In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Free Full-Size Up-to-Date Sewing Patterns; Shop Around to Save On Prescription Costs; An Easy Rescue of a Burnt Saucepan
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - Seeing the True Cost of Spending
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Frugal Haystacks
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Guerrilla Grocery Shopping Part 5: Making the Most of Grocery Wars
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - Busy, Busy, Busy!
9. Last Week's Question - Is a food dehydrator worth the money?
10. This Week's Question - I need a nice way to say no to splitting the bill!
11. Ask Cath
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to MOO month! I love March, it is the most creative month of the year at the Cheapskates Club.
What is MOO month I hear all you new Cheapskaters asking. Well, MOO month is the month we Make Our Own. A whole month of cooking from scratch, making what we need to eat, wear, clean, grow our food, give gifts and just about anything else you can think of.
Why do we MOO? Well obviously it will save money, time and energy. But more than that it teaches us new skills, helps us develop our talents and enables us to be a little more self-sufficient and a little less reliant on this consumer society we live in.
Every day this month I'll be posting a new MOO on the 31 Days of MOO page. You can see yesterday's and today's here and don't forget to come back each day to see each new MOO
Have a great week and I hope I hear about a lot of MOOing.
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
Free Full-Size Up-to-Date Sewing Patterns
I have just discovered Burda Style magazine, full of beautiful clothes photographs! AND it comes with many free patterns in a full range of sizes which you just copy from the master sheet. The really outstanding SUPER cheapskate part of this is . . . you can borrow it FREE from your local library! I'm in Yarra Plenty library (Vic), and the magazines all have the pattern master sheet in the back, so I've copied the patterns that I want onto ordinary greaseproof paper (sticky taped together for width) to sew my own clothes. The photos are inspiring, you can see what the pattern really looks like and it's simply fantastic. If your library doesn't have it then ask the librarian to get it from another library or to subscribe to it. Suggest a year's trial then drum up other borrowers so the library keeps subscribing.
Contributed by Vanessa Reynolds
Shop Around to Save On Prescription Costs
My tip is to shop around with prescriptions as the price between different chemists for prescriptions is huge. I went to National Pharmacy to get a quote on two scripts and the price was $40.00. After saying no thank you I went to Good Price Pharmacy and the price there was $10.40 for both. Please take note that I do not have private cover or a health care card so with a savings of $29.60 this is huge. Also please be aware these are prescription only medicines and not over the counter ones.
Contributed by Maria Knott
An Easy Rescue of a Burnt Saucepan
If you've been cooking, and the inside of your saucepan is burnt black, cover the bottom with vinegar and add a few tablespoons of carb soda. Put the saucepan in the freezer overnight and in the morning take it out and let the liquid start to thaw. You'll find the baked on gunk will just lift off. I was sceptical when I heard it, but I tried it, and it definitely works.
Contributed by Lyn Churchyard
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Cheapskates Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Maxine Webber. Maxine has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Seeing the True Cost of Spending
When you go out shopping and you spend money on takeaway food or drink bring the rubbish home and deal with the waste e.g. wrappers, paper coffee cups etc. When you place this waste in your own bin you start to recognise the space it takes and effort to dispose of it. This helps to know the true cost of your of your expenditure and to change your mindset i.e. take a water bottle from home or place a sandwich in a lunch box not a plastic bag. Less waste less overall cost. For example, every time we leave the house we leave with a reusable water bottle. This saves us $3 to $4 person on every trip to the shops, dancing, soccer etc. etc. Just this one simple action has saved us a lot of money over the years.
Congratulations Maxine, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 2,000 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.
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
Haystacks
These feature on our meal plan regularly, my family loves them, even the salad haters. They happily gobble down lots of lovely fresh salad when it's on haystacks, and I love watching all that green leafy stuff disappear, leaving clean plates.
Frugal Haystacks
Ingredients:
2 tins baked beans in tomato sauce
1 tin red kidney beans (or dried equivalent, soaked and cooked)
3 tbsp MOO taco seasoning (or 1 packet)
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tins diced tomatoes
Method:
Sauté onion, add taco seasoning and then beans and tomatoes. Heat through. Serve over corn chips or toasted pita bread or torn mountain bread, I've even put it over pappadums in a pinch, add salad to suit, top with salsa and sour cream if desired.
I usually add lettuce, tomato, cucumber, finely sliced red onion, grated carrot and diced beetroot then add the cheese, salsa and sour cream if we're having them.
This makes a double quantity, so half goes in the freezer for the next time. Freezes well and it makes a great filling for stuffed spuds too.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw
Tuesday: Macaroni cheese with vegetables
Wednesday: Sweet & Sour meatballs, rice
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Enchiladas
In the fruit bowl: bananas
In the cake tin: Choc chip muffins
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 5: Making the Most of Grocery Wars
Grocery sales have been around as long as there have been grocers. But now supermarkets have upped the ante in the war to get you to spend your money in their store with extra discounts for loyal customers, special percentage off days and even allowing you, the customer to decide which products you’ll buy at the “special” prices.
It started with milk - down to $1 a litre (even less at Aldi), then bread, eggs and it is spreading. But who has the lowest prices on your grocery staples? And how do you find the lowest prices on your other grocery needs?
Well you can just wander out to your letterbox and pick up the junk mail! It's there for you to browse and use to your advantage. Or you can jump online and do the same thing, remembering to search for those super specials that are only available online.
To take advantage of the lower prices offered there are a few things you need to do:
Organize your shopping trips
Make a list and check your local flyers before leaving the house. Often times, we will just “run an errand” to our local supermarket and wind up spending $50.00 on very little. Be sure to check other local supermarkets also and do a compare and contrast. More and more we are seeing those flyers often hold a goldmine of in-store coupons and special offers. We all know that running out to pick something up equates to spending more than we should.
By taking a few minutes to compare local flyers, you can take advantage of special promotions and save money on things that you really need. Sometimes a store will offer you $5.00 off a purchase of $20.00 or more. Before you head out on Monday for milk and on Wednesday for shampoo, organize your shopping trips with flyers and your own shopping list in hand. You will save time and money.
Portable Flyers
Take your flyers along for a ride. Some retail chain stores and supermarkets will honour sale prices from another store. Inquire if they will honour those prices at the service desk. Do not be afraid to bring your flyers along when you venture out, you will need them to prove your claim for a lower price. They are also a good back-up if you find the shelf price is different to the advertised price (and ask if your supermarket abides by the Supermarket Code of Practice, it is voluntary, they are not required to).
This can mean the difference between saving or losing money once you are at the store.
Virtual Sales Flyers
Do not get stuck with the notion that flyers are only found in paper form. Special online only promotions, coupon codes, preferred customer incentives and even free shipping are all bonuses of shopping online. Since online retailers have a broader reach, they can offer steeper discounts, especially to first-time buyers.
When you shop somewhere once, the retailer will have your email address and the opportunity to help you save even more in the future.
Make sure that you are not buying something on sale just because it’s advertised as on sale. Sometimes buying something on sale that you really do not need will cost you more money down the road. By making lists and comparing online stores with local stores, you will be able to make the most out of your grocery flyers.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Making Jam
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3421-making-jam
$300 A Month Food Challenge - Country Living
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3532-300-A-Month-Food-Challenge-27-02-17-Country-Living
Drowning
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2972-Drowning.
Most popular blog posts this week
Another MOO for the Kitchen - Onion Soup Mix
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/06/another-moo-for-kitchen-onion-soup-mix.html
Homemade Tomato Soup, it's Easy!
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/03/homemade-tomato-soup-its-easy.html
MOO Crumpets
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/03/moo-crumpets.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 sube60.
Busy, Busy, Busy!
We have been lucky to get a bit of cooler weather this week which has allowed me to get into my office - it is an absolutely pig stye now as I shift shelves and things around. I think it is going to take me quite a few weeks too :-(
Re the budget and c/c debt, things are going really well on that sphere, and using the 40 check off squares is keeping not only me motivated but I am not using it atm - woohoo!! Even hubby seems to be getting into the spirit of things.
I am also doing the $300/month food challenge and that is hard, hard, hard. I won't get there but maybe just tweaking here and there will help it a bit.
I am MOOing quite a bit from shake and bake, to bread to all home cooking. With the downpour yesterday our dams bypassed - yahoo - and maybe I will try to get the motivation to at least to plant some pak choi and silverbeet.
Have a great week, all.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Karen wrote
"Hi everyone, I was going to buy a food dehydrator. Can anyone tell me which is the best brand to get or do they all do the same thing.?"
Robyne Neal answered
I have a Fowlers brand; it costs, more with 12 trays and 4 fruit leather trays but I have had mine for 30 years . It's well used all year around and has been worth every cent spent on it. My youngest son bought be a cheap one from Homeware and it is faster and hotter than the Fowler dehydrator and not bad. He makes all his Jerky with it. He said he is pleased with it but it only has 5 trays.
10. This Week's Question
Judy writes "I'm looking for advice on how to cope/manage/deal/put up with family and friends who automatically assume that when we go out we'll just split the bill evenly. I don't drink, not even tea or coffee, so I only ever ask for tap water. I also never have an entrée or a dessert, I just can't eat that much food. But when the bill comes it's automatically divided by three or four or however many of us there are. When I mention that I only had a main course and it cost however much I feel like such a scrooge and as though I'm putting a downer on the party. I am single, own my apartment (only because I've scrimped and gone without to pay for it) and have a reasonably well paying job. The problem is all my friends and family know this and don't seem to understand that I budget for my coffee or brunch or dinner. I just don't budget, and don't really want to budget, to cover everyone else's coffee or dinner or brunch. I don’t want to upset anyone, but I really can't afford to keep subsidising their lifestyle. Is there a nice, inoffensive way I can get this through to them?"
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Judy 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 - Free Full-Size Up-to-Date Sewing Patterns; Shop Around to Save On Prescription Costs; An Easy Rescue of a Burnt Saucepan
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - Seeing the True Cost of Spending
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Frugal Haystacks
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Guerrilla Grocery Shopping Part 5: Making the Most of Grocery Wars
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - Busy, Busy, Busy!
9. Last Week's Question - Is a food dehydrator worth the money?
10. This Week's Question - I need a nice way to say no to splitting the bill!
11. Ask Cath
12. Join the Cheapskates Club
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to MOO month! I love March, it is the most creative month of the year at the Cheapskates Club.
What is MOO month I hear all you new Cheapskaters asking. Well, MOO month is the month we Make Our Own. A whole month of cooking from scratch, making what we need to eat, wear, clean, grow our food, give gifts and just about anything else you can think of.
Why do we MOO? Well obviously it will save money, time and energy. But more than that it teaches us new skills, helps us develop our talents and enables us to be a little more self-sufficient and a little less reliant on this consumer society we live in.
Every day this month I'll be posting a new MOO on the 31 Days of MOO page. You can see yesterday's and today's here and don't forget to come back each day to see each new MOO
Have a great week and I hope I hear about a lot of MOOing.
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
Free Full-Size Up-to-Date Sewing Patterns
I have just discovered Burda Style magazine, full of beautiful clothes photographs! AND it comes with many free patterns in a full range of sizes which you just copy from the master sheet. The really outstanding SUPER cheapskate part of this is . . . you can borrow it FREE from your local library! I'm in Yarra Plenty library (Vic), and the magazines all have the pattern master sheet in the back, so I've copied the patterns that I want onto ordinary greaseproof paper (sticky taped together for width) to sew my own clothes. The photos are inspiring, you can see what the pattern really looks like and it's simply fantastic. If your library doesn't have it then ask the librarian to get it from another library or to subscribe to it. Suggest a year's trial then drum up other borrowers so the library keeps subscribing.
Contributed by Vanessa Reynolds
Shop Around to Save On Prescription Costs
My tip is to shop around with prescriptions as the price between different chemists for prescriptions is huge. I went to National Pharmacy to get a quote on two scripts and the price was $40.00. After saying no thank you I went to Good Price Pharmacy and the price there was $10.40 for both. Please take note that I do not have private cover or a health care card so with a savings of $29.60 this is huge. Also please be aware these are prescription only medicines and not over the counter ones.
Contributed by Maria Knott
An Easy Rescue of a Burnt Saucepan
If you've been cooking, and the inside of your saucepan is burnt black, cover the bottom with vinegar and add a few tablespoons of carb soda. Put the saucepan in the freezer overnight and in the morning take it out and let the liquid start to thaw. You'll find the baked on gunk will just lift off. I was sceptical when I heard it, but I tried it, and it definitely works.
Contributed by Lyn Churchyard
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Cheapskates Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Maxine Webber. Maxine has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Seeing the True Cost of Spending
When you go out shopping and you spend money on takeaway food or drink bring the rubbish home and deal with the waste e.g. wrappers, paper coffee cups etc. When you place this waste in your own bin you start to recognise the space it takes and effort to dispose of it. This helps to know the true cost of your of your expenditure and to change your mindset i.e. take a water bottle from home or place a sandwich in a lunch box not a plastic bag. Less waste less overall cost. For example, every time we leave the house we leave with a reusable water bottle. This saves us $3 to $4 person on every trip to the shops, dancing, soccer etc. etc. Just this one simple action has saved us a lot of money over the years.
Congratulations Maxine, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 2,000 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.
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
Haystacks
These feature on our meal plan regularly, my family loves them, even the salad haters. They happily gobble down lots of lovely fresh salad when it's on haystacks, and I love watching all that green leafy stuff disappear, leaving clean plates.
Frugal Haystacks
Ingredients:
2 tins baked beans in tomato sauce
1 tin red kidney beans (or dried equivalent, soaked and cooked)
3 tbsp MOO taco seasoning (or 1 packet)
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tins diced tomatoes
Method:
Sauté onion, add taco seasoning and then beans and tomatoes. Heat through. Serve over corn chips or toasted pita bread or torn mountain bread, I've even put it over pappadums in a pinch, add salad to suit, top with salsa and sour cream if desired.
I usually add lettuce, tomato, cucumber, finely sliced red onion, grated carrot and diced beetroot then add the cheese, salsa and sour cream if we're having them.
This makes a double quantity, so half goes in the freezer for the next time. Freezes well and it makes a great filling for stuffed spuds too.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw
Tuesday: Macaroni cheese with vegetables
Wednesday: Sweet & Sour meatballs, rice
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Enchiladas
In the fruit bowl: bananas
In the cake tin: Choc chip muffins
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 5: Making the Most of Grocery Wars
Grocery sales have been around as long as there have been grocers. But now supermarkets have upped the ante in the war to get you to spend your money in their store with extra discounts for loyal customers, special percentage off days and even allowing you, the customer to decide which products you’ll buy at the “special” prices.
It started with milk - down to $1 a litre (even less at Aldi), then bread, eggs and it is spreading. But who has the lowest prices on your grocery staples? And how do you find the lowest prices on your other grocery needs?
Well you can just wander out to your letterbox and pick up the junk mail! It's there for you to browse and use to your advantage. Or you can jump online and do the same thing, remembering to search for those super specials that are only available online.
To take advantage of the lower prices offered there are a few things you need to do:
Organize your shopping trips
Make a list and check your local flyers before leaving the house. Often times, we will just “run an errand” to our local supermarket and wind up spending $50.00 on very little. Be sure to check other local supermarkets also and do a compare and contrast. More and more we are seeing those flyers often hold a goldmine of in-store coupons and special offers. We all know that running out to pick something up equates to spending more than we should.
By taking a few minutes to compare local flyers, you can take advantage of special promotions and save money on things that you really need. Sometimes a store will offer you $5.00 off a purchase of $20.00 or more. Before you head out on Monday for milk and on Wednesday for shampoo, organize your shopping trips with flyers and your own shopping list in hand. You will save time and money.
Portable Flyers
Take your flyers along for a ride. Some retail chain stores and supermarkets will honour sale prices from another store. Inquire if they will honour those prices at the service desk. Do not be afraid to bring your flyers along when you venture out, you will need them to prove your claim for a lower price. They are also a good back-up if you find the shelf price is different to the advertised price (and ask if your supermarket abides by the Supermarket Code of Practice, it is voluntary, they are not required to).
This can mean the difference between saving or losing money once you are at the store.
Virtual Sales Flyers
Do not get stuck with the notion that flyers are only found in paper form. Special online only promotions, coupon codes, preferred customer incentives and even free shipping are all bonuses of shopping online. Since online retailers have a broader reach, they can offer steeper discounts, especially to first-time buyers.
When you shop somewhere once, the retailer will have your email address and the opportunity to help you save even more in the future.
Make sure that you are not buying something on sale just because it’s advertised as on sale. Sometimes buying something on sale that you really do not need will cost you more money down the road. By making lists and comparing online stores with local stores, you will be able to make the most out of your grocery flyers.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Making Jam
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3421-making-jam
$300 A Month Food Challenge - Country Living
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3532-300-A-Month-Food-Challenge-27-02-17-Country-Living
Drowning
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2972-Drowning.
Most popular blog posts this week
Another MOO for the Kitchen - Onion Soup Mix
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/06/another-moo-for-kitchen-onion-soup-mix.html
Homemade Tomato Soup, it's Easy!
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/03/homemade-tomato-soup-its-easy.html
MOO Crumpets
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/03/moo-crumpets.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 sube60.
Busy, Busy, Busy!
We have been lucky to get a bit of cooler weather this week which has allowed me to get into my office - it is an absolutely pig stye now as I shift shelves and things around. I think it is going to take me quite a few weeks too :-(
Re the budget and c/c debt, things are going really well on that sphere, and using the 40 check off squares is keeping not only me motivated but I am not using it atm - woohoo!! Even hubby seems to be getting into the spirit of things.
I am also doing the $300/month food challenge and that is hard, hard, hard. I won't get there but maybe just tweaking here and there will help it a bit.
I am MOOing quite a bit from shake and bake, to bread to all home cooking. With the downpour yesterday our dams bypassed - yahoo - and maybe I will try to get the motivation to at least to plant some pak choi and silverbeet.
Have a great week, all.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Karen wrote
"Hi everyone, I was going to buy a food dehydrator. Can anyone tell me which is the best brand to get or do they all do the same thing.?"
Robyne Neal answered
I have a Fowlers brand; it costs, more with 12 trays and 4 fruit leather trays but I have had mine for 30 years . It's well used all year around and has been worth every cent spent on it. My youngest son bought be a cheap one from Homeware and it is faster and hotter than the Fowler dehydrator and not bad. He makes all his Jerky with it. He said he is pleased with it but it only has 5 trays.
10. This Week's Question
Judy writes "I'm looking for advice on how to cope/manage/deal/put up with family and friends who automatically assume that when we go out we'll just split the bill evenly. I don't drink, not even tea or coffee, so I only ever ask for tap water. I also never have an entrée or a dessert, I just can't eat that much food. But when the bill comes it's automatically divided by three or four or however many of us there are. When I mention that I only had a main course and it cost however much I feel like such a scrooge and as though I'm putting a downer on the party. I am single, own my apartment (only because I've scrimped and gone without to pay for it) and have a reasonably well paying job. The problem is all my friends and family know this and don't seem to understand that I budget for my coffee or brunch or dinner. I just don't budget, and don't really want to budget, to cover everyone else's coffee or dinner or brunch. I don’t want to upset anyone, but I really can't afford to keep subsidising their lifestyle. Is there a nice, inoffensive way I can get this through to them?"
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Judy 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