Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 15:22
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Using Kitchen Timers; Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate and Save; A Home Grown Moth Repellant
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Two Tuna Recipes
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - How to Stockpile on the $300 a Month Food Challenge
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - Be a Collector of Skills
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
It's Easter! I love this weekend; it's a time to get together with family and friends and celebrate and be grateful that we can.
So, I wish you all a blessed, peaceful and safe Easter weekend.
I'm spending it with family and friends, so I'll be off until next Tuesday. If you ask a question, I'll get back to you on Tuesday, as soon as I can.
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
Using Kitchen Timers
Use a kitchen timer. Portable is best as it can be carried into another room or even outside with you. Amazing how we leave the stove on too long and either overcook or burn the pans. Also can be used to remind you that the washing is finished and waiting to be hung out. Useful for telephone usage to remind you of the time. Decide how long you want to chat with a caller (some people are renowned for overstaying a telephone call). When the timer goes off you can say “Ooops, there is my oven timer, sorry have to dash”. You are not fibbing it is your oven timer!! - you have not said you are cooking anything!
Contributed by Rita
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate and Save
Always negotiate prices, particularly on sizeable items or if you are buying multiples. Sometimes just looking undecided can be enough to prompt a salesperson to offer you a discount to try to swing you in their favour. Alternatively, tell them your budget and ask if they can offer you anything below that price.
Christabel
A Home Grown Moth Repellant
A plague of small moths in these summer months sent me searching for a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of dealing with them as they were enjoying life in the pantry and also in the linen cupboard. The idea of mothballs was unacceptable and I dislike the smell of camphor but I solved the problem this way. My rosemary hedge needed a trim so after the secateurs had done their work I gathered up the trimmings and placed them in a mesh laundry bag, the type used for delicates in the washing machine and suspended it from a hook behind the pantry door. The moths departed pretty quickly due to Rosemary's pungent smell. I now pick a few small twigs each week to top up the bag and haven't sighted a moth in the pantry since - economical, recyclable and enviro conscious. The linen cupboard didn't adapt as well to the rosemary treatment as I couldn't hang up a similar arrangement but the purchase (on special of course) of several boxes of bath soap has. Ten cakes of soap along the shelves has had a similar efffect - the fragrance of the soap is as effective in detering moths as rosemary is in the pantry.
Contributed by Dianne
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
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.
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
Two Tuna Recipes
Two tuna recipes this week, both delicious and frugal. Tuna is still a reasonable price, so adding it to your meal plan every now is a good idea.
Tuna Loaf
450g can tuna, drained
1 onion, finely grated
1/2 cup finely sliced celery
1/2 cup crushed Saltine crackers
1/2 cup milk
1 egg,
beaten salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons melted butter
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
In a mixing bowl, combine the tuna, onion, celery, cracker crumbs, milk, egg, salt, pepper, and melted butter. Mix thoroughly.
Press the salmon mixture into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. 4.Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes or until done.
Tuna Delight Slice
450g tin tuna in brine
1 cup crushed savoury biscuits
lemon juice and lemon rind grated
1/2 red capsicum, finely chopped
1 onion finely grated
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
salt pepper
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Mix all ingredients together.
Place in a greased, flat casserole dish or lamington tin. Press down firmly.
Bake in Moderate Oven for about 40 mins.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Baked Chicken Wings & Veg
Tuesday: Spaghetti Alfredo
Wednesday: Meat pie & veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: French Shepherd's Pie
Saturday: Tacos
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
How to Stockpile on the $300 a Month Food Challenge
Building the stockpile on the $300 a month food challenge is certainly getting challenging. Between empty shelves, supply chain issues and rising prices, just getting what you need, let alone building your stockpile, takes a bit of effort.
If you've been on the challenge for a while, you'll have your grocery shopping down pat. You'll have your standard list that you stick to; you'll know your sale cycles and your price book will be up-to-date. Those three things put you way ahead of those who aren't on the challenge, and struggling to stick to a reasonable grocery budget.
But if you're new to the challenge, you may well still be trying to find your standard grocery list, and work out the sale cycles, and your price book will still be in development.
You'll still be able to build your pantry, and stay on budget.
• Always shop with a detailed list.
• Check prices online before you leave home, and adjust the list if you need to.
• Buy ingredients; don't pay extra for "convenience".
• Buy the cheapest brands. If this means you need to make some changes, so be it. At least try them, if you don't like whatever, you can always go back to your old brand, just buy it on sale.
• When what you use is on sale, buy as much as you can. If it's half price, get two - you were going to pay that price anyway just for one.
• Use everything! No waste. Build in some use it up meals so that nothing goes to waste, or the dog or the chooks or the compost.
Building a stockpile takes time, and effort, and planning. You won't build that pantry in a week, or two, or even a year. Just keep building, and can by can, ingredient by ingredient, it will happen.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
Be a Collector of Skills
As a Cheapskate, my focus is often on saving money, and the many, many ways I can do that without compromising our lifestyle. After all, that's what started me on this journey: the need when disaster struck to stretch our dollars till they screeched so we could maintain our standard of living.
I had to learn to do so many things that were completely foreign to me. I had to develop hobbies I had into full-blown, usable, practical skills, then use those skills to feed us, clothe us, keep us dressed, give us presents and holidays and so much more.
Looking back, I became a collector of skills.
And I'm still collecting skills.
Some of the skills I've collected include:
• Knitting
• Sewing
• Embroidery
• Darning
• Cross-stitch
• Tapestry
• Quilting
• Patchwork
• Dressmaking
• Pattern making
• How to sew on a button
• How to take up hems
• How to put in a zip
• How to work buttonholes by hand
• How to work buttonholes by machine
• Using an overlocker
• Making patterns from ready-made items
• Paper making
• Card making
• Scrapbooking
• Photography
• Hair cutting
• Gardening
• Seed Saving
• Pruning fruit trees
• Sharpening shears, knives and axes
• Firewood collecting (yes, it's a skill - not all wood is good firewood!)
• Bottling/canning
• Freezing
• Jam making
• Sauce making
• Pickling
• Smoking meats
• Bread making
• Soup making
• Making yoghurt
• Vinegar making
• Dehydrating
• Fruit growing
• Composting
• Car repairs
• Tyre changing
• Oil changing
• Fuse changing
• Soap making
• Lotion making
• Using essential oils and herbs to make medicines
• Cooking over an open fire
• Making washing powder
• Making laundry soaker
• Making window cleaner
• Making all-purpose cleaner
• Using a haybox cooker
• Knowing how to use the chainsaw safely
• Knowing how to winch safely
• Knowing how to drive in low range in all types of country and weather
Some of the skills I'm working on include:
• Making sourdough starter
• Pressure canning
• Making wicking beds for the garden
• Knitting socks
Disaster struck, and at the time it was an absolute disaster.
Almost 28 years on, I can look back and see what a blessing it was (could've done without the "disaster" disguise), and how it has enabled me to care for my family and my home, and extended family, over the years on a sometimes almost miniscule budget, without compromising lifestyle.
The skills picked up over the years have saved us money, time and energy, and formed a collection I am proud to own.
So, if you struggle with MOOing, think of it as collecting skills.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Handling Hand-Me-Downs
Love Those Laundry Savings
Quark
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Learning to Live & Survive Now
How do You Stay Motivated??
School Holidays
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and see how we are living debt free, cashed up and laughing - and find out how you can too!
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.
Latest Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Using Kitchen Timers; Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate and Save; A Home Grown Moth Repellant
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Two Tuna Recipes
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - How to Stockpile on the $300 a Month Food Challenge
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - Be a Collector of Skills
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
It's Easter! I love this weekend; it's a time to get together with family and friends and celebrate and be grateful that we can.
So, I wish you all a blessed, peaceful and safe Easter weekend.
I'm spending it with family and friends, so I'll be off until next Tuesday. If you ask a question, I'll get back to you on Tuesday, as soon as I can.
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
Using Kitchen Timers
Use a kitchen timer. Portable is best as it can be carried into another room or even outside with you. Amazing how we leave the stove on too long and either overcook or burn the pans. Also can be used to remind you that the washing is finished and waiting to be hung out. Useful for telephone usage to remind you of the time. Decide how long you want to chat with a caller (some people are renowned for overstaying a telephone call). When the timer goes off you can say “Ooops, there is my oven timer, sorry have to dash”. You are not fibbing it is your oven timer!! - you have not said you are cooking anything!
Contributed by Rita
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate and Save
Always negotiate prices, particularly on sizeable items or if you are buying multiples. Sometimes just looking undecided can be enough to prompt a salesperson to offer you a discount to try to swing you in their favour. Alternatively, tell them your budget and ask if they can offer you anything below that price.
Christabel
A Home Grown Moth Repellant
A plague of small moths in these summer months sent me searching for a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of dealing with them as they were enjoying life in the pantry and also in the linen cupboard. The idea of mothballs was unacceptable and I dislike the smell of camphor but I solved the problem this way. My rosemary hedge needed a trim so after the secateurs had done their work I gathered up the trimmings and placed them in a mesh laundry bag, the type used for delicates in the washing machine and suspended it from a hook behind the pantry door. The moths departed pretty quickly due to Rosemary's pungent smell. I now pick a few small twigs each week to top up the bag and haven't sighted a moth in the pantry since - economical, recyclable and enviro conscious. The linen cupboard didn't adapt as well to the rosemary treatment as I couldn't hang up a similar arrangement but the purchase (on special of course) of several boxes of bath soap has. Ten cakes of soap along the shelves has had a similar efffect - the fragrance of the soap is as effective in detering moths as rosemary is in the pantry.
Contributed by Dianne
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
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.
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
Two Tuna Recipes
Two tuna recipes this week, both delicious and frugal. Tuna is still a reasonable price, so adding it to your meal plan every now is a good idea.
Tuna Loaf
450g can tuna, drained
1 onion, finely grated
1/2 cup finely sliced celery
1/2 cup crushed Saltine crackers
1/2 cup milk
1 egg,
beaten salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons melted butter
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
In a mixing bowl, combine the tuna, onion, celery, cracker crumbs, milk, egg, salt, pepper, and melted butter. Mix thoroughly.
Press the salmon mixture into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. 4.Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes or until done.
Tuna Delight Slice
450g tin tuna in brine
1 cup crushed savoury biscuits
lemon juice and lemon rind grated
1/2 red capsicum, finely chopped
1 onion finely grated
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
salt pepper
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Mix all ingredients together.
Place in a greased, flat casserole dish or lamington tin. Press down firmly.
Bake in Moderate Oven for about 40 mins.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Baked Chicken Wings & Veg
Tuesday: Spaghetti Alfredo
Wednesday: Meat pie & veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: French Shepherd's Pie
Saturday: Tacos
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
How to Stockpile on the $300 a Month Food Challenge
Building the stockpile on the $300 a month food challenge is certainly getting challenging. Between empty shelves, supply chain issues and rising prices, just getting what you need, let alone building your stockpile, takes a bit of effort.
If you've been on the challenge for a while, you'll have your grocery shopping down pat. You'll have your standard list that you stick to; you'll know your sale cycles and your price book will be up-to-date. Those three things put you way ahead of those who aren't on the challenge, and struggling to stick to a reasonable grocery budget.
But if you're new to the challenge, you may well still be trying to find your standard grocery list, and work out the sale cycles, and your price book will still be in development.
You'll still be able to build your pantry, and stay on budget.
• Always shop with a detailed list.
• Check prices online before you leave home, and adjust the list if you need to.
• Buy ingredients; don't pay extra for "convenience".
• Buy the cheapest brands. If this means you need to make some changes, so be it. At least try them, if you don't like whatever, you can always go back to your old brand, just buy it on sale.
• When what you use is on sale, buy as much as you can. If it's half price, get two - you were going to pay that price anyway just for one.
• Use everything! No waste. Build in some use it up meals so that nothing goes to waste, or the dog or the chooks or the compost.
Building a stockpile takes time, and effort, and planning. You won't build that pantry in a week, or two, or even a year. Just keep building, and can by can, ingredient by ingredient, it will happen.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
Be a Collector of Skills
As a Cheapskate, my focus is often on saving money, and the many, many ways I can do that without compromising our lifestyle. After all, that's what started me on this journey: the need when disaster struck to stretch our dollars till they screeched so we could maintain our standard of living.
I had to learn to do so many things that were completely foreign to me. I had to develop hobbies I had into full-blown, usable, practical skills, then use those skills to feed us, clothe us, keep us dressed, give us presents and holidays and so much more.
Looking back, I became a collector of skills.
And I'm still collecting skills.
Some of the skills I've collected include:
• Knitting
• Sewing
• Embroidery
• Darning
• Cross-stitch
• Tapestry
• Quilting
• Patchwork
• Dressmaking
• Pattern making
• How to sew on a button
• How to take up hems
• How to put in a zip
• How to work buttonholes by hand
• How to work buttonholes by machine
• Using an overlocker
• Making patterns from ready-made items
• Paper making
• Card making
• Scrapbooking
• Photography
• Hair cutting
• Gardening
• Seed Saving
• Pruning fruit trees
• Sharpening shears, knives and axes
• Firewood collecting (yes, it's a skill - not all wood is good firewood!)
• Bottling/canning
• Freezing
• Jam making
• Sauce making
• Pickling
• Smoking meats
• Bread making
• Soup making
• Making yoghurt
• Vinegar making
• Dehydrating
• Fruit growing
• Composting
• Car repairs
• Tyre changing
• Oil changing
• Fuse changing
• Soap making
• Lotion making
• Using essential oils and herbs to make medicines
• Cooking over an open fire
• Making washing powder
• Making laundry soaker
• Making window cleaner
• Making all-purpose cleaner
• Using a haybox cooker
• Knowing how to use the chainsaw safely
• Knowing how to winch safely
• Knowing how to drive in low range in all types of country and weather
Some of the skills I'm working on include:
• Making sourdough starter
• Pressure canning
• Making wicking beds for the garden
• Knitting socks
Disaster struck, and at the time it was an absolute disaster.
Almost 28 years on, I can look back and see what a blessing it was (could've done without the "disaster" disguise), and how it has enabled me to care for my family and my home, and extended family, over the years on a sometimes almost miniscule budget, without compromising lifestyle.
The skills picked up over the years have saved us money, time and energy, and formed a collection I am proud to own.
So, if you struggle with MOOing, think of it as collecting skills.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Handling Hand-Me-Downs
Love Those Laundry Savings
Quark
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Learning to Live & Survive Now
How do You Stay Motivated??
School Holidays
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and see how we are living debt free, cashed up and laughing - and find out how you can too!
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.
Latest Shows
9. 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
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
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 $25 you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates