Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 13:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - MOO Spectacle Cleaner; MOO Icing Sugar; Eggless Lemon Filling
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Mediterranean Salmon Patties
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Waste Not, Want Not - Leftover Meat Dishes
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Last Week's Question - How can we save a lot of money, quickly?
8. This Week's Question - Frugal birthday cake substitutes for school needed
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
It's holiday time again - I love that we have so many holidays to celebrate and enjoy while our weather is great. Usually we'd be packing up and heading off to a favourite camp spot for the Easter break, but not this year. Instead we have friends coming to stay and we'll be playing tourist in our own town - the Cheapskates way of course.
Enjoy the Easter long weekend, don't overdo the hot cross buns or the chocolate (not sure you can truly overdo chocolate!) and I wish you a blessed and peaceful Easter. Oh, and I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter too!
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
MOO Spectacle Cleaner
Nothing is more annoying than spots (or streaks or smudges) before your eyes and when you wear glasses they happen often and usually at the most annoying times. There are wipes you can buy that do an amazing job of cleaning specs, but at 7c - 15c each they can be expensive. Microfibre cloths are great, but I never seem to have one when I need it. There are also sprays you can get from the chemist or optometrist, but again they're expensive. Or you can MOO a simple, effective and inexpensive lens cleaner that uses ingredients you'll have in your kitchen and bathroom, for just a few cents.
MOO Spectacle Cleaner
Ingredients:
Empty travel sized spray bottle
Rubbing alcohol
Liquid dishwashing detergent
Water
You can find travel-sized spray bottles in the travel section of the cosmetics department of stores such as Kmart or Big W, but I paid less than $1 for mine at a local $2 shop. You can also recycle an empty spray bottle if you have one (just make sure you wash it thoroughly).
Rubbing alcohol can be found in the first aid section of your chemist.
For this recipe I used Tandil dishwashing concentrate from Aldi, because that is what I had. You can use any good quality dishwashing detergent.
Fill the spray bottle 3/4 full with rubbing alcohol. Add two small drops of dish soap (don't go overboard, just two drops is all you'll need).
Fill the bottle with tap water.
Place the lid on the container and shake gently.
To use, spray both sides of each lens and wipe with a lint-free cloth.
MOO Icing Sugar
This is unbelievably easy to do and cost effective too. You can cross icing sugar off your shopping list when you know how to MOO it.
Here's how:
1. Place a cup of white sugar in the blender for each cup of icing sugar needed.
2. Blend at high speed until the sugar turns to powder - this can take 2 - 3 minutes. I stop the blender every minute or so and give the jug a shake, just to be sure all the sugar is powdered.
3. Use immediately, or store in an air-tight container. This makes pure icing sugar.
Tips:
1. To prevent caking and improve thickening ability (important when making icing), add 1-2 tablespoons of corn flour for each cup of icing sugar made. This makes icing sugar mixture, the most common used in baking. Use this mixture exactly as you would bought icing sugar mixture.
2. Sugar may etch your blender pitcher, particularly if it's made of plastic. If this is a concern, use a coffee grinder or spice grinder instead.
Eggless Lemon Filling
Ingredients:
One cup water
1 cup sugar
Half cup milk
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Juice of one large or two small lemons
2 tbsp custard powder
Method:
Mix sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan, and cook, stirring, until boiling. Mix custard powder and milk and stir into the sugar mixture. Continue to cook, stirring well until mixture thickens. Stir in the grated lemon rind. Pour into baked tart case. Chill in fridge until set.
Contributed by Carol Ryan
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. 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
4. On the Menu
Mediterranean Salmon Patties
Ingredients:
1 x 415g can red salmon, drained, skin and bones removed
70g feta, chopped
1/2 avocado, stone removed, peeled, chopped
1/3 cup loosely packed chopped fresh continental parsley
2 tbsp finely shredded tasty cheese
2 tbsp bought hummus
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 tbsp olive oil, extra
Method:
Place the salmon, feta, avocado, parsley, cheese, hummus, chives, lemon juice, oil and fresh breadcrumbs in the bowl of a food processor and process until just combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions and shape each portion into 8cm patties. Place patties on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate. Coat both sides of the patties in the crumbs. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add patties and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes each side or until golden and heated through.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Lamb fritters, gravy & vegetables
Tuesday: Mexican Lasagne, salad
Wednesday: Salmon patties, chips & salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Sweet & Sour meatballs, rice
Saturday: Mock Fish, wedges, salad
In the fruit bowl: bananas
In the cake tin: Boiled fruit cake, scones, chocolate cake
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Waste Not, Want Not - Leftover Meat Dishes
One way to recreate a great meal from your leftovers is to blend it with fresh ingredients. In this example, pasta works with many different beef and chicken dishes. Use thin spaghetti, wide noodles, wagon wheels, spirals, you name it with your meat leftovers. Add gravy, tomato sauce or even chilli to turn an ordinary dish into an extraordinary dish.
Turn leftover leg of lamb or lamb chops into a sweet curry for a quick and tasty 'leftover' meal.
Sausages are delicious chopped into 1cm slices and heated in barbecue sauce (bottled is fine). Serve over hot noodles for a tasty meal in minutes.
Vegetable Dishes with Rice - Twice as Nice
If you have leftover vegetable dishes that you would like to reuse, one of the greatest ways to do so is to prepare it with rice. Whether you choose white or brown rice, you can prepare an awesome vegetable dish and make it into an entirely new meal. Turn them into a delicious fried rice or frittata.
Chill the rice and mix through chopped vegetables, add some Italian or French dressing and you have a delightfully different rice salad.
Try vegetable pancakes as a way to use up leftovers. Dice the vegetables and add to a pancake batter (replace the sugar with mixed herbs). Cook tablespoonfuls in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. These are delicious hot or cold with tomato sauce.
Create Sensational Soups with Leftovers
If you are stuck with a few meals in your refrigerator and you don't know exactly what to do with them, you can always toss them into a pot and prepare delicious soup. Whether it is chicken, mince or beef, making flavourful soup out of leftovers makes sense.
Preparing soups using leftover is painless. You can pretty much add any sliced meat and chopped vegetable to some broth or a cream base to create a great tasting soup. Even old bread can be useful (toast it as croutons).
Don't Throw Out That Stale Bread
If bread or rolls have gone stale you can freshen them by brushing with cold water and then heating in a moderate oven for about 5 minutes. You'll be surprised at just how fresh it is after this treatment.
Bread and rolls can be whizzed or grated to make breadcrumbs. Use them as fresh crumbs in meatloaves and rissoles or spread them in a thin layer on an oven tray and bake in a hot oven for 3 - 5 minutes until they are golden and dry to use as toasted crumbs.
Cut sliced bread into small cubes and dry in the oven to make croutons for soups and salads. Spray them with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs, garlic or paprika for seasoned croutons.
For a sophisticated and international twist, stale croissants can be used in place of bread in bread and butter puddings. Use orange marmalade instead of jam and you'll fall in love with this dessert.
Stale cake can be used in trifles or to make bases for other desserts. Top stale sponge or madeira with tinned fruit, spoon over some juice (or a liqueur if you prefer) and then top with whipped cream.
If you are lucky enough to ever have biscuits last long enough to go stale they can be crushed, and the crumbs used to make pie crusts or as the base for a truly decadent caramel slice.
Use Leftover Fruit for Fruit Smoothies
Generally, many houses will have a couple leftover apples, oranges or bananas in their refrigerator. While the odd piece of fruit is not necessarily a leftover, practically all fruit can be utilized to prepare delicious fruit smoothies. Fruit smoothies are easily prepared with some milk, yoghurt, fruit and a blender. Not only are they healthy, but perfect for a treat or even breakfast. Fruit smoothies are ideal for leftover fruit or even slightly over ripen fruit. Mixed with many other ingredients, they still taste good and won't go unused.
The next time you search deep into your refrigerator and see all the meals from the past week, don't panic, use them to prepare new meals, soups and even desserts. And give yourself a pat on the back for creating free meals!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Question: What are your financial goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3693-Question-What-are-your-financial-goals
Aussie's Shopping Habits
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3734-Aussie-s-shopping-habits
$150 Clothing Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?83-150-clothing-challenge
Most popular blog posts this week
Knit One, Purl One
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/02/knit-one-purl-one.html
Dust African Violet Leaves
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/02/dust-african-violet-leaves.html
Keeping Your Pretty Things for Good
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/10/keeping-your-pretty-things-for-good.html
7. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Erin who wrote
"My husband and I are savers, but we've had a couple of unexpected, absolutely necessary, expenses pop up. We've used our savings to pay down some of the debt, but we need to get the remaining $5,378 paid of quickly - before the end of the year hopefully. We both work, have a 2.5-year-old and a 4-year-old, and a mortgage, a small personal load and the usual living expenses. What can we do to save money fast and clear this debt?"
Simone Dejun answered
It sounds like it’s time for a declutter and sell-off! Gumtree listings are free, or you could hold a garage sale or stall at your nearest flea market.
Have a look around your home, including all shelves, drawers, cupboards etc, and identify things that haven't been used or worn recently. Find gifts that haven't been used since receiving them, books you've read and won't likely read again often (you can always borrow them from the library if you fancy reading them one or two more times). Clothes that are too big, small or don't fit quite right. Kitchen appliances that are seldom used or that you could quite easily complete the same task with something else you own. Consider selling items from your garage or shed that you rarely use and might be able to borrow from a friend or family member next time.
Your kids' stuff might be a gold mine - think about bundling clothes your 2.5-year-old has outgrown and include anything that fit last season but won't fit by the time the next season rolls around. Go through the kids toys and books and find those that are a little too young for your children now - the babyish stuff. If you have any other baby gear your youngest has moved on from - cot, change table, pram, carrier, mobile etc sell those off too.
Be honest with yourself, be brutal. If in doubt, cull it - you can always replace it when your finances have recovered at roughly the same cost you sell it for if you buy second hand.
10. This Week's Question
Michelle asked
"My daughter is in Prep and has a birthday coming up. At kinder we could take ice blocks instead of birthday cake, but her school has a "no food" policy for birthdays because of food allergies etc. She wants to take something to celebrate with her classmates and teacher but with 26 in the class I need some really cheap, fun ideas please."
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Michelle, 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.
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!
Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - MOO Spectacle Cleaner; MOO Icing Sugar; Eggless Lemon Filling
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Mediterranean Salmon Patties
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Waste Not, Want Not - Leftover Meat Dishes
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Last Week's Question - How can we save a lot of money, quickly?
8. This Week's Question - Frugal birthday cake substitutes for school needed
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
It's holiday time again - I love that we have so many holidays to celebrate and enjoy while our weather is great. Usually we'd be packing up and heading off to a favourite camp spot for the Easter break, but not this year. Instead we have friends coming to stay and we'll be playing tourist in our own town - the Cheapskates way of course.
Enjoy the Easter long weekend, don't overdo the hot cross buns or the chocolate (not sure you can truly overdo chocolate!) and I wish you a blessed and peaceful Easter. Oh, and I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter too!
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
MOO Spectacle Cleaner
Nothing is more annoying than spots (or streaks or smudges) before your eyes and when you wear glasses they happen often and usually at the most annoying times. There are wipes you can buy that do an amazing job of cleaning specs, but at 7c - 15c each they can be expensive. Microfibre cloths are great, but I never seem to have one when I need it. There are also sprays you can get from the chemist or optometrist, but again they're expensive. Or you can MOO a simple, effective and inexpensive lens cleaner that uses ingredients you'll have in your kitchen and bathroom, for just a few cents.
MOO Spectacle Cleaner
Ingredients:
Empty travel sized spray bottle
Rubbing alcohol
Liquid dishwashing detergent
Water
You can find travel-sized spray bottles in the travel section of the cosmetics department of stores such as Kmart or Big W, but I paid less than $1 for mine at a local $2 shop. You can also recycle an empty spray bottle if you have one (just make sure you wash it thoroughly).
Rubbing alcohol can be found in the first aid section of your chemist.
For this recipe I used Tandil dishwashing concentrate from Aldi, because that is what I had. You can use any good quality dishwashing detergent.
Fill the spray bottle 3/4 full with rubbing alcohol. Add two small drops of dish soap (don't go overboard, just two drops is all you'll need).
Fill the bottle with tap water.
Place the lid on the container and shake gently.
To use, spray both sides of each lens and wipe with a lint-free cloth.
MOO Icing Sugar
This is unbelievably easy to do and cost effective too. You can cross icing sugar off your shopping list when you know how to MOO it.
Here's how:
1. Place a cup of white sugar in the blender for each cup of icing sugar needed.
2. Blend at high speed until the sugar turns to powder - this can take 2 - 3 minutes. I stop the blender every minute or so and give the jug a shake, just to be sure all the sugar is powdered.
3. Use immediately, or store in an air-tight container. This makes pure icing sugar.
Tips:
1. To prevent caking and improve thickening ability (important when making icing), add 1-2 tablespoons of corn flour for each cup of icing sugar made. This makes icing sugar mixture, the most common used in baking. Use this mixture exactly as you would bought icing sugar mixture.
2. Sugar may etch your blender pitcher, particularly if it's made of plastic. If this is a concern, use a coffee grinder or spice grinder instead.
Eggless Lemon Filling
Ingredients:
One cup water
1 cup sugar
Half cup milk
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Juice of one large or two small lemons
2 tbsp custard powder
Method:
Mix sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan, and cook, stirring, until boiling. Mix custard powder and milk and stir into the sugar mixture. Continue to cook, stirring well until mixture thickens. Stir in the grated lemon rind. Pour into baked tart case. Chill in fridge until set.
Contributed by Carol Ryan
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. 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
4. On the Menu
Mediterranean Salmon Patties
Ingredients:
1 x 415g can red salmon, drained, skin and bones removed
70g feta, chopped
1/2 avocado, stone removed, peeled, chopped
1/3 cup loosely packed chopped fresh continental parsley
2 tbsp finely shredded tasty cheese
2 tbsp bought hummus
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 tbsp olive oil, extra
Method:
Place the salmon, feta, avocado, parsley, cheese, hummus, chives, lemon juice, oil and fresh breadcrumbs in the bowl of a food processor and process until just combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions and shape each portion into 8cm patties. Place patties on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate. Coat both sides of the patties in the crumbs. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add patties and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes each side or until golden and heated through.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Lamb fritters, gravy & vegetables
Tuesday: Mexican Lasagne, salad
Wednesday: Salmon patties, chips & salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Sweet & Sour meatballs, rice
Saturday: Mock Fish, wedges, salad
In the fruit bowl: bananas
In the cake tin: Boiled fruit cake, scones, chocolate cake
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Waste Not, Want Not - Leftover Meat Dishes
One way to recreate a great meal from your leftovers is to blend it with fresh ingredients. In this example, pasta works with many different beef and chicken dishes. Use thin spaghetti, wide noodles, wagon wheels, spirals, you name it with your meat leftovers. Add gravy, tomato sauce or even chilli to turn an ordinary dish into an extraordinary dish.
Turn leftover leg of lamb or lamb chops into a sweet curry for a quick and tasty 'leftover' meal.
Sausages are delicious chopped into 1cm slices and heated in barbecue sauce (bottled is fine). Serve over hot noodles for a tasty meal in minutes.
Vegetable Dishes with Rice - Twice as Nice
If you have leftover vegetable dishes that you would like to reuse, one of the greatest ways to do so is to prepare it with rice. Whether you choose white or brown rice, you can prepare an awesome vegetable dish and make it into an entirely new meal. Turn them into a delicious fried rice or frittata.
Chill the rice and mix through chopped vegetables, add some Italian or French dressing and you have a delightfully different rice salad.
Try vegetable pancakes as a way to use up leftovers. Dice the vegetables and add to a pancake batter (replace the sugar with mixed herbs). Cook tablespoonfuls in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. These are delicious hot or cold with tomato sauce.
Create Sensational Soups with Leftovers
If you are stuck with a few meals in your refrigerator and you don't know exactly what to do with them, you can always toss them into a pot and prepare delicious soup. Whether it is chicken, mince or beef, making flavourful soup out of leftovers makes sense.
Preparing soups using leftover is painless. You can pretty much add any sliced meat and chopped vegetable to some broth or a cream base to create a great tasting soup. Even old bread can be useful (toast it as croutons).
Don't Throw Out That Stale Bread
If bread or rolls have gone stale you can freshen them by brushing with cold water and then heating in a moderate oven for about 5 minutes. You'll be surprised at just how fresh it is after this treatment.
Bread and rolls can be whizzed or grated to make breadcrumbs. Use them as fresh crumbs in meatloaves and rissoles or spread them in a thin layer on an oven tray and bake in a hot oven for 3 - 5 minutes until they are golden and dry to use as toasted crumbs.
Cut sliced bread into small cubes and dry in the oven to make croutons for soups and salads. Spray them with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs, garlic or paprika for seasoned croutons.
For a sophisticated and international twist, stale croissants can be used in place of bread in bread and butter puddings. Use orange marmalade instead of jam and you'll fall in love with this dessert.
Stale cake can be used in trifles or to make bases for other desserts. Top stale sponge or madeira with tinned fruit, spoon over some juice (or a liqueur if you prefer) and then top with whipped cream.
If you are lucky enough to ever have biscuits last long enough to go stale they can be crushed, and the crumbs used to make pie crusts or as the base for a truly decadent caramel slice.
Use Leftover Fruit for Fruit Smoothies
Generally, many houses will have a couple leftover apples, oranges or bananas in their refrigerator. While the odd piece of fruit is not necessarily a leftover, practically all fruit can be utilized to prepare delicious fruit smoothies. Fruit smoothies are easily prepared with some milk, yoghurt, fruit and a blender. Not only are they healthy, but perfect for a treat or even breakfast. Fruit smoothies are ideal for leftover fruit or even slightly over ripen fruit. Mixed with many other ingredients, they still taste good and won't go unused.
The next time you search deep into your refrigerator and see all the meals from the past week, don't panic, use them to prepare new meals, soups and even desserts. And give yourself a pat on the back for creating free meals!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Question: What are your financial goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3693-Question-What-are-your-financial-goals
Aussie's Shopping Habits
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3734-Aussie-s-shopping-habits
$150 Clothing Challenge
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?83-150-clothing-challenge
Most popular blog posts this week
Knit One, Purl One
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2013/02/knit-one-purl-one.html
Dust African Violet Leaves
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/02/dust-african-violet-leaves.html
Keeping Your Pretty Things for Good
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/10/keeping-your-pretty-things-for-good.html
7. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Erin who wrote
"My husband and I are savers, but we've had a couple of unexpected, absolutely necessary, expenses pop up. We've used our savings to pay down some of the debt, but we need to get the remaining $5,378 paid of quickly - before the end of the year hopefully. We both work, have a 2.5-year-old and a 4-year-old, and a mortgage, a small personal load and the usual living expenses. What can we do to save money fast and clear this debt?"
Simone Dejun answered
It sounds like it’s time for a declutter and sell-off! Gumtree listings are free, or you could hold a garage sale or stall at your nearest flea market.
Have a look around your home, including all shelves, drawers, cupboards etc, and identify things that haven't been used or worn recently. Find gifts that haven't been used since receiving them, books you've read and won't likely read again often (you can always borrow them from the library if you fancy reading them one or two more times). Clothes that are too big, small or don't fit quite right. Kitchen appliances that are seldom used or that you could quite easily complete the same task with something else you own. Consider selling items from your garage or shed that you rarely use and might be able to borrow from a friend or family member next time.
Your kids' stuff might be a gold mine - think about bundling clothes your 2.5-year-old has outgrown and include anything that fit last season but won't fit by the time the next season rolls around. Go through the kids toys and books and find those that are a little too young for your children now - the babyish stuff. If you have any other baby gear your youngest has moved on from - cot, change table, pram, carrier, mobile etc sell those off too.
Be honest with yourself, be brutal. If in doubt, cull it - you can always replace it when your finances have recovered at roughly the same cost you sell it for if you buy second hand.
10. This Week's Question
Michelle asked
"My daughter is in Prep and has a birthday coming up. At kinder we could take ice blocks instead of birthday cake, but her school has a "no food" policy for birthdays because of food allergies etc. She wants to take something to celebrate with her classmates and teacher but with 26 in the class I need some really cheap, fun ideas please."
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Michelle, 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.
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!
Contact Cheapskates