giving up your Gloria Jeans or Muffin Break or Starbucks every morning, or that taking your lunch to work or waiting for the cheapest day to fill the car won't save you big bucks. Well, I'm telling you they're wrong!
All these little things on their own may not appear to be saving anything. But they all add up. Each individual saving may not equal too many cents, but add them up and then combine the lot of them and it sure does add up to a lot of money over the course of a year, around $33,000 for my family. That's $33,000 we have to spend on the things that are important to us, to build savings and to invest in our future - without worrying about debt.
So, when you're setting your goals for the year, think about the little things you can do to help you reach them.
Because, as the song says, from little things big things grow.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
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
Beaut Buckets Cheap
At supermarkets here in NZ, the butchery and bakery departments get bulk supplies of sauces and flavourings etc in various sized buckets. They are usually either 2L or 10L and are very thick sturdy plastic. They come with a very well fitted lid and a sturdy handle. My local supermarket sells these to customers (who know to ask) for a couple of dollars each. For a new sturdy lidded bucket at a department or hardware store you can pay $10-$15! They are great for kitchen compost buckets, soaking clothes in or making bulk lots of liquids such as laundry detergent or miracle spray. With the tight fitting lid it means keeping smells/spills to a minimum and keeping large amounts of liquid safe from small children.
Contributed by Alicia Jones
Note: Some bakeries and cake shops here in Australia will also sell these buckets. Another source is your local butcher. Ask around, they're great for all manner of things from soaking laundry to storing things in the shed. We use them to hold various camping gear neatly. Cath
DIY No Touch Hand Wash Refill
I love my Dettol No Touch hand wash system but with the refills costing at least $5.00 a pop, it can get quite expensive! A cheap alternative to buying the refills is refilling the containers yourself. All you need is bottle of regular hand wash refill (I normally buy the Woolies hand wash refill which is $2.99 for 750ml) and a plastic syringe (I had one already, but you can buy them from Chemist Warehouse for 40 cents). When the refill container is empty, simply suck up some hand wash with your syringe and carefully but firmly insert into the opening at the top and press the plunger. Repeat until your container is full. Et voila: cheap refills for your No Touch system!
Contributed by Hazel Maung
Grout and Oil Spills: ALDI Wet Wipes to the Rescue
Cleaning grout grub is hard. But not with ALDI wet wipes. I discovered this when I was taking a private phone call away from the kids in the locked bathroom and spied the packet of Mamia wet wipes on the floor and idly started rubbing while I was talking. It unexpectedly worked a charm. (So far I'm avoiding confronting the question of what I'm actually applying to my baby's skin if it cleans grubby grout so easily).
Cleaning oil spills off the kitchen floor is hard. Particularly ones that the four year old has created, enjoyed slipping and sliding in, then walked through the house on the bottom of feet. But it's not hard to clean up with wet wipes! One wipe and off it comes.
Contributed by Kerry Alexander
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Cheapskates Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from DM. DM has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Menu Planning for the Whole Year
"I'd like to share with you my journey last year with food menu. After reading newsletters are getting inspiration from Kath and others on the site I decided to write a menu for the very first time. My husband and I write a list of meals that we like to eat, about twenty meals. Next I bought a two dollar calendar and wrote the meal rotation on the calendar to last for the whole year. I did a stock take of the food available in the freezer, fridge, and the pantry, and started writing a shopping list every week of things that I needed for my menu. I made a commitment to cut down on waste and on the amount being spent on food for the household. I was inspired by the $300 a Month Food Challenge and worked towards keeping my food bill to that $300 a month, or less. I put the calendar/menu in the kitchen and started working the plan. Some surprisingly and interesting things started to happen. Everyone who came into the kitchen read the menu, my children, my grandchildren, my husband and even friends. It was a great way to start new conversations about money budgeting, and meal preparation, and healthy eating along with money management , food budgets and the joy of choosing what meals to make by everybody in the family. This was big for me, as my grown-up children are really struggling with their budgets and spending a lot of their income on food and finding it challenging to make males that everybody in the family is interested in eating. The grandchildren crossed off the days on the calendar and read the daily meals every time they came over and had conversations about what their favourite foods are and healthy eating. I have change the way I shop by purchasing meat in bulk when it's on sale and then weighing out the amount of meat required to match the meal on the menu and freezing it in an organised way. For the first time in my life I actually know what's in the freezer! We have reduced our spending on food and are much more aware of where our money is going. It's helped me to have positive conversations in a non-threatening and interesting way with my adult family and my grandchildren and that's fantastic! I'm about to pick up a new calendar and write up a new menu for 2018 and look forward to lots of lovely meals, educational chats with the family, and saving plenty of money well eating really well!"
I love this! I've been doing a yearly meal plan for six years now (before I'd always do a month ahead). I work on it in October/November, adding a few new recipes over the year and scrapping the meals we didn't like. My meal plan is done as a spreadsheet, and I colour code the months to make it easy to read. Once it's done, it's printed, laminated (it has to last a whole year) and put in the pantry. Like DM's family, mine loves checking the meal plan to see what's coming up. It may sound like overkill, but my grocery budget hasn’t changed in over 10 years, while grocery prices seem to go up and up and up, and having a meal plan is the main thing that helps me stay on budget.
Congratulations DM, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
4. 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
5. On the Menu
On Saturday nights we tend to have very simple, quick and easy meals. Often on a Saturday we have visitors for lunch, so a big dinner isn't necessary or wanted. Taco pie is a favourite. To make getting it on the table easier, I use a packet of browned mince from the freezer.
When it's ready, the dish goes onto the table and everyone helps themselves.
Mexican Taco Pie
Ingredients:
500g mince
300g jar salsa (or MOO it)
2 tins red kidney beans, drained
1 pkt taco seasoning (I use MOO Taco Seasoning)
3 cups crushed corn chips
300ml sour cream
60g sliced black olives, drained (optional)
3 spring onions, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cups grated cheese
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook mince until no longer pink. Stir in salsa and taco seasoning, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in beans, and heat through. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Spread crushed tortilla chips in dish, and then spoon beef mixture over chips. Spread sour cream over beef, and sprinkle olives, green onion and tomato over the sour cream. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
This recipe is from the Easy Meals Recipe File
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Cream Cheese Patties, Salad
Tuesday: Lasagne & salad
Wednesday: French Shepherd’s Pie & salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Kransky, Hot Potato Salad
Saturday: Mexican Taco Pie
In the fruit bowl: watermelon, strawberries, grapes, bananas
In the cake tin: Shortbread, choc chip muffins
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Wendy is having a much deserved break, so here's a post from the $300 a Month Food Challenge archives.
From the Archives: Pantry Clean Out
Hello fellow Cheapskaters and welcome to the $300 a Month Food Challenge.
There is excitement building as new and old members have put their hands up to join the challenge. If you haven't joined yet, you are more than welcome to join at any time during the year.
The first step to starting your own challenge is to know exactly what groceries and supplies you already have on hand. Shopping without an idea of what you have is a recipe for disaster as you'll end up buying things you already have and forgetting important ingredients. So let's avoid disaster and start at the beginning.
The first challenge for the year is to sort out your pantry. You might have more than one storage area for dry goods. It could be the pantry, a cupboard, under the bed or if you're like Cath, you could be storing cereal in your clothes dryer. So this week, clean, sort and wipe out all your storage areas.
Throw out anything that can't be used. Check use by and best before dates. Use by dates should be followed and items thrown out if it's expired. If it's a best before date, then use your judgement. If the item is stale then maybe throw it out. If your family's tastes have changed then maybe bless someone else with the food items..
Use this challenge to neaten each shelf and stack like items together. If you find opened packets of bits and pieces, store then in a labelled container to avoid spoilage.
I keep my pantry reasonably neat at all times and try to clean it out a few times a year. I going to do this challenge alongside all of you. So I'm off now to clean out my pantry. I hope I don't find any surprises.
Will you join me in cleaning out your pantry?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Home Repair Kit
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?91-Home-repair-kit
Tracking Your Goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3276-tracking-your-goals
What are You Harvesting from Your Garden
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2726-What-are-you-harvesting-from-your-garden
Most popular blog posts this week
A New Year, a New Diary
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/12/a-new-year-new-diary.html
Housekeeping on a Thursday
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/07/housekeeping-on-thursday.html
6 Tips to Save on Back-to-School Supplies
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/01/pencils-pads-pens-and-notebooks-mean.html
8. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by Mumof2.
Ready for 2018
I can honestly say that I am looking for to 2018...this has been a rough year and we are not where I wanted us to be but looking over the last year we did pretty well for everything that we had to do.
I have my budget ready for 2018. I am changing things up a bit, still sticking to the basics but trying new things which I think will help as well, also have done my mum's budget for next year as well. She is a bit excited that I have it all up for her and she has nothing to do...have put her on a cash budget (she has no computer so I do all for her); she loves that she only has to go to the bank once. I have really changed how she does things and her buying habits...she really thinks about it now she doesn't use her card.
I have been slack lately with menu planning/shopping etc. We have stuck to our food budget, but know we can do better. So some of my goals for next year are:
•to get back to menu planning
•to get my emergency fund back to $2,000
•to pay off the little we owe on the CC (this was from helping family out)
•to start bottling/preserving more
•to get back to growing more vegies in the garden
•to dry more of our produce and herbs (we do a lot already)
•to stick to our budget.
Have lots to work on but know next year will be a better year.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Maria who wrote
"My parents 60th wedding anniversary is coming up and my siblings and I would love to give them a wedding reception, as they didn't have one when they were married. They have given us everything and gone without all their married lives to support us, so we really want this to be a special day. We have hired the local hall, but now are stumped on the essentials - invitations, food, drink, decorations, photographer, flowers, honeymoon - all the things you'd normally have for a wedding and wedding reception. Our budget is tight, so we'll be MOOing as much as possible. We need the combined creativity of the Cheapskates Club to make this something special for them - please help!"
Stephanie Degano answered
We applied to have a congratulatory card sent from the Queen. We organised for delivery to our home and presented the card on the evening. It was a lovely touch on the evening's proceedings as along with the Queen's card we also received messages from the Prime Minister and Governor General. Requests for a message from The Queen and/or the Governor-General can be made through your local Federal Member or Senator's electorate office or the Honours, Symbols and Territories Branch of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. I googled "congratulatory messages from the Queen" and filled in a form along with a statutory declaration. My in-laws were so thrilled and they made a talking point for weeks afterwards when showing their friends and neighbours.
Janie-Lee McRobert answered
Try asking people to bring vases of a lovely flower. Tell them to label their vase. Decorations! Easy! Christmas decorations will do nicely - you can use them in so many different ways. Drinks can be punch - cheap cordial with orange slices, strawberries and (clean) plastic flowers floating on top. Food can be made by everyone who could bring a certain plate. There is always someone trying to enhance their business. Ask for discounts! Make it a federation or 1940s theme in line with "hard times make for inspiring ideas". After all, when they first met they would have done exactly THAT. Google ideas - I've found no end of ideas online. Somebody who works in an office could supply free confetti- if you remember to vacuum it all up after- from their hole punchers. And most of all, a homemade cake shows more love I think than the fanciest shop bought one. A photo album passed around to sign etc for the night, cd player with their favourite tunes....
Ps hope you all have a blast preparing, during AND whilst cleaning up after!
Sally Coverdale answered
For photography, I have found that there is always someone amongst family/friends who is great at this - would they do it as part of their contribution? And you can always request people send you copies of photos they take personally so that after the event, there are lots of different ones to make a gorgeous scrapbook with.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Jill Parker answered
Think laterally. Are you trying to give them a wedding reception measured by modern standards that you would recognise or something more like they would have had back in their day (if they had had the opportunity)? What would they enjoy? An afternoon tea, having all the family together for an event, jazz trio or family presenting their talents? Check out Pinterest for endless ideas and starting points. You could also try airtasker to collect an ensemble of clever people to help you at a negotiated price. Pick a focus and work with it. A recent wedding success I know of had an ice cream vendor, bouncy castle and petting zoo as the couple had many children between them and most of their guests brought along their children, who were well entertained, allowing the adults to enjoy the day.
Susie McGufficke answered
What a beautiful gesture.
Invitations: Send via email with a nice template. Cost = Nil
Food & Drinks: Have a picnic reception and ask guests to BYO picnic basket. Cost = Nil
Decorations: I can't think of a no cost option here but Gumtree, Kmart and Dollar stores can be your friend. Perhaps photographs spanning their 60 years as table decorations may be an option also.
Photographer: Most people have good cameras in their phones nowadays, and judging by the quality of Instagram photos - there are some excellent amateur photographers out there. Ask the guests to take photos & use the best of them for the 'wedding album'. Cost = Nil
Flowers: Ask friends, family and neighbours who have beautiful gardens if they'd like to contribute to the wedding by donating some flora from their gardens. Most gardeners love showing off the fruits of their labour. Cost = Nil
Music/entertainment: Get one of the young'ns to make a play list on Spotify - perhaps the number one song from each year of their marriage. Perhaps ask if anyone can lend you some decent sounding speakers, Cost = Nil
Honeymoon: Look into a home swap. Cost = Nil.
10. This Week's Question
Julia writes
"I've just joined Cheapskates (in November), so am relatively new and loving every minute. I'm a little overwhelmed at all the information and struggling to really start. My DH and I have set goals to clear our CC debt this year and to increase our mortgage payment by $120 a week (an extra $6,240 paid off this year!) and on paper we should be able to do it, but our money just seems to disappear - hence joining (we need the inspiration and the motivation). Do you have any suggestions to new members where to start? What do other members do to get the best out of Cheapskates?"
Do you have a suggestion or some advicefor Julia?
If you can help Julia, 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
11. 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
12. 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!
13. 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?
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14. Contact Details
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debt free, cashed up and laughing!