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Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 05:20

In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Doing the Back-to-School Inventory; For Shiny and Healthy Hair; Easy Extra Saving Without the Pain
3. Share Your Tips
4. No Spending Month  
5. On the Menu - Hawaiian Haystack
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - February Spending Freeze
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Last Week's Question -
10. This Week's Question -
11. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details

1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,

I hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Just some housekeeping to get through this week:

Firstly, no show tonight. I'm hoping to be back next Tuesday.

Next, PLEASE use the Contact Us form to, well, contact me. You may think you can email direct by using an email address from a newsletter, or by hitting reply at the bottom of a newsletter, or by trying to message me via Facebook - but I don't get them. I don't get them, I don't see them, I don't reply to them. That means you get cranky and frustrated, then I end up with an unhappy Cheapskater and whole lot of searching to do. I ask that you use the Contact Us form because I get them. And they are archived so if there's a question further down the track I can go back and follow the conversation from beginning to end. If you need my help- zip over and use the Contact Us form. 

Office hours - I have office hours for a number of reasons. If you send a Contact Us outside of those hours you won't get a response because I won't have seen it. I'll reply as soon as I can when during office hours. They're posted on the Contact Us page so you'll know how long you need to wait for a reply.

Unsubscribing means that - you've permanently unsubscribed from all our mailing lists. This means we can't send you any newsletters and your email address cannot be restored to the lists. If you wish to resubscribe, the easiest way is to go to the Newsletter Archive and resubscribe to the weekly newsletter. You'll be sent a confirmation email and you need to follow the instructions to confirm your subscription and be reinstated to the list.

Expired memberships - expired means expired. Your membership isn't active and you will have to re-join the Cheapskates Club to regain access to the Member Centre. Expired memberships can't be renewed, and you lose the profile that you had and need to start with a new profile. If you have changes to make to your member profile, do them before your membership expires or you'll need to start from scratch. If you're not sure how to do this, send me a Contact Us and I'll help you.

On that note: memberships are active for one year from the date of joining and this date is usually on your Member Profile page. All memberships are automatically renewed on the due date unless the renewal authority is cancelled before processing. If you're not sure, see the Terms of Cheapskates Club membership on the membership application page.

Oh dear, I apologise for the long list of housekeeping stuff, but we have lots of new members who may not have read the Getting Started page yet, and need to know this stuff.   https://www.cheapskatesclub.net/getting-started.html

Have a great week everyone. 

Happy Cheapskating,

Cath

2. From The Tip Store
Doing the Back-to-School Inventory

With four children in primary school this year, I've done a "back-to-school" inventory of all the supplies (pencils, pencil cases, lunchboxes, drink bottles, back packs, library bags, swimming bags, hats etc.) and uniforms that we have and allocated them to each child. This means I only need to fill in the gaps. Coming right on top of Christmas and school holiday expenses, back-to-school used to always send me into a panic. This year I'm so calm I can hardly believe it. Each child has everything on their lists, ready to head back to school - no more shopping with other mums and their kids trying to do the same thing in the heat for me. My back-to-school inventory will become a January habit from now on.
Contributed by Carolyn Fletcher

For Shiny and Healthy Hair​
When your hair needs a good refresh from the build-up of hair products etc. mix 1 teaspoon of shampoo with 1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda and shampoo hair with this mixture. This will clean and refresh hair and scalp beautifully. Follow with conditioner if you usually use it.
Contributed by Chris Predenrgast

Easy Extra Saving Without the Pain
I have an everyday account  my pay goes into each fortnight. Once I have paid my bills and put my savings into another account anything left in this account on pay day is transferred to either my savings account or my mortgage. In twelve months I have been able to pay over $1,000 onto my mortgage. I don't miss the money and I ensure I do this every fortnight no matter how much is left in this account, even if it's just $2.00.
Contributed by Regina Anderson

Add a Tip

3. Share Your Tips
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.

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

4. No Spending Month - Week 1
This is the 19th year we have had an official No Spending month, complete with guidelines and tools to help you survive a whole month of no spending.

By taking a break from spending, especially at the beginning of the year, right after the Christmas and back-to-school expenses you are setting yourself up with good spending habits for the rest of the year.

It takes 21 repetitions to develop a habit, so buy not spending for 28 days you have not only developed the habit but reinforced it too!

Of course you'll need to spend some money during February. It would be unrealistic to expect you to not spend a cent. But the difference is you'll only be spending money you've budgeted for. Every cent you spend will be allocated in your Spending Plan so you know exactly where it is to go.

What you won't be doing is spending without a purpose, or blind spending. You know the spending on the magazine while you stand at the checkout or the marked down donuts the kids asked for. You won't be spending on eating out because you have a meal plan in place so dinner every night is taken care of. You won't be buying new clothes because you have a wardrobe full of perfectly good clothes. What you will be doing is taking a couple of hours to go through that wardrobe and rediscover all the wonderful outfits you have. You'll be sewing on that missing button and fixing that hem so you can wear that skirt.

You won't be going to the movies because you'll be borrowing DVDs from the library. And magazines - nope! You'll be reading them at the library and borrowing books by your favourite author. Instead of the local play centre you'll invite your Mums'n'Bubs group to the local park for a morning in the fresh air, and you'll take your thermos of coffee and a snack from home so you won't need to stop at the bakery on the way.

You will be saving a lot of money. You may be shocked at just how much you have left at the end of the month simply from not spending.

The rules are simple:

In line with our spending freeze you can spend money on essential items such as:

• Rent/mortgage
• Utilities: gas, electricity, phone, water if the bill is due during the month (but look for ways to lower these bills during the month so the next bill is cheaper)
• Food: shop at home first. Check your pantry, fridge and freezer and menu plan with what you have. You may find, like me, that you really don't need to go grocery shopping this month.
• Medical/pharmacy: don't scrimp on your health – the future cost would be far too great
• Petrol and transport: unless you can walk everywhere you'll need your car. But try to limit how far you go and how often you use it. Carpool if you can, share the school run with another mother, make one trip and do all your errands. Ditto for bus, train and tram. If you have a bike now might be a good time to start riding to work or school.
• Other regular monthly bills you have
    
You can't spend money on:
• magazines
• takeaway meals
• movies
• new clothes
Wool, fabric, craft supplies, hobby supplies
• toys
• DVDs and CDs
or anything else that isn't essential to living for 28 days.

Here are some tips that will make your spending freeze easier:

Register on the Spending Freeze forum and tell us how much you are hoping to not spend. Then keep us up to date with your progress. This is important, we all want to know how well you are doing and if you post regularly you'll be able to see how we are getting on too.

Planning is the key to surviving and thriving during a spending freeze. Planning your day ensures you cover everything you need to get through: lunches, drinks, having enough petrol in the car. It also gives you time to prepare for those irregular things such as birthday parties and allow you to plan the spending. Planning what you are going to have for dinner the night before removes the takeaway temptation that comes with not having a plan. Planning and knowing what's happening will let you prepare ahead of time and find no spend alternatives to those "spend, spend, spend" situations.

Stop Spending - seriously, stop spending money - no more clothes, magazines, toys, makeup, computer bits and bobs, shoes etc. For four weeks use your money to pay the essential living expenses (mortgage/rent, utilities, food - bare bones basics, fares/petrol) and see just how much is left over at the end of the month. Then use 50% of that money to pay down debt and 50% to increase (or start) your emergency fund. You must bank the leftover money - it is not saved until it is safely in the bank it is just not spent..

Track your spending. If you track your spending already, fantastic. Pat yourself on the back. If you don't, start today. Get a notebook (any notebook or piece of paper will do) and write down every cent you spend. Write down what you bought, how much it cost and how you paid for it i.e. cash, credit card, direct debit. Do this  for at least the first week, preferably the whole 28 days, so you can see exactly what you are spending your money on.

Throughout the month I will be posting tools and guides in the Spending Freeze forum so remember to check in regularly to update your Challenge and see what's new.  

Good luck with your spending freeze and I can't wait to hear how well you do.

5. On The Menu
Hawaiian Haystacks

The recipe for Haystacks is one I'm often asked for (it's in the Recipe File, on the Vegetarian page). They are not only cheap, quick and easy but they can be really nutritious too.

This is a variation on the original haystacks recipe and it's delicious, especially in summer. It's a little lighter and using seasonal vegetables and fruits as toppings makes it a great summer meal.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups rice
2 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into small chunks, or leftover cooked cubed/shredded chicken from a roast chicken
3 tbsp butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tsp salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 cup plain flour
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk

Toppings:
cheese, shredded coconut, pineapple, celery, mandarin segments, olives, spring onions, grated carrots, diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers

Method:
Cook rice so it’s ready when you need it.  In a large frying pan melt butter and cook onions and chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes.  If you’re using leftover chicken that’s already cooked don’t add it now, we’ll do this later. Sprinkle flour over onion/chicken mixture. Stir and cook for one minute. Cooking the flour stops the sauce from tasting like raw flour, don't be tempted to skip this step. Slowly whisk in milk and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, add salt and pepper. If you’re using leftover chicken add it now. Simmer until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Ladle chicken over rice. Top with desired toppings.

Next week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Fishcakes, potato gems & salad

Tuesday: Refrigerator Lasagne

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pies, salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Stuffed Potatoes

Saturday: Hawaiian Haystacks

In the fruit bowl:  bananas, strawberries

There are over 1,700 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
Use No Spend Month to Boost Your Slush Fund

Saturday is February 1st and you know what that means - it's No Spending Month! I can't believe we've been doing this as a community for 19 years!

All that beginning of the year spending has been done, so now is perfect time to stop spending and start building up those Peace of Mind accounts and Emergency Funds and paying down debt.

I have a meal plan done, using things that are in the pantry. The only fresh things I'll be buying will be milk and maybe bread. Everything else is in the pantry, fridge, freezer or garden.

So while I have my February grocery money in my purse, I won't be using all of it - hopefully less than $30 for the month if I've done my calculations right. The rest of the grocery money will be transferred to the grocery slush fund at the end of the month - ready to stock up on half price bargains for the stockpile.

I am prepared and can't wait to get started; I love the challenge of living on what we have and not spending any money.. Everyone is onboard and looking forward to seeing how much is left at the end of the month.

Are you going to join us?

The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
 
The Post that Started it All


7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
5 Easy Steps to Save $4,000 in a Year
Ask Yourself
Groceries I don't Buy

This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Lunchbox Snacks
What Did You Do Today That Saved You Money?
Miracle Spray Recipe

8. The Cheapskates Club Show
No show tonight -

All being good, we'll be back next Tuesday.

Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.

Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.

Latest Shows 
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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 $30 a year, 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.  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

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