Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 15:19
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - One Hour Saves $540; Rejuvenate Your Outdoor Rubber Mats; Getting the Most from Bag Sales
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Sultana Banana Cake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge- Tidying the Pantry
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
8. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
We're running away this weekend. We haven't been away since our holiday in January, and I'm like a kid in a lolly shop I'm so excited. A friend recently asked how we could afford to "run away" like we do and I took great pleasure in telling her it was because we live the Cheapskates way. We don't have nearly their income (or their debt), the difference is we don't waste our money on things that aren't important to us.
We've ditched the stuff that's not important to us, so we have the cash to enjoy the things that are.
We don't eat out very often, I don't use packaged meals and convenience foods. We don't update our car every two years, or travel overseas every year. Most of our clothes come from factory outlets or op shops (and most of them are brandname labels).
The money we aren't spending on these things that really aren't important to us gives us the money to pay our bills on time, to save up for the things we want rather than going into debt for them and to run away every now and then. It's a choice we made years ago - to only spend our money, that we work hard for, on the things that are really important to us and skip the stuff we don't really care about. And that's how we can afford to do it.
We’re going to have a lovely weekend in Walhalla, and I hope have a great weekend too.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
One Hour Saves $540!
I've just saved myself $30-$45 a month by making one phone call!. My mobile contract was one of the really old ones with very little data, 6 GBP. I was paying an extra $15 ++ every month for 3GB and sometimes even going over on that at$10 per gig. I now have 50gig for $45 per month! The most painful thing was being on the phone for an hour. I didn't want a new phone mine is working fine for now. Just don't let them talk you into a new phone if you don't need one, and if you are a long-term customer, tell them.
Contributed by Sharon Williams
Rejuvenate Your Outdoor Rubber Mats
Preparing your home for sale can be not only a lot of hard work to get everything looking fabulous, it can be quite costly. I was looking at my drab looking decorative outdoor black thick rubber mats. I have one at the front door, one at the back door and a large one in front of the French doors. To replace these would have cost at least $100. So I decided to rejuvenate them by washing and drying them in the sun and using some Armour All (used to rejuvenate your car dash) I had in the garage. They came up as good as new. I will be adding this to my annual spring clean regime and I have saved myself at least $100 and have as new mats for my open home!
Contributed by Sara Law
Getting the Most from Bag Sales
It is fairly common for op shops and garage sales to offer by the bag sales in my area. My favourite op shop just had a $5 a bag sale for all the clothes and shoes you could put in a regular (no defunct) grocery bag. I learned from a veteran op shopper to either tightly roll or neatly fold all the clothes before putting them in the bag. You can fit two or three times as many folded or rolled clothing items as you can to those you just shove in a bag. In my two plastic bags, I fit dozens of pairs of pants and shirts for my grandchildren, and only pay the $5.
Contributed by R.O.
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
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
Sultana Banana Cake
This week I spent some time tidying and organising (or reorganising) the stockpile shelves and noticed there were some sultanas that were starting to look just a little sad. Then my favourite greengrocer had bananas for just $1 a kilo - the cheapest they've been for months.
Thinking about bananas and sultanas brought this delicious loaf to mind. It's one I first made in high school, and it's been a favourite of mine ever since. The recipe makes two loaf cakes, and they are moist and full of flavour and delicious as is, or toasted and spread with a little cream cheese, or even topped with a cream cheese icing. So many choices!
Sultana Banana Cake
Ingredients:
250g sultanas
2 cups wholemeal SR flour
¾ cup white SR flour
¾ cup castor sugar
4 tsp butter
4 mashed bananas
2 tbsp chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, peanuts)
1 ¼ cups milk
2 eggs
Method:
Sift white flour; add to basin with wholemeal flour and sugar. Add the sultanas. Heat ¼ cup of the milk, add the butter and allow the butter to melt. Beat the eggs and add to the butter mixture, remaining cup of milk and the mashed bananas. Stir together and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into two well greased loaf tins. Sprinkle tops with chopped nuts. Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 1 hour, checking after 55 minutes. Allow to stand 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Baked Chicken Enchiladas
Tuesday: Cheesy Broccoli & Ham Pasta
Wednesday: Curried Lamb & Veggies, Rice
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Meat Loaf & Veggies
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: lemons, strawberries, bananas, nectarines
In the cake tin: Banana cake, sultana loaf, muesli slice
There are over 1,700 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
Tidying the Pantry
When you open the door of your food pantry and kitchen cabinets, what do you see? Can you find what you need or do you have to lift and shift things first? Keeping a stocked pantry will save you money, time and energy - but only if you keep it neat and clean so you can use all those ingredients you have on hand.
The key to a well-stocked and useful pantry is to know where everything is and easily getting to it. How many times have you reached for something only to find that it is expired? Often these items were never opened at all. This is food waste and it is costing you money!
Make a pledge today to never again waste food because your pantry is a mess.
Start by cleaning it out. Whatever you have in there, pull it all out and examine it carefully. Check for expiration dates and sealed packages. One way to avoid food waste is to rotate your stock. Keep foods that are going to expire within six months to a year in front of the rest.
Wipe over the shelves with Miracle Spray, dry them and then sprinkle some bay leaves in the dark corners (they help repel pantry moths).
Wash and dry all empty canisters. Make it a habit to always wash and dry a canister before refilling it (again, this will help to control pantry moths and weevils).
Sweep and mop the floor. Wipe down both sides of the door.
Use proper storage items. Plastic and glass canisters were made for stocking a pantry. Dry ingredients don’t usually come in resealable packages (i.e., sugar, flour). Store them in canisters to save on space as well as keep them fresh. Include a scoop for easy dispensing. This method works well for dry cereals, pastas and beans as well.
Canisters don't have to be new or expensive. I have a lot of Tupperware and a lot of Lock'n'Lock containers, as well as some Décor and Starmaid. I also have a few glass jars (they're great for storing beans and lentils). Some of my containers were bought new a long, long time ago (some of my Tupperware is over 30 years old), most of them have been recycled or bought from op shops and garage sales for a fraction of the new price.
Label everything! What’s in that plastic container and when does it expire? If you don’t know, that could spell trouble. Labelling plastic containers with item name and expiration can save a lot of bother and headache. Masking tape makes a great label and it can be easily removed when the container is empty so you can re-label it and use it for something else.
If you're a little on the OCD side there are plenty of labels you can buy but I've found they don't have all the items in my pantry so I need a few different sets to get everything labelled, and that gets expensive and messy.
You can make your own labels and I like to do this. They then match, I can choose the design to suit my kitchen and I get a label for everything in the pantry. Packets of blank labels can be bought at $2 shops.
When you're ready to restock the pantry, designate an area for each kind of item. For example, place baking items on one shelf. In a second, you can see the flour, sugar and dried fruit. Keep snacks together on lower shelves for kids to grab without disturbing other things. Place glass jars at eye level but out of reach of small hands. On higher shelves, place boxes sideways for ease of identification and retrieval.
The top shelf of my pantry is for bulk items that aren't used on a daily basis. Things like Worcestershire sauce, vanilla extract, white, malt and cider vinegar and so on (unopened bulk goods are kept on the stockpile shelves) are kept on the top shelf. They're not used every day but they are used often.
The next shelf down is the baking shelf. It contains flours, dried fruits, milk powder, icing sugar, pasta and rice. These are things that are used almost every day. They're all in labelled canisters so they can be found quickly.
The bottom shelf is for condiments. Sauces, mustards, pickles, jams, peanut butter, Vegemite, honey and breakfast cereals are all kept on this shelf because they're things we use daily.
The floor of the pantry holds the bulk containers of rolled oats, gluten flour, choc bits (for baking) and the potato box.
Try "single serving" canisters for items that come in multiple use boxes and bags. Kids can grab a snack from the container instead of grabbing the entire box and sticking their hands in. it will also be easier to tell when you are running low and need to restock.
When your pantry is tidy and clean, you'll see at a glance what you need to add to the shopping list. Food won't be going stale; everything will be used up before that happens. And you won't have multiple open packets of the same thing because you couldn't find what you needed and so bought more.
It only takes a few minutes each week to keep the pantry tidy and clean. I do mine on Wednesday before I make the shopping list. So, even if it gets messy during the week (and it does!), the few minutes tidying it up saves a lot of money and food waste.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
2 Hour Fingerless Gloves, Just in Time for Winter
Are Your Friends and Family a Threat to Your Finances
The High Cost of Clutter
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Preserving excess Chilli
Be Glad About It
My New Favourite Easter Recipe
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AEDST
Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.
Latest Shows
Stockpiling 101 Part 2
T.V.P. - The What, Why, How and Where
Stockpiling 101
8. Ask A Question
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
9. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 a year, you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
10. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. 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 signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
11. 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
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - One Hour Saves $540; Rejuvenate Your Outdoor Rubber Mats; Getting the Most from Bag Sales
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Sultana Banana Cake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge- Tidying the Pantry
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
8. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
We're running away this weekend. We haven't been away since our holiday in January, and I'm like a kid in a lolly shop I'm so excited. A friend recently asked how we could afford to "run away" like we do and I took great pleasure in telling her it was because we live the Cheapskates way. We don't have nearly their income (or their debt), the difference is we don't waste our money on things that aren't important to us.
We've ditched the stuff that's not important to us, so we have the cash to enjoy the things that are.
We don't eat out very often, I don't use packaged meals and convenience foods. We don't update our car every two years, or travel overseas every year. Most of our clothes come from factory outlets or op shops (and most of them are brandname labels).
The money we aren't spending on these things that really aren't important to us gives us the money to pay our bills on time, to save up for the things we want rather than going into debt for them and to run away every now and then. It's a choice we made years ago - to only spend our money, that we work hard for, on the things that are really important to us and skip the stuff we don't really care about. And that's how we can afford to do it.
We’re going to have a lovely weekend in Walhalla, and I hope have a great weekend too.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
One Hour Saves $540!
I've just saved myself $30-$45 a month by making one phone call!. My mobile contract was one of the really old ones with very little data, 6 GBP. I was paying an extra $15 ++ every month for 3GB and sometimes even going over on that at$10 per gig. I now have 50gig for $45 per month! The most painful thing was being on the phone for an hour. I didn't want a new phone mine is working fine for now. Just don't let them talk you into a new phone if you don't need one, and if you are a long-term customer, tell them.
Contributed by Sharon Williams
Rejuvenate Your Outdoor Rubber Mats
Preparing your home for sale can be not only a lot of hard work to get everything looking fabulous, it can be quite costly. I was looking at my drab looking decorative outdoor black thick rubber mats. I have one at the front door, one at the back door and a large one in front of the French doors. To replace these would have cost at least $100. So I decided to rejuvenate them by washing and drying them in the sun and using some Armour All (used to rejuvenate your car dash) I had in the garage. They came up as good as new. I will be adding this to my annual spring clean regime and I have saved myself at least $100 and have as new mats for my open home!
Contributed by Sara Law
Getting the Most from Bag Sales
It is fairly common for op shops and garage sales to offer by the bag sales in my area. My favourite op shop just had a $5 a bag sale for all the clothes and shoes you could put in a regular (no defunct) grocery bag. I learned from a veteran op shopper to either tightly roll or neatly fold all the clothes before putting them in the bag. You can fit two or three times as many folded or rolled clothing items as you can to those you just shove in a bag. In my two plastic bags, I fit dozens of pairs of pants and shirts for my grandchildren, and only pay the $5.
Contributed by R.O.
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
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
Sultana Banana Cake
This week I spent some time tidying and organising (or reorganising) the stockpile shelves and noticed there were some sultanas that were starting to look just a little sad. Then my favourite greengrocer had bananas for just $1 a kilo - the cheapest they've been for months.
Thinking about bananas and sultanas brought this delicious loaf to mind. It's one I first made in high school, and it's been a favourite of mine ever since. The recipe makes two loaf cakes, and they are moist and full of flavour and delicious as is, or toasted and spread with a little cream cheese, or even topped with a cream cheese icing. So many choices!
Sultana Banana Cake
Ingredients:
250g sultanas
2 cups wholemeal SR flour
¾ cup white SR flour
¾ cup castor sugar
4 tsp butter
4 mashed bananas
2 tbsp chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, peanuts)
1 ¼ cups milk
2 eggs
Method:
Sift white flour; add to basin with wholemeal flour and sugar. Add the sultanas. Heat ¼ cup of the milk, add the butter and allow the butter to melt. Beat the eggs and add to the butter mixture, remaining cup of milk and the mashed bananas. Stir together and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into two well greased loaf tins. Sprinkle tops with chopped nuts. Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 1 hour, checking after 55 minutes. Allow to stand 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Baked Chicken Enchiladas
Tuesday: Cheesy Broccoli & Ham Pasta
Wednesday: Curried Lamb & Veggies, Rice
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Meat Loaf & Veggies
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: lemons, strawberries, bananas, nectarines
In the cake tin: Banana cake, sultana loaf, muesli slice
There are over 1,700 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
Tidying the Pantry
When you open the door of your food pantry and kitchen cabinets, what do you see? Can you find what you need or do you have to lift and shift things first? Keeping a stocked pantry will save you money, time and energy - but only if you keep it neat and clean so you can use all those ingredients you have on hand.
The key to a well-stocked and useful pantry is to know where everything is and easily getting to it. How many times have you reached for something only to find that it is expired? Often these items were never opened at all. This is food waste and it is costing you money!
Make a pledge today to never again waste food because your pantry is a mess.
Start by cleaning it out. Whatever you have in there, pull it all out and examine it carefully. Check for expiration dates and sealed packages. One way to avoid food waste is to rotate your stock. Keep foods that are going to expire within six months to a year in front of the rest.
Wipe over the shelves with Miracle Spray, dry them and then sprinkle some bay leaves in the dark corners (they help repel pantry moths).
Wash and dry all empty canisters. Make it a habit to always wash and dry a canister before refilling it (again, this will help to control pantry moths and weevils).
Sweep and mop the floor. Wipe down both sides of the door.
Use proper storage items. Plastic and glass canisters were made for stocking a pantry. Dry ingredients don’t usually come in resealable packages (i.e., sugar, flour). Store them in canisters to save on space as well as keep them fresh. Include a scoop for easy dispensing. This method works well for dry cereals, pastas and beans as well.
Canisters don't have to be new or expensive. I have a lot of Tupperware and a lot of Lock'n'Lock containers, as well as some Décor and Starmaid. I also have a few glass jars (they're great for storing beans and lentils). Some of my containers were bought new a long, long time ago (some of my Tupperware is over 30 years old), most of them have been recycled or bought from op shops and garage sales for a fraction of the new price.
Label everything! What’s in that plastic container and when does it expire? If you don’t know, that could spell trouble. Labelling plastic containers with item name and expiration can save a lot of bother and headache. Masking tape makes a great label and it can be easily removed when the container is empty so you can re-label it and use it for something else.
If you're a little on the OCD side there are plenty of labels you can buy but I've found they don't have all the items in my pantry so I need a few different sets to get everything labelled, and that gets expensive and messy.
You can make your own labels and I like to do this. They then match, I can choose the design to suit my kitchen and I get a label for everything in the pantry. Packets of blank labels can be bought at $2 shops.
When you're ready to restock the pantry, designate an area for each kind of item. For example, place baking items on one shelf. In a second, you can see the flour, sugar and dried fruit. Keep snacks together on lower shelves for kids to grab without disturbing other things. Place glass jars at eye level but out of reach of small hands. On higher shelves, place boxes sideways for ease of identification and retrieval.
The top shelf of my pantry is for bulk items that aren't used on a daily basis. Things like Worcestershire sauce, vanilla extract, white, malt and cider vinegar and so on (unopened bulk goods are kept on the stockpile shelves) are kept on the top shelf. They're not used every day but they are used often.
The next shelf down is the baking shelf. It contains flours, dried fruits, milk powder, icing sugar, pasta and rice. These are things that are used almost every day. They're all in labelled canisters so they can be found quickly.
The bottom shelf is for condiments. Sauces, mustards, pickles, jams, peanut butter, Vegemite, honey and breakfast cereals are all kept on this shelf because they're things we use daily.
The floor of the pantry holds the bulk containers of rolled oats, gluten flour, choc bits (for baking) and the potato box.
Try "single serving" canisters for items that come in multiple use boxes and bags. Kids can grab a snack from the container instead of grabbing the entire box and sticking their hands in. it will also be easier to tell when you are running low and need to restock.
When your pantry is tidy and clean, you'll see at a glance what you need to add to the shopping list. Food won't be going stale; everything will be used up before that happens. And you won't have multiple open packets of the same thing because you couldn't find what you needed and so bought more.
It only takes a few minutes each week to keep the pantry tidy and clean. I do mine on Wednesday before I make the shopping list. So, even if it gets messy during the week (and it does!), the few minutes tidying it up saves a lot of money and food waste.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
2 Hour Fingerless Gloves, Just in Time for Winter
Are Your Friends and Family a Threat to Your Finances
The High Cost of Clutter
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Preserving excess Chilli
Be Glad About It
My New Favourite Easter Recipe
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AEDST
Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.
Latest Shows
Stockpiling 101 Part 2
T.V.P. - The What, Why, How and Where
Stockpiling 101
8. Ask A Question
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
9. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 a year, you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
10. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. 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 signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
11. 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