Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 05:19
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Regift, Reuse, Recycle; Don't Waste Out of Date Milk; 3.5% Interest Paid for Children's Saving Account
3. This Week's Winning Tip - Grandma's Lemon Cordial
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne Roll-ups
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - A $75 a Week Meal Plan
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Last Week's Question - Help with teenage pocket money
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Just a very short note this week. Wayne and I are away at the moment, having a wonderful time in beautiful Tasmania. It's my first time in Tassie and I have fallen in love, it is a beautiful state.
This week's newsletter has lots of good stuff in it, I hope you enjoy it.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Regift, Reuse, Recycle
We keep gift bags and wrapping paper in a large tub for reusing . Often at birthday parties we get enough to use for the whole year and we just reattach a new card. At $5-$10 a pop this is substantial over the year and better for the environment!
Contributed by Nyssa De Waard
Don't Waste Out of Date Milk
If you have a little out of date milk mix it 50/50 with water and give it to your plants, the soil benefits from the calcium in the milk. Don't use straight milk as it may encourage ants around the plants.
Contributed by Jackie Pallister
Editor's note: Tomatoes especially like a little drink of milk. The calcium helps to prevent blossom end rot. I usually rinse out the milk bottles over the tomatoes before they are squashed to go into the recycle bin. Cath
3.5% Interest Paid for Children's Saving Account
A while ago we were looking for the best savings account for our 2 oldest kids. We found the children's account from Endeavour Mutual Bank to be the best as it pays monthly, 3.5% in interest pa. At the time it was the highest paying we could find. It's an online account and upon sign up you receive information written for kids on saving money, creating a budget and other money related things. I can highly recommend it.
Contributed by Sandra Saunders
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Leanne Simmons. Leanne has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Grandma's Lemon Cordial
This is the easiest lemon cordial ever. My Grandma had a huge lemon tree in her back yard and she never wasted a single lemon. A treat for us in summer was going to Grandma and Pa's and having icy cold lemon cordial with ice blocks floating on the top. When I married and we moved into our first house, there was a lemon tree in the backyard. I asked Grandma for her cordial recipe, here it is as she gave it to me.
"Squeeze enough lemons to get one pint of juice. Add one pound of sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Keep in the fridge. Lasts 1 month."
I use 600ml lemon juice and 450g of white sugar. I use my stick blender to mix it (you can use a spoon, the stick blender dissolves the sugar faster). Pour into a clean cordial bottle and store in the fridge. To make it up, add 1/4 cordial to 3/4 ice cold water in a glass. Add ice cubes if you want to.
To make enough concentrate to make 2-1/2 litres of cordial costs 80 cents if you have your own lemons - a truly inexpensive drink for hot summer days.
Congratulations Leanne, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas.
There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
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.
4. Share Your Tips
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!
Share Your Tip
5. On The Menu
Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne Roll-ups
These rolls are quick and easy to put together and very tasty. Being a meatless meal they are great for keeping the grocery budget under control while still serving a truly delicious meal.
Ingredients:
500g lasagne noodles
500g ricotta
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 egg
300g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
700g jar pasta sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 205 degrees Celsius. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. When it comes to a full, rolling boil add the lasagne noodles and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Stir gently occasionally so they don't stick together. When cooked drain. While the noodles are boiling, prepare the filling. Squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible from the spinach. Combine the spinach with the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg, freshly grated pepper and about 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix until well combined. Coat a lasagne dish with cooking spray. On a clean surface, lay out a few noodles at a time. Place three tablespoons of filling on each noodle and spread to cover from edge to edge. The filling does not need to be thick because you are going to roll the noodle up like a Swiss roll. Be sure you spread it all the way to the edges of the noodles. Roll each noodle up and place in the prepared casserole dish. Repeat until all of your filling is gone (there may be some noodles left over, these are "back-ups" in case any of the others rip during assembly). Pour the pasta sauce over the rolled noodles making sure to cover all surfaces. The sauce will keep the noodles moist and soft while baking. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot or divide into individual portions and refrigerate.
This recipe is from the Vegetarian Recipe File https://www.cheapskatesclub.net/vegetarian.html
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Steak & salad
Tuesday: Spinach Ricotta Lasagne Roll-Ups, salad
Wednesday: Sausages & salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish, gems, coleslaw
Saturday: Tacos
In the fruit bowl: Strawberries, grapes, mandarins
In the cake tin: Sultana cake
There are over 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
6. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
A $75 a Week Meal Plan
After our YouTube Live show on Tuesday night, I had so many questions about feeding a family for $75 a week. We knew as soon as I chose the topic there would be negativity and excuses; Hannah asked me if I was really sure I wanted to open with this topic. I was, and I was prepared! I opened the show by stating that I was going to be blunt and tell the truth, and I did.
It can be done people!
I've done it for my family for years and years and years. Wendy did it for her family, and now the household has shrunk, her grocery budget for three is even less. There are Cheapskaters with bigger families managing just fine.
It can be done.
Every month I do a meal plan, or rather a dinner plan, for my family (I share it in the Journal each month and you can find older meal plans in the Menu Plan Archive). I'm sure I've told you before how Tom loves to look at the fridge and know what he'll be eating for tea (and how he stirs me when I change it on him :) ). We all do. It's reassuring to me to be able to glance at the fridge and just know what I need to prepare for tonight, tomorrow, next week - the rest of the year actually, because I've done the meal plan right up to 31st December 2019, and it's on the fridge. This is the fourth year I've worked up a yearly meal plan and I love it.
What that meal plan also does is help to keep our grocery bill low; really, really low. I budget $320 a month for groceries. Now some months I am on budget, some months I might be under by a few dollars and occasionally I go over. But at the end of the year, when I tally up the grocery tracking sheets, I always average $320 a month for groceries - we don't have the money to go over budget.
Coming up with a weekly meal plan to fit $75 was tricky, but I did it. And if I can, you can too. I was able to come up with a meal plan that included three meals and a snack every day for a week for a family of four. And bring it in under $75!
That was the tricky part. I'm used to working on a monthly meal plan and a monthly budget. That means I can share ingredients across a few meals, spreading the cost over the month. I couldn't do this for just a week so I had to choose cheap, nutritious meals and not go over the $75 budget limit.
Here's the meal plan I came up with, it's plain, simple food. No frills or gourmet delights but it fills tummies, is reasonably healthful and very cheap.
This meal plan will feed a family of four for a week for $75. It will depend of course on:
1. Where you live and where you shop - we don't all live in capital cities with a huge variety of grocery stores.
2. What you eat - if you have picky eaters, train them to not be picky and straight away your grocery bill with drop. If you have medically diagnosed food intolerances or allergies that require special diets.
3. Brands - always choose the cheapest, usually a generic, but not always. And sometimes a special isn't really a special - always check the unit price. Look for half price specials on your basic grocery items and use them to build a grocery stockpile to save you money.
4. Portion control - remember if a recipe serves six, get six serves. Put the two spare into the freezer for freezer meals - they are free dinners and will really help keep your grocery budget low.
5. Cook from scratch - no buying pre-prepared or packaged or convenience meals or parts of meals. MOO yoghurt, muffins, biscuits, pastry for the sausage rolls, dip, pita chips, gravy, wedges, pancakes and pancake syrup.
6. Making a shopping list, after doing a fridge, freezer and pantry check, only adding the ingredients you need to buy. If you only need 5 apples, buy just 5 apples; don't spend money on food you don't need.
7. Sticking to the list. If it's not on the list, you don't buy it. If you think you'll need it, find a substitute in the ingredients you already have.
8. Shop around - you won't find any one store with the lowest prices on everything. Be prepared to shop at a couple of different food stores/butchers/green grocers.
The only thing stopping you from getting your grocery bill down is you. You can do it if you really want to!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Tricks Retailers Use to Make You Overspend
The Spending Freeze
Make Your Own Granola
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Question: Why are you a Cheapskate?
Fed Up with Improved Products
How Much Did You Spend on Sending the Kids Back to School?
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
The Perfect Roast Potato
Budget Friendly Gourmet Baking
Sunday Night Ritual Saves Money at Dinnertime
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Robyne who wrote
"My Granddaughter lives with us and at 13 everything was fine till the bank has offered her own ATM card. She gets pocket money and we have a bank account that is put into a long term savings that she can't touch for a certain amount of years. This bank account we have been adding to since she was a baby for her future. She is always saying her friends have it and their parents keep a lot of money for them to spend. She has always been a keen saver but lately spends like mad on silly things. She is wanting this ATM card and is constantly asking about the other money. Her dad and I are co-signers so it can't be touched. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem."
Andrea answered
I have just read Barefoot Investor for Families and it suggests a lot of ideas and tips that I think could really help you (and your granddaughter). I managed to borrow mine for free from the library (but it was a bit of a wait on hold as it is popular) otherwise I have found it for $19 at Kmart. Might be a worthy investment for your granddaughter's financial future.
Melissa answered
Dear Robyne, my son is 11 and wants an ATM card! We have accounts for both our sons and the deal is they cannot touch it unless they buy their first car, would like to travel after finishing school or choose to save it for a house. I see parents of my sons' friends give their children $50 to spend at the school fete, and I give $5. I stick to my guns and if they want more they use their own pocket money . We also have the return and earn recycling depots in our town and they earn money from that. It is hard to advise here, as they need to make mistakes to learn. But maybe let her make those mistakes with money she has earnt rather than what has been squirrelled away for her. The lesson will sink in faster when she has to earn the money.
Susan answered
When my kids were growing up they got their pocket money based on their school reports because school was equivalent to paid work, in my eyes. So they got their pocket money twice a year, which meant they had to learn to manage it and they did put it into the bank. I thought chores were what everyone did to share around the house, so did not warrant payment. I am not sure on what basis you pay pocket money but regardless why not have a special bank account for the pocket money and then she can have her ATM card. I found responding to statements such as everyone else has something, quite easy - you are not everyone else, or everyone else's parents allow it - well I am not everyone else's parent.
Kate answered
What my parents did with me was take me into the bank to deposit money into my various bank accounts, 10% went to savings, 10% to investment, 10% to charity (which I had to chose myself) and the rest into my spending account. That way I saw exactly where my money was going and knew the reasons it was there. After which my mother took me to a really nice dress shop and said that I could get something on lay-by, but that I had to pay the item I chose off within 4 paydays...otherwise not only would I not get the pretty dress, but would also lose my money! This was the one and only thing I’ve ever bought on lay-by as I thought that was a stupid system, and preferred to wait until I had saved enough for the item.
When I left home they showed me the envelope system, where you divide your yearly expenses into payday chunks and can only buy something if there is enough money in that envelope.
These tips set me up with good basic knowledge, but unfortunately I am bipolar, and one of the main detrimental behaviours with this mental illness is that you spend well beyond your means. It took years of trial and error to know that when I am unwell I need to hand my atm cards over to a responsible adult. If I spend over a certain amount, or my accounts drop below a certain point (or I show other bipolar behaviours), then I hand my cards over to a responsible adult. I have my bills prepaid, and buy Woolworths vouchers so that I can still access necessities...but I can’t touch my savings. I then have to prove to that adult in a weekly assessment of my current mental health that I’m capable of managing an atm card. I’m 44 by the way and still need to do this.
Since you are teaching a young adult healthy spending habits, I would talk to them about these methods. Agree upon spending limits, and savings goals. Let them know that you will not interfere with what they spend money on, if they keep their bank balance healthy, and have prepaid all of their necessities. Try to challenge them to save for a big ticket item as well as buy little things. They have to make mistakes to learn. But there should be consequences to their actions, if they break the agreed upon rules, then they need to hand over the ATM card for a specified period of time.
Also encourage them to approach friends and neighbours to do odd jobs, to supplement their income, especially if they are frustrated at not being able to buy stuff. Nothing teaches the value of money quicker than physical labour. 1 hour of physical labour = roughly a fast food meal or a pretty crappy toy...if they are lazy like I was, I preferred to spend wisely over having to do hard physical work. Of course once they are 15 they can apply for real jobs too.
9. Ask A Question
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 $25 a year, new members 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. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
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 I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Regift, Reuse, Recycle; Don't Waste Out of Date Milk; 3.5% Interest Paid for Children's Saving Account
3. This Week's Winning Tip - Grandma's Lemon Cordial
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne Roll-ups
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - A $75 a Week Meal Plan
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Last Week's Question - Help with teenage pocket money
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Just a very short note this week. Wayne and I are away at the moment, having a wonderful time in beautiful Tasmania. It's my first time in Tassie and I have fallen in love, it is a beautiful state.
This week's newsletter has lots of good stuff in it, I hope you enjoy it.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Regift, Reuse, Recycle
We keep gift bags and wrapping paper in a large tub for reusing . Often at birthday parties we get enough to use for the whole year and we just reattach a new card. At $5-$10 a pop this is substantial over the year and better for the environment!
Contributed by Nyssa De Waard
Don't Waste Out of Date Milk
If you have a little out of date milk mix it 50/50 with water and give it to your plants, the soil benefits from the calcium in the milk. Don't use straight milk as it may encourage ants around the plants.
Contributed by Jackie Pallister
Editor's note: Tomatoes especially like a little drink of milk. The calcium helps to prevent blossom end rot. I usually rinse out the milk bottles over the tomatoes before they are squashed to go into the recycle bin. Cath
3.5% Interest Paid for Children's Saving Account
A while ago we were looking for the best savings account for our 2 oldest kids. We found the children's account from Endeavour Mutual Bank to be the best as it pays monthly, 3.5% in interest pa. At the time it was the highest paying we could find. It's an online account and upon sign up you receive information written for kids on saving money, creating a budget and other money related things. I can highly recommend it.
Contributed by Sandra Saunders
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Leanne Simmons. Leanne has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Grandma's Lemon Cordial
This is the easiest lemon cordial ever. My Grandma had a huge lemon tree in her back yard and she never wasted a single lemon. A treat for us in summer was going to Grandma and Pa's and having icy cold lemon cordial with ice blocks floating on the top. When I married and we moved into our first house, there was a lemon tree in the backyard. I asked Grandma for her cordial recipe, here it is as she gave it to me.
"Squeeze enough lemons to get one pint of juice. Add one pound of sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Keep in the fridge. Lasts 1 month."
I use 600ml lemon juice and 450g of white sugar. I use my stick blender to mix it (you can use a spoon, the stick blender dissolves the sugar faster). Pour into a clean cordial bottle and store in the fridge. To make it up, add 1/4 cordial to 3/4 ice cold water in a glass. Add ice cubes if you want to.
To make enough concentrate to make 2-1/2 litres of cordial costs 80 cents if you have your own lemons - a truly inexpensive drink for hot summer days.
Congratulations Leanne, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas.
There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
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.
4. Share Your Tips
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!
Share Your Tip
5. On The Menu
Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne Roll-ups
These rolls are quick and easy to put together and very tasty. Being a meatless meal they are great for keeping the grocery budget under control while still serving a truly delicious meal.
Ingredients:
500g lasagne noodles
500g ricotta
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 egg
300g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
700g jar pasta sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 205 degrees Celsius. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. When it comes to a full, rolling boil add the lasagne noodles and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Stir gently occasionally so they don't stick together. When cooked drain. While the noodles are boiling, prepare the filling. Squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible from the spinach. Combine the spinach with the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg, freshly grated pepper and about 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix until well combined. Coat a lasagne dish with cooking spray. On a clean surface, lay out a few noodles at a time. Place three tablespoons of filling on each noodle and spread to cover from edge to edge. The filling does not need to be thick because you are going to roll the noodle up like a Swiss roll. Be sure you spread it all the way to the edges of the noodles. Roll each noodle up and place in the prepared casserole dish. Repeat until all of your filling is gone (there may be some noodles left over, these are "back-ups" in case any of the others rip during assembly). Pour the pasta sauce over the rolled noodles making sure to cover all surfaces. The sauce will keep the noodles moist and soft while baking. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot or divide into individual portions and refrigerate.
This recipe is from the Vegetarian Recipe File https://www.cheapskatesclub.net/vegetarian.html
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Steak & salad
Tuesday: Spinach Ricotta Lasagne Roll-Ups, salad
Wednesday: Sausages & salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish, gems, coleslaw
Saturday: Tacos
In the fruit bowl: Strawberries, grapes, mandarins
In the cake tin: Sultana cake
There are over 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
6. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
A $75 a Week Meal Plan
After our YouTube Live show on Tuesday night, I had so many questions about feeding a family for $75 a week. We knew as soon as I chose the topic there would be negativity and excuses; Hannah asked me if I was really sure I wanted to open with this topic. I was, and I was prepared! I opened the show by stating that I was going to be blunt and tell the truth, and I did.
It can be done people!
I've done it for my family for years and years and years. Wendy did it for her family, and now the household has shrunk, her grocery budget for three is even less. There are Cheapskaters with bigger families managing just fine.
It can be done.
Every month I do a meal plan, or rather a dinner plan, for my family (I share it in the Journal each month and you can find older meal plans in the Menu Plan Archive). I'm sure I've told you before how Tom loves to look at the fridge and know what he'll be eating for tea (and how he stirs me when I change it on him :) ). We all do. It's reassuring to me to be able to glance at the fridge and just know what I need to prepare for tonight, tomorrow, next week - the rest of the year actually, because I've done the meal plan right up to 31st December 2019, and it's on the fridge. This is the fourth year I've worked up a yearly meal plan and I love it.
What that meal plan also does is help to keep our grocery bill low; really, really low. I budget $320 a month for groceries. Now some months I am on budget, some months I might be under by a few dollars and occasionally I go over. But at the end of the year, when I tally up the grocery tracking sheets, I always average $320 a month for groceries - we don't have the money to go over budget.
Coming up with a weekly meal plan to fit $75 was tricky, but I did it. And if I can, you can too. I was able to come up with a meal plan that included three meals and a snack every day for a week for a family of four. And bring it in under $75!
That was the tricky part. I'm used to working on a monthly meal plan and a monthly budget. That means I can share ingredients across a few meals, spreading the cost over the month. I couldn't do this for just a week so I had to choose cheap, nutritious meals and not go over the $75 budget limit.
Here's the meal plan I came up with, it's plain, simple food. No frills or gourmet delights but it fills tummies, is reasonably healthful and very cheap.
This meal plan will feed a family of four for a week for $75. It will depend of course on:
1. Where you live and where you shop - we don't all live in capital cities with a huge variety of grocery stores.
2. What you eat - if you have picky eaters, train them to not be picky and straight away your grocery bill with drop. If you have medically diagnosed food intolerances or allergies that require special diets.
3. Brands - always choose the cheapest, usually a generic, but not always. And sometimes a special isn't really a special - always check the unit price. Look for half price specials on your basic grocery items and use them to build a grocery stockpile to save you money.
4. Portion control - remember if a recipe serves six, get six serves. Put the two spare into the freezer for freezer meals - they are free dinners and will really help keep your grocery budget low.
5. Cook from scratch - no buying pre-prepared or packaged or convenience meals or parts of meals. MOO yoghurt, muffins, biscuits, pastry for the sausage rolls, dip, pita chips, gravy, wedges, pancakes and pancake syrup.
6. Making a shopping list, after doing a fridge, freezer and pantry check, only adding the ingredients you need to buy. If you only need 5 apples, buy just 5 apples; don't spend money on food you don't need.
7. Sticking to the list. If it's not on the list, you don't buy it. If you think you'll need it, find a substitute in the ingredients you already have.
8. Shop around - you won't find any one store with the lowest prices on everything. Be prepared to shop at a couple of different food stores/butchers/green grocers.
The only thing stopping you from getting your grocery bill down is you. You can do it if you really want to!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Tricks Retailers Use to Make You Overspend
The Spending Freeze
Make Your Own Granola
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Question: Why are you a Cheapskate?
Fed Up with Improved Products
How Much Did You Spend on Sending the Kids Back to School?
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
The Perfect Roast Potato
Budget Friendly Gourmet Baking
Sunday Night Ritual Saves Money at Dinnertime
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Robyne who wrote
"My Granddaughter lives with us and at 13 everything was fine till the bank has offered her own ATM card. She gets pocket money and we have a bank account that is put into a long term savings that she can't touch for a certain amount of years. This bank account we have been adding to since she was a baby for her future. She is always saying her friends have it and their parents keep a lot of money for them to spend. She has always been a keen saver but lately spends like mad on silly things. She is wanting this ATM card and is constantly asking about the other money. Her dad and I are co-signers so it can't be touched. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem."
Andrea answered
I have just read Barefoot Investor for Families and it suggests a lot of ideas and tips that I think could really help you (and your granddaughter). I managed to borrow mine for free from the library (but it was a bit of a wait on hold as it is popular) otherwise I have found it for $19 at Kmart. Might be a worthy investment for your granddaughter's financial future.
Melissa answered
Dear Robyne, my son is 11 and wants an ATM card! We have accounts for both our sons and the deal is they cannot touch it unless they buy their first car, would like to travel after finishing school or choose to save it for a house. I see parents of my sons' friends give their children $50 to spend at the school fete, and I give $5. I stick to my guns and if they want more they use their own pocket money . We also have the return and earn recycling depots in our town and they earn money from that. It is hard to advise here, as they need to make mistakes to learn. But maybe let her make those mistakes with money she has earnt rather than what has been squirrelled away for her. The lesson will sink in faster when she has to earn the money.
Susan answered
When my kids were growing up they got their pocket money based on their school reports because school was equivalent to paid work, in my eyes. So they got their pocket money twice a year, which meant they had to learn to manage it and they did put it into the bank. I thought chores were what everyone did to share around the house, so did not warrant payment. I am not sure on what basis you pay pocket money but regardless why not have a special bank account for the pocket money and then she can have her ATM card. I found responding to statements such as everyone else has something, quite easy - you are not everyone else, or everyone else's parents allow it - well I am not everyone else's parent.
Kate answered
What my parents did with me was take me into the bank to deposit money into my various bank accounts, 10% went to savings, 10% to investment, 10% to charity (which I had to chose myself) and the rest into my spending account. That way I saw exactly where my money was going and knew the reasons it was there. After which my mother took me to a really nice dress shop and said that I could get something on lay-by, but that I had to pay the item I chose off within 4 paydays...otherwise not only would I not get the pretty dress, but would also lose my money! This was the one and only thing I’ve ever bought on lay-by as I thought that was a stupid system, and preferred to wait until I had saved enough for the item.
When I left home they showed me the envelope system, where you divide your yearly expenses into payday chunks and can only buy something if there is enough money in that envelope.
These tips set me up with good basic knowledge, but unfortunately I am bipolar, and one of the main detrimental behaviours with this mental illness is that you spend well beyond your means. It took years of trial and error to know that when I am unwell I need to hand my atm cards over to a responsible adult. If I spend over a certain amount, or my accounts drop below a certain point (or I show other bipolar behaviours), then I hand my cards over to a responsible adult. I have my bills prepaid, and buy Woolworths vouchers so that I can still access necessities...but I can’t touch my savings. I then have to prove to that adult in a weekly assessment of my current mental health that I’m capable of managing an atm card. I’m 44 by the way and still need to do this.
Since you are teaching a young adult healthy spending habits, I would talk to them about these methods. Agree upon spending limits, and savings goals. Let them know that you will not interfere with what they spend money on, if they keep their bank balance healthy, and have prepaid all of their necessities. Try to challenge them to save for a big ticket item as well as buy little things. They have to make mistakes to learn. But there should be consequences to their actions, if they break the agreed upon rules, then they need to hand over the ATM card for a specified period of time.
Also encourage them to approach friends and neighbours to do odd jobs, to supplement their income, especially if they are frustrated at not being able to buy stuff. Nothing teaches the value of money quicker than physical labour. 1 hour of physical labour = roughly a fast food meal or a pretty crappy toy...if they are lazy like I was, I preferred to spend wisely over having to do hard physical work. Of course once they are 15 they can apply for real jobs too.
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