Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter: 06:15 Bright ideas to save you money
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Shine Your Kitchen Sink, The Community Babysitting Club, Super Speedy Cleaning with Old Electric Toothbrush Heads
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - A Birthday Card You'll Never Throw Away
4. Submit Your Tip - Share your favourite money saving tip for a chance to win
5. On the Menu with Anne - What to do with a Tomato Glut
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - It's time to clean out the pantry!
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - No Spend Month by Toots
9. Last Week's Question - Is there an environmentally friendly way to get rid of ants?
10. This Week's Question - Can you do gluten free on the $300 a Month Food Challenge?
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Gift Memberships
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Welcome to another newsletter. It is so nice to see so many members come back to join us and just in time for No Spending month too.
We're five days into our spending freeze and I'd love to be able to say I haven't spent a cent, but I have. Woolworths have a great special on fresh chickens this week so I've been stocking up. At $2.99 a kilo it's a bargain too good to pass up and they'll do very nicely for our Sunday roast for the next few months.
No Spending month isn't about being mean and miserable. This is a fun challenge, one that is intended to get you thinking about what you spend, when you spend and what you are spending on. We can become immune to frittering money away on unimportant and totally unnecessary things. Think things like the coffee while shopping, the iced finger buns for morning tea, the new t-shirt that was on sale, the magazine you picked up as you went through the checkout. None of them are necessary to maintaining life. They are all extras, or treats or extravagances. They are all discretionary spends. You don't have to make them, it is entirely up to you.
You can find out more about No Spending month here (and I hope you'll join us!).
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!
PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.
========================================
2. From The Tip Store
Shine Your Kitchen Sink
Clean sink in normal way, then with a soft cloth wipe over with hair conditioner (any cheap brand), leave a few minutes to dry and then buff with cloth. Wow see the shine. The water runs off like when a car is polished and it rains. This can be used on any stainless sinks.
Contributed by Ann Melia
The Community Babysitting Club
Approximate $ Savings: $1000 plus
Finding ourselves new to a community and without family nearby a group of families formed a babysitting club. We knew each other through the school, had a meeting to gauge interest then family picnic to familiarize everyone. Rules were simple: 4 points an hour, double past midnight or before 7. Everyone kept their own book and you would sign off on each other’s books. Meetings every 6 months to 'check in'. Result: total confidence leaving your kids; great community building; increased social life; and the added bonus- baby sitting in others home enabled you to relax and read once the kids had gone to bed. All with absolutely no cost involved.
Contributed by Evelyn Chapman
Super Speedy Cleaning with Old Electric Toothbrush Heads
Don't just throw away the old brush from your electric toothbrush. There are so many uses such as cleaning off mould in the shower, getting right into the tap surround and getting every speck of dirt out, etc. I discovered a new one by accident - cleaning your fingernails. I still had some stains under my nails from a previous gardening session and I was giving them a bit of a scrub. At the time I was also changing to a new brush-head and just to see what would happen I poked the old one under my nails and it very efficiently cleaned them up. Then I did a more thorough clean until the 2-minute buzzer came on and I honestly don't think my nails have ever looked cleaner or whiter. Not only that but it tidied up the cuticles and smoothed the nails. With the right sort of treatment cream it could be very therapeutic.
Contributed by Kate Oxley
There are more than 11,000 great tips in the Tip Store
========================================
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Emma Traficante. Emma has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
A Birthday Card You'll Never Throw Away
It's my partner's birthday coming up in 4 days, so I decided to see if I could get promo codes for a comedy show called "Who's Your Daddy" about parenthood and being new to it (which we are). The comedian actually asked into promo codes for me because he thought I was funny with describing money being tighter than my daughter's grip on my hair. He couldn't get promo codes, so he sent me 2 free tickets instead, saving me $50.
But it doesn't end there, for the other part of my partner's birthday present I decided to make a card that would never be thrown away. I got my daughter to hold up 3 signs one at a time saying one word each "Happy" "Birthday" "Daddy" (it took 30minutes to do that, a 7 month old doesn't understand the words "stay still baby girl and smile"). I originally was going to glue them to cardboard and make a card but after looking at the price of crafting scissors and coloured paper plus the cardboard to make the design on the front I noticed it was going to cost some money, so I just got a $6 frame from Kmart and put them in there. Now it's a birthday card/reminder that he will always see.
Congratulations Emma, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 4,000 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.
Enter your tip here
========================================
4. Submit your tip
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 with Anne
What to do with a Tomato Glut
It's taken a while, but now the tomatoes in our garden are going crazy, plumping up and ripening just about overnight. That means we've been eating them on toast for breakfast, on sandwiches or crackers for lunch and with salad for dinner. And I still have kilos and kilos of them, and even more ripening on the bushes.
So I've been making sauce, pasta sauce (have you tried the Sensational Simple Pasta Sauce?) and relish. We love relish. It's just lovely on cold meat sandwiches or on a sharp cheese on a cracker. Yum! This is my go to recipe for relish, it's really easy to do because it's a small batch. You can put it on to cook while you get tea and it will be ready to bottle when you've cleaned up. Easy! So far this week I've made three batches and stashed them in the pantry for winter.
Tomato Relish
Ingredients:
1.5kg ripe tomatoes
500g brown onions
2 tbsp salt
2 cups sugar
3 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp dry mustard
2 cups brown vinegar
Method:
Peel and dice tomatoes. Place in a bowl. Peel onions and dice finely. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle each bowl with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cover and leave overnight. Next day place tomatoes, liquid from bowl and onions in large saucepan. Add sugar and stir over low heat till dissolved. Increase the heat and bring to boil. Boil covered for 5 minutes. Combine curry powder, chilli powder and mustard, mix to a smooth paste with a little of the vinegar, add remaining vinegar, add to saucepan stir to combine thoroughly. Bring to boil, boil uncovered 50 minutes to an hour or until thick. Pour relish into hot, sterilised jars, cool and seal.
This week we will be eating:
Friday: Salmon croquettes, salad
Saturday: Sausages and salad
Sunday: Roast beef, baked vegetables, cauliflower, gravy
Monday: Vegetables in oyster sauce over fried rice
Tuesday: Cottage pie, steamed broccoli, carrots, corn cobs
Wednesday: Stuffed chicken drumsticks, scalloped potato, carrots, beans, corn cobs
Thursday: Meatloaf, salad
In the fruit bowl: mandarins, apples, bananas, rockmelon, strawberries
In the cake tin: Fantasy Slice, Lunchbox Cookies, fruit cake
There are over 1,300 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File
========================================
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
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
This week's hot forum topics
The 2015 No Spending Month Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2750-The-2015-No-Spending-Month-Challenge
Super Cheap Presents
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1684-Super-cheap-presents
What's on for Today?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?123-What-s-on-for-today&highlight=Lady+Macbeth
Most popular blog posts this week
Sensational, Simple Homemade Pasta Sauce
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/07/sensational-simple-homemade-pasta-sauce.html
Turn Cleaning the Pantry into a Game
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/07/turn-cleaning-pantry-into-game.html
The Four Most Common Ways to Dry Foods
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/02/the-four-most-common-ways-to-dry-foods.html
========================================
8. Member's 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 Toots.
No Spend Month!
I thought I was pretty frugal but thinking about every purchase is definitely eye opening. Once a month I go to the farmers markets, I get great fruit and veggies and it's also a day out. Normally I grab a coffee as soon as I get there and enjoy while wandering around, when it's finished I go out for breakfast and pick up the Sunday papers on the way home.
Yesterday I tossed around the idea all the way there if I should do what I normally do and decided I wouldn't break on the first day. So I saved approximately $30 and took a walk on the beach and came home and read the news online for free.
Mondays I usually have a coffee on the way to work and a can of fizzy in the afternoon so I have saved that to. Total so far $41.60 and its only day 2!
We have lots of birthdays this month (mine! as well as a 60th, a 16th and a 21st) so I will have to spend some money. I have done a meal plan and should only need fruit/veggies and milk hopefully. Wishing everyone well in this challenge.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club member blogs
========================================
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Helen who wrote
"Our daughter has a rental unit, complete with ants (unwanted guests). What environmentally friendly solutions are there for these pests?"
Angie Fimmano answered
One tablespoon of honey mixed with 1 teaspoon of borax and placed on the ant trails got rid of our ants. Borax is available from Bunnings and we have had success with getting rid of fleas and cockroaches as well. Just sprinkle around edges of rooms and brush into carpet. Not suitable for babies crawling or pets licking - read the warnings on the label and take care. It is natural and it works a treat though for the pesky exoskeleton insects.
Mick Watterson answered
I mix equal parts icing sugar and plaster of Paris powders together and leave in small piles (1/2 a teaspoon full) on a small piece of foil. Must keep it dry and replace if moisture affects it. I alternate between this and the next mix. The other mix I use is equal parts borax powder and icing sugar and use as above.
Penny Hughes answered
Read a very interesting article that said to use polenta. Apparently this attracts the ants and they take it back to the nest but they are unable to digest it and just die.
Ants Be Gone! (From the Tip Store)
You will need:
Jar lids (that you don't want to use again)
1 cup sugar
1tbsp borax
1/2 cup water
Boil the sugar, water and borax in a small saucepan for 3 minutes. This is just like making a toxic toffee for ants. Let it cool completely; it will thicken as it cools. Put a dollop of the cooled mixture into each jar lid. Then place the jar lids where the ants will find them. Under the fridge, behind the toaster, in the back of cupboards, on the windowsill and so on.
Please remember to keep it away from babies, pets and children - this mixture is toxic. It contains borax and while it is a natural product and safe to use properly, it is poisonous if ingested in large quantities. Remember to wash your saucepan and spoon in hot, soapy water, rinse them and dry them properly.
Borax is available in the cleaning aisle of your supermarket.
Do you have a question that needs an answer?
Send us your question and receive the combined knowledge of your fellow Cheapskates to solve your problem!
Ask Your Question
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/qanda/add.cfm
========================================
10. This Week's Question
Mark writes
"Here is a challenge for Cheapskaters: come up with a list of gluten free products and gluten free menus both for adults and kids. Both I and my daughter have just been diagnosed with coeliac disease which means we have to go gluten free. There are a number of products which are appearing that are gluten free, both Coles and Woolies have their own range. However, if you go into the shops and look at some of the prices for those items you would struggle to meet the current challenge of spending only $300 in a month on food. We typically spend nearly on average $200 a week for two adults and two growing kids. Both of which are fussy eaters. My son only likes sausages, bacon and fish fingers which he can eat (he is non-coeliac). We do eat plenty of veggies and salads. Even they add up. Thanks."
I'll tell you now that if Mark is spending on average $200 a week on groceries then he is still under the national average, so he must be doing something right. The national average cost of groceries for a family of four in Australia is $220.
Do you have the answer?
If you have some ideas for Mark 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. 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!
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/members/join_form.cfm?item_id=2271
========================================
12. Gift Memberships
Your family and friends will thank you for a whole year when you give them a Platinum Cheapskates Club membership as a gift.
It's so simple: just select the number of gift memberships required, click the Buy Now button and complete the Gift Membership order form (you must use this form to order gift memberships) and we'll get in touch with you to confirm the gift subscriptions.
Click here to order a gift membership right now!
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=43740
========================================
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.
Read our privacy policy
How Did You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member
========================================
14. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
www.cheapskates.com.au
[email protected]
========================================
2. In the Tip Store - Shine Your Kitchen Sink, The Community Babysitting Club, Super Speedy Cleaning with Old Electric Toothbrush Heads
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - A Birthday Card You'll Never Throw Away
4. Submit Your Tip - Share your favourite money saving tip for a chance to win
5. On the Menu with Anne - What to do with a Tomato Glut
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - It's time to clean out the pantry!
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - No Spend Month by Toots
9. Last Week's Question - Is there an environmentally friendly way to get rid of ants?
10. This Week's Question - Can you do gluten free on the $300 a Month Food Challenge?
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Gift Memberships
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Welcome to another newsletter. It is so nice to see so many members come back to join us and just in time for No Spending month too.
We're five days into our spending freeze and I'd love to be able to say I haven't spent a cent, but I have. Woolworths have a great special on fresh chickens this week so I've been stocking up. At $2.99 a kilo it's a bargain too good to pass up and they'll do very nicely for our Sunday roast for the next few months.
No Spending month isn't about being mean and miserable. This is a fun challenge, one that is intended to get you thinking about what you spend, when you spend and what you are spending on. We can become immune to frittering money away on unimportant and totally unnecessary things. Think things like the coffee while shopping, the iced finger buns for morning tea, the new t-shirt that was on sale, the magazine you picked up as you went through the checkout. None of them are necessary to maintaining life. They are all extras, or treats or extravagances. They are all discretionary spends. You don't have to make them, it is entirely up to you.
You can find out more about No Spending month here (and I hope you'll join us!).
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!
PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.
========================================
2. From The Tip Store
Shine Your Kitchen Sink
Clean sink in normal way, then with a soft cloth wipe over with hair conditioner (any cheap brand), leave a few minutes to dry and then buff with cloth. Wow see the shine. The water runs off like when a car is polished and it rains. This can be used on any stainless sinks.
Contributed by Ann Melia
The Community Babysitting Club
Approximate $ Savings: $1000 plus
Finding ourselves new to a community and without family nearby a group of families formed a babysitting club. We knew each other through the school, had a meeting to gauge interest then family picnic to familiarize everyone. Rules were simple: 4 points an hour, double past midnight or before 7. Everyone kept their own book and you would sign off on each other’s books. Meetings every 6 months to 'check in'. Result: total confidence leaving your kids; great community building; increased social life; and the added bonus- baby sitting in others home enabled you to relax and read once the kids had gone to bed. All with absolutely no cost involved.
Contributed by Evelyn Chapman
Super Speedy Cleaning with Old Electric Toothbrush Heads
Don't just throw away the old brush from your electric toothbrush. There are so many uses such as cleaning off mould in the shower, getting right into the tap surround and getting every speck of dirt out, etc. I discovered a new one by accident - cleaning your fingernails. I still had some stains under my nails from a previous gardening session and I was giving them a bit of a scrub. At the time I was also changing to a new brush-head and just to see what would happen I poked the old one under my nails and it very efficiently cleaned them up. Then I did a more thorough clean until the 2-minute buzzer came on and I honestly don't think my nails have ever looked cleaner or whiter. Not only that but it tidied up the cuticles and smoothed the nails. With the right sort of treatment cream it could be very therapeutic.
Contributed by Kate Oxley
There are more than 11,000 great tips in the Tip Store
========================================
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Emma Traficante. Emma has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
A Birthday Card You'll Never Throw Away
It's my partner's birthday coming up in 4 days, so I decided to see if I could get promo codes for a comedy show called "Who's Your Daddy" about parenthood and being new to it (which we are). The comedian actually asked into promo codes for me because he thought I was funny with describing money being tighter than my daughter's grip on my hair. He couldn't get promo codes, so he sent me 2 free tickets instead, saving me $50.
But it doesn't end there, for the other part of my partner's birthday present I decided to make a card that would never be thrown away. I got my daughter to hold up 3 signs one at a time saying one word each "Happy" "Birthday" "Daddy" (it took 30minutes to do that, a 7 month old doesn't understand the words "stay still baby girl and smile"). I originally was going to glue them to cardboard and make a card but after looking at the price of crafting scissors and coloured paper plus the cardboard to make the design on the front I noticed it was going to cost some money, so I just got a $6 frame from Kmart and put them in there. Now it's a birthday card/reminder that he will always see.
Congratulations Emma, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 4,000 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.
Enter your tip here
========================================
4. Submit your tip
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 with Anne
What to do with a Tomato Glut
It's taken a while, but now the tomatoes in our garden are going crazy, plumping up and ripening just about overnight. That means we've been eating them on toast for breakfast, on sandwiches or crackers for lunch and with salad for dinner. And I still have kilos and kilos of them, and even more ripening on the bushes.
So I've been making sauce, pasta sauce (have you tried the Sensational Simple Pasta Sauce?) and relish. We love relish. It's just lovely on cold meat sandwiches or on a sharp cheese on a cracker. Yum! This is my go to recipe for relish, it's really easy to do because it's a small batch. You can put it on to cook while you get tea and it will be ready to bottle when you've cleaned up. Easy! So far this week I've made three batches and stashed them in the pantry for winter.
Tomato Relish
Ingredients:
1.5kg ripe tomatoes
500g brown onions
2 tbsp salt
2 cups sugar
3 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp dry mustard
2 cups brown vinegar
Method:
Peel and dice tomatoes. Place in a bowl. Peel onions and dice finely. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle each bowl with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cover and leave overnight. Next day place tomatoes, liquid from bowl and onions in large saucepan. Add sugar and stir over low heat till dissolved. Increase the heat and bring to boil. Boil covered for 5 minutes. Combine curry powder, chilli powder and mustard, mix to a smooth paste with a little of the vinegar, add remaining vinegar, add to saucepan stir to combine thoroughly. Bring to boil, boil uncovered 50 minutes to an hour or until thick. Pour relish into hot, sterilised jars, cool and seal.
This week we will be eating:
Friday: Salmon croquettes, salad
Saturday: Sausages and salad
Sunday: Roast beef, baked vegetables, cauliflower, gravy
Monday: Vegetables in oyster sauce over fried rice
Tuesday: Cottage pie, steamed broccoli, carrots, corn cobs
Wednesday: Stuffed chicken drumsticks, scalloped potato, carrots, beans, corn cobs
Thursday: Meatloaf, salad
In the fruit bowl: mandarins, apples, bananas, rockmelon, strawberries
In the cake tin: Fantasy Slice, Lunchbox Cookies, fruit cake
There are over 1,300 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File
========================================
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
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
This week's hot forum topics
The 2015 No Spending Month Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2750-The-2015-No-Spending-Month-Challenge
Super Cheap Presents
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1684-Super-cheap-presents
What's on for Today?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?123-What-s-on-for-today&highlight=Lady+Macbeth
Most popular blog posts this week
Sensational, Simple Homemade Pasta Sauce
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/07/sensational-simple-homemade-pasta-sauce.html
Turn Cleaning the Pantry into a Game
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/07/turn-cleaning-pantry-into-game.html
The Four Most Common Ways to Dry Foods
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/02/the-four-most-common-ways-to-dry-foods.html
========================================
8. Member's 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 Toots.
No Spend Month!
I thought I was pretty frugal but thinking about every purchase is definitely eye opening. Once a month I go to the farmers markets, I get great fruit and veggies and it's also a day out. Normally I grab a coffee as soon as I get there and enjoy while wandering around, when it's finished I go out for breakfast and pick up the Sunday papers on the way home.
Yesterday I tossed around the idea all the way there if I should do what I normally do and decided I wouldn't break on the first day. So I saved approximately $30 and took a walk on the beach and came home and read the news online for free.
Mondays I usually have a coffee on the way to work and a can of fizzy in the afternoon so I have saved that to. Total so far $41.60 and its only day 2!
We have lots of birthdays this month (mine! as well as a 60th, a 16th and a 21st) so I will have to spend some money. I have done a meal plan and should only need fruit/veggies and milk hopefully. Wishing everyone well in this challenge.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club member blogs
========================================
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Helen who wrote
"Our daughter has a rental unit, complete with ants (unwanted guests). What environmentally friendly solutions are there for these pests?"
Angie Fimmano answered
One tablespoon of honey mixed with 1 teaspoon of borax and placed on the ant trails got rid of our ants. Borax is available from Bunnings and we have had success with getting rid of fleas and cockroaches as well. Just sprinkle around edges of rooms and brush into carpet. Not suitable for babies crawling or pets licking - read the warnings on the label and take care. It is natural and it works a treat though for the pesky exoskeleton insects.
Mick Watterson answered
I mix equal parts icing sugar and plaster of Paris powders together and leave in small piles (1/2 a teaspoon full) on a small piece of foil. Must keep it dry and replace if moisture affects it. I alternate between this and the next mix. The other mix I use is equal parts borax powder and icing sugar and use as above.
Penny Hughes answered
Read a very interesting article that said to use polenta. Apparently this attracts the ants and they take it back to the nest but they are unable to digest it and just die.
Ants Be Gone! (From the Tip Store)
You will need:
Jar lids (that you don't want to use again)
1 cup sugar
1tbsp borax
1/2 cup water
Boil the sugar, water and borax in a small saucepan for 3 minutes. This is just like making a toxic toffee for ants. Let it cool completely; it will thicken as it cools. Put a dollop of the cooled mixture into each jar lid. Then place the jar lids where the ants will find them. Under the fridge, behind the toaster, in the back of cupboards, on the windowsill and so on.
Please remember to keep it away from babies, pets and children - this mixture is toxic. It contains borax and while it is a natural product and safe to use properly, it is poisonous if ingested in large quantities. Remember to wash your saucepan and spoon in hot, soapy water, rinse them and dry them properly.
Borax is available in the cleaning aisle of your supermarket.
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10. This Week's Question
Mark writes
"Here is a challenge for Cheapskaters: come up with a list of gluten free products and gluten free menus both for adults and kids. Both I and my daughter have just been diagnosed with coeliac disease which means we have to go gluten free. There are a number of products which are appearing that are gluten free, both Coles and Woolies have their own range. However, if you go into the shops and look at some of the prices for those items you would struggle to meet the current challenge of spending only $300 in a month on food. We typically spend nearly on average $200 a week for two adults and two growing kids. Both of which are fussy eaters. My son only likes sausages, bacon and fish fingers which he can eat (he is non-coeliac). We do eat plenty of veggies and salads. Even they add up. Thanks."
I'll tell you now that if Mark is spending on average $200 a week on groceries then he is still under the national average, so he must be doing something right. The national average cost of groceries for a family of four in Australia is $220.
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