Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 18:19
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Strong and Cheap Reusable Shopping Bags; A Simple Sourdough Starter; Turn Your Skill Into Cash
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Apricot Chicken
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Waste Not, Want Not Meal Planning
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. The Cheapskates Club Show - Live on You Tube Tuesdays & Thursdays
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,
Welcome to another newsletter.
My days are still all over the place, so getting things done is crazy, but at least they're getting done.
We've had some rain! Yay! Supposedly this "rain event" will be the best in the last six months. I certainly hope so - I spent quite a while shifting pots and hanging baskets into the middle of the backyard so they'll get a decent drink. And hopefully it will be enough to fill my rain barrels. I use them to water the garden but they've been bone dry for weeks. Filling them with free water sounds good to me.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Strong and Cheap Reusable Shopping Bags
A great bag can be made from a singlet top. Just sew across the bottom. I bought several tops from Kmart for $1 each and op shops have lots. Big men's for a big over the shoulder bag and small children's for over the wrist. They last for ages as long as you do a couple of strong rows of sewing.
Contributed by Meryll Williams
Editor's note: These make great grocery bags, library bags, book bags for kids. You can use t-shirts too - perfect for using, rather than tossing, that favourite t-shirt! Cath
A Simple Sourdough Starter
Here's a simple sourdough starter system I have learned from a professional baker:
Mix
3/4 cup white flour (or part wholemeal)
1/3 cup rye flour
3/4 to 1 cup water
Adjust water quantity as required, consistency should be like a thick custard, dropping in lumps from a spoon.
Put into plastic container or jar, cover with paper towel, cheesecloth or coffee filter so the mixture can breathe and leave 24 hours at room temperature.
Next day, add same ingredients again to the mixture, leave another 24 hours, also at room temperature.
Keep repeating these steps daily. When container becomes too full, you will need to discard some mixture before adding the new quantity. Don't wash the container, just keep adding same ingredients on a daily basis.
After about a week you will notice the mixture starting to bubble slightly and rise. After 10 to 12 days the mixture should double in between feedings. It is then ready for baking.
To store, put a lid on the container (I use a clip-on plastic container). If you don't intend to bake for a few days, put your starter into the fridge and feed once a week.
Once you want to use your starter, feed the day before and a few hours before at room temperature so it is really bubbly.
Contributed by Edel Heyer
Turn Your Skill Into Cash
I'm a mum, wife and a hairdresser. When I had my children and they started school, I started mobile hairdressing. I put a free add on Gumtree, made up a few cheap business cards through vista print and now 7 years later I'm still working the days and hours I can, when my children are in school with a few hundred a week extra. If you have a skill whether hair, nails or beauty you can create a simple home or mobile business.
Contributed by Tanja Fisher
Editor's note: There are so many skills you can put to use: sewing, ironing, gardening, lawn mowing, car cleaning (yes - it's a great way to make a little extra cash or even turn it into a full-time income), pet walking, card making, cleaning, typing (again, it's a great way to make an income - I have a friend who typed every day while her children napped and used the money to pay off their mortgage 18 years early!), photography - there are so many skills that can be turned into a simple home business. CathAdd a Tip3. 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
This is one of my favourite quick and easy go-to meals because I know I can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes, and everyone will eat it. The leftovers (if there are any) freeze, thaw and reheat well too.
Apricot Chicken
Ingredients:
3 chicken fillets, skin off and diced into 2cm chunks
1 tbsp butter
1 pkt French onion soup
410g can apricot nectar
Method:
Melt the butter and then brown the chicken well on all sides. Mix the French onion soup with the apricot nectar. Pour over the chicken, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Serves 6.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Fish, wedges, salad
Tuesday: Fettucine Alfredo, salad
Wednesday: Apricot Chicken & Veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Soup & Crumpets
In the fruit bowl: Bananas, plums, strawberries
In the cake tin: Banana Muffins
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
Waste Not, Want Not
Meal PlanningThere's no easier way to waste money than by regularly throwing out old food that you never used. The best way to make your shopping list super-effective is by coming up with a meal plan for the week/fortnight/month. Look in the pantry, fridge and freezer to see what ingredients and meals you already have and ask yourself "what can I make with it?".
You might think it takes ages to come up with a meal plan, but really it shouldn't take more than 10 or 15 minutes as you write out your shopping list. Work out what you're going to eat every day, incorporating the ingredients you already have. Stick it to the fridge or the pantry door and check it each morning.
Half the battle of getting a meal on the table is won if you know what you have to prepare. And, knowing ahead that you have a meal planned really does stop those 5 o'clock "I can't be bothered cooking" moods. You can download a blank menu planner in the Menu Plan archives.
Menu planning can and will save you a small fortune - with fish and chips for four costing around $27, or pizza about $22.50, knowing you can put a meal on the table in under 30 minutes can save you between $15 - $20!
Challenge yourself to whip up a banquet with the leftovers and food that's close to going off in the fridge.
Turn leftovers into pies, pasties, casseroles, taco or enchilada filling. Diced meat can be used to make Shepherd's or Cottage pie or fritters. Use veggies to make soups or salads (rice salad, hot potato salad) or other veggie dishes (twice baked potatoes, sweet potato chips).
Fruit can be stewed for pies, cobblers or crumbles. Or it can be pureed for smoothies or to flavour yoghurt. Or used to make jam or marmalade. Or dried for fruit leathers.
Before you go shopping, create your meal plan to use up what you have then add only the ingredients you need to your shopping list, and see how much money you won't be spending this week.
And note just how much of your hard earned cash isn't going into the bin!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
MOO Body Butter
Don’t Just Set It and Forget It – A Budget Is a Plan
TVP – a Meat Budget Friend
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Storing Bulky Items
How to Spread Hard Butter
Homemade Ginger Beer
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show ScheduleTuesday: 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.Coming Up
Thursday 1st May: Pies!
Tuesday 7th May: How Much Should I Be Spending on Food?
Latest Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Strong and Cheap Reusable Shopping Bags; A Simple Sourdough Starter; Turn Your Skill Into Cash
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Apricot Chicken
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Waste Not, Want Not Meal Planning
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. The Cheapskates Club Show - Live on You Tube Tuesdays & Thursdays
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,
Welcome to another newsletter.
My days are still all over the place, so getting things done is crazy, but at least they're getting done.
We've had some rain! Yay! Supposedly this "rain event" will be the best in the last six months. I certainly hope so - I spent quite a while shifting pots and hanging baskets into the middle of the backyard so they'll get a decent drink. And hopefully it will be enough to fill my rain barrels. I use them to water the garden but they've been bone dry for weeks. Filling them with free water sounds good to me.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Strong and Cheap Reusable Shopping Bags
A great bag can be made from a singlet top. Just sew across the bottom. I bought several tops from Kmart for $1 each and op shops have lots. Big men's for a big over the shoulder bag and small children's for over the wrist. They last for ages as long as you do a couple of strong rows of sewing.
Contributed by Meryll Williams
Editor's note: These make great grocery bags, library bags, book bags for kids. You can use t-shirts too - perfect for using, rather than tossing, that favourite t-shirt! Cath
A Simple Sourdough Starter
Here's a simple sourdough starter system I have learned from a professional baker:
Mix
3/4 cup white flour (or part wholemeal)
1/3 cup rye flour
3/4 to 1 cup water
Adjust water quantity as required, consistency should be like a thick custard, dropping in lumps from a spoon.
Put into plastic container or jar, cover with paper towel, cheesecloth or coffee filter so the mixture can breathe and leave 24 hours at room temperature.
Next day, add same ingredients again to the mixture, leave another 24 hours, also at room temperature.
Keep repeating these steps daily. When container becomes too full, you will need to discard some mixture before adding the new quantity. Don't wash the container, just keep adding same ingredients on a daily basis.
After about a week you will notice the mixture starting to bubble slightly and rise. After 10 to 12 days the mixture should double in between feedings. It is then ready for baking.
To store, put a lid on the container (I use a clip-on plastic container). If you don't intend to bake for a few days, put your starter into the fridge and feed once a week.
Once you want to use your starter, feed the day before and a few hours before at room temperature so it is really bubbly.
Contributed by Edel Heyer
Turn Your Skill Into Cash
I'm a mum, wife and a hairdresser. When I had my children and they started school, I started mobile hairdressing. I put a free add on Gumtree, made up a few cheap business cards through vista print and now 7 years later I'm still working the days and hours I can, when my children are in school with a few hundred a week extra. If you have a skill whether hair, nails or beauty you can create a simple home or mobile business.
Contributed by Tanja Fisher
Editor's note: There are so many skills you can put to use: sewing, ironing, gardening, lawn mowing, car cleaning (yes - it's a great way to make a little extra cash or even turn it into a full-time income), pet walking, card making, cleaning, typing (again, it's a great way to make an income - I have a friend who typed every day while her children napped and used the money to pay off their mortgage 18 years early!), photography - there are so many skills that can be turned into a simple home business. CathAdd a Tip3. 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
This is one of my favourite quick and easy go-to meals because I know I can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes, and everyone will eat it. The leftovers (if there are any) freeze, thaw and reheat well too.
Apricot Chicken
Ingredients:
3 chicken fillets, skin off and diced into 2cm chunks
1 tbsp butter
1 pkt French onion soup
410g can apricot nectar
Method:
Melt the butter and then brown the chicken well on all sides. Mix the French onion soup with the apricot nectar. Pour over the chicken, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Serves 6.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Fish, wedges, salad
Tuesday: Fettucine Alfredo, salad
Wednesday: Apricot Chicken & Veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Soup & Crumpets
In the fruit bowl: Bananas, plums, strawberries
In the cake tin: Banana Muffins
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
Waste Not, Want Not
Meal PlanningThere's no easier way to waste money than by regularly throwing out old food that you never used. The best way to make your shopping list super-effective is by coming up with a meal plan for the week/fortnight/month. Look in the pantry, fridge and freezer to see what ingredients and meals you already have and ask yourself "what can I make with it?".
You might think it takes ages to come up with a meal plan, but really it shouldn't take more than 10 or 15 minutes as you write out your shopping list. Work out what you're going to eat every day, incorporating the ingredients you already have. Stick it to the fridge or the pantry door and check it each morning.
Half the battle of getting a meal on the table is won if you know what you have to prepare. And, knowing ahead that you have a meal planned really does stop those 5 o'clock "I can't be bothered cooking" moods. You can download a blank menu planner in the Menu Plan archives.
Menu planning can and will save you a small fortune - with fish and chips for four costing around $27, or pizza about $22.50, knowing you can put a meal on the table in under 30 minutes can save you between $15 - $20!
Challenge yourself to whip up a banquet with the leftovers and food that's close to going off in the fridge.
Turn leftovers into pies, pasties, casseroles, taco or enchilada filling. Diced meat can be used to make Shepherd's or Cottage pie or fritters. Use veggies to make soups or salads (rice salad, hot potato salad) or other veggie dishes (twice baked potatoes, sweet potato chips).
Fruit can be stewed for pies, cobblers or crumbles. Or it can be pureed for smoothies or to flavour yoghurt. Or used to make jam or marmalade. Or dried for fruit leathers.
Before you go shopping, create your meal plan to use up what you have then add only the ingredients you need to your shopping list, and see how much money you won't be spending this week.
And note just how much of your hard earned cash isn't going into the bin!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
MOO Body Butter
Don’t Just Set It and Forget It – A Budget Is a Plan
TVP – a Meat Budget Friend
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Storing Bulky Items
How to Spread Hard Butter
Homemade Ginger Beer
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show ScheduleTuesday: 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.Coming Up
Thursday 1st May: Pies!
Tuesday 7th May: How Much Should I Be Spending on Food?
Latest Shows
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 $36.50 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
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 $36.50 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