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Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 22:15
In this Newsletter
1. Hannah's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Use Your Noodle for Draft Stoppers, Razor Saver, Seawater Cheese
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - Cheap Movie Tickets
4. Submit Your Tip - Share your best money saving tip here
5. On the Menu with Anne - Silverbeet Lasagne
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Freezer Challenge Week 3
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - One Step Forward...20,000 Steps Back
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Gift Memberships
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Hannah's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Cath (Mum to me) is away for a few weeks, so she's passed the newsletter over to me while she and Dad go exploring outback Queensland, I hope you don't mind. I know she has plans to catch up with a few Cheapskaters along the way, so I hope she'll report back and tell us all about those meet-ups.
The tips this week are amazing. Who would have thought a pool noodle could be so useful in winter? And what about cheese from sea water? Wow!
I've had Anne's Silverbeet Lasagne and can recommend it. We have silverbeet growing in the garden and as I'm the cook while Mum is away, guess what we are having for tea this week :)
Have a lovely week everyone, and I hope you enjoy the newsletter,
Happy Cheapskating,
Hannah
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!
PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.
2. From The Tip Store
Use Your Noodle for Draft Stoppers
With winter not too far away I wanted to block drafts under the doors, rather than purchase a specific draft stopper I used pool noodles to do the job. Simply slice into the noodle, through to the hollow centre, measure the door width, and cut the noodle to the right size, then simply slide under the door. We had carpet removed before so our gap was quite large and normal sand door stoppers were inconvenient and a trip hazard.
Contributed by Penny Hughes
Razor Saver
Approximate $ Savings: $25
Buy a bottle of Bubble Bath and dilute it by about 50%. It makes a great shaving foam. It significantly extends the life of Gillette Disposable Razors. One pack of 16 will last a whole year.
Contributed by John Carroll
Seawater Cheese
Approximate $ Savings: $2 or more, depending on what you pay for ricotta
To make a great ricotta, simply bring 2 cups of clean seawater and 2 cups of full cream milk to the boil. Leave to boil 1 minute, pour into a colander lined with cheesecloth or a clean Chux cloth, and allow to drain for a couple of hours. You then have a basic ricotta cheese that can be added to, moulded into shapes, covered with cracked pepper or herbs, or patted into a ball and stored in clean seawater to make a nice feta. If making feta, allow to drain overnight on the bench and press with a weight to remove more liquid, before storing in brine. If you don't have a beach handy, seawater can be made by boiling some water and dissolving salt in it at the rate of about 20% salt by weight. Also, if you save the whey drained from your first cheese, you can use it to make more cheese. See cheeselinks.com.au for cheese ingredients.
Contributed by Gay McDonald
There are currently more than 11,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Cheapskates Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Ashleigh Holmes. Ashleigh has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Cheap Movie Tickets
Going to the cinema is a special treat for us but we have found a way to make it more affordable. If you are a member of the NRMA then you can purchase movie tickets for Event Cinemas online at a discounted rate. You have to buy a minimum of four tickets but these are valid for six months. You can use them any time except after 5pm on Saturday nights. An adult ticket bought this way costs $10.50 instead of $18 full price and children's tickets are $8 instead of $14. A great saving!
Congratulations Ashleigh, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
4. 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
5. On the Menu with Anne
My garden is full of silverbeet at the moment. We've had it shredded in salads, steamed, sautéed with a little butter and crushed garlic, in spinach and ricotta rolls and on Saturday night we'll be having Silverbeet Lasagne. Sounds odd, but tastes great. Best of all it uses a lot of silverbeet, perfect for using a garden glut. This recipe uses 3 tins of tomatoes - and yes, the quantities are correct - or you can use the equivalent of fresh tomatoes if you have them.
Silverbeet Lasagne
Ingredients:
2-1/2kg silverbeet, washed, dried, and finely chopped, including stalks
3 pkts instant lasagne noodles (can use fresh)
Tomato sauce:
2 x 810g cans diced tomatoes
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
50g tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large onions, finely diced
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Cheese sauce:
120g butter
1 cup plain flour
1-1/2 litres milk
1-1/2 cups tasty cheese, grated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Topping:
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
Cook silverbeet in a very little water until tender, either on the stove or in the microwave. Drain well.
To make the tomato sauce place all the ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cook the mixture for 1-1/2 hours, until the sauce is thick and rich. Stir occasionally to stop it sticking on the bottom.
Turn the oven to 175 degrees Celsius to heat.
To make the cheese sauce put the butter and 1 litre of the milk into a small saucepan and gently heat until the butter has melted. Combine the flour and the remaining half litre of milk and mix to a smooth paste. Bring the butter/milk mixture to a boil and whisk in the flour/milk mixture. Cook for one minute, stirring all the time. Stir in the cheeses, mixing until combined and all the cheese has melted.
To make the lasagne spray a lasagne dish with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup of the tomato mixture over the base of the dish. Cover with lasagne sheets. Spread half the tomato sauce over the lasagne, then half the silverbeet over the tomato sauce. Cover with lasagne sheets. Spread half the cheese sauce over the lasagne sheets. Repeat the layers, finishing with the cheese sauce.
Combine the mozzarella and parmesan. Spread over the cheese sauce.
Bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden and set. Let the lasagne sit for 10 minutes before cutting.
This week we will be eating:
Friday: Chicken chilli and cornbread
Saturday: Silverbeet Lasagne, garlic bread
Sunday: Roast chicken, baked vegetables
Monday: BBQ steak, salad
Tuesday: Beef and tomato casserole with rice
Wednesday: Fish'n'wedges and salad
Thursday: MOO Pizzas with ham, salami, onion, capsicum, mushroom, pineapple, cheese, tomato sauce
In the fruit bowl: apples and oranges
In the cake tin: coconut cake, raspberry muffins, and choc chip biscuits
Do you have a meal planning question? Click here to ask your question, you may see your answer in next week's newsletter.
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Freezer Challenge Week 3
Hello Cheapskaters and welcome to the food challenge. This week is week 3 of the freezer challenge. We are aiming to make room in our freezers by using up bits and pieces.
Some members are finding room in their freezers only to be filled up in the next day or two. Joyofquilting has been busy cooking lately. She says she's failed the challenge because she keeps filling the gaps in her freezers. Chelzmalee has filled her freezer again with meat specials bought with a voucher. I think they have both excelled by having the space in the first place. Freezers are there to be used. Providing food is rotated and used instead of throwing out, then you are using your freezer the right way.
My side by side fridge / freezer has quite a few gaps showing. We've been eating the loaves of bread given to us recently. My girls have been asking for store bought white bread. I've told them they need to eat what we already have first.
I have lots of raspberries and strawberries frozen for jam and desserts. I'm hoping to make some more jam in the next week or two. The saved bread crusts are multiplying so I think it's time to make dried seasoned bread crumbs for the pantry.
This week's challenge is to write a list of things you can make from the freezer without returning more food to the freezer. My list is -
* Make jam from the raspberries.
* Make seasoned bread crumbs from saved crusts
* Make chicken soup using frozen stock and eating it during the week
* Cooking a leg of lamb for Jessica's birthday and making shepherd's pie with the leftovers
* Using frozen rice in casseroles and stews
* Make lemon butter with last season's frozen lemon juice
* Eating a few more freezer meals (leftovers )
I won't be able to do all these things in one week but it feels good to have a list to work through.
What will you be using from the freezer this week?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!!
Click here to go to this week's $300 a Month Food Challenge
Click here to read the post that started it all
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Make Do and Mend
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1585-Make-do-and-mend
Vinegar - Ordinary v's 'Cleaning Vinegar'
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1005-Vinegar-ordinary-v-s-Cleaning-vinegar
Windows made Easy
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1356-Windows-made-easy
Most popular blog posts this week
There's nothing like the Scent of Baking to say Welcome
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2010/08/theres-nothing-like-scent-of-baking-to.html
Four Simple Steps to De-Cluttering
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2011/04/four-simple-steps-to-de-cluttering.html
Keeping the Activity Level Sane
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2010/05/keeping-activity-level-sane.html
8. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by Kell.
One Step Forward...20,000 Steps Back
Not a great week....for money anyway...great week otherwise.
I need a place to vent right now, because we just got some hard news yesterday that wipes out all our efforts over the last three years.....
So a bit of history:
Newly married and wanting to get into the property market as soon as we could we saved our hearts out to buy a small 3 bed townhouse in Surrey Hills, we chose the cheapest house we could manage in the "best" (and I use that term loosely) suburb we could afford, because we knew we would be moving back to Qld in the next 5 or so years and wanted to buy in an area we were confident would see consistent improvements in value....so we could sell confidently at that time.
Anyway DH's company moved us after only 3 years, not enough for property to change price really and not able to sell it before we left for any more than we paid we decided to keep it and rent it out. It's been fantastic for that.
A move to Queensland and purchased of a family home, by this stage we had 2 children and were hoping to add a third one to the mix. I was a stay home mum and my DH's well-paying job allowed us to fund 2 mortgages without strain (plus we had the rental income).
5 years later a new job means moving back to Melbourne of all places The property prices have done huge things, so our little rental has nearly doubled in value, but now we need to live in it again (so right now that doesn't mean much). Unfortunately by this stage the market in Brisbane has begun plummeting and the family home thought was going to be our home for a long time has to be sold....we couldn't sell it for what we had purchased it for and we had made improvements over the 5 years as well....solar panels, fencing, rebuilding staircases, repainted...
So we did our sums and worked out that if we were very, very careful and went interest only for a little while to adjust and still have cash flow we could probably still hang onto it, at least until we could sell it for a reasonable amount of money i.e. at least what we paid for it!
So our move to Melbourne was a drop in my DH's income by 40%, while still maintaining 2 mortgages (now interest only, and with tenants in the Brisbane home). But it meant he actually got to be home to see the children, we could eat dinner as a family and he didn't have to work every weekend. I was more than happy to trade the $ for having a "family”. We used DH's long service leave payout to get rid of car debt and keep a lump sum in the offset account). We tried our best but over the first 2 years spent $30 000 more than we earned, leaving only $20 000 of his long service leave in our offset (obviously as these savings got spent our mortgage increased....)
This year we finally started to get ahead. We stated paying principle again on our home in Melbourne and started to save. I was meant to go back to work this year, but we were blessed with our third baby last year (after many years of trying with no luck...this beautiful child arrives when we feel like we can't afford him!!! Wouldn't change it for the world though). So our plans to quickly repay the $30 000 with me working is on hold again.... so our saving has been split between repaying the offset account and saving for a new kitchen (three children in a small house with no yard and a cramped kitchen with little bench space and an unreliable stove/oven was causing me not to cope too well!!!). WE decided to split our savings so we could repay but also enjoy at the same time
WE got rid of our credit card at Christmas, paid cash for a stove and oven we sourced directly from Europe with SIGNIFICANT savings, replaced the dead dishwasher with a purchase from eBay. We have even saved half of the cost of our new kitchen.....I was so excited we would have a new kitchen by early next year as well as making progress on our repayment of $30 000 plus paying off principle.......
My DH and I were just saying how things were turning around and if we could keep things under control for a few more years then when I started work we could really take off and start making significant gains in paying down our mortgage etc. etc.
We got a phone call from our property mange in Brisbane yesterday. When having a termite inspection done (no termites!) the guy noticed some issues near the bathroom and suggested a builder get sent out to take a look.
Turns out this has been a significant leak in the bathroom and most of the floor and some of a wall has all but rotted away in the 2 1/2 years since we left the house. The quote is approximately $20,000. Apparently it’s been there for a long time, but it wasn't picked up in the building inspection we did before purchasing the house and that bathroom was only used by guests when we lived there, so it hadn't leaked or caused any issues. But since being rented out the bathroom has been used on a daily basis for 2 1/2 years....
It's not covered by insurance because it is a slow leak....
I want to cry... we already had to spend $4500 last year to rebuild a staircase (that forms part of the $30,000 overspend).
That will take the last of our "buffer" from the offset, max out both mortgages and give us absolutely now room to move. It also means no new kitchen and those lovely new appliance we saved so hard for will now sit in our garage as a reminded or what we can't afford to do for another.....however many years!!!
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
9. 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!
10. Gift Memberships
Your family and friends will thank you for a whole year when you give them a Platinum Cheapskates Club membership as a gift.
It's so simple: just select the number of gift memberships required, click the Buy Now button and complete the Gift Membership order form (you must use this form to order gift memberships) and we'll get in touch with you to confirm the gift subscriptions.
Click here to order a gift membership right now!
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?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
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Read our privacy policy
How Did You Get on Our List?
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12. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
1. Hannah's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Use Your Noodle for Draft Stoppers, Razor Saver, Seawater Cheese
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip - Cheap Movie Tickets
4. Submit Your Tip - Share your best money saving tip here
5. On the Menu with Anne - Silverbeet Lasagne
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Freezer Challenge Week 3
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - One Step Forward...20,000 Steps Back
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Gift Memberships
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Hannah's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Cath (Mum to me) is away for a few weeks, so she's passed the newsletter over to me while she and Dad go exploring outback Queensland, I hope you don't mind. I know she has plans to catch up with a few Cheapskaters along the way, so I hope she'll report back and tell us all about those meet-ups.
The tips this week are amazing. Who would have thought a pool noodle could be so useful in winter? And what about cheese from sea water? Wow!
I've had Anne's Silverbeet Lasagne and can recommend it. We have silverbeet growing in the garden and as I'm the cook while Mum is away, guess what we are having for tea this week :)
Have a lovely week everyone, and I hope you enjoy the newsletter,
Happy Cheapskating,
Hannah
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!
PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.
2. From The Tip Store
Use Your Noodle for Draft Stoppers
With winter not too far away I wanted to block drafts under the doors, rather than purchase a specific draft stopper I used pool noodles to do the job. Simply slice into the noodle, through to the hollow centre, measure the door width, and cut the noodle to the right size, then simply slide under the door. We had carpet removed before so our gap was quite large and normal sand door stoppers were inconvenient and a trip hazard.
Contributed by Penny Hughes
Razor Saver
Approximate $ Savings: $25
Buy a bottle of Bubble Bath and dilute it by about 50%. It makes a great shaving foam. It significantly extends the life of Gillette Disposable Razors. One pack of 16 will last a whole year.
Contributed by John Carroll
Seawater Cheese
Approximate $ Savings: $2 or more, depending on what you pay for ricotta
To make a great ricotta, simply bring 2 cups of clean seawater and 2 cups of full cream milk to the boil. Leave to boil 1 minute, pour into a colander lined with cheesecloth or a clean Chux cloth, and allow to drain for a couple of hours. You then have a basic ricotta cheese that can be added to, moulded into shapes, covered with cracked pepper or herbs, or patted into a ball and stored in clean seawater to make a nice feta. If making feta, allow to drain overnight on the bench and press with a weight to remove more liquid, before storing in brine. If you don't have a beach handy, seawater can be made by boiling some water and dissolving salt in it at the rate of about 20% salt by weight. Also, if you save the whey drained from your first cheese, you can use it to make more cheese. See cheeselinks.com.au for cheese ingredients.
Contributed by Gay McDonald
There are currently more than 11,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Cheapskates Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Ashleigh Holmes. Ashleigh has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Cheap Movie Tickets
Going to the cinema is a special treat for us but we have found a way to make it more affordable. If you are a member of the NRMA then you can purchase movie tickets for Event Cinemas online at a discounted rate. You have to buy a minimum of four tickets but these are valid for six months. You can use them any time except after 5pm on Saturday nights. An adult ticket bought this way costs $10.50 instead of $18 full price and children's tickets are $8 instead of $14. A great saving!
Congratulations Ashleigh, I hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
4. 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
5. On the Menu with Anne
My garden is full of silverbeet at the moment. We've had it shredded in salads, steamed, sautéed with a little butter and crushed garlic, in spinach and ricotta rolls and on Saturday night we'll be having Silverbeet Lasagne. Sounds odd, but tastes great. Best of all it uses a lot of silverbeet, perfect for using a garden glut. This recipe uses 3 tins of tomatoes - and yes, the quantities are correct - or you can use the equivalent of fresh tomatoes if you have them.
Silverbeet Lasagne
Ingredients:
2-1/2kg silverbeet, washed, dried, and finely chopped, including stalks
3 pkts instant lasagne noodles (can use fresh)
Tomato sauce:
2 x 810g cans diced tomatoes
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
50g tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large onions, finely diced
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Cheese sauce:
120g butter
1 cup plain flour
1-1/2 litres milk
1-1/2 cups tasty cheese, grated
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Topping:
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
Cook silverbeet in a very little water until tender, either on the stove or in the microwave. Drain well.
To make the tomato sauce place all the ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cook the mixture for 1-1/2 hours, until the sauce is thick and rich. Stir occasionally to stop it sticking on the bottom.
Turn the oven to 175 degrees Celsius to heat.
To make the cheese sauce put the butter and 1 litre of the milk into a small saucepan and gently heat until the butter has melted. Combine the flour and the remaining half litre of milk and mix to a smooth paste. Bring the butter/milk mixture to a boil and whisk in the flour/milk mixture. Cook for one minute, stirring all the time. Stir in the cheeses, mixing until combined and all the cheese has melted.
To make the lasagne spray a lasagne dish with cooking spray. Spread 1 cup of the tomato mixture over the base of the dish. Cover with lasagne sheets. Spread half the tomato sauce over the lasagne, then half the silverbeet over the tomato sauce. Cover with lasagne sheets. Spread half the cheese sauce over the lasagne sheets. Repeat the layers, finishing with the cheese sauce.
Combine the mozzarella and parmesan. Spread over the cheese sauce.
Bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden and set. Let the lasagne sit for 10 minutes before cutting.
This week we will be eating:
Friday: Chicken chilli and cornbread
Saturday: Silverbeet Lasagne, garlic bread
Sunday: Roast chicken, baked vegetables
Monday: BBQ steak, salad
Tuesday: Beef and tomato casserole with rice
Wednesday: Fish'n'wedges and salad
Thursday: MOO Pizzas with ham, salami, onion, capsicum, mushroom, pineapple, cheese, tomato sauce
In the fruit bowl: apples and oranges
In the cake tin: coconut cake, raspberry muffins, and choc chip biscuits
Do you have a meal planning question? Click here to ask your question, you may see your answer in next week's newsletter.
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Freezer Challenge Week 3
Hello Cheapskaters and welcome to the food challenge. This week is week 3 of the freezer challenge. We are aiming to make room in our freezers by using up bits and pieces.
Some members are finding room in their freezers only to be filled up in the next day or two. Joyofquilting has been busy cooking lately. She says she's failed the challenge because she keeps filling the gaps in her freezers. Chelzmalee has filled her freezer again with meat specials bought with a voucher. I think they have both excelled by having the space in the first place. Freezers are there to be used. Providing food is rotated and used instead of throwing out, then you are using your freezer the right way.
My side by side fridge / freezer has quite a few gaps showing. We've been eating the loaves of bread given to us recently. My girls have been asking for store bought white bread. I've told them they need to eat what we already have first.
I have lots of raspberries and strawberries frozen for jam and desserts. I'm hoping to make some more jam in the next week or two. The saved bread crusts are multiplying so I think it's time to make dried seasoned bread crumbs for the pantry.
This week's challenge is to write a list of things you can make from the freezer without returning more food to the freezer. My list is -
* Make jam from the raspberries.
* Make seasoned bread crumbs from saved crusts
* Make chicken soup using frozen stock and eating it during the week
* Cooking a leg of lamb for Jessica's birthday and making shepherd's pie with the leftovers
* Using frozen rice in casseroles and stews
* Make lemon butter with last season's frozen lemon juice
* Eating a few more freezer meals (leftovers )
I won't be able to do all these things in one week but it feels good to have a list to work through.
What will you be using from the freezer this week?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!!
Click here to go to this week's $300 a Month Food Challenge
Click here to read the post that started it all
7. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Make Do and Mend
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1585-Make-do-and-mend
Vinegar - Ordinary v's 'Cleaning Vinegar'
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1005-Vinegar-ordinary-v-s-Cleaning-vinegar
Windows made Easy
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1356-Windows-made-easy
Most popular blog posts this week
There's nothing like the Scent of Baking to say Welcome
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2010/08/theres-nothing-like-scent-of-baking-to.html
Four Simple Steps to De-Cluttering
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2011/04/four-simple-steps-to-de-cluttering.html
Keeping the Activity Level Sane
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2010/05/keeping-activity-level-sane.html
8. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by Kell.
One Step Forward...20,000 Steps Back
Not a great week....for money anyway...great week otherwise.
I need a place to vent right now, because we just got some hard news yesterday that wipes out all our efforts over the last three years.....
So a bit of history:
Newly married and wanting to get into the property market as soon as we could we saved our hearts out to buy a small 3 bed townhouse in Surrey Hills, we chose the cheapest house we could manage in the "best" (and I use that term loosely) suburb we could afford, because we knew we would be moving back to Qld in the next 5 or so years and wanted to buy in an area we were confident would see consistent improvements in value....so we could sell confidently at that time.
Anyway DH's company moved us after only 3 years, not enough for property to change price really and not able to sell it before we left for any more than we paid we decided to keep it and rent it out. It's been fantastic for that.
A move to Queensland and purchased of a family home, by this stage we had 2 children and were hoping to add a third one to the mix. I was a stay home mum and my DH's well-paying job allowed us to fund 2 mortgages without strain (plus we had the rental income).
5 years later a new job means moving back to Melbourne of all places The property prices have done huge things, so our little rental has nearly doubled in value, but now we need to live in it again (so right now that doesn't mean much). Unfortunately by this stage the market in Brisbane has begun plummeting and the family home thought was going to be our home for a long time has to be sold....we couldn't sell it for what we had purchased it for and we had made improvements over the 5 years as well....solar panels, fencing, rebuilding staircases, repainted...
So we did our sums and worked out that if we were very, very careful and went interest only for a little while to adjust and still have cash flow we could probably still hang onto it, at least until we could sell it for a reasonable amount of money i.e. at least what we paid for it!
So our move to Melbourne was a drop in my DH's income by 40%, while still maintaining 2 mortgages (now interest only, and with tenants in the Brisbane home). But it meant he actually got to be home to see the children, we could eat dinner as a family and he didn't have to work every weekend. I was more than happy to trade the $ for having a "family”. We used DH's long service leave payout to get rid of car debt and keep a lump sum in the offset account). We tried our best but over the first 2 years spent $30 000 more than we earned, leaving only $20 000 of his long service leave in our offset (obviously as these savings got spent our mortgage increased....)
This year we finally started to get ahead. We stated paying principle again on our home in Melbourne and started to save. I was meant to go back to work this year, but we were blessed with our third baby last year (after many years of trying with no luck...this beautiful child arrives when we feel like we can't afford him!!! Wouldn't change it for the world though). So our plans to quickly repay the $30 000 with me working is on hold again.... so our saving has been split between repaying the offset account and saving for a new kitchen (three children in a small house with no yard and a cramped kitchen with little bench space and an unreliable stove/oven was causing me not to cope too well!!!). WE decided to split our savings so we could repay but also enjoy at the same time
WE got rid of our credit card at Christmas, paid cash for a stove and oven we sourced directly from Europe with SIGNIFICANT savings, replaced the dead dishwasher with a purchase from eBay. We have even saved half of the cost of our new kitchen.....I was so excited we would have a new kitchen by early next year as well as making progress on our repayment of $30 000 plus paying off principle.......
My DH and I were just saying how things were turning around and if we could keep things under control for a few more years then when I started work we could really take off and start making significant gains in paying down our mortgage etc. etc.
We got a phone call from our property mange in Brisbane yesterday. When having a termite inspection done (no termites!) the guy noticed some issues near the bathroom and suggested a builder get sent out to take a look.
Turns out this has been a significant leak in the bathroom and most of the floor and some of a wall has all but rotted away in the 2 1/2 years since we left the house. The quote is approximately $20,000. Apparently it’s been there for a long time, but it wasn't picked up in the building inspection we did before purchasing the house and that bathroom was only used by guests when we lived there, so it hadn't leaked or caused any issues. But since being rented out the bathroom has been used on a daily basis for 2 1/2 years....
It's not covered by insurance because it is a slow leak....
I want to cry... we already had to spend $4500 last year to rebuild a staircase (that forms part of the $30,000 overspend).
That will take the last of our "buffer" from the offset, max out both mortgages and give us absolutely now room to move. It also means no new kitchen and those lovely new appliance we saved so hard for will now sit in our garage as a reminded or what we can't afford to do for another.....however many years!!!
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