Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 11:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Foaming Pump Bottle Refills - Not Just for Hands; No Fuss, Quick Clean Floors; Winning with a Newspaper Subscription
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Devilled Chicken Wings
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge -
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. This Week's Question - Managing kids, work and school holidays
8. Ask Cath
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to this week's newsletter. It's a big one, I hope you enjoy it.
The March Journal has been uploaded to the Member's Centre, ready for you to log in and enjoy.
Have a great week everyone.
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
Foaming Pump Bottle Refills - Not Just for Hands
I prefer the foaming facial cleanser in a pump bottle, but although they last a long time they can be expensive. One day I had a thought, if foaming hand soap pump bottles can be refilled, why not facial cleanser? I bought a normal foaming wash, and filled my old pump bottle with a fifth. Added water and it works perfectly! Now my cleanser will last five times as long! And it cost less than one in a pump bottle... savings all round!
Contributed by Tracy Park
No Fuss, Quick Clean Floors
I'm a new Mum with a baby that is terrified of the vacuum cleaner. If I use it when she sleeps she wakes, so I tried sweeping, but that just didn't clean very well and when it came time to use our steam mop it was filthy and I'd have to wash the mop end all the time and would still find my hair and the cat's fur and food and fluff all over the place. So, to save my sanity and my babies sleep, I gave up and cleaned the floors the way they do in South East Asia (I did work there for a time). I grabbed a small wash cloth and some water, got down in a crouch and literally wiped the floor clean.
The first time I did this I was shocked at how quick it was. Much quicker than pulling out the vacuum, then emptying the vacuum, getting out the mop, changing power points every room. To do my kitchen, bathroom and laundry it took a mere 15 minutes. Not only did it pick up every hair and speck of dust, I didn't use any power, no hot water, barely any actual water and I just wash the cloth with my next load of laundry. You can also use rags of old clothes such as old socks or odd socks. Slide a hand in and off you go; great for dusting and cleaning Venetians too! No more vacuum maintenance, no fuss. Keeps you limber and feels much cleaner too!
Contributed by Hana De Wit
Winning and Saving with a Newspaper Subscription
My husband really enjoys reading the daily newspaper while having breakfast. I also read the paper but with less enthusiasm. This was costing $2.90 per day plus a return trip of eight kilometres, every day, seven days per week. Instead, I signed up to get the e-newspaper which cost $6.00 a week, but I pay four weeks in advance and save a further $2. As an added bonus we are saving petrol by not doing 56 kilometres a week just to get the paper. Winner, Winner
Contributed by Marg Donkin
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Share Your Tips
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
4. On the Menu
Devilled Chicken Wings
We love these chicken wings, and often have them on the barbecue. They make great nibbles, or a main meal with a salad. Coming in at under $5 (buy chicken wings on special and freeze them), it's a budget friendly dish too.
Devilled Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
2kg chicken wings
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp crushed garlic
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp tomato sauce
Method:
Mix ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the chicken wings. Toss together and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Cook in a 200 Degree oven for 40 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Serve with mashed potato.
This recipe is from the Chicken Recipe File.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Rissoles, vegetables
Tuesday: Lasagne, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Walnut Burgers, salad, buns
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Devilled Chicken Wings
Saturday: Haystacks
In the fruit bowl: Bananas, nectarines
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Common Recipe Ingredients You can MOO
I like simple recipes. That means recipes with just a few ingredients, preferably common pantry staples, that are inexpensive and can be used in many different ways. But, occasionally, a recipe calls for an ingredient that isn't quite so common, or that I don't keep on hand because we don't eat or use it a lot.
Here's a list of some of those recipe ingredients, that can be easily MOOed.
*Refried beans can be MOOed if you prefer over buying them.
*Baked beans can be MOOed if you prefer over buying them. It is not always cheaper to MOO baked beans but they do taste a whole lot better.
*Cream of Mushroom Soup - can be MOOed however it is not cheaper even if you grow your own mushrooms.
*Taco Shells - can be MOOed but they are time consuming and fiddly.
*Dry French Onion Soup - can be made but it is not cheaper than buying.
*Pasta sauce - can be MOOed but not everyone has access to fresh tomatoes. If they have to buy tomatoes it is then more expensive to make pasta sauce.
*Dry Cream of Mushroom Soup - can be MOOed but it is not cheaper than buying.
*Tinned fruit - peaches, pineapple - can be canned at home but unless the fruit is free it is not cheaper than buying.
*Tinned Tuna - is cheaper than buying and preparing fresh tuna.
*Feta - can be easily MOOed. Most people would not know how to do this, nor would they have easy access to the ingredients, even though it is a simple process. It is also not cheaper to make your own feta.
*Tortillas - can be MOOed you prefer, and frankly they are so much nicer if they are hot and freshly made.
*Cream Cheese - there is a MOO substitute you can use if you wish to make your own cream cheese.
*Condensed milk - can be MOOed. It is much cheaper to MOO condensed milk and it is very easy. The recipe is in the Recipe File.
*Evaporated milk is also easy and much, much cheaper to MOO. The recipe is in the Recipe file.
*Malt Biscuits - can be MOOed if you wish, as can plain sweet biscuits to use in no bake recipes.
*Choc Coated Honeycomb - can be MOOed.
*Coleslaw dressing - can be MOOed.
*Milk chocolate - you can make it but it is not cheaper, very time consuming and requires skill.
Recipes usually require specific ingredients in specific quantities i.e. one tin of condensed milk. You don't have to buy the tin of condensed milk, you can MOO it if you want to.
As long as you replace like with like you can substitute MOO ingredients for bought ingredients in any recipe.
All these things use ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. That means there's no need to buy the specific item (again, as an example, condensed milk), you can cross it off your shopping list. One less thing to buy, one less thing to store, and money saved.
Do you MOO recipe ingredients rather than buying them? Is there something you MOO that isn't on my list?
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
The 2018 No Spending Month Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3712-The-2018-No-Spending-Month-Challenge
Educating Country Kids
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3326-Educating-Country-Kids
Decluttering Tally Game 2018
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3692-Decluttering-Tally-Game-2018
Most popular blog posts this week
31 Days of MOO No. 4. MOO Fish Fingers
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/03/31-days-of-moo-no-4-moo-fish-fingers.html
31 Days of MOO No. 3 Re-Usable Face Wipes
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/03/31-days-of-moo-no-3-re-usable-face-wipes.html
31 Days OF MOO No. 21 - MOO Cooking Spray
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/03/31-days-of-moo-no-21-moo-cooking-spray.html
7. This Week's Question
Lyn B writes
"How do parents manage work hours with all the school holidays students have off school? Last year my son's school was out for 15 weeks - plus the occasional pupil free day. He is 13 and I have been working in casual jobs since he was 7. We are confident we can manage the Monday to Friday school days but the bigger issue is the school holidays. He's too old for child care; the local community centre run a few holiday programs but for limited hours; my elderly parents and in-laws live in the country and overseas, so they are not able to help out; and friends are a wonderful support but most work and have the same problem. Leaving any kids alone for long periods of time is not an option.
Do you have the answer?
If you have a suggestion or idea for Lyn, 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
8. 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
9. 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!
10. 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.
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
11. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Foaming Pump Bottle Refills - Not Just for Hands; No Fuss, Quick Clean Floors; Winning with a Newspaper Subscription
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Devilled Chicken Wings
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge -
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. This Week's Question - Managing kids, work and school holidays
8. Ask Cath
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to this week's newsletter. It's a big one, I hope you enjoy it.
The March Journal has been uploaded to the Member's Centre, ready for you to log in and enjoy.
Have a great week everyone.
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
Foaming Pump Bottle Refills - Not Just for Hands
I prefer the foaming facial cleanser in a pump bottle, but although they last a long time they can be expensive. One day I had a thought, if foaming hand soap pump bottles can be refilled, why not facial cleanser? I bought a normal foaming wash, and filled my old pump bottle with a fifth. Added water and it works perfectly! Now my cleanser will last five times as long! And it cost less than one in a pump bottle... savings all round!
Contributed by Tracy Park
No Fuss, Quick Clean Floors
I'm a new Mum with a baby that is terrified of the vacuum cleaner. If I use it when she sleeps she wakes, so I tried sweeping, but that just didn't clean very well and when it came time to use our steam mop it was filthy and I'd have to wash the mop end all the time and would still find my hair and the cat's fur and food and fluff all over the place. So, to save my sanity and my babies sleep, I gave up and cleaned the floors the way they do in South East Asia (I did work there for a time). I grabbed a small wash cloth and some water, got down in a crouch and literally wiped the floor clean.
The first time I did this I was shocked at how quick it was. Much quicker than pulling out the vacuum, then emptying the vacuum, getting out the mop, changing power points every room. To do my kitchen, bathroom and laundry it took a mere 15 minutes. Not only did it pick up every hair and speck of dust, I didn't use any power, no hot water, barely any actual water and I just wash the cloth with my next load of laundry. You can also use rags of old clothes such as old socks or odd socks. Slide a hand in and off you go; great for dusting and cleaning Venetians too! No more vacuum maintenance, no fuss. Keeps you limber and feels much cleaner too!
Contributed by Hana De Wit
Winning and Saving with a Newspaper Subscription
My husband really enjoys reading the daily newspaper while having breakfast. I also read the paper but with less enthusiasm. This was costing $2.90 per day plus a return trip of eight kilometres, every day, seven days per week. Instead, I signed up to get the e-newspaper which cost $6.00 a week, but I pay four weeks in advance and save a further $2. As an added bonus we are saving petrol by not doing 56 kilometres a week just to get the paper. Winner, Winner
Contributed by Marg Donkin
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Share Your Tips
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
4. On the Menu
Devilled Chicken Wings
We love these chicken wings, and often have them on the barbecue. They make great nibbles, or a main meal with a salad. Coming in at under $5 (buy chicken wings on special and freeze them), it's a budget friendly dish too.
Devilled Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
2kg chicken wings
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp crushed garlic
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp tomato sauce
Method:
Mix ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the chicken wings. Toss together and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Cook in a 200 Degree oven for 40 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Serve with mashed potato.
This recipe is from the Chicken Recipe File.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Rissoles, vegetables
Tuesday: Lasagne, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Walnut Burgers, salad, buns
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Devilled Chicken Wings
Saturday: Haystacks
In the fruit bowl: Bananas, nectarines
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Common Recipe Ingredients You can MOO
I like simple recipes. That means recipes with just a few ingredients, preferably common pantry staples, that are inexpensive and can be used in many different ways. But, occasionally, a recipe calls for an ingredient that isn't quite so common, or that I don't keep on hand because we don't eat or use it a lot.
Here's a list of some of those recipe ingredients, that can be easily MOOed.
*Refried beans can be MOOed if you prefer over buying them.
*Baked beans can be MOOed if you prefer over buying them. It is not always cheaper to MOO baked beans but they do taste a whole lot better.
*Cream of Mushroom Soup - can be MOOed however it is not cheaper even if you grow your own mushrooms.
*Taco Shells - can be MOOed but they are time consuming and fiddly.
*Dry French Onion Soup - can be made but it is not cheaper than buying.
*Pasta sauce - can be MOOed but not everyone has access to fresh tomatoes. If they have to buy tomatoes it is then more expensive to make pasta sauce.
*Dry Cream of Mushroom Soup - can be MOOed but it is not cheaper than buying.
*Tinned fruit - peaches, pineapple - can be canned at home but unless the fruit is free it is not cheaper than buying.
*Tinned Tuna - is cheaper than buying and preparing fresh tuna.
*Feta - can be easily MOOed. Most people would not know how to do this, nor would they have easy access to the ingredients, even though it is a simple process. It is also not cheaper to make your own feta.
*Tortillas - can be MOOed you prefer, and frankly they are so much nicer if they are hot and freshly made.
*Cream Cheese - there is a MOO substitute you can use if you wish to make your own cream cheese.
*Condensed milk - can be MOOed. It is much cheaper to MOO condensed milk and it is very easy. The recipe is in the Recipe File.
*Evaporated milk is also easy and much, much cheaper to MOO. The recipe is in the Recipe file.
*Malt Biscuits - can be MOOed if you wish, as can plain sweet biscuits to use in no bake recipes.
*Choc Coated Honeycomb - can be MOOed.
*Coleslaw dressing - can be MOOed.
*Milk chocolate - you can make it but it is not cheaper, very time consuming and requires skill.
Recipes usually require specific ingredients in specific quantities i.e. one tin of condensed milk. You don't have to buy the tin of condensed milk, you can MOO it if you want to.
As long as you replace like with like you can substitute MOO ingredients for bought ingredients in any recipe.
All these things use ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. That means there's no need to buy the specific item (again, as an example, condensed milk), you can cross it off your shopping list. One less thing to buy, one less thing to store, and money saved.
Do you MOO recipe ingredients rather than buying them? Is there something you MOO that isn't on my list?
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
The 2018 No Spending Month Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3712-The-2018-No-Spending-Month-Challenge
Educating Country Kids
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3326-Educating-Country-Kids
Decluttering Tally Game 2018
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3692-Decluttering-Tally-Game-2018
Most popular blog posts this week
31 Days of MOO No. 4. MOO Fish Fingers
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/03/31-days-of-moo-no-4-moo-fish-fingers.html
31 Days of MOO No. 3 Re-Usable Face Wipes
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/03/31-days-of-moo-no-3-re-usable-face-wipes.html
31 Days OF MOO No. 21 - MOO Cooking Spray
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2014/03/31-days-of-moo-no-21-moo-cooking-spray.html
7. This Week's Question
Lyn B writes
"How do parents manage work hours with all the school holidays students have off school? Last year my son's school was out for 15 weeks - plus the occasional pupil free day. He is 13 and I have been working in casual jobs since he was 7. We are confident we can manage the Monday to Friday school days but the bigger issue is the school holidays. He's too old for child care; the local community centre run a few holiday programs but for limited hours; my elderly parents and in-laws live in the country and overseas, so they are not able to help out; and friends are a wonderful support but most work and have the same problem. Leaving any kids alone for long periods of time is not an option.
Do you have the answer?
If you have a suggestion or idea for Lyn, 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
8. 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
9. 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!
10. 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.
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
11. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
Contact Cheapskates