Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 12:23
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Stockpiling While Pregnant; Cockroach Solution; Utilising Your Freezer Inventory
3. March is MOO Month
4. On the Menu - Chicken Pineapple Curry
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - What Do I Stockpile?
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - Pumpkin Soup and Two Ways to Preserve It
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Handmade Christmas - Planning for Christmas Baking
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
What are you seeing around you? My friend Annabel, from The Bluebirds Are Nesting on the Farm, asked me to write a report for her weekly Bluebirds on the Ground series, and it was published last Tuesday. You can read it here, and the other reports in the series too. Reports from around the world, from people living what they are reporting.
It's eye opening. I say what I see. Believe me, agree with me, or don't. But please don't stop preparing, filling those pantries, learning skills, making plans, being smart about how our way of life is changing. It just makes sense, and if it makes your life easier, and saves you money, time and energy when your very own disaster strikes (in whatever form that may be) you will be happy you took the time.
We have had the strangest week. Last Saturday it was 38C. Tuesday was so cold Wayne came home from work and asked me if I wanted the heater on! No, we just pulled out the rugs a few weeks early, and we were cosy. Then we've been waiting on rain all week, and severe thunderstorms, I'm still waiting. I was hoping it would rain to save watering the garden. Crazy! And perhaps a hint that our winter is going to be strange too.
We have started planning and planting for our winter garden. There are two veggie boxes that need to be renovated, so this weekend they will be emptied and tidied up and then refilled, with compost added, ready for seeding. I think they'll be the cabbage and cauliflower beds. I'm waiting to get the parsnips and turnips in, but it's still a bit warm, and they like cool soil.
Oh, and I just have to say, I think we've found the perfect spot for a pumpkin patch! They will be able to ramble and roam, as pumpkin vines like to do, without taking over the whole garden and yard (remember a couple of years ago we went away for two weeks with nice neat and tidy pumpkin vines and came home to no backyard, they'd had a growth spurt and taken over!).
I'm looking ahead to what we will need, and thinking about what grows well and stores well, and planning the winter garden about those particular foods first.
What are you planting this autumn? Have you started your autumn/winter garden yet?
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
Stockpiling While Pregnant
When expecting my first baby my partner and I were both working full. Knowing that we would only be living on one wage when the baby arrived I started to add extra products that I would need once the baby came e.g. nappies and wipes, washing power, cleaning products, baby food tins. I would even through in a couple of singlets or jump suits from Coles. This ended up saving us heaps when the baby arrived as my shopping bill went back to normal and I didn't need to buy any extra items for our little addition for the first year.
Contributed by Sharon
A Cockroach Solution
This is a cheap, simple, nontoxic treatment to get rid of cockroaches in your home. Stir together equal parts of sugar and baking soda. The cockroaches eat the sugar, and the baking soda creates gas in their stomachs and ultimately kills them. It only takes a cup or so of the mixture to treat a house, placing dabs in strategic spots like behind or beneath appliances, in closets or near rubbish bags. If you have pets, limit the mixture to places or containers your pets can't get into because it might make them sick if they eat it. I found that empty pill bottles wedged horizontally into tight spots and plates placed underneath furniture work well. :)
Contributed by Billie
Utilising Your Freezer Inventory
Approximate $ Savings $50
My husband and I have a 6-week rotating menu calendar, which we use when we shop. This has produced some savings for us but what has saved us the most money is at the start of the month (approximately) we do a 3 minute stocktake of our freezer. My husband goes through it and I list what we have. As we progress through the next few weeks I try and use up the items we know are in the freezer. I am sure we save at least $50 per month...but maybe more! I often tried to purchase meat on special from our butcher which was a great saving but then wasting the saving by throwing out the meat after many months of being left in the freezer and developing freezer burn. I now know we are making real savings and feel better about not wasting food!
Contributed by Krissy
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. March is MOO Month
This month I am challenging you to make your own - yoghurt, washing powder, moisturiser, pancakes, pizza, liquid hand soap, dishwasher powder, pasta sauce, compost, glue, icy poles, lemonade, biscuits, cakes, cordial, apple pie, dishcloths, veggie bags, window cleaner - absolutely anything you can think of.
When you make your own you have the advantage of knowing exactly what goes into it. You can monitor the ingredients and materials and adjust them to suit yourself, your family, your home, your lifestyle and your budget.
To date, 23 new MOOs have been added, including how to MOO puff pastry and how to MOO bone meal (just in time for the autumn/winter planting), MOO pineapple vinegar and a lovely and soothing lavender foot soak.
You can find the full list of 2023 MOOs here.
The article "31 Days of MOO" explains the challenge and is chock full of things you can make yourself.
Share what you make yourself, how you make it and how it saves you money, time and energy. One lucky MOOer will win a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club and a $25 Coles Myer gift card, just for sharing their MOO. Use this form to share your MOO and enter the MOOing competition.
Good luck and happy MOOing!
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
4. On The Menu
Chicken Pineapple CurryT
his is a delicious summer curry. I call it a summer curry because it's quite light and creamy, and while we enjoy it all year round, I love to make it in summer when we are tired of salads.
It's not one of my cheapest meals, but it can be inexpensive if you grow capsicums and onions, and of course buy your chicken on sale.
Either way, it is delicious and still budget friendly at around $1.56 per serve.
Ingredients:
2 small chicken breast fillets, diced small (about 500g)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp ginger powder
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely sliced
1 red capsicum, finely sliced
1 green capsicum, finely sliced
1/2-1 tablespoon curry powder
1 can coconut cream
1 cup pineapple juice
1 415g tin pineapple pieces in juice
Method:
Heat a large pot over a medium heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and brown. Add the curry powder, ginger and garlic. Cook, stirring so the spices don't burn, for about 1 minute until fragrant. Add the onion and capsicum and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add the coconut cream, pineapple juice and the pineapple and cook over a low heat so the mixture is just simmering for 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to your liking.
Serve over steamed rice, garnished with fresh coriander. Serves 6
Notes:
This chicken curry will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator.
Not suitable to freeze.
Cost: $9.40 or $1.56 per serve.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Rissoles, mushroom gravy, veggies
Tuesday: Spinach Ricotta Agnoletti, garlic bread, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Pineapple Curry, rice
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Taco Pie
Saturday: Muffin Surprise
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
What do I Stockpile?
Mostly basic pantry ingredients: pastas, flours, dried fruits, tinned tomatoes, tomato soup, baked beans, tuna, salmon, pineapple, beetroot, powdered milk, sugar, honey, molasses, nuts, oats, rice, bi carb soda, salt, herbs, spices, and fats - olive oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil, butter.
I also stockpile toiletries: toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving cream, soap, bath/shower gel, razors, moisturiser (for me!) and hairspray.
The cleaning stockpile is simple, just a few items: dishwashing detergent, dishwasher powder, laundry soap, washing soda, borax, vinegar, bicarb soda, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil and scourers.
The stockpile is a combination of home grown (i.e. zucchini) or made (i.e. dishcloths) and preserved (i.e. tomatoes) and bought (i.e. pizza sauce).
These pantry items came from our grocery budget. I allow $25 a week to spend on fresh milk, eggs and whatever fruit and veg we can't grow and maybe a little meat. If there's anything left each week it goes into the slush fund and I can use it to replenish the stockpile.
Since the chaos that was 2020, I've changed the way I shop, from yearly to replacing what we use as soon as we use it. Real sales and bargains are few and far between, at least on what I consider real food (or ingredients - remember, ingredients give you options), but I still look for the lowest price on what we need, and I still track the sale cycles through my price book.
This is what I stockpile; what's in my pantry. Use it as a guide to get your pantry built up, but just as a guide. We all eat different foods, live in different areas, shop at different stores, cook in different ways, so it is normal that our pantries will be different.
But whatever you do, don't stop pantry building. Don't stop building that stockpile, and if you see me at the shops and I have a trolley loaded up with flour and pasta or toothbrushes and toilet paper you'll know I haven't stopped either!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
Pumpkin Soup and Two Ways to Preserve ItWhat have you MOOed this week?
I've MOOed pumpkin soup and canned it so it is shelf stable. Now in winter, when it's cold and dreary, I can take a jar off the shelf, warm it through and enjoy pumpkin soup for lunch. Or afternoon tea - those adds that suggest a mug of steaming hot soup for afternoon tea are good, well they are right - if it's good soup of course!
Pumpkin soup is so easy to make, one of the easiest soups ever I think, but also one of the tastiest.
Now if you are making this soup with the intention of preserving it, you need to either have freezer room to freeze it, or a pressure canner to preserve it so it is shelf stable. It cannot be water bathed, it must be pressure canned (it's a low acid soup).
Here's my basic pumpkin soup recipe, and it's the one I freeze all the time.
Ingredients:
Pumpkin - about 1kg, peeled, and cut into small pieces
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
2 large brown onion
1 litre stock - chicken or vegetable
Put everything into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until the pumpkin is very soft - a fork will mash it. The stock will have evaporated a little, that's fine. Use a stick blender or a potato masher to puree the pumpkin, potato and onion. The potato helps to naturally thicken the soup, the onion of course adds flavour. When the soup is pureed to your liking, it's done.
You can serve it, or you can portion it into freezer bags or containers and freeze it. This soup cannot be canned though.
To pressure can pumpkin soup, use the same ingredients.
Into each quart jar put some pumpkin, potato and diced onion, leaving 1" headspace.
Top with stock.
Debubble.
Wipe the rims, put the flats on, then the rings to finger tight.
If your stock was hot, make sure the water in your canner is hot. Remember: hot jars, hot canner; cold jars, cold canner.
Put the lid on and let the canner vent for 10 minutes.
Bring it up to pressure for your area and process quarts 90 minutes or pints 60 minutes.
Let the pressure fall naturally.
When pressure is at zero, wait 10 minutes before opening canner.
Let the jars rest in the canner another 10 minutes with the lid off.
Remove jars from canner and leave for 24 hours.
Test the seal on each jar. Any jars that haven't sealed will need to be refrigerated and used immediately.
Wash the jars, label and put on your pantry shelf.
Pressure canned pumpkin soup has a shelf life of two years.
Notes:
Do not puree the vegetables if pressure canning. Leave them in pieces and puree after opening a jar.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
How to Use Canned Potatoes
Handbag Presentation Case
A Twist on MOOing
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Make it Monday, Week 12
2023 Handmade Christmas
Great Crafting YouTube Channels
Latest Tips
Re-using 1 litre UHT Cartons
MOO Creamed Corn
MOO Pet Food Pouches
Latest Recipes
Homemade Gluten Free Healthy Muesli
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Latest Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Stockpiling While Pregnant; Cockroach Solution; Utilising Your Freezer Inventory
3. March is MOO Month
4. On the Menu - Chicken Pineapple Curry
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - What Do I Stockpile?
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - Pumpkin Soup and Two Ways to Preserve It
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Handmade Christmas - Planning for Christmas Baking
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
What are you seeing around you? My friend Annabel, from The Bluebirds Are Nesting on the Farm, asked me to write a report for her weekly Bluebirds on the Ground series, and it was published last Tuesday. You can read it here, and the other reports in the series too. Reports from around the world, from people living what they are reporting.
It's eye opening. I say what I see. Believe me, agree with me, or don't. But please don't stop preparing, filling those pantries, learning skills, making plans, being smart about how our way of life is changing. It just makes sense, and if it makes your life easier, and saves you money, time and energy when your very own disaster strikes (in whatever form that may be) you will be happy you took the time.
We have had the strangest week. Last Saturday it was 38C. Tuesday was so cold Wayne came home from work and asked me if I wanted the heater on! No, we just pulled out the rugs a few weeks early, and we were cosy. Then we've been waiting on rain all week, and severe thunderstorms, I'm still waiting. I was hoping it would rain to save watering the garden. Crazy! And perhaps a hint that our winter is going to be strange too.
We have started planning and planting for our winter garden. There are two veggie boxes that need to be renovated, so this weekend they will be emptied and tidied up and then refilled, with compost added, ready for seeding. I think they'll be the cabbage and cauliflower beds. I'm waiting to get the parsnips and turnips in, but it's still a bit warm, and they like cool soil.
Oh, and I just have to say, I think we've found the perfect spot for a pumpkin patch! They will be able to ramble and roam, as pumpkin vines like to do, without taking over the whole garden and yard (remember a couple of years ago we went away for two weeks with nice neat and tidy pumpkin vines and came home to no backyard, they'd had a growth spurt and taken over!).
I'm looking ahead to what we will need, and thinking about what grows well and stores well, and planning the winter garden about those particular foods first.
What are you planting this autumn? Have you started your autumn/winter garden yet?
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
Stockpiling While Pregnant
When expecting my first baby my partner and I were both working full. Knowing that we would only be living on one wage when the baby arrived I started to add extra products that I would need once the baby came e.g. nappies and wipes, washing power, cleaning products, baby food tins. I would even through in a couple of singlets or jump suits from Coles. This ended up saving us heaps when the baby arrived as my shopping bill went back to normal and I didn't need to buy any extra items for our little addition for the first year.
Contributed by Sharon
A Cockroach Solution
This is a cheap, simple, nontoxic treatment to get rid of cockroaches in your home. Stir together equal parts of sugar and baking soda. The cockroaches eat the sugar, and the baking soda creates gas in their stomachs and ultimately kills them. It only takes a cup or so of the mixture to treat a house, placing dabs in strategic spots like behind or beneath appliances, in closets or near rubbish bags. If you have pets, limit the mixture to places or containers your pets can't get into because it might make them sick if they eat it. I found that empty pill bottles wedged horizontally into tight spots and plates placed underneath furniture work well. :)
Contributed by Billie
Utilising Your Freezer Inventory
Approximate $ Savings $50
My husband and I have a 6-week rotating menu calendar, which we use when we shop. This has produced some savings for us but what has saved us the most money is at the start of the month (approximately) we do a 3 minute stocktake of our freezer. My husband goes through it and I list what we have. As we progress through the next few weeks I try and use up the items we know are in the freezer. I am sure we save at least $50 per month...but maybe more! I often tried to purchase meat on special from our butcher which was a great saving but then wasting the saving by throwing out the meat after many months of being left in the freezer and developing freezer burn. I now know we are making real savings and feel better about not wasting food!
Contributed by Krissy
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. March is MOO Month
This month I am challenging you to make your own - yoghurt, washing powder, moisturiser, pancakes, pizza, liquid hand soap, dishwasher powder, pasta sauce, compost, glue, icy poles, lemonade, biscuits, cakes, cordial, apple pie, dishcloths, veggie bags, window cleaner - absolutely anything you can think of.
When you make your own you have the advantage of knowing exactly what goes into it. You can monitor the ingredients and materials and adjust them to suit yourself, your family, your home, your lifestyle and your budget.
To date, 23 new MOOs have been added, including how to MOO puff pastry and how to MOO bone meal (just in time for the autumn/winter planting), MOO pineapple vinegar and a lovely and soothing lavender foot soak.
You can find the full list of 2023 MOOs here.
The article "31 Days of MOO" explains the challenge and is chock full of things you can make yourself.
Share what you make yourself, how you make it and how it saves you money, time and energy. One lucky MOOer will win a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club and a $25 Coles Myer gift card, just for sharing their MOO. Use this form to share your MOO and enter the MOOing competition.
Good luck and happy MOOing!
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
4. On The Menu
Chicken Pineapple CurryT
his is a delicious summer curry. I call it a summer curry because it's quite light and creamy, and while we enjoy it all year round, I love to make it in summer when we are tired of salads.
It's not one of my cheapest meals, but it can be inexpensive if you grow capsicums and onions, and of course buy your chicken on sale.
Either way, it is delicious and still budget friendly at around $1.56 per serve.
Ingredients:
2 small chicken breast fillets, diced small (about 500g)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp ginger powder
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely sliced
1 red capsicum, finely sliced
1 green capsicum, finely sliced
1/2-1 tablespoon curry powder
1 can coconut cream
1 cup pineapple juice
1 415g tin pineapple pieces in juice
Method:
Heat a large pot over a medium heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and brown. Add the curry powder, ginger and garlic. Cook, stirring so the spices don't burn, for about 1 minute until fragrant. Add the onion and capsicum and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add the coconut cream, pineapple juice and the pineapple and cook over a low heat so the mixture is just simmering for 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to your liking.
Serve over steamed rice, garnished with fresh coriander. Serves 6
Notes:
This chicken curry will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator.
Not suitable to freeze.
Cost: $9.40 or $1.56 per serve.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Rissoles, mushroom gravy, veggies
Tuesday: Spinach Ricotta Agnoletti, garlic bread, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Pineapple Curry, rice
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Taco Pie
Saturday: Muffin Surprise
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
What do I Stockpile?
Mostly basic pantry ingredients: pastas, flours, dried fruits, tinned tomatoes, tomato soup, baked beans, tuna, salmon, pineapple, beetroot, powdered milk, sugar, honey, molasses, nuts, oats, rice, bi carb soda, salt, herbs, spices, and fats - olive oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil, butter.
I also stockpile toiletries: toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving cream, soap, bath/shower gel, razors, moisturiser (for me!) and hairspray.
The cleaning stockpile is simple, just a few items: dishwashing detergent, dishwasher powder, laundry soap, washing soda, borax, vinegar, bicarb soda, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil and scourers.
The stockpile is a combination of home grown (i.e. zucchini) or made (i.e. dishcloths) and preserved (i.e. tomatoes) and bought (i.e. pizza sauce).
These pantry items came from our grocery budget. I allow $25 a week to spend on fresh milk, eggs and whatever fruit and veg we can't grow and maybe a little meat. If there's anything left each week it goes into the slush fund and I can use it to replenish the stockpile.
Since the chaos that was 2020, I've changed the way I shop, from yearly to replacing what we use as soon as we use it. Real sales and bargains are few and far between, at least on what I consider real food (or ingredients - remember, ingredients give you options), but I still look for the lowest price on what we need, and I still track the sale cycles through my price book.
This is what I stockpile; what's in my pantry. Use it as a guide to get your pantry built up, but just as a guide. We all eat different foods, live in different areas, shop at different stores, cook in different ways, so it is normal that our pantries will be different.
But whatever you do, don't stop pantry building. Don't stop building that stockpile, and if you see me at the shops and I have a trolley loaded up with flour and pasta or toothbrushes and toilet paper you'll know I haven't stopped either!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
Pumpkin Soup and Two Ways to Preserve ItWhat have you MOOed this week?
I've MOOed pumpkin soup and canned it so it is shelf stable. Now in winter, when it's cold and dreary, I can take a jar off the shelf, warm it through and enjoy pumpkin soup for lunch. Or afternoon tea - those adds that suggest a mug of steaming hot soup for afternoon tea are good, well they are right - if it's good soup of course!
Pumpkin soup is so easy to make, one of the easiest soups ever I think, but also one of the tastiest.
Now if you are making this soup with the intention of preserving it, you need to either have freezer room to freeze it, or a pressure canner to preserve it so it is shelf stable. It cannot be water bathed, it must be pressure canned (it's a low acid soup).
Here's my basic pumpkin soup recipe, and it's the one I freeze all the time.
Ingredients:
Pumpkin - about 1kg, peeled, and cut into small pieces
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
2 large brown onion
1 litre stock - chicken or vegetable
Put everything into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until the pumpkin is very soft - a fork will mash it. The stock will have evaporated a little, that's fine. Use a stick blender or a potato masher to puree the pumpkin, potato and onion. The potato helps to naturally thicken the soup, the onion of course adds flavour. When the soup is pureed to your liking, it's done.
You can serve it, or you can portion it into freezer bags or containers and freeze it. This soup cannot be canned though.
To pressure can pumpkin soup, use the same ingredients.
Into each quart jar put some pumpkin, potato and diced onion, leaving 1" headspace.
Top with stock.
Debubble.
Wipe the rims, put the flats on, then the rings to finger tight.
If your stock was hot, make sure the water in your canner is hot. Remember: hot jars, hot canner; cold jars, cold canner.
Put the lid on and let the canner vent for 10 minutes.
Bring it up to pressure for your area and process quarts 90 minutes or pints 60 minutes.
Let the pressure fall naturally.
When pressure is at zero, wait 10 minutes before opening canner.
Let the jars rest in the canner another 10 minutes with the lid off.
Remove jars from canner and leave for 24 hours.
Test the seal on each jar. Any jars that haven't sealed will need to be refrigerated and used immediately.
Wash the jars, label and put on your pantry shelf.
Pressure canned pumpkin soup has a shelf life of two years.
Notes:
Do not puree the vegetables if pressure canning. Leave them in pieces and puree after opening a jar.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
How to Use Canned Potatoes
Handbag Presentation Case
A Twist on MOOing
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Make it Monday, Week 12
2023 Handmade Christmas
Great Crafting YouTube Channels
Latest Tips
Re-using 1 litre UHT Cartons
MOO Creamed Corn
MOO Pet Food Pouches
Latest Recipes
Homemade Gluten Free Healthy Muesli
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Latest Shows
Subscribe to our You Tube channel and never miss a show.
9. Handmade Christmas Challenge
Week 11
What did you crossed off your Christmas gift list last week?
I've added some dishcloths to the present box, for Christmas hamper ideas I have.
And I've made two birthday presents, and made boxes (Handbag Presentation Case) to wrap them. I'm excited to hand these over to my friends, because I know they'll just love them, and of course I've made birthday cards too.
One of the cases will be filled with assorted chocolates. It's a running joke that this particular friend and I swap chocolates, and try to out do each other with the presentation.
And the other case I have filled with bath items, so my friend can have a spa treatment at home. I've put in a trimmed face washer, a shower pouff, some face scrubbies, a packet of lavender foot soak and a packet of lavender bath salts. There was a bit of a gap so I added some small lavender goat's milk soaps I made using melt-n-pour soap base.
And as soon as I hand them over, I'll post some pictures for you. Until then, they're a secret, so shhhh…..
Don't forget to check in for our Make It Monday show and tell over at Cheapskates Chatter, we'd love to see what you've made.
Handmade Christmas Central
The Handmade Christmas Forum
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $20 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 for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
9. Handmade Christmas Challenge
Week 11
What did you crossed off your Christmas gift list last week?
I've added some dishcloths to the present box, for Christmas hamper ideas I have.
And I've made two birthday presents, and made boxes (Handbag Presentation Case) to wrap them. I'm excited to hand these over to my friends, because I know they'll just love them, and of course I've made birthday cards too.
One of the cases will be filled with assorted chocolates. It's a running joke that this particular friend and I swap chocolates, and try to out do each other with the presentation.
And the other case I have filled with bath items, so my friend can have a spa treatment at home. I've put in a trimmed face washer, a shower pouff, some face scrubbies, a packet of lavender foot soak and a packet of lavender bath salts. There was a bit of a gap so I added some small lavender goat's milk soaps I made using melt-n-pour soap base.
And as soon as I hand them over, I'll post some pictures for you. Until then, they're a secret, so shhhh…..
Don't forget to check in for our Make It Monday show and tell over at Cheapskates Chatter, we'd love to see what you've made.
Handmade Christmas Central
The Handmade Christmas Forum
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $20 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 for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates