Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 15:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - When You Open it Up, Write it On Your Shopping List; Stay on Top of Housework with a Monthly Cleaning Schedule; What's on Today
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Whole Orange Cake, Two Ways
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Free Meals from the Freezer
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Last Week's Question - Mortgage v Work v Wedding Dilemma - please help!
8. This Week's Question - Slow cooker help needed
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
I hope you are all having a great week, living the Cheapskates way and laughing all the way to the bank!
It occurred to me last night, as I was updating my spending record, that I like the way we live. We want for nothing. We have been truly blessed, although when Disaster Struck I wasn't so sure. Did we make sacrifices along the way to this debt free life? Of course, we did. Was it worth not going to the movies or buying the latest fashions or having a holiday with room service (I'll fess up and say this is still my dream)?
It sure was, because now we can enjoy the things that are important to us and know that we owe no one and own everything we have and do.
If you're doubting the value of living the Cheapskates way, take heart. We have all questioned the sanity of frugal living at some time. It's not forever. In the grand scheme of your lifetime, it's just a blip. Once you've passed that blip you'll be living life debt free, cashed up and laughing with your fellow Cheapskaters.
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
When You Open it Up, Write it On Your Shopping List
When I open the last bottle, box, etc. of any product that I use at home, I write it on my shopping list straight away. My shopping list hangs on a peg on the pantry door, with a pen on a string attached (pens do tend to walk in our house). That way I never run out of anything and always have an extra at home! It also means that on shopping day I just pull the list off the door and head to the supermarket.
Contributed by June
Stay on Top of Housework with a Monthly Cleaning Schedule
To keep organised, but also to prevent being overwhelmed, I've scheduled a room to organise each month; I also alternate easier rooms with more difficult rooms. I also have a checklist set up for each room. For example, one month I'll do the lounge room, washing the walls, cleaning the floor, light fittings, clean storage out, nourish any leather and wood, do any repairs. Lastly, we do an inventory for insurance and wish list so when we do buy things it is only what we need first. So far, this approach has proved manageable, and we are getting much more organised and living with what we have a lot better.
Contributed by Jodie
What's on Today
With three primary aged children, one husband and one 18-month-old we can have a lot going on. Each evening before I go to bed I prepare a "What's on Today" itinerary on a small whiteboard in the kitchen. It says what hours Daddy is at work, whether it is a 'take the bus to school day', any appointments/meetings, what's for tea and who has what bedtime. This helps because when the kids get up they can see what is going on, hubby is up to date with the plan, and, most importantly, I don't get "what's for tea" asked four or more times! Note: It also helps prevent last minute takeaway because the kids will hold me to whatever is on the board - they will pick mum's homemade bolognaise over takeaway!
Contributed by Brydie
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
Whole Orange Cake
Oranges were just 10c a kilo at my local greengrocer last week, so of course I took the opportunity to buy up. Some I used to make marmalade for winter, some were juiced, some we are eating fresh (they are so sweet!) and some I whizzed, bagged and froze to make this delicious cake.
Whole Orange Cake
Ingredients:
1 whole orange
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups oil
2 cups SR flour
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the whole orange, sugar, eggs and oil in a food processor and blend well. Add sifted flour. Whizz until flour is mixed into orange mixture. Bake in a greased and lined loaf tin for 45 minutes until cooked.
Note: Olive oil gives a very moist cake but can leave a “taste”. I like to use half vegetable oil, half olive oil. The result is a lovely moist cake without the taste of the olive oil.
This is the original recipe as given to me. I have tweaked it somewhat to suit our eating habits, and the result is a delicious, moist cake, that is more nutritious. After all, eating a healthy diet doesn't have to mean eating a dull diet.
The recipe I now make swaps wholemeal spelt flour for the self-raising flour and unsweetened apple sauce for the oil. I also cut the amount of sugar in the recipe and replace one of the eggs with flax seed and water (a great egg substitute).
The result is a very moist cake, almost a mud cake texture.
I also bake it in cupcake papers just to make it go further. I get 24 large cupcakes from the recipe and they take approximately 18 minutes to cook, depending on your oven. I'd start checking them after 15 minutes. The cakes are done when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Healthier Whole Orange Cake
Ingredients:
1 whole orange, washed thoroughly
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp flax seed
1 tbsp water
1-1/4 cups unsweetened apple sauce
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place cupcake papers into pan. Place the whole orange, sugar, eggs, flax seed, water and apple sauce in a food processor and blend well. Use a balloon whisk to aerate flour. Add flour to food processor and whizz until flour is mixed into orange mixture. Pour 1/4 cup mixture into each patty pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool on cake rack before frosting.
These cakes don't need an icing or frosting but they are very nice topped with a dollop of mascarpone icing.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Schnitzels, sliced potatoes and salad
Tuesday: Pasta Bake
Wednesday: Stuffed drumsticks, salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Curried tuna slice, salad
Saturday: Tomato Vegetable Soup, toasted crumpets
In the fruit bowl: Oranges, bananas
In the cake tin: Whole Orange Cake, White Choc Craisin Shorties
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Free Meals from the Freezer
We are eating down the freezer, as it's just over four weeks until we go away, and we'll be gone for six weeks. Yes, the kids will be home, but they look after themselves when I'm not here, and that suits me just fine :)
I have plans for the grocery money I won't be spending; some will go to the slush fund, some will be put aside for meat when we get home, and some is going straight to the holiday account, so we can treat ourselves occasionally while we're away.
Even a small stash of freezer meals can reduce the grocery budget. Single serves of spag bol, chicken soup, lasagne, fried rice, moussaka all in my small freezer, waiting to be used. Freezer meals, put together from leftovers are free food - it's already paid for. I love freezer meals, and not just because they're free food, but because they give me a night off from cooking or save buying takeaway when my day gets beyond crazy and dinner is the last thing on my mind. I love them because they can be self-serve too. The meals are already cooked, they just need to be thawed and heated and that can be done in the microwave in just a few minutes.
You may be wondering how you build a stash of freezer meals so that they are free. It's simple really - portion control. We're a family of five, so most of my recipes make at least six serves. I dish up five when the meal is cooked, and as I'm dishing up I put the extra serve straight into a container and put it into the fridge to cool. Then after tea I put the lid on it and pop it into the freezer. One free meal added to the freezer meal stash. If the recipe makes more than six serves, I have more than one free meal to put into the freezer.
Hint: Use some masking tape and a marker to label the containers. Strangely enough chicken soup looks a lot like vegetable soup when it's frozen, as does bolognaise sauce and vegetable pasta sauce. Labelling the containers also stops everyone from pulling them all out, opening them to see what's in them then putting them back in the freezer.
Sometimes there are no leftovers or extra serves. That's OK. But when there are I take full advantage of them. I think it's far better to put a single serve into the freezer for a freezer meal than stash it at the back of the fridge until garbage night then toss it out - that really is just putting money in the bin.
Take a look at your recipes. Are there any you could perhaps stretch to an extra serve or two? If so, those extra serves could become freezer meals. I have a couple of recipes that serve four. I add a few extra ingredients (grated veggies or rolled oats or rice or even water or stock) to stretch them to make six serves. Then they feed us all and give me at least one freezer meal.
There are a couple of tricks to using free meals from the freezer though:
1. you must pay for them and
2. you must use them.
I budget $5 a dinner. When we have freezer meals I take $5 from my grocery budget and put it straight into the grocery slush fund (you could add it to your Emergency Fund or pay it off a bill or similar) because the meal is already paid for. That $5 is a lot easier to find than the $30+ that takeaway costs too - think about freezer meals next time you're tempted to dial for pizza!
Not everything freezes, so plan your freezer meals around dinners that will freeze. Things that freeze well are pasta dishes, rissoles, stews, casseroles, soups, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, fried rice, cooked sausages (great for a quick curry) and quiche.
And write "freezer meals" into your meal plan at least once a month. We usually have them on a Saturday night. I always plan a meal for Saturday night, just in case we don't have any freezer meals, but usually it's a GYO night. Sometimes we're all home for tea, sometimes there is only Wayne and I, sometimes it's just me.
It doesn't matter; if there are freezer meals then Saturday night in our house is simple - go to the freezer, choose a dinner and enjoy it - because who doesn't enjoy a free meal.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Meat Price Needed
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3742-Meat-price-needed
Time to Get Back to Menu Planning
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3715-Time-to-get-back-to-menu-planning
Tracking Your Goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3276-tracking-your-goals
Most popular blog posts this week
More on Making Meals Cheaper - The Sunday Roast
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/07/more-on-making-meals-cheaper-sunday.html
MOO Condensed Milk, Cross it off Your Shopping List and Save a Fortune
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/06/moo-condensed-milk-cross-it-off-your.html
Putting a Dollar Value on Blessings
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/05/putting-dollar-value-on-blessings.html
7. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from HD who wrote
"My fiancé and I have a 1-year old baby girl, a very large mortgage that we are paying interest only on and about 5k left on our car loan. My fiancé is paid about 55k and I'm not back at work yet due to mental health reasons. We will be moving sometime next year interstate and have booked our wedding for NYE this year. I've sent out the save the dates to our 130 guests, but we really expected to be on a higher wage by now, and we thought I would be back to work as well. I have no idea how to make a wedding work when we are barely getting by as it is. Do we just sell our house and get a rental that is cheaper than our mortgage interest payments? If I hadn't already sent the save the dates I would decrease the guest list, but propriety is so important to me, I just can't un-invite someone."
Deb Herring answered
Can you change the venue instead of reducing the wedding list? Change to a cocktail party instead of a sit-down wedding? Buffet instead of three courses? Look for second hand, rental or ex demo dresses. Do your own decorations and guest gifts. Get creative with wedding ideas by looking online, you can save thousands and thousands on your wedding? Got an acquaintance who is good with photography or videography? Do your own flowers... hire or borrow suit. Don’t bother with expensive wedding cars for 5 minutes of surprising your guests. It will be a beautiful day regardless and is all about the love you share, not money. Good luck and enjoy.
Christine Shaw
Don't fall for the hype that your wedding has to be expensive to have a successful marriage. See if any of the guests are budding amateur photographers, or even professional ones who could do the photography for free as their present to you both. Check out floristry schools and see if any of the students will do flowers at cost and then they can use photos of the arrangements in their portfolio, this can also be done for wedding cake or from guests as their gift. There are a lot of cheap but unique ideas online where you can do yourself, you get what you want without cost. Good luck and remember to enjoy the day.
Cathy Morcom answered
If you haven't booked anywhere yet for the wedding and reception, have a backyard wedding with a theme. When you send the invites out ask everyone to check out your gift registry on your Facebook, and ask as people to put a smiley face next to what they will bring with them...i.e. a tossed salad, potato bake etc. You can hire a spit and put on some rolled lamb and get some BBQ chickens and break them up. Hire or borrow tables and chairs, and have some fun decorating your yard. Include a kids table full of fairy bread and treats just for them. You can make a 'Naked Cake' with ease and they look great with some fresh flowers on them (all the wedding craze ATM). I've done 5-6 weddings and other functions for well under $1,500-$2,000 inclusive of everything. This is your day so have fun with it, it will be the best NYE wedding party, and everybody will love it.
PS There are Celebrants out there who are free or will charge you very little for a wedding.
8. This Week's Question
Rachel writes
I'm interested to know what's a good, reliable slow cooker to purchase? I'm a single parent, have recently increased my hours from part time to full time and am looking for no fuss quick and easy dinner options, so keen to get into slow cooking...just don't want to buy a dud brand!
Do you have a slowcooker you can recommend to Rachel?
If you can help, 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
9. 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
10. 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!
11. 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?
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12. 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 - When You Open it Up, Write it On Your Shopping List; Stay on Top of Housework with a Monthly Cleaning Schedule; What's on Today
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Whole Orange Cake, Two Ways
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Free Meals from the Freezer
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Last Week's Question - Mortgage v Work v Wedding Dilemma - please help!
8. This Week's Question - Slow cooker help needed
9. Ask Cath
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
I hope you are all having a great week, living the Cheapskates way and laughing all the way to the bank!
It occurred to me last night, as I was updating my spending record, that I like the way we live. We want for nothing. We have been truly blessed, although when Disaster Struck I wasn't so sure. Did we make sacrifices along the way to this debt free life? Of course, we did. Was it worth not going to the movies or buying the latest fashions or having a holiday with room service (I'll fess up and say this is still my dream)?
It sure was, because now we can enjoy the things that are important to us and know that we owe no one and own everything we have and do.
If you're doubting the value of living the Cheapskates way, take heart. We have all questioned the sanity of frugal living at some time. It's not forever. In the grand scheme of your lifetime, it's just a blip. Once you've passed that blip you'll be living life debt free, cashed up and laughing with your fellow Cheapskaters.
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
When You Open it Up, Write it On Your Shopping List
When I open the last bottle, box, etc. of any product that I use at home, I write it on my shopping list straight away. My shopping list hangs on a peg on the pantry door, with a pen on a string attached (pens do tend to walk in our house). That way I never run out of anything and always have an extra at home! It also means that on shopping day I just pull the list off the door and head to the supermarket.
Contributed by June
Stay on Top of Housework with a Monthly Cleaning Schedule
To keep organised, but also to prevent being overwhelmed, I've scheduled a room to organise each month; I also alternate easier rooms with more difficult rooms. I also have a checklist set up for each room. For example, one month I'll do the lounge room, washing the walls, cleaning the floor, light fittings, clean storage out, nourish any leather and wood, do any repairs. Lastly, we do an inventory for insurance and wish list so when we do buy things it is only what we need first. So far, this approach has proved manageable, and we are getting much more organised and living with what we have a lot better.
Contributed by Jodie
What's on Today
With three primary aged children, one husband and one 18-month-old we can have a lot going on. Each evening before I go to bed I prepare a "What's on Today" itinerary on a small whiteboard in the kitchen. It says what hours Daddy is at work, whether it is a 'take the bus to school day', any appointments/meetings, what's for tea and who has what bedtime. This helps because when the kids get up they can see what is going on, hubby is up to date with the plan, and, most importantly, I don't get "what's for tea" asked four or more times! Note: It also helps prevent last minute takeaway because the kids will hold me to whatever is on the board - they will pick mum's homemade bolognaise over takeaway!
Contributed by Brydie
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
Whole Orange Cake
Oranges were just 10c a kilo at my local greengrocer last week, so of course I took the opportunity to buy up. Some I used to make marmalade for winter, some were juiced, some we are eating fresh (they are so sweet!) and some I whizzed, bagged and froze to make this delicious cake.
Whole Orange Cake
Ingredients:
1 whole orange
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups oil
2 cups SR flour
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the whole orange, sugar, eggs and oil in a food processor and blend well. Add sifted flour. Whizz until flour is mixed into orange mixture. Bake in a greased and lined loaf tin for 45 minutes until cooked.
Note: Olive oil gives a very moist cake but can leave a “taste”. I like to use half vegetable oil, half olive oil. The result is a lovely moist cake without the taste of the olive oil.
This is the original recipe as given to me. I have tweaked it somewhat to suit our eating habits, and the result is a delicious, moist cake, that is more nutritious. After all, eating a healthy diet doesn't have to mean eating a dull diet.
The recipe I now make swaps wholemeal spelt flour for the self-raising flour and unsweetened apple sauce for the oil. I also cut the amount of sugar in the recipe and replace one of the eggs with flax seed and water (a great egg substitute).
The result is a very moist cake, almost a mud cake texture.
I also bake it in cupcake papers just to make it go further. I get 24 large cupcakes from the recipe and they take approximately 18 minutes to cook, depending on your oven. I'd start checking them after 15 minutes. The cakes are done when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Healthier Whole Orange Cake
Ingredients:
1 whole orange, washed thoroughly
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp flax seed
1 tbsp water
1-1/4 cups unsweetened apple sauce
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place cupcake papers into pan. Place the whole orange, sugar, eggs, flax seed, water and apple sauce in a food processor and blend well. Use a balloon whisk to aerate flour. Add flour to food processor and whizz until flour is mixed into orange mixture. Pour 1/4 cup mixture into each patty pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool on cake rack before frosting.
These cakes don't need an icing or frosting but they are very nice topped with a dollop of mascarpone icing.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Schnitzels, sliced potatoes and salad
Tuesday: Pasta Bake
Wednesday: Stuffed drumsticks, salad
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Curried tuna slice, salad
Saturday: Tomato Vegetable Soup, toasted crumpets
In the fruit bowl: Oranges, bananas
In the cake tin: Whole Orange Cake, White Choc Craisin Shorties
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Free Meals from the Freezer
We are eating down the freezer, as it's just over four weeks until we go away, and we'll be gone for six weeks. Yes, the kids will be home, but they look after themselves when I'm not here, and that suits me just fine :)
I have plans for the grocery money I won't be spending; some will go to the slush fund, some will be put aside for meat when we get home, and some is going straight to the holiday account, so we can treat ourselves occasionally while we're away.
Even a small stash of freezer meals can reduce the grocery budget. Single serves of spag bol, chicken soup, lasagne, fried rice, moussaka all in my small freezer, waiting to be used. Freezer meals, put together from leftovers are free food - it's already paid for. I love freezer meals, and not just because they're free food, but because they give me a night off from cooking or save buying takeaway when my day gets beyond crazy and dinner is the last thing on my mind. I love them because they can be self-serve too. The meals are already cooked, they just need to be thawed and heated and that can be done in the microwave in just a few minutes.
You may be wondering how you build a stash of freezer meals so that they are free. It's simple really - portion control. We're a family of five, so most of my recipes make at least six serves. I dish up five when the meal is cooked, and as I'm dishing up I put the extra serve straight into a container and put it into the fridge to cool. Then after tea I put the lid on it and pop it into the freezer. One free meal added to the freezer meal stash. If the recipe makes more than six serves, I have more than one free meal to put into the freezer.
Hint: Use some masking tape and a marker to label the containers. Strangely enough chicken soup looks a lot like vegetable soup when it's frozen, as does bolognaise sauce and vegetable pasta sauce. Labelling the containers also stops everyone from pulling them all out, opening them to see what's in them then putting them back in the freezer.
Sometimes there are no leftovers or extra serves. That's OK. But when there are I take full advantage of them. I think it's far better to put a single serve into the freezer for a freezer meal than stash it at the back of the fridge until garbage night then toss it out - that really is just putting money in the bin.
Take a look at your recipes. Are there any you could perhaps stretch to an extra serve or two? If so, those extra serves could become freezer meals. I have a couple of recipes that serve four. I add a few extra ingredients (grated veggies or rolled oats or rice or even water or stock) to stretch them to make six serves. Then they feed us all and give me at least one freezer meal.
There are a couple of tricks to using free meals from the freezer though:
1. you must pay for them and
2. you must use them.
I budget $5 a dinner. When we have freezer meals I take $5 from my grocery budget and put it straight into the grocery slush fund (you could add it to your Emergency Fund or pay it off a bill or similar) because the meal is already paid for. That $5 is a lot easier to find than the $30+ that takeaway costs too - think about freezer meals next time you're tempted to dial for pizza!
Not everything freezes, so plan your freezer meals around dinners that will freeze. Things that freeze well are pasta dishes, rissoles, stews, casseroles, soups, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, fried rice, cooked sausages (great for a quick curry) and quiche.
And write "freezer meals" into your meal plan at least once a month. We usually have them on a Saturday night. I always plan a meal for Saturday night, just in case we don't have any freezer meals, but usually it's a GYO night. Sometimes we're all home for tea, sometimes there is only Wayne and I, sometimes it's just me.
It doesn't matter; if there are freezer meals then Saturday night in our house is simple - go to the freezer, choose a dinner and enjoy it - because who doesn't enjoy a free meal.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Meat Price Needed
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3742-Meat-price-needed
Time to Get Back to Menu Planning
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3715-Time-to-get-back-to-menu-planning
Tracking Your Goals?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3276-tracking-your-goals
Most popular blog posts this week
More on Making Meals Cheaper - The Sunday Roast
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/07/more-on-making-meals-cheaper-sunday.html
MOO Condensed Milk, Cross it off Your Shopping List and Save a Fortune
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/06/moo-condensed-milk-cross-it-off-your.html
Putting a Dollar Value on Blessings
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2017/05/putting-dollar-value-on-blessings.html
7. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from HD who wrote
"My fiancé and I have a 1-year old baby girl, a very large mortgage that we are paying interest only on and about 5k left on our car loan. My fiancé is paid about 55k and I'm not back at work yet due to mental health reasons. We will be moving sometime next year interstate and have booked our wedding for NYE this year. I've sent out the save the dates to our 130 guests, but we really expected to be on a higher wage by now, and we thought I would be back to work as well. I have no idea how to make a wedding work when we are barely getting by as it is. Do we just sell our house and get a rental that is cheaper than our mortgage interest payments? If I hadn't already sent the save the dates I would decrease the guest list, but propriety is so important to me, I just can't un-invite someone."
Deb Herring answered
Can you change the venue instead of reducing the wedding list? Change to a cocktail party instead of a sit-down wedding? Buffet instead of three courses? Look for second hand, rental or ex demo dresses. Do your own decorations and guest gifts. Get creative with wedding ideas by looking online, you can save thousands and thousands on your wedding? Got an acquaintance who is good with photography or videography? Do your own flowers... hire or borrow suit. Don’t bother with expensive wedding cars for 5 minutes of surprising your guests. It will be a beautiful day regardless and is all about the love you share, not money. Good luck and enjoy.
Christine Shaw
Don't fall for the hype that your wedding has to be expensive to have a successful marriage. See if any of the guests are budding amateur photographers, or even professional ones who could do the photography for free as their present to you both. Check out floristry schools and see if any of the students will do flowers at cost and then they can use photos of the arrangements in their portfolio, this can also be done for wedding cake or from guests as their gift. There are a lot of cheap but unique ideas online where you can do yourself, you get what you want without cost. Good luck and remember to enjoy the day.
Cathy Morcom answered
If you haven't booked anywhere yet for the wedding and reception, have a backyard wedding with a theme. When you send the invites out ask everyone to check out your gift registry on your Facebook, and ask as people to put a smiley face next to what they will bring with them...i.e. a tossed salad, potato bake etc. You can hire a spit and put on some rolled lamb and get some BBQ chickens and break them up. Hire or borrow tables and chairs, and have some fun decorating your yard. Include a kids table full of fairy bread and treats just for them. You can make a 'Naked Cake' with ease and they look great with some fresh flowers on them (all the wedding craze ATM). I've done 5-6 weddings and other functions for well under $1,500-$2,000 inclusive of everything. This is your day so have fun with it, it will be the best NYE wedding party, and everybody will love it.
PS There are Celebrants out there who are free or will charge you very little for a wedding.
8. This Week's Question
Rachel writes
I'm interested to know what's a good, reliable slow cooker to purchase? I'm a single parent, have recently increased my hours from part time to full time and am looking for no fuss quick and easy dinner options, so keen to get into slow cooking...just don't want to buy a dud brand!
Do you have a slowcooker you can recommend to Rachel?
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