Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter )6:17
In this newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Grow Your Own Lavender ; Using Christmas Gift Vouchers Before they Expire; Lemon Fresh Cutting Boards
3. You'll Fall in Love with Aldi Workshops - Bookings close Sunday!
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Cream Cheese Patties
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Guerrilla Grocery Shopping Part 2: The Price Book
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - Grocery Spreadsheet Shock
9. Last Week's Question - Can I fix my favourite sandals?
10. This Week's Question - Can anyone recommend a food processor?
11. Ask Cath
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
How is your No Spending Month going so far? It's exciting, not spending money and watching it just stay in my purse and our bank accounts. Between the Freezer Challenge and No Spending Month I'm hoping that by March the grocery slush fund will be built up enough to do a double meat order and re-stock the remaining stockpile items we need.
To help (in a roundabout kind of way) with no spending month, we have had some lovely rain this week. That means (and this is where the saving comes in) I haven't had to water the garden and the rain barrel I use for the garden has been topped up.
KarenE is using spreadsheets to track her spending to make sure it stays on track.
Barbw7 is tracking her spending to make sure she only buys planned and needed items.
HH hasn't bought anything unplanned or frivolous yet (her words, not mine!),
Se.stevenson is not spending by simply staying home and away from the shops.
Joyofquiliting is not spending by planning ahead and making her lunches for the week using ingredients she already had on hand.
What have you not been spending your money on this month?
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
Grow Your Own Lavender
Please don't buy lavender as you can easily take cuttings from an established plant and grow new plants. It's as simple as taking a cutting, removing most of the foliage and all of the flowers if there are any, and planting. I've heard of using honey on the stem to encourage root growth and covering the cutting with a large soft drink bottle with the bottom cut off which enables less water evaporation, keeping the soil moist. There are many other plants you can grow for free such as spring onions - just plant the root and approximately 1cm of the white; succulents - you just need a leaf and place on top of the soil and roots will grow; mint - this grows easily from a piece or if already in the garden lay a piece down in the soil, cover with more soil and roots will establish, you can then remove this section and plant somewhere in the garden. So many plants can be propagated easily, you never need to buy seedlings again. Good luck with the garden.
Contributed by Michelle Parsons
Using Christmas Gift Vouchers Before they Expire
I've been caught a few times with gift vouchers that have expired. What a waste! From now on I'm going to set a reminder in my diary/calendar a month (and another a week) before expiry, as soon as I receive these gifts. That way I'll be prompted to use the vouchers in plenty of time.
Contributed by Meri Fricker
Lemon Fresh Cutting Boards
Cutting boards are handy to have in the kitchen but they hang on to odours, no matter how hard you scrub. It is easy to clean and freshen your chopping boards without having to buy anything special and with just two items you probably have in the kitchen right now.
You will need:
Table salt
1 lemon
Step 1. Sprinkle your cutting board with salt. Just a light sprinkle over the board, it doesn't have to be thick. You just want enough salt to make step two a little more effective.
Step 2. Cut your lemon in half (if you haven’t already), put your cutting board flat on the sink or benchtop (I prefer the sink, it catches any mess), and give it a thorough scrubbing for a minute or two. Don’t be afraid to put a little elbow grease into it, you want to clean and freshen this chopping board.
Step 3. Rinse the lemon and salt off in your kitchen sink under cold water (hot water turns wooden cutting boards yellow and encourages stains and odours to stick to plastic boards), wipe over with a clean tea towel and stand up to let everything dry thoroughly before putting it away.
Can you smell that lemon-fresh scent? It's your nice, fresh chopping board.
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. You'll Fall in Love with Aldi Workshops
Join me in Perth or Adelaide in February at these very special Cheapskates Workshops where I will share the secrets to getting the very best from Aldi and to slashing thousands of dollars off your grocery budget every year!
I'll be sharing my shopping list, how I shop at Aldi, my favourite Aldi products and the secrets to shopping at Aldi that will slash your grocery budget, leaving more cash in your purse to spend on the things you enjoy.
These three exciting workshops which will take place in store - yes, you'll be learning as you shop and we'll have the store to ourselves!
Workshop 1 - Alid Harrisdale - Sold out!
Workshop 2 - Aldi Mandurah - 1 place left!
Workshop 3 - Aldi West Lakes - 2 places left!
"We learnt lots from the first one...if you live in Adelaide and want to learn to shop better than please attend...it is well worth it." Mumof2
"The SA one was so helpful to me and has saved us a fortune." Annabel Smith
There are only a few places left for these extra special workshops and bookings close at 8pm Sunday night.
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
Cream Cheese Patties
I love these patties in summer with salad just as much as I do in winter with steamed green vegetables.
Ingredients:
250g cream cheese
1 cup rice
1 large onion, grated
1 large carrot, grated
1 egg
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
Olive oil for frying
Shake'n'Bake
1/2 cup milk
Method:
Cook the rice in boiling salted water for 12 minutes. Dice cream cheese into 2cm cubes (this makes it easier to melt). Drain rice. Add remaining ingredients, except shake'n'bake, milk and olive oil, to the hot rice, stirring to melt the cream cheese. Take 1/4 cup of mixture, shape into a patty. Dip in milk then in shake'n'bake to coat. Let the patties rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before frying in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. Can be served hot or cold.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Fishcakes, gems, coleslaw
Tuesday: Spag bol
Wednesday: Cream Cheese Patties, salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Stir-fry
Saturday: Pan-fried sandwiches & salad
In the fruit bowl: grapes, oranges
In the cake tin: Caramel mud cake, chocolate biscuits
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Guerrilla Grocery Shopping Part 2: The Price Book
A very important tool in a Guerrilla Shopper's arsenal is their price book. This little book contains the prices of every item they buy. I say "prices" because there will be multiple prices for each item. There will be the regular price for store A, and the sale price at Store B, the really good sale price at Store C, then perhaps the regular sale price (yes there is a regular sale price) for Store A and so on.
Your price book determines when and where you buy your groceries. As you make up your shopping list you'll be checking with your price book to see where it is cheapest at the moment. If it's not on sale and you can do without it, don't put it on your list. If you need it right now, then just buy the exact number you need.
The idea of a price book is to give you the power: the power to choose when to buy, the power to choose how much to pay. With your price book you will be able to track sale cycles and know when something is at it's lowest price. And that's when you stock up, buying enough to last you until the next sale cycle.
Start building your price book today. Use your grocery dockets, the junk mail, get online and check the prices of your grocery items.
Your price book will help you to never pay full price for your groceries again.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Do you Trolley Peek?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?7-Do-you-trolley-peek
Ok Guys...Bare Bones Grocery Challenge Time
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?324-Ok-guys...bare-bones-grocery-challenge-time
Lunch Ideas
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3256-Lunch-Ideas&highlight=lunches
Most popular blog posts this week
How to Build Your Stockpile Part 4
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/09/how-to-build-your-stockpile-part-4.html
Turn Cleaning the Pantry into a Game
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/07/turn-cleaning-pantry-into-game.html
Tickled Organising
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/tickled-organizing.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 Sal.
Grocery Spreadsheet Shock
Last night, I put the last of my 2016 shopping into my grocery spreadsheet and came up with some horrible stats! Our grand total for food shopping was over $9,300. :-( I love figures so I kept going. Where did I spend it? Well, 66% went on meat and fish, fruit and veg, dairy and takeaway/treats. The last wasn't so bad considering we don't eat out and only buy pizza etc. when we go to Toowoomba. But it was still $15/week. Our average shopping bill is $180/week for 3 of us (though No. 1 son eats enough for two) with occasional visits from No.1 daughter.
So I am doing the $300 a Month Food Challenge but will have to look at say $600 to start with. Not going to be easy because I live rurally and have to travel for shopping. Our fuel prices have jumped nearly 20c/litre which now makes a trip to the local shops up from about $10 to $12.
Then the prices locally for food are exorbitant except for the Black & Gold brands which are the same as Toowoomba and Pittsworth. Look at $5/kg for spuds, $6-8/kg for any fruit and salad stuff starts at $7/kg for tomatoes and so forth. It is cheaper up at Pittsworth and more so at Toowoomba but traveling anywhere from 50 - 85 minutes one way is tiring and expensive. Oh for Cath's cheap veg and meat prices!
This leads me to what I did this morning. I looked at, cleaned and decided where my stockpile of food etc. needed to be sorted. I label all my shopping with the date I buy, doing the first in first out routine. This also allows me to see what is moving and what isn't. I found some stuff hadn't moved for 9 months and I only have the space for a 3-month stockpile. So all that extra food has come out to be used and won't have to be replaced. With limited freezer space, I can't store much in the way of meat and so forth.
I used to shop weekly but am now going to attempt a fortnightly shop but if that doesn't work go back to 10 days. That has to be better than every 7 days! Whenever somebody has to go to Toowoomba/Pittsworth shopping is done there with a big saving but if the boys do it, they always buy and spend more on things we don't really need or just buy too much and it starts going off. So I have to be very careful what I ask for!
I have joined the 2017 Saving Revolution again because even though I won't need to do some of it I will look at where I am at financially and remind myself of little tweets that I have forgotten that will help us. I don't ever stop learning and think that blogging and reading all Cath's newsletters etc. gives me lots of ideas. So roll along 2017. It will be better than last year and debt will become a thing of the past, hopefully by Christmas this year!
Keep going, everybody.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Angela who wrote
"I own a couple of Hush Puppy sandals with soft, spongy inner soles. The sole is still good, the top of the sandal is still good, but the soft inner sole has chunks out of it from wear, so they are no longer comfortable. The shoe repairman says they can't be fixed. Any ideas? Thanks."
Glenys Horne answered
Remove the insole completely... and replace with a good quality miracle foam one obtainable from most large supermarkets.
Yvette Newton answered
Last time I needed to replace mine I used an old computer 'mouse' mat and cut them using the old insole as a pattern to draw around.
Janie-Lee McRobert answered
Try finding an old wetsuit. New insoles forever! I bought one at Good Sammys and resoled most of our shoes with it. Just take out the old insole and trace it with wax paper on top. Failing that I have also made insoles on my sewing machine. I made some cloth ones and sewed back and forth but the wetsuit ones worked better.
10. This Week's Question
Kathy Watford answered
"Hi, I was wondering if anyone can recommend a food processor. I don't want a blender as my old one works fine as does my old stick mixer. Thanks any help will be greatly appreciated. "
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Kathy 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.
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.cheapskatesclub.net
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Grow Your Own Lavender ; Using Christmas Gift Vouchers Before they Expire; Lemon Fresh Cutting Boards
3. You'll Fall in Love with Aldi Workshops - Bookings close Sunday!
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Cream Cheese Patties
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Guerrilla Grocery Shopping Part 2: The Price Book
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - Grocery Spreadsheet Shock
9. Last Week's Question - Can I fix my favourite sandals?
10. This Week's Question - Can anyone recommend a food processor?
11. Ask Cath
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
How is your No Spending Month going so far? It's exciting, not spending money and watching it just stay in my purse and our bank accounts. Between the Freezer Challenge and No Spending Month I'm hoping that by March the grocery slush fund will be built up enough to do a double meat order and re-stock the remaining stockpile items we need.
To help (in a roundabout kind of way) with no spending month, we have had some lovely rain this week. That means (and this is where the saving comes in) I haven't had to water the garden and the rain barrel I use for the garden has been topped up.
KarenE is using spreadsheets to track her spending to make sure it stays on track.
Barbw7 is tracking her spending to make sure she only buys planned and needed items.
HH hasn't bought anything unplanned or frivolous yet (her words, not mine!),
Se.stevenson is not spending by simply staying home and away from the shops.
Joyofquiliting is not spending by planning ahead and making her lunches for the week using ingredients she already had on hand.
What have you not been spending your money on this month?
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
Grow Your Own Lavender
Please don't buy lavender as you can easily take cuttings from an established plant and grow new plants. It's as simple as taking a cutting, removing most of the foliage and all of the flowers if there are any, and planting. I've heard of using honey on the stem to encourage root growth and covering the cutting with a large soft drink bottle with the bottom cut off which enables less water evaporation, keeping the soil moist. There are many other plants you can grow for free such as spring onions - just plant the root and approximately 1cm of the white; succulents - you just need a leaf and place on top of the soil and roots will grow; mint - this grows easily from a piece or if already in the garden lay a piece down in the soil, cover with more soil and roots will establish, you can then remove this section and plant somewhere in the garden. So many plants can be propagated easily, you never need to buy seedlings again. Good luck with the garden.
Contributed by Michelle Parsons
Using Christmas Gift Vouchers Before they Expire
I've been caught a few times with gift vouchers that have expired. What a waste! From now on I'm going to set a reminder in my diary/calendar a month (and another a week) before expiry, as soon as I receive these gifts. That way I'll be prompted to use the vouchers in plenty of time.
Contributed by Meri Fricker
Lemon Fresh Cutting Boards
Cutting boards are handy to have in the kitchen but they hang on to odours, no matter how hard you scrub. It is easy to clean and freshen your chopping boards without having to buy anything special and with just two items you probably have in the kitchen right now.
You will need:
Table salt
1 lemon
Step 1. Sprinkle your cutting board with salt. Just a light sprinkle over the board, it doesn't have to be thick. You just want enough salt to make step two a little more effective.
Step 2. Cut your lemon in half (if you haven’t already), put your cutting board flat on the sink or benchtop (I prefer the sink, it catches any mess), and give it a thorough scrubbing for a minute or two. Don’t be afraid to put a little elbow grease into it, you want to clean and freshen this chopping board.
Step 3. Rinse the lemon and salt off in your kitchen sink under cold water (hot water turns wooden cutting boards yellow and encourages stains and odours to stick to plastic boards), wipe over with a clean tea towel and stand up to let everything dry thoroughly before putting it away.
Can you smell that lemon-fresh scent? It's your nice, fresh chopping board.
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. You'll Fall in Love with Aldi Workshops
Join me in Perth or Adelaide in February at these very special Cheapskates Workshops where I will share the secrets to getting the very best from Aldi and to slashing thousands of dollars off your grocery budget every year!
I'll be sharing my shopping list, how I shop at Aldi, my favourite Aldi products and the secrets to shopping at Aldi that will slash your grocery budget, leaving more cash in your purse to spend on the things you enjoy.
These three exciting workshops which will take place in store - yes, you'll be learning as you shop and we'll have the store to ourselves!
Workshop 1 - Alid Harrisdale - Sold out!
Workshop 2 - Aldi Mandurah - 1 place left!
Workshop 3 - Aldi West Lakes - 2 places left!
"We learnt lots from the first one...if you live in Adelaide and want to learn to shop better than please attend...it is well worth it." Mumof2
"The SA one was so helpful to me and has saved us a fortune." Annabel Smith
There are only a few places left for these extra special workshops and bookings close at 8pm Sunday night.
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
Cream Cheese Patties
I love these patties in summer with salad just as much as I do in winter with steamed green vegetables.
Ingredients:
250g cream cheese
1 cup rice
1 large onion, grated
1 large carrot, grated
1 egg
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
Olive oil for frying
Shake'n'Bake
1/2 cup milk
Method:
Cook the rice in boiling salted water for 12 minutes. Dice cream cheese into 2cm cubes (this makes it easier to melt). Drain rice. Add remaining ingredients, except shake'n'bake, milk and olive oil, to the hot rice, stirring to melt the cream cheese. Take 1/4 cup of mixture, shape into a patty. Dip in milk then in shake'n'bake to coat. Let the patties rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before frying in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. Can be served hot or cold.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Fishcakes, gems, coleslaw
Tuesday: Spag bol
Wednesday: Cream Cheese Patties, salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Stir-fry
Saturday: Pan-fried sandwiches & salad
In the fruit bowl: grapes, oranges
In the cake tin: Caramel mud cake, chocolate biscuits
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Guerrilla Grocery Shopping Part 2: The Price Book
A very important tool in a Guerrilla Shopper's arsenal is their price book. This little book contains the prices of every item they buy. I say "prices" because there will be multiple prices for each item. There will be the regular price for store A, and the sale price at Store B, the really good sale price at Store C, then perhaps the regular sale price (yes there is a regular sale price) for Store A and so on.
Your price book determines when and where you buy your groceries. As you make up your shopping list you'll be checking with your price book to see where it is cheapest at the moment. If it's not on sale and you can do without it, don't put it on your list. If you need it right now, then just buy the exact number you need.
The idea of a price book is to give you the power: the power to choose when to buy, the power to choose how much to pay. With your price book you will be able to track sale cycles and know when something is at it's lowest price. And that's when you stock up, buying enough to last you until the next sale cycle.
Start building your price book today. Use your grocery dockets, the junk mail, get online and check the prices of your grocery items.
Your price book will help you to never pay full price for your groceries again.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Do you Trolley Peek?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?7-Do-you-trolley-peek
Ok Guys...Bare Bones Grocery Challenge Time
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?324-Ok-guys...bare-bones-grocery-challenge-time
Lunch Ideas
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3256-Lunch-Ideas&highlight=lunches
Most popular blog posts this week
How to Build Your Stockpile Part 4
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/09/how-to-build-your-stockpile-part-4.html
Turn Cleaning the Pantry into a Game
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/07/turn-cleaning-pantry-into-game.html
Tickled Organising
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/08/tickled-organizing.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 Sal.
Grocery Spreadsheet Shock
Last night, I put the last of my 2016 shopping into my grocery spreadsheet and came up with some horrible stats! Our grand total for food shopping was over $9,300. :-( I love figures so I kept going. Where did I spend it? Well, 66% went on meat and fish, fruit and veg, dairy and takeaway/treats. The last wasn't so bad considering we don't eat out and only buy pizza etc. when we go to Toowoomba. But it was still $15/week. Our average shopping bill is $180/week for 3 of us (though No. 1 son eats enough for two) with occasional visits from No.1 daughter.
So I am doing the $300 a Month Food Challenge but will have to look at say $600 to start with. Not going to be easy because I live rurally and have to travel for shopping. Our fuel prices have jumped nearly 20c/litre which now makes a trip to the local shops up from about $10 to $12.
Then the prices locally for food are exorbitant except for the Black & Gold brands which are the same as Toowoomba and Pittsworth. Look at $5/kg for spuds, $6-8/kg for any fruit and salad stuff starts at $7/kg for tomatoes and so forth. It is cheaper up at Pittsworth and more so at Toowoomba but traveling anywhere from 50 - 85 minutes one way is tiring and expensive. Oh for Cath's cheap veg and meat prices!
This leads me to what I did this morning. I looked at, cleaned and decided where my stockpile of food etc. needed to be sorted. I label all my shopping with the date I buy, doing the first in first out routine. This also allows me to see what is moving and what isn't. I found some stuff hadn't moved for 9 months and I only have the space for a 3-month stockpile. So all that extra food has come out to be used and won't have to be replaced. With limited freezer space, I can't store much in the way of meat and so forth.
I used to shop weekly but am now going to attempt a fortnightly shop but if that doesn't work go back to 10 days. That has to be better than every 7 days! Whenever somebody has to go to Toowoomba/Pittsworth shopping is done there with a big saving but if the boys do it, they always buy and spend more on things we don't really need or just buy too much and it starts going off. So I have to be very careful what I ask for!
I have joined the 2017 Saving Revolution again because even though I won't need to do some of it I will look at where I am at financially and remind myself of little tweets that I have forgotten that will help us. I don't ever stop learning and think that blogging and reading all Cath's newsletters etc. gives me lots of ideas. So roll along 2017. It will be better than last year and debt will become a thing of the past, hopefully by Christmas this year!
Keep going, everybody.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Angela who wrote
"I own a couple of Hush Puppy sandals with soft, spongy inner soles. The sole is still good, the top of the sandal is still good, but the soft inner sole has chunks out of it from wear, so they are no longer comfortable. The shoe repairman says they can't be fixed. Any ideas? Thanks."
Glenys Horne answered
Remove the insole completely... and replace with a good quality miracle foam one obtainable from most large supermarkets.
Yvette Newton answered
Last time I needed to replace mine I used an old computer 'mouse' mat and cut them using the old insole as a pattern to draw around.
Janie-Lee McRobert answered
Try finding an old wetsuit. New insoles forever! I bought one at Good Sammys and resoled most of our shoes with it. Just take out the old insole and trace it with wax paper on top. Failing that I have also made insoles on my sewing machine. I made some cloth ones and sewed back and forth but the wetsuit ones worked better.
10. This Week's Question
Kathy Watford answered
"Hi, I was wondering if anyone can recommend a food processor. I don't want a blender as my old one works fine as does my old stick mixer. Thanks any help will be greatly appreciated. "
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Kathy 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.
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.cheapskatesclub.net